Plaxo tapped Facebook to help me get linked in and invaded my personal space in the process

Wednesday, Jul 28th, 2010 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Community, Facebook, Plaxo, Social Networking, Twitter, Uncategorized, Work Tools | Tags: , , , , ,

The number of social networking sites has exploded in the past few years, with truly social outlets such as Facebook learning to share MySpace with people who want to get LinkedIn on Plaxo. I constantly get invites from former colleagues, family and friends to join them online at one network or another. The latest social media network to snag me as a user is Plaxo… which I joined more than a year ago and promptly abandoned. I returned to Plaxo recently on the recommendation of a friend and made the conscious decision to invest my most valuable commodity – time – into building out my profile.

Whether by design or sheer luck, updating my profile was incredibly easy… because everything I needed was already in my completed LinkedIn profile. I was able to pull dates and copy/paste descriptions straight from LinkedIn, saving a tremendous amount of time. My profile was done in about one-third the time I had set aside for the project – time I used instead to fill in some holes I discovered on LinkedIn. I then transferred the information to Plaxo.

Join my network

Plaxo profile complete, it was time to find people. I took a cursory look at my recommendations (”People you might know”) but realized that until I had built at least a small network, I was unlikely to get many good hits. So I did something I swore never to do: I allowed Plaxo to pull information from another network.

Like most social networking sites, Plaxo offered a tempting shortcut to finding friends: tapping into an existing wellspring of information. In this case, my options were limited. There were the sites I don’t use (Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL) and the account I wouldn’t use (my personal Hotmail account). My attempt to follow LinkedIn’s directions were a miserable failure. There was one candidate for success, however: Facebook.

Double exposure

I studied the text carefully and confirmed that yes it would only bother people in my Facebook network who were already registered Plaxo users. I clicked the button to access my Facebook account, and noticed an immediate change in my Plaxo view: a photo appeared in my profile. Plaxo had co-opted my Facebook image – an Xbox Live avatar – for my professional profile. Panicked, I immediately went to update my photo… and found several photos of my child. In my Plaxo profile. That I had not uploaded to Plaxo.

Apparently, when I tied my Facebook account to Plaxo, it took the liberty of pulling my various friends-and-family-only photo folders and added them to the “Photos” tab of my profile. While there was nothing incriminating (keep your Facebook clean, folks), I don’t want strangers to have access to family photos – even if they are just my child drinking hot chocolate at Starbucks.

All images were in folders, just as they appeared in Facebook. Fortunately, Plaxo allowed me to delete entire folders, saving me a lot of time. If I had to delete each image individually, odds are the only thing I would have deleted was my Plaxo account itself.

After I finished cleaning out my personal photos and updating my profile pic, I reviewed ALL sections of my profile to ensure no other stray Facebook goodies had moved over. It appears contacts and photos were the extent of the damage.

Contact Us

Satisfied with my damage control, I moved on to the final section: Websites and Personal Info. Opening the Websites section results in an icon explosion – add your Facebook! Share your Amazon Wish List! Tell the world your twitter name! (Just one? I have two, but had to choose…). Not to mention Facebook, YouTube, Last.fm, MySpace, LiveJournal, Tumblr… and that’s just a very, very small fraction. If you’ve ever shared content online, odds are you can share it with your Plaxo network. (Or everyone. Or just Friends. Or just Family. It’s up to you.)

I chose a few resources, reviewed my restrictions and unleashed my profile on the world. All this took about an hour, during which time I received numerous mails in the background. I finally went to catch up and discovered I had four new Plaxo and two LinkedIn requests/friends.

Every single one was from Facebook.

The case for iPad as a business portable

Wednesday, Jul 21st, 2010 by Dave Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Facebook, Games, Small Business, Social Networking, Work Tools, iPhone
Twittelator for iPad (click for larger view)

Twittelator for iPad (click for larger view)

We picked up an iPad for our social media, Web consulting and copywriting business based largely on positive feedback from many people we trust on Twitter and our own great experiences using iPhones for the past two years. It’s a remarkable device, but expensive for what you get and very limited for many usage scenarios.

I’ll be blunt: The iPad is not a laptop/netbook replacement, and it’s a poor choice for anyone who really needs a full-featured Windows or Macintosh computer. The iPad is a touchscreen slate that’s limited to running approved apps from Apple’s iTunes Store and isn’t particularly good out of the box at accessing documents from your computers or file shares. And no slots or USB ports means you can’t just plug in an SD card or flash drive to access your media. Expect to purchase one or more apps to facilitate file sharing or else spend a lot of time e-mailing files to yourself!

