The Stand-up Philosopher

The Most Read Blog Post I’ve Ever Written

I am, by definition, an amateur blogger. Nobody pays for for this. I’ve written close to 850 blog posts. I can’t tell you how many hundreds I haven’t written, or started writing and never finished. Those 850 or so blog posts were written over more than 6 years. I’ve written in spurts. Last year, when I found myself out of a job, I was posting four to six times per day in an effort to drive traffic and launch some kind of freelance writing career. Then I stopped posting. Sometimes I have a lot to say, and sometimes I have nothing to say. I’ve authored at least 7 blogs. All of them are still up. Four of them are duplicates of each other as I struggle to decide which one will be my main blog.

By far, the most read post I’ve ever written lies here: Sundance Vacations- Is There Really Value in Buying 30 Vacations Wholesale? That’s from my Blogger Blog, which is the one that pulls in the most views. I wrote that post in April of 2007, almost four years ago. And I still stand by it.

I’ve gotten a lot of comments on this post over the years. I lost most of them. I was using a service called HaloScan for my Blogger blog for a few years, but it went down and I was unable to recover my comments. Not all were positive. I’ve gotten quite a few comments with ad-hominem attacks and other dishonest debate tactics. I’ve gotten email about this post.

If you’ve been contacted by Sundance Vacations, I welcome you to read about my experience, and the tips I’ve provided to evaluate their offer. Or any other high-pressure sales offer.

Professionals and Referrals

My time in Real Estate is coming to an end, at least as an active agent. I’m keeping my license active so I can still earn referral income. If you need to buy or sell a house, you can still contact me and I will connect you with an excellent Realtor to handle your transaction.

During my time in Real Estate, I’ve really wondered where people’s heads are when it comes to recommendations for professionals. There are many types of professionals who are needed for a Real Estate transaction. Clients, of course, can hire any professional they choose. Most Realtors have a short list of professionals that they’re familiar with and work well with. Unfortunately, anybody not on that list is a wild card. You have no idea how competent they are, or how good of a job they’re likely to do. Often, we’re surprised. But just as often, we’re left wanting to ask our clients “Why the hell didn’t you just listen to me and hire the person I told you would do a great job for you?”

It’s interesting how we can tell a client “I know you need to hire a (home inspector, Real Estate lawyer, termite inspector, title company, mortgage company, etc). Here are a few that I’ve worked with before, and I know they’ll do a great job for you.” Just as often, the client will respond with “That’s OK. I know somebody that my friend’s sister’s cousin’s aunt’s brother’s roommate's 4th grade teacher’s nephew’s college roommate’s friend from church heard about. I’m going to hire him. I’ve never met him, but I have 12th hand knowledge of his existence and he has a business card that says he’s a home inspector.” Then you end up with a home inspector who needs 3 days to hand-write a report and mail it, rather than print it out onsite like the guy you recommended would have done. Then the deal is up in the air for 3 days until the hand-written home inspection report comes in the mail (or fax).

In one deal I was involved with, the client was offered a referral to a local mortgage broker. The client opted to use another broker who hooked him up with a mortgage lender in New Mexico or Nevada. The problem was, when we showed up for closing at 10 AM in New Jersey, nobody was in the office in the mountain time zone. That lender, not being local to New Jersey, had a different escrow policy. We spent 4 hours at the title company waiting for somebody to show up for work to straighten things out. Had a local mortgage broker been involved, a representative would have been available to attend closing and deal with any hassles like that.

Please, when a professional refers you to another professional, please give that referral a little more credence than a referral from somebody less experienced in that field. You can hire anybody you want to, but sometimes a referral from a professional should carry a little more weight than a referral from a friend or distant relative.

Is Accident Forgiveness Simply a Pre-Paid Insurance Increase?

I’ve had my insurance with Allstate New Jersey for the last 11 years. It’s not a bad relationship. They don’t bother me, I don’t bother them, and I guess we’re both happy.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to talk to Allstate. We sold a car last year, and I had to call to take it off the policy. I don’t remember how long it was before that when I had to talk to them last.

One of the last two times I had to call Allstate was right after Accident Forgiveness was rolled out. I thought that was a great idea. I’ve paid tens of thousands or more of dollars for car insurance, and so far I have not had to make a single claim. So by this point, after 20 years of driving (and paying insurance), being forgiven for an accident sounds like a great idea. I could probably have bought several cars for what I’ve paid in insurance, especially in the early years when it cost me a fortune to insure a car simply because I was young, single, and male.

But when they asked me if I wanted to add accident forgiveness to my policy, they explained that it would raise the cost of my policy. I politely declined.

I have to ask, if you’ve talked to your insurance company about accident forgiveness: isn’t this just another banking/insurance scam? Is this little more than pre-paying a policy increase? Or am I missing something?

One of My Listings Was Just Reduced and is Waiting for You

We just reduced the price on one of my listings. If you’re looking for a fine home in Deptford, NJ, this could be yours.

This fine 3 bedroom, 2 bath home was completely renovated in 2003. It features an open plan living/dining/kitchen area. The kitchen has skylights that provide plenty of natural light. The master suite is on the first floor and includes a sitting room or office or whatever you may need to use it for. Upstairs are 2 bedrooms with huge closets and a spacious loft with built-in bookcase.

The detached 2 car garage is air conditioned.

This home is centrally located to shopping and major highways.

Contact me for details and a personal tour of this fine home. You can also visit the home’s website for more information.

The Key Word in Social Media is Social

Social media is a double edged sword. Through social media, I’ve reconnected with high school friends and Navy buddies I thought I’d never see again. I’ve even kept in touch with family, and formed closer relationships even with those in driving distance. I’ve been able to get a glimpse into the minds of business leaders I respect and admire. I’ve been able to see what celebrities I like are doing, like the Ghost Hunters and the Deadliest Catch fishermen.

