Rent-A-Dad Rantings …
Digital Ransom Takes Many Forms
Digital Ransom Takes Many Forms It sounds almost silly to even bother saying that, right? We get story after story about Rootkits, Spyware, and the like, so "Digital Ransom Takes Many Forms" (almost) deserves to be taken with a giant Ho-Hum, amiright? Sure. But what...
Who’s The Customer? Who’s The Product? It’s All About The Benjamins
The next time you buy something from ... anyone, Rent A Dad wants you to ask yourself a question: Who's The Customer? It's a genuinely interesting question. If you buy something (let's ignore the many meanings of the word "buy" in the digital era), then obviously you...
Science and Perspective
We live in an interesting time. Yes, I mean that mostly euphemistically. Let's talk about science and perspective. Your dear old Rent A Dad is no science denier; quite the opposite. And the whole "everybody is entitled to their opinion" thing, while true to a point...
It’s Not Generational
We live in an era of labels. Mostly, that's a bad thing. Sure, there's a value to having a label or labels to assign to some things just so you have an idea what they "are", but very few things can actually be constrained that way. And when we apply labels out of...
Watchlist Videos and Streaming are Getting Scammy
Get ready to pay for streaming videos to which you believe you already have access. And keep on paying. Look, it's a watchlist videos scam! In personal terms, Your Rent-A-Dad has seen this before. Some years ago, one of my kids subscribed to HBO through Amazon Prime...
Avoiding The Sucker’s Bet (Again …)
A few months ago, Dad weighed in on the idea of avoiding a sucker's bet. It's the kind of topic that Rent A Dad (presumably, any dad) would have opinions on, and wish to share. At the time, the bet was simple to understand, but you needed to have some specific...
Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick Any Two.
Rent A Dad has been doing the Dad thing for a long time. He's also been in business for what seems like forever. And one of your Rent-a-Dad's favorite business adages has always been Good, Fast, Cheap ... pick any two. While the image here is pretty silly on its face,...
Those Are Not Oreos
Sometimes Dad is funny. Sometimes Dad is weird. Sometimes Dad is there to help you out with whatever it is that's giving you trouble. And sometimes Dad is just plain cranky. GET OFF MY LAWN, he might say. And then he might really reveal himself. Today, your Rent-A-Dad...
Wayfair Furniture Screw Placement
Well, lookie here. it's a piece of Wayfair furniture with a screw in the wrong place. It is in the wrong place, isn't it? Nope. Wayfair furniture screw placement, like screw location in a lot of flat-pack, assemble-it-yourself furniture, isn't always what it seems....
Do Not Buy Furniture From Amazon Even If You Hate Wayfair Furniture
Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Do you like assembling furniture? Or would you like Rent-a-Dad to handle furniture assembly FOR you? Your answer doesn't matter on the "have Rent-a-Dad do it for me" point—at least not for this story. Ready to hear why Dad says "Do Not Buy...
Avoid The Sucker’s Bet
Avoid The Sucker's Bet. Always. This is probably one of those things you'd expect Dad to tell you. You might even have had those words thrown at you by your IRL Dad. You might be wondering when Dad started using terms like IRL, by the way, but that's a whole 'nother...
How is The Apple Polishing Cloth Insane? Let Me Count The Ways
This fruitilicious Polishing Cloth is insane. Bananas. Nuts. Crazy. There, I said it. Let's be clear: your Rent-A-Dad has a number of issues with the sweetest computer company. Many of them are about the prices Apple charges for their not-nearly-worth-it products....
Recognizing a Lie — It’s Not as Hard as You Think
We've all been lied to. More than likely, unless you're just crawling out of bed, you've been lied to, today. Wouldn't it be terrific if recognizing a lie was easier? Maybe it's easier than you think. As with so many things, figuring out whether the people you deal...
How Is It The FiOS Guy Is Not Your Friend ?
This might not seem like the kind of thing that Dad would have an opinion about (HA!, SURE!), but The Fios Guy is Not your friend. Yeah, the usual "Dad's Advice" thing is happening, and we'll get it out of the way right here: Rent A Dad Will Hook Up your Technology....
