Victim or Perpetrator?

If you're in professional services of any type, where you have to put a price tag on your time, this definitely happens to you. If you are not, it's likely you're doing this to people delivering professional services to you.

Let's look back, for a moment, to my post "Thank You For Your Time" -- are you expressing gratitude to people for their one finite commodity, their time?

Service professionals in all industries struggle with the question of pricing. The actual real value of the dollar fluctuates constantly, the purchase power of each greenback gets weaker by the moment, housing, stocks, retirement savings plans, investments, everything around us is bouncing around like a yo-yo on a daily basis, but we need to have a snapshot fixed hourly or service-based rate that we can quote to people. Or perhaps today we're sending out a 20-page proposal on a 6-month contract and trying to gaze deeply into our crystal ball and project our financial needs for 6-months + the period of time we'll be looking for the next contract + padding for inflation and emergencies over 6 months, and oh yeah a profit margin so maybe we can actually advertise.

But for some reason, people have little or no respect for time -- our one finite commodity. As they firmly grasp and push forward the hands of our lifetime clock, taking our time that we will never get back, the mechanisms screaming protest in clockwork agony, they hold onto their wallets for dear life. Money, however, is an asset that you can quite readily get. Ask any affiliate marketer, you can get a residual income for an up-front investment. That up-front investment, again, is time. But it will continually pay off, the check's in the mail from the company paying you a commission. If you ask law of attraction aficionados money is ready to come to you in great quantities once you free yourself from disbelief and actually act on your dreams, fulfill your mission in life and STOP WASTING TIME by getting in your own way.

Even as they lengthen our lives with medicines, cybernetic enhancements, nanoprobes, and everything that the creativity of science can leverage against the Reaper, lives will still run out. We can squeeze only so much out of life before it is gone. With the caveat of a few people on ice awaiting immortality.

So why do people "leak minutes" on the boob tube? (I don't) Why do we often commit sins of robbing others of their time and being stingy on the compensation? While we should come at this with an attitude of gracious thankfulness, instead we hang on to our wallet when someone is willing to leverage their expertise, blood, sweat, and most especially precious moments to further our cause. It's perhaps one of the leading causes of burnout amongst the experts, since we always have to fight for the right to feed our families, insure our business, plan our financial future. Hear the sound of clients crying in agony, clinging to their wallets like we were ripping out their heart, when what they're paying for is the ransom for saving them that one absolutely finite commodity -- time.

If you could do it yourself, in less time than it takes you to make that money, and with the same quality, then you should do it yourself. What you are hiring is higher quality than you can produce, with less of a <cough> commitment <cough> of your time (remember: the pig is committed*), far less stress, and the ability to "set it and forget it" with regard to achieving the results you need. You decide what price that's worth to you, and PLEASE save the expert a lot of time by telling us up-front if there's a hard price limit on what that's worth to you. We shouldn't spend 5 hours writing the 20 page proposal if we can tell we'll need over $15,000 to do the work, but your hard limit is $10,000.

Below is a video message that's absolutely brilliant. I think it was meant to be funny, but I didn't laugh. I thought I would share it to help you understand the patent ridiculousness of arguing with service professionals who have set their fees, or poured over your RFP to give you a quote.

Are you the victim or perpetrator? Enjoy:






Perhaps this can help change people's attitudes? Here's my wishful-thinking:

If you're in need of an expert's services...quit haggling. If you must, ask if the price is final, or if there's budge room, but don't whine if the quote is final. Perhaps removing a few unnecessary items from a quote will lower the price to an acceptable fee for excellent service. You can save precious minutes, or hours if you keep requesting revisions to a quote -- both yours and the professionals. And if you're more interested in price than the high quality of the professional who gave you the quote, ask: "Do you know someone who can provide a comparable service for $1000?" Cut to the chase. Everyone can save some grey hairs on the issue.

On the service person's end: if you've poured over pricing and you think it's fair -- It Is! Quit letting customers haggle. If you really feel that you want to work with them, level with them: "What exactly are you willing to pay?" Then decide whether you can remove some items from the list of deliverables to bring it down to their price, but don't compromise. If there's no equitable solution cut your losses, reclaim precious minutes and walk away. Someone so willing to haggle over everything is going to be a source of pain for every moment while you're on the job. If you lower your prices, you will resent doing the work. You shouldn't charge money if your very best will be tinged with resentment or regret. Don't low-ball yourself by jumping the gun and offering lower fees if the potential client hesitates. Just keep your trap shut and wait. Either they want you or they don't want you: they'll speak with their wallet.

*In the making of the average american breakfast, the chicken and cow are involved, the pig is committed.

Pack Rat and Synchronicity

I'm an unashamed pack-rat. It's my doom, especially in a small home. It's also occasionally enabled those odd moments of synchronicity to occur. Right now is one of those times. Being organized is exceptionally important, mind you. But I get stressed out when I go on the occasional tossing streak, because at the time I collected something, I probably had a reason for it, whether conscious or subconscious.

Flashback to something like 2-3 years ago, when I was frequently combing Craigslist for what was going on in the Hudson Valley. My eye was caught by an ad for massage space by the hour. On the surface, I thought Maxine Ward, my favorite massage therapist could use the space for her practice. I gave the info to Maxine, but held on to it myself. It tickled my mind somewhere -- I couldn't let that paper go. I found it during a descavation (that's to say the digging out of one's desk under long-standing rubble). Try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to categorize it, and I couldn't figure out what to do with it. So, it being on a Post-It™ note, I just stuck it to my desktop almost under my keyboard -- it was temporary. I'd do something with it shortly.

