The industrial age that our parents grew up in is over and the age of the freelancer is now. Let me explain a little…

The baby boomer life was all about finding that one great career job, staying there until you retire, and collecting a pension. Now with outsourcing, increased diversity in the work force and constant dot com failures, work life is forever changed and I say for the better! Security and consistency was the name of the game back then, but now it is freedom and flexibility. The freedom to do what you want, when you want, but also have the flexibility to make money whenever and wherever you may be. This is how I have chosen to live my life. What are you doing?

This is a definition that can be found on Google. I have another definition: “The act of doing what the customer needs/expects”. I recently relocated and thus had to arrange with certain companies like Cox Communications to have my internet switched to my new address and activated.

As you know we are primarily a web based company so not having internet is BAD!! Case in point: Cox came out to my new apartment to activate the line, but when they got there the lines were apparently not marked for each unit thus they would have to do extra work to activate the line. So what did they do? Go home without notifying me! What!? Did I miss something? You paid a tech to come to my house and do absolutely nothing? All that had to be done was call me and say, “Hey this is the issue but we can solve it, would you like us to do so?” The answer of course would have been YES! So long story short, after calling for 2 days and nights I got a person who actually cared on the phone and within 4 hours I had a tech on site and active internet.

The thing that got me was the tech who came out, their first question was, why didn’t anyone contact me over the weekend? Yeah, no shit, why didn’t they? People who have the power to get the job done but simply choose not to for no valid reason should be eliminated from planet earth as they are polluting society with their ignorance.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong!

I have spent approximately $200 and I have obtained a running Miata engine, portable air tank, trailer hitch and 19 inch monitor.

Better yet, I use them all and they still work! I have even sold a fair amount of my car parts and made well over what I have spent. I also check it everyday looking for people in need of web design, email marketing, or perhaps some graphic design services from us. It amazes me sometimes how people expect, or rather “they know” how much this stuff costs and will only pay $15-$20 per hour for web design work. What are we, friends? Are you some hot chick that wants to hook up? No I didn’t think so… so the rate for full service marketing services will cost you more than that. But then again how much can you afford to lose by not marketing yourself properly?

Just my opinion…I could be wrong!

We are finding that people desperately “network”. They are now doing what I call, “over networking”, yes you can over network.

A person will have a site designed for themselves to make money. First off, there is a sad misconception that if you build it they will come, sorry Kevin but the web is no field of dreams. Secondly, don’t give away the cow for free! Case in point: a person who has a website but is struggling meets another person who is interested in their product. Instead of working out a partnership agreement, etc. they have the interested party buy a domain and simply give them a copy of their website!!

So you paid for a website and you care about SEO, so you then give away your site and hurt your ranking!? For everyone who thinks this is a good idea, get a pen… now write down I D 10 T… got it?

In response, we have striven to run as lean as possible. This required some heavy soul searching and in turn we improved all of our processes across the board. Who does this benefit? You!

Last week I watched the most entertaining 2 hours of C-SPAN ever when Capitol Hill grilled Detroit’s Big 3. Each month our sales get stronger and the economy gets worse. Donald Trump said he makes more money in a bad economy than in a good one. This phrase has stuck with me since; I just hope that if we can make money now, then when things improve. The sky is the limit!

Whatever your company is not currently tracking, you are losing money on at this very moment! This idea, mindset, strategy has been adopted and implemented here at Actualize Marketing painstakingly over the past few months.

Initially there was no visible return on our efforts, but now that the summer has hit full swing the results are rolling in with Actualize hitting well above it’s weight. We have increased sales, lowered turn around time, increased our service offerings, added new clients and taken on bigger projects, all at a reduced cost, yet while improving our margins so we can save our clients more money than ever, while we earn even more than before. Think Win-Win! Take the time to get reorganized now! Contact us today and we’ll get you on the right track!

When we setup our business license I spent hours on the phone with city and state representatives discussing our make up and service offering there were so many variables to be taken into account. At one point, I had to send the state a fully detailed report on all of our services, type of planned transactions, etc. After waiting for over 3 weeks I got a cut and paste response that resolved absolutely nothing! However, now I had their words in writing.

There is so much gray area with marketing, consulting, and the internet that it is easy to understand why it is hard for the government to tax us, but also their reason for trying to pass legislation so that they can tax us! They know the money is slipping through their fingers.