Billing Like You Are Running Your Own Business

I just attended our company consultant yearly seminar.  Every year, we have multiple speakers and our company top performer is on the list this year.  Let's call him Joe.

One of the trick that Joe shared is value billing. 
Eg: A client approaches him with a problem and a report can be developed to provide information to the client. Joe will sit down and ask himself the question.  "If I were the client, how much is this report worth to me? How much value will it add to my business?" 
If it is worth 10 hours, he bills 10 hours.

I agree with his concept.  If you go to a specialist, you pay for the price because you are paying for the expertise.

It gets more interesting here.

A client approaches him with a problem and he thinks a program needs to be developed. He thinks it is worth 30 hours.  He goes to our company programmer John and ask how much it will take to develop the program.
John : "This program will take 15 hours"
Joe : "Can you do it with 12?"

As you can see, Joe is negotiating for lower cost.  Hang on, isn't it worth 30 hours?  That's right, if John agree to 12, then Joe will be earning 18 hours. 

From Joe's point of view, it is all business.  He is making money with value billing, he makes use of the resources available to him, negotiate for lower cost and earn the margin.

Anything wrong with that?  I think it is the perception.  The first thing that come to my mind is:
"What a ripped off"
"We can't trust this guy"
"He is not a team player, he is the crocodile"

Having a second thought, it is all business with this guy.

We have always been told, it is hard to close a deal, because it is a competitive market and the client is not willing to pay.  So, whenever we are asked to lower our quote, the perception is, we need to lower it to win the deal. 

So, the trick is, when you are dealing with Joe, you need to think like he is.  You are a specialist and you are going to negotiate based on what you think the product is worth. 

I am not sure whether it is going to work if every consultants in the company is practising the same, because you will be second guessing whether he is hiding the hours from you.  After all, everyone wants to meet his target and earn his commission.  If you take it personally, there will be less trust between colleagues.

It is all business and therefore, Joe is sharing his trick honestly and openly.  He is not the real crocodile, he is just running his own business.

It is an interesting topic to look at, isn't it?

Ellen and her Hawaii chair

Exercise is good, but many of us are not doing it.

Isn't it good if we can all exercise while doing our work?
Good idea, but it may not work as you expect.

I just saw this on you tube, which is on Ellen a while back.  Very very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHiqVygN-w0

Photo shots of different width

How fun, just found out that I can take shots with different width.  it can print to an A2 paper, then A3, postcard and then for email. 

YouTube Challenge - I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy (Must Watch)

This is really funny.

The challenge was for the parents to tell their kids that they have eaten all their Halloween candy.  As expected, most kids cry. 

But, there are a couple of reactions that are really really funny.  You must watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQpbzQ6gzs&feature=aso

 

Interesting Chinese Slang

Learn some interesting chinese slang.

二 (numeric 2 in Chinese)

Direct translation of 很二 = very 2... What? What? What?  What is that?

Wa ha ha... isn't that confusing.  Believe it or not, 很二 means stupid, not intelligent.

二百伍 (Two Hundren and Five)

Now, Have a guess of what 二百伍 means.

Wa Ha ha.... again, it is Stupid, not sharp or intelligent.

强 (Strong)

The word 强 alone = Strong.

It also means 好 (Good).

Do you know what 小强 means?

Guess what, it refers to cockroach.  It actually started from a Hong Kong comedy show. The 小强 is a pet of a lawyer of the comedy show.

Some text message in Chinese.

874：某人874了，翻译为某人爸被气死了 (Annoyed by father)
9494：就是！就是！ (That's right - agreeing with someone)
BMW：长舌妇女 (Big Mouth Woman , ie, Sticky Nose, Busy body)

Interesting, isn't it?

Games of Luck

When you heard about gambling problem, do you think that it will never happen to you?

The fact is, it is hard to stay sensible and it takes real sense of control when it comes to Game of Luck.

Just this week, there was a 22 mil mega draw.  Normally, I just buy Quick Pick, with minimum game, cost me less than $10.
With this 22 mil mega draw, I have decided to play Quick Pick System 9, which is equivalent to 81 games, cost me around $55.
The idea is, I only need minimum 1 number + 2 supplements, would at least get me around $12 for one win and there are 6 numbers for the combination out of the 9.

Just to be safe, I buy a normal Quick Pick of 12 games, cost me another $10.
Cool, great investment, I thought.

Believe it or not, there are 14 winners for the 22 mil, I am not one of them.  In total, there are around 1.4 mil winnders and again, I am not one of them.

How disappointing..... 

To be honest, I was a little desperate.  I wanted to change job and get some free money for buying a small property.  I got a little desperate as I have been job hunting for a while, but can't seem to find a job I like.  I am desperate to leave the current job.  In 2 months time,  it will be Company Christmas dinner, and I am not even looking forward to that.

All this add up to the desperation, and guess what, I thought I cannot be that unlucky. 

No, no, no......  That is the self-created trap. 

Keep in mind, you can try your luck... but, if you get suck into encouragement of winning small $ and then hoping for the Big Windfall, before you know, you would have spent too much.

Just a small calculation. $10 * 52 weeks = $520, $50 * 52 = $2600, which covers nearly 2 months of groceries.

So, think again.

Are people as nice as they seem to be

I have worked in the current company for > 5 years.  People come and go, just not my turn yet.

I have not been very happy with current work environment because I believe there is a lot of handballing and my colleague are not as nice as they are seen.

I found being put on the spot by someone who everyone thinks he is nice and willing to help.

Bernard is an experience consultant and has been promoted to a manager within 2 years after joining the company. He is well presented, excellent consultant and Mr Nice in everyone's eyes.

I was never involved in the implementation project for client XYZ. One day, I was invited by Bernard to sit in a meeting for a presentation of an accounting systems to a client's management. 

During the meeting, the following conversation took place.

Financial Controller (FC): Bernard and I have been working on this sales report and we are combining information A, B C into one.

Director: I need the budget information to be included.  When I can have it?

FC: Bernard, when can we have it.  This week?

Bernard: I am working on it and will make it available soon.

FC: Do you think it will be available this week?  Can we have it on Friday?

Bernard: Jenny(me) and I are working on it. 

FC: So, Friday is ok?

Bernard:  Jenny... what is your schedule, do you have time to look into it?

Me????? What is that to do with me???
I just look at him, silent, and then I said, let's see.

Anyway, at the end of the meeting, I said " Bernard, if you need me to look at the report, I may be available in 2 days time, I will try to finish off the job on my hand now and try to make myself available."

Bernard: That's ok, I should be able to handle that. 

What ????  So, he does not need help.....   just try to hand the ball to someone to save his bloody own skin.

Since then, I am annoyed to see my boss and others still thinking high on him.  He is still handling client XYZ, he is still doing well with all the billable hours, he still can handball when he does not like to do certain things.  Guess what, there are people who still pick up the ball.


You know what.... in ideal world, the perfect man will be liked and successful.
In the real world, you can get away if you have good relationships with the right people.

Bloody disgusting.