organization?

[Osmany Tellez]

I'm trying to find a more efficient way to keep things organised. wondering how you do this.

how you keep payments made and record of money earn?

any table? software? how you keep sync?


thanks..

[Nicholas de Kock]

There are various option available from free such as Wave Accounting to paid. I settled on a paid service called Táve 3.0 (referral link) after testing out a few. I chose Táve 3.0 to run my entire admin side, help me keep track of all my clients & provides a professional client portal for clients to book me & view their account info. There is a learning curve when setting up for the first time, took me a while to perfect my look & feel but once done it's smooth sailing. Táve focuses on the wedding professionals, it's changed the way I run my business form paper based to cloud admin. My clients love it. I also use Google Apps to run my email.

Also check:
StudioCloud (Free)
ShootQ
Wave Accounting (Free)
FreshBooks
Light Blue

[Roger Van Duyn]

I've been using a program called Harvest for about a year to create and manage projects, create and send estimates, create and send invoices (with automatic late notices) and also collect electronic payments. Plus, it helps organize my client lists.

Here's the link: Simple Online Time Tracking Software - Harvest

It runs my single person business $12 per month.

One trick I use is opening multiple tabs in my browser window to cut and paste from project to estimate or invoice.

[Noa Put]

I custom designed a ms access 2000 database for that.

It keeps track of all my bookings with work and planning details, quotes, invoices including all payments as I just import a .csv file from my bank account to keep track on everything that goes in and out.

[Noa Put]

The supplied links to the organisation software looks very interesting (especially tave) since it can be accessed online anywhere, mm, maybe it's time to give the aging access database some rest. :)

[Paul Mailath]

I use Shootq - it's a US program "in the cloud" and it's designed for wedding photographers but it suits me fine for both commercial & wedding video work.

I don't know what I'd do without it now- it's like a business manager and secretary there 24/7
takes enquiries
sends automatic emails
online pricing
online contract
automatic billing and reminders
to do list
client questionnaires

it doesn't do any expense accounting, doesn't make tea or look good in a tight jumper but apart from that - I'm sold!

I've been using it for 5 years now and the only frustration I have is the date format and a couple of quirks that annoy international users.

[Nicholas de Kock]

Táve 3.0 also does all of the above mentioned by Paul. Problem with ShootQ is it only supports a few countries, if you live anywhere else in the world you're out of luck.

[Robert Benda]

I keep it simple.
DocuSign.net for online signing of contracts.

I use Google Calendars, then when each client books, I make an event with all relevant info: names, phone numbers and other contact info, and how much their total was, any payments made.

Google Docs let me make spreadsheets for useful info. For example, I track every year I'm in business, and when people book so I know if I"m on pace to match bookings (i.e. to make 32 bookings in 2014, I see I would usually have 6 weddings already booked by end of July 2013).

I can also mark the calendar with times when scheduled payments are due.

I use a 2nd Google calendar that I embed in my website to mark availability but just put the bride and groom's first names there.
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wedding video by RNB Weddings