Yesterday, the personal finance blog Finance Gourmet speculated on how overvalued Facebook might be right now, and more specifically, if any of the company valuations being thrown around by financial analysts and private share exchanges are anything more than wild (optimistic) guesses.

I had a different thought today as I went through my usual social media routine. As one of Facebook’s 500 million users, I became a “Fan” of a bunch of things and then when Facebook changed the rules, I started to “LIKE” a bunch of things too. However, whenever one of those things that I am a fan of posts something lame or posts too often, I click the HIDE button and they disappear forever from my Facebook News Feed.

Facebook Fans Hide Updates

Here is the issue. I am still a fan of all of those things, but I never see a single word from them, nor do I interact with them again in anyway. The question is, how many “fans” out there do the same thing on a regular basis?

The latest on Citibank ThankYou rewards is on FinanceGourmet.

In other words, if you have 50,000 fans is that worth anything? How many of those 50K fans have hidden you? How many are ignoring everything you post or using one of the friends lists to screen out your status updates?

Has Facebook made its service less valuable by making it less apparent how well any Facebook business, social group, interest, or marketing attempt is working?

Just because you have 30,000 fans, doesn’t mean that you have 30,000 users getting your posts.

Or, am I just being overly analytical?

These aren’t meaningless questions. They go right to the heart of the business strategy value of using Facebook as a way to stay in touch. Contrast this to Twitter, where followers are always recieving every one of your tweets. (Whether or not they are reading them or paying any attention is another matter.)

Are Facebook Fans Really Worth Anything? is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

It is starting to become clearer that technology pundits, website bloggers, and other technology writers are too eager to like whatever Apple sends their way, regardless of how well the device actually performs.

Remember the problem with the iPhone antenna that everyone knew about, but Apple refused to admit even existed? A fix was silently rolled out and everyone went about their business. If a Microsoft device, Palm gadget, or BlackBerry had the same issue, it would have been pilloried in technology circles as having been not ready for prime time or something of the sort, but since it was an Apple product, it was just a little glitch that got fixed.

So far, I haven’t heard of any hardware troubles with the iPad, but it does seem an awful lot like certain techie folks are trying too hard to like the iPad.

Consider this blog post at Network World from a technology blogger using the iPad for business. The point of the column is that it is "still lacking," but the reasoning is absolutely comical.

First, there is an issue with using LinkedIn. There is no LinkedIn app for the iPad yet, so it doesn’t look very good. Um…isn’t LinkedIn a website?

Isn’t the core function of the iPad the ability to use the Internet and websites? If it has to have a native iPad app for websites to look and function well, then isn’t this a big failure of the iPad?

Shouldn’t the iPad be able to work as an online device without having to download a special application for every website you use?

Then there is the issue of not being able to open certain types of non-Apple files, particularly .ics calendar files. Ironically, ics files are from iCalendar which is an Apple application. If Windows Mobile refused to open calendar files from Outlook would it get a two liner in a blog post about how that is disappointing, or would there be calls for a mass boycott and anti-trust investigations?

Equally laughable is the lament about how few applications are ready for the iPad. Would a review for Palm, Microsoft, or other device mention that as a little nagging thing? Aren’t Microsoft releases of everything judged by whether or not they have a killer application?

So, in short, the iPad isn’t really a good gadget to be used for business purposes and if anyone else had released it, technology bloggers and media types would be giving away their demo units, but with this guy and many others, the course of action is to insist that the iPad will be great someday once there are more apps, once it works better, once it is less closed and proprietary.

The Bigger Fool

But the thing that made me pull my eyeball muscles from rolling them so hard was the writer’s complaint about the price of iPad accessories. He notes that it is outrageous that Apple charges $50 for a cover for the iPad. Wait, that isn’t entirely correct. The writer notes that it is outrageous that HE PAID $50 for an iPad cover. What is actually outrageous is how many people willingly overpay for Apple accessories.

I guess it isn’t so outrageous after all. When you know that people will pay anything you ask for whatever you are selling, why charge less? Wouldn’t that make Apple the sucker instead of — well, we won’t say it.

