Back in the day, Levi’s was THE brand of jeans to wear when I was a kid (well, those and Gloria Vanderbilt), but in recent years they’ve just sort of faded to the background.  They had some sort of western thing they were doing for a while, and they have seemed to focus a lot on their history, which didn’t make much of an impression on me.  But Levi’s has taken a new tact with their marketing, and I was rather interested to investigate what they’ve been up to as of late.

Make it about your brand
Levi’s has long said it’s jeans are for the worker, and the pioneer.  ”We are all workers” is their new slogan, and they’ve got a video series of the same name following the residents and workers in the town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, a town that Levi’s actually invested money in, to rebuild.  Braddock is an industrial town left to rot after the steel mills were closed down, but this series focuses on the “new generation of urban pioneers (that) has come with a mission- to create a new frontier from the ashes of the once vibrant town”.  With highlights of a 6′8″, tattooed late 20-something Ivy League graduate for a mayor, and stories of urban farming and the local grocery, this series is an interesting tie between brand and actual community interaction, with solid monetary support to boot.  Here at Harvest, we’ve tried to do some fun things that feed back into what our brand actually does (time tracking and invoicing), like with our community powered timepiece, The World Clock Project.

Make it relevant
During the Levi’s INK workshops, graphic design extraordinaire Stefan Sagmeister spoke about how he works, and Scott Thomas talked about how the Obama campaign changed the election process.  Levi’s brought in many artists and collaborators for designs and pieces to print: they even did a workshop in denim papermaking.  They brought local writers and designers who were absolute strangers together for a collaboration.  They made these workshops very relevant for the locals, from the latest in design and politics, to local filmmakers, writers, publishers and magazines, and they focused on timely and interesting topics for people to engage with.  We’ve put some thought toward this same type of interaction, like in 2009, when we created a SXSW Bingo game, complete with all of the big players out and about that year at SXSWi.

Make it fun
On the weekends the space hosted Open Studios, and you could sign up to make, create, and be part of the process of a print project.  They had so many options: rubber stamps, 2 large upright letterpress machines, 2 clamp letterpress machines, a zine section complete with Xerox machine for starting your own revolution, and a silkscreening area, with ample room for print drying.  The people that worked there were artists from across the country, happy to talk shop with a fellow artist, or teach the basics to a newbie.  Events at the space also offered opportunities to use the equipment.  We’ve adopted a similar tact with our Hobby series here at Harvest HQ, which gets people talking to us (and each other!) with some interesting lectures, from creating crosswords to light touring to breakdancing, and we’ve found it to be a great way for our community to see the people behind our company.

Make it local
The Bay Area workshop was just one in a series they have planned.  The tiny area of Levi’s clothing that was allotted for sales was demurely hiding in the back.  Any sales made at the pop-up shop would have a portion of the proceeds donated to one of three San Francisco-based charities.  I spoke with a fantastic letterpressing gentleman named Hunter Craighill, who not only walked us through the machines and the space, but let me know that they’d be setting up a new workshop focused on photography right here in New York City, in October.  Here at Harvest, we’re focused on keeping it local, and we organized Walkabout NYC in June 2010, which allowed people to get a sneak peak behind the scenes of their favorite New York start-ups.

I’m very interested to see what they have planned for their New York City installment of their workshop series, and furthermore, to see how Levi’s continues to grow its brand and reach in very personal, focused ways.

Use Declarative Statements Rather Than Questions

As a special New Year’s treat, I am giving you the most important tip first. When your team is dependent on asynchronous forms of communication like email or project management software, questions are deadly. Instead, state your planned course of action and finish with “please let me know if you have any concerns.”

A silent response is as good as an answer. If a colleague does have a concern with a small part of your plan, she can state it precisely and you can adjust quickly. The alternative includes lots of “What ifs” and “Do you thinks”; all questions that require the reader to load the entire problem into her head for analysis. Give her a story that shows her what is being done, and allows her to see the details and respond to only what she has questions about.

