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Posts Tagged ‘Usable Web Solutions’
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Even though we’re only at the midway point of this week, I think that I’ve had a very productive past couple of days – so far… Today, I was forced to work from home (like I really had to have my arm twisted!) because I had the Glass Doctor people come to my home and replace the windshield on my car. In terms of productivity, not only was the windshield replaced, but before the Glass Doctor guy came over I had a chance to clean out the glove compartment, trunk, and back seat of my car. This clean out is a part of the de-cluttering process that I’m trying to go through right now.
For example, aside from throwing out a lot of garbage that was accumulating in the car, I was able to take some t-shirts that I had been piling up in the trunk. The t-shirts were piling up there because I honestly had no where else to put them! Anyway, as I write this post the t-shirts are all out of the dryer after having been washed earlier today. Some of them are on the “charity” pile and some other ones are on the “keep these” pile. By the way, the “charity” pile of clothes is getting bigger and bigger!
Professionally, I’ve advanced nearly every deal that I’m working on which is definitely a function of the fact that this week is spring break for my undergraduate students and thus they aren’t around for me to have to teach.
I’ve been moving a bunch of my online projects forward, which I’m always happy about. As a part of this process, I’ve been able to detach some folks from Usable Web Solutions, LLC (i.e. let them know that they need to find a new “web guy”) and I’ve been able to send payment letters to other clients.
On a more personal level, I ran out of one of my prescriptions the other day and I managed to get it refilled (even though there were no more refills left) through the services offered by my pharmacy. This was a much easier process than I imagined it would be and I’m extremely happy that this worked out so easily. You know how much of a pain in the ass it can be to work around the pharmacy and the doctor’s office beating each other up… No thank you.
Oh, and after my car had the windshield replaced earlier today, I took it over to the inspection station and it passed inspection. So… I won’t be going back there for at least two more years, thankfully!
I also spent some time today doing some short-term (two month) financial planning to address some upcoming expenses that I have to deal with. Among these expenses are paying for the windshield replacement, paying for a flight to Nashville in April, and paying for my 2010 membership to the local CSA farm. By my calculations, I’ll be able to continue my $1,000+ biweekly payments on my one student loan and pay for all of these other items in full by April 15th.
And speaking of April 15th, I spent a few minutes today finalizing my taxes so I think that they’re ready to finally send into the IRS. I should be getting a decent return back this year, although still below what H&R Block suggests are the averages for people of my age and income level (not fair!).
As you can see, I’ve been pretty busy. However, before this coming Monday hits, I have to complete a grant application for a client that I’m working with on the side; begin, write, edit, and finalize a 10 page paper and presentation package for the class that I’m taking; prepare lesson plans for my class for the coming week; go to Pennsylvania for a wake this weekend; and review some material for the foundation where I serve as a Trustee.
All in a weekend’s work!
The biggest pain in the ass in the next few days will be going to the doctor this Friday. The doctor is going to be upset with me because I was supposed to lose ten pounds since the last time I saw him (early November 2009) and, instead, I think that I’ll either break even or maybe gain 3 – 5 pounds. Not good. However, I don’t have too much time to worry about that until after next Monday – which is good since that’s probably when my blood test results will be coming in.
Lots to do in the next few days. Don’t be surprised if I miss a day here and there updating the blog. Thanks!
Posted in Random Entries | No Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Are you SO excited?! No? Well, you should be! Yesterday marked the four year anniversary of Usable Web Solutions, LLC’s formation in the great state of New Jersey. On January 17, 2006 – after months of planning and, frankly, plotting – I filed for incorporation for Usable Web Solutions, LLC. For those of you that don’t know, Usable Web Solutions, LLC is the small business that I own. We specialize in providing solutions to small businesses, start-up organizations, and nonprofit groups. Starting this company was my way of taking my hobby and turning it into a revenue generating venture.
And now, after four years of owning a small website company in New Jersey, I’ve decided to share just a few pearls of wisdom that I’ve picked up from the last few years. For those of you who are looking to start your own businesses, maybe this information may come in helpful.