In all fairness, this particular blogger is a networking guy and writes for the publication because of his experience with Cisco et.al, which is why I read his stuff in the first place.

Keep reading this guy’s posts and you’ll find where he declares that AT&T should fire everyone who came up with limited data plans and how businesses will be pulling 3G cards in from the field because of it. I guess no one at Apple should be fired for any of its product’s shortcomings.

Ironically, you won’t find one mention about how Apple’s decision to lock its customers into a single carrier are the root cause of this issue. AT&T knows that, just like this guy will shell out $50 for a $15 case, they will also pay every month for a capped data plan because some people will do anything to like the iPad. That is what impartial, cool, in-the-know technology bloggers and hipsters do. If people could move with their iPads to another carrier, AT&T wouldn’t be able to change data plans to be more limited, but that would be something bad about Apple, and we never ever want to write that.

iPad For Business – It Can’t Do Anything, But Maybe It Will Someday is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

(See! What did I tell you! That’s a LIKE button right there on this very webpage.)

This super-powerful Facebook weapon, called F8, is a Google killer and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. If you are not a Facebook user, you must sign up NOW. If you are a website owner, webmaster, content publisher, Internet marketer, writing to make money online, an online business marketing expert, or even if you are the guy who pumps the stuff out of the bottom of Porta-Potties, you must start using Facebook now! You must add Facebook LIKE buttons to every website, webpage, mobile phone, iPad, iPhone, iStore, iFacebook — I forgot where I was going with this sentence, because I just can’t stop thinking about the awesome new power of Facebook!

Whew!

Sarcasm can be hard to pull off in writing, even for a professional writer. How did I do?

I might be exaggerating a little bit, but only a little bit.

• The Mercury News says Sorry Google, Facebook Is the Web’s Most Important Company
• A Newsweek blogger headlines Facebook’s Play to Take Over THE ENTIRE INTERNET
• The co-founder and CEO of Mashable, via CNNTech, goes all past tense on us with How Facebook Won The Web
• The Tech Section Velocity at Forbes notes Facebook’s Plan for Internet Domination

You get the idea.

And, that’s just the "responsible" journalism subset of websites. You can about guess what this all sounds like out in the rabid echo chamber of social media, or social marketing, or Web 2.0, or whatever people are calling it these days.

If all of this sounds just a little too over-hyped, then you just don’t understand what is going on!

Right?

Wrong.

Facebook Like Button Is No Google Killer

Don’t get me wrong, Facebook’s new F8 initiative could potentially be pretty great. It might even grow into a useful tool, but that is a long way from being anything more than a blip on the technology radar. The problem, of course, is that the people writing about the big new development from the Facebook developer conference are people who would go to, or read about, a developer conference. This is not a cross-section of middle America. These are techies.

Read my parenting skills tips or my credit card rewards reviews.

Again, don’t misunderstand. I am a techie. I spent years as a high-end computer systems consultant. Although I bailed on the tech industry right before the Internet Bubble popped and the computer industry melted down, I have never given up those techie roots. Thanks to my time as a computer consultant working at numerous companies from senior management down to local desktop support, I have a lot of experience with Information Technology and the issues and problems IT Departments and IT managers face. I leveraged my background to become a freelance technology writer and built that into a pretty nice little freelance writing business. — In all fairness, my expertise after my computer days came in personal finance where I was a Certified Financial Planner. I leveraged that into becoming a freelance financial writer, and the two combined were what gave me enough clients and income to go from start-up entrepreneur to building my own small business.

However, these days I interact with a wider circle of people both professionally and personally, thanks in part to Facebook. Like many people, a few years ago I had no interest in being on Facebook, in large part because I didn’t really know anyone else who was on Facebook. More specifically, I thought I didn’t know anyone else on Facebook. The ONLY reason I even signed up was that an increasing number of freelance writing gigs started asking for people who were "experienced with social media," or even "experts in social marketing." It’s hard to say that you are an expert in social websites if you don’t have an account on any of them.

