Working at Home on the Internet

e-mail Hell-Not Being Able to Get Your Correspondence

New Here? You may want to Subscribe to my RSS feed for daily updates. Or if you prefer, Subscribe by Email What is RSS? Thanks for visiting!

 Every morning, I start my day by grabbing a cup of coffee, boot up the computer, download and read my e-mail.

Not today.

Grab the coffee, boot up, download e-mail? Got lots of accounts, so it usually takes a couple of sips of java before everything is there. I use Windows Live Mail as my mail client of choice (actually there was no choice using Vista) because it is similar to Outlook Express.

After a little while, and a half a cup of coffee, my Business Account locks up. It says it is receiving mail, but just sits there. It times out. So, I just continue going through my daily routine and figure I can come back to it later. No biggie, plenty to do and the e-mail will still be there later.

After going through everything that should be done in my morning start up and 2 more cups of coffee, I figure I’ll recheck my Business e-mail. Important stuff. Payments, client correspondence, bills. Not fun always, but important.

 Still not working. Still locks up.

Since I was expecting some important information, I decided to go directly to the e-mail on my host account to make sure that it was working and was receiving mail. The stuff I needed was there but I needed to store it on my computer for filing purposes. So, I tried Live Mail again.

Nothing… Time to call Bluehost and ask if they are blocking the account or my IP for some reason. This can happen when someone hacks your e-mail. Been there done that, didn’t want to go through that again.

Nope, everything is fine on their end, we double check my settings (which I did myself twice already) and everything was fine. They told me it had to be ME or something was corrupted in my mail client. After a bit of testiness on both sides of the phone, he suggested I delete my e-mail address and start fresh. Sure, I have 20 some folders with client and business info, NOT gonna happen. More testiness, told him I’d figure it out and decide later if I would stay with Bluehost.

Well, I am going to stay with Bluehost, it seems it wasn’t their fault NOR mine after all.

I logged back into my mail account on the host and went through the mail that was there. I deleted some of the files that were still there as read mail, but left all the unread so I could download them to my computer. Still nothing, same problem.

Went back in again to the host mail account and looked at all the files that were there. No real spam, but there was an advertisement e-mail from a company I have done business with before but had no interest in the product they were selling at this point. So I deleted their e-mail solicitation.

THAT was the culprit all along. It seems that the script they were using for their ad caused a timeout on my system because it activated as soon as I started the download.

Moral?

1) Sometimes an e-mail you get can cause major problems, even if it is from someone you trust.

2) Don’t be quick to blame someone else or yourself, the real problem could be caused from an outside source.

Do you have a way to make sure you get Your Important Information? Have you run into any similar situation yourself?

June 11th, 2008 at 02:25pm | Posted by Joe | Attitude, Management | reader remarks | Print This Post

Consultants on Retainer?

 Do you ever wonder what to charge a customer for a bunch of small jobs that don’t really fit into a billing category? Answer questions small and large that help them through rough situations continually but you would feel guilty if you sent them a bill for each and every time you solve a problem.

I have thought about it long and hard.

I think I may have just come up with an answer that could work to the advantage of both the customer and your business in just such a senerio.

Go on Retainer

Why not, Lawyers do it with Big Corporations and Small Businesses all over the world. If there is a legal question that doesn’t involve any investigation and can be answered in a single sitting and is answered to the clients satisfaction, it’s covered by the retainer. If it is a lot more involved and involves casework or some court appearances then the client is charged depending on the type of case and how much work has to be done.

Reasons

I get calls from clients and customers every day with some small problem, but I still have to take the time to answer. Sometimes it takes a little investigation to find the answer to their questions, but it always takes time. And, as they say, Time is Money.

I’m not talking about the occasional question, but clients that need and want answers right away on a moments notice. Or the one’s who think that it is only one question, although it might take an hour or more to get the answer and they want it NOW.

Solution

Going on retainer for some clients seems like a viable alternative to either billing them for each small job or not billing them at all. If the customer/client wants you to be there front and center to help them with their problems right then and there and have priority statis, they should be willing to pay for it.

What do you think?

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

You can always answer in comments if you want to expand on your answer.

For those using RSS just click the Post Title to take the Poll.

April 22nd, 2008 at 04:29pm | Posted by Joe | Attitude, Basics, Management | 2 reader remarks | Print This Post

Poll Results Positive, Going for the Job Board

Ok, the results (although really disappointing) of the Should I Start a WAHI Job Board poll are in. Only 3 people voted, 2 Yes and 1 No Opinion. There were No No’s.

The reason I took the poll at all was to get YOUR opinion as to the need to offer some Work at Home opportunities to people who really want/need to Work at Home but have no real idea of where to find anything.

 So, with the underwhelming poll results and my own gut feeling, I decided to create the Working at Home Job Board. As I mentioned in the poll post, there seems to be a growing search surge of people looking for ways to make a living Working at Home. Now, the only (and probably the hardest) thing left is to find Companies, Individuals, Small Businesses and Employers who have a need for Home Based Employees.

There will be a small fee to the Company for a one month placement. No charge to the prospective employee.

Any ideas on how to find interested Employers would be most welcome.

April 2nd, 2008 at 11:42am | Posted by Joe | Management, Promotion, Resources, Work at Home | reader remarks | Print This Post