Blaine on Business

POP3 or IMAP or Webmail for Email?

When you host your web site with us that also means we are going to handle your email accounts as well.  So when you have have an email address we need to make sure that you receive those emails properly.  As with everything else there with email you have many options.

The first option is called POP3.  POP3 standard for Post Office Protocol version three.  Using the POP3 method you would use a email client on your computer such as Microsoft Outlook or Eudora.  When you check your mail the client will contact the server and download all of the messages from the server to your client.  In most configurations the client will delete the email on the server once it is delivered to your computer.

Many people like this option because you have full control of your email.  You can easily change your service provider because all of your mail is stored on your own computer.  Additionally you have much less restrictions on your mail.  Many providers limit the size of the emails you can keep and/or the time you can keep them.  With POP3 though once the email has been retrieved down to your own computer system it doesn't take up any space on the server itself.

One of the concerns though is since the email is stored only on your computer you must make sure that it is being backed up properly.  If something were to happen to your computer then all of your email would be lost forever.

Since POP3 will remove the email from the server if you were to check your email using the webmail interface then you would not see the emails that have already been downloaded to the client.  This applies to other devices that access your email too such as all of the smart phones out there.

IMAP or Internet Message Access Protocol is another method that an email client can connect to the server and check your email.  IMAP though keeps the email stored on the server instead of downloading it to your computer.  IMAP is great for people who need to be able to check their email from multiple devices, or use multiple computers.  However you do need to have a consistent connection to the Internet so this is not a good solution if you have only a dial-up connection.

Since IMAP stores email on the server you will run into problems if you try to keep all of your emails online.  There are workarounds though depending on your situation.  For example if you have a desktop computer you can use client software that allows you to move emails off of the IMAP connection and into your folder structure on your own system.  This would enabled you to keep your incoming email on your smart phone, while allowing you to archive gigabytes of email at the same time, being the best of both worlds.

The last option is webmail.  Webmail is the option where you do not even use any type of client software.  There is nothing to install on your computer.  All you do is go to the correct web site location and enter your user name and password.  This is a great option if you use public computers such as at a library or school, where you can't really download and install software.  Webmail use to be very basic, but today they have many features and some people even prefer them over using the client based software.

Phishing is nothing new

Everybody seems to be talking about phishing now.  The thing is though, phishing has been around for ages, even before the Internet.  People have been tricking others through postal mail for ages.  I was reminded of this when I was talking with a client about receiving an official looking government notice saying that you must buy a poster set that has all of the federally mandated posting requirements or face high penalties.  The issue though is most businesses can obtain these posters from the agenciies themselves for free or through organizations such as the Indiana Chamber for a low price.

Anytime you receive any type of request for payment you really have to think through what it is.  We see this same type of postal mail phishing with companies trying to get you to switch over your domain name.  They monitor the WHOIS database (which is where contact information for domain name owners is kept) and send out notices before a domain name expires.  Again these companies focus on the fear factor and try to scare you into paying them.  You think you are doing the right thing, because it seems like if you don't you will lose your domain name, however you are really switching providers and are going to probably pay a much higher rate.

There is a way to stop all of this nonsense though, and its quite simple.  You need to simply not buy from these companies, and tell everyone else not to buy too.  People send these notices out because people actually do pay them and they find it to be profitable.  If more people were aware of the real reasons for these notices then that equation will change, and as soon as it loses it profitability then
the mailings will stop.

Flood Insurance, or why business continuity shouldn't be a bad phrase

Our office and my home are here in the Midwest, namely the Northwest Indiana region and it just about hit 60 degrees here yesterday in January!  This then lead to some major thunderstorms in the area and tornadoes a bit more North West on the Illinois/Wisconsin border.  Many roads were closed today and even more had a couple inches deep or water that made for a very time consuming commute.

 

The reason I mention this though, is who would have predicted major rain storms or tornadoes in the mid of winter?  With all of the odd weather it seems like such oddities as this are becoming the norm.  This means that we need to be prepared both personally and for our businesses.

 

What if your office flooded?  Would you lose precious paper files?  Would your computers and server survive? If you did have a loss, would you be able to open up again?  Do you have backups in place?  If you do have backups, do you keep them in your office too?