I did. A few days later, under the sounds of jackhammers, and exchange students with dust masks and brushes gingerly brushing the sand off the desktop, I got annoyed at said Post-It™ note. I have this wonderful saying captured from a judge from the MyDreamApp.com competition:

I welcome with open arms any tool that tries to make me more organized! But I have one reservation about this idea –– and this is largely a personal problem ––— to me, Post-It notes are, in a way, the very opposite of organization. They're 3 inch squares of pastel-packed institutionalized chaos, the paper product demon spawn of Lucifer himself. What starts with one simple Post-It note "Don'’t forget to e-mail Ged!" quickly devolves into four hundred incomprehensible notes saying things like "magic beans" and "do thing".

During the descavation, my partner Chris (yeah, Chris) laughs because I'll find pieces of sticky note that are rendered completely undecipherable by time. The exchange student hands me something that might be useful, or beetle dung. I just exclaim "Magic Bean!" or "Do Thing!" and throw it out. My partner chuckles.

I was having a "Do Thing!" moment when looking at this note. I grabbed it, crumpled it, tossed it into the recycling with dozens of other Post-It™s. Then the little voice in my head said "Noooooo!" and it turned into a scene from Indiana Jones, with everyone rushing to the precipice of a newly uncovered chamber of some ancient Pharaoh's tomb. I dove nearly head-first into my recycle bin and fished it out. I had it -- I knew suddenly why I had been holding on to that piece of paper for Two Years. I was becoming a coach, business & life coach, and there was no way with my towers of pack-rat-itis that I'd have clients peacefully recline in my home office and tell me their dreams. No. Nope. No-way.

Suddenly the piece of paper was a string of rubies, the collar of the Pharaoh's wife, a new sarcophagus. I could use this woman's hourly massage room to coach clients. The heavens opened up, and pixie dust rained down on me. An epiphany.

Today she returned my call, and we're meeting later this week. You can tell I'm a little excited.

Was this an epiphany, design of my conspiratorial subconsious, the world's Abundance, divine design, or just a coincidence? I don't care!! "What does it matter--you weren't looking anyway." (What Dreams May Come) I wrote to Cindy Marsh-Croll, professional organizer, just to let her know:

Score: 1 for being a Pack-Rat.

But then again, if it weren't for Croll Organizing, there would have been no descavation at this site in the first place. Thank you, Cindy for teaching me that there might be some treasures, or even an ancient city, buried on my desk. I might even find Atlantis!

Note: Post-It™ is a trademark, probably registered, of its respective trademark holders and thus I didn't manufacture or attempt to claim the label as my own....I just tried throwing it out.

Note 2: My son wants me to make another disclaimer. I disclaim my ability to make another disclaimer on his behalf. I'm just doing this because it makes him laugh.

Business Brainstorming & new website

But Molly pushed him aside and went up to the unicorn, scolding her as though she were a strayed milk cow. "Where have you been?" Before the whiteness and the shining horn, Molly shrank to a shining beetle, but this time it was the unicorn's old dark eyes that looked down. "I am here now," she said at last.
Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn (quote from book, link to video clip)

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Small Business Challenges - Dec 4, 2008"][/caption]

I moderated at an Orange County Chamber business brainstorming forum on Thursday last week with 26 people participating. It's called "Small Business Challenges" and is touted as a peer idea generation forum. We split into tables of up to 6 people. Here's a paraphrase of how I introduced the meeting:

To steal a phrase that may date back several hundred years: "No matter where you go, there you are." It doesn't really matter how we got to where we are, we're here now. And we need to move on from here. Whether we're in a recession, or a depression, it's the first time we're in this situation in the new Information Age, and just like every time it's happened before, it's unique unto itself. Hats off to every person who says "But this time it's different..." because they're right. And that's a good reason to celebrate. Let's make history together!

We need to think differently, start doing different things, so we can get different results. Today we're borrowing the ideas of other people to help us to think differently about our business, to make new plans, to revise our goals. Meet your temporary board of directors sitting at your table with you. Keep an open mind and let them help you.

There are plenty experts out there, plenty books to read, but unless they know you and your particular business or industry, their advice has to remain generic. It needs to fit many other business, many other people. Today we're here to address our specific issues, in our specific industries, within our specific situation, and figure out how to go on from here.

If you hung your coat at the coat check, please picture that you've hung your fear there with it. We're not here to be angry or frightened. We're here to move on into a new and exciting future, to marshall our considerable resources to tackle our own challenges, and to help others with our creativity.

---

The feedback on the session is excellent. We'll be tweaking the format and it will return on February 10th. If you need help before February, please consider requesting a one-on-one brainstorming session, or attend my small group brainstorming sessions in the meantime. I will gladly lead other larger business brainstorming sessions for other business organizations, have one-on-one brainstorming sessions with you, or you may come to The Crissing Link group sessions. Please see http://LiberateYourBusiness.net for more information and testimonials.

Here's to the crazy ones.[...]Because the ones crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Apple Computers, Think Different

Organizing Contacts & Clients

Here's my low-tech tip for how to organize all those business cards you (should!) have been getting at all the networking events you have been going to (you HAVE been networking, right????!?). I have an address book in my computer, I have a Palm, I have considered whether or not to enter "ALL" business cards I collect into an electronic medium, but so far I've found an easier (for me) way to keep business cards at my fingertips.

