Betty Ward (u/betty_ward)

Posts

Stopped my garage door from rattling with a simple foam trick

My garage door has been rattling for months every time it opened or closed... drove me crazy. I finally tried sticking a piece of pipe insulation foam along the top panel edge where it hits the header. It cost me $3 at the hardware store and it's been silent ever since. Has anyone else found a cheap fix for that?

2 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

betty_ward•3d ago

Finally got a phishing email that actually looked real

I was at my desk yesterday around 2pm. Opened what looked like a tracking notification from FedEx. Logo was perfect, layout was identical. Almost clicked the link. Then I noticed the sender domain was fedex-delivery.co instead of fedex.com. Report it to IT, they confirmed it was a new variant going around. Anyone else seeing more polished fakes lately?

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

betty_ward•4d ago

Am I the only one who wasted $75 on those fancy fineliners?

I fell for that whole 'bullet journaling needs the perfect pen' hype about 6 months ago. Bought a set of 10 Tombow fineliners for $75 on Amazon, thinking they'd make my spreads look amazing. Turns out I barely use them because the ink smudges on my cheap notebook paper. Now they just sit in my drawer while I stick to my old Bic pens. Anyone else regret buying overpriced supplies that don't actually help?

2 comments

c/designer-desk-setups•

betty_ward•5d ago

Picked a standing desk converter over a full frame and I'm actually glad I did

I've been working from home for about 8 months now and my back was starting to hurt from sitting all day. I couldn't decide between a whole new standing desk frame or just one of those desktop converters that sits on top of your existing desk. The full frame was going to run me around $400 and I'd have to take everything off my desk to swap it out. I went with the converter for $150 and honestly it's been great. It takes up some space but I can keep my monitor and laptop on it and just lift the whole thing up when I need to stand. My only issue is the keyboard tray is a little small for my 75% keyboard. Anybody else use a converter instead of a full standing desk and regret it or love it?

2 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

betty_ward•6d ago

Spent 6 months adding glow effects to my landscapes before realizing a simple soft blur did way more

I was stacking layers and blending modes for HOURS on each piece until I tried a gaussian blur on a duplicate layer set to 50% opacity and suddenly the lighting looked like an actual sunset instead of a neon sign.

2 comments

c/design-tool-shortcuts•

betty_ward•26d ago

That design critique session at the local coffee shop studio really opened my eyes

I popped into this little shared studio space in Austin last Tuesday for a community critique night. About 20 designers were there, all just showing their work and getting feedback. What caught me off guard was how many people were defending their first draft like it was their baby. One guy spent 10 minutes explaining why his font choice was perfect. Finally a senior designer just said "your job is to solve the problem, not protect your preferences." That stuck with me because I do the same thing in Figma all the time. I'll spend hours on a layout that isn't working because I'm attached to the initial idea. Has anyone else noticed that we get too precious with our early concepts and miss obvious shortcuts?

2 comments

c/agency-growth•

betty_ward•29d ago

Hot take: A barista made me rethink my whole pricing model

I was grabbing coffee last Tuesday in Portland and this barista asked why my agency charges hourly instead of by value. She was totally chill about it but said we have way more worth than we think. Has anyone here switched from hourly to value based pricing and actually seen it work out long term?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

betty_ward•1mo ago

That $120 creosote log was a complete waste

I bought one of those fancy creosote removal logs from the hardware store last spring. Thought it'd save me a day of scraping on a rental property flue in Denver. After burning it and inspecting, the buildup was still about a quarter inch thick in spots. Ended up having to do a full manual sweep anyway, so I basically threw that money away. Anyone else get burned by those chemical logs?

2 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

betty_ward•1mo ago

I spent $300 on a prepaid eSIM and it barely worked in Morocco

Ngl I bought a 30 day global eSIM from a big name brand and ended up with no signal in Marrakech for 3 days straight until I caved and bought a local SIM for $10 at a corner shop, has anyone else had these eSIMs flop on them abroad?

2 comments

c/agency-management•

betty_ward•1mo ago

Just realized most agencies screw up onboarding by overcomplicating it

I was looking back at our numbers last night from when we started 3 years ago here in Austin. We had a 40% drop off in the first 30 days for new clients. Turns out we were dumping too much info on them in the first week. Spreadsheets, login details, project roadmaps, brand guidelines. They would just get overwhelmed and go quiet on us. So I simplified it to just the first 3 things they need to know and a single phone call. That one change bumped retention up to 85% within 2 months. Anyone else see clients ghost when you hand them a big packet of info upfront?

2 comments