Small biz focus with a twist of technology

For God’s sake, at least ACT like you want my business!

Feb22
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Joe

Technology freaks people out sometimes. I have a comfort level with certain parts of technology but other parts make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Give me about any office software and I’m comfortable that I can resolve most issues. Give it to my mother and she’ll probably ask if she can just write it out rather than figure out what’s wrong.

I had an experience with a local business that reminded me of that. Several of us at my employer signed up for a ‘Biggest Loser’ contest at the start of the year so I’ve been eating better and exercising at home over the last seven weeks (it’s going well! Thanks for asking…). When we received a coupon for a local gym that’s pretty close to my house, I figured I’d use the free week before the last week of the contest and get a little more work in besides the recumbent bike, treadmill and smattering of dumbbells in our basement.

My wife and I stopped by on Sunday and were met by a young man who was about as far from welcoming as you could get. I’m guessing he’s worked there for a while and is tired of the whole ‘helping’ the first of the year crowd. For my wife and I though, we haven’t really been to a gym since we first met. Ironic, isn’t it?

We were ‘new users’ or ‘potential customers’ asking to be sold. He said he could give us a tour and took exactly three steps and started pointing around the pretty large space and offered minimal descriptions. He didn’t ask what we thought of it. He didn’t ask what our goals were or if we knew anyone.

As a business owner, we have to ask ourselves after every call or meeting with a potential customer:

  • Did I answer every question that they had?
  • Did I listen to what they were saying and try to relate to where they are with our product or service?
  • Did the potential customer leave this discussion excited about the product or service I offer or did they decide that they would have had more help calling a wrong number in a neighboring state?

Will I go back? I’m not sure beyond this week. Will your potential customers call back? Make sure to give them a reason.

Posted in General

u-Verse – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sep05
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joe

We had waited for about two years to get u-Verse from AT&T from the time I first saw it until we received the flyer saying that we were now eligible. I had gone online no less than 10 times on the AT&T website asking for it in our neighborhood.

After all the drama of installation (read below), the one thing which wreaked the most havoc? Our 2Wire router was b/g and we used to have n. That means it was slow. Netflix was pixelating something fierce.

So here is my service to anyone in a similar situation. I know a little about technology but there are just some areas I know most writers take for granted that everyone understands…and most probably do not.

My linksys router would not work by plugging it into the 2Wire router’s ethernet port because they both had the same IP address. They both used the default of 192.168.1.1.

In order to fix this, I simply grabbed a separate laptop, turned off wireless and hooked up the ethernet cord on my linksys from the laptop to the router. For this step only: The ethernet cord has to be hooked into a ‘port’, probably labeled 1,2,3 or 4. Not the one labeled ‘ethernet’.

You want to get into the administrative login of your router. If you haven’t reset, it will be whatever you set it as before getting u-Verse installed. You can also press the reset button for five seconds and start over.
Then, just head to the wireless settings and change the domain from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1. Make sure you have a password set and WEP security and then …

Unhook it from the laptop. Then take the ethernet cable out of the linksys and hook it back to the ‘ethernet’ port. Take the other end and hook it into one of the 1-4 ports on the 2wire router. Voila!

If your set up is exactly like mine, hopefully it works for you too. The point is, if you had wireless ‘n’ working before and you want the faster speeds still, this seems to work for me so far.

Here’s a great write up on a lot of different variables straight from Cisco, the makers of LinkSys routers.

http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?pid=80&vw=1&articleid=3733

Now about AT&T….
This is my editorial.
1. I absolutely loved how well the online sign up for the entire u-Verse package worked. It was VERY well done and easy to work through.
2. The confirmation emails and calls were very professional and appreciated.
3. No one showing up in the 9:00AM – 11:00AM time window was just rude.
4. I tried the online ‘chat’ to find out why no one showed up and was told I had to call in for help.
5. I called in for help and was told that someone had been dispatched at 8:45AM. He then said that my order was totally messed up. He said he would ‘own’ my issue and would call me back as soon as he resolved it.
6. Five minutes after hanging up, the installer called and apologized for not calling but my order was all messed up and he’d been trying to resolve it. I asked if he thought he could get it fixed and he said he didn’t know. He showed up and hour later and double checked what he saw at our house. He said someone else had used our ‘node’. (I think that was the term). I went to work when he said he still wasn’t sure if he could get it to work.
7. My wife called me at work later and said he was there again with someone else and they were working hard to get everything resolved. He stayed until about 7:30 and thought that he had everything working.
8. Over the next two or three days and four or five calls to AT&T, we replaced our main HD DVR after determining it was bad.
9. Since then, knock on wood, it has been pretty outstanding.
10. Moral of the story…online products=outstanding, installers=pretty happy, delivery of product on an ongoing basis=outstanding, online and on the phone help=poor, very poor.

