business « ((little fat notebook))

Posts Tagged ‘business’

On employee benefits

laelene Posted in work，Tags: business, decisions, dof, isi, management, work

03 August 2018

The really cool thing about being at a startup as a director is that I get to be involved in some pretty important decisions about how we run the company. July was the month of sorting through some of the benefits side of things – we got the ball rolling with health insurance and 401(k) plans while discussing how to make our pay structure scalable.

As Director of Finance, a lot of what I do ends up blending in to the HR realm — which I’m totally cool with since HR is where I thought I’d be working post-MBA. I have had many lengthy discussions with the Director of Admin, who is in charge of HR and the administrative components, and our Vice President, who oversees various aspects of keeping the business running smoothly (and continually improving it).

I led the way with setting up retirement plans for our employees and it was fascinating to see how our decisions were guided by the culture we have and want. For one, it’s important to us to treat our people well and compensate them for a job well done. So when we were presented with the option to have “golden handcuffs” and only allow full vesting of contributions after 6 years, I balked internally. Six years?! I thought, That’s an awful long time in this day and age of employment.

Upon discussion with the company president, we were in agreement – there was no need for this vesting period. We want people to get their money now and not have this carrot dangling over them. If that’s a key reason for them staying and not much else, it’s not a good reason. They should get the money they put away without these conditions and feel free to leave us if it is no longer a good fit for them.

I’m pleased to be working with people who share a similar philosophy to mine about treating people well and not making them jump through hoops.

On another note, now that I’ve been on this side of the equation, learning what it means to administer a retirement plan, it makes me all the more perplexed as to why my former company never set one up. When I was interviewing, I had asked about it and was told they were going to set it up. After three years there, it was still not on the radar and one of my colleagues who had joined nearly at the beginning told me he had been told the same. It never came to fruition and we would sometimes sarcastically joke about it or roll our eyes over it. I always thought that perhaps it was very costly or a burden to manage, but it doesn’t appear to be either. In fact, it’s far less of an investment in our people than healthcare costs. Now that I have more context around the situation it really doesn’t make sense to me why I never did get that 401(k) I wanted, but I’m happy to be able to offer it to our employees here.

How to: Create A Facebook Page

laelene Posted in how to guides，Tags: bloggers, blogging, business, facebook, facebook pages, how to, social media, tutorial, work

28 January 2016

[Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of the original blog post that is now nearly three years old! This includes up-to-date instructions after some changes to Facebook’s interface.]

I decided it was time for me to create a Facebook page for my little blog, so I can really try to build it out and maybe get some followers! I’d like to think that what I’m putting out there is educating or entertaining someone, but I’ve never really promoted it so it’s time to take action.

When I went to create the FB page, I (for the life of me) could NOT find where to choose the “Personal Blog” category! And that’s what spurred this entry. Read on to learn the basics for setting up a Facebook page and how to select a category like “Personal Blog,” “Personal Website,” and more!

Creating Your Facebook Page

First of all, here’s where you can create a new Facebook page. As you’ll see, right away they want you to choose a category. Your desired page may fit multiple categories, so it’s up to you to decide which one is best for your needs. Of the 6 types they’ve laid out for you (1. Local Business or Place; 2. Company, Organization or Institution; 3. Brand or Product; 4. Artist, Band or Public Figure; 5. Entertainment; 6. Cause or Community), all but the last one have a dropdown menu with category choices. Don’t worry if your desired category isn’t there – just pick what’s closest or tickles your fancy. In my case, I went for “Brand or Product”and chose “Website” from the dropdown.

You will be asked to enter your page name, which should be the title of your blog, the name of your business, or whatever you want the world to know your page by. Note that Facebook has certain rules in place about what is allowed in a name – for example, I tried to enter my blog name, ((little fat notebook)), but it was immediately rejected because I’m not allowed to use symbols. You are allowed one set of parentheses, but there can only be two words in it (like this) and obviously I’d have three if I went for (little fat notebook). Alas, I then tried just plain “little fat notebook” and that’s not allowed because the name must start with an uppercase! I didn’t like how Little fat notebook looked, so I went for the boring old Little Fat Notebook. Luckily, you can change it after the fact!