Social media provides a business advantage. I can promote my listings a lot easier through social media. I can broadcast a lot farther and a lot faster about open houses and new listings. It’s a great business tool.

But I can also be spammed relentlessly by others promoting their own businesses and interests, who have no filter between their mind and keyboard. I routinely get friend requests from people, only to have my status stream and messages filled up with “business opportunities”, webinars, demands for information, and other distractions. All this from people who totally ignore the social aspect of social media.

Just now, I cleaned out 8 messages from my Facebook inbox. All were from people who “friended” me only for business promotion purposes. One guy sent two messages about a video of a friend who is supposedly making $1000 a day.Great. Believable. Somebody else sent out 3 messages about how he’s looking for short sales. That’s just the Real Estate and “Internet Marketers”.

I’m all for using social media for business. But I think you need to form a relationship. The founder of the company I’m affiliated with says “people buy people before they buy (anything else)”. So if you’re expecting me to buy your product through Facebook, then who are you? What are you thinking about? What are you doing? What do you like to do? What books are you reading?

I don’t turn down friend requests unless they’re obvious spam, but I tend to ignore those people who do nothing but shamelessly market.

What about you? Do you run into shameless promoters on social media? Do you think it’s OK?

John Maxwell: Don’t Shun The Sting

This post by John Maxwell hit home for me. I had to make a phone call last night. I got an answering machine. I’m not very good with voice mails. Even with people I know, I’ve never been good. I sometimes opt to hang up on the voice mail and try to call later. My messages are very stilted because I lack feedback from the person. But when I’m calling for business, it’s bad form to not leave a message.

After I left a message last night, Christina told me it sounded horrible. I agree.

But, I am going to have to master the art of the phone call and the voice mail message to succeed in my business. I guess I’ll just have to keep at it.

I’ve only known of John Maxwell as an accomplished speaker. Like me with phone calls, he once started from somewhere too.

Thank You, Sears. May I Have Another?

As a small businessman, customer service is VERY important to me. I can't afford to unintentionally get customers angry. That would send me back to a cubicle. Anything but that. Things happen. Yes. People get upset. Yes. That's part of life, and part of business. How you react to things happening and people getting angry says a lot about yourself and your business.

I bought a treadmill from Sears about 3 years ago. Lately, it started to smell like it was burning. I called Sears, since we paid for the 5 year service plan. I was scheduled for a service call between 1 and 5 PM this afternoon.

Guess what? It's obvious. They didn't show. Nobody called. And of course, with a 4 hour window requiring one of us to be home, it placed us under a huge inconvenience. We had an errand that both of us needed to do, but I ended up doing it myself. It required a lot of labor.

Christina called me after 5 when it was obvious that a large, billion dollar corporation can't keep an appointment. She called them. The call center rep was rude to her. She asked for a manager. She escalated 2 levels in the call center, and did not encounter a single person who cared. We've already been waiting a week and a half for this service call. Now we're waiting until July 18. That's a Saturday. In my business, Saturdays are workdays. Thanks, Sears, you could have just cost me money.

Guess what Sears offered us for our inconvenience? A "free" consultation for air conditioning or siding or some other home service. Right. It would be free anyway. What idiot would pay for a consultation for that? Sears already demonstrated their unreliability and lack of caring about us as customers. If I needed anything done on my home, I know several good and reliable contractors who would do the job right. And I know where they live...

If you live in south Jersey and need air conditioning or siding (or any other contracting service) performed, please contact me. Spend your money on a good small businessman who cares about doing a good job. I can refer you to several. Don't give your money to Sears.

I'm writing this as sort of an open letter to Sears. Some companies actually monitor social media and blogs. When you're as large and soulless as Sears, it's a good way to find out what's really going on when several levels of corporation are between the executives and the customers. Of course, when you're as large and soulless as Sears, you probably don't care about one inconvenienced customer. Or two, or even a thousand. You'll do just fine no matter how many upset customers you leave in your wake.

So if you're reading this, Sears, I hope you don't miss the few tens of thousands of dollars in sales that you just lost from me. I have a long memory when large, soulless mega-corporations tick me off. Just ask Lowe's.

Banks Getting Rid of Free Checking?

I saw a post on Lifehacker this morning about banks getting rid of free checking. Apparently they have their customers back over a barrel and can do what they want once again.

I've only used the services of one "bank" in my life. That was Commerce Bank. But I got tired of their stupid games and closed my account. Commerce bank had some silly policy that if you deposit a paycheck on Thursday, somehow the funds would not be available until Tuesday even though they were reflected in your balance. That is, unless you get out of the car and go in the bank and cash out part of the paycheck at the counter. Then the entire thing was available. It never made sense to me at all.

I have almost always conducted my banking at credit unions. I started with Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio, Texas, when I was 13. I started with a savings account, and opened a checking account when I was 16.

Urgency: Does Anybody Have It?

Yesterday, I got hit with another massive wave of discouragement. I realized that I don't want to get good at handling discouragement. It's not worth the pain. But I am resorting to a tactic that got me through boot camp. I keep telling myself that many people have been here before me, and they made it. I can too.

First, I had a phone interview. I was hoping for "Wow, you're the super tech we've been waiting for. Can you start after lunch?" What I got was a second interview next week.

Then I exchanged emails with a friend. There are a few open positions in his organization. I applied for one. Even though he's a director, he has no real authority in hiring. All he can do is forward my resume. But, even after applications close out, it will be 4-6 weeks before I could even get scheduled for an interview. That's another mortgage payment. Not sure my savings will hold out that long. Crap. I wanted to crawl under a table.

Then an email came in. I applied for a FEMA job in November or December of last year. They FINALLY got around to deciding I'm not qualified. 

