Nov 14-20 is Global Entrepreneurship week: 123 countries, 40,000 events to stimulate global the economy. Check it out at http://ht.ly/7u4SE
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Global Entrepreneurship Week
Nov 14-20 is Global Entrepreneurship week: 123 countries, 40,000 events to stimulate global the economy. Check it out at http://ht.ly/7u4SE
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Using - but could use BETTER: part three
PC Security
If you're like most people, keeping your computer secure is a task similar to dieting - it's something you've heard a lot about, everyone you know has an opinion, yet no matter where you are with it, you suspect that you're still not doing the best you can.
We can lock our computers down so tight that nothing gets done without a half dozen pop-up windows asking "Are you sure?" after every mouse click. Or, we throw caution to the window and shut all that "annoying" security stuff off, which makes it much easier to get work done -- until the next virus or trojan hijacks our machine, and we're offline for days (or weeks) trying to clean up the mess and make up for the lost time.
Real-world PC security falls somewhere comfortably between "front door wide open" and "Def-con 1". The problem is, most articles on computer security discuss theory, not fact. Rotating "strong" passwords sounds good on paper, but in the real world it means you'll create a password so complex you'll have to write it down to remember it (which is like putting the front door key under the doormat), only to have to change it several times a year.
What you actually need to do is assess the level of security required for the asset being secured. You need a stronger password for your GMail or Yahoo! Mail account than your personal workstation, because your web-based email account is exposed to the world, while your personal computer is only vulnerable to those who have physical access to it. Until you connect to the Internet, or install software from an untrustworthy source.
Which brings us to the "real world PC security short list". Three things you must do, or be prepared to do, to have reasonable security as you surf the web and expose your computer to the risks - and benefits - of the global Internet:
The best way to protect your computer, email accounts, online banking and such is to make a "hard-to-guess" password. Given enough time, opportunity & resources, *all* passwords are crackable, so don't go crazy trying to create a password that would require a supercomputer to defeat -- you're not securing the president's nuclear launch codes. You just need to keep the script kiddies and automated password cracking programs out.
A simple method of creating passwords both hard to guess and easy (for you) to remember without writing them down is to combine two words & use a substitution method. For example: start with "crack" and "this". Join them with an asterisk, so you now gave "crack*this". Next, swap an "@" for the "a", "#" for the "h" and an exclamation mark for the "i".
Your password is now "cr@ck*t#!s". No brute force dictionary hack is going to crack this: it would literally take going through every combination of ten character combinations until the one you created was randomly stumbled upon. Yet, you should be able to remember it (relatively) easily, since you know what you started with, & what you combined & substituted to get the end results.
Software firewall/Anti-virus program
I'm going to save time (and column space) here, and just make a recommendation: download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. It's good, it's free, and since this post is about PC security, it secures every version of Windows from XP to Windows 7 (if you're using anything earlier than XP -- c'mon now... really?)
Now the readers of this blog, and this series, may be surprised that I don't provide a short list of options here. There are other free anti-virus and firewall programs that are about as good as MSE, and you may be using them. If so, please continue. But the focus of this post is security as a business process, not as a technical consideration.
For those of you who aren't using anything, and thus are unfamiliar with activating and configuring a software firewall, MSE's advantage is that it provides a best-of-breed antivirus program AND automatically activates and configures the built-in Windows firewall, saving you the headache of closing the firewall too tight, and helps you avoid the risk of finally shutting it off because the frustration of calibrating it becomes too great a disruption of your workflow.
When all else fails
Even when you do all of the above, your computer may still become infected. PC security is an arms race, and a constant compromise between locking your computer down until it becomes unusable, and leaving that one thing open that lets the badguys in.
Before that happens, do yourself two favors. First, download and install Malwarebytes Anti-malware. Install it and upgrade its definitions. Make a habit of upgrading the definitions every other week, just as a force of habit. Why? Because if your computer ever does become infected, this most likely may be the only program that will clean up the infection -- but the security definitions MUST BE UPDATED to deal with the newest infections, which pop up faster than bad pop songs on iTunes.
The second favor is to bookmark these free, online anti-virus scanners in your browser of choice:
If you are running MSE (or another anti-virus/firewall combination) and your computer becomes infected anyway, it will most likely be a trojan - software that masquerades as something harmless and buries itself into the operating system itself. Definite signs of a trojan infection are that your antivirus program stops working, and your browser is blocked from connecting to the Internet. That's why you need Malwarebytes already installed and updated - you'll need to run it to kill the trojan, and restore funtionality.
After an actual infection, I like to be double, triple sure that all traces of scum-ware have been removed. That's where the above websites come into play: they are the best online antivirus scanners available. They're all free, and are online services offered by the best anti-virus companies in the business. I recommend that you run more than one of them to ensure a clean machine - the truly paranoid among you can run them all.
In closing, remember that security is a process, not a program. It's how you do what you do that keeps you secure. For further details on this subject, check out my FREE eBook, "4 Things You MUST Know About Computer Security", available to read online or download to your hard drive.
And don't forget to scan it after you download it -- trust noone.
Related articles
If you're like most people, keeping your computer secure is a task similar to dieting - it's something you've heard a lot about, everyone you know has an opinion, yet no matter where you are with it, you suspect that you're still not doing the best you can.We can lock our computers down so tight that nothing gets done without a half dozen pop-up windows asking "Are you sure?" after every mouse click. Or, we throw caution to the window and shut all that "annoying" security stuff off, which makes it much easier to get work done -- until the next virus or trojan hijacks our machine, and we're offline for days (or weeks) trying to clean up the mess and make up for the lost time.
Real-world PC security falls somewhere comfortably between "front door wide open" and "Def-con 1". The problem is, most articles on computer security discuss theory, not fact. Rotating "strong" passwords sounds good on paper, but in the real world it means you'll create a password so complex you'll have to write it down to remember it (which is like putting the front door key under the doormat), only to have to change it several times a year.
What you actually need to do is assess the level of security required for the asset being secured. You need a stronger password for your GMail or Yahoo! Mail account than your personal workstation, because your web-based email account is exposed to the world, while your personal computer is only vulnerable to those who have physical access to it. Until you connect to the Internet, or install software from an untrustworthy source.
Which brings us to the "real world PC security short list". Three things you must do, or be prepared to do, to have reasonable security as you surf the web and expose your computer to the risks - and benefits - of the global Internet:
- Use hard-to-guess passwords for all important assets
- Use a software firewall at all times
- Use ONE anti-virus program, and update it regularly
The best way to protect your computer, email accounts, online banking and such is to make a "hard-to-guess" password. Given enough time, opportunity & resources, *all* passwords are crackable, so don't go crazy trying to create a password that would require a supercomputer to defeat -- you're not securing the president's nuclear launch codes. You just need to keep the script kiddies and automated password cracking programs out.
A simple method of creating passwords both hard to guess and easy (for you) to remember without writing them down is to combine two words & use a substitution method. For example: start with "crack" and "this". Join them with an asterisk, so you now gave "crack*this". Next, swap an "@" for the "a", "#" for the "h" and an exclamation mark for the "i".
Your password is now "cr@ck*t#!s". No brute force dictionary hack is going to crack this: it would literally take going through every combination of ten character combinations until the one you created was randomly stumbled upon. Yet, you should be able to remember it (relatively) easily, since you know what you started with, & what you combined & substituted to get the end results.
Software firewall/Anti-virus program
I'm going to save time (and column space) here, and just make a recommendation: download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. It's good, it's free, and since this post is about PC security, it secures every version of Windows from XP to Windows 7 (if you're using anything earlier than XP -- c'mon now... really?)
 |
| Microsoft Security Essentials (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
For those of you who aren't using anything, and thus are unfamiliar with activating and configuring a software firewall, MSE's advantage is that it provides a best-of-breed antivirus program AND automatically activates and configures the built-in Windows firewall, saving you the headache of closing the firewall too tight, and helps you avoid the risk of finally shutting it off because the frustration of calibrating it becomes too great a disruption of your workflow.
When all else fails
Even when you do all of the above, your computer may still become infected. PC security is an arms race, and a constant compromise between locking your computer down until it becomes unusable, and leaving that one thing open that lets the badguys in.
Before that happens, do yourself two favors. First, download and install Malwarebytes Anti-malware. Install it and upgrade its definitions. Make a habit of upgrading the definitions every other week, just as a force of habit. Why? Because if your computer ever does become infected, this most likely may be the only program that will clean up the infection -- but the security definitions MUST BE UPDATED to deal with the newest infections, which pop up faster than bad pop songs on iTunes.
