Do The Right Thing When You Are Marketing With Email

Is email marketing dead? Not hardly. I still get plenty of newsletters, ezines and special offers in my email box. What about you?

So that means you want to continue to collect your customers' and prospects' email addresses and get permission to market to them. Then interact with them on a regular basis to ensure they don't forget you.

And don't forget there are specific guidelines you must follow to stay in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Here are some key points of the law's main provisions:

*Bans false or misleading header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

*Prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

*Requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method.

*Requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's valid physical postal address.

If you are using an online email delivery service, these guidelines are typically built into the delivery mechanism.

Lost a business card and need the email address?

How often have you met people and promptly lost their business cards? It happens to me all the time. Or I want to find the e-mail address of someone I've never met. Here is a Google search secret that will help you easily locate e-mail addresses by trying to find Web pages where an e-mail address is listed:

• First you need to know where the person works and find their company's Web address.
• In Google, enter an asterisk, followed by the @ sign, and then the company's Web address. For example, *@bankofamerica.com will locate Web pages featuring an e-mail address of someone who works at Bank of America.
• Once you find the e-mail naming convention, you can back into the e-mail address of the person you want to meet. For example, if your Google search returns John_Doe@bankofamerica.com, and you want to track down Sally Smith, her e-mail address is probably "first name" underscore "last name," or Sally_Smith@bankofamerica.com.

GoDaddy suffering from .me deluge

Registrar GoDaddy began offering the .me domains from registration, but the process overwhelmed the company with issues.

Failed registrations and multiple registrations of the same .me domain name cast a pall over GoDaddy's .me debut. The new domain, being sold for $19.99 per year with a required two-year purchase (privacy option extra), should end up a profitable venture for the company.

However it will be a bit of a joyless slog getting there. Mashable cited the problems with .me registrations, and one account arriving by Twitter looks like it won't be fun to resolve.
Several posts on Twitter report multiple registrations for the domain aweso.me. At least eight people may possess receipts for the desired domain.

"It appears GoDaddy is buckling under the pressure and is about to have an ugly mess on its hands," Adam Ostrow wrote of the .me problems. Meanwhile, the GoDaddy complaints from frustrated would-be registrants continue to hit the net.

Make the right impression in your office

The presentation of your workspace could be influencing decisions made about you regarding promotions and special projects. Be sure your office doesn’t fall into one of these classic cube categories:

• Kidding Around - Photos of your college “glory days” or posters of your favorite rock band hanging from your walls could be telling your boss that you’re still not ready to grow up.
  
• Mommy Mania - They are your pride and joy, but be careful that your work area doesn’t look like a shrine to your family. A few tastefully framed photos are a wonderful way to add a personal touch to your workspace. Just be sure not to overload your area, as this may indicate that your mind is at home, instead of on your work.
  
• Sloppy Sue - While you may think that your boss will understand that you’re working diligently and don’t have time to organize amidst your many tasks, they may see things differently. Instead of dedication, your boss may view you as a person who can’t keep their files straight – much less a big project.
  
• Clean as a Whistle - While you may think that a perfectly clean work area indicates that you’re amazingly efficient and organized, think again. A completely clear desk may leave your boss thinking that you have a clear calendar, as well.
  
• Power Position - Ever see a small, tattered chair in the President’s office? Of course not! A quality chair is a status symbol for power – not to mention the key to a comfortable and effective work environment. To show your boss that you mean business, place a request for budget to update your seat with a new quality option or take a stroll around the office to see there are any other chairs available to swap into your workstation. Or, even if you really want to make an impression, purchase a chair for yourself.
  
• Organize Your Organization - By establishing a few rules, you can raise your organization levels significantly. First, determine how you tend to organize. If your desk or floor tends to have stacks of papers, add bookcases or other storage units to keep paper off the floor and out of sight. Once you have your organizational system in place, set time aside each quarter to purge unnecessary clutter.
  
• Work-Life Balance - It makes sense that your workstation should reflect your personality, but remember to keep some “work-life balance.” Instead of displaying photos for the whole office to see, choose a few and place them facing inward for you to enjoy. While making your office more “homey,” be sure that your surroundings are giving what you want to portray.

Email Marketing Messages: How to Promote a Program

Email marketing messages are challenging. Everybody gets too much email, and each time you broadcast you get people who unsubscribe because they aren't interested or are annoyed. But you must send out enough messages to remind people to sign up, especially at the last minute. Otherwise you're leaving money on the table. It's a balancing act of risking so many unsubscribe requests and so many last minute registrations.

You need your email recipients to:

1. Open and read your message
2. Discover something important they can benefit from
3. Convince them they need to learn more about this
4. Trigger their desire to click over to the sales page to read details and register
5. Realize the some sort of urgency so they won't put it off and forget to take action

One of the best ways to make sure your email messages get opened and read is to deliver a tip at the same time you deliver the marketing message.

There's no better way to learn how to write great email marketing messages except to (you're not going to like this suggestion!) sign up for a lot of Internet marketing materials and start studying the email messages you get.

Good Luck :)

Think It Through

I ran across this article a day or two ago which contains some good advice, from somebody who's in the business of investing in startups, Stu Phillips of Ridgelift Ventures. He writes that one of the most common problems he sees, with new ventures and small business', is "failure to think things through."

A good list of common issues:

• How does the product fit into the customer's environment?
• What is the sales strategy - how do you make more on the sale than it costs you to get.
• What is the likely response of your competitors (especially if they are large and profitable – read well armed!)?
• How is value built for the investors (M&A or IPO)?
• What is your contingency plan when things (inevitably) go wrong?
• What do you need to do to raise the NEXT round of investment at a better price than the current round?

The point is that this thought process takes place BEFORE problems arise.

Business Would Be Boring If...

we didn't laugh a little. A very good friend once told me we should play as hard as we work. Since hearing that bit of wisdom I have tried to take it to heart. Perhaps you should as well. Here a some funny quotes about business to hopefully at least make you smile.

• "A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation." Howard Scott.
• "I'm spending a year dead for tax reasons." Douglas Adams.
• "I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early." Charles Lamb.
• "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock." Orson Welles.
• "Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
• "The definition of a consultant: Someone who borrows, your watch, tells you the time and then charges you for the privilege." letter in the Times newspaper.
• "In the business world an executive knows something about everything, a technician knows everything about something and the switchboard operator knows everything." Harold Coffin.
• "The first rule of business is: Do other men for they would do you." Charles Dickens.
• "Few great men would have got past personnel." Paul Goodman.
• "When I asked my accountant if anything could get me out of this mess I am in now he thought for a long time and said, 'Yes, death would help'." Robert Morley.

You(r)Tube Privacy at Risk

Yes, we know what you watched last summer, or at least Viacom's attorneys soon will.

The owners of Comedy Central and VH1 are attempting to prove that more people watch pirated clips of John Stewart and Behind The Music than, say, the Wii Fit Girl. In the aggregate, maybe more people are watching clips of The Daily Show on them Internets. But a viral video will still draw more eyeballs than any single thing the mainstream media can belch out, regardless of how clever Stewart is. Partly that's because most people who'd want to see it already have, for free, over the airwaves.

Trouble is, our video viewing habits are supposed to be protected by federal law. After a reporter went dumpster diving on Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in 1987 and came up with Blockbuster rental receipts (he was looking for porn, but mostly he found Hitchcock and Fellini) Congress passed a law explicitly protecting the privacy of movie rentals. The judge in the Viacom case, Louis Stanton, decided that watching a YouTube video somehow qualified as less worthy of protection than Bork's VCR.

The usual answer from people who claim to be perfectly happy having attorneys rooting around their private lives like squirrels in a nuthouse is that they've "got nothing to hide." To which I usually say, "terrific, now drop your pants." Everybody's got something to hide, even if it probably isn't what they watched on YouTube.

The right to keep one's thoughts and interests private -- and by extension, things that indicate thoughts and interests, like books and movies -- is one of the keys to democracy. Nobody can demand to know what's going on between my ears (and trust me, you don't want to know). That's the way I like it.

The real problem here is the obsession with data collection that infects Google, Microsoft, and other major service providers. If there's a reason to keep a running record of every YouTube video I've watched or Web search I've run over the last 18 months, I can't see it -- and Google has done a p*** poor job of explaining why they need it. Because if a record is out there, you're almost guaranteed that some day a lawyer with a subpoena may come looking for it.

Do you YouTube?

