Every Penny Is Part Of A Dollar

Over the past couple of weeks I have been taking advantage of a couple of opportunities that were presented to me in order to save a few dollars. Sometimes the numbers added up pretty fast while other times it was only a little here and there. Either way, they are all providing a little bit of a return and putting a few extra dollars back into our account. Actually, by the end of the week, all those small sums added up and turned into a rather nice return.

There were really two parts to this whole operation this week… price matching and a credit card promotion. While it did take some time this week, in the end it is going to save us hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the next year. It just goes to show that if you take a few minutes and put in a little effort, you can make things a little easier.

It started a couple of weeks ago when there were a few items that I had to purchase for the house. Not the cheapest things but not really high priced either. When I had a couple of minutes free in the middle of the work day, I pulled up the Sportsman’s Guide website to see if they had what I was looking for. It turns out that they did so I put the items in my shopping cart, typed in my coupon, and selected the 4 pay plan to ease the payment pain.

Everything went smoothly but I was curious to see if there were any other websites that were offering a better deal. Sportsman’s Guide offers a price match guarantee for 30 days from the time the order is placed. There were a few sites that had the same price, a few that were selling it for more, and a couple that were a dollar or two cheaper. I wasn’t about to call over a couple dollars. And there is was… a $25 difference. With website and item number in hand I called customer service and had the price matched within minutes. However, this was a onetime opportunity to save some money. My other call this week was more fruitful.

At some point during the day on Tuesday I got an email from a company regarding my credit card. The offer was for free transfers of other accounts (normally 3%) with a 0% APR for 1 year on those balance transfers. This particular card has the lowest interest rate so has always carried the highest balance… hence no room for transfers. So I gave them a call on Wednesday to explain the situation and to see if there was some way that I could take advantage of this offer.

It never fails whenever I call them, they found a way to make it work. Now, instead of paying a nearly 20% APR on a couple other cards, we are now paying 0% for the next year and, if needed, carry a 12% APR afterward. The percentages may not mean much at first glance but, over the course of a 12 month period this could potentially save us hundreds upon hundreds of dollars (it will also lower our monthly payments pretty significantly). I am sure that many of you may think that this is boring but it saves me money so I am very interested.

The essential thing to take away from both of these is that there are opportunities to save money / keep money in your pocket if you just pay attention. I am sure there are a number of opportunities that I have missed in the past but, in this instance, I was fortunate enough to catch them. When all is said and done, all it takes is a few minutes from you day and a willingness to work with the people on the other end of the line. It was a great week for saving money.

And The Long Week Begins…

Our location for the evening.

Fortunately, the week began in a normal fashion with the usual projects and correspondences crossing my email. Actually, there was a little extra work in that I had to get the rental application completed and submitted to the MIL realtor. But, other than that, everything went according to the usual chaotic schedule. That was pretty much the end of the ‘normal’ part of the week.

Usually I leave the office sometime between 5:30 and 6:00pm and head home or to the lodge (those are the most common destinations after work). However, tonight my journey home had a slight detour as I drove into Philadelphia for a networking event that my company sponsors. Hello MoMo (Mobile Monday)! Working for a PR firm that focuses exclusively on the tech industry, this week is full of events which will be pulling us out of the office at various times. This is the nature of our work days during Philly Tech Week.

Honestly, I haven’t been to many networking events lately as my schedule has been fairly booked with work, lodge, work, apartment hunting, work, blogging, work, and other things. Tonight was a nice little change from the usual and, actually, all of the aforementioned topics came up in conversation at various points during the evening. So, with the team spread out across the Yorn office on 24^th Street, we all chatted away talking about work, tech, and anything else that happened to come up in conversation.

While some people at these events go into them with the sole purpose of getting new business that has never been my singular motivation. I just enjoy meeting and talking with new people. At the end of the night, I want to look back on an evening full of great conversations not just a score card of prospects and those not interested. By looking back at the conversations, I have a better understanding of who those people are and get a glimpse of how they conduct themselves in business (most of the time).

The same rule applies to my everyday job of reaching out to and talking with the media. If you go into the call or email with the goal of having a conversation that is generally what you are going to come away with. It is a give and take industry that I work in and embracing that way of conducting your professional life allows you to bring your own personality into the job. It is a way of communicating that translates across all mediums whether it is over the aforementioned phone or email or if it is in a one on one meeting or at a networking event.

The whole purpose is that you have to invest in conversation. People will take note, just like you do in the same situation, of the genuine interest you show in the person and to what they have dedicated their career (at least for the moment). And remember, follow up with those people that you meet and demonstrate that you were listening but also don’t be afraid to have them remind you of anything that may have been lost to the recesses of your mind. If you enjoy meeting people and getting to know them, the ancillary business benefits will naturally follow. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go write some emails.