Recipe of a Great Client
Step 1) Start with two cups of a realistic budget
Step 2) A Dash of Trust
Step 3) Mix in a handful of Market Research
Step 3) Two spoons of Decision Making
Step 4) Beta test until golden brown
Step 5) Sprinkle a little enthusiasm on the top
Step 6) Serve Piping Hot!

We appreciate and love all of our clients. Each client offers a new project with a new problem to solve. The clients that we really enjoy are the ones that give us a direction and let us do our job. They listen to us and know when to make a decision and go with our ideas or let us know when we have missed the mark (it never happens). :)

Jan Blanchard of Touristr.com has been one of our best clients for many reasons. Having worked with Jan for over a year, he trusts our ideas but Jan still makes the decisions. He gives us time and space to think, implements, evaluates, collects feedback from users and gives us their input. He's great and the success he has achieved with Touristr.com shows it.

So when you find yourself in the position of client, whether your building a house or developing a website, trust your consultant, do your research and make the decision with confidence when the time comes.

I recently found TryMango.com, its a site that helps its users learn different languages. Prepare to be impressed - I am fluent in English, "American", "American-Redneck" and a little "Ebonics". No really I took 4 years of Latin in high school and it’s been virtually useless.

Since finding TryMango, I have had the urge to learn some Spanish, so I signed up. The UI is perfect, so easy and simple; you can choose different languages to learn and which lesson to start. Even signing up was simple; all I needed was an email address, no username, no password etc. The account is only to track that lesson you completed last, so why include a password or any other fluff! TryMango is still in beta but its seems to be a very solid app and its free. Its free however I would pay a couple bucks a month to use it, shhhhh but don't tell anyone that. I am on Spanish Lesson 5 and learning only the important stuff - Vino rojo o vino blanco? ...Vino rojo por favor!

I recently watched an A&E Biography on James Cash Penney, the founder of JC Penney's. Started in 1902, in Wyoming, JC Penney's never accepted credit until 1957. That year the board of directors voted whether to take credit cards. The vote was unanimous, except for Mr. Penney. Mr Penny is quoted to say that its morally wrong to accept credit cards. By accepting credit cards you would oversell the customer and push them into financial debt. -- Wow huh?

I have found some really great quotes by JC Penney
Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.
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No company can afford not to move forward. It may be at the top of the heap today but at the bottom of the heap tomorrow, if it doesn't.
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Success cannot come from standstill men. Methods change and men must change with them.
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Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless.

I have been a fan of woot.com for a while and I wanted to point out their simple concept and the unique way it helps their site. If you are familiar with woot.com its pretty obvious how their concept is less, one product per day is sold at a very reduced price. Example: today's product an HP Photosmart 3210 Scanner Printer for $99, on Amazon this product is $280 bucks! So why not sell 3 products per day, why not 5 products? Its simple, having one product per day makes me revisit their site daily to see today's deal, it builds reoccuring traffic. Because tomorrow they won't sell you today's deal. It’s just a shopping cart with one product but the concept of one product deal per day is so clever. Woot.com...I tip my hat to you.

A few days ago I posted an ad to hire a few more excellent “the Guys.”

Please notice I specifically state:

Please do not apply if:

1. You are compelled to send a resume.

Amazingly people keep sending me resumes. Let me ask you all a question: If someone can’t even follow that simple instruction, how in the world would they expect me to trust them with my code?

P.S. Allan suggested I post their resumes here, but I resisted.

I had to go back to Ace Hardware today for a new air filter for the mower. They didn't have the part, so...I went to Home Depot. I guess if your inventory is weak you gotta make up for it with good customer service. I still love you Ace...

I'll give you the play by play on this evening's activities.

• Started cutting the grass this evening
• Mower wasn't working well.
• Headed to Ace Hardware.
• Frank the Ace Dude, helps me find a spark plug and mower oil
• Frank asks me what the mower is doing.
• Reply "running like crap"
• He replies "try clean the carburetor filter"
• Me = puzzled look
• Frank explains the process
• Me = nods like a moron
• Frank volunteers to walks me thru the steps on a demo mower
• Frank shows me...I thank Frank
• Frank replies "hey I am working tomorrow, if you have trouble bring the mower up here we will do it together, no sweat."

Ace Hardware has a new customer for life because of one person going out of their way to help a person in need. I feel cared for and appreciated. He wasn't trying to make a sale he was trying to help me with a problem. Thanks Frank...my new best friend. <pause for a tear>

In a recent email I noticed the signature.

