Elie Kochman on Business and Networking

Working holiday

Christmas and New Year’s fall on Fridays this year, which means for many people, they are not working from Thursday afternoon on December 24 until Monday morning, January 4. That’s 10+ days of not working. Even for those who do go into the office in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, there is little work getting done, as people are in the holiday spirit.

As a small business owner, though, you may not have the luxury of being able to take off 11 consecutive days. My own plans include a significant amount of work to get done while everyone around me is in party mode. No, I’m not being a party-pooper, but when I have some time to spare, I’m getting projects advanced, meeting with what clients are available, and setting myself up to have an easier January by being prepared.

If you are able, then you might want to consider joining me in this. Sure, you can’t work with your suppliers (they’re on vacation somewhere warm), nor with your clients (they’re busy closing out the books for 2009). But you can work to figure out where your business is going, and how you can adapt to changes. The good thing about getting a break like this is that it lets you catch up, while the world around you slows down to party.

It’s a once-a-year opportunity to get ahead. What are you doing to help yourself for next year?

It’s that time of year again. With the holidays fast approaching, it’s time to think about where you’re going in life, whether that be personal, professional, or any other aspect of your life. Many people make New Year’s resolutions, but how many of you actually follow through on those resolutions?

Some people dream of success, while other people live to crush those dreams.

What I did last year was to post some of my professional resolutions for all to see. Whether or not that was a good idea is debatable. There is a study that shows that the more you share, the less likely you are to do. I don’t agree completely with that study, and so I’m going to do it again.

First, however, a follow-up to the goals for 2009:

• Only one of my contracts from the start of 2009 is still in development, and it is scheduled for completion with two weeks.
• I have not picked up one new contract per month, however, the past 3 months have been very good to me with 2 new clients and one returning client.
• I haven’t taken any courses this year, but am in the process of learning PHP and the Zend Framework.
• I have continued to use C# for some development, and am increasing my level of proficiency.

All in all, I feel good about what I’ve accomplished in 2009. While I haven’t met all my goals, I did strive to do so, and had I met all my goals, it would be an indication that I had not set my sights high enough. So, without further ado, here are my goals for 2010:

1. Learn PHP and Zend to a degree of proficiency whereby I can construct an entire website based on those technologies in a reasonable amount of time (i.e. in under 250 hours for a fully-functional site, and not including the design of the interface).
2. Launch the product I’m currently working on, Client Data Tracker, to beta in January 2010 and live to the public before the end of March 2010.
3. Continue developing my consulting to the point that I am putting in 30+ hours per week in billable time on various projects.
4. Complete the work required for KNIRL.COM and get the site up and running.

These are my goals that I’ll be using to measure my success against in 2010. What are your goals? How do you intend to measure success?

I was reading a post by Jeremy Lichtman about Website Development where he raised an interesting point – he mentions the concept stage of development, where the initial idea is evaluated, and says:

It isn’t easy to tell a potential customer that their ideas are terrible, or to try and make them modify their concepts in order to allow them to work better online.
Part of that is that developers and designers are by nature creative people, and we don’t like raining on somebody’s parade.
Part of it is also the risk of losing a possible customer.

This triggered a brief discussion in the comments about how to learn the skills required for dealing with [potential] clients. It’s not something covered as part of a standard degree in Computer Science or the like. It’s not part of a certification in web development for most colleges. As a result, many would-be web developers working for themselves fall into one of the following two categories:

Customer Management Chart

1. They treat the client’s opinions and ideas like gold, and implement them regardless of whether or not it’s a good idea. While this is good for getting work, it’s not good for developing a business, as you end up spending too much time dealing with the whims of ill-informed clients. This prevents you from developing your business of building quality websites that fill real needs. In the end, your clients are not happy because the site doesn’t live up to their expectations (regardless of whether those expectations were reasonable) and you end up losing the client.
2. You build what you like building, or what you think is a good idea, and if the client likes it, that’s great, and if not, they can go bother someone else. I don’t think this method needs much explanation as to why it’s a bad idea.

What’s needed here is to find a good balance between the two extremes, a sprinkle of tact, and some of your business experience.

Evaluate what your [potential] client is proposing, and try to figure out what the client is trying to achieve. Then confirm your guess with the client. For example, the client talks about creating a blog where every web developer in the world will spend all their time (not going to happen). But what the client really wants is a way to market their new product for web developers.

