Continue reading »]]> It seems not a single major news media source has written about the very serious and extended outage of the BillPay service provided by major U.S. Banks. Bank customers throughout the U.S. are complaining and being held hostage for nearly two days now. Evidence of this can be seen in Twitter.

This began with my own unhappy experience of not being able to log into my Suntrust BillPay on Monday night around 8pm. I tried a couple more times with no success.  On Tuesday morning, there was no error message. Only the inability to log in to my BillPay from my Suntrust Online Banking Account.

As I stayed in my home office working patiently waiting for an opportunity to input some urgent payments in addition to checking on what payments should be coming out tomorrow, I finally called the toll-free number customer service number and was politely informed that BillPay was down since 3pm on Monday afternoon. Tuesday has come and nearly gone. We are headed into Wednesday with no indication when the BillPay service will be available again.

Because there seems to be zero coverage of this extensive and widespread BillPay outage, I took to Twitter to do my own research and write this update. Hopefully, Google will pick this up and disseminate to BillPay victims being held hostage.

It appears many people are blaming their bank for the BillPay problem when in reality the BillPay problem is actually larger than any one bank.

From my Twitter research and my own accounts with four of these banks, the following banks are suffering from the same BillPay outage:

• Bank of America
• Bank Atlantic
• Charles Schwab
• First Tech Federal Credit Union
• ING Direct
• Suntrust Bank
• Synovus Banks
• Wells Fargo

There are probably many, many banks that I have not listed but affected and simply not showing up on the Twitter feed but I will add those names as I find out about them.

It tells me that the BillPay service is larger than any one bank. I am unsure if BillPay is being provided by a single vendor of which the various banks and credit unions purchase and use.

It seems apparent to me, there is going to be hell to pay because of the resulting late fees that will be incurred by the tens of thousands (perhaps even hundreds of thousands) accounts nationwide. It seems no one in customer service knows anything. The online customer service rep I spoke to said this afternoon that there were hundreds of complaints already.

Myself alone I have quite a few large payments that were due today and tomorrow. I question whether those payments will be made now despite the fact they were put in two weeks ago.

This has got to be the most severe BillPay outage that I can recall. I am still monitoring my Twitter feed in hopes there is some indication that BillPay service will be restored. I hope to provide an update later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Continue reading »]]> This was a follow-up to my prior post regarding Blog Hater Comments. In that post, a user made her arguments in defense of the blogger I was making comments about. I had a lot to say in my reply to her.

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Steve is always going to have haters no matter what. He has said that he doesn’t read the comments and he doesn’t care what the haters say because they keep coming back anyway. People can be incredibly rude and ignorant but I think if they want to waste their time trashing somebody, then they can do it. I don’t know if deleting all the hateful comments is a good idea because they will just get even angrier and keep posting mean stuff. I’m not disagreeing with you, but I think that since Steve doesn’t read them anyways, it doesn’t really matter to him. There are so many people that like him and the haters are just wasting their time being jerks. Steve doesn’t have time to respond to rude comments (if he even reads them), and I feel like that would just make the hate even stronger. I can understand why you are upset and I agree that many comments are horrible; however, Steve has stated multiple times that he does not read the comments and he sometimes does respond to haters on his reader e-mails, for example. I think that if it really bothered Steve, he would have started doing something a long time ago, as he has always had haters. Sorry that this is so long but I just wanted to say that while the things people say are awful, I think the best thing for Steve to do is to continue what he has been doing and just not read the negativity or waste time responding, which would just fuel the fire even more.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. First, let me say I do understand where you are coming from. Second, I also understand where Steve is coming from because he has pretty much said what you said. But I would have to say that I respectfully disagree with both of you. Let me explain why.

I have a strong I.T. (information technology) background which I use to my advantage both in business and personal life. I use it to help others when I can. I make it my business to study the use of technology to achieve the results of what I want. I also have a fair understanding of Internet security. That means knowing what software to use and how to use it is a big part of whether you are successful or not. You can have two people use Microsoft Word in completely different ways. Some people use it very simplistically to type a letter. Others, such as those who work in law offices, have the ability to create amazingly sophisticated and impactful legal documents with it. It comes down to the user.

Did you know that the ELI website and RealitySteve.com run on the same underlying software? It is called WordPress. The WordPress platform is used by literally hundreds of thousands of websites around the world. It is the basis of some of the most sophisticated and largest websites in the world because of its ease, flexibility, and cost (free). How I know what RealitySteve.com runs on is because I set up a user account and in the process of registration, I saw he was running on WordPress. Even without that, there are external clues that he was using WordPress.

