resume - Page 4

Undertoad · 03-06-2012, 03:30 PM

Oh I did a top-notch folded 8.5x11 print piece.

jimhelm · 03-06-2012, 03:58 PM

send me a pack of them if you've any left

Perry Winkle · 03-06-2012, 04:32 PM

Two things. A joke and a serious thing.

You could always go to California and become a Brogrammer.

But really, it sounds like you need some help marketing yourself and your business. Most of us computer folk do. You're probably not particularly interested in Ruby, but the Ruby Freelancers podcast has a lot of good resources. Books and tips and such.

(BTW, I believe that specialization is the key to making more money and more security. Been that way since at least the dawn of civilization.)

One thing that stands out to me is that you charged so little in your small business website gig. For that little money it needs to be automated/self-serve. If your competition charged twice what you did, you could probably charge 3-5x and sell people on the quality.

Aliantha · 03-06-2012, 05:08 PM

Yeah, if the business model isn't working, change it. There's lots of good ideas here.

kerosene · 03-06-2012, 07:49 PM

I have more to post, but think of it this way...if you get 5 or 6 people in their local communities selling at least 1 or 2 of these a week, you would meet your goal and sustain yourself pretty well, considering you are working for yourself. Something to think about.

I'll post more later.

Clodfobble · 03-07-2012, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Oh I did a top-notch folded 8.5x11 print piece.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimhelm

send me a pack of them if you've any left

Can I have some too, if there are any? If not, maybe just send me a PDF and I can print a few?

Undertoad · 03-07-2012, 08:01 AM

Very large PDFs are now available at

http://tokeninternet.com/cover.pdf

http://tokeninternet.com/inside.pdf

If you have a duplex color laser printer you can print these! If you have a color laser printer that does not have duplex, you will have to turn the page over and re-insert it into the paper tray to print the other side.

If you have an color ink jet printer, throw it away and get a color laser.

Spexxvet · 03-07-2012, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Very large PDFs are now available at

http://tokeninternet.com/cover.pdf

http://tokeninternet.com/inside.pdf

If you have a duplex color laser printer you can print these! If you have a color laser printer that does not have duplex, you will have to turn the page over and re-insert it into the paper tray to print the other side.

If you have an color ink jet printer, throw it away and get a color laser.

How about a black and white laser printer?

jimhelm · 03-08-2012, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Very large PDFs are now available at

http://tokeninternet.com/cover.pdf

http://tokeninternet.com/inside.pdf

If you have a duplex color laser printer you can print these! If you have a color laser printer that does not have duplex, you will have to turn the page over and re-insert it into the paper tray to print the other side.

If you have an color ink jet printer, throw it away and get a color laser.

printed a dozen duplex, flip on long edge, in black and white on my laser printer. looks well enough. I'll give them to business owners. I'm gonna talk that guy that I built the deck for into going for a site. He has half of 3 gold buying stores, and his partner is part of 8 total.

They spend a retarded amount on print ads. like over $10k per month or something. this should be an easy pitch.

Undertoad · 03-07-2012, 07:06 PM

A B&W laser is better than inkjet anything, but not for the brochure which is designed for color.

ZenGum · 03-07-2012, 07:13 PM

Re: your prices.

There's an old story about a hardware store.

They had a box of Russian made hammers:

Quote:

Russian Hammers $5 Cheap!!

No one bought them.

So they changed the price:

Quote:

Soviet Industrial Hammers $20

They sold the lot.

Probably never happened, but you get the idea.

jimhelm · 03-08-2012, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Re: your prices.

There's an old story about a hardware store.

They had a box of Russian made hammers:

No one bought them.

So they changed the price:

They sold the lot.

Probably never happened, but you get the idea.

When we were young, Shelby worked at a fru fru salon. they had a case of hairbrushes and other accessories. One day, she doubled the prices of all of the brushes... from $25 to $49.99 or something...

they sold very quickly. part of perception of value comes from the retail price. especially if the customer is not an expert in what they are buying.

infinite monkey · 03-08-2012, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimhelm

When we were young, Shelby worked at a fru fru salon. they had a case of hairbrushes and other accessories. One day, she doubled the prices of all of the brushes... from $25 to $49.99 or something...

they sold very quickly. part of perception of value comes from the retail price. especially if the customer is not an expert in what they are buying.

