Updates!

So the police dinner went great, as you pretty people saw with my lovely pic of me and the Chief himself.

The pitch edits are going great. Working on three at once. Waiting for some Voice Over work from one guy, and graphic front ends from my designer extra-ordinaire Emma . Check out her reel folks. shes really good and super great to work with.  Emma's Reel.

More updates to come! SOOO BUSY

Taxes are no laughing matter

I made some mistakes the past couple days. I paid my taxes but I didn't file the paper work properly. So now I have to call the CRA. READ EVERYTHING THEY SEND YOU

Over Worked

I've been overworked and I've been swamped. There is a difference. Over Worked means you are at the end of the line. The stress of deadlines, the worry of making them, it eats at your ability to function properly. Everything becomes annoying.
Friends, family, those you love, especially those you love. Why?
They distract you from finishing your work!!!
Damn you love!
At then end, it's delivered, and you ask yourself, was it worth the effort?
Maybe.
One of my clients requires a fairly simple assemble with a massive 20-30 hour render. ANYTHING that goes wrong, and you've wasted days of render work. This precarious teetering urks me to no end.
Then another client is trying to rip me off by coming back and low balling me after AFTER I invoiced them. 
To top it off, I'm going to Banff to pitch some shows and I'm not quite done the edits needed.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I need better time management.
Back to multi tasking.
AChoo.

Produced the Toronto Police Chiefs Dinner

Hi Ya'll. I've been swamped to high heaven. From making shorts for all my pitches going to Banff, to producing awesome floor shows, I do NOT STOP>
This time it was the Chief of Police Dinner at the Liberty Grande.
What a great event. Barking Mad Media was hired by the always lovely and talented Rachel Woodman who is doing a stint at the Michael Communications.

There were hick-ups which I will talk about shortly, but mostly. it went smoothly. I edited SUPER fast, directed my camera peeps, overall it was good being the producer instead of the camera op.
Now its on to other bigger and better things!

Jeff

So Much Work

I'm not one to complain about the amount of work I have ahead of me. So I won't ! Ha.
Right now, I am compressing finals for a Video Wall in Joe Fresh Stores. Scanning photos for a tribute video, Downloading content shot today to my drives, and prepping another two edits I have due this week.
AND I have Rogers in the morning.

I love it.
I'm also producing the Policeman's Ball, designing content for the big show, and prepping for training and re-branding of Turtle Jacks.

Busy busy.

I did however find out that a certain group of people may have stolen a show I worked on. I need more proof, and I need to talk to a few people about it, but there is a good chance I got screwed over.
We shall see.

Small Business Made Easy. My first thoughts on Ceridian for Small Business

The Small Business Run's This Country.

Building a business is not for the feint of heart. The majority of employment in Canada is from small business. Many of you who run franchises, services, manufacturing, etc etc all know that with a great product comes reams and reams of paper work that you don't either have the ability, inclination or time to do. You tend to have a litany of lawyers and accountants handling everything from book keeping, to payroll to whatever. And it costs a pretty penny.

In the creative field, most of my fellow artists, writers, designers, whomever, always seem to neglect the business aspect. I was constantly hesitant in starting my own business simply because I feared the paper work. I needed an accountant to file my taxes, I needed a book keeper, I needed a lawyer, I needed this and that and the other thing.

It's bloody overwhelming. For an artist who is so focused on his craft, it can be downright frightening.

Things can quickly get out of control. You forget to file with the CRA, and the penalties will come fast and hard. I know personally of a couple who ran a design business that didn't file with the CRA and ended up closing simply because of fines.

I hear it all the time. "Jeff, I really want to go out on my own, but where do I file this? How to I calculate that? Can I write this off or is it not valid? AHHH"

It's scary and I sure as hell don't have all the answers.
In the past, companies would go to a large firm to handle payroll, have 3 or 4 HR personnel, have lawyers for employee issues ... Those costs grow fast and furious.
Hell, I know that when I started making over the allotted amount where you had to file HST, I was damn near panicky. 

I thought as a small business owner, who hired freelancers and part time crew, that I was stuck managing it all. I KNEW that there was no umbrella solution for me and I had to cut a check to my "Paperwork Pals" for ever "t" crossed and "i" dotted. Hell, I didn't even think I would even qualify for someone like Ceridian who handles all payroll matters.

Well, until I actually spoke to Ceridian. There is no other product like this offered in Canada, that I know of.

What Happened

I went to an intimate event as a guest of Helen Hatzis. helenhatzis.com

 I thought I was going to get some pitch for some new software package for doing payroll.

Nick, the VP gave a pretty good presentation. Great pitch.  Was pretty conversational, and you all know how much I prefer conversations.
The Good

Ceridian is now offering a whole slew of small business tools to help manage payroll, employee issues, HR issues, even legal issues if it arises. It's pretty snazzy and I don't normally say that about everything. I would be remiss if I didn't have a criticism for something though so there is a GOod and an Iffy.

Check out the site here.

Ceridian For Small Business.
Watch their quirky video first.

These are a few features I really liked.

1) Reduce Paper work. Focus on YOUR Work - I hate paperwork. Sure I write and bitch a lot, but filling out forms, making sure it's done properly...ugh, shoot me.
The fact they handle all the tedium makes me happy. Another point here for these guys.

2) Mobile - Nowadays, being mobile and current keeps you on track. Having apps that allow you to pay, and manage employees, makes sense.

3) CRA Compliance This stuff is scary. Bet you didn't know that if you don't offer training in Workplace Bullying you could face penalties and fines and even imprisonment?


The Iffy
The product is not for everyone. It's strongly focuses on manufacturing and retail and may not fit my companies erratic project based services. I would have to do more research on it.

I don't always have employees (cept me) and a lot of the time I hire freelancers. A lot of artists just do their own work and rarely take their own salaries.
 I work in a wonky field that fits somewhere between Plumbing, Baking, and Psychic Readings.


If it's just to deal with my own salary, sure it's something to consider as it makes my life easier.What I need to do is plot my hours spent doing paperwork and see if it's worth the starting price.

The other thing is, it's missing a couple components I would love to see.

Payroll is Ceridian's Joy De Vie, and their Secret Sauce is it's scalability, but, I'm greedy, I want more.

Things like Corporate Tax Filings, HST Remittance, Minute Book. Stuff I'm still forced to hire a lawyer and another accountant to put together.

I know you guys handle payroll, but imaging being the singular one stop shop for business management? Niiicccce.

What Does Jeff Think?
Ceridian has put together a really neat, comprehensive, and easy to access package for small business payroll management. It's smart, quick to navigate and saves you money and time. Two things most of us lack.
They've pretty much sold me on it. I'll look into picking a package once I'm done more of my research.

I still dream though.... of a holistic service, wearing red and blue tights, rescuing small kitties from trees, putting out fires and explaining to me the difference between remittance and payment. AHHH Taxes... Why is it called a schedule? What the hell are you Scheduling?

Check it out guys. Don't be afraid to start a small business. Now the tools are available, there is little excuse to not take a chance.