DK Advanced - Latest Blog Entries

Employers Benefit from Providing Workers' Compensation Coverage

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:17:00 -0500

If you are an employer, providing your employees with workers' compensation coverage, or insurance can be a good policy. "What is workers' compensation?" you might ask. It is essentially an insurance policy you carry on your employees in case they are injured, disabled, or get sick on the job. Another name for it, by the way, is workmans' compensation. In fact, depending on your jurisdiction, you may be legally required to provide workers' compensation, but it varies from place to place. One state or country may not have any law on the matter, whereas others might actually provide the coverage entirely via its tax base. Some jurisdictions simply regulate workers' compensation coverage, or may even maintain high risk insurance pools for companies that can't get coverage. In some cases, companies can self fund coverage, skipping the need for an insurance carrier entirely. Self funding is either a choice, or if regulated, a company can often self fund after satisfying its Labor Department it has sufficient assets to do so.

In any event, the big advantage to providing workers' compensation coverage is the minimization of risk. In most jurisdictions, and employer providing its workers coverage cannot be sued for work related injuries, disability, or illness should it have a qualifying plan in place and the affected worker accepts coverage. So, by paying a regular premium, the employer can avoid a lot of litigation, as well as the risk of having a big judgment handed down against him. By providing and accepting coverage, both the employer and employee are basically agreeing to stay out of court in return for each holding the other harmless. The employee is provided for until he can return to work and cannot be fired for having been either the cause of the subject event or missing mandatory days of work.

Even Small Companies Must Comply With Garnishments

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:21:00 -0500

If you are a small Internet/web company of only 5 people and you don't even have a physical location, if you receive a wage garnishment Notice, you have to answer it. You can't just say "what is wage garnishment to me?" and throw it in the trash. Or, "We don't do garnishments." Granted, you may have grounds for arguing against it, like lack of jurisdiction, or that you no longer employ whomever the garnishment is after, but you still have to file a timely answer. In the answer you can state whatever arguments you might have. That is your right. Additionally, you can't fire your employees just because they have gotten into this trouble and caused you the hardship of filling out extra paperwork and possibly bearing the cost of paying your payroll provider an extra fee for cutting two checks instead of one each pay period. The Consumer Credit Protection Act protects your employees from you firing them for being garnished, at least for the first judgment they get against them. So, don't fire an employee for being garnished unless you want to risk being sued for their lost wages and a bunch of other things beyond the scope of this article.

Speaking of damages and trouble, if you fail to answer a garnishment letter, you can be on the hook for anything you should have paid out according to the garnishment, plus costs and attorney's fees. It doesn't matter if you end up paying the same wages twice. So answer any garnishment notices you get, else you might be found in contempt of court. So remember, saying "What is a wage garnishment anyway?" Or, "We don't answer them," is not an appropriate answer. Every employer must respond appropriately as a matter of law, even if you are a small technology company with only 5 employees and you have no physical location. Perhaps you do have a defense, but put it in your answer. You already have enough problems with too much paperwork!

Trade your cable service for Netflix plus Hulu

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:29:00 -0500

Cable television is not cheap for most of us. $100 to $200 per month adds up. $200 per month for cable service costs $2400 per year, and that is not a small chunk of change. The good news is that you can reduce this cost by as much as 90% by cancelling your cable subscription and signing up for Netflix, Hulu, or both. Netflix and Hulu are both around $10 per month. All you need you probably have, but for perhaps the correct cable for hooking your laptop and HDMI TV together. And you can get an HDMI cable cheap at your local electronics store.

Here is what you do:

1. Check your laptop and your television to see if there is an HDMI output on your laptop and an HDMI input on your TV. If yes, go to step 2 below. If no, consider upgrading.

2. Check around the house to see if you have an HDMI to TV cable to connect your television and laptop. If yes, go to step 3 below. If no, note your laptop and TV make and model, call your local electronics store and ask them if they have the cable you need in stock. If so, go get it.

3. Hook your laptop and TV together and sign up for Hulu, Netflix, or both. If you get the clarity and connection and streaming you desire, go to step 4.

