Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Are you a Thumbtack user? I mean, have you logged in and put in a request and received service? I am wondering how your service job went. Can you take a moment and comment below? I have my reasons for wanting to know. I am using Thumbtack to help support our marketing and I’m not 100% sure if I’m into it or not. It seems like a bidding war and the client may end up not getting the best company that fits their issues, just because of price. When it comes to computer repair, there are many levels of repair and who is doing the repairs. I’ll explain.
If you go on a service bidding site such as Thumbtack.com, you ask for quotes and let’s say you get one for $20, $40 and $60. If you go with the $20 technician, you are really going for the price, or did you review the company and check out their website, read other reviews and put time into hiring this company? When I go out shopping, I try to go by the price too, but I have learned the cheapest service is not always the best. Been burned I guess, and I have learned! I pay a higher amount of money to my credit card processing company for two reasons…Easy to use and easy to call in and get support. Those two things are super important to me.
My computer support and repair company is not the cheapest in town, but are far from the most expensive. We have a responsive fast customer service team and deliver results. I believe this makes us worth a bit more because of “expected results”.
I guess what I’m getting at is that I don’t know if want to keep paying on bids for jobs and give Thumbtack.com more and more money…to not win the lowest price jobs. What are your thoughts on this?
Consumer and service companies opinions welcome.
If you learned from this blog, please share it!
If you found this post via a Google search, you are probably having issues and need help now. If you are a business, call me at 612-865-4475 and let’s get this figured out now. If you want to continue reading, see if this helps!
As an Outlook “expert”, I deal with many clients on a daily basis with Outlook issues–oh yea, it’s awesome and very robust but she can break but it’s not always her fault. I fix Outlook for a living… I configure new apps, show users shortcuts, help them clean up their 1000’s of emails, repair broken files, etc. I’m busy! Well, sometimes new apps show up and I have to do the “On Demand Learning Technique” (which is learn while I troubleshoot) and figure stuff out fast. These apps all have different ways of working and with so many different types of computers & devices (Mac,Windows, iPhones, iPads, Tablets, etc)…it’s a job just keeping up.
One thing I have learned in the past 2 weeks is that my business clients are not so happy with the iCloud and Outlook, not so much. They are thrilled to figure out that iCloud does some amazing synchronizing and they are in love with their wolf pack of technology, but after they have let the giddiness settle….then comes the realization that the Outlook calendar trumps iCloud. And unfortunately, it sends clients to me to help with alternative synchronizing methods. iCloud just doesn’t deliver with calendaring options for business. Fortunately I am extremely talented with the Outlook program and am catching these issues more quickly for the clients.
Examples of problems you may encounter (and just Google this, you will find many more)
iCloud may also select a random default calendar for you. Depending on how many emails accounts you have and PST files, depends on which one it picks. You may be inviting people or recieving calendar invites from and for the wrong accounts (If you manage many) If you don’t know how to manage it, it will be messy to clean up.
iCloud is free, the good tools that allow you to continue to manage Outlook in the manner you have for years, is not. I guess it comes down to how robust you are with Outlook and how many changes you are willing to make, sacrifice or have to learn.
If you want to learn about an alternative way to synchronize your world, you can try these tips I found from Geek in the Forest.
If you want help now with your Apple and Outlook synching, call us and get on my calendar. 612-865-4475
Most simple blog in the world, if you are concerned about your Java allowing in viruses, please update it! Or disable it, or uninstall it.
Updating it is what Oracle, Java recommends. That’s the simple answer to this. Here is their release…http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/alert-cve-2013-0422-1896849.html
Here is where you can download it.
According to Oracle, the owners of Java…
Java SE 7 Update 11 Released
By Tori Wieldt on Jan 13, 2013
Java…everyone by now has probably heard of the latest Java Exploit (the security hole that could allow malware and viruses into your computer). It started a couple of weeks ago and I have been reading online about it and wasn’t sure if I should newsletter this or not, or even blog about it. This happened last summer too and I actually put out a newsletter about it and it caused somewhat of a social media panic. Some folks got hit, but the majority DID NOT.
Yes, it’s very important to keep your software up to date. But what happens with a 3rd party software app like Java or Adobe (that you need on your computer to help it just run nicely) have holes and security issues? You have to spend time to remove them, disable them or reinstall them. And with not many realiable news sources, it’s hard to keep track of the “Official things to do”! Even from a “Professional Technical Point of View”.
