Marie Kondo has helped us organize our stuff. A custom app can help you organize your time, your data, your projects, your inventory, you money – any part of your daily life that doesn’t exist in the physical world, as well as some things that do.
I design custom apps for myself and for clients in FileMaker Pro. Recently, I created a new custom app for myself. It has reminded me of the transformative power of organization and order. And it showed me, yet again, how a custom app can be life-changing.
Here are stories from my customers and how I designed a custom app that redesigned my work life.
What is a custom app?
There are lots of apps available to help you manage your time, money, projects, etc. A custom app is built to your specifications to solve your specific problem and organize you data in a way that makes sense to you. When I refer to a custom app, I’m talking about a database. I work with a database program called FileMaker Pro, which can create custom apps to run on your computer, phone, or tablet.
Client stories
Before I made my own life-changing app, my clients showed me the transformation that a custom app can bring.
For example, for one client, I updated a billing database and added scripts to automate processes that had been done by hand. I talked with the department about their workflow and figured out what their custom app should do.
To make this billing app work better, I added a system to automatically email other departments a list unclaimed charges. After this change, the number of unclaimed charges dropped to almost zero. I also added a billing form powered by scripts, so they could send bills from their custom app with a click of a button.
A few months later, the department supervisor pulled me aside. She told me that the person who primarily used the database seemed happier now that she was able to do her monthly billing more quickly and with assurance that she wasn’t missing anything. By taking much of the burden of her workload off her shoulders, the database improved her quality of life.
My life before the app
In my freelance business, I have a custom app for billing. But, at the beginning of this year, I was still using multiple spreadsheets to track projects for different clients.
My old system worked well enough when I had just a few big clients. As my business expanded to add more clients and many small projects, I found myself writing lists on pieces of paper to track all my deadlines. When I was ready to start a new project, I had to hunt through emails or open a spreadsheet to review the instructions.
I love my work and I am delighted with my new clients. But I was so stressed by the challenge of juggling deadlines that I began to dread going to work in the morning. I lived in constant fear that I would miss a deadline.
At the same time, I had no idea which clients were profitable and which were not. Most of my work is project-based rather than hourly. I wasn’t tracking the hours I spent on each project to assess whether my fees covered the time each project required.
Something had to give. Since I work alone, project-management software doesn’t work for me. So, I created a custom app.
What I wanted my custom app to do
Before I created my app, I made a list of the things I wanted to accomplish. My list looked like this:
- Track all project due dates in one place.
- Provide a single place to store instructions on every project.
- Estimate how much time each project will take and record how much time it actually took.
- Record projected fees for each project and track expected income for my work by the week, month, and year.
- Calculate estimated and actual hourly rates for projects billed at a flat rate.
Space to store all the details about a project
My project tracking database isn’t complicated. The detailed information I need on each client is already in my billing database.
I started by creating an Assignment Detail layout.
Over time, as I worked in the database, I added more features . If a project is writing, several extra fields appear to track the details of my writing projects.
There’s a pull-down list of types of writing projects. I also enter the word count assigned for the project. That gives me important information about what a client or editor expects and also the amount of detail I should plan to include.
I enter my projected hours. The database calculates the hourly rate based on the fee I entered. I enter the actual hours worked and the database calculates my actual hourly rate.
Long Description is a button that opens a box with lots of room to enter detailed instructions.
I added a red button to quickly delete an entry, if needed.
When I finish a project, I click Completion date. A script enters the current date and changes the status to Completed.
Reports are the most powerful feature of my custom app
I created two tables to pull all my projects together. These are the power at the center of my custom app.
My Open Assignments layout shows me upcoming deadlines. The report breaks down projects by the week and month. I can see at a glance whether my workload meets my earning goals. I can also see how many hours I have scheduled. When a client asks if I have time to take on a new project, I am able to give a realistic estimate of when I can deliver the work.
The Completed Assignments layout shows me the projects I have finished. I can use this report to look back over past weeks and see how much work I can realistically expect to complete in a week, based on real data and not my fantasy of how much I can get done in one day.
Both of my report layouts include buttons to go back to the Assignment Detail for each assignment. When I’m ready to work on something, I click the arrow and I have all the information I need to start working on the project in one place. When I finish, I mark the project completed and move down my list of open assignments to the next project.
The life-changing power of a custom app
I hoped that this custom app would help me manage my work life more productively. I didn’t expect the profound changes to it has brought to my work and my life.
Within a couple of days of starting to build out and use the app, my anxiety about my workflow left. The app visualized my workflow, including when projects were due, in a simple, readable format. I was in charge of my work week. Instead of hunting for information to start each project, I simply move down the list and click the arrow to see the details of each assignment.
The Completed layout gamifies my workflow. I love pushing the Completed button and watching tasks move from Open to Completed. Each week, as I watch the Open list shrink and the Completed list grow, I have the satisfaction of knowing I’m getting work done for my clients.
I’m clear about how much I can work and how much I need to work. I work more efficiently and my income has gone up.
To my surprise, I’m also sleeping better. I feel calm and ready to get to bed earlier. And I rarely toss and turn because of anxiety about the work I have to do the following day.
I love being a freelance writer. I love designing databases. But the stress of juggling multiple assignments almost made my business unworkable. My custom app has helped me fall in love with my career all over again.
What can a custom app do for you?
Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about your dream custom app, tell me your database success stories, or ask questions about FileMaker Pro. In my next post, I’ll review the questions to ask yourself before you get a custom app.