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

Once you agree to their terms and click Get Started, you’re prompted to fill in a description and add links to your site(s). They now allow you to choose your vanity URL (the pretty one that looks like https://www.facebook.com/littlefatnotebook instead of https://www.facebook.com/pages/little-fat-notebook/457453117668145). Check out my post on claiming vanity URLs to learn more. Choose carefully, you can only ever change it once after that. Next upload an avatar/profile picture to represent your page.

You can then add this new page to your Favorites area for quick access. That’s the part on the left when you go to Facebook.com. Finally, you can indicate your target audience including where they’re located, what age range they’re in, their gender, and their indicated interests. You’ll then be taken to your brand new Facebook page! A quick tour is given and then you’re given free reign. Feel free to add a cover photo, invite friends to like your page, and share your very first post!

Changing To A Better Category

Now here’s what you’ve been waiting for: how to make the page exactly as you want it! Under the cover photo area, click About. This takes you to Page Info where you’ll see the category you chose. Alternatively, at the top right, you’ll see Settings, which takes you to a page full of them. Along the left is a menu with “Page Info” – that brings you to the same place. Hover over the Category section to find the Edit button. From there you’ll see that the category and subcategory choices are far more plentiful than they let on earlier in the process! That’s where I found a previously unmentioned category called “Websites & Blogs,” which contains the subcategory option I had been hunting for: Personal Blog. The nice thing is that you can change this at any time, so as your site/brand evolves, you can update the category accordingly.

So there you go! I hope that helped. If you found it useful, please like my page to show your support. 🙂

A few other tips:

When you reach 30 fans, Facebook will provide “insights” about your page, which include data about the reach of your page and each post (how many people see it, pretty much), how many people are talking about (sharing) your posts, and how many posts you’re putting up daily. You can also find cool demographic information about your followers. Basically if you’re into data, you’re going to love this part.

Note that I was able to update my page name from Little Fat Notebook to all lowercase. Unfortunately you still can’t add symbols, but as mentioned before, you can use one set of parentheses.

From now on, you can choose to interact with Facebook as yourself (personal profile) or your Page. This option is available for anything public that multiple profiles can access. You won’t see it for posts related to your private friends, for example, since Pages cannot post to personal profiles. But on other pages, you can choose to comment/like as yourself or your Page.

I used to highly recommend putting your website URL in the Short Description so users can easily click to your site from your FB page. Now Facebook has added a Call to Action button instead, so you can set that up to get users to your site. None of the options are particularly blog-friendly though, so I’d like to see a “Read More” or “Read Now” action.

Now that you have a Facebook page, check out my tutorials on:
~how to manage your Facebook page
~how to link your social media accounts
~how to claim your vanity URLs (as mentioned earlier in the post), and more!

You can find all my “how to” posts for useful tips like how to make a favicon and random things like how to set your iPhone/iPad to stop playing music at a certain time or even how to win a Facebook contest!

If you have any questions or tips of your own, I’d love to hear them! Please do share. 🙂

Why I no longer want to be an entrepreneur

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: business, emotions, entrepreneur, future, panda, philosophy, pictures, work

23 January 2014

Every now and then, it seems like the world is beating me up. These are the best times for growth, but boy are they challenging. I’d been feeling rather downtrodden for the past week or two – a combination of illness and challenges with work were making me feel less than adequate. I was weak, always exhausted, and not nearly as productive as I wanted to be (and thought I could be). A looming sense of failure followed me around and made me question myself. It reminded me a lot of why I decided that being an entrepreneur might not be for me after all.

Back in early 2012, I had reached a point professionally and personally that gave me the courage to quit my job and start my own ventures. A year later, I had learned a lot and decided that the lifestyle wasn’t what I was looking for. I found that I couldn’t shut off from work and the stress of it followed me at all times of the day. I like more balance in my life, but it was hard to justify not taking care of work whenever it came up. I’d feel guilty if I didn’t handle things right away. It began to take over my life, even as I was seeking more control over it.

