Hostage taking business model
Jul6
Business models that depend on hostage taking really irk me.
Last week, my fiance and I took studio portraits for our wedding later this year. I got a package that contained 2 portraits, a big album, 2 small albums and various other sundries, but I could only choose 30 photos out of the 150+ that were actually taken that day. All the photographs were great; it was hard to choose 30. After 90 minutes, we got it down to the final 30 that would be professionally touched up and used in our package.
We felt these 30 were the best. But I still would have liked digital copies of all the others, but the studio charged up the nose for each additional shot. $40! To get the other 120 would cost $4800! Granted, that would have included professional touch-up, but the studio refused to consider releasing them to me untouched-up. I asked for low resolution copies, so that I would have to come back to them for the high resolution originals in order to print them out properly. Refused, as well. I asked for a proof sheet where each photo is a tiny 1″x2″ on regular white paper. Refused again.
I understood the package I signed up for, but what are they going to do with the other photographs of me and my fiance? Annoying your customers like this is apparently the status quo among photography studios. But as Dan Sherman has also experienced and written about before, there is a business opportunity here.
Update: I totally agree I should have negotiated more upfront to get the original digital copies of all the photos. Lesson learned.
Corporate jobs less desirable, less secure
Jul1
A post by Dori Smith about lack of women in the IT workplace and lack of interest in working in IT by women. But in the comments, there is also an underlying theme of companies not hiring anyone who’s not male, 18-25, and willing to work insane hours for beans, not just females.
This just makes more timely and relevant the “Moving on to post-corporate life” series that David St. Lawrence at Ripples has been writing recently.
In addition, for me, IT work environments are particularly hostile in terms of intellectual one-upsmanship and verbal sparring. The need to always defend oneself against egotistical know-it-alls grows tiring, as is the inevitable deathmarch when a deadline approaches. If I wanted to argue or work insane hours, I would be a lawyer. At least the pay’s better. I can understand and don’t blame women for not wanting to work in IT.
Venture updates
Jul0
Day job is still as tedious as always, but at least the pressure crunch of a looming deadline has passed. As I mentioned before, we were late, but it’s over. I’ve moved on to another project and the cycle begins again.
The software I’m writing is real close to official release now. (Those who want a sneak preview, please email me!) Just putting on the finishing touches to the website and affiliate program and working on the marketing plan. I probably should have the marketing plan finished first, but what can I say? This is my first time doing this and I’m a techie at heart.
This past week, I also opened accounts with several wholesale suppliers of wedding accessories. I’m in the midst of adding their products to Elegant Wedding Shoppe, along with my fiance’s hand-crafted products. You may notice that I ported the website over to Zencart. I was using a home grown system before, but with the addition of more products, it was necessary to use a database-backed website. My home grown system was adequate for half a dozen products or so, but did not scale well to dozens or hundreds of products. Zencart makes it very easy to add products to the site, change pricing and, with its shopping cart, I no longer have to use Paypal’s shopping cart which made for an awkward user experience anyway.
Between Zencart and drop shipping suppliers, it is so easy to open up a retail shop on the Internet with no need for inventory that I’m considering other retail niches. As Mark Cuban said, “You only have to be right once!”
Yahoo Customer Care doesn’t care
Jul3
I use Yahoo Mail and one thing that always bugs me is, when my session expires, they show me a page explaining why my session expired with a link that I have to click on to re-login. Why can’t the login form be on that very page? Yes, it’s just one click, but I’m lazy and it seems to make for better usability, no? So I send them feedback suggesting this and I get a canned response that doesn’t address the issue. Thinking maybe I wasn’t clear enough, I sent the following feedback again, reworded to make my point clearer:
Right now, when my mail session expires, I have to click a link to login again. It would be nice to be able to login again from that very page that is telling me why my session expired.
Please note that I understand the need for expiring sessions. I’m not complaining about this safeguard. I’m just suggesting that a login form be added on the page that explains session expirations so that users don’t have to click a link to login again.
But I got the exact same canned response. I would prefer a simple “No thanks, we don’t want to do this” to this gobbletygook that doesn’t address the issue at all, especially after I made it a point to clarify that I understand session expirations and have no problems with that:
Hello Eric,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
You will see the message “Your login session has expired” if it has been
more than eight hours since you last signed in to Yahoo! Mail and you
did not click the “Sign Out” or link at the end of your session. We
display this message and request password verification as a safeguard
for Yahoo! Mail users who use public or shared computers.You may also want to check your Account Information. If you have chosen
to be prompted for a password more frequently than every eight hours,
your session will expire after the specified amount of time. To change
this, please follow these steps:1. Sign In to your Yahoo! Mail account.
2. Click the “My Yahoo!” link, located at the top right-hand corner
of the page.
3. On the password verification page, enter your password in the
field provided.
4. Once you are at your “My Yahoo!” page, click the “Account
Information” link.
5. On the Yahoo! Account Information screen, click on the “Edit”
button next to the Member Information section.
6. Under “General Preferences”, change your Password Prompt to
whichever time you wish.
