One way to spruce up your professional image is to explore the world of pre-built business documents and web site templates. There are many good resources online where you can freely download templates for everything: brochures, newsletters, business cards, balance sheets income statements, and more. These are complemented by some good sites for getting attractively designed web site templates for free, and free applications for business document creation. In this post, I’ll round up some good choices for automating these aspects of self-marketing, including several, free, open source solutions.

Themed templates. In this post, I covered Hewlett-Packard’s extensive collection of freely downloadable business document templates. They come in “Business Identity Kits,” which allow you to streamline how flyers, brochures, business cards and other documents look, using common themes. Additionally, if you use Microsoft Office, you can get free themed document templates from Microsoft.

Web design templates. Open Source Web Designs is an excellent first stop if you’re looking for eye-catching web site templates. The available designs have user ratings and comments, too.

A free desktop publisher. If you are going to build documents, brochures and other materials from the ground up, and you don’t happen to have a solid desktop publishing program, look into Scribus. It’s a free, open source desktop publishing solution available for Windows and the Mac, and it has most of the bells and whistles you need to produce attractive documents. I have found it especially useful for producing booklets and brochures, because it has pre-built templates that you can just insert your graphics and text into.

OpenOffice templates. Even if you don’t use the open source productivity suite OpenOffice on a regular basis, you can download it for free for Windows, the Mac or Linux. You can download many OpenOffice business document templates here; you don’t need to be an expert in using the applications to customize and print the templates.

Clip art, photos and images you can use without worries. Images and photos can spruce up most any document you create. You can find a large collection of free clip art from Microsoft here. For photos that you can drop into blog posts and documents without copyright worries, I recommend using CompFight. The site allows you to cycle through various types of Creative Commons licenses available for photos on Flickr, so that you can choose photos that you can reproduce without fear of infringing anyone’s copyright (although in most cases, you should supply a photo credit and mention the license used).

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Being a web worker can mean learning to handle many facets of running a small business, including dealing with difficult clients, which can often be one of the biggest frustrations that come with the territory. But how do you know if your clients are abusing you? Here are a few telltale signs and tips for how to fix and avoid these situations. The work keeps creeping in. Scope creep is the bane of many freelancers’ lives. You start with one description of what is to be done and end up doing something entirely different, or something that’s way more involved …

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Contracts can often be seen as burdensome entities that service and goods providers can do without. As long as a mutual agreement is arrived at in good faith, so the thinking goes, then a handshake or a verbal agreement should be good enough. Contracts take time, which take money, which is why some don’t want to have to deal with them. Yet, as will be explained, the effect of good IT contracts or a good consulting contract is the opposite. If done properly they will indeed save you time and money, and allow for an environment of good customer service, too.

For IT technicians in particular, the temptation to see contracts as burdensome might be considerable. As a technician, you’re hired to do a job, you show up and do it, and you get paid for your effort. This is how many technicians would like to see their job environment anyhow. If it were only that easy. The problem is that, without IT contracts, even something like an IT consulting contract, you might get lost in the maze otherwise known as the quagmire of IT contract law.

The world of information technology is particularly sensitive when concerning contract law because of the various legal issues involved with things like licensing of hardware and software, the hiring of subcontractors for particular projects, or the crossover that occurs between different fields, different projects, and even different jurisdictions. Without IT contracts that sort out the various legal issues involved, the IT technician might find themselves in a legal nightmare that simply could have been avoided.

What IT contacts do, including things like an IT consulting contract, is they detail ultimately who owns what, who is responsible for what, what jurisdictions apply with respect to licensing and ownership, and what dispute mechanisms will be used in the event of some disagreement somewhere down the line.

One of the best attributes of IT contracts is comprehensiveness and detail, without losing simplicity. In other words, something like an IT consulting contract will serve its function if it lays down as many terms as possible, while avoiding legal jargon that won’t be understood by either party of a contract.

As already mentioned, a good contract should be seen as a way of achieving customer service and satisfaction. By getting things out into the open with simple language and straightforward terms, all parties can proceed with a true sense of mutual benefit. After all, that’s what good business and service is supposed to be about, isn’t it?