Top Technologies You Need to Know About

Software publishers and hardware manufacturers are making significant efforts and progress on simplifying their offerings to the benefit of everyone. Simplicity is about “How do humans really work? What do they really need to do to accomplish a task?” These are very difficult questions to answer, but the answers are coming because a number of designers have been working on the question for some time.

Several technologies and products are examples of simplicity including SaaS and offerings like the Google search engine. What was the theme that came in second for this year. “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Clearly this is an issue as technology becomes more complex and good offerings become more plentiful.

So what are the current “hot” items from a short- and long-term perspective? The short-term technologies that business's should consider include:

Virtualization: All sizes of organizations should virtualize their servers and applications and that many publishers are responding by packaging their software in virtual appliances. Business's can adopt much of this technology now for servers, and over the next few years you will see your desktops, applications and storage all virtualized. VMWare is king of this space, but Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Sun and Citrix all have reasonable options.

Software as a Service: Bill.Com, The Business Analyst, Capital Confirmation, GoFileRoom, MyPay, Run by ADP, PaySimple, SageWorks ProfitCents, SAP Business By Design, TimeBuilder and XCM all have offerings that can be installed quickly and run from a Web browser. In some cases, I do not know of a viable competitor with the same capabilities at any price. In other cases (unfortunately under nondisclosure) there are some superb offerings that you will see yet this year in addition to these new generation products.

Third-party products: These vendors expand and improve mainstream products by finding a need and filling it. For example, for QuickBooks alone there are: LeGrand CRM, MISys manufacturing, Fishbowl Inventory, BillQuick Time and Billing, Avalara AvaTax, SpeedTax, Softrak Adagio FX and Wasp Barcode just to name a few, plus thousands of others. Further, many of these products can work standalone or with other products as well.

Windows Server 2008: Windows Server has notable performance and reliability improvements including the supporting products of SQL 2008, Hyper V, ForeFront and improved Active Directory. SharePoint Services, PerformancePoint, Exchange 2007 and IIS are all becoming more widely deployed.

Windows Vista and Office 2007: The current technology is good, and ready to be deployed. I recommend using the 64-bit versions even though initial implementation may be a little more difficult. For most organizations using Open Licensing with Software Assurance is the best strategy, particularly after you have enrolled in MPAN. Remember that these technologies will be replaced by Windows 7 and Office 14 in 2009.

Improvements in scanners: Both Fujitsu and Canon have had notable and major improvements in their product lines this year. You should definitely take note and make your acquisitions from the new lines. The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 and S510 are notable improvements as are the Fujitsu fi-6140 and fi-6240.

Reporting: There are significant shifts occurring in business reporting including Excel reporting tools like BizNet Software, Adagio FX, Crystal Xcelsius and the shift at Microsoft from FRx to PerformancePoint. Many of the business analytics companies and products have been purchased by larger companies, for example Business Objects being acquired by SAP, Cognos being acquired by IBM, and Hyperion being acquired by Oracle.

Voice over IP (VOIP): This technology has come of age. In doing the research for my own company this year, I was exceptionally pleased at how usable and affordable advanced features had become. I can see no condition under which a phone system should be replaced without at least some consideration for VOIP compared to traditional PBX or KSU systems. This applies to all sizes of companies.

Green: From the introduction of Intel’s Atom to the announcement by Dell about making their product line 50 percent more energy efficient over the next two years, being energy efficient is more than a fad. You can help your business save money by buying more energy-efficient products today, and by teaching your team about energy-saving steps to use with technology.

Security: Far from being solved, most organizations are just assessing their risks and choosing encryption software. We believe that encryption will be needed on all laptops, desktops, servers and backups by the year 2012, possibly sooner. Passwords still are sufficient today, but two- and three-tier authentication is also becoming more important.

Longer term technologies that will probably have merit include:

New generation communications: Including WiMax, 802.11n and soon-to-arrive on the desktop 10GB Ethernet.

Replacement cellular technology moving from 3G to 4G: Players will include Apple with the iPhone, RIM with new-generation BlackBerry products, Google Android and Samsung.

More SaaS and Utility computing: It should be possible to run an entire business with no servers in-house if you choose this strategy. Assume all current services can be hosted, virtualized or will be offered as SaaS.

Small portable devices replacing laptops: Prototypes have already been created using projection and other techniques eliminating laptop devices. Many of the new-generation cell phones are candidates to have enough computing power to serve as your access to information. Internet and cell phone convergence will lead to even bigger shifts in the way we use technology. Scorecard today: 3.3 billion cell phones, 1.2 billion laptops. I expect even more cell phones within three years and only moderate growth in laptops. I recommend the return to desktops at the office and home unless there is a need for portability. This strategy provides more speed and security at a lower cost.

Nanotechnology: I have long been a fan of this technology that crosses multiple industries. For computing, we expect smaller devices, security implemented via nanotechnology and flexible screen technology

Ride Your Bike to Work

I started riding my bike today before/to work and thought it would be a good idea to share some of the benfits of cycling to work. With gas prices being over $4.00 a gallon every mile biked is money saved.

According to the 2007 edition of the AAA's "Your Driving Costs," you could drive a small sedan 15,000 miles a year for 41 cents per mile. The cost can reach 66 cents per mile if you put 15,000 miles on a four-wheel-drive. That's an annual cost of $9,997—a difference of $3,750 between those two options. Those numbers mean you could save $1500 a year on a 10 mile commute if you biked it. Anyone care to take a guess on 2008 numbers?

And not to mention, you will get in better shape. A little exercise never hurts and no 12oz curls do NOT count :).

Benefits to Your Employer

• improved employee health and well being
• reduced need for parking
• reduced stress in the work place

Benefits to employees

• an opportunity to get in shape while commuting
• reduced commute cost
• improves their overall attitude and morale

Benefits to the community

• improve air quality reduced
• fuel consumption and highway congestion

Washington Online Sales Tax Now Law

Online shoppers who are residents of the state of Washington will now have to start paying sales tax on purchases made on the Internet.

Starting today Washington joins 18 other states that require some online retailers to collect sales tax. About 1,100 ecommerce retailers have agreed to collect taxes in exchange for the state not going after them for back taxes.

Last year Washington passed the law to require online retailers to collect sales tax. The new law changes the state's tax system from origin-based to destination-based. Taxes will be collected based on the location of the buyer, not the location of the seller.

"This is a very important step,"Mark Johnson, vice president of government affairs for the Washington Retail Association, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It's a major changing of our tax structure." Brick-and-mortar stores support the online sales tax saying that it allows for fairer competition with ecommerce businesses.

Most smaller businesses do not support the new tax law. They will have to implant new software in order to identify Washington's 350 taxing districts. They are also concerned about the law becoming national, as they would then be required to sift through thousands of tax codes and file returns throughout the year for each code.

Online Shopping Getting and Keeping the Customer

There's good news and bad news…

The good news is there's a lot of opportunity for satisfying customers, even making them very, very happy. The bad news is three-quarters of online shoppers surveyed said website content is insufficient to complete research or purchase a product online most, or some of the time. Nearly 80 percent rarely or never purchase a product without complete information, and 72 percent will take off to a competitor that does supply that information.

It seems that consumers really want to buy online, but retailers aren't making it easy for them. Sometimes, it seems like retailers go out of their way to lose customers. In fact, it seems many sites are severely lacking in the customer service department. If customers don't prefer online shopping to brick-and-mortar shopping, it's because retail sites haven't done enough to make the online shopping experience a good one.

Here are some tips to help yourself to a satisfied on-line customer:

• The landing page is crucial. You should have a landing page relevant to the search term. Yes, this is going to take some time to develop. But it doesn't take any time for a potential customer to abandon you. Remember that information seekers scan from left o right, top to bottom, so keep those keywords to the left and not buried in chunks of text. Make sure it's clear where links lead, especially if navigating a customer away from a landing page.
• Product information should be complete, answering all the customer's questions. A survey found 77 percent said "buying from a particular merchant is 'very to somewhat' influenced by the quality of content (descriptions, copy, images and tools) on a particular website.
• Search is fundamental. Be there at every entry point possible.

The e-tailing group reports these ten features and functionalities as the most important to customers, according to a survey.

1. Product overview
2. Merchant's guarantee
3. Stock status/availability
4. Customer service links
5. Product specific information
6. Long description
7. Quality of image
8. Size chart
9. Toll-free number
10. Ratings and reviews

Take some time and review your companies website. Are the 10 most important things being offered? Are any of them? It is far easier to keep an existing customer than get a new customer.