Without disrespect intended towards Steve, he doesn’t seem overly technical. If he is, it appears to be a well-kept secret. And he certainly doesn’t show his technical side. “Haters” and “spammers” have been around since the Internet became available to the public in the mid-1990?s. There are many ways of fighting off haters and spammers. And unless a hater happens to be a programmer (which I cannot imagine many Reality Steve haters are), they can never truly overcome a well-planned system of screening out spammers and haters.

Did you know that the ELI website gets attacked by spammers 150-200 times per day? And yet, no one knows about it and their efforts are 99.9% wasted. Once in a great while, a lucky hit will get through but it is easy to delete and suspend that account going forward.

Most of Reality Steve haters are people. They are not using automated robots to post their hate. I can promise you, I can “kill” hater accounts far quicker than they can ever set up new accounts. I don’t even have to do it myself. I just have to configure WordPress and add an appropriate plug-in to make it happen. You don’t have to be a programmer to clean out the haters. There is already all kinds of free plug-ins that will do the job but it is something Steve would have to commit to do.

I don’t want to get into a psychological debate of whether “haters” bother Steve or not. I happen to believe that negativity and hate do affect people in subtle ways. I think it makes people more cynical and more irritable and overly skews their views because it overwhelmingly drowns out the good moderate people who mind their own business and avoid conflict. You don’t see me jumping into there because it would be pointless. In any case, I believe in taking care of and reward those who “love” me, not haters. Haters will continue to hate but why would anyone let them do it to your own website that you pay for?

The idea that someone won’t fight back spammers or haters because they will come back is like saying:

1. You are going to get dirty anyway, why take a shower every day?
2. You are going to get bugs in your house anyway, why waste money on pest control or bug spray?
3. Your house is going to get dirty anyway, why dust or vacuum your house?
4. Your car is going to get dirty anyway, why wash your car or clean out your car?
5. A bully is going to insult and attack you anyway, so why bother fighting back since you keep getting abused and picked on?

I could easily give you another 50 examples but I think you get my point. Spammers and haters may continue to hit your website but that doesn’t mean you let them shit all over your website. Would anyone let a stranger come shit on their car, their bedroom, or their house? If not, why would someone let spammers and haters shit on their website that they work on and paid for and is so valuable that it generates money for them?

To me, it is either ignorance (someone didn’t teach or show them), laziness, or plain indifference. For me, I care about “my people”. For example, you disagree with me. That’s ok. You were respectful and I am replying to you. You took the time to reply and I will make the effort to do the same. Now, I understand there comes a point where it is too much to reply to everyone individually but there are ways of acknowledging entire groups of people.

I come from a place where all my websites are an online reflection of me. They are certainly not perfect but I can promise I send out a strong message to spammers and haters. If they want to shit on or talk trash about me, my name, or my work, I can’t stop them from doing so ELSEWHERE on the Internet. But I sure as hell can and will stop it if it is on MY home website.

We choose to have pest control in our own homes. Well, we also have the option to have pest control on our websites. Simply saying that the bugs will be back bigger, badder, and meaner doesn’t mean you say, “I give up. Come in and shit all over my house.”

Having said all that, RealitySteve.com is not my website. The Reality Steve Lawsuit isn’t even my fight. I have done what I can to help Steve with no conditions. He can accept it or he can turn away. Either way, I have no regrets. I stand by my article about how negativity and cancerous haters can be. The haters damage his reputation and cause harm in very subtle and ugly ways that hurt him. He may not see it but I do see the harm.

If Steve doesn’t mind people shitting all over his website simply because it doesn’t bother him or whatever, then I question whether he understands the bigger picture. For me, the “bigger picture” is that as a blogger and website owner you have a duty to take care of “your people” even if it is more work for him.

He got nearly $8,000 in contributions to his legal fund. If that doesn’t prove that he has goodwill and good people on his side, nothing will. That should prove to him that having a solid community without the haters would be even better and stronger so that supporters like yourself can post on his site without some ass insult your for enjoying or supporting his website.

You posted respectfully here but I consider you “my people”. If anyone went after you or anyone else that respectfully posts and comments on my websites, you can believe I will blow them out of the water with no explanation. They can keep coming back and I will keeping stomping on them like the nasty pests they are.