It’s ALL Personal
There's an old saying that businesspeople rely on: Nothing's Personal, It's All Just Business. Uh-huh. As our sister entity Answer Guy Central says, there are limits to that idea. Here at Rent-A-Dad we take it further; It's ALL Personal. As Dad told you a few weeks...
The Importance of Keeping It Personal
In my last post on Hidden Costs, I talked about companies taking liberties with your relationship. As you might have guessed, your Rent-A-Dad is no fan of that kind of behavior. So imagine my non-surprise when the people at Automattic/WordPress did it again. Get ready...
Hidden Costs (Do You See Them?)
How do you feel about what things cost? OK, so more ... how do you feel when parts of costs are hidden? Hidden Costs are awful. Yeah, that applies to extra fees on things like your phone and Internet bills, but those aren't hidden so much as extra costs. You see them....
Fred Wilson Comments
You likely have no idea who Fred Wilson is. That's OK; unless you're steeped in the ways of Venture Capital you have no reason to know Fred. So a post titled as "Fred Wilson Comments" might have you scratching your head; what's Rent-A-Dad talking about today? We ain't...
Tips in the Gig Economy
It's a pretty good bet that you've encountered—even worked in— the Gig Economy. And if you have, whether by hailing a ride via Uber or working at TaskRabbit, you've probably thought about tips. Tips in the Gig Economy are an interesting discussion any day of the week,...
Understanding IKEA Furniture Assembly
At Rent-a-Dad, we take the trust our clients put in us pretty seriously. Of course we do ... we're your (rental) DAD!! So imagine my surprise when I got the message you see here as I was explaining the ins and outs of understanding IKEA furniture assembly. Not that I...
You Get What You Pay For …
It's long been said that You Get What You Pay For. Yes, by Dad, of course, but it's not like we claim a trademark on that old saw. "You Get What You Pay for" has always meant that you shouldn't expect anything to ever really be free. And it's...
Trader Joe’s is Different
You may shop there. You may love it. Even so, and even if the idea behind the words is part of why you do you've probably never considered something: Trader Joe's is Different. It might seem strange that we'd be talking about Trader Joe's at Rent-a-Dad, but really it...
Finding Work in the Gig Economy
Looking for work? Relying on one app or another from a Gig Economy company to help? Getting frustrated? You're not alone. Finding work in the Gig Economy is proving to be a bit harder than people think it will be when they jump in. Sounds bad? Buckle in; it's...
Assembling The IKEA Tarva Bed
In a couple of recent posts, I've talked about IKEA. You want to stay out of IKEA's toilet, and know when not to assemble IKEA cabinets. Today, we need to have a talk about the IKEA Tarva Bed. This conversation goes to the very reason Rent-A-Dad exists. We're here to...
IKEA Problems ? (Trying to stay out of the IKEA toilet)
Rent A Dad's most recent musings were aimed at Assembling IKEA Cabinets. That story was about knowing when to handle things yourself versus bringing in a professional to handle the job. Today, we're going to focus a bit on IKEA problems. We're not big on negative...
Assembling IKEA Cabinets — Or Knowing When Not To
One of the things Rent-A-Dad gets asked to do—a lot—is build furniture. A ton of that furniture is from IKEA. And assembling IKEA cabinets or other IKEA furniture is ... well, it's something that Dad does pretty much every day. Rent-A-Dad has opinions about IKEA...
Car Negotiation Isn’t What You Think It Is
Besides buying a house, car purchase is probably the biggest personal financial deal you're ever going to make. Well, surprise! Car Negotiation isn't what you think it is. I could go on about this at length. There are different parts to any deal you make, and...
The Ratcheting Screwdriver: Great Idea, or Disaster?
If you're Rent-A-Dad—or really, any Dad-With-A-Plan—you think about things like tools. Hand Tools. Power Tools. Cool Tools in general. You love tools, or at least see them for what they are, which is ... well, OK ... tools. But Dads are a practical lot, right? Tools...
Improved Feel For The Water … (Context Matters)
Content may be is king, but without context you have little more than click-bait. Let's get an improved feel for the water. Yeah, I'm being clever, but that's the point of this post—and a big piece of what we help our clients accomplish. Every day, you feel your way...