The second favor is to bookmark these free, online anti-virus scanners in your browser of choice:
- http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
- http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/
- http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html
- http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner
- http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA-Labs/security-threats/tools/online-scanner
After an actual infection, I like to be double, triple sure that all traces of scum-ware have been removed. That's where the above websites come into play: they are the best online antivirus scanners available. They're all free, and are online services offered by the best anti-virus companies in the business. I recommend that you run more than one of them to ensure a clean machine - the truly paranoid among you can run them all.
In closing, remember that security is a process, not a program. It's how you do what you do that keeps you secure. For further details on this subject, check out my FREE eBook, "4 Things You MUST Know About Computer Security", available to read online or download to your hard drive.
And don't forget to scan it after you download it -- trust noone.
Related articles
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Using - but could use BETTER: part two
Email
INBOX. Reply All. Attach file. Blind CC. When most of us think of email, what comes to mind is how it works. "Is my INBOX full?" "I can't open that attachment" "I hope I did(n't) hit 'reply all'...!"
Rarely do we consider email, a tool as commonplace now as the telephone and postal mail, to be much of a business asset. Everyone has it now, so it's no longer a big deal, and it's pretty much taken for granted these days. But this simple tool, properly exploited, can be leveraged in several ways as a most powerful, cost-effect strategic asset.
Here are a few tips on how you can use email to work more effectively and efficiently, as you grow Your Small Business:
Mac users have Mail, and those on the Linux platform have Evolution, but on the Windows platform, most folks think they have no alternative but to buy Microsoft Outlook. As recently as five years ago, free Windows-based alternatives were either unavailable or inadequate, but much has changed.
Thunderbird by Mozilla - the folks who brought you the Firefox web browser - makes a fine substitute for Outlook: in fact, there are many who find it to be a superior choice. Like Firefox, it can be extended and modified by a multitude of addons, that allow you to schedule email for later delivery, extract attached files and photos with a single click, and translate words and phrases just for starters.
"Freemail" SPAM catchers
No longer regarded as amateurish, many of us have a free email account, often as our primary account. GMail and Yahoo! Mail accounts provide huge INBOXes (Yahoo!'s are unlimited). Since you can create as many "freemail" accounts as you choose, I like to use them as SPAM catchers.
Sometimes you need a valid email address to register at a website to download a useful document, or free software. A link is sent to your email account which must be clicked to complete the transaction. You know they want the email address so they can bombard you with sales offers and other unwanted information. Or, they sell you address to other marketers, who will flood your INBOX with endless SPAM.
So... create throwaway freemail accounts specifically for that purpose. Use them only for registering at these types of websites; check them for the necessary links, and ignore them otherwise. Both GMail and Yahoo! Mail have pretty good SPAM filters, and flush most SPAM after 30 days.
Apply Email Filters
Ok... that takes care of the unwanted email. But if you're like me, you receive a ton of email that you actually want, and may occasionally lose a particular message because it gets "lost in the INBOX overload".
Well, don't depend on the INBOX - that's just the default location. Filtering allows you to have your incoming email sorted automatically according to whatever rules you apply - who it's from, specific words in the "Subject:" line or the body of the email itself - to place the message in a folder (or apply a Label, in the case of GMail) of your choice. Each folder or label will display the number of unread messages they contain - make an effort to review the most critical messages, and this will provide a visual cue of newly received emails, and help you manage your INBOX overload.
Below are links to explaining how to create filters in the most popular email clients and freemail accounts:
Aggregate multiple email accounts
On smartphones like my iPhone, I currently access seven email accounts (not all of the email accounts I have - just the most essential active ones) at once. I have a master "All Inboxes" view, that shows me emails from every account as they arrive, collected in a single view. I can, of course, also view each account individually.
The way I work, my cell phone is my laptop, my laptop is my desktop, and my desktop is in storage. Most of you, I'm sure, spend most of your computer time on a laptop or desktop computer... but if you have more than one or two email accounts that you deal with during your work day, "one view to see them all" is an advantage you must experience. The moments you save not having to click out of one account and into another adds up to minutes a day, hours a week, days a year of time saved, that can be better spent doing something more productive.
Microsoft Outlook, by default, displays all your emails in a common INBOX, while also providing methods for you to separate them by email account - but this assumes you're using Outlook. For those of you who don't, can't or won't, there is a free alternative - Zimbra Desktop. Zimbra gives you the ability to manage all your email accounts - freemail and paid - with a single application. You can view them as separate accounts, but a distinct advantage is the "All Mailboxes" virtual folder.
This collects all the email from all your accounts into a single location - just like my iPhone does. Unlike my iPhone, it marks each email with the logo of the email account the message belongs to (see image above), helping you to visual distinguish your various mailboxes even though the messages are all grouped together.
Email, properly used, is an extremely economical strategic Small Business asset. Few tools combine its low cost, vast reach and minimum requirements - nothing more than a computer, Internet connection and web browser is really required. In addition, unlike the telephone, email automatically provides a record of your communication with co-workers, employees, clients and partners, as well as an inexpensive method of file sharing.
Commonplace and ubiquitous, few tools we use everyday are as versatile and powerful as email. Take another look at that overloaded INBOX, and take advantage of one of the most powerful tech tools at your command.
Related articles
INBOX. Reply All. Attach file. Blind CC. When most of us think of email, what comes to mind is how it works. "Is my INBOX full?" "I can't open that attachment" "I hope I did(n't) hit 'reply all'...!"
Here are a few tips on how you can use email to work more effectively and efficiently, as you grow Your Small Business:
- Free Outlook substitute
- "Freemail" accounts as SPAM catchers
- Apply email filters to avoid "INBOX" overload
- Consolidate multiple email accounts
Mac users have Mail, and those on the Linux platform have Evolution, but on the Windows platform, most folks think they have no alternative but to buy Microsoft Outlook. As recently as five years ago, free Windows-based alternatives were either unavailable or inadequate, but much has changed.
Thunderbird by Mozilla - the folks who brought you the Firefox web browser - makes a fine substitute for Outlook: in fact, there are many who find it to be a superior choice. Like Firefox, it can be extended and modified by a multitude of addons, that allow you to schedule email for later delivery, extract attached files and photos with a single click, and translate words and phrases just for starters.
"Freemail" SPAM catchers
No longer regarded as amateurish, many of us have a free email account, often as our primary account. GMail and Yahoo! Mail accounts provide huge INBOXes (Yahoo!'s are unlimited). Since you can create as many "freemail" accounts as you choose, I like to use them as SPAM catchers.
Sometimes you need a valid email address to register at a website to download a useful document, or free software. A link is sent to your email account which must be clicked to complete the transaction. You know they want the email address so they can bombard you with sales offers and other unwanted information. Or, they sell you address to other marketers, who will flood your INBOX with endless SPAM.
So... create throwaway freemail accounts specifically for that purpose. Use them only for registering at these types of websites; check them for the necessary links, and ignore them otherwise. Both GMail and Yahoo! Mail have pretty good SPAM filters, and flush most SPAM after 30 days.
Apply Email Filters
Ok... that takes care of the unwanted email. But if you're like me, you receive a ton of email that you actually want, and may occasionally lose a particular message because it gets "lost in the INBOX overload".
Well, don't depend on the INBOX - that's just the default location. Filtering allows you to have your incoming email sorted automatically according to whatever rules you apply - who it's from, specific words in the "Subject:" line or the body of the email itself - to place the message in a folder (or apply a Label, in the case of GMail) of your choice. Each folder or label will display the number of unread messages they contain - make an effort to review the most critical messages, and this will provide a visual cue of newly received emails, and help you manage your INBOX overload.
Below are links to explaining how to create filters in the most popular email clients and freemail accounts:
Aggregate multiple email accounts
On smartphones like my iPhone, I currently access seven email accounts (not all of the email accounts I have - just the most essential active ones) at once. I have a master "All Inboxes" view, that shows me emails from every account as they arrive, collected in a single view. I can, of course, also view each account individually.
Microsoft Outlook, by default, displays all your emails in a common INBOX, while also providing methods for you to separate them by email account - but this assumes you're using Outlook. For those of you who don't, can't or won't, there is a free alternative - Zimbra Desktop. Zimbra gives you the ability to manage all your email accounts - freemail and paid - with a single application. You can view them as separate accounts, but a distinct advantage is the "All Mailboxes" virtual folder.