I have to wonder if anybody has a sense of urgency in hiring. How does any work get done when nobody can get hired?

But there was a bright spot. I'm not totally without hope. A friend of mine is a Real Estate agent. When I first got laid off, I asked her if she thought I could make it as an agent. It's something I always wanted to do, and with FEMA not being the only organization not in a hurry to hire anybody, I figured it was worth pursuing.

I met with my friend's broker, who is willing to take me on after I get licensed. I already took the school, and my state license exam is scheduled for Monday. Then I have to get fingerprinted, and get a background check. I think I misunderstood how long it will take before I can start though. Apparently it will be sooner than I thought. I'll also be working in the top producing office in New Jersey. I'll be learning from the best.

That's where a paradox comes in. I could take down all of my resumes now. I could start laying out a list of goals for Real Estate. Or do I pursue another tech job? I feel weird trying to keep a foot in each door. I think I'm going to have to make a decision very soon.

And I have to study for my license exam.

The Fastest Way To The Top

Most of my life, I've tried to take the fastest path I could find to the top. It's rarely worked well. At times, I've felt like an overachiever. At other times, I've felt like a total failure.

In November, after I realized that my job was headed south, I bought Rabbi Daniel Lapin's book "Thou Shall Prosper". I bought the 1st edition for Kindle and read it on my iPhone. It took months to finish reading. I digested it slowly. I've been wanting to find some way to work for myself for a while. I don't know if this is it or not, or if I still have to learn more. I don't know.

This isn't a tangent. I'm bringing two threads together. While I've been unemployed, I rediscovered Diablo. I started playing the first version in 1999 or 2000. I used to play a modem game with a guy from work. It was a great stress reliever. After a long day of development testing, I could go home, pop a cold beer, and fire up Diablo. I'd walk through the dungeons slaying monsters and pretending they were Lockheed Martin engineers. Until you've had to support them, you won't understand. I don't mean the monsters.

Josh Kaufman: Rethinking the MBA

If somebody told me they would pay all of my expenses for a few years so I could go to any school I wanted, I would go to Harvard Business School. I'd get an MBA. From Harvard.

But is a traditional MBA program, even Harvard's, the best way to learn business?

Josh Kaufman doesn't think so. He's the founder of The Personal MBA, a program I've followed (loosely) for a few years. Josh picks what he considers the best business books for you to read to give yourself a world class business education. If you join his site, he offers a tool for you to track the books you've read. The reading list is updated approximately every 2 years. So far I've read 8 of the 99 books chosen for the current reading list. I think I read a few more books from the 2005 and 2007 lists. Occasionally, I'll get a book that I'm sure HAS to be on the Personal MBA list, but isn't.

A quote from the blog post:

Here’s the TLDR summary of the research: getting an MBA essentially buys you a $150,000+ interview with a large consulting firm or investment bank, since it’s used as an HR screening criteria. (And as this recent article indicates, entry-level MBA positions are usually soul-sucking and often quite scammy.) For all other purposes, it’s a waste of time and money with a massive opportunity cost – there is absolutely no difference regarding long-term compensation, hiring, promotion, or job satisfaction between MBA-holders and business professionals that don’t have a degree. None.

Read more: http://personalmba.com/rethinking-the-mba/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+personalmba+%28The+Personal+MBA%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#ixzz0mJ07i9zE

Alternate Work Schedules: What's Best For You?

The company that laid me off last month rolled out what they called "Flexible Work Schedules" at the end of 2008. I elected not to participate because I considered these schedules to be far less flexible than a regular 8 hour day 5 days a week.

One model required you to work 9 hours every day and take 1 day off every two weeks. The other model required 8 hour days one week, then 10 hour days the next, with 1 day off in the 2 week period. Maybe if they'd called it an "Alternate Work Schedule" I would have considered it. But by calling it a "Flexible Work Schedule" while making it less flexible than the original model, my BS detector just about blew my eardrum out. Oh, yeah, if an unpaid holiday appeared (they only gave us 7 paid holidays a year, and Black Friday wasn't one of them), your day off became that holiday whether you liked it or not. Yeah, real flexible. Also, if a paid holiday appeared during a time when you were scheduled to work more than 8 hours a day, you had to take vacation to make up the balance. Again, super flexible. 

It's scary when companies believe their own BS.

I've worked a flexible schedule before. When I was at BAE systems, I was required to put in 80 hours in 2 weeks. I could flex up to 16 hours from one week to the next within a pay period. As long as my work was getting done, I could come and go as I pleased. I loved it. If I needed a day off (or was sick) I could work a couple of 12 hour days to make up for the missed day. I could leave for a few hours and come back. Nobody ever said anything as long as my work was getting done, which it was.

I really enjoyed that kind of flexibility. I normally worked 9 hour days and took a half day most Fridays. I could come in on weekends if needed to make up time. I loved coming in on Saturday, when nobody else was there. I could get a lot done with the entire floor all to myself.

When Caleb tried a physics experiment (he wanted to see if his hand and the minivan sliding door could both occupy space simultaneously) I got up and left for the ER. I came back a few hours later and worked late.

INC Magazine has an article about Four Day Work Weeks. I don't actually like the concept of 4 day work weeks. I like to have the option to do them occasionally, but I would not want a 4 day work week to replace a 5 day work week.

Here's why:

• 10 hour days are exhausting- Seriously, they wear you down. I don't mind doing 10 and 12 hours days as the situation requires, but I wouldn't want to do them all the time.
• Workload is rarely that predictable
• They limit flexibility to handle workload- what do you do when something comes up on Friday, but everybody is off? "Oh, sorry Mr. Client, we don't work on Friday. You'll have to wait until Monday." That or you can incur some overtime expenses.
• Life is rarely that predictable

Here's my preference:

• Hire professionals that you can trust. Seriously, if you catch somebody cheating on time, fire them.
• Tell your professionals what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by.
• Give your professionals some leeway to decide what needs to be done and when it can be done.