- The Competition Will Lie.Since the economy went south in the last year and a half I’ve learned that the competition – even for a small website company like mine – will do whatever it takes to steal away your business. In my line of work this translates to: No web designer will ever give any credit to any other web designer – ever! And it’s the truth!
I’ve found that no matter how great, how near-perfect, or how absolutely outstanding a website that you create for a client, some huckster will try to convince that client that you’ve done a shitty job and that they could do a much better job. I’ve been diligent in fighting back against the hucksters which relatively few of my clients have come into contact with (thank God it’s relatively few of them). What always gets me over in the end is the fact that I’m completely truthful and up front with my clients.
When a huckster says that they can get my client to be the top result in Google searches, I explain to them how they do this by using AdWords and buying the advertisements above certain search results. And then I show my clients the real price to buy these types of ads (dirt cheap) and they compare those prices to what the hucksters try to sell them and they are floored by the difference every single time. These hucksters come in trying to sell advertising packages worth thousands of dollars when, in reality, the service that they “provide” can cost my client nothing more than a few minutes of time and less than $100 each month. Remarkable.
- The State Takes Their Pound of Flesh. Each year I have to pay the State of New Jersey $50 so I can be in “good standing.” I’m not sure why I have to make this payment, but I have to make it every year. None of my company’s contact information ever changes and I have no tax obligations to the state, yet I have to make this payment every year. I don’t have the time to attempt to figure out the State of New Jersey, but I invite you to have a wonderful time trying to understand why I have to make this payment…
- Most Clients Don’t “Get” My Company’s Services. Believe it or not, I actually turn away quite a bit of new business. My reasons for turning away new business usually have to do with my personal and professional time constraints, but sometimes it has to do with sensing a bad thing coming…
You see, after four years of owning and operating this company it has become very apparent to me that most people don’t understand the difference between a web design and maintenance firm and a “go to guy” for all computer-related problems. For example, I have a client that calls me once every two or three months to tell me that their e-mail doesn’t work. And, every two or three months, I remotely check their e-mail servers and, invariably, they are perfectly fine. Then I go on to tell them that they probably have (another) virus on their computer and that they should call a computer repair person if they can’t get the virus off of the system themselves. I’m a website guy, not a computer repair guy!
Other times I get clients that want me to do advanced software programming to make their companies integrate better with their websites – I have no idea how to do that stuff! Those are not the type of services that I offer.
- Typically, Friends Are the Worst Clients. I’m blessed to have a great deal of friends and professional networks to tap into if an occasion to do so ever comes up. However, I’ve learned that when friends or professional acquaintances come to me to be their “web guy,” it usually will end in a friendly “parting of ways” after about a year. The problem, as I suggest in the point above, is that my friends and professional associations tend to think that I am going to be more than just a web designer for them because we have that outside relationship.
Unfortunately, just because I know someone outside of my website company doesn’t mean that I’ve acquired new skills that I will use to their benefit! I offer a price break to those friends and professional associates that choose to engage my web company’s services, but I simply cannot offer services that I don’t know how to do – no matter what my relationship is with the client.
- Some People Are Just Deadbeats. Sometimes you have a deadbeat client and you have to face that fact. You may not want to admit that your buddy or a friend of a friend is a deadbeat, but if they don’t pay their bills on time and they make your life a living hell just to have them meet their contractual obligations then guess what – they’re a deadbeat. I have two or three deadbeat clients that I’m looking to spin off in the coming year. I have to get rid of them – they’re just more trouble than they’re worth and they take time away from my paying clients and new clients that will likely be better to work with than they are…
The final thing that I’ve learned over the last four years is that as long as I keep a day job (which I intend to always keep!), I can’t run Usable Web Solutions, LLC by myself. Thankfully, I have two paid consultants that I can farm different types of work out to when the need arises. I also have two or three other consultants that I can engage on a case-by-case basis.
Here’s to four more great years of Usable Web Solutions, LLC!
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Like many people out there reading the interwebs, today is my first day back in the office since Tuesday, December 22, 2009. That’s 12 days of not being in the office and, instead, treating myself to a staycation. Here’s a brief look at what I accomplished during my Christmas staycation.