Today I came across an article on Inc.com that rang so true to me. It’s about the psychological price of entrepreneurship and talks about how taxing it is to manage your own business. When you pour your heart and soul into working on something, it can really drain you. If it doesn’t work out the way you had hoped, it’s easy to take that as a personal failure. That certainly does a number on your confidence. When you decide to pursue entrepreneurship, you better be ready for a crazy rollercoaster. And for me, it’s just not worth the stress. I don’t crave the recognition or attention at that scale, nor do I want to pursue that sort of money. So why would I put my health, my relationships, and my mental state at jeopardy to chase after that dream?

two kittens cuddling and sleeping together

If I could, I’d play with cats all day. So cute!!

And going back to my recent low, the article explained that some people experience strong emotions on both ends of the spectrum. You get really excited about things, but you also get really depressed about others. I may not be as bad as some people who are extreme to the point of manic, but I do think I feel emotions more strongly than many. It’s a double-edged sword, where I find myself easily joyful, but at the same time I can fall to deep sadness quickly. It may prevent me from taking greater risks for immense rewards, but those “rewards” are something I didn’t want anyway. Instead of money or power, I want to enjoy my life with Panda. I want time to hang out with him, to go to yoga classes, to have peaceful moments with my cats, to cook together, to enjoy trips… so really something more stable is suitable for my goals.

Once I’m done with my 365great series, I’ll start up a weekly series related to that, sharing ideas and tips for how to enjoy life more and stress less. Our culture is so caught up in accomplishments that we often forget the value of the richer experiences in life that may not produce an award or a higher paycheck or other recognition.

Time disconnect

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: business, entrepreneurs, experiences, family, habits, opinion, panda, pictures, schedule, work

12 June 2013

“Holy cow, is it really [insert day of week]?!”

This happens to me just about every single day. Call it the life of the self-employed/entrepreneur/stay-at-homer. Every day is mostly the same to me – there is no such thing as a weekday vs. weekend. I work daily, unless I have plans to go do something, so it really doesn’t matter much what day of the week it is. And so it is that I often find myself disconnected with the rest of the world in that way. I don’t hate Mondays nor do I look forward to Fridays the same way a “typical” worker might.

calendar page from the world's most super-amazing 100% awesome cat calendar for 2014

Without a calendar, I’d be lost.

Perhaps I need to build more of a weekly structure, but it doesn’t make sense to take time off when I’m really trying to build something. I’m certainly not wearing myself out and I get plenty of rest and play daily; in fact, you could say I go through an entire week each day: there’s the waking up in the morning and trying to get a rhythm going (Monday), getting back into things (Tuesday), starting to feel an afternoon slump (Wednesday – “Hump Day”), recovering a bit as my day looks like it’s ending (Thursday), and feeling good that I’m nearly done with my day’s work (Friday). Usually my “weekend” is sort of sandwiched in between the other moments, though sometimes it ends up being no more than the time that I sleep.

Since I don’t watch TV or read the newspaper, the only way I can really stay in tune is based off whether Panda is home or not, but I’ve been staying with my mom more and she works from home too… but hey, is it really that important that I always know what day it is? I could just check my phone’s calendar and in the long run, it doesn’t affect me much, so I’m perfectly fine forgetting the days sometimes. What about you? Would it drive you crazy if you didn’t have a distinct weekday and weekend? Or do you meander through the weeks and months without a strong sense of time like me?

How to: Claim Your Username and Vanity URLs

laelene Posted in how to guides，Tags: branding, business, etsy, facebook, how to, instagram, pinterest, social media, trademark, twitter, usernames, vanity url, youtube

15 May 2013

Ever want to claim “facebook.com/yourbrand” only to find it was taken? Rather than accepting that and settling for something like “facebook.com/yourbrand123″ (which is less than optimal), read on to learn how you might be able to get what is rightfully* yours.

First let me start by saying that most sites already use vanity URLs, so whichever username you choose will usually end up being in your URL. For example:

http://twitter.com/maryqin
http://pinterest.com/maryqin
http://instagram.com/laelene

For these sites, the issue of the getting the vanity URL you want ends up being the same as getting the username you want. Once you get the username, you get the associated URL.

Now Facebook is an exception to this and you actually have to set the vanity URL yourself. They start you off with some ugly URL like http://www.facebook.com/pages/little-fat-notebook/457453117668145. Just go to the username settings page to change it to something pretty like http://www.facebook.com/littlefatnotebook. You can do this for your personal profile as well as any Facebook pages you manage. The cool thing is that usually you have to wait until you have 25 fans on a page before you can set the username, but by doing it this way you bypass that requirement! [Edit: Looks like there still might be a minimum – I was able to set the username with just 16 fans but I can’t for another page that only has 4 fans right now.]

