Copy Writing
On this page...
Magazine Article re: telecommunications services for a home office
RFP Response for an information technology firm
Profiles of Edmonton & Calgary for a travel website
(Also, check out my technical documentation & design samples and my writeup on business-oriented web design tips.)
The following was written for a local publication about telecommunications needs for a home business. (Note that the information itself is a bit dated; the article is from 1995!)
Communications for Your
Home-Based Business
With the trend towards downsizing in large companies and the public sector, a new generation of home-based businesses is emerging. These new businesses are now doing contract work out of their homes for many of their old employers. Workers are adjusting to the inevitable changes in work habits. But the isolated home environment raises many issues for those who are used to being in a large office with all of their necessities around them. One primary concern is: how do I keep in touch with the outside world?
A home-based business that truly desires to grow into a viable employment opportunity for the owner must consider more than just a computer and a telephone in a spare bedroom. Despite the familiar and comfortable setting, a home-based business has the exact same communications requirements of any other business located in a corporate office — albeit on a much smaller scale. Anything less than the basics of a fax, a modem, and voice mail will not enable someone to stay competitive amid the thousands of others out there doing the exact same thing.
Starter Options
After your computer system (with your modem to dial into your Internet account), what precisely do you need and how much will it cost you?
Fax It To Me
You will definitely need a fax for document communications. Whether you need an actual fax machine that takes up space on your desktop, however, is another issue. If you don't see yourself sending any documents that you do not create from your computer to begin with, you may not need to buy an actual fax machine (which is more expensive than a fax or fax/modem card that is installed inside your computer). On the receiving end, you get the added bonus of not using up paper for all kinds of faxes that you may not even want. You will always have the option to view incoming faxes on your computer first and print only those that you want to retain.
A fax machine will cost you a few hundred dollars. A fax or fax/modem card can be had for under a hundred (with the added cost of the software to run it, which varies from free to a couple hundred dollars).
How Many Telephone Lines?
Once you decide on what kind of fax to buy, your next decision relates to telephone lines. Do you need lines dedicated to your fax and modem or will your current line meet your needs? It would be recommended that you get a separate line for your business (apart from your personal home line) for the sake of professionalism, but beyond that, technology will come to your rescue. A fax/modem/voice switch can be installed that will answer incoming calls, as well as determine what type of call it is. Fax, modem, or voice calls will be transferred to the appropriate equipment automatically. You may want to use this switch on your personal line so that you will always have your business line for voice communications.
Telephone Services
So you now have a separate business line and you can differentiate your incoming calls. Do you spend most of your time in the office in this home-based business, or are you usually out? If you are inside all day and can generally be reached by your clients, do the minimum and get yourself a voice mail box from your local telephone company. This will cover you in situations when you are out of the office and will eliminate busy signals for the calls that come in when you are already on the phone. This service can be provided for under ten dollars a month and will allow you to retrieve your messages from any touch tone phone.
Assuming that you do not have someone to answer your calls, if you are out most of the day, your clients need to be able to leave you messages. Your options beyond the voice mail may include getting a pager or a cellular phone along with call forwarding service (so that your calls can be forwarded to your pager or cellular). Pager and cell phone costs range from $15 and $25 respectively per month (and of course, air time on cell phones is charged separately).
Growth Options
If you have been running a business out of your home for a while now and have no desire to move out despite acquiring employees and the like, there are small-scale — yet business level — communications systems available with which you can grow.
A 2-line business telephone set with built-in digital voice mail, intercom, handsfree operation, message waiting light, built-in computer directory and fax, call display, call logging, and with the capability to be fully integrated with PC programs from Microsoft, may be the affordable system to which your business communications can graduate.
For those looking for more power, advanced systems can be installed that offer intercom service throughout the home with speaker operation. These can also accommodate up to eight outside lines, allowing you to answer your calls from anywhere in the home. Other typical options offered by these full-featured business systems are background music (on the telephone set as well as on hold for callers), speed dial capability (for simple one-step dialing of frequently called numbers), all call paging (allowing for a call to be announced over all the phone sets on the system), and much more.
Building From Scratch
If you are looking at a new house, take the opportunity to discuss your home office needs with your builder. Many builders today have specific floor plans that are geared to the home business operator, allowing their offices some measure of separation from their personal living space. This may include options like separate entrances (or at least a location that is just off the main entrance so that there is no need to traipse through half the house), sound proofing, and consideration for office equipment, power and communications needs.
Regardless of your floor plan, if you are building a new home, try to have your telephone and computer cabling installed while the walls are still open. Industry standard is for all computer/telephone locations to be wired with two 4-pair unshielded twisted pair, category 5 cable. This type of cable will allow you to connect to new technologies that will be available in the next few years. Just imagine: you could be travelling on the information superhighway at speeds of 155 mbps and up!
... top
The following was written for an IT consulting firm as part of a response to a Request for Proposal.
