I was Half Expecting a Bunch of Complaints

This from a colleague:

It's been such a long time since I've written a newsletter I was half expecting a bunch of complaints (who are you, and why are you sending me emails?!?). I haven't had anyone burn my house down, though, so I count that as a win.

This in reply from me:

I have been saying for 12 months now that I'll put out a monthly eLetter for CEO/CFO/COO/CIO only of the large ("deep pocket") corporations I target.

• Once a month.
• One item
• No ads
• NOT about computing

I have a stack of ideas, a stack of articles, I have several formats I'm quite prepared to admire/steal.

I have the (programming) mechanism to distribute it.

What's holding me back?

Probably fear of rejection.

I suspect (but can't prove) that the general feeling that we are "spamming" recipients arises because there is such an easy negative reaction to spam.

In the Real World(TM) I don't let annoying telemarketers dull my pleasure when a genuine friend or contact phones me; I move away from the computer to the green chair and enjoy a yak.

I see a monthly newsletter from anyone I do business with as a valid means of staying in touch with a valid contact.

You are not anonymous. We've done business, we've chatted. If you were in Toronto you'd have the spare room for as long as you needed it. Internet access, home cooking, two cats ...

The various entrepreneurs I've met in Toronto are not anonymous; we've said Hi! at 3 meetings, had a coffee, supper maybe. A monthly letter from them isn't an unwarranted intrusion. I might not take the time to read it right now, but it is not unwarranted.

I have blacklisted a few people who claim they spoke with me at a meeting 12 months ago, regret not establishing contact sooner, and hope I won't mind receiving a monthly letter from them. Blacklisted because (I'm not sorry), No; we've not done a single face-to-face meeting to learn about each other.

I hope this makes sense.

I'd rather you did a short eLetter each month; if nothing else it'd help jog my brain that I should spend more time selling software.

P.S. I find it OK that your letter comes in plain text, but then I'm interested in ideas, not fancy dress.

Talk to Me !

Dropping-in Method

In If in Doubt, Show up I mentioned the use of a pack of old business cards – blank on one side – on which I scribbled contact details of those people who have invited me to drop in at any time.

On thinking it over (and about to make another trip downtown) it seems to me worthwhile to print them, to give them some permanency.

Why not just use the business cards they give to me? Because nowadays business cards are not always handed out. Besides which I can print my own stored comments on the cards, update phone numbers and so on.

I’ll probably dash off a quick boiler-plate text document with a single-cell table where the data goes, and use adhesive tape to build a wallet on a sheet of paper.

Dump the text in the cell, load the wallet-paper into the printer, Click!

Talk to Me !

Dropping Clients

A year ago (when I began this blog) I’d decided to shift my market focus, away from the 2-man legal firms along The Danforth to the large financial and pharmaceutical companies.

My previous clients still phone me, but if they aren’t taking me up on my proposals, it’s time to gently edge away from them.

09/16/2009 6:08:00 AM 0001.08 clients 4811: the descriptions (attached) do not have this extra line stating “Enhanced Warranty Coverage“

09/16/2009 10:09:00 AM 0000.15 clients 4811 examine code

09/16/2009 10:18:00 AM 0000.37 clients 4811 phone sandra

12/17/2009 8:11:00 PM 0001.02 clients v4 spec data file

12/17/2009 9:12:00 PM 0000.23 clients v4 spec draft

12/21/2009 10:02:00 AM 0000.85 clients proposal

05/11/2010 2:41:00 PM 0000.18 clients Phone AP re 5393: (Ref 3837) The attached document was opened

05/11/2010 2:52:00 PM 0002.00 clients 5393: (Ref 3837) The attached document was opened

07/16/2010 12:20:00 PM 0000.33 CLIENT call from AP re Word bug

CLIENT 6.22

Above is pasted a record of the time I have recorded on one particular client over the past 12 months.

Now 6.22 hours recorded is close to a day’s work. There are undoubtedly a few more phone calls in there that I didn’t record.

