Month: April 2008

Be Specific About Your Services

Lately, while going from one client to another, it has occurred to me that I have been fortunate to get clients despite my marketing, rather than because of my marketing. Usually, when people ask me what I do, I tell them that I fix computers and do some web work. My intent has been that it is general enough that it might spark an idea for what I can do for that person. While working on a few projects, it occurred to me that I probably should be more specific about what I do. Perhaps you should be specific too.

Let me give you some more examples. Rather than say that I fix computers, I should say that I can help my clients figure out whether they should fix or replace their computers. Quite frankly, many clients do not want to spend more money to fix an old PC than they would spend buying a new one. I have found that my non-business clients have a $200 threshold before they start eyeballing a new PC. Quite frankly, I don’t want to spend hours figuring out software issues either. It’s not cost-effective for the client and no fun for me. By positioning the service as helping them make that decision, it prepares them to make one of the two choices. This way, they already know it’s either going to cost up to their spending limit, or more than their spending limit.

Rather than generally saying that I network computers, I can say that I network computers to share wired and wireless internet connections, share printers on a network, block unwanted sites like Myspace, install routers and set up firewalls, or any number of specific network items. Doesn’t being specific like that spark more ideas of how I can help your small business? Heck, I could probably cycle through marketing campaigns of very specific services. One week, for example, I could call on businesses and offer Myspace blocking for a given price. Once that runs out, I could maybe start a new campaign setting up VPN services.

With respect to Internet, it’s rather vague to say that I provide Internet services. How about specifying that I can set my clients up with their own podcast? I can specify other services like showing my client how to edit video on their computer. I can provide specific services like producing a podcast or blogging for their business. I can set the client up with a WordPress site or create a custom templete. You get the picture, right? Same thing here. Once you have a specific service to latch onto, you can create a marketing campaign for it.

Having specifics about what you do can spark ideas in the prospect; but it also steers the conversation towards the type of work you want to do. This is awesome because doing what you like and getting paid for it is much better than doing things you don’t like and getting paid for it. I’d rather do work I enjoy. Another benefit is that the more you practice specific services, the more proficient you become at them. Therefore, I will practice specifying the kind of work that I do from now on. Perhaps you should too.

How Blog Talk Radio Can Help You Get More From Your Day

If you have followed me and my work for a while, you know that I have done live shows on Blog Talk Radio for almost a year. It is such an awesome experience to wake up, drop off the boy at school, and get ready to do a live show. I am such an advocate for starting your own show; but today, I want to address the other side of the coin, listening to other hosts.

If I am not careful, I can start by listening to JJ Truth, do my own show, listen to Nikki Starr, listen to Fausta Wertz, and then have to race to work before another show starts to draw me in. Seriously, the content of some of these shows can be so compelling that you can’t turn away.

But let’s say that you don’t have the time or inclination to sit at your computer to listen to show after show. Of what value is Blog Talk Radio? Well, if you’ve ever heard of the Long Tail in Marketing, you have an idea of what I’m about to write about. If you’ve never heard of it, the Long Tail refers to the aggregate amount of sales in the tail end of the business cycle. The best example is how Netflix makes a lot of money on older DVD movies versus some of the latest releases. Documentaries, independent films, old TV shows, and such that have already made their killing at one time or another, continue to bring in revenue a little bit at a time.

Blog Talk Radio has a similar phenomenamena. There are thousands of daily listeners, but the true value of Blog Talk Radio lies in the archives, the long tail. Assuming each show is properly tagged and noted, you could search on any number of topics and find a show, or several, that will address your interest. On top of that, you don’t have to read the material, it is spoken to you. Given the live nature of Blog Talk Radio, it is possible that a listener may call in to ask a question or pose the question through the chat room as you may have wanted to ask.

You may be thinking, “oh, big deal. I can do a Google search and find any number of sources for information.” You would be right. However, you would only be able to read and evaluate one at a time. Whereas doing the same with BTR frees you up to listen, like you would your talk radio station, while you do other stuff. When you are reading a blog, you can’t do anything other than read. When you listen to an expert on Blog Talk Radio, you can keep working while you listen. This will help you get more from your day.

Trying to Get By Without Broadband

Currently, our broadband connection at home is not working. This poses a few problems for me in that it limits my Internet options. Rather than fix the problem, I’m going to let it ride and try to get by using my mobile phone as my Internet connection. Even with this, I’m not truly experiencing dial-up speed. Using my phone, I can still pull down 115 kb/s; this is faster than dial-up. Even so, the Internet is not exactly speeding along.

One thing I have to accept is that I can only browse one thing at a time. Browsing two pages at once means that they will both load slowly. Therefore I still end up waiting for pages to download. It forces you to plan your browsing. This in turn, may actually result in saving time because you focus on what you need to get done and cut out unnecessary browsing.

