Studio Manager Bulletin

Amazing deal on FileMaker 6

Mac-Res-Q has an unbelievable good deal right now on FileMaker Pro 6. They are selling full copies without a user manual or box (just the CD and installation codes) for $79.99!!! Lots of places you go, you'll be asked to pay $299 per copy.

Get your copies now if you don't plan on upgrading to FileMaker 7 right away. Even if you do, this is an incredible opportunity to expand the number of seats of FileMaker you have. They have both Mac and Windows versions. Go get it if you need it.

By the way, I'm not making a penny on this link. It's just an amazing deal, plain and simple.

Linklove Available to Customers

I was looking at this new blog and realizing I hardly have any links. I've got two under Blog Style and will be adding to that list as I find blogs that are outstanding for their design features. Please suggest sites to me and if I agree - I'll add them. And I'll be humble - I know that most of you are way better at design than I am - I'm an absolute amateur.

As I was saying, I don't have many links here except to my own pages. So, how to get some links? First off, how about linking to my Studio Manager customers? What's in it for you? One more link to add to your Google juice - you do care about Google juice don't you?

The immediate downside might be that *prospective* Studio Manager customers might contact you. And ask questions. It will be up to you. Feel free to ignore or respond negatively to these requests as you see fit - if you are like most of my customers, you are usually crazy busy.

Another source of bother could be other Studio Manager customers. Maybe they'll want to exchange information with you. Or maybe they'll be new to Studio Manager and ask for tips. Life is uncertain. Hopefully, if you ask another Studio Manager customer a question, you'll be sure to put your own link on this customer list.

One thing this will not be is my *happy customers* list. This is my customers list. If I'm lucky, a lot of them will be happy. We'll just have to see.

What could be in it for you besides Google juice is that you could begin to create a community with each other. You are all learning and experimenting with and using this product. You may be extending it in ways that other Studio Manager customers could greatly benefit from. You may have tried things that didn't work and others thinking along the same lines could learn from your wrong turns. And vice versa.

If we can get some links going here, I will take that to mean that we should have some sort of forum or the coolest thing in social software that will help you all leverage your mutual knowledge and experience with Studio Manager and your intimate knowledge of the creative services business.

I need a few *brave* souls to volunteer first. Any takers? Let's build a community. Comments are preferred but if you like, feel free to email me at janet (at) tokerud (dot) com (I know my email is all over the place online, but I'm trying to make it just a little harder for the spammers).

Why a *blog* about Studio Manager?

First, I love blogging. I'm totally sold on the informality. Short posts ordered chronologically fit our times to a T. Bite-sized chunks of information. I love that these chunks can be referenced individually and can also be subscribed to by RSS newsreaders like NetNewsWire.

Blogs are not just one-way things. Yes. I do get the most power in the deal. But you, my dear reader, can participate. You get to talk back, disagree, add your unique voice and generally make this blog much better than it would be with just me writing by myself. We get to converse.

I needed a way and a place to solicit feedback from you: my Studio Manager customers, prospective customers and other creative services types. I have been planning little surveys and what not for my website. But this is so easy. So here it is. Wish us luck!

If you are a Studio Manager customer and you've discovered RSS newsreading, click the *Syndicate this site (XML)* link at your top left to subscribe. That way, you'll be the first to know when we upgrade the product. You'll learn more about the product. And you'll be able to help me get a clue about how to improve it. You can help me steer. Please do. And help on these panel colors would be appreciated.

How I Got Started with Creative Services Businesses

This seems like a good time to explain how I got started in business for myself. Here's what happened. I had already been a computer professional for about 5 years when it occurred to me that I could actually just go into business for myself. I had been working for Control Data Business Information Services (BIS) in downtown San Francisco, but business was flagging.

BIS was a *management timesharing company* and I was an applications consultant for them - building end-user decision support systems with our custom tools. These were the days of 300 baud modems, folks. By the time 1986 rolled around, PCs were eating our lunch. So, I volunteered to be laid off so I could get a nice severance package and started looking around for work. I interviewed here and there but didn't find anything very exciting.

One day I was polishing my resume and decided to use a Mac even though I had never used one before. A couple days later, I had a chance to play with a Mac again (these were the 512k Macs, people!). I loved the Mac from the moment it came out. Way cooler than a DOS machine. Visual and exotic. Forward-thinking, outside the box computing.

Within the next couple of weeks it occurred to me that I could become a Mac consultant. Getting paid to play with computers. Kind of like being a ski bum. The Mac was the new thing so I could be one of the first to master it. And that's how it went. At the time, I needed to write a Masters thesis for UC Berkeley so I could get my MBA. So, I picked doing a business plan for my own consulting business as the topic.

That's where creative services businesses come in. One of the assumptions in my business plan was that I would use a Mac. Guess who used Macs back in 1986? Designers! I looked at lots of different market segments, but this one was the most exciting and attracting. Design is a very cool thing. And, I just happened to have been a Marketing major in my MBA program. It's lovely how everything comes together sometimes.

I sold my car and my piano to to finance my new venture: to buy computer equipment and fund myself for a couple of years of lower income while I was getting my business going. It was fun. It was exciting. And, it's never really stopped. Somewhere along the line, I added staff, created Studio Manager and the Net took off. Macs went from doing MacWrite and MacPaint to just about everything under the sun - much of which was never done on a computer before.

Introducing Studio Manager Bulletin

Studio Manager Bulletin is dedicated to news, views, stories, features, how-to's and tips about our Studio Manager product. If you do business in the creative services world, this is for you. I'm talking to designers, marketers, consultants, advertisers and managers who want the best tools, techniques and strategies. It's about making business fun and effective so there's more quality time for brilliant work and leisure - remember leisure?

You'll see:

• News about new features and upgrades.
• What we are up to and thinking about for the future.
• In depth pieces about specific tools in Studio Manager
• Stories from our awesome customers.
• Warnings and advice.
• Best practices.

Just about everything that's relevant to a creative services business. With one exception, anything that has to do with FileMaker in general will be on my FileMaker Fever blog.