Lost in Translation

There is a common assumption among those who do not work in a technical field that because an individual is qualified to do one type of technical work, they are qualified to do it all.

Everyone hears it at some point. The dreaded phrase “well you work on computers so you must know…”.

“So, you work on computers so you must know about web design.”

Or conversely:

“You build websites so how do I fix X on my computer?”

I’m not entirely sure how this mindset came about. When you think about it, do you go to a proctologist if you have skin problems? Of course not! You see the dermatologist.

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One of the purposes of this blog is to clear up technology myths. I ran across an interesting article that just screamed to be written about in this blog.

This piece of “news” was released a few days ago: EXCLUSIVE: W.H. collects Web users’ data without notice.

In a nutshell, the article says “The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama’s promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet.”

The article gives reactions from various groups who feel there is something sinister going on.

Bear with me. This post isn’t about politics. It’s actually about technology and business practices. And why this is actually not news.

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In his blog post, Paying Not To Be First, Jonathan Fields discusses why paying more for a service is better.

He makes a fair point: you’re paying more for a service because you are paying for the individual’s experience.

Reading this reminds me of a few things I should share about web designers and other freelancers. Remember, I base this on working in the field for 10 years; I’ve seen my colleagues do a lot of interesting things.

In his post, Jonathan has the “you get what you pay for” mentality. Bear in mind that this is often true. However, it can be equally false.

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A video was released just a few days ago by musician Dave Carroll about his frustrating encounters with United Airlines policies and customer service. Apparently, United broke an expensive guitar and the airline refused to replace it or reimburse him. In his final encounter with a United employee, Carroll told the airline representative that he would write 3 songs about his bad experience. So he did.

Mr. Carroll became a media sensation and has been overwhelmed with support, with even Oprah’s people calling him.

By the next day, the musician was contacted by United who made an offer to correct the situation.

And what does this have to do with you and your business? Everything.

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I’m going to say something that may surprise a lot of you: just because you are in the retail business does not mean you have to sell your products online.

Sure, you’ll still need a web presence. But selling your products via the web is a whole other animal.

So how do you know if its time for you to start selling your products online?

Ultimately, this is a decision only you can make. However, I can give you the tools to aid in making a good decision.

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