 

Even worse then just having water damage is having a fire in your facility.  Not only will you have the obvious fire damage, which would completely gut everything, but even a minor fire can lead to smoke and water damage.

 

Now is as good a time as any to prepare for the worst with a business continuity plan.  Notice I do not say disaster recovery, because you want to plan for more then just disasters.

 

I like to engage clients by asking a couple of questions:

 

• What would happen to your business if you died tomorrow? (Nothing like hitting close to home)
• Do you have backups of your important electronic files?  If so have you verified that you can recover data from the backups?  Do you keep a backup off site?
• What would happen if there was no loss, but you couldn't go to your office because of a snow storm or major flu outbreak?
• What if a thief breaks in and steals all of your computer equipment?  Do you have sensitive information that belongs to your customers and/or employees?

 

 

I will be writing in more depth about these topics in upcoming writings, however until then please be sure to check out the official US Government web site at www.ready.gov.

Web Hosting Provider Selection

My company provides web site hosting services, so you may want to take what I have to say here with a grain or two of salt, but it also puts us in a position to better explain hosting terms.  So hear goes...

 

Free or Paid Hosting

Everyone loves free stuff.  Free hosting sounds great, you sign up with just an email address, no credit card required and you are given tools to make your own site and launch it live pretty much immediately.  That though is about the extant of the pros to free hosting.

 

Downsides include:

1. You do not have your own domain name, but a name that is part of your provider's domain name. Your name also is going to probably be long.  So instead of having www.yourcompany.com you might have www.freeprovider.com/users/~yourcompany/. This makes it hard to promote it on your other marketing material or advertising.

2. The majority of the free services are free because they are supported by advertisements.  These ads automatically appear on your pages, and may include popup ads.

3. No email.  You must use your email provided by your ISP, or a free service such as Hot Mail or other such provider.  This again makes corporate branding about impossible.

4. No E-Commerce.  Most free providers do not allow any form of e-commerce, and some do not allow any type of business web site.

 

The alternative to the free web hosting services of course are the paid services.  In this category there are more choices to consider.  The first is the level of hosting you need.  You can have at the most basic level shared or dedicated hosting.  Shared hosting means that you are going to share a server with other people.  Depending on the company and the server you may be sharing with ten other people, or you may be sharing with 1,000 others.

 

This may sound bad, but usually it isn't.  The key is to find a reputable hosting company that has been in business awhile.  Most companies do not need much in way of web hosting, just enough to provide a presence for them on the Internet and allow them to have a professional looking email address.  If the hosting company carefully monitors their systems and ensures that the proper security measures are in place then shared hosting allows you to have a low cost, but highly reliable hosting account.  Basic hosting usually costs between $2-$100 a month.

 

For web sites that have a great amount of traffic or has specialized requirements a dedicated hosting account may be required.  A dedicated account on the other hand means that you are renting a whole server yourself.  It is important if you are going to have a dedicated account to know if the price you are quoted includes management.  Typically you do not want to be responsible for server management unless you have a full time IT person (or department) as maintaining a server properly is an ongoing commitment that really doesn't offer you any business value, except for when you don't and your web site gets hacked because you forgot to install that patch from two years ago.

 

Having a dedicated server though typically will offer you lower prices when looking at large disk space and bandwidth requirements when looking at a megabyte by megabyte comparison, but you also need to be aware of other possible charges.  Some companies charge a flat rate, others may have a really low price, but you may soon find that there are lots of extras that you really need that drive that low price way up. Dedicated Server prices typically run from $200 to $500 a month.

Another varient of dedicated hosting is cluster hosting.  This level of hosting can become very complex quite fast though.  If you have a site that must be on-line and server pages to visitors up to 100% of the time a cluster setup is what you need to be looking at.  These you typically won't find unless you go through a company that can configure it for you.  Pricing for this level has so many variables, but is usually pretty steep.  However if you are a company that can put a price tag on being down for 20 minutes at 2 am once every other week, then this may be what you need.

Some other things to be aware of:

• Uptime Guarantee
• Long Term Contracts
• Domain Name Registration Ownership
• Server type – Linux or Microsoft?
• Database support
• Programming language support
• SSH Access
• Control Panel Functionality
• Statistical analysis capabilities
• Backup policies
• Overselling
• Email Accounts

I'll talk about these points in an upcoming posting.