Savoring Small Victories in a Wacky World
A few years ago, I told you about Google predicting that I'd be visiting a Costco in New Jersey. While I was sitting in my office in New York. Using a desktop computer. While it's a complete coincidence that Google's handling of data is becoming a serious anti-trust...
“He’s My Geek”. Or Is He Something Else?
I've been helping people get things done for ... well, let's just leave that at "a long time". Because that's so, I have some observations that time has only made more true. One is that people almost always think of you in the first context they encounter you. And...
The Difference: Careful and Paralyzed
The astronauts of NASA, including David Scott and ... yes, that other fellow is first-man-on-the-moon Neil Armstrong ... are very careful. They have to be; their missions wouldn't work otherwise, and absent great care people would die. But Careful and Paralyzed are...
Too Many Cooks Spoil The Logistics
As our deep dive into the issues surrounding restaurant management and delivery logistics continues, it becomes more and more obvious that we're looking at complicated issues. Recently, I realized that one problem is—and I'm not being flip—that too many cooks spoil...
A Ten-Dollar Bonus Beats 250 Dollars
A few weeks back I began a slow-reveal on the issues in our study of the Gig Economy. And while I never specifically said it if you read between the lines you likely concluded I wasn't impressed. A 50% bonus? Holy Cow! Problem is, that bonus was designed to...
The Value of a 250 Dollar Bonus
How much is a $250 bonus worth? The value of a 250 dollar bonus may be $250 when measured mathematically, but its real value has very little to do with the math. This week, one of the food delivery services doing business in New York City has offered couriers a bonus...
In Hell With Zelle (Zelle Has a Problem)
Zelle is one of the coolest things to come along since ... well, for a very long time. Introduced last year, Zelle lets you transfer money between bank accounts, in different banks, instantly, for free. Zelle was under development for a while, then suddenly just...
Management by Manual
This week I saw something that almost made my heart stop. 69% of managers are afraid to talk to their employees. The survey is almost two years old. The results aren't a knee-jerk reaction to the current "sexual harassment is everywhere" environment. They aren't...
The End of Pirated Music
It's the end of the year. Courtesy of Amazon.com, our end-of-year story is about the end of pirated music. It's no wonder that a business change of this magnitude would come from Amazon. Dr. Evil's company just keeps changing the way we buy things—all things. And what...
Why Consider Changing Browsers ?
Last week, a new browser hit the market. And most of the reviews so far have been effusive: it might be time to think about changing browsers. But give it some thought and you'll very likely reconsider changing browsers. Because as great as Firefox Quantum might be,...
What IS Cloud Hosting?
Earlier this year, we changed hosting companies for the first time in thirteen years. I wrote about that change here, and pointed out how boring a topic web hosting is. But it's important. So much so, we're getting ready to launch a whole new kind of web hosting at...
It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It
If I brought up the old axiom "it's not what you know, it's who you know", most of my readers would understand the line instantly. Sure (and I'm not minimizing this one bit!), what you know matters; without an expertise in ... something ... your business has very...
Pirating The Walking Dead
What happens when movie and TV piracy stops? And what if it's a sign of a problem with media popularity? Well, watch out; people have stopped pirating The Walking Dead. The folks at Axios have pointed out that Game of Thrones piracy is reaching numbers so high it's...
When is New Revenue Bad?
When is unexpected new revenue a bad thing? Before you guess "never", or "when you aren't prepared to handle the new work that new revenue creates", stop. This story will be going in an entirely different direction than you think. Those things could be it, by the way,...
The Real Cost of a Haircut
What's The Real Cost of a Haircut? If it's $9.99 you probably don't want it. Then again ... if you don't know what the phrase "cost of a haircut" really means ... well ... this can get interesting. I have a client who's been cutting hair for so long she actually knows...
Do Clothes Still Make The Man?
Back in the day (depending on your age this might seem like a really long time ago) there was a saying that clothes make the man. It's not a literal statement, of course, but its meaning is fairly obvious. Today's business change question is Do Clothes STILL Make the...
