Nice Save

Today I arose to an interesting problem. My V-fax was not working. (email faxing program) So rather than stay on the phone for hours I decided to email Vonage customer service. They surprisingly did respond in a timely manner (last time I tried emailing they never responded).
Nonetheless even though they responded it wasn’t too helpful. It was basically a mass email that did not really address my problem whatsoever.

So braced myself for the automated answering machine and called into the 800 number. After I gave my account #, favorite food, last 5 addresses and middle name of my second cousin I was finally put through to a person. When I asked her about the problems with my V-Fax she told me that was because they had canceled the program. DUH... WHAAAAaaaaaaaaT!!!!!!!!!

How can you cancel a service and not let someone know? Her response was that V-Fax was only a "test market" and with so many competitors in the game they decided not to pursue that line of services.

Translation: We kept screwing up people's faxes and we don't know how to fix it so we stopped trying.

Although she did tell me not to worry my fax # will still work with a traditional fax machine. Well that's good cause I would assume the least it should do is work with an actual machine since it is supposed to be a fax#?!??!

Here's where the nice job comes in. She was shockingly understanding and apologetic. (Not the case when calling into customer service at most companies.) She then credited me the 5 months of service so that I would have $$ to go buy a fax machine.

I must say I was impressed. It's been awhile since I've seen a company take that much responsibility. Then came the clincher, she asked what time next week she should call me to get the fax connected.

It's really a small thing, to give me back $65.00, talk in a soothing voice and offer to help. That is what a customer service person is for right? Too bad most of them have no idea that this is their job.

What to do when you don't know what to do?????

That's not really a title. It's an actual question. What do I do when I don't know what to do? I mean I'm done. My checklist of activities is complete. Good, right? Not really since it's 10:29 am on Thursday. That means I have another 1.75 days worth of activity to razzel up. That's only if I abide by traditional M-F 9-5 rules.

Normally I get energized by crossing items of my daily lists. Now I actually dread project completion because then I have to think up another project. This is quite disheartening! It's as if the entire structure of my task/completion/self fulfillment system is failing. This anxiety has now plagued me with the fear that my entire life's basis of productivity is flawed.

OK maybe that's a bit dramatic BUT I've already racked my brain of ways to gain exposure, groups to join, potential clients to call, possible blogs to post...I can only read so many articles on social media, books about going from Good To Great or Making It Stick... So now I'm back to blank. That's right blank. My mind is blank. I can't even come up with another way to say blank.

When will my next flash of genius come? So far my 3rd cup morning of coffee is not jump starting any brain activity. How do I constantly keep active? I know that busy work is bad but profitable work is good.

WB: How did you know what to do to keep yourself busy? How did you know what activities would be beneficial? Were you ever blank?

So Many Options!!!

It used to be you woke up, read the paper with your morning coffee maybe watched a little AM news then off to work you go equipped with the appropriate amount of information to make you aware of the world. (I mean I never did this but I'm pretty sure my Dad did...)

Nowadays it just isn't so. Morning paper? Only if I pick up the reader on my way to the El. News of today is online and if you want to know; Who accosted who at the MTV Music awards, How to renovate your office for under $500.00; or Why Michael Jordan's hall of Fame speech was controversial then you'll surely find that in minutes. BUT if you want to know what's going on in the real world you have to dig further.

And boy do I mean DIG! How many news sources can there be? I'm totally lost in information overload. There are so many different sources, online newspapers, business journals, e-newsletters, of course all the industry publications, or the publications of industries that your clients are in, updates of discussion boards on Linked in, twitter... then there are the ones that tell you what's going on in the city, new spots to check out, events OMG!!!!!!!

I spend the first hour of my day combing through all these thing, then I look at the clock and freak out that I've been browsing the Internet when I should have been finding a person to give me money!!! To make matters worse, these people have the audacity to add new information the next day forcing me to participate again in this chastising morning ritual I've developed.

Not only is this confusing, overwhelming, a bit rude (most of these emails come between the hours of 3:34am- 5:47am) but it's also extremely necessary. If I didn't check all the different sources I'm sure I'd just walk into the next networking event and say something extremely stupid like "Oh really I had no idea there was going to be a 2010 world expo???" Great event planner I would be!

So Big W: Which ones do I read? Which ones do you read? And more importantly is there a Blackberry function that automatically turns off my email notification for the hours of 2-6am daily?

Sick Days

Do I get them? Is it fair to take one, especially after a long weekend of no work activity?

When I work up yesterday morning my head was stuffed with so much pressure I felt it would spontaneously combust. Today was much the same. My dizzy swollen head makes me think President Obama made a speech today in Afghanistan about Health Care; Ron Blagojevich is now proclaiming socialism and school children outside Dallas are learning the top 5 fat busting gimmicks. I may have my headlines confused....