So how does “client” look to me now?

1: They have provided no revenue for the past 12 months.

2: They have soaked up a day of mine over the past 12 months; I’ve done a bit of research and provided some answers, all for free.

3: The chance of getting them to pay for a serious bit of testing and modification to their system is remote. They haven’t accepted my previous two proposals.

4: My goal for the next 12 months is to whittle them down to zero hours, allowing me either to focus on paying clients, or to take a day’s vacation and stroll along the Danforth.

P.S. If you are not keeping track of your time during the day, start doing it now.

There are many packages out there. My BillT is free, works, and is based on Windows Notepad!

Talk to Me !

Creepy Clients

“Project Creep” is a leading cause of project failure; the goal or target is changed repeatedly and becomes a near-impossible target.

Client Creep is just as bad.

It starts off with an innocuous email “I'm looking for Access VBA coding that will automatically populate business days of the week based on a start date and entry of number of days”.

I can do that!

But then I have no idea of the client’s abilities, so I suggest a face-to-face inspection of the database, and this seems expensive for the client who responds by pointing out that they are capable of inserting my code.

We carry on this way for two or three more exchanges, and then I give up.

The whole deal is too costly in terms of the time it is taking me to extract information from the client, and as soon as we clear up one misunderstanding, the client slyly reveals yet-another-card, more data that could have been volunteered up front.

I don’t abandon the prospect of work, but I retract into my shell with a suggestion that I be emailed some procedure specifications, and that I will craft code to meet those written specifications.

The message is: If you’re good enough to specify what you want, then do so. If not, you need me to help you specify what you want.

Talk to Me !

A Balanced Diet

Top of her class :

“Brianna Smrke didn’t know she was perfect. But after a phenomenal final year of high school, logging hours of homework a night, there’s no doubt she is, earning 100 per cent in each of her eight courses. Grade 12 students usually take six courses.”

And:

“While Smrke spent about seven hours doing homework each night — working from 3 p.m. to about 11 p.m., with a break for dinner — she also found time to work on fundraising initiatives, help distribute food to the homeless, be a volunteer math tutor and a “best buddy” to a special needs student at her school.”

I was struck by the combination of long hours and varied diet.

Brianna worked on matters well outside the study arena.

Our parents were correct: “ All work and no play makes jack a dull boy ”.

Here is a quote from “ 5 ways to take a guilt-free vacation “:-

I never cease to be amazed by people who wouldn't dream of giving back part of their paycheck, yet who don't take the time off to which they are entitled.

Talk to Me !

The Winning Goal for the Day

I am prompted to write this after the dust has settled over Spain’s winning goal in the World Cup match Sunday, July 11, 2010. Don’t worry if you are not a fan.

All you need to know is that the two teams were tied 0-0 at the end of the first half, 0-0 at the end of the second half, 0-0 at the end of the FIRST 15 minutes of extra time, and that Spain scored a goal about 5 minutes into the second 15 minutes of extra time, and that they managed to hang onto that lead for ten more minutes.

A cliff-hanger, you might say (although I found it all a bit boring).

So did the Spanish team shower, don casual clothes and hop on a 1 a.m. flight home? I doubt it.

They probably went to bed at all different hours, and some poor manager had the job of locating each player for the flight home the next day.

But this I’ll guarantee: Each player, wherever and whenever and however they dropped off to sleep later that night/morning had one thought in mind: We got our goal!

I Reached My Goal

At the end of the day I’ll often field a phone call from a close friend or two, “How did you day go?”.

If that day I’d met a CEO/CFO/COO face-to-face for the first time, my day has been successful.

If that day I’d managed to clear one of my desks of junk, my day has been successful.

If that day I’d tested and delivered a deliverable phase of a project, my day has been successful.

If that day I’d completed and dispatched my tax returns, my day has been successful.

If that day I’d {fill in your goal here} , my day has been successful.

