03.31.07
Posted in Political, Small Business at 04:00 by lnxwalt
Something happens. Whether it was your company’s fault or not, you are now in crisis mode. The PR group wants to say something along the lines of “there was a problem, but it was limited to this and that areas”. The problem is, you do not know how widespread the problem is, what products or locations it may affect. What do you do?
Your legal department is now on the line. Mr. Legal Beagle reminds you that admitting fault and taking responsibility could have legal consequences when people decide to sue. He agrees with the PR group–limit what you admit to, until you are absolutely sure that the problem goes beyond what you’ve spoken.
Unfortunately, this is the way the game is played. In large businesses, where shrewd lawyers can deflect claims even where members of the public have legitimately been harmed, maybe this can be a successful tactic. In a smaller, owner-managed business, “playing the game” can mean the end of the business. Your best bet is to be brutally honest: “We do not know how far this reaches yet, so we urge you to avoid anything on this list….”
We need to learn some “Lessons From Pet Food.”
I spent nearly an hour on the phone with Pedigree today. We had recently switched brands of dog food and have been trying to keep track of what is or is not good to feed to the dogs and cats. Currently, we have both Pedigree and Purina dry food (no wet food). We wanted to make sure that none of our pet foods were made by the contractor in question–since they change the scope of this thing almost daily, I’d rather not have anything to do with their products for a while–and have been calling repeatedly to try to talk to someone to ask.
All I wanted to know is this: is $PRODUCTNAME made by $CONTRACTOR? It should not take repeated telephone calls over a period of days to get the answer to that question.
No well-run company should make this mistake. Make it easy to find out whether your customers are affected by the problem–and I do not mean PR bullshit–meaning everything that YOU know, THEY should know.
Purina also had a long telephone wait, but in their case, their Web site clearly said that they make almost all of their own products. Because Purina made it clear and Pedigree made it difficult, we are now a Purina household.
I want to take this opportunity to propose a solution that would have made it much easier to find out what I wanted to know: Congress: The FDA should have required many years ago that all consumer foodstuffs (that is, food for humans or pets) be clearly marked in plain English with (1) the name of the company whose brand it is sold under, (2) the name of the company that actually made and / or packaged the product, (3) the location where the product was made and / or packaged, and (4) the “USE BY” date, in ISO-standard YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM format. Since they refuse to do this, I urge you to do their job for them. Require this for all food products entering the consumer market on or after January 1, 2008 (or 2008-01-01 00:00).
Please take this opportunity to contact your congressional representatives, referring them to this page if necessary.
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03.29.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 23:37 by lnxwalt
Mr Brown Thumb: Seed Starting: Ghetto Greenhouse
I like gardening because so much of what we do in life is analogous to the seasons and the growth patterns of plants in the garden.
Just today, I looked at all the seedlings and felt a sense of parenthood. I also noticed a large crop of odious weeds are also coming up. It made me aware again of just how often unwanted side-effects of the outside world will drift into whatever project you are working on.
The other thing I like is being out in the garden, working the soil, and talking to my dog through the little fence. She does not understand the value of tomatoes, of course, but she does know that I enjoy being in my own little plot. Even with the fence in between, we bond as I work in the garden and she watches me work.
This time, Mr. Brown Thumb is telling how to start from seeds in homemade containers that could work as well as the ones you buy at the plant nursery. Check it out.
Growing from seed can be rewarding and a cost effective way of
expanding your garden. Depending on the plants it can often times be
cheaper than buying a plant at your local garden center. While big box
stores can be cheaper than buying at a specialty nursery sometimes the
variety of plants can leave a lot to be desired. To avoid the
“McGarden” look, acquire seeds; on-line, through catalogs, seed
exchanges and the seed rack of your favorite store and start them
yourself.
I quite agree.
Blogged with Flock
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Posted in FLOSS, News and Announcements at 20:37 by lnxwalt
As Reverend Ted points out, the market for desktop operating systems contains more than just Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X. The question is how to make this apparent to the world around us.
Microsoft, of course, has staked out a position as the stuffy businessperson. Apple has staked out a position as the cool media-oriented fun guy. The three YouTube videos on Ted’s post are a takeoff on Apple’s tremendously popular “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” series of commercials, with an added twist: Linux joins the discussion.