Continue reading »]]> This article was originally posted on ExtortionLetterInfo on March 30, 2012. Although it is directed towards the audience interested in the ongoing Reality Steve Lawsuit, this article also shares my viewpoint on hateful and disrespectful user comments on blogs.

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Yesterday, I tweeted that I was pissed about something and that I was going to take out my blowtorch. The reason I said that is that I have a huge axe to grind over a topic that has been brewing the last couple of weeks on RealitySteve.com. That issue that has gotten me all fired up is the issue of online haters, their presence, and their impact around them.

Before my involvement in writing about the Reality Steve Lawsuit, I rarely read any of the reader comments on RealitySteve.com. Like most of his readership, I primarily visited to read what Steve Carbone writes, not necessarily the reader comments.

I now read RealitySteve.com reader comments with greater interest because I look for insights, trying to get a pulse on the online community as it relates to the Reality Steve Lawsuit. I am amazed, shocked, and disgusted at the amount of outrageous, disrespectful, and hateful comments that are posted and never removed!

What amazes me more is that Carbone actually allows this hate and disrespect to go on day after day, week after week, month after month! And instead of him doing something about it by intervening, he lets his supporters fight it out with them! I think to myself, WTF is he thinking?

Before I go any further with my blistering comments, let me once again state my respect for Carbone and his accomplishments with creating and growing RealitySteve.com as he has. I respect him as an entertainment reporter, fellow entrepreneur, fellow blogger, and fellow website owner.

I also appreciate that he continues to refer people to my ongoing commentaries regarding his lawsuit. He has shown great respect to me by giving me credit for things I have started on his behalf. It certainly is no secret that I continue to support, advocate, and defend his position as a fellow blogger, website owner, and entrepreneur.

However, Carbone cannot afford to have this kind of ongoing negativity and cancer of haters in his life right now. There is enough stress and pressure from the ongoing operation of supporting RealitySteve.com PLUS the huge lawsuit against him without the pettiness of haters.  This is something he can and should do something about immediately. I am a firm believer that every bit of negativity you let into your life chips away at the fabric of your work, your life, and who you are. Some might say it doesn’t bother them but I think, as human beings, negativity inevitably slips in through osmosis. The best way to prevent negativity from seeping into your life is to stop it cold whenever you encounter it.

As blogger and host of RealitySteve.com, Carbone has a responsibility to protect his readership and fans from haters, disrespectful comments, and venom even though it may not bother him personally. His fans and readership come to immerse themselves in his world whether it is two minutes to read a short blog post, 5-10 minutes for a longer blog post, or 60 minutes to view his video blog.

Visitors who visit RealitySteve.com want to hang out with like-minded, fun people who enjoy the discussion of news and spoilers and not read bullshit hateful, disrespectful, and venomous comments from naysayers and critics who don’t offer anything constructive to his community. I don’t think it is the job of his fans readership to defend him. It is his job to set the tone and “house rules” for reader comment behavior. If people can’t follow “house rules”, they should get kicked out plain and simple.

Somehow this bullshit entitlement mentality by some readers that they are allowed to rant, rave, attack, and spew venom whenever and however they want on HIS website is incomprehensible to me. How does that serve his website or anyone else involved except for the few people who get off on being asses online?

Admittedly, RealitySteve.com commands a greater viewership and ranking than my own ELI website that I currently write from. But I can also say there are other far larger websites than his that would never allow the outrageous negative comments and behavior that Carbone seems to tolerate on RealitySteve.com. It serves no good purpose to having these destructive negative comments and only clutters up the website with unnecessary negativity and online conflict.

Let me be clear, I have no problems with honest disagreement and debate. I don’t have a problem with constructive criticism. But there comes a point where these so-called “reader comments” cross the line. It needs to be dealt with swiftly and unapologetically.

Six months ago, we had an anonymous person (they are almost ALWAYS anonymous) trash-talk me and attorney Oscar Michelen of running a scam here on ELI. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that while our community and readership quickly jumped in to support us (as RealitySteve.com readers do on Carbone’s behalf), there was no way in hell Oscar or I would allow that kind of trash-talk about us in our own website go unanswered. Although we could have deleted that post and lock out that user account, we didn’t.

We chose to respond to it openly and forcefully. Although it took more of our time to do so, we wanted to send a strong message to everyone that we would not tolerate or stand for unfounded accusations, disrespect, or hateful comments.  Oscar’s response and my response were quite lengthy.  But allow me to quote some important passages that I feel are also relevant to RealitySteve.com.

