Pygmy’s vs Dinosaurs
A hunter, walking through the jungle, found a huge, dead dinosaur, with a pygmy standing beside it. Amazed, he asked, “Did you kill that?”
The pygmy said “Yes.”
The hunter asked, “How could a little bloke like you kill a huge beast like that?”
The pygmy said, “I killed it with my club.”
The astonished hunter asked, “How big is your club?”
The pygmy replied, “There are about 200 of us.”
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Standard Story Disclaimer:
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I have been unable to source the author of this story, and no harm, malice, or intent is directed to height challenged persons, wealth challenged persons, persons with weapons of any nature, persons who harm animals in any way, and anybody else who might take offence at this delightful parable which highlights a point I would like to make this week. If you are already offended, delete this email forthwith, else relax, sip that fine Costa Rican blend, and read further.
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Big firms, and government, have huge resources at their disposal - hordes of attorneys covering every subject imaginable. And it is these attorneys that draft the rules that you and I must live by - especially in the commercial sense. I raise this because I currently have on my desk 5 franchise issues - from different franchisors - where my clients (the franchisees) are a little like dinosaurs. (They have been killed!)
And this is because they entered into large franchise transactions (in one case the ‘investment’ was more than R1million) without consulting a single, remotely decent commercial attorney to detail any of the pitfalls to them. (In fact, they didn’t consult with attorneys at all - believing everything the franchise sales-guy told them. Hint: The sales-guy gets paid for sales, not for conscience, and does not have to live with long term consequences of your decision.)
And that’s exactly what the problem is. In one of the documents the franchisee has 34 obligations laid out in excruciating detail over 4 pages, while the franchisor’s obligations are in a single paragraph: “The franchisor makes no warranty that the system will work anywhere, let alone in the location chosen by the franchisee, and if anything bad happens, well that’s the franchisees fault. As long as the franchisee keeps paying, the franchisor won’t care.” (I have translated that to help you understand the mind-numbing legalese.)
In investing lifetimes of savings (and in a couple of cases lifetimes of debt), our heroes have asked for no assistance to understand their rights - they simply bought into the “This is our standard contract” nonsense. Now that terminal financial diarrhea has struck, they’re looking for a way to plug the hole. Eish, and there isn’t one.
When you have a fortune to invest in the best legal advice going - you can draft wonderful (in legal terms that means “so close to the boundaries of morality as to make no difference”) contracts that take everything, and give nothing in return. This is a solid description of your common or garden franchise contract.
As a franchisor, if you’re lucky to find someone who assumes that because s/he can read, s/he doesn’t need a lawyer - well, then, it’s your lucky day. And if said literary genius chooses not to read anything after the first page - then the best place to hide the Cruela De Ville stuff is closer to the back in sections 34.1 to 34.34, for example.
Which brings me back to our height challenged hero. If you don’t want to/can’t afford to pay for legal advice - why not at least invest a pittance in a decent club? The Business Warriors community is available to you 24 hours/day, worldwide, and a few of us are even attorneys. But mostly we have a heck of a lot of real experience - and it’s yours whenever you want it.
More than anything we’d really like you to take advantage of it when first you spot the dinosaur, rather than just after that T.Rex has eaten your left leg and is moving bowelwards. By which time it’s going to be too late!
Peter Carruthers (pygmy in Ringwood, but with a large club)
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August 8th, 2006
PS One of the Warriors needs some help with a 9 question survey about measuring your BEE status. Can I humbly ask you to check it out here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=467342404274
PPS I wrote some words on the subject almost 2 years ago, here:
http://www.petesweekly.com/article.php?id=167
USB [Universal Serial Bus]
A technology idea this week to save some money and effort in the longer term. Do you know what USB is?
It’s a method of connecting stuff to your computer. Since Noah was a boy computers have had a whole bunch of plugs – each with a specific purpose. Parallel ports for printers, serial [RS232] ports for modems, BNC ports for networks, VGA ports [and about 4 other different ports] for monitors – and each time the technology upgrades you end up with something incompatible. And this costs you money.
USB [Universal Serial Bus] is a simple port system that allows you to standardize your peripherals, and ensure that when you upgrade [or if you ever decide to use an iMac computer instead of a Windows PC] your peripherals can follow. USB has a lot of advantages over normal ports.
You can plug in a USB attachment without switching the PC off – Windows recognizes it immediately. Almost every peripheral is now available in a USB format – backup drives, monitors, mouse, printers, microphones, speakers, modems, scanners, video cameras, digital cameras, network attachments,.. Every PC that I have seen advertised over the past 2 years has had at least one USB port – with many having more.
What use is a single port, I hear you ask? The answer is simple. You can plug a USB Hub into that port – and that hub expands your single port into 4 or 8 ports. [Theoretically you could expand this single port up to 128 ports.] When I was in Australia last year I used just 1 PC – my tiny ACER laptop with a really tiny 8” screen. But I had a USB hub in my study – attached to a screen, keyboard, mouse and modem. Whenever I was working at home, I simply plugged the single cable from the USB hub into the portable – and it was the same as using a desktop system. The main reason USB works so well is that it is awfully fast. Much faster than the speed of either a normal printer port or serial port – so it can be expanded to support virtually anything.
A ZIP drive [for backups] is much, much faster via USB than a parallel printer port – as well as easier to configure and simpler to use USB has been around for a couple of years, but only now is it beginning to take off. [Not that you would know this when talking to the folk at your local PC store!] I now only buy USB attachments because I can plug them into any of my machines – whether it be desktop or laptop – and no doubt soon the palm sized units will also offer USB. USB allows me to easily attach multiple printers, as well as multiple modems – so that I optimise my single PC. [It spends most of its time idle while I think] But this way I can have it sending and receiving faxes simultaneously via 2 modems, and printing them as they arrive without getting in the way of my writing and development work.
