Picking the right customers

Turning a potential customer away in a business situation was never a good idea to me, but recently I have seen that when you choose your customers wisely the benefits to you and your customers can be great. I guess I always looked at work as work and you need to be after the dollar and my personal business as a way to help others and a way for me to have fun and learn... A little conflicted I know but it made sense to me.

Personally I have been doing web sites for almost 10 years now and when I look back on the sites that are still kickin' I see they are the ones I tend to baby and nurture. Sites I do on the side tend to be for people and products I truly care about.

• While the June Jam site is a bit outdated as far as code and layout - it is what the customer wants and I understand that because I talk to that customer daily. He really doesn't want or need to grow the June Jam concert any larger than it currently is. I tend to want more and more but they like being able to manage the shows with a personal feel. People get to know one another and tend to bring friends.
• The Jazz and Blues Festival has actually come a long way in just 1 year. Their second annual festival is coming up and the site has been updated and taking orders via paypal. They are starting small and building popularity. The site is averaging 20 unique visitors daily and out of those 12 are looking at the tickets page. I am sure this will increase as the event gets closer. I have been working with the customer daily for the last couple of weeks and making huge improvements to the content and code of the site. While the customer tends not to be technically savvy they understand the basics of what it is that I am trying to achieve through coding the site ("search engine stuff")
• My wife's site www.anitasgarden.com kicks ass and takes names - an awesome example of letting her do her own thins and exploring the possibilities. Anita is content, right now, blogging about her life, pets and children... nothing wrong with that, right? Well she is also stock piling recipes and talking about selling products... will she do it? Maybe, but in her own time. The site has unending potential and now she has total control over the content.
• My friend Albert Alfaro and his family of Drabbits (www.imaginariumgalleries.com). This was me finding something I truly had a passion for and running with it. Albert and his family build and sell these awesome works of art that you just can't find at Wal-Mart. I can honestly say that his passion is contagious. When we initially went to the PA Renaissance Fair and saw these creatures we were like wow! those are pretty cool. But then we talked with Albert first hand and watched as he created a leg for one of the puppets. Anita and I were engrossed in the process and noticed right away that Albert seemed to get the most enjoyment out of seeing the expressions and hearing the comments that the visitors blurted out while walking past. I decided that anyone with that cared that much about his art needed as much support as I could muster.

At work we are focused on some really large customers and becoming more personable with them. The idea that 10 large customers that truly understand the benefits of working with Inclind, Inc are better than 100 customers who don't. Crazy way to approach a business? Apparently not. We are 14 employees strong with 2 seasonal interns who help in the summer, but it doesn't seem that big... Its like an extended family environment where all the kids get along. We recognize each others strengths and really work well as a team. Of course I am the insane one.... Loud, obnoxious at times - but funny as hell and proud of it.