With a Top 10 Social Websites You MUST Have a Presence On from some magazine, I proceeded to sign up for six social networking websites. (The other four were so obviously not germane to anything even remotely business related that I didn’t bother.) One of those sites was Facebook. I think three of the others no longer exist, or if they do, are most certainly not anything that you MUST be a part of anymore.

I filled out the little profile thing, plugged my freelance writing website (www.arcticllama.com) as much as possible and posted a handful of things. It might have ended there, except for one little thing. A former high school classmate who still consider a friend, but who I hadn’t talked to in years, sent me a friend request. Soon, I was linked to a dozen or so high school classmates. Then, my sister sent me a friend request and mentioned that I should do the same for a cousin who was living abroad, and so on and so on. Eventually most of my family was on Facebook and an increasing number of my friends and former colleagues.

Facebook Weakens Privacy Then Asks Users To "Like" Everywhere They Go

Which brings me to exactly why the Facebook LIKE button will not replace Google or even threaten to cast a the tiniest shadow over Google and its massive search engine business.

There is no way that I am ever going to LIKE certain things lest my friends, family, and co-workers see them.

Already, I have taken Facebook’s privacy tools to their limits. I have my "friends" organized in lists and with every single post, I carefully select which list gets to see that status update, MANUALLY.

I have to. It is not an option.

I have some friends and relatives who have strong religious beliefs. I have other friends and family members who are very liberal. I have clients who are very traditional (I have to wear a suit and tie when I go onsite) and I have clients who are more freewheeling than my crazy friends (I might have to go onsite naked … if it’s Friday).Whatever I do, I need to ensure that it does not jeopardize relationships that I have spent years, or in some cases, a lifetime, cultivating just so that I "Like" a webpage or website.

There are LOTS of people using Facebook who are in a similar situation. And, with Facebook weakening its privacy standards at every opportunity, it only gets harder to maintain the proper boundaries. Facebook has already made it so that users cannot hide their friends list. That means that some users must choose between keeping an ex-girlfriend as a friend or risk losing their current girlfriend. That also goes for former employers, current employers, former and current bosses, former and current clients, and so on. And that is just one tiny thing.

Facebook has offered no easy to use controls for its users to keep their LIKES separated based on friend lists for example. If I "like" a Save the Baby Seals page will a client that sells clubs stop using my services? Or, will they insist that I "like" a How To Club Protestors site? (I jest, but you get the point.) In other words, users will only be able to recommend websites that they know are inoffensive across their entire friends list. Either that, or they will have to violate Facebook’s Terms of Service and sign up for multiple accounts.

In the end, Facebook has already shot itself in the foot with this current initiative. Far from threatening Google, Facebook’s F8 universal LIKE button is already doomed to fail.

After a handful of Likes cause ripples by being sent back to Facebook profiles, people will stop using the button and go back to using similar services that they can keep separated like Delicious, Digg, or Yahoo Buzz, or whatever. Then, will come the news stories like the ones you see now about employers firing someone, or not hiring them in the first place, because of what they "liked" or even because of what they had not "liked." Usage of the like Facebook function will dwindle until it becomes nothing more than a bunch of techies creating a virtual mirror of the funny news, political wailing, and Apple stories that dominate Digg.

Of course, by then, all of those people writing about Facebook’s New Google Killer App will be writing about the next must use Internet dominating service or feature. Just like they were all writing about Twitter two years ago.

You thought we forgot, didn’t you?

Will You Use Facebook Like Without Being Able to Control It?

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Since you can’t separate LIKES using any built-in Facebook privacy features, how will you handle the new F8 Universal Web-Wide Like Button? Will you ignore it or only Like certain kinds of websites?

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P.S. If you have any examples of BEFORE / AFTER type news stories from major technology pundits who were writing about the domination of Twitter within the last two years who are now writing about the domination of Facebook, I would love to hear about them. Leave them in the comment below and I’ll even DoFollow your comment link back to your LEGITIMATE website.