On top of the customer service aspect, of course, good IT contracts should also be designed to resolve future conflicts and legal disputes. Bad intentions don’t even have to exist in order for a breach of contract to occur. Sometimes, people are of genuinely different opinions as to what their obligations are in something like an IT consulting contract. Sometimes unforeseen events occur that weren’t anticipated in the original contract which, of course, is another reason to be as comprehensive as possible when first forming and signing IT contracts.

In the end a good contract should be the IT technician’s best friend in today’s global village. Without one, the modern quagmire of international legal rights can sap away precious time, resources, and energy from your business. No smart professional wants that to happen. It’s why they fall back on things like IT contracts that cover all the bases, and then some.

If there’s one thing doctors and lawyers hate, it’s being repeatedly asked for their professional opinion about something outside of the office by friends and acquaintances. First of all, it’s professionally irresponsible to advise people without a full grasp of their specific situation and context, and secondly, complying with requests of that nature effectively amounts to giving away for free what you normally do for others for a fee.

Web workers, too, have to deal with these kinds of requests, but I personally find that people are even less abashed about asking for advice and help related to blogs, social media, networking and other web work because they don’t regard it as a specialized service the way they do with medical and legal expertise.

I’m not saying giving away freebies is always a definite no-no, but I do think that as web workers we need to start reinforcing the value of our work by drawing a line between friendly advice and working for free. Here’s how I’m trying to create that demarcation.

Parry When Possible

I’m mostly of the opinion that the easiest way to deal with most conflict is to avoid it, and free advice is no exception. Most of the time, when people ask me to do something like set up their blog, write their cover letter/resumé introduction, or otherwise give away what I normally require a fee for, I either respond noncommittally or agree to talk to them more about it later on. It avoids unpleasant scenes with close friends and relatives, and nine times out of ten, you’ll never hear about it again.

Role Reversal

It’s hard to keep this tactic from sounding too snarky or sarcastic, but as with most things, asking someone to see things from your perspective can help curb friendly requests. Avoid the “Do I ask you to help me remodel my kitchen for free??” knee-jerk response. Instead, exercise some tact and take the time to fully explain real parallels between what exactly you do for a living, and how it is you do it. Often, people don’t think anything of asking for web working advice because they don’t see the work behind it, since the process can be fairly opaque to outsiders.

This One’s On the House

Refusing to give away advice or help isn’t always the best course of action. If, for instance, your mother wants you to help her set up a travel blog (sign up for Blogger and pick a theme), looking to make some money off the deal would probably be pretty callous of you.

Even in less clear-cut situations, the advantages of giving something away might outweigh the downsides. Always examine whether or not you might be able to work out some kind of barter arrangement in exchange for other service, or for future consideration, if you know the person you’re dealing with to be dependable and have a solid sense of fair play.

Convert the Lead

If you’re an optimist, then you won’t see requests for pro bono help as an annoyance. You’ll see them as viable sales leads, and therefore a valuable source of potential income. This is another tricky bit of business, since many people will immediately become disinterested in your services when they find out you won’t be performing them free of charge. But that actually makes it a doubly-beneficial solution, since you’ll land a sale if the person you’re dealing with has a genuine need and you’re a good salesperson, or you’ll dissuade them from coming calling on you in the future when they’re looking for free advice.

Being asked about your job is great, especially if you love it as much as I do mine. I love the opportunity to talk about what I do with people who are genuinely interested. What I don’t love is being asked to do something by someone who couldn’t care less about the how and why of web work, just so that they don’t have to do it themselves. People will only respect what you do for a living if you respect it first, and part of that means not cheapening it by doing for free what you would normally do for a fee. Plus, shouldn’t your buddy from college learn to write their own cover letter at some point?

Do you find that people often ask you for free advice/work? How do you deal with these requests?

Somehow in the last few years the term “Reseller” has become an insult.  It’s not enough anymore to just sell a product, now to be a true Value Added Reseller (VAR) partners must provide services.  None of this is news but many partners are promoting themselves as a VAR when they may still be just a, dare I say it, Reseller.

As an end-user it becomes even more difficult to differentiate between the partners you go to in order to simply purchase product and those partners that provide you services above and beyond.  Partners truly have to differentiate themselves in the current market and economy which becomes even more difficult if your competing partners are getting the same air time from the vendors.

Word Play

There is nothing wrong with simply selling product but is there a different level of support partners need if they are a Reseller or if they are a Value Added Reseller?

