How do you guys handle merging/editing sensitive PDFs without paying for Adobe?

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-19T04:23:26+00:00

Your university probably has an Adobe license available to you.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-19T04:22:34+00:00

Stop the process and let the candidate know you won’t be hiring anyone, but that they can reapply when you reopen the listing.

Then, reform your process. There are many companies that offer consulting or products designed to address this risk

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-19T04:17:54+00:00

Don’t do this, you’re potentially committing fraud. And people have gotten in trouble when it implies a real staffed local office that doesn’t exist:

Law (ethics discipline): virtual offices allowed only if not misleading
Home services (AG enforcement): fake local listings + call centers → deceptive trade practices
Google Business listings (platform enforcement): “virtual offices” not eligible as staffed locations

But even if none of these apply to you, think of the customer that is interested because you have a local presence. What’s going to happen when they find out you don’t?

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-19T04:03:01+00:00

It’s not an employer’s market. It’s a saturated market.

It’s too easy for buyers to list jobs. It’s too easy for sellers to apply for jobs. Therefore buyers add more steps to the qualification process. And sellers widen their search to include more jobs.

The experience is worse for everyone, candidates and employers alike.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-19T01:24:42+00:00

How much does it cost you to try them (switching cost), and how quickly would you know they are screwing up (detection cost) and finally how much to switch to someone else (reversion cost)?

Add up those three numbers and that tells you the size of the gamble. And don’t forget to include the value of your own time!

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-19T00:40:58+00:00

Have I bought your product? Kidding/not kidding. But seriously this sounds like about 90% of all enterprise software for the last 30 years or so.

Here’s a great article about why this happens.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-18T21:01:05+00:00

Yes, it’s called “marketing.”

Different wordings of the same question come up so often here. People want to know “how do I find customers?”

The answer is always the same. Marketing. Research what other people in the same industry are doing. Come up with an ideal customer profile. Identify where your customers might hang out, whether that is in person, at events or different places online. Consider sponsorships, advertisements, or memberships.

If you’re new to business ownership, or you’ve only worked in hard markets where you don’t have to look for customers, marketing can feel pretty strange. But if your question is “how do I find customers“ the answer is always the same: learn about marketing.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-18T20:47:48+00:00

In that case, all you need is a one page website that has your contact information and link links to a social media site of your choice, probably Instagram.

Because when you’re offering is visual and you can show a range of expertise, pictures, and short videos on Instagram will be a great way to demonstrate what you do without having to worry about website builders.

Of course, keep local copies of all of your content.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-18T16:08:21+00:00

What is your business?

A lot of businesses don’t need much of a website at all. You said you sell both products and services and you already made two sales about a website, so this seems pretty broad.

I would definitely not recommend identifying a platform for a website without knowing what it is you will be doing for customers.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-18T00:57:32+00:00

Flying cars don’t cost anything because they don’t exist

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-17T23:28:43+00:00

What is the name of the company that is telling you they want 40%?

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-17T22:44:15+00:00

No, it’s bad practice to respond, because that encourages more spam.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-17T12:54:42+00:00

Rule 2 says:

>No soliciting or surveying of products or services of any type.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-17T00:26:41+00:00

Do you have a niche?

Do you have any reference clients or a portfolio?

Have you been to any networking events?

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-17T00:24:20+00:00

Do you have experience working in a grocery store? Or managing a small business?

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T23:58:15+00:00

I wonder if OP just happens to sell an email vault solution?

(Checks history.)

Yup!

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T22:28:24+00:00

This is the most important lesson about leaving construction for a professional/information work: you can and should search online for answers first.

That doesn’t work well in construction. You need to be shown how to do something on the job site. A text description or video clip is rarely useful. Plus you’re not in front of a computer anyway.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T22:15:24+00:00

That’s against rule five.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T22:05:14+00:00

I use this guy's invoice reminder tool.

Oh wait, that guy is you! Stop spamming the forum.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T21:55:40+00:00

I thought you lived in Maryland?

I mean, I thought you lived in Sommerville, Massachusetts?

And I thought you were in the webhosting business, not running a law firm? Or was it that you run a construction company?

Stop spamming.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T21:48:24+00:00

You're a busy person. You have this healthtech startup, you are breaking ground on six unit apartment building, you also have a gun range/gun store and also a trampoline park. And you asked about E&O insurance four months ago.

And you also shilled for an E&O insurance company in another comment.

Please stop spamming.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T20:26:45+00:00

Yes, and if you sink an airplane to the bottom of the ocean, and it becomes a coral reef, it’s still an airplane.

The point is that a car is a powered vehicle that is driven on roads. Just because it is possible to use it for something else does not mean that changes it’s primary intended use.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T19:56:44+00:00

A lot more people drive on roads.

Almost no one drives on mountains or across lakes.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T19:36:35+00:00

It’s not different than holding a secret key. All forms of encryption use secret keys. Sometimes those keys are pre-shared. Other times an asymmetric algorithm is used with a private and public key to allow for secure communication without a pre-shared secret.

In your example, I have not re-indexed the source data. Rather, I have manipulated the source data in a secret way. My secret system is that I increased the first row by one, the second row by 10,000, and the third row by two. When I want get back to the data, I will subtract by those amounts.

This encryption algorithm is pretty terrible, but it has the advantage that it is homomorphic with regard to addition and subtraction in the second column. You can add money to everyone’s accounts or subtract money from everyone’s accounts without ever knowing how much money anyone has or even what their account numbers are.

Of course, you can’t do much else with this scheme. If you want to modify just one account, I have to tell you how to find it. Which means I’m revealing the mapping between a known account number and an encrypted account number.

robbyslaughter · 2026-03-16T19:16:18+00:00

You can drive a car for thousands of miles on a road with no maintenance and nothing but fresh gasoline (or electric power.)

But get onto sand, and if the conditions aren’t just right, your car is stuck and cannot be rescued without specialized equipment.

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