This collects all the email from all your accounts into a single location - just like my iPhone does. Unlike my iPhone, it marks each email with the logo of the email account the message belongs to (see image above), helping you to visual distinguish your various mailboxes even though the messages are all grouped together.
Email, properly used, is an extremely economical strategic Small Business asset. Few tools combine its low cost, vast reach and minimum requirements - nothing more than a computer, Internet connection and web browser is really required. In addition, unlike the telephone, email automatically provides a record of your communication with co-workers, employees, clients and partners, as well as an inexpensive method of file sharing.
Commonplace and ubiquitous, few tools we use everyday are as versatile and powerful as email. Take another look at that overloaded INBOX, and take advantage of one of the most powerful tech tools at your command.
Related articles
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Using - but could use BETTER: part one
Document Management
Other than email and surfing the web, most of us use our computers to create electronic documents. Letters, proposals, contracts and invoices, a lot of time is spent creating documents that will be printed or attached to emails.
Most of us are familiar with word processor basics: bold, italics, changing fonts and text color. To the typical Small Business owner, operator or employee, there isn't much more to document management than all that and, maybe, spell checking. But the documents you print or attach to emails sent to your clients, partners and vendors represent Your Small Business. And the time you spend searching for a particular document, or creating an appropriate document from scratch could be put to better use performing tasks more directly related to what you do for a living -- even if that's creating documents.
Just as document creation tends to be a pretty basic Small Business task, there are a few fairly basic things that can make managing your electronics documents simpler, saving you a lot of time and effort.
Centralize
How often do you find yourself playing the "where the heck did I put that document again" game? Many of us tend to save the document we're creating in any random folder we happen to be in at the time. Or we have a desktop cluttered with dozens of documents, some relevant, many hopelessly outdated, and all scattered amongst downloaded programs, pictures, MP3s and who knows what all.
The "File/folder" metaphor dates back to the days when paper files were stored in beige "manila" folders, kept in the drawers of metal filing cabinets. Files weren't usually just stuffed willy-nilly into unlabeled folders and stuck into whatever drawer was closest: there was a logical structure which made it easy to remember where you placed a particular file, simplifying retrieval at a later date.
Create a special folder for your documents - that is, after all, why Windows has a "My Documents" folder by default. Place all document subfolders beneath that folder (whatever master folder you choose), and name these folders something that makes it easier to remember where you put things. Remember: creating documents is pretty straightforward. It's when you get to the point that you have dozens, or hundreds of key documents, it's finding them that becomes the problem.
Naming convention
Logical names should apply not only to folders and subfolders, but to the actual documents they contain. "Document 1", "Contract document" or "Bill's file" is not going to help you when you're looking for it seven months later. There are several approaches you can take when naming files, especially now that we're past the "eight letters, a dot, and a three letter extension" limits from back in the DOS/Windows 9x days.
You could go crazy, making each filename a story: "Contract for February 2012 widgets and gadgets.doc", but that's not terribly practical, and it's hard to sort through a folder with hundreds of files with names like sentences. A simpler approach is to use naming elements that are reasonably self-explaining, and combine them as elements of file names - "vendor-contract.doc", "client-app-lic.xls", "bank-proposal.ppt", etc.
Versioning
The naming convention examples make it easier to distinguish vendor contracts from client application licenses, and keeping documents in folders named for each vendor and client helps avoid confusion... but this assumes you'll only have one contract per vendor, or a single client app. You can, of course, add more elements to the file name - "vendor-maint-contract.doc", "client-acctng-app.xls", and so forth - but another area of confusion is when you have different versions of the same document.
Why might this happen? Several reasons, actually, from different wording or styling to different people working on drafts of the same document. What usually ends up happening is that the document is saved in different locations (typically with the exact same file name), leading to confusion. You can always check the date the file was last saved or modified, but the newest document isn't alway the "ultimate" version - sometimes, the most recent modifications don't improve things... but if you step away for a few days, it can be hard to remember.
An easy(er) way of keeping track of things is to add an element to the file name that lets you know which version is which. A simple naming convention is to add date elements to the beginning of the file name: "2011-03-14-vendor-maint-contract.doc", "2010-12-28-client-accounting-app.xls", etc. While this may seem a bit clunky, an immediate advantage is that the files will naturally sort from oldest to newest automatically.
You can also use other versioning elements: "initial-draft-vendor-service-contract.doc", "bobs-version1-client-finance-app.xls" and so on. Just as long as the elements you add are consistent, and help distinguish one version from another.
Templates
Discussing versions leads naturally to the final point about basic document management: you will often create the same type of document again and again. Vendor contracts, client agreements, welcome letters, negotiations, inquiries, etc.
Often, unfortunately, we have a tendency to start fresh with each attempt, forgetting that we've been down this road before, and probably did a good job of it sometime in the past. A helpful tip is to create a "templates" subfolder, and when you've created a particularly good document - well formatted, good language, etc. - make a copy of it, and place it in this folder.
The next time you need a similar document, just replace the names, addresses and other info, rather than rewriting the whole thing from scratch. A good practice is to replace these elements in the template copy, with "placeholder" text like FIRST-NAME, ADDRESS, COMPANY and such. Then, when composing the document, copy the template into the client folder and just search and replace these elements.
Also, don't forget to change the template file name to something like "vendor-contract-TEMPLATE.doc" to avoid sending out the wrong version. I like using the capital letters to help visually distinguish the templates from the actually working copies of the documents to be delivered.
You don't have to make your own templates, however. Here are a few good, free sources of templates available online:
In this digital age, many of the people you do business with will know you only by the documents you create and send them. Managing them well, as simple as they may seem, can be a key element in Your Small Business success.
Related articles
Most of us are familiar with word processor basics: bold, italics, changing fonts and text color. To the typical Small Business owner, operator or employee, there isn't much more to document management than all that and, maybe, spell checking. But the documents you print or attach to emails sent to your clients, partners and vendors represent Your Small Business. And the time you spend searching for a particular document, or creating an appropriate document from scratch could be put to better use performing tasks more directly related to what you do for a living -- even if that's creating documents.
Just as document creation tends to be a pretty basic Small Business task, there are a few fairly basic things that can make managing your electronics documents simpler, saving you a lot of time and effort.
Centralize
How often do you find yourself playing the "where the heck did I put that document again" game? Many of us tend to save the document we're creating in any random folder we happen to be in at the time. Or we have a desktop cluttered with dozens of documents, some relevant, many hopelessly outdated, and all scattered amongst downloaded programs, pictures, MP3s and who knows what all.
The "File/folder" metaphor dates back to the days when paper files were stored in beige "manila" folders, kept in the drawers of metal filing cabinets. Files weren't usually just stuffed willy-nilly into unlabeled folders and stuck into whatever drawer was closest: there was a logical structure which made it easy to remember where you placed a particular file, simplifying retrieval at a later date.
Create a special folder for your documents - that is, after all, why Windows has a "My Documents" folder by default. Place all document subfolders beneath that folder (whatever master folder you choose), and name these folders something that makes it easier to remember where you put things. Remember: creating documents is pretty straightforward. It's when you get to the point that you have dozens, or hundreds of key documents, it's finding them that becomes the problem.
Naming convention
Logical names should apply not only to folders and subfolders, but to the actual documents they contain. "Document 1", "Contract document" or "Bill's file" is not going to help you when you're looking for it seven months later. There are several approaches you can take when naming files, especially now that we're past the "eight letters, a dot, and a three letter extension" limits from back in the DOS/Windows 9x days.
You could go crazy, making each filename a story: "Contract for February 2012 widgets and gadgets.doc", but that's not terribly practical, and it's hard to sort through a folder with hundreds of files with names like sentences. A simpler approach is to use naming elements that are reasonably self-explaining, and combine them as elements of file names - "vendor-contract.doc", "client-app-lic.xls", "bank-proposal.ppt", etc.
Versioning
The naming convention examples make it easier to distinguish vendor contracts from client application licenses, and keeping documents in folders named for each vendor and client helps avoid confusion... but this assumes you'll only have one contract per vendor, or a single client app. You can, of course, add more elements to the file name - "vendor-maint-contract.doc", "client-acctng-app.xls", and so forth - but another area of confusion is when you have different versions of the same document.