And there’s another real neat advantage – literally – in that USB ports carry power to the attachment – so you don’t normally need a power cable as well. It’s hell trying to get all these finicky transformers plugged in since they all seem to use non SA plugs!
While we’re talking technology – another small hint: Although almost every printer you see advertised these days is either a laser printer or an inkjet printer – and these have become hugely cheaper – there are times when you need an impact printer – such as a dot matrix printer because you’re printing onto multiple copies – like waybills. These units have become more expensive as they have become less commonly available. But they’re usually very hardy and don’t break too often.
I was browsing my local branch of Cash Converters a few days ago – and they had about 10 old units at ridiculous prices like R65! Since Windows already has built-in software drivers for all of these old printers – simply plug one in and off you go. And although they aren’t USB [because it never existed then] you can get a USB-Parallel converter that makes them fit rather well…
If you want to look at the wide scope of USB have a look at www.allusb.com or www.usb.org. If you want the full technical skinny – try http://www.allusb.com/FAQ.html It’s well worth checking it out because it will save you a ton of money over the next few years. I now only buy USB peripherals
Portable Offices
Portable Offices
Saving Money On…the Phone
We spend increasingly more time on the phone as life gets faster. Yet we still handle the phone pretty much as our grandparents used to - badly. For example, how often do we need to write something down, or check something on the PC - while trying to cradle the phone between ear and shoulder. Bad for your health and bad for your caller! And especially bad if you’re using the phone for prospecting - trying to find new clients.
Headphones allow you to focus on the person on the other side - and that person can feel it. They also reduce the amount of background noise for both parties.
Telkom offer a neat headphone with a boom microphone [one that stretches in front of your mouth] for a really low price - last time I looked it was about R150-00 - and they will simply add it to your phone bill. May I suggest that you evaluate this as it makes telephoning much more comfortable? I have been using headphones for the past 10 years - and they’ve gotten better and more effective as the technology has improved. It’s so much easier talking while having your hands free.
Portable Offices
Sometime last year I wrote an article about ‘portability’ which resulted in a lot of interest. And the same thing happened the year before. So this week I’d like to discuss the issue again - because technology is moving so fast that all my virtual dreams are coming true faster than I thought possible.
In March 1999 I was in Australia. One evening I used a local internet site to order a PC component. The next morning the item arrived. It was a seminal moment, because I realised how easy it would be for this firm to open an internet shop in South Africa - and blow the competition away.
All they would need to do would be to ship a container of stuff to Johannesburg - and then start taking web orders and shipping straight out of the container! The only thing that was stopping them was a lack of vision about addressing the SA market. But what about the USA - why didn’t they attack that market?
I don’t know - but I came back to SA a few months later knowing that I wanted everything I did to be internet based by the end of 2000.
This article is a kind of case study of my business - not because I’m doing it right - but simply to illustrate what can be done with a little bit of passion and a little bit of technology. In fact, the more portable/virtual my business gets, the less technology is needed!
For example, I am going to run through the process of ordering a video from the www.crashproof.co.za website. The website is hosted in East London by www.net4u.co.za. When you place the order for the video, the secure page you enter your details into is hosted in Canada – it’s offered for free by the suppliers of the contact management software I use – www.maximizer.com Your order details are sent to me via an encrypted email. Payment isn’t processed online. The email arrives and as I click onto it, it creates a new database entry. I then process the credit card details into our BOE PC based credit card system.
Maximizer allows me to generate an invoice by email that I send back you, with a copy to PostNet Somerset Mall www.postnet.co.za - who physically despatch the video the same day via SpeedPost. If you query the progress of your shipment with me, I simply forward your email to PostNet - who respond to both of us. As stocks begin to run low, PostNet advises me and I place an order with the manufacturer [by email] and he delivers directly to PostNet.
If perchance you were uncomfortable with supplying your credit card details online, I simply email a pro-forma invoice to you with our banking details and my fax number. Once you have made a direct deposit or electronic funds transfer - or you’re OK with faxing your credit card details - you simply fax the pro forma back to me. Until recently this part was the challenge, because we needed someone in SA to process that fax. Right now, however, your fax is automatically converted into an email which arrives in my inbox a few moments later - no matter where I am. [ www.faxwhiz.com ]
Combine these aspects with internet banking - and suddenly I am no more than a figment of your imagination, or a pixel on your screen. I can operate form anywhere and be as effective as I used to be sitting behind a desk.
What now stops me from selling these same products in Canada, or the UK, or the USA? All I need to attack any of these markets is a PostNet type base in one of their cities. It doesn’t even have to be a major city - because their freight services extend everywhere - and the further out of town the lower the costs.
Basically, all that I need to be in business is a small [laptop] PC and a cellphone - which allows me to talk to you and allows internet access. And it’s getting smaller! This article is being typed into a Palm Pilot M100 [using a Palm Portable Keyboard] [ www.palm.com, www.palmgear.com ] as I fly between Cape Town and Johannesburg. It can’t get much smaller - although we’ll soon see laptop power and communications in handheld PCs.
I didn’t quite make my goal of true virtualness by the end of last year - and that’s because the seminars still need a live presence. But by outsourcing absolutely every other aspect of my business that I personally didn’t have to do - we’re almost there. The next step will be to look at internet or satellite broadcasts, or interactive CDs - which will make it truly portable. But that’s going to take a while because I enjoy the travelling so much and I enjoy the seminars even more!
