Mark Kolier’s Blog

Archive for July, 2009

I move around a lot. More and more I rely on my PDA to communicate. But here I am in a Starbucks in NYC having finished a meeting and preparing for another one. I don’t have a Wi-Fi access card ($ 50 or $ 60/month is way too much as far as I am concerned for something that I will use maybe 5-10 hours per month.

Yet today when I wanted to get on line I was able to access AT & T’s Wi-Fi network for 2 hours for $ 3.99 (plus tax of course). I did not have quite 2 hours but that was a reasonable charge for a la carte internet access – $ 1.50/hour.

Over the weekend I flew Delta and was able to access the internet on the flight for the first time. It worked well and was pretty cool in general. The good news is that for the time being VOIP calls from the plane are blocked – I was worried about that.

Since I also ride the train to New York City frequently I would really like Wi-Fi access to be available. It is said that this is coming but I wonder at what cost? For a trip that takes about an hour and costs $ 10.00 or less it will really bug me if the charge is even $ 5.00! And if you are traveling by car there should be an inexpensive service that allows internet access from wherever you are whenever you want.

It’s more than time for a national Wi-Fi system to be put in place that works cross carriers. The cost to maintain these networks continues to drop and the overall rise in people’s productivity makes this a no-brainer. The cost to the user should be MINIMAL – not $ 50 or $ 60 per month but $ 10 or less.

In the meantime when on the road I will (like most others) hope to catch a signal for free, and then upon failing to do so will pay by the hour or 2 hour session. But I am more than ready for Wi-Fi access 2.0 – aren’t you?

‘It’s like painting a bridge.’ I like and use the expression quite a bit. The metaphor accurately depicts finally completing something only to have to begin all over again. That’s the way bridges are reputedly painted. Start at one end. Paint the whole thing to the other end. Rinse and repeat. Painting is a cool thing since it offers immediate gratification in the sense that you can see exactly what has been painted and what has not.

Our agency has had some really good success recently. Things we have been working toward and on have come to fruition and new clients are in the fold, projects have been completed and we all have (or so I like to think) a sense of satisfaction that we are contributing to our clients and to our team. But that was so last week or even two weeks ago. Now that those challenges have been met I am ready to take on new ones – do new work, bring in new clients and continue to help our clients have success and grow our company at the same time.

For some people this might be aggravating. The feeling that enough is not enough. Yet that is exactly how I feel. Like most people I love finishing a project, landing a new client etc. But I think I more enjoy the unchartered challenges of the future. And I don’t feel the need to bask in the glory of success for more than a few days. Because then I get the urge to do it all over again.

With so much to do and learn it’s easy to sometimes forget where you are on the bridge in the first place. I also know that I have felt on many occasions that I am the poor sucker whose car broke down in the middle of the bridge. There are no breakdown lanes on bridges either. Not only is that not a good place to be you tick off all the people stuck behind you and watching them go by makes you feel even worse. However in order to get where you are going you have to get right back on the bridge.

Not only am I ok with that but I have learned to embrace and enjoy it. Am I compulsive? People that know me would probably say yes. Are you? Is it a bad thing?

I have been a patron of a medical practice in my hometown for more than 17 years. The office is conveniently located to my house and office which for me is a top priority. The location is the only consistent thing about the practice. I have had three different doctors up and leave the practice over the years while I have remained loyal to the location.

Last week I went to the doctor essentially to extend a prescription and interview one of the ‘new’ doctors as I had not been in the office for over a year (kind of missed my annual checkup when my previous doctors up and left). The doctor mentioned he had been with the practice for more than two years. Who knew? Not me for sure.

I have no intention in this post to write a diatribe on the medical profession in general. But I do think the aspect of customer service (or lack thereof) is notable when discussing one’s health. All my previous doctors in this practice have left and entered the world of ‘concierge’ care. This is where each individual family member pays a flat yearly fee for 24/7 access to a doctor with no waiting. It works outside of insurance for many of the consultations and the reason the doctors enter into concierge care in the first place is their nightmare of dealing with healthcare insurance in general.

One problem with concierge care is that my family is healthy. Between the 4 of us I don’t think there have been more than two total visits to the doctor in over a year. So aside from the substantial cost of engaging in concierge care it would be total waste of money.

So what are we left with? A medical practice that is conveniently located for my life, as well as one that has all of our medical records. When I call even during what they term as normal business hours I get a voice mail system. I really don’t like this when it comes to my health. I often have to call multiple times to actually talk with someone who has a clue. I find the people in the practice (receptionists, nurses, and doctors to be a bit detached and distant). This could be just the practice I go to but I sense it might be endemic of the entire situation as a whole.

At one point I had to wait ‘five’ minutes for the doctor to come in. Twenty minutes later the nurse walked in and said sorry the doctor was running late. Really? The doctor seemed ok and devoid of other better options I will likely soldier on with doctor #4 in this practice.

Why couldn’t the doctors reach out to patients to tell them of the changes and their interest in retaining me and my family as patients? This new doctor had never seen anything regarding my history until he opened the file while I was sitting in the room. However I had done search on the doctor before I walked in and had an idea of where he went to school, his history and credentials.

I talked to a new client prospect last week on the phone for the first time. Their first question was had I looked at their website. I said yes of course and wouldn’t they have been disappointed had I not done so? They liked that a lot and we had a great and productive conversation since they did not have to spend unnecessary time explaining the business model.

It’s no secret that President Obama has taken on a major issue with regard to healthcare reform. The question is can he do anything about reforming the behavior of the medical profession in general. It borders on the outrageous as far as I am concerned.

Am I wrong here?

A relatively short article on the U.S. Minimum wage in Monday’s Wall Street Journal caught my attention. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124684183990798403.html. As you may have heard the minimum wage is raised July 24th this month to $ 7.25 per hour (from $ 6.55). The article went on to note that 2.8 million workers will be affected by the change. Given a 35 hour work week, that works out to $ 24.50 per week. These are the people who you should never see in Starbucks.

There can be no doubt that $ 100 per month is a substantial amount of money to a number of people. At the same time it is difficult for me to fathom how people can make a living on less than $ 300/week. To live in an expensive city like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles or even suburbs of those areas is seemingly impossible.

So how does the minimum wage serve people in more expensive areas? It doesn’t. How can the minimum wage be the same for expensive cities as it is in less expensive areas (of which there are many!)? And how does the minimum wage serve entrepreneurial people looking to start a business right now?

A big thing missing here is risk evaluation. Anyone who starts a business and hires even one employee is taking on risk to a much greater degree than a salaried employee. I had business partners years ago who were essentially bankrolling our company. When we finally parted ways they told me that things would be different when I was risking my own money. Boy, were they right.

Business owners take all the risks and apparently the government regularly forgets this fact. Employees must be paid their wages. I get this (and we have no minimum wage employees – not even close). Even if the company does not get paid by a customer (due to a myriad of reasons like oh say – Chapter 7, 11 etc.), the employees still have to be paid. And I agree that is the way it should be.

And without a minimum wage there would be business owners that take advantage of their employees. There always have been and always will be. But the notion of a one –size fits all minimum wage simply does not make sense to me anymore. I don’t see how it really helps worker overall as the increase this month will hardly act as an incentive to start a business. If you think that $ 100 per month is significant to a worker – how about trying to start a new business requiring 6 employees (like the car wash in the article) at $ 100 each per month? That could be just the disincentive needed for an entrepreneur to say – no thanks.

Do you agree?