In this age of knowledge work, many jobs can be done outside the limitations of a 9 to 5 workday set in a physical location. Why not change compensation to a model based on what gets done rather than how many hours a butt is in a chair? Some service jobs are still somewhat chained to time and space, but most knowledge jobs aren't. Give knowledge workers some space and watch what happens.

When Bad News Is Good News (And People Won’t Deliver It)

I wrote this post yesterday. Then I deleted the entire thing. What came out of my hands onto my keyboard was very angry and reactionary. It was also immature. I should expect better of myself.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you know the news you’re likely to get is bad? Of course you have. But have you also wished that the shoe would just drop so you could get on with your life? But the shoe never drops. The call never comes. And it all boils down to people not keeping commitments.

Last Monday, I got a call. It was for a possible job. It sounded very exciting. This company was looking to branch into something that I have some very direct experience in. I also happen to be available to help them with it. There were drawbacks, like a 60 mile commute. But I was excited about the possibility.

How Wrong Is This?

I used to have a Google AdSense account. It got suspended for “click fraud”. Basically, one day while I was looking at my own blog, I noticed some Google ads that interested me, so I clicked on them. Google then suspended my account for click fraud. I appealed, Google denied my appeal.

So, imagine my surprise when I uploaded a new blog post and saw the following:

Figure 1. Ads By Google

So, let me get this straight. Google suspended my AdSense account because I clicked on two or three ads on my page. But Google is still running ads on my blog through a 3rd party (Addify).

I’m not entirely opposed to it. One thing I like about Google ads is that they are targeted. That’s why I clicked on the two or three ads that got me banned for “click fraud”. They were targeted to the posts I was writing, therefore obviously I was interested in them.

Why Do Companies Make It Harder Than It Has to be to Apply for a Job?

Before I go any farther in this post, I’ll state that I will do what needs to be done to pay the bills. If that requires getting back into another soul-sucking 8 hour a day cubicle job, then I will. But not if it can be avoided.

Except for one year (1998-1999), I’ve spent my entire adult career either in or around the U.S. Navy. It’s been a good run. But there are a lot of needless inefficiencies built into the Navy, and into many of the contracting companies that support the Navy.

I’ve been looking for a job since November. I’ve avoided mentioning it just in case anybody from my previous job might stumble across my blog. But I’ve been looking ever since just before I got fired from my original position. I continued looking while I was stuck in a stuffy cubicle working from Micro-MAN-ager.

I’ve come to realize that, unless you absolutely HAVE to put food on the table right now, the degree of difficulty in applying for a job just MIGHT be a sign of the difficulty DOING the job.

Some jobs have been easy to apply for. I come across the job on Monster or Dice, or even Careerbuilder. I click “Apply Now”. I’m taken to a page asking which resume I want to use, and if I want to include a cover letter. I make those decisions, and click another button. Then I’m done. I get an email confirmation.

But some companies make it really hard. First, you have to register at yet another job site. God help you if you’ve already registered and can’t remember your password, because you can’t use your email account again (Comcast is the worst offender I’ve come across in this regard). Then you have to upload your resume. THEN, after your resume is uploaded, you have to copy and paste your work history and education into text blocks. Even though this information is already on your resume, you have to type it in again.

The government is horrible. Trying to apply for a job through USA Jobs is a nightmare. OK, not all. Some are relatively easy, but I have yet to find an agency that is tied into USA Jobs and can take your resume from the main site. Normally, you find a job on USA Jobs and are taken to another site to apply for the job. This requires creating an account and inputting your information. Some aren’t bad. Applying for a civilian IT job for the Army was actually easy. The Navy makes it almost impossible to apply for a job. I couldn’t get past the first step in the process to apply for a civilian job for the Navy. I put in a trouble ticket. I found out (which shouldn’t surprise me) that I can’t apply because I’m not using Internet Explorer 6, which is the official web browser of the United States Navy.

So, let me ask you: if it’s a pain in the neck just to APPLY for a job, once you get in, do you think you’ll find a massive bureaucracy that makes it nearly impossible to actually do the job?

Job Update

This post probably won't be my masterpiece. I was dismissed from my job on Thursday. It wasn't a surprise. I knew it was coming, and I was under incredible anxiety about it. Once I found out, most of the anxiety went away. I'm still wondering how I'll pay the bills, but I know I'm smart and I adapt. I was just stuck in a bad spot. It was bad for me and for the company, and I am grateful to them for keeping me around as long as they did. Sometimes I wonder if that just prolonged the inevitable. Nothing I can do to change that.

On the bright side, I can chart a new course. If there was ever a time to make some hard decisions about my career and future, this is it. Here are some of the positives I've come up with. Some are silly, some are really profound:

• I can openly complain about how bad most job descriptions and sites are. Seriously, some of them are really bad. Take Clearance Jobs. It's one of those needy sites. Every 30 days I get an email from them "You haven't been on Clearance Jobs in 30 days. You need to refresh your resume." Sometimes I wonder what the point is. To this point in my job search. Clearance Jobs has been one of the more useless. I got an email from one person early in my search. When I did some research, it turns out he's a one man shop. I sent him my resume and all the information he requested. Then I heard nothing. I called him twice and left a message. He didn't have the decency to call me back.
• I can chart a new course. Do I want to stay in engineering? Do I want to get more into pure IT? Do I even want to stay in this field, or stay in the defense industry? One of the prayers most in my mouth right now is "Please, God, don't let me end up in another cubicle." I need to keep that in mind as I decide which path to choose. I've been miserable to some extent in my last 3 jobs. I should probably try to figure out why, because I don't want to end up miserable again. I'm sure the cubicle isn't the only reason, but I don't like them. I can't concentrate and I feel like I'm being watched all the time. I hate that. I don't do very good work under those conditions, and that's not fair to me or my customer/employer. I don't care if I'm the only person on Earth who doesn't like working in cubicles. I don't.
• I can set out on my own. I can start my own business. I've been trying to find some freelance writing assignments. I can also set up as an IT consultant or follow my Computer Coach idea.  I've also considered looking into Real Estate, and a few other ideas. 

