As I was doing my nightly site stats check on Urchin I noticed my page-views experienced an incredible spike today. After checking my referrals I found a pleasant surprise: my site has been featured on the popular css showcase site cssmania. It has also managed to find its way on two other showcase sites called mostinspired.com and netvibes.com. Pretty cool!

Intrinsic is basically a paperless business. I get online bank statements, deliver electronic estimates and even send invoices through email. It’s amazing how much a paperless business can streamline not only the organizational elements of the business, but also my communication toward clients. Here are a few online services I use to help me achieve a tightly organized paperless business:

• Blinksale: Perhaps my greatest business utility. Blinksale is an all-inclusive online invoicing service that sends electronic statements through email. It also includes a robust contacts feature which I use as my main address book for adding and tracking clients and leads. Blinksale offers a free service plan that allows you to send up to 3 invoices per month which will give a great feel for how it functions.
• Backpack: After using 37 Signal’s amazing project management application called Basecamp, I was intrigued by their scaled down, $5 a month organization tool called Backpack. Backpack allows you to do many handy things including to-do lists, notes, calendar, and writeboards, which is a text editor designed for collaboration between multiple parties. The feature I like most about Backpack is it’s ability to email content to any page using a randomly generated email address. One can also use a third party plugin to send voice-notes from a phone to any Backpack page. Pretty Slick!
• Wells Fargo: I’ve recently opened a business account with Wells Fargo and am very pleased with it so far. It offers a great user interface to track spending reports and create automated savings plans, and electronic statements keep my mailbox nicely uncluttered.

Here are some interesting services I’m looking into:

• www.lifelock.com
• www.earthclassmail.com: Have all snail mail scanned and sent to your email in a PDF. The service will then shred and recycle your mail.

For the first year of business, I will be giving a 10% of the total project cost to anyone who refers business to me: no questions asked. Be sure to let me know who referred you so they can get rewarded.

Well, today is the official launching of the Intrinsic Studio Web-page! Between changing diapers, watching 24 and working on finishing up some other clients work I’ve finally wrapped it up. There were a few goals I wanted to achieve by launching the web-page:

1. Communicate my passion for my local community and personal connection. I want people to be able to know they can call, or meet with me at any time and for any reason. I realize that many business connections can survive on phone calls and emails, but I love face to face interaction. I believe it sets a stage for trust and reliability.
2. A simplified portfolio. At first, I planned to create a robust portfolio outlining the process and details that went into each project. I soon realized that when I view other designers portfolios I want to see work fast. I really don’t care about the details. I want to see the final product, and I want to be able to visit the site, and quickly return back to view more of their work. With this in mind, I created a blog style portfolio giving simple screenshots of each project, all on the same page.
3. Quick, web-based estimates. I’ve created a quick and simple page where inquiries can be made, and a promise to return them within an hour of there submission. I want people to realize I’m never to busy for them and take their inquiries seriously.

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