I have a satisfied customer. That’s not unusual, or even noteworthy, for most businesses. However, how I got a satisfied customer is worthy of a post. I had been writing a bunch of scripts for this client over the course of the last 9 months. There have been ups and downs during the work, and [...]
I had a discussion this week with one of my client’s regarding the quality of my work. The client liked the guarantee I put on my work, and is now one of my advocates. He has already sent me business, which I would not have been able to get without him. That client, as well, [...]
I had an interesting set of interactions with one of my clients over the past couple of days. I had written a program to do some data analysis against a set of standards, which they provided. The client (or more precisely, one of the client’s employees) sent me the data I needed, I sent back [...]
When applying to work at a company, take care to write your cover letter carefully. This is not the time to demonstrate your eloquence, it is the time to get them to give you a call. Unless, of course, you are applying for a position as a writer, in which case my statement makes no [...]
As a consultant with several clients, it is of utmost importance that each of my clients feels that he or she is getting the top treatment from me. I rely heavily on recommendations from my clients to fuel my business, and this in turn requires that I treat my clients well. Part of this is [...]
I was called this morning by a university friend whom I have not spoken to in a while. He wanted to know if I could do some work for him, which happened to be outside my area of expertise. Without digging further, I gave him a referral to another friend who might have been able [...]
As an earlier article I wrote mentioned, I waded into the world of networking a week ago for the first time. However, based on how networking has been described by people who spend much of their life networking, I have in fact been networking for many years. Any time I talk to a member of [...]
I’ve been hearing a lot about best practices lately, and came to an interesting realization. I’m from an IT background, so I will focus on that area, but what I have to say can be extended to essentially any professional area. In IT, there are two kinds of Best Practices: those that apply to how [...]
Elie Kochman is the author of Advice for Small Business Owners and the founder of Optimal Upgrade Consulting. Using his experience working in the corporate world along with his exposure to the world of small businesses, he writes these articles to assist others avoiding common pitfalls of growing a business. His experience in the corporate world, building his own business, and working directly with other growing businesses has given him some perspective on the trials and pains of running a business.