Why might this happen? Several reasons, actually, from different wording or styling to different people working on drafts of the same document. What usually ends up happening is that the document is saved in different locations (typically with the exact same file name), leading to confusion. You can always check the date the file was last saved or modified, but the newest document isn't alway the "ultimate" version - sometimes, the most recent modifications don't improve things... but if you step away for a few days, it can be hard to remember.
An easy(er) way of keeping track of things is to add an element to the file name that lets you know which version is which. A simple naming convention is to add date elements to the beginning of the file name: "2011-03-14-vendor-maint-contract.doc", "2010-12-28-client-accounting-app.xls", etc. While this may seem a bit clunky, an immediate advantage is that the files will naturally sort from oldest to newest automatically.
You can also use other versioning elements: "initial-draft-vendor-service-contract.doc", "bobs-version1-client-finance-app.xls" and so on. Just as long as the elements you add are consistent, and help distinguish one version from another.
Templates
Often, unfortunately, we have a tendency to start fresh with each attempt, forgetting that we've been down this road before, and probably did a good job of it sometime in the past. A helpful tip is to create a "templates" subfolder, and when you've created a particularly good document - well formatted, good language, etc. - make a copy of it, and place it in this folder.
The next time you need a similar document, just replace the names, addresses and other info, rather than rewriting the whole thing from scratch. A good practice is to replace these elements in the template copy, with "placeholder" text like FIRST-NAME, ADDRESS, COMPANY and such. Then, when composing the document, copy the template into the client folder and just search and replace these elements.
Also, don't forget to change the template file name to something like "vendor-contract-TEMPLATE.doc" to avoid sending out the wrong version. I like using the capital letters to help visually distinguish the templates from the actually working copies of the documents to be delivered.
You don't have to make your own templates, however. Here are a few good, free sources of templates available online:
- Open Office Templates
- Microsoft Office Templates
- Google Docs Templates (must be logged in to a GMail or Google Apps account)
- Sample Words Templates
- Small Business & Professional Templates
In this digital age, many of the people you do business with will know you only by the documents you create and send them. Managing them well, as simple as they may seem, can be a key element in Your Small Business success.
Related articles
Friday, March 04, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Not Using - but SHOULD BE: part five
Task Management
Business is about relationships - how you relate to your clients, vendors, co-workers and partners. This has been the recurring theme of the series published so far this year. One relationship has been somewhat overlooked so far - how you relate to the effort required to do the actual work that is Your Small Business.
Whether you produce a product for sale, sell products produced elsewhere, provide a service or offer advice as a consultant, the work you must do to produce a salable end result can be reduced to a series of individual steps, commonly referred to as "tasks". While the work ends up "getting done", and money is made, most of us would find it difficult to describe precisely how the work is actually accomplished.
This seems so obvious that it is often... no - usually taken for granted. "What do you mean, how do I get the work done? I... just... well, I just do it." That's a sufficient answer from a hobbyist, but one of the major reasons Small Businesses fail to "scale up" -- to quickly add a significant number of new hires in a hurry -- is because there is no formal work process. This is also the main reason why, when facing a sudden deadline, chaos ensues among even the smallest of businesses -- a two or three person shop -- because not only is nobody on the same page: no-one knows what the page IS...
Most Small Business begin with one person doing something they're good at. They typically take on one client at first, slowly building up their client base through word of mouth recommendations from that first satisfied customer. Before they know it, their business is up and running. But before too long, they're overwhelmed with the effort required to get things done, because they never formally approached how they do what they do.
Simply getting things done is acceptable at first; certainly better than NOT getting things done. But a business is not "things done" -- a business is a predictable method of producing a quality result, in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost. If it takes too long, the client loses patience, customers of their own, or even their business.
If it costs too much, the client complains, balks... or sometimes refuses payment or may even sue you. This is why managing the tasks required to perform the work is crucial to overall Small Business success. Nobody suggests hiring an "efficiency expert", with a clipboard and stopwatch, or writing a thousand-page "how-to" manual. But tracking the work done, and the work to be done, accomplishes several essential and easily overlooked objectives:
But this is the 21st Century, folks: are you in business to do "well enough", or are you trying to grow Your Small Business, to thrive and expand? This will not happen by accident, and you will not magically discover a secret recipe, even if you're in the food services industry. Task management is not about a particular program, but a particular approach.
You can use something as simple as the calendar and task list functions in Microsoft Office, Mozilla Thunderbird or other similar email/calendar/task/contact list application. The fundamentals of task management are actually quite basic:
In such cases, there are several good, free task management applications Your Open Source CIO recommends:
I select Feng Office (what is with these Open Source project names, for goodness sake?) as the ideal tool for most Small Business task management. It closely resembles the Microsoft Outlook layout, while presenting a well-designed web-based interface for managing tasks, related subtasks and calendar events without overwhelming you with the complexity of how it works.
Task Coach is simpler and desktop-based, making it ideal for the solopreneur who just needs to keep the things they're doing in order, check off what gets done, and maintain a sense of the overall work effort as their business develops. Project Pier has an elegant web-based interface, and is simpler in design that Feng Office, with much less focus on calendar event and document management.
dotProject is at the bottom of the list both because it's interface is the least user-friendly, and because it is really only suited for large, complex projects handled by the more formal Project/Task/Resource/Dependency project manager paradigm. It is the only application that has GANTT chart function - if you don't know what a GANTT chart is, you definitely don't need one.
As with CRM, don't get caught up on which one to choose. They're ALL free, so check them all out if you like, and find the one that fits. Remember: it's not the tool you choose, it's the tool you use.
Related articles
Business is about relationships - how you relate to your clients, vendors, co-workers and partners. This has been the recurring theme of the series published so far this year. One relationship has been somewhat overlooked so far - how you relate to the effort required to do the actual work that is Your Small Business.
Whether you produce a product for sale, sell products produced elsewhere, provide a service or offer advice as a consultant, the work you must do to produce a salable end result can be reduced to a series of individual steps, commonly referred to as "tasks". While the work ends up "getting done", and money is made, most of us would find it difficult to describe precisely how the work is actually accomplished.
This seems so obvious that it is Most Small Business begin with one person doing something they're good at. They typically take on one client at first, slowly building up their client base through word of mouth recommendations from that first satisfied customer. Before they know it, their business is up and running. But before too long, they're overwhelmed with the effort required to get things done, because they never formally approached how they do what they do.
Simply getting things done is acceptable at first; certainly better than NOT getting things done. But a business is not "things done" -- a business is a predictable method of producing a quality result, in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost. If it takes too long, the client loses patience, customers of their own, or even their business.
If it costs too much, the client complains, balks... or sometimes refuses payment or may even sue you. This is why managing the tasks required to perform the work is crucial to overall Small Business success. Nobody suggests hiring an "efficiency expert", with a clipboard and stopwatch, or writing a thousand-page "how-to" manual. But tracking the work done, and the work to be done, accomplishes several essential and easily overlooked objectives:
- It provides a checklist to ensure critical tasks are not left undone
- It lets you know when (and if) the work is actually done
- It provides a record of how repeated (and repeatable) efforts were accomplished, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel
- Over time, it gives you a way to show others how to do things without having to physical supervise them, or take time explaining things when you could be getting other work done.
- In some cases, it gives you a tangible checklist to show the client or customer the "progress so far", or proof that the required work has actually been done
But this is the 21st Century, folks: are you in business to do "well enough", or are you trying to grow Your Small Business, to thrive and expand? This will not happen by accident, and you will not magically discover a secret recipe, even if you're in the food services industry. Task management is not about a particular program, but a particular approach.
