DISQUS

Looks great, Ben. Apparently you, Andy, and Rick got is all worked out while I slept.

Don't you guys ever sleep? ;)

Great point, Andy. I definitely didn't miss yours the first time I visited, and thought, "what a great idea."

Looks nice, Ben. I like the clean look. I agree with Char about the pictures. Also, though I run a higher res, I tend to keep my sidebar open in FF making the viewing area smaller, so I get the vertical scroller too. That loses your 3rd column, so you might want to move your subscription stuff to the second column, and keep "less critical" stuff in the 3rd.

Just my $0.02... anyway :)

Hey Ben - I appreciate all the link love - even though it seems to involve nuts a lot lately :)

As a self-employed person, knowing when and how to fire bad customers is important. It can affect so many areas of your business, that how you handle it can really impact you and your work.

Thank, Ben - Good to see you know where yours are :)

Great post, Ben. With 3 girls, the youngest not yet 2, I know where you're coming from.

We were fortunate that just putting PJ bottoms or bloomers on with their nightshirts worked as a deterrent. We have friends that use full footie PJ's because they're harder to get off during the night.

We even resorted to using Little Swimmers instead of regular diapers for a short time. No tape, and harder for them to get off.

Your analogies are spot on. "No one is sick. No one died." That's a great way to look at things, both in business and in life.

Thanks, Phil, neither can I :)

Just kidding. I'm excited and have a million ideas. As a GNM listener, it's pretty cool to be on the other side.

Now, if I can just get Ira Glass to return my calls about subbing for him.

I'm with Nneka and Denise. I get almost all of my ideas for articles, posts, and cartoons while out walking the dog. Sometimes it's from something I see (like my post for today on rainbows and weekends) or other times it's from the Zen-like quality of being out in nature and moving. I call it meditative action – mind at peace, body in motion.

And especially when it's cool. I could generate tons of material on long walks during the fall.

That's a great way of looking at it, Ben. Ideas are like any raw material. By themselves, they might not have a lot of value. But put them in the hands of an artisan, in this case an entrepreneur, and you end up with a work of art.

You make some really great points Ben. One thing I've found is that clients who focus the most on price tend to be the ones to look out for. If they continue to beat you up regarding price, there are usually other issues. It may be hard, but sometimes it's better to just let them go to a cheaper company.

I've also had a few experiences where the same client who wanted a cheaper price ended up coming back, after they saw what kind of quality you get for cheap.