Computer Overheating?
March 2, 2010
Like most of you, I spend a good deal of time working on my computer. Whether it’s in my HTML editor writing this newsletter, on MindJet working on mind maps for upcoming programs, or in QuickBooks dealing with the mundane details of business finance, most of what I do in any given day has my fingers on these keys.
So when my laptop computer started making a new strange noise, I noticed it immediately. The noise was the cooling fan. Every computer - desktop, laptop, or room-sized mainframe - has them. They have to, because the CPU - the “brain” of the computer - generates a lot of heat, and if not cooled properly will quite literally start melting the components around it on the circuit board.
That’s why all modern computers have built-in heat sensors that will increase the speed of the cooling fan to reduce the heat of the CPU, and when there’s no more speed to give, will step in and shut down the computer - immediately, and unceremoniously, causing you to lose any unsaved work.
Okay, so much for the computer hardware lesson, now on to the marketing lesson!
My computer wasn’t getting so hot that it had to shut down, but the fan was running at a high enough speed that the noise was, well, annoying. At the normal speed, the fan is so quiet that it’s barely a whisper and tends to get lost in the normal background noise of an office environment. But when it’s working overtime, it sounds like there’s a constant gust of wind blowing through my office.
I looked for an explanation (and a solution) on several different tech support sites. I called a friend of ours who fixes computers for a living. I downloaded utility software that showed me the CPU temperature and fan speed.
But nothing seemed to work.
Then I started noticing something interesting. Whenever I restarted the computer, the fan ran normally. Whenever I put the computer into “sleep” mode by closing the screen to pack it up in my case, upon awakening, the fan would kick in after about three or four minutes.
When I put the computer into “hibernate” mode and then closed the screen, when I started it up again, it ran fine.
I’d like to know why putting the computer to sleep made the fan kick in when I started it up. I really would. But my primary objective throughout all of this was to get the noise to stop so I could get my work done without the constant distraction of the noise and worry that the computer might spontaneously shut down in the middle of something important.
There are things in life, and in marketing that are unexplainable, and yet undeniably and observably true. You can spend hours of time trying to understand them; you can bang your head against the wall trying to change them; or you can accept that they just “are” and use that knowledge to your advantage.
In any case, the third option will probably keep your own CPU - your brain - from overheating and shutting down!
High-Speed Internet?
February 24, 2010
Perseverance and focus are good and admirable traits. But sometimes, the odds are just stacked too much against you.
I was at my hotel in Atlanta preparing for a great program the next day. Since I got in early the day before the program, as I usually do, I had some time on my hands that I had planned to use to get some videos edited and uploaded. Of course, this was going to require a fast internet connection, so I “bit the bullet” and signed up for the hotel’s internet at $9.95 for the day.
I had a few calls to make, so rather than burn my cell-phone minutes, I used my Skype account to make the calls with my headset on the computer. Immediately, I noticed that the quality of the calls was poor. I mean really bad. So I checked the speed of the connection (usually the culprit) and found that my “high-speed” internet was actually slower than a dial-up connection.
A quick call to the front desk, and they said I had to talk to the provider’s technical support line, and they would be glad to transfer me. I did get transferred, but to a recording that said, “I’m sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed; please try again later.”
Assuming that the front-desk clerk had somehow keyed in the wrong number, I called down there again; got transferred again; and got the same message. I asked for the number so I could try it myself, and got the same message.
If you’re like most people, you get annoyed about things like this happening. But at some point, it becomes comical and you just have to take a deep breath, let out a big sigh, and find something else to do instead.
There’s an old saying that the only good thing about banging your head against the wall is that it feels so good when you stop.
If you find yourself in that kind of situation, it may just be the universe telling you to take a step back and rethink what you’re doing. I didn’t complete my video projects that night, but I did get some other important work done. And the program the next day - the reason I was there in the first place - was very successful, so all in all, the trip was great.
Sometimes it’s important to work through a challenge, and make sure you know when it’s time to “regroup” when life seems to be throwing too many roadblocks your way.