(Don’t bother if its a "landing page" for some Internet marketing affiliate thing or whatever. I will only Do Follow links to real content, no cloaked links, no landing pages, no tricks. If you have a legitimate sales ad or opportunity on a webpage containing useful information, that is fine.)

Facebook Like Google Killer ? is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

Another involves branding. Any company that hopes to be successful for the long term needs to think about branding. Branding means distinguishing yourself from others who do, or claim to do, similar things to your company. That is why it is Coke vs. Pepsi, not Great Cola Soda vs. Tasty Cola Soda. Both of the latter would be regarded as cheap generic knockoffs, not high-end brands.

Incidentally, this is one of the best ways to distinguish an ongoing concern with concern for the long-term future from one that just hopes to make a splash on the Internet. Trabach Motors (or whatever) is probably a lot more serious about their future in making cars while Best Top Motor Cars is probably a lot more serious about their website generating cash flow in any way possible.

However, in the last few days, I’ve noticed some things that are search optimized even though they were created before there was such a thing as a search engine, or at least before anyone cared what the search engines were looking for. This post, is dedicated to them.

Search Optimized Brands – Accidentally SEO Ready Brands

• Pur – The water purifier brand kills a handful of birds with one stone. First, it’s very name catches the most probably typo or spelling error. No need to register another domain for that. Also, "pur" is part of the word pure. No doubt, this counts at least a little bit when both pur and pure show up in the website text in a way that seems both natural, and like it exists thanks to "stemming." Finally, pur.com (somebody beat them to it) or even purwater.com would be great domain names, especially if they had been savvy enough to grab pure.com and purewater.com too.

Others Coming

Yes, I have others. I just have to find that notebook. It would help if I developed better organizational skills.

SEO When SEO Wasn’t Cool is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

First, Microsoft is no longer accepting beta participants for its Security Essentials program.  Security Essentials is a multi-dimensional securities application, but for the average home user, it is a free virus scanner with free virus definition updates.  While there are other utilities like this out there, this one would presumably come with technical support from Microsoft which could make it a viable option for businesses.  No word on how this would, or would not, impact the other major security vendors out there.

Next, I found out that Dell is offering the same kind of migration assistance and upgrade tools as pretty much every other first-tier PC manufacturer, but for some reason, they get a pretty extensive and flowery write-up in the Windows Blog.  Wonder if there is a marketing deal there, or if Microsoft is just showing some love, or if the Windows team is handing out a little payback for what appears to be some pretty hefty testing work done by Dell during the Windows 7 beta and Windows 7 RC periods.

And lastly, the same Windows Blog apparently is reading my thoughts while I’m laying in bed.  Last night I was going through what the differences are between XP Mode and Med-V , other than that Med-V only is available to business clients with Software Assurance licenses or other enterprise licensing.  Looks like I can use this post as the jumping off point for a nice freelance computer article.

This isn’t news, but I was using Internet Explorer a bit this morning and was thinking that it would be really great if I could customize this page that opens whenever you open a new tab in IE 8.  Not that I can change what page appears when you open a new tab, I know I can do that, but rather that I could change / add to what links are information are displayed on this page:

I’ll haven’t done much with IE 8 other than upgrade to it so that I have the least insecure Internet browser Microsoft makes, so with a little digging, maybe I’ll find that I can do exactly what I want.

Cheers.

News From Microsoft is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

For those of you who can’t do math that would mean that he has been an industry leader since 1997.  That would be a neat trick since, as this Fortune Magazine article shows, search is so new then that news sources still have to explain to people that they even can search the Internet.

This is what Yahoo! looked like in mid-1997.

Google doesn’t even get started until 1998.  It doesn’t really become anything that anyone cares about until late 1998 or early 1999. 

Wikipedia says, “the earliest known use of the phrase search engine optimization was a spam message posted on Usenet on July 26, 1997.^”

Did this guy post that spam message?  Maybe that is what passes for “experience” in a slippery industry like SEO.