It is as important for a partner to find and promote their value proposition as it is for the vendor.  If you don’t provide services it’s okay!  Really it is!  But you better add value another way (price, speed, accessibility).  The bottom line is with more and more partners claiming to provide services the market is getting murky and customers more confused.

If you claim to be a VAR you need to have the certifications required to promote yourself.  Vendors need to make the certifications comprehensive and provide marketing support for those who have completed it such as certified logos for websites and business cards and a partner finder on the corporate site.  Vendors also need to do their part to promote the services that should be offered with the product or set of products.  If the vendor site promotes “plug and play” then the partner has a hard time adding services.

There are opportunities for both types of partners, not providing services is not a bad thing but partners must capitalize on what they do provide.  Some end users only want a “plug and play” partner or they have the capabilities in-house and want a partner to leverage their relationship with the vendor to acquire product.  There needs to be different levels of service from partners and therefore, different levels of certification from vendors.

Vendors have you seen different opportunities for both?  Partners how are you differentiating yourselves?

I would like to share with you something that I believe has massively helped me grow my business over the years. What I have been doing is pushing myself to be more social and talk about something that isn’t just the work at hand.

For example, if I was at a residential clients house and waiting for an application to install or something else where there wasn’t much else I could do, I would look around the room and try to find something they are interested in and ask them about it. It might be sports memorabilia, travelling souvenirs or hobbyist items but when you allow someone to talk about what they are interested in, you will almost instantly develop a connection with them.

My clients would tell me about the countries they have been to, I would tell them about the ones I have been to and we might share various travelling stories. If I go back to the clients house 6 months later, I try to remember what we talked about last time and ask something like “How was your holiday in Fiji? I remember you saying that you were going there last time we talked?”. They love the fact that I remembered and cared enough to ask.

This takes the relationship away from me just being the guy who has come here to fix the computer to becoming a friend. The advantage of having a client relationship like this is the loyalty that comes with it and they are unlikely to replace you with anyone else.

Look at it this way, lets say you called a plumber over to do some work but you didn’t talk to him. He came in, did the job, gave you the invoice and left. Sure, he did a good job but next time anything happens that requires a plumber, you may not necessarily get the same plumber because you have no connection with him, he was just the guy that did some work for you a few years ago. You can easily find another one.

I also do this in the business environment as well but a little differently. I do some work for some medium-sized businesses and when a computer has issues, the employee using it calls reception and the reception calls me. The girls at reception have the option to call whoever they want but they now know me as more than just the tech guy. They know my hobbies, the area I live and I know theirs. By calling someone else, they may feel that they are stabbing me in the back.

Of course, in the business environment you need to use your own judgement of whether you should talk to people or not. Their main goal may be to get back up and running so they can resume work which they are now behind on. If this is the case, you will be liked more if you just make things work, bill them and be on your way.

So next time you are on a residential job or the situation is right in a business environment, push yourself to be a little more social. Ask them questions about things they are interested in and be genuinely interested in the responses. After a while you will definitely see a difference in your business.

SOURCE: TECHNIBBLE.COM

Effectively taking on a huge freelance project can be daunting if you don’t know where to begin. This article shows that by breaking the project down into bite-sized deliverables, combined with leveraging the experience of outsourced, professional specialists, can yield positive results in terms of both quality of output and freelancer happiness.

The most treasured of all freelance consulting gigs are the ones that offer huge pay and high prominence. Successfully implementing one or two of these types of projects can be a huge boon to your portfolio and can help garner you even bigger and better contracts in the future.

Indeed, there’s really only one caveat when it comes to taking on a $50,000+ contract — you’ve got to do approximately $50,000 worth of work.

Of course, with big money comes big responsibility, and I know many freelancers who would balk at the thought of owing a cranky client $50,000 in outstanding work.

The following tips include some of the wisdom I’ve acquired working on high-dollar contracts with high-anxiety clients. I hope these tips help you avoid the potholes that bent my rims the first time I tried to drive through them.

“The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

My small consulting company was recently charged with the task of re-thinking an entire business from scratch, including completely redesigning the company’s website, logo, sales pitches, brochure material, proposals, business cards, letterheads and overall brand image.

Where do you start when there are so many conceivable starting points?