It involves several 1.5 & 2 inch 3-ring binders, and Avery (or similar) business card sheets -- these sheets hold 10-up -- putting cards back-to-back to display on 2 sides makes it 20 cards per page... There also are tabbed business card sheets so you can use some of the sheets as dividers. I also get 100% post-consumer recycled college-ruled 3-ring binder paper, which I keep in clipboards on my desk, normal section dividers, and a set of A-Z section dividers I had laying around for years.

Here's how I set them up:

One binder (about 1.5 inch right now) is the "Business Cards" binder and that has a section for the Orange County Chamber, Sullivan County Chamber, Orange Networking Alliance, each BNI chapter I visited, Toastmasters, etc. When I meet someone at an event by a specific group, their card goes into that group's section. Later, when I'm trying to connect people together, all I have to do is remember which group I met someone at to find their card. Within sections, I'm not terribly picky about the order I put them in: most of those groups don't have enough people/cards in them to get too anal about how to organize the section.

I keep a 2" binder for warm/hot prospects, a 2" ring binder for current clients, and a 1.5" binder for clients "in support."

Prospect book: I set up the book with a few business card sheets, a plain piece of filler paper for an index, then the A-Z dividers. When a prospect calls, I grab a clipboard and start taking notes on the filler paper (or on 1-sided scrap, more on that later). Then it's time to file their information. If I have their business card, I slip it into the business card sheet in the front of the book. I write their name & business name, perhaps how they were referred to me, on the index in pencil, underline the letter in their name or business name that I'm filing them under, and file them in the binder in that section. Now when I need to touch base with that prospect, I can easily take the binder off the shelf, start dialing or emailing them just from their card, then turn to the divider section and have my hand-written notes at my fingertips.

If that person becomes a client, their information gets moved to my client book, and their name gets erased from the index in the prospect book. Their business card goes in the front of the client book, and I now use a complete divider section for the client. I still use an index in pencil for the front of the book, but these sections are numbered. I file notes on phone calls, timesheets, contracts, and other documentation in their section. Once the client's job is finished, they migrate to the In Support book.

All the books are labeled and sit in the hutch of my desk.

This works best for people who aren't trying to cold-call every business they've ever contacted -- and people who can remember where they met someone but not their name or business name, although some electronic systems allow you to track when and where you met someone. However, if you are going to cold-call everyone, I'd recommend adding small post-its to your collection. Why add people to an electronic database if they're not interested, and probably will never be interested, in your product? Keep a notepad nearby, a small post-it pad, make the initial call off the business card, and if they're not interested now, put the post-it on the card with the date you called and that they weren't interested. ... or a date they said to call back. You might only manage 10 business cards per sheet, but you could take some notes on paper, fold them up and stick them behind the card in question. Now you can try them again later, but don't have to spend much time on someone who is not making you money.

Another person I know writes the event & date on the cards when she brings them home. She's going to start using my binder system, rather than have the cards in piles, but I like the idea of putting a date on them. I'm not going to, but I like it :)

Even if I had a business card scanner, I would want to hold on to the business cards themselves. I find they give me important clues to who the person is -- the style of card often helps me remember who the person behind the card was. If I only had the information, I might not remember the person. Also it's easier to pass along a business card if you have it than if you scanned it. I have been known to bring the whole business card binder with me to speed networking events.

Now, there are some cards you should not have in this system. These are your preferred vendors, other members of your own referral group, cards from terrific places to bring a client for lunch or dinner, and the people you feel most comfortable referring to others. If you're in a larger organization you might include your colleagues in this category. For these types of cards, I have a small portable business card book, because I'm most likely to need these cards on-hand at any event. I can leave the big binder at the office and bring along my smaller binder.

When buying your supplies, shop local! Please find the nearest mom & pop stationery store and open a business account with them. I use Charles B. Merrill Office Products in Newburgh, NY -- they deliver the next day.

Another thing I do is keep a stack of half-used paper, usually Chamber flyers that were printed only on one side, folded in half. These make great notepaper that I grab when I get a phone call and start taking notes on. Until I know someone is going into a binder, why use the virgin paper? They still fit in the book with 2 holes from a 3-hole-punch. It's a great way to re-use before recycling. With a stick of re-stickable glue, I can quickly make any note into a post-it.

Phew. Good luck!! :)

The Offense of Humor

I run this one-woman minority-owned company called Eclectic Tech. Started out with the intention of doing whatever it takes to help people (with technology). Found that most people need help with websites, so that's my primary selling point and like any other company, I have to flaunt it.

I do my best to make sure I don't bleed my clients for every cent they have. Came up with a great way to picture it -- sudden inspiration in a restaurant in Warwick: "Free your website from the Bastille! Liberate your website from your oppressors!" all in a French-ish accent I like to flatter myself is pretty good. It was a hit. I love making people laugh.

Well, I have yet to find a French person who is offended. I don't like doing the same schtick twice, but this is certainly my most popular self-aggrandizement. So it stuck -- now I run around saying "Liberate your website!" a Whooooooole lot. Usually with the French accent. Because people actively request it. Once I did it in a fake Transylvanian accent "Is your vebmaster sucking you dry??" Did any Transylvanians come out of the woodwork to take offense? There was a room full of about 60 or 70 local business people -- no one said anything, a few people laughed, most people smiled.