You Get the Idea

At the start of each day I write on the back of an old business card a single goal. It’s usually something that’s been bugging me.

What will make me happy at the end of the day?

As I write this at 6:10 a.m. on a muggy summer morning, I know I’ll feel happy tonight if by then I have completed fixes to the Booster project and have issued a ZIPped file with my latest efforts.

No matter what else I get done, no matter who else I meet, no matter what new projects or cheques arrive, at the end of the day I will lean back, relaxed and happy, if I’ve emailed that ZIP file.

That’s why I have a stack on old business cards, blank face out, in a little holder right next to my monitor.

And a little holding-slot that takes just one card, atop my monitor.

Talk to Me !

Do They Love What They Do?

I love part of what I do.

That part is “telling computers what to do” – it is more than “programming” and certainly more than “programming in VBA”, it is a passion for getting the very best out of a computer.

(I once devised a means of using 81 columns of an 80-column punched-card!)

My passion started 6 months before the end of my schooling, 6 months before my first job.

My passion has outlasted two marriages, five countries, three nationalities and an uncountable number of setbacks, cancelled projects and failed business relationships.

I sometime get exhausted, or plain bored with a project that drags on.

But come the next one, and I’m awake at all hours devising clever algorithms …

I look around me at the very small group of people I’d love to work with.

Each one of them is truly passionate about what they do to bring in the money.

Passionate enough to laugh at themselves while they are doing it.

The business is one gigantic barrel of colored balls and we are wallowing around in them, making money while nagging in a giant game of whoop-de-doo!

Robert Townsend said it best:

“If you don’t do it excellently, don’t do it at all. Because if it’s not excellent, it won’t be profit or fun, and if you’re not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing here?”

Talk to Me !

When Ignoring Emails Becomes Profitable

The original email looks innocuous enough:

“I got your name from {your name here}. There is a spreadsheet that several people use to input data. The president wants to receive an email when the value in a cell is equal to a certain criteria.”

I replied with eight questions:

“Hi Jason, thanks for the email. Some questions:; 1 Is the email to be emitted every time the cell switches to a certain value? (a.k.a. "drive the president crazy by changing the value every 5 minutes"); 2 Is the value explicit to 15 digits accuracy or is it to be within a tolerance?; 3 Is there only once cell to be monitored, or a set of cells?; 4 Is the cell defined with a range name, or will you maintain and re-distribute the worksheet whenever the cell address changes?; 5 Does every user have Outlook installed as the default mail client, or are some users using Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora etc?; 6 Is the email to be issued the instant the user changes the cell value? How will you cope with people who turn OFF autosend in Outlook?; 7 Have you considered the option of logging the changes to disk and having the president (run a job on his schedule to) poll the saved log files?; The task will be written in Visual Basic for Applications(VBA). 8 Will every user have macros enabled?; I can probably dream up some more questions if you'd like.; There is no problem monitoring a cell and emitting an email; we would need tight specifications of when/how it is all to be triggered; I hope this helps.”

Nine Days Later

I have received no response, not even a “Thank you for taking the time to respond”.

Luckily for me I keep track of my time, and frequently examine time taken to perform simple tasks such as replying to an email like this like this.

Careful composition of a 260-word email as a first-time email to a potential client, spell-check and proof-read, takes fifteen minutes of my time.

Don’t pretend it doesn’t. You think it is 5 minutes, but it is much closer to 15 than 5. I know, because I’ve measured it.

I had BCC’d {your name here} on my reply, so’s they’d know that I had responded, and how I had responded and of course a few days later {your name here} emailed me back asking if I’d heard anything, so I responded to THAT email saying, in essence, “No”.

Bottom Line

20 minutes sucked out of my life. For what? For someone I’ve never met who can’t even say ‘Thank You”.

If they can’t say Thank You what makes me think they’ll be happy forking over money?

Where else can you spend time fruitlessly on a potential customer?

