One thing I love about geeks is how easy it is to find others who have gone through the same problems as you. I've never really been into business before, which may have had a lot to do with the way I was exposed to it. I had spent some time taking business in school and I have been involved in the administrative end of a business before, but it was so bloody boring.

There are a couple designer blogs I've been reading for a while. I originally started reading them looking for design tips, but they often cover issues about being a designer with a small business. The ones I've found the most useful info are by Khoi Vinh and Angie McKaig. They're both a little web-centric, and sometimees Khoi can sound a little too self-promoting. There's nothing I hate about business more than people who are like that. However, I get a lot of great info from both.

Today I spent a good chunk of the day organizing my invoicing. Certainly not the most exciting thing ever, but it's something that I've never wanted to do. It's such a labourious chore, especially the way I had been doing everything manually. I had read about this service on Khoi's site which allows you to do your invoicing online and emails them. It's very easy for a someone like me who had never been able to pass an accounting class. I've tried a few time. It was easy to set up, and it even helped me find an error I had made with my old method.

Through that site I found this one. It looks like some pretty cool collaboraion software which was developed with publishers and designers in mind. In other words it's exactly what we've been looking for for the magazine, only we didn't know it yet. Communication between the various parties involved with production has been very fractured, with sporadic meetings, partially forwarded email threads, and occasional ftp file transfers. This has the potential to solve all those problems. The only potential roadblock is the technophobe head honcho...

But really the best way to keep your life in order is this.