Today is the 31st of October and as I sit at PC on this Wednesday afternoon, almost everyone I know is either on the way to enjoy a 5 day vacation, or doing financial errands like rushing to the bank and paying bills, as I did some minutes ago. No banks wil be open for the rest of the week.
This is often the case around this time of year, but its not because of Halloween tonight but because of two consecutive holidays, Nov 1 and Nov 1, All Saints and All Souls Days, respectively. A time most Filipinos spend in remembrance of relatives who have gone, and this is especially evident at cemeteries where otherwise somber surroundings were brightly lit, full of people and if not for the location, you would suspect it to be a fiesta. This is a widely celebrated tradition in the Philippines, though there are many who also take this opportunity to get some R&R like my friends did.
Which brings me to answer, if you are, wondering why I am left behind; and all I can say is I have tons of work to do, and these are projects which operate on a different schedule. I have current projects and work tasks with clients in the US, so I am pretty much on American time now… and there is not holiday this time of year in that side of the earth.
Just some days ago I made a post on my Internet Marketing blog and talked about multiple streams of income, and how to find out which of your income sources and the things you do to make a living, are aptly compensating you. Which are working, which are not; which are worth your while and which are wasting your time. I will not get into that, as I blogged already about that on the other blog, you may visit it if you wish.
About a few days ago I had exchanged emails with an existing client based in the US, the gist of which got me thinking and which connected to my multiple streams of income post on the Internet Marketing blog.
I make my living primarily as a marketing and advertising consultant, and have a firm which produces radio ads and tv ads; does design and develops websites. All these are used as tools in marketing. It is a highly specialized service that takes a lot of time, effort, and if I may mention, a right amount of patience a liberal dose of creativity. What we do requires us to possess certain skill sets that are honed and developed over time and experience.
Sometimes, there are clients that do not know what they want…. these are the ones, who want several selections of work output in order to choose one, out of say… 8 or 9 maybe. They could say, they would know what they are looking for when they see it; and as service providers more often we acquiesce lest we lost the account to a more accommodating competitor.
What came to mind is, we allocate resources, personnel, their time and their skills to pour work into a dozen results only for one of those results to be chosen, accepted and paid for. I think it ridiculous.
It’s like going to a restaurant, you order almost everything on the menu because you want to find the one dish that is the best… after tasing all the dishes laid out in front, you eat the one dish that you identified to be the best… then at the end of your meal you only pay for the dish that you liked. Down right preposterous. What about the time, effort, expertise and ingredients that went into preparing the other dishes?
There are clients though who really know what they want and are able to verbalize clearly to us an advertising service provider what it is we need to accomplish for them. On the other hand, we as specialized service providers are not also absolutely right all the time, just because giving to clients what they require or need is something we do for a living.
Come to think of it, there have been some times in the past that I had dealt with clients who were worse. Let me side track a bit as this strays a little far from the topic but I need to squeeze this in, or forget this though forever.
I have had the distinct privilege to work with some clients who, despite your great pitch and reasonable price & proposal, go and dictate the price or the cost they are willing to pay for the service you are offering to them… saying that it can easily be done, or that they can get it cheaper. I think there is some ignorance in these people that translates into a sort of rudeness that we cannot instantly react to and it only hits you later, when you want to then scream out, if you knew how to do it why are you hiring me for it in the first place? Maybe another great snap back would be, if you know so well how to run my business since your dictating my pricing, why don’t we trade places; you run mine and I’ll run yours. But then again, we are just too civil to say such things; probably why there is that relieving joy of blogging when you can vent what you cannot. I remember a couple of instances when they change the details on a contract they are about to sign, and change the agreed cost, “they change it themselves, right in front of your very eyes.” I think in my years of doing sales, these instances are the most unpleasant, and I wonder why I got into sales in the first place. But then a signed contract is a signed contract, despite yo leaving their office like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Going back to my original story, the morale is, it would be insensitive for one to say, they purchase results or a result because results as the word itself, implies a consequence, outcome, sum, or later predisposition brought about by prior actions or tasks that caused it.
Thus, the means to get to the end is just as important as the end itself.
Allocation of resources and personnel for a project or projects that are deemed unprofitable is plain misappropriation.
So did you get it yet? Well a man from Canada did get his cell phone bill, and imagine the shock when upon tearing the darned thing open, it was for $85,000!
I know cell phone bills can get outrageous and we have heard about $3,000 cell phone bills and $10,000 cell phone bills but getting billed with an $85,000 invoice probably tops them all… and it is not a computer error either.
It’s not as hilarious though as the story than ran a few months back about a dead man who got a $218 trillion cell phone bill, yes that is indeed “trillion” as in $218,000,000,000,000
Anyways, here’s the story from Yahoo! Tech.
Piotr Staniaszek had been using his cell phone as a modem for his computer, thinking he was covered under his $10-a-month unlimited mobile browser plan from Canadian telco Bell Mobility. He actually caught the bill at $65,000. When he called to complain, he was told that it had hit $85,000 for the use since the bill was mailed.
The likely problem is that Staniaszek got understandably confused about what his recently signed $10 data plan covered. Such plans often cover data use on the phone itself (such as texting or using the built-in browser on the phone), but not when it’s used as a modem with a PC. (Without going into extreme detail, the connection types are different, and the phone company can tell the difference between the two types of traffic.) Bell Mobility has dropped the bill to just $3,243, but Staniaszek is still fighting it. (Of course.)
Staniaszek also notes that the phone company should have notified him when charges started to spiral out of control; previously he’d gotten a call when he racked up a mere $100 in charges on his old data plan. Now his bill climbs into the thousands and no one bats an eye. I’d be peeved, too.
Remember that all cell phone plans are not created equally, and “data” has numerous definitions. Before you connect your phone to your computer, make sure you understand the charges you’re setting yourself up for, and check your usage on your phone company’s website periodically (especially if you’re using your phone for something new) so that you don’t get slapped with any financial surprises.
This was my third trip to Badian, some people told me that they had been there before and that they were not so happy about the beach because it was this.. and it was that… well, maybe this picture changes your mind about Badian.
More pictures available at www.roysencio.com/gallery
I just got back from a two day trip to Bantayan, a much needed getaway as I have been feeling a little toxic with all the stress that comes with living in an urban jungle.
I will be posting some pictures on the gallery page of this blog so check it out. Here is a sample below.
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