Barbara Walters Price

What's up with that?

My three year old is emotionally attached to her bathing suit.  She sleeps with it.  As soon as she gets up in the morning, the pajamas come off and the bathing suit goes on.  Wonderful-stay-at-home-dad has convinced her to take it off before they go out to run errands "to keep it safe."  But then, as soon as she gets home, it goes back on.  And, no, we don't have a swimming pool.

CPAs: In case you missed it

Michelle Golden gently nudges CPAs to join the blogosphere.  Check out her list of CPA blogs.  One entry on her list is Eva Lang, who I'm honored to call a good friend.  Check our her post on the same subject.  One of my first posts was about the absence of CPAs blogging.  Apparently, not much has changed since then.

A typical morning for wonderful-stay-at-home-dad

An e-mail from my husband the morning after we returned home from our trip to Indianapolis for a reunion of the families we traveled to China with when adopting our oldest daughter.  Keep in mind that we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old.  He titled it "Something about the potty." 

I love that man!

What is your marketing budget comprised of?

Larry Bodine had an interesting post over at the Professional Services Marketing blog on the topic of marketing budgets.  During a web conference with Suzanne Lowe of Expertise Marketing, the question was asked "Can you define marketing budgets?  The question prompted his post. 

Below Larry lists the components of a what looks to be a typical marketing budget for a law firm from "LMA Law Firm Marketing Budgets, 2001."  I then list those items that comprise Mercer Capital's marketing budget.  We're not a law firm, but as a professional services firm, we share many of the same attributes. 

How do they compare to your firm's marketing budget?  Keep reading:

Foodies - Part II

Thom Singer commented on my "Foodies" post and I wanted to share it with all of you who don't read comments.  (An aside: if you are not in the habit of reading comments, try it for a week.  Chances are you'll like it, you'll learn from them, and you'll find other blogs that you might want to bookmark. Go ahead.  Give it a try for just one week.)

Now, back to Thom. 

Thom said:

I love good food, in fact my wife wrote a cookbook four years ago (www.madatmartha.com) which caused me to be a fat-foodie, and I had to lose 30 pounds!!

If you are a true lover of all things food you need to visit Austin Texas....as there the new Whole Foods Market (their international headquarters and MEGA store) is here. It is unlike anything you have ever seen. It is the top tourist attraction in Austin. My brother said "why are you taking me to a supermarket...we have Whole Foods in California"...then he saw it and said "WOW, we don't have a store like this!!!!"

So, if you're in Austin, go to the Whole Foods Market and be amazed.  And Thom, I'll check out your wife's cookbook.  Well, since I don't cook, I'll ask wonderful-stay-at-home-dad-husband to check it out.  Have a great weekend.

Off to Indy

Okay, so I know that the "experts" advise bloggers to write only about their targeted subject matter (and for me, that's professional service firm marketing) and not to get personal.  Since my short blogging sabbatical, I've decided to basically thumb my nose at that advice.  The blogs that I most enjoy mix the personal with the professional. 

So, WARNING, this is the personal stuff ...

Is your web site singing?

Check out the article from SmartPros: "Make Your Website Sing."

Ours is currently wheezing but we've hired a designer and are feverishly working on the redesign as we speak.  More on that tale later.

(Hats off to the plug in the article about Michelle Golden's "Golden Marketing Review.")

Things NOT to put on your website

Since we have officially embarked upon a total website redesign, I found this post by Michelle Golden interesting and helpful.

For those of you who are considering starting your own business : Part II

A follow up to a post from two days ago from Pamela Slim.  This post is not about what she did wrong starting her business, but about what she did right.  Escape from Cubicle Nation: Dr. Seuss aside, what I did RIGHT when starting my business.

CMOs - Should you be worried?

Check out this post by Suzanne Lowe on The Expertise Marketplace re the tenure of CMOs.