The Corporate Breakup

When I ran a computer consulting business, I started noticing some trends with businesses that were confusing to me.

  • We don’t like change, even if it is good, even if it saves us money and time.
  • That fear of change makes us very forgiving.
  • We fear conflict that ultimately leads to change.

For example, old antiquated hardware and software that breaks and requires constant maintenance cost us more than money. It costs frustration, employee productivity and happiness.  But we keep calling in the IT guy who band-aids us back together.  We fear the hassle of learning new software. Again time, money, productivity and company morale are all at stake.

But now I’ve noticed this pattern in other areas of business, not just where it relates to tech.

We forgive the mistakes of vendors over and over. It’s easier than finding a new one and making a change.

We forgive employees. There are times when managers and business owners look the other way because they fear the process of hiring and training a new replacement. We forget that by “protecting them” – we’re really protecting us from the hassle and fear; we’re hurting our other employees in the process.
We hang on to dead weight accounts. Yes, sometimes you need to let a customer go. The one who has burned you, taken more time, energy and effort than they’ve invested in your business; the one who refused to pay you or takes forever to pay. We forgive them too, for fear we won’t replace the income they represent. (If you have one of these customers… let him go. You’ll more than make up for it in time and happiness.)

I’m not suggesting that at the first mishap you drop a vendor, employees, or clients.  I’m saying if you’ve been dealing with the same old story from one of them for a long period of time, maybe it’s time you step back take an objective review, and evaluate that relationship.

You can be friends with any of those people; social media makes it so easy to fall into friendships with business acquaintances.  You need to remember, however, this is your business. We do forgive friends, but even with friendships, when a relationship is toxic to one party, it’s time to end it.

If you benefit from this post, great, but I wrote it for me.  I wrote it because after:


  • repeated bad customer service
  • hours and hours on the phone caught in a phone maze, transferred to the wrong department repeatedly, where I had to tell my story again
  • repair request after repair request; it took over 4 months to get help
  • help arrive and made the problem worse
  • a major cell tower went down and is still not replaced
  • countless dropped and missed calls
  • I have been emotionally and financially abused

I am leaving AT &T.

I’m standing up for myself and my business. I’m done forgiving and I’m taking back control of my communications.

My home box AFTER the 1st repair
My home box AFTER the 1st repair

 

New Year’s Resolution: FAIL

We’ve all done it, made New Year’s resolutions year after year, only to see them fail within the first month. I did it, but this year, I thought about why I made the resolution, and why I failed.

My resolution? To discontinue the service of website work for our company. The preparation for this was started in October or November of last year. I slowly found new vendors for all my current website clients. I knew I had one website still going as a work in progress. I was not going to count that as a failure, but when that website was done, there would be no more new website clients.

 Yesterday, I said yes, instead of no. So, on January 6, 2010 less than one week after the resolution was made, I FAILED.

So I got to thinking, why did make that resolution? That would help me figure out why I failed. I chose to discontinue website maintenance for 2010 , because I don’t love it. I love much of what I do. I’m passionate about much of what I do. But I found myself repeatedly, not happy, while working on websites. Life is too short to not be doing what you love. So why did I say yes?

I think the answer is because they needed help. I mean, everyone that calls me needs help, in one way or the other, but somehow I felt compelled to say yes. As a mom who has a tendency to be caring and giving above and beyond what I’m capable of sometimes I saw a need that I had the skills to fill.

I wonder how many moms out there, do the same thing. Their school, their work, their church all asked them to do things that they know that they have the skills to do without thinking, if they have the time or the energy in which to complete these tasks efficiently.  If you have skills that you are good at, but that you don’t love say NO.

 Life is too short to not be doing what you love.

Years resolution take number two:

Do what you love to do, and do it well.

Commodore 64

Yeah… remember that one?

That was my very first computer.  I was recently asked to go to our local public radio station, 88.3FM  WNIN and record a bit for the “Plugged In”  show. Plugged In is a weekly technology show. They discuss technology news and topics with a focus on how they affect our daily lives.

They have a segment called “Ye Old Tech”.  I went in to tell about my Commodore 64 and came out with the realization that this gift may very well have been the gift the turned me geek – for life.   Enjoy…

Listen to it Here: Commodore-64

 

Compassion

 Doctors sometimes have a hard time being the patient. After they have the experience they usually have more compassion toward their patients.

I had recently upgraded my main work computer to a custom built machine to run all the programs I need to run (all at once). I Love my new machine. My machine has suffered an anomaly and is not functional at this time.

I PREACH to my clients, friends and family:: BACK UP YOUR DATA!!! I now have a new message. If you, for your business run any sort of industry specific software that has specific requirements of your hardware, and you can’t function without that software, then get a secondary machine that is capable of running that software. I have my data backed up. And I can do the day to day things, but I have several applications that are on hold.

 So about that compassion. I am also the last one to get tech help. I extend the knowledge base and service of my team out to my customers to ensure that their networks are running, that new systems we are setting up are on schedule. At the end of the day, whatever time is left… has been dedicated to the diagnosis and repair of my machine.

To my customers who have lost data, and whose work and life was on hold while data recovery was executed…

To my customers who have lost hardware, and whose work and life was on hold while we waited for parts to come…

To my customers who have lost network components, and whose work and life was on hold while we waited for outside vendors…

To anyone who has suffered because of a loss of technology that had become a additction…

I feel your pain…I understand.. I have a greater compassion for you.

The first step

The first step:

I’m not a blogger. I keep telling myself this. I know about it, I encourage others to find their voice, I love to talk, I love to share, so why then am I not a blogger?

The answer is probably many things. Afraid, is the first one that comes to mind. Afraid I will say something stupid, afraid I will hurt a feeling, afraid I will be found out to be human, and not perfect… Afraid to try.

 So today is the day I say “hello world: I am Dana M. Nelson. Human extraordinaire, about to dive into the world of sharing my passions, my knowledge and misadventures with you!