Unlike the Windows Search effort I discussed in my last article, manually searching Windows Explorer or My Computer begins with how you store a document. Because if you do a good job of storing it, finding it should be easy. There was a simple reason why I couldn’t find my son’s paper: I had stored it in the wrong folder! Doh!

What do I mean by “wrong folder”? In my world, a wrong folder is one that is not a logical place for a particular document to be stored. There is no doubt in my mind that everyone reading this article knows exactly what I mean by this, because every computer user has made this mistake — usually many, many times.

Because I was in a hurry (an open invitation to computer problems), I filed my son’s paper in one of my business folders. For the sake of convenience, I didn’t want to take the time to click a few folders and store it in a
logical one. (Note: This is a direct violation of my cherished Slow, Fast Rule. Taking the time to do things right almost always results in saving time in the long run.)

In my computer, a logical folder would have been “To be transferred,” “Limbo,” or “Temp.” If a file is not going to be a long-term resident of my computer, or if I expect to relocate it at a later date, it gets temporarily housed in one of these folders.

Of course, I had every intention of transferring the document later that evening or the next day — as soon as I found “a free moment.” But who ever gets a free moment? If your brain is anything like mine, you know that thoughts like this make their way into the Lost and Found Cavity of your gray matter very quickly, never to be heard from again.

So, whereas the purpose of Part I of this article was to provide you with a tip that would help you implement an effective Windows Search, the purpose of this article is to help you avoid having to do a lengthy search. It’s so much easier to take a few seconds to store a document in the right folder than to spend forever searching for that document. And, as we all know, from time to time a file can even get lost forever.

There are a hundred tricks to setting up a logical filing system in your computer. If you’re a reasonably sophisticated computer user, you probably already know ninety-nine of them. Even so, allow me to offer just a couple of simple tips.

First, you can place the folders and documents you use most frequently at the top of your list (for easy access) by fooling your computer. By this I mean using prefix letters, numbers, and symbols.

For example, if you want your “Marketing” document or folder to be at the top of your list of files, you can accomplish this by renaming it “!Marketing.” That’s right, an exclamation point trumps “1″ — and, by the way, “1″ trumps “A.” You have to get in there and play with it in order to figure out the best system for your needs.

Second, get in the habit of making and naming new folders — the more detailed, the better. You can do this in Windows Explorer by clicking “File” — “New” — “Folder,” then typing in the name you want to give the new folder. Or, in the “Open” dialog box, you can just click “File” — “Open” — then click the folder icon on the right side of the toolbar at the top of the box and type in the name of the new folder.

If you’ve not spent much time working in this sphere of the computer world, you’ll find that by jumping in with both feet and playing around with it, it becomes very fast and very easy. And you’ll be absolutely amazed at how organized you can make your filing system — and how much time, effort, and grief you can save yourself.

Most important, you won’t incur the wrath of your child, who already sees you as a hopeless boob when it comes to computers. But that’s an article for another day.

By Dr. Ken Evoy

E-commerce is still a very immature and confusing way of doing business. Hucksters and false experts abound at every level. It’s difficult to decide on the best approach to doing business on the Internet and who to listen to.

You can chase the gurus who claim to have the secret system. Or seek out the magical Search Engine Optimizer who claims to be able to get you to the top of the major search engines. Or you can depend on your Webmaster, who talks so far over your head that you have no way of knowing if he’s competent or not.

But what you’re really interested in finding out is why your site gets so little free traffic from Google, Yahoo!, et al. And that begins with taking responsibility for your own life and future, applying your own common sense, and making changes that empower you to use the Web in a logical, effective way.

If you would like to be able to “get the Net,” the first step is to dispel one common myth: that it is hard to create a Web site. The truth is that any monkey can put up a Web site and “be found” by someone looking for his company name or products.

You don’t need a Web site to enable customers and prospects who already know you to find you (although it’s nice to have a special area for them). Rather, you need a Web site to grow your business with people who have never heard of you before, whether your business is as local as a dental office or as global as a software company.

Having said this, I’d like to introduce you to my Five Fundamental Realities of Small Business Online.

The First Fundamental Reality of Small Business Online:

Most of the world does not know you. Use your Web site to grow your business.

Yes, there are other reasons to have a Web site, such as customer support, loyalty programs, etc. But this article is about using the Web to infuse your customer list with high volumes of new blood, find new audiences, and reach clients in corners of the world that you would otherwise never know you existed. Which brings us to …

The Second Fundamental Reality of Small Business Online:

People search for “content.”

