The Personal BillPay Diaries

 

See Carla On the Channel 9 News Today!

Join Carla for a brief tip on how to streamline your bills in 2009, live on WUSA9 at noon EST today. A link to the video will be posted later this week.

Freyer Profiled in Washington Post!

We're thrilled that FreyerMartin founder Carla Morelli is featured in this Sunday's Washington Post Magazine's "Making It" column. Many thanks to our client, Shelley Bennett, who graciously agreed to be interviewed. As you all know, confidentiality is something we're rabid about. We're fortunate that Ms. Bennett is an outspoken (and happy) advocate of our service. We love taking care of her!

To see the article, visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110701943.html.

Our industry needs all the publicity it can get - whether FreyerMartin is the right choice for a particular client or not, we want people to know that daily money management exists. It's a great resource for people. Please share this with your friends and colleagues - especially anyone you know that might benefit from our high-touch brand of service.

Happy reading!!

How to Protect What You Have

Are you worried about how today's economic conditions affect your household's spending? Are your savings at risk? Or are you merely wondering whether you should be worried?

We've been presenting seminars at companies that tell participants how to protect the money they have (http://freyermartin.com/employer_programs/staff.html). We believe it will be another six months before things stabilize to the point where people have some idea of what they have to work with going forward. Making a solid "longer"-term plan won't be possible until then.

Whether you're seriously concerned, or are wondering whether you should be, our expertise in day-to-day finances will help you make it through these times. Stay tuned as we share some of the information we share in our corporate seminars.

If you want faster, more personalized attention, we offer a special $195 private consultation that reviews your specific situation and helps you figure out how to protect your cash, and your creditm during these difficult times. We don't make any money from these. We just feel strongly that our expertise in this area can really help people who are concerned feel comfortable enough to make decisions that will carry them through the near future, and  let them sleep at night.

FreyerMartin COO Mentioned in Washington Business Journal

Some of you may have read in the 11/10/08 print edition of the Washington Business Journal that Joyce Nohowel was appointed COO of FreyerMartin. If you have online access to the WBJ, see her picture and the announcement at http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/potm/2008-11-10/.

Our press release announcing her appointment is at http://freyermartin.com/about/media.html.

As a bit of shameless self-promotion, Joyce is a perfect addition to our team. Her tenacity, attention to detail, and dedication to the client experience ensures all our behind-the-scenes operations live up to everything we say they are. She refuses to let anything slip. She is the perfect COO.

Please help me welcome Joyce to her new home. She's here to make sure our clients are always thrilled with their FreyerMartin relationships. We couldn't be in better hands.

- Carla

Carla Morelli Writes for the Washington Business Journal

Daily money management just got a boost in DC. The Washington Business Journal selected FreyerMartin founder Carla Morelli as a 2009 guest columnist, writing about personal finance.

It's a great way to share the the expertise we've developed from taking care of people's day-to-day finances with people who are dealing with the same issues, but are stuck handling it themlseves. We really enjoy sharing it with people who appreciate learning how to take better care of their personal financial standing and credit reports.

Stay tuned for Carla's columns.

Why Be Flexible?

FreyerMartin just announced new pricing that is more flexible than ever before. You can now buy exactly the services you need for a fixed price that lets you be taken care of the way you want without worrying about how much it's going to cost.

Advertorials aside, asking how flexible to be is a legitimate business question. I personally want choices - don't back me into a corner I don't want to be in and ask me to pay for the privilege. As a business leader, however, flexibility often translates to complexity and additional costs somehwere along the way. It also makes it more difficult to forecast revenue and expenses.

In our industry, flexibility and willingness to accomodate choices adds significant value to the premium brand we've created. While it means uncertainty on some levels, it means a lot to us to know that we can count on our clients being happy about their options, and passing that on to their friends and colleagues. Their satisfaction drives our continual innovation.

We look forward to sharing it with you, one day, too.

Why Outsource Your Bill Paying?

Why outsource anything personal?

That was the point of Success In the City's morning panel yesterday. We've undertaken lives that have placed heavy demands on us - for work, family, volunteering, social relationships - leaving little or no time to deal with the minutiae of day-to-day living.

One of the interesting questions posed to the panel was from a young mother asking how to get past the guilt of outsourcing things she thought she should be doing. I suggested two things that apply regardless of gender, age or parental status:

1. Can doesn't mean should. The fact that you're capable (or should be capable) of doing something doesn't mean that you should be doing it. You need to weigh things against each other to know where your time and energy are best rewarded. If grocery shopping means you don't spend time with your kids, and you worry about not being present enough, have the groceries delivered. In the FreyerMartin world, you might be paying your bills, but do you really need to personally do all the things it takes to maintain solid financial standing and a high credit score? That's a lot of work - especially when there's an alternative like our Personal and Executive BillPay^SM services.
2. Tweak your perspective: If you feel outsourcing means you've failed, think again. Look at it as a choice, not a corner you've been backed into. What you're really doing is taking care of something you feel is important. If you didn't, you'd keep doing that you're doing, which is probably juggling too many things, none of them particularly well.

Remember that outsourcing doesn't mean abdicating. The responsibility is still ultimately yours - you're just freeing up your time and energy to focus on that particular thing at a higher level. You can always dive into the weeds if you have to, but there's nothing wrong with choosing not to live there.

SCES Gala Was Great!

Whether we're individuals or organizations, we're all part of the fabric that makes our communities special. Last night, we were proud to donate a year of our Executive BillPay^SM service to the Second Chance Employment Services Last Kiss of Summer 5 charity auction and gala. We hope it added several thousand dollars to the evening's fundraising total.

It was a beautiful event at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown DC, filled with Washington movers and shakers, and featuring keynote speaker Victor Rivers, a well-regarded actor, author and advocate.

We love the opportunity to support an organization like SCES. They are the only employment service in the country dedicated to serving "at-risk" women who are victims of abuse. The stories their founder, Ludy Green, tells will put you in tears. The work SCES does to rebuild these womens' lives, restore their confidence, and place them in the careers they were trained for is amazing. 

If you're looking for a charitable cause to support, please consider SCES.

Nearly Lost Hurricane Insurance!

This is a true story (identifying details have been changed to protect privacy):

Mrs. Smith has houses in Maryland, New York and Florida. She splits the year between the three. At some point between Maryland and New York, the hurricane insurance renewal for the Florida property came due. She never saw the bill - it either arrived when she wasn't in Florida, or got carried around and lost.

By the time she found out, the policy was about to lapse. It was late summer (hurricane season), and reinstated policies have a 90-day exclusionary window where claims can't be made. Mrs. Smith was terrified. After days on the phone with the insurance company and her bank, she got the policy renewed (not reinstated), but she was harried, exhausted, and upset at the near miss.

Had she been our client, it never would have happened. We know when bills are expected in, and if one doesn't arrive, we chase it down. It's paid on time, regardless of where the client is or whether we ever saw a hard copy. Our theory is "pay it now, sort out the backup later."

Don't forget to support FreyerMartin's run for the final 5 in the Forbes.com $100,000 Boost Your Business competition at http://boost08.perfectprize.com/voting/. Vote for (only) FreyerMartin. You may need to check your spam folder for the validation email - many people have found theirs there. Thanks for your help!