Web Cast Trip

I'm back from another delightful webcast trip. The highlight was driving back part of the way in a torrential downpour. It was nice to have a few days off after that experience. I had to remove a failing hard drive from one of my computers. That was the first one that went bad on me since I can remember. So I guess I should consider myself lucky. It was one that I used for storing old data files so no big loss. Just puts a fire under your ass to get new backups made of all the important data. Well, it's my birthday next weekend, so eat cake in my honor, if you are so inclined.

Budget Homepage

Web traffic has been low lately on the Budget Homepage web site. That means it could be time for a web site makeover. It is proving to be difficult to find work so, I may use the site for posting money saving ideas. This fall I will be too busy with my regular job to worry about helping small business customers. If I can help people by giving them money saving tips, that might be more rewarding. Not that I'm an expert, I have wasted money at times. But maybe we can all learn from our mistakes. I'm off to another web cast next week, so I'll write more when I get back.

Quote Expiration

On a recent quote that I prepared for a customer, I realized that I did not put an expiration date on the quote. A simple statement like "This special price is good for thirty days", may have been useful in getting the customer to take action. Without a discount expiration date, the customer has little incentive to take time out from their daily routine to get back to you. Getting work is difficult and starting quickly after the quote stage is important in keeping the momentum going on a project. Give a customer too much time and they will either forget about you or sign with someone who has more aggressive marketing skills. Having a contract to sign during the initial meeting is also a good idea. But in my case I was in the middle of updating my standard contract. I am learning a few lessons on how to deal with busy clients. This is good because things like this usually give me ideas for improving my business practices.

Summer Heat

You know it has been a slow week when all I have to report on is the weather. I don't mind the hot weather that much because I know it won't last long up here in Northern Wisconsin. What bugs me more is that gas went up to $3.15 a gallon this week, the stock market is in a downward trend, and arabs and jews are still killing each other in the middle east. That's enough to put anyone in a state of depresssion. I think the gasoline burning engine is poised for extinction. How much longer can we go on like this? I would purchase a vehicle that ran on alternative fuels in a second, if I could find one that didn't cost as much as a small house. How hard can it be to make an affordable vehicle that runs on good old sunlight? But somehow, I'm sure the government would find a way to tax our usage of the sun.