Take a look.
technorati tags:Linux, I’m+a+Mac
Blogged with Flock
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03.27.07
Posted in Industry News, Legal Issues at 21:32 by lnxwalt
As a very minor and unknown member of the community of online personalities, I am grieved to read about the persecution of Kathy Sierra. I had honestly never heard of her before, nor of any of her persecutors. However, it is difficult to go anywhere online without bumping into the story. She is being threatened with both physical and sexual violence.
Threatening Messages and Images
According to her post, this has been going on for about two weeks, beginning with threatening comments on her blog. Looking at some of the blogs that were listed in her message, one person admitted his part and apologized. Another person angrily retorted that he is being blamed for the actions of others. Another one never really said where she stands on the conduct.
Doc Searls, who is acquainted with many of the persecutors, is trying to research things before he responds. I would hope that his response will clarify the fact that such behavior is unacceptable.
Society’s Problems
It is true that these things have been happening forever. It happened in small towns with no electronic communications. It happened in big cities. It happened with every advance in communications technology. This is not an excuse—the behavior can not be accepted or tolerated.
People need to be reminded of the expectations of society. Not just law enforcement, although this incident has apparently gone far enough to be a criminal situation. We need to shun or disfellowship or excommunicate (or whatever your word is) people who act in this way, until they avail themselves of the community’s mental health resources and get better.
Conclusion
That behavior is not acceptable. Whatever the purpose of the sites may have been, tolerating these kinds of threats leads to enabling and encouraging sick people to carry them out. It leads to situations like the school killings. At its best, it is nothing less than bullying. At its worst, it is inciting violence against your opponents.
I believe in freely discussing issues and differences of opinion. But when our conflicts over ideas and practices begin to reach the level of thinking about harming the other person, it is time to stop talking and seek mental help.
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03.23.07
Posted in Small Business at 23:36 by lnxwalt
In some industries, it is a weekly cycle. In others, the cycle may be monthly or annual. Some industries may even have all three.
If you are aware of the cycles of your industry, it helps you to balance your expenses with your revenue.
For example, in many fast food restaurants, Monday and Tuesday are low-sales days. One chain used to schedule a weekly “detail night,” when extra cleaning and scheduled maintenance was to be performed. On that night, the closing crew had no deadline–but they had to produce a clean store. Another chain had a “taco night three for 99 cents” special, which meant that people would come in droves on what would otherwise be a low-sales night. I also read about one sit-down restaurant where the owner would have a surprise no-bill night on one Tuesday evening each month, causing people to come in each Tuesday in the hope that this was the free food night.
If your business involves transportation, you might think of Friday and Sunday nights as your weekly low-points. Friday evenings have so much traffic heading North on the 15 freeway that the best thing is to knock off early and give your employees that time with their families. Likewise, on Sundays, the return traffic from Las Vegas backs up as far away as Barstow sometimes. Rather than having employees sitting in that mess, have them wait until Monday morning.
By being aware of your industry’s patterns, including the peculiarities that pertain to your location, you can alter your work patterns or marketing to compensate for the low points. Are you aware of the times and the seasons?
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Posted in Small Business at 02:41 by lnxwalt
It is amazing sometimes to notice how most businesses seem to be clones of every other business out there. Retailers, for example, are primarily in three categories: chain stores, franchises, and independents that try to follow the practices and policies of the first two. This sameness is not found only in retail, but it is more visible there.
Several years ago, for example, all of the start-a-business magazines were full of frozen yoghurt store franchises. This sameness also shows itself when the wave of a fad begins to peak and then to decline. It seems that suddenly all the frozen yoghurt stores are gone.
Most businesses and their owners or investors like to get in on a fad, because when it first ignites, people will buy anything you throw at them. Pig slop, steer manure, whatever. Just as long as it is mixed into frozen yoghurt, they want it. After there are “ice yogi” stores on every corner, then customers become more selective, and then the shakeout starts. Often, the survivors of the shakeout survive because they add something else to their product lineup.
The other thing that distinguishes survivors of shakeouts is their financial condition: If you expanded more slowly and selectively because you wanted the highest possible returns while avoiding piling on too much debt, you are more likely to still be around when the guy down the street ( the one that opened 20 or 30 locations in a two-year period within a ten square-mile area) has long ago shut his doors.
