overeasy

Love mornings before the rest of the world gets up and around. Quiet, relaxed, ....and feels like it's all mine. Up just before sunrise pretty much every day. If I miss it a little, the dog reminds me.

Love mornings before the rest of the world gets up and around. Quiet, relaxed, ....and feels like it's all mine. Up just before sunrise pretty much every day. If I miss it a little, the dog reminds me.

Wow. I've had masseurs try and kiss me. But my eyes were open so I was able to turn my head

http://www.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/gay-couple-recreated-pride-photo-nick-cardello-kurt-english-coverimage.jpg

To put it plainly. Providers of any service have the right to set their rates at whatever level they want and feel they need. Blake and Zachary have stated their favor for higher rates and the correspondingly fewer clients to pay those rates. Raise your rates 25%, lose 20% of your new clientele, you work less and make 5% more logic? Ok. I for one would move on, respecting their rights to do so, wondering about their logic, but moving on nonetheless. Economics pure and simple - nothing to do with politics. Blake takes it one step farther...seeking to have all of his competitors also raise their rates in order to protect his position in the pack...and having a lesser overall effect on his local earnings position. Marketplace will fix that notion in the long run.

To put it plainly. Providers of any service have the right to set their rates at whatever level they want and feel they need. Blake and Zachary have stated their favor for higher rates and the correspondingly fewer clients to pay those rates. Raise your rates 25%, lose 20% of your new clientele, you work less and make 5% more logic? Ok. I for one would move on, respecting their rights to do so, wondering about their logic, but moving on nonetheless. Economics pure and simple - nothing to do with politics. Blake takes it one step farther...seeking to have all of his competitors also raise their rates in order to protect his position in the pack...and having a lesser overall effect on his local earnings position. Marketplace will fix that notion in the long run.

To put it plainly. Providers of any service have the right to set their rates at whatever level they want and feel they need. Blake and Zachary have stated their favor for higher rates and the correspondingly fewer clients to pay those rates. Raise your rates 25%, lose 20% of your new clientele, you work less and make 5% more logic? Ok. I for one would move on, respecting their rights to do so, wondering about their logic, but moving on nonetheless. Economics pure and simple - nothing to do with politics. Blake takes it one step farther...seeking to have all of his competitors also raise their rates in order to protect his position in the pack...and having a lesser overall effect on his local earnings position. Marketplace will fix that notion in the long run.

To put it plainly. Providers of any service have the right to set their rates at whatever level they want and feel they need. Blake and Zachary have stated their favor for higher rates and the correspondingly fewer clients to pay those rates. Raise your rates 25%, lose 20% of your new clientele, you work less and make 5% more logic? Ok. I for one would move on, respecting their rights to do so, wondering about their logic, but moving on nonetheless. Economics pure and simple - nothing to do with politics. Blake takes it one step farther...seeking to have all of his competitors also raise their rates in order to protect his position in the pack...and having a lesser overall effect on his local earnings position. Marketplace will fix that notion in the long run.

Mariano graduated the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where I knew him for a semester. He's had his own action television show in South America for several years. Very nice guy.
 
He lives in Argentina and Beverly Hills.

Client calls to the office definitely seem to be much more off-the-wall a day or two before through a day or two after a full moon. I think bankers and folks in retail will concur....things get a little wacky around the full moon.

Artistic...but misplaced.

Artistic...but misplaced.

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There are several things at play here, but I think I have a good idea what happened, and may be able to provide some insight. Forgive me if any assumptions I make are incorrect, and certainly feel free to correct them.
 
First, to have been chewed out is not appropriate, and I’m sorry you experienced that. However, my guess is you received the brunt of a growing frustration in this service provider, and he simply snapped and you were the un-lucky recipient - it would have been whoever called him at 9 pm that night. At the same time, you received the “chew out” as a result of likely showing the same inconsideration that your computer guy has received from countless customers. Yes, customers are important, and providing service to them is crucial to business, but that often makes customers assume that only their preferences and conveniences are at play. And as harmless as it seems, it sounds like you infringed on those with this guy. (Again just offering some insight.)
 
A lot of self-employed small business owners experience this frustration. Especially service businesses where you must be flexible to the needs of customers after hours or on weekends. This often means you are always on call (or have the feeling that you are), and do not have set business hours - and even if they are set, they are routinely disregarded by your customers. (This is a result of a lot of factors including a 24/7 instant gratification society, which is a collective issue and not the fault of the customer, but it does impact expectations and that’s not the fault of either party, but I digress.) Anyhow, this feeling of always being on call creates a scenario where it is difficult to set boundaries and it is very difficult to carve out time for family, hobbies, or time to recharge personally. This is not the fault of the customer necessarily, but customers do often forget or are unaware of this and believe that their “one call” or “one request” is not an imposition - except it’s one of many - perhaps all at once. Again, no excuse for being chewed out, but it does provide insight on why I believe he snapped on you.
 
It’s easy to say “I work late a night or two a week myself, so what’s the big deal?” But in most cases that is scheduled into your week, you know it and are prepared for it, and the other nights of the week you can reliably count on NOT working and NOT being contacted. Self-employed service providers do not have this luxury and there is little predictability in their days - except that they are unpredictable - which can lead to burn out and frustration. For the most part they’re expected to be available during whatever their customer believes to be “regular business hours” PLUS whenever else might be convenient or necessary to meet the customer’s needs. See the delimma? It’s easy to say “that’s part of owning a business...or hire more help.” But often profit margins and revenue don’t allow for that, and at the end of the day it’s a person on the other end of the service and they are flawed, and reach their limits no matter how hard they try not to.
 
Calling 9 to 9 or 10 to 10 is not totally unreasonable - FOR FRIENDS or contacts where the RELATIONSHIP IS ESTABLISHED enough to warrant it, and of course in emergencies. Otherwise, I think a good rule of thumb is to limit professional calls to something much more reasonable - like 9:00 to 6:00. This will be influenced by time zones - the East Coast tends to migrate toward beginning later (opening at 9) and ending later than central time which begins business earlier (most open at 8:00) and ending earlier. Again generalizations, just pointing out yet another factor that underscores the point that it does all of us some good to reign in the belief that we should be able to call and contact anyone only based on what fits our personal lifestyle.
 
Again, forgive the presumptions. I am self employed and have to work hard to set boundaries - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I have been in that place where one more late call would have likely caused me to snap, but thankfully I sent it to voicemail instead of picking up the phone and snapping. Still, it would have been nice if the person calling would have been considerate enough to not interrupt my family time at all, and recognized that unless their need were an emergency, that they could’ve called at a more appropriate time instead.
 
This insight is also applicable to the service providers many of us discuss and engage with on this board. God bless them all!!!
 
And now that I’ve written a dissertation, I will beg your forgiveness and wish you the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest of Holidays!