Follow-up: On Plane Tickets

A couple months ago I blogged about a new site I found, Yapta. Check out the original post here.

They send you weekly emails to let you know if any of the flights you've registered on their site have dropped in price. The Mr. and I are going to Kauai this fall, and I had registered our flight information and the price we paid on the site.

Last week, I got an email from Yapta saying the price had dropped. I logged on to the site, and it gave me a direct link to Alaska Airlines' website. In two short minutes, I had a $50 credit for my next flight on Alaska Airlines--the amount that the tickets had dropped! It's linked to my frequent flier account, so next time I go to buy a ticket, I'll apply the credit online.

The one caveat is that this process doesn't work on every airline, but I was surprised at how easy it was to get the credit! The best part? The tickets are now back up to the price we paid for them. It pays to be on top of things!

Top 3 things NOT to tell a small business owner

People always ask annoying questions, in general. Remember when you were a senior in high school and everyone would ask what your major was going to be, before you even set foot on a college campus? Or, when you're graduating from college and everyone asks where you're working (as if finding a job post-college is an easy thing to do!). Or, when you're a newlywed and people ask when you're going to start having kids. The list goes on.

However (and maybe this is because I am just grumpy today), as a full-time freelancer/small business owner, I have gotten the three most annoying comments lately. Here goes...

1. "Oh, so you quit your real job?" Yep. I am now working with fake clients, on my fake computer, for fake money. Monopoly money, actually! Thanks for asking.
2. People referring to your company as your "little business". My career is not a baby or a puppy. The cutesy descriptors aren't necessary.
3. "Oh, so you're a stay-at-home wife now!" No, actually, just like everyone else, I work full-time, Monday through Friday. I'm not pretending to work so that I can stay home and let my husband make all the money. In fact, I work longer hours now than I did at my corporate job!

Sigh.