So, my client Paul Ellis created this Faaaaaabulous commercial for me, inspired by my own inspirations. He has 4 actors do this commercial -- 3 "Mexican revolutionaries" and a damsel in distress. Same basic schtick: freedom from your oppressive webmasters. It's on the radio. It's on my website. I love the commercial. It's a work of art. It's a whole minute-thirty long, you can't BUY an ad slot like that on the air!

After all my other "revolutionary" spontaneous ads, someone's taking offense at the commercial. Maybe more than one someone. Because maybe, just maybe, it's racially biased.

I don't know who you are, but there's no racial slurs in the commercial -- there's no vandals or "bad guys" in any of the voices and the webmaster's race or lifemate are not mentioned. The damsel cries "Help, Help" and the revolutionaries come to tell her about Eclectic Tech and how Eclectic Tech can free her from oppression. I'm not Mexican, so maybe I have no right to portray Mexicans in my advertising any more than I had a right to portray a French revolutionary, or a Transylvanian vampiress. But I grew up the daughter of an Argentinean immigrant. I'm Hispanic. My children are 1/2 Puerto Rican, and all Hispanic. When he described the commercial to me, and I read the script, I thought it was cool. When I heard it I thought it was brilliant.

All of this was probably not an issue until it came time for Paul Ellis to run for Chester Town Supervisor. After all, someone has to find some dirt to fling and get offended -- and men aren't marching after him with torches and pitchforks for the character named "Harry Paratestis" so I guess the next obvious target is my commercial. Gotta get dirt on this man who works himself to the bone, collaborating with everyone on every project, trying to make people laugh, no matter what their color, gender, or who they sleep with. So this man makes me an inspired, funny, and talented commercial, intended for play during a radio COMEDY, and somewhere in the middle of the high sidekick and the dead guy with the dirty name, people can't seem to locate their sense of humor anymore. It's with the missing sock, people!

No wonder commercials have to resort to CGI-animated bullfrogs and geckos. People have missed the point, but I'll let you in on it: The joke is NOT about the revolutionaries. The accents are trite clues that there's a bigger joke going on. The REAL joke is about web-masters who take advantage of their clients, creating websites no one can touch but them. These people charge either monthly fees or per-change charges for people to keep their websites up to date. And so far, even THEY aren't taking offense!! No matter what color they are, where their ancestors are from, what language they speak, who they sleep with, or what gender they are, the webmasters have not risen to defend themselves. I believe they have every right to their residual income, and I believe their clients have every right to get fed up with it and choose a different alternative, which I will happily offer them. And I'll use every historical reference to revolutions and oppression I want -- as long as it makes someone giggle -- to drive that point home. Robin Hood? Sure! Boston Tea Party? You betcha!! Moses & the Pharaoh? Now you're talking! "Let my website go!"

I don't get people. But here's one Hispanic woman who is saying WTF about this attitude. Do you want to talk about crimes against humanity: Paul Ellis made me laugh! Now there's a crime -- I might live a little longer because I laughed and released some endorphins. If you don't find it funny, why are you listening? At least I got a good hearty laugh out of the thought of anyone being offended!

[tags]activism, bias,clients,competition,freedom,humor,identity,inspiration,legal,life,news,organization,rant[/tags]

Entering the 4th Dimension -- uh year.

Can you believe I founded this LLC in 2004? On August 24th (or was it 25th?) it will be the anniversary of Eclectic Tech, LLC. Officially 3 years old, I'll be entering my 4th year of business. Oogie. I can see ghosts of business past already.

My next several weeks are going to be hectic. Post-mortem of yesterday's conference, all the business meetings normally held 3rd week of the month, all the meetings and business I put off so I could handle last-minute tasks and stress before the conference...and getting my kids back from Mother before packing them off to school again.

And I've said this before, but there's always time for you. I love helping people out.

Today I sent someone to ICANN to see if they could recover their domain name -- why would I take someone's money to scramble to replace their website at a new domain name when they might recover that name legitimately?

I have a few appointments to help my client Linda Borghi of Abundant Life Farm to network in the region and gain clientele. I'm training two clients. The normal networking events like the Orange Networking Alliance. And I'm trying to remember where I left off when I put my business on pause for a moment.

The conference, on the other hand, went well. I'm so glad I didn't have to handle every detail. I thought, the night before the conference, "Oh, no, I need evaluation forms for my workshops!" and had to give that up -- no time. When I was there the next day, there were evaluation forms. I have to thank Susan (QED, LLC website coming in the future...) for handling details without needing me [I have a serious "If you want something done right..." complex!]. And Joe, her husband -- I would think we either took turns keeping Susan sane or took turns doing things that needed to "just be done". I like that synergy. People with focus getting things done. I could go quietly insane for a week and no one noticed :) Linda Borghi unknowingly helped keep me sane. It was better to focus on someone else's needs than the billion things I should have been doing, but would only have stressed about and never accomplished anyway. I had honest moments of peace in the tsunami of anxiety.

I apologize if I missed a phone call, missed returning a call, missed a hint that someone wanted me to do something, or somehow made a commitment that I didn't keep. What a month! I could list the accomplishments, such as the 92-page Business Edge website, but then you'd think I was bragging. :)

And I thank all the people who helped out at the conference. Thank you!!! I had a WONDERFUL time and didn't have to run around taking care of "stuff" all day. Joe & Susan & Frank Lowell and I think the other woman was Andrea at the registration desk....you made my day terrific by taking care of all the minutia.