What about the paperwork, you’re asking. There isn’t any! Everything that is produced by any of the software is stored inside the PC. I use Acrobat PDFWriter [ www.adobe.com.] which allows me to print anything to a disk file that can then be read by Adobe Acrobat – the most widely used free reader software in the world. If the paper is generated from outside – supplier invoices, statutory stuff – I scan it and file it in MicroFile’s Paperless Office software – which allows me to find any document really fast. Despite all the stuff I have filed over the years I still find that I can’t find what I want when I want it – which isn’t very often anyway. With Microfile it’s a cinch to find, and it’s dead easy to store. My PC is also my filing cabinet. Have a look at www.big-sky.co.za for details.
Right now you’re thinking about the amount of technology needed to operate all of this, and how expensive it is? My primary PC is a small ACER laptop [300Mhz Pentium – which is a long way from the top of the range] with a small 4.5GB disk that’s only half full. This is the same unit that does the seminars; acts as the office; is the filing cabinet; designs the weekly emails both our websites – www.crashproof.co.za and www.petesweekly.co.za; and handles all communications and email. We’re not talking top of the range equipment at all. Although I do have my eye on the new, super duper, 800Mhz, 20GB, 128MB ACER unit – but that’s more lust than necessity.
The bottom line – what stops you from doing any or all of this? Everything I use is commonly available, and inexpensive. We small entrepreneurs now have access to functions that used to need a mainframe and huge money – and that was just a few years ago. By tackling the technology issue head on we can expose ourselves and our businesses to the world, without it costing the earth.
Get your computer a condom - NOW
This weeks article is late. The short version of the story is as follows. On Friday the week before last I wanted to install some new software. I needed to disable my anti-virus software to complete the installation – and then forgot to re-enable it. Since I seem to be in the address books of about 13,000 readers of this weekly email – I usually receive about 8 infected emails each day – which the anti-virus software intercepts. But when it’s disabled it doesn’t intercept much!
By Saturday morning the system collapsed into a heap of disparate bits and bytes. By Monday afternoon I had recovered most of the work onto my backup machine – but the original system remained stubbornly comatose. The past week has been a challenge, and I now finally am back – having lost only the previous weeks emails. If you have sent me anything requiring a response and I haven’t responded – my apologies – please resend.
My system is now covered with a large rubber shield which consists of anti-virus software to trap anything that does get in, as well as from infected disks; a personal firewall to prevent anyone connecting to my machine while I am on the Net; and some tracing software so that I can track the source of any email or virus. Sounds like overkill, doesn’t it? But allow me to share a few things I found out this past week.
Let’s start out with the firewall. In real life a firewall is a thick, fire retardant wall – usually between your garage and your home – that will prevent the spread of a fire from one location to another. A firewall in the personal computer context is conceptually similar. In my case the software firewall I use is ZoneAlarm Pro – and it monitors every single byte that travels between my PC and the Internet. As soon as an application on my PC tries to send any info down that telephone [or LAN or ISDN] line – Zone Alarm pops up and asks me if it’s OK. This has been a sobering experience because I found that a few programs seem to want to connect – when I can’t see why they should. In this way Zone Alarm can stop ‘trojans’ from infiltrating your system. But imagine my surprise earlier this afternoon when Zone Alarm popped up a notice that some outside computer was trying to get into my system. That computer was at the address 217.57.19.30
That number probably doesn’t mean too much to you – and it didn’t mean a great deal to me either. But that’s why we have English names for websites. It’s a heck of a lot easier to remember www.crashproof.co.za than it is to remember 196.34.233.67 – and I’m not even sure that that number is correct!
This is where the tracing software kicks in. Poke that 217.57.19.30 number into NeoTrace Pro – and after a few seconds it draws a map showing the route of the call – and where the intruding computer sits. It also lets me identify every link in the chain – Cape Town – London – Rome – Venice - right into the ISP of the intruder. So why, do you think, someone in a small village in Italy is trying to get into my computer while I am online downloading emails? And more importantly, how honorable are his/her intentions? And how long has this person being getting into my machine in the past? Interesting questions that worry the hell out of me and should scare the heck out of you! Simply having that single piece of information was worth the US$ 29-95 investment last week. It’s also allowed me to identify a few strange website locations as well!
There’s a bunch of good anti-virus software available – but you need to regularly update them all. My weekly backup routine [every Friday afternoon when all reasonable people are drinking beer] now includes an update of all the protection software I use. Currently my machine has Nortons Anti-Virus, Invircible and McAfee! You shouldn’t need all 3 but you probably don’t get as much mail as I do – from such a wide group.
Which reminds me – very time you get a notice from someone warning you about a virus – have a look at www.antivirus.com and check out the info for yourself. Interesting stuff – for example this latest SULFNBK.EXE email is simply a hoax – and here we are desperately warning everyone who has ever had the misfortune to send us an email!
Here are a few simple guidelines to keep you out of trouble.
Never connect to the Internet and never insert a strange disk into any drive. If you do this it’s almost impossible to get a computer virus. [If you don’t yet know what a computer virus really is – it is a clever piece of program code that normally arrives on your machine as an email attachment and it jumps into action the moment you open either the email or the attachment. It then copies itself into some hidden place on your PC, and the most recent ones immediately try and email copies of themselves to all the folk in your address book. Chances are that you won’t see this happening in the background. But all your friends and colleagues will!
