Schneider Time

Tonight, Buildasign.com is sponsoring a Bob Schneider concert downtown. A promoter called us up and asked if we'd like to sponsor the local event and we said we would, and the whole process reminded me of all the strange calls we get requesting trades, barters, in exchange for money or signs.

A lot of people are call trying to get a "good cause" discount or handout, but a lot of people feel as though they need to at least be offering SOMETHING.

One guy called up and wouldn't say why he was calling, only that it involved a great opportunity and that he had to speak to a manager or the CEO or someone like that. I took the phone call because it sounded strange from the description, and a little strangeness is oftentimes just what you need at the officeplace. The gentleman on the phone explained to me that he had a private island in the caribean with a resort that he wanted to "lend out" in exchange for about a $1,000 worth of signage.

I know the market for luxury private island resorts is a little flooded right now, but even that sounded a little too low.

Fringeware anyone?

What's the new way to make money in the business world? Give your services away for free! In a constant fluctuating marketplace, there is constant pressure to lower prices and beat out competition. So how can you be assured a spot above your comptetion? Give away your quality services and you'll be amazed how many customers you get.

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that your company throw away all hopes of making income, I am suggesting, however, that the best way to make money might not be by selling your services!

Consider network TV stations. They show programs and shows during the day and night, and how much do they charge? Nothing. They make their money through fringe channels, namely, advertisers.

Not convinced? Consider Google. Google is a search engine and software company. They strive to provide fast results, large email accounts and quick desktop access to all internet users. How much do they charge for these services? Nothing! They make millions and millions of dollars selling advertising.

At BuildASign.com, we call this Fringeware. Offering a service or a good that is in itself free, the offering and success of which creates avenues of income on the "fringes" of your service or product that does not result directly from the sale of that service or product.

You see it more than you think, but it is taking companies like Google and Yahoo to show us how powerful it can be. From free self-serve icecream at Jason's Deli, to free TV shows, to free search engines, fringeware is beginning to show its power.

Coming up with ways to provide free services isn't always as difficult as it may seem, and there are a few ways to take advantage of traffic drawn to those free services. Both indirect (like advertising) and direct (like Run-Tex giving out free water on the hike and bike trail).

Consider a movie theatre. What would happen if they began giving popcorn out for free? Would they lose millions? Or would they create millions of extremely thirsty customers willing to buy $8.00 colas?

Fringeware is coming...

Saturday at the Office

Sitting here at the office on Saturday afternoon, I am haunted by horrible images...

Not so much crime, trajedy, death, poverty or anything like that, but the recent movie, The Proposition. I saw this movie last night and it is the time in a long-time that I actually fell asleep during a movie, and more than once! The sleep did not last long, however, as there was frequently a stabbing, shooting or beheading to jolt me awake.

How could a movie filled with such violence be so boring and slow that I could fall asleep during it? I'm not really sure either. I suppose in that small, upsetting way, it was an impressive movie...

Midnight Party at City Hall

So, I went to City Hall yesterday evening, foolishly believing the paper when it said that the McMansion issue would begin at 6:00pm. I wanted to go hear what people had to say on the issue and what the outcome was. I arrived a bit late (near 6:45) and when I got there, speaches were being given by various Council staff, saying goodbye and giving gifts to the two outgoing Council members. A couple of Gongs, a painting of what could only be Jesus walking on water, and their names forever affixed to a new gym and disc-golf course.

The issue ended up being decided at about 3:35am. Council voted to approve the plan. No more big houses.

I suppose it's not too bad, running 7 hours behind if you are only meeting once a week or so. I would imagine putting off the most important issues until the very end of a predictably over-scheduled day is a strategy the City uses to cut down on the number of people who will stick around to talk or speak on the issue.

The Joy of Craig's List

As an employer, one of the time consuming parts of my job is hiring new employees. You have to come up with an ad, figure out a place to put the ad, pay for the ad, make sure everything is spelled correctly, wait for the ad to hit the market, field phone calls and resumes, set up appointments, interview, make a decision and hire someone, have them start, train them and then finally, you've added one more person to your team.

Occasionally this process takes so long that the services of temp agencies are necessary, charging you 80% more than you'd pay yourself and paying the employee 80% less than they'd be making directly.

Craig's List solves this problem. Within an hour of placing an ad for nearly any type of position (from customer service, to production, to programmer) at least 5 emailed responses, complete with resume, will hit your inbox. Filtering and setting up appointments is easy and nearly instant and you can often have the position filled within a couple of days.

Craig's List is still free in Austin for posting (they charge in, I believe, New York and San Francisco to make all their revenue).

Kinky's Big Adventure

Thanks for calling the Kinky-Hotline. How may I be of service?

There are really only three parties that ever run for any kind of office here in Texas. You've got your Republicans, your Democrats and your Anti-Democrats. Anti-Democrats of course being any other party with a candidate who, in the end, serves to dilute the Democratic vote into failure.

Don't get me wrong. Everyone has a right to voice their own opinions and to run for office on their own platform, it's just unfortunate that all those unique opinions out there belong to what would otherwise likely be Democratic votes.

Today, Kinky voiced his concern about school finance package, campaign reform, and whats more? His desire to spend his time in office fielding phone calls from Texas yokels.

Kinky unveiled a brilliant plan to set up a phone line to allow Texans to speak directly to their governor. Why? I'm not sure, but that will be the first question I ask him when I call his Kinky-Line (official name). Following that question will be my requests for recipe tips, dating advice and the dealer who provides him with those cubans.

No More Mansions?

The city is voting this week to limit the sizes of houses in various neighborhoods throughout the city (48 different hoods). The sizes would be limited to the larger of 2,300 sqft or 40% of the total lot size.

This puts into conflict, two competing rights. The rights of the existing home owner to enjoy their home as they purchased it (with a view of the sun, the treeline, the skyline, birds, sky, grass and whatnot -- and the general feeling that their house is tiny), and the rights of the homeowner to develop their property however they see fit.

Over the years, many neighborhoods have developed covenants and agreements that run with the purchase of neighboring houses to keep out monstrous development, but some obviously did not. So now we have an ever more succesful Austin producing wealthier and wealthier homeowners who in turn would like a larger, nicer house.

So what do we do? Do we restrict homeowners from participating in a more free market for home devleopment? If we don't, it might even drive out long time residents who cannot afford to pay increased property taxes due to rises in property value from neighboring home improvements. On the other hand, by restricting development within Austin, we will be driving the wealthy outside the city where their higher tax dollars will go to the development of Leander or Liberty Hill.

Without a doubt, markets are often in need of regulation when there is a clear and obvious threat or concern where such threat or concern would be ameliorated by a rule or regulation. Here though, the benefits and detriments of either course of action are not clear and so I say, let the market govern.

Markets, when operating correctly, are amazing things. They find the best suited buyer, the best product, the best price and the best balance of all things that are beneficial.

When in doubt, use the market.

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The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and vote on rules to limit home sizes at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 325 of One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road.

The City Council will hold a public hearing and vote on the rules at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 301 W. Second St.

A Changing Austin

Austin has been changing a lot recently and is about to change a lot more. From the tearing down of old venues, to the construction of new ones, Austin is definitely on the move. But to where?

I own a business based here in Austin called BuildASign.com and this site is my outlet to discuss and track all that is Austin. I have a law degree from the University of Texas and a BS in Computer Science. I have lived in Austin all my life and don't plan on moving.