Consulting As Navigator

When's the Last Time You Paid for Keys?

Mike van Zandwijk — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:00:00 -0700

Bizarre fact: you're charged for an online product that's on the house in real life

Every month, we're all expected to cough up the expenses for our comfy, brick-and-mortar house. Mostly a mortgage if you're a homeowner or rent if you're leasing the place. Either way, everyone uses electricity, water and gas, so we'd better pay for the utility bills too. Nothing unusual so far, right?

Imagine you just bought a new home and received the first bill from your public utility. A bit worried, you scan their invoice and notice this line:

"Keys to secure your home: $7.50 per/mo"

Whew, affordable! Nonetheless, it's rather strange a utility company just charged you for an item that the seller ought to give you after the buy, isn't it?

Even greedy landlords wouldn't have the nerve to add a small extra fee for cheap, ordinary keys to rental homes. They'd ask for the security deposit, but no way they'd add ongoing surcharges for securing your door. Unthinkable.

Anytime you buy or lease space, keys come with it; simply the universal standard. But if this is common sense and practice in real estate trade for our actual home, then ...

**Why do we tolerate charges for virtual keys to our online home?**

Indeed, $7.50 extra for digital keys to secure your web site. That's the average monthly cost for the five cheapest products I could find. Since Internet utility companies sell these so-called SSL certificates on yearly terms only.

Once this period comes to an end, your keys expire too. Even though most suppliers discount a renewal, they charge you again for virtual, digital or vaporizing keys if you will.

So they'll lock you in for at least another year, while you just want to lock up your online home: anytime you need to and for as long as necessary.

Well, guess what?

Crafty digital locksmiths market "multi-year" special offers, which appear to save you time and money. Cost-wise around 10-35% on their current single-year list price, if you pay them in full and up front for 3 to 10 years.

Ok, let's say you believe you're getting a good deal. You purchase a 5-year plan for $350, instead of $90 per year and save $100 today.

Six months later, a friend tells you how her Internet security vendor is offering a lower rate than yours, without long-term investments.

One year after your purchase, you run into a business partner. He switched to another web hosting company, because they included the digital keys to his online home. Free of charge.

So there you are, stuck with a prepaid deal and four years to go. Sure, time-wise you've spared yourself a few minutes of renewal hassle.

But what's wise about getting locked out of future better deals with no strings attached?

"Digital keys to secure your web site: $25-1500+ per year"

Author's note, gratitude and full (nonsense) disclosure

Thank you for reading my mind! Besides blog rookie, I'm a freelance trainer, writer and consultant (12 years in IT). Just a Dutch bargain lover, I searched for budget security keys to my new web site (in renovation). You can explore my findings in the next post or get it in your favorite reader.

Photo credits: SXC | Inspiration: "Nickel and Diming"

You can reach me by email or +31-708911134

Fireworks, Reflections and Recharged Batteries

Mike van Zandwijk — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:45:00 -0700

Setback, Comeback and Playback (video)

New Year's Eve, ten minutes till midnight. All set to capture the fireworks on the horizon. My home office window displays this panoramic view with a charming pond surrounded by two bridges. I love reflections and pictured the rockets bouncing off this surface. I mounted a camera to my laptop and climbed the stairs to the rooftop. Perfect, so far.

Twelve o'clock, New Year, welcome 2008! My neighbors marched outside with their decorative explosives. We waved, wished all the best and I could virtually hear them think "you workaholic, for once - hibernate from that notebook!". They simply must master the art of wishful thinking, because after 30 minutes of spectacle ... poof.

Heck (probably misspelling the first two letters), my laptop ran low on batteries and powered off automatically while I was recording the show. I hoped it got saved, so you'd experience those reflections I enjoyed too on the moment supreme.

Setback: Windows is Shutting Down to Prevent Data Loss, My ***

As soon as my computer resumed, I peeked through my fingers to this alarming message. "Movie Maker failed to save your video". I figured, but still searched for recovery options without any result. Goodbye 2007 and ¡hasta no vista captura!