 

Alternative Hiring Arrangements

When you are considering hiring someone, another option to think about, is do you really need to hire someone?  There are many other arrangements you can consider before hiring someone.

For instance you can outsource areas of work that are not central to your business. For instance in our business we provide web site design and graphic design services.  To stay in business we must make a profit and to ensure that we do that we need to properly bill for our services and make sure that we receive payments from our clients.  We must also pay our bills.  This is no doubt important to us, however that function is not directly key to us creating new business, so why not outsource it?  We started using another local professional firm to assist us with bookkeeping.

They invoice us for their services and we pay them.  If for some reason it doesn't work out in the future we simply tell them we are not going to use their services and we have no other obligation to them.  Additionally as our business changes we can work with the firm to have help whenever needed, be it weekly, monthly, or just as needed.  No overtime, and no twiddling of thumbs until something comes through the door.

The interesting thing about this, is it seems to make sense, however as a business owner it is something I resist because I believe I can do it myself. I don't have to pay another firm, and that is more money in my pocket, but at the end of the day, if I'm out doing what I do best – selling web sites and making them, then the business would be even stronger.

Another option to consider is strategic partnerships.  If you have a business that works in a specific sector of an industry then there are most likely other companies that work in the same industry, but perhaps a different sector or even just a different niche, or specialty service.  For example if you have a plumbing company that only does plumbing and nothing else, because you are the best at what you do, you could partner with a company that does electrical work.  Now when you have someone call and say they want a whirlpool tub installed you don't have to say well we can do the plumbing but you are on your own to find an electrician.  Now not only can you take bigger jobs, but you are also bringing a new sales force, because when someone calls your electrical partner asking for a quote because the plumber they are talking about doesn't offer electrical services the electrical company can refer them to you and in the end you sell more, and make your client happier.

We strive to make sure that we can meet all of our clients needs.  However at the same time we do not want to overextend ourselves by spreading ourselves too thin, or hiring full time staff for one time projects.  This is where partnerships are great.

The last option I'll mention is using a staffing agency.  While I have not personally used such a company for any human resources needs for my own company, I have heard both good and bad about them.  It seems like the best way to utilize this type of resource is when you have a job with a clear description and a well documented procedure for what to do.  I have been considering using an arrangement like this to do some of the clerical and routine marking tasks and if I do I'll be sure to update how it goes here.

Intellectual Property Legal Concerns

If you have a company that involves any type of intangible intellectual property then anytime you hire employees, or contract with independent contractors, or even have an unpaid internship program it is important to cover your bases in regards to intellectual property.

We use a basic contract that was provided by our attorney that outlines that anything an employee or contractor produces belongs to the company.

Some questions to think about though:

• If an employee is working on a project at the office, but then goes home and makes a breakthrough that can be patented, who owns the patent?
• If you hire a freelance graphic designer to create a custom mascot for your company who owns the copyright to that design?
• If your friend's nephew coins the tag line that you are going to use can you trade mark it?
• If an employee, after hours, using his own computer and tools makes an invention does the company have any rights to that?  What if it was directly related to what you were doing in the lab?  What if the employee used a laptop owned by the company?

The bottom line is no matter what your policy is, you don't want to have surprises.  So everything should be written out and clear to both the employer and the employee and/or contractor.

Resume Writing and Submission

No matter if we are looking for an intern, a part time position, full time, or a commission only sales person we deal with resumes on a daily basis.  Most of these are down right awful.

Some tips for anyone that wants me to read their resume, or items that other would be employers might want to check for as well:

1. Have a cover letter

2. If your cover letter is a form letter then forget it

3. Your cover letter is addressed to “Whom it may concern”.
We are a company of three people.  All of our names are on the web site.  If you didn’t spend 2 minutes to look on our web site and see what my name is then why should I even bother reading your submission?

4. Cover letter is focused on the applicant
While it is great you are telling me about you, I quite frankly don’t care.  I’m trying to run a business and make a profit.  99.9% of people talk about only themselves if they send a coversheet at all.  If you really want to get my attention on a cover sheet focus on talking about me and my business.  Tell me how you are going to help me.  Tell me how you are going to solve my problems and me money.  Convince me that I’m the right choice.

