Comments on: Ask Havi #1: The “How come?” edition

By: Penny Hoff

Penny Hoff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:01:50 +0000

Dear Havi The Maven!
Oh, No!
I’m feeling guilty for having asked.
Did I do it wrong again?!! I’m sooorrrhy!
Pinny

By: Beware of Fortune Cookies bearing Comic Sans: handling random help requests :: NathanBowers.com

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:51:40 +0000

[...] fortune while organizing a pile of index cards on my desk. Serendipitous because I had just read Havi Brooks’ post about dealing with random help requests which helped me clarify my own help [...]

By: GirlPie

GirlPie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:30:02 +0000

Oh No, I agree, Havi — I meant that I hoped the referral to paid pros in those specific areas might help those dear askers to see that they’re encroaching a wee bit into someone’s livelihood.

Re: Nathan’s funny algo-whatzit — reminds of the Doctor at the party who, when asked for free medical advice, says “take off your pants, put on this napkin, and I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”

By: Havi Brooks

Havi Brooks — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:27:41 +0000

@Nathan Oh, how I adore you. Of course you already have a helper mouse *algorithm* (I don’t even know how to spell algorithm).

That’s so awesome.

@Kelly Love it! Genius. Again. That could be endlessly entertaining. Though hmmmm, maybe I’d need Nathan to build me an automatic-niceness-generator to run the answers through or something.

@Girlpie Oh good. And yeah, I love the idea of farming some stuff out, though probably my esteemed colleagues also don’t want these uh, opportunities either.

That’s why the Men With Pens $30 thing is so damn schmart. You can say, “I’ll do this quickie thing for you that barely costs anything”, instead of “Hire a consultant, person who wants too much”.

Though in my line of work, things are a little more amorphous. Implement? Habits changing and biggifying are processes that need time. And even my “magic wand of awesomeness” requires recharging.

@everyone who comments on my blog, and everyone who doesn’t but reads this stuff: you guys rock!

By: GirlPie

GirlPie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:30:35 +0000

Great post, great solution, and you can reply to those freebie-requests with “thanks for the note, I’ll address that issue in an upcoming blog post — stay tuned!”

Apropos of your steps #1 and 2, consider calling a piece of your sidebar “…but they can” (as in “I CAN but I can’t, if you know what I mean — but THEY can!”) and list, as you did, your referrals to other pros you trust: copy = Copylicious; website = MWP; marketing = IttyBiz; presentations = ZenPresentations; yoga = your favorite studios — whatever, you know what I mean. Then you can always just point to your sidebar!

I have the same, uh, opportunities, to help every wanna-be in the world, and must take my own advice one of these days. Thanks for letting me hear it in YOUR voice — MUCH easier to listen to! Thanks!

By: Kelly Parkinson

Kelly Parkinson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:30:08 +0000

And, if you get REALLY busy, you could even start a new category called “Ask a Random Visitor.” Or have an “Answer This!” contest. And random people could comment in & answer the question FOR you, and the winning answer would win a prize!

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:35:35 +0000

Havi, Welcome to being internet famous!

Here’s my helper mouse algorithm:

1: Are you a real life friend?
2: Are you an internet friend? (essentially my Twitter follows)

If 1 or 2, then I’ll go out of my way to advise you. If you need me to actually implement something you’ll have to pay unless it’s a quick obvious fix or I owe you a Wookie life-debt or something.

3: Are you a paying client?

Then normal working relationships apply.

4: Are you asking something in my blog comments or on Twitter?

I’ll gladly give out advice on public forums, time/interest permitting.

5: Are you a random person emailing me to solve all your troubles with my magic wand of awesomeness?

“Mark as Spam”