We went with the WiFi only version to save some money and because AT&T has capped its already overpriced 3G plan. Frankly, we’d rather pay hotels for the occasional WiFi key than give AT&T a monthly stipend for so-so service we’ll rarely need.

You can (and should) add a Bluetooth keyboard to make the iPad passable for writing and light editing. You’ll have to reach up to tap the screen anytime you want to move the cursor, which takes a bit of getting used to and isn’t as efficient as using a mouse. It’s not a pressure-sensitive tablet, so it’s only moderately effective for sketching, and its built-in mike is adequate but it’s not going to replace my Zoom H2 for podcast recording.

I’ve been eyeing the ClamCase (due this fall, price unknown), which promises to give it a hard shell and attach a keyboard, making it look (and hopefully work) a little more like a laptop – but in the meantime I went with a $25 case that doubles as a stand and a $30 Vakoss TK-853-BK keyboard from Fry’s, which has different buttons to power it on and off but functions reasonably well once you get it working. (I’m pretty sure the first one I picked up was defective, but I might have just been pushing the wrong button!)

All that said, I rather like the iPad and it is highly effective for certain tasks. Namely gaming, e-mail and Twitter. I won’t dwell on games here since I’m focusing on its features as a work machine, but it is most definitely the best portable gaming device I’ve enjoyed to date – and as the founder of BusyGamerNews.com, I’ve tried nearly all of them over the years. The larger screen and fluid finger touch interface makes gaming even more fun than on the Nintendo DS, my previous go-to game portable. But unless your business is gaming, this won’t be enough to sell you on an iPad for the office.

Overall, social media is a mixed bag. The current iteration of the Facebook app is the iPhone version pixel-doubled, and this really shows its flaws under a magnifier. Sure, it works as well as the iPhone version - but the iPad deserves better here. Honestly, you’re better off just bookmarking Facebook.com on Safari, which on the iPad is more like the desktop version of the Web browser than the puny iPhone Safari app (though you will still run into the occasional mobile app restrictions and of course Flash is still completely blocked).

In the end, Twitter is where it’s at for the iPad – at least for me – and there are three apps that I’ve found that excel in different ways at helping you manage your tweet streams:

Twittelator for iPad ($5). The iPhone version of Twittelator is the gold standard for iPhone Twitter apps. It’s fast, full of useful shortcuts and – most importantly – fills in missing tweets and remembers your place if you have to quit and come back. It makes poring over hundreds of tweets reasonably efficient. The iPad version is in mostly even better than its iPhone predecessor but in a few ways takes some steps back. In landscape mode, individual tweets or streams (such as @ replies, direct messages and searches) that you select appear off to the right of your main timeline. Scrolling is fast and twitpics appear larger in the feed by default, making it easier to see whether you want a closer look. The downside is that, at this writing, it loses tweets greater than the 200 it can grab at once, doesn’t save your place if you quit, clicked links appear as an popup window instead of adjacent to your stream, and there’s no way to save images except to switch to Safari (which, again, loses your place!). But overall, getting through a couple hundred tweets is faster and more enjoyable here than with any other app I’ve tried. I’m hoping future updates address timeline bookmarking and recovery of missed tweets.

TwitePad ($2). This is sort of like the free TweetDeck – with lots of optional columns you can summon – but unlike TweetDeck (and Twittelator for iPad!) it remembers your place in the timeline and has a Web browser that opens at the far right alongside them. It even lets you open multiple links and keep them waiting as thumbnails along the bottom of the browser area. Ultimately, this isn’t as elegant as Twittelator and thus hasn’t replaced it as my primary app, at least not yet. The developer is aggressive at releasing feature-rich updates, so it’s definitely one to watch. For now, this is a good choice for Twitter accounts you monitor less often, say daily or even weekly, since it can easily fill in what you miss and it saves everything for offline reading in its own local database. For that reason alone, it’s perfect for my social media consulting!

Osfoora HD ($4). I bought this on impulse during a brief sale, and it has real potential. If you’re very methodical, you’ll appreciate the option to keep tweets marked as unread and there are up/down buttons to move through your timeline, though I found using this method slowed me down though may be useful for timelines that I need to focus on more closely (and finger scrolling is still an option). It does have those two very important features that Twittelator lacks: the ability to keep your place in the timeline if you quit and fill in missing tweets.

Other must have apps (all free):

EverNote. This is great for getting down drafts of articles while they’re fresh in your mind and then passing them to another device (e.g., PC, iPhone) through its cloud-based storage. No, I didn’t write this article on the iPad due to the level of editing required to make it sing. But if I did, I would have used EverNote.