Video is a problem. Small videos are not a big problem, but much of the fun stuff is in the high megabyte count, making them painfully slow to view. I can forget about uploading.

Audio podcasts are, strangely, still doable. It seems that my phone is capable of downloading just a little faster than the media player is able to play; therefore, I can listen to podcasts while they download. I am able to catch some streaming audio too. In the case of recording shows, I don’t typically use a data connection to record my shows; I dial in. The only downside is that if I want to use my Blog Talk Radio or Talkshoe switchboards, I cannot simultaneously dial in. My mobile phone lets me pick between data or voice, but not both. Therefore, I need to run off somewhere where there is free wifi, or I need to get a second phone for voice.

Working on a slow connection also has social media implications. I have to use low-bandwidth options. This means that Twitter is best used via GTalk. Using the Twitter website is just too slow. Facebook and Myspace? Forget it, unless I use the mobile versions. This is probably not a bad thing. Mobile versions strip out all the junk people load on their pages and get to the point. I suppose I can continue using mobile versions of my social media.

For blogging, I can’t say that I am hampered all that much. Blogging, for the most part, uses a static page. Fortunately, blogging, which has been good for me career-wise, is hardly impacted without broadband. I am blogging using my phone’s connection now.

One other thing that I’ve come to appreciate is that I am able to operate a great service that I have started using, smartsheet.com. Smartsheet is a great website that is perfect for project planning and team collaboration. I was worried that my ability to use SmartSheet would be hampered by a slow connection; it is not. Although it is slow to load at the outset, once it’s loaded, there is not problem. So, you mobile professionals may appreciate this about SmartSheet.

Most of this is moot if you choose to use something like Sprint’s EV-DO. Sprint’s mobile Internet is spectacular. I’ve used Sprint and I must say that I am impressed. They have 1 Mb speeds for download and not too shabby upload speeds. In my case, I use T-Mobile’s EDGE data connection. It’s no EV-DO, but I’ve been very happy with T-Mobile’s customer service; so, I’m willing to put up with the slower speed.

NOTE:
In case you are wondering, I have a T-Mobile Dash and use the built-in Internet sharing feature on the phone. The unlimited data plan is roughly $20/month, which includes unlimited access to T-Mobile HotSpots.

Microsoft SharePoint Has Stepped Up

An Old Hard Drive

I have always been interested in using technology to collaborate on projects and share information efficiently. The collaboration and information sharing could be within the business or outside the business. It seems that Microsoft SharePoint is the tool that will finally make Microsoft Office worth upgrading. The new version of Office is enhanced by having SharePoint on the back end.

I think SharePoint has great potential on both the intranet and the internet. I will go over the strengths of both setups here. Before going into that, however, I should point out that Microsoft may be cannibalizing SharePoint’s market a little with their new Live Office. Of course, there are miles of difference between Live Office and SharePoint. In this case, you do get what you pay for.

I tried two different versions of SharePoint. First, I played with the older Sharepoint 2003. It looks and feels old, but it’s still useful. When you get started, you have a few features activated like a bulletin board, a picture, and a few document folders on the side. It is very basic and easy to customize. At first glimpse, it looks kind of lame. However, once you start uploading documents, creating team pages, organizing events, and playing with site permissions, you start to see how this tool can really help with project efficiency. Whether SharePoint is hosted internally or externally, it serves as a gathering point for all employees. Suddenly, SharePoint is the application and Office is the support software. Let me paint a scenario.

Imagine you arrive at work and have a few priorities for the day. You have to add your bit to a proposal your team is writing, you have to prepare to take some time off when your baby arrives next week, and you need to update the safety committee on some information you got at a meeting with the fire chief. When you arrive, you open up the SharePoint site and look for the proposal. You see that it is checked out by Susan. You’ll have to wait for her to finish. You stop by her office and ask her to let you know when she’s done. You then pop by HR to ask about getting leave. You see that they go into their page on SharePoint and pull up documents you need to fill out there. Just then, Susan calls to tell you she is finished. So, the HR clerk tells you where to find the documents on SharePoint. You head back to your desk and check out the proposal to add your bit. After a few hours, you finish your edits and save the document back to SharePoint to check it in. Then you go to the SharePoint forum for the Safety Committee to let them know what you learned from the fire chief. Once you are done, you navigate to the HR team’s SharePoint page and print out the forms you need for family leave.