[tags]clients,education,gratitude,life,local business,networkingn,new client,organization,personal,rant,time[/tags]

Orange Environment Site goes live

The new Orange Environment website went live today, celebrating 25 years of rigorously keeping an eye on the environment. They have upcoming events - March 1st there's a free conference for farms/agriculture, and on April 21st they're celebrating Earth Day in Orange County, NY.


Please help this terrific non-profit survive another 25 years!

How Design is not Art

Design in many fields is a process of creating something functional within an aesthetic guideline.

Art, on the other hand, is the path of taking a creative means to an aesthetic and evocative end.

Both certainly use aesthetics as heavy influences in their end goal, but on a practical level the two are quite different.

A design should be objectively judged against its function. A piece of art should be subjectively judged against one's aesthetic values. In a proper design course in school, one is given hard criteria against which your project is defined for a grade. In a proper art class, you are graded mainly on effort and applied techniques, not on the subjective judgement of the aesthetics of the finished works.

Better put perhaps is to give an example: A beautiful fountain is designed, a classical sculpture is art. If the fountain does not allow water to flow, the fountain ceases to be a fountain. All parameters in creating the fountain must take into account that the end goal is that the fountain shall allow water to flow and all aesthetic considerations must account for the end function of the fountain. A sculpture has no such boundaries, and the only end use is aesthetics alone. Note I have to set aside mechanical and functional sculptures -- these are design not art ;)

You can have an artist create a logo, but it may not, in the end, function as a logo. It may be a very beautiful illustration, but if it does not meet the functional parameters of a logo, it will be an illustration -- a work of art -- and not something identifying a corporate brand.

It is a generally accepted thought that art can be liked or disliked, but is not WRONG. It may be considered skilled, unskilled, "pretty" or "ugly," but it is not judged against a defined set of functional criteria. I don't hold my designs against the criteria of "art". My designs can be wrong, if their form does not facilitate their function. If their form does not facilitate their function, they're unfinished, or need to be re-thought-out.

If you purchase a finished painting, it is bad form to request correction or changes. The art is "done". Design should not be fully purchased until it is done. And for it to be done it must fulfill its functional parameters.

When you purchase a web design or a logo design from Eclectic Tech, you're not purchasing art -- I'm an occasionally inspired artist, but I'm not an exceptionally skilled or talented artist. You're purchasing a design, and I have inspiration, talent and skill in design -- in seeing the functional parameters and applying inspiration towards aesthetics while always testing the overall function against the parameters required.

[tags]creative,design,education,essay,identity,information,inspiration,logo,planning[/tags]

New Service: Project Planning

It seems that many customers who come to me have not planned their website or print project. My normal flat-fee prices don't include this time-intensive service. I would really have to get into the company in question, to almost become a temporary staff member, to plan out their website for them from soup-to-nuts.

I'm now offering project planning services, both for website design, content and feature planning, and for print design campaigns and marketing strategies. My usual services require design briefs, copy (content), assets (photos, logos, multimedia, and all other materials) and a list of features provided up-front. I will provide only cursory project planning assistance, guidance, or advice during project intake. I will not write for you, research for you, draw up diagrams, etc.

What my project planning services will provide will depend on each company's needs and budget. Prices will start at $100 for something relatively simple like site diagramming and navigation planning, and from there the sky's the limit; you tell me your budget, and I'll come up with a list of what services your budget allows for, or you give me a list of the services you're looking for, and I'll come up with a price. Or we can do hourly rates, I'll come on-site, and I'll become a member of the project team.

Services may include:

• Serving in the capacity of a knowledgable aide in the process of project planning


• Company profiling


• Supplying principles or relevant persons with questionnaires for the project


• Corporate history review


• Mission statement assistance


• Research into your competitors marketing materials or website


• Market research for design related to your specific industry


• Review of your current marketing strategy, advertising, materials, website, etc.


• Business marketing development


• Content planning


• Feature planning


• Step-by-step planning of a website or printing campaign


• Website navigation and hierarchy planning


• Guiding your representatives through the creation of an RFP or design brief


• Suggestions for assets or copy to be included in the project


• Composition of a creative brief on your behalf


• Storyboards, mockups, thumbnails, or sketches


• Composition of custom color schemes for the project


• Stock photography, font, or clip art research


• Copy editing, and review or copy writing


• Acquiring permissions or releases for included materials


• Supplying lists of materials to submit to Eclectic Tech or other contractors

If you choose to use another vendor to complete the project outlined, I can offer:

• Overseeing project progress and resolution, quality control, communication with vendors


• Vendor research (printers, programmers, designers, etc.)


• Supply vendors with materials for the project

These services don't alleviate the principles of your organization from their responsibilities in project planning: I will need to interview them, acquire lists of materials, names to get releases for photography, a company history, supply of old marketing materials, and more. What this does is add another member to your web design team who is knowledgeable, insightful, and entirely dedicated to the one project, which allows your principles to concentrate on other projects with the assurance that if something is needed from them, it will be brought to their attention.

[tags]planning,education,information,news,print design,time,web applications, web standards,writing[/tags]

Speak Out sale - add a blog

I've changed my prices on everything except my hourly rates, as promised.

Now I've gone and put a sale on blog additions to the Easy-to-Edit website package.

Whatever it is that you have to speak about, I've got the software to help you say it!

Watch the sale page each month for specials. Most specials apply to the Easy-to-Edit package, so get the base package before the price goes up hire -- all my prices will slowly be escalating for the next several months, and proposal expiration dates will be strictly adhered to.