The Answer

Store Clerks do it all they time, but they are paid to stand behind a counter all day and smile as the customer approaches.

But I am not a store clerk. I do not stand behind a counter waiting for someone to swim into my view. I am a consultant with a business to run, and MY business is setting up meetings with CEO’s of large corporations.

The original email came from someone who thinks that I am a store-clerk. That is precisely the sort of person I can safely ignore.

And just in case you are thinking that times are tough (they are) and I’m strapped for cash (I am) and should leap at every opportunity – you’re wrong!

The path out of my hole lies in spending as much time as possible getting the word out to potential clients, not chatting with passers-by.

How Will You Throw Away Your Time Today?

Talk to Me !

Domestic and Corporate Models

Despite what I wrote in There Are No Corporate Decisions there is a difference between domestic and corporate clients.

Ten years ago I was happily fixing computer systems – hardware and software – for my friends and small-business owners. Today I avoid that like the plague.

I have been burned too often fixing a system at night-time only to get a call a week later “My nephew installed some new software and now I can’t Print/Type/save/eat/Drink/Sleep”, or worse “… and now the changes you made don’t work; please come and fix them”.

Sometimes it is their spouse’s best friend’s gardeners mechanic’s son.

Corporate clients seem to expect to be billed at a daily rate starting around $1,000 and just going UP. Domestic clients want to know if twenty-dollar bills is alright.

Corporate clients speak in terms of P.O. numbers, proposals, contracts, and it is pretty easy to generate a water-tight proposal that spells out, in writing, what you’ll do for them, how much it will cost, and when it will be finished. (if you need help with this Talk to Me ),

So you’ve got your little domestic business model worked out, the colored crayons, the place mats, the bits and pieces, and people pay you for the small jobs, and it all adds up.

The catch is that the corporate clients can’t understand that. No corporate client worth their salt thinks in terms of $25/hour for a two-hour job.

So you need a second business model for the corporate clients.

Domestic clients get to pick and choose how much of everything they want, and they get charged per item, per hour.

Corporate clients are offered a rather large and very inclusive package; there is little choice. They get three of everything without being asked – no discussion no negotiations.

Two hours training is not an option. It’s a 2-day workshop. And it isn’t $150 per person per day; it is $1,500 per day for a group of eight. Whether they send eight or not.

You Don’t Believe Me?

Keep track of your hours the next time you start treating a large corporation like a domestic client. You’ll be amazed at how much time you spend trying to communicate on the wrong wavelength.

Talk to Me !

Google Cache

A much over-looked resource.

You do your Google Search, here are the links.

You click on a link (well, if you are a Firefox user you right/click and choose “Open In Tab”) and receive that dreaded “404” or “503” page error.

Drat!

And it looked so promising and all …

Return to the page of found links.

Look Closely at the end of the link you sought.

If you see “cached”, click there.

You’ll receive a copy of the page from one of Google's millions of servers, a copy of the page as it was the last time Google saw it.

The page might have been moved or deleted by the owner.

But Google still has a copy!

Talk to Me !