You can use something as simple as the calendar and task list functions in Microsoft Office, Mozilla Thunderbird or other similar email/calendar/task/contact list application. The fundamentals of task management are actually quite basic:
- Associate jobs with clients - this helps track what you're doing for whom, and helps you keep them in the loop as the work progresses
- Break down jobs into tasks - the fundamental, individual effort; the distinct "thing to do" that can't be broken down any further
- Arrange the tasks into a logical sequence - to get the overall job done in the most efficient (least time + least cost) manner. Parallel tasks (doing more than one thing at once) are acceptable, where possible
- Schedule each task - this ensures that you actually get them done, and prevents "double booking" time conflicts
- Check off completed tasks - this not only prevents duplicated effort, but gives you visual evidence of moving closer to the job getting done
In such cases, there are several good, free task management applications Your Open Source CIO recommends:
I select Feng Office (what is with these Open Source project names, for goodness sake?) as the ideal tool for most Small Business task management. It closely resembles the Microsoft Outlook layout, while presenting a well-designed web-based interface for managing tasks, related subtasks and calendar events without overwhelming you with the complexity of how it works.Task Coach is simpler and desktop-based, making it ideal for the solopreneur who just needs to keep the things they're doing in order, check off what gets done, and maintain a sense of the overall work effort as their business develops. Project Pier has an elegant web-based interface, and is simpler in design that Feng Office, with much less focus on calendar event and document management.
dotProject is at the bottom of the list both because it's interface is the least user-friendly, and because it is really only suited for large, complex projects handled by the more formal Project/Task/Resource/Dependency project manager paradigm. It is the only application that has GANTT chart function - if you don't know what a GANTT chart is, you definitely don't need one.
As with CRM, don't get caught up on which one to choose. They're ALL free, so check them all out if you like, and find the one that fits. Remember: it's not the tool you choose, it's the tool you use.
Related articles
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Not Using - but SHOULD BE: part four
CRM
As is the recurring theme of these series, business is about relationships. Some time ago major corporations and the software companies that serve them realized it was time to bundle that concept into application form.
So, just as Outlook bundled email, contact management, scheduling and task management (even though few of us use it to its full potential), the many aspects of managing the efforts of acquiring leads, tracking communication with them, converting them into paying customers and figuring out how much money they've made (or cost) your business was bundled into a class of software.
This type of application is called "CRM" -- which stands for, simply enough, "Customer Relationship Management". There are many different CRM applications, both free and commercial of various levels of complexity, but the basic elements of CRM are:
Well... ask yourself a few questions:
We're in the 21st Century - already in progress, as I like to say - and isn't it time to get past the excuse that technology is too complicated or time consuming to learn.
In this "Great Recession" economy, every business, small and large, needs every competitive advantage at their disposal. If you fail to convert a potential customer, or exploit business opportunities with your existing clients, you're leaving money on the table.
Is your business doing that well? Can you afford to do that? You don't have to jump head first into the CRM mix, and it need not cost you anything but the time to learn how to integrate CRM into your current work flow. There are many choices of CRM software, both free and commercial.
Most CRM software is designed for larger businesses, and might overwhelm the solopreneur or SOHO organization just getting started with this type of application. But this doesn't leave you without options.
Here's the short list Your Open Source CIO recommends:
Free:
Commercial:
The free programs install on a PC within Your Small Business, with varying degrees of difficulty; the commercial applications all offer options which are hosted on the respective companies' server farms, making it much easier to set up and get going, but putting ownership of your customer data in the hands of strangers.
The top choice in each list integrates well with Microsoft Outlook, which I assume most of you readers are using as your email/contact/calendar application right now. I recommend these as the fastest way to get on board with CRM, whether you have a marginal software budget or no budget at all. Going down each list, the applications have more features, but also a steeper learning curve.
Whatever you do, pick one, and start using it. There's gold to be mined in the business cards and email addresses you already possess: don't leave money on the table that belongs in Your Small Business bank account.
Related articles
So, just as Outlook bundled email, contact management, scheduling and task management (even though few of us use it to its full potential), the many aspects of managing the efforts of acquiring leads, tracking communication with them, converting them into paying customers and figuring out how much money they've made (or cost) your business was bundled into a class of software.
This type of application is called "CRM" -- which stands for, simply enough, "Customer Relationship Management". There are many different CRM applications, both free and commercial of various levels of complexity, but the basic elements of CRM are:
- Contact Management
- Associating contacts with companies or, as they are often called, "accounts"
- Distinguishing between potential customers ("leads") and actual clients
- Tracking the level of engagement in the "conversion" process (nurturing the relationship of converting a "lead" [potential] into a customer)
- Associating accounts/contacts with your company's revenue stream
Well... ask yourself a few questions:
- Have you ever met a prospect at an event, or had one referred... and then somehow, failed to follow up and convert them to a paying customer?
- Have you ever taken things to the next level - an actual phone call or meeting - but never closed the deal, despite a positive feeling at the end of the initial encounter?
- Have you ever hesitated to follow up with a lead you had contacted in the past because you couldn't remember where you had left things during you last encounter -- or couldn't remember exactly when that last encounter was?
- Do you find yourself staring at a stack of business cards, without a clue as to who most of those people are, where you met them, or whether they are prospects, vendors, or potential referral partners...?
- When and how did we meet?
- Does this individual prefer phone calls, emails or face-to-face meetings
- How interested are they in doing business? How hard can I "push"?
- When was our last encounter?
- What was the mode (call/email/meeting) and result of our last meeting?
- When should I follow up... and how?
- How much business am I doing with my existing customers?
- Which customers are costing me more than I make doing business with them? (this question is almost never asked, regardless of business size or type)
In this "Great Recession" economy, every business, small and large, needs every competitive advantage at their disposal. If you fail to convert a potential customer, or exploit business opportunities with your existing clients, you're leaving money on the table.
Is your business doing that well? Can you afford to do that? You don't have to jump head first into the CRM mix, and it need not cost you anything but the time to learn how to integrate CRM into your current work flow. There are many choices of CRM software, both free and commercial.
Most CRM software is designed for larger businesses, and might overwhelm the solopreneur or SOHO organization just getting started with this type of application. But this doesn't leave you without options.
Here's the short list Your Open Source CIO recommends:
Free:
Commercial:
The free programs install on a PC within Your Small Business, with varying degrees of difficulty; the commercial applications all offer options which are hosted on the respective companies' server farms, making it much easier to set up and get going, but putting ownership of your customer data in the hands of strangers.
The top choice in each list integrates well with Microsoft Outlook, which I assume most of you readers are using as your email/contact/calendar application right now. I recommend these as the fastest way to get on board with CRM, whether you have a marginal software budget or no budget at all. Going down each list, the applications have more features, but also a steeper learning curve.
Whatever you do, pick one, and start using it. There's gold to be mined in the business cards and email addresses you already possess: don't leave money on the table that belongs in Your Small Business bank account.
Related articles
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Not Using - but SHOULD BE: part three
Email Campaigning
I remember attending a meeting when I was IT manager for a New York architectural design firm, and learning that the most important application was not the one that did the drafting, drawing and 3D design... but was Microsoft Outlook - their email program...!
Not surprising, once you consider it. Unless we can communicate with our clients, colleagues, co-workers, vendors and peers, there IS no business. The days of mailroom workers patrolling the aisles with carts, picking up and delivering physical mail all day are not even in the active memory of many of today's Small Business owners and employees. Email is king and, as such, is easily taken for granted.
So looking at email as a Small Business "power tool" might strike you as a bit strange, initially. Plain old, boring email -- huh? But that's not what we're talking about here.
Back in the old-timey days of carbon paper and Correct-O-Type, there used to be this thing called "Direct Mail campaigning", in which colorful brochures, flyers, postcards and the like were physically mailed to targeted audiences throughout the land. Only a fraction of recipients ever responded, but if you sent out thousands (or tens of thousands), a return of even a small percent of the total more than justified the effort and expense.
Well email, for the most part, is free. And with the proper resource, preparing the equivalent of a colorful flyer or informative brochure is child's play (and for the technologically challenged out there -- enlist the aid of your actual children in this effort: they were practically born with joysticks or game controllers in their hands).
Many of you may be familiar with Constant Contact, the popular email campaign website. In fact, if you've recently received an email invitation to an event that was well formatted, with graphics, nice fonts and such, check the bottom of that message -- odds are good it was sent from a Constant Contact account.
As good, and as popular, as Constant Contact is, Your Open Source CIO prefers and recommends (and uses) MailChimp.... I have no idea why they call it that, but who cares what it's called:
The real advantage of email campaigning is the autoresponder. In short, it is a pre-determined series of emails delivered on a schedule - every other day, every week, once a month, whatever. As new people are added to your autoresponder list, they're automatically put at the top of the list, and get the first email - say "Welcome, Valued Customer of [INSERT YOUR BUSINESS NAME]", then the second, and third, and so on, according to schedule.
AUTOMATICALLY. So once you've set up the emails, and the schedule, you just add new names to the list. How are you doing this now? Manually, by mail merging word processor documents -- if at all?? C'mon now, join the 21st Century...already in progress.
