I never had the pleasure of dealing with “The Yellow Pages” or “The Talking Phonebook” until this past year. Over the past year my business’s were spending about 200$/month to be listed in both of our local books. We keep track of where our current client work is coming from on a pretty regular basis. In walks one of our sales reps to let us know its time to sign up for next year and get our new contract ready. We start going over the number of calls we received due to “the books” and realized that in no way does it justify the expense.
Now I guess there are two things to point out about the entire situation with our sales rep and our relationship with phonebooks. First is that, I really do not understand how a company that thrives on indexing phone numbers and advertises business’s does not bother to pick up a phone and schedule a meeting to talk about next years options. Instead she shows up a couple times a week randomly with no notice trying to meet with us. She stopped by initially when my partner was out of the office with work for the week, once while we were headed out the door, and once when we were in a meeting with a client. All of this could have been avoided by using the product she was trying to get us to believe in. But alas she doesn’t even use “the books” anymore. Less and less people are using them. Which leads me to point number two. Over the past year we ended up with 2 clients which were referred to us via phonebook. The total that we billed the clients together was around 150$. So we start looking at the numbers and its pretty easy to see that we don’t need to sign up again. But wait, then start the phone calls saying its the last day we can sign up and make it into the new “books”. For a week we have gotten these phone calls, I keep waiting for the lady to walk through the door while we are live streaming so I can let her know why its important to schedule appointments so as not to make situations uncomfortable, and that its not worth our money to invest in something that no one uses.
Maybe people still use phonebooks, but not to call us, and im not sure thats bad thing.
My business partner and friend is a complete asshole. This week we had two days of yelling, periods of not talking, walking out in the middle of conversations/arguments, hanging up on each other, and all the other fun stuff that goes with being mad. The best part about my partner being a complete asshole is that at the end of the day it helps us. We both realize when its all said and done we are after the same thing, and we are passionate about what we are trying to accomplish.
What I have noticed is that when people are passionate about things, they work harder for them, and harder to defend them. They become an extension of that person. And since we are all different arguments occur. I’m proud to have a partner who works with me to come up with the best solutions. But more times than not I’m proud to have a partner who doesn’t always sing my praises, and continues to point out my flaws. It helps keep me humble, and results in better results. We continually challenge each other to improve all the time, and that kind of thing you can’t buy or replace. Do you have someone to hold you in check, your own partner who you could call an asshole, and have that taken as a complement? I am proud to say that my partner is an asshole, and I am too.
The Read More link……that one link that i constantly see on thousands of blogs across the web has caused me to switch from viewing someone’s blog to subscribing to rss feeds. I’m not sure the reasoning for even having the link quite frankly. The purpose of having a blog is to get information to people. When you have a blog designed like that, it puts too many steps between me and content. It’s like Mitch Hedberg says about Pepperidge Farm Bread
“You know that Pepperidge Farm bread, that stuff is fancy. That stuff is wrapped twice. You open it, and then it still ain’t open. That’s why I don’t buy it, I don’t need another step between me and toast.”
It’s that concept that I think people as a whole need to realize. We don’t need to have a 47 step process for everything, more times than not its a turn off.
Video from last weekends studio session while we were streaming live.
Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
On thursday, myself and the other dude from Branch Records, Joshua Street, will be streaming live on Ustream. We are going to talk about some cool Branch Records Stuff, and answer questions live about anything you guys wanna talk about. We are going to do it around 3pm eastern time or 2 o clock for us. I will twitter/blog/myspace/facebook message the links out right before we go live so be sure to check back and come talk with us!
The reason I hate living in Panama City, FL can be summed up with one photo. The picture above is a picture of the 2nd tallest building in PC. Coincidentally the same company owns the tallest building. This building is located at the busiest intersection in the entire city. How can no one notice something so incredibly blatant. The side of your building says POOP for goodness sake!
So this morning I am having an issue with where to put my allegiance. Most of you who know me realize that I have very strong opinions, and that I generally inform myself on the topic before I form these opinions. All over ESPN this morning they have been touting that they have found the key to predicting the election. I think they were saying there have been 5 instances where the Washington Redskins have played when the incumbent president is not running for reelection. And in those 5 meet-ups if the Redskins Win the current party wins the election. Bringing us to case and point. I am a die-hard, brain washed from birth, Pittsburgh Steelers Fan. Anyone that has ever spent a Sunday with me knows that this is a huge priority, and that I have the terrible towels, jersey’s, blankets, and tons of other gear to make me the ridiculous raving fan that I am. So with that said, I am not a fan of Barack Obama. The man seems likeable enough, but his policies just don’t match up with what I believe the best action for our country as a whole is. Enter the allegiance issue. According to history, if the Steelers lose, McCain wins. So what do I do, root against my beloved Steelers, or root for them and maybe have a country in the hands of someone I don’t agree with for the next 4-8 years? I seriously spent a good amount of time considering what I was going to do, and finally came down to the conclusion. Im routing for my Steelers. I don’t think one has anything to do with the other. I have always loved them and I am not going to stop for any stupid election. Go Pittsburgh!
News stations are absolutely pathetic. I was recently flipping through the channels, trying to find someone not talking about the upcoming elections. I came across one of the major networks, I think ABC, and they were discussing the programming after the election is over. The reporters looked at each other and said “what are we going to report when the election is over?” the other one then said “well we won’t have much to talk about at all”. After this exchange they were coming up with things for American’s addicted to election updates to fill their time with following the election. They suggested learning guitar, or Italian. I was really suprised. Obviously I was thrilled to hear that they are telling people to stop watching tv and learn some new skill. The pathetic part to all of this, is that news stations have focused so greatly on 4 people that they feel like after the story is over they won’t have anything to talk about. As if there is nothing of any importance going on in the entire world. It just shows a lot of ignorance to me and it drives me nuts. How about any news on the particle accelerator that broke, and should be up and operational soon. I’m sure people are doing some cool stuff, I just feel bad for the people that have done cool things anytime over the last year.
Today I puppysat for my mother after her dog was groomed. Molly is pretty dope.
Also check out Branch Records for details on No Shave Novembeard.
