Buying a House: Always Be Faxing

Moisés found out a month ago that he needed to buy a house because his lease wasn't being renewed. His Realtor, Eric Johnston, talks about his career in real state over the last 12 years in markets that went from boom to bust and back again. What makes the biggest difference in real estate and sales in general: luck, soft skills, or a little of both?

SPONSORS

• Transporter: personal cloud storage that lives in your house. Use offer code ESN10 to get 10% off any Transporter model at FileTransporter.com
• Smile: Visit smilesoftware.com/shadow for details and a brief video introduction to the PDFpen Family.

SHOWNOTES

• Eric Johnston is a great Realtor, has loads of useful certifications, and donates food to the Food Pantry or Pet Shelter of your choice and in your name upon closing.
• He gave out his number on the air, so call him at 512.516.0575 if you need anything real estate in Austin, TX.

Backblaze

Our MacWorld Expo Special delves into the origins of an online backup service's customer service & support infrastructure, from passing around a GMail account to helping people feel less powerless and/or vulnerable.

Excuse the echo. Press rooms are great but often awful for acoustics.

SPONSORS

• Squarespace: everything you need to get started making a website. Visit the link and use the offer code mentioned in the show (part of the show's name) for 10% off
• Igloo: an intranet you'll actually like and use. Visit the link to learn more and support the show. It's free for up to 10 users!

PANELISTS

• Gleb Budman, CEO/co-founder
• Ken Manjang
• Nathan Wieneke
• Yev Pusin, Social Media Magician

SHOWNOTES

• Backblaze does online backup. If you don't really back up your data, get with the program and do it somehow, somewhere.
• Gleb wrote a great piece for TheNextWeb about how many co-founders you need (and how Backblaze got five).
• Ain't Nathan handsome?
• The Backblaze blog is one of those "brand" blogs that actually posts worthwhile stuff, like clips of Chief O'Brien from Star Trek: DS9 talking about the importance of backup.
• Yev once made a formal request to the NSA to provide him with a copy of all his data they had a copy of. SPOILER ALERT: They said no!

ComiXology

A candid, behind-the-scenes look at ComiXology's customer support story, from the early days to being the top-grossing non-game app on iOS.

From taking empathy notes from Road House ("be nice") to handling server-crushing traffic to taking proactive steps along the way, you don't have to care about comics to enjoy and appreciate the ComiXology story.

SPONSORS

• Squarespace: everything you need to get started making a website. Use the offer code mentioned in the show (part of the show's name) for 10% off
• Transporter: personal cloud storage that lives in your house. Use offer code ESN75 (through end of March 2014) to get Transporter Sync for $75 at FileTransporter.com

PANELISTS

• David Steinberger, CEO/co-founder
• John D. Roberts, co-founder
• Chip Mosher, VP Communications & Marketing
• Matt Kolowski, Customer Service Manager

SHOWNOTES

• If you haven't seen Road House, go watch it (Netflix/iTunes/Amazon), and learn the "three simple rules: One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. And three, be nice."
• ComiXology has a website, an iOS app, and an Android app.
• All four guests are on twitter: David Steinberger does a lot of the talking like a literal boss, John D. Roberts was made sad by insults about his widget, Chip Mosher is the man with all the stats, and poor ol' Matt Kolowski is still having nightmares.
• Marvel 700 worked well after some constructive, soul-crushing learning.
• ComiXology issued a voluntary password reset for all customers recently due to a "non-critical" breach.
• ComiXology has to balance customer relations with partner relationships, allowing the right partner to respond to the issues they own, regardless of how frustrating something might be. In this respect, they've managed to walk a fine line like Balanchine dancers.
• Seriously, pain don't hurt.

Airlines: Willing to Negotiate (Part 2 of 2)

Airlines: we've heard the horror stories. Now we dig deeper into how to get the results we want at the gate, on the phone, and in the air. (Part 2 of 2)

Are we stuck in a breadline in Kiev back in '78, waiting for shitty vouchers for shitty airlines, or could we eventually see Our Own Fuckin' Airline? #Superplane

Panelists: John Roderick, Jim Dalrymple, Lex Friedman, Brent Billings
Special Guest Star: Majel Barrett Roddenberry

SPONSORS

• Transporter: personal cloud storage that lives in your house. Use offer code ESN75 (through end of March 2014) to get Transporter Sync for $75 at FileTransporter.com
• Smile: Visit smilesoftware.com/calling for details and a brief video introduction to TextExpander.
• Delta's In-Flight Trivia Game
• Igloo: try an intranet that you'll actually like using. It's free for up to ten users, and affordable beyond that. Click here to support the show, and sign up for their free SXSW event on 3/12 from 3:30-6:30pm

SHOWNOTES

• Brent Billings survived the airline industry and now does photography and design.
• John Roderick makes music with The Long Winters, and shares custody of Roderick on the Line (a show about The Beatles and Hitler) with Merlin Mann. Watch your ass, 6F. He's coming for you.
• Jim Dalrymple runs The Loop, The Loop Magazine, and hosts Amplified.
• Lex Friedman is EVP of Sales and Development for The Mid Roll, and co-hosts Not Playing with MacWorld's Dan Moren. Give us this day (Y)our Daily Lex.

Subscribe to Thank You For Calling (iTunes/RSS)
Subscribe to the ESN Master Feed (iTunes/RSS)

Airlines: Hostile Professionalism (Part 1 of 2)

Airlines: we hate them, and it feels like they hate us. Is our only choice to "ride in the fucking toilet"? A former airline employee joins us to help peel back the curtain at Gate 21. (Part 1 of 2)

Panelists: John Roderick, Jim Dalrymple, Lex Friedman, Brent Billings

Subscribe to Thank You For Calling (iTunes/RSS)
Subscribe to the ESN Master Feed (iTunes/RSS)

• Brent Billings survived the airline industry and now does photography and design.
• John Roderick makes music with The Long Winters, and shares custody of Roderick on the Line with Merlin Mann. Watch yourself, he might be elected Senator someday. #Supertrain
• Jim Dalrymple runs The Loop, The Loop Magazine, and hosts Amplified.
• Lex Friedman is EVP of Sales and Development for The Mid Roll, and co-hosts Not Playing with MacWorld's Dan Moren. Give us this day (Y)our Daily Lex.

SPONSORS

• Smile: Visit smilesoftware.com/calling for details and a brief video introduction to TextExpander.
• Squarespace: everything you need to get started making a website. Use the offer code mentioned in the show (part of the show's title) for 10% off
• (Not) United Airlines
• Hover: get 10% your purchase when signing up at Hover.com using offer code MAKEITSO