For people who offer only criticism of us but no helpful suggestions or ideas.

You say the information on this website and discussion forum is good?  Who do you think did all the work over the last 3 years to put this community and website together?  It was a tag-team effort between Oscar and myself. We brought our different strengths together and created tremendous synergy.  Did we use ingenuity, leverage, and efficiencies to get the word out and devise a way to collect information but also to serve thousands of people?  You bet we did.

We did it because it served the greater good.  Do we ask for some nominal monies to support the cause?  You bet we do!  There are real costs of our time.  Yes, we want to help but do you think Oscar and I should sacrifice our livelihoods to help others over these letters?  If you do, then do us a favor and just leave. We aren’t going to become martyrs over this.

Anonymous critics and haters are cowards and leeches. They take and don’t give anything back except negativity. Readers who truly care offer suggestions or constructive comments.  When they do, I do my best to reply and acknowledge them. The haters like to call it “ass-kissing” when it simply comes down to old-fashioned respect.

Most people don’t know the first thing about launching their own blog, website, or business.  Yet, haters are busy wasting their own and everyone else’s time with their venom. If they are going to be disrespectful and hateful towards us on our own website and property, we are going to hit back, plain and simple.

And some people like you only see the faults and criticize us.  Well, what are you doing to help the cause?  Have you spent hundreds of collective hours that Oscar and I have spent over the last 3 years on the forums, videos, phone discussions, reading, researching, negotiating, emailing, etc? I think not.  This may be a bold statement but I think there are very few people in the U.S. and quite possibly the world that have done as much work on defending the demand letter issue AND have impacted tens of thousands of people as we have.  The web statistics don’t lie. 

It is unfortunate that I had to take a strong tone in my response to you but when you start firing off your mouth with barely a clue of what is happening in the big picture, the work behind the scenes, or knowing the full story, we are not going to simply be quiet about it.

And for people screaming about free speech on OUR own website this is what I have said.

Never forget, we have the power to delete any message or user we want.  There is no freedom of speech here because this is private website and property.  You are in OUR home.  That means people should mind their manners.  We leave dumb messages like yours up to show everyone we are transparent in how we work.  We are not afraid of constructive criticism or even disagreement.  Having said that, don’t expect that Oscar or I will quietly sit and let someone disparage our personal and professional reputations.  WE could have deleted your message altogether but we chose to deal with it head-on for everyone to see.

Free speech doesn’t mean you can go anywhere and say anything you want even in a tax-payer funded federal building. There are rules for free speech. If someone wants to spew venom, they should launch their own website and spew away in their corner of the Internet. But I won’t have someone come spew venom in MY corner of the Internet.

To haters everywhere, I openly say this in very coarse and rude (Rated “R”) language:

“If you can’t offer anything good (or at least your silence) then get the fuck out and don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. We (the community) won’t put up with your shit. If you want to act like an adult and a respectful human being, then you can come back. Otherwise, good riddance!”

Many years ago, I learned this business lesson that I practice to this day.

There are people love you.
There are people who are indifferent to you.
There are people who hate you.

You job is NOT to be all things to all people.

Your job is to acknowledge, support, and appreciate the people who love you.
Your job is to sell, court, and win over the people who are indifferent to you.

And get rid of the people who hate you. Don’t let them become a cancer to you, the people who support you, or what you do.

I truly hope Carbone will consider the intended spirit of what I have said in this commentary article as offering helpful insights as opposed to taking offense to it as he continues his ongoing lawsuit battle.

Continue reading »]]> Both my original plan and backup plan for all-new commentary and content on the “Bachelor” producers lawsuit against Reality Steve went up in smoke. I couldn’t do a video that I had planned because my yard was getting done this afternoon and the noise from the lawn mower and weed-eater were just too loud for me to do a video recording. The yard work took up a good part of the afternoon and by the time it was done, it was getting late. In the meantime, I also took two consecutive ELI Phone Support Calls. By the time all that wrapped up, it was time for me to fix dinner.

When dinner was over, I spoke with Sarah (volunteer editor/proofreader and RED STARS team member) to catch up on things and I finally took some mindless down time for myself. One topic that came up in our conversation was that one of my motivations in writing the Reality Steve Lawsuit series is to educate others as well as advocate for Steve Carbone.  The legal mess that Carbone is going through serves as a live case study for others to learn from.