Business Poetry

Every successful human endeavor

 Has a start and an end
Successful: A start and an end
Most unsuccessful projects
 Wither and die
  Starved of money
   Bored to death over time
It is the start that defines the end
 A successful project’s end point
  Can be seen from its start point
At a successful project’s end
 The start point is still visible
  And where we are now
   Looks better than where we were.
And we feel that the journey
 Was well worth the price.
If you can’t see your end point
 From where you are
Move the start point
 Or the end point
  By splitting the project
   Into two parts.
The start point
 Is well-defined
  In space
  In dollars
  In staff
  In tangible resources
  In faith that the end point is attainable
  and that today is today.
The end point
 Is well-defined
  In space
  In dollars
  In staff
  In tangible resources
  In faith that the end point is attainable
  and that tomorrow is not today.
These things are called quantifiers
 And each is said to be one of
  Numeric
  Spatial
  Boolean
  Date/Time
Management  Measures
 If you aren’t measuring
  Then you aren’t managing
A measurement
 Is a quantified fact
Words are the building blocks of communications
Words are either spoken and then heard
 Or written and then read.
Spoken words
 Hover in the air
  Float across the wind
   And vanish in the haze
But written words
 Are forever.
It it ain’t written down
 It don’t exist.
I wrote that!
A goal
 Is where I am not.
A goal
 Is another place
 At another time
 With more money
Do you agree?
A goal is visible
 And believable.
Because I know where I am
 (facts, measurement)
And can prove it
 (written down)
A project
 Is just a means
  To reach my goal
   From where I am
In a series of steps
 One step after another
Yet some people on my path
 Call them “Objectives”.
If you are human
 Then state your endeavor
  And write it down!
Identify your goal, your end point.
Identify where you are right now, your start point.
 With numbers
 With dates and times
 With locations
 And with faith.
If your faith is lacking
 Move your end point
  By splitting your project
   Into two parts.
Quantify, quantify, quantify.
And write it all down.
“I want to be home
 with my two cats”.
My home is on the corner of Bloor and Mill.
I’d like to be home before the sun sets
 Which tonight means eight of the clock.
I’ve done it before so
 I can do it again.
Here I am
 Standing at the bus stop
  Corner of Warden and Bertrand.
The bus flew pat me
 Before I could cross the busy road.
I think the buses here
 Run every seven minutes or so.
I can do this.
I will enjoy standing in the sunshine
 For seven minutes
After all
 It is only twenty past five!
My objectives are to
 Keep an eye out for the next bus
 Flag it down
 Board it and pay my fare
When it reaches Warden station
 I must get off,
 Walk up the stairs 
 To the island platform
 Board the next westbound train
 To Kipling station.
When the train reaches Kipling station
 I must get off,
 Walk up the stairs 
 To the bus platform
 And board the Bloor street bus.
As we pass Mapledawn road
 I must ring the bell.
At Mill road I must 
 Get off
 Walk to the building
 Open my door
 And enjoy the welcome
 As two cats twine them selves around my legs.
Jupiter, and Bumpous.
Some goals for tonight:
 Make and eat my supper
 Check and answer voice-mail
 Check and answer email
 Build and issue the next deliverable for
  Gary
  Brent
  Shaun
  Tony
  And David
 Write my blog
 Enjoy some ice-cream
 Treats (3 each) for the cats.
 Print three documents for tomorrow’s meeting
 Brush my teeth
 Go to bed
 Read some more Rudyard Kipling
Boy oh boy oh boy!
It’s been a good day.
I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. 

Talk to Me !

If in Doubt, Show up

A trip downtown is always made with a set of old business cards.

On the back are written the name, address and phone of each person I am scheduled to meet. Those cards are accessed from my shirt pocket with ease, it beats trying to unzip my port-feuille in a crowded elevator.

As well, since the address is written there, I have a second card up my sleeve when I call for a pop-in coffee at short notice.

It happened again today – I called his office and got voice-mail, no receptionist, nothing.

I was in the adjacent building, so I marched right up to suite 720 and introduced myself.

If he is in and can spare me 5 minutes, he will do so.

If he can’t spare me 5 minutes, at least he’ll know that I think of him when I’m downtown.

Talk to Me !

Let Words Shift Your Focus

So there I am presenting myself, and doing my best to come across as a great-guy-to-call-when-there-is-a-problem when …

… “We already have several IT people and a team of researchers”

The message is clear.

It is not rejection, but it is an obstacle to be circumvented (in this hot weather hurdling is out of the question)

I learned from this that “I don’t replace, I augment”.

It is not a question of me replacing the existing IT staff, or replacing the current researchers, but of giving them better tools, more knowledge, and hence more power to do their jobs.

I need to switch my vocabulary away from “This is what I do” to “This is what I help people to do”.

In the end, if there IS no IT or research tem, I’m an obvious candidate!