Lock that firmly into your forebrain, because it will change everything for you. It’s about how and why people use the Web. Content is information, whether it’s being used for a university project by your daughter or in search of a cure for the type of cancer your uncle has.

Or perhaps in a quest for the perfect golf swing, research on the best planting mix for cacti, or planning a vacation. Whatever the purpose of the consumer of content, your site’s job is to deliver that content, not to sell products. (We will, however, get to that part later).

You must meet your pre-customer at “the point of search.” Deliver the content he wants, and your site will greet (at no cost to you) tens, then hundreds, then thousands of visitors every day — real people who will be interested in you and your business, but who likely had never heard of you before.

Of course, you could advertise on Google. It’s a good adjunct if you have a high-profit product or service to sell — and if you have the resources to assign an in-house person to it or hire expensive outside consultants. But even if you can figure out how to buy Google ads profitably, you still need to be aware of …

The Third Fundamental Reality of Small Business Online:

If you don’t generate your own free, targeted traffic, you don’t own your business.

What this means is that folks who work at building an eBay business really work for eBay, because eBay owns the traffic. E-auctioneers are subject to regularly increasing prices and restriction of practices. Ditto if you depend on traffic through advertising. And the same goes for any company that is not generating its own targeted traffic.

If you don’t generate your own traffic, you are missing the incredible diversity of new pre-customers you could be reaching by building high-value content that people want. And you are squandering the power of providing the “Web 2.0” means for them to provide content for your site and spread your brand and business virally to ever more people in your target market(s). The importance of “high-value content” brings us to …

The Fourth Fundamental Reality of Small Business Online:

Over deliver what your visitors want. Pre-sell, then monetize.

Pre-selling through high-value content warms up your customers with a good first impression. Remember, they found you, so they start off in a favorable frame of mind. Convert that into an interested and motivated sensation that wants to know more about you — the person/company that is a special provider of top-notch information.

Whether you sell widgets or propagate rare tortoises, someone is looking for information related to your business. Give first, then take. Pre-sell, then sell. Only after you pre-sell are you in a strong position to monetize.

Which brings us to the exchange of goods and services for dollars, as explained in …

The Fifth Fundamental Reality Of Small Business Online:

In the world of the Internet, you are not what you sell. You are the content you provide.

Offline, we tend to define ourselves by how we monetize. We’re doctors … or salespeople … or writers … or we wear any one of a thousand other monikers. Online, that translates into creating content sites about whatever your particular specialty happens to be. Remember: You monetize last.

In summation, SiteSell’s success formula is:

Content   Traffic   Pre-sell   Monetize

The good news is that it’s simple to apply this formula to your business. Not easy … but simple.

Why not easy? Because, contrary to popular belief, the Internet does not override reality. It takes gravity for an apple to fall to the ground. It takes two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen to produce a molecule of water. And it takes effort to build a serious, long-term, profitable business.

So, when I say it’s simple but not easy, I mean that once you recognize the reality of C T P M, all you need to do is act on it.

Hopefully, you already know a lot about your business area of expertise. If so, all you need is a vehicle to remove the technical barriers, as there is no good reason for them to exist anymore.

First off, you must shed the lure of false gurus, magical Search Engine Optimizers, and the purveyors of get-rich-quick schemes. Being successful on the Internet is not about getting a site up quickly, cheap, and easy — as so many of the large Web hosts would have you believe. It’s about building a real and lasting business.

Focus on the realities of building an online business that grows long-term, ever-increasing profits. If you do, I can assure you that you will dramatically multiply the profits and equity value of your company.

A Voice of Sanity was so impressed with SiteSell’s philosophy and results that it became a SBI! user itself. If you would like to learn more about this remarkable new way of doing business on the Internet, click here.

By Robert Ringer

In the Preface to Stephen M.R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust, his father, Stephen R. Covey (of Seven Habits fame), states: “My interactions with business leaders around the world have made it increasingly evident that ‘speed to market’ is now the ultimate competitive weapon.”

Just think about that for a minute — the ultimate competitive weapon. What a remarkable thought: The most important thing you can do to win out over the competition is get your reasons for that is that it gives you an edge over your competitors.