Now, rather than putting down the idea completely, gather some facts about what the client is trying to do, and what they’re trying to achieve. For example, you might collect some articles about how many web developers have A.D.D. or the fact that there are thousands of sites out there for developers, and the largest such site only has 200K members. Get some examples of how similar products are marketed (e.g. show Eclipse vs. Rational Application Developer for a Java IDE) and what their numbers look like. Try to gather as many quantifiable facts as you are able.

Next, present an alternative to the client, from the perspective of someone who understands what they are trying to achieve. “In order to market your software using various social media platforms, how about we run through some options, and what some companies which are similar to yours are doing.”

There, you’ve said it – what you’re trying to do (market software), there will be choices (some options), and where they came from (other companies). Now, outline the ideas clearly, and demonstrate the breadth and depth of your knowledge by having answers ready for common questions to each option. Don’t show off, just be knowledgeable, and if you don’t know, ask: “Can I get back to you on that?”

Knowledge is Precious

Not every client is reasonable, but then again, not every client is yours. The key here is not to attack their ideas, but to understand where they are coming from. Why did they choose you for the project? It’s because you know more than they do about how to do it. Share your expertise, use your special knowledge. Make sure your opinions are clearly delineated from the facts.

At the end of the day, you may be able to reason with your [potential] client and land a project that is a good idea, that’s well structured, and balanced.

Some [potential] clients will still insist on a bad idea, despite your feedback. However, you’ve already told them it’s a bad idea, just not in those words. You’ve outlined what they’re trying to do, and you got that right. You’ve outlined some real options that would reach that goal, and they’ve been turned down. What now?

Now you need to look at your business, and the impact accepting this client, and their bad idea, will have on the rest of your business. Will it help improve cash flow because it’s a short project (i.e. high profit margin for minimal resources)? Will this client refer you future business, thus making this a strategic move? Is this a client who has other projects with you, thereby putting pressure of losing other contracts?

Or will this project keep you busy, stressed out, and prevent you from pursuing better clients who will help your business reach its goals?

The answer to these questions will help you determine if you should be accepting or rejecting the bad idea. (Note that while you may refuse the project, treat the client with respect, and you may end up with a valuable connection as a result.)

Recently on LinkedIn I asked a question about business cards and etiquette – do you always reciprocate handing out a card? That is, if someone gives you their card, should you give that person one of yours? If you hand someone your card, should you request one in exchange?

Before going any further, one thing needs to be clarified. I was asking the original question for a particular reason, and it was not so that I could write this article. I’m planning on attending a speed networking event next week, in which participants are seated at tables with five other people and get two minutes to make an introduction. The last time I attended, before anyone spoke, I had 5 cards in front of me, one from each person. After the introductions, however, I only really saw value in 2 or 3 of the connections.

The second half of the issue is that I did, at that event, reciprocate the handing out of my card. I ended up on 3 distribution lists as a result, and it took a while to get taken off one of those. All three people who put me on their mailing lists had something in common – they were all mutual fund salesmen. The question I was trying to get answered was whether I could [politely] refuse to give my card to the mutual fund salesmen at the next event.

I got many answers to my question, some of which addressed my concerns, others which seemed to ignore that aspect of the question. However, I did learn a few things about such events, and the ramifications of sharing a card.

1. Speed networking events are of limited value, because, while they allow you to meet many people in rapid succession, they often do not allow you to establish a solid connection with any one person.
2. Given then I will be attending this event (although this may be my last such event), sharing my card is considered to be a necessity. That is, I cannot politely decline to share my card with any one person or group of people.
3. I can control when to share my card – I can wait until it’s my turn to introduce, thus linking my card to my introduction.
4. I can make mention that I do not wish to be placed on any distribution lists – while I welcome networking opportunities, please keep my e-mail off any type of mailing list you may have.
5. When receiving cards, make notes on the back regarding the person who gave me the card, and any other information that may be relevant.
6. You never know where your next successful connection will come from, so don’t try to guess. Instead, hand your care to anyone who will take it, but always include a brief summary of what it is you do, and what it is you’re looking for.

What do you think about sharing your card? What value can you find is such events?

I have, as some people know, been fairly busy recently (although that may be hard to tell from the fact that I have time to write on my 2 blogs so often). For those who don’t realize that, let me explain what I am working on at the moment.