Are you a part of a fad? Have you considered what to do when the fad ends? Have you begun to distinguish your business, so that it is not another “ME TOO” business? Have you considered ways to add local color or flavor, so that long after look-alike businesses are gone, people in your area continue to patronize your business because it feels like it is theirs?
Begin today to make your business and its products and services distinctive and unique. Make it clear why your business is the one that customers want to deal with.
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03.21.07
Posted in Small Business at 23:20 by lnxwalt
Here are a few tips I have learned from being on the applicant side of the desk. If you fail to do these things, no one may tell you, but your business might get the reputation of being jerks, or racists, or sexists, or whatever. Chances are, you will not want to get this reputation, because as soon as there are more jobs than workers, everyone will leave you alone.
- Every interviewee deserves a follow up. If you thought enough of a candidate to interview the person, be sure to call, e-mail, or write to inform the person whether the job is being offered to him or her. If someone clearly did not fit, such as not having the educational or work-experience background that you require, tell them and suggest a way to repair it. I have seen people that have been out of work for years at a time simply because no one would tell them what was wrong with them.
- Tell candidates your target compensation range. I have been places where someone was asking for a Master’s degree (which I have), but the pay was $10 to $12 per hour. A person with that background will have loan payments of $500 per month or even higher. The person can not pay his or her obligations with that amount. So by telling candidates the range you are willing to pay, you will eliminate people who can not accept the job anyway.
- Get rid of any criteria that is not absolutely necessary to do the job. I have seen junior-level help desk positions where the company was asking for several years of experience. We are talking about reading from a little on-screen trouble-shooting script. It takes zero skill to follow the script. The reason behind this is simple: companies use overly-specific hiring requirements to narrow the field of candidates, or to enable a specific person to be “the only candidate that met the qualifications”. This is certainly not what you would do if you want the best candidates, because people have different histories and therefore bring different intangible assets to any workplace where they are. Those unmeasurable, indefinable, intangible assets are what distinguish an unexpected “genius” from a run-of-the-mill “good performer”. Since you really do want to get the geniuses when they are available, do not narrowly-tailor your job requirements.
- Candidates already have too many usernames and passwords to remember. Do not require people applying for jobs with your organization to go to your site and create still another user ID to forget about. If you advertise on one of the job sites, either accept their resume format or accept e-mailed resumes. As an alternative, find a way to harmonize usernames and passwords with whatever services you advertise on, so that they can log into your jobs site with their usernames from Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com.
- People should be able to create resumes using many different software applications. If you accept resumes as e-mailed attachments, do not force users to send .doc format. Accept .pdf and international-standard .odt files also. In fact, a resume should not be editable when you receive it, so you may just tell users to use Lettos to send their document in PDF format. They have a conversion button that you can put on your site, so it is really easy to do this way. If your resume-scanning software does not accept OpenDocument Format (word processor files end with .odt) or Portable Document Format (.pdf), write the vendor and request that functionality. Tell them that you are going to require that in the next version you buy.
- Mix it up. Do not hire or refuse to hire someone because of the person’s ancestry or what body-parts he or she was born with. At the same time, recognize that your business will be stronger if you have a varied workforce. The way to do this is to choose places to advertise your job openings so that you will attract applicants of various backgrounds—the local ethnic or foreign-language paper, for example, is a way to increase the number of applicants that may not read the main local paper. Take an honest look at your staff. Are they all the same race or sex? If so, your business needs people from outside that group. If what you have been doing is not attracting qualified people from outside of that group, then change what you are doing.
- Be willing to train people. It does not matter whether you are hiring a counter clerk at the burger joint or an experienced C++ programmer. Even if the person has done the job for years, you do it differently at your company than they did wherever they came from. Since you will have to train out the old ways and then train in the new ways, you might save time or money by taking someone who is curious, interested, and trainable but without experience.
- Ask why.&bnsp; Why does someone who has done the exact same job, under similar pay and working conditions decide to apply at your business? This should ring some alarm bells. If the person’s background is very similar to the job you are hiring for, there must have been something wrong: a personality conflict (will this recur?), poor quality work, lack of responsibility… why would someone leave company A to do the same job at similar pay at company B? Experience does not mean that the person did the job well, merely that they did the job.