In his book, Covey takes the speed issue a giant step beyond his father’s statement. He not only tells the reader what the greatest catalyst for speed is, he explains how and why it produces speed. And the catalyst I am referring to is trust.

Covey says that where there is a lack of trust, everything takes longer and costs more. And he’s absolutely right. Isn’t it a lot faster and less expensive if you trust someone enough to make a deal on a handshake rather than having to bring in a brigade of problem-finding, fee-building attorneys to cross the t’s and dot the i’s?

On a macro level, the greatest threat to America is not Islamic criminals. Our greatest threat is loss of virtues, and at the top of the list of decaying virtues is trust. Americans don’t trust religious leaders, they don’t trust schools, they don’t trust corporate chieftains, and, above all, they don’t trust politicians. And, I should add, all this distrust has been well earned.

Covey points out that trust is based on a demonstration of both character (most commonly manifested as honesty) and competence (most commonly manifested in results). It’s possible to trust someone’s honesty, but not trust him to deliver results — just as it’s possible to trust someone to deliver results, but not trust his honesty. Either way, dealing with such people will slow you down, because there is a lack of trust.

I never cease to be amazed by people who repeatedly make adamant promises, yet consistently fail to follow through on them and deliver results. I’ve grown weary of listening to those who always speak in the future tense, saying that they’re going to take care of this or that tomorrow. As one tomorrow rolls into another, my trust in these folks declines at an accelerating pace.

At a minimum, I prefer to hear the present tense — a person telling me that he’s in the process of doing something. Even better is the past tense: “Yes, I’ve done it.” The past tense promotes trust. Words like “Not yet, but …” arouse doubt.

As for demonstrating character, Covey emphasizes that it’s not so much how people act in the presence of others, it’s what they do behind the scenes. (Anyone who doesn’t understand why this is so probably isn’t curable.) If they have a hidden agenda, a shrewd person will see it right through the facade they’re hiding behind.

You don’t even have to know the other person to detect the truth. In fact, I’ll bet you can think of two or three news commentators whom you do not trust because it’s so painfully obvious that they aren’t reporting the news at all. What they’re really doing is promoting their hidden agendas.

Do you have a hidden agenda? If so, either trash it or bring it out in the open. If you want to be trusted, you have to play every card face up. Strive for consistency between what you say and what do behind closed doors and how you present yourself in public. You simply can’t afford the cost of people not trusting you.

Finally, there’s that tired cliché about “a level playing field.” I am convinced
that nothing does more to level the 21st century playing field than trust.
Because in today’s fast-moving world, it’s speed, not size, that carries the
day. Trust pays off in high speed and low costs, which gives David the best
chance he’s had against Goliath since he used his homemade slingshot against
him.

What’s so great about this headline is that the vast majority of people can relate to it. And one of the least-understood secrets of good writing — including copywriting — is to say things that get people nodding their heads in agreement with your words.

When I first read Karbo’s headline, I envisioned millions of people coast to coast shaking their heads up and down. That’s because it’s evident that the vast majority of people are too busy doing what they have to do to bring in their revered paychecks to do what they have to do to make any real money.

A paycheck is the only thing standing between Mr. Burbs’ suburban image and his ultimate nightmare: If he can’t make the payments on his SUV and big-screen HD television set, the Snootsuns across the street might just discover the bloody truth about him. Bless that bill-paying, nine-to-five job (a.k.a. voluntary servitude).

So, what does he do when he gets home from work? Does he sit down in front of his not-yet-paid-for big-screen TV, have a glass of wine, relax, enjoy a quiet candlelight dinner, then work on serious-moneymaking endeavors for the rest of the evening?

Hardly. The reality is that when he steps foot inside his home, it’s time to deal with the daily cares of life — from the trouble Johnny got into at school that day … to unpaid bills … to studying the new medical-insurance packet that just arrived in the mail.

Mr. Burbs’ biggest challenge is to deal with this tidal wave of domestic yuck as quickly as possible so he can get to bed at a reasonable hour. After all, servitude is not an easy job. One has to be rested in order to perform tomorrow’s duties.

Now and then, he fantasizes about working on serious moneymaking projects on the weekend. Which is a nice thought, but it rarely happens. Why? Because the weekend is his only chance to try to catch up on the daily cares of life that he wasn’t able to get to during the week.