“Spring Cleaning”
January 27, 2010
Last week was a very long one: we spent seven days, virtually non-stop, cleaning out my mother’s apartment. You may remember that she passed away in November, and this was a task we were all dreading.
And not only because of the emotional impact, but also because of the sheer scale of what she had accumulated, living in the same place for 45 years as she did.
My mother didn’t like to throw anything out, and we had an incredible number of individual papers to go through, most of which went right out the door, along with about 30 large (contractor size) bags of clothing that got donated.
My sister and my wife both left the place with an urgent desire to undertake a similar exercise at their own homes because they suddenly had become aware of the impact that clutter was having on them personally.
I know from personal experience that when I start falling behind at work and the papers on my desk start piling up, my stress level rises and my productivity declines.
Many people have a tradition of performing a major “spring cleaning” on their homes; why not take a few hours and do something similar at work? At the very least, it will make you feel better, and in all likelihood, it will make you more productive.
The Kardashians: Then and Now
January 27, 2010
I listen to people complain constantly about all sorts of things, and then watch them act in a way that actually perpetuates the exact thing they’re complaining about.
They complain about not having enough money, but spend way too much on things they really don’t need. They complain about not having enough energy, but don’t do activities that will energize themselves. And they complain about not having enough time to get everything done, but squander their free time on mindless distractions.
In all fairness, I’ve been guilty of all three of these from time to time, with the entrepreneur’s fascination with “bright shiny objects” being one of my biggest problems. And yet, people seem to have such a fascination with other people’s lives that entire publishing empires exist just to serve this market.
On my two most recent trips to the supermarket, I’ve glanced at the magazines displayed at the checkout aisles. Us Weekly featured the headline:
The Kardashians: Then and Wow!
USA Today featured an article about Kate (from “Jon & Kate Plus 8″) and her 20-hour hair makeover with this headline:
Kate Gosselin Puts Some Curl in Her New Hair
Articles about people who are famous for, well… being famous . And we haven’t even gotten into Brad and Angelina, Tiger’s “rehab,” or whole magazines dedicated to television soap operas.
There’s nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself to just relax and do something mindless like read a trashy novel or watch something on TV (”Modern Family” is our current favorite), but too much of anything can be dangerous, and spending too much time worrying about the lives of celebrities - or even fictional characters - robs you of valuable time you could be spending on more important things.
Take a few minutes and think carefully about what’s commanding your attention. Focus on what’s truly important, and maybe you’ll become so successful that someone will write a magazine article about you!
Don’t Be So Successful!
September 22, 2009
An overachieving employee is told by her manager to not work quite so hard.
One of the big issues facing leaders today is how to motivate employees to perform at their highest levels. So it came as quite a shock to learn of one manager who took just the opposite approach.
We have a friend who works part time as a salesperson at a clothing store in a major mall. She is a confident, funny, and outgoing person who would seem like a natural for any type of sales.
As soon as she became familiar with the merchandise and the store’s commission policy, she began to excel. She had a knack for knowing what looked good on a customer and was able to sell a good deal of clothing at any given time. Customers would wait up to 20 minutes so our friend could wait on them.
Because of this, her sales volume was consistently the highest in the store, and she regularly sold more merchandise as a part-time employee than did any of the store’s regular full-time staff.
Naturally, you would expect the store manager to be delighted. Retail managers typically have a portion of their overall compensation determined by the overall sales of the store. More sales from a top salesperson - part-time or full-time - would translate into more compensation for the manager.
But instead of working closely with this top performer, the manager had a decidedly different and surprising response. Our friend was told to stop working so hard. Her performance was causing discontent among the store’s full-time staff, and she was making them look bad because she regularly outperformed them working only part time.
In a time when all retail businesses are struggling, this kind of attitude is puzzling at best. Anytime you are faced with a new challenge, one of the most intelligent things you can do is to find someone who does it exceedingly well, study what makes them successful, and try to incorporate some of their actions and behaviors into your own approach.
Look at your own reaction to other people’s success. Are you resentful and envious, or do you take the opportunity to study and learn? It’s up to you.
