Let them Cancel and Don't Make Excuses

Business brain, episode 654 for Wednesday, June 4, shopping cart day 2025. Greetings, folks and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take some ideas, we dissect them, we analyze them, we use them to tune our business brains so so that each of us can keep on living those charmed lives. Speaking of all of that, Our sponsors include selectquote.com businessbrain, where you can get the right life insurance for you for less, and square.com gobrain. And yes, we put these links in the show notes at BusinessBrain show and in your inbox if you'd like, so that you don't have to remember things like square.com go brain, because that's where you want to go to save up to 200 bucks off of Square hardware and sign up and all that good stuff. So we'll talk more in depth about those in a little bit. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And I'm Shannon Jean. I'm out here in Lafayette, California. How's it going, man?

It comes and it goes. It's good. I had a good experience this week, a good customer service experience.

I like those.

I know fewer and farther between, unfortunately, because every business is the customer service business and I know everyone here knows that. And that's one of the things that gives each of us a huge leg up towards living our charmed lives. For years. Well, for decades, I have hosted a FileMaker database for the staff here at Backbeat. It's at Backbeat Media, we have all of our years ago, almost 30 years ago, we built the core of this. We've added onto it because that's what filemaker lets you do. But it's our, our customer database. It tracks all of our insertion orders for all the ads. It tracks, it does all of our invoicing, it does all the things. Right.

And we have a server on site or do you have a cloud type?

Interesting question. And right. We have had all of the above for when we first started out. I was hosting it locally in my office, wherever that was at the time, I think in Austin, Texas, actually. And then they had a version of FileMaker Server that would run on Linux for a little while. And so I was able to host it on the same file server that hosts like the Business Brain website and the Backbeat Media website and all that stuff. And then they did away with that for whatever reason for a period of time. And so I moved it back home. And I then had an issue while I was traveling, actually, it Happened twice where the power went out and people couldn't get in. And it was a whole big thing. And I was like, all right, I got to move. And so I hunted around and I found a company called F M P Host. And I've seen them, yep, they're great. I hosted with them for probably a decade. It was great. It was about 60 bucks a month. I think it cost me for what I needed to do with it. Their plans start about $35 a month, but I needed something in the 50 or $60 range. I couldn't remember. But anyway, you know, it was fine and it worked great. And now as of actually a couple versions ago, but filemaker, as of a couple versions ago, also now has again a Linux based client. And now it's actually a little more portable. It works in a Docker container. They've got a whole way for it to do it. And so I thought recently, I thought, well, let me see what that's like. And I set it up first on my Synology disk station. So here in my office. But now we've got a generator and we've got far more reliable Internet than we used to have. And I thought, oh, this would be fine. I thought, well, wait a minute, why am I being dumb about this? Why do I want to host it at home again when I also have a server for no additional charge that's hosted like on in Virginia at a hosting facility. It's a virtual server that that business Brain and Backbeat media and all that are still hosted on. So we set up the Docker container there, got it up and running. Everything was great. It's like, all right, well this is nice. I can consolidate these things and reduce some costs. And so it was time to cancel my account with FMP Host. Sure, no fault of their own, right?

You just kind of out.

It was time to move it back. Internal ish. Right. You know, and I'm sure I'll regret that some days when it's time to like update and it's a big pain in the neck, but for now seemed like a good idea at the time. And so I had to go and. Or I decided that I wanted to go and cancel our hosting with FMP Host. And Shannon. It took me far less time to cancel with FMP Host than it did to tell this story.

Wow.

I went on their website, I found a cancel button. I found an easy to find cancel button. I clicked it and it gave me a choice. It says, do you want to cancel this immediately or do you want it to Cancel at the end of your current monthly term. And I thought, I'm no my mom and didn't raise that big of a fool. She raised a fool, don't get me wrong. But, you know, I've learned a few lessons. I've made some mistakes along the way. And so I thought, you know, there's two weeks left in our term. I'm going to go ahead and let this ride just so I have a backup. If what I've moved to is a disaster. I can, I don't have to do anything. I just upload the databases again. I'm good to go. So I said, sure, close it out. Which was going to be on the 24th of May. This is last month when all this happened. And they were like, okay, great, you're good to go. And I got an email confirmation.

Wow.