The answer is by creating a realistic milestone delivery sheet. Here’s what I mean:

Your milestone delivery chart is your best friend when it comes to high-dollar web projects. Not only does it help you as a freelancer see when certain elements will be due, but it also gives the client some visibility as to what work is actually being performed on their site.

Make your client feel like you care about their peace of mind with a presentation.

For projects which take more than a couple weeks to deliver, it’s good to set aside at least one day every few weeks where you present to your client some finalized deliverable. A “presentation meeting” ensures that a) everyone’s happy with the design and direction of the current work, and b) placates the concerns of your client who’s almost certain you’ve taken their overly generous 50% up-front fee and fled to a penthouse at the Bellagio where you’re currently sipping on Absinthe with fifteen of your closest friends and the cast of The Girls Next Door. Letting your client see small, finalized chunks of your work along the way gets them excited about the end results and eager to work with you again.

Get it right, then get it in writing.

The milestone delivery sheet should be signed the same day as the contract, so it’s important that you put some initial thought in creating a delivery schedule that is both fair to the client and realistic to yourself. Always make sure to double or triple your initial delivery estimates if you’re working on a large project for the first time, or using unfamiliar software/technology. In addition, schedule presentation and due dates for the client (have revisions due two days after initial presentation) and make sure to include a note at the bottom of the delivery sheet that won’t hold you liable to make deliveries if the requirements are changed mid-project or if the client can’t make the scheduled presentation dates.

Outsource the things you aren’t great at to specialists.

Chances are that if you scored a huge web contract, you probably sold more than just yourself. You probably sold a team of people. Now, that’s great and is almost always a good strategy for a single freelancer looking to pick up a huge deal. However, when it comes time to actually doing the work, make sure you’re using your team to the best of your advantage.

Only do what you’re absolutely awesome at, let specialists do the rest.

Many freelancers are “do-it-alls” who are very proficient in many different fields. This is a good thing, don’t get me wrong and I consider myself to be such a freelancer. But when it comes to large, ultra-premium projects, it really pays to get quality people to help you over-deliver to your customer.

For example, if you’re the web development specialist, don’t try to “improve” on the art director’s user interface, even if you think you’re much better than average at web design. The art director should have final say on every website comp, logo design, color change or font variation (all should be delivered to the pixel). If you don’t have total trust in the vision of your art director, you should find one that you’re more confident with and subcontract out.

See, when a client drops five or six digits on some web work to outside consultants, they expect to receive only the highest quality work in return. This excludes a web designer acting as an online copywriter or the sales guy as the marketer.

Using the specialties of outside professionals to help you isn’t cheating — it’s smart business.

Personally, I’m passable as a web content writer but absolutely horrendous when it comes to all other aspects of web work (UI design, sitemap creation, wire frames, CMS implementation, code upkeep, security updates, maintenance, etc). So when I land a large project, the only hard deliverable I’m actually going to do myself is the writing part (and even then, I pay for at least one professional editor to clean up my mistakes). The rest of the project I outsource to a professional quality team I know and trust. (In fact, I’ve outsourced with the same team so frequently that we all recently got together and formed a consulting company!)

Outsourcing projects in this way leads to many desirable outcomes. I free up my time to find new contracts, work on other businesses, hang out with my friends, take a mini-retirement or anything else that seems interesting. Additionally, I create a huge network of talented, professional, and specialized contacts just like me that love what they do and are amazingly cool to work with. It’s not what you know, but who you know.

Now the only tricky part about this whole bit is getting the $50,000 project…

In summary, break down high-dollar, high-work projects into their deliverable elements, ordered by date. Be realistic, but fair. Include presentation and customer due dates in bold. Break down each step and outsource to your network of professional, specialized contacts. Over-deliver and politely ask for a short testimonial and permission to use their materials in your portfolio.

Bonus Tip: Template to deal with incessant e-mails and phone calls asking for a “status update”from a high-dollar, high-anxiety client

“Dear Pesky Client,

Thank you for your (presumably drunken) e-mail sent at 3:30 AM on Saturday morning asking for a “prgress reprot”. We are currently on schedule to meet our July 1 deadline, and we are looking forward to showing you all of the progress we have made during our presentation meeting on July 10th. In fact, we are diligently working on the X, Y & Z functionality as I type this.