Walking Around for the Right Reasons

Management by walking around (MBWA). This concept has been around for a few decades now. Management theories in the 2000's, such as "the Tipping Point" and "the Long Tail," are more marketing- and market-driven. The advent of communication by e-mail and IM has planted many a manager's butt in their seats. Still, there are plenty of bosses and managers wandering the hallways, patting themselves on the back because they think walking amongst the people is a noble act.

The thing is ... it could be. MBWA can pay off big, especially for entrepreneurial companies, but you have to do it the right way and for the right reasons.

If the point is to recognize and appreciate the employees who help make you successful, then what's not to like? Seeing you gives your staff the opportunity to see their boss as less the voice of authority and more a genuine human being who is invested in their ideas and opinions. The problem arises when those who walk the halls do it for all the wrong reasons.

Many business owners walk the floor only when a crisis has hit, and they think their presence will calm their employees. That's not effective if you've been hiding in your office before the you-know-what hit the fan. MBWA only works if you do it regularly -- and if you really want to know what's going on in your company.

Effective leaders (bosses) do more than just communicate with their employees; they encourage all employees to do the same. Open communication is key to business survival, particularly when times are tough. Chances are that some of your employees are concerned about their job security and the stability of the company. If you hide out in your office, rumors will only increase, as will the number of resumes headed out the door.

Real leaders are problem solvers. They don't abdicate responsibility, they don't expect others to make the tough decisions, and they don't shy away from accountability. W. Edwards Deming said it best: "If you wait for people to come to you, you'll only get small problems. You must go find them. The big problems are [the ones] people don't realize they have in the first place."

So be a good leader, be a good boss, get out there and take ownership.

Wi-Fi VoIp?

The Wi-Fi Alliance wants to make voice a part of Wi-Fi networks, and has introduced a program to certify products, it announced on Monday.

The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Personal stamp of approval means a product is capable of making or handling good-quality voice calls in the home or a small office environment, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. Access points, wireless routers, handsets (which are growing at a steady rate) and laptops can all be tested and certified.

The push is a way for Wi-Fi Alliance to keep femtocells and upcoming technologies such as WiMax, HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) -- which lately have overshadowed Wi-Fi -- out of the home, according to Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics. Webb thinks Wi-Fi, helped by a low cost and a large installed base, will be able to stay dominant.

"Wi-Fi performance has been continually improved, and this is another step along that road," said Webb.

In a departure from interoperability testing, which has always been Wi-Fi Alliance's bread and butter, it instead looks at performance. To be certified, products have to deliver packet loss of less than 1 percent with no burst losses, as well as latency and maximum jitter of less than 50 milliseconds, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance.

The first round of certified products include Intel's PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (an embedded 802.11a, b and g PCIe Mini Card), Cisco Systems' Aironet 1250 and 1200 Series Access Points, and Meru's access point AP200.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Personal is only an option for vendors, so users will need to double check a special Wi-Fi product database to see whether a particular product has passed the testing.

Wi-Fi Alliance also has plans to introduce a program for enterprise environments, called Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Enterprise, early next year. It will be based on the Voice-Personal Program, and add support for bandwidth management, hand-offs between access points, enterprise-class security, network management and other features that are necessary in larger environments, according to Wi-Fi Alliance.

Enterprise adoption of IP (Internet Protocol) telephony over WLANs is growing, and vendors have put a lot of effort to improve performance, but many companies are still reticent about putting voice on it, according to Webb.

"Certification gives it a stamp of approval," he said.

Improve Business Performance

As a manager, one of your myriad duties is the professional development of your employees. Mentoring your employees helps them perform better, improves morale, and can help your business succeed. Most employees yearn to grow their skills with the aid of a knowledgeable, more senior member of their team. Want to take a more active role in mentoring your staff?

Try these tips:

Buddy up. Consider it a kind of matchmaking — send your staffers and more senior members, or mentors, off to discuss past experiences and future goals over lunch or coffee. Pairing those who have fewer years in the business with those who’ve got a wealth of proven experience is a great way to get a fresh exchange of ideas flowing. These pairings needn’t be exactly in line along the hierarchy; all that’s important is that the two parties can learn something from one another. It's also a good idea to take personalities into account, if possible, in matching employees with mentors.

Listen Openly. For one-on-one conversations between junior and senior staffers, encourage both parties to abandon their preconceptions. Instead of “right” or “wrong” ways of meeting challenges, encourage them to approach problems or projects by finding ways that work to replace ways that don’t. Neutralizing this language promotes an open dialogue in which both parties' ideas are equally valid. This parity will encourage the conversation to move freely and ensure that both the senior and junior staffer emerge with new ideas.

Think Strategically. One of the best by-products of mentoring is the slew of novel approaches it can engender. Once your staffers have met to discuss their professional goals and new methods of achieving them, be open to applying these ideas. They may not always work, but with patience and perseverance on all sides, successes will be achieved and staffers will see that their mentoring conversations produce tangible, actionable results that enhance their performance.

While mentoring may seem at first to be a one-way street, benefiting the recipient of the mentoring, it invigorates everyone involved. Mentors are stimulated by the active need for their skills, while they can learn from the junior employee, who brings a fresh outlook and new ideas to what might feel like old hat for the senior staffer. Mentoring can boost communication, inject new ideas into old formulas, and promote a satisfying, more open work environment — all of which benefits your bottom line.

Quotes to Inspire

I recently read a quote that inspired me and thought, "Why not share it with others?" I've also collected a list of quotes from entrepreneurs and other quotes that are relevant to entrepreneurship. I hope one of these quotes inspires you as well.

• I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist
• The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary - Vidal Sassoon, entrepreneur
• Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't. - Anonymous
• The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning - to create a product or service to make the world a better place - Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur, investor, author
• Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory - Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader
• Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners - Robert T. Kiyosaki, author, entrepreneur, investor
• Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence - Lisa M. Amos
• Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life - John F. Kennedy, U.S. President
• In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President
• The greatest reward in becoming a millionaire is not the amount of money that you earn. It is the kind of person that you have to become to become a millionaire in the first place - Jim Rohn
• Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them - Anonymous
• Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make - Donald Trump, real estate and entertainment mogul
• The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities - Michael Gerber, author, entrepreneur
• An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he'll quickly learn how to chew it - Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries
• The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer - Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's
• I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful - Warren Buffet, investor and billionaire
• I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist
• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the Trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover - Mark Twain, author
• There is a tide in the affairs of menWhich, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows and in miseries.On such a full sea are now afloat;And we must take the current when it serves,Or lose the ventures before us - William Shakespeare, author
• Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist

The MPAA and RIAA are still not smart. - Big suprise huh?

The MPAA and RIAA will leave no stone unturned in their quest to eradicate piracy from the Internet. Their latest target: Evil laser printers, which are surely harboring bootleg copies of "Iron Man" and "My Humps."

Laser printers of course are innocent of the crimes of which they are accused. But two professors and a student at the University of Washington are using printers (which have indeed received takedown letters in recent months) as an example of how poor a job the MPAA and RIAA are doing at finding copyright infringement online.

Using a number of BitTorrent-connected file sharing computers but not uploading or downloading any files, the researchers received over 400 takedown notices during trials in August 2007 and May 2008. All of the notices were directed at spoofed IP addresses which weren't engaging in any infringing activity: In fact, many of the addresses weren't even computers. But in addition to serving printers with legal notices, at least one wireless access point (which has no storage capabilities at all) was threatened with a lawsuit.

The full research report is available online (PDF link). The conclusions find that not only are false positives a real problem because the systems scanning for illegal activity are doing only cursory examinations of the behaviors going on at those addresses, but those addresses are easy to conceal and fake. The result: Mass hysteria in the world of copyright infringement. On the other hand, the study noted that the door swings both ways: IP blacklists, long a standard method of avoiding detection by P2P users, are "wholly ineffective" as a means of avoiding monitoring.

Workers paying for their own work laptops, gadgets

If you've been buying your own gadgets to increase your productivity on the road, you're not alone. A recent study by In-Stat discovered that nearly 40 percent of the professionals surveyed admitted to buying their own work laptop, and it's likely that countless others have used their personal PDAs, GPS, cameras, and even cell phones for work-related projects because most companies aren't willing to buy them one.

Apparently, some employers feel electronics are too expensive and aren't convinced that gadgets boost productivity. However, one In-Stat tech analyst says these companies are being "penny wise but pound foolish" because electronics do add value and cost less than an employee's time.

I'm going to have to agree with In-Stat here. Some of these companies should get with the times and realize that we are a fast-paced society that depends on technology to get our work done. Ok, so maybe we dont' all need a GPS or digital camera for work, but those that could actually get a significant productivity boost should get one.

