Social Media for IT Providers eBook

I have just made available the eBook I recently wrote on Social Media for IT providers. This book is free to Cloud Business Blueprint members but I’ve made it available as a separate purchase now as well.

The description of the book is:

If you are a small business and especially if you are a technology provider you should be using Social Media extensively in your business to promote yourself. Any business that isn’t embracing and being successful using Social Media runs the very high risk of being seen as inferior to those competitors who are. When clients need help with their Social Media strategy they are going to turn to their IT provider who, if unable to demonstrate knowledge, run the risk of allowing a competitor gaining access to their clients.

This book will explain to you’re the major platforms and how they can be integrated into a business. It will also provide seven strategies that you can implement to ensure your Social Media implementation is successful.

You can purchase it now from my publications page at:

www.ciaops.com/publications

Watch out for more titles soon.

Better utilization

Although I am not one for New Year’s resolutions I am certainly one for settings goals. One of the ideas I have been mulling over of late is the ineffectiveness with which I have been approaching the resources I have access to.
If I stop and look at all the tools I have access it would be rare that I use even 20% of their full features. Many things, I suggest I would use even less. It is so easy to get distracted and lose focus with so many different options today but I started wondering how much more use I could make of what I already have if I simply spent some extra time learning what features are available and try and move the utilization of that tool closer to 80%.
One the other side of the coin, there are plenty of things that I have signed up for or access occasionally that I really don’t make good use of. If I don’t and I can find such features elsewhere I really should stop using that tool and simplify things.
So with those ideals in mind I am going to try and dedicate myself to looking more closely at the resources I already have and whether I can use them better or whether in fact I shouldn’t be using them at all. Basically optimization if you will.
My approach is going to be to focus more on something when I do use it the next time and try and learn a little bit more about it rather than just using the defaults as I always do. Hopefully, this will move me more towards my goal of 80% utilization along with reduction in the number of things that I do in fact use. I have already found it somewhat frustrating to spend that extra time dedicated to learning about something in depth rather than just moving on to the next item, however in the long run I believe it will pay dividends.
So the my question for you is, how much of the stuff you are doing now could be done better if you just looked a bit deeper into the tools that you use? Even a few percentage points more utilization I believe can yield significant returns.

Retro Internet Guide

I remember when the Internet was but a twinkle in Vince Cerf’s eye but looking at this retro videos of the Kids Guide to the Internet boy do I feel old.

If you remember dial up modems and Netscape then I’d advise you even to take a look at the first few minutes and reminisce about those dial up days and how far we have come (and how old we have gotten).

If you don’t remember all that stuff watch anyway as I’m sure you’ll find it highly amusing at what technology was like back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

74-325 Exam Cram notes now available

If you are looking for resources to help you pass the Microsoft Certification exam 74-325 Administering Office 365 for SMB then look no further because I now have a OneNote notebook for sale on my publications page:

http://www.ciaops.com/publications

This notebook contains comprehensive notes and links to all the relevant material covered by the exam as well as a number of helpful resources all designed to help you pass the 74-325 exam. Inside the notebook you’ll also find an extensive array of ‘exam-style’ questions to give your practical experience in taking the exam.

All this information is bundles into a single Microsoft OneNote 2010 file to make it easy to study and add your own notes if desired.

All this for only AU$50.

Cloud Business Podcast–Episode 7

The Cloud Business Podcast - Opportunity in the Cloud is only a Click Away with Robert Crane and Nigel Moore

In this episode we follow up from the last episode but look specifically at face to face or business networking. We cover why it is so important and some tips and tricks you can use to ensure that you receive full value for any event that you attend.

You can listen to the full episode at:

http://www.cloudbusinessblueprint.com/podcast/episode-007-business-networking/

or listen to it on iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-business-podcast-opportunity/id742109989

along with all the other episodes.

Remember we’d really love to hear your feedback on this episode and would really appreciate a rating on iTunes to boost our exposure.

How are you making a difference?

One of the things that I constantly experience is simply how ‘busy’ people claim to be. I’ve covered what I believe the reasons for this are in other blog posts so what I wanted to focus on here is what are you doing to make a difference?

Back in 2008 I wrote a blog post about how inspiring I thought micro-financing was and why more people should become involved. Since then I have been proud to be a regular contributor to Kiva.

You can view my loan portfolio at:

http://www.kiva.org/lender/robert5824

I continue to support the work of Kiva as an effective way of helping others by supporting their business and not simply providing charity. That, to me, makes a huge difference.

I therefore commend you to watch the two videos in this post on Kiva and ask yourself – am I doing anything to make a difference or am I always to ‘busy’ and self-absorbed?

It is a big world out there and plenty of people could do with a helping hand, no matter how small. Stop being ‘busy’ and make a difference.