Add Some SPARK to your business on May 24th!

Calling all Philly Entreps and Business Owners:  Don’t miss our favorite conference and networking event of the year- SPARK!

Monday, May 24th, 2010 at The Hub Cira Centre

Spark is an interactive entrepreneurial conference that focuses on helping entrepreneurs grow their business, develop vital relationships and take away valuable insights from educational workshops. The conference has two parts; the morning session which consists of educational workshops and networking, while the afternoon is the opportunity for several entrepreneurs to pitch their business in front of an esteemed panel of successful entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture consultants and experienced advisers.

Check out this great video from last year‘s event!

SPARK 2009

Check out the day’s schedule here: http://sparknetworking.com/agenda.php

Read more

Online Project Management Tool Comparison

At EE, we LOVE to manage projects!  It’s our bread and butter; and as consummate organized planners, we love to map out a project and watch it through to completion.  That said, there are a plethora of tools out there that you can effectively use to manage your team projects (or even just keep info all in one place!).

We use a great platform which both we and our clients love- Basecamp.  This is a fantastic tool that continues to meets our virtual project management needs.  In addition to Basecamp, there are several other leading PM tools out there that deserve consideration.

In many of my circles, we tend to go round and round about which has the best features and is priced right.  Below is a comprehensive review of the three current leaders for virtual professional teams; Basecamp, Central Desktop and SmartSheet.

Basecamp

4 Plans Available:

• $24/mo:  15 projects, 5 GB Storage, Unlimited Users
• $49/mo: 35 projects, 15 GB Storage, Unlimited Users, Time Tracking
• $99/ mo: 100 projects, 30 GB Storage, Unlimited Users, Time Tracking
• $149/mo: Unlimited projects, 75 GB Storage, Unlimited Users, Time Tracking

Note they have 1 FREE plan available- 1 project, Unlimited Users, no file sharing

FREE 30 day trial

General Details:

• Their focus is on communication tools, very straightforward, easy to use technology with video screenshot overviews for each function (very idiot-proof!).
• Basecamp works with a variety of iPhone apps, third-party invoicing and time tracking tools, graphic design review software, widgets, and more.
• Allows for customized domain, color and branding  and logo upload.
• Central dashboard that shows updates and overview of all current projects- ranked by time sensitivity.

Key Features:

To Do List option which can be set to replicate as needed, append to any open milestone and it allows you to assign a person and date to each open to do item.  Note these can be marked for private viewing.

Easy File Sharing sorting and uploading- note the size limits listed above

Message Boards- *Key Feature*- one of our faves!

Keep all project related communication within the project (in Basecamp).  When msg is send from this feature, recipient may respond through their email and it will track (no need to sign in to respond).  Files may be attached here, comments may be posted within the msg (anything to decrease email right!?).

Milestones- The general key targets for project completion.  Another great feature here- they can feed into your iCal/ Outlook!  Related to-dos can also append onto each milestone.  Basecamp focuses onthis feature which allows for fast shifting of deadlines across the calendar, great for tracking goals. For example, if we were to make a task (To-Do) of writing an article, we could attach it to the milestone.  If the milestone needed to change dates, we could change its date and move all future milestones the same number of days to reflect the change. Basecamp also allows users to configure the new milestones so that they do not fall on a weekend.

Time Tracking- Web based time tracking- team members can enter time related to each task or project.  Comes in handy for PMs, and it has a report function which can be exported.  NOTE- this feature is only available for your team- clients do not have access to this feature.

Writeboards- Another fave here!  Stash all your notes, logins, links and details related to projects here.  Space for comments and note that this can be marked private (so only your team can view!).

One of the best features of BC are their customer service forums which are easy to navigate.

PROS:

• Straightforward, easy to use PM tool
• Great support forums for FAQs
• Great pre-sale website with demos, videos and screen shots
• Customizable branding options
• Strong alliances for app build-out (iphone, etc.)
  

CONS:

• Does not offer any sort of project charts
• Chat feature only available as an add-on- $12-$99 per month
• Does not support high level project tracking like you would see with more $$ PM systems

Central Desktop

From their site: Central Desktop’s Social Technology Platform provides a complete SaaS solution for businesses to collaborate, manage projects and connect their people.