That we've received your cancellation request. The service will be canceled at the end of your current billing period. But it all just happened. Like I figured this was going to be one of those. I got to call him on the phone and tell them why. And all they did ask why, of course. And I happily told them, we will likely be back someday. You've been great. And part of the reason that I would go back to them without even thinking about somebody else is because they didn't treat me like I was some kind of criminal because I wanted to cancel.

Yeah.

And that is the lesson here, is I love this company. And they had an opportunity to change that and chose not to. And I give them a lot of credit for that.

Yeah. That's really good. That's. That's huge. Make it easier to. Easy to cancel.

Make it easy. I get why it would seem like maybe you wouldn't want to make it easy for your customers, but it doesn't.

Make them not want to cancel.

No. It doesn't make you more money, right?

Yeah, it does. It's. It's anti. Human. Don't do it. You know, don't do it. Yeah. Yeah. Can I ask you a quick filemaker question?

Of course.

Okay. So like you, I've used filemaker Pro for decades.

Yeah.

And I have a couple of small like solutions that I've built that to for unique situation reselling stuff.

This company of Filemaker. Yes.

Yep. I love it. I love it. And what I would like to be able to do is share those with my clients. Be able to say, okay, the. You're starting reselling. Let me share this simple solution for you to track your inventory, track your profit, track where everything's listed Right. I've already got it built and everything.

Yep.

But I have a local version on my, you know, desktop. How. Or can I and if I can, how do I get it to where they can access it via a web browser or do they have to buy a version of FileMaker? How does it work?

Yeah. So I feel like we're, we're going to start a new segment here, Shane.

Okay.

Which is going to be there's a business here. Maybe not for us, but there's a business for somebody.

Okay.

And like the FMP host people might be that business. But the problem is going to be licensing the FileMaker pricing is it's billed monthly. Ish. And you know, to set up Claris filemaker Cloud where you get to store, you get the database and all this stuff. It's $22 per user per month.

So what I'd like to do, be like, hey, go do this. You sign up, you get the license, then they could access my solution.

I'll give you my database to upload to your instance and you're good to go. Yeah. But you know, and maybe there is something that I don't know about and if there is feedback@businessbrain.show about, you know, where, where you can, you could host something for other people to access that wasn't going to cost you an ARM and a leg. Like if you wanted to do this. The problem is that the FileMaker licensing is perfect logged in user.

Yeah.

Right. So you could, your license, I think you could share the database with, with FileMaker Desktop. Like it can be kind of a low usage but you know, fairly capable FileMaker server essentially.

I see.

But every person that connects would need to bring their own filemaker license, right? Yeah. If you wanted to let them connect to your thing, you, you would need to be the one providing them with licenses and you'd need to buy like a multi user pack and it very quickly become something that you would need to charge for. Yeah, right. Just to do this. And so yeah, like a single license of FileMaker Desktop. I'm looking here, it's like 600 bucks we're talking. Yes, that's correct. It's like 600 bucks.

But they have the FileMaker Cloud. It's like $22 per unit. If they signed up, then they per user per month and that they could access. I could give them a blank correct version of this and say hey, upload this to your cloud, FileMaker Cloud and you could use it.

Yes.

Because that might be the solution.

That might be the answer.

Yeah. I'll try it. I'm going to, I'll sign up, I'll upload my database, see how it works, see if all the scripts. Scripts come over like they should or however it needs to work. Yeah. And then at least, at least I'd have a solution because right now I don't have a great solution for a customized.

Yeah.

Database for them to use that I think it would be. And this is just something to get them started. So.

Yeah, no, that, that, I think that would, I think that would work. But you're right to test it because I don't know how. Like what version filemaker you're running versus yes. Yeah. Is. Are the way the scripts work for you going to work on the cloud? It's fairly like as we, I've upgraded from FileMaker single digit versions up to now we're on, you know, Filemaker I think 21. Yeah, it's version 21 which is actually Filemake 2024 and they're about to have Filemaker 2025. But things have upgraded almost without incident. But I, but where the question comes in is scripts. If you're running scripts in the cloud, that's going to be different than. That will be different. Yeah, yeah.

And they're pretty simple calculations and things but, and containers and stuff. But I'll play around with it and.

I will report back and I will say, I mean, I know we've basically just given a filemaker endorsement here, but I will put my stamp on it. I, I couldn't. Well, I'm sure I could have found another way to run my businesses, but I didn't have to because I had FileMaker and I use it for all kinds of things here.

