- Dora the Explorer is singing about cocaine. Is that why my kids have so much energy? #
- RT @prosperousfool: Be the Friendly Financial “Stop” Sign http://bit.ly/67NZFH #
- RT @tferriss: Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ in a one-page cartoon: http://su.pr/2PAuup #
- RT @BSimple: Shallow men believe in Luck, Strong men believe in cause and effect. Ralph Waldo Emerson #
- 5am finally pays off. 800 word post finished. Reading to the kids has been more consistent,too. Not req’ing bedtime, just reading daily. #
- Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse: morbid story from my childhood. Still enthralling. #
- RT @MoneyCrashers: Money Crashers 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash – $7,400 in Cash and Amazing Prizes http://bt.io/DDPy #
- [Read more…] about Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-16
Reputation Isn’t Everything
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
I’m a code monkey by trade. Software development pays my mortgage.
I’m also–and separately–a small business owner and have been for years. I’ve actually got several side-hustles going, but only one of them is formal, organized, and incorporated as an LLC. A few years ago, a friend and I decided to go into business together, got certified by the state and start making some extra money.
I have recently discovered that two of the government agencies related to our business have been referring students to us. When our customers call the certifying organization, they are–at least some of the time–recommending us over nearly 200 of our competitors. You can’t buy that kind of marketing. At least, I hope you can’t.
How did that happen? How did two faceless bureaucracies decide that we were the company to recommend?
People talk. Over the last few years, we have worked to make sure people want to say nice things about us. What did we do?
1. We never lie. Our business is training. If one of our students asks a question I can’t answer, I admit it and promise to find the answer. Then, after class, I find the answer and email it to everyone.
2. We are reliable. If we schedule a class and just one person shows up, we hold the class. We have had classes with two instructors and one student. Our hourly rate sucked those days, but the students loved the attention and sent us business afterward. I’d never cancel if even one person is planning to be there.
3. We give it away. We give a lot away. If our customers have questions before or after class, we answer them. I spend time on related forums answering questions. Veterans take our class at cost. I try to give away at least as much value as I get paid for.
Now, this sounds like a sales page, but it’s not. I’m not mentioning the name of my company or even the industry, just so nobody thinks I’m trying to drum up business.
We have dropped a crazy amount of time and effort into building our reputation. With a firm foundation of knowledge and the 3 items I mentioned above, a good reputation is easy to build. A bad reputation is even easier. It’s been said that a happy customer will tell 1 person about his experience, while an unhappy customer will tell 100. Repairing the damage from the unhappy customer is much more expensive than just doing it right the first time.
Building a good reputation is absolutely critical for a successful business. Be ethical, honest, and helpful. Always be there when you say you will be, and try to give away as much as possible without actually hurting yourself. People will talk, so don’t give them a chance to say bad things without being liars themselves.
Reputation isn’t everything. You also need knowledge, marketing, and a product. Without a good reputation, however, the rest doesn’t matter.
Getting Back on Track
Have you ever set a goal…and failed?
At some point, it happens to all of us. After all, our reach should exceed our grasp, right? That doesn’t make it easy to admit failure, or to correct it. Did you let a New Year’s resolution lapse, or slip off of a diet? Have you started shopping indiscriminately again, or stopped going to the gym?
It’s okay if you did, but it’s time to fix it.
How can you get back on track after failing a goal?
1. Pick a day to start over.
Just like when you first started towards your goal, you have to decide when you’re going to get back on board. If you can’t decide, just pick the beginning of the next month. A new beginning is a great time to tackle your new beginning.
2. Recommit.
You failed once. Accept it and move on. Past behaviors don’t have to be an indicator of future performance. Just do better this time.
3. Announce it.
Somebody has noticed that you aren’t on the wagon. Your coworkers are seeing you eating candy, or your spouse has noticed you buying things you don’t need. Talk to these people. Tell them you’re going to redo the things you’ve undone. You’ll change the world, but you have to start with yourself.
4. Don’t be ashamed of your lapse.
Unless I have seriously misjudged my audience, you are human. Humans sometimes make poor decisions. Being ashamed won’t help you, but take the opportunity to learn from the past. Do you know what caused you to fail? Are there triggers to your behavior that you can avoid this time around? When I quit smoking, I tried to avoid rush hour, because I smoked heavily while I drove and I wanted to avoid being in car for as long as possible, minimizing one of my triggers. What cause your lapse, and can you avoid it?