I have many possibilities. 

How Do You Handle Link Exchange Requests?

I have a question for other bloggers. What is the best way to handle link exchange requests? I've gotten two of these so far. I checked out the most recent one. It appears to be legit, but the benefit to me is minimal, since the link page I would appear on has so many links on it, I'd be better off appearing in the top 1000 of a Google search.

It Finally Happened

Earlier today I wrote a post about anxiety. I was really feeling it. I didn't want to give too many details at the time. But now, it's all moot. 

I was let go from work today. They'll pay me through Monday, but I'm out of there. It's not a bad deal. It saves me about 60 miles of driving and $8 in bridge tolls over the next two workdays.

Amazingly enough, when I got called into my manager's office, most of the anxiety went away. I guess a lot of it had to do with knowing that I would be let go soon, but not when. Once I knew when, it cleared things up. I think my job search was being hampered by the possibility that I might be kept on. Knowing that I'm out the door somehow eased it.

I have no idea how I'm going to keep food on the table, or keep the bills paid.

On the bright side, I can blog as much as I want now.

I guess I can look at it two ways. I'm either

• unemployed

or

• self-employed

I have a couple of ideas. Maybe I should go for them and see what happens.

Would You Pay for This?

I came up with a business idea. I posted the following ad on Craig's List. I was hoping to be able to provide what I considered a valuable service and to make some extra money without having to deliver pizzas or up sell french fries:

Computer Coaching Service

Do you want to do more with your computer but don't know how? Do you think that you can't figure your computer out?

Do you wish that somebody would show you how to use your computer, but don't want to pay for a long and expensive class?

I'm launching a new business service called The Computer Coach. I will sit down with you at your home or at a location such as a coffee shop or even office and patiently answer your questions about your computer and it's uses. I'll show you how to get more out of your computer. That way you can focus on doing things with it and enjoying it.

Prior to each session, you'll tell me what the focus should be on. Is it about surfing the Internet? Is it about sharing photos or social networks such as FaceBook or LinkedIn? Would you like to know how to get the most out of your email program? Do you need to know how to get more out of Microsoft Excel for work? Are you worried about viruses and need somebody to help you choose the best security for your computer?

I will then prepare for the session to focus on what you need from it. Then you can walk away more knowledgeable and confidence. You'll be able to enjoy your computer and be more productive with it.

Rates are $30 for 1/2 hour and $50 for 1 hour.

I have been working with computers since the early 90's. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology, and have been providing this service to family and friends for more than 10 years.

I am also available for tutoring in computer related classes.

If interested, contact me by email.

I've had 0 responses.

I've been told by several people that this is a great idea. But there is a huge difference between "Oh, yeah, that's awesome. People would totally pay for that" and "I'd like to schedule my first session. Do you take PayPal?"

Is this something that you, or somebody you know would pay for, or be interested in learning more about?

Hard To Find Seminars: A Site Rich In Free Content

I can’t remember when it was. I think it was within the last year. I was looking for something, and I stumbled across a site called “Hard To Find Seminars.” I got on the email list (which is hard to avoid doing) and then largely ignored it. I would glance over the emails, but didn’t really have the time to do much with them. I recently came back to it.

Hard To Find Seminars is run by Michael Senoff. Michael is a salesman, but this site is rich in free content. Michael interviews people, and places the interviews online WITH transcripts. They’re freely available.

Check the site out if you’re looking for this kind of information. As I write this, I’m listening to an interview about the inside of the motivational tape industry.

Why Are Job Descriptions So Poorly Written?

This is something that has always baffled me. When companies need to hire somebody, don’t they want to hire an experienced and talented person? If so, why do they make it so darn hard to figure out what the job actually is?

I like to keep an eye on what opportunities are out there. I wish I’d lived in a time when an employee could expect to stay with one company for an entire career. I don’t. While I do appreciate the company I currently work for, I’m under no illusions that their relationship with me can’t end at any time and for any reason on their part. Loyalty is a wonderful quality, but should not be misplaced.

Marketing Annoyances

I'm trying to create an entrepreneur's mindset this year. I'm hoping to either find a way to supplement my income by freelancing or to escape cubicle work entirely. I've been studying how other people do things so that when I come up with a product or service idea, I don't make the same mistakes. Here are some of the ways I hope I NEVER use to market to other people. I wish people would stop doing this to me.

Failure to note preferences

I have an account on Barnes & Noble.com. I also have a nook. I get several emails from B&N every week about their specials. That doesn’t bother me. I also get several emails from them every week about how great the nook is and why I should buy one. That does bother me for the following reason: I'VE ALREADY GOT ONE, YOU IDIOTS! How hard would it be to tailor your marketing emails to me based on my user account? Stop sending me product announcements for products I already have.

Last chance!

I'll sign up for almost any free report or free ebook download. I'll especially sign up for any of them that sound like they'll help me meet my goals, like working for myself and not working in a cubicle anymore. However, most smart marketers will offer some information in a free report and try to get you to buy some of their informational products. Some also create "boot camps". If the info in the free report is useful, I’ll assume that the info product is as well. If I learn nothing new from the free material, I’ll assume there’s no reason to pay to learn what I already knew.