It's a well-known metric of business that it takes an average of seven contacts to convert a lead into a customer. Will you remember to follow-up seven times with every new lead you encounter? Will you have the time?? With a properly designed autoresponder campaign, you don't have to. And this doesn't just apply to converting leads... business is about relationships, remember?
How about a valued customer autoresponder campaign? Not pitches, and upsell attempts -- just send an email every third week, with some helpful advice or amusing anecdotes, coming from you, and reminding your existing customers that you value them -- and hopefully, jogging their memory of how much they value you and Your Small Business.
Wondering how to get new business from your old clients? Remember, it's about relationships. And as with personal relationships, it's usually out of sight, out of mind.
So use email campaigning not just to pitch and sell, but to stay "top of mind" with your most valuable resources - the people you're already doing business with.
Related articles
I remember attending a meeting when I was IT manager for a New York architectural design firm, and learning that the most important application was not the one that did the drafting, drawing and 3D design... but was Microsoft Outlook - their email program...!
Not surprising, once you consider it. Unless we can communicate with our clients, colleagues, co-workers, vendors and peers, there IS no business. The days of mailroom workers patrolling the aisles with carts, picking up and delivering physical mail all day are not even in the active memory of many of today's Small Business owners and employees. Email is king and, as such, is easily taken for granted.
So looking at email as a Small Business "power tool" might strike you as a bit strange, initially. Plain old, boring email -- huh? But that's not what we're talking about here.Back in the old-timey days of carbon paper and Correct-O-Type, there used to be this thing called "Direct Mail campaigning", in which colorful brochures, flyers, postcards and the like were physically mailed to targeted audiences throughout the land. Only a fraction of recipients ever responded, but if you sent out thousands (or tens of thousands), a return of even a small percent of the total more than justified the effort and expense.
Well email, for the most part, is free. And with the proper resource, preparing the equivalent of a colorful flyer or informative brochure is child's play (and for the technologically challenged out there -- enlist the aid of your actual children in this effort: they were practically born with joysticks or game controllers in their hands).
Many of you may be familiar with Constant Contact, the popular email campaign website. In fact, if you've recently received an email invitation to an event that was well formatted, with graphics, nice fonts and such, check the bottom of that message -- odds are good it was sent from a Constant Contact account.
As good, and as popular, as Constant Contact is, Your Open Source CIO prefers and recommends (and uses) MailChimp.
- It's FREE
- Each free account can have up to 2,000 email accounts in its combined lists
- Each account can deliver up to 12,000 mailings each month
- It has a wealth of video tutorials to walk you through every step of setting up email campaigns
- It has a wonderful selection of templates for all occasions, edited as easily as a word processor document
It's the only free email campaign site I'm aware of that has autoresponders.(MailChimp no longer offers autoresponder with the FREE accounts.)- Did I mention it's FREE???
The real advantage of email campaigning is the autoresponder. In short, it is a pre-determined series of emails delivered on a schedule - every other day, every week, once a month, whatever. As new people are added to your autoresponder list, they're automatically put at the top of the list, and get the first email - say "Welcome, Valued Customer of [INSERT YOUR BUSINESS NAME]", then the second, and third, and so on, according to schedule.
AUTOMATICALLY. So once you've set up the emails, and the schedule, you just add new names to the list. How are you doing this now? Manually, by mail merging word processor documents -- if at all?? C'mon now, join the 21st Century...already in progress.
It's a well-known metric of business that it takes an average of seven contacts to convert a lead into a customer. Will you remember to follow-up seven times with every new lead you encounter? Will you have the time?? With a properly designed autoresponder campaign, you don't have to. And this doesn't just apply to converting leads... business is about relationships, remember?
How about a valued customer autoresponder campaign? Not pitches, and upsell attempts -- just send an email every third week, with some helpful advice or amusing anecdotes, coming from you, and reminding your existing customers that you value them -- and hopefully, jogging their memory of how much they value you and Your Small Business.
Wondering how to get new business from your old clients? Remember, it's about relationships. And as with personal relationships, it's usually out of sight, out of mind.
So use email campaigning not just to pitch and sell, but to stay "top of mind" with your most valuable resources - the people you're already doing business with.
Related articles
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Not Using - but SHOULD BE: part two
Groupware
A key advantage of technology is that it allows us to do things faster and more efficiently - like typing a business letter. Remember "White-Out"? Or carbon paper?
Most Small Businesses are "solopreneurships" -- one person operations -- but 75% of all small businesses have up to 20 people working for them. Yet the tendency exists to conduct business as if the two, or five, or more people in the business are working by themselves, in isolation. I have several clients who complain that something as simple as scheduling meetings requires tremendous effort -- even in a shop where everyone sits within arm's reach of one another!
A distinct value of today's technology is the ability to coordinate our daily activities. It's a matter of using what's already there. Any office that uses... er, Microsoft Office (with Outlook) has calendar functions built right in, that allows everyone in the - office - to see everyone else's scheduled appointments, search for free time within the day, and link these schedules with the contacts in their address books, and send and coordinate invitation via email.
In addition, every version of MS Office since the 2003 version (currently, the most widely used) provides the ability to share the editing of word processor documents and spreadsheets, with annotated markups of who made which changes when, and the ability to merge all changes into a final version for release and distribution.
For those of us who cannot afford Microsoft's popular productivity suite, Google provides similar functionality for free, with no installation requirement except the web browser of your choice. Google Apps Standard give you the ability to set up 50 email accounts under your businesses domain name (I have done this for my "communit.us" domain), with over 7.5GB in each inbox.
In addition, using the online Google Documents function, you can create and edit documents online, share the editing tasks with your Small Business partners or co-workers, and even see their editing real-time, coordinating the work effort from anywhere in the world you have access to the Internet.
A step further in complexity is the free application "eGroupWare", which brings this functionality and more in-house. Running on any available PC in your company, you can set up a web-based central command, coordinating email accounts, multiple contact lists, tasks list, time sheets, document and project management. The best thing about eGroupWare is how it all coordinates - schedule a task, associate it with a client of vendor from the address book, link it to a meeting event in the calendar, and tie it all together with an existing project, which provides a simple but effective "GANTT chart" that visually maps your progress, and even keeps a running total of the cumulative time of the overall work effort.
Of course, none of this works if you don't use it, and that does take a bit of learning how, even if you just use Microsoft Office, Word and Excel more efficiently. But as a Small Business owner, operator or employee, knowing how is the value you bring to your clients -- if they could do it themselves, they would, and save the money they pay you.
Isn't it worth investing whatever time it would take, to bring added value to your Small Business itself? Groupware allows you to do more, with less, more efficiently -- isn't that worth investing a little time to learn how?
Related articles
A key advantage of technology is that it allows us to do things faster and more efficiently - like typing a business letter. Remember "White-Out"? Or carbon paper?
Most Small Businesses are "solopreneurships" -- one person operations -- but 75% of all small businesses have up to 20 people working for them. Yet the tendency exists to conduct business as if the two, or five, or more people in the business are working by themselves, in isolation. I have several clients who complain that something as simple as scheduling meetings requires tremendous effort -- even in a shop where everyone sits within arm's reach of one another!
In addition, every version of MS Office since the 2003 version (currently, the most widely used) provides the ability to share the editing of word processor documents and spreadsheets, with annotated markups of who made which changes when, and the ability to merge all changes into a final version for release and distribution.
For those of us who cannot afford Microsoft's popular productivity suite, Google provides similar functionality for free, with no installation requirement except the web browser of your choice. Google Apps Standard give you the ability to set up 50 email accounts under your businesses domain name (I have done this for my "communit.us" domain), with over 7.5GB in each inbox.
In addition, using the online Google Documents function, you can create and edit documents online, share the editing tasks with your Small Business partners or co-workers, and even see their editing real-time, coordinating the work effort from anywhere in the world you have access to the Internet.A step further in complexity is the free application "eGroupWare", which brings this functionality and more in-house. Running on any available PC in your company, you can set up a web-based central command, coordinating email accounts, multiple contact lists, tasks list, time sheets, document and project management. The best thing about eGroupWare is how it all coordinates - schedule a task, associate it with a client of vendor from the address book, link it to a meeting event in the calendar, and tie it all together with an existing project, which provides a simple but effective "GANTT chart" that visually maps your progress, and even keeps a running total of the cumulative time of the overall work effort.