I don't know if this is urban legend or not, but there's the story about a guy putting, say, an old lawnmower out on his curb, with a sign that it was free. No one took it. He put a price on it and it was stolen right away.

gvidas · 03-09-2012, 10:00 AM

I've been calling a lot of industrial supply places this week, getting quotes on steel angle, sheet metal, and refractory materials. Not your usual customer service field. I'm going to pick up the first round of the orders in a little bit, so we'll see how it all plays out. But, thus far, phone interactions only, there is an inverse correlation between the quality of their website and the quality of their phone service and prices.

This guy seems like the most straightforward place to order high-temp refractory in Metro Detroit: http://www.k-industrial.com/

This guy is either insane, or just extremely cheap for sheet metal fab (He quoted me $35 on something a steel shop in the 'burbs said would be $202, 5 working days -- I had priced the material alone to build it myself at $75): http://www.ldssheetmetal.com/

Probably the two worst websites I've seen in a while.

UT, it's not in your pamphlet as I remember it: what's your policy on $ and # of updates / year, etc, if it were a business wanting to have a regularly-added-to portfolio of work?

Undertoad · 03-07-2012, 07:14 PM

Sell on price during the bad times. Sell on features during the good times. That was my rule.

03-06-2012, 03:58 PM	#2
jimhelm a beautiful fool Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: 39.939705 Posts: 4,504	send me a pack of them if you've any left __________________ There's a Shadow just behind me. Shrouding every step I take. Making every promise empty, pointing every finger at me. _tool

03-06-2012, 05:08 PM	#4
Aliantha trying hard to be a better person Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 16,493	Yeah, if the business model isn't working, change it. There's lots of good ideas here. __________________ Kind words are the music of the world. F. W. Faber

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03-06-2012, 03:30 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Oh I did a top-notch folded 8.5x11 print piece.

03-06-2012, 04:32 PM	#3
Perry Winkle Esnohplad Semaj Ton Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: A little south of sanity Posts: 2,259	Two things. A joke and a serious thing. You could always go to California and become a Brogrammer. But really, it sounds like you need some help marketing yourself and your business. Most of us computer folk do. You're probably not particularly interested in Ruby, but the Ruby Freelancers podcast has a lot of good resources. Books and tips and such. (BTW, I believe that specialization is the key to making more money and more security. Been that way since at least the dawn of civilization.) One thing that stands out to me is that you charged so little in your small business website gig. For that little money it needs to be automated/self-serve. If your competition charged twice what you did, you could probably charge 3-5x and sell people on the quality.

03-06-2012, 07:49 PM	#5
kerosene Touring the facilities Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: The plains of Colorado Posts: 3,476	I have more to post, but think of it this way...if you get 5 or 6 people in their local communities selling at least 1 or 2 of these a week, you would meet your goal and sustain yourself pretty well, considering you are working for yourself. Something to think about. I'll post more later.

03-07-2012, 08:01 AM	#7
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Very large PDFs are now available at http://tokeninternet.com/cover.pdf http://tokeninternet.com/inside.pdf If you have a duplex color laser printer you can print these! If you have a color laser printer that does not have duplex, you will have to turn the page over and re-insert it into the paper tray to print the other side. If you have an color ink jet printer, throw it away and get a color laser.

03-07-2012, 07:06 PM	#10
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	A B&W laser is better than inkjet anything, but not for the brochure which is designed for color.

03-09-2012, 10:00 AM	#14
gvidas Hoodoo Guru Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 286	I've been calling a lot of industrial supply places this week, getting quotes on steel angle, sheet metal, and refractory materials. Not your usual customer service field. I'm going to pick up the first round of the orders in a little bit, so we'll see how it all plays out. But, thus far, phone interactions only, there is an inverse correlation between the quality of their website and the quality of their phone service and prices. This guy seems like the most straightforward place to order high-temp refractory in Metro Detroit: http://www.k-industrial.com/ This guy is either insane, or just extremely cheap for sheet metal fab (He quoted me $35 on something a steel shop in the 'burbs said would be $202, 5 working days -- I had priced the material alone to build it myself at $75): http://www.ldssheetmetal.com/ Probably the two worst websites I've seen in a while. UT, it's not in your pamphlet as I remember it: what's your policy on $ and # of updates / year, etc, if it were a business wanting to have a regularly-added-to portfolio of work?

03-07-2012, 07:14 PM	#15
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Sell on price during the bad times. Sell on features during the good times. That was my rule.

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