A mentor early in my business career impressed upon me that personal pride has no place in business—I couldn’t agree more. But when does pride and defending your hard earned reputation cross paths?

I’m writing this post after recently being served some unsolicited criticism. Naturally, the first reaction is defensive. Recognizing this knee jerk reaction from a sensitive pride, I set the email aside and read it again later to hopefully learn something from my ‘e-lashing’ by the anonymous critic.

From this person’s perspective, the missing or misplaced website elements from particular portfolio projects appeared to be poor workmanship and a general lack of skill and knowledge. Of course, what is anything without proper perspective? Well, it’s your own reality.

So after digesting the feedback, I thought it better to give my critic a better understanding of my work and that scope and budget, among many other project factors, can influence a final product . . . not to mention the natural aging and evolution of a live website.

I replied, not as a mater of pride, but in an effort to correct a misperception of the services and quality that I deliver.

Everyone receives negative feedback. Most often it’s an opportunity to learn and improve. On other occasions it’s a chance to be humble. But some times, it’s a case where the record needs to be set straight.

Dominic Taverniti is the owner of Applied Web Vitals, a web design and development company specializing Dreamweaver templates and the Adobe Contribute CMS. Please feel free to contact us any time to explore your next web design or development project.

I’m working remotely today from cafes in Charleston, SC—a needed change from the home office. In search of a free wi-fi connection, I left a Starbucks for another cafe down the road. From a business owner’s perspective, I couldn’t help thinking about the customers that Starbucks looses by offering a pay wi-fi service while others give it away.

Surely it’s not because the mega franchise can’t afford to give it away. Which begs the question, do they charge just because they can? Or are there other considerations involved. Maybe it serves as a way to shew away squatters that plant themselves for hours on end. But the squatters at cafes are generally caffeine addicts that chain drink. I’m on my third cup now, not to mention the breakfast sandwich, bottled water and 1 lb. bag of coffee beans that I purchased.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing Starbucks. I’m actually a fan of franchises and admire their finely tuned business model. So I’m left to think that the free vs. paid wi-fi decision must have been run through “the formula” and the pay service option came up the winner.

On a side note, didn’t the company just announce the closing of over 600 stores due to changes in in-store traffic? …changes in traffic just like my relocation to another local cafe for free wi-fi? Perhaps not, but you have wonder.

So how does this example apply to your business? What is the relative cost of providing a service or feature that would keep customers at your store or on your website, vs. the added revenues gained by simply keeping that customer around a while longer?

To be sure, there are cost-benefit considerations to any and every service that you offer. A recent example with my business was discontinuing our email marketing service. The time and cost of maintaining the back-end applications outweighed the return we were getting. Now I refer clients to third-party email marketing services. While I can’t help thinking that I’m sending business elsewhere, I know that I made a business focus decision that made sense for my business at the time.

From a consumer’s point of view, the Starbucks paid wi-fi decision seems like a poor one. But is it?

I turn the question to you. What are some cost-benefit decisions that you’ve made recently with your business?