[tags]blog,open source,easy-to-edit,prices,programming,sale,web applications,writing[/tags]

E.T. Client & Portfolio update

Preamble: I have decided I don't like Gallery2 as my portfolio application. I'm going to be working on moving back to PmWiki for my portfolio in the future -- so my latest work is not in my portfolio.

I re-created the Business Exchange Network's website in December, 2006. The old site may still be available. This is a template rather than custom design, however I custom programmed several features for the site, then donated the instructions on how to do it for other sites back at the application project site. This site incorporates a calendar, member business directory, and each member has a profile page that acts as a mini-website for them. Since a few people in the group don't have websites, this gives them a real place on the web to call home until they decide whether they want a website.

I helped out at KwicTax, LLC - programming a form on the site, adding required fields, and generally making the form and subsequent information revealed after filling out the form behave properly.

An ongoing client is up to her usual beautiful designs - Apryl of Silverflux Design has been outsourcing programming and general geekery and software installations to Eclectic Tech. This week we finished working on the Serendipity bead store website in Canada. My handiwork is the calendar and newsletter subscription integration.

In-progress Sites

Almost completed: Beth Ward of Jaidens Jewels has requested a website redesign and shopping cart. This work is in progress and if you'd like to see it before it's finished, feel free to email me.

Almost completed: Chris Zino of Zino Technical Services in Bayville, NY has requested a website design and wiki application -- he's absolutely thrilled to be using a wiki and is already creating pages on the site, and I haven't even gotten around to training him yet! :) At the time of the writing, we're still hashing out the logo for his business, and once the logo is decided we may well be changing the colors on the site, but the site is up, works, he's in business, and his contact info is there if anyone needs home audio installations, networking installation or repair, computer service, or a dozen other techie services on Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk Counties), he's your guy!

New Client: I'm under contract for the redesign and reworking of Orange Environment's website. I've started working, but there's nothing to show yet. Orange Environment is a non-profit that has been working to save the open spaces of Orange County, NY for 25 years. This is their 25th Anniversary website overhaul, and this year they'll be holding an Earth Day celebration on April 21st. Location(s) TBA. If you see my company name at the bottom of the site, then I've made progress enough to go live on my work. Until then, if you want to see the development site-in-progress, feel free to email me.

New Client: My newest client is Middletown Community Health Center (MCHC) who has requested a modernization and more features for their website. Again, if my company name is not at the bottom of the page, you're looking at their old site. Ask me for a URL for their development site-in-progress. As of the time of writing, I haven't gotten that far yet :) but work should begin shortly.

[tags]clients,activism,design,e-commerce,environment,green,holistic,identity,logo,metasite,new client,new site,non-profit,portfolio,programming[/tags]

Open Source Programmer's Insurance

Slashdot rejected my question submission, so I'll write about it in my blog and see if anyone is interested in answering it.

I have insurance, but I want exactly the RIGHT insurance. My insurance agent says that what I have may very well cover what I do, but is hunting high and low for insurance that will explicitly rather than implicitly cover both the design AND the programming portions of my business without making me broke. All she's finding are either policies with specific exclusions for web programming, or policies that are exceptionally expensive.

The problem is that every programmer is being lumped together. That means that programmers working on the stock exchange big bucks applications with billions of dollars in transactions a day at risk are being lumped in with smalltime web programming outfits like mine. I'm a programmer on the PmWiki project, and I create custom plug-ins for PmWiki for clients before contributing what I can back to the project, or accept bounties for plug-ins made directly available to the general public. I've also made alterations to other plug-ins for other open-source projects, and I'm creating an open source project or three of my own.

Now, I am not belittling the risks to my customers. I know that their business is everything to them, and that's why I'm looking for insurance. But I don't play with the big boys and my customers are not forking over the big bucks to cover the overhead I would have to pass along to my customers to cover the big insurance policies.

If I'm installing ZenCart, and ZenCart has a bug, am I covered? I never touched the back-end of the program, but of course every application -- open source or otherwise -- has inherent bugs and risks. I trust open source because the bugs are squished in a timely manner and I don't have to pay for upgrades. Would all those policies with programming exclusions cover this?

When a policy excludes programming, I see there being a really fuzzy line between "web design" and "web programming". Certainly there's a point at which something is very clearly web programming, but is it programming if I create a script that processes a webform to email the results to my client? Is it programming if I'm creating JavaScript DHTML DOM alterations? What about when I'm working on a design for a Smarty template? There's pseudocode and even PHP code in there, but it's all about the design.

In any case, what I want to know from my fellow collaborators in the world is:

What, if anything, do you do about insurance for your web application or programming company?

Do you have any suggestions for underwriters for open source programmers?

If you aren't insured, have you even considered being insured?

[tags]insurance,programming,open source,custom programming,web application programming,expenses,design,legal,money,slashdot[/tags]

When it Rains...

A bunch of things to quickly jot down. First, in response to my last blog post "The Check's in the Mail" -- it was certainly Murphy's law at work, it took an entire week after that post for checks to start to come in. The day the first check came in I landed two new contracts for websites, along with the respective deposits.

On the subject of rain -- apparently Orange County, NY doesn't do rain halfway. Another few inches over these few days.

My business agrees with the weather -- I had 12 incoming jobs (that doesn't mean they'll all go to contract, or all go to contract at the same time), two of which went to contract as I mentioned above, and one established client called me with several rush jobs. Feast or famine, but nothing steady! Yay!