So you go to the Java website http://www.java.com there is NOTHING about this exploit on their main page.Then you have to go to Google and see what’s going on. I Google “Java exploit” and I found this”
New Java exploit sells for $5000 on Black market (this tells me as the end user of Java nothing really)
What??? Ok, so it’s selling now and still…what are we to do with the damn thing? Doesn’t tell us. So I hit on Mashable and found this dated Jan 13th…..
http://mashable.com/2013/01/13/java-exploit/
How come I have to find out about this from Mashable? What about on the Java.com site! This frustrated technician is somewhat concerned about the message delivery methods from Oracle (who owns Java). Btw…it also took me 4 links deep to finally find the official security release on this exploit. haha…they didn’t of course send you back to the java.com site to just do what you should do, Update your Java to the newest version! It’s really a bunch of techno mumble jumbo, it’s not easy for me to even read through the tech talk….so how will the average computer user read it?
Welcome to my short series on the Top 10 IT services your business needs! This is a great time of year to review your IT budget and figure out where things are missing or going wrong and get them fixed asap! If you are not working at a proficient level, you are suffering due to technical band-aids ands and fears of things costing too much. Getting small glitches fixed is the best way to stay efficient.
If your IT support company is not providing the list of offerings above, then you are maybe not working with the right company for your IT needs. If you are using a family member or a friend of a friend type of IT consultant and they are not supporting your businses during the work day, you might be suffering a wee bit, but most folks who have this type of support are usually happy, until something goes wrong or when something bad happens.
I think the most important factor here when considering a company to chose is for you to create your wish list of services and go check out their website and see what they have to offer. If after you can see everything on their website, email or call in for a consultation over the phone.
I recommend hiring an IT company to have in your pocket and stay consistent using them. You can find new company many ways. Ask a friend, Google support companies or look in the Yellow Pages. Before you decide, do your homework. Call That Girl already offers everything listed above, so of course I recommend you call us when you are interviewing. I have to promote my own company, but I do try to insure my blog readers get the best value when it comes to information.
Happy New Year and let us know if we can help! Subscribe to this blog if you want to read the next 9 Top Services.
Email us Info@callthatgirl.biz or call in at 612-865-4475
Incorporating Social Media Marketing with your business website is critical these days. Today Facebook has grown to be a worldwide phenomenon and any business enterprise will earn publicity and gain popularity from a Facebook page. Since this page is a bit different from a usual personal profile, Fan Pages that Sell is happy to share with you how to create a Facebook page for your business, no matter how big or small it is. Or hire us, we are happy to create a custom Facebook Business Page for your company.
We also offer the following items a la carte:
Click here to view a slideshow
Please email info@fanpagesthatsell.com to learn more today!
Is your company living in the 1990’s in regards to technology? It might be if you are reading this and if you are…you are not alone. We see this almost on a daily basis with our clients. Once a client calls in for a minor computer issue, we insure to interview all business clients and find out that most if not all are missing the boat on what they could be doing in regards to getting onboard with new technology. Let’s review the big list and you can see where your company is falling short.
Professional email account (Not Susiescookies@yahoo.com). If you are living off of free email accounts for your business, it’s time to put down a few bucks and get that website as well and get your company into the land of other companies. Comcast accounts don’t count either, those are about just as bad. From a technical point of view, you are paying for that account, but it doesn’t count. Put up the money and get your business aligned right in email and website branding. Buying domains (the company name.com) is super cheap and it usually comes with an email account, so the cost at this point is mute. To find out if your company name is available and get pricing click here.
Company Email Ok, so let’s say you’re in the clear and have your own domain and you’re all set with company email. But…you are finding you’re having issues in a few other ways. Your smartphone isn’t synching right or you’re having problems with your contacts and calendar not working, or even worse…you’re still on Pop3 (very old). You have 2-3 choices on how to change up how your email works, some are fairly cheap and some are a bit more costly, but worth the money.
File Sharing One of the biggest headaches for any small company. Stop the emailing of documents back and forth to each other and stop worrying about what version of the document is recent, start using Dropbox for your team. The free version is a great tester for you to see if you can utilize it well, but most people and companies can…so you will want to upgrade to the large space and use it for everything, like we do at Call That Girl. Click here to try Dropbox for free. It’s definately a game changer!
Company chat & communications If your company is now texting each other on their personal cell phones to talk faster, it’s a sign you need Google Chat. This tool from Google is nice, and you can install it on your smartphones for those that do need to chat on their phones. You can also send files and keep up on who’s doing what. Simply put, you can control what your employees are chatting about with this over texting. Creating company accounts on Google or using Google apps are just two ways to set it up.
Online backup we saved the best for last of course! Those little scary words “backup” usually catch a client stopping short. If you do not have a backup plan in place, please call us. We can help you make affordable choices here. If you have one, but are not sure if it’s working, please call us, we can help verify that those boxes you had intalled years ago are working still or how they are backing up. Worse…if you have nothing in place, now is the time!
If you would like a free consultation, please email me at lisa@callthatgirl.biz or call in 612-865-4475 to get on my calendar. I can create a simple proposal for you or your team for a one time setup. The only reoccuring costs you will have is the products on a yearly basis.
Lisa
