Image by J. Star via Flickr

My schedule at our local gym has been extremely erratic lately due to both travel and my apathy.  The last few time’s I’ve been to the gym only a small percentage of the staff has seen me which means that for much of the staff I’ve  been gone for awhile.

When I arrived this morning there were three staff people there, all of whom were busy.  However, each and every one of them took the time to engage me in conversation today.  Some chiding me for not coming in recently and some just saying hi.  The net result of all this is that I felt like I was at a place where I’m liked and appreciated.  It’s a place that I’m consistently happy to spend my money.

What are you doing to let your customers know that you appreciate them?  If you’re in a physical business, where you see your customers, it’s extremely important to make them feel appreciated when you see them.   But for many companies customer interaction is done either over the phone or through email.

If you don’t have the opportunity to see your customers face to face it’s extremely important that every single customer interaction expresses your appreciation for the business your customers do with you.  Of course, I’m not suggesting you need to begin and end each sentence with a “thank you” but each customer interaction needs to be professional, and pleasant.  From the way your website looks, to the way the phones are answered (you do answer the phones, right?) to the speed and quality of your email responses, every single customer interaction makes an impression with your customers and in some cases that is the only chance you have to make that impression.

If you don’t make your customers feel appreciated you can be sure that someone else will be happy to step in and do that for you.

Step One is the formation of the Corporation.  You can start by going to the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations website, the cleverly named www.sunbiz.org.

At the top of the page you’ll see a menu and one of the menu items is E-Filing Services.  Click that and a sub-menu pops up with several options.  For the sake of this example let’s assume you want to set up a Limited Liability Corporation or an LLC.

If you select that option you’re taken to a page where you can begin the process.  Just accurately follow the steps and you’ll have your LLC established in about 10 – 15 minutes.  Total cost, including a certificate of good standing is about $130.  The cost is actually less if you’re setting up a Corporation rather than an LLC.

So that’s step one – you’ve established your Florida Limited Liability Corporation.

Step two – obtain your Federal ID number.  This step two has been greatly simplified by the IRS.  The only problem I had with this step was navigating around the dead links at the IRS website.

Obtaining a Federal ID number requires the completion of form SS4, which can be done electronically.  The link I found that actually worked for getting the Federal ID number is at the IRS.gov website here.  This page explains the process with links, hopefully still live, to the e-form that you’ll complete.  Once you complete the form you’ll get a PDF version of the IRS letter with your new Federal ID number.

Total cost to obtain the Federal ID number online?  Zero.

This method may not be right for people who have never established businesses before as there are a number of things that you need to understand before setting up a corporation.  But if you’ve done it the old fashioned way in the past, you’ll find that the process has been seriously streamlined.

We had a wonderful time there last year skiing during the day and just hanging out in the evenings watching the goings on of the festival.  Two words of warning though – Parking & Restaurants.

Parking is an incredible hassle, with Park City becoming No Parking City.   We wound up parking in the city lot each night for around $20.00 for the evening and were happy to get a spot to park.

Restaurants, especially the good ones book up quickly.  If you’re heading out making your dinner reservations in advance, and bring your patience with you when dining.

As a big Miami Dolphins fan it is my pleasure to love to hate the New York Jets.    However, in this day and age of the quarterback driven NFL it’s really refreshing to see a team win by running the ball and playing good defense.  There are two general characteristics of fans of the “run the ball and play good defense” school of football.   We tend to be older (check) and from the midwest (double check).

I wish I could root for the stink’n Jets, but I can’t.  I’ll be pulling for the Colts this weekend, but for once I will not be disappointed if the Jets win.  Just imagine what would happen in the copy-cat NFL if a team that ran the ball well and played good defense could win it all?

The good news is that we’re expecting snow later today, perhaps as much as 10 inches overnight.  It should be fun. Looking forward to skiing with David, Bob, Phil, Ron, Pattie and of course Julie today.  Here’s hoping all the layers will work!

The Gaylord Texan is huge and the educational section of the show is taking place in another wing but this particular view leads me to believe this will be a quality over quantity type show this year.

The first two to three weeks of October are easily the most difficult weeks of the year in South West Florida.   We can see the temperatures falling and the leaves turning in other parts of the country but each day down here is just another summer day.  Highs in the 90s and lows in the mid 70s with high humidity.  In May through September it always seems OK but once the calendar turns to October it seems as though the summer has lasted forever.

Today is the day the first cold front of the season is due to hit us in Naples.  We’ve all been counting the days since it was first hinted at earlier in the week.  Today’s the day the rain that precedes the cold front will wash through, causing both the humidity and the temperatures to drop.  Tonight’s the night we’ll be able to open the doors and windows and finally let the breeze blow through our houses.  Tonight’s the night where the entire city will be out taking a walk and enjoying the start of our other season.

Don’t get me wrong,  Many of us love the summers in Florida.  It’s just the first three weeks of October that can finally get to us.

We’re taking advantage of a trip to VMworld in San Francisco to spend some time in the California wine country.  It’s really beautiful out here but the temperatures have been really, really hot.  We did the usual wine tours and had a nice time but the real highlight so far has been the restaurants.  We’re capping the trip off with a visit to the French Laundry this evening, which should be great but every where we’ve eaten in and around Yountville has been superb.

Meal number one was lunch at Bistro Jeanty, a really nice little French Restaurant right up the street from our hotel.  We liked it so much we had dinner there the next night as well.  We also had a very enjoyable meal at Ad Hoc, another of Thomas Kellers wonderful restaurants.  He has at least three different places in Yountville and we ate at two of them.  The value of Ad Hoc was amazing, a very nice Pre-Fix dinner for around $50 per person.

One of the great finds of the trip was in St. Helena, just north of Yountville.  We had been out touring Vineyards and were looking for a place to grab lunch.  The entire town was packed so we parked 2 blocks off the main drag, in a spot that said “Parking for Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen Only”.  We were starved so we decided to eat there, only because there was a parking lot.  It was a magical lunch and it turns out that the owner has multiple well regarded restaurants in the area.  The following information is from their website:

Located in charming downtown St. Helena, in the heart of the Napa Valley, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen combines the sophistication of a supper club with the flair of a speakeasy to create the perfect upscale eatery and neighborhood hang-out.

Created by Cindy Pawlcyn, the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, chef-owner of Napa Valley’s Mustards Grill and Go Fish and co-creator of many renowned Bay Area restaurants (including Fog City Diner, Bix, Roti, Tra Vigne and Buckeye Roadhouse), Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen first opened its doors in 2003. Since then, the restaurant has become a beloved destination for locals and visitors alike, featuring a menu where the food is delicious, heartfelt and cooked from scratch with authentic highest quality ingredients. The service is unpretentious and warm, and the atmosphere is festive and comfortable.

You’ve got to love being in place where every restaurant you walk out of leaves you with fond memories and a smile on your face.  Can’t wait to get to the French Laundry tonight.