In this day and age, all companies should at least issue a laptop and a smartphone to mobile workers. And if they're not willing to pay the cell phone bill, the least they can do is offer to split the bill. These are hard times folks, and the last thing workers need to worry about is not having the right tools to get the job done.

Balance Work and Life or Else!

Q: What does it mean to have work/life balance?

A: This is a very personal thing and it is different for everyone. Generally speaking, having a good work/life balance means that your actions and priorities are aligned in a way that is taking care of what is really important to you.

One of the main implications of being out of balance, however you define it, is that you neglect other areas of your life; family, health, etc. are often some of the first. When you become so addicted to only dealing with your urgent tasks you don’t think there is time for the non-urgent. You think that there will be time to deal with them later. But often, when you ask people what they feel is most important in their life, things they really want to accomplish, they are things that take time and long-term investment. By the time these things become urgent, it’s often too late to affect them.

You have to decide what is important.

What do you really want to be and do with your life. What is your mission? What do you want people to say about you 30 or 40 years from now? Then, look at what is being asked of you and see if those things are a part of your life’s important goals. If not, smile and say “no.” If you’ve really decided what is important, you can become an agent in helping the people you work with, your family, friends and boss, know and understand your top priorities. This takes courage. It means you have to stand up for what you feel is important and help others understand why.

There are no quick-fixes to achieving work/life balance.

Your priorities may change as your circumstances change. Thus, I invite you to consider the things that you value most and allow those to serve as the foundation. Then commit to consistently re-evaluate your current priorities, given your current circumstances and based on what you have identified as your core values. It takes courage, but remember not to trade in what you want most, for what you want now.

Get lost on your desktop

With all the discussion about productivity, it made me think about whether I do what I can to ensure I am as productive as I should be.

This lead me onto thinking about the things that divert my attention away from my task in-hand, such as loud music, interruptions and wallpapers. So I came to wonder whether your desktop wallpaper (being the thing you see everytime you get a glimpse of your desktop) could aid you in your productivity.

I believe that having a wallpaper that I choose helps me to concentrate. I am the kind of person where I can work for hours without stopping, skipping meals, and becoming so totally absorbed in what I am doing to forget the outside world even exists. When I burn through that period, I am usually tired, not in the physical sense, and need a break. Staring into my desktop wallpaper relaxes me and gets me prepared to concentrate again, sort of like a good massage will help an athlete for the next game.

Does your wallpaper help you concentrate? If you need a minute to think maybe you can get lost in your desktop wallpaper too. A good place to find some interesting wallpaper is http://www.deviantart.com. Find what you need and let your mind relax a bit before tackling that next task.

You may find that you will become more productive if you take a minute to relax.

Sorry. I have nothing about the office today. I have experienced a loss in my family.

Why does my printer take a long time to print?

HP Laserjet P1505n Problem.?
-asked by Steven B

There are 3 computers connected to this HP printer via the network. Often the printer will fail to print documents, especially web pages with lots of graphics (mapquest or weather.com). The green light on the printer will just blink but it never prints. This happens mostly on the 2 older G4's in the room. It doesn't appear to be a problem with the network because the same problem happens when connected to the printer via USB. It does not appear to be a problem with the computer. I believe they are running the most recent version of the driver.

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
by Pendragon...

The printer doesn't have enough memory to process the graphics. Buy a printer suited to the job. That printer is a personal printer not a workgroup printer.

I have run into this situation numerous times - A customer calls complaining about equipment that is functioning fine. When purchasing any type of office equipment it is essential that you match the equipment to the job. The LaserJet P1505N is a fine printer and works well for home use. It was never intended for an office environment. The decision maker in this instance should have consulted a dealer before purchase. Most likely the company could have saved some money, purchased the correct machine, and avoided the headaches and hassles they now have.

How do I change language back to English on a Printer?

I use a HP Color Laserjet 2700n Printer at work and whilst I have been away some idiot has managed to put the printer language onto something random (looks like chinese or something). Has anyone got any idea how I can change it back to english? Have tried to look at troubleshooting guide but that doesn't help.Thanks for any ideas. - Asked by helen c

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

by Pendragon
Contributing In:
Printers
Best answer 91%
572 answers

1. Press OK to open the menus.

2. Press <> to navigate through the listings.
3. Press OK to select the appropriate option. An asterisk (*) appears next to the active selection.
4. Navigate to System Setup menu
5. Select Language
6. Change to English
7. Select OK

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Fun at Work and Productivity

We've all heard the maxim "work hard, play hard" applied to workplaces. Often times the whole "play hard" thing is a bit of a red herring. But what is the value of fun in the workplace anyway?

Research has linked fun and employee satisfaction to higher productivity and even higher profits.* Not only this, but I've seen workplace fun contribute to retention. Departments that have fun together can be hard places to leave behind, and they tend to retain their best employees.

What can you do as a manager to bring some fun in? Chances are you won't need to do much other than let others spark it, but here are some ideas.

- Capitalize on your hobbies. I enjoy poetry, so I hosted lunchtime poetry readings at one of my companies. People enjoyed it, but perhaps poetry isn't your thing and movies are? Can you do a departmental film festival during lunch over a period of a few weeks? Be creative.

- Be spontaneous and quick. You don't need three hours to have some fun. Jump on an idea and then jump back to work.

- Go back to your childhood. When was the last time you blew bubbles? Had a sack race? Filled out a Mad Lib? You'll be surprised how much people enjoy a few moments of silliness, no matter how upright they are the other 99% of the time.

- Make it Educational. One client of mine asked two of her supervisors (who were often perceived as quite serious) to put on a skit about customer service for the departmental meeting. One of the managers came dressed like a grumpy old woman and played the part of "fussy customer" while the other demonstrated a slew of customer service techniques. The employees laughed until their sides hurt at the sight of their manager as "fussy customer" and learned a great deal about customer service too.

So, what can you do to embrace a little fun and increase employee satisfaction? Jot down a few ideas. Who knows? Perhaps it's just what the doctor ordered.

Spyware Infections Carry Big Costs for Small Businesses

A single spyware infection on a work computer can impact the productivity of the typical small business employee for two-and-a-half days, according to research commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

A survey of employees at businesses with 10 to 200 computer users found that more than one in four computer users reported having their productivity impacted by a spyware infection during the past six months. Of these, more than one-third reported multiple spyware inflections.
Even more alarming, users of spyware-infected computers reported "living with" the problem for 18 work hours – more than two full workdays – before getting it repaired.

They did so even though they realized that their work productivity was reduced due to the problems associated with spyware. Users estimated their productivity was reduced by 21 percent when the spyware problem was first noticed; and was reduced by 32 percent when the problem was at its peak.

On top of the delay in reporting a spyware infection is the time it takes to fix the problem. A survey of PC-support professionals servicing small businesses and who had fixed at least one spyware incident during the past year reported spending an average of 2.8 labor hours per infected PC. That’s more than 20 hours of reduced worker productivity for each spyware incident at a small business.

CompTIA commissioned Kotler Marketing Group of Washington, D.C. (http://www.kotlermarketing.com/), a consulting firm specializing in value-based selling, to conduct the survey to better understand the frequency and cost of problems such as spyware, viruses and network and server downtime among small businesses.

Two separate online surveys were conducted in late 2007. One questioned 537 end users who work in non-IT roles at small and mid-sized businesses in the financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services industries. The other survey queried 200 IT professionals who support small and mid-sized businesses. Respondents were based in North America, with approximately 80 percent in the United States and 20 percent in Canada. For more information on the study, visit http://www.comptia.org/sections/research/.

iPhone 3G and the Hidden Math

Not mentioned in Monday's you-can't-get-away-from-it iPhone 3G announcement: AT&T's service plan jumps $10 a month. What's this? Did Apple finally figure out what the rest of the retail world did: That when you give away the razor you can charge through the nose for the blades?

Let's look at the math.

Old iPhone: $399 (for 8GB of storage), plus $60 per month for 450 voice minutes and unlimited data. Two-year total (since you'll be signing a two-year deal for either handset): $1,839.

New iPhone: $199 (for 8GB of storage), plus $70 per month for a basic voice plan (presumably the same 450 minutes) and unlimited data. Two-year total: $1,879.

That's $40 more over the course of your contract, which is really not that bad in the grand scheme of things. Had AT&T and Apple raised monthly fees just another $5 per month, the total cost of service would have hit almost $2,000 over two years (not including taxes and fees).

