Phil Lauterjung

Archive for the ‘Etc’ Category

I have been in the midst of doing considerable research for a new business venture.  As part of that research I have looked at dozens and dozens (maybe more, I’ve lost track) of small business web sites.  I have found it to be terribly discouraging.  Many of these web sites are doing these companies more harm than good.  Read more... (542 words, 1 image, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Over the years I have read and heard much about competing and collaborating.  I’m sure that most of you have too.

Today, Charles Green posted a very compelling article regarding these two words.  I found it to be very thought provoking and he has apparently tweaked the Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs at Harvard Business School.  I have to admit that I just love a good rowdy debate.  Read more... (496 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

A couple of weeks ago I came across a post in a LinkedIn discussion group suggesting that bloggers do something a little different today.  The idea was that we agree to post a tribute to one of the victims of the 9/11 attacks from eight years ago.  Each blogger would get a different person and if there were enough agreeable bloggers maybe there would be a post for all of the victims.

Doing this is a little more meaningful for me since this is also my wedding anniversary date; and, you can probably imagine how unusual that anniversary was eight years ago.  No dinner out, or much celebrating that day for my wife and I.  Read more... (1154 words, 1 image, estimated 4:37 mins reading time)

It’s not often that one can find 50 well-known business bloggers and their collective wisdom in one place.  Usually it takes quite a bit of time and searching all over the web.  But, thanks to to Gregory Go (Wise Bread) and the Open Forum you can.

These aren’t full blog posts, but there are some very good snippets from these 50 bloggers.  There are also links to each of their blogs in case you want to read more.  [After staying for a few minutes to read some of mine first of course ]  Read more... (917 words, 1 image, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)

Flckr - Serene Silence

Pardon the interruption, but I need to vent.  Don’t worry, I promise not to do this very often; and, this definitely has application for all of our businesses.  It relates back to a recent post – Should Customer Service be a Given? – and is from a personal experience this past weekend.

It started with a call my wife took from Citibank regarding a “problem” with a credit card account.  She couldn’t figure out what the lady was talking about so she did the next best thing and handed the phone off to me.  I’m not really sure why she did, since she has seen me in action on these types of calls before – not always a pretty sight.  Read more... (530 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

My last post was about a pet peeve of mine – customer service.  Well, here’s another one, a pet peeve that is.  Might as well keep the theme going this week.

I live in Orange County, CA and have been a member of LinkedIn since 2005; and have found it to be a valuable business network.  However, since I joined LinkedIn they say that I live in the ‘Greater Los Angeles Area.’  I have always thought that very odd since Orange County has over 3 million people and an extremely vibrant business community.  There are many  much smaller communities in California, and other states, whose residents are listed in the proper community with LinkedIn.  Read more... (532 words, 1 image, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)