I can sleep tonight!
I did something completely outside the box…for me. But it took a few major “boos boos” before I managed to “get with the program!”
More is always better right? Un unh!
That’s a NO!
Over the weekend I ran into “issues” with my anti-virus software, anti-spyware, internet security-ware and some other stuff relative to opening and closing my browsers and programs. Somehow, I had all my anti-bad guy software so that none of it could talk to itself or to each other, and do the job right. Because, among other things, several months ago I tried to uninstall one software application.
But, it didn’t go away. After all!
Consequently, I experienced a whole litany of computer ills; including the almost demise of Firefox. It would not open. I also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to correct the problem by turning my computer on and off. Then my Outlook wouldn’t open, nor would Word. Or if it did, it wouldn’t load properly. When an internet page would open, it wouldn’t load entirely.
And the “error” messages I received looked like a cross between Japanese, Chinese and chicken scratcheese.
Oy!
So the big questions became how do I get this fixed? Do I take my computer to a computer fix-it person? Or do I call someone to come in to take care of it? In either scenario, how do I choose someone? And do I really want to clean house to get my computer fixed?
In one of the rare moments when I was able to get Firefox to open–by the way, IE didn’t work so hot either–I decided to do a search of computer repair/tech shops in my local area. In the process, I eventually came up with a really great idea that worked for me!
I decided to choose a company that provided “remote assistance,” having found two specific places that I felt could fit my needs and my pocketbook. I called one of the places Monday morning, although I could have completed the transaction without a call, via the web. The technician connected with me remotely and two hours later (give or take a few minutes) with my “tutelage” (I watched him work the whole time—it’s one of my fun things to do on a Monday morning), my programs and browsers were working. The offending “bad guy” software was gone and a few other adjustments were made to things I had done over the couple years since my computer had been in my ownership. Things I didn’t even know about!
And now I’m good to go
Moral of the story is two-fold. I really don’t have to have every piece of anti-spyware, anti-virus software made, and when I don’t want to clean house, look for online solutions.
Failure is not an Option!!
“What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?” ~ Robert Schuller ~
I love this saying, but it wasn’t until the other day that it really brought it’s true meaning to light for me. As business owners, we often worry about taking a chance and going out on a limb. We worry about the repercussions of trying a new service, changing our target market or trying a new marketing idea. However, the majority of those with truly successful businesses are the ones that believe that failure is not an option.
I recently attended FoVA (Forum on Virtual Assistance) and when there I was surrounded with Virtual Assistants, both new and veteran, as well as aspiring VAs. Many of these VAs were all leaving with new ideas that they couldn’t wait to implement into their businesses, however I wondered how many actually would “put their money where their mouth was”, so to speak, and actually follow through on those plans that day.
We often times get these great ideas in our heads and then we do nothing to follow through and implement these ideas. We become complacent with the way that things are going and never think about “stirring things up” and taking a “leap of faith”.
So this brings me back to the quotation that I shared with you. Fear can be a very powerful force if you let it. It can stop you from achieving great things. So this is my vow for my business in 2008 … I will not accept failure as an option and I will not let fear stop me from moving forward. This year I am going to take those leaps of faith. I am going to be willing to try new things and to be open and honest and more importantly when something is not working I am going to figure out how to make it work before I accept failure.
Does it have to be perfect?
I spent the better part of this weekend working on science fair projects. Not mine, of course, but on those of my children.
Gone are the days of simple cut, paste and color activities. Yes, we’ve moved up to actual projects that require thought AND creativity in addition to the general knowledge of basic science concepts.
I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long time since I’ve needed to challenge my brain like that with a science application.
My daughter’s was easy. We simply had to determine how much salt needed to be added to a cup of water to make a fresh egg float. I say fresh because we also found out this weekend that bad eggs float regardless of what additives are in the cup of water.
My son’s on the other hand?
Well, he decided that he wanted to see what types of fruits and vegetables could power a clock. We found the instructions on the internet. We watched numerous YouTube videos of other children successfully completing this experiment. But do you think that we could do it?
And I say we, because after Matthew tried, unsuccessfully, I stepped in.
I’m not a dumb woman by any stretch of the means. I made numerous trips to the hardware store making sure that our nails really were galvanized and obtaining different types of alligator clips and various gages of copper wire.
To no avail, our clock still won’t power up. (Neither will the MP3 player or calculator we tried either.)
Matthew documented everything that he did. He took time to create his project board. Not once did he give up on this project and this morning when I dropped him off at school, project in hand, he was proud of what he did.
And so was I.
At any point in time this weekend, either of us could’ve given up, but we didn’t. We kept going. We exhausted every resource that we had, called every person in my phone book, made multiple trips to stores, tried various combinations until we were fresh out of ideas. Even this morning, we were fiddling with it, trying to make it work.
