The learning curve

Learning new ways to work with Clients & Profits was the biggest challenge for the Spot Color staff, Jennifer says. But not because the program is particularly difficult, she adds, but because "we needed to get used to taking different steps." Spot Color staff members are now accustomed to entering their time at the end of each day and creating job tickets when new work comes in, which is a big improvement over the pre-Clients & Profits era.

Now that they rely on Clients & Profits, the studio is more organized. Instead of searching desks and files for job information, staff members turn to Clients & Profits. It empowers the staff, Jennifer says, "because they can find information quickly even if the person assigned to a job is not in the studio." The bottom line, according to Jennifer, is the studio's success. "Spot Color would have remained a three-person shop in my basement if it weren't for Clients & Profits."

"Clients & Profits let me start designing again."

Clients & Profits has given Jennifer much more confidence with job reports, billing, and financial statements.

Now she always knows how much money she has, why she has it, and where it is being spent. So Jennifer now has more time to do what she loves: design. "Clients & Profits," she says, "let me start designing again."

With some of that new-found time Jennifer took on the redesign of Choosing Children's Software, a magazine devoted to selecting age-appropriate software for kids. When the client approached Spot Color, the magazine was a desktop-published quarterly with a circulation of about 200. Spot Color gave the publication a killer design and snappy graphics. Now, Choosing Children's Software has a press run of 20,000 and can be purchased from major booksellers, such as Borders and Barnes & Noble.