I REALLY doubt that too many AT&T execs have had to call into their own service numbers. You can’t believe the run around that is required in their phone menus and the lack of help most of them provide. Did I mention the product is pretty outstanding? Not perfect but certainly an improvement to have HD on all tv’s and watch the DVR from any of them.

If you choose u-Verse, good luck!

Posted in General

What has happened to Free Enterprise?

Jun24
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joe

free enterpriseGoogle Says FTC Starts Review of Practices

After reading this article, I immediately thought, “What has happened to Free Enterprise?”. Isn’t Google one of the most ideal companies ever created? In my probably somewhat narrow view, it seems to me you would want more companies to operate LIKE Google instead of differently than Google.

A few specific points:

  • The article wonders if Google “is using its position in Internet search to subdue rivals in adjacent markets with threats and jacked-up advertising rates”. I wasn’t aware that there were too many Google sales people negotiating ad rates. Maybe there are at Fortune 500 companies but as a small company, I bid on rates versus other bidders. That’s what I love about their system. There isn’t a monopoly controlling prices. I have other options to advertise on but instead choose Google because it is THE EASIEST AND MOST POWERFUL ADVERTISING PLATFORM. Why in God’s name would we want to dissuade a company from doing it the right way?
  • “The company’s conduct in new sectors, such as mobile devices, also will probably be a focus” the article said. Just as Apple has done for many years, Google started with a blank slate and re-thought the whole mobile device field. They attempted to circumnavigate the oligopoly that the US cellphone carriers have by selling directly to the consumer. They offered app development open to anyone. The Operating System is designed to be open so that anyone who wants to make it their own….can. What part of this is stifling competition?

    • I wonder if the problem is that Google has stepped on so many competitors toes that those competitors have run to their political buddies and cried ‘foul!’. If this is a concerted effort to stifle their growth politically then I am greatly saddened.

    Not only has Google done some utterly amazing things from a ‘break the mold’ standpoint, through their culture many people have left to start other businesses that continue that culture or improve upon it. There will be other businesses that come along later which grow larger than Google. I hope that we learn that the size of the company does not denote that they are doing something ‘unfair’. It might simply mean that they have met the demand of the market better THAN ANYONE ELSE. (Are you listening BING?).

    Posted in General

    Selling online made easier than you’d believe

    Jun12
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe

    If you have a consumer product that isn’t very large and you are looking to sell it in an efficient manner, I’ve experienced one recently that was incredibly easy and effective. ebay! We’ve all heard of it but not everyone has spent the time to see how efficient it is and how incredibly easy it is to use.

    At my employer, we switched from Sprint to Verizon for 120 lines and therefore had 120 Sprint phones to sell. Some of the phones were in great shape. Others were not so great. I listed five individual phones at a time to start. Once I had a template set up, I just copied to each new item.

    After setting a starting price that covered free shipping, I then set a “Buy it Now” price which was just above the average selling price. You can see that average by looking at ‘completed listings’ while searching. Initially, almost every item sold through the “Buy it Now” option. After raising the “Buy it Now” price, the price sold decreased.

    As each item sold, it was very easy to pay for a US Postal Service pre-paid box and attach the shipping label. There was almost nothing more to it than that. However, since I had a job to conduct rather than becoming a wholesale phone salesman, I decided to try to list more at once. I received a message asking if I’d consider selling all of my remaining stock. I promptly listed everything I had left and sold them in five days.

    If there’s a market for an item, you can quickly assess what others have sold items for and judge what you might get. If you don’t sell an item, you can re-list it. The fees are reasonable if you don’t sell too many items per month. If you are a small business that would like to get rid of excess inventory or other items that others might want – you can’t hardly beat how easy they have made it.

