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Quote: Wozniak's advice for company founders

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First of all, try to have the highest of ethics and to be open and truthful about things, not hiding. If you have to hide something for company reasons, at least explain what you’re doing. Don’t mislead people. Know in your heart that you are a good person with good goals because that will carry over to your own self-confidence and your belief in your engineering abilities. Always seek excellence: make your product better than the average person would.

If you can just quickly whip something out and it’s done, maybe it’s time, once in a while, to think and think and think, “Can I make it better than it is, a little superior?” What it does is not necessarily make the product better in the end, but it brings you closer to the product and your own head understands it better. Your neurons have gone through the code you wrote, or the circuits you designed, have gone through it more times, and it’s just a little more solidly in your head, and once in a while you’ll wake up and say, “…I just realized a bug that’s in there, something I hadn’t thought of.”

Or, if you have to modify something, or add something new, you can do it very quickly when it’s all in your head. You don’t have to pull out the listing and find out where and maybe make a mistake. You don’t make as many mistakes. Just believe that what you have it better than whatever has existed before. We should only move forward in technology and not backwards.

Lack of tools: find a way to do it. If you say, “I have to have a tool, ” and you are a prima donna – “I have to have a certain development system” – if you can’t fitter out a way to test something and get it working, I don’t think you’re the right type of person to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs have to keep adjusting to … everything’s changing, everything’s dynamic, and you get this idea and you get another idea and this doesn’t work out and you have to replace it worth something else. Time is always critical because somebody might beat you to the punch.

– Steve Wozniak, cofounder Apple Computer (taken from Founders at Work)

A guide for working with customers as a service-based business

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Several small tech companies just like us (teams of less than 15, service-based, and working hard to build their businesses) have shared some of their problems with me recently. One company is trying to collect $15k that a client owes them. Another firm’s client keeps moving scope on them and delaying the project, which prevents the startup from getting project sign-off and final payment. These are serious problems for companies whose founders and employees depend on this cashflow to keep the lights on and put food on the table.

We have learned some lessons here at Elias by reading prolifically about project management and unfortunately by dealing with a couple of difficult client situations. While we are by no means experts, I think there are a few basic principles that could save service-based firms a lot of pain:

1. Be picky about who you do business with.

I read somewhere that “people, when given the option, do business with people they like” (paraphrased). Early on, we took clients out of desperation because we needed to generate cashflow. This led to unhealthy business relationships that we later regretted. Now we only work with clients that we like. If a member of our team gets a bad feeling after speaking with a prospective client then we turn down the deal. Period. We may miss out on some cash in the short term, but I think we save ourselves a lot of pain in the long run.

2. Frame the relationship.

I made up this phrase to communicate part of my objective to deliver fantastic client interactions that create raving fans. Conflict arises in any relationship when expectations go unmet (that goes for you and your client). So you can either a) attempt to meet all of the client’s voiced and hidden expectations or b) frame the expectations upfront yourself so that they know what they will get and, equally important, not get. Seth addressed this concept in a recent post on customer service.  We are working to implement packages of services to make it easier on online retailers and their agencies who are trying to navigate a confusing market of Magento development firms. Learn more about how to handle hard customers with these tips https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2014/02/funny-sales-quotes.html

3. Understand the root problem.

Businesses are made up of people; and people are not perfect. That includes you. Service-based companies have to approach situations objectively and at times be a little introspective. Avoid passing blame to the client while at the same time being careful not to completely blame yourself. Conflict is a 2-way street.

4. Think “Proactive”.

50% of being proactive requires simple communication. If you are asking yourself, “I wonder if I should tell the client (insert issue),” then the answer is “yes” 99% of the time. We had a server go down a couple of weeks ago which affected a handful of clients. A few clients didn’t even seem to notice, but we sent them an email anyway to let me know what happened and that everything was fine now. Simple transparent communication. My only regret is that we didn’t take a minute to send the note earlier to everyone (we were so focused on resolving the problem that we didn’t think to make a blanket announcement until after our team resolved the problem). This mentality also applies to budget on the frontend and warranty on the backend of a customer relationship. If you don’t set expectations then you must work with the client’s expectations.