Be Concise (or bullet points are dead, long live bullet points)

Bulleted lists are death for presentations, but they turn out to be really useful for scanning action lists. List the steps you are going to take with bullets. Give a quick introduction before the list and add any details after the list.

Keep Up With the Firehose

You may be elbows deep in a difficult problem, but you still need to keep up with those upcoming projects. Keeping up with the discussion allows plans to solidify before the work needs to be done. This lets the discussion play out in the asynchronous world rather than a meeting black hole.

Chit-Chat Asynchronously

When we built Co-op, we were scratching our own itch. We needed a way to encourage team chemistry, and we often use Co-op to pass around interesting things we come across in our day, like great music, weird New Yorker articles, cool artwork, YouTube links and gadget comparisons. Co-op is a light communication tool that allows us to keep up with each other, see at a glance who is working on what, and ask questions of the team – all without the incessant interruptions of chat, or the intrusion of email.

We tried hanging out in a Campfire room for about six months, but it was too immediate for us. The pings drew us back around the campfire when we should have had our heads down, making things happen. When I asked a question, I expected an answer, so if someone else turned off the machine that goes ping, it would just leave me expectant and ultimately disappointed.  While we do use Campfire for group chat situations, Co-op provides a more background mode of communication.

When All Else Fails, Go Live

Some things just need to be communicated in real time, whether through Campfire chat, instant messaging, or a simple voice chat. Even here at Harvest we occasionally talk in realtime, be it our weekly 15-minute huddle, a problem solving meeting, or rubber ducking sessions.

We would love to hear any tips you may have for successfully communicating within your distributed team.

I’m a designer, and I have done my share of client work. I know how frustrating it can be to deal with clients at times, and I can empathize with my fellow designers. But to publicly mock the people who pay you to do your job seems to be a rather ungrateful and asinine thing to do.

Three years ago we launched Harvest, and since then we have transitioned from a web design studio to a product company. We have stopped taking on client work, and on a number of occasions, we have sat on the other side of the table and acted as The Client. Having been on both sides of the table, I’d like to offer you the client’s point of view:

We, the client, pay designers to create a usable and pretty design. You’d think it works like buying a camera: go on Amazon, add to cart, type in credit card info, check out, and a few days later you get a brand new camera at your door. Working with a designer works more like this: write a big check, meeting, answer lots of questions, review design, meeting (and it cycles a few times), write another big check. And the kicker is: if we don’t like the final design, there’s no refund. Many designs that we have invested money and time in never see the light of day. But we certainly won’t be putting up a website whining about designers or crying foul on Twitter.

Fellow designers, let’s be grateful for getting paid to do a safe and socially respectable job. Show a bit more respect for the people that write us checks (they don’t have to hire us, you know). And please, stop whining.

As a follow-up to our article in June by Harvest user Jennifer about Simplifying Your Estimated Tax Process with Harvest, we’ve got another fine customer who wrote us about a parallel, but different issue: tracking IRS business expenses.

Kevin McGee, a freelance Technology Writer and Content Developer in the Bay Area, was kind enough to share with us his step by step system of using Harvest to record and report his IRS business expenses.

A huge thanks to Kevin for sharing this detailed 3-page rundown with the rest of the Harvest community – it’s available by PDF download, with screenshots and easy-to-follow descriptions.

• Using Harvest to Track IRS Business Expenses (PDF)

We love hearing about the innovative ways people are using Harvest to meet their needs, so if you’d like to share a tip from your small business, let us know! ]]> http://www.getharvest.com/blog/2009/08/track-your-irs-business-expenses-with-harvest/feed/ 6 http://www.getharvest.com/blog/2009/07/small-business-101-dealing-with-difficult-people/ http://www.getharvest.com/blog/2009/07/small-business-101-dealing-with-difficult-people/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:05:52 +0000 Karen Schoellkopf http://www.getharvest.com/blog/?p=1019

The Small Business 101 column is where we share tips and ideas to help you work better, posing questions and finding solutions to the issues faced by the small business community.

