Since the economy has taken a turn for the worse, we have strived to run as lean as possible. This required some heavy soul searching and in turn we improved all of our processes across the board. Who does this benefit? You! Last week I watched the most entertaining 2hours of cSpan ever when Capitol Hill grilled Detroit’s Big 3. Each month our sales get stronger and the economy get worse. Donald Trump said he makes more money in a bad economy than in a good one. This phrase has stuck with me since, I just hope that if we can make money now, then when things improve the sky is the limit!

Absolutly nothing if you don’t have smarts to track your progress! Whatever you are not keeping track of, you are losing money on! This doesn’t require you to buy expensive software to have cool looking interfaces and layouts so intricate you need a huge manual to understand it all. I use simple excel spreadsheets to keep track of many of our projects and tasks and so far it is paying off huge! Our workload is lighter, our margins bigger and it will continue to rise as now I have more resources freed up to improve in other areas. Get with it or get out!

Ever have someone try to sell you on buying into a company, only to find out they were being investigated by the Feds!? Think Pyramid Scheme! Fortunately we have never been involved in any of these, but with the ecomomy going out of wack people are desperate to rip others off and others are clinging to the hope that these criminals are selling. If you hear catch phrases like, AmWay, get in on the ground floor, buy into the company, etc
GET AWAY ASAP!!!
or better yet, make the check out to Actualize Marketing!

It is not about what product you are selling, it is more about your message and your additude. Of course the product or service must be of use to the client but more importantly how do they feel about you? if they like you, your chances for a succesful sale go up ten-fold. Want to know more about Network Marketing?

The industrial age that our parents grew up is over and the age of the freelancer is now. Let me explain a little….The baby boomer life was all about finding that 1 great career job, stayin there until you retire and collecting a pension. Now with outsourcing, increased diversity in the work force and constant dot com failures work life is forever changed and I say for the better! Security and consistency was the name of the game back then, but now it is freedom and flexiblity. The freedom to do what you want, when you want, but also have the flexiblity to make money whenever and whereever you may be. This is how I have choosen to live my life. What are you doing?

This week I want to discuss sleeping on the couch and all the wonderful things it can offer you. There isn’t much that can top coming home from work, and crashing out on the couch with some tunes in the background. In fact, after completing this blog post I think I will engage in just that act, sleeping on the couch….ahh the glory of it all. Why is it when you lay down in bed you can stay awake forever, but if you lay down on the couch you can pass right out, even if you are not as comfortable!? Also, beer and chicks taste better on a couch….why is that?

Management can make or break a company. Whatever your company is not currently tracking, you are losing money on at this very moment! This idea, mindset, strategy has been adopted and implemented here @ Actualize Marketing painstakingly over the past few months. Initially there was no visable return on our efforts, but now that the summer has hit full swing the results are rolling in with Actualize hitting well above it’s weight. We have increased sales, lowered turn around time, increased our service offerings, added new clients and taken on bigger projects, all at a reduced cost, yet while improving our margins so we can save our clients more money than ever, while we earn even more than before. Think Win-Win! Take the time to get reorgnanized now! Contact us today and we’ll get you on the right track!

Always..No….Never….no wait.
Don’t forget it’s good to keep a trash bag in your car, because when it gets full you can just throw it out the window!

Ok Ok so that was a joke so don’t get all tree hugger on me ok! So I totally spaced out and forgot to write a blog entry last week so here I am now. Well this weeks topic is Check’s. It all started on Monday when we were supposed to receive final payment for our last completed job. After waiting 5days for alocal check that I knew we were going to reeive after 2days they finally start top put a hold on the check and issue us a new one. When it comes to completing projects we don’t slack off, so when it comes to getting paid I don’t like people slacking off! So what gives? Why is there this phomenon? I think it is because people don’t fully appreciate the internet yet, it never will and it is already abused and misunderstood. The amount of time and effort that goes into our business is no laughing matter, nor is getting paid…Nor is getting your website turned off with the click of a button either….
Until next time….remember you can Russian, just don’t be Communist!

Why are you such an asshole? Ohh right you make more money than I do so you can be a fag, sorry I forgot! Ok so that was pretty harsh right? So I try to help a collegue with a website for the company he works for, this has turned into a complete clusterfuck, one that shows the lack of ability on someone part, and it ain’t me. I talk to the prospective client, listening to his needs and situation. I then indicate I won’t have availability until Thursday but would be able to assist fully @ that time. The first words out of the dudes mouth is “can you get it done by Tuesday?” ?What are you serious, didn’t you just hear what I said? I made no mention of timeline or guarantees, which is why he is in this situation now because he pressures people for a guarantee they can’t deliver. We always deliver and do so when we say it will be done!

So I just moved into a new apartment and it is right next to the mountain, so I can shred the trail whenever I want! The move now puts me between the i-17 and SR51 which is nice and so far it seems to be working out well. Been meeting some cool people, the trails are killer and it’s still close to work! I’ll add some pictures soon. The thing about it is now my rent has increased and thus the racing budget has decreased so it’s back to work so I can get more money to go racing!

Customer Service: Quality of service delivery set by you. is a definition that can be found via google.com. I have another definition: The act of doing what the customer needs/expects. I recently relocated and thus had to arrange with certain companies like Cox Communications to have my internet switched to my new address and activated. As you know we are primarily a web based company so not having internet is BAD!!! Case in point, Cox came out to my new apt to activate the line, but when they got there the lines were apparently not marked for each apt. thus they would have to do extra work to activate the line. So what did they do? Go home without notifying me! What!? Did I miss something? You paid a tech to come to my house and do absolutly nothing? All that had to be done was call me and say heh this is the issue but we can solve it, would you like us to do so? The answer of course would have been YES! So long story short, after calling for 2 days and nights I got a person who actually cared on the phone and within 4 hrs I had a tech on site and active internet. The thing that got me was the tech who came out, their first question was, why didn’t anyone contact me over the weekend? Yea no shit why didn’t they! People who have the power to get the job done but simply choose not to for no valid reason should be eliminated from planet earth as they are polluting society with their ignorance. Just my opinion, I could be wrong!

I love Craigslist..ever been there? I have spent approximately $200 and I have obtained a running Miata engine, portable air tank, trailer hitch and 19inch monitor. Better yet is that I use them all and they still work! I have even sold a fair amount of my car parts and made well over what I have spent. I also check it everyday looking for people in need of our web design, email marketing or perhaps some graphic design services from us. It amazes me sometimes how people expect, or rather “they know” how much this stuff costs and will only pay $15-$20 per hour for web design work. What are we friends? Are you some hot chick that wants to hook up? No I didn’t think so….so the rate for full service marketing services will cost you more than that. But then again how much can you afford to lose by not marketing yourself properly?

Just my opinion…I could be wrong!

What a pain in the ass! Starting a new business properly with all the licenses, tax guidelines and gray areas there is plenty of room for mistakes, not to mention headaches. When we setup our business license I spent hours on the phone with city and state representatives discussing our make up and service offering there were so many variables to be taken into account. At one point, I had to send the state a fully detailed report on all of our services, type of planned transactions, etc. After waiting over 3weeks I got a cut and paste response that resolved absolutely nothing! However, now I had their words in writing. There is so much gray area with marketing, consulting and the internet that it is easy to understand why it is hard for the government to tax us, but also their reseaon for trying to pass legislation so that they can tax us! They know the money is slipping through their hands.

This is our debut posting for our new blog. The purpose of our blog will be to inform you about the latest technolgies and market trends. Using this blog regularly will also help our SEO efforts as updating your site often helps with rankings
By updating the blog every week we are effectivly changing our site and helping our ranking efforts.