Remember that businesses are comprised of people. If you are a small company then be human and leave the cold, impersonal approach to the big dogs. Communicate and work with people you like. Avoid doing business with people you don’t trust. Simple wisdom like this can help you prevent a lot of the pain that no amount of project management ability could avoid. Now get out there and serve some customers so that you create loyal fans!

Client Feedback from Jason at VogueWigs.com

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Jason, our friend and client at VogueWigs.com, recently answered a few questions about his experience working with Elias:

Q: How would you describe your business?
A: We are an ecommerce company specializing in womens hair and beauty products.

Q: What were you using before Magento?
A: Yahoo store platform

Q: How did you find Elias?
A: Found by posting a job on the magento official site.

Q: What were you looking for when you found Elias?
A: Professional, reliable service based in the USA.

Q: Why did you choose to work with Elias?
A: Put together a package for me within budget and had a professional approach to the entire project.

Q: What impact has switching to Magento had on your business?
A: Our store just launched but hoping to save money on every transaction as Yahoo currently takes a percentage of our sales.

Q: If you were to recommend Elias to someone else, what would you say?
A: These guys have great work ethic and will definitely work with you to get what you need done.

Q: What improvements would you like to see to Magento?
A: Better product reviews system. Brand name categorization by default. Improved search! Better order management. The ability to modify an order.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell us, comment or give feedback on?
A: Was great working with you guys.

If you are thinking about working with Magento then please contact us here to discuss how Elias might be able to help you. We love working with quality clients like Jason!

How we reduced time spent on contracts to less than 5 minutes

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One of my least favorite aspects of our business is dealing with contract paperwork. I once worked for a large, incredibly sophisticated software company that required me to get a signature from clients faxed in old school style. For the best software development, do visit us.  Now I run a company comprised of 4 people who all work virtually. When we secured our first client, we used a contract that we received from my partner’s cousin, who was in law school at the time. After adding a pretty cover page and detailed requirements documentation, the thing turned out to be nearly 20 pages.

The Problem

It was such a hassle to create and send this lengthy contract that half the time I avoided it by outlining the software services via email. The problem with using email is that too many expectations are not addressed. This becomes an issue, say, when a client has another development firm make changes to your code after a job is done and then expects a refund because all of sudden it appears that something broke. Yes, contracts are a necessary evil.

Earlier this month I embarked on a mission to revamp how we do contracts. My overarching objective since joining Elias has been to create a great customer experience that converts clients into raving fans of Elias.

This is where design became important. Eric applied his designer touch and, after our attorney recommended we remove a section, got the T&C’s down to 2 pages. Add 1-3 pages of statement of work and I accomplished my goals of less than 5 pages and clear language. But I still needed to get around the pain of asking a client to print, sign, and scan/fax the executed copy to me. Our society has to deal with a fundamental problem. And that is the information overload. The Internet makes it easy to find any kind of information on virtually anything one can think of. And the same principle applies when it comes to finding the right malpractice lawyer for your case. However, on the other hand, it can be a useful resource to start your quest of finding the right attorney. Let us have a look at a the most important points you need to take into account in your decision making process. You can visit NYC Personal Injury Law Firm ASK4SAM for further detail.

Key objectives for “operation contract” included:

+ improve the experience for the customer by making it easy to do business with Elias
+ decrease the length of a contract to under 5 pages
+ make the contract language clear, especially with regard to warranty (important for software services)
+ decrease the time it would take to execute an agreement so that the focus is on the client’s project, not the legal stuff

I spent a day googling contract examples and reviewing agreements that we had received from other companies. Then I rewrote several drafts of the legal jargon until it made sense to me. This lowered the terms and conditions (T&C’s) page count from 15 to 5. Better. But still too long by the time I added a statement of work at the end to detail what each client engagement included.

contract_agreement

The Result

The best document scanner are the electronic equivalent of memory enabling us to organize, share, and preserve the information and documents that are most important to us for years to come. Duplex scanners, also known as two-sided scanners, go a step further, enabling us to scan both sides of a document simultaneously without having to manually reinsert the document the other way up.

