Here’s a bit of fun – a tool that can convert an IM conversation into a cartoon.
Here’s the start of a ‘typical’ conversation that I seem to be having a lot of lately. The name of the person asking the question has been removed to protect the stupid innocent (click to enlarge):
That sample IM conversation is hilarious.. I’m tempted to do a few based on some of our support queries :)
hehe…too funny!
That was pretty good, but seriously, can you help me make a $1000.00 off my blog? ;)
Vic
umm… uhhh… what’s a blog?
That seems to be my most asked dumbest question…
OMG
Hmmm…possibilities there, definitely…
I dunno, Darren, you have a lot more patience than I do. In the first place, I don’t even advertise that I HAVE instant messaging. I do have my email address and phone available on my website, but only on pages that tell you straight out that I do not do free consulting.
I used to: I’d answer email and phone questions for free. If we’d had IM back then, I would have done that too. But it just got to be a big drain on my time and I started getting grumpy :-)
So, now I charge. Not necessarily a lot, and sometimes I will “let it slide”, but I always reserve the option to do so. One of the ways I do it for small email questions is to answer the question and then send a PayPal request for payment. Payment is entirely optional, but of course if they don’t pay, they aren’t going to get any more free questions. As I said, I don’t charge much for that kind of thing, usually way, way below my usual hourly rates, but I just feel like something, even if it’s only a token amount, is necessary for the privilege of interrupting my day. Of course I don’t send any request if I had no answer or the answer was really trivial and the questioner had already paid in the past for other questions. I’m not particularly greedy, just grumpy.
See http://aplawrence.com/answers.html for the page I send to people who ask for free help. It’s friendly, but firm. I really think you should do something similar.
Aside from eliminating the time wasters, it also actually encourages serious potential customers to contact you. For example, I might want your advice on some small thing that we both know isn’t worth much. I would never in a million years presume to call or IM you looking for free help no matter how insignificant, but if you had a policy like mine where I knew you would charge, then I would feel far more comfortable approaching you.
I know other people have similar feelings because they’ve told me exactly that with regard to contacting me for help. Professional people value their own time *and the time of others they deal with*.
Kind of like a tech support department for problogger? That would be interesting to say the least.
Vic
Aus Unterhaltungen Cartoons machen
Mit ChatFu kann man IM-Konversationen in Cartoons verwandeln. Dazu kopiert man einfach den Text aus dem Messenger-Fenster in das entsprechende Feld auf der Webseite. Für Fortgeschrittene: Man kann natürlich irgendwelche Konversationen in das entsp…
By the way, those cartoons look like they could be considered as rip-off’s of Futurama characters.. I don’t think I’d publish them..
That would work so much better using Dilbert characters, with Catbert delivering the killer line at the end.
Wonder if Scott Adams would license them out on the cheap?
Darren you have really put on weight since your ‘about’ photo.
Darren, can you help me make $999.99 a day from my blog?
Paul – how long have you been blogging…. hehe
That was just too funny.
Funny stuff there. Just hope theres more pictures during the conversion. It is the same the old two pictures, you and me.
Heh it made me laugh =))
lol Darren, I’m glad you didn’t slap one of our convo’s in there :)
That is hilarious.. ” about my girlfriend and my desk ” lol…
was that seriously a real conversation you had LOL.
is this a convo you really had? or was it just a “typical” convo?
if it was a real convo… im not really surprised…(but still LOL:-) . thats the focus of alot of blogs today, making money. People can’t be blamed for believing the hype when so much blogging is just hype. This blogs a bit more real I believe.
it’s a real one Dan. I’m not surprise either because it’s also a typical one.
I’m hoping ProBlogger can be a bit more real also. Hoping to get the balance right.
http://www.ComicStripGenerator.com let’s you make over 1,000 different comic layouts (where ChatFU “borrowed” layout & some images), personalize with your own words ;)