I have become a self-appointed teacher of sorts during the last two weeks. The ELI website started out as an educational website on stock photo extortion letters but we have obviously expanded discussions to other areas over time. In the case of the Reality Steve Lawsuit, we are discussing a case of Hollywood Extortion.

I thought about skipping tonight but given that I took a break from any in-depth writing, I thought some of you might appreciate some of my past experiences that helped me relate to Steve Carbone and the bullying lawsuit against him.

In that spirit, I am providing links to three incidents I have been through. It seems like I came out of nowhere with my first Reality Steve Lawsuit article. But it really is an extension and continuation from where we have been. You can see how some of my past situations influenced my views of what Carbone is going through now.

My first legal encounter regarding a website matter was 12 years ago. In 2000, I was legally threatened twice by the Napoleon Hill Foundation, keepers of the famous “Think and Grow Rich” book franchise. I learned my early lessons of how to defend myself on the Internet and fighting back.

In July 2011, ELI received a notification letter regarding so-called defamatory remarks against a Masterfile employee. Both Oscar Michelen and I provided email responses to that matter.

In November 2011, ELI received a letter from a California Attorney objecting to his name being associated with the word “extortion” and the ELI website. Oscar wrote his response to that attorney. I also wrote a lengthy response to that attorney.

I do not know if Carbone ever responded to the “cease and desist” letters he allegedly received from the “Bachelor” producers. But the biggest mistake most bloggers and website owners make is allowing themselves to be legally threatened behind-the-scenes and NOT openly sharing it with their loyal fans and readership who are their biggest supporters and defenders.

It is too bad that Carbone’s current lawyers discouraged him from coming out sooner and asking his fans and readership for help. Most lawyers have little or no experience in harnessing the power of the Internet on behalf of their clients. They are mostly concerned about their retainers and the billable hours. Not all legal disputes have to be taken into a courtroom to resolve. That is a luxury only the deep-pocketed can afford to do. The rest of us middle-class “non-lawyers” need to get a little smarter. Otherwise, your bank account will suffer immensely.

My advice to those who are legally threatened and being pushed around is to NOT suffer in silence. Certainly, take corrective measures and respond to the letters but also use their threat letters against them by openly responding and sharing them. It will make people think twice before sending another obnoxious, bullying, and ugly-sounding legally threatening letter again especially when you are advertising their letter for all the world to see.

Continue reading »]]> I wrote this customer testimonial letter for Holly Bonderson of American Classifieds in May 2009. To this very day even though we don’t advertise much, she still checks in with us.

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To Whom It May Concern:

I first became acquainted with Holly a few years ago when she first worked at the customer service desk at American Classifieds. During this time I worked with another Sales Representative and became disenchanted because of inconsistent service and sloppy work where he made mistakes on our ads.

During this time, Holly was promoted to a Sales Representative and I was recommended to her.  I specifically asked for someone who was going to be competent as a replacement because we were regular advertisers of American Classifieds and needed reliable service.  The office recommended Holly for our account.

I am happy to say Holly has been and continues to be a delight to work with.  She is conscientious, competent, and mindful in her care of our account. She makes my life so easy with her pleasant, easy demeanor.  She is diligent in her weekly email reminders that I do not miss deadlines because every week passes by so quickly.

Even when I occasionally forget the email reminder, she makes a friendly reminder phone call to me personally.  I often regard her as my “right hand” person when it comes to ensuring that my advertising requirements through the American Classifieds are properly executed.

For the foreseeable future, I want Holly to continue being our Sales Representative.  And if anyone at her office ever decided to take her off of our account, I can honestly say I would quickly become unhappy by such a decision.

Holly is truly a credit and valuable asset to American Classifieds. I highly recommend her to more demanding clients that need a friendly and capable Sales Representative to handle and care for their account.

Sincerely,

Matthew Chan
OwnerFinanceHomes.com

Continue reading »]]> It isn’t often I write a letter like this for a group of people but I was happy to do it.

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May 13, 2011

James M. Wells III, Chairman & CEO
William H. Rogers, Jr., President & COO
c/o Suntrust Banks, Inc.
303 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30308

Mr. Wells & Mr. Rogers:

I wanted to take a moment to do something a bit unorthodox. I am making a formal compliment by writing this unsolicited letter to give high and proper recognition to the staff of the Bradley Park Publix branch in Columbus, Georgia.

The current branch manager is headed by Patrick O’hara. The current assistant branch manager is Kim Guzman. I would also like to recognize the prior assistant manager, Joe Theriault, who has since moved on to another Suntrust branch but fully deserves recognition for his tenure at Bradley Park Publix. The tellers/customer service staff include: Glorimar Irizarry, Amy Mills, and Kim Wilkes.