Never, never, never open an unexpected attachment from anyone. Not even your mother! Chances are that this has been sent to you by a virus. This should keep you reasonably free of challenges – but it’s still a long way from safe.
Get anti-virus software. This will detect when you receive a virus and will usually help you kill the little bugger. [I personally feel that we should bring back the death penalty for the creators of these malicious bits of code because they cost us business owners an arm and a leg to fix.]
Get a firewall. This will stop people messing with your machine while you’re online.
Get tracing software so that you can chase anyone who maliciously tries to get into your machine. Simply posting their details to the www.hackerwatch.org site will start to slow them down.
Backup your system at least once a week. The entire system! The value of my data exceeds the hardware value of my equipment by miles. For many of us our entire business is inside this clever little box.
That’s the end of this weeks tirade! Please protect yourself, or it will just be a matter of time before your system also gets wiped out.
Some Simple CellPhone Ideas & Etiquette
Less than six years ago I felt that I did not need a cellphone. Now, that same device is fundamental to my virtual office efforts. But we haven’t had time to catch up with that technology, have we? We are mostly using cellphones like traditional telephones. Badly. This brief e-mail is to explore a few thoughts on this topic.
I am not going to attack the way we have lost any form of etiquette regarding the use of phones in public places. Rather I will concentrate on the business issues.
Let me give you an example. A fellow goes to the cost and trouble of advertising his cellphone number in an advertisement. Yet when you call him he is on the road and unable to either give you details or take your number, and so he asks you to phone his office number! Or a fellow that you are talking to while trying to buy a R350,000 plot takes 4 cellphone calls from various builders (without apology) while trying to assist you. Or after standing in a queue for 15 minutes, and finally getting to someone who can help you, that person takes a cellphone call. In each of these cases in the sale is probably not going to happen. You, the purchaser, is going to get very upset - making the negotiation that much harder. And people tell me that business is tough out there?
The biggest challenge arising from cellphones is the fact that it is so easy to make an instant, frivolous call - without thinking about your question for more than 12 microseconds. This wouldn’t be so bad if we found the callee on this first effort. But what happens if he isn’t there [or isn't answering the call]? Then we leave a message [without details] asking him to call back. Which he does, only to find that we’re not at our phone! And so it continues, until you eventually touch base while he’s in the toilet with one hand occupied and the phone crunched into his neck - and you’ve forgotten the original reason for the call so you make up another frivolous reason. The only winner in this debacle is MTN/Vodacom/Telkom who have made R2 per call. Multiply this scenario by a few million and you can see why they’re doing so well.
From a business perspective it costs money to receive phone calls. Most of us equip our offices with receptionists for this very purpose - and they encourage even more phone calls because they are sticking to their jobs with all the strength of a desperate barnacle. In the ideal world the only calls you would receive would be those that involve incoming money - preferably tomorrow!
One of the best things about cellphones is the answering mechanism, and when this is combined with the extremely low price of a cellphone line, then we have something that we can use.
For example, to handle the millions of phone calls resulting from a brief advert offering a job. Use a cellphone to pick up the initial response and offer full details of the job. Then direct qualified applicants to fax or e-mail CVs. This will save you lots of time and hassle in dealing with people blatantly unqualified for the job.
This could also work when offering more information about a product. Record a message giving details of the product (in my case that could include directions to a venue, starting and ending times of a seminar, reasons why someone should attend, etc.). Then simply direct interested parties to that number. If you’re offering information as part of your service – such as exchange rates or product prices or surfing conditions – then your total cost for the year is just R120. [That’s based on Vodago Call-A-Lot – 365 days of incoming calls, and your calls to the voicemail centre are free.] You don’t even need a new phone – simply a new line. Once a day swop the SIM cards in your regular cellphone and record the latest message.
One of the most useful features of such a simple service is that it can handle multiple incoming calls simultaneously - unlike a regular Telkom line. This means that people get through first time, every time.
In the past week I have received a number of e-mails mentioning a supposedly new Telkom ‘service’. Apparently you can dial cellphones via this service at normal landline rates. You simply dial 1007, wait for the voice prompt, and enter a cell number followed by the # key. I played with it yesterday, and found that it worked most of the time. The line quality on a few occasions was awful. Since Telkom do not have a good record of giving money away to their clients, I have no doubt that they will find payment somewhere. I await this month’s telephone bill with interest.
A personal remark about telephones. Ten years ago I closed a business. During its lifetime it had made a number of suppliers lots of money. They seemed to forget this in their enthusiasm to collect the outstanding (very tiny) balances. Most lost their dignity. And after three years of constant telephonic abuse, I began to hate the telephone with the passion that one normally reserves for people driving cars at high speeds 1 metre behind you on the highway. Every time I hear a cellphone ring - even if it isn’t mine - my heart rate accelerates. This could be why the best way to get a response from me personally is via e-mail.
I have just returned from a short weeks break at the Wilderness - which is another name for Paradise. Managed to see more whales and dolphins in a single day than in 5 years watching at Hermanus - supposedly the whale capital of the country. Which says something about the Hermanus marketing team. And says a lot less about the Wilderness marketing team!
How to type at 250 words per minute
Isn’t it interesting how each of us responds differently to good news? Every piece of feedback I have had about 20twenty - from someone who has tried them - has been exceptional. Every piece of feedback I have had from someone who has NOT tried them - has assured me that they too will one day be bad so it’s not worth trying them at all! I think that it was Winston Churchill who once said “Man occasionally stumbles upon an opportunity, but picks himself up and carries on regardless.”
