The holiday season is upon us - there’s no question. Despite the almost unbearable absence of snow in Toronto so far this December, I know the holidays are here because of the steady trickle of emails and cards that are arriving in my mail boxes wishing me the best of the holidays.
Yesterday we received a package we were not expecting. It included the following card:
The card (in case you can’t read it) read as follows:
“Happy Holidays FreshBooks!
We stopped invoicing with QuickBooks mid-year and since then your service has given us back a minimum of 18 man-days of productivity.
Keep up the good work and we wish you continued success in 2007!”
This note (complete with a decorative purple bow) came in a large box from UPS that included a wonderful assortment of ornate boxes from Chicago based chocolatier Vosges: one box of exotic truffles, one box of exotic caramels and one box of caramel toffee. Want to know the kicker? We don’t even know which FreshBooks customer sent them!…though we do know they are a fan.
So…thank you secret admirer, wherever you are…! Between this, and our 2006 customer survey results, the gifts have arrived early for team FreshBooks. Thank you everyone and happy holidays from the FreshFolk here at FreshBooks.
My friend and fellow Canadian entrepreneur Austin Hill sent me the following note:
Hi Mike,
I’m working on a project related to my new startup called Gifter.org and I would really appreciate you putting the word out to your friends or on your blog about it. We are going to raise $1 million dollars for charity. If you have friends that you would help us share this with, it would be really appreciated. Especially if you could ask some friends to vote for us on Digg or Netscape, so we can get some more attention for this worthy cause.
In lieu of sending holiday cards this year, we have decided to run a social giving experiment called the Million Dollar Blog Post. You can go the post, and make a wish for the world. We are arranging for $1 to be donated to charity for every wish left in the comments of this post. Feel free to share a few wishes with your friends, family or co-workers, or in your case if you think it would be of interest to your listeners let me know. We would like to collect a million wishes, and a million dollars (for charities). We aren’t sure how long this will take, but given the speed at which ideas spread on the Internet, we are optimistic about our goal.
Just go have a moment of fun and make a wish for the world on us. Project Ojibwe has donated to the following charities so that you could make a wish for the world. (Our next sponsor has another sample here)
If you are interested in sponsoring someone else’s wishes, the instructions on how to do this can be found here. It can be a great way to promote to the world what you care about.
Happy holidays, and I look forward to reading your wishes.
-Austin
I’m headed off to post my wish right now. I hope you will post your wish too.
I made a mistake - let me explain.
We like to be sure to post at least one new entry to our blog every day. Often it takes over an hour to get a post up. Last week I shot Levi an email, here’s what it said:
I need you to write a blog post. Please help me - I’m too busy today.
Here are the constraints. Make it about SAAS and have it live in 20 minutes.
That should keep it manageable. Feel free to shift the topic if you want to, just thought that the suggestion might help.
Levi, who has written classics such as, “Snakes on a Plane for Dummies” and “Is PayPal Dropping the Ball?“, read my email, took 20 minutes and wrote this post. I have to say that it was not up to his usual standard, and it was my fault. You have to be inspired to write a post …or at least a post you release publicly. I forced this one.
In running FreshBooks, we rarely make decisions like the one I made in this case. The ability to avoid forced decisions is something that makes small businesses and freelancers special - if it doesn’t feel right, you just don’t do it…you listen to your gut. Usually, the bigger an organization gets, the more “forced decisions” and “forced actions” you can expect, and the outcome can be lame and vacuous. Bo Burlington describes this phenomenon as “losing your mojo” in his book Small Giants.
Take it from us - you can’t force inspiration.
Don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hades of getting that special something delivered in time for the holidays? This is for you.
- If giving to charity works for you or the person you’re giving to, here are the FreshDudes‘ charity picks:
Daniel: Worldvision: Helps children reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty
Jeff: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada: Raises funds to support research into finding a cure for diabetes
Joe: World Wildlife Fund Canada: Conserves species and habitats at risk; addresses global threats
Kathy: Room to Read: Partners with local communities to establish schools and libraries
Levi: Right to Play: Creates a healthier, safer world for children through the power of sport & play
Mike: Sierra Legal Defence Fund: Enforces the laws that safeguard our environment
Don’t let this happen to you. Let your fellow procrastinators…uh…hard workers know if you have any great last minute, relationship-saving gift ideas of your own.
I hope you all have a peaceful, happy and healthy time during whatever you may be celebrating this month - Bathtub Party Day, Christmas, Eid’ul-Adha, Hanukkah, Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Kwanzaa, Omisoka, St. Lucia Day, Winter Solstice, Wright Brothers Day or whatever else I may have forgotten 
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