"Business users" get the shaft, big-time, with a minimum of $85 a month for service. That's $15 a month extra just so you can get email via Exchange. Other annoyances: iPhone 3G will have to be activated in stores instead of at home, like before, and the phone won't be available to purchase online at launch.

Still, this isn't too bad. Putting aside the business user issue, $40 extra over two years doesn't sound like much, considering all the extra features and services the new iPhone packs in.
In fact, on paper the iPhone 3G has addressed almost all of the biggest complaints, regarding the original model from a year ago. But then again, don't forget those accessories (a charging base, for example, is no longer included).

UPDATE: For those who've written regarding the time value of money, I did the math based on the present value of the iPhone to Apple at a 3% annual interest rate. The numbers: Original iPhone nets Apple/AT&T (and costs you) $1,795; new iPhone gets them $1,828. So the new phone still costs you $33 in the end if you invest that $200 you would have otherwise spent on the hardware.

UPDATE 2: Several readers write to mention that text messages are no longer included in the iPhone package, so add another $5 a month for 200 SMS messages. Upgrade to the 16GB iPhone and you're hitting $2,100!

Save Money on Ink and Toner

Printers are deceptively cheap these days, but the same can't be said for the ink and toner you put in them. Ink is used by inkjet printers and toner, a powder, is used in laser printers. With both, cartridge costs can add up fast.

To avoid paying too much, understand that the business of selling ink and toner has gotten more competitive recently. Printer makers are taking small steps to help you figure out how much ink a printer will use. And a variety of retailers, both online and off, are selling off-brand and recycled cartridges.

Just finding the right replacement cartridges when you need them can be a challenge as well, so you need to know where to look and the best ways to order what you need quickly. These steps will help:

• Don't let your cartridges empty completely. Dry cartridges can cause print heads to overheat and damage your printer.
• Be careful about recycled cartridges. They'll save you money, but low-quality cartridges can ruin your machine.
• Exercise caution with refill kits or quick refill stores because a refilled cartridge can and does leak.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done.

Establish an account with a dealer you can trust

Buy your cartridges from local reputable dealers who guarantee the quality of their products. Large office-supply chains are a good option, but a business who specializes in Ink and Toner may be a better option.

Save money with third-party brands

Just because your printer is an HP or Epson doesn't mean your ink cartridges must carry the manufacturer's name. You can cut costs by 10 to 40 percent or more with store brands. Also, the shelf life of cartridges varies based upon storage conditions and the manufacturer.

Consider recycled goods

Recycled - Remanuactured cartridges can save even more money — just make sure they're from a reputable seller.

Tips & Tactics

• Use black ink. If you're not printing a marketing brochure, you'll save money.
• Be stingy. Don't print pages you don't need.
• Look for a draft mode on your printer. It'll use less ink on documents that don't need to be perfectly polished.
• Toner costs more than ink, but long-lasting toner cartridges can give you more bang for your buck.

If You Want It, Bid On It - The Keyword Battle

Another court has decided use of trademarked terms in metatags and keyword advertising does not constitute trademark infringement, but the issue is far from settled and only gets more complicated as more courts hear arguments from both sides.

In this case, Designer Skin sued S&L Vitamins for reselling Designer Skin products online. S&L was not an approved retail channel, and was selling the self-tanning product at lower prices. Also, the company dropped the Designer Skin name into the metatags of its site to help with organic search rankings (a practice with debatable efficacy), and bid on Designer Skin keywords in order to drive traffic to the site.

Most often in keyword trademark infringement cases, the issue centers on whether competitors – in this instance, another maker of self-tanning lotion – have the right to use keywords in metatags or bid on trademarks. Courts have come down on both sides.

In this case, heard in Arizona, it is not a question of competition, but of sales channel control. At issue is a concept of "initial interest confusion," meaning when searchers see an ad or listing for Designer Skin, they could mistake S&L, a seller, as the maker of the product. The judge didn't think any consumer with a half a brain would make that mistake:

In contrast to the deceptive conduct that forms the basis of a finding of initial interest confusion, S & L Vitamins uses Designer Skin’s marks to truthfully inform internet searchers where they can find Designer Skin’s products. Rather than deceive customers into visiting their websites, this use truthfully informs customers of the contents of those sites. Indeed, in practical effect S & L Vitamins invites Designer Skin’s customers to purchase Designer Skin’s products. The fact that these customers will have the opportunity to purchase competing products when they arrive at S & L Vitamins’ sites is irrelevant. The customers searching for Designer Skin’s products find exactly what they are looking for when they arrive at these sites. S & L Vitamins is not deceiving consumers in any way.

The outcome of this case will be used as a precedent when deciding others and will bolster the argument that use of keywords in metatags and bidding on trademarked terms for search purposes is a legitimate practice. Fairly often, plaintiffs are more concerned about control of channels and control of competition than they are about trademark infringement.

Eric Goldman, author of Technology and Law Blog, goes into much deeper detail in his posting, and concurs that Designer Skin's suit was asking too much of the legal system. "[C]ourts are realizing that they are being asked to facilitate anti-competitive practices, and wisely they are balking," he writes.

10 Ways to Make Your Flyers More Effective

What fits on one sheet and costs pennies to make?

You see them all the time. Flyers are hugely effective, because you can make so many and distribute them all over the marketplace without having to spend a fortune. But just so your flyers don't get lost in the shuffle, here are 10 techniques that professional designers use to make flyers "fly":

1. It's all about the headline.
What's in a headline? It's the first thing your prospects will see, and this will decide if they keep reading or not. So pick something that will stand out, stick in their mind, and make them want more! Here's a few magic words to start with: Easy, The Secrets To, Unlock, Finally, Insider, Time Sensitive, How To, Free Bonuses, Now You Can, Discover, Proven. Just sprinkle these on your next headline and see how many heads you turn.

2. The eyes have it.
Colorful, striking graphics always make their point. And one large image will pack more punch than several smaller images. A good graphic creates the mood and sets the scene for your message. Getting the perfect "focal point" is easier than ever now with stock photos you can buy on the internet. Get one or a hundred for whatever you might need.

3. What's in it for me?
That's what your prospects want to know. Stay away from words like: we, us, I, and our. Take their perspective with words like "you" and "your". They'll like it when you focus on how your product or service will benefit them. Show them with words like: free, save, love, new, results, and guarantee. Make the benefits easy for them to pick out with bullet points and text boxes.

4. Go tell it on the mountain.
A ringing endorsement speaks volumes. When people read how you have positively affected another customer, they are more likely to give you a try. Make sure you get a first and last name, company name, and location. Then add that stamp of approval to your flyer.

5. Less is more.
You don't need to fill every space on your flyer. Break it up with text boxes, add borders to your key points, and use contrasting colors to add emphasis. It will make the best parts stand out and be easier to read.

6. STAY AWAY FROM ALL CAPS.
They're hard to read! Instead, use bold type for your titles and subtitles.

7. Keep it simple.
Your page layout, that is. Your graphics program should have a "snap to guidelines" function so that you can easily align items to the grid. And watch those print margins - stick to ½" margins on all sides, or add 1/8" for bleeds on items that print off the edge of the page.

8. Proofread, proofread, and proofread.
Oh, and did I mention to proofread? Have someone else do it for you - a pair of fresh eyes might uncover something that yours have grown used to. And did you check that contact information? Dial all the numbers, and type in web addresses to make sure they're correct.

9. On a tight budget? Try this.
Use brightly colored or unique paper and black ink. Use shades of gray for tone and contrast to background areas.

10. Who doesn't like a deal?
Design a coupon on the bottom quarter of your flyer. Put a special offer on it - and don't forget to include any deadlines or limitations. For mail in offers, make it easy for them to pay you with areas for credit card information, mailing address, etc.

Try these techniques on you next flyer. I predict FANTASTIC results!

Create Some Buzz

One of the goals in business is to get people to talk often, favorably and in the right way about your products. Below are three ways you can spur the buzz about your business - best off all two of them are free!

Develop a high quality product.
The first step to generating buzz about your business is to produce or sell a meaningful and quality product. It must possess a quality that is worth talking about. Your product may be something that improves the quality of life, innovative, and connects or elicits passion among its customers. People will not hesitate to pass on or recommend to others a product that they think offers something valuable.

Ask for it.
Don't hesitate to request your customers and prospects to recommend you to any other person or organizations they think might benefit from your products or services. A happy customer will be more than willing to talk about you to their circle of family and acquaintances. Request them to give you a list of friends or family members that you can contact or include in your mailing list. Also ask people to pass the word about important company news and product developments.