I've been a networking fiend lately. You can find me at Orange County Chamber of Commerce events, BNI events, Orange County Women's Professional Network events, Orange County Networking Alliance, Toastmasters, etc. Anyone in the area looking to network, I'd love to hear from you.

On those notes, I have some work to get through then I'll have new information for my portfolio, clients page, etc.

Good luck out there!!

Storms

There was a sudden loud knocking at the kitchen door. I rushed over to answer. A FedEx man handed me a box I wasn't really expecting, delivering my fixed LaCie backup drive. I thanked him and signed for it, only barely noticing the thick pallor that enshrouded the land and the smell that said the air was thick with moisture.

I tore open the box in haste, gloating over LaCie having entirely replaced my drive -- I hadn't had to return the power cords or gadgets with the drive for repair, and now I had duplicates for everything. With no emotion but relief for a minor ordeal being tidied up, I plunked the new drive down on a cluttered wire shelf next to my crochet work and back-up CDs, and sat in my seat, ready to check email and RSS feeds -- my day of working-as-usual.

There was a large boom, somewhere nearby, and entirely out of the blue. Could that be thunder? I had gotten no storm warnings in my RSS feeds from the National Weather Service, but that gloom outside wafted back to my consciousness -- it certainly COULD be thunder. A louder crackle-boom, far too close with no distant warnings. My hand automatically reached out and yanked the power cord from my laptop, and my other hand reached out for my desktop mouse -- time to Shut Down.

Doorstop, my moody desktop, doesn't shut down properly. In spite of a recent re-install. I've replaced every component in the case except for the video card and motherboard, and it absolutely refuses to shut down properly. I even have the boot-up and shut-down in "verbose" mode, so I can read all the system messages on the screen to see if I can figure out what's wrong. The machine spits "continuing" onto the screen then waits for what seems like forever. I push the moody power switch and wait for the machine to shut off.

Cable goes out. It's enough of a problem to be so dependent on my laptop battery -- now I have no Internet. It's definitely not a good sign. Chris, my partner, starts unplugging equipment wholesale, so I reach down, yank Doorstop out of the way, and grope blindly behind my desk, pulling the two plugs from the wall socket, saving Doorstop and my servers.

With a shrug, I grab my crochet work and move to a more comfortable chair.

What ensued was a violent (and sudden) thunderstorm in our area. We lost power for about a half hour. I can't say if we would have gotten a surge sufficient to take our computers out, but I've witnessed lightning strikes that have done extensive damage throughout home networks, taking out every ethernet card on the network, and any motherboard with built-in ethernet. Note that all my Macs have built-in ethernet. In other words, a power strike could kill my computers. A power strike on my cable line through to my ethernet network will kill my computers absolutely dead with no hope of return. My laptop is joyfully wireless, so it's not under that risk.

It took at least an hour for our Internet to come back up. I got a lot of crochet work done.

---

Last winter, we had a storm that took out our power for almost 24 hours, starting on a Friday.

In the case of power loss, I have no Internet connection and about 1-3 hours of laptop battery before I can't work at all anymore. Hopefully people can understand this problem. It's not like I live in the boondocks, either; I'm on the edge of Middletown, a pretty sizable city. Regardless of power loss, I need to take my computers offline, and work solely off my laptop, for the duration of any electrical storms. Any backup battery is insufficient to protect my computers from a direct electrical hit on the (overhead) power lines, and my laptop isn't on the backup battery, since it technically doesn't NEED a backup battery.

Not every admin is this paranoid, but then again not every admin has seen the effect of direct hits the way I have.

These storms will affect my ability to work. I pad my deadlines partially because of problems like these, but should power go out, I may have to move my deadlines, with profuse apologies.

I can crochet you a hat to make up for it though! Just ask! :)

New Portfolio launched

Ok, I give. Not everyone wants to have to dig around to see the cool stuff. The Portfolio link takes you directly to a gallery, where you can page through all the artwork. But you aren't totally spared my verbosity. Each detail page may have a blurb.

In the item detail pages, there are links back to the old portfolio pages, where there are case studies for those of you who still care about my babble. So it's the best of both worlds. Everyone can pretend to be illiterate and look only at pictures (like coloring books, ya kno?) and click around playfully, etc. Those who prefer snuggling in bed with a nice book and some warm cocoa can click through to the juicy ramblings and corporate scandals. Can you beat it?

Good luck!

[tags]portfolio, new site, design[/tags]

Thank You For Your Time

People probably don't get it, but I write "Thank you for your time" out by hand at the bottom of my emails, above the pre-generated sig lines.

Time is my one finite commodity.

If someone puts a project request up on a site or write to me asking for a bid, they've spent time on that, and in return they're looking forward to quality in the response. I find that many of my competition on such venues are a disaster, a blight on my industry. Their responses are form letters, no consideration is given to whether they fit the job or why, generic quotes are pasted in, if any time has been spent on the response at all. They're quite stingy with their time, and I'll bet it shows when they're on the clock.

When I write to someone, I'm hoping that they read what I have to say. From the moment they open my email, to the moment they close it, their time is being spent on me. Time they will never get back. They're moments closer to the end of life on this fair Earth. My response, even if it ends up being the bid they choose, has just sucked away some portion of their time above and beyond the responses I have no control over.

I send out my blessings for the time they are spending on me every time I write "Thank you for your time" and click send.