WordPress. I’m a big fan of Windows Live Writer, but for some reason it always messes up my WordPress posts to this blog. So I thought I’d try this free app. Still, when it came time to post this article, I didn’t have the patience to try it out. But if I had a quick post with little to no complexity, it would be perfect.

iBooks and Kindle. The iPad doesn’t have the crisp display of the iPhone 4 (at least not yet), but the larger form factor makes it feel more like a solid ebook reader. I’ve avoided the Kindle and Nook because I prefer a backlit device, even if it’s not (supposedly) as good for long-term reading. I tend to read for short periods these days, and I like the flexibility to be able to switch to other apps when I want, so the iPad is now my preferred digital book platform.

Overall, it’s hard to recommend the iPad unless you find that your needs greatly overlap mine, or you can’t overcome your technolust for shiny new gadgets. Consider it a nice-to-have, particularly if you do a significant amount of work on Twitter.

A modest proposal for social media: Cross the streams!

Thursday, Mar 18th, 2010 by Dave Kramer | 1 Comments
Filed under: Facebook, Social Networking, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cross the streams!

I’ve given this a lot of thought, and the problem with social media isn’t all of the noise. Sure, there are a lot of things that you could care less about passing through your Facebook wall and Twitter timeline – but one person’s noise is another’s signal, right? I actually enjoy picking up bonuses in the Facebook games I’m playing, but many of my friends wish they would all be banished from existence.

The sad thing is that Facebook nearly had the answer, but they missed the boat. And Twitter, from what I can see, hasn’t even found the right paddle.

The answer is something I’m dubbing “streams.” And, as our friends the Ghostbusters proved, crossing them isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The idea is simple: Classify different types of content and let users turn them on and off at will. Really, that’s it. But let’s delve a little deeper into why this isn’t just possible, it’s plausible.

For awhile, Facebook actually allowed app specific filtering of your news feed until their most recent overhaul, which – for some inexplicable reason – completely did away with it. Instead of expanding news filters, they banned app-specific notifications which bothered nobody since they could easily be surpressed.

Filtering was only half the answer to Facebook’s problems but a definite step in the right direction – and removing it moves them away from where they need to be. Rather than just allow me to filter and quickly scan all of my friends’ Farmville posts all in one place, they should have offered the option to block all Farmville posts (or posts from any other app) from their feeds. Maybe block is too harsh. Let’s suggest a “toggle” since you could, theoretically, turn it back on whenever you wanted, view it as an entirely separate feed or create an aggregate stream with all of the posts from your games of interest.

Now you’re getting it, right? Social media, just like my iPhone, works best when I can customize it the way that I want it. Make me play in your sandbox your way, and I might go find another sandbox.

Twitter has partly solved the problem with hashtags, but do these really work all that well? You can create search queries against hashtags, and some Twitter readers like TweetDeck allow you to filter on keywords in your selected feeds but – again – these are half measures. Hashtags, I’d argue, are really just a hack, a poor man’s search meta data (hacktags is more like it!).

First, hashtags are prone to user error: One typo or a bad guess at what the prevailing hashtag is for an event or product you’re tweeting about and you’re already out of the game. And hashtags eat into your already constrained 140-character limit. Bah, there has to be a better way!

Here’s what I think needs to happen for all social media that wants to stay relevant: Streams that segment your timelines or news feeds based on different themes and let you decide how (or even if) you want to consume them.

For example, I’m not playing foursquare, and I find the endless barrage of notifications whenever someone I follow visits a Burger King bathroom to be intrusive and a waste of time when I’m poring through a backlog of 150 tweets from the past hour or so. But these alerts are generated via an application (API), right? How hard would it be to use a hidden API code that’s passed with the tweet to define a stream and pass that to the Twitter client outside of the 140 characters being transmitted?

I know these exist to some extent today. I can see that someone posted using Twittelator even though it doesn’t say Twittelator anywhere in the tweet itself. Or, look at this, from a recent foursquare tweet:

Twitter post tagged from foursquare

That information has got to be passed along with the tweet via the existing API, am I right? So, Twitter devs, let’s use those as a starting point to define streams that can be quickly toggled on and off to make your timeline more manageable.

There are two additional areas that have become barriers to pure Twitter enjoyment, at least for me: contests and live tweeting “events.” But I see a stream-based solution there too. Build these in as switches that the tweeter can activate when posting. For instance, the person launching a contest could set the flag as a contest originator, and any replies or retweets to him get a secondary response flag. That way you could always see the original post to enter if you like, but you could ignore the stream or – if you’re a contest devotee or just curious once you’ve caught up on your core Twitter stream – peruse the contest stream separately.

