Dootch

I remember in uni, we had a topic about “expectations”. Firstly, through marketing communications, the marketer sets the expectation for the product or service. If you deliver on the expectations, the customer is satisfied. If you under deliver on expectations, the customer is dissatisfied. If you over deliver on expectations, the customer is pleased, happy, [...]

I was speaking to a friend yesterday about making a website for a motel. I was saying that of all mum/pop type businesses, motels have got the most to gain from a good website and search engine marketing, but that a lot of them have shitty websites that are not SEO’d. While I would say [...]

So today, the iPad was released in Australia. I want one, so I went to an electronics store and asked for one. The shop assistant looked at me like I was weird. They didn’t have them in, and didn’t know when they were getting them in. So I went to another electronics store. This one, [...]

One of the cool things about doing both client work and having side businesses is being able to use the side businesses as a testing ground and data source. Client work still makes up the majority of my income, but I’ve learnt some cool shit from having side businesses. Here’s an example of that. I [...]

Running a business, a community, or anything, takes a lot of dealing with other people. Advertisers, customers, staff, contracters etc. A key to being successful is getting the most out of all your relationships. I was conversing with Brent Hodgson from Market Samurai about ways of getting people on board to become affiliates and/or promote [...]

I’ve just gotten back from a short break in Metung, and had a bunch of calls to follow up. One was a new lead that called on Monday. I called back, stated who I was and where I was from, and mentioned that I was returning a call. The guy said back to me “Ah [...]

As a web designer, I’m always advising my clients to maintain a library of photos. Whenever they complete a new job, get some photos of it. Whenever they bring out a new job, get some photos of it. I tell them to constantly keep their library up to date, because it makes it so much [...]

For tiny businesses, benchmarking is bogus. Most freelancers are tiny businesses. It doesn’t matter what freelancer A is charging. It doesn’t matter what net profit ratio freelancer B is making. You shouldn’t set targets based on what other people are doing. You should set targets based on what you can do and what you want [...]

As I mentioned in my post about benchmarking, freelancers that do the same work as us are rarely competitors. In fact, the only time they are competitors is when they’re bidding on the same job. I’ve found that only rarely happens, especially if you’re like me and avoid wasting time quoting for quote collectors. Anyways, [...]

Common knowledge is that freelancers have to specialize to thrive. The idea behind it is that you build up your skills in one area, so that those skills become more valuable. There’s a smaller area of thought that is “Generalize and thrive“. Basically, the idea is that you have broad appeal, and your clients and [...]