Selling to Small Business
Selling is hard. Selling to Small Business is harder. Wait, check that; selling to small business is A LOT harder. It was true when I wrote about selling to small business in 2011, and it's just as true now. In fact, selling to small business just keeps getting...
NDAs and Terms of Service
As the world changes around us, one thing that's both the same as always and yet different is contracts. We still have them and in practical terms, they aren't always worth the paper they're printed on. And you either signed a half-dozen today without realizing it, or...
Changing Business Equations
When I started writing here, Answer Guy Central was all about business change. I mean those word literally; changing business was the topic we covered. But time passed. I believe in drinking my own Kool-Aid, and there came a time when "business change" wasn't...
Reducing Hiring Mistakes
Don't you hate hiring the wrong people? Don't you hate how often it happens? How'd you feel about reducing hiring mistakes? You think these are dumb questions? OK then, here's some free advice: Stop asking the wrong questions. Simple as that seems, asking the wrong...
Hating the Heat: An NBA Fanbase Diss
Despite being a long-suffering New York Knicks fan, I have no reason to Hate The Heat. Sure, my team's inter-division rival is pretty much always better than we are, but Hating the Heat? Not in my DNA. If you're a fan, though, you may have just gained a...
What Conversations Are Allowed
Some years ago, I spent a bunch of time in France. As an American, I found cracking the social code there challenging. Then a friend told me the secret of what's different in France than in the USA. French people reserve familiarity for their friends and families....
10 Steps to Saying No Graciously
And now, we present 10 Steps to saying no graciously! Except, of course, that there's only one step. Before you say no, put yourself in your customer's shoes. Simple, right? It's easy to say something so obvious, but there's a lot of room for people with different...
In Search of the Expert Generalist
Elon Musk is one of the most successful men in the world. It's amazing that one person can have as many top-flight successes as he does, and if you're anything like me you've thought at least once about where Elon Musk's almost magical run comes from. Ready for...
Doing Better Than “Precision Guesswork”
You wouldn't think that precision guesswork was something you wished to strive for or even get better at. Really, you probably wouldn't think precision guesswork was even a thing. Precision and guesswork put together sound awfully oxymoronic. You'd be wrong, but not...
The Paradox of the Youthful Thought Process
It's good to be the king. And while we'd all like to be at the top of whatever pyramids are important to us, for young people there's something special happening. Youthful Thought Process seems to be all about that. That's not a bad thing. A youthful thought process,...
What Happens When You Talk Too Much ?
If we met ... if you knew me ... there's a distinct possibility that you'd think I talk too much. For me, it's about transparency and honesty. That said, most people find it endearing for a little while, but sooner or later something flips when you talk too much. I'm...
Benefits of a Price Increase: A Customer Service Study
It's time to raise your prices. Maybe. Back in the days of The WordPress Helpers, I came to know a young man who happens to be one of the more successful members of The WordPress Community. And Pippin Williamson has recently started questioning the way his company...
Cracking the Millennials Code
"Cracking the Millennials Code" has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Whether it's a discussion of how millennials negotiate, the issues that crop up when millennials have job interviews, or the reality that sometimes older is better, millennials are a tough nut to...
Flexing Old Muscles (and when you shouldn’t bother)
I rarely find myself flexing old muscles any longer. Yeah, that's a reference to my old-and-out-of-shape reality, but more it's about looking at an older part of the business me and wondering where he went. Or whether it matters. When I was The Computer Answer Guy, I...
Millennials Cannot Negotiate. Why Is That?
Given our focus on business change, my recent fascination with millennials should come as no surprise. Millennials are the future. Millennials are business change, because one day millennials are going to be older and running everything. But Millennials don't know how...
Uber’s Travis Kalanick is no CEO. Are You?
Travis Kalanick is no CEO. The thought hadn't occurred to me until I stumbled across this piece at Wired. I found myself thinking back to Mark Zuckerberg's earlier days trying to run Facebook. It wasn't pretty. But then Zuck brought in adult supervision and things...
Evergreen Business Ideas and Sustaining Growth
In business, you need to always be looking for new ways to get your messages out. One of the ways we do that here is by re-posting old stories to our Facebook and Twitter feeds. The process is automated, random—and sometimes turns up old work that I'm not all that...
