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Further
Reading ...
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Ride the wave of ‘Wellness’ to Financial Freedom! - Lynda Lock
Ever wished that you’d timed things a little better so that your income was on par with that of Bill Gates? Perhaps you ponder how life would have been different had you the ability to see the big picture that Henry Ford saw – the NEED for...
Do You Know The Reason Why So Many Fail in Internet Business? - Virdian Pratama
Dear Internet Marketer, Let?s face it. People NEED, and WANT long term residual, stable income that FREES them up from the rat race. The only problem with this, is that most people don't know H-O-W to get it!. Thousands join internet...
What is an Artist's Statement & How Often Should It Be Updated? - Yasmeen Abdur Rahman
An artist's statement is a statement of ideas and thoughts that describe your philosophy, vision, and passion towards your artistic creations. Ponder over the following questions prior to writing your artist's statement: Is your work...
Get Your Credit Score To Soar In The Twinkling of An Eye. - Omar M Omar
Ever wonder how a creditor decides whether to grant you credit? For years, creditors have been using credit scoring systems to determine if you'd be a good risk for credit cards and auto loans. More recently, credit scoring has been used to help...
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Are You At The Mercy Of Computer Geeks?
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Written By:
Melanie Mendelson
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Many business owners are sabotaging their business without even realizing it. They are completely out of the loop when it comes to all technology aspects of their operation such as websites, computers and software. They become completely dependent on their technical people and naively believe that things are "being taken care of".
This "head in the sand" approach is very dangerous. Here are just a few scenarios of what can happen:
- Your webmaster is the only person who knows the username, password and other improtant settings for your website. If the webmaster suddenly stops responding to your phone calls or e-mails (which I've seen happen many times), you would have no idea how to hand off the website updates to another person.
- Your programmer no longer wishes to work with you. When you hire a replacement, it turns out that there is no documentation for the program, the code is unreadable, and it will be cheaper for you to buy a new program than salvage this "sinking ship".
- The software that was developed for your business theoretically does all that was required, but there is one big problem: it is sitting idle because it is so confusing that nobody wants to use it.
- The web server crashes and your website files get erased. Then it turns out that nobody has a backup copy
- Your technical person realized how dependent you've become, and starts acting like a "primadonna", and even blackmails you into shelling out more cash, "or else"!
So how do you protect yourself?
If you are now thinking that you need to become a computer geek yourself so you don't have to depend on anyone else - that could not be further from the truth. If you spend all your time digging through computer books, writing code and working on the technical details, there will be no time for you to run your business.
Doing it all yourself is not the answer. Everyone should concentrate on doing what they do best. What you need to do is just take some measures to protect yourself. Just knowing and applying these few basic things that I'm about to describe will put you a giant leap ahead of most other business owners.
Here are the things you should do:
- Require documentation on all technical projects. - continued below ...
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Every technology aspect of your business should be documented in such a way that you can hand off this document to a new technical person and they'll understand exactly how the system works and what to do with it.
Let me warn you: you will encounter a lot of resistance from the technical people when you make them document things. However, you need to be firm and require documentation as part of the project before you release the final payment.
When asking someone to develop a website or software, communicate exactly what you want and how you want it to work. Don't assume that people can read your mind.
Communicate all your requirements upfront. If you don't tell programmers or designers exactly what you want, they'll put together a project according to their own vision, which often does not correspond to yours.
Most problems with technical projects occur because of miscommunication.
Make sure you have copies of all files and do regular backups. Don't put it off until tomorrow, because tomorrow might be too late. Losing data can be absolutely devastating.
The easiest thing to do to protect your data is to write those files to a CD on a regular basis. Also, don't forget to store those CDs in a secure location.
Keep track of all technical projects and know what's going on. Being "clueless" should not be acceptable.
Many business owners have such fear of technology that they just don't want to understand the projects and hope that others will simply take care of everything. While you don't need to get involved in all the little technical details, you still need to understand the process and "the big picture".
Practice these simple strategies, and you'll find yourself having more control, more piece of mind and more money in your bank account.
Melanie Mendelson (c)2004
http://www.ProfitableOutsourcing.com
Melanie Mendelson is the author of "Profitable Outsourcing": the insider's guide on how to get the highest quality technical work done for your business at dirt-cheap prices. Visit her site now at http://www.ProfitableOutsourcing.com
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Balancing PLay and wORK: 19 Ways to Leverage Your TimeBalancing PLay and wORK: 19 Ways to Leverage Your Time - Robert Brents
One basic concept of effective time management is to create ways to leverage your time. By leverage we mean, for example, you put in 1 hour and gain a return, or output, equivalent to 5, or 10, or 20 hours... In this article we'll explore 19 ways...
How To Write A Proposal To Get Freelance Work - Angela Booth
*Article Use Guidelines* Use in opt-in publications, or on Web sites, but please include the resource box. Please send me a copy, if possible. Many thanks. ** Summary: Want to get freelance work? Write a proposal. Category: Writing Words: 700...
Exciting Ways to Make Saving Money Fun - Sarah Delaporte
Saving money is not always easy, but approached the right way it can become a hobby that's enjoyable as well as beneficial. I am going to share some steps I have found to stretch your finances AND enjoying the process. TIP 1: Relax. :) Relax,...
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