5. Don’t do it again.
This one should be the most obvious, but the fact that it’s a problem means it’s not. Do whatever it takes to not make the same mistakes and uphold your goals. Don’t smoke. Don’t eat garbage. Exercise more. Whatever you’ve decided to do or not do, do it….or not.
Have you missed a goal? How have you picked it back up?
Saving Money: The Warranty Fund
Last weekend, my DVD player died.
No big deal, right? We watch a lot of movies. We get a lot of enjoyment out of watching a lot of movies. Movies are fun for us. We’ve got a projector and a movie screen in our living room. Movies are our biggest pastime. Naturally, losing the movie machine hurts.
The thing that hurts the most is that this hasn’t been a good month for us, financially. My wife gets paid hourly, with semi-monthly paychecks. This means that, in a short month(like February!), her second paycheck is small by a few hundred dollars. When her company switched to that nonsensical plan, I watched for a few months, then set our budget to match the smallest paycheck she received. They haven’t been using this ridiculous plan for a full year, yet.
February caught me by surprise.
I know, it shouldn’t have. According to my research, there has been a February in every single year since well before I was born. I should have been expecting it. Oops.
So, to recap: our favorite pastime was dead and money was a little bit tight. There was no money to shake out of the budget to cover a new DVD player and there was no way we’d hit our emergency fund for something as frivolous—if enjoyable—as movies.
What to do?
About a year ago, I decided to start a warranty fund. There are things we can’t easily afford to replace, so we pay for warranties on some of them. For example, our cell phones have a repair plan, and that plan has saved us more than it has cost us. We have a repair plan for some of our appliances, and that, too, has saved more than it has cost us. My goal was to self-warranty my stuff. I wanted an account that had money that served no purpoase but to help me avoid paying for warranties.
I set up another ING Direct savings account and scheduled an automatic deposit. It’s only set to deposit $25 per month, but over a year, it was enough to replace our home theater system, with some left over. It is, quite simply, money to use when our stuff breaks.
With no warning, and no time to prepare, we still had enough money socked aside to handle one of life’s little surprises, without wrecking our plans.
How do you prepare to replace the things that are going to break?
Bread
I’ve been asked for my bread recipe, so I’m sharing. There is nothing quick or particularly easy about this recipe. It takes forethought. It takes planning. It takes 3 days.
This is bastardized from Bread Alone, which is a great book to understand how bread works.
First, the poolish, or starter:
1/2 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
3/4 cup of flour, preferably bread flour.
Combine the yeast and water. Stir until the yeast is completely dissolved. Mix in the flour and stir roughly 100 times to get a good start on the gluten formation. Cover in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 12-24 hours. The time can be cut in half by leaving it out on the counter, but it tastes better with the slower fermentation.
Stage 2, the dough:
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
7-8 cups of flour, preferably bread flour.
1 tablespoon salt
Combine the yeast, salt and water. Stir until everything is dissolved. Mix in the poolish and break it up. Stir in flour until the mix gets thick enough that you are worried about breaking your wooden spoon. [Read more…] about Bread
Frugally Expensive
I used to do all of my shoe shopping at the big chain farm supply store.
I’d get a pair of black leather boots, because that’s how I roll.
A year later, the sole would be worn out and the leather would be cracking, so I’d go back and give them another $100 for another pair of boots that would last a year.
Year after year.
In December of 2007, I stopped in a Red Wing shoe store. I found a pair of boots similar to what I was replacing, for about $200.
Two years later, one of the side zippers broke, which cost $25 to repair.
A few weeks ago, one of the side zippers broke again. The bottom split, which allowed the zipper to come open (at the bottom) at surprising times.
In Minnesota.
In the winter.
This time, the sole was getting thin. It was still thicker that the brand-new soles of the cheapo boots, but definitely thinner that it should be. The heel was getting run down and the leather was starting to crack.
Time for new boots.
When I went back to the store, I found out that, not only were my boots discontinued, but the price had gone up. It was now $220 for boots I had to tie instead of zip.
Then I looked at the boots. It had hooks for the laces instead of eyelets. I sit Indian-style most of the time, including in my chair at work. The hooks tear up my pants and my chairs.
Grr.
I sent the boots back to the factory to replace the hooks with eyelets for another $25.
That’s $245 for a pair of boots that I should still be wearing in 2016, or $61 per year instead of the $100 per year I was paying before.
Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for.