Every now and then I do a demonstration during one of the seminars in which I show folk how to type at 250 words per minute. Your immediate thought is that it is impossible. So was mine. I hate typing. My fingers cannot move fast enough and my brain moves too fast. The result is painful keyboard chaos.
I have been trying to use voice recognition software for about three years. Until now it has not lived up to its promise. The latest version, however, is so fast that I cannot outrun it. For the first time ever my brain is running slower than I can actually input into my PC. The result = typing at 250 words per minute!
That’s good news. It means that you can also type at 250 words per minute next week if you want to. And you can do this with virtually no training. And your fingers won’t get sore because you are writing letters and reports with the one tool that needs very little training - your voice. This entire article was typed using my tongue!
The way that the recognition technology works creates some interesting effects. When you speak to your PC it never makes a spelling error. Sometimes, however, it doesn’t recognise exactly what you said, or the context in which you said it. Then it’s simply a matter of teaching the software. Back in the bad old days you had to spend hours training the software before you could use it. The latest versions require minimal training - about 15 minutes - which is way less than my secretary needed! The version I am using (which is trained for my English accent) managed to interpret an Afrikaans farmer pretty well in one of the demos.
It takes some getting used to. One is tempted to speak slowly and clearly but this seems to confuse the software. I find that the faster I speak the better it recognises what I’m trying to say. Given the amount of writing I do I find that I am able to save between two and three hours each day. If you’re from Gauteng you will probably find more work to occupy that saved time. But living in Knysna means a few more hours on the lagoon trying to entice watery creatures into a pot with some spices and just a hint of curry.
Powerhouse Dictation are the suppliers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking - which is the product I use. They will supply it; install it; and train you in its use.
So far I have only mentioned that I can type faster. The software also integrates with most of my applications. This means that I can open and close browser windows; add or delete database records; write letters; answer e-mails - all without touching a key.
Click here to type at 250 words per minute.
Scared of technology?
Every now and then I get scared. Technology is racing ahead faster than my ability to assimilate all the changes. And when I see my friends wondering what is happening to their businesses (but convinced that technology has nothing to do with it). I fear for all of us.
Our children are learning to use PCs as tools in every aspect of their work. Yet we are convinced that we don’t need technology! What is going to happen to us when these kids come into the job market? Their knowledge of technology will mean that their brains are effectively three or four times bigger than ours.
The Internet is the biggest repository of information in the history of mankind. It’s also a free training ground. Yet we, Luddites that we are, ban our employees from surfing the Web — and we don’t even want to spend money on training them in these technologies either! Why? It’s a little like asking a child to learn to ride a bike but not allowing him to climb onto the saddle. I don’t understand it.
A few days ago my son did something he shouldn’t have. He then asked me to take him somewhere. As punishment (and a Dad’s cunning plan to educate his son) I gave him a simple task. “Find Stewart Alsop’s latest article for me first.”
“But Dad, who is he?” I was so unhappy with him that I refused to give him any more information. He gave me one of those long-suffering looks that 11 year-old boys are so good at giving us old farts, and wandered off. About ten minutes later he had found Stewart Alsop, printed the latest article, and was ready to go! That terrified me — how many of us business owners could do that?
Even now I am stunned at the progress we have made over the past few years. I am dictating this article and watching the software magically turn my sounds into words that you will understand. Simultaneously I am listening to Sarah Brightman on my headphones; my PC is downloading some trial software; and my e-mail program is clearing my mailbox. Yet not a single piece of equipment, nor any software, that I’m using is the latest version. It is all more than a year old.
I guess I am lucky because I get to change equipment fairly often. Most of us are using PCs that are truly old — more than three years old!
The best advice I can give you as a business owner is to chill out in front of your PC every now and then (hopefully more now than then) and just surf. Start somewhere interesting like Yahoo or Google and search for anything at all. If it makes you feel any better (or less guilty) try a few words specific to the work you do. These search engines allow you to read millions of Web pages in a few seconds — making you (temporarily at least) brighter than Einstein! (That’s how Mikie found Stewart Alsop.)
Your PC is not going to bite you when you do this. Nor is it going to be invaded by a virus. But you will find a bunch of interesting sites, and learn a lot more than you knew this morning. And if you do this every day or so, you’re going to end the year a lot more knowledgeable. If you really want to have some fun, try downloading demo software and playing with it. I did this some time back with a little product that is now the foundation of all my writing and creative efforts - and I simply couldn’t produce as much work without it. Yet I wouldn’t have found it without the messing around.
And for heavens sake - let your staff surf the net during business hours! It’s the cheapest way for them to learn where to find stuff; what’s happening in your field; why their own PC is doing funny things; get free software upgrades; test new software via free downloads; and a bunch of other good things we haven’t even thought of yet…
I am going to stop dictating until next week as Eric Clapton has decided to play some real sad songs, and I feel the need for some red wine. Have a good one.
An Apple a day keeps the technical support away…
What do you do when your PC is so much fun to use that you don’t even want to go to bed at night? That’s what happened to me when I bought an Apple PowerBook! As I start writing this article I am listening to the best music I have ever heard, via headphones plugged into the PowerBook. [For me ‘best music’ is pretty much anything between 1973 and 1983! It makes me realise how much fun I had as a youngster. [Inside this decrepit 45 year old body lurks a 16 year old Adonis champing at the bit!] I have selected the best tracks from about 15 CDs and my PowerBook is burning a CD to play in the car to keep me entertained as I drive to the airport in George en route to seminars in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
What’s been so outstanding is the simplicity of it all. Whenever I get lost I simply look at this beast and ask myself “What’s the easiest way to do it?” because that’s what the Apple designers have done! If I were to start from scratch again in my PC learning curve I would buy any Apple as my first machine. It’s simple, and beautiful.