Of course, none of this works if you don't use it, and that does take a bit of learning how, even if you just use Microsoft Office, Word and Excel more efficiently. But as a Small Business owner, operator or employee, knowing how is the value you bring to your clients -- if they could do it themselves, they would, and save the money they pay you.
Isn't it worth investing whatever time it would take, to bring added value to your Small Business itself? Groupware allows you to do more, with less, more efficiently -- isn't that worth investing a little time to learn how?
Related articles
Monday, February 28, 2011
Top Five Tech Tools You're Probably Not Using - but SHOULD BE: part one
Instant Messaging
If you're like most Small Business owners or operators "of a certain age", your view of Instant Messaging, if you have one, may be similar to one of the following statements:
Business, as I've mentioned in the previous series, is about relationships. Relationships, in turn, are about communication. I'm sure it's no secret that email is an essential Small Business tool -- if nothing else, it has allowed Small Businesses to save on postage and shipping costs once required to provide instant communication. Where it once took a special delivery or overnight package delivery (and still took at least a day) to ship critical documents to a business partner, vendor or client, we can now attach a PDF or word processor file to an email, and the relevant party receives it almost instantly.
Thus the "instant" in instant messaging -- "IM", as it is commonly known, combines the quickness of a phone conversation with the permanence of text. This second component is not to be overlooked, or taken lightly. How many times have you spoken with someone about a previous conversation, struggling to recall an important detail that neither of you can remember now, because you weren't recording the call or taking notes?
IM-ing is nothing but taking notes, real-time, as you engage in conversation. Even with a stenographer on hand, you would still probably miss much, and usually only capture your side of the call. With IM, the transcription IS the conversation and, in addition, you have the benefit of:
Google and Yahoo! have standalone chat clients and clients built into their emails; Facebook and MySpace accounts have built-in chat as well. Blackberry, Android and iPhone smartphones all have apps that aggregate all your chat clients into a single location, allowing you to appear online to all your various chat partners.
In addition, there are stand-alone chat tools such as Meebo, Citron and ICQ that do the same thing from your desktop. Being able to communicate with your Small Business clients, partners and vendors as quickly as a phone call, with the permanence of text, the ability to embed web links and transfer files may be a novel concept to you, but you must certainly appreciate the possibilities it presents.
Consider it from the perspective of business objectives, not just technology. The strategic business advantages should be quite obvious -- if you're getting the message.
Related articles
If you're like most Small Business owners or operators "of a certain age", your view of Instant Messaging, if you have one, may be similar to one of the following statements:
- Instant Messaging is for kids
- I have an email account - what do I need messaging for?
- It's too complicated
- I don't have time for that nonsense
- What good could this messaging stuff do for my Small Business?
Business, as I've mentioned in the previous series, is about relationships. Relationships, in turn, are about communication. I'm sure it's no secret that email is an essential Small Business tool -- if nothing else, it has allowed Small Businesses to save on postage and shipping costs once required to provide instant communication. Where it once took a special delivery or overnight package delivery (and still took at least a day) to ship critical documents to a business partner, vendor or client, we can now attach a PDF or word processor file to an email, and the relevant party receives it almost instantly.
Thus the "instant" in instant messaging -- "IM", as it is commonly known, combines the quickness of a phone conversation with the permanence of text. This second component is not to be overlooked, or taken lightly. How many times have you spoken with someone about a previous conversation, struggling to recall an important detail that neither of you can remember now, because you weren't recording the call or taking notes?
IM-ing is nothing but taking notes, real-time, as you engage in conversation. Even with a stenographer on hand, you would still probably miss much, and usually only capture your side of the call. With IM, the transcription IS the conversation and, in addition, you have the benefit of:
- Including links to relevant websites
- Transferring electronic documents and digital images
- Copy-and-pasting information from emails and existing documents
- Creating a "paper trail" for reference and auditing purposes
Google and Yahoo! have standalone chat clients and clients built into their emails; Facebook and MySpace accounts have built-in chat as well. Blackberry, Android and iPhone smartphones all have apps that aggregate all your chat clients into a single location, allowing you to appear online to all your various chat partners.
In addition, there are stand-alone chat tools such as Meebo, Citron and ICQ that do the same thing from your desktop. Being able to communicate with your Small Business clients, partners and vendors as quickly as a phone call, with the permanence of text, the ability to embed web links and transfer files may be a novel concept to you, but you must certainly appreciate the possibilities it presents.
Consider it from the perspective of business objectives, not just technology. The strategic business advantages should be quite obvious -- if you're getting the message.
Related articles
Friday, February 18, 2011
Top Ten Reasons Small Businesses Fail - part ten
Planning
We find ourselves ending at the start: the Plan.
While many are aware of the need for a well-crafted business plan, few businesses of any size actually have completed one. There are several valid reasons: a thorough business plan is a complex document, requiring much more than expertise in tradecraft and knowledge of the potential market segment.
One- and five-year financial projections, competitor analysis, growth plans, best- and worst-case scenarios, - even an exit plan - are all part of a comprehensive business plan. Many Small Business entrepreneurs, especially in the current economy, have entered into their business ventures more from necessity than desire. Down-sizing and layoffs, it seems, create more Small Business than a burning desire to "go it alone" and brave the rigors of competition.
Yet as the saying goes, "failure to plan is planning to fail". You may never have the time to draft a complete business plan - but then you're probably not seeking a commercial loan or investors at this point. Still, there are steps you can take to give yourself a guide, to ensure that you're operating on more than just "a wing and a prayer".
SWOT analysis
This is a simple document - usually a page or two - though it may take some time to prepare. It is an acronym that stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats". If you prepare no other document or plan, I urge you to prepare a SWOT analysis. Take a serious look at the business you're in or are planning to start or enter into.
Strengths: What qualifies you? Seriously; it must be more than just "I got laid off", or "I've always wanted to do XXX". Are you REALLY qualified to pursue this line of work right now? If not, how quickly can you get yourself up to speed, and what would it take.??. I don't ask this to discourage you, but ask you to consider the training, advice, mentoring and networking opportunites available that can enable you to answer this question positively.
But whatever you do, don't operate blindly with a false sense of optimism: entering into a business venture without proper qualification can cost you more than you're prepared to pay -- in time, money and reputation -- and even expose you to litigation.
Weaknesses: This is the inverse of your qualifications. I'd actually focus on this first. You're probably more aware of why you should enter into your chosen business than why you shouldn't - after all, noone starts a business expecting to fail. Still, an accurate assessment of your deficiencies and shortcomings automatically maps out a course of action to enhance your skills, increase your knowledge and make up for whatever you determine you lack.
Opportunities: This may seem clear, but think beyond the obvious. If you're creating custom clothing, might you have an opportunity to repair antique items as a side business? What partnership opportunites are there? Could you conduct a free course at a local college or community center, that would allow you to establish a reputation as a valuable local resource, demonstrate your skill... and discover potential clients in the process? Here is where thinking "outside the box" is most important. Look beyond the surface, and think creatively -- try to see things you wouldn't ordinarily consider when dealing with just your core competencies.
Threats: Competitors. Lawsuits from upset customers. Negative online reviews. Disgruntled employees or partners damaging your reputation. Noone wants to dwell on these unpleasant things, but better to consider them in advance and prepare a strategy, than to be blind-sided and have an otherwise profitable business fail because of unanticipated threats to its existence.
There is also the Strategic Business Plan which, as its name implies, is a more focused document than a full-blown business plan. Where a comprehensive business plan is usually drafted when starting a business with, among other things, appealing to a bank or series of investors in mind, the strategic plan is devised for the business owner, and possible partners or employees, to map out the course of action for a few years.
It is everything from a mission statement to a declaration of intent -- it says "this is who we are, why we're here and what we're doing". It's a good exercise to prepare it, and review every six months or so, to either revise it or simply to make sure you're still on track with your original... plan of action.
Plan the work, and work the plan. That's the fundamental key to success... or at least, a good way to avoid outright failure. And that's been the purpose of this series - not to discourage you, but to point out some of the roadblocks, and help you chart a path over, around or through them.
Good luck to you all. And keep reading - there's more good stuff to come, from Your Open Source CIO.
We find ourselves ending at the start: the Plan.
While many are aware of the need for a well-crafted business plan, few businesses of any size actually have completed one. There are several valid reasons: a thorough business plan is a complex document, requiring much more than expertise in tradecraft and knowledge of the potential market segment.
