Choosing a CRM (customer relationship management system) for a small business can be a daunting task. Small business CRM systems can be off-the-shelf, customized, hosted or hybrid. Mid-market companies tend to choose hosted CRM systems so they can get best-of-breed systems at an affordable price, without the tech support headaches. But, for smaller businesses, such […]
Choosing a CRM for small business (and consultants Read More »
While poking around this site, I discovered that my "test post" has a Google PageRank of 3. That’s higher than my posts on the top 10 consulting myths, "Do I need a lawyer?", and 1099 workers. Google seems to think my test post has great importance. The web works in mysterious ways.
Exceedingly geeky ConsultantJournal.com note Read More »
If you’re just in the process of becoming a consultant, you may be looking to bootstrap your business. However, to get going, you’ll probably need some sort of office productivity suite, like Microsoft Office. Despite what you might think, you don’t need to shell out hundreds of dollars for a package. You can use OpenOffice.
Can’t afford MS Office? Get OpenOffice Read More »
Via Canadian Entrepreneur blog, I discovered this fabulous Albert Einstein quote: "It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer." That reminds me of a quote I recently read about gifted children. A study found that, if you simply tell kids they’re smart, they’ll usually seek easy tasks, so that
Smarts vs persistence, according to Einstein Read More »
In the 90s, people went on and on about the paperless office. Well, I don’t know about you, but my office is far from paperless. Keeping client files, seven years of tax returns, current year receipts and the like — I’ve got a huge amount of paper. A few years ago, I bought a personal
I love my shredder Read More »
Over at UserScape, Ian Landsman has a post about moving from being a worker to being an entrepreneur. He specifically deals with his experience as a programmer, but some of the lessons are worth hearing, no matter what your background: …the best code in the world is meaningless if nobody knows about your product. Code
Moving from worker to entrepreneur Read More »
Wondering how to keep on top of your online presence? You can easily find out whether you, your competitors or your favourite subjects have found their way into Google. By setting up a Google Alert, you can receive free emails that note news, blog and website mentions of anything you desire. You can limit how
Stalk yourself online with Google Alerts Read More »
If you want to send commercial email, you need to comply with CAN-SPAM. By commercial email, I mean email that involves more than a response to a previous message from a contact, prospect or client. Be careful not to send unwanted commercial email or you could end up in big trouble. Under CAN-SPAM, you
How to send email without spamming 2 Read More »
I recently stumbled on a guide to becoming a better negotiator. Although it’s actually targeted at people seeking financial capital, it’s got some interesting information about conflict, conflict resolution, negotiation styles and negotiation goals. I can see that it would help with negotiating consulting fees. Posts related to negotiation: Consulting Fee Guide.
Become a better negotiator Read More »
Fee negotiation remains a hot topic. Once you’ve gone through the process of setting your consulting fees, you may still run into prospective or existing clients who want to haggle over price. A client recently asked me to cut my fee by about 20 percent. Rather than refusing, I said that I’d be happy to
Fee negotiation tip | Negotiating fees Read More »
