Welcome to Chez Cliff!

I’ve been preparing my paperwork for that singular event which I normally greet with enthousiasm:  Tax Season.

After playing this successfully for a number of years, I got the whole thing dialled in.  I know what I can/can’t deduct; what is considered a capital expense and what is classified as maintenance; approximately how many losses will carry over into the following year; etc etc etc.

Of course the best part about tax season is the refund.  I’m a big believer in having to pay a little more now rather than owe the G-man.

This year, I’m rethinking that theory.

The Governator announced that California is $40 billion in the hole.  His right hand man has announced that refund checks to tax payers are going to be delayed.  Will I eventually get a refund?  Eventually.  But this problem isn’t going to go away.   California’s overhead is going to go ballistic.

While the state legislature (Democrat) sends the budget to the Governator (Republican), and these programs continue to get funded, how can one side accuse the other about not being fiscally responsible?  Well with the second trillion dollar bailout approaching, being fiscally responsible is no longer “cool”.

So what can I do about it?  Nothing.  Sure, I can cast my vote.  But I have zero confidence in our government to be fiscally responsible.

Part of my strategy this year will be to tweak my deductions to ensure I get my money.  After all, I would rather reach 2010 and tell the government “Oops, looks like I owe you $1,000” rather than the government tell me “Well Cliff, we owe you $2,500 and we can’t pay you.“

In my efforts to read at least one book per month, February got an early start with this little ditty: Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion.

This is part of my on-going effort to improve my understand of why people do what they do.  More importantly, why people decide to make purchases.

Someone once told me that when you have a product, you should base your sales and marketing on filling some kind of emotional need.  The example they used was make-up and they base their sales/marketing on the emotional need of Hope.

I’m not sure if I believe that or not.  But then again, I don’t buy makeup nor do I have a desire to.  Actually the entire metrosexual thing weirds me out.

Where was I?

I’m nearly 2/3 of the way through the book.  I’m glad that it’s not a complete, cut and dry business text.  That would get boring after a while.  No, this is more of an analysis of why people do what they do.  Even when their decision defy all conventional logic (like the mass suicide of Jim Jones’ cult in Mexico), people still make decisions based on certain ideas or pre-conceived notions of social norms.

My reasons for reading this book are simple: if I’m going to be experimenting with different marketing tactics, I would like to understand why they work.  Or why they fail.  If something does seem to produce results, I’d like to understand the logic behind it so I can make the idea better, more effective.

For those of you loyal readers who’ve followed me this far, I invited you to join in on a contest that I’m holding.

Feedback from customers, more often than not, includes a recommendation to change the name of our software.  We agree.  To thank our customers and readers, we created a “New Name” contest and the winner gets an iPod Nano.

More information here.

Feel free to play along.  No purchase required.

Nothing having to do with gaining cash.

A few months back, a friend convinced me to sign up on Facebook.  I’m not a big fan of having my information splattered all over the internet.  I don’t mind telling stories about the odd, weird, or even humorous events in my life.  But the level of detail some of these sites wants just leaves me feeling vunerable.

In retrospect, I’m glad I did.

It seems that each stage of my life has been compartmentalized.  Probably yours too.  Certain friends you have in high school find their own paths and you lose touch.  Then there comes your college friends who float along with their lives.  Once you get into the real world, suddenly co-workers and single bars become your social outlet as you wander your way through life.

Being no different than others, my life is compartmentalized just like this.  What is weird is having them all now on one page.

Each time a friend request enters my box, I can hardly wait to see who has found me.  Admittedly some of the names I would readily like to forget.  But 99% of the time, the name brings back a bunch of fond memories often associated with that time period in my life.

It’s pleasant to know that not all of my life has been filled with pain.  In speaking about high school, I seem to run to those stories that were painful, embarrassing or even gut-wrenching due to bully’s or ego-inflated jocks.  But these people I hear from remind me that not all of my experiences were bad.

Good times.

During those absolutely beautiful rain showers last month, my house sprung a leak.  Water fell.  The problem was fixed quickly enough.  But not without some collateral damage.

As a result of the leak, the tenant fell.  She told me she was fine and no more mention of it was made.

With her last rent check, she included a letter.  She detailed how she had seen a doctor five times.  For those doctor visits, I could reimburse her for the medical bills or she could deduct it from her rent.

I was not happy to say the least.  Getting treatment for a medical condition is one thing.  Where this falls apart is (1) she failed to tell me she needed medical treatment (2) she decided which doctor to see and how many times to see them (3) stuck me with the medical bill.  Trying to offer some small measure of consolation, she assured me the doctors rates were reasonable.

Doctor:  What seems to be the problem?
Tenant:  Yes I slipped and fell and now I hurt.  Can you treat me?  Oh and my landlord will be paying all the medical expenses.
Doctor:  Your landlord is paying?  In that case, I’ll deduct 50% from my normal rates.

Yeah.   Right.

If responsibility for this accident rested on my shoulders, I would be the first one to belly up to the bar and pay.  But I certainly didn’t punch a hole in my own roof.  Within two hours of getting the phone call, plastic covered

The neighborhood cat poops on the front porch.  The tenant comes out one morning, slips and falls.  Now I’m stuck paying the medical bills because I didn’t provide a non-slip, anti-poop porch?

My real estate agent said,  “That’s why we have insurance.  Give them a call.”

My insurance agent said, “That’s why you have insurance.  We’ll investigate the matter and handle it accordingly.  You have nothing to worry about.”

Much better.