What’s It Worth?
August 14, 2009
When making purchase decisions, cost isn’t always the most pressing consideration - sometimes there are other factors that take higher priority.
We’ve been playing “musical cars” at our house recently. Our son’s 2003 Camry recently died, just shy of 200,000 miles (precisely the reason we bought another one last year for ourselves.)
Our daughter starts college this week, so we’ve been trying to find a reliable and affordable car for her to use. And the “Cash for Clunkers” program had us considering replacing an old 1995 Jeep Cherokee that was beginning to show its age.
Teenagers and cars make for a complicated mix, so a few years ago, we decided to let our son drive the old Camry, and we’d replace it with an inexpensive “basic transportation - gets you from A to B” kind of car that we’d keep until both kids were out of the house.
We asked our mechanic to keep an eye out for something, and he found one for us - a 1995 Subaru Legacy that one of his customers was selling. The mechanic had been taking care of this car since it went out of warranty, and his recommendation was good enough for us to consider it.
We dutifully looked up the Blue Book value of the car and came up with a figure we were willing to pay, and contacted the owner. After a test drive, we made our offer, but she was unwilling to budge from her original asking price which was about $600 more than our number. We said, “thanks, but no thanks.” and drove back home.
On the way back, though, Lorie and I talked about it and arrived at these conclusions:
* The car had been maintained by a mechanic we trust
* It was what we needed to hold us over until we were ready to get newer cars
* We would have to spend more time and effort to find something comparable
It was this last point that convinced us to call the woman back and tell her we’d take the car at the price she was asking. (Our son is now driving this car until he finishes college in December.)
You see, it’s not only a matter of cost; sometimes you have to consider opportunity cost - the value of your time and what you’re not accomplishing when you choose to do something else.
We could easily have spent more time and effort looking for other cars or waited until our mechanic heard about another option, but then there was the issue of what we wouldn’t be getting done while all this was going on - activities that would have generated significantly more than $600.
Sometimes you have to consider the big picture when determining how to use your time. Make sure you understand what an hour of your time is worth, and make decisions that will maximize your earning potential - even if it means spending a bit more elsewhere. Remember: how much you make isn’t as important as how much you keep.
You Can Do Something…
August 5, 2009
Life and experience are always the best teachers, and this last weekend was no exception.
Always looking for a greater challenge, I’ve moved up from the shorter sprint distance triathlons to the longer and more demanding Olympic-distance races.
The distances for the race this weekend were:
Swim: 1500 meters (.93 miles)
Bike: 28 miles
Run: 6.2 miles
A few comments on the distances. Even though the swim is 1500 meters, because it’s an “open-water” swim (on a lake, ocean,or in this case, a river) you always end up actually swimming more than the posted distance. That’s because you’re seldom swimming in a straight line like you do in a pool with lane dividers and a solid line that you can see on the bottom of the pool.
Second, you’re doing these events one immediately following the next, so there’s not much chance to catch your breath.
And third, preparing for three very different events requires a rigorous and disciplined training regimen. And that’s the one that got me this time. You see, between work, travel, and a nagging knee injury, I had to sit out the run. And since Lorie had been even busier with our daughter’s graduation events, she wasn’t really up to doing the complete race either.
So we decided to compete as a relay team. Normally, three people participate in the relay, each one completing one of the events. We had done this at a recent Half-Ironman event with our friend Lisabeth doing the 1.2-mile swim, Lorie doing the 56-mile bike leg, and me doing the 13.1-mile half-marathon segment.
This time, there were just the two of us, so Lorie did the swim; I did the bike; and Lorie finished up with the run.
Now let’s get down to business and see what this all means for you. (I figured you might be wondering that by now…)
First, either one of us could have decided to drop out of the race entirely. Certainly we both had enough going on to justify that decision. But in our minds, that would have been simply giving up, and that’s not really our style. Instead, we found a solution that took our circumstances into consideration, but still let us compete.