4. Cancel your cable subscription and start saving!

How to Fix Collections

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:58:00 -0500

If your company is behind in the A/R department, bad things can happen. Cash starts getting tight, your bank starts asking questions, meeting payroll is tenuous at times, and when you have to place a large down payment on a materials purchase, you are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Heck, revenue looks good. But, revenue is only as good as the cash that comes in. You can have all the revenue in the world, but cash is king. You need to fix collections.

Maybe it is easier said than done. But Pat Dickson at www.patdickson.com seems to have an answer. He says he fixes collections all the time by taking 3 easy steps. First, get the actual person responsible for paying you on the phone and get a commitment to pay, in writing. Second, if you aren't getting paid because you messed up, get a high level manager behind you and get the problem fixed. Finally, keep following up and threaten legal action if you must.

A Contractor Check Can Save You From Getting Ripped Off

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:09:00 -0500

In today's world a lot of businesses are having a hard time making enough revenue to float, and things get worse when the revenue you do earn turns into delinquent accounts. In the end, if a business has enough cash, it is going to survive until the cash runs out. In fact, even a bad business with cash will live longer than a good business with no cash. The point, to cite the old cliche, is cash is king. So, if you are a contractor, subcontractor, or vendor, a contractor check to see if the person you are doing business with will be able to pay you is invaluable. Always make sure you check someone's credit status before you provide them with any labor or materials. At worst, try to get at least half your money down before you do anything, and if that fails, try to get paid the value of your materials once you can provide proof you have ordered them.

A contractor check can involve a bunch of things, like looking at financial statements, contacting the Better Business Bureau or chamber, the Registrar in your state, looking at litigation files, and even asking for references. Then once you've done your due diligence figuring out your risk in taking a job, you can negotiate terms that help offset the contractor's bad financial position. You can do things, like mentioned above, like demand money down, as much as all of it, depending on circumstances, ask for immediate payment for the value of any procured materials, or even put in your contract a provision saying you can stop work if you aren't paid the full balance of any past due amounts by the end of every month during the course of your project. Think of creative solutions and don't be shy. You have a lot of bargaining power if your Contractor has a cash crunch, needs you to perform work, and he knows you know he is in a bind.

Getting HDMI to your TV

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:08:00 -0600

So you just signed up for HDMI for TV with your cable company and have over 1000 channels to choose from, and channels 1000+ are supposedly the high definition channels, but, there is a big problem. All of the channels look the same, ok, but grainy, and certainly not as crisp and clear as what you saw on the demo models when you were most recently shopping at Best Buy. What is going on? Assuming you have a high definition television, and are not still watching an old analog, a tube in a faux wood box, and that you do have all the 1000+ channels, you have an easy solution. Make sure your cable box and television are connected by a Type A HDMI cable.

A Type A HDMI cable has connectors 19 prongs at each end, which allows all the digital data to be transferred to your display as quickly and crisply as possible. However it may be possible you do have a Type A connector but even though you were profligate with the purchase of your new television and cable service, you were a miser with connecting it all together. You bought your HDMI cable cheap! Cheap cables sometimes work and sometimes they don’t. But to be safe rather than sorry, at least make sure your cable has an “HDMI” logo marked on it somewhere, and to be even more cautious, read some consumer reviews on cables before you buy them. If you don’t like to do your own research, go down to Best Buy and have a sales associate review all the available cables with you. All Type A cables are not created equal!

It's New Year - Get Off The Couch And Start Blogging!

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:46:00 -0600

If you own your own small business, you probably have a website. Now days, with social media and the internet at an all time high in usage, you should probably get with the program and start blogging! Blogging (and other B2B tools) is turning into a vital way to increase traffic and SEO to your website. Learn how to do this with your small business website yourself by following a simple laid out plan by one of Doodlekit's social media experts. If after following the plan traffic to your website increases significantly, you may be asked to be profiled in their blog, giving you more SEO exposure!

