Comments on: Why quarterly numbers are like peanut butter

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:17:27 +0000

Hi Colin, thanks! I’m thrilled you risked dooce-ing to stop by!
Here’s to making independence day come sooner rather than later…

Kelly

By: Colin Y.J. Chung

Colin Y.J. Chung — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:06:59 +0000

Hey, I just found you via Ben Settle’s twitter… I love your post here. Your copy has such vibrant personality! I’d like to comment more, but I still hold a day job (transitioning into a marketing strategist)… and the subject matter of this piece happens to be where I work.

Not too keen on getting dooce’d

By: Mark Silver

Mark Silver — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:18:37 +0000

It is amazing, Kelly. And, watch us to see how it turns out. If I show up on your doorstep, hat out, then you’ll know it didn’t go quite according to plan…

By: Kelly Parkinson

Kelly Parkinson — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:46:44 +0000

Mark, WOW! That’s a pretty amazing story, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Watching expenses go up and revenues go down is a nice way to set off Lizard Brain Syndrome. You’re an inspiration for trusting in the process.

By: Mark Silver

Mark Silver — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:11:31 +0000

Man, am I late to this party, but I LOVE what you wrote here. We took a deep breath and decided in the first quarter of this year to not focus on revenue and instead focus on infrastructure.

The business surprised us by continuing to come close to the revenue we’ve had for several years, although it was lower. The problem was the increased expenses associated with infrastructure.

And, what happened is that we are now set to potentially double or triple our revenue in the next 18 months, in a very stable way. But if we’d just focused on revenue numbers… well, you already said it well enough.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:57:48 +0000

Thanks, Dianna! It’s great to hear that comment from someone who gets such spectacular results for her clients. (Maybe that’s partly BECAUSE you give yourself the time off!)

By: Dianna Huff

Dianna Huff — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:09:47 +0000

A woman after my own heart — Kelly, I love your list. Too often you hear copywriting gurus focusing on the bottom line and not enough about what makes the bottom line worthwhile — i.e. time off!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:56:40 +0000

@David You got it!

@JoVE Thanks for your comment! True confession time: I’m crap at measuring stuff, too, which is why I make lists of stuff to measure. That way when measurement time (aka tax season) comes, I’ve got other numbers to keep me company. Bookkeepers don’t know everything and they can’t predict the future. If I spend a month not marketing myself as hard because I’m creating a new program that will enable me to get more clients, then I shouldn’t ding myself at the end of the month if one set of numbers isn’t as good as the last month.

By: JoVE

JoVE — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:48:20 +0000

I like your list. I’m crap at measuring anything though I completely buy the rationale. So knowing that list is there is going to help me, I’m sure.

By: David Fideler

David Fideler — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:15:10 +0000

Good piece! To sum up, relying too much on a single metric will yield one-dimensional results.