When you’re going to live tweet something, you could have a secondary Twitter account set aside just for this purpose. But that’s a lot of trouble, so most people don’t bother. Instead, they post something that says, “If you don’t care about (FILL IN THE BLANK), unfollow me for the night.” Well, maybe I do care about – let’s say the Lost finale – but I’m watching it two hours behind you. I want to enjoy your observations on my own schedule. So rather than leave you behind, possibly forever if I forget to refollow you in the morning, let me separate your stream from my regular timeline for a few hours until I’m no longer concerned about spoilers. Perhaps the tweeter could create a custom code (like a hashtag, but hidden outside of the tweet and tied to just their account). I could just click “Joe’s Lost stream” on my client and toggle it off for now and then go back and view it later.

The same stream filtering and mix/match capabilities could and should be applied to keywords, hashtags, lists, whatever you want – but API codes would be the most reliable and “go to” choice whenever they are available.

Think of the power of this approach: You could consume your social media your way, all of the time, crossing to different streams as time permits and only after you’ve quickly caught up on the stuff that matters most to you. Or you could mix them together anyway you like, on the fly.

What’s the worst thing that could happen, total protonic reversal? It didn’t phase the Ghostbusters in the end – they were hailed as heros.

Don’t get too excited about streams: This is just one observer’s idea on how to “fix” what’s wrong with social media today. But I believe it’s a modest one that builds on features like Facebook filters and Twitter API codes that have already been created and could be put to better use.

So, social media makers, why not give it a try? Are you a “god”? Please say yes, and go fix this.

Prescription for customer experience:
Have patience with your patients

Friday, Feb 26th, 2010 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Consulting, Customer Focus

Customer experience is a critical factor in customer retention and/or earning repeat business. Restaurants, stores, and other service-oriented businesses understand this basic tenet – or become a statistic within a year or so of opening. Yet professionals who should provide the best customer service are often the worst offenders: doctors.

There are really only three reasons you seek out a doctor’s care, none of which are pleasant. First, there is the annual physical. I don’t know anyone who greets this visit with open arms. At the other extreme, there is the ER visit. Whether you’re a weekend warrior with a broken toe or a trauma victim delivered by ambulance, this is not a place you want to be. For most, it is something in between: the unexpected office visit.

I’ve experienced all three types in recent years, and come away with very strong opinions about the customer service provided. My most recent was today, when a small but painful eye infection sent me to the doctor for an unplanned office visit. It was also the best customer experience I’ve had in several years, demonstrating many of the best practices we demand from other businesses – but rarely from our caretakers.

Show interest in the customer
My regular physician was out, so I saw the physician on call. I had seen him once before (a wretched fall), and he took time to ask me how my ankle was doing – a year after he treated me. (Customer research re: past experience with our practice.)

Conduct customer research
After examining my eye (the source of the visit), he asked me what I thought was going on. My first thought was “You’re the doctor – you tell me.” But he quickly added that I know my body better than he does. Have these symptoms happened before? Is there anything else awry? What is my body telling me? In other words, customer research – in the truest sense of the word.

I gave him a brief description of why I thought it was one of two things (provided customer data points) and stated what I hoped – not thought, but hoped – was the answer. He considered the data points and examined additional areas of the eye. (Additional customer research based on new data.)

Make a recommendation, supported by customer data
In the end, he agreed with my assessment, and provided a detailed reason why he agreed with me. (Postmortem, although in this case the “mortem” refers to the end of the visit.)

He concluded by giving me a detailed description of how to treat the symptoms without fulfilling the RX, reflecting my previously stated preference to not go stampeded to the prescription counter. (Acknowledging customer preferences and working to accommodate them.)

He also gave me a prescription to fill in two days if the non-pharmaceutical approach did not work out. (Anticipating and proactively addressing the customer’s future needs.)

Thank the customer for his/her business
He ended by thanking me for coming in, shaking my hand and providing a card with instructions to call anytime over the weekend if I had questions or felt worse. (Proactively offering customer support.)
Outside of telling me to go left instead of right to find the exit – which he quickly corrected (identify missteps and take action to correct immediately), it was the perfect customer experience. (Providing positive customer feedback, closing the loop on the visit.)

End-of-year self review part 3: updating yourself

Thursday, Dec 24th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: How To, Small Business, Uncategorized

We discussed what small businesses can be doing to prepare for the coming year in Part 2 of the series. Today, we’ll get into the fun stuff: focusing on you.

Your personal “look” says a lot to clients. Whether you’re in the office every day or work at home in sweats and tee shirt, eventually, you will come into contact with other people who will evaluate your value to them in part on your appearance. I’m not suggesting everyone go out and buy power suits – I don’t remember the last time I put on a suit to see a client – just take a look at the message you are sending, and consider if it’s time to update your public look.

