Contractor: Friend or Foe?

I am in the middle of interviewing a few contractors for some home improvement projects. It got me thinking on how stressful and tedious to hire a contractor. You do not know their work, have to rely on references, and the conversation you have with him/her. However, the good outweighs the bad.

1. Save money by saving time – I just finished reading “The Four-Hour Workweek.” One of the things that Ferriss says is that people tend to think that a price a contractor is charging is ridiculous. However, take a step back and really think about it. You are saving that time to do tasks that are more important and you are able to do at the same time. If I hire a contractor that is charging me $45/hour to assemble furniture, light electrical work, and install crown molding. He/she can probably get it done in half a day. I can’t imagine getting all of those things done in that time. It would take me double or even three times as long, and so I would have actually spent more money and time on the projects than just outsourcing.

2. Good quality work that you could not have done yourself – These contractors know what they are doing. They will provide you work that you would have probably done a shoddy job doing yourself. I am buying tons of stuff from Ikea. I remember once I tried assembling a dresser from there. It was so unstable that it was practically useless. This time I am going to be smart and hire someone else to do it and make sure it is super stable. The beauty is they will usually redo it until the job is right. Can you imagine trying to do something you are not an expert in perfectly the first time so you don’t have to keep redoing it?

3. They want you to hire them when you have a next project, so usually they will do the job right - Contractors will work twice as hard as in-house employees because they want your repeat business. If they are smart, and usually they are, they will do such an amazing job the first time that you will want to hire them again. Do not forget about how important Word-of-Mouth Marketing is. Your in-house employees do not care about that.

I may be bias; however, contractors are a good alternative nowadays. Use them.

Cut Out Conversational Placeholders for Better Persuasion

I know I definitely have to be very aware of all the "ums" and "ahs" that I say when I am speaking to someone. I can't forget the stuttering that usually occurs as well. I took a college course that really helped me with my public speaking, and just talking to someone in general. Definitely check out this article that links to useful tips that you can use for your "ums" and "ahs."So, uh, you know, sometimes conversational placeholders like "um" and "ah" should just be cut out of your, uh, vocabulary. At least if you're trying to persuade someone.

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Clean and Optimize Windows Systems with nCleaner

nCleaner, a free Windows utility, is a good alternative for those who want to do more system optimization from inside one program. In addition to wiping out the files left behind by browser, IM clients, uninstalled programs, and other usual suspects, nCleaner can modify auto-starting programs, perform a number of Windows power tweaks, and more!This is something that I need for my laptop that is lagging behind after each passing day. If it works, I will write it on here, so you can get your version. It even hooks up to your Yahoo toolbar. I'm hopeful.

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Don't You Just Love Newsletters?

Newsletter will be posted tonight! The feature will focus on time management and proposal writing. If you haven’t subscribed to it, sign up now! I love newsletters. I probably get over 20 of them that go from freelance writing to being frugal to parenting issues. It’s a great way to skim through great tips and articles that you don’t have to pay $4 for.

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Two Important Pieces of a Newsletter

I am creating the newsletter for FastWriters, and I wonder what everyone thinks makes an informative newsletter. In a week, I receive several newsletters from business and marketing tips to parenting and home decorating articles. These are the two elements that will bring newsletter success:

1. Titles – The titles and subtitles need to be less than five to seven words and to the point. Do you prefer

“Proposal Tips That Will Secure a Government Bid and Win”

Or

“Top Proposal Tips To Win A Contract”

Think about it because titles are the first thing readers see.


2. Content – The content has to be well written and informative. A tip is if you use Word, put on the readability statistics in the Tool menu. Make sure that the reading level is between 6th to 7th grade, and reading ease is more than 55%.

There are more, but I will reveal them in a future newsletter edition.

Barnes & Noble Buying Borders? Does it Scream Antitrust?

I was reading my Writer's Market newsletter, when I read this story and couldn't believe it:

Barnes & Noble may buy Borders: Mega-bookseller Barnes & Noble is considering buying its top competitor, Borders Group. Investors, however, are wondering whether antitrust issues would allow the deal to go through.

It was a very good question that was raised.  Will this be considered an antitrust issue?  We have read, or I hope, the problems that arose with XM and Sirius trying to merge.  It's kind of the same thing.  At least we could say that XM and Sirius have valid arguments that might sway you to think that it isn't really an issue, but what can Barnes & Noble say?  The only other bookseller around is Books-A-Million, and they definitely aren't competition for Borders and Barnes & Noble as it stands.  

This is very interesting news and something that we should definitely keep an eye out for.

Other than that, I want to wish everyone a Happy Memorial's Day!  Relax, hang out with the family, and don't think about work.  If you are lucky enough to go out of town, next time, take me with you.

Cybersecurity's New World Order

Cybersecurity is where the government is putting a lot of its money. In the future, we will see tons of request for proposals (RFPs) coming up to address this concern. If your company does not know much about this area, I would suggest you start training your team and yourself on anything and everything dealing with cybersecurity. This is the first time I have seen that the entire world is getting together to address this issue. Big proposals in this arena, so learn about cybersecurity now rather than later.

clipped from www.fcw.com A year after massive cyberattacks virtually shut down Internet operations in Estonia, government officials here and abroad are still learning to adapt to a world in which technology, diplomacy and defense converge. Cyber experts say the event exposed the challenges that cybersecurity poses to an international security system designed to deal with symmetric, physical threats from countries. Stolen data, malicious code and programming can become weapons of mass destruction in the 21st century, or what the leader of the Air Force’s Cyber Command calls “weapons of mass disruption.” Meanwhile, Chertoff has expressed similar sentiments and asked the private sector for assistance. “Because we have such a widely distributed set of cyber capabilities, and therefore such a widely distributed set of potential cyber vulnerabilities, the protection of these systems is not exclusively or even primarily a government function,” Chertoff said.