Mowing the lawn … changing the air filters throughout the house … gassing and washing the cars … grocery shopping … dropping off and picking up the dry cleaning … reinstalling Windows on his dying computer … helping Johnny with a massive, but totally meaningless, project that is due in Ms. Malevolent’s class on Monday … and so it goes. Like time and space, the daily cares of life are infinite.

The result, of course, is that Mr. Burbs, notwithstanding his good intentions, never quite gets around to doing what he has to do to become the dealmaking entrepreneur of his dreams. Ultimately, he gives up all hope and submits to the role of servitude as his lot in life.

As it turned out, though, Mr. Burbs’ plight was the best thing that ever happened to Joe Karbo. That’s because Mr. Burbs — make that millions of Mr. Burbs — bought Karbo’s book by the carload. They bought it because, in his brilliance, Karbo got them to shake their heads up and down as they read his ad. They instantly recognized that they were the very guys to whom Karbo was referring — the guys who were too busy earning a living to make any money.

So, a good question to begin the New Year with is: Are you too busy earning a living to make any money? If so, reread this article — three times.

By Robert Ringer

I love Thanksgiving … a lot of great childhood memories. Turkey, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, five or six desserts … the Packers and Lions doing battle on our black-and-white television set … snow flurries outside … the long weekend … and, best of all, family.

Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday, but I’m feeling a bit nostalgic today because so much has changed over the years. True, the turkey, giblet gravy, and mashed potatoes are pretty much the same. But the desserts have been reduced from six to two this year in a token effort to keep everyone’s weight down and their hearts pumping. You have to do whatever it takes to remain healthy, right?

Some of the other changes are much bigger. The television set isn’t black and white, and the Lions aren’t playing the Packers. This year it’s Denver at Kansas City, Tampa Bay at Dallas, and Miami at Detroit. Ugh! Other than Detroit, these upstart teams weren’t even born when I was a kid.

Thanksgiving (actually, the day after Thanksgiving) is, of course, still the official start of the Christmas shopping season. But, unfortunately, Christmas shopping is no longer the joyful and relaxing experience it once was.

How can you be joyful and relaxed when a teenaged “salesman” with an earring in his nose and a tattoo on his forehead acts as though you’re bothering him when you ask a question? The last time I was at Best Buy, I asked four different kids to please find me a certain type of USB cord. The standard response was, “It’s six aisles down.”

When a fifth hip-hopper told me the same thing, I said to him, “Don’t tell me where it is. I want you to find it for me.” Perplexed, he shrugged his shoulders and mumbled for me to follow him.

After quickly perusing the cords on display, he proudly announced that Best Buy doesn’t carry the USB cord I was looking for. And with that, he departed for another kibitzing session with his fellow Best Buy buddies.

Persistent, I looked carefully through the USB cords on display and – Voila! – sure enough, I found the exact one I needed. I could have rubbed it in by interrupting the all-important conversation two aisles over and showing the cord to the kid who said they didn’t carry it, but I resisted the temptation. Bright fellow that I am, I assumed he would have very little interest in hearing about my success.

The sad reality is that this “the customer is a nuisance” attitude is now widespread among retailers. Which is why, as the decades have passed, my enthusiasm for Christmas shopping has waned considerably. It’s simply no fun when you have to beg retail employees to accommodate your needs.

Every company has a certain mindset toward its customers. And in the new millennium, the mindset of all too many businesses is: “This is our policy. Take it or leave it.” Speaking for myself, unless there’s a compelling reason to do otherwise, I almost always opt to leave it. And you would do well to assume that your customers – and potential customers – will choose the same option.

Having said all this, as I prepare to venture out into the Christmas shopping season, I’ve come up with a plan to help get me through it. I’ve decided to make it an educational experience by using it as an opportunity to study the personality of every store I visit.

By personality, I’m talking about the company’s attitude toward its most important asset – its customers. You may want to try it yourself. By paying close attention, I think you’ll be surprised by what you can learn about both the right and wrong ways to handle customers.

I am convinced that the mindset that wins the hearts and minds of both old and new customers over the long term is: “This is our normal policy, but we’ll do whatever is necessary to find a way to work around it so we can satisfy your needs.” When someone tells me that they will do whatever it takes to make me happy, I take notice.

It’s amazing to me that so many companies still don’t get it. They simply don’t understand that customer satisfaction should be their number-one priority. Which means that the field is wide open for anyone who does understand it – and acts accordingly.

Have a great Thanksgiving.