One- and five-year financial projections, competitor analysis, growth plans, best- and worst-case scenarios, - even an exit plan - are all part of a comprehensive business plan. Many Small Business entrepreneurs, especially in the current economy, have entered into their business ventures more from necessity than desire. Down-sizing and layoffs, it seems, create more Small Business than a burning desire to "go it alone" and brave the rigors of competition.
Yet as the saying goes, "failure to plan is planning to fail". You may never have the time to draft a complete business plan - but then you're probably not seeking a commercial loan or investors at this point. Still, there are steps you can take to give yourself a guide, to ensure that you're operating on more than just "a wing and a prayer".SWOT analysis
This is a simple document - usually a page or two - though it may take some time to prepare. It is an acronym that stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats". If you prepare no other document or plan, I urge you to prepare a SWOT analysis. Take a serious look at the business you're in or are planning to start or enter into.
Strengths: What qualifies you? Seriously; it must be more than just "I got laid off", or "I've always wanted to do XXX". Are you REALLY qualified to pursue this line of work right now? If not, how quickly can you get yourself up to speed, and what would it take.??. I don't ask this to discourage you, but ask you to consider the training, advice, mentoring and networking opportunites available that can enable you to answer this question positively.
But whatever you do, don't operate blindly with a false sense of optimism: entering into a business venture without proper qualification can cost you more than you're prepared to pay -- in time, money and reputation -- and even expose you to litigation.
Weaknesses: This is the inverse of your qualifications. I'd actually focus on this first. You're probably more aware of why you should enter into your chosen business than why you shouldn't - after all, noone starts a business expecting to fail. Still, an accurate assessment of your deficiencies and shortcomings automatically maps out a course of action to enhance your skills, increase your knowledge and make up for whatever you determine you lack.
Opportunities: This may seem clear, but think beyond the obvious. If you're creating custom clothing, might you have an opportunity to repair antique items as a side business? What partnership opportunites are there? Could you conduct a free course at a local college or community center, that would allow you to establish a reputation as a valuable local resource, demonstrate your skill... and discover potential clients in the process? Here is where thinking "outside the box" is most important. Look beyond the surface, and think creatively -- try to see things you wouldn't ordinarily consider when dealing with just your core competencies.
Threats: Competitors. Lawsuits from upset customers. Negative online reviews. Disgruntled employees or partners damaging your reputation. Noone wants to dwell on these unpleasant things, but better to consider them in advance and prepare a strategy, than to be blind-sided and have an otherwise profitable business fail because of unanticipated threats to its existence.
There is also the Strategic Business Plan which, as its name implies, is a more focused document than a full-blown business plan. Where a comprehensive business plan is usually drafted when starting a business with, among other things, appealing to a bank or series of investors in mind, the strategic plan is devised for the business owner, and possible partners or employees, to map out the course of action for a few years.
It is everything from a mission statement to a declaration of intent -- it says "this is who we are, why we're here and what we're doing". It's a good exercise to prepare it, and review every six months or so, to either revise it or simply to make sure you're still on track with your original... plan of action.
Plan the work, and work the plan. That's the fundamental key to success... or at least, a good way to avoid outright failure. And that's been the purpose of this series - not to discourage you, but to point out some of the roadblocks, and help you chart a path over, around or through them.
Good luck to you all. And keep reading - there's more good stuff to come, from Your Open Source CIO.
Series inspired by "Top Ten Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail" by: Connie Holt, E.A. cholt@henssler.com
The Henssler Financial Group Position Paper
© 2004 The Henssler Financial Group | www.henssler.com
The Henssler Financial Group Position Paper
© 2004 The Henssler Financial Group | www.henssler.com
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Top Ten Reasons Small Businesses Fail - part nine
Closed Mind
It takes a lot of hard work, focus and persistence to launch a Small Business. Starting with an idea, and (perhaps) some skills, a plan is prepared, financing secured, details dealt with... and a business is born.
The problem is, in the time required to travel from concept to reality, too often Small Business enterpreneurs get stuck in the attitudes and assumptions adopted at the beginning of the journey.
Business plans and financial projections are usually developed long before the business is created. But during that time, demographics change, markets shift and economies worsen or improve. Since business plans and financial projections are rarely revisited (or consulted) during this period, Small Business entrepreneurs may find themselves operating based on inaccurate or outdated assumptions.
In addition... there are the basic human traits of pride and stubborness. Being confronted by the need to re-examine a business plan, or recalculate financial projections, there may be a tendency become defensive, resisting these suggestions, rejecting this well-intended advice as unwanted and unwarranted criticism.
It has often been said that success has a thousand parents, and failure is... umm, an orphan. While the expression implies that many people will take credit for a successful venture after the fact, in this case let us take it to mean that a successful Small Business entrepreneur will not hesitate to consult mentors, advisors and other experienced individuals to seek advice and guidance as they develop their venture from concept to reality.
Nearly every one you know may consider themselves experts on all manner of business-related topics, and even the few of them who actually are may be too familiar to you (or with you) for you to feel comfortable seeking their advice... or heeding their (many) unsolicited words of wisdom.
This doesn't mean that you need to, or ought to, go it alone. There are many excellent sources of guidance and counsel - a few good places to start are listed below:
Small Business owners and operators, especially the "solopreneurs" and self-styled mavericks, will have a tendency to "Do it My Way", in the words of the classic tune. While this may seem like a good idea intuitively, if you find yourself struggling to break even after more than a few years, the facts clearly indicate otherwise.
Don't be afraid to seek advice. It doesn't mean you're wrong, or that you've failed. If we each knew all the answers, the economy wouldn't have crashed in '08, and I wouldn't be writing this blog post. The fact is, half of all Small Business startups will fail within their first two years.
You obviously don't want Your Small Business to fall within that statistic. So, as much as it may bruise your pride, remember to keep an open mind... or you may soon be faced with closing shop for the last time...
Related articles
It takes a lot of hard work, focus and persistence to launch a Small Business. Starting with an idea, and (perhaps) some skills, a plan is prepared, financing secured, details dealt with... and a business is born.
The problem is, in the time required to travel from concept to reality, too often Small Business enterpreneurs get stuck in the attitudes and assumptions adopted at the beginning of the journey.
Business plans and financial projections are usually developed long before the business is created. But during that time, demographics change, markets shift and economies worsen or improve. Since business plans and financial projections are rarely revisited (or consulted) during this period, Small Business entrepreneurs may find themselves operating based on inaccurate or outdated assumptions.In addition... there are the basic human traits of pride and stubborness. Being confronted by the need to re-examine a business plan, or recalculate financial projections, there may be a tendency become defensive, resisting these suggestions, rejecting this well-intended advice as unwanted and unwarranted criticism.
It has often been said that success has a thousand parents, and failure is... umm, an orphan. While the expression implies that many people will take credit for a successful venture after the fact, in this case let us take it to mean that a successful Small Business entrepreneur will not hesitate to consult mentors, advisors and other experienced individuals to seek advice and guidance as they develop their venture from concept to reality.
Nearly every one you know may consider themselves experts on all manner of business-related topics, and even the few of them who actually are may be too familiar to you (or with you) for you to feel comfortable seeking their advice... or heeding their (many) unsolicited words of wisdom.
This doesn't mean that you need to, or ought to, go it alone. There are many excellent sources of guidance and counsel - a few good places to start are listed below:
- SBA
- SCORE
- Local Business Networking groups
Small Business owners and operators, especially the "solopreneurs" and self-styled mavericks, will have a tendency to "Do it My Way", in the words of the classic tune. While this may seem like a good idea intuitively, if you find yourself struggling to break even after more than a few years, the facts clearly indicate otherwise.Don't be afraid to seek advice. It doesn't mean you're wrong, or that you've failed. If we each knew all the answers, the economy wouldn't have crashed in '08, and I wouldn't be writing this blog post. The fact is, half of all Small Business startups will fail within their first two years.
You obviously don't want Your Small Business to fall within that statistic. So, as much as it may bruise your pride, remember to keep an open mind... or you may soon be faced with closing shop for the last time...
Series inspired by "Top Ten Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail" by: Connie Holt, E.A. cholt@henssler.com
The Henssler Financial Group Position Paper
© 2004 The Henssler Financial Group | www.henssler.com
The Henssler Financial Group Position Paper
© 2004 The Henssler Financial Group | www.henssler.com
Related articles
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