He completed his project and it was good. The effort he put into his project was leaps and bounds better than many of the projects that I saw on display this morning in the gym.
When I spoke to the teacher and explained to him that it just didn’t go right, his teacher told me that the grade is not in the outcome of the project itself, but in the actual work done to complete the project.
So for Matthew? His less than perfect clock powered by a spud will receive a good grade.
Because he didn’t give up.
Because he tried his hardest.
And for that? He will be rewarded.
So, I ask you today, what have you been struggling with in your business? What makes you want to give up? Have you exhausted all of your resources yet?
If you answered no, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and see how else you can attack this. What else can you do to try one more time?
Then ask yourself, does it have to be perfect? Is what you have right now the best that you’re going to get and what can you do with it?
Don’t give up. Find a different angle.
For that? You will truly be revolutionary.
What in the world is RSS?
What is RSS?
And why should I care?
Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.
Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.
You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”
One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.
Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.
That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.
You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into that inbox pit. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”
Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.
Pretty cool, huh?
That is cool! Umm… What the heck is RSS?
Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.
RSS is simply an Internet technology standard allowing busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.
You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.
If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.
What in the world is a feed reader?
You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.
Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.
If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The newer version of Internet Explorer adds this feature as well.
Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.
If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.
Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?
First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).
If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like we do here and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon. This link takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon which we use in the top right area of this blog:
Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):
Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription box.
Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.
In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.
So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.
The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous email spam filter.
If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.
Register for the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention
If you are unable to attend industry conferences and forums this year, don’t fret! OIVAC is right around the corner. For 3 days, Thursday, May 15 through Saturday, May 17, 2008 (US), 8 a.m. to 12 midnight EDT, we’ve scheduled 38 seminars, conducted by professional VA and non-industry experts. Convention attendees can network with friends and even make new acquaintances; participate in the annual industry workshop and browse the exhibitor halls. In addition, visitors can join in the International Virtual Assistants Day(IVAD) celebration, witness the awarding of the Thomas Leonard Virtual Assistant of Distinction and Janet Jordan Achievement awards, and be eligible to win enough prizes and giveaways to fill a suitcase (if we were traveling, that is).
OIVAC 2008’s theme, “Pathways to Successful VA Practices: Using Communication & Technology to Enhance Business”, highlights various communication and technology resources virtual assistants can use to enhance productivity and increase profits.
This “live” yet virtual environment can be experienced from the comfort of your own home via any Internet connected computer. Imagine attending a world class event without incurring travel/ airport hassles, airfare costs, hotel bills, fatigue or exorbitant registration fees or most important, precious time away from your home, family and business!
And everyone is invited!
This year’s schedule includes topics both emerging and veteran VAs can benefit from. We’ve assembled experienced and knowledgeable speakers, offering informative presentations that can positively impact productivity and increase business. For example:
Jonathan Bailey ~ Dealing with Plagiarism: A Realistic Guide to Fighting Content Theft. An overview of how to protect your writing, images and other media on the Web including techniques for preventing, detecting and stopping copyright infringement.
David Beard ~ Insurance Guide for the VA. Participants will receive a how to guide to the essential insurance coverages required by professional VAs to make sure they stay in business and maintain their incomes when faced with the unexpected.
Anita Bruton ~ Creating a Company & Personal Profile that Attracts Clients. Learn five important points that will help create an engaging and polished profile as an effective, attention-grabbing marketing tool.
Jeff Herring ~ The Article Solution - Endless Waves of Prospects, Publicity and Profits. Discover how to write, submit and market your articles for endless streams of prospects, publicity and profits.
Christina Hills ~ How to Automate Your Business (or Your Client’s) with Autoresponders. Learn how using email marketing with Autoresponders and Broadcasting can help you automate your business by letting the computers do your follow up for you.
Annie Jennings ~ Create A Website To Showcase Your Talent, Land BIG New Clients & Build A Powerful Community. Annie Jennings shares the secrets of creating a website designed to propel you to the next level of success.
Andrea Kalli ~ Offering Podcasting and Audio Services to Your Clients. Learn why you should offer podcasting and audio services to clients for business marketing purposes and the various ways clients can use podcasting for their business.
Paul Wagner ~ 7 Smart Ways that Outlook Can Save You 4 Hours. This webinar will show you how to better serve your client by using more of the amazing power of Outlook to build and grow both your businesses.
Kathryn Williams ~ Providing Virtual Assistance to Corporate Clients. Participants will learn how to access the lucrative corporate market and practical strategies that they can apply in they own businesses.
And many, many more.
Visit the Speaker’s List for a complete breakdown of presenters and topics. Visit the OIVAC Seminar Schedule for dates and times.
OIVAC 2008 is right around the corner. Register now, you won’t want to miss it!
I’m fickle!