Last year, I registered for a "social media teleseminar". It sounded interesting, but didn't include any information I didn't already know. The person who put on the seminar was trying to get people to register for his social media bootcamp. I declined, partly because I can't really afford to drop thousands of dollars on such things right now, even if the investment would pay off hundreds of times over.

Every time this social media bootcamp starts up, I start getting emails about it. OK, no problem; it doesn't take me long to delete them. But they keep coming, almost one every time a seat sells out. "Act now! Only 25 seats remaining in social media bootcamp!" "Act now, only 24 seats remaining in social media bootcamp!"..."Act now! Only 13 seats remaining in social media bootcamp!" I know it's supposed to create a sense of urgency and scarcity, but I find it annoying.

Another Internet marketer that I signed up to receive emails from literally sent THREE "This is absolutely your last chance ever for this offer" emails yesterday. Right. When I take the long term view, I don't believe it. He'll send another "This is your last chance email" out within the next 20 minutes. And another one 20 minutes after that. Then the next week, the same marketing program will be out at the same price for the last chance ever once again.

What's holding you back?

Here's another one I came across recently. I got yet ANOTHER email about a Multi-Level Marketing "opportunity". I sent out a tweet in annoyance that I have no interest in EVER doing MLM AGAIN. I got a contact about autoresponders. I clicked on the link and gave my name and email address and got the free information. OK, great idea, great price. If I had a product or service, I'd jump on the 30 day trial. But I keep getting email after email after email from the autoresponder asking what's holding me back and reminding me about the 30 day free trial. Here's what's holding me back: I don't yet have a product or service that I'm ready to "go live with". When I get one, I'll sign up for the trial. Leave me alone until that point, before I decide NOT to use you when I'm ready.

Oh, come on, there’s a free estimate

This one isn’t Internet related. At least, I haven’t come across it on the Internet. My wife and I went to two Homeshows recently. At the homeshows, the businesses present try to drum up some new business from your needs. They’re obviously trained to overcome objections. At the first Homeshow, I spent so much time dealing with unwanted sales calls that I decided never to give my number out again ever. Don’t call me; I’ll call you. At the second Homeshow, some salespeople did pressure me into giving out my number. Then it got annoying.

I keep getting calls for them to come out. I keep telling them that I’m not ready to commit to doing anything right now. They keep up with the “Oh, just let us meet with you. It’s a free estimate and it’s good for a year”. Right, like I could commit to a $25,000 sunroom being done within a year. Not likely to happen.

I hate being rude, but I started ignoring the calls.

So here's the big question:

I believe that commerce is moral and righteous. Business is a good thing. But can I expect to meet with success in business on the Internet without annoying the crap out of other people? I want to be a success, but I don’t want to be annoying.

Have You Ever Bought Any Info Products? Were They Useful?

My interests change from time to time. Lately I've been reading a lot about writing. I want to learn how to write great content for my blog so people will want to read it. I also want to write other products. I've always wanted to write a book, and the thought of how easy it would be to write and publish an eBook really makes me wish I could think of a topic to write about that people would want to read.

I've come across a lot of landing pages for info products that sound really interesting. Many of them promise to teach me better writing skills, or ways to use my writing to earn money. I like that concept a lot.

The problem is, I'm kind of shy about dropping $35 or more on an info product. I want to know if they're any good. Obviously, any landing page worth its salt is fully of testimonials from real people about how great the product was for them.

But still, I hesitate.

So can you do me a favor? Have you bought any info products online? Can you leave me a comment, either here on my blog, or on Facebook about which one you bought and whether it was useful to you or not?

I'm thinking specifically of products that you might find from Bob Bly, or Men With Pens, or even Dan Miller. I know there are tons of others. I have John T. Reed's "How to Write, Publish, and Sell Your Own How To Book". If you've bought one of these info products, or know of another one, can you let me know?

Tell me which product, and if you found it useful or not. I don't mean entertaining, but useful. Did it give you realistic how-to information?

Tim Ferriss: The 10 Worst Airlines In The U.S.

Tim Ferriss has a post about the 10 worst airlines in the U.S. He created a poll for people to vote on them. U.S. Airways came in at number 2.

You can cast your vote here. Who will you vote for? I voted for U.S. Airways. Since I live near Philly, which is a U.S. Airways hub, it's been about 10 years since I've experienced any other airline. I think when my mom died, I flew Continental, since Houston Intergalactic is their hub, and it's hard to get into San Antonio without flying through Houston. I haven't had many problems with Continental, except for this one in 2006, but that was resolved with another call. I've never wished for Continental to go out of business like I have U.S. Airways.

United came in at #1. I'm not sure if I've ever flown United.

Seth Godin: If Craig's List Cost $1

Seth Godin posted an interesting idea to his blog: what if Craig's List cost $1 to post?

Seth argues that the number of scams and bogus postings would go down, and the site's revenue would soar. He adds:

Money creates a sort of friction. In the digital economy, magical things can happen when there is no friction. You can scale to infinity. On the other hand, sometimes you want friction.

$1 isn't a big deal, but as Seth says, it would create some friction that might be beneficial.

When Caleb was born, my wife and I had 2 dogs and 3 cats. The dogs and one of the cats were mine. I decided that with two children, I couldn't give the animals the attention they needed. I posted Wiggles the dog and "Evil Cat" on Craig's List. It was a very hard decision. Both animals really did love me, but as I said, I couldn't give them the attention they needed at that point. I read an article somewhere that you should never give an animal away for free. You should always put a nominal charge of around $25 or $50 on the animal. The charge helps create an emotional connection in the person to the animal. It's easy to pick up a free animal, but if you've had to pay a small amount of money from the animal, you're more likely to take better care of the animal. As Seth says, it creates friction.

Check out Item Not As Described for some real-life examples of ways Craig's List could benefit from a $1 listing fee.