Step 1: Evaluate your hairstyle

Fashion magazines and so-called “women’s” publications encourage readers to change their hair color, length and style constantly. Even some high-end salons will push clients to take on whatever is in fashion. Unfortunately, the latest style/color/cut doesn’t work for everyone. Nor should it. You don’t have to be a chameleon to stay current. Just look in the mirror and evaluate yourself honestly. Do you like the way your hair looks? Does it age you/make you look younger? Is it making the statement to clients that you want? (That could be anything from “I’m young and hip” to “I’m established” or simply, “I’m well groomed.”)

If you do opt to change your style, consider if your current stylist is the right one to do it. If you don’t have someone in mind, or simply want to give someone else a shot, find someone who has the general style you want – for example, if you want to be trendy, look for someone with trendy, well-cut hair. Ask them for the name of their stylist. Don’t be afraid to change if you’re not completely sold on your current person.

And finally, don’t ask any stylist to “give me xyz’s hairstyle.” If you see a model or star with hair you like, take a photo to your stylist and ask them if it’s feasible for your hair, or if it would look good. They might not give you the exact same style, but they can use your photo as a jumping off point for a discussion about what you want. Is it the color? The length? The straight/curliness? A good stylist can adapt a style to look good on you. They will also say when something just isn’t right.

Full disclosure/credit: This information came from years of talking to my own, highly-trusted stylist, Stephanie Veka, a salon owner in Seattle, Washington.

Step 2: Evaluate your makeup

For people who wear make-up, it is easy to get into a rut. Worse, your favorite colors can disappear overnight with the changing of the seasons. Don’t be afraid to visit your local make-up counter and ask for a makeover. Yes, they will want to sell you cosmetics – you are under no obligation to buy them. Your goal should be to explore options and find what you like, including brand, price-range and colors.

A good make-up counter artist will begin with a short chat. Explain what your rules are up front (e.g., hypoallergenic, colors you like/hate, etc.) and your goals for the makeover. Things to cover include the amount of time you are willing to spend on your make-up routine and where you will be wearing it (e.g., daily maintenance versus just for parties). Your artist should present some color options – don’t be afraid to reject anything you flat out hate. Remember, they are there to sell you make-up. They will take the time to find things you like.

When you are done, write-down the items you like. Consider spending an hour (at least) in your make-up running errands, etc. and see what you think when you are away from the sales desk. How do you look in normal light? Does the makeup stand up to your average day? Do you still like the color?

Once you’ve found the items you like, do reward the store by buying at least the first round from them. While they are providing a free service, it is courteous to make your purchase from the people who helped you make a decision.

Step 3: Edit your closet

This is often the hardest part for people, but think of it this way: you’re giving yourself permission (and an excuse) to hit the post-holiday sales. The basic standard for clothes is, “Have you worn it in the past year?” I have mixed feelings about this. There are obviously extenuating circumstances around why you haven’t donned certain apparel, particularly party clothes. If you have something that you haven’t worn, take a good hard look and think about why you haven’t. Did your weight change? Is it out of style? Did you simply forget you had it? (Yes, this happens.)

If you have gained weight, take the item out of your closet and either store it or give it away. You need access to good fitting clothes now, not clothes you hope to wear again someday. If you have lost weight and plan to keep it off, find a tailor who can adjust your clothes. (Or, again, consider giving it away. More on that in a moment.)

Next, look at what you have left. Sweaters that are stretched out may be comfortable for weekends, but good fit/tailoring is better for clients. You should have at least one up-to-date suit (you will need it someday) and a good selection of business clothes that fit in with your client’s expectations and your style. And don’t forget to evaluate your shoes and socks!

Sort through your clothes and pull any business attire that you don’t want or need anymore. Now here is your chance to do something good and get a small tax write-off. There are organizations across the nation that take good-condition (laundered) business clothes on behalf of people who need them. Help someone get and keep a job by donating your old business attire to:

Step 4: Take yourself to the cleaners

As clothes cycle in and out of season, they inevitably get wrinkled and musty. Review the items you plan to keep and add them to your laundry pile/take them to the cleaners. Be sure to remove your clothes from the cleaner bag as soon as you get home and allow them to air out before adding them to your closet.

Step 5: Charge it!

At the beginning of this story, I mentioned a good reason to hit the sales. If you’ve gone through all the steps, you know what to do: comb the sales racks to fill in items you need, whether you are replacing donated clothes or just realized you don’t have a good jacket. The end-of-year sales offer a great way to update your style without breaking the budget.

When you’re done, treat yourself to whatever you enjoy – spa, double-feature, golf… whatever makes you happy. After all, you worked hard this week.