I understand your concerns on a project of this magnitude, and I can assure you that you’ll be quite pleased with the materials we’ll be presenting during our meeting.

Sincerely,

Your Overworked and Under-appreciated Freelancer

Source:  http://freelanceswitch.com/freelancing-essentials/how-to-effectively-tackle-a-50000-freelance-project/

The project milestone sheet is an incredibly important document for freelancers and their clients. It defines all the most important tasks, who is assigned to them, and when they are due. In other words, it serves as the map for your entire work process.

So how can you create a milestone sheet that works?

Deliverables and dates. The most important items on the milestone sheet are the deliverable items that will come from both you and your client. From planning to development to project conclusion, every significant step should be noted.

Apart from the developmental stages of the project, here’s what you should include:

• Contract signing;
• Payment schedules;
• Submission of existing relevant documents from the client (previous marketing materials, business vision and objectives, etc.); and
• Ample time for the client to review your work and send feedback.

If you’re located in a different timezone from your client, identify the timezone that the schedule is based on. This isn’t such a big deal when there’s only a 2-3-hour difference — unless the project you’re working on has strict hour-by-hour deadlines. But for time differences of more than eight hours, I usually set the deadlines according to the client’s timezone by default. For my own schedule, I also have a personal copy based on my own timezone.

Identify the client’s area of responsibility. You can do this through color differentiation when there’s just you and the client (a trick I picked up from Justin Hartfield’s post on Freelance Switch). If you’re working with multiple people, it might be better to tabulate the schedule based on deadlines, the expected item, and the name of the person responsible.

Include consequences of deviating from the schedule. The end of the project milestone sheet should also clearly describe the consequences of failing to follow the set schedule. If delays in providing one deliverable will impact the rest of the scheduled items, make that clear. Don’t make this the “fine print” of your schedule. It should have the same font size as the rest of the text on the milestone sheet. After all, it’s equally important.

Make sure the client reads it. To increase the chances that my client reads the milestone sheet, I attach it to an email that doesn’t bring up any other issues. The email simply states something like “Attached is the schedule for the project. Please read it carefully and let me know if you want to make any adjustments. Is the time frame adequate for you?”

A short message like that works for the following reasons:

• You’re talking about one thing only so your clients won’t be distracted with other issues;
• You’re calling it a “schedule,” making it sound less intimidating to non-corporate clients or clients whose first language isn’t English; and
• The client can’t answer your parting question without looking at the schedule you sent.

Follow up. I might come off as repetitive, but for typically forgetful clients, I mention the milestone sheet every time I’ve completed something. I also tell them what comes next, whether it’s additional work I have to do or I’m waiting for something from their end. The frequency and phrasing of your follow-ups depends on the client. When you’re working with clients who are more attentive to schedule, sending out frequent and repetitive reminders won’t be necessary.

If there’s a deadline looming for something that your client is accountable for, such as comments on a draft or payments, it helps to send reminders a day or two before the due date. For tech-savvy clients you can do this through your project management software. In most situations, sending email reminders is enough.

By applying these tips, you can make large projects more manageable, and tasks easier to track. Also, with a good project milestone sheet, even the most difficult clients become easier to work with.

Do you use a milestone sheet for your online freelancing practice? What tactics have worked for you so far?

Source: http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/07/19/create-effective-project-milestone-sheets/

Perhaps the company they were working for is downsizing and they preparing for the worst or they have already been laid off. Whatever the cause I want to make sure that any soon-to-be technicians are prepared for the jump.

Do you have enough money to make the jump?
While I am one of the first people to tell you to follow your dreams, you also need to look at the reality of the situation. It takes time to build up a large enough client base to support your current standard of living. If you haven’t already built up a decent client base from doing a few jobs on the side then you need to look at how much savings you have. I personally believe that you need at least 6 months worth of savings if you want the transition period to be comfortable. You wont be earning 9-5 wages overnight.

If you have any family that relies on you such as a wife and kids then making the jump now may not be the wisest choice. If you were laid off from your job and have no clients on the side then it may be a better idea to work part time elsewhere until you build up your client-base. Your responsibility is to the welfare of your loved ones first first and to follow your dream second.

If you already have a decent client base while you are still at your current job or before you left, then you are halfway there. Rather than a jump in the deep end you are sliding into the shallow end and your chances of success is much greater.

