A Scott's Journey

The random mumblings of a Scott as he travels through life's wicked turns and twists.

Name:
Location: Beaverton, Oregon, United States

Monday, March 13, 2006

Stuff and Things

Every once in awhile you just have to get around to doing the "Stuff and Things." You know what i mean. The stuff that you have let pile up behind your desk or the list of things that you have every good intention of completing yet every day you wait the piles get deeper and the list gets longer. Well this weekend we choose to get some stuff and things done. We cleaned up the yard a bit then we hung pictures in the house. Amazing that we have been living there 9 months and not a single picture had been hanging till yesterday. Nice eh?

Oh and baby stuff. Our new Pack N Play arrived and of course we immediately assembled it in all its various forms. Weird to look into the living room and see it...Chenoah is getting tired. She, and by she I mean we, are having trouble sleeping. There really isn't a comfortable position anymore but I am sure we will manage.

We bought the new Harry Potter movie and watched it. Great flick great books. I need a new book. I haven’t had one to read since I went to Australia and before that it was August. If only I didn't go through them so fast. I suppose I should take a lesson from Jenny and use the library I would save some money.

Work seems to be moving along, a lot going on and a lot in the pipe. We'll see what happens. Lord willing....

Cheers

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Risk

It snowed today. It is March and it snowed....wow now I bet there were plenty of people who started their spring plantings and thought winter was over. Taking a risk, albeit a measured one, that they could get started on this year’s crops etc...and then it snowed in March.

Now most of us have some opinions about risk in its many different forms. Most business owners run into risk every single day. In growing your business you take a lot of risks. How to market, who to hire, where to locate what name to choose, who to target, how much room is too big, get a temp or hire a permanent how much staff is too much or too little; the list is really quiet endless. One of the more troublesome things to deal with for me is the marketing aspect and spending the dollars. How much is to much for an ad? Should I use a prepackaged marketing seminar? should i try the radio, or TV? Mass mail? Cold Calling? And don't forget the internet! All of these have their cost some substantially more expensive then others but which one, or combination, is/are the right one(s) for your business.

Well they will all tell you there is the best and they will have a multitude of facts and stats to back it up and why the others will fail miserably or be so costly that you will go out of business in a month trying it. So we are at the point where there has been a good monthly inflow of cash, and we can choose to put it to work in the business hoping it will generate more cash in the form of new clients, or we pack it away for a rainy day.

The truth is I'm stuck. The PR/Marketing side of me knows that advertising and capitalizing on dollars is what we need to do. The cash poor need to pay the bills buddy side of me says put that cash in the bank and stockpile for a bit. And maybe I should try to find a way to do a little of both. The question is what avenue to spend on for advertising. Most people would agree that cold calling is about the worst return on your time. Seminar/networking gets great marks but is more costly due to the meals you feel the plate lickers. Been there done that with Radio, works but is really expensive in the short run and you have to have the cash flow to sustain it long term. TV works on a more regional level not so much so for the independent not to mention it really doesn't bring in business as much as establish your name. Again that’s another costly long term bet. Print ads, newspapers magazines can work if you have a timely rate to publish or a pertinent topic to cover. Can be a great form of advertising takes a bit longer than seminars but may be half as expensive in the short term. The problem is from my understanding it takes a good 6-12 months before print advertising pays off, and now you are about 2x the cost of the seminar mass mail drop program, but at least it was spread out.

So here I am at the crossroads trying to figure out which way to go.

Cheers

Monday, March 06, 2006

Just do as you are told

The name of the rose
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a
mystery novel dealing with theology,
especially with catholic vs liberal issues.
You search wisdom and knowledge endlessly,
feeling that learning is essential in life.

Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Maybe Maybe not

29 weeks.....that is how pregnant Chenoah is. Baby Elijah is doing well and we continue to have a normal boring pregnancy.

Business may or may not do well. Not sure, God seems to working some miracles here and we could do better if things come through. Much better.

Somewhat of a wait and see game now.