Set up a formal referral system.
Referrals can allow you to bring in quality new customers at a fraction of the cost of advertising. The key is to start with a quality product or service that other people can feel confident about referring your business to their friends, family members or others. Then give them incentives to spread the word about your business.

One effective way to solicit referrals is to approach businesses that offer complimentary (but not competing) products or services, then requesting them to refer clients to you. For a business selling baby books and videos, a good referral partner would be a business selling baby clothes or furniture. Same market, but different products fulfilling different needs. For every client referred to you, you will pay them the agreed referral fee.

Printer Spooler Errors

If the Print Spooler service fails when printing, when Windows starts or it can not be restarted, the usual reason is that one or more printer drivers is defective. If the Print Spooler service is not running, the Printers and Faxes folder will be empty and you can not use it to remove (or add) printers or printer drivers.

Check in Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs; if there is an entry relating to one of the printers, select it, then click Change/Remove. Follow the dialog and "uninstall all" or "remove all" as appropriate. Some "printer software" have programs that show up here and it will be a good idea to remove those before going any further. If the Print Spooler service is not operational, or you want to make certain there are no printer driver remnants use cleanspl.exe from the Windows 2000, XP or 2003 Resource Kit. Download it from the link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd

Cleanspl.exe from the Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools will work on Windows Vista. Cleanspl.exe does a very thorough job of cleaning up the print spooler stuff, but it does not remove the spooler service dependency on the Lexmark service (see special information about Lexmark printer drivers). When you run it, it asks you if you want to remove some things that are actually delivered (and installed by default) with Windows. In most cases, you should answer No to the corresponding prompts (you don't want to remove the Standard TCP/IP Port or the BJ Language Monitor).

Lexmark Special Instructions: The Lexmark printer installation process sometimes installs a service that makes the print spooler service dependent on itself. If there is a problem with Lexmark service or a Lexmark printer driver (or you removed it using the steps above), the print spooler service may not start. Open a Command Prompt window - (Start - Run - cmd)key the command sc config spooler depend= RPCSS(note the space after the = but not before)Reboot the PC

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How to Annoy People at Work - Monday's Suck :)

Monday's Suck. You can have some fun though. Maybe you could drive everyone crazy. Maybe you hate your job, or maybe you're just clueless. Either way, here are some quick and easy tips to help you become the most annoying employee around -- without getting yourself fired.

1 - Assume that you're smarter than everyone around you. In fact, assume that you're smarter than everyone in the company, and possibly everyone in the world. Never question your own brilliance, even momentarily.

2 - Have no respect for others' areas of expertise. For example, if you work in the design department, take every opportunity to tell the IT people or the secretarial staff how to do their jobs.

3 - Cultivate a condescending tone of voice. This is crucial. If you sound too pleasant, people might assume you mean well and actually like you. Speak slowly and loudly, and pronounce your words carefully, especially the big ones. Act as though you're teaching a 3-year-old how to tie her shoes.

4 - Pick something you know is important to a coworker, and make frequent, unfunny jokes about it. For example, if you work with a woman who adores her cat, joke about the cat being a terrible creature who will one day kill her in her sleep. Pretend not to notice that no one ever laughs.

5 - Offer extremely obvious and unsolicited advice. If a coworker's bike has been stolen, ask him, "Did you ever consider locking it up? I find that helps!"

6 - Complain about everything. If there's catered food, complain that it's disgusting. If there's no work to do, complain that you're bored. If there's a lot of work to do, complain that you're too busy. Complain about the temperature in the office and how uncomfortable your chair is.

7 - Never give up! If someone starts to walk away as you're talking, follow them. If your boss tells you to figure something out on your own, continue to ask questions. It takes perseverance to annoy coworkers on a consistent, meaningful level, so don't be afraid to lay it on thick.

Bonus - Don't be rude! It's actually more annoying to be overly friendly and clueless than to be blatantly hostile. Just make sure you come across as totally insincere.

You Hear But Do You Listen?

I have had the pleasure of speaking to and listening to top executives from all sizes of companies. A common trait they share is - when someone spoke, they listened. Not only did they hear, but they also listened.

The good listener knows that a good conversation is definitely two-sided, but one learns through listening. Successful people know that and practice the art of listening constantly. “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” - Epictetus

Here are tips to be a better listener:

• Be Legitimately Interested: Drop whatever you were doing and focus.
• Be Honest About Your Time: If you really are in the middle of something important, tell the speaker. Apologize and plan for another meeting where you can ensure your full attention and focus.
• Accept the Speaker’s Point-Of-View: At least until he or she is done speaking.
• Use Body Language, Eye Contact, and Repetition: To show you are listening and interested, lean slightly forward in your chair.
• Go Beyond the Words: Good listeners are actively thinking not just about what was said but also why and how it was said.
• Avoid Planning Counterarguments: Mentally record your disagreement and formulate a response later after the whole message has been received.
• Ask Questions: If there is something said that is not clear to you, ask for clarification. Only ask questions that’ll help your understanding of what the speaker is saying.
• Watch and Learn from the “Good Listener”: We all know one or two “Good Listeners”. Next time you are speaking to them, really pay attention to what they do.

Being a good listener is an invaluable ability and skill. Once aquired it is sure to make you happier and more productive in not only your business but in your life.

Communication is Undervalued

Probably the most important skill anybody needs today in business is the one rarely taught in our education system - how to communicate. This is the skill that gets people their first job, helps them get promoted, creates respect and trust from meetings, develops confidence in others, and help them become leaders.

Technological changes have indisputably led to faster and more efficient communication. To name a few, we have:

• Email
• Fax machines
• Cell Phones
• Telephones
• Telephone conferencing
• Video conferencing
• Pagers

but are we communicating more effectively? No.

Communication is largely undervalued and untaught in the modern world, often with disastrous results. Professor Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University recently stated – that ‘the world’s problems could be solved if we kept talking’. This idea can be applied to almost any situation.

1. Speak to people
2. Smile at people
3. Address people by name
4. Be warm, friendly and helpful
5. Be enthusiastic about life
6. Be genuinely interested in people
7. Look for the opportunity to give praise
8. Be considerate of other people’s feelings
9. Be thoughtful and respectful of other people’s opinions
10. Be a great listener

On the above list, Number 10 may be the most important and also the hardest to do.

Listening and hearing are not the same things.

I will give some tips for being a better listener in tomorrow's blog. For now I will part with a quote from Ernest Hemingway, "I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen."

A Free Way to Market Your Business

If you offer complementary consultations send those who take you up on it an invoice showing your cost and value after your "discount."

If you are like many small business's, you may offer a free or no charge complimentary consultation as a way of getting your foot in the door of prospective customers, to simply educate prospective customers about your business, or as a way of meeting other small business owners you can refer business to and to get out of the home office.

Do NOT forget to send them an invoice with one line showing the actual cost they would have spent on your service if you didn't offer this service for free (this is a good time to review what you talked about in the description field). Make sure to add another line showing the discount which reduces the bill to zero.

You can also suggest that they write a compliment on a social networking site, their web site or Blog, or for your web site. Just remember to make it easy for them to do and to not take more than a minute or two to complete. An example would be to suggest that they write a sentence or two about how their business "fill in the blank" benefited.

That way, your value is in front of prospective customers and they are less likely to take your services for granted. In most bookkeeping programs, you can set up income and discount lines to track this marketing expense (even if the net is zero dollars) and see how effective this type of marketing really is.

A bonus tip! After you make a first sale/service to a new customer send a thank you letter along with the invoice. I have many repeat customers because of that thank you letter.

After a long holiday...

Whew! Am I glad the holiday is over so I can get some rest. I could hardly wait to get back to my office chair and get comfortable in its ergonomic design. What?! Your office chair isn't comfortable? It should be. If a person is comfortable, they will be more productive. Two new studies by Alan Hedge, Ph.D., CPE and Cornell University found that a comfortable working environment can do more than make workers happy: it can improve productivity as well.

A normal chair can give comfort for some period but an ergonomic chair will give comfort the entire time it is occupied. Using these chairs releases pressure from back stretches and pains. Ergonomic chairs distributes the whole body weight equally. An ergonomic chair will have its seat pan in a perfect position with suitable dimensions. An ergonomic chair is provided with pneumatical height adjustment. Not all chairs have enough back support for lower back and upper back with good lumbar support. An ergonomic chair satisfies all kinds of body posture with good back support in addition to lumbar support. Locking the chair backrest in one position generally isn't recommended. Before choosing a chair be sure that its armrests are broad, cushioned and comfortable.