Part 2:Organizing your small business
Part 1:Organizing your office for the new year

End-of-year self review part 2: preparing your small business for the New Year

Monday, Dec 21st, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: How To, Project Management, Small Business, Uncategorized

We discussed basic office organization in part 1 of the series. Today, we’ll focus on the home-based office. We recommend starting with the organization discussed in part 1, as it will make your small business tasks we’ll be tackling here much, much easier.

Step 1: Review your professional materials

While we live in a primarily digital world, there are still times when the small business owner needs to pull out a business card, send a paper invoice or pull out the pre-printed address labels or envelopes. Even digital information may represent your identity. Take time to review any existing pre-printed materials now, when printers are slow and have time to take on your project. Check for:

  • Design. Does it still represent you and your business? Is your logo dated, or in need of a facelift?
  • Accuracy. Has anything changed?
  • Content. Think carefully about how you want clients contacting you. If a phone shouldn’t ring at 11 p.m., don’t include that number.

Step 2: Review your shipping services

If you ship regularly, odds are you have an account with your preferred shipping vendor. Now is a good time to review your terms and determine if you have the right service. In this case, there is no downside to playing the field. Some things to consider are:

  • Cost. Do you get a discount for being a preferred customer, shipping volume or other factors?
  • Delivery range. Again, this really applies to those doing business internationally. If you ship overseas (or even just over the border), review delivery services and fees.
  • Niceties. These are really subjective, but make a difference. For example, some shipping agencies will deliver shipping materials to your house and pick up packages free of charge.
  • Bonus discounts/points. Some delivery services have cross-over deals with other vendors (e.g., credit cards). Check your loyalty programs, credit cards, etc. and see what they have to offer. It
    might tip the scales in one direction or the other.

Step 3: Review your technology

Your tax advisor probably told you to do this already, but it is worth repeating: take a look at your equipment and determine if it’s time to upgrade. The obvious place to start is with your computer.

  • Laptop vs. desktop. For business travelers, the choice is obvious: a laptop that is (preferably) not a brick, has good battery life, a nice screen, and can boot quickly for the inevitable airport security check. For completely home-bound business owners, a desktop might offer a cheaper viable solution. I’m in-between; while I don’t travel for work, I do have to visit clients from time to time. I’ve found a nice, widescreen laptop plus a second monitor at home (two screens total) allows me to multi-task at home and easily take my work with me when I need to go.
  • Display screen. Treat your eyes right – get a decent-sized, flat-screen display that is also easy to read. This is one area you don’t want to skimp.
  • Shredder. Every business should have a security shredder that creates confetti, not spaghetti strings. Get a heavy-duty workhorse model.
  • Backup software and materials. How you backup is up to you – the important thing is to make sure it happens early and often. Consider keeping an off-site copy of key digital documents that will not be affected if disaster strikes.
  • Assorted office materials. Notepads, pens, stapler, USB portable keys, etc. If you haven’t stocked up in a while, stop by your local office supply store. Even they are having end-of-year sales.
  • A comfortable chair and desk. You’re going to be spending a lot of time there. Be comfortable.
    Remember to save your receipts – you have until December 31 to make purchases against this year’s tax deductions.

Step 4: Get Ready for Tax Time

Speaking of which, now is a great time to start prepping your tax materials. Whether you do it yourself or use a financial advisor, you’re going to need to get organized. Here are some guidelines to help get you started:

  • Organize this year’s deductible bills. Find your deductible utility bills, mortgage, etc. and organize by month. Keep a written list of missing bills (type and date) as you go. You can hunt down the strays later – focus on the task at hand now.
  • Gather up your tax-deductible donation receipts. Organize by type (cash vs. goods) and organization if you have multiple donations to the same org.
  • Organize your receipts. Group them by possible deduction type. Don’t forget to shred any receipts you no longer need!

Remember, by preparing now you can take your time and really review the year. Forgotten house upgrades or missing receipts can cost you tax deductions. Do it now so you have time to do a thorough job.

Part 1: Organizing your office life for a happy New Year
Part 3: Part 3: Spending the end of year improving yourself (but not at the gym)

End-of-year self review, part 1: organizing your office life for a happy New Year

Sunday, Dec 20th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management, Small Business, Uncategorized

It’s the end of the year, when offices are mostly empty and the self-employed are at the movies. Whether you volunteered to stay at work “in case a client calls” or you’re just taking it easy in the home office, you have work to do. In this three part series, we’ll discuss the key tasks you can do in these final days of the year to ensure a strong kick-off to the business new year.
Today, we’ll cover the tasks everyone needs to do, whether you work for yourself, someone else, or are searching for work. You’ll need:

  • Folders
  • File cabinet
  • Recycle bin/box
  • Separate “to shred” box
  • USB key or other portable back-up device
  • New office decorations

Step 1: Clean out your files

File cabinets are a great place to start any massive purge. Not only are you likely sitting on a ton of paper you don’t need, it makes room for all that paper on your desk we’ll be addressing in the next section. Plus, wouldn’t you like to be able to open your drawer without using a crowbar?