At the same time, I have to acknowledge that the return-on-investment of me spending my time on these people hand-writing to them probably far overshadows the quality of responses I receive, if any. I get few if any clients through such competitive venues. That's why, if I know I don't fit a job, I am not going to waste my time writing to the person, unless--

Unless somehow I'm going to serve them in a very quick and definitive fashion.

I often write to people who seem to need a little advice. I have no intention of taking their job, it probably doesn't fit me, but something they said implied a need for direction. Sometimes I'm misguided, and should keep my fingers on the mouse, move on to the next ad. Sometimes I earn a bit of respect for my wisdom.

A long time ago I decided that the chance to help people is well worth spending my time on. If I save someone a moment of time, maybe that's one more time they smile at a child, blow dandelion seeds into the wind, procrastinate one less chore. Perhaps I'm saving some people far more than just a moment. Minutes. Hours, even! Those bundles of moments we measure.

I want to take a moment, if you have read this post, to thank you for your time. I really appreciate that you've listened to my babbling on this. This is a very important and dear topic to me.

With luck, I will eventually have sufficient referrals, print ads, and repeat business to leave off reading Craigslist and other posting venues, and spend more time creating, advertising, dreaming, and contributing to the works of others. In the meantime, here's a toast to the customers I have found at such places, the associates within my field, and to all the moments where people really connect and collaborate, whether for a minute or a month, and then sit back and salute a job well done.

Blessings,

Crisses

[tags]time, gratitude, clients[/tags]

Advertising Excitement

I have the pleasure of being a member of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce (I really need to put a member logo up to that effect), and as part of their membership drive I get to include a letter-sized flyer in a mailing.

I opted for the July mailing, since I have a couple ads coming out in June, and I want to see what impact they have. Also, I wanted the June 15 deadline to get them the flyer. Brainstorming and printing up 3000 flyers is no joke.

I've opted for 100% post-consumer paper, and I'm on the third laser cartridge (if anyone knows of soy-ink laser cartridges, I want to know! Now!).

Why the brainstorming? Boy, I'm so glad you asked!

You see, most of the flyers that come in the mailers are typical. Boring. Dry. Unimaginative. I'm a designer, a creative spirit -- and adding to the boredom in the world is counter to my Declaration of Don't Waste My Time. Boring flyers destined for the round (or *cross-fingers* recycle) bin and tantamount to spam. To environmental waste. I've come up with a unique idea, and unlike most people I'm going to use both sides of the paper (novel, isn't it?). I'm making sure it has as low an environmental impact as I can muster on my low-budget-advertising strings. This chamber mailer is sent out monthly with other fliers anyway, via snail mail that gets delivered daily anyway. No extra envelopes needed. The recycled paper helps too, though I would prefer renewable treeless, denim, soy ink, etc. I just can't afford the printing costs, and if I print at an environmental printer's there's delivery costs, the truck to my place -- the extra pollution-per-mile of delivery.

I put a plea on the paper, right next to the recycle symbol, asking people who don't need it to pass it on to someone else. The box of 3000 pages is rather large. Did I mention 3 laser ink cartridges? I hate to think of all my effort going to the waste basket.

I also don't think any other company put as many man-hours into designing their flyers as I have. I've already put about 50+ hours into it. Creativity has a price. But now that I'm done, it is also be a viable stand-alone flyer for private mailers. It also has the potential (with a smidgeon of effort from me, I did my retouching on the greyscale images) to be printed in 4 color glossy (and look great!) eventually, but this time I think it will just be a laser print. I doubt a 4 color printer with sufficient ink for 3000 flyers is in my near future, and 4 color environmentally sound printing isn't in my near future either.

I have preview images for y'all on my inhouse portfolio page.

Enjoy!

[tags]ads, design, print design, comic, creative, recycled paper, inhouse ads, 3D art, rendering, Chamber, portfolio[/tags]

New Design Coming

I have been working on a website redesign. It seems that creating a site design that is open and uncluttered does not sell my services. When creating my design, I thought I was expressing my preferences for information delivery over dazzle. And some people have responded to the design very positively, enjoying the fact that it is subdued and unpretentious.

Others, however, are uninterested in clarity and an uncluttered look. That 15 seconds (or less) that I have to capture their attention fails.

I want the audience that inherently understands that my design preference for my site does not dictate how I design sites for other people and other purposes. At the same time, I have to redevelop my own site, because it needs to be repurposed. During the initial design, I was not selling as hard as I am now, so my site was mainly informative. Now, my site must be geared towards self-promotion rather than discussion.

So, I will be rolling out a new design and perhaps some new content soon. The design is already in the works. I have decided on something fancier but with some of the same elements.

A rhetorical rant for those who would never get so far as to read my news: Why on earth would my site be a representation of what your site would look like? You have a different audience, different philosophy, different projections, different goals. Part of what I try to do while I work for you is become enmeshed with the energies of the organization I am designing to represent. I ask for intricate details about you and your goals, the history and the fabric of the entity I am working to represent, and I use those as the clay from which I sculpt the work I bring to you. The more accurately you portray yourself, your organization, and your target market, the more fitting the results should be. My site is not a cookie cutter.

Busy - Holistic HV

I've been busy. I haven't had a chance to update my news page, so here's a brief list of what's new:
* New portfolio work including logo case studies, more branding work, and some of my newest web design work.
* busy with several clients in addition to the holistic website. Much of our latest work is