For some people, 2012 has been a better year than 2011. For others, 2012 has been the continuation of a decline. Whether it is the economy, or the result of other external forces – you still have a choice to make:

Move forward bravely, or do nothing.

Quoting Rush, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

How to get started now on making 2013 a better year:

If you visit the More From Less homepage, you’ll notice that I revamped things a little bit. Most importantly, I’ve created a “Starting Points” section that highlights some of the key areas of content on the site.

Here is a brief overview:

• Innovative Business Strategies – See examples of how other entrepreneurs and leading business thinkers are achieving greatness in the marketplace.
• Marketing Professional Services – Understand how to market your professional service firm in the 21st century, and the human factor in modern business.
• Value-Based Fees – Billing by the hour incentivizes inefficiency. Learn how value-based fees can benefit your clients and increase your profit.
• Technology For Consultants – For consultants and other professional service providers, “More From Less” means leveraging technology to increase output and reduce input.

You can read more about this in my blog post: Introducing Starting Points for improving your professional services business

More on Value-Based Fees

10 years ago, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Billable Hours issued a report that addressed what it called “the overreliance on billable hours by the legal profession.” Brothers Jim and Matt Hassett wrote a follow-up on the report for Legal Management Magazine. The article is titled, Ten years later: A look back and ahead, a decade after the ABA Commission on Billable Hours Report.

I have links to all three parts of their article, including a link to download a PDF of it in my post: The Past and Future of Value-Based Fees and Alternative Fee Arrangements.

In Other News…

Last week, some sad news was released about two icons and personal heroes of mine. If you have a moment, please read my article, Zig Ziglar and Huell Howser: Two icons that inspired millions.

Thanks again for subscribing. If you haven’t visited More From Less (BLHill.net) in a while, please do so. I’ve spent most every weekend over the last couple months modifying the coding and design of the site. The goal: make the site more usable and device-independent.

Let me know what you think.

In this tough economy, I am seeing more and more just how much a role innovation plays in the viability of businesses in general. Innovation is especially important these days for professional service providers – consultants, lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, etc.

What are you working on that is innovative, that adds value to your clients/customers?

Me? Right now, I am in the middle of a major re-design of my blog, More From Less. (If you visit the site, you’ll see that the work is not complete.) The purpose of me revising the design of the site isn’t just for aesthetics. It is about improving the way readers of my blog interact with the site, and making it more functional and useful. In other words, it is about providing additional value to the readers of my blog.

I have also been working on some other projects that you might find interesting:

• The San Diego Green Building Blog – My fellow volunteers on the marketing committee at the San Diego Green Building Council have worked hard to give a voice to the many talented sustainable building professionals in the community.
• Steve Hill Construction Consulting, Inc. – If that name looks familiar, that’s because it is my father. His new website is a reflection of the new focus of his consulting company, and his evolution as a professional.
• I am currently researching materials from numerous sources as part of a book I am working on. The book will highlight tangible ways of improving quality in the built environment.

Some links worth visiting:

Here are some of the recent articles and stories I have come across that I have found interesting:

• Survey: 55% of small businesses are blogging – by Kevin O’Keefe
• The iPad Mini’s Huge Potential For Retail, Customer Service And Industrial Applications – by Darrell Etherington
• Bulletproof backups: When you absolutely can’t lose any data – by Joe Kissell
• Hearing set in suit against Thomas Jefferson law school – by Greg Moran
• The Return of Dean Kamen – by Adam Penenberg
• 25 Entrepreneurs Tell What They Wish They’d Known before Founding Their First Startup – by David Hauser
• When Is It Time To Pivot? 8 Startups On How They Knew They Had To Change – by Scott Gerber

Thanks again for taking the time to read this. As always, if you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.

As a construction consultant, I take a lot of pictures. Because those pictures might end up as evidence in trial, quality is very important. There are some other characteristics that are also important:

• Wide range of zoom – from as close as an inch, to as far as from the sidewalk to catch a close-up of a roof tile
• Rotating viewfinder for shooting in wall cavities and other hard-to-reach places
• Satisfactory low-light performance
• Not too heavy
• Not too expensive

Right now, the best camera for that purpose is the Canon Powershot SX50 HS. It is available on sale at Amazon.

(If you are looking to save some money, the SX40 HS is available for a lot less.)

In other news…

Here are some of the top stories I’ve shared recently via Twitter (@BLHill):

• Building For The Enterprise — The Zero Overhead Principle
• Bob Mansfield stayed at Apple after CEO Tim Cook offered him ‘exorbitant’ $2M-per-month
• Can an $11,111 coffee pot turn out a better cup of joe?
• Somehow Airplane’s Near-Crash Due To Almost Unconscious Pilots Was Covered Up For 2 Years
• Tinfoil hats actually amplify mind-control beams

Below are some of the stories that I found most interesting over the past week or so:

• SD named 2nd worst place to find job
• An Unconventional Client Retention Strategy – by Andrea Howe
• Why Mac ‘n’ Cheese Is a Smarter Investment Than Facebook – via Wired
• PassRocket Lets Any Business Create Loyalty Cards For Apple’s New Passbook App For Free – via TechCrunch
• Velopresso: Mobile Espresso Machine Is Built On A Bike

These are just a few of the stories I’ve shared via Twitter (@BLHill) over the last week.

Thanks again for subscribing!

From: Building AEC Quality .com, Or how I spent my Summer “vacation”

After my gonzo journalism adventure in Key West at the end of July, I actually realized something that I only recently shared with my wife.

I like writing.

But if you look at the recent activity on this website and over at AECforensics.com, you wouldn’t be able to see that.

Shortly before my trip to Key West, I was invited to speak at a national conference about sustainable design and construction for the retail industry. I knew that I wanted to do something a little different, but I wan’t exactly sure what that was going to be.

Here is how I have prepared for my presentation:

1. My slideshow for the presentation is fast-moving, with lots of images and only small amounts of text. (Pro Tip: When you have a slide with only a little bit of text, make sure your typography is awesome – it is still a visual presentation.)
2. For the handout that is being distributed to all attendees, I created an entirely separate presentation consisting of around 20 slides, or less. The slides are highly legible (again using good typography), and serve as a teaser for the presentation. The handout serves two purposes: Get people to come to the presentation, and then visit the website…
3. Instead of a paper handout that might get thrown away, I built an entire website based around the presentation.

Here is the website:

AEC Quality .com

This is just an excerpt. Please read the full article:

Building AEC Quality .com, Or how I spent my Summer “vacation”