    Posted in General

    Despicable Me…Lessons for Us All

    Apr09
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe

    Despicable MeWe’re sitting in front of our HDTV watching “Despicable Me” by a WIFI connection through our LG Blu-Ray player on VUDU (I’m still amazed by technology).  Love the show – not just because the three girls remind me of ours but because it has a great lesson and is pretty funny!  Gru tries to live his life without relationships until the three little girls show up.  In this age of spending time on Facebook and watching other people on YouTube, here’s the big lesson.  Relationships matter!

    As a small business person, that’s one of the key advantages we have in this internet age – spending time with our customers.  They may ask crazy questions, they may have weird requests, they may even want you to listen to their life story.  The key is to be there for the crazy questions, weird requests and life stories.  People are willing to pay for the services of someone who will listen….and care.

    If you own your own business, ask yourself how often you get to meet with customers?  Do you remember those face-to-face interactions more than when someone calls you on the phone?  Most people do – we generally crave being in the presence of someone.  Make that time with your clients valuable for them and you.

    Relationship marketing is a common topic for books.  You may want to consider reading up on it if you find that you aren’t getting repeat customers.  One highly reviewed book on the topic is Relationship Marketing for Solopreneurs: How to Build Rewarding Connections in Work and Life (Volume 1).  The topic is especially important if you live in a small town.  Real estate, insurance, service providers of all types rely on working with clients and their families and their referrals for a long time to survive in the smaller markets.

    Technology and social networks can help you categorize your contacts (GMail contacts), meet people (LinkedIn) or stay in touch (Facebook page) but none of them can replace a smile, a handshake, a hug or taking a moment to listen.

     

    Posted in General

    Puppies and ‘puters

    Mar27
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe

    It may not seem like puppies would be related to technology in business but my family has witnessed it over the last several weeks.  Spoiler alert….we bought a puppy.

    A little history – my parents raised German Shepherds when I was growing up.  They bred, sold, trained and showed them.  Dad even taught obedience classes so people could train their dogs.  We had several other breeds too – including a poodle and Welsh Corgis.  So I grew up in a home with a kennel and understand the work that goes into keeping them healthy and clean. Of course back then (mid 60′s through mid 70′s), there wasn’t much in the way of technology when it came to selling the dogs.  Social networking back then occurred at kennel club meetings and dog shows.

    Today, a search for ‘puppies’ on Google results in a wide assortment of sites.  Some are direct to breeders, others to dog search sites where people can list their dogs for sale or can find breeders.  If you know what breed of dog, you will find breed specific organizations and breeders who only specialize in that one advertising.  You can also find pets listed on newspaper sites, Craigslist and ebay.

    The final type of site we found seems to be a “game changer” in the puppy business.  The site was called ‘AffordablePup.com’.  They are a small business located northeast of Columbus, Ohio.  I was pretty worried about it when my daughter showed us but the more I read, the more I liked it.

    While watching their listings, we also investigated local breeders of one breed we liked – the Havanese.  We found several listings but most of the sites were not up to date, had very poor lay outs and didn’t provide very good information in general.  We knew we didn’t want a dog with champion blood lines.  We have one very healthy mutt now so we didn’t really care about AKC registration – we just wanted a healthy dog that was small and didn’t shed much at all.

    What made AffordablePup.com stand out in the crowd?  Several things versus their competition:

    • Their site was always up to date with the pups they had in stock
    • They had phone number, contact form, email addresses for all employees and cell phone numbers for all employees.
    • They showed multiple pictures and even videos for many of the dogs.
    • Their pricing was much more reasonable than the individual breeders in most cases.
    • They utilized Google AdWords to promote their brand.
    • Because they ship a high percentage of their puppies to the buyers, they offer scheduled webcam time.

    We visited the facility to pick up our pup and were pretty impressed with the quality of the small part of the operation we were allowed to see.  The amount of time and effort that they have put into their website is equaled by their facility.

    To me, it is almost as though they have found a niche that the small breeders can’t match.  As the concern over puppy mills and pet stores that source their dogs from them gained more and more attention – it became much harder to find puppies in stores.  That leaves people searching in the paper and online.

