Business
I know some people despise Qwest/CenturyLink customer service. But personally I’ve found them to be pretty good. Latest case in point: changing up my phone service. As I mentioned before we’ve been getting a lot of harassing phone calls from a local charity (or at least their telemarketer fundraiser), and we got sick of it. [...]
There are two sides to every story, and usually neither side represents the truth. But there are some components to the Hostess vs. Unions story that, if true, hardly supports the “it’s all the unions’ fault” narrative I’ve been hearing. Here’s one view of the other side (Knoxville News). One key section: During the first [...]
There’s an old Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson with a large room, nearly empty except for a checkout stand and two shelves of products on the wall about 30 feet up, captioned simply “Inconvenience stores”. I’ve yet to encounter a store like that, but the other day I found a local store that fits the [...]
I have an accountant that I have really come to trust. Mind you, I never thought I’d be the type of person who would have an accountant. But between starting a business and moving to another state, I’ve learned that it can be a good thing to have one. From the start he’s made it [...]
I came home from vacation last week to find President Obama had said something odd. He’d forgotten to add the word “alone” to his statement. I’m pretty sure that’s what he meant to say. But there is still something disturbing underlying his statement even if you give him the benefit of the doubt: “There are [...]
Protecting one’s intellectual property and trademark is no laughing matter, but evidently it doesn’t mean you have to get nasty about it. Thanks to Mashable, I recently found a case that was downright neighborly. Author Patrick Wensink recently published a book with a cover closely resembling the familiar Jack Daniel’s label. Did the company go [...]
Last Friday I took the day off work to watch the kids while my wife took a bunch of cub scouts (we’re Bear Den leaders now) to day camp. Since I knew I’d be home, I arranged a few things for Friday, as well. We agreed to let a company come add insulation to our [...]
Continue reading about Exceeding expectations not always good
The Harry Potter series will soon be available as e-books. That in itself is good news for many people, but according to this article the real excitement may be in how Rowling is releasing them. Along with the more standard formats, her e-book store at her new Pottermore site will offer DRM-free copies with only [...]
Continue reading about J.K. Rowling and the bold business model
I listened to a podcast recently by a group of published authors discussing the advent of e-publishing. One of the key points they brought up is the concept of The Gatekeeper. In their industry its the publishing houses and editors, who essentially get to decide what books are worth reading. Gatekeepers are frustrating for people [...]
I just finished reading this article on Forbes.com about Kathy Ireland’s business empire. It’s interesting stuff. The bottom line is that she combined her name recognition with a talent for design and created a brand that has nothing to do with modeling and everything to do with middle-American motherhood. She plays to her strengths, preferring [...]