Talk to Me !

How Successful was the First Meeting?

A trip downtown could be judged a failure if I measured it solely on whether or not I got a job.

It was not a job interview. It was an introductory meeting, and it ended well, because I was warmly received and warmly farewelled with an unsolicited invitation from the contact to stay in touch by email.

• But wait! There’s more!

My host was gracious enough to deliver feedback to me after my opening spiel, and the feedback was spot on!

Even if I’d been shown the door, it was a most valuable learning experience.

I noted the feedback and will adjust my spiel accordingly (“try to stay away from using the word computer or IT”).

For that alone it was well worth the $5.00 in subway fares.

Talk to Me !

How Many Contacts?

A trip downtown could be judged a failure if I measured it solely on the number of new COO’s I met.

One.

Just one.

But after the meeting with John ended at 11:06 I called Leon to see if he could do lunch; he couldn’t but suggested I come on the company boat trip in a few weeks time. I agreed. Then Leon said he was sitting with David who controls a $1.4B budget for the U.N. I chatted on the phon with David about mutual interests in history.

Then I called a different David and suggested lunch. He could not; he was en route, but he asked I send my material and he’d look at it.

So I called Rae, and he said Sure! He’d be happy to do lunch, so at 12:30 Rae and I sat down to lunch and I picked his brains.

By 2 p.m. I was back in my office having chatted with five contacts in my target market area.

Quite a haul for a (long) morning’s work!

Talk to Me !

Of Oranges and Bottled Water

(Please see also Sprinkles – part 2 )
Two new restaurants last week.
The Mekong River and Silk. Both serve Thai and Asian food.
Both have nice décor, friendly service.
And I will return to both.
Why?
The Mekong River brings, unasked, four ice-cold segments of sweet orange after the entrée plates are removed.

• Unasked.

It’s not a substitute for dessert.
It seems to me it is a nice token of appreciation.

• Unasked.

Silk brings a large bottle of iced tap water to the table.

• Unasked.

For once in my life I did not spend time flagging the waitress to bring me another glass of water.
Having a bottle (or jug) of water right there on the table makes sense.
It saves distractions, interruptions, and by golly I like it!

Both restaurants have developed a “ sprinkle ”; it costs them so little yet has such a high impact.

Talk to Me !

Why the Local Church Rummage Sale is Important

Off I go to another introductory meeting downtown.

Of course I’ve done my homework before going; summarized the press releases, read the web pages, harvested all the Interesting Words from both sources and read through them to fix their vocabulary in my mind before entering the office.

I am wearing a suit and tie, for I am going to meet the COO of a rather large financial firm.

The shirt and tie are central to my image, especially the tie.

The web site is decked out in pale-blue and a pale-gray-blue.

• Just like my tie.

What a co-incidence.

Not really!

I pick up neckties at rummage sales at anything from $0.50 each and upward, but I prefer the 50c ones.

Dozens of ties.

I match the tie to the web site on the grounds that I need all the help I can get during this first meeting, and a subliminal message that I am the same color as the web site can’t hurt.

Women: the rummage sale has scarves. Same deal.

Talk to Me !

My New Career in Public Relations

I am listening to an audio-book “Spin Cycles” based on CBC radio talks.

Spin as in spin-doctor; skewing of facts etc.

There is an interesting discussion about “spin” vs. “pubic relations”, and what, after all, is the role of Public relations.

Turns out that although I say my business is meeting people (my money comes from doing what they then ask me to do), I am a one-man public relations firm.

This morning I head downtown again to meet a COO who I’ve not met before. I have asked for 15 minutes; I’ll consider myself fortunate if I get 30.

We will check each other out – if he has a problem I’ll ask for some detail, but mainly I suspect he will want me to describe myself, along the lines of “Why should I ever talk with you in the future”.

My job this morning is to present myself in a light that will cause the COO to accept me as a art of his arsenal in the fight against whatever-it-is.

