I wanted to share my view on spec work being required in RFPs.

I’ve been involved in several website, design and marketing projects from the hiring side and now from the vendor side. A company can manage their RFP process however they’d like; I don’t think this is so much an issue of ethics but of business efficiency.

Companies think that they are saving money by asking for spec work, but what they don’t realize is that nothing is free. The more work they require upfront, the more they’ll pay in the long run. And why waste the precious money in your budget for pretty designs that will most likely be scrapped once the project is underway? If a company spends $2000 getting your business, then add that to the tab (or subtract that from the quality of the website you’ll be getting).

We prefer to work with clients who chose us because of our reputation; RFPs can yield good results, but they’ll always be more expensive than a shorter and more efficient evaluation process.

I also find it interesting that the hiring process for different types of vendors is so drastically different.

For example, if an association or corporation were to hire a new accounting firm, they wouldn’t expect that firm to do their audit and taxes to see if they would do a good job. Rather, they would go off recommendations and client testimonials. Would they expect their accountants to provided a fixed estimate for their services or would they provide detailed examples of their thought process and/or final product?

What can those of us who are involved in non-accounting services do to better justify our experience and talent to perform the job after hired, rather than having to prove our worth upfront?

In addition to winning in the Overall Best Open Source CMS category, WordPress was named first runner-up in the Best Open Source PHP CMS category.

For those of you who are not involved with website development, this may not hit home. However, for those of us who help build websites, this award gives credibility to this incredible resource VS the expensive, home-grown CMS systems (usually inferior) that a lot of companies hawk to unsuspecting companies. Why people will pay more for less just because a slick salesman tells them its better, well, that’s another blog post.

• Have fun!
• Let people be people; stop expecting them to have no weaknesses
• Talk to people when I have a concern rather than hitting them upside the head or ignoring it
• Not play favorites
• Get rid of dead wood
• Not make fun of customers or co-workers
• Encourage group breaks and communication
• Work as hard as I expect them to work
• Not make people come to work sick
• Delegate, plan and execute (don’t change at last minute)
• Be respectful of others
• Be patient and be better than I currently am with rushing
• Laugh
• Work respectable hours
• Blog

What is on your “Do Differently List?”

We can’t win, so we might as well laugh! For your reading entertainment, here’s the recent “circular” conversation that my husband had with Quickbooks customer service regarding an upgrade for the 2009 version.

Very professional isn’t it?

Has anyone had a good customer service experience on instant message? I don’t think I have. It’s hard to get someone who doesn’t speak your language to understand what you’re looking for on IM!

PS By the way, if you can find out what the upgrade price is for Quickbooks 2010 for Mac, let us know

When I started this company, my husband and I researched solutions for hours and hours. I ultimately chose Freshbooks because it met the needs of Coleman Unlimited. My husband’s company, however, was using MYOB. He recently switched over to Quickbooks, hoping it had gotten better than complaints he’d read on the Internet.

The GOOD:
From an invoicing perspective, Quickbooks is very user-friendly.
I like how the program’s interface makes it really easy to see what invoices are overdue, as well as view your income in different time increments. The Transaction Center is the most useful screen when billing.

I hear the PC version is better than the Mac version, but I’ve never experienced the PC version, so I don’t know what I’m missing.

We like most of the basic features of Quickbooks 2009. It’s pretty easy on the eyes. We also like the Home page and its workflow diagram that breaks out tasks.

It’s also easy to receive payment and record deposits. And the bottom line decision-making feature: our accountant can open it and is very familiar with the program.

The BAD:
Data importing is more difficult than it should be. If your bank or credit card pays Intuit (maker of Quickbooks and Quicken) enough cash, you may have a direct connect function where the transactions just flow right into the program.

However, if your bank doesn’t line Intuit’s pockets with enough cash, you’ll experience what we did last week. We went to Bank of America to download our data, but guess what, a Quickbooks (QBO) file wasn’t available to download (at least not for free). What? Now what?

We spent about 4 hours trying to import our bank data. After much searching on the Internet and reading various angry accounts from Quickbooks customers, we discovered that Intuit apparently charges banks to allow them to provide Quickbooks (QBO) downloads. Therefore, Bank of America, wanted to charge us to get QBO downloads (and even discovering this took us through a maze of bad Bank of America customer service… but that’s another story).