In this example, SharePoint seemed like a ubiquitous tool. You may visit Word or Excel, but SharePoint is always on. It is involved in everything. This is exactly the point. Think of it as an extremely friendly version of a network, which we don’t think about until it’s down. However, instead of consisting of a bunch of drive letters and endless folders, it is all grouped by function and team. In your company, you may be a part of a committee and several teams. As a result, your work files may be a mix of all the different aspects of your job. This is a nightmare to navigate on a network. In addition, your co-workers may be emailing you different versions of the same file. How do you keep tab on all the different versions? SharePoint solves all these issues, yet can be as unremarkable as an internet connection. It just seems like the way things ought to be on a network. This is true whether your team is under the same roof or is spread out around the world.

So, what is the other version of SharePoint? It is the 2007 version. If SharePoint 2003 was cool, SharePoint 2007 kicks ass. It completely ties in with Microsoft office to tame the document beast. But, in addition to that, they added wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds. Imagine that within your business. How much would that cut down on your email? How much knowledge can be collaboratively gathered? On top of that, the controls for customizing are what you would expect from an application that has “figured it out”. I’m really excited for Microsoft having put out something that makes work less of a job and more of an opportunity to showcase your talents. When you don’t have to battle with your tools, you can go out and show what you’re made of.

Robert Walker – Getting Things Done With Vitalist

One of my favorite web applications is Vitalist. Robert Walker from Vitalist is my guest on Friday, April 18 at 2 pm CST. Learn how you can use Vitalist to get things done using the GTD methodology described by David Allen. We can all be a little more productive, right?

You can listen to the show on Blog Talk Radio. You are also welcome to call in if you have any questions. The phone number is 646-716-8227, or you can join us in the chatroom during the show.

Robert Walker – Getting Things Done With Vitalist

HESTEC 2008 Update With Ernesto Villareal

The Hispanic Engineering, Science, and Technology Program (HESTEC) at the University of Texas Pan American is an annual event that aims to encourage hispanics to pursue careers in Science and technology by showcasing successful people in those fields. The event is co-organized through the office of Congressman Ruben Hinojosa.

Ernesto Villareal will join us and give us the latest on this year’s HESTEC planning. The event expands its horizons every year and has become a major draw in the region. Join us April 25 at 8:30 am CST on Blog Talk Radio. If you have any questions during the show, call in at 646-716-8227.

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Saving Money With Home-Ec101.com

NOTE: Skip to the 4:00 mark. I had my mic turned off for a full minute after the intro.

Heather Solos and Ivy Brown of Home-Ec101.com join me on Tuesday, April 22 at 8:30 am CST to discuss how to save money at home with some useful tips and simple techniques. A little here and a little there adds up over time. With two guests on the show, this should be a lot of fun. Call in with your questions at 646-716-8227.

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Insurance for Small Business With Husbaldo Salazar

Husbaldo Salazar is an agent for Farmers Insurance in Mission, Texas. He shares his expertise and some insight into what kinds of insurance the small business owner should have and why. Join us on April 28 at 8:30 CST to learn about what insurance products are best suited to your small business. You are welcome to call in at 646-716-8227 with your questions.

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Interview with Brian Massey of Booklobby.com


On today’s show, I interviewed Brian Massey of Booklobby.com to get a little more information about this project. He tells us why lobbyists have an easier time of influencing elected officials and what we can do as constituents to exert our influence. Booklobby makes it easier for individuals to influence politicians. BookLobby is getting ready to launch a Facebook app that will assist you in sending books to your elected official. Listen in on Blog Talk Radio for more details.

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I won’t make it to Podcamp NYC

It turns out that I can’t make it to Podcamp NYC. The issue is not an economic problem. I scheduled my son’s baptism for the same day. Our church had run out of slots for the baptism date mid-month, so I took the next available slot, which will be the same weekend as Podcamp. You know what they say about the best laid plans. I’m sad that I won’t get to make it to New York City this year. On the upside, it gives me a chance to plan for next year’s.

Outsourcing with BPOVIA Virtual Assistants


On Monday, I will be interviewing James Huang, Founder and CEO of BPOVIA.com. BPOVIA is an outsourcing company from China that offers Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), but also provides Virtual Assistant services. We will talk about what is involved with hiring a virtual assistant and what you can expect when you work with BPOVIA.

Aside from Virtual Assistants, BPOVIA offers sourcing, market development, and trade show services in China. If you have any questions about any of these services, be sure to join us from 8:30 to 9:00 AM, CST on Blog Talk Radio. You can call in to the show at 646-716-8227 or join us in the chat room.


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Non-profit Social Media With Trish Forant of eMailOurMilitary.com

I will be interviewing Trish Forant of eMailOurMilitary.com tomorrow morning from 8:30 to 9:00 AM, CST. She is the founder of the organization, which sends messages of support to our troops. We will be discussing how eMOM uses social media to promote their mission and raise the money necessary to carry it out.

You can listen live on Blog Talk Radio. You are welcome to join us and dial in to the show. The phone number is 646-716-8227.

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