setbacks

I’ve been diligently inputting info into this publishing financial software program. It’s been tedious but I was under the impression that information added to the trial version would still be there if we decided to buy the program. Then yesterday I tried to restore a backup copy of the database and wound up wiping out the whole thing, everything I’d added gone. Going over the documentation I realized that it all would have been wiped out when we upgraded to the full version anyway. Although the program itself seems useful it is also very unforgiving. For instance once you make up an invoice you can’t change or delete it. What are the chances that we’ll NEVER make a mistake on an invoice?

I think organization is going to be the key to growing this business. Two people can only do so much and if we’re unorganized everything will take that much longer. Plus we’ll spend a lot of time fixing mistakes. Unfortunately there is a very limited amount of publisher’s software available on the Mac and we can’t afford to pay $5000 for the more expensive programs.

I’m now looking into generic business software like Quickbooks and FileMaker Pro. I think these programs could work but they aren’t customized for Publishing so it will take quite a bit of experimenting and ingenuity to get a working system setup and I’m no expert in databases or finances.

On the organization T-I-P we did order a desk for the new computer and a filing cabinet. Maybe I’m putting too much hope in the filing cabinet but I see it as the savior that will rescue us from teetering stacks of manuscripts and marauding homeless sheets of paper.