## ODonnellWeb – Tag Business

Entrepreneurship

Posted on 12/22/2023 in misc • Tagged with Business, Economics

Leaving this here so I can find it later.


Continue reading

About Your Streaming Music Service

Posted on 03/04/2023 in misc • Tagged with Music, Internet, Business

Your Spotify subscription is about to get much more expensive


Continue reading

We tried Hello Fresh

Posted on 03/27/2022 in misc • Tagged with Food, Business

We tried Hello Fresh


Continue reading

Southwest Air is Lying to Us

Posted on 03/13/2022 in misc • Tagged with Travel, Business

Southwest Air is Lying to Us


Continue reading

It won't be a five minute interruption

Posted on 02/27/2019 in misc • Tagged with Business

Professor Gloria Mark ran a study to determine the impact of the constant stream of interruptions that we call work in 2019. On any given day I've got emails, phone calls, text messages, Slack messages, Zoom calls, Google Drive notifications, and Jira or Confluence notifications that can demand my attention …


Continue reading

Nobody Cares About Your Content

Posted on 02/21/2019 in misc • Tagged with Business, Internet

I don't produce content. Nobody cares about content.

  • I write stories.

  • I share photos.

  • I rant

  • I make a point

  • I try to be funny

  • And yeah, occasionally I even troll.

So please don't invite me to consume, share, or otherwise interact with your content. I don't care about content …


Continue reading

Personal Branding is BS

Posted on 02/18/2019 in misc • Tagged with Business, Internet

Brands are imaginary constructs. Proctor and Gamble has 32 laundry detergents that have mostly the same chemicals in them. Branding is how they convince you to pay more for Tide. Branding is why you pay $3 for a coffee at Starbucks when the $1 coffee at Wawa is actually better …


Continue reading

Welcome to Walgreens

Posted on 02/07/2019 in misc • Tagged with Business

Am I the only person that gets annoyed by the employees at Walgreens (and I think CVS does it too) shouting "Welcome to Walgreens" at you as you enter the store? I'm not a monster, so if somebody greets me I feel obligated to acknowledge them. And that means I …


Continue reading

3 Aspects of Trust

Posted on 01/23/2019 in misc • Tagged with Business, Sales

Trust. What does that word really mean? We use it all the time, both in a business sense and in a personal sense.

You trust that your boss has your back. You trust that your spouse would never intentionally hurt you.

Professor Glen Urban from MIT breaks trust out into …


Continue reading

The Yellow Freight Sales Call

Posted on 01/16/2019 in misc • Tagged with Sales, Business

A while back we got a voice mail from a sales rep at Yellow Freight that was so bad in every possible way that I just had to document it here. This is a lesson on what NOT to do on a cold call.

The voice mail was about 90 …


Continue reading

Nobody should have 90 percent of the book market

Posted on 12/13/2018 in misc • Tagged with Amazon, Books, Business

Image of tweet from DHH

This tweet, from one of the founders of 37 Signals and Basecamp, is in reference to their new book, It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work.

Those sales numbers are obscene, even for a book whose built in audience is probably slightly more likely to buy from Amazon than …


Continue reading

Price Gouging By Eli Lilly

Posted on 07/06/2018 in misc • Tagged with Health, Business

Glucagon Chart

We stopped by the pharmacy today to pick up a new Glucagon shot for my wife. Her old one was about 3 years past the expiration date and her doctor said they really do start to lose effectiveness after 3 years.

The retail price is $443.00

Glucagon is a …


Continue reading

McNamara's Fallacy

Posted on 04/29/2018 in misc • Tagged with Business, Facebook, Twitter

Help Wanted sign

The entire attention economy is based on the idea that "engagement" (whatever that is) has some monetary value. Likes and favorites are worth something, and thus brands are willing to spend big bucks on Twitter and Facebook ads. Well, some brands. Proctor & Gamble is not convinced.

What if the entire …


Continue reading

The Attention Economy

Posted on 04/29/2018 in misc • Tagged with Business, Facebook, Twitter

Help Wanted sign

The entire attention economy is based on the idea that "engagement" (whatever that is) has some monetary value. Likes and favorites are worth something, and thus brands are willing to spend big bucks on Twitter and Facebook ads. Well, some brands. Proctor & Gamble is not convinced.

What if the entire …


Continue reading

Open Availability

Posted on 04/23/2018 in misc • Tagged with Employment, Business

Help Wanted sign

The WaWa near me has had a "help wanted" sign on the door pretty much since the day we moved to Richmond back in November. The job pays $10+ and hour, all shifts available. No more than 29 hours a week though, because, benefits. . . . .

Open availability only.

If you are …


Continue reading

Stop blaming the prospect for your poor prospecting skills

Posted on 08/23/2017 in misc • Tagged with Sales, Business, LinkedIn

cold calling image

There is type of post that seems to be particularly popular on LinkedIn. It's generally written by a salesperson or recruiter (same thing really), and the post is a rant about how rude some prospect or candidate was in rejecting their offer. The comments quickly fill up with other sales …


Continue reading

I think I had this job once. Or twice.

Posted on 02/15/2017 in misc • Tagged with Books, Business, Internet

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons

Another budget Kindle special. Dan, a 52 year old unemployed journalist, gets a PR job with pre-IPO Hubspot. Hilarity ensures, mostly in Dan's telling of the mismanaged disaster Hubspot is. I always though that software was BS, so I wasn't …


Continue reading

HGTV is Evil

Posted on 02/06/2017 in misc • Tagged with TV, Business

Puppies

Before I get into this I have to admit that I partake of way more of HGTV's evil than is probably healthy. So why do I think HGTV is evil?

Every show on that network is basically selling the idea that your life is not good enough as is, and …


Continue reading

Friends with pricetags

Posted on 01/08/2017 in misc • Tagged with Parenting, Business

McDonalds play area

Today’s Washington Post has this completely absurd story about a woman in DC that has turned a neighborhood playgroup into a $300,000 a year business.

Seriously?

I totally get the desire of parents with young kids to meet and connect with other parents with similar aged kids. Been …


Continue reading

Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer

Posted on 09/03/2016 in misc • Tagged with Books, Business

Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer by Liam Veitch

Liam is a web developer who failed at freelancing, retreated to a cushy corporate gig for a few years, then armed with what he learned about how to run a business, gave freelancing another shot, this timing growing it to a $1 …


Continue reading