For starters, I work as a Programmer Analyst for the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company. This occupies me from 9 to 5, and occasionally beyond.

I am also the acting treasurer for my synagogue, handling the recording of pledges, collections, receipts, budget, and so on, as well as maintaining their website.

Third, I do occasional consulting for small and medium sized businesses on the appropriate use of technology and for the development of custom software packages.

Fourth, I am in the middle of developing two websites for launching in the first quarter of next year.

Fifth, I read an fair bit, from books to newspapers, magazines, blogs, and pretty much any form of writing that will stay still long enough. That reading is what provides the content for my two blogs, which is what I spend about an hour every two days working on.

Of course, I spend some time each day with my family, during which business is put on hold.

This is the final installment of the social media series, which started with the post on August 7. There was to have been a post last Friday, but life sometimes gets in the way. I’m curious to know what you thought of the series – how might it have been improved, what additional topics should I have discussed, did I make some errors. Please comment and let me know.

I apologize in advance for what is about to happen. I’m going to be separated from the internet for about 10 days. So if you post a comment, it may take until I get back for me to respond. However, I will respond when I get back.

Recap

When I left off the series, our model business owner, Jane, had started a blog which she uses to hold directed conversations with her readers. She has also started a Twitter account which she uses to post news and links to her articles, and uses the account to see what topics are of interest to people, and then writing about those topics.

Facebook

The largest problem with blogging and Twitter is that conversations are generally one-sided. Jane acan pick a topic to discuss, and interact with her audience regarding those topics. Using Twitter, she can respond to short questions. What she cannot do (yet) is allow her audience to pose its own questions, to hold undirected conversations.

This is where the networking sites such as Facebook and Linked In become important. Both these sites allow groups to be created. The creator of the group can act as an administrator of the group, and encourage conversation and participation among the group’s members. However, each member can start a new conversation, a new discussion, on a variety of topics. They can ask questions.

This will put Jane back to the first stages of becoming involved in social media, in which she interacts directly with her audience, as a member of the audience, but now Jane is in control of the environment. She can market the sites to people who come to her store. She can start getting feedback from her customers on topics she didn’t realize were issues.

Conclusion

Social media is about personal interactions used as a means of promotion. The fundamental component of social media is interactions. Social media is built on socializing. In order to run a successful campaign, you must interact with your audience – respond to their questions and comments, start conversations, ask questions of your own. Everything else is merely a tool to help you interact.

This is the third article in a series of articles describing how social media can be used by businesses. The aim is to publish one article per week on this topic, the first being Friday, August 7. Each article will address a single topic, and build on material provided in the earlier articles. Through feedback provided on the articles, this may lead into another series after the conclusion of this series.

Note that any clients referred to in these articles are fictitious, unless I specifically indicate otherwise.

Applying the Concepts

The client described in the first post in this series can make good use of the previous article as she develops her strategy. Social Media is built around interactions, so Jane must decide what kind of interactions she would like to foster. She must also look at how each platform is constructed, so that she can play to its strengths.

The Blog

The first step for most businesses starting with social media is to write a blog. If the client is technically adept, they can follow the instructions here on how to set up a WordPress blog on their own site. If not, they can hire someone to set up the site for them. (If you are looking for someone to set up a blog for you, please contact me directly and I can refer you to a reputable company that does this for a minimal fee.)

Before going live with the blog, there are a few things Jane needs to do.

1. Choose a topic for the blog. As the owner of a hardware store, she may feel comfortable writing articles about how to fix some common problems around the house on a tight budget. The title and sub-line for the blog should reflect the topic chosen.
2. Set a schedule for posting. More important than posting frequently is to post on a regular schedule. It is tempting to post each article as soon as it is written, but that may end up causing the blog to die quickly, as the speed of your writing drops. My usual recommendation is to start with one article per week, posted in the afternoon of Tuesday or Thursday. As the number of viewers of the blog grows, the frequency of publishing can be increased to twice a week, then three times a week.
3. Prepare some articles. While Jane has selected a topic that she feels confident she can write about, she does not know how much time she will have available for writing. She should prepare about 3 months of articles (if she’s publishing once per week, that works out to 12-15 articles) and upload them to the site in draft mode.

At this point, Jane can launch her blog. Some companies (including the one I recommend) can do some preliminary advertising for her to increase the number of viewers quickly. Other plugins for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be installed so that new posts are automatically submitted to various search engines. Certain types of content will result in Google scanning the page earlier. A reputable company will help to explain and set up these components.