That beauty is important, because I spend hours each day working in front of a PC. Since getting this laptop that’s been immense fun. I managed to buy my wife an iMac at the same time – so don’t take my earlier comments about preferring the PowerBook to bed too seriously. And she’s been having as much fun as me. After 2 years of frustration with some web design issues she’s now steaming ahead at a breathtaking pace - because the software never seizes up so she never loses any work.
Yep, I’ve been told that they’re a tad more expensive than your average Windows PC. But let’s look at that in perspective. If you were to buy a ‘brand’ PC – HP or Compaq or IBM – then you’re going to be spending pretty much the same as I did to buy my PowerBook.
In fact, coincidentally, the LCD screen on my Compaq I Ghz laptop decided to go on holiday just as I bought the Apple. Exactly 12 months and 4 weeks after I bought the machine Compaq suggested that the R25,000 toy [actually the word they used was home] laptop I bought last year was not suitable for a real man, and advised that if I had invested R35,000 in their real business laptop I would have been much better off! [That’s a hell of a lot more than I paid for the Apple PowerBook.] Compaq then recommended that I approach their 3rd party support organisation to have it repaired. This was done pretty quickly, but I suddenly realised the true value of the 2-year worldwide warranty offered by Apple.
Of course, compatibility is always an issue because we all share WORD and EXCEL files willy-nilly, don’t we? Microsoft Office for the Mac solves that problem remarkably well and I share files daily with my office. For what its worth, it runs a hell of a lot faster on the Mac, and it doesn’t freeze the machine. After living with frozen boxes for as long as I can remember its disquieting to have a machine that never needs to be rebooted – and doesn’t lose information. While on the subject of compatibility – it’s those same products [WORD and EXCEL] that are carrying many of the viruses currently doing the rounds. I now distribute files as PDF, RTF or HTM – and it does the job just as well 95% of the time.
As opposed to the more than 75000 viruses written for Windows, only about 25 were ever written for the Apple - so when one arrives in my intray I can see that it is a virus, but it can’t do anything! I’ve programmed my email program to sneeze every time it recognises a virus [about 30 times a day], just to remind me of how much effort it’s saving me.
Most of the other equipment in the house and the office is still Windows based - and the PowerBook plugs into the same network and accesses the same disks and files as the Windows machines. It’s even easier to configure than Windows. [Most of my backups are still to a Windows based machine with a large disk drive.] I did find it interesting that the PowerBook seems to be about 30% faster when downloading from the Internet than my 1Ghz Compaq laptop.
Some time ago I wrote an article about investing in USB hardware [it’s here if you want to check it out]– and that has proven to be worth every cent! Almost all the USB stuff I have is perfectly compatible with my new machine.
Only 2 software products that I have come to rely on do not have Mac versions – but Virtual PC [a smart piece of Mac software] allows me to run Windows XP in a window under the Mac and to run those 2 apps. In fact, Windows looks much better on this screen that it does on its own screen!
For the past couple of years I have been half-heartedlky trying to get some video recordings onto my PC for some of the seminars - and it’s been an expensive, vain struggle. The PowerBook is simple: Plug a camera in the back and it immediately starts to download! It’s staggeringly simple.
Forgive my enthusiasm, but if you’ve been reading Petes Weekly for a while you will know that I have been railing against the amount of money and effort we need to throw at defective software. Last year I looked at Linux as an alternative but couldn’t find enough consistent support to get it working the way I would like. But Apple – now that’s a different story…
In fact, the new Apple operating system OS X has been completely re-engineered from scratch. The base operating system is a rock-solid version of UNIX that you can mess with if you’re that way inclined, and Apple have created a wonderful interface that’s fast and intuitive. So you have the best of both worlds: attractive simplicity if you’re new to computing, and access to the innards if you’re a guru.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all roses. Any company that thinks high price and lack of availability is an enticing offer needs to be roundly beaten about the head. Apple SA really needs to get its act together in that regard. But despite any wait, the machine is worth it. Apple supporters are as narrow minded as Windows supporters – and refuse to acknowledge that anything else exists. Wish my own sales team were like that!
There are quite a few models to look at, so check them out here. And do yourself a huge favour. Buy yourself a book on the operating system – like David Pogue’s The Missing Manual for OSX. Not only will it help you get started much, much faster – but it will also remove any frustrations you might have about the differences between the look and feel of Apple and Windows. In fact, do yourself a favour and get this book before you buy your first Apple. Once you start reading the book and see how easy it all is, you will want to convert as quickly as you can. [Chances are you won't get it locally, so the link will take you to Amazon. My copy arrived within 9 days.]
The 2 best local suppliers I have found are Project 3 in Cape Town – www.project3.co.za, and C3 – www.c3.co.za in Gauteng. Check them out, and have some fun with your machine for a change! In conclusion, neither Apple nor any of the suppliers I used gave me anything better or cheaper than you will be getting – so this is not a sponsored feature. I have simply found computing nirvana and I want to share it.
Emails and Four Letter Words…
If emails are increasingly becoming the preferred method of communication for most of us, then why are we all struggling so much with them? When last did any of us receive a real letter inscribed on dead tree products and delivered manually 3 weeks late?