7. Click the “Finish” button to activate your changes.Please note that opening another browser window and signing in to a
second Yahoo! Mail account will automatically sign you out of the first.
When you return to the first account, clicking on any link will give you
the “Your login session has expired” message.If you repeatedly receive the message “Your login session has expired”
or are repeatedly cycled back to the “Sign In” screen with no error
message after entering your ID and password, your user cookie is
probably not being set properly.There are a number of reasons why your cookie may not be set properly.
We have listed these reasons in order from easiest to hardest in order
to save you from taking unnecessary steps:I. The date on your computer is set incorrectly. Since cookies rely
on dates, a computer with an incorrect date may “mislead” your browser
into forgetting about your cookie. To fix this, simply set the correct
time and date on your computer.II. You have installed an application that monitors/blocks cookies
from being sent. These include virus protection software, etc. To remedy
this, simply disable the monitoring application before signing in.III. You are behind a firewall that doesn’t allow you to receive
cookies. This is sometimes the case for users connecting from a business
intranet that limits cookie acceptance for security reasons. To check if
this is a factor, contact your Systems Administrator.IV. Your browser is not set to accept cookies. Most browsers have the
option of either accepting all cookies, showing an alert before
accepting a cookie, or not accepting cookies at all. In order to use
Yahoo! Mail, your browser must be set to accept all cookies without
alerts. If your browser gives you the option to accept all cookies, you
should choose it. If your browser gives you the option to show an alert
before accepting a cookie, you should not select it. Below are the
setting instructions for several popular browser types.When making these adjustments, be sure to confirm any changes you make
by clicking the “OK” button in the Options window.Netscape versions 7.x:
1. Click the “Edit” menu and select “Preferences”.
2. Click “Privacy & Security” in the left-hand column then “Cookies”.
2. Check “Enable cookies based on privacy settings”. Clicking the “View”
button will allow you to set your privacy settings. Be sure these are
set to Medium or Low.Netscape 6.x:
1. Click the “Edit” menu and select “Preferences”.
2. Click “Privacy & Security” in the left-hand column then “Cookies”.
2. Check “Enable cookies based on privacy settings”. Clicking the “View”
button will allow you to set your privacy settings. Be sure these are
set to Medium or Low.Netscape versions 4.x:
1. Click Options/Network Preferences/Protocols
2. Un-check the option “Show an alert before accepting a cookie”Internet Explorer 6.x for Windows:
1. Click the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”
2. Click on the “Security” tab
3. Make sure the security level is at either Medium or LowInternet Explorer 5.x for Windows:
1. Click the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”
2. Click on the “Security” tab
3. Make sure the security level is at either Medium or Low* Other:
If you are running a browser other than those listed above and would
like more information on whether your browser supports cookies, please
refer to your browser’s help file.V. Your browser’s cookie files are corrupted. Corrupted cookie files
sometimes cease to support Yahoo! Mail. Try shutting all of your
browser’s windows, and then deleting the cookie files in your browser’s
directories. Usually, these files will be called simply “Cookies”. As
always, be sure that you have selected the proper files before actually
deleting them.VI. Your browser is corrupted. If the above suggestions have not
helped you to solve the problem, it may be that your browser itself is
corrupted. The easiest solution may be to try another browser (if you
have one) on your computer. You may wish to reinstall your current
browser as well by finding the original installation file and repeating
the install process. As a last resort, you can download a new browser,
or an updated version of your present browser, from the web. Note that
this may take a while, depending on the speed of your Internet
connection.The Netscape browser can be found at:
http://home.netscape.com/download/
The Internet Explorer browser can be found at:
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
Sigh. Never mind. It’s free, what can I expect? But I would hope that even if my businesses grow, I don’t acquire a faceless drone image that Corporate America is infamous for.
Networking mini-meme
Jul0
I think there’s currently a mini-meme going on in the blogosphere about networking:
Ripples – Wake up call! Time to build a support network!
Soul in the Sky – Your relationships, your future
Overtime over
Jun2
My project at the Corporation is over. It was completed about a week and a half late but the bigwigs still seemed satisfied that it is done. I move on to a new project next week, and look forward to having new fodder to blog about. I can already tell I will be dealing with a micromanager, albeit an affable one. I have already put out feelers in my network for job openings and have my resume circulating out there.
My network is not as strong or wide as it can be though, because I’m just not a very sociable person. My saving grace is that I am connected to 2 or 3 people who do have strong and wide network of contacts that I can draw upon. That’s how I’ve gotten my past 2 jobs, but I know I should develop a better network of my own. ( Does anyone in my blogging network need some programming work done? 
) And simply sending out a resume is one of the most ineffective ways to find a new job.
Besides networking and resume sending, what else is there? You can try to make your own living, which is what I’m trying to do with my microISV and wedding accessories website. One other tactic I can see is becoming a known expert on a subject matter through blogging. People like Robert Scoble, Dan Gillmor and Jeremy Zawodny seem to have solidified their expertise on a subject matter through blogging, and would have no trouble finding a job ever. Something to consider.
