insight
'Over and over at seminars and trade shows, watershapers ask me three distinct but interrelated questions: "How do you get into the high-end market?" and "How do you deal with wealthy customers?" and "How do you handle those kinds of jobs?" 'The short answer to all of them,' began Brian Van Bower in his Aqua Culture column in the April 2004 issue of WaterShapes, ' is that I've set myself up for it and am prepared to
'The way I see it,' wrote Brian Van Bower to start his Aqua Culture column in August 2000, 'we watershapers can look at ourselves in one of two ways: as diggers of holes in the ground that hold water, or as artists working with one of the most exciting mediums on the planet. For a lot of reasons, I like the second of those options, because the first is passive - the sole goal being to contain the water - while the second gets me more
Tackling large, custom watershaping projects is all about the synergy between my clients and me: There simply must be a fit, or the process just won't work. Last month, we discussed the importance of setting up proper expectations from the moment a client makes initial contact and you pick up the phone. This time, I'll cover what happens if the early stages of the relationship go well enough that a face-to-face meeting is in order. This is the session during which I discover whether or not there's truly a
Tackling large, custom watershaping projects is all about the synergy between my clients and me: There simply must be a fit, or the process just won't work. Last month, we discussed the importance of setting up proper expectations from the moment a client makes initial contact and you pick up the phone. This time, I'll cover what happens if the early stages of the relationship go well enough that a face-to-face meeting is in order. This is the session during which I discover whether or not there's truly a
In this business, there's no avoiding the fact that you have to be able to work with people. That may seem an obvious point, but if you're like me and tend toward the shy side, stepping out of your shell to work with others is not always easy. I've always admired those with easy-going social skills, but I've never been one of them - and I know in this industry that I'm far from alone. In my case, I've found my way around my basic tendencies by taking advice I've found to be incredibly helpful in my work with clients as well as in my relationships with sub-contractors and fellow employees. That advice comes from one of the true classics of 20th-century American publishing, none other than Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. If you're not familiar with this volume beyond its name, you might be impressed by the fact that Carnegie's seminal self-help book was first published in