I’m in Public Relations.

Talk to Me !

Meeting with the CEO

Off downtown again to a face-to-face meeting with a CEO. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.

I got the name from a CNW press release , made the phone call, and within 2m35s was hanging up having secured an appointment.

I have nothing to sell, except my self, and there’s a potential contact like this every day, so why do I feel pressured?

My idea is to sit and chat about our respective businesses for 15 minutes, 30 if I’m lucky.

I have a set of about 5 conversational points that I can develop, but I rely on my attributes (fast-mind, vast experience) to parlay any enquiry into a discussion about me.

And I trust myself.

I maintain that I’m good at solving problems, making estimates, setting boundaries and so on. The computing is a small part of it (but it’s where people see the payoff).

If I’m not comfortable with being adaptable and confident, then I have no business there.

So off I go.

It’s a trip downtown, a great opportunity to expand my business down the road, and what’s the worst that can happen?

I can learn from a mistake!

Talk to Me !

Stay-in-Touch Cards

Wednesday July 14 18:00.
Sorry. They are all GONE!

They Have Arrived.

Please see also Another Way of Staying-in-Touch, Staying in Touch 2, Staying in Touch and Does this Job Interest You?.

Arrange to Pick Yours up Today.

A carton holds 24 packets. Each packet contains 24 cards. There are 16 cartons. Do the math.



Cats are NOT part of the deal

The cards are in tent layout, 25.5 cm by 10 cm, and come with envelopes with a pre-printed “modern floral” design.



The floral design is in the lower-left corner, which leaves the top, and top center free for your return address and promotional message.

There are 6 card-types (please see images below), by painting:

1: Ontario Badlands

2: Milton Escarpment IV

3: Sixteen Mile creek II, Oakville

4: Bluff’s II

5: Oak Ridges Moraine

6: Georgian Bay, Craigleith

Paintings are by Sabelis , and a bio of Sabelis appears on the back of each card (please see images below).

The inside of the cards are blank, thus presenting 25.5x20 cm of laser-printable white space to carry your promotional message or your Christmas Greetings.

These cards are NOT for sale. I need the space. You’ll be doing me a favor by collecting a carton, or two, and distributing packets (of 24 cards each) to your clients as promotional gifts.

If you’d like help in envelope layout, and what to put on the BACK of your envelopes, and why, Talk to Me !

Business Card Boxes

Wednesday July 14 18:00.
Sorry. They are all GONE!


They Have Arrived.

Arrange to Pick Yours up Today.

I have two cartons of 100 boxes-and-lids each. (Thanks to Ruven Gotz of Anilet for pointing this out to me)

The boxes are 15 cm x 10 cm x 5 cm.


If you have a stack of business cards, count them, measure them, and divide that measurement into 15 cm!



Here’s a view of an opened-up box sitting atop a column of 100 boxes, adjacent to a column of lids.

So, You Don’t Print Business Cards?

OK, so your name isn’t Ken King of Source Imaging.

Think outside the box.

These little collapsible boxes can be used to

1: Hold slices of iced cake if you are organizing a cheap wedding.

2: Store that vast stack of cards you intend to wade through over the next Christmas holidays.

3: Present your little bag-of-treats that you plan to place at every seat at the next Markham Board Of Trade meeting (naturally, your business card will be face up at the bottom of the box!).

4: Organize a game of pelmanism with your cats; place a cat-treat under each upturned box

5: (other)

If you’d like to hear my views on Business Cards for Entrepreneurs, Talk to Me!

When the Power Goes Out …

Like it did Monday, what will you do?

You work from home. The power dies.

The whole apartment is deathly silent, and the cats look puzzled.

No soft music, no fan or air-conditioning.

Just the steady beep of the UPS (you do have one, don’t you?) and after that, blank screens.

At least you do a proper backup every night , right?

What next?

Here’s what I learned.