4 plans available:

• Team Plan Free; 2 workspaces, 5 members per workspace, 25MB storage
• Team Plan 1; $25/mo, 3 workspaces, 10 members per workspace, 500MB storage
• Team Plan 2; $49/mo, 10 workspaces, 15 members per workspace, 1GB storage
• Company Plan 3; $99/mo, 25 workspaces, 25+ workspaces, 5GB storage– note this is the only package that includes SSL encryption, custom domain and branding

PROS:

• Offers recurring task assignments
• Offers client and project workspaces as well as company intranets
• Automated work order requests
• Offers project charts
• Optional add-on of web meetings ($35/mo)
• Task creation through email, task prioritization
• Chat function included
• Private and public workspaces
• Lengthy feature list
• Create text and spreadsheet files inside their application (online docs)
• Unique urls available for tasks for quick access
• Positive reviews on their search feature
• Chat feature linked to help desk
• Salesforce add-on

CONS:

• Complex platform, learning curve, not-so-easy navigation
• Confusion surrounding workspace and project concepts

As a reviewer I found their website (what is supposed to entice me to purchase) to be very complicated and uninformative.  No screen shots or bullet points of features were given which makes it a hard sell.  Online reviews from users were mostly positive.  Unfortunately this is why I can’t give a detailed overview of the moving parts!  Central Desktop (in my opinion) has aligned their branding to target corporate clients.

Smartsheet

Unique online collaboration tool designed to “think outside the box” of project management.  It is based on a spreadsheet-like paradigm, but promises collaboration and project tracking.  From their site-  “Great solution for managing a variety of tasks, projects and processes. It has intelligent collaboration capabilities and powerful reporting housed within a familiar spreadsheet interface.”

Pricing: note their pricing is based on “Sheet Creators” and all pkgs have unlimited “Viewers.”

• Basic- $9.95/mo; 1 Sheet Creator; 10 Sheets; 3GB file storage
• Advanced- $29.95/mo; 1 Sheet Creator; 50 Sheets; 15GB file storage; Gantt Charts, Custom Branding, Reporting, Survey Forms
• Team- $49.95/mo; 3 Sheet Creators; 150 Sheets; 30GB file storage; Gantt Charts, Custom Branding, Reporting, Survey Forms, Premium Support Pack
• Team Plus- $79.95/mo; 10 Sheet Creators; 500 Sheets; 60GB file storage; Gantt Charts, Custom Branding, Reporting, Survey Forms, Premium Support Pack
• Enterprise- $149.95/mo; 25 Sheet Creators; 1000 Sheets; 100GB file storage; Gantt Charts, Custom Branding, Reporting, Survey Forms, Premium Support Pack

30 day free trial

Pros:

• Video tutorial overviews (before purchase!)
• Designed to work with Google Apps products and Jott
• Sales pipeline included- with alerts,  follow-up and email tracking
• Crowdsourcing-Smartsheet Smartsourcing- def check out their demo on this!  Smartsheet is the only collaboration tool that makes it possible to connect to an on-demand workforce.
• Goals and Objectives tracking
• Product Management- prioritize features, track enhancement requests and manage product launches.  R&D as well as customer feedback options
• Gantt chart views
• View and edit sheets and reports from your iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile or Android smartphone
• Built in calendar and reminders for projects
• Discussion/ comments can be added to any smartsheet

CONS:

• Not a traditional project mgmt tool – must love and appreciate spreadsheets to use this tool!
• Very powerful, but comes with a learning curve- especially since it is so different than other PM tools.  Take the time to educate yourself on all the features
• Newbie on the market, so you know they’ll be working out the kinks

The three choices above each offer their own unique pros and cons.  Consider all three options as you make your decision about which PM system to implement in your business!

Evolve Your Biz Through Coworking in 2010!

Happy New Year to all! As we look back over 2009 and look forward to 2010 a great mantra comes to mind- Rather than creating a list of “resolutions” that quickly fade away (and leave us with deflated egos!), decide to evolve instead! As business owners and entrepreneurs, we are constantly forced to evolve our businesses to stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive.  Evolution is simply that- change over time.