    If you have the perception that everything in the paper is from individual sellers, that would be incorrect.  We saw one breeder that we called on who was selling two of her dogs for $300 each.  When we did a little research on the breeder, multiple names came up for their facility.  In addition, a search on ebay showed they had sold over 30 different dogs of multiple breeds in the last three months.  They sold more breeds on ebay than they listed as specializing in on their own website.  They even claimed they raised them all in their own home on their website when they also clearly showed a small outdoor kennel with a dozen or more dogs in it.  It was attached to a building labeled, “our new kennel”.  It really seemed closer to a ‘puppy mill’ for these reasons than anything we saw for AffordablePups.com.

    Two more things I liked about dealing with AffordablePups.com:

    1. They allowed buyers to leave comments on their site  Obviously, they moderate those but the sheer number of responses is very impressive.  It weighed heavily in our decision.  We even contacted one of those who lived nearby to make sure it was legit.
    2. They aren’t totally about technology – they just use it well.  They seem to be about the pups.  Matthew helps run the company and met us for our ‘adoption’ and couldn’t stop talking about how much he loved the Havanese and Cava Chons (our eventual choice).  He also said he loved meeting people as they get their new pet.  Maybe he says it to everyone – but it sure appeared that he was sincere.

    In our research, we saw on one forum that AffordablePups sells over 2,000 pups per year.  Matthew told us today that they actually started this company originally as a joke and quickly saw that they could be successful at it.  Most of the people who work there met in college nearby and thought of it then.  Not surprisingly, the owner is an entrepreneur who has started other tech based businesses.

    What can small business owners learn from their model:

    • If you find a product whose market is highly fractured, make the mechanism of purchase more efficient and buyers will come.  This was demonstrated by Amazon with books (and many other items eventually) as well as eBay.
    • Good results take investments.  It is obvious that the streamlined purchase, holding, viewing and inventory of their site did not happen overnight.  They have reinvested in their business.

    Now for anyone concerned about whether or not I am condoning doing business with a company that doesn’t show the details of their breeders – which could mean they are trying to hide something: I don’t know the answer.  Please don’t comment on it unless you have proof.  Forums are full of people complaining while using such terms as “it must be”, “any” and “legitimate breeders would never”.  I’m cynical but fair – bring the proof or don’t bother.

    If it were my business and I wanted to prove the integrity of the process, I would list all of the breeder’s addresses and contact information.  Their selling system seems to be so refined that they could truly become brokers for breeders without the concern for purchasers of where they puppies came from.

    Overall, a great model for using technology in business and glad to see an entrepreneur become successful from it.

    Posted in General, Personal, Small Biz Tech

    Efficiency…multiplied

    Mar07
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe

    There is such a chasm between ‘regular’ businesses and sole proprietorships sometimes.  At my ‘regular’ job, I’m in charge of buying and my team gets to set up all of the computers for our users.  One of the changes we made in the last couple of years was to get almost everyone dual screens.

    Multiple Monitors to the extreme

    The reason is not just for more screen real estate – it’s much more than that. I’ll keep this simple – it’s about saving:

    1. Save time – it is incredibly more efficient to be able to have multiple windows open in this multi-tasking, highly-caffeinated world we live in.
    2. Save paper – there is very little need for paper when you can throw up a spreadsheet on the right and type off of it on the left.

    You can’t just throw up dual screens on any laptop.  Most only have one ‘VGA’ out.  There are a couple of ways to handle this.  First, buy a ‘dock’ with two video outs.  We buy Dell Latitudes and they have a VGA and a DVI out so we put one ‘blue’ cable and one ‘white cable to each monitor.  A second way to deal with this is to buy a USB to VGA converter such as here:

    http://www.amazon.com/Display-Extend-Existing-Desktop-USB2VGA/dp/B000HCXA62

    I’m not recommending that particular product over others – just the concept.  It allows you to get the end result of dual screens.  A third way is much simpler – just open your laptop screen AND run a VGA to an external screen so that they are side-by-side.  Some people like this for the simplicity but you don’t get as much screen this way.

    Just one, simple way to make you and your staff more efficient.  Me and the photographer wife just decided to give up on the five year old PowerMac G5 that won’t reboot.  We now have her running dual on the 27″ iMac and the 23″ Cinema Display.  When a client comes in, she can easily change the setting to ‘mirror displays’ and they can follow along with the monitor right in front of them.  It’s efficiency…multiplied!