With my acute sense of discernment at the top of its game today I feel completely prepared to make all sorts of important decisions. Today is a great day for meeting with clients, calling new prospects and researching potential revenue sources right???

Probably not since every 15 min I check the clock and wonder at what point is it acceptable to take a nap. More importantly at what point is it acceptable to stop working and lay on the couch, have chicken soup and drift in and out of consciousness to some terrible lifetime movie? How many days of "Closed for repairs" is OK? Remember if I'm not working, NOTHING is happening.

WB Question: How far do I push it? Do I sleep? Take it easy? Forgo 2-3 days of work which could put me weeks behind? OR do I trudge along with droopy eyes, voice of Darth Vader and common sense of a chimpanzee hoping I don't screw anything up too bad and eventually I'll feel better?


I may sleep on this one for an hr...

Direct bill pay...directly impacting my blood pressure.

Just like many others when the notion of direct bill pay was invented I thought, GREAT! Now I don't have to remember to pay all my bills on time. (I have a severe delinquency problem when it comes to repetitive activities. The usual... showing, brushing my teeth, feeding the dog.)

So here I was delighted that I would not ruin my credit by forgetting to pay my mortgage on the 1st, association on the 3rd, cc#1 on the 4th, student loans on the 10th & 11th, cc#2 on the 17th, computer bill on the 29th, plus some where in there falls, cable, gas, cell phone, insurance, car payment.... I would be paying bills every other day FOREVER if it wasn't for automatic payments.

All is well and good with these as long as you keep on top of them! Making sure they are charging you the correct amount by checking your bill. (Something I rarely do.) I was once overcharged by a certain cell phone carrier $900!! Do you get the cash back?? NO! Of Course they wouldn't do that! But I surely was credited for the next 7 months...

My frustration today is stopping the auto payments. Now that I'm married and consolidating bank accounts I'm having the hardest time trying to close them all. After years of auto pay and a not so great (or existent) filing system I don't remember what password goes to what. I was just told that my account did not exist by one creditor. OH REALLY well then why have you been taking $159.96 out of my bank account for the last FIVE YEARS!!!

The verdict is still out but, I will continue to wait on this phone listing to champagne supernova musack until they find my auto pay and cancel it.

1 hr 42 min 36 seconds and counting...

Today I have 3 meetings out in the burbs of Chicago. These are clients I need to close, but after a groggy morning I don't want to go. I have no desire to sit in ridiculous Chicago daytime traffic (which still baffles me!). Why are these people even out during the day? Shouldn't they be working? They can't all be sales reps driving around. I digress...

Back to my meetings. I hate selling, I get all uhh duhh uhhh when people ask me questions I'm not ready for. Not that I'm a fool, normally I'm much more eloquent.

"What you can't commit to the 21st start date? "
(my response should be: If you would like to work with us that is the only date we have open.)
(my response usually is: Ohhh OK umm what would you like to do?)

"You can't sign the contract today, you'll mail it to me next week?"
(response should be: Why don't you go ahead and sign it now, and I'll process it next Tuesday.)
(response usually is: SURE! Just send it whenever you can- Pathetic)


So when will I develop this sales attitude. This hunger for the win. The excitement of the chase. I'd really rather sit on the chaise watching reruns of Gilmore Girls while deciding fonts for our new brochure...

Question WB: What was it like when you started selling for yourself? Did you hate it or did it give you a thrill? Does it mean that I wont do well because I find this more scarry than exciting?

Figuring our Why??

Why did I start this blog???

Good question. Well I started a company and now my days are filled with telling myself what to do. In theory this should make me ecstatic. Yet, it's a bit overwhelming. How do I know if what I am doing is going to make me money? How can I be sure I've done enough for the day? And Who the heck can I ask??

That's where my good friend Warren comes in. Well I hope that one day we will be good friends (hint hint Mr. Buffet)

I've decided that Warren has experienced many of the questions I'm now facing. Most people don't understand what the uncertainty, excitement and distress of an Entrepreneurial life is like:

What time do I get out of bed? What do I do when I've finished my task sheet for the day and it's only 1:34pm? Is it cheating to stop working? Or do I find more to do? What do I blog about today? Do I straighten my hair or leave it curly? Should or shouldn't I wash our stinky dog? Is it really that bad to eat a whole block of cheese if it takes me a week??

( Those last few he may not struggle with as much as I do)

But the point is, who do I ask my questions to? Other people have a boss for this very reason. I've always been bossy but, Warren how do I be a successful boss?

Thank goodness I have you WB I'm sure we can figure this out.