Usable Web Solutions, LLC. In terms of what I accomplished over the break, I would have to say that the most progress was made on updating and upgrading certain aspects of my website company. Of these upgrades the most important include revising portions of my standard client contract for services and integrating a few important dates into my local copy of Outlook’s calendar system. Now I’ll be warned a few weeks ahead of time of contracts that are ready to expire and I’ll be able to offer my clients a new contract using the upgraded copy that I completed over the break.
I was also able to complete at least one new website over the staycation, but I cannot announce that website yet since it is not yet “live” on the servers. Maybe more important than completing that website, though, was the time that I spent pouring over the records of my website company to single out those deadbeat clients and marking those business relationships for termination in 2010. As a small business owner, I understand that I am going to run into some people who are just not good at creating lasting business relationships. I get it – it’s part of the game. However, I purposely keep my small business small because I have a day job as well as two other jobs (teaching) and I don’t need the aggravation of deadbeat customers. By the end of 2010, I should be rid of these deadbeat customers once and for all (in fact, I’ve already severed my relationship with one of those companies earmarked for removal).
Teaching/Learning. Since I am teaching two courses in the spring, there are a number of materials that I needed to prepare to be ready for the new semester. These two courses are new to me and one of them is new to the college where I am teaching it. I teach at two colleges – one is an all-online college and the other is a bricks and mortar institution. I accomplished the feat (and it was a feat, believe me) of learning the online teaching system for the all-online college. Through learning this system, I prepared myself for teaching the all-online class which actually begins today.
However, for the new course that I designed and created, I accomplished very little. That’s okay, though, since I have another three weeks before the course even begins. In the next three weeks, I’ll get all of the necessary course material prepare for this class so I have no worries about being ready to go in the spring semester.
And finally, I wanted to pick up the textbooks necessary for the course that I am taking at the local college, but the syllabus has not been released yet and thus I didn’t know what to buy! Nothing I can do about that one, I guess!
Relaxation. The most important thing that one needs to accomplish during a staycation is reaching a level of relaxation that makes the break worth the paid time off. I think that I accomplished that level of relaxation, though I have to admit that I’m not sure. Last year during this Christmas holidays I took off the same amount of time from the office as I did this year. Yet last year I distinctly remember feeling relaxed and completely refreshed by Thursday/Friday of the staycation. This year, I don’t know if I achieved that feeling of relaxation, though I do know that by Thursday/Friday of the break I was getting slightly stir crazy from being in my apartment so much!
All in all, I’m glad to be back in the office today just so I have something different to do with my time. However, I wouldn’t mind taking a few more days off so I can kick back and relax without having to worry about preparing for teaching two classes or dealing with deadbeat website clients. Maybe I’ll take some time to do that this summer…
Posted in Random Entries | No Comments »
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
At JerseySmarts.com, I try to avoid adding conventionally-themed content to the blog in matters that most people deal with in their daily lives. With that in mind, I really don’t want to sound like every other blogger out there who is jumping on the bandwagon of not making New Year’s resolutions. In years past, some of you may remember that I posted New Year’s resolutions on this blog and the truth is that I met many of those goals. However, this year I want to do something different and instead of making a series of resolutions, I thought that I would just briefly comment on some broad goals that I have for myself in 2010. Much of the information included below is a whittled down version of more in-depth goals that I am mentally keeping for myself. You’ll notice that my goals fit into three broad categories: health, finances, and professional achievement. Overarching those three categories is a larger goal – the idea of fitness (discussed at the end of this entry).
Health. The biggest health issue that I have to tackle in 2010 is getting firm control over my Type 2 Diabetes. In reality, I think that the cocktail of oral medications that I’ve been taking since my August 2009 diagnosis has the situation under control, but I want to begin reducing the amount of medications that I’m taking sooner rather than later. To do that, I really only have one choice – lose a bunch of weight.
