Karim Vaes

Where I do love sushi and sashimi, I was unaware that there was a certain etiquette involved…

The Origins
Carbon copying is the technique of using carbon paper to produce one or more copies simultaneously during the creation of paper documents. A sheet of carbon paper is sandwiched between two sheets of paper and the pressure applied by the writing implement to the top sheet causes pigment from the carbon paper to make a similar mark on the copy. More than one copy can be made by stacking several sheets with carbon paper between each pair. Four or five copies is a practical limit. The top sheet is the original and each of the additional sheets is called a carbon copy. The use of carbon copies declined with the advent of photocopying and electronic document creation and distribution (word processing).
(source “Wikipedia”)

The Rules
It is still common for a business letter to include, at the end, a list of names preceded by the abbreviation “cc:”, indicating that the named persons are to receive a copy of the letter, even though carbon paper is no longer used to make the copies. The contacts that are listed as adressed “to” are required to read the mail and take further actions (if needed), where those listed in “cc” are only assumed to read the mail (when the time allows it). The aspect of the “blind carbon copy” (bcc) adds an extra perspective where one could be informed without any of the other contacts to even know!

Practically Spoken : Privacy
Need to mail a bunch of people? Add yourself in the “to” list and -all- the other contacts as “bcc”. This way you avoid to violate other people’s privacy by exposing their private email accounts!

Freelancefolder.com features “8 Ways Freelancers Can Survive In A Troubled Economy” ;

• Be a Bargain Hunter. Whether you’re buying routine office supplies or making a capital purchase, make sure that you get the most value for your dollar. Check sales flyers and compare costs to maximize your purchasing power. You can also look into barter arrangements to reduce your costs.
• Don’t Spend Everything That You Make. I give this advice during good economic times as well. The advice to save some of your earnings is doubly important in an uncertain economy. Whenever you are paid make sure that you set some income aside for times when your business is slow.
• Moonlight on Your Freelancing. You may have started your freelancing business by working a corporate job and moonlighting as a freelancer. There’s no reason why you can’t turn the tables and moonlight on your freelance business now. Consider taking a part-time job to bolster your monthly income.
• Ask Past Corporate Employers for Gigs. Many employers have hiring freezes, but their workload remains the same. While they may not be able to hire a new employee, often they are allowed to hire temporary help to meet a deadline. (I’m told that the money for contractors comes out of a different “bucket.”)
• Consider the Do-It-Yourself Question. Are you paying others to do tasks for you that you could actually do yourself? If your cash flow is slow, then you may want to consider whether it’s more cost efficient to continue outsourcing as you have been doing, or to start doing the tasks yourself.
• Make Sure To Consider Your Tax Liability. Even if the economy is slow, it is likely that you will still owe taxes at the end of your tax year. To avoid being saddled with a tax burden that you can’t pay, start setting money aside for taxes now. If you paid estimated taxes during the course of the year, then ask yourself if you paid enough.
• Broaden the Scope of Your Business. If your workload has slowed, then ask yourself if there are other products or services that you could add to your current offerings. Do you have a skill that you are not using? Broadening your scope could bring additional business from current customers as well as attract new ones.
• Be Patient. Difficult economic times come and they go. It may be a matter of weeks, months, or even years, but this tough economic period will also pass.

Next up some small reviews on some books I’ve read recently… Have fun!

Small is the new Big!

A book full of rants and ideas by Seth Godin. It had some good moments but I wouldn’t recommend it if you only had a few Euros to spare…

Competitive Strategy

A lot of things where one would think that they are common sense. Yet I learned two wise lessons from this book. A company has to focus on building it’s brand, being low-cost or going for a certain niche. If you remain in the middle of those three areas, then it’ll lose in the long run. The second lesson is kinda basic; instead of growing, first think of losing the customers where you only have an uninteresting profit margin.

The Halo Effect

A good book for everyone who is reading a lot of management books! It puts popular management books (like for example “good to great”) in perspective by showing that statistics are affected by the “Halo Effect“.

12: Elements of Great Managing

Very good book! Yet another book where you’d think that it’s common knowledge, but all 12 rules are illustrated by “real life” examples. A very good read for every manager!

Good to Great

Probably one of the most known management books where researchers try to identify the reasons why companies make the leap from good to great. Put aside the comments made by the halo effect and you will find some good lessons in there. Just know that there isn’t a holy grail to management!

Presentation Zen

A MUST READ for everyone who gives presentations! Also check out slideshare or “death by presentation“.

The adventures of Johnny Bunko

I bought this book after reading Garr Reynolds his post about it and I found it amusing. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re a manga fan. The slideshare presentation made by Garr gives you all the insight you need…

About a month ago I started my own webdesign agency. So after almost 2 years of kvaes.be I’ve took the step towards entrepreneurship!

We focus on the “local” market, providing quality websites at an affordable price. It’s not “yet another high priced” bureau… The OpenSource world provides the means which enables us to provide a very interesting price.