If you have the choice (as in, you weren’t laid off), work on building up your client base after hours until it reaches the point where your 9 to 5 job hampers the growth of your computer business, then your income wont be taking as much as a hit and you have already learned some of the hard lessons this industry has to offer.

Do you want to work on computers?
Did you work on computers at your last job, found you are great at it and thought about starting your own business fixing computers? You need to keep in mind that once you start working for yourself, you aren’t always doing technician work anymore. You are doing marketing, office administration, dealing with customers, answering phone calls, doing accounting and just about every other job that was probably done by someone else at your old job.

Doing the job you love (repairing computers) and actually running a business are two different things. This is one of the major reasons why many new businesses fail as the owner simply gets burnt out doing jobs they don’t love.
Of course, you can always hire someone to do your marketing or accounting once you have some good cash flow coming in, but in the beginning you will most likely have to do it yourself. Also, keep in mind that when you are self employed the amount of hours you worked verses amount of billable hours are two different things. I have personally had days where I worked all day but didn’t make a cent because it was all unbillable hours.

So ask yourself, do you want to work on what you love but not have any freedom? or work on computers and don’t the stuff you don’t like, but have the freedom of being your own man?

Other Considerations
If you were working for another computer repair business such as Firedog, Geeksquad or a “Mom and Pop store” and the clients you consider “your clients” are really your old employers clients then some issues can arise such as:
1. You may be under a non-compete agreement with your old employer not to start your own computer repair business.
2. They can sue you for stealing their clients so don’t go handing out your business card when your employer sends you out on a repair job.
3. Its unethical to do so (even if it is legal) and you better hope the same thing doesn’t happen to you when you start having your own employees.
If this is the case then its probably a good idea to discount all of their clients as your clients and start new.

I don’t want to scare people from following their dreams, but I do want them to make sure they are prepared for it. In the end, I believe starting your own business worth it. My own business has given me the freedom to travel for many months of the year which is very important for me. The job is always interesting because just when you think you have seen everything, something weird happens. It can sometimes be hard (such as me working at 2am last night getting a mission critical system ready by morning) but the pros always outweigh the cons. Its a great business to be in.

SOURCE: http://www.technibble.com

Help is on the way for solution providers and resellers looking to tap into grant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. Ingram Micro has expanded its partnership with The Grants Office to generate leads for solution providers and coach them through the grant submission process.

Looking for advice on how to tap into the grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package?

Ingram Micro has expanded its partnership with The Grants Office, a company that specializes in identifying grants and creating grant submissions, in an effort to help resellers and solution providers get a piece of the stimulus pie.

The stimulus package calls for anywhere from $60 billion to $80 billion of IT spend, according to Bob Laclede, vice president of business development at Ingram Micro U.S.

“Sixty percent of those IT stimulus dollars are through line item budgets, and 40 percent are through the grants process,” Laclede says. In the grants process, federal agencies—Health and Human Services, for example—set up rules for how grant money will be awarded. Then those who are eligible apply for the grants.

“If the solution provider can get in and help the end user figure out what they want to buy, craft the solutions and maybe wrap some services in there—and then help with the grant request—the solution provider has a better chance of winning,” Laclede says.

Solution providers pay a fee of $2,500 to participate in the program. In exchange they get a list of leads—Ingram Micro customers whose technology purchasing needs are mapped against the Grant Office’s database of technology grant eligibility and sources of funds. Then The Grants Office can help coach the solution provider through the grant process, serving as a kind of a help desk for grant writing and submission, says Laclede.

The $2,500 fee, charged on a per sales representative seat/team basis, is also eligible to be rebated to the solution provider as deals are fulfilled through Ingram Micro. Once a sales representative is engaged in the process, he or she works with a firewalled representative within The Grants Office to prevent any conflicts between VARs that may be going after the same deals.

Laclede says Ingram Micro has piloted the program with two solution providers so far, and many more are looking to participate. Ingram Micro is looking to formally launch the program in July, and Laclede warns that the grant process can take anywhere from three to six months.

Ingram Micro has previously partnered with The Grants Office for help with some of its initiatives aimed at the education market in the form of the eRate program. The new program is exclusive to Ingram Micro, says Laclede.