I came across this article today that takes a toung-in-cheek look at businesses and how they are reacting to the economy.  Any and all businesses can relate to this as reality forced itself upon us in the service sector.  Old attitudes = bad.  Work harder, longer hours and set egos aside = good.  I have a feeling this newfound spirit will last.  It certainly will for the Pilot himself.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30014675/

Well, here we are.  Another fabulous day for the market.  Many online agencies are probably still making ends meet because the drop-off in economic activity probably hasn’t affected you just yet.  But are you willing to bank on this fact?  The need for Internet-based communications will remain.  But this doesn’t mean that there won’t be changes ahead for our industry.  Have you lit a fire yet under your ass?  If not, you might want to consider doing so.  Read on..

I always appreciate good humor.  And this is a funny blog below by Jeffrey Zeldman.

20 signs you don’t want that web design project

You gotta love this one An absolutely brilliant mash-up that anyone in the industry can appreciate.

It is very important to speak your mind as an industry professional.  Case and point, a client comes to you and asks you, ‘What do you think about our current website?’ (or campaign material, print, video..etc).  The client may be considering having their site redesigned even though they are engaging you for online marketing or something else.  Well, in the past I would have probably said, “Well, I think there are some good things about this site, the designer did this well, did that well, but it might benefit to do ‘this’ or ‘that’.” This method constitutes the ‘politically correct’, on-the-fence, no-balls way of saying things.  Going this route as a professional can be just as bad as ‘acting a fool’.

Now, on the other side of the spectrum, if you say something like, “You’ve got to be kidding me, this is a freakin’ joke - who’s the Jack-ass that built this application (or designed this)?.  Take either of these routes and you just shot yourself in the foot.  Read on…

Have you ever noticed that when you speak to a client their lives (and schedules) are always busier than yours?  In fact, every person I run across in this industry inevitably (in their mind) is busier than me.  This being said, they automatically assume that you should work with their schedule - and in the end you are a lesser being.  I listed this as one of the last industry truisms in a previous post.. but wanted to touch on it just a bit further.

I just had to post, and analyze this recent lead...shame on me.

“I am looking for someone to help me with a company I’m starting… I posted the following on Guru, is this something that you do also?”

“I am starting a #### service company. I need a new site that will effectively get my message out to potential customers.  The site design will need to be excellent and I require someone who can come up with several different excellent homepage designs for me to choose from. The company/website name has not been picked yet but will be shortly...”

Designers, and Developers alike have to fight the tendency to get bitter over time.  Why?  In our industry, it’s easy to get stepped on, kicked when you’re down, and turned turned into a slave.  Furthermore, the process can easily repeat itself if you don’t choose your clients correctly.  And sometimes, even when things do seem to be going ok, Murphy’s law can kick into effect.  So if we combine Murphy’s laws with some industry ‘truisms’ we get something that looks like the following…

Careful now.  I just received an email today where the potential client seems to be in a major hurry to get a quote.  Yes, I know everyone wants their quote yesterday, but it’s always a little odd for me to receive the rush act via email (Red Flag #1).  She is asking for a quote on a large, several page brochure design, copywriting and photoshoping and she says that ‘her company’ is in need of this.  Well, my little Princessant - let’s let’s see what Mr. P. Diddy Google has to say about your name…

We’ve all been there.  Whether you are in Video, Web, Graphic Design, Marketing..etc, we’ve all been in scenarios where we just couldn’t understand what the heck was going on with the client.  Perhaps it was a project that you had long ago - one that made you think of doing things to the person on the other end of the phone that you only see in a Hollywood movie.  Or perhaps you got yourself into a nice little legal battle because your client wanted more than they paid for.  Or better yet, maybe your point of contact at said company was new there, and trying to make a name for themselves?  Whatever the situation, I know there are some good stories out there and we’d like to hear them.