Unless eBay sells an affordable time machine by now, we can't really travel back to a point in time. 12:35 am. A giant haze spread out like a curtain of firecracker smoke. Oh, I felt disappointed! Moreover, nearly all outdoor celebrators returned home.

Comeback: Stamina to the Rescue (or Deep Fireproof Pockets)

Fortunately, a handful of (with fingers intact) neighbors were still igniting several Roman candles, crackers and rockets. I re-collected my gear, ensured to include the power supply this time and rushed back upstairs to restart filming.

With the adapter plugged in, I recorded the fireworks after-party. Well, better to get your hands on a short video than no footage, nor a New Year's story, right?

Playback: Fireworks Welcoming a Fully Recharged 2008

Despite the fog masked the reflections in the pond eventually, you can still watch the remaining fireworks welcoming our New (+ 45 minutes) Year.

Fireworks video (5 minutes) in Flash. Get your .WMV version here

Hopefully you enjoyed this video and its story behind. If we play back our last year's mental tape, everyone will recall certain setbacks, huge or small. Sure, these require energy, but we learn from them to look and actually move forward again. That is the beauty and essence of comebacks; fully recharged batteries.

Of course, my initial lost video is nothing like the Seattle Space Needle Computer Glitch and still the crowd highly amused themselves. If you love videos of the actual countdown, then you might like Fireworks Around the World. From Panama, a New Year story came from Don Ray. He faced a different camera challenge himself, which reminds me to ask you all for expert advice:

Any suggestions for a reasonable stand-alone video camera?

The McDonald's Story

Mike van Zandwijk — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:00:00 -0700

Coffee Saved My Day Once Before

This coffee theme reminds me of a story from my first job in 1996. Every Saturday, I worked at a computer retailer to pay for my information science study. One morning, the store manager reported late. Painfully, she ought to open up while a couple of customers already lined up. Her estimated delay: 45+ minutes.

Luckily, a father with his daughter accepted my apologies and invitation to sit down at McDonald's just around the corner. I ordered three coffees and listened to their preferences.

At McCaffeine round two, the dad asked if I recommend a suitable configuration for his studying daughter. I summed up their specification to verify good understanding and presented my best advice with three or four options. He picked a fine system on the spot, laughed and said "Alright Mike, let's check the store now and wrap it up!"

Bless the company director who just arrived with his key to finally unlock the shop. The father purchased over $2,500, just under their budget. Instead of us waiting, we enjoyed a few cups of McDonald's coffee. The real deal? Trust me, I'd rather visit a place like Starbucks if they served in The Netherlands. Frankly, instant coffee tastes good enough when you lack real alternatives, so we better keep healthy supplies!

Freedom of choice simply matters. Exactly here the Navigator fits in. With zero retail experience, I guided the family intuitively to facilitate them in making decisions. My incentive consisted of smiling customers and a grateful employer, not a futile sales commission. Heck, the McBill came out my own pocket, yet worth every guilder: a story with a happy ~~meal~~ end and colleagues assigned me this amusing nickname.

McMike's day saved by coffee from McDonald's. I'm Lovin' It!

Oh, the delayed store manager? She arrived over an hour later and got sacked by her supervisor the next week. Turned out she overslept due to a massive hangover.

Finally Lifting Off: Welcome to Mike's Mind!

Mike van Zandwijk — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 14:15:00 -0700

Just a day before we'll enjoy the fireworks. Time to take the bull by the horns and at last (or least) launch my personal journal Mike's Mind right here at Van-Zand.com.

I searched for a literal sweet spot for quite a while to share worthy discoveries with you and our community. Some place cozy and representative with an easy platform to talk about:

Writing efficient reports and bulletproof presentations
Insightful consulting techniques (for Navigators)
Trailblazers' perspectives along with thought-provoking photography

Fortunately, a great development team released the latest version of .NET blogging technology; embraced by me as onetime software techie at Microsoft. For now, I use a commodity theme called Coffeehouse. So please come by regularly and join in for a virtual cup of coffee, until I refresh the design and can serve you the real deal.

I wish you all the best for 2008 and hope to see you around soon.