    For around $200-300, you can make an investment that has a very quick ROI.

    Posted in General, Small Biz Tech

    Is it better to make money by being a photographer or by selling to people who want to be photographers?

    Feb23
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe

    My wife and I just returned from our first trip to Vegas and our first trip to WPPI.  Tonya (the wife), “won” a free ticket to the Wedding and Portrait Photographer’s International Convention and Trade Show.  We had the honor of buying the late airline ticket, non-comped hotel room and uber expensive food – but it was a good experience overall.  Looking at it from a small business perspective though, two things were pretty apparent:  (1)  There are a lot of photographers who want to learn and buy things and (2) There are a lot of businesses started by photographers who want to help them learn and buy things.  I’m wondering if it’s better to make money by being a photographer or by selling to people who want to be photographers?

    There are some wonderfully talented people in the photography business.  Many of them have spent years developing their brand and are now sharing their experience.  Many others have seen a need in the photography business and filled it.  I think there are others who have seen where the real money is and are jumping on the bandwagon.  I admire their entrepreneurial spirit.  As long as people are willing to buy your product and you provide a good value – why shouldn’t we all do that?

    One great example of seeing a need and providing it is David Jay and his flash website design product called ShowIt.  I’ve created websites but Flash based ones are in a whole other league.  We love the result and willingly pay the monthly fee.  They continue to improve their product and we remain a faithful customer.  Customer service is top notch and we were able to meet a few of their staff at WPPI.

    In our search for a good website solution, I ran across another company that was known for their LACK of service.  It’s hard to say if their goal was to just take advantage of all the new photographers or to provide a good product backed by good service.

    I believe in the long run, ShowIt will maintain their growth and hopefully provide a good living for the guy who saw the need and filled it.  I love that Tonya enjoys being a photographer but my mind was racing with ideas of how to be like David Jay and come up with a product to fill a need.  I have a feeling he’ll be making more money with ShowIt than he did as a photographer.

    As my dad taught me, if your business trades your time for money, than you can only make as much as you can charge per hour.  If you find a business that you can multiply your time somehow – then you have a chance to make some money.

    Posted in General

    Technically proficient, personality or customer service deficient?

    Feb04
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe
    Bad Service

    Do you feel this way after hiring service providers?

    I’ve run a very small web design business for several years.  I’ve helped my wife build her photography business.  We both have heard horror stories about other providers in our fields who have great credentials, have references and appear to be providing great service to their clients but in the end, provided nothing but a nightmare for some of their clients.  How does one go about hiring a professional without hiring someone technically proficient but personality or customer service deficient?

    There are a lot of awesome web designers and photographers in the world.  Many do a great job for their clients – providing outstanding work for a fair value.  Their clients love to brag about them.  On a pretty regular basis though, my wife and I have heard stories from couples who’ve hired a wedding photographer and never received their pictures, or their order, or their DVD.  Tonya has received multiple calls requesting that she assist in album creation or image correction because what their photographer gave them was not at all what they hoped for.

    How can small businesses without a lot of resources hire professionals to help them when they don’t always know what’s involved with the job?  I have a couple quick recommendations.  If you would like to suggest more, please add a comment!

    1.  Find out how much they care before you find out how much they know.  There is absolutely no replacement for a passion to help a client solve their problem.  If they are a web designer, one of the easiest things to do is email or call the company’s they have in their online portfolio to see how long they’ve worked together, how many projects they’ve completed, whether they stuck to timelines or any other relevant question based on the type of job you are hiring for.

    One example I’ve seen of this in my personal life is Dr. Perry Lopez.  I happened to call him when he was fairly new as an eye doctor and had some of the best conversations about my eye problems.  He truly cared about helping his clients and was great to work with.  I’ve never forgotten that as I deal with clients.  I later moved to a different doctor because of insurance reasons and it just made it even more clear how great Dr. Lopez was.

    2.  A second thing I’d recommend is to look for long term partners.  Even though you may only have one project right now, the professional you hire today may be more and more valuable if you can work with them again on other projects.

    In my day job, I have had the honor of managing vendor relationships for several technical areas.  One vendor relationship existed with our company when I took the position.  They worked on our phone system and had for years.  Even though I new very little about phone systems, it was apparent very quickly that the work they did was not fixing the issues we were having.  When the company asked me to complete a survey for the company they represented (Avaya), I answered honestly.  The sales rep then had the gall to ask me to change my answers.  This confirmed more than anything that they could care less about fixing our problems correctly; they became our FORMER vendors very quickly after that.