And it is, we've built entire solutions, ran our whole companies on it and then did exports into our accounting software and everything else. It's just a great solution.

Yeah. I built things that export to QuickBooks when somebody pays an invoice and all that stuff.

Yeah. And the fact that I could make it do whatever I wanted it a bespoke, you know, system that that's. You don't have to hire somebody. I mean, as it gets more complicated. Yes. At one time I did have a programmer on staff. Okay. But for the most part, you know, we could make quick fixes and you know, changes. Oh, make it do this, make it do that.

That, that's the beauty of it. The staff. Can we have a FileMaker Slack channel and people can ask, hey, can it do this? And if I'm around, I'm Usually the one tasked with doing it, but it's like, it takes two minutes and it's like, yeah, check it now. And they're like, oh, my gosh, that's doing exactly what I wanted. Like, yeah, that's killer. Yeah, it's great. It's great. All right. We have other things to talk about, including our sponsors, because, listen, you hustle hard, you build smart, and you created something from nothing, right? That's what we do. But let me ask you, what happens to your empire if you suddenly exit stage left? Your legacy needs to be better than something like, he had a killer slack emoji game. It needs to be something that protects your family even if life throws the ultimate plot twist. And that's where our sponsor Select Quote comes in. They're one of America's top insurance brokers, and they've helped more than 2 million people lock in over 700 billion in coverage since 1985. Whether you need a half a million dollar policy or you're the kind of overachiever who needs 50 million, select quote compares top rated policies to get you the right coverage for your budget and your scenario. And if you're in good health, same day coverage for up to $5 million. No needles, no nonsense. Look, building a business is difficult. Protecting your family doesn't need to be. It's one of the smartest steps that we can all take to tr. Live that charmed life. Get the right life insurance for you for less@SelectQuote.com BusinessBrain Go to SelectQuote.com BusinessBrain today to get started. That's SelectQuote.com BusinessBrain and our thanks to Select Quote for doing what they do and for sponsoring this episode. And listen, you know you're living that charmed life when your biggest decision of the day is which local spot to hit first. Right? For me, that might be Bame for Incredible Thai Cowlick's Dairy Bar for a mint chip miracle. Or Tideline Public House for a cold beer while I wait for barbecue from Tim's Drunken Sauces and Rubs out back. Yeah, we did that a ton last summer. And it's a fantastic thing. And every time I swipe, tap or wave to pay, boom. Our sponsor square is right there. It's seamless, it's smooth, it's. It's the reason your favorite local spot looks like they've got a tech team the size of NASA, when in reality it's one person in a dream. Square brings together everything a business needs. Point of sale, inventory, online store, reporting tools, so entrepreneurs can focus on creating, not chasing receipts. And yeah, it even handles payments so fast you'll wonder if time travel is involved. It's not probably Square is that built in business partner you didn't know you needed until now. Square keeps up so you don't have to slow down. Get everything you need to run and grow your business without any long term commitments. And why wait? Right now you can get up to $200 off Square Hardware at square.com. go brain. That's S Q U-A-R-E.com G-O/B-R A I N. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today and our thanks to Square for sponsoring this episode. All right, you had an interesting quote perhaps.

Yeah, I think it's kind of interesting that and I first said I just spent during the sponsor spot. I was looking to who to attribute it to and I couldn't find it. But I read it I think yesterday over the weekend and it was make adjustments, not excuses. And I thought it would interesting to kind of tease out a little bit more. And I like this because you know when you have employees coming to you or people coming to with problems and I love problem solving and everything but I don't like excuses. Right. Why something didn't work, how we're not getting the results we thought. And what I love this concept is okay, well what are your. What how are you adjusting to address those issues? And I just thought it was just a, you know, it's pretty simple. But just a great comment. Make adjustments, not excuses.

I love it.

T shirt comment.

Yeah, it's funny because I searched for it and the first thing I found was a T shirt on Amazon for exactly that.

There you go. See? Yeah, there you go. T shirt business.

It's a great. I think this might be one that perhaps is a business for us. Unlike the filemaker hosting thing. I want that to be a segment where you and I bring business ideas in that are not for us and we just hash them through a little bit. I think they'd be kind of fun. But. But this one might actually be a good business idea for us in that why don't we set up a business brain on demand merch store.