- Ask your customers why they like your company. I worked one place where a good percentage of the customers during certain hours came because of one employee. The district manager was constantly trying to find ways to reduce her schedule and her customer contact, because he did not know that her kindness and attention to the customers’ needs–plus her effort to keep the dining area clean–brought people back again and again. That business needed more employees like her, but they could not see it.
- Provide a clear path to advancement. Often, your employees can not imagine doing the same job they are doing for the rest of their careers. At the same time, not everyone is cut out for managment. This means that you should make a two-track advancement plan, with the ability to switch tracks if the person’s skills show that it is appropriate. Talk about this in the interview, so that the candidate can see how he or she can stay with your company for many years to come.
- Have a clearly-stated performance assessment and rewards program for everyone in the company. At some point, employees will wonder how they are doing. If there are regularly-scheduled interviews where the employee gets a written PA, some of the middle and lower performers are able to see where they need to change. Tie this in with rewards, including money and promotions. Employees give up a lot for most employers. Show them that it is appreciated and many of them will be willing to continue. Again, this program should start during the interview, by briefly discussing what it is, what is measured, and how often assessment interviews are held.
- Be fair. Employees may not say it, but if you are as fair as you can be during the hiring process and thereafter, they will appreciate it more than an unfair boss who is occasionally merciful to them.
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Posted in Legal Issues, Political at 21:57 by lnxwalt
Spent some time at the county law library, checking into incorporation. We are a nation of laws, as well as all sorts of compliance enforcement staffers in a multitude of different agencies. If you have not checked on your legal compliance recently, now is a good time to look into that.
Are you properly registered, licensed, insured, and taxed? If not, it is time to make plans to rectify that. Your business—and your freedom—are on the line.
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Posted in Political at 02:21 by lnxwalt
Many local government agencies have meetings at least once per month. In our town, meetings are held every two weeks, on Tuesday evenings.
At these meetings, your council members will discuss and vote on issues ranging from taxes to restrictions on the design of your building to deciding what parts of town your kind of business can operate in to budgets for departments ranging from libraries to police to firefighters to water & sewer. They may even vote on funds or rules for the school district in some places.
When “BigNationwide Retail Co.” is coming to town, the council will often give them all sorts of things that they would not even think of giving to a locally-owned retailer. This is where your efforts at faithfully attending council meetings and occasionally giving constructive criticism or advice will help your business and others like yours.
Your council members only know what they have seen or done themselves. Anything else that they learn will be from people like you that get involved and help them to understand how the choices and decisions that they make affect you and others like you.
There is no guarantee, of course, that what you tell them will change their minds. Neither is there any guarantee that your efforts will persuade them to allow your business to continue operating. What you do have, however, is the knowledge that at least they will hear you and will know the effects that their actions will have upon you and your business.
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Posted in Small Business at 02:03 by lnxwalt
It is almost a proverb that many small business owners spend so much time working that they neglect their families. While the business should be a priority, so should the owner’s family members. Your spouse or children should never have to ask you, “Is XYZ Corp more important to you than I am?”
Take time to attend some of your children’s events. But do not let it stop there: be available for them regularly. Your spouse most likely has somewhat different tastes in entertainment than you do—indulge his or her desires occasionally. Yes, guys, I am telling you to go see “chick flicks” with your wife. Yes, women, I am telling you to go see the latest macho shoot-em-up action flick with your husband.
One way to imagine this—but I do not recommend it—is like putting time in the bank. When tax time comes, and you need to spend extra time at work, you are withdrawing from what you stored up already. Plan ahead for the busy times in your industry, spend extra time with your family before and after that season, since you will not be as available during that time.
Why do I not recommend it? Because your family members are not some unfeeling bank. They will not appreciate you thinking about time with them in such a way.
Still, be sure to set aside time for your family members. Many business owners have found themselves without their families—divorced or separated—simply because they would not do this one thing.
Finally, realize that sometimes more time at work will not solve whatever you are facing there. In that case, it is better to give your full attention and effort for ten hours and then go home and take a break from whatever is happening at work. If your business is open longer than that, hire an assistant manager to run things in your absense, giving that person the authority they need to do their job without calling your mobile phone every ten minutes.
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