Successful Blog

MinuteFix: Computer help is only a click away

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I’m pleased to announce that this week while I’m in the UK,

Phil and Diego will be hosting
Tuesday Open Comments
Come Ask Them Questions!!

Minute Fix and Diego Orjuela
Guest interview by Phil Gerbyshak

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes chatting with my friend Diego Orjuela, founder and CEO of what will hopefully the world’s greatest tech support company, MinuteFix. Full disclosure: I got to know Diego at the 2007 Successful and Outstanding Blogger Conference, and have been working with him at MinuteFix since December of 2007 as the Customer Experience Officer.

I wanted to share this interview with the audience here at Successful Blog because a service like this can really help you out if you’re in a pinch working at your home office and you need tech support. If you don’t want to pay $50 or more to take your computer into your local computer shop, give MinuteFix a shot.

Without further ado…

Tech support from MinuteFix

An interview with Phil Gerbyshak and Diego Orjuela

Phil Gerbyshak: So tell me Diego, what is MinuteFix?

Diego OrjeulaDiego Orjuela: MinuteFix is the first provider of tech support that is powered by a community of experts. Think of it like a Geek Squad combined with the power of a community model like Wikipedia or eBay. Customers can get help for any computer problem, no matter how big or small, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. The service is very affordable, at only $0.99 per minute. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, our certified community technicians will do
their best to fix it. And, if we don’t fix your problem, the session is free.

PG: Wow, why didn’t I think of that? Seems like it could be very useful for anyone working at home or with a limited budget.

DO: Absolutely! Imagine you are at your computer and you are having trouble with a
simple task like downloading an image from the Internet. MinuteFix can help you complete such a simple task in a few minutes, which otherwise might have taken you an hour to figure out on your own, all the way to more complex issues like virus or security problems. One customer last week lost her entire iTunes music library. We were able to help her recover it, and get her on her way, saving her tons of lost time and money.

PG: I hear you guys are very big on customer service. Why is that so important to you?

DO: Well, we are a company built by a passionate community of technicians who love what they do. With tech support from MinuteFix, we empower technology experts to work from home, at the hours they choose. Because they do what we love, we can offer a superior service. We deeply believe that technology should help us to interact seamlessly with the people we care about, produce tremendous results while making us more productive – and not get in the way in the process. We are your friend, and maybe even our neighbor, so we want to treat you as that. All Certified MinuteFix Technicians are thoroughly screened and tested, and must pass a customer service exam. Great customer service is the foundation of MinuteFix. [Read more…]

Meet Sia — the Heart of a Web Hosting Company

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It’s the People

THC logo

The intimate scope of SOBCon automatically draws a certain kind of people together. I’m the luckiest one because I get to meet them all in conversations as we pull the event together. That was how I met Sia Liolios. Sia is with Top Hosting Centre, a sponsor of SOBCon08.

I wanted to share this lovely person I met with you. Sia agreed to answer some questions about herself and what she does for a living.

Sia, THC, I know you to be lady who cares deeply about your customers. Tell me how your company started and how you came to be a part.

THC doesn’t have an extraordinary birth story. It’s a branch of ProWeb Consultants Inc, the “mother” company if you want, at it was born simply because ProWeb Consultants wanted to take care personally of the hosting solutions for its clients. Many companies want to have all their web services in one place – from design to online marketing and hosting. It made sense to create THC as an option for our clients. Eric Vanier, the CEO and my husband (which tells you how I came to be a part) monitored the Web for a long time and saw a need for better hosting solutions for bloggers – which determined him to make THC public and to launch it as a hosting solution for bloggers and small businesses. We soon saw that this was the best possible choice: bloggers are a rare breed, so human, warm and real. I was “observing” how my husband ran the business for a long time, then I felt a natural affinity for the people who asked for advice and support.

If there is one thing a customer really hates, it is half answers and a closed door when he needs help. We don’t keep our clients waiting for answers and we always help. It is not only our duty as service providers. It’s our mission.

What gets you up in the morning? How do you stay so positive?

My kids – they are quicksilver! It is strange to associate your work with your family sometimes. It doesn’t feel right to think about business and the kids, does it? But in the end, aren’t the kids what we are working for? Aren’t the kids what we are living for?

