http://www.softwareandcoffee.com Mon, 26 May 2008 15:39:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Our toilet seat broke. My wife bought a replacement, and it's been leaning against the bathroom wall for the last week. The label states "Basic Toilet Seat", and I wonder: "What does an Advanced Toilet Seat do?". No doubt it costs more, but does it hold some ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/basic-toilet-seat/ I purchased some shirts from The Queensboro Shirt Company. When they arrived, my logo was completely illegible, and I feared I would be stuck with shirts that read "DS Technologies, blah blah blah". I called customer service, and they looked up my order. They could tell from ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/customer-service/ Last week I ordered a pound of sliced turkey from the Walmart deli. The deli-slicer-guy brought out a sample. I nodded in approval. He offered it to me, saying he'd have to throw it out if I didn't eat it. This triggered some strange clean-your-plate mental ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/lets-talk-turkey/ A trusted business adviser provides expertise you don't have inside your business. Common advisers would be your lawyer, accountant, marketing consultant, and IT consultant. You count on these people. You trust them. Hopefully, they put your business first. As an IT consultant, I selfishly care about my ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/trusted-business-adviser/ Joe Schmo is staring at his screen. The cursor is flashing between $1499.00 and the "Submit" button. What is running through his mind? "Are these guys going to rip me off?"; "Are they going to process my order quickly?"; "Is some ex-con processing my credit ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/increasing-buyer-confidence/ Word on the street is Starbucks dumped T-Mobile like a bad habit. AT&T is waiting in the wings, offering two hours of free access a day. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, it's not. I mean free is for me, but accessing Wi-Fi anywhere can be dangerous. I ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/free-wi-fi-can-be-costly/ Most views in an organization are from the top or from the bottom. Being a consultant, my view is from the side. I communicate with entrepreneurs, managers, sales people, secretaries, and dogs (one of my client's has the cutest little "mascot"). At some place in the org ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/a-view-from-the-side-increase-productivity/ I've been needing to get a garbage disposal, and for whatever reason, I've been putting it off. Normally, I'm a Home Depot man, but I recently I received a $10.00 coupon from Lowe's in the mail. It was barely enough to cover the sales tax, but it was ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/recession-buster-coupons/ One of my clients uses a software solution that maintains their clients, jobs, invoices and employees. Yesterday, I upgraded their solution to be able to track prospects. This change allows them to specify a contact as a prospect or client, track notes for the contact, and run reports ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/the-perimeter-is-secure/ Gated communities present an interesting paradigm. In order for the concept to work, you must trust everybody living in your community. Not only that, you have to trust all of their family, friends (and kid's friends). You're only as secure as the last person who entered. Your business ... http://www.softwareandcoffee.com/lock-the-gate/