Wait a minute? Didn’t I just buy this software program? Aren’t I the customer? Why should I have to pay the bank to get a download of their transactions when I can easily read it on their website? ARRRGGGHHH!!!

We finally discovered a satisfactory solution, but that still doesn’t give us back a half a day of unbillable time. (I’ll skip my treatise on why corporate greed shouldn’t infringe so much on basic customer service–but it shouldn’t!)

Other nit-picky things I wish were different in QB 2009:

• I have yet to figure out how to duplicate invoices. There’s a menu item for it, but it is always grayed out.
• The memorized invoices list is a bit wooden and unfriendly. Why can’t it just be called reoccurring invoices?
• You lose all your new data if your server connection crashes during an active session. It looks like it is auto-saving, but it’s not. Close the program often if you are working in it all day.
• The report center shows pretty charts on the preview cover flow window, but in reality they are pretty boring.
• Can’t multi-select rows in memorized invoices or importing transactions.
• Have to set up a new category for every payee and classify them as vendor, customer, employee or other. This is a bit time-consuming and seems a bit unnecessary.
• Never supported Macs as well as it should.
• It seems like Quicken has some more advanced usability features than Quickbooks.
• You can only search customers by the first word in the title field, not by your contacts. It looks like it is using Spotlight, but not really.
• Customer service has a lot to be desired (see below).

I’d give Intuit’s Quickbooks 2009 a very Microsoft average “C” rating. They improve the program only when necessary, but everyone uses it. I look forward to the day when a superior competitor comes on the scene.

Let’s face it, everyone’s always looking for a cheaper way to do everything. So I’ve decided to embark on a journey to try out most of the free press release distribution services to see what kind of results they produce. Are they worth my time as a PR person, or am I better to stick with the establishment?

I think it will be fun and interesting. I’ll report my results here when I’ve done a few field tests.

But I’d like to focus on a website that I love: dictionary.com.

I’d like to give them a shout out because this website is simple, does it’s job well, and connects to a great thesaurus. It’s handy in a pinch, and I like the way it is organized. I use it several times each week when I’m writing, especially lately, because some spell checkers like Indesign don’t recognize popular words like “sustainability.”

I don’t even know who owns dictionary.com, but I’m glad it works well and is not a pile pop-up spam! Thanks!!!

I thought it was very helpful, and since I’ve recommended it to many, I thought I’d post it here too, along with a 10 second blurb on the highlights.

Highlights: Friend lists with different permissions; keep tagged photos private (and avoid the downfall of many); protect your albums; and make your contact info private.

Happy reading and setting up those Facebook permissions!

Here’s the link to the article. 

In the past 4 months, Linkedin has really started taking off. I think it’s starting to reach critical mass: everyone is starting to use it. Along with the growth of people using it, the groups function is continuing to mature. Coming from an association management background, I knew the groups could become powerful. Why? We all need recommendations, resources, and peer advice. With the downsizing of America, many of us lack co-workers with whom we can discuss and share ideas.

Now when I go to a local association chapter luncheon, like PRSA, I can build relationships with the people I meet. I send them a Linkedin invitation, and then I can see when they’ve changed jobs or gotten a recommendation. This starts conversations that would have never happened before.

Plus, smart associations are building groups for their members so that they can network and share resources, articles, and ideas. My local PRSA chapter looked into creating a listserver 5 years ago, but it was too expensive. Now that same group has a free Linkedin group that will complement its face-to-face meetings.

I’m excited to see that others are beginning to catch on to the great possibilities for connection through the Web.

By the way, I received some great packing tips and recommendations for movers from the LinkedWorking St. Louis group. Read the comments here.

The article covers how author J.D. Roth is overcoming his fear of public speaking and also shares some time-tested tips on gaining confidence like:

• Don’t compare yourself with others
• Visualize success
• Do the right thing
• Don’t dwell on failures
• Act confidently

Action sometimes involves risk, but if you never risk, you never really live.

Read more of this post, How to Build Confidence and Destroy Fear at GetRichSlowly.org. Check out my comment while you’re there.