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Discussion Forum

More on FH’s Business Advisor

| Posted in Business on July 3, 2003 12:16pm

First, thank you to everyone who has offered me advice about the upcoming newsletter. From the sounds of it, this thing is going to have to be incredibly good to find buyers at $100 per year.

One of the subscriber benefits will be access to Fine Homebuilding’s Business Advisor bulletin boards. Instead of having just one, on business, I’m thinking about breaking up the categories as follows: 

Pre-construction (e.g. estimating, bidding, design work, assessing plans and specs)

Project management (e.g. workflow, schedules, communication)

Marketing (e.g. home shows, Web sites public relations, advertising)

Personal development (e.g. training, psychology, ethics, personal stories)

Accounting (e.g. bookkeeping, accounting, financing, tax advice)

Selling (e.g. presentations, new technology, negotiation)

Risk management (e.g. insurance, safety policies, quality control)

Time management (e.g. productivity, delegation, outsourcing, technology assists)

Client relations (e.g. prescreening, communication, client services)

Suppliers, services, and subcontractors (e.g. buying tools, services and supplies, getting credit, returns)

Employee relations (e.g. hiring, firing, benefits, policies, communication)

Strategic planning (e.g. starting out, business models, positioning company for the future)

Legal issues (e.g. new laws, regulations, contract writing, business agreements, dispute resolution)

What have I missed? Would you name the categories differently?

Joe

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  1. User avater
    bobl | Jul 03, 2003 01:32am | #1

    no suggestions at this time, but I think you have too many folders/catagories.

    if you've followed the basic BT forum you'll notice that often there are things posted in the "wrong" folder.

    ranbling: to make a good estimate i should know how long it takes me do different parts of the job, if i have a question on how to put together an estimate and i know i have to be concerned on time, is that under accounting, estimation, or ?

    how different is selling and marketing for a forum folder?

    just food for thought.

    bobl          Volo Non Voleo

  2. Piffin | Jul 03, 2003 02:59am | #2

    Definitely too many catagoies!

    At that price, you will need over a thousand subscribers to make it go. Will the market research support that? Don't want to sound negative but It'll take some prooving to me that it is worth those bucks. I'm not looking at it as an expense either, but as an investment, so I'll be asking, What will I get back on my investment?

    Business is my weak spot, not craftsmanship, so I sure can use some improvement but like has been said before, the other sources network the advice for free.

    Compare it to the American Express model. Why use their card when it can be cheaper and more common and convenient to use another card?

    Discounts and Rewards. That's why.

    Find a way to attach something else of value to your membership for an enticement. Free or discounted passage at trade shows and seminars. Discounts at Taunton press for books or the magazine. AARP has medical discounts. AAA gives maps and towing. NRA has a hat and insurance programs.

    Hey, there ya go! a co-op of insurance buyers to wrangle some discounts on workers comp, contractor's liability, or personal disability insurance! What's the biggest concern in this industry right now? Insurance!

    Did I hit the subject matter for the first big charter issue? Man, I better go turn my brain off now - it's smoking.

    Seriously, good luck.

    .

    Excellence is its own reward!

    1. FrankTate | Jul 03, 2003 03:25pm | #3

      Piffin was all over it with the reward system.  Biggest issue that seems to come up in the business folder is insurance.  Be it workmans comp or health.  Also, for the self employed, don't forget pension issues.Frank

  3. ETG | Jul 03, 2003 04:00pm | #4

    I agree there are too many categories; I'll have to think about how to consolidate them.  In one of my many former careers, I was a business/manufacturing consultant for a major firm and then worked in my state's economic development office assisting samll/medium size firms.  And the one issue that I saw consistently is the lack of metrics.

    Now talking about metrics is boring, doesn't sell and puts people to sleep.  But I daresay, few frims/individuals really have a handle on whether they are really making money or not.  A good example was a post a year or so ago by a cabinet chap who said the lower price at a big box for Baltic Birch made his work more profitable.  But did he factor in the time to go pick the sheets, pay for them and then return to unload them.  Who pays for those hours?  The really sharp shops that I worked with had dedicated suppliers who delivered a consistent product.  The owner/workers could spend all their time doing "value-added" work to increase profits.  Running to a supply house is not value added activity.

    Those are some of the real issues and you need to craft articles that bring basics like metrics into the mix.  And software is an important tool that helps the small business owner track the hours, costs, etc.

  4. JerraldHayes | Jul 07, 2003 08:52pm | #5

    Joe that's a great list of topical subject matter that builders and remodelers really SHOULD BE talking about but

    I think such a broad list will create a lack of density or critical mass problem for you.

    As it is as far as just attracting forum contributors or even much less premium paying membership is going to be tough for Taunton since it's already playing catchup from way back in the field as far as business related content is concerned to JLC and as well as Builder Magazine, Remodeling Magazine, Qualified Remodeler, and Professional Builder-Professional Remodeler-Luxury Home Builder (aka HousingZone.com). For example the new CD compilations of FHB and FWW make no reference to any articles of business interest and Taunton has only published 4-5 books on what they call "Professional Topics"

    I don't think one forum category or thirty forum categories will make a hoot of difference if there isn't good solid business related newsletter or magazine content in the first place to attract the business minded readers. That's not to say that I don't think building and remodeling as a business topic is at all wrapped up by those other publications, it certainly isn't.

    Once upon a time way back in the early days of the world wide web (it's funny how 1996 is ancient history in internet time isn't it?) Remodeling Magazine and their online forums were the place to go for business topics. Then Haley-Wood made some real drastic changes (so-called "improvements") to the site and forums and lost all their viewers. Despite still having the same basically good business topic coverage in their print magazine and recently reviving the forums their no one goes there at all. Indeed of the five business forums that are exclusive to that site some of them have no posts at all in them in spite of being active since early February!

    Yeah I too think that proposed list of forum categories is too broad and expansive. (Plus it's missing Information Technology Systems-Communications, computing, software and web technology)

    I think you could possibly go with maybe just three forum categories.

    1. Production and Project Management

      Encompassing Pre-construction, assessing plans and specs,

      project management , workflow, productivity, outsourcing, etc.

    2. Back Office & General Business Management

      Encompassing marketing, advertising, personnel, education & training, CRM, strategic planning, etc

    3. Information Technology Systems-

      Encompassing Communications, computing, software and web technology

    And then if contribution and interest suggested it more divisions could be spun off as needed. Hey lets face it, right now there is not much "business talk" at all going on here. Geez, if there was as much "business talk" as there was "tavern talk" we'd probably all be millionaires.

    The real question I think that needs to be answered for this Fine Homebuilding Business Advisor to succeed is what can be done to encourage and inspire interest in looking at building and remodeling as a business.


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    "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

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