Warning: Don't Use North American Van Lines

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:25:00 -0500

Recently we moved to Seattle - sort of. My wife, children and I arrived there late last month. Our belongings were to be shipped a few days later by North American Van Lines. What a disaster this turned out to be. Please read my North American Van Lines Review before considering to use them as a mover for your belongings. We are 3 weeks out currently and they cannot find a driver to ship our goods. Worse they appear to not care and are not doing much of anything to remedy the situation.

Doodlekit The Political Campaign Website Builder

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 10:12:00 -0600

Just pushed out a new ad today advertising Doodlekit as an election website builder. People running for office or just wanting to support a candiate or political party can use out tools to create a good political campaign website.

New Web Page Editor For Doodlekit

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:04:00 -0600

Doodlekit just released a new web page editor for its users to edit their websites with. Check it out their latest blog post about it. There is a slideshow that shows all the screenshots.

Using The Natural Planning Model On You Website

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:11:00 -0600

Do you plan ahead or just jump into a project head first? When it comes to your website it pays to plan and plan right. Explore the Natural Planning Model that we use everyday without knowing and how you can apply that your website. More on the Doodlekit Blog.

Doodlekit ReVisited After 5 Years

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:41:00 -0600

After reorganizing Doodlekit files of the last 5 years, I came across a great collection of old screenshots. It was interesting to see how far we have come with Doodlekit. Not to just the tool itself, but also to our website design and logo. I'm sure there will be many more changes to come, but for now, I thought I would share some pics of the past. Check out this snapshot of the last 5 years: Doodlekit Evolution - A Trip Down Memory Lane.

New Image Management Tools

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:46:00 -0600

Of all the new features in Doodlekit, the new image management tools are some of the most advanced upgrades.

We added a brand new Backend Image Library Manager that lets you see all of the images on your website in one location. In additions we've added advanced image editing capabilities such as Image Cropping, Rotation, Converting to Black and White and Thumbnail Cropping.

Click here to read a more in-depth look at these new features.

Social Media - Isn't It About Time To Get Your Business Started?

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:04:00 -0600

The internet is dynamic. The only thing you can bank on for sure is that it will always be changing. The latest wave to come from the internet is Social Media. It's a fast growing one - one just starting to swell up.

If you own a small company or business that is public facing, you have to get on Twitter & Facebook. If you want name brand recognition, you need to acknowledge the power of Social Media. That power is not something gained by simply racking up thousands of followers and friends. Contrary to what you might think, that is not the gauge by which you should measure your Social Media success.

With hundreds of applications available to spam invites & follows, racking up a large following is quite easy. But what good does it do you to have thousands of followers when nobody is listening?

Read about how you can use Social Media appropriately as a tool for yourself and your company.

School Teacher Websites Can Be Built With Doodlekit

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:53:00 -0500

Doodlekit pushed an ad today focused on teacher resource websites and being able to build classroom websites for teacher's students.

Solve Your Needs And Then Sell Your Solution

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:52:00 -0500

Sometimes the solution or product you’re looking for just doesn’t exist. Perfect! Your need might be something other’s might need. If you have a good idea, don’t throw it away. The Best Ideas Come From Necessity is a great blog post that might get you thinking about turning your idea into a business.

Heathbits & The Garbage Burrito Try Out New Twitter Addon...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:16:00 -0500

Today we rolled out a new Doodlekit Addon that allows your website to have a 'Tweet' page that displays all your tweets! Right now it is only available to Ben and I for testing. Check out both pages:

Heathbit Tweets

Garbage Burrito Tweets

Giving Your Product Away For Free Equals More Paying Customers

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:13:00 -0500

Learn how “free” can become a segue into paid products and services. Want to Sell Your Product? Give it Away for Free is a great article about how providing your product or service for free can build up paying customers and marketing.

Personalizing Your Customer Care

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:12:00 -0500

Trying to stand out in a world filled with corporate giants may seem impossible... if your doing standard media advertising. Growing your Business by Getting Personal explains how to stand out as a small business or startup.

New Doodlekit Profile: Greyhound Adoptions of Florida

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:26:00 -0500

Dave McGurgan with the Greyhound Adoptions of Florida gets his website profiled on Doodlekit.