How to Integrate Dropbox and Daylite Projects

January 27, 2012 on 8:00 am | Mike

Using cloud storage to share files amongst team members has become fairly common in recent years. Dropbox has become the leader in this category by making their product so bullet proof reliable that you eventually stop thinking about whether your files have sync’d and just use it like any other folder on your computer. If you haven’t used Dropbox yet, go sign up for a free trial account now. It’s okay, we’ll wait…

An easy way to integrate a Daylite Project and Dropbox together is by using file references that point to a project files folder stored on your Dropbox. Optionally, this folder can be shared with other team members too*. With file references, you can point to either a local file, or a website URL. We’ll use a URL in this case, so that no matter which team member clicks on the file reference, it will take them to the correct folder.

We’ve made a 60 second video that shows how this works:

* Check out the Dropbox help site for more info on how to share a project.

 

 


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Mac Backup Strategies

January 24, 2012 on 8:18 pm | Ryan

Some great backup advice from Haystack Software, starting with an important point:

Assume your hard drive will fail very soon.
Expect imminent disk failure no matter how old or new your hard drive is.

Even a brand new, fancy SSD can fail at any time. “A few days later he wrote back saying the SSD was the culprit.” writes a customer of Haystack Software’s Arq, an online Backup tool for Mac.

Backup is a MUST.

Backing up your computer is always an important thing for any user to do – home or business. Just like you don’t want to lose your family photo library, losing critical documents, or key operational data, like a customer database for example would be just as tragic for a business. If you’re using your computer for any reason really, backing up simply isn’t an option – it’s a MUST.

You might have your contacts and calendars, some of your files in Dropbox or iCloud maybe, but what about everything else? Even losing things like your applications and passwords could mean quite a bit of downtime and lost money if you have to start over. Everyone should consider all aspects of their digital lives and make sure their backup strategy is automated, simple and redundant.

The guys at Haystack have put together a great article outlining the 7 facets of a good Mac backup strategy. It’s a great reminder to ensure your backup plan is in order, or wakeup call to make sure you create one.


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Daylite for iPad featured by Apple

January 24, 2012 on 12:38 pm | Ryan

Apple has featured Daylite for iPad in their Customer Relationship Management document, on their iPad at Work page.

The PDF document helps explain how iPad can be used successfully to manage businesses relationships:

iPad is an incredible mobile sales tool to help you manage your customer relationships. With Wi-Fi + 3G connectivity and an amazing 10-hour battery life, iPad keeps you connected throughout the day to command the facts you need, so you’re always prepared for all your client meetings. The instant-on capability of iPad gives you immediate access to your company’s customer relationship management (CRM) data—whether you’re onsite at a customer meeting, in the office, or on the road.

Daylite’s highlighted as one of iPad’s most useful apps for managing customer relationships. When you’re looking up customer information on the go, you don’t just see their personal information. You see the appointments you have with them, the tasks to do for them, and the notes and email correspondence you’ve had with them. You also see what companies they’re with and their roles at those companies. Everything you need to know about your customer is available, right at your fingertips.

We believe CRM is just a part of growing a business – not the whole picture. Daylite is a business productivity manager, offering tools to help you keep track of your schedule, the projects you’re working on, and the team you work with, and more. And it doesn’t stop there of course, as Daylite’s also available for your Mac and iPhone.

Apple’s iPad in Business site also features some great stories of cool companies using iPad in business – they’re definitely worth checking out.

Daylite is also being showcased on iPads in Apple’s Retail stores, which is pretty neat! It’s great to see that Apple (and the rest of the world) see iPad as a serious business tool.

daylite touch on ipad apple retail


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Interview with Photographer Jim Jordan

January 13, 2012 on 12:35 pm | Ryan

Pictage recently did an interview entitled “Inside Jim Jordan’s Black Box.” with a well known photographer that also happens to be a Daylite user.

In the interview Jim discusses his transition from working as a celebrity hair and makeup artist into building a very successful photography business.

He attributes a good deal of his success to building solid relationships, something Daylite helped him achieve.

I built my professional network through relationships with the talent I worked with, and by using an online database called “Adbase” to find clients. This database helped me identify contacts at the biggest companies and agencies, and then enabled me to make new connections that I wouldn’t have otherwise found. I organized these contacts in my personal database that I customized using “Daylite” by Marketcircle.

Jim’s also featured in a Daylite photography case study on our website, where he goes more in depth about his Daylite usage.


