I ordered the largest GeekDesk "v2" available at the time, and it's got plenty of room for all of my equipment.  The main disadvantage is that since it has no drawers or cabinets, storage is virtually nonexistent.  I've got my old desk for this, as it holds my printer, cable modem, router, and the like.  The GeekDesk is my main desk, and it's wonderful being forced to not stuff it full of junk.  (They say that the desk is able to lift over 150 pounds, but I wouldn't try and test the limit.)

For the chair, this is my first time buying a 'nice' chair, and I haven't looked back.  Previously, I had a standard 'executive' $200 chair from Staples, and using it in combination with the GeekDesk, I found myself standing for 2 or 3 hours every day, mainly because my back was sore from bending awkwardly in the old chair.  I stood up to relieve the pressure.  Now, with the Aeron chair, I know it's a comfortable chair because I'm able to sit down and work all day long.  Standing, of course, is ideal for me… but the takeaway here is that I don't *need* to stand.  When I sat in my old chair, it felt like most of my weight was resting on my tailbone.  With the new Aeron chair, it feels like I'm floating. 

The most apparent benefit of this setup became apparent when I was adjusting the Aeron chair.  If you review their online documentation, you'll see that there are a lot of ways to adjust the chair.  It took me a half hour or more, fiddling with all of the different adjustments, moving each component a few millimeters, pausing for a moment, then adjusting another component, rinse and repeat.  Once I was all done with adjusting the chair, making sure my feet were flat on the floor, I scooted towards the GeekDesk.  The arms of the chair were about 1/2" below the top of the desk, so I adjusted that, too.  Once the table moved down 1/2" the arms of the chair lined up perfectly with the desk, and my entire body, including elbows, wrists, and hands while using the keyboard, were aligned exactly how I wanted. 

Start with traditional methods of communication.  If I have a problem, I always start out with traditional methods of communication.  A phone call or an email can certainly go a long way.  The reason I like starting out with a phone call is that you are giving the company an opportunity to resolve an issue without causing a fuss.  Most times, I end up requesting to speak with a manager or supervisor.  It seems like the first person you talk to in customer service is never properly equipped to offer a suitable resolution.  A few minutes on hold to wait for a supervisor can go a long way.

If you're unable to achieve satisfaction through traditional methods, it may be a good time to start using Twitter and / or Facebook.  Personally, I've had good success in using Twitter, and I've never had to go further.  But if I did, you can rest assured that I'd be targeting the company's Facebook page.  Not to sabotage it or yell and scream, because these rarely get you anywhere whether online or in person, but to share my experience with others.  Remember, you can possibly get in trouble for defaming a company.  You can't get in trouble for speaking the truth and sharing truth with others.  The important part is that thanks to the internet, a single unhappy customer can cause a LOT of trouble for a company, so there is a lot of incentive to resolve problems with customers before it gets out of control.

Not anymore.  The friendly clerk at my local post office told me that I could get free, personalized envelopes, if I purchase them through the US Postal Service.  So now, I can buy 500 envelopes (with postage) for $220.  You can, too!

Learn more:
https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10052&categoryId=10000072&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10000002&top=&sort=&viewAll=Y

What happens when you want to take things a step further, and start reaching out to people that have never heard of you?  One option is to sit down with a business directory, or phone book, and start creating your own spreadsheet to create mailing labels with.  Very time consuming!  Another option is to contact your local Chamber of Commerce and see if they are able to provide either mailing labels or a mailing list (spreadsheet) of their members.  (In my experience, some chambers will do this, others will not, so your mileage may vary.)

Another option that I recently found was through an outfit called ReferenceUSA.  If you're doing a large mailing, my suggestion is to call them directly and ask for pricing.  They will ask what type of audience you're after (target market) and provide a price.  For my inquiry, they offered almost 30,000 contacts for roughly $1500.  Compared to the cost of postage, this is CHEAP!

If you're doing a small mailing, this is where things can get even sweeter.  My local library offers access to its members to the ReferenceUSA database, and yours might, too.  The only downfall is that you can only export / view / save 20 records at a time with this method.

Learn more:
http://www.referenceusa.com

• Your content and data are stored in a database (instead of the 90's method: scattering your content throughout a series of files and folders)
• The "engine" that powers the site is written in PHP (programming language)
• The intended server (platform) is "LAMP" - Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL
• Community for 3rd party extensions, developers, and support
• OPEN SOURCE software.  This means several things:
  
  • You can customize your site to do, or look like, anything
  • You can hire any developer / consultant you want
• Learning curve - no matter which platform, it's going to take some time to master the control panel.

If you choose the right web developer, you probably can't go wrong with any of these platforms.  They will be familiar with your site, build it correctly from the start, show you how to manage it, and stick around to support it after it launches.  (That's where we come in.)

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Our main complaint, however, is the "ceramic" baffles that line the top of the firebox.  They feel like styrofoam, and they tend to disintegrate on contact when you're loading wood into the stove.  After less than 1 year, our baffles looked like this:

Our solution to this issue, as I don't find it acceptable to replace these baffles every 6 months, was to have a steel fabricator build some for us out of 3/8" thick stainless steel:

With the stainless steel, the fires seem to burn just as long, it stays plenty hot, and I don't have to worry about the steel wearing down as I load wood into it all winter long.

 

Do you get a lot of phone calls for "location and hours"?

This is wasted time! Your website can help with this. Contact us today for suggestions on how to make "location and hours" information more prominent on your site and / or make sure that your site is findable.