Tag: Business

One of the few?

Just read “Self-employed go back to the boss” in the paper today and found some of the issues highlighted interesting. Here are some choice quotes:

 

“For seven years, he battled to keep his … afloat. It was an around-the-clock effort.”

“He was struggling to make ends meet, to find reliable workers, and to strike any sort of work-life balance.”

“I’d been trying to do everything myself.”

“said he would never again try to set up his own business.”

“He was turned off by “having to chase work, being able to deliver quality work but having people call you up and say ‘I’ve got a quote from some cowboy across the road for half that price — how come?””

 

Sound familiar? If it does you’d be interested to know that the guy in the article ran a windscreen business but I have heard almost exactly the same quotes from people in IT. In good times it is certainly much easier to run a business but when things turn tough then you’ll soon find out whether you are running a business or simply enjoying a lifestyle.

 

When I talk to people and say that I work in my own business they automatically assume you make oodles of money (which you don’t) and you don’t do much work (which isn’t right either). It is only those who have run their own business that understand that it comes down to hard work. However, you gotta enjoy working hard or else being in business for yourself just doesn’t make sense.

 

Most people who run a business probably never should. They simply believe that because they are good at something that will automatically translate into self-employment. Generally this is far from the truth since running a business is about so much more that just being good at one thing. You usually have to do EVERYTHING even if you don’t like doing it, which unless you are disciplined will mean you are going to struggle like the person in the article.

 

My advice would be to start by reading something like the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This book is a MUST READ for anyone who is self–employed. Next, I would suggest that you start looking for people with whom you can talk and discuss ideas, including issues you are struggling with on a regular basis. To be a success in business you need to build a network of people whom you can turn to for advice, work or simply to lend an ear. Finally, you need to run your business like a business and not simply as a hobby because in the end, if you want to make a living from it your business will have compete with every other business out there.

 

These are just the first steps you need to take if you want to run a successful business in my experience. Failing to do so is not going to guarantee you’ll fail but is going to make it much harder than it could be. So seek out information from successful business owners and thinkers. Don’t be afraid to ask them for advice because you’ll be surprised at how many are willing to help.

 

Only the businesses who are working on their business rather than in their business these days are generally going to come out the other side of these recessionary times. Ask yourself if you really want to run a business and if the answer is yes, then run it like a business!

Coming in May

May is a big month for my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide, simply because it is now 12 months old! I’m amazed at how its grown and how many people have subscribed. So, I’m planning a number of things:

 

For existing subscribers

 

– There will the normal May update which will include additional sections on prep’ing a Windows 2008 Server for SharePoint, embedding an updating Microsoft Excel chart into SharePoint as well some additional troubleshooting tips.

– There will be an updated DVD containing a whole swag of additional videos, documents and programs including 64 bit editions of the installation files and SharePoint Designer.

– I’ll also be throwing in a few thank you surprises for subscribers only, but I don’t want to give away the surprises just yet!

– and more

 

For non-subscribers

 

– I’m going to be offering a never to be repeated special on the Guide in celebration of how far it’s come. This offer will only be available for May 2009 and after that it’ll be gone for good. So if you were umming and arring about whether to subscribe can I say that next month is going to be your best opportunity.

– As part of the special offer I’ll be offering the second chapter of my Guide FREE to those who register and only those that have registered will be eligible for the May special offer.

 

I’ll announce more details for both subscribers and non subscribers in May so stay tuned.

Traffic on Twitter

Here’s something that I think is of benefit on Twitter – road traffic reports. Someone has taken the reports from the local government web site (in Sydney’s case the RTA) and automatically posted them to the Twitter account sydneytraffic.

I had a poke around and there seems to be plenty of other traffic reports from places all over the world on Twitter.

Now when you are out and about traffic information like this, regularly updated, could be very handy. It would be a little hard to read on a PDA as you are driving along but none the less I think this is a great demonstration of where Twitter information does have benefits.

Interestingly, this sydneytraffic account is put together by someone not affiliated with the local authorities. I hope they at least take notice of things like this that could be of real benefit to people on the go.

SharePoint Guide – April

The latest update of the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide has been released for subscribers. One of the major additions this month, is a new chapter titled – tutorials. In here you’ll find out how to do things to improve your use of SharePoint. The first three tutorials are:

 

– Connecting to Outlook – How to link SharePoint with Outlook

– Creating linked fields – How to utilize look up fields in SharePoint

– Configuring a basic workflow – Implementing a basic workflow

 

Over time this chapter will continue to grow with step by step instructions about how you can get the most from Windows SharePoint.

 

I’m also excited to announce that next month (May) will be the first birthday of the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide (who would have ever thought?). I’m planning some special offers to attract new subscribers plus a swag of additions as a thank you to existing subscribers, so stay tuned for more details. As always, I thank my subscribers for their ongoing support of the Guide, without them it would not be possible and remind them to go to the download site for the latest updates which are now available.

 

If you have any questions about the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide or suggestions for inclusions please contact me (director@ciaops.com).

