Talking with some customers it seems that some of them have what I would call “Billing Reticence”, an unnatural and unhealthy aversion to getting their bills out. Since PositiveWare has eliminated the technical and administrative difficulty of putting a bill together there has to be something else at play that keeps users from getting their bills out.

Here are some thoughts and tips to make you more comfortable with billing.

Before anything, now (I mean right now) get your calendar out and make an appointment with yourself to do your bills. Keep the appointment.

A new freelancer coming from a job is likely to be a little uncomfortable with the change in the magnitude of dollars at play. In the extreme case of a client who buys all your time, and perhaps that of one or more subs, you could be looking at an invoice that is ten times your last paycheck. So how do you handle a big invoice? For starters, the same as a small one.
-Make sure it is accurate, for rate, time and time period.
-Make sure it has the level of detail the client expects. (Don’t know what the client expects? Ask them. They will appreciate the question.)
-Including expenses? Make sure to supply supporting documentation. Here’s how to track expenses in PositiveWare.
-Make sure to include payment information (who to pay) and term (when to pay)

Ok, so the invoice is together. Why not send it?
-Is the client going to be surprised? This is never good. The best way to handle this is to call the client ahead of time, with a bit of a warning. Nobody likes surprises.
-Do you not deserve to be paid? A few of us out there are so self-deprecating and self-effacing that we don’t really think we deserve it. A little bibliotherapy is in order. Try The Virtue of Selfishness or perhaps Free Agent Nation.
-Don’t know how to handle the money? Solve this problem when you have the money, because until you send the bill you don’t have the problem.
-Think you’re above handling money, or in it for the art? Seriously? Get a job at the Post Office and pursue art as a hobby, because this probably won’t work for you.

Next Time: I hate tracking time, so my bills are late.

http://www.fluidapp.com/

This little utility will allow you to create standalone apps for PositiveWare, Google Calendar, IloveToFly.com and whatever other websites you frequent.

It’s great b/c when you’re in Safari and ILoveToFly.com crashes Safari, you don’t lose your PW session.

At my Strategic Coach meeting on Tuesday one of the activities was to list the largest frustrations, and develop action plans for eliminating these frustrations. After not a lot of reflection I found that I was frustrated by the fact that not all the vendors drink the Kool-Aid.

What I mean by this is that if I am working with a firm that is within my target market, I expect them to use PositiveWare and champion it. If they find they can’t do this why are they taking my money? It is sort of as if I published a newspaper and the ink supplier read the competing newspaper.

Is this churlish?

So I have an action plan to ensure that my vendors are true believers, or are gone.

Reporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”

Mr. McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”

(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)

Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”

Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”

Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”

See blog.

The Bawmann Group, a PositiveWare client, reports new client wins.

Working with clients yesterday I learned a little more about how to help people get the most out of what PositiveWare offers. We claim to help end users know what they are working on, how they are doing, and why it is important. But that can only be true if the information for the why is captured up front. The client was planning their marketing activities for the rest of the year, and pouring out an aggressive calendar of activities including pr, web, tradeshow, telesales, and so on. But the why of these activities was missing. Why go to these tradeshows, what do we hope to accomplish, and so on. By asking one or two additional questions and probing a little deeper the plans in PositiveWare become richer, more interesting, and more meaningful, and everyone knows how to organize their activity around the goal.

On the set of Wingmen For Life Thursday I had the opportunity to watch a talented filmmaker, Kenneth Wajda, lead a group of local actors through a script developed by the Air National Guard to promote suicide prevention. The script deals with the struggle of a husband to cope with his wife’s disability and was very moving.

A couple of images from the set:

ANG Chiefs of Safety,

Do you think the enemy cares if our Airmen die in battle, on the highway, at
the bottom of a lake, or by their own hand? The end result is the same. We
lose a brother or sister Warfighter, and the enemy gains a keen advantage in
the Global War on Terror.

As we enter this statistically higher risk period between Memorial Day and
Labor Day, take this opportunity to consider hazards outside the formal
lanes of safety… Hazards like bad decision-making, preventable human
error, substance/alcohol abuse, depression, poor nutrition and fitness,
fatigue, and lack of self-discipline. All of these hazards and others like
them are underlying human factors killing our Airmen. Consider these
additional challenges:

1. Evaluate the specific risks to YOUR people, performing YOUR missions,
operating YOUR equipment, living and working in YOUR communities… and then
tailor YOUR programs accordingly. Most of our Airmen fatalities occur
outside the gates. Don’t be satisfied with a status quo rehash of last
year’s efforts. Take ownership and act.

2. Attack the tough issues and take a Wingman with you. Human issues kill
our Guardsmen on and off duty. People generally don’t like to talk about
these things. But we must. Our NGB staff put together some assessment and
mitigation tools to help you do just that, collected on www.RealBase.org
, which we’ll update throughout the summer.

3. Don’t tolerate turf-fighting. We can only win if we all participate and
help each other, sometimes ignoring “lanes” and “rice bowls”. Be the chief
marketer and chief negotiator for safety and risk mitigation. Make it their
idea. It is reported that President Reagan had a sign on his Oval Office
desk that said, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go
if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

4. Lead by example in promoting a Wingman Culture throughout the ANG. Talk
to your folks about how to be a good Wingman and how to practice good
personal risk assessment. Show them through your work and your example.
Reward those who call “Knock It Off”, whether in the air, on the flightline,
at the Security Forces shack, or out in the civilian community.

Finally, don’t go it alone. Engage the chaplains, the flight docs, the
maintainers, the engineers, the cops, the families, the Army Guard (for
goodness sake!) and the local community. Turn your Wingman Culture into a
1000-person Red Flag gorilla package and prosecute this fight. Your life,
and your Wingman’s life, literally depend on it.

From the wires, Japanese researchers have found that receiving praise lights up the same part of the brain as receiving cash. Managers have known this for a long time, that praise carefully and sincerely delivered is as good as cash. Indeed cash can totally mess up a system that is working well otherwise.

See the article