(Pssst...Ginger! Thanks for the birthday card! [It fits, topic-wise, with this discussion.] I laughed and laughed and laughed. And then Tim made me define a preposition, which launched me into Eddie Izzard's "Le singe est sur la branche" routine.)
Glory: Lesson number one, Vampires equal impure! Spike: Damn right I'm impure, I'm as impure as the driven yellow snow!
'Dirty Girls'
Buffista Business Talk: I wanted simple, I wanted in-and-out, I wanted easy money.
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Steph L. - Jun 26, 2012 9:43:52 am PDT #959 of 1416
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
Ginger - Jun 26, 2012 10:17:59 am PDT #960 of 1416
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
That card spoke to me and it said Steph....
Beverly - Jun 26, 2012 1:28:34 pm PDT #961 of 1416
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
You're amazingly good with apt cards. And that paragraph is golden.
Strix - Jun 29, 2012 4:51:43 pm PDT #962 of 1416
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Was the the "Where's your party at, BITCH?" card? A friend got my that one a few years ago; it's still on the fridge...
Steph L. - Jun 29, 2012 4:52:17 pm PDT #963 of 1416
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
Was the the "Where's your party at, BITCH?" card?
YES!!!
Strix - Jun 29, 2012 5:21:27 pm PDT #964 of 1416
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
I loved that card!
Stephanie - Jul 23, 2012 7:24:55 am PDT #965 of 1416
Trust my rage
I am looking for some help/input on an issue I'm trying to figure out.
My law firm has done fairly well in the last year. It's not quite 2 years old and I'm making enough to support myself and 1 paralegal, although to be completely open, I'm getting child support money and alimony at the moment. I'm not sure that should be a factor but it means I don't feel completely independent. Yet.
So, the business is doing well, but it feels disorganized. I *really* do not function well with disorganization. I feel like we are losing a lot of time/money because we don't have good systems in place. I'm not an accountant and that is an area of constant frustration. But I also feel like we just lose a lot of time tracking down information.
All this frustration led me to seek out a business development person. I like her and I've seen her do good work in other places. So I'm comfortable with her as a person. Her hourly rate is $50, which I think is probably fair although I have nothing to compare that to.
I met with her before my vacation and we talked for about an hour about how to make things better. She had some original ideas although many of them were things I'd already thought of but haven't had time to implement. And that right there is the heart of the problem. I only work probably 40 hours a week but I have three kids who need me. I can't spend all weekend coming up with new systems or marketing ideas. I have lots of ideas but I want help implementing them. And i think I need help - I haven't had any major catastrophes yet, but I've come close once or twice and I don't want that to happen again.
So, that's a lot of reasons to do it. The downside is that the cost estimate is about $10,000. She broke it down by tasks and they look legit. She also won't bill me for hours she doesn't actually work.
I don't know - I want to work with her but that seems like an insane amount of money for stuff that I can essentially do myself. But I'm not sure I ever will because I don't have the time.
Strix - Jul 23, 2012 7:29:26 am PDT #966 of 1416
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Can you choose the top 2 tasks that you really need a system in place for and start with those, rather than the 10K get it all done price?
Stephanie - Jul 23, 2012 7:34:29 am PDT #967 of 1416
Trust my rage
That is a good idea. I should ask her if I'm committing to the whole thing or if we can work in pieces. She does estimate 2 months to "audit" the business and then 4 months to implement her ideas.
eta: sometimes being an adult is so boring. I'd so rather take that money and buy a vacation to Argentina, but I really am willing to invest in the future of the law firm.
NoiseDesign - Jul 23, 2012 7:42:04 am PDT #968 of 1416
Our wings are not tired
If she is setting up a lot of systems for you then I think that $10,000 sounds pretty fair. One of the things I've had to learn as a business owner is that there are plenty of tasks that I could be doing, but that I need to be paying someone else to do. The more that I'm caught up in the day to day operational tasks, the less time I'm spending bringing in more clients and more projects for the company. When I can concentrate on those things, and on keeping the current clients and projects running smoothly, then I'm better able to make sure I've got a good amount of money coming into the business.