We run our business with family values in mind and we always think about the possible implications and interactions between business and personal life. Positive thinking and living help keep a healthy balance between the two. I managed to make positive thinking more than just a philosophy: it’s a way of life.

Sia, I never knew a child who wanted to be a web host when she grew up. What did you dream about becoming when you were 8 years old?

I often daydreamed about being on a farm riding and caring for horses. Actually I still do, but don’t know if I still have the energy and strength it takes. Maybe one day !

Do you find that dream of the 8 year old fits with what you’re doing now?

We have many dreams when we are young. Some are forgotten, some cherished like treasures. All these dreams have some common traits: they are bold, full of hope, magic. If I only think about these attributes, I dare say that yes, a childhood dream fits in our adult lives.

If everything moves forward ideally, where will you be three years from now?

Top of the world! Hey, it’s my dream!

How do you hope THC will change the world?

We don’t aim to change the world, we just hope to make it a little better through care, respect, honesty, attention. Everything else (like sponsoring a good cause, donating something to a school, going green) comes naturally, because we care and we want people to be happy.

THC, Sia and Eric are making it possible for us to have a second professional signer, so that our deaf participants will be able to fully understand what they won’t be able to hear.

Thank you, Sia! I feel lucky I met you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Make a Date for SOBCon08!

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Hi everyone, Terry Starbucker here. I’m one of the founders of SOBCon, and served as the MC at last year’s conference.

SOBCon07 was a wonderful event that will always have a warm place in my heart, because of the great spirit of friendship, generosity, and shared learning that was in that room for the entire day.

Check out the SOBCon07 page for pictures, and just a few of the comments and posts from attendees.

The common response we got in the aftermath of such a great experience was “when can we do it again?”

I’m quite happy to tell you that we WILL do it again, in Chicago, with the theme “Biz School for Bloggers”, on these dates;

May 2-4, 2008

Mark your calendars NOW and watch this space for an announcement of the meeting place and registration details.

We have an awesome program planned – check out the “program” page for more details.

Yours truly will be the MC, yes, Christine Kane will once again perform, and perhaps even a “bloggy dance” will take place. Maybe 🙂

Since space will be limited to 250, I’d also strongly suggest that you get on our priority registration notification list by going to the contact page and filling out the form – that way you’ll be sure not to miss the chance to be a part of this special event.

We’re also going to have a really cool Sunday session called “SpeedSpeaking” – do you think you can “pitch” 20 slides in 5 minutes? Drop us a note if you’d like to be considered for that session

One more thing – if you have any interest in being one of our valued sponsors, please go to the contact page and drop us a note; we’d be happy to send you our sponsorship package. I think you’ll find a package for just about any budget that would bring great value to your business.

See you in Chicago!

SOB NEWS — Congratulations to Lisa Cree!!

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We Knew!

Everyone who met Lisa Cree at SOBCon07 already knew Lisa Cree is dynamic, intelligent, and someone incredibly special. We’re delighted that she’s getting the recognition she deserves.

Lisa-Cree-is-Savannah’s-Entrepreneurial-Woman-of-the-Year!

All of SOBCon celebrates with you! One highly-esteemed blogger was there in a tuxedo to see the whole thing.

Please join us in saying, “Congratulations, Lisa!”

–Me “Liz” Strauss

The Apology I Hope You’ve Been Waiting for

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I’m Sorry

Do you know the way that we sometimes have conversations in our heads with the people we care about? I’ve been having one with you, who read this blog, for over two months now. It’s a conversation about who we are, who we’ve been, and how much I value you, despite how it might have looked.

Would you listen for a minute while share what that conversation has been about? It’s an apology. It’s also a story. It’s about relationships, responsibilities, and risks.

Here’s what I’d be saying if we sat down across a kitchen table tonight.

I feel badly about how the SOBCon conference took over my blog, and you deserve an explanation about why that happened. Why do I think that? Because it’s not authentically me to choose anything over my readers. But I did.

I wasn’t practicing what I believed . . . wasn’t being true to our relationship. I’m sorry.