In reality, the best, anyone could actually claim in 1997 is to have had good understanding of search engines.

If they were doing anything in 1997, you might not want to brag about it. In 1997 the optimization that did exist meant repeating keywords as many times as possible on your page even if it didn’t make sense, a tactic now punished and filtered out by every search engine in the world. Even if you were an industry leader in doing that, how could that be useful today?

I see this all the time in technology.  The tech world isn’t like a lot of other industries.  It just hasn’t been around long enough for there to be anyone with 30 years of relevant experience.  More importantly that that, it changes so fast that even if you could find someone with 30 years of experience, SO WHAT?

A pioneer in C programming could have 35 years of experience.  Of course, 8 to 10 years of that experience would come before the language was standardized.  If you needed experience in object-oriented programming something in the realm of 20 years would the maximum.  (It existed before then, but it didn’t really come into mainstream use until the 1990s.)

Statements touting many years of experience like this are meant to appeal to the 60 year old executive types who may not fully understand various technologies and want to apply the same rules that exist in their world to the tech space.  So, a CFO with 30 years of accounting experience reasons that a guy with 10 years of accounting experience is more seasoned than a guy with just 5 years, so an SEO expert with 12 years experience must be better than one with 5.

Of course, pretty much everything more than 3 years old in SEO is crap now thanks to updated algorithms and savvier search programs, but whatever.

I don’t have any problem with Mr. 12 Years as Industry Leader, it just strikes me as kind of odd.  I’d rather see a tagline like, “Helped 30 of the Fortune 50 to the top of search rankings” or something more relevant. But, hey, go with whatever works for you.  Just hope that nobody does the math.

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Too Many Years of SEO Experience? is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

There was an episode of the West Wing in which the staff insist the President not use his opponent’s name because it gives him free publicity.  The President asks that if he doesn’t use his opponent’s name, won’t it just look like he doesn’t know his name?  The absurdity being that everyone already knows both names; presidential elections are like that.  (Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or hate politics, by now you know that names of the two guys running this year.)

This brings me to today’s post.  I always laugh when people or companies try and pretend to be oblivious of the obvious to make themselves try and look good.  Ironically, they only end up making themselves look foolish.

The folks at Microsoft’s new online push have released a new version of Windows Live Writer that addresses some of my previous problems with it, so I’ve re-installed it and am starting to use it again.  So far, so good.

Windows Live Writer’s Absurd Omission

While setting up my blogs, I noticed that Microsoft has declared itself to be the victor in the blogging universe despite the fact that it is currently a tiny niche player.  When you setup Windows Live Writer to work with your blog you get a setup screen like this one:

If you aren’t laughing out loud right now, you probably don’t know much about blogging.  The most used blogging service is WordPress.  The other most common ones are Blogger and TypePad.  These are so ubiquitous it’s like, not including Google, Yahoo, and MSN in your new search related software.  Only, on the Microsoft blogging software, none of the top three are listed.  Sure, they are there under “Another Weblog Service,” but what kind of message does this box send?  If you have a great new search product and it says “What Search Engine Do You Use?” — Bob’s Search, Lycos Search, or Another Search Engine, what kind of message does that send regarding your understanding of your target users?

Microsoft hopes that this box add legitimacy to its Johnny-come-lately addition to the online universe called Live Spaces.  What it really does is give everyone a big fat reminder that Microsoft is not only not a leader in the online world, but frequently a hinderance.  (It’s Internet Explorer is legendary for it’s terrible implementation of standards it supposedly supports — Search anywhere for IE and CSS for examples.)  Furthermore, it suggests that Microsoft is pretending that there aren’t thousands of people and sites out there who have been up and running and doing just fine while Microsoft was trying to decide if the this whole Web 2.0 thing was real or not.  So, your average Internet professional (like Moi) sees this screen and thinks, “Who are they kidding?”  I mean, I’m assuming that they aren’t delusional enough to know that the likes of WordPress and Blogger make up the vast majority of sites out there.   So, they have to be doing it on purpose.  I guess they hope people will be setting this software up and decide to give one of these services a try.