Do you think Craig's List would change if it charged a nominal fee for posting? Would it be better, or worse? Would it change the way you use Craig's List? (Please, don't direct angry comments at me. I carry no influence with the direction of Craig's List. I'm not even sure what position I'd take on this issue if I did.)

Reader's Digest Is Filing Bankrutcy? I'm Happy

My title might be a little bit attention grabbing. I came across an article stating that Reader's Digest is filing bankruptcy. Please keep in mind that bankruptcy does not mean "going out of business". It simply gives the company some court protection to rearrange finances and try to come out from under financial problems. Some bankrupt companies actually do survive. Remember when K-mart filed bankruptcy almost 8 or 9  years ago? They came out of it stronger and bought Sears. All they had to do was get rid of the idiot criminals who were running the company into the ground.

So why does Reader's Digest filing bankruptcy sort of make me happy? It's a fine magazine, but when I did business with the company, I came away from it with a horrible taste in my mouth and a vow to never again let my money fall into their hands.

I was a sailor once. I think it was about the time when I was 23 (around 1997). My poor ability to handle money left me with more month left at the end of my paycheck. I paid all my bills and blew plenty of money, but I never got ahead. I was feeling the pinch one particular month. I used to buy Reader's Digest, and I enjoyed reading it. I normally had a copy on the ship to read. Sometimes people would send them to me, and some of my shipmates read it so I never lacked a copy.

Reclaiming the Mind: Doing Business with Christians

C. Michael Patton asks an interesting question: have you ever been burned doing business with Christians? I think the question was directed more toward believers, but I’m sure most people in the west have stories. We’re notoriously picky diners and cheap tippers on Sunday afternoon right after church. I’ve heard horror stories about how waitresses are somehow expected to feed their families with those contrived Chick tracts rather than like money. My wife and I go out of our way to leave good tips on Sunday. If they don’t suspect we’re Christian, under the circumstances, we can live with that.

I’m not sure if I can say I’ve been burned by another believer, at least, not any more than I’ve been burned by anybody I’ve done business with. Have you ever done business with somebody who went out of his or her way to make sure you knew that he or she was a Christian, then either delivered a substandard product or service or just plain ripped you off?

On Social Media

We all know that Social Media is the new buzzword. It also makes a great business tool. I use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo in addition to my blog. I’m sure I have a few others here and there, like MySpace, which I don’t use much anymore. I find social media to be useful and fun. At least, there are some aspects of social media I enjoy. If my wife sends me one more “buy a round” thing on Facebook… I’d rather she just make me the darn drink and bring it up to me. I honestly have no use for those silly Facebook games. I enjoy commenting on other people’s statuses, or having mine commented on. That’s the social part that I enjoy.

This isn’t backed up by any objective data or research, but it often seems like new fields in computers are pioneered by people who just want to have fun, or do something new. Sometimes there is a profit motive and there’s nothing wrong with that. But after the people who are having fun are through, then along come the sharks and the vultures. These are the people who want to make money, and do it in any way possible. Then along come the “I’ll teach you how to get rich using (EBay, Facebook, Twitter, Blue Mountain Cards, etc) buttholes. It seems to me that there is much more money to be made in selling products that claim people can make money within a system than there is money to actually be made within that system.

Social media is little different. I’m a firm believer that it can be a useful business tool. I briefly contemplated starting a small consulting business for social media. I figured I could market myself to small businesses looking to expand their influence in the community. This would be a useful service for Realtors and restaurants and Karate studios and coffee shops and even bands. A local band, Queen Anne's Revenge, followed me on Twitter. I followed them back. I’m sure their music isn’t exactly my style and I really don’t like going to crowded places with loud music anyway (never been to a real concert and proud of it!), but they don’t post a lot of annoying tweets and I’m happy to support a local band. Also, I can’t help but be fascinated by Blackbeard (Edward Teach) and his ship, so I happily followed Queen Anne’s Revenge.

I also follow a local coffee shop and our Realtor. Our attempt to sell our house has had a lot of ups and downs and no resolution as yet, but Karen has earned a “spot” as the family Realtor and as a friend.

This past week I reached a breaking point with a couple of people I had followed on Twitter. Normally, I’m pretty good about following people who follow me. I have a few minor criteria. I have no problem with people using Twitter for their businesses, as long as they don’t become jerks. This week, I came across two who I felt were abusing the point to Twitter and I un-followed them.

We were on a vacation using our timeshare exchange. Because I mentioned “timeshare” several times in my tweets, I picked up some “timeshare experts” as followers. I figured it could be useful to follow people who are knowledgeable in this field, and I followed them. Two in particular got really annoying. Since I was away from a computer a lot, I was using my iPhone almost exclusively. I use Twitterific on the iPhone as my Twitter client. I noticed that two of the “timeshare experts” I was following kept running the same tweets over and over and over again. It was like I was back to my pre-podcasting days listening to talk radio and having to hear that damn Sea Silver commercial 20 times in a one mile stretch of road. (I think Sea Silver was WFIL’s only advertiser for a while). I follow a few people who Tweet about their blog posts or thoughts or products, but they usually keep it interesting. I’d never come across people who acted like they were running talk radio commercial spots. I un-followed both of them. I should note that I’m still following other timeshare experts who do post interesting tweets.

For what it’s worth, here’s my perspective on the use of Twitter: it’s SOCIAL MEDIA. That means that, even in business, it needs to be SOCIAL. I can understand using a bot (or a script that monitors for certain keywords) to find people on Twitter, but people who use bots on Twitter are outside the point.

When somebody follows me on Twitter, or I’m looking for somebody to follow, I look for a few criteria. People that I follow don’t have to fall into all of them, but I use them as informal guidelines for myself.

1. Who are you?

2. What do you do?

3. (if business) What business are you in or what services do you offer?