Ok, so let’s say you’re claiming these usernames for your brand and you find someone has already taken them. You may not have to resort to choosing a different username – there’s an option to try to claim the username by reporting trademark infringement. A few tips for improving your chances of filing a successful claim:

1. You should own the domain name related to the username you want. For example, I own pandaloves.com and I wanted facebook.com/pandaloves and twitter.com/pandaloves

2. Even better if you actually own the trademark for the name in question, but it’s not necessary. If you do own it, make sure you can prove it to help your case. I never registered a trademark for my brand’s name, Panda Loves, but that was fine.

3. If you do own the domain (i.e., pandaloves.com), use an email set up from that domain for more credibility. This shows that you are an authorized representative of the business. I used contact@pandaloves.com as my contact email when I filled out the form.

I came across this helpful article for claiming usernames on Facebook and Twitter, which you should read if you are claiming a username on either site. I was able to successfully claim both usernames on Facebook and Twitter, but not Pinterest (they never got back to me). I haven’t tried for other sites.

For Facebook, go here to fill out the form: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/208282075858952

For Twitter, there are two routes you can take depending on if you own the trademark:

https://support.twitter.com/forms/impersonation (if you don’t own the trademark)
https://support.twitter.com/forms/trademark (if you do own the trademark and have proof)

And for other sites, I located articles that can help with the claim process. For any site not listed, do a search in their help section for terms like “trademark infringement” or even “impersonation” to locate more information.

Pinterest: http://about.pinterest.com/trademark/
YouTube: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=151655
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/help/article/17
Instagram: http://help.instagram.com/customer/portal/articles/118970-trademark-policy-for-instagram-usernames

Let me know if you have any further questions or how it goes when you do file your claim on these sites! Good luck!

*This is, of course, assuming that it is your right: that you are trying to claim the name of a brand you own and not take someone else’s.

Blissmo no more

laelene Posted in general blog, subscriptions，Tags: blissmo, brands, business, customer service, experiences, opinion, pictures, products, service

07 May 2013

It’s coming up on one year since I signed up for an annual subscription for Blissmobox and while I’ve enjoyed some boxes, others have been “meh.” Throughout this time, I’ve had to deal with customer service multiple times due to some issues with their system. They’ve always been helpful and accommodating (albeit slow to reply). But this time, I am NOT happy. The past two boxes I got from them had a repeat product. And not just a small sample or one of many other great products, but one of the main products that make the box actually worth its value! So, I emailed their customer service expecting at least a partial refund of my money, an offer to send a replacement item, or something to try to make up for this transgression. What did I get? “Sorry, but that item was actually a bonus item.”

collage of blissmo march and april boxes

See something familiar in both boxes? Now imagine the right box without the lotion. Would you be happy?

Allow me to vent.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! If they had tried to send the box without that item, I bet you they’d get a ton of unhappy customers complaining! After all, it made up for half the value of the box. How puny and pathetic would the box be otherwise?? It’s sad. So I suggested a compromise: they could give me a prepaid shipping label and I’d send the box back to them, all items intact. I would count the month as “skipped” and we’d move on. What was their reply? We don’t provide prepaid shipping labels.

I’m sorry, what?!!

Maybe my standards of service are too high, but seriously, you can’t give me a shipping label??? That is just unheard of. I mean I understand if you’re just an individual seller like those on eBay, but here you are an established business with plenty of customers and YOU WON’T SEND ME A FREAKIN’ LABEL? It’s not like I just didn’t like the items in the box. I feel cheated that I paid twice for getting THE SAME EXACT PRODUCT when I got this service to get introduced to new ones. I would have been ok if it was the same brand but a different product from their line. But I can handle repurchasing products just fine without you, thank you very much.

