Why the need for part-time Web developers?
I keep seeing ads here and there for “part-time web developers”. I have to confess my ignorance, but I don’t understand these advertisements. Is there a website to develop or not? If so, isn’t it to the client’s benefit that the website be done as quickly as possible?
If a website were a building construction project, what would you think about everyone being asked to work part-time? In the end, the project will still cost the same (since everyone is paid hourly), but it will just take a lot longer now.
Have A Great Week - In 30 Minutes
Here’s some tips I use to have a great week. They can be done in 30 minutes before the next week begins and require almost no preparation. You just do them and presto! - you’ll have a great week. They almost always work, but I’d love to hear from others if they have ideas that can be added to this. It probably isn’t possible to do this every week, but when you need to have a good week, try these tips.
Defense
Solo Income Up and Running
I’m excited to announce a project I’ve been working on for a long time. I came up with a way for the average person (uh, that’s probably you) to make some extra money, working at home, with very little investment of time and money.
The best part about it is that anyone can do it - if you can type an email you can do this. And you only have to do the work once (about 40 hours worth) to make a monthly income for years.
Productivity Info
Here is a list of really cool resources on the net for increasing your efficiency and productivity. I refer to these resources frequently, so why hide where I’m getting some of my inspiration?
If I missed something really good, please comment below so others can find out about it, too.
These are all “high-level” productivity sources. By high level, I mean these are not just basic ideas about organization (e.g. “Make a list”). These are sources that suppose, at the outset, that you are not a clutter bug and have mastered basic organizational skills.
Productivity and Efficiency Sources
Why you Should or Should Not Hire Me
You should hire me if…
- you are looking for someone who is talented and a quick learner.
- you are in need of a technical minded person.
- you appreciate ideas and creativeness as much as you appreciate quality work.
- you want a person you can trust to get a job done - someone you don’t have to watch every minute.
- you want an employee who cares about his work and what it represents to the firm.
- you are looking to grow a quality team with more quality people.
Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks
The Retrospector has posted the Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks at work. I couldn’t possibly agree more. I think I’ve finally realized why some employers hate me. They aren’t geeks! They want what geeks can bring to the table, but they don’t know how to manage geeks.
By this I mean that they want geeks to “fix” things in their little office world… make them more efficient, make their jobs easier, make them profitable, etc. But, they don’t want to pay us what we are worth - not in $$$ per se, but in these ten motivations listed by The Retrospector.
Traffic Log Can Help Save Money
Many businesses and organizations waste a lot of money staffing during non-productive hours. Worse, they almost always under staff during busy hours.
Download the attached Excel spreadsheet to start tracking the people coming into your place of business. I’m giving this away for free, but please don’t redistribute it under your own name. However, feel free to modify it for your own office’s use.
The log is ideal for determining office hours, staffing hours, etc. Generally, a front desk receptionist should be put in charge of the sheet. I recommend a minimum of two weeks of data before making any decisions based on the data. A two-month period is more ideal, however.
‘No Soliciting’ Sign on Business - Not good for business?
I’ve noticed lately a trend on businesses to put a “No Soliciting” sign on their doors. It used to be that this sign was reserved just for very professional upscale offices where an intrusion by an unseemly “solicitor” just as that big shot client was waiting to be served could have an adverse affect.
However, now I see it on hair salons, delis, small insurance offices, and dog grooming stores. Oddly, I’ve noticed that the signs are actually more common in areas that are in older, smaller shopping centers. How do I notice these things? I have the mind of an eagle… or maybe a hawk… whichever one can see the field mouse from a mile away. A falcon?
Top 10 Reasons Small Businesses Need a Website
Wrote an article for another site of mine that I thought I’d share here. Sometimes a small business owner will think, even in 2006, that he or she does not need a website - at all. Here are ten very good reasons why that is never the case - assuming the goal of the business is to prosper and succeed.
“Nowadays a company without a Web site is in loser territory-out of touch.” - John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine columnist, June 5, 2006.
Telephone as a “Satisfaction” Driver
When I worked at Allstate, my first job in the insurance industry, they published something called the Agency Service Standards. Yes, we all made fun of the acronym, too. Anyway, the idea was to publish a set of guidelines that would create a sense of uniformity for customers should they visit different agencies. Like all good ideas, it eventually turned into a bureaucratic monster and we all half-expected them to tell us which way to part our hair.
7 Tips to Manage your Agency
I wrote this a while back for insurance agency owners, but it may equally apply to your business.
1. Track (religiously) anything that you want changed. Information is power - and not a burden to track when it helps you achieve your goals. If you don’t know, well then, you don’t know. And if it takes you 30 minutes to find out, you won’t access that information very frequently. The old saying is true: What gets tracked, gets done.
Favorite Quotes
“All intellectual improvement arises from leisure.” - Samuel Johnson
“If everything is under control, you’re going too slow.” - Mario Andretti
“When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.” - Dave Barry
“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be: ‘meetings’.” - Dave Barry
Getting Things Done
I am a huge fan of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”. I’ve been an efficiency expert most of my life and highly adept at getting more done faster. Yet, until David came out with his book, most of the “organizing” books I’ve read (probably over 100) were all variations on a theme. David finally codified what I and others had been thinking for sometime but often unable to put into words.
Can Newspapers Be Saved?
Was talking to a few friends over the weekend about a Florida Today article. We got to talking about newspapers in general… the general decline of their business (due to the net)… their need for new revenue sources… and then the overall blandness of their articles.
In essence, we rarely feel that we are getting the “inside scoop” anymore. In fact, most of our local paper (Florida Today) is filled with AP wire stories. The local stuff is only somewhat interesting.