Difficult People: What to Be on the Lookout For

There are many reasons why a client or supplier can be difficult to deal with, from a project that’s unwieldy, to personality differences.  It feels awful when a client is unhappy, and you feel drained by a project which is demanding more time and energy than you anticipated.  In “12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them” Jack Knight explains what to be on the lookout for BEFORE you start working with a certain personality, and how to safeguard yourself.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

The easiest way to prepare for any project is to clearly state expectations.  As you get more comfortable with the client, supplier, or colleague, you can relax deadlines, or pull back in other areas as needed.  Phyliss Bottome, a business coach who gives advice about difficult clients, recommends that “…the best defense is a good offense:

• Prepare extremely well defined written and verbal communications for the client.
• Express exactly what you will and will not be providing, as well as what the client is responsible for.
• Be clear about deviations from the agreed upon time frame, other changes in scope or specifications will add additional cost and time to the project.
• If you do not already, use some kind of a written change order form, which the client must sign off on before changes are made.”

You may be able to tell a client is trouble in the initial meeting for a project.  Politely and directly, you can turn the job down, as the project may cost you way more in wasted time down the road.

But what if you’re already in the middle of the project, and you and your client have reached an impasse – what do you do?

Distill Out the Real Issues from Emotions

• Take a deep breath.
• As pragmatically as possible, figure out what is standing in your way to completing the project, and write it down.
• Make a list of the things you need out of your client/supplier/colleague to continue the project (renegotiating the fee or hourly commitment, or even clearly stating that you will no longer be able to take phone calls after 9pm).
• Then take a look at yourself: Are there things you would be willing to do to get the project back on track  (ie. “I could give weekly updates of my progress”)?

Keep in mind things you might be able to do better, that perhaps you have let slide.  As in many situations in life, you sometimes have to give a little to get a little.

Make a Good Faith Effort to Get the Project Back on Track

A face to face conversation, or a simple phone call, can make all the difference in the world.  In an age where texting and emailing can be the majority of your business communication, you should allow for the reality that misunderstandings can crop up from hastily written emails, or unclear wording.  Set up a meeting, or a phone call (Skype or video conference, if possible), to address the issues.   Calmly state the problems you have identified, and a few paths to move forward.  Create an atmosphere of discussion, not accusation, and be open to hearing the other person’s concerns and ideas.  Celine Rogue advises, “Discuss the things that didn’t work out last time and propose solutions for them. It’s best to express your concerns and propose ways on how problems can be avoided this time around – without blaming each other for previous mistakes, of course.”

What have you done to get a project back on track?  How have you turned around a less-than-satisfactory business relationship?  Post a comment, and share some knowledge!

If you have articles, ideas, or insight you’d like to share from your own experiences for a future write-up, send us a tip!

Taxes can’t be described as fun, but I actually don’t mind the process of doing my estimated taxes each quarter. I made it as easy as possible on myself by doing a few things at the start of the year. First, I grabbed the 2009 1040-ES form for the IRS. Before I printed it out, I filled in the information that wouldn’t change- my name, social security number, and address- on each of the four forms. I printed that sucker as well as four envelopes with the IRS address (The address for your region is on page 6 of the 1040-ES PDF) and my return address. I’m based in Illinois, so I did the same thing for the IL-1040-ES state form (use google to find your state’s 1040-ES form). I also marked the four estimated tax due dates in my calendar to remind myself a week before-hand that they were fast approaching!

The due dates for estimated taxes as well as the timeframe for each are as follows:

• April 15, 2009 (payments received from January 1 – March 31, 2009)
• June 15, 2009 (payments received from April 1 – May 31, 2009)
• September 15, 2009 (payments received from June 1 – August 31, 2009)
• January 15, 2010 (payments received from September 1 – December 31, 2009)

Putting in this extra effort at the beginning made me feel super organized about the whole process. It allows me to grab two forms and two envelopes and start crunching some numbers. That’s where Harvest comes in!

I do my estimated taxes by payments received (instead of hours invoiced, which is another option), so each quarter I create a Payment Report by navigating to Invoices > Report > Create New Report. I check off Payments Received Report, change the timeframe to custom so that I can select the appropriate quarter dates, and leave Clients set to All.

