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Business & Technology

The area of our blog where we discussed business and technology. Much of what we purchase as consumers has a huge effect on our day-to-day life as well as do the companies that make the products.

Business people in cartoon form

We are All Business Owners

We are all business owners…

What does it mean to be a business owner? How do we define what a business is?

When people ask me what I do I tell them that I’m self-employed. The truth is we are all running a business. What do I mean by that? A business brings in money we call revenue. It also costs money which we refer to as expenses. When we subtract our expenses from our revenue then we arrive at what is called net profit or positive cash flow.

Ideally, one would try to maximize my profit by increasing revenue and or decreasing expenses. In that sense, we are all business owners. Even if you’re employed by a company you still have revenue, your income. You still have expenses, your car, gas, clothing taxes, etc. And you still have a net profit; your income minus your expenses.

It might not seem this way but you are in fact in the business of being employed by someone else. For this very reason, I suggest that everyone treat their work lives as if they are running a business. The very same rules that apply to running a successful business as a business owner apply to employees of a business also. Whereas a business owner might expand their products and services offerings, purchase marketing, or work to streamline their business to increase the bottom line, so too can an employee increase their bottom line.

Whether you want to pursue a higher level of education, achieve a certification, or work harder you can add to the value you bring to your employer which should result in higher compensation. Typically a business owner has more skin in the game when it comes to maximizing the profitability of their business than an employee might. But, if an employee approaches their employment as if they were running a business, they could, in turn, be more invested in the success of the business and therefore participate more in the probability of the business.

All business owners and employers what their employees do you have skin in the game. The more an employee adds value to the business they work for the more profitable a business will become and the more likely the owners of that business will be to reward those who increase the bottom line.

So, the next time you feel unappreciated or under-compensated by your employer. I would suggest that you approach your job as if you are an owner of that business. In most cases, this will result in higher compensation, better morale, and a sense of accomplishment instead of feeling like you’re just a number.

Featured image for our blog about local and cloud back ups.

Why are data backups so important?

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Data Backups

If you have any data on any of your devices that is important and irreplaceable, you owe it yourself to have a backup system in place. Don’t wait until it’s too late as a lot of my clients do.

Just think about all the important documents, photos, and other files that you would pay an arm and a leg to get back in the event of a data loss. Ideally, you should have at least one cloud backup and at least one local backup.

Carbonite, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, etc. are all examples of cloud data backups. The advantage to cloud backup says that most of them are automatic so that’s so long as your computer is online and on it’s always backing up your data to the cloud. Additionally, should a house fire, theft or hard drive crash occur your data in the cloud would be safe.

I also suggest a local backup. This can be done using a thumb drive or external hard drive and gives you a second layer of data redundancy should your cloud backup fail. Hard drives are just like any other device they all eventually fail. When that happens imagine what you would pay to get back your family photos, work documents, etc. That amount almost certainly exceeds the cost of setting up a cloud and local backup system. Data loss is inevitable. Why not get out ahead of it so you can survive it with minimal impact.

Business people working in a personal relationship exchange

Business is Always Personal (for me)

How many times have you heard “It’s not personal it’s just business.”? Well for me that isn’t true.

I take pride in helping every single client of mine. When people find out that I’m self-employed they often say, “Nice, you are your own boss!” My response is, “Not true. I have hundreds of bosses… my clients.”

Many of my clients end up being good friends of mine and I consider helping them to be not only a professional obligation but also a moral obligation. For me, business is always personal. I know that at any given moment I’m only one unhappy customer away from damaging my reputation and jeopardizing my business as a whole. I came from nothing and this business and my reputation are all I have.

Within reason, I will bend over backwards to take care of my clients and preserve my livelihood. Working on nights and weekends, taking calls after hours, agreeing to strict deadlines, apologizing for mistakes and refunding payments are just a few of the measures I’m willing to take to keep my customers happy.

I want to have a lifelong business relationship with all of my clients. My clients, therefore, know that they have a friend that cares about them and is willing to do what it takes to preserve our relationship. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take everything in business personally. If a client can find someone who can help them quicker and/or cheaper, I’m not offended by that.

At the end of the day, I want to know that my clients are in the hands of the person best able to help them. Ideally, that would be me but if it isn’t then I want the best for them even if that means I miss out on their business. As you can see business is always personal for me. Thank you Michael Scott (AKA Steve Carrel) for the motivation.

Smart TV displays

YouTube TV and the Trend of Virtualization

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Earlier this year, to save money, my wife and I switched from Cable TV to YouTube TV. I was skeptical at first but after using the product for several months now I’m thoroughly convinced it is superior.

All but one channel that I would like to have are included in the lineup. There’s no equipment to keep up with or pay for. I can watch up to three live streams on a number of devices at the same time. Devices such as my laptop, desktop, tablet, smart phone, streaming box and smart TV. No more freeing up space on my DVR.

YouTube TV offers unlimited cloud recording and all recordings are available in your library for one year.

My experience with switching between devices has been smooth and seamless. At $69.99 per month, my wife and I are saving $80 a month and we now have a superior product.

YouTube TV and other online services are perpetuating the industry trend towards virtualization. This all started 15 or so years ago with the remote desktop feature people were using to access a computer via the Internet from virtually anywhere. Once the Internet bandwidth crossed a certain minimal threshold, virtualization became not only possible but accessible.

Fast forward a decade or so and now we have virtual services like YouTube TV, Stadia, TeamViewer, zoom, Apple Music, Netflix and many others. All of these services are made possible by the many advancements in Internet connectivity.