One of the challenges is that our local Internet Service Providers [ISP] haven’t yet cottoned on to businesses needing email more and more. They limit our sending options - try sending an email to lots of recipients simultaneously and see what happens. They de-prioritise email so it travels slower than really important stuff like music and game downloads - despite charging more for business access than for private access. They charge the earth if we use any of their precious bandwidth. And, of course, they censor our incoming email and consign it to the bin if it offends certain arbitrary rules. Or contains certain undesirable words. Speaking of which, it must be hell to be a doctor because many of the offending words are anatomical and if you can’t talk about them in your email to a professional colleague - how will you you communicate?
Bandwidth [the amount of data we can send and receive each month] is expensive in South Africa, possibly because of the local single supplier - Telkom - who constantly assure us that competition will make it even more expensive. Yet bandwidth in the USA is about 1/48th the price of bandwidth here.
Most email clients - that’s the program that runs on your own PC - haven’t quite figured it out yet either. My personal inbox never gets to empty any more, simply growing bigger each day. The problem is that the emails that accumulate are the ones demanding longer answers, and I promise myself I will get to them, but somehow I never do so the guilt just grows as the inbox grows. And eventually my PC crashes and trashes that inbox - thus relieving me of the guilt. [Can't do that no more because Apple doesn't crash - ever. Darn!] Answering emails can easily cost 2 hours each day - mostly repeating answers with slightly different emphases.
Yet most of the stuff going out can be easily automated. In my case, for example, it makes sense to develop a few standard answers to cover the most often asked questions - and then scour any incoming emails for key words. For example, a global answer on how to get sureties back from a bank that would be automatically sent out if someone sent me an email containing the words “bank”, “surety”, “help”, “signed”. Without even reading the incoming email I could immediately respond with an answer that would cover most needs. Similarly, I could use it to automatically respond with seminar information, brochures, technical support, etc. And wouldn’t it be great if every person asking for anything was catalogued into a file automatically for later follow-up? I am getting there as fast as I can.
May I suggest an exceptional product that I have used since December last year? Mailloop will not only deliver bulk email - like Petes Weekly [a list exceeding 20,000 email addresses] but it allows you to personalise each one. [Instead of using CC to copy a single email to everyone on your list - and in so doing sharing those addresses with each recipient.] I had a wine farm recently email me details of a virus they thought they had received - and in doing so they shared their entire email database with all of their competitors!
Mailloop also bypasses your local ISP email server [SMTP server] and acts like a mail server itself - allowing you to send out as many emails as you want, whenever you want. A reasonable speed line - like a regular 56K dialup - will allow you to send about 3000 personalised HTML emails per hour. In contrast, most ISPs will limit your outgoing emails to between 20 and 255 at a time - and these outgoing emails will leave your outbox with all the urgency of a somnolent sloth.
But the really useful function of the software is that it will also allow you to automatically respond to incoming emails - allowing you to offer a incredibly fast, detailed response. I have only just started to realise the full value of the automation aspect - and how much time and cost it can save. Mailloop will not only provide unlimited autoresponders, it will also manage multiple e-mail accounts automatically.
The software designers who built Mailloop obviously spent a lot of time talking to real people like you and me - so it’s really easy to start using right away. Even an absolute beginner will have no problem automating newsletters, mailing lists, autoresponders - whatever you need. Even if your e-mail experience only consists of sending basic messages to friends and family, you can still use Mailloop. I promise it’s that easy. The developers even created this really neat set of complimentary video tutorials with your copy of Mailloop. These videos actually hold your hand and visually walk you through the entire step by step process of setting up your copy. So if you can turn on your computer, you can use Mailloop!
I know I am terrifically biased, but this is one of those tools that is already deeply impacting on my income - positively. If you check out the following web site you will find the developers give some really good tips and strategies about how you can use e-mail automation software like Mailloop to increase your sales and automate your business. (They even lead you through examples of promotions that they’ve personally used so you can increase your sales…)
So I highly recommend that you check out Mailloop by clicking here.
You can try Mailloop for the next 90 days with no risk. Check out the site and test drive the software. The worst that can happen is that you learn a lot. The best is that you rocket sales and cut workload. Makes sense to me.
And the four letter word? I dare not actually spell it because that single word would stop most ISPs dead in their tracks. They would take this single word in the body of this message as an indication that this email is evil. You see, this crime is worse than murder, or even tax evasion. The word is MAPS - which when you spell it backwards is a food item mentioned frequently in a Monty Python sketch - and is the source of much of the inbox intrusion that we face daily.
Winston Churchill, I think it was, once said “Man occasionally stumbles upon an opportunity, but picks himself up and carries on regardless.” Have yourself a wonderful week having fun and making money. [And if you can't do either, then savour the learning experiences.]
Out with the new; in with the old.
Two guys finish a business meeting. They swap phone numbers. The one guy spells out his cell number.
The second guy says “I don’t have a cell phone. They don’t work for me. I tried them out when mobile car phones were first introduced, but they were so big and bulky and expensive I gave up on them. So I am not going to waste my money now!”
Crazy, eh? [True story, although most of us are not quite as extreme in our fear of new things.] Yet we all behave like this in some area of our lives. In many cases it can cripple our business efforts. It’s not just the resistance to new products and technologies that make our business lives more effective - but also the intense resistance to new ideas and knowledge.
[After writing Petes Weekly for more than 5 years, I am no longer amazed when an educated graduate assures me I am wrong when I say that most business owners don't like bankers, or that most business owners are deeply frustrated with their accountants. Yet each time I make such a statement - a few stalwarts will email me in purple prose to tell me how wrong I am, and how dare I criticise their fine professions, and threaten to cancel their gratis Petes Weekly subscription should I dare to voice such opinions again.]
