Rechargeable Battery Tips

Do you know if you're helping or hurting your rechargeable battery's life? Different batteries behave differently and need to be treated differently in order to get the most out of them.

I'm not usually a person to go into the techie "tool" stuff - there are plenty of blogs out there for that! But, I feel like this is one of those things that might make your life easier if you knew a little more about it, so here we go!

NiMH: Nickel-metal hydride

The most common rechargeable battery when it comes to standard AAA and AA batteries. NiMH batteries come in a variety of mAh (milliAmp hours = aka power time), the higher the number, the more battery life you can get out of them. Some of the best mAh on the market right now for a standard AA rechargable battery is about 2700mAh- look for this info, usually clearly marked on the battery, before purchasing because it will make the biggest difference in how long you can use those batteries during a single charge.

When it comes to getting the most life out of NiMH batteries, you will want to use these batteries until they are completely drained, and then only charge them immediately before they are going to be used again. If you can't completely drain them, than simply let them sit uncharged until you need to use them again. If you charge them 24 hours before they'll be used, you should get a decent battery life out of them. If you try to charge them one week before they'll be used, you'll find that significant draining has occurred and lessened the battery life. The first few times you use this battery, it's strongly recommended that you let it completely charge and completely discharge a few times in order to get the most out of the battery.

Li-ion: Lithium Ion

This battery type is often found in cell phones, small digital devices, and professional cameras and video cameras. It is not currently available as a rechargeable battery in standard (AA) battery sizes. It has a higher capacity for mAh, and can produce a higher voltage than the NiMH batteries. Li-ion batteries are also much better at holding a charge over a long period of rest. When properly cared for, these batteries can last a very long time.

Li-ion batteries perform best when they are not fully drained. These batteries like to be charged regularly and perform best when maintained at a full to medium charge. Li-ion batteries do a MUCH better job of holding a charge over a long period of time, but only if they have a partial or full charge left before leaving them on the shelf to sit. If you do let a Li-ion battery fully discharge and then let it sit for a long time, you may find that it is unusable after it has been discharged below it's safe level. Li-ion batteries don't tend to develop a "memory" in the way that NiMH batteries do, therefor it is not necessary to fully charge and discharge this battery regularly, but it is recommended to complete the cycle from time to time.

All Rechargeable Batteries are affected by extreme temperatures and different types of chargers. It is recommended that you use a medium speed charger in order to prevent your battery from overcharging or undercharging too quickly. Rechargeable batteries should be replaced when their performance life has significantly decreased. If you have a device that is only used sporadically, you may prefer the life of a Li-Ion battery (even if it isn't rechargeable) over that of a NiMH. However, rechargeable batteries are ultimately better for the environment and for your finances when well-cared for.

*Special thanks to my Dad, aka "Battery Dave" for helping me pull together this info.

If your house gets taken over by your need to charge many batteries the night before a wedding, check out this awesome battery and charger storage and organization solution featured on Laura Eaton's blog! Click any image to see the original post..

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Now you can subscribe to this blog by email and get photo lovecat posts in your inbox! If you're reading this in a feed reader, CLICK HERE to visit the actual blog and use the email subscription form on the right to get new posts emailed to you!

I love using bloglines as my feedreader, but lately I've been so busy that the only things I've been looking at are the things that come through my inbox. Also, many of my own clients don't really track various blogs through a feedreader, so an email subscription is perfect for them because they get the blog content delivered directly and automatically to their email. The only email feeder option I've found to accomplish this with tons of additional features is FeedBlitz.com.

If you're a sporadic blogger (like I am with this blog, even though I'm very active on my personal blog), or if you find it difficult to keep a blog and a newsletter, this could be the perfect option for you and your readers! FeedBlitz.com has a lot of different options for customizing your feed and making it look more like a newsletter. You can also specify which posts get subscribed to by limiting a subscription to only certain tags.. for example, you could only have items tagged "personal" sent to a friends & family subscription, or only items tagged "portrait" sent to your portrait clients. You can also decide how frequently your blog gets emailed- if you post daily but only want to send an email to your clients once a week, you can set the frequency with which the posts are emailed. You can also track when your feed has been forwarded to others, and you can check click-through rates all within FeedBlitz! There's so much more, but I'll let you read about it on your own:



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Free Resources for Small Business Owners

A lot of creative people don't go into business to run a business. They go into business because they want to make a living from their art, their passion. Well, if you're making a living from your craft, than you need to get real with yourself and face up to the fact that you are, in fact, a business owner and that your ability to make a living is dependent on the ability of others to pay for your product or service. Unless you've hired a manager, publicist, and secretary - YOU are the manager, publicist, AND secretary all rolled into one! So, what? Why am I making a big deal about it?

By becoming a business owner, you have joined a new "club" of people who enjoy working for themselves. Running a business certainly isn't the easy way out, but the more you know about business, the easier it becomes. In order to survive as a small business owner, it's important that you stay on top of the latest business trends, news, and information. While it's important to know about the latest innovations within your craft, many of the daily issues you face in your business are common challenges that all small business owners face, and your ability to handle those challenges will determine your success. Some of the best ideas for new ways to overcome challenges, market or brand your business, or create innovative products can be found by simply keeping up with the general business world at large and by staying current with the latest books and trends OUTSIDE of your own industry, because the clients you serve are being affected by the trends of the larger business market as a whole. The more you know about your client and the messages they're receiving from the overall market, the better you'll be able to identify and communicate what makes your service and product important to them. The economy is changing, not just financially or globally, but the decisions people are making and why they are making them is changing as well. To understand these changes and to find resources for running your business, I've put together a few links for you to check out...