They’re not even trying to make it right. All they’re saying is sorry, but we’re not going to help you. That’s what I’m getting from their correspondence anyway. So I guess it’s a good thing my year is almost up, because I am ready to part ways with Blissmo. I never complained before when their boxes weren’t very good and the one time I do have a problem with a box, they won’t do a thing. This kind of “service” isn’t even service. -___- At least this helps me decide my next move, since I wasn’t sure if I should renew my membership. I will take my business elsewhere.

How to: Create A Facebook Page (original)

laelene Posted in how to guides，Tags: bloggers, blogging, business, facebook, facebook pages, how to, social media, tutorial, work

09 April 2013

104

Creating Your Facebook Page

You will be asked to enter your page name, which should be the title of your blog, the name of your business, or whatever you want the world to know your page by. Note that Facebook has certain rules in place about what is allowed in a name – for example, I tried to enter my blog name, ((little fat notebook)), but it was immediately rejected because I’m not allowed to use symbols. You are allowed one set of parentheses, but there can only be two words in it (like this) and obviously I’d have three if I went for (little fat notebook). Alas, I then tried just plain little fat notebook and that’s not allowed because the name must start with an uppercase! I didn’t like how Little fat notebook looked, so I went for the boring old Little Fat Notebook. Luckily, you can change it after the fact!

Setting Up Your Facebook Page

Once you agree to their terms and click Get Started, you’re prompted to fill in a description and add links to your site(s). Next upload an avatar/profile picture to represent your page. You’ll then be taken to your brand new Facebook page! A quick 3-step tour is given and then you’re given free reign. Feel free to add a cover photo, invite friends to like your page, and share your very first post!

screenshot of page to set up about section of new facebook page

Adding a basic description.

Uploading a profile picture.

Changing To A Better Category

Now here’s what you’ve been waiting for: how to make the page exactly as you want it! At the top, you’ll see an option to Edit Page, with a dropdown. The first option is what you want: “Update Info.” Here you’ll see that the category and subcategory choices are far more plentiful than they let on earlier in the process! That’s where I found a previously unmentioned category called “Websites & Blogs,” which contains the subcategory option I had been hunting for: Personal Blog. The nice thing is that you can change this at any time, so as your site/brand evolves, you can update the category accordingly.

A few other tips:

Once you get 25 fans, you can reserve a vanity URL (or username, as Facebook calls it). This means that rather than an ugly URL like https://www.facebook.com/pages/little-fat-notebook/457453117668145, you can get a pretty one like https://www.facebook.com/littlefatnotebook, which is much easier to direct fans to. I still need to claim mine! (So hey if you don’t mind, please like my page so I can claim my vanity URL soon!) [Update: I was actually able to claim it when I had just 16 fans – check out my post on claiming vanity URLs to see how.]

When you reach 30 fans, Facebook will provide “insights” about your page, which includes data about the reach of your page and each post (how many people see it, pretty much), how many people are talking about (sharing) your posts, and how many posts you’re putting up daily.

Also note that I was able to update my page name from Little Fat Notebook to all lowercase. Unfortunately you still can’t add symbols, but as mentioned before, you can use one set of parentheses.

I highly recommend putting your website URL in the Short Description so users can easily click to your site from your FB page. Just be sure to input the “http://” so it becomes a clickable link, as shown. (Click for full size.)

Now that you have a Facebook page, check out my tutorials on:
~how to manage your Facebook page
~how to link your social media accounts
~how to claim your vanity URLs, and more!

If you have any questions or tips of your own, I’d love to hear them! Please do share. 🙂

Creativity with contraints

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: blogging, business, class, coursera, creativity, innovation, lesson, opinion, wacky wedding ideas

22 March 2013

I’m taking a course on Coursera about strategic innovation, which started by covering creativity. One idea I found really interesting is that this whole “thinking outside the box” concept is flawed. Basically, our professor explains how to truly innovate, you need to work within certain constraints, or else your ideas are cast aside as too crazy, too weird, too something. And so, creativity at its best may not actually be thinking outside that box per se, but thinking within and working to alter the box itself. Certainly it’s more effective that way.

That got me thinking though – are people more creative with constraints than they are with none? I mean, if you think of a contest for example, it provides a certain set of guidelines and then lets contestants add their own personal flair or interpretation. Oftentimes, these challenges produce amazing results. I think this is because these people are given a focus. It’s not just about writing the best essay or taking the best picture – it’s about writing the best essay about pie and taking the best picture of a flower. The specific nature of these tasks also lend themselves to more diversity in a way.