Too many people hit a major roadblock - or even a minor bump in the road - and simply give up. Then they blame an incompetent boss, the bad economy, or an unhappy childhood for their lack of success. In all but the most horrific situations, there’s usually a solution. Not always an ideal solution, but a solution nonetheless.
More importantly, sometimes these “alternate solutions” provide an unexpected opportunity to excel. And that was true in this case: because I didn’t do the swim (my weakest event) and didn’t have to hold anything in reserve to do the run, so I basically went all-out on the bike ride, turning in an average speed of 20.5 MPH - by far my fastest time ever.
Sometimes having just one task to focus on lets you perform extremely well in that area. Similarly, eliminating unnecessary distractions in your work and in your life may be just the thing you need to excel at what’s truly important to you.
And even if there’s no one timing you and no finish line to cross, you can still experience the personal victory of a job well done.
Conrad Hilton Says…
May 28, 2009
Conrad Hilton founded the Hilton Hotel chain, along with several other businesses. He also has the dubious distinction of being Paris Hilton’s great-grandfather. I think we’ll stick with the hotels - these business strategies are far more interesting than Paris Hilton and her latest antics.
A copy of his autobiography, Be My Guest, published in 1957, is placed in every room of every Hilton hotel, and that’s where I found my copy.
As I was reading it, one quote in particular jumped out at me because it’s especially relevant to these interesting times: “Success seems to be connected to action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
This quote, written over 50 years ago, cuts right to the core of what separates successful people from those who choose to be spectators, letting life happen to them instead of working diligently and tirelessly to create the reality they truly desire.
It’s almost word-for-word the same quote from Lance Armstrong that I shared with you last week. And if I wanted to, I could find enough similar quotes from 50 different people and include in this newsletter one each week for an entire year.
The problem is that people either get it, or they don’t, and no amount of coaxing, coaching, or cajoling will change people’s basic belief systems on how things should work.
In yet another version of a situation that occurs with frightening regularity and frequency, I brought our new car into the dealership for the 5,000-mile service and to fix a wobbly rear-view mirror. We parked in front of the used-car building which was right near the service area. Two “salespeople” (and I use the term loosely) were milling about, leaning on the cars parked in front of the building, and waiting to pounce on us…until they realized we were there to service a car, not buy one.
Big mistake, because if they had even half a brain, they might have struck up a casual conversation with my wife while I was checking in the car. They would have discovered that we were in fact going to be looking for a reliable used car for our daughter to use when she starts college in August.
For that matter, I’ve not heard anything from the salesperson who sold us the new car - no personal newsletter, no three-month follow-up call to see how he might be able to help me - nothing!
And it gets better (it always does, doesn’t it!) - my daughter, who has been scouring the internet looking for her ideal car, actually found the exact model she was looking for at a dealership about 50 minutes away.
Lorie called to find out how we would get the car to our mechanic to look it over; he explained their easy procedure…and then thanked Lorie and ended the call.
Not, “My name’s Bob; can I have your name and we’ll schedule a time for you to come in for a test drive?” Not, “So you live in Raleigh, would it be easier if we brought the vehicle up to you so you didn’t have to drive all the way down here?”
All four of these individuals will go home at the end of the day and complain to their friends and families about how bad business is, and blame the economy, when in fact, they squander opportunities to generate business and choose instead to lean against cars on the lot for a living.
Maybe they should follow Conrad Hilton’s advice: take action, keep moving, and don’t quit.
As Long As I’m Moving…
May 20, 2009
A good quick read is Lance Armstrong’s autobiography, It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, where he talks about his battle with cancer, his subsequent return to competitive cycling, and his victory in the Tour De France - the first of what would turn out to be an unprecedented seven consecutive victories.
One passage in particular recounts Lance riding his bike while in great pain from the cancer treatments. When people asked him why he was doing such a thing, he replied, “As long as I’m moving, I’m living.”
In a somewhat different but definitely related story, I learned about a research study where volunteers were placed into one of five different groups based on their levels of fitness and activity with “couch potatoes” on one end, and world-class Olympic athletes at the other end.
They were all evaluated, with comparisons made between their chronological age and their “physical” age, based on a variety of lifestyle activities and medical tests. The objective was to predict expected lifespan based on these factors.