In 2010, I have a broad goal to lose some weight. I’m not talking about a gigantic weight loss where I’m losing over 100 pounds in a few months – I’ve done that before when I was a graduate student and it’s not feasible to accomplish that type of goal when I have a great deal of real world responsibilities to attend to these days. However, I’d like to lose between 5 and 7 pounds per month for the next year. I’m starting out 2010 weighing in at 340 pounds, so if I was to lose an average of 6 pounds each month, I could start 2011 weighing in at 268 pounds. Even if I was able to lose just 60 pounds in the next year, I’d be pleased. All I know is that with the onset of Type 2 Diabetes, the need to lose weight becomes very real.
Finances. Some of you might sense the gravity of my health in the words that I used above. Well, to me, it is equally important that I payoff a tremendous amount of my student loan debt in 2010. In total, I’m starting 2010 with $96,680 in student loan debt. That $96 thousand breaks down as $55,129 owed to the United States Department of Education and $41,551 owed to the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA). Yes, I know that owing $96 thousand is disgusting for a guy in his late 20’s, but if you can believe it I actually started repaying my student loans in June 2006 when the total amount that I owed was $120,720. Pretty gross, right?
Some people get busy starting their lives after they graduate college or graduate school. Not me. I graduated from graduate school and started getting busy repaying my student loans. And I’ve actually been pretty successful. I’ve repaid $24,040 in principal since I began repaying these student loans. I don’t have an exact breakout of how much interest I’ve paid since June 2006, but I intend to get that number once I finally pay these damn things off.
But I digress…
In November 2009, I created a financial plan that allows me to make large payments towards the NJHESAA student loan. If I can stick to this plan, I’ll end 2010 owing about $19,000 on the NJHESAA loan. That figure doesn’t account for interest to be paid in the coming year, but it also doesn’t account for any payments over and above the ones I have laid out in my plan. Oh, and to get a head start on the 2010 goals, I began my plan for repaying this loan in early December 2009 and even devoted a large portion of my December 31, 2009 paycheck towards maintaining the head start that I have on my 2010 goal.
The NJHESAA loan is in my crosshairs…
Professional Achievement. After paying so much to get my current Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees (see above), I decided to put my plans to get a Doctorate on hold until a later time. However, I want to mentally stay in “game shape” so that when I decide to get a Doctorate I am prepared for the rigors of doctoral study from the first class through the final thesis defense. In order to keep myself thinking as an advanced degree student might think, I enrolled in a Graduate Certificate program at the local college where I teach. Why enroll in this college? That’s easy – I get to take the courses for free! Again, see above if you want to know why this might be appealing to me…
I also wrote out an entire list of goals for 2010 for my small website company – Usable Web Solutions, LLC. And as far as being an adjunct professor in the coming year, I hope to continually improve upon the classes that I teach via integrating relevant student feedback into the design of these courses and continuing to refine my course materials (PowerPoint presentations, handouts, and YouTube videos) to better teach my students.
The Overarching Goal: The Idea of Fitness
I specifically chose to write “the idea of fitness” because I want to break everyone’s idea that being “fit” only applies to one’s health. I think that the goals listed above make it very clear that I am striving towards achieving a greater level of efficiency and achievement in these three areas of my life. By doing so, I will have to train myself in certain skills and unlearn some existing habits. The end result of these efforts will be that I am in a better position come 2011 than I am at the beginning of 2010; essentially, I will be more physically, economically, and professional “fit.” And that’s why I chose “the idea of fitness” as the overarching goal for 2010 – because if I can make great strides towards achieving and hopefully achieve the three broader goals that I have listed above, then I’ll be a more “fit” person for the efforts.
We’ll be sure to check back in 2011 to see how far along I’ve come on meeting these goals! I’ve got a good feeling about 2010…
Posted in Winter & Christmas Time | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Can you believe it was one year ago today that the merger was complete? Pretty amazing, huh? I mean, just to think that there used to be such duplication seems absolutely mind-boggling! Oh wait – you’re not sure what I’m talking about? Let me refresh your memory…
 Joe's Journal - As it used to exist If you read that link, you now know that I merged my old blog – Joe’s Journal – with the one that you’re reading – JerseySmarts.com. One year ago today, that merger was complete. I think the results have been great, but you could probably be the judge of that better than I can…
One of my favorite parts of the old Joe’s Journal was that crazy header that I put together by blending all of the different things that crossed my mind at the moment. You might be able to tell from that screenshot, but there are a whole bunch of different things on there including the Monmouth University hawk, Stewie from an early episode of Family Guy, the Arrested Development television show’s logo, a Cross, the American flag, my fraternity’s flag, a Lord of the Rings logo, a Smallville logo, a silhouette of New Jersey, a Rutgers University logo, and a bunch of other stuff. Plus, the main color of the site was yellow.