Prep your cabinet area. Position your recycle and shred boxes close, but in distinctly different places. You don’t want to recycle sensitive materials, and shredding unnecessary paper simply costs money.

Review each file. Yes, seriously. Re-read and assign each document as appropriate:

  • To keep: materials you need to do your job now.
  • To file: materials you need keep, but are not in active use now.
  • To shred: sensitive materials you no longer need.
  • To recycle: materials you no longer need that are not sensitive. When in doubt, shred.

Return the folders to the cabinet. As you re-file, check the state of the folder. Replace beat-up folders or use labels to clearly-write the folder name. If it’s over-filled, break the materials up into multiple folders. (Or at least get a rubber band.)

Step 2: Clean off the desk

This can be painful for pack rats, but it’s worth it. Here are some guidelines:

Review every piece of paper on your desk. Same rules apply as filing: keep, recycle or shred.

Install and store software. Have software sitting on your desk? Install it, put the disk away, and return it to IT (or store it).

Rearrange your desk for comfort. I spent nearly a year spinning in my chair and leaning to answer my phone before a co-worker made the obvious suggestion: Move the phone to the left. (I’m left handed.) Simple solutions can make a huge difference.

Edit and update your decorations. We constantly add things to our desk, but when was the last time you took something away? Update your kid’s artwork, review your gag gift collection and decide if that plant is really worth it. Can’t part with anything? Ask for shelves.

Step 3: Organize your professional library

I’m always amazed by the number of severely outdated books on office shelves. Unless you truly need to hang on to that HTML 1.0 book, take it off the shelf.

Step 4: Clean up your computer

Now that you have a clean desk, it’s time to update the space where you spend most of your time: the computer. Here are some guidelines to get you started.

Clear out your e-mail. Every interaction, from e-mail to calendar requests, contribute to your e-mail limit and bulge. To control the chaos, create folders (by business, client, project – your choice), and start filing. Review and delete mails that are redundant, unnecessary (”thanks” mails) or just no longer needed. Note that many major corporations require employees to delete mail after a certain time period. Check with your legal department for guidance.

Tackle your calendar. Delete the dentist appointments, coffee dates, long-dead project meetings and other detritus. Keep ongoing appointments and recent meetings that may come up in future conversations.

Check your Tasks list. This can also become a wasteland of long-forgotten errands that don’t need to sit on the server.

Organize your digital files. All those things you did with your files? Same thing applies here. But before you delete…

Backup! If you work for someone else, odds are they have a backup in place. Self-employed people, you are your IT department. Don’t neglect your back-ups. Do a mass back-up now, and then set regular back-ups going forward. (We’ll dig into this and other tidbits for the self-employed in Part 2 of the series.)

Step 5: Take home personal files


We all have photos, music and other miscellaneous items on our computers that are just for us. These can be lost in the blink of an eye. Save your personal files on a USB drive or other portable and take them home. If you keep them on your computer, back them up regularly.

Part 2: Spending the end of year organizing your home office/business
Part 3: Spending the end of year on yourself

Stupid Marketing Tricks: TNT’s fake mix tape doesn’t ‘Say Anything’ interesting

Wednesday, Nov 25th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Customer Focus, Marketing, Uncategorized | Tags:

men of a certain age

Cable network TNT sent its marketing team in the wayback machine this week to send out a “sneak peek” at a new show, Men of a Certain Age. Which, based on the cast (Scott Bakula, Andre Braugher and Ray Romano) is somewhere in the late 40s to early 50s. Presumably, these men of a certain age made romantic mix tapes for their would-be loved ones in their youth. Or a mix tape to enjoy while driving around. Or, and I’m just guessing here, to enhance getting baked in their mom’s basement.

The “mix tape” is an iconic touch point for anyone of a certain age, especially those who know what a “tape” is. (Was.) These men of a certain age most certainly spent some quality time in mom’s basement making mixes to celebrate love, mourn getting dumped and generally show off their masterful knowledge of hot jams. (For the ultimate example of this male prototype, see John Cusack in High Fidelity.) Naturally, these men are now older, but somewhere deep inside each one, an insecure teenager is dying to find audio perfection.