Jane should also be sure to monitor the number of viewers to the site, and respond to comments on her posts. Writing the article is only the first step – interacting with her readers is more important. While it may take time to convert a reader to a client, if she does not interact at all with her readers, then her blog is merely another form of traditional media.

Jane must also remember to tell people about her blog, and ask for feedback. A sign in her store can drive her existing customers to the site, and they can tell her, in person, what they like and don’t like about the blog. She can ask them for ideas for articles and for suggestions on how to improve her existing articles. They may tell their family and friends about the site. If Jane can establish her credibility as an expert on the blog, then people will be more inclined to come to her store when they need something, or need advice on her area of expertise.

Tweets – Part 1

Now that Jane has her blog up and running, she may want to create her first Twitter account. With this account, she can post links to articles on her blog, talk about those articles, and create an additional community of people interested in those topics. Using various tools discussed in a future article, she can analyze what people are talking about, and write relevant articles on those topics. With this Twitter account, Jane is trying to attract more readers to her blog, to increase the amount of attention on her writing.

What’s Next

In the next article, I will be discussing other uses of Twitter beyond driving traffic to a blog, and the benefits to creating a page on a social media platform such as Facebook.

This is the second article in a series of articles describing how social media can be used by businesses. The aim is to publish one article per week on this topic, the first being Friday, August 7. Each article will address a single topic, and build on material provided in the earlier articles. Through feedback provided on the articles, this may lead into another series after the conclusion of this series.

Note that any clients referred to in these articles are fictitious, unless I specifically indicate otherwise.

The Tools of Social Media

Social media requires, as a fundamental component, the ability for people to interact. Therefore, any tool claiming to be a part of the world of social media must include interactions between the provider and the audience. Each tool will therefore include one or more of the following components:

1. Comments – the ability for the audience to publicly reply to some statement
2. Forums – the ability for the audience to create a statement and then provide feedback
3. Messaging – the ability for people to communicate in real time

Looking at some of the common tools of social media, it is easy to see how they are making use of at least one of these components.

Blogs

Blogs, such as this one, allow their audience to provide feedback on any given article. In this manner, the provider can post a message of arbitrary length, and the audience can then provide feedback.

The distribution of information is weighed strongly in favor of the provider, as they usually retain the ability to edit or select responses to be posted. (As an aside, I do not edit comments to this blog, and only refuse to post those comments which can clearly be seen to be spam.) The provider can control the topic of discussion to some extent, and can choose to incorporate the opinions of the audience in future posts.

Twitter

A form of micro-blogging in which each post is limited to 140 character, Twitter allows its users to post short messages. Conversations can be held by tagging posts, or marking a post as a reply to another user (via the # and @ tags).

Facebook (and other social networking sites)

A page can be created on a social networking site, providing an online location for people with a common interest to congregate. Interactions are usually via a message board, although private messaging is usually available as well. In the example of Facebook, targeted conversations can be created as well using forums.

What’s Next

In the next article, I will be providing an explanation of how the sample client, Jane, can make use of each of these tools to promote her business, and what some of the other tools she may want to make use of to facilitate her use of these forms of social media.

This is the first article in a series of articles describing how social media can be used by businesses. The aim is to publish one article per week on this topic, the first being today, August 7. Each article will address a single topic, and build on material provided in the earlier articles. Through feedback provided on the articles, this may lead into another series after the conclusion of this series.

Note that any clients referred to in these articles are fictitious, unless I specifically indicate otherwise.

The Client

Harvey’s Hardware is a small store located on the corner of a busy intersection in a residential neighborhood. The original owner, Harvey, has retired, and the store has been sold to Jane. Jane has an MBA from a prestigious school, and is interested in running her own business after spending over 20 years working for a large multi-national corporation. She bought the hardware store using funds she has saved, and spent the first year after the sale becoming familiar with the store and its clients.

Jane is not technically illiterate, but her use of technology is limited to word processing and checking her e-mail. She is comfortable with her inventory management software.

Recently, a few of her customers asked if she had a website for her store, to which she had to answer no. However, she is interested in creating an online presence, and has heard about social media and would like to become involved.

The Problem:

The real problem, in this case, is that Jane does not understand what social media is, nor how it can be used to help her store grow its customer base. Her first step, therefore, is to learn about social media, and how it compares to the more traditional forms of media with which she is already familiar.

