The Cyndustries List

She's clearly not a proactive communicator to begin with, and isn't
very organized. That's okay though. I'm familiar with the type--she's
just an optimist and not happy giving bad news. Self esteem is driven
by happy customers, and it can be discouraging when lots of people are
ragging on you for being behind.

I believe she means well, and needs to buckle down and get a few
things organized and improve communicatons. If she could get a partner
with a more 'accounting-type' mindset, things would improve greatly,
allowing her to focus on inventing new creative things.

Fundamentally a person should focus on what they really enjoy and find
fulfilling. I'm sure that Cynthia is not enjoying being behind, and
pissing off many people (including me -- FEBRUARY 2006! (partially
fulfilled)). I would love to see Cynthia focusing on the stuff she
loves vs. the accounting/admin side of things. Still, it's a small
market and even though it may not be realistic customer management
should be improved.

I know that things have been rather tough for one person to handle.
The family deaths, the complexity of the ZO project in all the
formats, the re-designs, the custom orders, the back-orders, new
product design, the move, RoHS, and who knows what else -- a full
plate to be sure! I sure wouldn't be on top of all things.

However, going forward, things can get a lot better.

So, my advice to Cynthia is to:
  - Make a grid of all orders by date, with customer, and status.
  - Give every customer an 'ID' number, and tell them their number.
  - Post an orders page online, by 'ID' so folks can see real progress.
  - Be open on issues like the 'move' and such on a status page. As
long as people are aware of progress and see effort, they'll be better
informed as to when to expect their order fulfilled. Confidence will
increase.

Transparency can really help a small bespoke operation. Maintaining a
single status page weekly is way easier than lots of email
communication with the whole customer backlog list :)

All the best,

Paul