I would love to do that.

And when something like this, I mean we've got our staples, right. We've got our. Every business is a customer service business. You know that certainly lead the charmed life like that. You know all of that stuff.

Mistakes are tuition.

Tuition obviously.

Yeah, on and on and on, on and on.

But when we come up with something like this. Why not just add it to the store, even temporarily? Like, okay, we're going to have this up on the store for the next 10 days and you know, there you go. We'll just add it to it. So.

And are you volunteering to set that up?

Maybe. Maybe.

Or maybe we could have Sadie already.

Sadie already has done this for my other shows, so I'm just going to find out. Yeah. But I want us to be able to log in.

Yeah.

Which system we're using. I want to be able to like in real time almost just go in and create these things. So.

Yeah. Like, like why we're talking about right now.

Yeah, exactly.

I'm surprised, like, Canva doesn't have a print on demand, do they?

They might. I don't know.

I'm.

They might, but like Cotton Heroes one Printify. Right. I mean we could just use Printify and, and go that route too. So. Yeah. Well, we'll find this.

We'll get this up and running short on demand.

But I. It. And the conversation that we're having is perhaps embodies this quote that you found. Make adjustments, not excuses. Because we're not making excuses for why we're not going to create this opportunity. We're just adjusting. Right. We're like, okay, we don't have it. We. What adjustments can we make? What are the simplest adjustments we can make so that we do have it? We don't want to make this complex. Neither one of us talked about buying a freaking T shirt printing machine.

No.

Certainly something that is one way to do it.

One of those three years. But I'm not doing it.

A good friend of mine has one. He has a business that. I don't know. It's not his primary business anymore. It was for a little while, but my guess is that it just pays for itself now. And he can make T shirts on demand, which is amazing. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Okay, we'll do that. And. And I do have another quick question. Total segue. Another topic I just came to me. One of the challenges I've had getting back from vacation. I'm about a week back, is digging out of my calendar and I wonder. What I'd love to hear is tips from listeners of ways that you have. You know, one of the things that I like that you do, Dave, is if you get an email and you're on vacation, it tells you I'm not going to read this. Send it again after. It's a little nicer than that. Not that much nicer, but it Says, but it says, hey, send this again on this date when I get back. And it's a great. I like that. Autoresponder. Yeah. And so I'm curious if I also.

Give people an option like email Shannon instead, you know.

Yes, that's right.

Right.

There's a resource. Yeah. Do this. This kind of thing. I like that. But I would love to talk about ways to. Because I've definitely paid the price the last week and, you know, I want.

To ask you it and I don't want to answer the question, but just to give people listening enough context here, when you say digging out from your calendar, is it. Are you talking about digging out from your inbox or are you truly talking about all of it?

Just the amount of work waiting for you when you came back.

Got it. Oh, okay. All right. So it's keeping your calendar from your.

Calendar, your email, all of it. Projects, all of it. What methods are. And I realize mine's a little different now because I don't have a big team around me to.

Yeah, but that's a lot of us.

I mean, I have an assistant, but I'm basically a solopreneur now, so. Yeah. Yeah. But I could use your help. Feedback businessbrain Show. Tell me your tips and tricks for managing when you're gone on vacation, especially a long one. I was gone for 12 days.

That's a good long. That's a good long, man. Yeah.

That's great. Yeah, I love that. So let me know. I want to hear it. Time for you to help me.

Yes, please. And we'll all help each other. It's not just Shannon that gets helped. It's all of us. We get to.

Absolutely.

And we will, of course, share back with you. And so now it echoes it and turns it into a wonderful thing. Thanks for hanging out. Thanks for visiting all our sponsors. As we always say, it is our job to encourage you to want to learn more about them. Whether you wind up becoming one of their customers is between you and them. But please do visit our sponsors. That's something that super helps. Even if you visit and don't buy from them, it helps because. Because some percentage of you will visit and say, wait a minute, this is truly valuable for me. And then that's great. So please go visit our sponsors. We would love that. And you can sign up at BusinessBrain show to have the show notes and the sponsor links. They all are one emailed to you every week when the episodes come out. So thanks for hanging out. Thanks for sending in all your stuff. And just thanks for being a part of the business Brain family. We love it.

Yeah. Thank you.

Keep living that charmed life, folks, and we'll see you on Friday. Friday I coming up.