The first time I printed a Payment Report, I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and simple it looked. It’s perfect to file for my records. I do the math right on that print out so that everything is together. I multiply the total payment by my state tax percentage (3%) and cut a check to the Illinois Department of Revenue. On the check, I make sure to note the form name (IL-1040-ES) and my social security number. I do the same thing for the IRS. The percentage for federal tax is a little bit trickier to figure out. It’s based on your income as well as if you’re filing as a single, head of household, or jointly with your spouse. There’s a handy worksheet on page 5 of the 1040-ES form to help figure out the correct percentage. I’m lucky enough to have an accountant in the family, so I also asked his advice on the right percentage for me. I err on the side of caution by overpaying now and possibly getting a tax return later rather than underpaying now and having to pay extra later.

Finally, I slap a stamp on those pre-printed envelopes and make a photocopy of the envelope, the estimated tax payment voucher form, and my personal check for both the state and federal taxes. I keep those on file with my Harvest Payment Report. And Bam! I’m ready to get back to making money!

A big thanks to Jennifer for taking the time to share her tip with the rest of the Harvest community.  We love hearing stories like this, so if you’d like to share a small business tip involving your use of Harvest, let us know!

This prompted me to think that despite the economic crisis, some service businesses still need to consider raising their hourly rates. I wondered: How is it possible to let clients know that your rates are going up, while making sure they remain satisfied clients? I decided to round up some strategies and advice to make this task a little bit easier for business owners and their clients.

Set Precedents and Expectations

Making a smooth transition to a higher rate card is all in the approach according to Susan Vaughn of 1099 who recommends these three reasons to share with clients.

The Annual-Rate-Hike Reason: “I raise my rates 10 percent each year.”

The More-For-Your-Money Reason: “I’ll be adding extra services that will greatly benefit your company.”

The Rising-Cost-of-Doing-Business Reason: “I’m keeping my fees reasonable, but I’m making allocations for increases in my overhead expenses.”

Nothing to Lose

The American Bar Association via LawBiz recommends using potential clients as a litmus test for your new rates.

Test the waters with clients you do not yet have and, therefore, are not as worried about losing. Do not tell them this is an increased rate. They will not know what the old rate was. No explanations are required.

We’re All In This Together

About.com acknowledges that no business is spared during an economic downturn and offers some advice.

From a gas crisis to a health care crisis, there may be highly publicized national issues that are impacting overall expenses for businesses. If your firm is affected by these types of costs, customers may even expect your rates to go up.

You’re Worth It

This sounds simple, but Lea Woodward of Freelance Switch explains you should recognize your value.

If you are 100% confident in the service and value you offer your clients, then you have absolutely nothing to fear from raising your rates.

Do you have tips of your own?  What have been your experiences with clients when raising your rates and what are your tips for making it a smooth?   Let us know in the comments below!

The Small Business 101 column is where we share tips and ideas from our own experiences and the small business community. If you have articles you’d like to share from your experiences for a future write-up, send us a tip!

While we now focus solely on providing the best possible experience in our products for our customers, we continue to think about ways we can help our customers succeed at their businesses outside of the time tracking and invoicing domain.  This is why we’re launching our new column, Small Business 101.

We’ve learned a lot about running our own business through the years.  By reading the blogs kept by various Harvest customers, we know many of you have also learned (and shared) the new ideas and wisdom you’ve gained along the way.   With that in mind, we’re launching this new column to further help and inspire the many organizations and individuals that use Harvest.  As we discover tips and ideas that we think would be useful for any service professional, we’ll round them up and share the thoughts with you.  We want to challenge your business thinking, promote conversations, and help push your business along to that next level, whatever that may be.

If you have any great small business & productivity resources/articles to share with the Harvest community, let us know and we’ll include it in a future installment of our Small Business 101 column!

Now let’s get down to business.  Our first installment is about How to Raise Billing Rates in a Recession.