The reason I have taken the time to write this unorthodox letter is that too often complaints rule the day. I believe it is quite infrequent for someone, especially a customer, to say “good job each and every time I see you” in a meaningful and impactful way. I know enough about the banking business to know that being on the “front lines” can often be a thankless job for them which is one reason why there is so much turnover in the industry.

But for this distinguished staff at Bradley Park Publix, you need to know that at least one of their business customers cares enough to write about them and appreciates what they do day in and day out without fail. Working at a Suntrust Publix branch can be challenging due to their limited workspace and the high amount of walk-by traffic. They are, without fail, always “onstage” compared to their traditional branch counterparts. Even when there are no customers in line, they are still being indirectly observed from afar by virtue of the Publix store environment.

As a general rule, I try to conduct my business respectfully and fairly. I am friendly but generally stay removed and distant. Having said that, I do not think the staff knows they have won me over during their individual and collective tenures there. I truly like each of these individual employees as people and I respect them for who they are.

I remember most of my first meetings with them and have watched them grow and evolve wonderfully. For example, when Patrick assumed his position as branch manager, I remember him reaching out to call me and leave me a voicemail to come and meet him. I remember how a fellow staff member spoke highly of Kim Guzman when she first came over from another branch. I remember Glorimar Irizarry during her initial training and how she has since evolved to be a very capable and confident teller. I remember teasing Kim Wilkes how there are just too many Kim’s at this branch to keep track of. I remember Amy for her confidence.

Recently, I was happy with the decision to promote Kim Guzman internally as replacement for the departure of Joe Theriault. As for Joe, he has since departed the branch but he was tremendously upbeat and always of great service attitude. His enthusiasm is infectious.

As a team, I think they are phenomenal and they seem to exude this magical work chemistry when they are together. If they have disagreements or conflict with one another, they conceal them well and I am unaware of them. They are all friendly and respectful to one another and that work chemistry seems to translate well to their customer interactions.

As far as I can remember in my recent business history, I consider them my banking “dream team” in that I feel that if I call any of them, they know and recognize me. I feel they take me seriously and treat my requests or issues with priority and importance. The fact that they work in such close quarters to one another but also so close in physical proximity to their customers appears to work for them. In most cases, I would expect that close quarters and close proximity to customers would, in fact, make them more stressed in their positions.

As I conclude this letter, I respectfully request that my letter be considered for any future career opportunities your employees may seek. I would also request that you pass a copy of this letter on to them. In the spirit of giving formal recognition, I feel that Patrick O’hara, Joe Theriault, Kim Guzman, Glorimar Irizarry, Amy Mills, and Kim Wilkes (individually and as a team) should be recognized for their ongoing, outstanding customer service. I appreciate them very much.

In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to visiting them in my normal course of business as I always do several times per month.

Respectfully,

Matthew Chan
President

Cc: Allen Taber, Area President

Continue reading »]]> I have to vent here but I am really tired of Blue Cross / Blue Shield of GA (Georgia). Their rates for Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Georgia continue to spiral out of control and their payment servicing is antiquated. For years, I have been asking for the ability to pay with a credit card online.  I do not trust the auto-pay process where people can deduct from my bank account or automatically charge my credit card.  I prefer to do it manually. But they just ignore it. Without competition, they can pretty much dictate how you should do things no matter how antiquated it is.

But each and every month, I have to block out time during the day to manually call their toll-free number and enter the stupid membership number which includes alphabetic characters (phones don’t easily allow alphabetic entry). I get put on hold and then I have to start over every month by giving them all your payment information. They don’t store your email address and I have to recite it every month.

It doesn’t help that the insurance industry doesn’t allow competition. From what I hear, every state allows only a couple of insurance companies to operate in each state.  That may not be a monopoly but it is a duopoly.

I bet if the medical insurance industry was to be opened up to nationwide competition, every medical insurance company would behave better.

The deal is I have the good fortune to be healthy and have not had any major claims only getting physicals once a year and maybe another office visit for something minor. Count me in as another person who believes the health care system is broken in the U.S. I am healthy now but if I got sick, no telling what kind of grief I would have to go through.

And to add insult to injury, Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Georgia (GA) is based where I live in Columbus, Georgia.