Competitor Benchmarking
In general, our company has never undertaken any formal benchmarking practices to evaluate ourselves against competitor organizations. The odd time that something similar was conducted for other purposes, the results did not pay back sufficient value in relation to what was spent to undertake the exercise. Such studies usually take time to carry out and the resulting information can be somewhat dated by the time everything is consolidated. In the quickly changing environment that the IT industry tends to be, relevance and timeliness of information is essential. While we are not stating that "after the fact" information is useless, we simply choose to employ methods that are more likely to expose revelations that we can act upon quickly.
It has been more the case for us — and possibly for many of our competitors in our industry — that informal "research" uncovers information that is ultimately more valuable to us and enables us to act accordingly and in a timely manner. These research techniques usually involve straight person to person contact, such as accessing marketing intelligence, buying memberships in associations, and old-fashioned, simple networking. These types of informal research methods commonly reveal more relevant information simply because the circumstances are informal. Individuals at conferences, meetings and networking events often speak candidly about current trends, achievements, and plans. Consultants from different firms working alongside one another at client sites usually have inside knowledge regarding their competitors.
With a large portion of our personnel able to participate in this informal research, we feel that our firm stays satisfactorily informed about competitor performance. We feel strongly, however, that the best way to stay competitive is to maintain our special skills and continually seek out new and innovative ways of providing our core services.
... top
The following profiles were originally written for Mack Travel's website. I was responsible for all of the copy pertaining to communities and their attractions. Mack Travel, however, was sold in late 2003 and the new owners opted to do their own thing (which appears to be a website consisting of a directory of external links from what I can tell). In any case, none of the original content is available via a live link anymore.
The City of Edmonton
While still firmly holding onto its title of "Gateway to the North", Edmonton has in recent times cultivated reputations of other sorts, such as earning status as Canada's premiere "Festival City". The city manages to cram a lot of events into its summer schedule every year, calling upon the boundless volunteering spirit of local citizens to play host to visitors in festival upon festival, all the while displaying the friendly hospitality that Edmontonians are noted for. Stop in during the months of July and August to get a taste of festival life by attending such events as the Heritage Days, Folk Music, and the International Fringe Theatre Festivals. And don't forget about the biggest "festival" of all — the annual Klondike Days exposition that harkens back to the days of trading posts and the pursuit of gold in the hills.
As the country's most northerly situated metropolis (there are close to a million people living in the greater Edmonton metropolitan region), this city will always be known as the access point to various communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern Alberta. From its days as the first stop along the trail to Klondike gold, Edmonton has managed to maintain its position as an important transportation hub servicing the north. Over the years, the oil boom created a whole new focus for Alberta's capital city, bringing prosperity to the area through the extraction and distribution side of the oil industry. The city's growth, however, has continued above and beyond the 1947 founding of the Leduc Number One oil well. Today, Edmonton is a bustling mecca for shopping and entertainment enthusiasts, with the amazing West Edmonton Mall as the one-stop shop for all of the above.
Regardless of progress and population growth, preserving quality of life is important to Edmontonians. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Edmonton's river valley, an area widely recognized as the most expansive stretch of urban parkland in any city in North America. Conveniently accessible from business and residential districts alike, this greenbelt along the North Saskatchewan River is a much-appreciated natural retreat for both citizens and visitors. Whatever your preference — be it walking, jogging, in-line skating, bicycling or cross-country skiing in the winter — there is a myriad of trails for you to pursue your activity of choice while basking in endless sunshine.
The City of Calgary
A place where old western history meets up with new modern technology — this is the former cow town that is now western Canada's finance and energy capital. Today, Calgary is a city of sophistication and excitement amid rural reminders of its ranching and meat-packing origins. Oil discoveries both north and south of the city have played a major role in bringing about this transformation over the years. Rapid growth has resulted in the formation of a respectable city skyline of skyscrapers and suburban residential areas dotted with new housing that stretch as far as the eye can see. In the surrounding foothills of the Rocky Mountains, however, one can still see evidence of Calgary's modest agricultural beginnings.
The city continues to embrace these simplistic beginnings by paying tribute to them on a yearly basis. Calgary's annual exposition, the Stampede celebration, brings in cowpokes from around the world to compete in events and relive life from the old days. Chuckwagon races, rodeos, jeans and cowboy hats are the order of the day for ten days every July. This annual display of western hospitality was one of the motivating factors in landing Calgary's biggest coup to date — the hosting of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. The legacy left by that invaluable experience include world class facilities for numerous winter sports, as well as demonstrated proof that Calgary has a place on the world's stage for future such events.
As might be expected, being a primary centre for business does not mean that Calgary is all business, all the time. With a large percentage of the population being youth oriented and in pursuit of the good life while building busy careers, Calgary also caters to modern and enlightened tastes in the arts, music and entertainment. On any given evening, concerts, live theatre, professional sports, and night club acts are readily available in venues around the city. The city is also conveniently located to allow quick access to the mountains (via Banff and Lake Louise), with fresh powder skiing just a little over an hour away on those winter days when the warm chinook winds blow in and take away the seasonal chill.
... top
