Wait for the Pro!
I had an emergency call from a client (who shall remain nameless) on Victoria Day at 7:30 a.m. To make a long story short, his server was not allowing the workstations in his restaurants to connect to it. Quite problematic and understandable as to why this would be considered an urgent call. So, no problem, I checked with my family and made sure it was ok with them if I took some time to try and help this person. Having gained their consent I called the client back and indicated I was on the way.
The technical problem indicated at the time was the computer was not booting up all the way. This, of course, could be several things but this post is not intended to discuss the technical aspect of the call.
When I arrived the client showed me to the server which he had started to take apart on his own. It was soon determined that it needed a proprietary power supply and since none of the stores were open on this holiday Monday, we would not be able to fix the computer. But that wasn’t the biggest problem.
The client asked me if I would reseat the processor which he removed on his own. I replied “No problem”. But I noticed that it had been forcibly removed. In other words, the arm that needs to be lifted in order to remove the processor was not lifted and the processor and heat sink had been forced away from the motherboard. Not a good situation. Instead of having a potential simple problem, we now had a potential disaster on our hands! Pins were bent on the processor and even though I bent them back the unit would not even fire up and return a video.
At this point we called it a day.
As entrepreneurs we have achieved certain successes in our lives which give us the confidence in ourselves to solve problems. Sometimes this confidence backfires as it did today, however. I am guilt of the same problem at times and today was a gentle reminder for me not to suffer this same fate. Hopefully it is for you as well. Wait for the Pro!
Blogging with WordPress
Did you know that blogging is one of the greatest tools you can use to help increase your search engine rankings? Many people wonder which blogging tool to use and there are a few to choose from so it can be kind of confusing. For the purpose of this post though I’ll talk about WordPress. In a future post, I will discuss Blogger (Google).
WordPress is a free blogging software tool. There are two ways to use WordPress; both are free, and both do a good job (If I haven’t mentioned it yet I am writing this post with the assumption that the reader is unfamiliar with blogging and WordPress). WordPress.com offers an easy way to get started. Your blog is hosted online by WordPress and completely accessible from any internet accessible computer in the world. There is no limit to the amount of blogs you can create and every time you post on one of your blogs it’s an opportunity for you to create content that will help someone and help your website’s search engine rankings.
I’ll write more on this later with more specific instructions. In the meantime please visit wordpress.com and get started with your own blog!
Using videoconferencing instead of travelling
Excellent idea – sort of…here’s what I mean.
Communicating by video saves time and money but will it really eliminate your need for travelling? Probably not. More than likely it will just reduce it. There are still plenty of reasons to meet in person such as a simple handshake being required to solidify a relationship or a group event that can’t be simulated over video. Perhaps you have some product that is being tested on location or someone that needs to be ‘felt’. In these cases communicating by video won’t be a viable alternative.
But what about those monthly Board meetings where everyone sits around the same table, reviews the minutes from last month, the financial statements, etc. Absolutely! Why are you doing those in person? Especially if there are great distances involved. These days even a home-based high speed internet connection is good enough to join a video meeting. There are several tools that I use on a regular basis to accomplish this goal such as GoToMeeting, WebEx, Skype or an H.323-compliant endpoint like a Tandberg system. My reasons for using each are different. Read the rest of this entry
