Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Why I suck at business

So anyone who knows me probably knows about the store, but I try not to make a big deal out of it here or in my normal away-from-the-store interaction with people. The fact is, I just don't like mentioning it, for fear that people will think I'm advertising, and I'm only in it for the money. This post is already making me incredibly uncomfortable...

That said, I need some help figuring out some way to advertise some classes I'll be teaching starting in February. Kara and I have invested a lot in the training room in our new store (which makes the local Linux users group meetings much more comfortable), so we have to start making some money on it soon. As it happens, I'm a darn good sysadmin (IMHO), and I like to talk, so teaching is a natural thing for me. ;-)

The classes I'll be teaching are all Linux system administration-related. Half of them are LPI Linux certification classes (on account of the O'Reilly book on the subject I helped write). There's a Google Calendar with dates, but no class descriptions yet. (Details available on request, but I obviously need to get them posted somewhere...)

So I need to figure out a way to get the word out, preferably to the St. Louis area (and the midwest in general, I suppose) that a) doesn't cost a ton of money (because that's all tied up in the new shop), b) doesn't make me feel like a total weasel, and c) doesn't make the intended audience think I'm a total weasel. Suggestions (like, what advertising do you actually pay any attention to and maybe trust a little) would be most appreciated.

Oh, since I'm talking about work, and in case my lovely and talented wife reads this, I have to point out for the record that she owns and runs the business. (In addition to being extremely averse to "sales", I also happen to be horrible with money. On the other hand, she happens to be good at that and more. :-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain... Your a lucky man to have a wife that is business minded mine could care less even though my hopes and aspirations are taking a beating