I know you see the responsibilities that came with the conference.
I know you see the risks to our friends, the folks who helped make it happen.
I know you see that I had the blog that could make the loudest noise about this first conference.
I chose to put it to work in the hope that conference would make a difference in people’s lives.
I chose to put it to work because five regular people invested their own money to make it happen.

But I didn’t see. I didn’t realize a few things would occur when I did that.

I woke up to find out that I was giving my readers less content, less attention, less of myself. . . . not fair — kind of like shortchanging your family to do a good job at work. Sometimes it has to happen, but it’s never right.

I woke up to find I hadn’t thought about the people who wouldn’t be able to come. That’s the part I am sorriest about. Never in the world would I want someone to feel left out. That breaks my heart. I’m much better than that. I could have found a way to make everyone feel included.

My head and my heart both wanted you to know. As I’ve said, I’ve been having this conversation with you in my head for over two months. I just didn’t know how to fix the situation and needed the train to stop so that I could say what needed saying.

I sincerely hope that you’ve been waiting for this apology, because anything else would be less.

I am sorry for any moment that you might think you weren’t valued. It’s just not true.

Liz's Signature

Tid-bits from SOBCon ’07 – An Insider’s Perspective

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I know many of you might be SOBConned out at this point but I thought I’d share a bit about what the conference looked like from my perspective. Call it an insider’s view of the conference.

So here are a few tid-bits from what I saw at the conference that you might not have seen:

  • Liz ended up getting to the hotel way later and way more stressed than she planned because there was a service failure in the shipment of the purple bags. Long story short, after spending hours on the phone tracking them down she managed to get a commitment for them to be delivered to the hotel early Friday morning. And fortunately they were.
  • Lorelle, Joe, Easton, and I don’t know who all else worked for a good while stuffing those bags full of goodies for y’all.
  • Robyn Tippins grew up right down the road from where I live. If the accent didn’t give it away she’s way more Georgia than San Francisco.
  • In addition to being a phenomenal singer and song writer, Christine Kane is incredibly funny. At dinner Saturday night she had our end of the table roaring with a little help from Tony Clark and Ben Yoskovitz. Gorgeous and I were close to peeing our collective pants. I’m surprised no beverages came out any noses during that meal.
  • Speaking of funny people, Rodney Rumford had Gorgeous and I rolling too. He arrived at the hotel Thursday and we were able to spend some time with him before things started rolling. Rodney is a guy who is full of ideas and is a very innovative thinker. Definitely interesting conversation there.
  • Andy Sernovitz’s speaking experience showed as he rolled in a bit before his timeslot with his presentation in hand. He gave us plenty of time to upload it and have him set up before he took the stage. A professional and a very nice guy to chat with too.
  • Speaking of presentations, Rodney Rumford has Vista on his machine and wouldn’t you know his was the only presentation that ended up being incompatible with the presentation computer. Even the Apple users were even able to produce compatible versions. What do you suppose that says about Vista?
  • Dawud Miracle gets this whole idea that business is about relationships as well as anyone I’ve ever met. It was refreshing to hear how committed a man like him is to his family. If you get the chance, spend some time getting to know him. And thanks, Dawud for volunteering your blog for Liz and David to critique.
  • I’ve been a part of these sort of things many times before. One thing that stood out to me was how little went wrong during the event. Sure we had some challenges. But all of them were minor.

  • The Sofitel did an outstanding job helping us make SOBCon a success. They did a great job ensuring that we’d want to have our next event at their hotel again. Not only that, but all of their employees were wonderful to work with. Nice people, every one.
    They were accommodating and willing to help us out with all sorts of things. They even rearranged the room for Saturday not once, but twice to get it the way we wanted it. Stephanie, Volkmar, Mike, and Salvador did a wonderful job making everything just the way we wanted it. Thanks guys!

  • We stayed on our timeline until we got to the raffle time in the afternoon. That was the one thing we didn’t build into the schedule. I’ve never worked with a group of presenters that large where everyone of them honored the time of the following speakers so well.
    My hat’s off to each of them. They were all wonderful.

One final tip for everyone who attends next year. Some of the best conversation and connections happen outside of the formal sessions. You will completely miss out if you don’t