5. Employment Gaps
These always raise questions, however I’m usually pretty open and will at least meet with you to determine why there are gaps.  Many people tend to side on the more cynical side though.  When it comes to drug & alcohol abuse there is no place for that in the workplace and when there is even a hint of problems like that and there are numerous other applicants I can only assume that it doesn’t help your chances.

6. Your resume and/or cover letter should state your objective
I get many resumes that talk about the person’s work history at entry level jobs that are not related to my industry at all.  I would love to talk with you, but when I don’t even know if you are interested in a sales position or a technical position I probably won’t bother to ask you.

7. Answer my concerns
Hiring someone is going to have the single biggest impact on my business.  It is my business and thus I'm going to have many concerns for you.  The applicant that realizes this will tailer their writing to answer the questions I have and make me feel confident that I should choose you.

8. Be truthful
If your resume makes it to me and I like it and I do an initial interview with you and I still like what you have to offer I'm going to start doing fact checking.  I'm going to check everything you say in your resume.  I will call every institution you list you attended.  I will verify all memberships and associations you say you belong to.  If you are a volunteer I'm going to be sure that I can verify that you really did help with the weed pulling and leaf raking or singing to the people at the nursing home.  And while I love hearing that you helped Grannie make it across the street, if she says she doesn't know you when I ask about the event then you are not going to hear from me again.

9. Have good contact information
If you are going to give me your email address it should look nice.  If you give me a email address such as upInFlames@somefreeemailservice.com I'm going to have some concerns about you.  This happens a lot with applicants who are into computer and/or video games.  They will use an address with something like “bigguns” or “masterkiller” or other such made up non-sense.  While I really have no concern about your gaming habits, I would rather not know about them at all.  Especially in this day and age we live in this is a big no no, and not only will I not call you back, but if it came from a local university you can bet I'll be giving a heads up to their career office.

Internships offer Big Benefits to Small Business

As a small business owner you are going to be hiring people, and if you are a small company you are going to be doing most of the leg work yourself.  This is not an easy thing to do.  Being on the other side of the interview table I always wanted to be the boss doing the interviews, but now being on the other side myself I see that it indeed is not a walk in the park.

The problem seems simple enough.  When you company is increasing sales and it becomes apparent that you need additional help then you go out and try to find a new employee.  We started at the perfect time because we were able to partner with Purdue University Calumet and their great career services department.  Working with them and a grant program we were able to offer paid internships to Purdue Cal juniors and seniors.  Having an internship program is without a doubt the single best way to hire people.

The internships are setup with a fixed start and end date, usually a single semester.  If it works out they can come back for another semester or you can hire them.  On the other side if you don’t like their work you simply don’t offer them another internship.  In our experience people would usually leave right away if they didn’t like the job.

The other nice feature of the internship program is Purdue took care of all of the administrative headaches of payroll management by having standard contracts and treating the interns as independent contractors who were then paid a stipend.  This avoided us having to keep employee files on everyone and deal with the additional paperwork burden.

Internships though do require some additional work on your part.  Usually interns are looking at obtaining real world experience, and it is usually best if the intern is paired up to work directly with a mentor throughout the engagement.  The mentor is pivotal in the outcome of the program.  The mentor must be someone who is good at working with others and sharing knowledge and experiences.  You want to make sure that this person has a great personality that you would like the intern to pick up on and work towards, you don't want the intern to have to work with someone that you wouldn't want them to end up being like.

Human Resources Demystified

In any business the most important asset is the people that work in the company.  This could not be truer for service related businesses, where it comes down to people buying the services of other people.  Large businesses have the resources to dedicate a whole department to HR issues, however with small businesses we can’t afford to do that.  Additionally with the small amount of staff we have, each person is that much more critical.  I’m going to spend the next couple of days talking about some HR issues that I have experienced.

New Year Resolutions

On this the first day of 2008 I am resolving to finally take up blogging full time.  I am going to commit myself to writing something for this blog at least once per day for this year.

The blog is something I have been wanting to spend more time doing regularly, but everything else has been more important then this endeavor.  However I realize that for this blog to be useful to anyone I must be able to regularly add high quality content that goes beyond simple ramblings and offers visitors to this site genuine insight into issues related to other business owners.

So lets all raise a glass and cheer to a toast for a new year and a much better blog!  I'll have another post tomorrow...