The Right Way and The Wrong Way (and the difference)
There's a right way and a wrong way to do pretty much everything. Or ... there can be multiple right ways, but you need to identify one and use it. And stay away from the wrong way. I could stop there, but you know me better than that. In all seriousness, knowing the...
“Proprietary License Plate Holder Customer Service” (Really!)
More every day, the most important process you can tweak in growing your business is honing your customer service. Not a little—a lot—with a laser focus on what's working and what isn't. Look at it every day. Improve it every day. And for Pete's sake, don't get caught...
Sometimes Everybody Is Right
For years, I've said that we're all selling, every minute of every day. Depending on how you feel about "selling", maybe a better way to say that is that we're all negotiating all the time. Either way, I know the idea will make a lot of people squirm. So let's try it...
‘This Software Is Functioning As Intended’
As I've said here many times, perception is reality. So when a customer service representative justifies a problem you're having by saying that something is "functioning as intended", there's a good chance there will be a disconnect between what that customer service...
The Magic of Perspective
The magic of perspective is ... well, it's magic. Nowhere is this more true than in geopolitics, or in content marketing.I was reminded of just how important this magic of perspective thing is a few weeks ago, when a friend of a friend posted this video about The...
When You Are Too Fat
Sometimes, you're just too fat. There, I said it. And while both people of girth and the politically-correct might get all up in arms about it, the question of what happens when you are too fat is an important one to ask about. Maybe it's unfair of me to speak about...
Nadeau Furniture (and Customer Service)
Yesterday I broke a ceramic candlestick. You've probably never seen that sentence before, certainly not on a page at a website about business process and customer service. And I'm hoping you'll never see it again, because I suspect that the next time I do it I won't...
Unlimited (Storage)
Let's talk about a word you think you understand—but probably don't. Courtesy of our friends at Microsoft OneDrive, today's subject is the word unlimited. Yesterday, Microsoft announced that previously unlimited storage accounts at their cloud storage service OneDrive...
Privacy Is An Illusion
Over the years, I've written quite a few times about privacy. And the theme has been, pretty consistently, that privacy is dead; privacy is an illusion. Today, I came across an article that reminded me how true this is, and for how long it's been so, and added my two...
Preserving Old Web Pages
Whether the subject is marketing, technology, people, money, or pretty much anything else, managing your business can be tricky. No more so than when it comes to protecting the value of your web site. We've mentioned several variations on this theme. A couple of years...
Buying Support When You Shouldn’t “Need To”
Yesterday, Dell introduced a new service they've dubbed Dell Consumer Premium Support (or some similar arrangement of those words). If you visit Dell Premium Consumer Support—at least so far—you'll see the very corporate-looking page above, which suggests either that...
Having it Both Ways
It's one of those idioms that, depending on where you use it, may not mean anything. "Having It Both Ways" is a simple idea, though; it means wanting all things. Taking a position but also wanting one that is at odds with it. In a world where you need to interact with...
Best Practices Are a Load of Hooey
I've got something to say. Some of you will disagree with me vehemently; some, exactly the opposite. Almost no-one will be "on the fence". The idea of "best practices" is a load of hooey. I've said similar things about other so-called business process gold. For...
Great Customer Service at Sean MacPherson’s Ludlow Hotel NYC
Every now and again I get to tell a great story about great customer service. And while it may seem that I get some kind of kicks from the many bad customer service stories I tell here—or our establishment of The Answer Guy's Customer Service Wall of Shame to...
Spending Money to Get Customer Service: A Winning Strategy
If you missed me last week, it's because I did something very stupid ... followed by something smart. First, I trusted a company that deserved no such trust, and then I started paying them a lot more—just so I could get customer service. There are two important...
Escape From Customer Service Hell
Being neither as smart as Neil deGrasse Tyson, nor as naturally funny as either Dr. Tyson or Louis CK, I pursue what I see as a similar world vision to these two otherwise very different men by telling stories about my real-life experiences and trying to walk you down...
Hello From Rent A Dad!
Hello From Rent-A-Dad. Get ready for fun. Dad has plenty to say about tasks, jobs and productivity ... and It's comng right up!