Now I am going to lean back, relax, and enjoy.

A Note To Employers: 8 Things Intelligent People, Geeks and Nerds Need To Work Happy

There are many reasons to let geeks work the way they want to work. Today they work in every industry. They are the knowledge base, blood and sweat equity of many businesses. They work harder than most. They work longer than most. Their job isn’t a separate “thing they do” while they look forward to going home and relaxing. Geeks *live* what they do. They eat, sleep and breathe it. They are your systems administrators, your IT team, your programmers, your web developers, your designers… and sometimes even your customer service and sales people.
Anyone who understands how to leverage todays technology to increase intelligence, productivity and efficiency; anyone who stays up nights working to get better at what they do; anyone whose job is their life - is a geek. These are the most important asset your company has. For this reason, its important to give geeks what they want. Best part is, if you do, they most likely will not leave your company to work for someone who will.

#1. Let them work when they wantGeeks work almost every moment they are awake. They are online before they go to the office. They are home working after the office closes. They work weekends. They are even sometimes working in their dreams. Employers should understand this and more importantly appreciate it. Don’t force geeks to work 8 - 5 if there is no real need other than “company morale.” Meetings are one thing (, so is socializing with coworkers, but a relaxed office schedule will do wonders for the contentment levels of your employed geeks.

#2. Let them work where they wantGeeks prefer to have a couch around to nap on if they are tired. Some like no windows, others want to stare out into a city or landscape. At home, geek’s offices are usually more lived in, more comfortable and enjoyable than anywhere else in the world. This is because they love what they do, and they do it so much of the time they need to be comfortable where they do it.

#3. Let them control their lightingThere is nothing more annoying than working in bright crappy fluorescent lighting if you prefer to work in the dark, or vice versa. Geeks usually have sensitive eyes from staring at CRT monitors for too long. The last thing you want is your geeks to have headaches. Most geeks aren’t very pleasant to work with when they have headaches.

#4. Let them wear headphonesGeeks are experts in the arts of “focus.” Focusing takes removing all unnecessary distractions from your environment and creating a state where nothing else is going on but what they are working on. The harder the problem they are trying to solve or the more creative they have to be, the more they need to focus. Headphones, or simply a lack of ringing phones and talking sales people allow geeks to focus much easier.

#5. Do not expect them to wear a suitGeeks find arbitrary activities that lack real and meaningful purpose, a waste of time and energy. This includes attire. Most companies today are aware of this and even practice casual dress so as to make everyone more comfortable, but geeks are a special case. “Suits” (the kind of person) usually represent a business man who lacks most things other than a nice smile and great negotiation skills.

#6. Do not make them participate in company events (unless you are sure it is geek-friendly)Most geeks will not be jumping up and down with joy to attend a company party to celebrate the local football team, unless of course there is beer, and they can hang around and talk to each other about geeky things. Keep this in mind when planning company events. Geeks like to have fun, just not the same kind of fun as your typical non-geek.

#7. Do not hold a lot of arbitrary meetings that could have otherwise been handled through email or IMThis one is important. Like I said, geeks need to focus to be happy and able to focus. Nothing is more of an interruption than someone walking into their space unexpectedly and saying “hey do you have a minute?” The answer is usually going to be a disgruntled “Sure.” The truth is geeks are fine with attending planned meetings (and will happily be there if the meeting is really a necessary one for them to attend in person), but are usually most happy communicating through email and IM. These forms of communication are most appealing to geeks because they do not interrupt you, and polite geeks will even respond with a quick “hold on a sec, I’m in the middle of something.” Email and IM are recorded, searchable records of conversations. They are efficient and to the point. This also makes geeks happy. Geeks can discuss anything through email and IM and will usually be more willing and thorough with their response. Face to face meetings are important, geeks know that, but I would guess that 90% of conversations and meetings held face to face, would be more efficient and end with happier people, if they were held in a recordable, written, virtual space.

#8. Do not make them do anything other than workThis one isn’t completely accurate all the time. Geeks are team players, but they are also easily insulted by being given a task below their level of expertise or outside of the scope of their position. They’ll do it, but they won’t be totally happy. This includes: answering phones, taking out trash, going shopping for company supplies, and “filling in” for a sales person.

Ever wonder...

Why inkjet printers are so cheap?

Answer:
by Pendragon...

The reason is that the companies who manufacture and sell them intended from the very beginning to hook you with a cheap printer and then rip you off, hopefully for years, with incredibly expensive consumable ink cartridges which they also sell. The marketing plan they have adopted is that they will produce inkjet printers that are as good as they can produce and sell them at cost or even below cost to hook consumers on the special proprietary inkjet cartridges that are consumed in those printers.

I would never buy an inkjet unless I only had a few dollars to spend on a printer. In the event I did purchase an inkjet printer, I would use remanufactured cartridges. Look at any of the laser printer models from HP or Xerox as an alternative. In fact, alot of the new color laser machines are under $500.

http://www.tangerineofficesystems.com/
http://www.d-ros.com/
http://officeworldadvice.blogspot.com/

In the Business World...

Remembering Names is Key

You can’t continue to make excuses and apologize to people if you forgot their names. If you tell yourself you’re terrible with names, you’re always going to be terrible - it's a self fulfilling prophecy. Moreover, if you apologize to people, you only remind them that you’re terrible! If you forget the name, you can forget the sale!

There's no better way to convey that someone is important to you than remembering his or her name. A few time-tested tricks can help.

Always repeat the name as you're introduced. When someone introduces herself to you, your appropriate response should be: "Hi Lara Hall. I'm Tory Johnson, and it's nice to meet you." Try to say the first name a few more times in a conversation, and definitely repeat it as you're wrapping up. If it's a difficult name, don't be shy about asking how to spell it or even the origin.

Association is a key tool in memorization. Do you know someone else with the same name? Is there a characteristic of the person you can identify with the name? Some examples include short Sally, long-haired Harriet, or freckled Jane. Try to form a picture in your mind of the person, a defining trait (gorgeous gray hair, dazzling green eyes, or long, lovely nails) and envision their name over the image.

Don’t tell yourself that you can’t remember names! Once you have made the decision to go out of your way to remember them, it will only be easier to acquire and master the skill.

Things You Shouldn't Say at the Office

If you want to get AHEAD at work, there are phrases you need to leave OUT of your professional vocabulary. Here they are, courtesy of Real Simple magazine and Suzanne Bates, author of Speak Like a CEO.

Don’t say, “That’s not my job.” If your boss asks you to do something, it IS your job. Instead, try saying “Should that should be my priority right now? Because I have a lot on my plate.” Then have a conversation with your boss about your responsibilities, and what they consider to be the most important.

Don’t say, “This might sound stupid, but…” You should never undermine your ideas by prefacing them with this kind of wishy-washy language. Instead, say what’s on your mind. This reinforces your credibility, because it shows that you’re able to present your ideas with confidence.

When you’re on the job, never say, “I don’t have time to talk to you.” RUDE! Instead, ask the person, “Can I come by – or call you back – after I’ve finished this?” Then quickly and graciously explain why now isn’t a good time, and suggest a better one. Let your phone calls go to voicemail until you can give callers your undivided attention.

...and since we are on the subject of what not to say, here are some tips about things that should never be written in an email:

*Gossiping about your colleagues: including your boss, co-workers and clientele. You should never write about appearances or personality clashes.

*Forcing your political or religious views onto others. This has been known to cause many conflicts in the workforce. This could offend many people because of political or religious differences, and possibly discriminations.

*Sending jokes or stories about racial or sexual issues. This could offend many people due to the sensitivity related to those issues. Your reputation could be damaged as well.

*Soliciting money for personal emergencies. Although, many workplace do help employees in time of need, you should never be the one to send an email. Another colleague should take that action on your behalf.

*Forwarding confidential information to employees outside your department, former employees, or competitive employees. That could be grounds for dismissal. By leaking confidentiality, you are hurting the company's image and reputation.

These are some of the basic things that you should never say or do in an email. Just because you don't see the email in front of you, doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore. The next time you email, just treat it as another tool for professionalism.

Ever wonder how a laser printer works? (In laymans terms)

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Within the laser printer cartridge there is a drum that slowly turns. As it turns it is given a charge by a wire (charge corona wire) or, in some cases, another roller. After the drum is charged the printer shoots a laser at the surface of the drum discharging the drum in certain places. These places end up looking like letters and numbers on the drum.