Which brings me to the marketing experiment that arrived in our snail mail this week (for no apparent reason!). TNT has spent at least a few bucks to create a giant faux tape box containing a tiny-but-heavy rubber “mix tape” that’s really a flash drive that plugs into your computer’s USB port. The drive contains three songs in a play-only Shockwave format (alas, no MP3s) that presumably represent the three men at the heart of the show. I say presumably because I can’t imagine any person on Earth putting “Up Around the Bend” by Creedance Clearwater Revival, “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake and “The Best of Times” by Styx on the same tape voluntarily.

My expectation is that these songs will play while the three men bond in the car, driving in the perfection that is the Magic Hour (right before the sun sets). Or perhaps while smoking weed they stole from one of their children in the basement. I’m pretty sure they won’t be playing any of these songs while holding a CD player over their heads. I just don’t see wooing the Mrs with Whitesnake.

I’m just guessing, of course, as I didn’t bother to watch the core marketing piece on the tape: a “sneek peek” for the show itself. I just can’t get excited about a show revolving around middle-aged men who like Whitesnake, CCR and Styx. I’m also curious as to how I was targeted to receive this particular piece. The best theory I’ve had to date, based on the name used on the address label: cable cousin (via Time Warner) HBO sold/lent my name to TNT.

I purchased a True Blood tee directly from HBO.com earlier this year, and fully expected to get marketing from at least HBO. They have not disappointed, letting me know every single item that has entered the store related to every show on the air. Every HBO touch has been via e-mail, however.

TNT clearly spent at least some marketing dollars to get attention for their show. The question is, did  it work? Yes and no. No in that I still don’t have any interest in the show, and in fact any chance I might have given it (based solely on the cast) pretty much died when presented with these music choices. (I now have a mash up of “Up Around the Bend” and “Here I Go Again” stuck in my brain. I fear I may go insane!)

On the plus side – at least for TNT – they got exactly what every show desires: a free plug.

Work Sample: MSN Lifestyle article on shopping innovations

Thursday, Nov 19th, 2009 by Dave Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Work Samples | Tags: , , , , ,

When I was a newspaper reporter, I had 2-3 bylines every day. In more recent years, my work tends to go uncredited or, when I ghost write, credited to someone else. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was prompted for a bio after writing an article for MSN Lifestyle. It’s part of a holiday package on The Evolution of Shopping:

MSN Lifestyle: Shopping Innovations article

Read the full article.

I write so much about technology, I had forgotten how much fun it is to do a feature article!

Forget Toastmasters, improve public speaking through podcasting!

Monday, Nov 2nd, 2009 by Dave Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, How To, Podcasting, Work Tools | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We recently launched a podcast for our gaming blog, and it’s made a real difference in my public speaking. I joined Toastmasters years ago, and while it’s a great tool for some and definitely wins out in the social department, it never cured me of my ums and ahs.

But after three weeks of podcasting, they’re nearly gone. The key here is to edit the podcast yourself. Every speaking stutter during recording is one more edit you’ll have to make later. You’ll also get a really good sense of what your voice sounds like to others and how fast or slow you tend to talk, in case you need to make adjustments there too.

If you want to get started podcasting, here are the basic tools you’ll need:

  • Audio recorder. I recommend the Zoom H2. It records high quality stereo audio, it’s easy to learn and saves your recording to an SD card, which you can pop into your computer when it’s time to edit. It’s also very portable, should you ever need to record something out in the world.
  • Audio editing software. Audacity is free and the v1.3 beta lets you drag audio segments between tracks, which greatly eases editing. Seriously, don’t waste your time with v1.2.6.
  • Leveling software. The Levelator is free; just drag and drop your final exported WAV file and it will even out the sound levels for you. This is particularly important if you mix in more dynamic audio, such as music.
  • Music (optional). You don’t need music, but it does enhance your overall production value. You can find lots of free music at Mevio’s Music Alley as long as you register as a producer and provide proper credit.
  • Podcast feed. To publish your podcast, you’ll need to create an XML feed. Since Apple iTunes has become the de facto standard, I recommend using their podcast feed specs to get started. You can also look at our feed as a guide (DON’T view it in your Web browser; instead right click the link to download and then open it in a text editor, such as Notepad). It’s basically just a text file that describes your overall podcast and each episode you release. Some blog packages such as WordPress have plug-ins you can use to automate feed creation.
  • MP3 tag editing software. Your final podcast audio file should be exported to MP3 format (Audacity requires a free optional plug-in for this, so after you level your audio, open the resulting file back in Audacity and export it again). Once this is done, you may want to tweak the file’s tags and add an image that shows up in MP3 players. MP3tag is free and a quick way to prep your final file for release, or you can do this in iTunes by importing the file and selecting Get Info if you prefer.

That’ll get you started. Record something every week and see if your public speaking improves. I bet it does!

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© 2009-2010 Dave and Jacqui Kramer dba The Writer's Bloc.