Continue reading »]]> Because of my personal distaste and dismay of the Stock Photo industry which started with the Getty Images Extortion Demand Letter, I have taken steps to personally boycott the Stock Photo Industry and advocate not using stock photos altogether.  The stock photo industry seems to be rapidly consolidating into two companies:  Getty Images and Corbis, as they buy their way into near-monopoly status with them setting outrageous rules, policy, and pricing.

This article will not give you all the information necessary to entirely eliminate the need for stock photos in every situation.  However, this article will give you some ideas and strategies to wean yourself and perhaps altogether eliminate your need for stock photos.  I firmly believe that if you put your intentions behind the idea, you can make huge strides towards eliminating the need for stock photos altogether.

The very first thing you need to think about is whatever media project you are working on is, do you truly need a photo at all?  Chances are that you are working on a website, book, magazine, brochure, news story, banner, or some other media project.  Alternatives to photos might be diagrams, cartoons, illustrations, and drawings that you or a graphic artist you hire can create.  Can you take your own photo to fit the need?

If you hire a graphic artist to create your own artwork, do not hire anyone in China or India where there is very little respect for intellectual property.  They may be inexpensive but you can never be assured that their work is original.  There is little recourse for their bad behavior because they are so far away.  I recommend hiring graphic artists from the U.S. because as a professional community, they have a greater respect for intellectual property than their Chinese or Indian counterparts.  They will think twice before using pirated material.

I would avoid hiring any company that outsources their work to graphic artist worker bees.  In other words, I always want to deal and negotiate with a graphic artist professional themselves, not some agent or agency that farms out graphics art work.

If you do want to use and take your own photos, I highly recommend investing in a good digital camera so that you can begin taking your own photos.  I also recommend getting to know amateur hobbyist photographers who have access to good cameras and enjoy taking photos.  Very often, amateur photographers with good cameras are trying to find a way to justify the costs of their hobby.  By hiring them inexpensively, you can get some great looking photos but also help the amateur photographer pay for his hobby.  Make sure they understand that you are they are working for hire and that you will have full ownership and rights to the photos.

Professional photographers can be expensive depending on what you want and who you use.  For these folks, I recommend bartering with them for exchange of services if you have talents in your profession.  I find many professional photographers finicky.  They will sometimes not give you full ownership or rights of the photo even though you paid them to take a photo.  They are quite protective and their thinking is aligned to many in the stock photo industry.  Admittedly, this is a broad generalization and based only on my experience.  I am simply not optimistic that you will get good value from a professional photographer but it certainly does not hurt to try and negotiate with them.

Another source of quality photos is product photos from product manufacturers.  Often, they are happy to have their products publicized and placed in a positive light and will give you free rights to use their photos.  Product companies mostly police and control their photos because they don’t want their photos used in a manner they did not intend or in a way that paints their company or products in a negative light.  Many will grant you free usage of their photos if you approach them the right way.  However, large companies can be a challenge sometimes because of their size.  They may be so large that they may not even get back to you.  Again, it never hurts to try.  Product companies are in the business selling more of their products, not sue people who use their product photos.

If you choose to take your own photos, invest in a digital camera that can take a resolution of 4 megapixel images or higher.  You want to take high-resolution photos as your master copy.  You can then “downsize”, crop, and enhance the photos for your websites or other uses.  I recommend buying an easy-to-use photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 that allows you to crop and resize photos easily.  The photo editor can greatly enhance the quality of the master photos you take.  You can also enhance colors and adjust lighting with the software.  Special effects such as blurring, stretching, pixelating, framing, adding captions, etc. are included with photo editing software.

I truly believe that with the increasing power and technical capabilities of digital cameras, cell phone cameras, and camcorders, the value of stock photos and stock photo companies will eventually decline.  It is going to be a losing business to be in.  This whole notion of extorting your way to profitability is distasteful and eventually will fall by the wayside much like what has occurred in the music recording industry.  One only has to look to RIAA for that lesson.

Along the “do-it-yourself” philosophy, you should have the mindset that you will fit images or photos you create to your media project, not let your media projects deciding the specific images you need.  Stock photo companies are trying to brainwash you the idea that THEY have the perfect photo for your particular needs.  If you are creative, imaginative, and resourceful enough, you will almost always find an alternative or work-around solution that does not require the use of stock photos.