    We sought out a new partner who listened to our needs, provided a clear project plan, met every deadline, came in within budget and to this day provides excellent service.  Those companies are out there!  Don’t focus on the up front price because sometimes the best value in the long run are the ones who care the most to do the job right the first time.

    3.  Don’t be afraid to seek out help online.  I started writing reviews on a site called Epinions.com in September, 1999.  I loved reading what others said about products and to this day think it is one of the best ways to be a wise shopper.  We can read reviews of items on Amazon or on sellers at ebay but where can you find reviews of service providers?  Angie’s List (www.angieslist.com) is a great site to help for certain professions.  Another way to search is subscribe to the company’s Facebook page or Twitter account.  Are customer’s asking for help?  Search on Twitter for other’s who reference the company.  If there are problems posted, does the company address them?

    Finding great providers as a small business is hard to do.  With these three simple steps, you can increase your odds of finding good partners who provide good value.  If it works out well, make sure to review them online!  If it doesn’t work out…make sure to review them online so the next person searching can get a feeling for your experience.

    Posted in General

    Even techies have trouble deciding sometimes

    Jan30
    2011     Leave a Comment Written by Joe

    laptop vs tabletI’m a director of IT in a branch of a wholesaler of beverage products.  I’m not a programmer, we don’t control our ERP (main invoicing, product and warehouse system) nor our network.  However, I have some familiarity with using computers and cell phones to make our sales force and management as efficient as possible.  I’ve help create an intranet portal using Lotus Notes, I’ve designed and maintained websites, I’ve assisted with project management tasks.  So can someone please explain to me why it’s so hard to decide for myself what to do right now when it comes to buying a ‘computer’?  I’m supposed to be the “techie”!

    I have the type of job that we have the ability to get nice, up to date equipment.  Not always cutting edge – but nice.  I have a Blackberry Storm 2 (which I like okay) and a Dell Latitude laptop.  The laptop is definitely the nicest I’ve ever used.  Therein lies my problem.  In my home office, for my business, I’m struggling with using the Compaq Presario SR1130NX desktop.  It’s pretty amazing that it has lasted for more than six years but the speed compared to my work laptop is hard to deal with some times.

    The simple response would be to take our tax refund this year and buy a laptop and dock to replicate the set up I have at work.  Or I could even consider another desktop since I could probably find a better deal and more speed.  I do almost all of my work for clients in my own office so that proposal isn’t that crazy.  There are other options, too.  Netbooks offer a portability option without the price of a laptop and I like the battery life.  Finally, there is the iPad, Android slate, Microsoft Windows 7 type of choices.  The iPad is the only mainstream option right now but more are coming soon.

    If I were asked to recommend the best decision for a small business owner in this situation, I would probably be asking lots of questions first.  Some of these might include:

    • What is your budget?  It always comes down to money doesn’t it?  The options of desktop, laptop, netbook or tablet range from $150-$3000.  Narrowing that down is key to the decision.  For me, I’d like to stay under $1,000.
    • What applications do you think you need to use?  I’ve been making a concerted effort only use browser based applications.  That started when I heard about Google coming out with their Chrome OS (Operating System – like Windows).  I even tried to get one of their 60,000 or so free netbooks for testing purposes.  No luck.  Since then, I’ve really been impressed with Google Docs and how much it has improved.  It’s still not Microsoft Office but for most uses, I’m pretty impressed with it.   In the end, this question determines my result – I really need to have Windows 7 and be able to use Dreamweaver as well as some of the advanced functions of Excel for how I want to operate and the services I offer to clients.

    Believe it or not – I think most businesses can make their decision as to which format to buy based on those two questions.  Some businesses may be able to take advantage of two formats and stay within their budget.  If I can get a desktop that’s powerful enough and yet well within my budget, I may be able to get a tablet also to take in the need for mobile browsing and light document and email work.  Or I could just get a laptop that gives up some speed but is convertible to a tablet.  There are many options and I hope to document my progress as I proceed through the decision and purchase process.

    Posted in Small Biz Tech
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