Random Business Thoughts

In a routine business call to Manish and Manasi this past Saturday, Manish informed me that he wanted to discuss something that couldn’t be handled by phone.  I immediately began to worry.  Was Manasi expecting a baby?  Did they need to return to India?  Had Manish been offered a job …

I had been telling Stacy that for many people, the most difficult part of starting a business is actually telling others that you are! I had read that once you lay it out there, people will wait for you to fail. I don’t know if I agree with the sentiment,…

We just closed on a house two weeks ago, and our lush landscaping is a haven for spiders and other non-human inhabitants. My daughter twice was stung by wasps, and my oldest daughter’s friend–in an attempt to prevent detection as we walked outside in the midst of his rolling our…

When do you invoice clients for changes and additions to their project? In one of my posts, I discussed our reputation for handholding and the challenges we have faced through the expectation that we would continue to work tirelessly on a client’s behalf–often at no charge well after development ended.…

Manish has probably never kicked a soccer ball, yet I play every Sunday. Dan grew up along the Texas border and has experienced a totally different life than Stacy did in an affluent suburb of Chicago. Manish and Manasi speak to eachother in their native Indian language that the rest…

We do a lot of hand holding with our clients whether they are tech savvy or Internet neophytes. Thus, a lot of our time is spent explaining everything from email setup to how business processes can be performed on the web. When I started this business as a one-person shop,…

On my way home tonight, I discussed with Stacy TDS’ state of affairs. In business for six years, I feel like we have made great strides–we have built a great product, ThunderTix, we have created a great plugin for e-commerce, and we have automated much of our work. Despite all…