There, I’ve said it!
It wasn’t but six months ago that I was all excited about “Mozy,” an online backup system. Well, move over Mozy, I’m now going steady with “Carbonite.”
I think it’s the colors! No, seriously, the colors!
Dots on files and folders show you the status of your backup at a glance:
- A green dot on a file means the file is backed up.
- A yellow dot means the file is pending backup.
- No dot means the file is not selected for backup.
If you’ve not used Carbonite, you can take a test drive for 15 days.
“By default, Carbonite backs up everything in your Documents and Settings folder, including documents, photos, email and data files from applications, such as Quicken, Money, etc. Once a subscription is purchased, music is also added to the list. The default backup does not include programs, system files, temporary files, videos, or individual files greater than 4GB.
And, you can manually add files to your Carbonite backup.
When your computer is idle for some minutes or so, Carbonite will automatically backup files that have been changed since the last backup. If you’ve changed a file and want to back it up before the auto backup begins, you can mark the file as “back up as soon as possible.”
Carbonite is only $49.95/year per computer no matter how much you need to back up. No hidden fees. No limits on backup storage capacity.”
Here is the URL so you can find out more about Carbonite: www.carbonite.com.
I’m just awfully thrilled with this backup system.
This month!
The double edged sword…
As I tucked my 11-year-old into bed last night, he said to me, “Mom, now that summer is almost here, I’d like to start my own business.”
I was taken aback by this comment, not because he wanted to start a business (because he’s come up with several ideas on his own in the past few years) but because I couldn’t figure out where in the world he would find time to operate this business.
Matthew has the busiest schedule of all of us. He is currently very active at church, the equipment manager for his sister’s softball team, in the Reading Society and on the C-Team at school, and attends 4 hours of tutoring each week. He fits all of this in around his homework, PS2 time, and school.
I was also concerned that this business idea would be silly like some of the others he’s had in the past… like the lemonade stand that he wanted to start a few years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, a lemonade stand for an eight-year-old is a great idea, and the cuteness factor definitely helps fuel sales, but we live at the end of a dead end street. It took me weeks to convince him that when opening a business it’s all about location, location, location.
I asked him what sort of business he wanted to start and he responded with, “I want to mow lawns.”
Matthew is not scared of hard work; he’s a hard worker by nature in whatever he does. While his younger sister can breeze through anything that she’s confronted with, whether it be sports or school, he can’t. Surprisingly, he’s okay with this. When I told him that he’d be starting tutoring and devoting an additional four hours of his week to it, he embraced it. He knew that he needed the help.
That’s just the kind of kid he is.
But when he mentioned that he wanted to mow lawns, I just started at him. I wanted to scream at him and say “Mow? Lawns? That’s hard work! Eeeewwww.”
But I didn’t. In my best motherly, loving voice, I said, “I’ll allow you to mow lawns if you mow our yard. I’ll even pay you for it, but it’s late, so we’ll need to talk about your new business in the morning.”
I really never expected to hear anything more about it but when I woke up this morning, he caught me in between my bed and the coffee pot and said, “I’ve been thinking, Mom. I’m going to charge $4 an hour and if it takes me 30 minutes or less, then I’m going to charge $2.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
My child was on the brink of making the most fatal business mistake that you could possibly make. He was devaluing his time. He was devaluing his efforts.
I tried very hard not to be condescending, I really did. However, I did attempt to explain to him, without caffeine coursing through my veins, that he needed to charge more, because he was worth more.
“But Mom…think about it. If I’m cheaper than the other guys, then I’ll get more business.”
I’m willing to bet this child dreamed of his new business and will continue to think about it until it comes to fruition. I know all too well of this feeling.
With only five minutes between now and the time that he was to board the school bus, I talked to him about valuing his time and his efforts and that if he didn’t, no one else would. It was pretty deep, and pretty good, considering I wasn’t yet awake and he was rushing out the door.
When I told him that I paid the kid down the street $20 to mow my lawn, his eyes got at big as saucers. “Mom, that’s a lot of money.”
“To you, Matthew, yes, it is. But to me, it’s not because the hour that it takes me to mow my lawn takes away from more important things that I can do. It’s worth me paying someone else to save me time.”
I don’t think he quite understood, but with 5 caffeine free minutes, I couldn’t go into my full spiel.
Are you guilty of either scenario in your business? Are you devaluing your worth or doing things yourself to “save a buck”?
If you’re charging a cheaper rate with the impression that you’ll gain more clients, you’re going to work yourself to death to make the same amount of money as someone charges more. You’re worth your rate and there are people out there who will pay it.
On the flip side, are you doing things in your business because you can and don’t want to spend money for someone else? How much is your time worth? Have you ever stopped to think about that?
This week, take some time to determine how much your time is worth. And if you need your lawn mowed, let me know. I have a referral. He’s a hard worker, cute and works for cheap.