Josh Fendley, a friend a partner, suggested I try RightSignature to sign agreements online. Their free plan lets you upload 5 docs/month and then use your mouse to sign. Now our clients receive a 3-5 page contract via an emailed link and sign the thing in less than 30 seconds with their mouse. This has revolutionized how we serve clients by allowing us to focus on the client’s business instead of spending hours adjusting and completing contracts (it literally used to take 2-3 hours to prep a contract).

If you want a copy of the contract then either comment below or drop me an email: josh[at]eliasinteractive.com

SSL in a Nutshell

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Clients frequently ask us for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate recommendations. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding SSL – everything from why they’re needed, how they work, what they do and how to install them. Let me demystify some misconceptions and answer common questions in today’s post so that you walk away with a better understanding of SSL in general.

Why SSL is Necessary for eCommerce Stores

More and more online shoppers are becoming keenly aware of the affects of identity theft, and thus most know to look for a secure connection when shopping online. Without a secure connection, you run the risk of losing customers. Shoppers want to know that the website they’re on is safe and can be trusted before they give out personal information or complete a transaction. SSL provides that security both visually in the browser and functionally behind the scenes. I began to worry about my privacy regarding my private information a few years ago, when I realized how easy it was to steal my information. Choosing the right VPN service for the needs you have is not easy but, https://internetetsecurite.ch/ has really helped me to stay secure online.

How SSL Works

I’m a visual person, so I found this graphical representation of SSL to be very helpful in understanding what’s going on behind the scenes without getting too far in the weeds with technical jargon. (Thanks to the folks at enom.com for this.)

Who’s who in the SSL world?

There are many providers out there, but three main players lead the SSL world: Verisign, Comodo, and GeoTrust. I’m confident you’ve at least seen or heard of at least one of these players. All three are perfectly fine and trustworthy providers. We have have not had a problem using any of these three providers with our customers at Elas. Choosing an SSL provider should be based on client-specific needs, so I recommend you check out this article at eHow for some tips on selecting a provider.

What is extended validation (EV)?

Think of EV as an add-on for SSL. EV is what triggers the address bar to turn green in some browsers while on a secure site. Not all browsers do the same thing, but each browser has some special visual element that indicate you are on a site with an SSL that has extended validation. Studies have shown EV to be very effective in building trust with customers. However, EV doesn’t come cheap. You can expect to pay at least $450/year for a quality certificates with EV, which can also be masked with a VPN, that are also used for different services like streaming as the disney plus which is marked as one of the most popular service now a days, yo can choose netflix امريكي to watch your favorite movies and series.

OK, so why are some way cheaper than others?

The cost of certificates varies quite a bit depending on a number of factors such as how the certificate is validated, warranty coverage, wildcard certs, brand, etc. The leading driver of cost difference is how validation occurs. There are two main ways to validate a certificate.

  1. By domain. Only verify the domain ownership of the purchaser, and thus have much faster turnaround times since none of the additional information needs to be verified. Sometimes available for implementation within minutes.
  2. By organization & extended validation. Requires the certificate authority (the company issuing the certificate, such as GeoTrust or VeriSign) to verify the purchaser’s business and their authority to purchase a certificate on behalf of that company. These are considered higher assurance certificates and are generally perceived as more trustworthy.

What benefit is there to purchasing a higher assurance certificate?

Low assurance certificates that perform domain-only verification encrypt just the connection. Higher assurance certificates perform the same encryption and provide peace of mind to customers by assuring them that the entire site belongs to a legitimate business, still we always suggest people to use a Virtual Private Network, for those who haven’t used one yet they can try AirVPN and use an AirVPN Coupon to get a discount. Google’s Android operating system has the largest installed base of smartphones around the globe with more than a billion daily active users – so it’s no surprise that has the best Android VPN apps which support the OS.

There you have it – SSL in a nutshell! This is by no means an exhaustive dissertation, but it should equip you with a working knowledge of the SSL technology that is a necessity with today’s ecommerce sites. We’d enjoy any comments or feedback from your own SSL experience and expertise. Cheers!