Kakrafoon

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I’m still ambivalent about the business benefits of Twitter. I cannot help but be amazed at the sheer number of Twitter applications there are out there. One that I ran across recently, Twittervision, actually shows you a map of the world and overlays tweets like so:

It is a strangely mesmerizing display that provides no real benefit apart from the sheer fascination of watching these tweets display over time. It sort of reminds you of going to a party where the sheer number of people talking creates such a din that you have to speak louder, which conversely increases the din further.

This all kind of sounded familiar to me somehow but I just couldn’t remember where from. That is until I remembered this passage from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams:
“It is worth repeating at this point the theories that Ford had come up with, on his first encounter with human beings, to account for their peculiar habit of continually stating and restating the very, very obvious, as in “It’s a nice day,” or “You’re very tall” or “So this is it, we’re all going to die.”
His first theory was that if human beings didn’t keep exercising their lips, their mouths probably seize up.
After a few months of observation he had come up with a second theory, which was this – “If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, their brains start working.”
In fact, this second theory is more literally true of the Belcebron people of Kakrafoon.
The Belcebron people used to cause great resentment and insecurity amoungst neighbouring races by being one of the most enlightened, accomplished and above all quiet civilizations in the Galaxy.
As a punishment for this behaviour, which was held to be offensively self righteous and provocative, a Galactic Tribunal inflicted on them that most cruel of all social diseases, telepathy.
Consequently, in order to prevent themselves broadcasting every slightest thought that crossed their minds to anyone within a five miles radius, they now had to talk very loudly and continuously about the weather, their little aches and pains, the match this afternoon and what a noisy place Kakrafoon had suddenly become.”
Maybe in his infinite wisdom and far-sightedness, Douglas Adam foresaw the development of Twitter as something akin to the punishment inflected on the Belcebron people of Kakrafoon. There must be some reason why people spend so much time broadcasting such inane parts of their lives. So far, I can only conclude that Twitter has been inflicted on mankind by a Galactic Tribunal as punishment for something.

Clearly, I must have missed the court notice in the Galactic Herald so I’ll never know why for sure. Perhaps the only thing to do perhaps to avoid Twitter-mania is to act like a dolphin and say “So long and thanks for all the fish”!

Smartphone money pit

Back in July 2008 I wrote an article here about the costs of the new IPhone, especially when used to access the Internet. I warned that the costs of using your smartphone like your PC were going to rack up significant costs if you were not extremely careful.

 

“The shocking cost of smartphones” in the Sydney Morning Herald today, illustrates how the unwary are being slugged big time. One user mentioned in the article posted to a technology forum seeking advice.

 

In his post entitled:”Virgin shocker bill $2458.67″ he said he had accessed the internet while on holiday in Cairns, and hadn’t realised his $450 cap plan applied only to voice calls.

Therein lies the trap for the unwary. Telcos treat voice and data as two separate things. Even though you may have a “cap” of $450 per month chances are it only applied to voice not to data. Chances are also that unless you have specified your data requirements up front you are likely to be paying  data charges at the highest rate, as this guy found out with his $2458.67 bill!

 

Wireless Internet is great and there are so many applications that take advantage of it but if you are going to be using your smartphone this way make sure you have setup and understand a data plan. Make sure you know exactly how much you can download each month and what any additional charges are. Also make sure you keep an eye on what applications you load onto your smartphone as they may access the Internet without your direct knowledge. The article also has some handy tips for “avoiding bill shock”.

 

Remember that convenience costs, especially when it comes to wireless Internet.

Twitter ecosystem

Although I still have reservations about Twitter becoming an effective business tool I can see that an enormous ecosystem of applications is now growing up around Twitter. Once that starts you know that it is something that can’t be ignored ( Facebook deja vu).

 

If you have doubts then take a look at “Getting things done with Twitter” which details a huge swag of applications that you can use with Twitter to boost your productivity (in theory). Now there are also plenty more that I have found that are not even mentioned here, which just goes to show you how big this Twitter thing is becoming.

 

So, if you haven’t started exploring Twitter and you want to stay “current” then I suggest that you sign up and start looking at what Twitter applications are around and how they can help your business and your professional development. Because like it or lump it, it seems to me that Twitter is fast approaching a tipping point where it will become the next big technology trend.

 

Here’s an opportunity to ‘get on board’ before everyone else does, but hurry there isn’t much time left. Remember, when you are on Twitter don’t forget you can always follow me via www.twitter.com/directorcia.

Too much Twitter

Seems like we are experiencing a Twitter-explosion of late in the media and perhaps this video from the “The Daily Show” might put some perspective on it.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219519&title=twitter-frenzy

or

However, on a more serious note here’s what Tim Ferris, the author of one of my favourite business books the Four Hour Work Week has to say about using Twitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3weqLgnPfQ&hl=en&fs=1
Now I reckon there is a business case for Twitter but certainly not the way most people seem to be using it! No matter what you think I can assure that Twitter is coming to a screen near you real soon. As I always say, technology distractions don’t just occur – THEY SEEK YOU OUT.

Tweet, Tweet.