Not a day goes by where my inbox is not loaded with at least one email message asking me to take a survey. I typically don’t mind sharing my opinions, however it has to be a win-win situation. This is where I am able to respond to survey questions using a Web-based form that is not loaded with a million radio buttons or checkboxes, and after completing the survey I feel good about completing the survey.

By the use of the word Hell in the subject, you can guess I am not winning with many of these surveys. Most times I click on a link, answer a few demographic questions, then I am onto the bulk of the survey. And bulk is the right word, as I am presented with a page jammed packed with radio buttons – typically to answer questions on a scale of 1 to something – and checkboxes.

The problem is there is usually too many, tightly spaced, and I always miss some if not many. There are usually no visual elements, like different colored backgrounds or lines, to differentiate each question. When I am confronted with such a page, I usually click the “X” in the browser tab and close the survey, never giving my answers.

If I do make it through the survey, many times I have an empty feeling that I didn’t really provide any information, rather satisfied someone who was looking for some response unknown to me. I once was told you can write a survey to get you pretty much any result you are seeking, and I believe it. Surveys that either do not offer a general text box or offer too many seem to fit the bill.

When someone asks you for an opinion it generally gives you a good feeling. Perhaps the real reason I find these surveys painful is that I never see any changes or results from them.

What do you think? No radio buttons necessary for the response.

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There’s that store over on the corner. It is one of your favorite stores or you just go there once in a while. But the next time you go by, it’s closed. Not just closed for the day, but closed for good. You feel bad as you liked going in there, but you may not have gone in there that often. You think to yourself if you only knew that they were near that point you could have done something – blogged on them, told your friends or simply went in there more.

For me there were 2 such places, an awesome Vietnamese/fusion restaurant and a coffee shop. Now a jeweler and a check-cashing store stand in each respectively. But what if each owner reached out to its customer base for help, would I have responded? I asked myself as I read about Toscanini’s, an ice cream shop I have visited in Cambridge, MA in a recent issue of Inc. magazine. In this case, getting behind on paying their taxes resulted in the store closing, and after an Internet appeal they were able to raise enough money to reopen.

As I said before, you can’t mess with the numbers. However, they did and paid the price for it, literally. Had they reached out earlier to their customers, how would they have reacted? How would I have reacted?

It’s times and events like this I appreciate the business networking connections I have made. As astute of a businessperson you are, it is easy to get caught up in the minutiae of your business and sometimes not see things with clear vision. This is when it helps for others to step in and offer advice, sometimes merely describing the situation as they see it. For Toscanini’s, they could have had an ice cream festival or some other event to bring in people and have a spike in sales, which could have helped their bottom line. With their stores being literally feet from the MIT and Harvard campuses, who knows what ideas could have been presented had they asked?

Your business may be yours, but it is also part of your community. Keep this in mind in good times and in bad. Where it takes a village to raise a child, those same villagers are integral to your business.

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So how was your tax season? For myself and Dunkirk Systems, LLC, it was not bad, namely because we have a certified public accountant (or CPA for those of us acronymically inclined) who is also a certified QuickBooks consultant. As a result of the guidance and consulting he has provided over the years, year end is extremely straightforward.

When I started out in business, I realized I knew my strengths, and numbers isn’t one of them. I am not completely inept at accounting, but I just didn’t want to be laboring over numbers, I wanted the numbers to be laboring over me! I sought out such a professional, found one, and it is one of the best decisions I made.

There are many ways to run your business, and many ways to not run your business. Having a firm grasp on the numbers – not just your bank balances but what you owe in taxes as well – can be one of the best indicators on how you are doing on a day-to-day basis, as well as telling the overall health of your business. We hire lawyers for legal help and we go to doctors when we are sick. A good CPA who understands your business and how you manage it financially can be a trusted partner to your success.

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The next likemind coffee will be next Friday, May 16, 2008 in dozens of cities around the world. In Chicago, it will be at Gallery 37 Cafe, 66 E. Randolph, at the corner of Wabash in the Loop in the Gallery 37 building. Note it opens at 8.

I call likemind a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines including Internet, advertising, art, et. al.

We will experiment again with some form of social networking for those who can't make it. You can follow us on Twitter @likemindchicago. No RSVP is required but is always welcome, and you can by commenting to this post or at the likemind Chicago Facebook group. Business • (0) Comments • Permalink