1 - Step outside the apartment; if the lobby lights are out, it’s them, not you. Otherwise it might be you and your fuse board. Don’t spend 12 hours waiting for the hydro people to fix things.

2 - I work with paper and pencil; the computer is the last step. It is necessary, but it is not the source of my work. I can keep on working even though I have no computer.

3 - I have a paper diary, and in the back of that diary are phone numbers. Even though my business contact list is out of action, I can catch up on those phone calls to domestic friends; that’s one minor task out of the way.

4 - No I can’t. My phones are mobile phones, apparently dependent on electrical power from the mains. Good thing I’ve got a cell phone. Bad thing it is pay-per-minute-or-part-thereof.

5 - It is late afternoon; the sun streams into the kitchen. A good time to wash dishes.

6 - There are leftovers in the ‘fridge – steamed rice, cold beef, half an onion, red, green and yellow peppers. I can make myself a yummy supper. (Memo to self: Keep a small container of steamed rice or boiled past on hand throughout the summer months)

7 - Since my phones are out, my fried won’t be able to reach me. Phone her using my cell and tell her my landlines are out.

8 - Think now: What’s an ideal office-related job that can best be performed without electrical power. That’s right; re-cable the three power bars that drive UPS, computers, monitors, external backup drives, modems, lights, mug-warmers etc. (I have 12 such devices on this side of the office alone)

9 - Walk through the apartment playing pick-up-and-put-down-somewhere-else. It’s a great excuse to tidy each room. A long-overdue task.

Talk to Me !

Testimonials that Give Pleasure

If you’ve ever spent time chasing up testimonials, you know what I mean. The chased-up versions are somewhat painful.

The unsolicited ones are great, but perhaps rarer.

Here’s a thought:

Lodge in your email signature a 1-line testimonial, including web address, to your most recent small-business supplier.

It could be a $50 graphic artist job, a $20 proof-reading – nothing major.

Find a way to let them know that you are praising them with every email you send out.

You’ll be surprised at the response.

EVERYONE loves an unsolicited testimonial!

You will too!

Email Me to see how it works!

Get Right Back on that Horse!

Advice often given to you when you fall off a horse, right?

Applicable to the entrepreneur when the “cold call” failed. The message is “Don’t dive into the ‘fridge for a snack; pick up the phone and do it again …

But when did anyone advise you to stay on the horse when you didn’t fall off?

That time is now!

I just made a call, 2m 35s, and snagged a meeting downtown with the COO of a financial house. Just what I wanted.

The temptation is strong to do one of those crazy end-field football dances, but I must steel myself to move right on to the next call.

The best time to make a cold call is when I am flushed with success with the previous call.

My business is meeting people, not computer/accounting/massage/floral arrangements etc.

My business is meeting people; it’s what I do.

Talk to Me !

Money-Transfer Trick

As you get into small-business transactions, you’ll receive payment by email and make payments by email. In Canada this is the Interac system, and it is ideal for small businesses

If you haven’t tried it, try it now. Email $10 to a friend and claim it back next time you meet (or else have them pay for breakfast)

A downside of the Interac system is that you cannot receive confirmation that the supplier has received the email (and cashed the cheque).

You can monitor your online bank statements, but who wants to type in their secure password every hour to inspect a bank statement.

Here’s the trick:

Massage the security question

All email money transfers include a security question.

Typical question: “Initials of the society where we met” ( AIC ).

Typical question: “Initials of the restaurant where we met” ( Boston Pizza ).

Here is an A-Typical question:

“What did I see outside my bedroom window in 1956”.

There is no way the recipient could know that SIX GRAPE VINES on trellises were outside my bedroom window in Southern Cross in 1956.

To access the money they are forced to phone me (or email me) for the answer. If they want the money, they’ll phone me.

Now of course, expecting someone to know something about an event in my life fifty years ago will be seen as nasty, so don’t go that far away in time and space.

But phrase an atypical question about something that has happened between you, and phrase the question do that they will need to phone you.

Talk to Me !