Klok week view

When doing work on commission or for later resale it is import to know how much time you have in the project.  Knowing how much time you spend working on different aspects of your work will allow to better price your work.  Klok is an advance time tracking program that uses the Adobe Air platform.  You can set up a project in Klok for each commission you have, allowing you to keep tabs of your time for each separately.  Klok also allows you  to set up sub projects under each project, which is great for commissions that require multiple phases.  For example if you a client commissions you to re-sculpt portions of a model and paint,  you can set up sub projects for, re-sculpting/repositioning work, prepping, and finish work.

To keep your time in Klok you can add blocks of time after you have completed working for the day or you can use Klok’s built-in time that works like stop watch so you can start and stop time as you are working.

If you have another method of keeping track of time let us know in the comments.

Boxoh :: http://boxoh.com/

If you need to simply track a package the quickest way is Boxoh. Just paste the tracking code of a package from any of the major carriers and Boxoh will show you a map of where your package is and the route it has taken to get there.

PkgTrack:: http://www.pkgtrack.com/

If you are sending and receiving lots of packages at any given time then PkgTrack is for you. PkgTrack saves all of your of inbound and outbound shipments that you are tracking so you can view their status with a quick glance. You can add packages via their webpage where you give them an alias and mark them as inbound or outbound. You can also forward emails with tracking codes to PkgTrack and it will automatically add the tracking details to your “My Shipments” area. Once a package is delivered, it will be moved to the completed shipments area untill you remove it from PkgTrack.

Ship Gooder :: http://shipgooder.com/

Ship Gooder is a multi Service postage calculator. Get quick and easy quotes from the website or by adding their postage widget to your website or sale add to give estimates to your customers. On the downside it seems that Ship Gooder has removed UPS from the shipping calculations since I first found the site.

Shipping Assistant :: http://www.usps.com/shippingassistant/

Shipping Assistant is a desktop shipping tool from USPS to print labels from your computer. Shipping Assistant only prints the labels you have to pay for shipping at the Post Office unless you rent a Pitney Bows unit to print your postage. The benefits of Shipping Assistant are that all of your shipment records are in one place, you can save address to an address book and you get a substantial reduced rate on delivery conformation. You can also create Shipping/Customs labels for overseas packages as well. So there is no need to guess as to which customs forms to use.

Shipurance :: http://www.shipsurance.com

Shipurance offers a discounted price for insurance over insurance bought directly from the shipping services. If you are and artist or dealer shipping a higher volume of items than the average person they offer a flat monthly rate as well. Ship Insurance will give you a quote for your specific shipping needs. Before using this service be sure to thoroughly read through the site to verify that your item is covered.

Don't let frustration get the best of you.

Smashing Magazine has posted a very good article that breaks down clients into eight different types giving keys and statements to identify each type of client.  The article goes onto suggest how to better handle each of them.

The different types listed in the article includes:

• The Passive-Aggressive
• The Family Friend
• The Under-Valuer
• The Nit-Picker
• The Scornful Saver
• The “I-Could-Do-This-Myself”-er
• The Control Freak
• The Dream Client

Being able to identify the type of client you are dealing with will prepare you for the job ahead. It will also help you decide whether to accept the job in the first place. Your contract will reflect the power dynamics of the project, so the more you know about the client, the better able you will be to adjust the contract as necessary.

While Smashing magazine is a web/ graphic design related blog many of these pointers can save you from frustration with your clients when they commission work from you.

Read this article on Smashing Magazine