The Background:

Social media, as defined by Wikipedia, is “…online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies… transforming people from content consumers into content producers”. In other words, social media makes use of the internet as a dstribution medium and is based on interactions between people, rather than simply delivering information.

Traditional media including newspapers, radio, and television, are based on information delivery. Information is collected and converted into a message, which is then broadcast to the audience. The audience may be able to provide responses to that information, but those responses are delayed, such as the letters section of a newspaper. Additionally, distributors of traditional media are faced with large expenses in creating and delivering the content.

Social media, on the other hand, relies on the audience itself to both create and distribute information. This has the benefit of incorporating feedback from the audience in the message itself, and in reducing the cost of distribution to a negligible amount.

The downside, however, is directly tied into the benefits. Traditional media, such as newspapers, go to great expense to distinguish fact from opinion, and to verify any facts to the best of their ability. This results in a quality of information that is difficult to find in social media. Since the control over information in social media is distributed among the audience, it is nearly impossible to ensure that all the facts will be accurate.

Another key difference between social media and traditional media is as follows. In traditional media, the creation and delivery of content is where the majority of the effort is. Social media, however, requires more work in following up on content than in the creation or delivery. This form of media bases its distribution on interactions – the more interactions there are, the more successful the distribution will be.

What’s Next:

In the next article, to be published on August 14, I will be giving an overview of some of the tools of social media, and how to use them successfully.

I came across a question on Linked In today which raised an interesting question about managing schedules, and what happens when the schedule starts to slip. Anyone offering a service will encounter this situation at some point in time, and those who will succeed know in advance how they will handle this situation.

At the start of a project, the timelines look good, the schedules may be aggressive, and optimism is high. People enjoy a fresh start, and the work begins. However, as time goes on, the Project Manager realizes that the schedule was unrealistic, or perhaps something unexpected came up, and now the project is a month behind. Suddenly, the client is clamoring for status updates, and wants to know why the project is late.

As a Project Manager, what do you do?

In order to answer this question, the first step is to understand the various reasons why a schedule might slip, since that can affect how to resolve the issue.

1. The initial schedule was never accurate. It was overly aggressive, and did not allow for unforeseen problems. As a general rule-of-thumb, there should be about a 20% allowance for unforeseen difficulties. Additionally, the people doing the work should be involved in creating the schedule, since they will be the ones expected to adhere to that schedule.
2. The schedule was sufficiently conservative, but a delay from a third party held up progress. Once the third party delivers, the schedule will be back on track, although pushed out by the length of the delay. The third party could be a resource for either the vendor or the client.
3. The schedule was sufficiently conservative, but changes to scope caused the schedule to break.
4. The scope did not change, but the amount of work required for some portion of the project was not estimated correctly and this was only determined once the work began.

The first step in resolving a problem with the schedule is communication. The client should be informed:

1. There has been a delay in the project, and what the new schedule is
2. What caused the delay, and whether or not another delay for a similar reason can be expected during the remainder of the project

Once the client has been informed of the new schedule, the relationship with the client must be repaired. Depending on the nature of the delay and the ultimate cost to the client, how the relationship is repaired will vary.

If the cost to the client can be measured with a dollar value, then that cost should be, to some extent, reimbursed to the client if the vendor was the source of the delay. However, this situation is not that common as making such a measurement is fairly difficult, and may not be determinable until after the project is complete.

In most cases, offer the client some form of compensation for the delay, with the amount depending on the nature and severity of the delay. Clearly, a single day delay is not as severe as a month delay. However, if that single day means that the client misses an industry deadline, the severity is greatly increased.

One form of compensation that allows for an opportunity to repair the relationship fully is to offer a discount on future work. For example, if the vendor was supplying a website, they can offer a discount on future maintenance, for example, a 10% reduction in the hourly rate for the first 50 hours of maintenance.

What is clear, regardless of the nature of the delay, is that the relationship between the client and the vendor will need repair. What should not be done is to attempt to hide or deny the delay – the client will eventually find out, and then trust will be lost. By being honest about the schedule, and keeping open lines of communication, you can work with the client to bring the project to a successful close. Your practices in dealing with delays will assist in future goodwill, as clients tend to appreciate when vendors are honest about schedules, and take appropriate action to adhere to them.