What better way to focus on your biz evolutions than to spend the day working side by side with like-minded entrepreneurs! Coworking is a great way to get a change of scenery from your home (or bland corporate) office and hang in the presence of some of Philly’s brightest entreps. Share ideas, make connections and gain new perspectives- all of which are limited by the confines of your isolated cube!

Coworking is at it’s core about reciprocity- The mutual or cooperative interchange of favors or privileges; i.e., you give, you get. Your ideas and hindsight 20/20 reflections on lessons learned can translate across industries to help other professionals (new or veteran). In turn, those same peers have perspectives to share from their unique experiences that can help you as you work on your own business. This organic approach to business development promotes the open share of ideas with the common goal of improving all of our businesses in a collaborative process.

If you are committed to evolving your business in 2010, coworking is for you. Our group represents the open share of ideas and the strengthening of the entrepreneurial community here in Philadelphia across all industries.

We had a great turnout at our last event, and have an even bigger crowd registered for our event on 1/7. Check out some of our coworkers from December in our quickie vlog post: http://www.watchuslaunch.com/ and check out the pic below:

We would love to have you join us for our next coworking day!

Date: Thursday, January 7, 2010 starting at 10am

Location: Chapterhouse Cafe- we will be downstairs
620 South 9th Street Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 19147-2028

Learn more about the event and be sure to RSVP on our site.  Follow all of our participant tweets #EECoworking.

Why we LOVE Google!

I am not ashamed to admit that I have an obsession with Google and all of their fantastic products.  I run my businesses through Google, and everyone on my immediate team must have a google account.  Whenever we bring on new clients, I encourage them to make the switch to gmail, and find myself continually dishing out the details on why we love it so much.  So here, in one place, let me lay it all out.

Gmail.  This entire post will be dedicated just to gmail and it’s amazingly user-friendly and smart functionality (maybe we’ll cover other products like Cal and Docs in another post!).  If you are not currently using gmail to manage your email, you are missing out and most likely wasting time.  From a functional standpoint, perhaps the best feature of gmail is it’s email threading.  Never again will you need to scour through email chains to find responses.  Gmail appends one email to the next, so long as the subject remains the same.  This key feature keeps your correspondence neat, tidy and accessible.  And when in doubt, gmail has it’s own google search box at the top for a detailed search of your mailboxes.

In a close second would have to be gmail chat– including v-chat- gmail’s own video chat.  We use g-chat literally all day long to communicate.  It makes working independently much more interactive.  Everyone on the team knows that they can always reach me on g-chat, since my gmail is always open!  They recently introduced gmail video chat- which allows you to video chat with other gmail users.  This came in very handy this past summer when I was in Maine and my son in NJ!  We were able to see and talk to eachother at the push of a button!

So without overly obsessing on gmail, let me just mention a few more key (and mucho useful!) features- most of which you’ll need to manually add through your settings.

• (1) To do lists- this is a new addition.  Take your emails and with one click, add them to your to do list, which you can then add comments to,  and sync to your google cal!
• (2) Labels- gmail’s answer to folders.  Tag emails with as many labels as you like.  With one click, find all the emails under that particular label.  Want it out of your inbox, just archive it!  It takes some getting used to if you are coming from a folder system, but you will see the beauty of it when you can label one email with multiple relevant labels rather than sticking them in just one folder!
• (3)  Multiple identities- Add other email addresses (just about any email will work- hotmail, yahoo, work emails, etc) to your gmail account to send messages, receive messages, forward messages.  This is a key feature that allows me to keep one inbox with multiple aliases for multiple clients!
• (4) Attachment reminders- Seriously it is smart enough to know that if you mention an attachment in your email and actually forget to attach it,  gmail will remind you before you can send it!
• (5) And last but not least- gmail has an UNDO feature!  Oh yeah… sent out an email that was totally sent to the wrong person, or said something you had second thoughts about?  Right after you hit send, gmail gives you a few seconds to literally undo your msg, as though it was never sent- lifesaver!

Now I’m not saying you need to be as obsessed with gmail as I/we are, but Google definitely deserves some love for this amazingly useful product and their commitment to developing fabulous new tools to make it even cooler!

Feelin the love… Emily