Take Voice Recognition Software, for example. I have been successfully using it for the past 4 years. Prior to that it was awfully crappy, but the more recent versions or the product I use [Dragon Naturally Speaking 7] are exceptionally good. Each time I mention that I can dictate much faster [and more accurately] than most folk can pound a keyboard, I am assured that this is impossible because they tried the software back in ‘95 and it didn’t work then, so it cannot work now! Yo! Catch a wake up guys. Thne PC you’re reading this article on is 1000 times more powerful than the codebreaking computer at Bletchley Park that won the last great war! And it’s doubling in power every 18 months.
And each time I mention how using such software removes the need for a personal assistant, someone will try and convince me of all the other benefits of a personal assistant - BEE, the national economy, coffee making, stretching my nascent HR skills, great legs, etc.. [Call me conservative, but in my mind spending less than a single months PA salary to buy software that will work 24/7/365 for the next 2 years outweighs any personnel advantages.]
Our lives are growing in depth at an increasing pace. Yet it seems that our ability to accept, accommodate, assimilate, or welcome these changes is not keeping up. Even though we have access to unimaginable knowledge and power [at least unimaginable a few short years ago], we insist on sticking to those same tried and tested ways that didn’t work for us 10 years ago, and work even less today.
This weekend my son asked me to assist in buying some saltpetre so that he could test his new gunpowder recipe. In his mind that’s the only reason saltpetre exists. I told him that I would - provided he could find 40 other uses for saltpetre. [I mentioned that the SADF was rumoured to use it back in the bad old days to reduce their soldiers' enthusiasm for women, and he was inspired.] Ten minutes later he - via Google - had a list of 10 uses. I sent him back to the task, and one hour later, with a little digging - he had more than 40 different places where saltpetre was critical. And that’s how I research anything these days.
Contrast that with being at the mercy of your local library or bookstore. Yet I still get requests like “I’ve been asked to invest in this firm. Have you ever heard of them?” Check out the web, my son, and all will be revealed!
I have been deeply disappointed by the accountants servicing my firm these past few years - and a professional glitch last week cast me from the frying pan onto the [very] hot plate. [I suspect that I am not the only SME aggrieved at spending money on folk that government insists we use, but who have a great business model - do no work for Peter Carruthers!]
Last week I was so distressed by the issue that I tried out some new software. Simply feed in your bank statement [downloaded from your bank via the Net], and it will automatically allocate everything to the right place - including the VAT. Ha! Heard that before. But desperation is the mother of all effort - or words to that effect.
Here is my experience:
Installed new software at 11:00am Friday 25 February.
Set up and running at 11:15am.
Downloaded statements by 11:30am.
Imported entire bank statement [for 11 months of the past year] by 11:45.
Started allocating bank statement items [allocate once, and it happens automatically thereafter]
Reviewed complete financial picture of year at 1 :00pm [except for missing month] Friday 25 February.
Emailed bookkeeper to fax missing month’s statement at 1:15pm [still waiting on following Wednesday at 10:00am]
Realised I am an accounting genius at 1:16pm - even though I know NOTHING about accounting!
Single handedly completed consumption of bottle of Zonnebloem Shiraz to celebrate newfound financial freedom, while contemplating where to find substantial funds I discovered I still owed SARS.
Now wondering why I am spending more than R15000 each year for a ‘professional’ to do all of this , and thinking of giving it directly to SARS in mitigation of bills.
My point being that I have, in the past, tried almost every accounting package ever manufactured - and found that I could never get past the difficult questions they asked before I could start using them. When I first looked at this new package - the same thoughts assailed me. But, by now, I was desperate - and my accounting professional wasn’t even answering phone calls.
Since everything that happens in my firm happens via my bank account[s], it made sense to go down this road. I now like this software so much I want to buy the company! It’s going to take a week or so for me to lose this initial blush of enthusiasm - and then I will tell you where to get it. Something this good must have a few warts, and I am going to find them before I share it. Otherwise I have no doubt you will find the blemishes and take great delight in sharing them with me!
If we lose our fear of new things, and attack new ideas/products with vigour, then only two things can happen - and they’re both good. Either we will make more money - and that’s not too shabby. Or we will learn how not to make money for now - and that knowledge is priceless.
And now, since my accountant has not yet sent me that last statement, I am off to my bank to extract a copy from them. Have a great week, and don’t be afraid to do something new with your banker or your accountant: be honest about your feelings.
March 2nd , 2005 - Umhlanga Rocks
PS I received more than 500 emails with birthday wishes last week, so I must apologise if you sent one and I did not reply. I simply ran out of time. It’s sobering to realise that a mere 18 years are left before I descend into that great decrepitude we call retirement. What a wake up call.
Warrior Comment
I joined Business Warriors in October 2004 after a friend forwarded 3 editions of
Pete’s Weekly to me. I was so intrigued that I joined within days.
In less than 4 months I have learned so much, I have met so many wonderful
people in cyberspace, I have changed my entire time-schedule to accommodate enough time to go to suggested web-sites, read newsletters, build my own blog on the internet, asking questions on the forum and in personal emails, getting amazing answers from people just like myself.
For less than R175 per month, [tax deductible] -hardly possible one would think?
Remember the old clichÈ “Everything you ever wanted to know about (your) business but were afraid (or too broke) to ask?”
If you join Business Warriors you can ask all the right questions to all the right people and get all the right answers all the time.
Pieter Naude’
Uvongo Pharmacy
[A few weeks ago I couldn't even spell blog, now I has one!]