Q: Why is this email 5 sentences or less?
A: http://five.sentenc.es

The site goes on to say we should write emails like SMS messages keeping them under 5 sentences, quick and to the point. Should we should keep blog posts under 5 sentences as well?

Last December I took part in the MacAppADay giveaway. This was a fun “contest” where (almost) every day in December they gave away a free mac app to the first 5000 people to get there. I did get most of the apps, but I did not need most of them, so at the end it was a lot of excitement and ups and downs for stuff that wasn’t that interesting to me. (Although for others I’m sure the apps were really good, I just don’t need an ftp client, for example.)

The first app given away, Tune-X, was the best of the lot. It is a great iTunes controller that has been renamed TuneBar. A few weeks ago my hard drive died and I did not have the installer for Tune-X backed up. I sent Tom Hancocks, the creator, an email explaining the situation and asking if he had the MacAppADay version that I had a license for. He replied “I’m not currently at a place where I can send an app right now, but if you give me a day or so I will send you a copy of TuneBar 2.6, with a one version code. The code will only work for 2.6 but should be enough to keep you going :)”

LATER THAT DAY he sent me an upgrade to the latest version and I was up and running.

This is excellent service. This is the quality of service we strive for at Less Everything and Less Accounting. This is how I want our customers to feel about us, the way I feel about Tom and his TuneBar.

Observing my father over the past years running his car washes I have watched him change, adapt and try new things constantly. Car Washes aren't just about soap and water either. My father's changes haven't happened during the "bad times", his washes have always been very successful. For many people the old saying "if it's not broke don't fix it" holds true. Not for my father who is always looking for a better, more efficient way to do things. From many people's stand point he is innovative, I prefer to use the word "humble".

It takes a humble person to change, it takes a humble person that realizes they don't know everything and maybe their current philosophy, business flow, structure etc isn't the most effective it can be. Many business owners grow tired in their industry as time passes. Soon they realize they have lost their edge by then their clients/customers are gone, by then its too late.

Stay humble, look forward, reevaluate and adjust your mantra as needed.

A very good read about keeping a site simple and not allowing the user feedback to "over-function" a site (example: myspace.com).

"We have to consider this kind of "feature creep" all the time and it keeps us from just dumping a ton of odd functions into the website." Link to Netflix Blog

Recently I bought a new pair of glasses. I decided to try transition lenses, the kind that tint in the sunlight. So I went to the store and ordered them. I made sure to ask about the return policy because I have never had transition glasses before and I might not like them, 30 days money back. Great.

First pair: Did not transition. I took them back and they ordered the replacement.

Second pair: Did not fully transition back to clear. I took them back.

I returned them, no questions asked, no problem. I was not wearing glasses when I returned them.

A week later I received a phone call from the store asking how my glasses were working out. When I told her what happened, she said “Oh, OK. Thanks. Have a nice day.”

I still have not bought glasses, I am wearing my spare pair. So this store, that cares enough to do a follow up call never once asked me what I was doing for new glasses. Did I buy them somewhere else? Do I still need to buy a pair? Nothing, not once.

What kind of sales opportunities are you or your employees throwing away?

I was recently cruising the techcrunch forum and found a great reply to a post on getting angel investing. This is a question we've been asked many many times. Here is the best synopsis/answer I have found.

Here is a link to the full thread

"If you are a pre-funded startup you typically have 3 options for raising capital:
1. Take out a loan (debt capital)
2. 3F (Family, Friends and Fools)
3. Angel Investor


Required capital: $5-$50K
Bootstrap with as much self-funded money as you can afford (this will help you refine your design, features and business model). If you can gain some traction (i.e traffic, members, subscribers)for your site then you have a much better chance at attracting investors and end up with a better term sheet.

Required capital: $50-$100K
3F - Family, friends and fools. You should be able to raise this much through your circle of trust. Be careful when going outside of your circle because raising $$ for your company is considered a securities transaction. (I'm sure Canada has similar laws and regulations regarding Private Offerings and exemptions). Again - the goal here is to get something, anything up and running to help attract investors.

If you really believe in the idea - I'd also consider taking out a loan to help bootstrap the company. This may seem a bit illogical, but say you need $100K and end up giving some investor (10%-20%) of your company in exchange for the use of her $$$. 1 year later you either sell it or get to an A round (VC) with a $3M valuation. You just paid the angel what amounts to 3x-6x for a 1 year loan of his money. In any other legal transaction - we'd call this usury :-). (Of course you can always opt for a convertable Note instead of straight equity).

The bottom line is keep all of your options open when determining where and how to raise your capital. "