In general, I never hate on any of my old sites and Joe’s Journal is no different. I really enjoyed that blog since it was my personal blog where I let off steam and commented on a variety of issues (the entries have all been merged into this site, so go back a few years and look at some of the older posts – lots of bitching in there!). However, as I began to enterprise my web design skills and I began creating newer websites with stronger capabilities and better marketing opportunities, I realized that I had to begin eliminating duplication in those areas of my life where it was unsustainable and, really, unnecessary.
On that point, a few years ago I opened up JerseySmarts.com as a place where I could capture some of the writing skills of my friends from college and other people that I’ve met along the way. It never really panned out the way I wanted it to, but that’s okay. Since JerseySmarts.com became a viable source of revenue, I wound up keeping the domain and just uploading my Joe’s Journal entries onto both blogs. It was easy, but pretty laborious in the grand scheme of things. I never wanted to engage in larger marketing campaigns or new ways to present content because I didn’t want to have to duplicate everything. Plus, I felt like the impact of my entries was being thinned since they were available in two locations.
The logical answer was to merge the two blogs and condense my efforts to create a single website with greater impact. I think that I’ve been pretty successful in that effort considering that JerseySmarts.com is both profitable and has a wide readership. Since the merger, I’ve admittedly held back on publicizing the blog to the extent that I originally intended and part of that was because I wanted to ensure that I had the commitment to keep the thing updated. With that, I’m glad to announce that today marks one full year of this blog being updated every single day. In 365 days JerseySmarts.com has had more than 365 entries. I think that’s a pretty significant accomplishment for a one-man show. One of the ways that I accomplished this was taking advantage of the ability to “schedule” a post in WordPress. For example, I wrote all of the entries for November 1st through November 16th (that’s today) on Halloween. Hey, I had the free time while sitting around waiting for trick or treaters, so I wanted to use it productively! I can’t guarantee that I’ll be updating the blog on a daily basis for the coming year, so I might miss a day here and a day there, but I made it work in the last year so I might be able to keep the momentum going in the coming year!
If I had my way, I’d get more people to sign-up for the monthly newsletter in the next year and I’d utilize that newsletter for more than just a recap of previous entries. I think that goal is attainable, but not when the newsletter stands at 26 subscribers. Last month I started a new Google Group which replaced the old newsletter system that I’ve been using for the last year. Let’s hope that it has some staying power, huh?
Anyway, we’re one year into this merger and I think it’s going great. Let me know what you think!
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology | 4 Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
 The current logo  Could this be the new logo?
One of the consultants that does some work for my website company – Usable Web Solutions, LLC – took it upon himself to create a sleek, new logo for the company. This consultant, my buddy Santiago, is an excellent graphic and web designer and has been helping to alleviate some of the pressure that I’ve been facing between running the website company, finding success in my day job, and doing all of the additional things that I do in a week including teaching and taking a course at the local university.
While he was working on another website for me, Santiago decided to put together a very sleek looking new logo for Usable Web Solutions, LLC. Admittedly, I’ve been planning on overhauling the company’s website over the Christmas holiday so a new logo isn’t entirely out of the question at this point in time. Also, given that my time frame to put together a new website for the company isn’t for another two months, there is a lot of time for your comments and considerations to be taken in and applied to the logo design.
So what do you think? Does the classic Usable Web Solutions, LLC logo make the cut and stay to the next round of the company’s history? Or does the new, sleek design get to be the face of the company in the near future? Or hey, what about a completely different design? Do you have any ideas? We’re listening…
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology | 2 Comments »
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