I project within the next 5 to 10 years that most of us will not even need a powerful device. The size of the pipe bringing data in and out of your home or mobile device will be so large that almost all of the processing necessary to execute our daily digital tasks will be performed on a server somewhere in the cloud. And all of our data will be stored in the cloud as well. Documents, photos, videos, calendars, contacts, system preferences and so on. All we will need is a fast reliable Internet connection. This means no more cable boxes, satellite dishes, video game consoles, laptops, desktops, and even servers.

If you’ve got a fast reliable Internet connection all you need is a basic device capable of processing input (touch, mouse, keyboard and AV), displaying an image and projecting audio. The future is virtualization and the future is now.

Opportunity image

Push down pop up. There’s always opportunity in a crisis.

When coronavirus hit in March of this year here in the states, many people, myself included thought that this could be the end times. I was almost certain that the economy would collapse and as a consequence, law and order and civilization could collapse as well.

Effects on family owned small businesses

Being self-employed with a wife and son to provide for was also scary. I wasn’t sure if my business would survive. Fortunately for me, my business not only survived, it thrived. I’m having my best year in 16 years and I’m working more than I ever have. I realize however though that I am very fortunate. For every one of me there’s probably 15 to 20 Americans who lost their job through no fault of their own.

I am no more hard-working or deserving of a livelihood than those folks. I just happen to be in an industry that was deemed “essential.”

In my industry, the IT Services space, we saw a trend of people being stuck at home and spending a lot of money on a lot of different things. I’ve sold more TVs, computers and other consumer-electronics this year then I’ve sold in any previous year. I guess all that time at home people had to think about things they could buy, replace and/or upgrade.

We’re seeing it in the hot seller’s market in the real estate world. Additionally, tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, remodelers and contractors are all so busy that they’re turning away work.

What does all of this mean? To me, it means that in a free society with a relatively free enterprise market system whenever one part of the economy is held down another part pops up. I call this the push down – pop-up economy. And, it’s a phenomenon that’s pretty obvious in my business and the businesses of many people that I know.

Warren Buffett once famously said, “I get nervous when other people get greedy and I get greedy when other people get nervous.” He and other successful entrepreneurs clearly understand the push down pop-up economy.

Regardless of all the bad things going on, there always seems to be an opportunity amidst all the crisis. The next time you face a personal or professional crisis try to ask yourself, “Where are there opportunities in this situation.” I can assure you that they are there if you are patient and disciplined enough to look for them.

BNI Louisville image with logo

You’ve got to meet a lot of people to be successful. What BNI means to me.

I started my IT business 16 years ago in 2004. At the time I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew I liked tinkering with electronics.

As a teenager and as a young adult, I always loved messing around with and learning about stereos, speakers, TVs, video game consoles, and other consumer electronics. It wasn’t until about 2002 that I started taking an interest in computers as well.

In the summer of 2004, I really needed a job so I humbled myself and took an entry-level job selling computers at a big-box electronics store. At the time, I was a little ashamed because here I was a college graduate making nine dollars an hour working at a retail store. Little did I know at the time that taking that humble job would set my life on a trajectory that would change and enhance my life still to this day. Besides learning more about computers and technology in general, I was also able to hone my people and sales skills.

Two chance encounters there led directly to the successful business that I run today some 16 years later.

A woman named Cheryl purchased a WiFi antenna for her laptop from me. And, a man and Richard bought a computer from me. Both of them asked me if I could come to their home and install the item for them. I smiled and told them that Best Buy policy does not allow for that, but that I like to make new friends. So, I gave them my number and subsequently broke store policy by going to their homes and helping them.

I only worked there for a total of three months before I got fed up with being micromanaged and resigned. However, my time there was enough to give me what I needed to start my business. Even though I didn’t look at it like that at the time, I just simply enjoyed messing with and learning about computers and was unknowingly starting a business.

I then took a full-time 9-to-5 job at an insurance company and proceeded to fix computers on nights and weekends, getting paid by my customers and often doing it for friends and family for free simply because I just enjoyed it. After I was fortunate enough to get fired from my full-time job after three years there, I decided to take my part-time hobby/small business to the next level and try to turn it into my sole source of income.

That was 2007 and I haven’t looked back since.

In 2010, I met a guy named Sean at a networking event and he invited me to something called BNI. I had never heard of it but at the time I was trying to meet as many people as I could so I agreed to attend his meeting as his guest. Once in the room, I was surrounded by other professionals and small business owners and it just felt like home. So, I joined shortly thereafter and I’ve been a member for going on 10 years now.

In that time, I’ve learned how to communicate to my clients and my network of resources. I’ve learned how to identify what are good leads and sources of referrals. I’ve built a network of people that I can wholeheartedly recommend to my clients, friends, and family. And most importantly, I’ve met a lot of people.

As of today, there are over 2200 contacts in my phone. Almost every person I meet I make it a point to build a contact for them and to share my contact with them. Between the members that come and go, visitors who come to our weekly meetings, the other chapters I’ve visited, and the many referrals and subsequent people that I meet from them, I estimate that BNI is directly responsible for me meeting 1000 people I otherwise would likely not have.

As I stated in the title, I believe you have to meet a lot of people if you want to be successful. BNI means a lot of things to a lot of people and also a lot of things to me, but the one thing that stands out is the 1000 or so people I’ve met as a result of my membership in my BNI chapter. My membership does and always has paid for itself by the end of the first month leaving the other 11 months of the year as pure profit.

The policies and standards put forth by BNI all but ensures the success of every member that shows up and puts in the necessary time and effort into their membership. The ongoing enhancements and improvements to the BNI system are easily comparable to some of the best-run organizations in the world. The continuing education alone is worth the price of a membership in my opinion. And in closing, after mentioning the many aspects of BNI that benefit me professionally, perhaps the most important benefit of BNI are the lifelong friendships that I’ve created.

To learn more about BNI please visit their Website. If you’re interested in visiting a chapter in our area, please visit the Louisville area BNI site here.