Update: Coincidently, after publishing this post, I ran across this post over at Slacker Manager describing how he applied for (and got) a job in an industry he didn’t have much experience in. A very creative first. Congratulations!
Busy busy busy
Jun3
I haven’t had time to write many new blog entries the past 2 weeks due to 2 reasons:
- Extra hours at the Corporation
- Buying a house
I’m getting married at the end of this year and have been looking for a house for the past year. Home prices in Southern California are absolutely ridiculous. I refuse to pay 450K for a 900 sq. ft. home. But I recently came across an 1800 sq. ft. house that seems like a great value given this market. I made an offer, it was accepted, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Perhaps the house inspection will turn up why the house is priced so reasonably.
My other concern is that the housing bubble will pop shortly after I close on this house. The bubble is suppose to have popped every year for the past 3 years now, but still hasn’t popped yet. But I want a place of my own and I’m buying for the long term, so even if housing prices take a nosedive, I figure I can wait it out. The house is in a great neighborhood as well, so hopefully the local effects of the bubble popping will be minimal.
The house is not mine yet, but taking on this new huge expense would make my day job less of a safety net. I already feel an extra surge of motivation to get my software released (really close now!), as well as to look into offering more products for sale on my fiance’s wedding accessories side business. I’ve determined that drop shipping suppliers are the way to go for that right now and will be doing research into that area in the near future.
Old or cynical? Or both?
Jun6
In a previous post, I talked about my refusal to work overtime and how that probably won’t be an option as deadline approaches. The deadline is here and I was right. The lack of posting the past week has been due to working late hours at the Corporation. My group isn’t going to meet its deadline, so the usual finger pointing game is about to begin. Had I agreed to work overtime back then, I probably would have met the deadline for my tasks, but the group as a whole still wouldn’t have. This just means I join the firing line as the manager questions why the deadline slipped.
I can say that this is the first time in my professional career I missed a deadline and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I don’t like missing deadlines. I feel like I let people down (why these people care is another topic). On the other hand, I’m not inclined to work 50-60 hour weeks for weeks on end, even if paid for it. My job isn’t my life, and my choices are starting to reflect that. But I mostly feel numb. It doesn’t bother me a whole lot that I missed the deadline. And other than working a few extra hours, I’m not making any heroic efforts like I would have in my youth. Is this from growing older or from growing more cynical? Is there a difference when you work for Corporate America?
BigCorp vs. SmallCorp vs. OwnCorp
Jun4
I want to start my own business for more flexibility in my time. I understand I will work even more hours than at my day job, but it will be hours of my choosing and it will hopefully be more enjoyable hours, working for myself instead of someone else.
Mike King has a different take on things. Currently working at a SmallCorp, he is looking to find a job at a BigCorp in order to free his time and his mind to concentrate on his personal life. I can say that he will definitely find his mind freer at a BigCorp; things happen so slowly that you can’t help but have some idle time once in a while. And you can usually leave everything at work at the end of the day, both physically and mentally.
| Work Environment |
Daily Hours |
Time Regimen |
Work Breadth/ Variety |
Annual Paid Vacation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BigCorp | 8-10 | Strict | Narrow | 2-3 weeks |
| SmallCorp | 8-12 | Depends | Wide | 2-3 weeks |
| OwnCorp | 12+ | Very Flexible | Very Wide | None |
I want to work for OwnCorp for the Very Flexible Time Regimen. It sounds like Mike wants to work for BigCorp for the minimal Daily Hours. This table is very simplified. It doesn’t include commute, mobility (ability to work over Internet vs. fixed physical location) or management attitude, but I think it helps to see what some of the trade-offs are when choosing who to work for.
When is software ready to ship?
Jun7
I’ve been writing software my entire academic and professional career. When writing software in college, software is done when it compiles without errors. (Oh, and when it meets the assignment description.) Out in the business world, software is done when it meets the requirements and the testing person/department rubber stamps it (Not really, but close enough).
What about in a one man micro-ISV? I want to get the first release out as soon as possible, so I’m not packing it with hundreds of features; just the ones that are core to its operation. Extra and whiz-bang features can come in future releases. So I have simple requirements and verified that all of them are met. My experience tells me that it’s ready to go. But something is holding me back from releasing it. Since this is my own personal creation, I want to make sure it is as good as gold. I’ve been testing it to death, making doubly sure it’s solid. Because this is my reputation at stake here. And although probably untrue, I feel that this first release will make or break my dreams of being free from 9 to 5. My feelings and anxieties are probably normal, but for those that have released software successfully, what advice do you have for dealing with this?
(In addition to the software I’m actually selling, I’m also writing software to set up a fully automated sales process integrated with PayPal, and an affiliate program where sales referrals earn you 15% of the sales price, and you get 5% of sales referred by affiliates that you recruit to sign up. There should be more details by the end of this month! But I’m glad to report that I’m in the home stretch now, testing my software and making sure the sales and distribution infrastructure is in place.)