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Macworld/iWorld iFan Pass Giveaway: Enter & Win!

January 12, 2012 on 3:26 pm | Ryan

We’ll be at Macworld/iWorld in just a couple weeks in the OS X Zone and really hope to see some of you there!

We’ve been given 3 Macworld/iWorld iFan passes (valued at $125 each) to giveaway to three lucky followers. If you don’t win this week, keep an eye on our Twitter for two more chances in the coming weeks.

The passes include unlimited access to:

  • Over 65 Tech Talks (Formerly known as the Users Conference)
  • Music Experiences: (all currently announced daily and nightly performances). iFanPass holders will also have first option to purchase tickets to the Macworld/iWorld Opening Night BLAST Featuring Modest Mouse.
  • Film Events
  • Art Showings
  • Macworld | iWorld Midway
  • Exhibit Hall

To win a free pass:

Entering is really easy. All you need to do is:

  1. Make sure you’re following @Marketcircle on Twitter
  2. Retweet this tweet about our Macworld giveaway before Tuesday, January 24th at 4:00 PM EST

UPDATE: our third and final Twitter winner is @joelberghoff – thanks to everyone who entered :)

We’ll pick a winner randomly from everyone who tweeted on Tuesday before 6:00 PM EST.

UPDATE: our second Twitter winner is @ddougan – congrats to everyone that entered, and stay tuned next week for another chance to win!

UPDATE: our first Twitter winner is @danacion – congrats to everyone that entered, and stay tuned next week for another chance to win!


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Say hello to Marketcircle at Macworld/iWorld 2012

January 4, 2012 on 12:09 pm | Ryan

marketcircle macworld 2012

Once again we were speculating about exhibiting at Macworld, but after some thought we decided we just can’t give up the face-to-face opportunity with all the people we meet with – the customers, prospects, and other software developers.

This year, we’ll be showcasing our latest product, Billings Pro with Marketcircle Cloud, as well as our award-winning Daylite and Billings products.

So please come support the show and stop by our booth to say hello. We’ll be in the Mac OS X Zone, at booth #228.

The show is taking place from January 26th – 28th, 2012, and is located at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Visit the Macworld Expo website for show hours and specific location.

Oh, and if you’d like a free pass, visit this Macworld Expo link and fill in your details. We only have a hundred free passes, so grab them quickly!

^ all the passes have been given away


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Thanks & Happy Holidays!

December 23, 2011 on 2:58 pm | AJ

We appreciate your business! Without you, we simply wouldn’t be around – plain and simple.
We’ve been a bit quiet of late, however, we look forward to providing you with better products and services in 2012 and earning your continued support.

So, from the crew here at Marketcircle, I’d like to say a big Thank-You and extend a hardy, relaxing Happy Holidays and Prosperous New Year!

Happy Holidays

Until next time…
AJ & The Marketcircle Team


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Billings Pro 1.5.5 Available Now

December 23, 2011 on 10:04 am | AJ

Billings Pro 1.5.5 is finally available on the Mac App Store.
It has some important fixes for our Cloud users – essentially better error handling.

If you are a cloud user, I urge you to update.
If you are a self serve user, it is a nice update, but not absolutely necessary.

You can get the update from this screen on the Mac App Store.

Until next time…
AJ


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Cloud Rolling Downtime this weekend

December 2, 2011 on 4:05 pm | Ryan

Over the weekend, we’ll be moving accounts from a problematic server cluster to a new one. The move will take about 10 minutes per account.

The downtime will be intermittent beginning at 7:00 pm EST today, starting with our European customers and working our way to our Australian customers. Our plan is to move your account when you are sleeping :)

Customers on other clusters will not be affected.

You can continue to use Billings Pro and Billings Pro Touch during this time.

A number of customers have experienced problems during the month of November. Putting our money where our mouth is, we’re not going to charge any Marketcircle Cloud customer for the month of November.


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Willie The Bee Man

December 1, 2011 on 1:26 pm | Ryan

Our latest two case studies both come from Willie The Bee Man, an expert in bee removal.

Willie uses both Daylite and Billings Pro to help manage his company’s busy schedule and invoicing processes.

Because of Daylite:

“The technicians can complete more bee removal jobs in a day because of the better organization and planning”

And with Billings Pro, Willie said:

“I receive payments faster, and address customer satisfaction issues quicker because I have more time to spend with clients”

Also, a big thanks to Tito at MacWorks for helping WIllie and his team get setup.