Web Videos, Blogs, and Forums for Business Owners
• Small Business Television
• All Business Advice & Forums

Government Sponsored Web Resources (yes, your tax dollars pay for these!)
• The IRS's Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource
• U.S. Small Business Administration

Non-profit Small Business Resource Websites
• SCORE: Counselors to America's Small Businesses
• America's Small Business Development Center
• Tool Kit

Online Magazines for Business Owners
• INC
• Entrepreneur
• Fast Company

Blogs from Business Authors & Motivational Speakers
• Tim Sanders
• Seth Godin
• Duct Tape Marketing

Randomly Interesting Things for Trend Spotting
• Digg
• Boing Boing

It's much easier running a small business when you know you have people you can talk to about your business challenges. See if you can find a local group of small business owners, perhaps through your chamber of commerce, who you can meet with on a regular basis to talk about these challenges. Sometimes it's easier to find business support outside of your industry, since people are more likely to share information when they feel as though their personal business won't be threatened by the competition. You may also find more creative and abstract solutions to your problems by simply talking with someone who looks at things in a very different way. Having a community of support will help you keep your business on track, and pull you through when times are tough.

Make It Easy for Clients = Saving Time & Money

I'm not one to normally rant, but yesterday I had a string of experiences that really frustrated me. What frustrated me the most was how time and money were being wasted because companies didn't make it easy enough for their clients to get what they needed, when they needed it. I guess part of this frustration has been spurred on by listening to The Long Tail, which talks about serving more niche customers in more immediate ways. Here are some of my recent frustrations, with proposed solutions. Hopefully one of these can directly benefit some of you out there, or at least encourage you to evaluate ways in which you can make it easier for your customers to get what they want, when they want it.

1. Be accessible
Someone buzzed my studio because it was the first one listed in the building directory. They wanted information about renting space in the building. I gave her directions to the landlord's location, but she probably didn't make it there. The landlord should have had their contact information clearly posted in the lobby of the building so that anyone would be able to get in touch with them immediately about renting space. They may have lost a potential client because they didn't make their contact information readily available, and they frustrated me- a current resident, by turning me into their personal secretary. They could even go one step further and post the current lease rates for their space so that only the interested parties would contact them directly- saving them time and money on potential inquiries that weren't eligible.

2. Give all the information up front
I received a notice in the mail about paying the balance on an account. The notice didn't say how much was owed, only gave a phone number and address. I called the phone number and it was busy. I called the phone number later and it was busy. I called the phone number the next day and it was busy. I shouldn't have even needed to call. If they had put the information about what I owed in the original notice, I could have simply written a check and mailed it off. Instead, I ended up in a series of frustrating phone calls with no response. I'm guessing that all of those busy signals were from other people trying to get the same information I needed. If they put the amount in the original notice, they could have saved their staff time spent on the phone, and maybe they would have had an open phone line to deal with more serious questions.

3. Be easy to navigate
In order to make a payment, I needed to go to a particular building so that I could talk to someone in person and find out what I owed. I get to the building and there's no signage to point me in the right direction. I'm trying to give them MONEY, and they make it difficult by not making it obvious where people need to go to talk to someone. I stop at the first door I see and bother someone who's in a completely unrelated department in order to find out where I need to go. I wonder how many times a day THAT happens! If you aren't going to have a receptionist in your building, at least have really good signs so that people get where they need to go without feeling embarrassed or like they're an inconvenience to someone else. Better yet, if you're in a building with a lot of other studios and there's no directory, but maybe there's an intercom- meet your clients at the door and escort them where they need to go.

4. Eliminate chances for confusion
When you're giving someone a count, always count down.. 3-2-1. If you count up 1-2-3... the people you're counting for won't know what number they need to be ready for (unless you tell them ahead of time) and you may have to start over. No one gets confused when you count backwards.

5. Pictures sell better than words
Pictures are quick and easy, words are only meant to provide additional information. I can't tell you how many product websites have completely lost my business because they didn't have a picture of what they were trying to sell. How in the world am I supposed to know if your product is one that appeals to me if I can't even see it!? If you don't have a picture of a product easily available to your customers, don't expect to sell that product. Help your customers make decisions quickly and easily by giving them as many visual references as possible. We don't all speak the same language, but we can better understand something if we can see it.

6. Speed up decision making with suggested packages/items
It never fails- I take forever to make a decision about what I want to eat when there are too many items on the menu. The more choices, the more time I spend pouring over the various aspects of each dish and how they may or may not appeal to my palette. Inevitably I ask the waiter what they recommend and hope to make a decision from that. It's nice to have options, but it's also nice to have a small selection of suggested items - like the daily specials to help narrow the selection and give me an idea of what's recommended by the chef/food expert. If you find that your clients aren't able to make decisions quickly about hiring you, or that they need more time to think about what they want, than you probably haven't made it easy enough for them to make a decision quickly.

What can you change to make things easier and more immediate for your clients?

Revised: Kim Kelley offered a GREAT suggestion in the comments below and I thought it was so important that I wanted to make sure it was included in the post!
"What's even more frustrating is when you offer feedback to the business, but then have to wonder if they even care what you think. I guess I would add, encourage feedback from your customers and actually listen when they offer it."

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years in the corporate & non-profit world before pursuing her passion for photography. When not behind the computer or camera, she can be found exploring the world with her husband. Follow her on Twitter.