To get these discharged letters and number shapes off the drum and onto a piece of paper the laser printer covers the discharged shapes with charged toner. It then hooks them up with an oppositely charged piece of paper. It makes sense that the toner is attracted to the paper and there it is, toner on paper. If you have ever changed a toner cartridge you can attest that the stuff loves to attach itself to just about anything. The process so far just makes the toner attach itself in an ordered fashion or letter and numbers.

Getting toned

The process is just about complete at the most basic level. What needs to happen to finish off the process is for the toner to be fused into the paper permanently. To accomplish this the laser printer rolls the paper by a heat roller to melt the toner into the fibers of the paper. As the laser printer does this it real eases the charge with yet another roller.

Ultimately, when the process is in synch there is no muss and no mess. But everything needs to be timed just right. In the end, there is a warm static free piece of paper with all the words fit and unfit to print.

http://www.tangerineofficesystems.com

http://www.d-ros.com

Xerox 6180. Is it the right choice for your office?

Add the Xerox Phaser 6180N ($500 street) to the small but growing list of relatively low-cost color lasers that can serve as workhorse printers in a small office or workgroup. Aside from a low price, entry into the club requires a combination of speed and paper handling that can smoothly handle relatively heavy-duty printing. The 6180N scores well on both counts and offers good-looking text and graphics as a bonus.

On the speed front, the 6180N offers a 26-pages-per-minute (ppm) rating for black-and-white printing and a 20-ppm rating for color—not to mention results on our tests that fully reflect those ratings. To get a significantly faster color laser you'd have to pay twice as much, for the Lexmark C534dn. For paper handling, the 6180N offers as standard both a 250-sheet input tray and a 150-sheet multipurpose tray, giving you the option of keeping two different kinds of paper—such as letterhead and plain paper—loaded at all times.

You can add a 550-sheet drawer ($400 street) if you need still more capacity. And you can add an optional duplexer ($200 street), although it's cheaper to buy the 6180DN model ($650 street) instead of upgrading the 6180N.

Network setup is a one-click operation. The program doesn't even ask how the printer is connected—it just looks for it, searching both USB ports and the network. It stops only for you to confirm that it found the right printer, and then again to announce that the installation is finished.

Text quality is one of the 6180N's strong points, with output that's good enough for most desktop publishing needs. Graphics output was typical for a color laser—easily good enough for any internal business need, including PowerPoint handouts, and arguably good enough for things like trifold brochures, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are. Photos were of typical laser quality, making them easily good enough for things like client newsletters, printing Web pages with photos, and printing photos as part of an advertising handout.

The total package adds up to make the printer a prime candidate if you need a small-office color-laser workhorse.

You can view the printer here:

http://www.tangerineofficesystems.com
http://www.xerox.xom

Think Global But Buy Local

When thinking about your local office products dealership versus a giant manufacturer, they are often first perceived like David going up against the behemoth Goliath that sells office equipment direct to the public. Dealer/suppliers, much like David, are smaller infrastructures than their larger competitor, and thankfully, this is a great advantage that translates into superior speed and agility when responding to requests for fast customer service!

Unlike the giants that make and in some cases sell their copiers, multifunction and other office products direct, your local community dealer won't try to impress customers with their size. Instead, they will typically bend over backwards to provide first-rate customer service. After all, they have a personal interest in ensuring fast turnaround and excellent service—their livelihood depends on it.

But that’s just one of the reasons why you may want to buy from a dealer versus the manufacturer. Dealers have brand flexibility and can represent more than one brand of products. This enables them to recommend products and solutions that most closely meet a company’s real business needs, pricing and corporate objectives. They also maintain relationships with multiple software providers. And since they’re not in the business of developing software, they’re free of any natural bias towards their own products. An independent dealer/supplier is going to take special care to find the kinds of systems that best serve you.

A dealer/supplier can also guide you through the thorny leasing process and even manage your lease agreement if that is your preference over purchasing. This ensures that your business doesn’t incur any of the penalties and fees which are part and parcel of the leasing business model. Partnering with someone that is experienced in the leasing game can mean the difference between saving and losing money on the deal.

Some dealer/suppliers serve as single-source solution providers that can streamline your business processes and ensure maximum efficiency and accountability. Why spend valuable time and resources coordinating several or more vendors when a single supplier may be able to provide a range of services? Imagine having one vendor provide services such as:

• Document imaging including document preparation/re-assembly and image indexing and verification
• IT services from network design and installation to desktop applications• Facilities management including copy and mailroom management

When you purchase office equipment from a local supplier, you’re buying from someone right in your backyard. You know where to find them and they’re directly accountable to you. Then there’s the human factor. A local dealer is a solid member of the community, and many dealers believe in giving back to their local region by supporting worthy causes, running the gamut from assisting in civic events to charitable donations to college endowment funds. They invest in the needs and people of their community, only some of which are customers.

Save Some Money With These Printing Tips

When printing Office Documents like XLS, PPT or DOC:

For Powerpoint: Print Handout and not slides. Use Grayscale or B&W mode rather than the default Color mode.

For Excel: Instead of printing full spreadsheets or the entire active spreadsheet page, select the areas (or cells) that you want to print and choose "Print Selection". Reduce the print quality (dpi) from the Page setup window and also deselect the option to Print Gridlines. If possible, use the Draft Quality mode.

For Word: Click "Options" button in the Print window and choose "Draft output" in the Printing options. Specify the page numbers that you want to print instead of printing the entire document. That will save your printing time, paper as well as ink.

When printing Photographs or Web Images:

Printing colored pictures on a home computer consumes the maximum amount of ink.

For many inkjet printers, printing a color photo can use as much as 30 times more ink than printing a standard page of text. The best bet is that you take the digital camera to the nearest photograph printing lab rather than print those jpg files at home. That may actually cost cheaper than printing on your personal printer.

If you still want to print images at home, get a good photo editing software like Photoshop or Gimp or even Paint.NET. Resize and Crop the picture to make it look more interesting. For best results, use photo paper recommended by the printer manufacturer as non-standard quality paper may jam the printer rollers or may even repel ink. I personally prefer a photopaper with a Matte finish than a glossy paper.

ISP to Sell Your Browsing History for Targeted Ads

It's one thing when Google uses your search for boobs to deliver targeted ads for plastic surgeons in your area. It's another when your ISP uses deep-packet inspection to snoop on which sites you visit and for how long, and then essentially sells that data to advertisers for super-targeted. That's exactly what Charter is about to do, calling it an "enhanced online experience." Naturally, the program is opt-out, not opt-in, so you've gotta take the initiative to hang on to one last shred of privacy. And no, they're not passing on the money they're making off your browsing habits in the form of discounts. I hope this doesn't migrate to other ISP's like pay per byte billing. Which incidentally is putting a limit on the amount of bandwidth a person uses and then billing them for "overages".

Fake, infected media file attacks half a million victims in a week

In what is being called the largest fake media file outbreak in three years, some 500,000 people have nearly fallen prey to a phony music or video track that is actually a spyware-infested Trojan horse.

Usually purporting to be a music track with an MP3 file extension, the file is actually an installer that claims to require a special codec and special media player to play back the file.

Install the codec and what you really get is a computer screen full of pop-ups delivered through a variety of malware programs. You can see what the infection process looks like by checking out the video on this post. The attack is primarily being distributed through peer-to-peer networks.

This is hardly an original attack, but the scale of it is immense: Those 500,000 atacks occurred in the space of just one week. That's substantial.

The bright spot is that according to McAfee, which provided the data in the BBC report, only about 10 percent of those who downloading the infected file actually installed it.

The infected file incorporates all manner of potential file names. Though the BBC story includes a half-dozen infected file names, the real list is exhaustive to the point where it would make little sense including it here. It's likely that that list will continue to grow, too, as the attack continues to develop.

You already know what you need to do now, but I'll say it again: Update your antivirus software, make sure it's running real-time scans, and keep off those peer-to-peer networks.

Can I fax with an all-in-one over cable internet?

Can I fax with an all-in-one over cable internet?

If I buy a regular all-in-one printer and hook it up via usb to my computer, can I then fax via the internet? I do not have a phone line that works anymore, as I use voip.
Also could I received faxes? and if so how would I figure out the number, or would I have to ask comcast for a second # ?

Thanks

by Pendrago...

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

1) No
2) Maybe
3) Home Number or 2nd number either/or

Faxing over VoIP is sometimes a problem due to "lossy" codecs. Analog (old phone line) is still best for faxing.

You can read more about it here.

http://hylafax.sourceforge.net/docs/fax-...

In short faxing over VOiP might work. Use caution and at your own risk.