Lynn Cox - April Revolutionary Business of the Month
The Revolution would like to publicly congratulate Lynn Cox of Cox Virtual PA Solutions for winning Revolutionary Business of the Month for April!
Lynn has been a member of the Rev since June 2006. Lynn is always there with a virtual smile for each and every member of the Revolution.
Congratulations Lynn!!
Here is what our membership had to say about Lynn:
Lynn’s business has shown tremendous growth in the past year. She has pushed past many obstacles in order to establish a thriving, successful business. She’s a shining example of the amazing things that can happen when a person refuses to give up.
I’ve always been impressed with Lynn’s love for technology. She’s always first to try out the latest and greatest programs and computer systems that most of us are too nervous to try.
Lynn is continually finding ways to broaden her knowledge base and skill set, with her newest endeavors being desktop support and bookkeeping. She is a well-rounded virtual assistant with much to offer her clients and colleagues.
Lynn has shown that you can overcome anything and make lemonade out of lemons with her business. She’s faced some tough times both personally and within her business, but she’s never given up. She identified the problem areas, sought advice, and implemented plans. And now, she’s laying the ground work to be a household name in the UK with her new venture. Her persistence truly makes her revolutionary!
Lynn is always ready to come up to the plate to give advice and share openly and honestly what has worked for her and what has not.
Lynn’s love for technology is infectious. Not many would be willing to give new systems and new ways a try but Lynn takes on the challenge with a fervor and her efforts do not go unnoticed.
Lynn is one of those who always see’s the glass as half full vs. half empty. Her strength and persistence and her ability to rise above any challenge is inspiring to the Rev membership. Continue on in greatness Lynn!!
Set the UK on fire Lynn!
Becki and Heather
Moving a WordPress Blog
Sometime or another, it will happen to you. A client wants to change web hosts or perhaps you are changing web hosts yourself. There are a lot of things to keep straight and a certain order to do those things for it to be a smooth move.
Blog Pieces
To understand all you need to do in the move, it’s important to realize a blog is in a couple of different pieces. When you ftp to your web host, you may see the blog directory. This is where a bunch of files live — most likely with the .php extension. If you were to copy all of these files to your new host, you would not be copying your blog. These files are WordPress application files.
The main part of your blog — your content, pages, titles, categories, tags, seo information, etc — is actually stored inside a database. This database is brain of your blog. It gives WordPress the words to display on the screen.
Where to start
The first place to start is with the new web host. Do they have a one-click install for WordPress? If so, I highly recommend that you use it. Install a brand new blog on your new web host. The main reason for this is to get it in the new web host’s system that you have installed WordPress. This will allow for an easier time upgrading in the future through the new web host. If you copied the WordPress files from your old host, the new host would not know you had WordPress installed.
Things to copy from your old web host
Now, files to get from your old web host. You will need to get a copy of the database the blog has been using. The easiest way to do this is to load the WP-DBManager Plugin. Once you have loaded and activated this Plugin (on your old web host/WordPress install), you can go to Database -> Backup Database. Do not select the GZIP compression and select Backup. It will show you the file name of the backup and will put it in the directory /wp-content/backup-db. You will then want to ftp to your old host, copy the .sql file to your computer, and then upload it to your new web host.
While you are in ftp for your old web host, grab a copy of the theme that you are using and any Plugins you have installed. You’ll copy these over into the new installation for WordPress. The theme will copy over the look of your site. The Plugins may need to be updated, but with the newest version of WordPress, Plugin upgrades are automatic.
Things to do at your new web host
To import your database to the new web host, access the new database created in the installation process through phpMyAdmin. You can select the database that the new installation is using and click on the Import tab. Under File to Import, click the Browse button to locate the .sql file that you ftp’d earlier. In most cases this will run smoothly, but in some cases where the old blog has been running awhile, the database may be too big.
After this import, WordPress may tell you it needs to upgrade your database. Let WordPress do this. Copy over your theme and activated it. Check your Plugins for any that need to be upgraded for the newest version of WordPress.
Hopefully this gives you an idea of how to move a WordPress blog from one web host to another. If you have any problems with these steps or have questions, please feel free to email me.
Lisa B.
Open Source Maven
Top Mom Blog Site Seeks Virtual Assistant
5 Minutes For Mom is looking for a VA and put a public call out today.
If you’re interested, you can see more about what they are looking for and how to contact them here.
5 Minutes for Mom is a site run by twin sisters, mothers, and work at home business owners. I’m not sure how they manage at all with all the giveaways and the like, however, the time has come that they need to shell out a little more work to someone else.
Please head over there and check them out, regardless of whether or not you’re interested in the position. It’s an awesome site!
Until next time…
Heather
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Revolutionary Products
