LoudmouthmanFirst Impressions; Lasting advice.
You might remember that throughout March I blogged quite a bit about the Dell Vostro v130 as part of the Dell Trade Secrets marketing event. Participants were invited to contribute business advice which would be turned into an eBook ( available as a PDF in this link ) .
My advice was is on page 25 in the “Advice from SMB Expertsâ€.
Give them an Answer, not a solution. Answer the question they put before you with the answer to their question
and not an answer that fits a solution which you can sell them. Understand how that answer fits into the whole
picture and not the problem they are presenting you with.
-Nicholas Butler | www.loudmouthman.com
If you have the time and are genuinely interested in what there is about me , how I work and why I keep my clients then I recommend you listen to the interview that Dennis Howlett ( @dahowlett ) did with me back in June 2010.
Victim no 1: Why should you hire Nik Butler ?
If I am guilty of anything it is that I rarely promote what it is that I do or why I get things done. I think the best people to tell you that are my clients and my friends. Hopefully they might leave a few comments here to expand.
Thanks for reading.
Nick worked with us most recently on rolling out an odd Linux server build to host a number of sites. His quote above kind of nails his approach – I don’t want someone to tell me what the solution is as far as their own products go, I want to know what the most efficient *answer* is.
Along with just being generally excellent at things, Nick made our server super secure and bash resistant (that should so be a technical term! BASH RESISTANT!), which since the project in question is for London 2012 was a firm requirement.
i know Nick but i have never been a client. However @sizemore has, and he said this this morning:
“@loudmouthman looks after my troublesome backend by the way. Over on WordPress. He keeps a site up even when BoingBoinged and Warren Ellised”
sizemore i should point out is a grumpy fucker, so this is incredibly high praise.
So alfie is not alone
And by way for strange Pingbacks @Sizemore has left a review of my work for him over on his own blog:
http://www.sizemore.co.uk/2011/04/20/loudmouthman/
I’ve only met Nik a couple of times, but can’t get over his enthusiasm to offer advice and knowledge of the whole back end, from kit to publishing platforms is first rate. Only this week a passing comment on Twitter saved me from lashing out cash on a white elephant – thanks mate!
Nik by turns amazes and intimidates me with his knowledge of all things web, code and computing – not in an “i’m so scared” kind of way more a “i’ll never be that awesome” kind of way.
..but the best part about Nik is not just his knowledge or his willingness to help, it’s his ‘way’ with people and problems, he can fix something that’s been causing you grief for weeks in one session and make you laugh as he does it.
Yup, pretty much an intellectual giant in web terms; Master Butler will always be my first port of call for help and advice (pity him..)
I am starting to think Nik Butler loves back ends more than anyone I know.
I’m another one of those people who have entrusted Nik with the more serious side of my online presence. All the behind the scenes stuff is in Nik’s hands and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have looking after the archival, backing up, updating and security of all the stuff I just like to work.
I’m also looking forward to working with Nik on the international speaking circuit. He’ll be there to answer any of the tech questions in need of the mind of an Ãœber-geek. Yes.. He’s good at that as well.
To be honest I’ve not got much of a clue what it is that Nik does, but what I do know is he’s been looking after our small network for some years now, organises the back ups, and just keeps things working and most importantly he tries to keep things cost effective too. Whatever it is that he does do….. it works and it keeps on working!!
Nik is extremely talented and multi-faceted. He has reliably and routinely looked after my (more complex than normal) home IT environment for 10 years. In that time I have been consistently impressed with his dedication and his results. His problem may be he knows too many things but that has not stopped him being a great aid and friend to me.
In a nutshell, he keeps up with trends and movements in the complex world of current IT and social networking and then recommends what I should do without me having to work out all the directions and options myself. He then implements the actions.
Well done Nik.
Very impressed with Nik – he assisted me with a blogging issue today and was so charming and helpful I felt completely assured that whatever issues I had he would know exactly how to solve. I wouldn’t hesitate to hire him for any aspect of technical support and will almost certainly be turning to him in the future.
Thanks Nik!
Nik is an enigma! Someone who you can challenge and debate with to ensure that he really does understand your business needs and will respond with the best possible scenerio. Nik will go out of his way to ensure that as a small company we only spend what we need to spend though he will also ensure that we have the more expensive options “just in case!†He always appears right at the forefront of the industry – always one step ahead with the suggestions that he comes up with whether this is to do with basic IT systems, social media or interactive media. What would we do without you Nik??
Nik is brilliant, not only does he host my blog but is always on hand if I manage to break something, or have questions about how better to manage my business site as well. Highly recommended for all things online, WordPress or IT related
Nik expertise is unquestionable but, unlike so many development professionals, he exhibits a humility that makes taking his advice a pleasure. He doesn’t belittle you for having just a little knowledge.
We are WP novices but we really wanted to do our WP work ourselves, merging two blogs, changing servers and and learning from the experience. After all, WP isn’t supposed to scare the common man.
With Nik on hand we gained the confidence we needed to make the changes necessary and avoid some potential horror moments. He was always able to answer our stupid questions and guide us through. Not once did we feel that Nik would rather we left it all to the professionals.
We learnt at lot. Nik is highly recommended at any level.
Stephen Martin.
I’ve worked with Nik for several years now and he’s the unsung hero of every project he’s ever touched. As the ‘unknown stuntman’ of IT, he labours away in the background making sure everything works beautifully and nothing blows up or falls over on big days. His only problem is that he does his job so succesfully that we forget there was ever likely to be an issue. ‘Well, that went well’, we say and stroll off happily, as Nik emerges from his engine room, blackened with boiler smoke, and dripping in sweat.
In recent weeks he has saved our server from falling over under the relentless assault of hordes of Vampire Diaries fans when we released the trailer for our new film, Warhouse, featuring Joseph Morgan. He’s provided minute by minute support and advice and I wouldn’t ever want to do a project of any scale without him. Someone give the man a rosette (and a drink).
Nik came to the rescue through Twitter, though I’ve met him a few times during the Tuttle days he resolved an issue in no time, explaining each step to keep me in the loop.
Nik is at the top of the game, a real coder offering real support when a hosting company messes things up.
I owe him more than a coffee. And he knows that if I can be of help to him, the offer is there.
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Having been let down we tweeted a 6pm on a Friday night and to our surprise we received an immediate recommendation for Nik Butler. A social media introduction was apt now understanding Nik’s passion for it.
Our deadline was looming and Nik – who could see we were in trouble – grasped the nettle and not only solved all of the technical issues but made it an enjoyable working process.
His enthusiasm, incessant desires to efficiently solve problems and client service are exceptional. Nik has become an ally and we look forward to working with him on future projects.
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Nik’s been working with my company for a couple of months on a larger project and continues to do so.. with minimal notice and on a completely different project entirely, we had a ‘dept. name change’ happen which affected our corporate website and required a ‘particular skill set’ – who better to ask!
Nik obliged with not much lead time at all and we now have a very happy project team! Whole heartily recommend Nik’s services!
How does Nik keep his clients? Simple – he gives us what we need, not neccesarily what we want! That is to say – he listens to what I ask for, gets the details about both the pain and the over-arching objective and comes up with a solution that is better than I could have expected.
I totally reccomend him and suggest you contact him now!
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I’m fortunate enough to have known Nik for some time, so when I got a super dooper new fangled computery thing, he was the very first person I thought of to help me. Relentless in his pursuit of the solution, Nik got me up and running, answered all my questions and provided advice for the on-going smooth running of my business. Thanks Nik.