What they have actually done is to put out a software that reinforces the notion that Microsoft software is cumbersome and difficult to setup.  Not long from now, other blogging software will update or a new one will come along with features.  But, this other software will have easy default buttons for setting up WordPress and Blogger and the reviews will start to say things like “Much easier to setup than Windows Live Writer” and before you know it, Microsoft has released yet another product that no one has any interest in actually using.  The only users they’ll be left with are the lowest end people who use whatever comes pre-installed on their computer without doing any research or investigation.  Needless to say, these won’t be the people producing the top blogs on the Internet.

So, welcome to Windows Live Writer.  It is cool today, but absurd corporate politics have doomed it to be a weak player in the market.  Feel free to use it as a place holder until a Mozilla backed version of blogging software comes along.

Denial and Windows Live Writer is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

What Do Your Clients Want

Again, standing out is your goal, but what do your clients or prospective clients want? Just because you are an Internet savvy technology hound who keeps all your contact information in a high-tech contact management system, doesn’t mean everyone is. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of businessmen and businesswomen out there who are old school. They keep their business cards in something you may of heard of called a Rolodex. The standard Rolodex punch probably has enough umpph to get through a laminated card, but I’m not certain everyone would try, and unlike you, they don’t want your card sticking out like a sore thumb when they go flipping through. A different color, or a bright graphic is fine, but a plastic card is like those stupid ads in magazines that keep you from flipping through. If it’s irritating enough, they’ll yank it and toss it.

One person I talked to said they didn’t care about these kind of people. After all, if they weren’t more savvy than that, he didn’t want their business. Um…Hello? If you were going to bet your house against the age of a random senior manager at a Fortune 1000 company, would you bet over 45 or under? Me, too. Young and hip is cool, but older still has more of the power.

What about your tech savvy clients? Does your thick laminated card fit through the business card scanner they use? Does it feed properly? Does it scan, or does the light get reflected?

Then, there are those who are power users of business cards, like to keep them in business card holders. First, in a small one in their pocket, and then in some sort of binder. Your laminated card might be just big enough not to fit, or to make the premium leather holder they spend a pretty penny on not close properly. So, they throw it in a bag or briefcase where it gets lost forever.

Finally, you have people like me. I like to jot a note down on a business card sometimes. It might just be a reminder of who they are, or where I met them. Sometimes, it’s even more important, maybe the name of the product I should be looking at, or a price, or a local supplier. Either way, if I can’t quickly write it on the business card, then, I’ll probably just try and remember. I don’t want to take those odds.

How To Stand Out Good

Having the business card stand out is most definitely a good goal, but there are better ways to do it. Color is a great way. You can write, scan, file, on cards of most any color. Slightly nicer paper or embossing are good ideas too. Also, take advantage of all that space on the back. A quick tip, or link to a web site, or something else your clients will find useful can all improve the common business card.

For Mr. Laminated, I remember the card, so good job. The only problem is, I don’t think I have it around here anymore…

Too Clever for Business? is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

Invited to Microsoft Small Business Center

The email invited me to take a look around the Microsoft Small Business Center. At first glance, this thing looks chock-full of useful information. A few minutes clicking, however, reveals something a little different.

First, you never know which clicks go to real useful information, and which clicks take you to a page where the “solution” is a 60-day trial of some Microsoft product. Unless you don’t have a word processor, it is doubtful that the solution to any of your business issues is a product. Chances are a product could help you, but it won’t be the solution.

Second, even if the click does take you to information and not an infomercial, the information isn’t exactly “wow” material. Take “5 Ways to Create a Media Kit,” for example. A media kit is a critical resource in getting the word out about your small business, especially if you are in a higher-end service business where your target market isn’t likely to respond to form letters or cold calls. So, information on 5 ways to create a media kit would be most welcome.

Create a Media Kit

Here are the so-called 5 ways to create a media kit.