The results were interesting: the single biggest increase predicted life span was between the first group - the people who did no exercise at all - and the second group that did minimal exercise like walking for ten minutes a day. The implication being that any activity is better than no activity.
And this really gets us to the heart of the issue. Because so many people are absolutely paralyzed by fear and uncertainty that they’re doing absolutely nothing to help grow or at least reposition their businesses to be stronger and in a better position to compete when the economy ultimately begins its slow road to recovery.
You hear things like, “I’m just going to sit out this economy.” Yeah, good luck with that! You can’t just wait it out like parking under an overpass during a bad rainstorm; you have to develop alternate plans.
You have to become a student of business and marketing. You have to implement. You have to take massive action when others are sitting in the corner, contemplating the universe with “a deer-in-the-headlights” looks in their eyes.
Like Lance said, “As long as I’m moving…I’m living.” The same thing could be said for you and your business: if you’re moving, you’re living. Don’t let yourself become a victim of the economy: take action when others are content to be spectators; be bold when others are timid; and above all, don’t be a “marketing couch potato.”
Lahaina Strikes Again!
May 13, 2009
Most business owners and salespeople seem content to sit back, complain, and rattle off an endless stream of reasons why business is slow…while they continue to work in exactly the same manner they did when the economy was strong - or worse still, sit around and wait for business to come to them.
This second strategy is unreliable even in the best of circumstances, and downright foolish in today’s economy. And yet you see it in use constantly. We certainly do…with one notable and recent exception.
First a quick bit of background. Lorie and I like Asian art. In fact, we like Asian food, Asian culture, and, of course, Asian martial arts. We joke that if there’s such a thing as “previous lives” then we were both certainly Japanese during the samurai period.
One of our favorite artists is Hisashi Otsuka. Lorie bought me a framed poster of one of his pieces as a wedding present nearly 25 years ago. We’ve since bought two prints of his that grace our living room.
So it came as a pleasant surprise when Lorie got a call from Mike Summers last week. Mike works at Lahaina Galleries, the company that represents Otsuka and many other prominent artists. Based in Hawaii, Lahaina Galleries has locations in Maui and on the Big Island, in San Francisco and Newport Beach, California, and in Bend, Oregon.
Mike called to let us know about a new release by Otsuka we might be interested in, and to tell us about an October event they’re having at the San Francisco gallery called “I Found My Art in San Francisco” - a play on words on the classic Tony Bennett Song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
As a bonus, they’re hoping to have Otsuka at the gallery for the event, which would be a real treat since I’ve never met him before.
There are three extremely important things Mr. Summers did, and I’m hoping you’ve already picked up on at least two of them:
1. He contacted previous customers - We’re not big-time art collectors. In fact, the two Otsuka prints and one poster we own make up our entire collection. But we did buy two of them, the most recent one a little over a year ago. So in addition to sending us periodic e-mails and print newsletters (hey, there’s a bonus strategy for you!) he reached out and presented us with an additional opportunity to acquire a third piece from the artist.
When was the last time you got in touch with past customers?
2. He called - The personal touch of reaching out and talking to us personally is something that’s not done quite enough, particularly with people who’ve suddenly and mysteriously stopped buying from you.
Do you call regular or lost customers with special information and updates?
3. He took initiative - I’ve never met Mike Summers. He didn’t sell us the recent print we bought, and he certainly didn’t sell us the first one we bought back in 1995. For all I know, he could have been seven years old back then. What he did do was compile a list of the gallery’s customers, call to introduce himself, and offer something of interest (the October event) to get our attention. This took a lot of time and effort, and was certainly more difficult than sitting on his butt in an empty gallery, complaining about how bad the economy is, while waiting for buyers to walk in off the street.
What creative, innovative, and proactive strategies are you using to get new business?
With no clear end in sight to this economic downturn, you simply can’t rely on previously successful strategies or simple good fortune to see you through - you need to develop a new mindset and a different approach that will seem like a “work of art” to your customers, clients, and members.