4. What unique challenges do you face in your business?

5. How do you solve or handle those challenges?

6. What unique knowledge or perspective do you have in your field?

7. If you’re willing to share, what is your family like? What hobbies do you have? What funny or frustrating things do your kids do?

8. If I post a question on Twitter about problems I’m having, are you open to responding?

Those are fairly simple. I follow quite a few interesting people. I follow pastors, writers, business leaders, a few artists, museums, entrepreneurs, publishers, and all kinds of other people and organizations that I find interesting. I occasionally interact with them on Twitter.

I’m getting tired of advertisers and people who “link-blog” exclusively. Twitter is a great place to share information, but in my opinion, the social aspect should not be overlooked.

I hope the people selling advice on how to use Twitter to make “lots of money” and those who pay for those courses don’t ruin it.

High Pressure Sales: Is This Really Lying?

My wife and I bought a timeshare in Virginia Beach last year, and went on our first timeshare exchange this week. We went to Williamsburg, Virginia. We like Virginia. I travel to a couple of locations in Virginia for work, and I always enjoy it. The people are friendly and the hospitality is awesome. Let's face it, New Jersey license plates don't say "The hospitality state". Even in restaurants where the service is slow, it's still friendly, which sure beats the slow and apathetic service we get in some places in New Jersey (like the Lindenwold and Blackwood-Clementon McDonald's).

I knew from reading reviews of this resort that we'd be invited to a meal and then have to sit through a sales presentation. I thought about getting out of it, but they have ways... We went to it on Wednesday. I wouldn't say it was incredibly high-pressure, but they did use some tactics that I find questionable, and every time these tactics are used on me, I always wonder if I'm being lied to.

Customer Service Failures:Does It Matter to Businesses That They Could Lose a Customer?

In 2003, my wife and I had to replace 10 windows and the sliding glass door in our house. We opted to use Window Wizards. The sales process and installation went well enough, but getting service has been a nightmare. Nobody seems to bother to check the voice mail on the service line. I've tried to call sales to get service, and still be given the voice mail. I've had service calls get canceled after taking a day off and sitting around. I've had repeated problems with some parts, and by the way, a "lifetime" warranty isn't a lifetime warranty.

My wife recently started pointing out to me that I'm going to have to call Window Wizards again. The vinyl on the back of our sliding door is cracked again, and the door is hard to open and close. We have a window that needs to be adjusted because it won't stay open, and the wheels on our screen door rusted out, rendering the door useless.

Verizon FAIL: No Customer Service for my In-laws

I hope the word FAIL isn't too contrived. Since discovering Failblog, it's working it's way into my daily vocabulary. I think it's appropriate here.

I was with Verizon for several years. I don't miss them. You can use the Google search box to the right to search for all of my rantings over the years about Verizon DSL. You could not PAY me to go back on DSL, and every time a friend gets DSL, after asking me if they should and I say no and they get it anyway and I have to help them with a Verizon DSL problem, I'm reminded of how much I hate dealing with Verizon.

In the days when I had a Verizon land line, it was little more than an open conduit for telemarketers. Despite paying for Call Intercept, which was supposed to prevent "unavailable" calls from getting through, they continued to get through. All my land line was good for was for people I didn't want to talk to to get through to me about every 20 minutes all day long. My wife and I switched to AT&T cell phones and haven't looked back. Our AT&T lines haven't been without problems over the years, but for the most part, when I call AT&T, they don't jerk me around. They try to deal with the problem and I'm gratetful for that. I do have a Verizon BlackBerry that's provided by work. For the most part, it does a decent job. Every now and again when I have to tether it, I'll get cut off and go through up to a half hour of "The Remote Computer is not responding", but my company is paying for it so what can I do? During a period when my wife's line wasn't working very well, I tried to threaten AT&T with leaving for Verizon, but now that I have my iPhone, I'm not giving it up for anything. AT&T it is.

Tech Support Through Social Media

Last night I ran into a problem, and today I remain amazed at the power of social media. I’m also amazed at how effectively companies can be by monitoring it.

Last night I was trying to install some Bible software on my netbook. I normally run into trouble with Libronix. I can usually get through it with help from Google. Last night was different. I went through the usual error. I downloaded MSXML 4.0. Then I got another error. Then I ran Libronix Update. Then Libronix would start, but not load. Then I downloaded the latest version. Then it would load, but somehow most of my books didn’t show up.

For those of you who know me (those who don’t should pray it remains that way), I don’t always handle frustration well. I especially fail to handle frustration when I have an ear to listen, or better yet an entire platform like Twitter. I can be somewhat of an ass when I’m frustrated, have a target, and a platform. I made a few frustrated tweets asking why Thomas Nelson doesn’t fix Libronix so it works right the first time. I also left a few frustrated tweets about Laridian, which decided to delete 500 of my Bible notes.

Watch This Video: Small Business Defined

I’ve been on a kick the last few months to try to figure out how entrepreneurs think, in the hopes that I can be one. I have a decent job and for the most part I do enjoy it, but I also realize that it might not last forever. I’d like to find a way to generate additional income, not only to boost my family’s standard of living, but also to make up for the risk that I could lose my job, which thankfully isn’t that likely at present. Not that that can’t chance…

Orrin Woodward put a post on his blog that I finally got around to reading, and watching the video. It’s a short video, but I think it clearly defines how to succeed in small business. I’ve gone about repeating what I hear from Rabbi Daniel Lapin, though I haven’t found a way to implement it yet: Become obsessed with meeting people’s needs. This video explains a similar concept for a small business: solve problems. If you’re in small business, or are trying to get into it, read the post and watch this video. Take it to heart.

On a side note, I think I have discovered a problem that small businesses in my area (or in general) have, and I think I have identified a solution. Now to find a way to let them know…