1. Cover the conventional basics.
2. Choose brand-appropriate, consistent packaging.
3. Decide on digital and print options.
4. Include a call to action.
5. Stay timely.

Um, that’s not even one way to create a media kit. Those are five hints you might want to keep in mind when creating a media kit, but that is a far cry from 5 ways to create a media kit.

Really Create a Media Kit

As part of our business coaching we cover various forms of marketing and one of the key forms of marketing is a media kit. Our information includes how to actually create a media kit, not breeze platitudes. Our advice involves choosing a format, usually a file folder or presentation book depending upon the industry. Then, it involves how many pages to include, and what should be on each page. It also includes formatting examples, and things like whether or not to include some sort of coupon, sample, or give-away, depending on your industry. We help with design and offer feedback and tips. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t include any advice on staying timely, so they got us there. Of course, after reading that one sentence, I think you know everything you need to know about timely-ness.

Real Solutions for the Real World

There are successful professionals out there who don’t need fluffy hand holding advice. What they need is the prospective of a fellow business professional that has seen things they haven’t seen and tried things they haven’t tried. We provide that tangible real world consulting or coaching to our clients. That’s what separates us from the pack.

5 Ways to Create a Media Kit – For the Brain Dead is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC

I was thinking, for some reason, this morning about the movie Catch Me If You Can, with Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks. In the movie, Leonardo’s character impersonates a lawyer. In order to do so he has to pass the state bar exam. This is the only thing that Tom Hanks’ character can’t figure out. Leo finally tells him that he just studied for two weeks and passed. My wife is a lawyer and is dubious of that claim.

Be that as it may, I have always been able to learn things from books. I learn them so well, that I can retain most of it and can therefore pass tests pretty well too. I got a certification in Netware back in the day, having never touched the product (just read the study book). I also got a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification without taking any of the classes. More recently, I was able to get my Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification by just taking the “accelerated” courses my firm offered. The “regular” course of study is over 3 years and the accelerated took just 12 months. The catch is that I quit before we finished, so I did the last 3 classes on my own. Although I signed up for online training I never did anything but read the books they sent me and do the practice questions. I passed the first time out. The failure rate on that test is something like 45% and over 50% for first timers, so it’s nothing to sneeze at.

Business Coaching & Business Consulting, but no paper skills

The reason this is intriguing to me is that we offer business and management consulting and coaching. What makes us different is that our techniques and procedures are very much grounded in real world tangible every day skills whereas most others offering similar services seem to work with much more “soft” skills. For example, a manager getting the advantage of our coaching gets real tips on how to manage his people. After all, this is what being a manager is all about. When I say “real tips,” I mean actual language that can be used to diffuse a situation or actual disciplinary actions that should be taken and so on. Others ofter “team building” or “goal setting.” Don’t get me wrong, we do that too, but that is where we start, not where we end.

So, what is the deal with the movie? Despite the experience and skills that we bring to the table, and the much more useful and sought after techniques we use, we don’t necessarily have the kinds of things that certain people look for on paper. For example, my experience comes from consulting and contracting in dozens of companies and seeing many management styles and many failed business strategies. But, my degree is in Biochemistry, and my only job title that matches the service is my current one. (I’ve done plenty of this type of thing before, but my title was always something more technical.) So, to certain people (usually those who have never met us, but who have to sign off on the request) it doesn’t look like we have the proper stature. Enter the CPA.

CPA = Big Paper Skills

The CPA exam is a multi-part exam which has multiple study guides availible for it. I don’t know everything, but I know plenty about business, math, taxes, and so on. I’m not saying I already know everything, but I do have a very firm grounding in the concepts. Using the aforementioned learning from reading skill, I’m confident I can pass the CPA exams and then put on that piece of paper that I have not only real world experience, but also that I am a Certified Public Accountant. I’ve got some research to do, but hopefully this is something I can make happen in between my four businesses, the book I want to write, the products I want to market, and …

Here Comes the CPA is a post from Best Hubris. All content exclusively written by Freelance Writing Business of ArcticLlama, LLC