If you want to show the stock photo industry you don’t need them, the best way is to simply generate more of your own photos to devalue theirs and then use your own.  I have published two books recently and have been able to successfully avoid using stock photos of any kind.  I used my own photos as well as authorized product photos.  I created my own artwork.  If more publishers, graphic artists, and graphic designers started doing this, I truly believe the stock photo industry could be brought down to their financial knees very quickly.

Many years ago, people said that we would run out of .com domains available because all the good ones were taken.  It is true it has become more challenging to find a good .com domain name.  However, I have made it my policy to not deal with any domain speculators or domain squatters.  I won’t be extorted into paying thousands of dollars for an available domain I can register for less than $10.  And because I have set that restriction and policy for myself, I have always been able to find many suitable .com domain names for my various websites.

It is the same principle here.  Think abundantly.  Think creatively.  Tap into your imagination.  There are many ways to implement a visual concept besides a specific photo you might have in mind.  There are many ways to implement a concept visually. Do not let the stock photo companies brainwash you into thinking you have to use their particular photos because there are no other ways of finding an image for your particular website, logo, banner, sign, book, magazine, or other product.

The best kept secret that the stock photo industry hates are government websites and their photo collections.  Great public domain photos can be found from U.S. government agency websites.  “The people” own the photos, not any one individual or organization.  USA.gov is a government-operated website that was launched to help U.S. citizens have better access to various government agencies and resources.  Specifically, USA.gov has a page called U.S. Government Photos and Images which contains links to government agency websites that have public domain images.  The diversity of images available is quite impressive.   An off-shoot of that page is the State Photo & Multimedia Galleries which links to public domain images at the State level.

Some of the more notable ones I like and found impressive are listed below:

• NASA Images has space-related photos.
• Our Earth as Art has photos relating to the earth, weather, oceans, and nature.
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library has photos relating to animals, plants, nature, and wildlife.
• NOAA Photo Library has several collections of photos relating to nature, weather, oceans, and wildlife.
• U.S. Department of Defense DefenseLINK has photos relating to the military, war, politics, and the President.
• Library of Congress Geography & Map Reading Room has images relating to historical and current maps.
• National Archives America’s Historical Documents has images relating to history, politics, and historical events.
• National Park Service Digital Image Archives has images relating to nature, history, and national parks around the U.S.

Are you impressed with these websites?  I was.  It is all free and much of it is available in high-resolution.  However, you should realize that not all images from government websites are public domain.  You will need to seek out the image usage rights notices on each website.  As I said USA.gov is a great starting point to a wealth of high-quality public domain photos.

If there are any other great public domain or government photo sites, please let me know and I will add them.  If you have any additional tips to stop using stock photos and boycott the stock photo industry, send them to me and I will incorporate them into this article.

Continue reading »]]> I am happy to announce that Martha Leverett (who has managed my office and accounting for nearly half a decade) and I have decided to join forces to launch Intrepid Bookkeeping Services, a brand-new accounting and bookkeeping service firm in the Columbus, Georgia area.

We have worked quite well over the years and have complementary skills sets. We felt there was a need for a more progressive bookkeeping and accounting firm in our area. It has been my experience that many current firms are not technologically progressive and very conservative in how they operate.

Having embraced used and implemented technology in very creative ways in our own accounting operation, we felt other businesses in our area could benefit from our experience. Since we have a good business reputation and established track record in our area, we are optimistic in finding some great new clients to work with.

The sales description of Intrepid Bookkeeping Services is listed below.

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We provide expert and accurate accounting and bookkeeping services to small businesses in Columbus Georgia (GA) and surrounding areas.

We provide the following bookkeeping and accounting services:

• “After-the-fact” bookkeeping & reports
• Clean up “shoe-box” accounting receipts/paperwork
• Year-end accounting & reports
• Multi-company / multi-business accounting
• Multi-industry accounting expertise
• Payroll check generation and payroll reporting
• QuickBooks & Microsoft Excel accounting & support
• Training & Consulting
• Remote & Long-distance client support
• Small business startup support
• Small business office computer and network setup
• Off-site accounting data backup

We have multi-industry accounting experience!

Look at the wide variety of industries our clients come from:

• Real estate agency accounting
• Property management and landlord accounting
• Building & construction accounting
• Attorney/Lawyer & law firm accounting
• City/Municipal accounting
• Retail & point-of-sale accounting
• Ecommerce & Internet business accounting
• Auto Dealership accounting
• Furniture retail store accounting
• Senior accounting (Accounting for senior citizens & the elderly)
• Trucking accounting
• Storage shed retail and rentals accounting
• Publishing & book sales accounting