I’ve found, for instance, that I can be creative in many ways, but one of the most rewarding has been writing my Wacky Wedding Ideas blog. When I have to limit all my ideas to the general structure of a wedding, it actually creates so many possibilities. Personally, I think ideas I have for wacky weddings would far exceed ideas I can come up with for any old party, or even events in general. Since I already have something to work with, it’s really fun to stretch the limits with what can be changed about a wedding while still preserving its essence. If I tried to write a blog about any cool event ideas I could think of, I’m sure it’d be far less interesting.

Similarly, I recently started participating in a photo challenge hosted by Chantelle of FatMumSlim. Each day, there is a simple prompt and we are encouraged to interpret it as we wish, then take a picture expressing that idea, which we can then share on various social media outlets. This has been a really rewarding experience and part of what inspired my 365great project. It’s always fun to think about different ways to interpret and convey the given prompt, whether it’s as ambiguous as “explore” or as specific as “shoes.” I definitely think it’s a fun thing for anyone to try! What a fun way to exercise your creativity on a day-to-day basis.

So the next time you need to be creative, try coming up with one constraint. It could be something like “there must be something round” or you’ll include the number 8 somewhere. Whatever you choose, I think you’ll find yourself viewing the world a little differently and making connections you might not have before. And as with most things, practice brings improvement, so go on and exercise that creativity muscle consistently!

Great ideas

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: business, companies, company, ideas, opinion, products

12 March 2013

I’m pretty addicted to learning about great new things, which I’m currently doing as I read through the profiles of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list for 2013. It never ceases to amaze me (and I should hope it never will) the cool things that are becoming realities and even commonplace in our lives. I love that we live in a world with such wonderful ideas. One of my recent favorites, which I wrote about before, is crowd-sourced, crowd-powered community marketplaces. I love how it empowers people to be their own micro-entrepreneurs and removes so many barriers to more traditional ways of doing things.

One in particular that I’ve learned to see in a new light is Airbnb – not only are they allowing anyone to rent out their space to bring in extra revenue, something else that has blossomed from their service is the availability of unique spaces. I mean, how else would you have gotten to stay in a repurposed jet or an igloo or a treehouse? These are the sorts of things that I only would have dreamed of previously, but now are an attainable reality. I find that truly breathtaking.

Another thing that I’m sure most other people are familiar with by now are those wearable bands (and other technology that is meant to monitor your day-to-day movement). There’s a quiet revolution building up in these gadgets, which at once are high-tech and high-fashion. While right now most of the applications are for health-related issues, I see a lot of potential here. So much data can be gathered about each and every one of us, which can be presented to us in meaningful ways: how active were you today? What places did you visit? How much time did you spend here or there, doing this or that? With each of those answers, we are empowered to understand our lives more and make better choices with that information. More lifestyle changes are coming!

Oh, and speaking of a change in how we do things – I’ve discovered Fleksy, which allows you to type without looking. Quite accurately too. How wonderful would it be to walk down the street and not have to look down at your device? To send out messages on your tablet while watching a show or even taking notes while keeping full eye contact with your professor? These are the kinds of things we’re used to with keyboards that give feedback via clicks and physical movement. Now we can do it on a completely flat screen without any feedback while typing! They’ve tested this on blind people with great success and us seeing folk do pretty well with it too. No more pudgy finger syndrome! Gotta love that. Let’s just hope that Apple actually lets them integrate this sort of technology into iOS, which they currently aren’t. AND, I hadn’t realized how intuitively I type with my thumbs without looking! Added bonus: this app makes you feel smarter. 😉

There are so many great things out in the world, constantly changing and upgrading and becoming even more awe-inspiring. Maybe instead of a photo a day blog, I should do a 365 great ideas blog. Then, I can share something I learned every single day (and that would encourage me to actually be consistently seeking new information). I might just have to do that…

Accessories galore

laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: accessories, business, daddy, fun, mommy, panda loves, pictures, products

13 January 2013

My dad recently brought me some sweet items my mom got for me to sell! Soon to be listed on PandaLoves.com and eBay. Check out a sampling of some of my favorites.