John Burkholder

As November rapidly approaches, I prepare myself for the National Novel Writing Month challenge. I am more than ready. I have registered at NaNoWriMo.org, I have joined my local group on facebook, and I have made some writing buddies in my wife and kid.  Moreover, I have the story ready to go. It is a story that has been in my head for about 5 years and now, with my additional knowledge, I am ready. The important question has to be, will I make it to 50K words? Will it be as good on paper as it is in my head? Will I want to publish it after?  All are very good questions. Thank you for asking. I will provide the answers December 1. 

Is customer service slowed down by computers? I am starting to think it is... kinda. From a point of view of accessing data when you need it, it is much faster. Granted, now that everything is stored on computers, accessing means you may have to combed through terrabytes of data stored all over the world, but overall is it much faster. What seems to have been impacted however is customer service itself. What used to take place in a single phone call now takes a relay of chat and email to wait in email queue for the person to respond to the issue at hand. What used to be handled by walking up to the customer service desk now requires authorizations from a warranty company via an email string prior to actually replacing the phone. Kohls has it right... Best Buy has it wrong. AT&T has it right, and Comcast completely misses the boat. Even with today's social networking pressures, some companies are just missing the point of the computer... to help speed up service. Wading thro

My Queen and I have been having hard discussions about our finances, our jobs, our home life and it seems that we are walking through a maze of few options. We like Bloomington. But the shop is not making the revenue it needs to make... and finances are stretched thin trying to compensate. Add to this MILs car issues, and the house that has a wind current on days the windmills turn, and I have to wonder what options are left. I do not want to go into debt further to keep the business going. But when she is actually making soap, she is happy. It is the business stuff that bothers her most. So...we talked. I will be taking over managing the business as a business part. We worked through a SWOT analysis last night, laid out her current business and her 5 year business plan, and finally wrote out a mission statement. The problem I think is her need to diversify as much as she has. I think she needs to focus on one things and excel at it. She wants to has the kids soaps, the spa products