Success and Progress by UFirst

What’s a Wiki?

admin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:04:35 +0000

Before answering that question, let’s take a look at the etymology of the word “wiki” and learn how Howard G. “Ward” Cunningham came to use the word in association with his software. Wiki is a word from the Hawaiian language which means: quick, hurry, swift, fast, speedy, etc. Also, the Hawaiian language allows for words to be doubled for emphasis (e.g., wiki wiki means very quick, super fast, etc.).

Cunningham started developing the World’s first “wiki” website in 1994. He named his new creation “WikiWikiWeb” and installed it on March 25, 1995 to the domain of his software consultancy (c2.com) as an add-on to the Portland Patten Repository.

The moniker “WikiWikiWeb” was coined by Cunningham after hearing the word “wiki” during his first trip to the Hawaiian Islands and his desire to choose a unique name/word for his unusual technology. After arriving at the Honolulu International Airport, Cunningham was directed by an airport employee to take the “WikiWiki Shuttle” that transports people/baggage between the various terminals.

Both the name and the concept of wiki software have stuck and are part of the technologies used in websites such as Wikipedia.org, Wiki.answers.com and WikiTravel.org.

What characteristics identify a website as using “wiki” technology? The technical response would be a website that allows for non-linear, evolving, complex and networked text, argument and interaction. In layman’s terms, a wiki website is essentially a database for creating, browsing and searching through information.

Cunningham and Bo Leuf, co-authors of the book, The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web, described a wiki website as having the following three traits:

Wiki websites provide the capability for users to edit/create pages using simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor through a plain Web browser.

Promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link creation virtually intuitive and showing if a target page exists or not.

Wiki websites seek to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the website’s landscape.

Note: On March 15, 2007, “wiki” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Fax Machines: Asset or Obsolete?

admin — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:47:29 +0000

Although raw forms of faxing have been around since the mid-to-late 1800s, the fax machine as we know it today has existed in various configurations since the 1970s. By the mid-1980s, faxing became a very popular and economical communication tool and was being used in both the corporate and private sectors. But, is sending a fax still a viable business tool with such a wide array of advanced technologies available?

The answer to that question is there’s no sign that faxing will be going away anytime soon. Even with increased competition from digital alternatives, businesses usually maintain some kind of in-house faxing capability.

Particularly in the transmission of sensitive information, faxing still retains some advantage over newer technologies. If sensitive information is sent over the Internet unencrypted, it is vulnerable to interception. Another advantage in using faxes is electronic signatures. Some countries do not recognize an electronic signature as legally binding, while still accepting them if faxed.

Oddly enough, both methods can easily be forged. There’s no real proof that the person clicking the online button is who they say they are. Same goes for faxed signatures. It doesn’t take a career criminal to figure out that taping a copy of a stolen signature to a document, then faxing it, is probably the easiest way to execute a convincing forgery.

The journey of a fax is one of many formats. The average faxed document is in paper form twice and digital form four times along with an analog sound file once. It would make sense to create the file once (digitally) and use digital transmission methods to send the document. On that note, the future of the analog fax machine now falls into the hands of the digital world.

In many corporate environments, standalone fax machines have been replaced by “fax servers” and other computerized systems capable of receiving, sending and storing incoming/outgoing faxes electronically. The fax services then route them to users via an e-mail. Such systems reduce costs by eliminating the need for paper printouts and the required number of analog phone lines.

Shipping & Handling Solutions for Small Businesses

admin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:01:36 +0000

If your company doesn’t have a shipping strategy then it doesn’t matter if you’ve cornered the market in the manufacturing of widgets and thingamajigs. Products sitting on your shipping dock or stuck in a warehouse will cost your company both time and money. Even worse, a product delivered late or not at all will cost you clients.

Finding the right shipper can seem like a daunting task when you already have a million day-to-day items to manage in your business. Trying to remember shipping rates/schedules along with understanding the intricacies of packaging can clog your throughput pipeline and damage your business reputation.

Understand that every company has unique shipping requirements and they can change depending on several factors:

Types of products shipped
Special handling requirement (e.g., overweight, odd shape, chemicals, etc.)
Volume and frequency of items shipped
Delivery requirements
Distance (CONUS or overseas)

These factors can fit into the services offered from several different types of shipping companies:

Bicycle Courier
Local Van Deliveries
OTR Trucking
Aircraft
Boat

Until your shipping needs are set through years of experience, ensure your shipping strategy will cover “one up and one down.” If you normally ship using “local van deliveries,” have a bicycle courier service (one down) and an OTR trucking service (one up) in place. Informing a client you’ll need an extra day for an overnight shipment to research OTR trucking companies is not a solution.

Look for shipping companies where the shipping container (e.g., box, tube, envelope, etc.) is included in the shipping cost. If you ship items using OTR trucking companies, get involved in a one-to-one pallet exchange program to reduce costs.

Review your shipping situation every 90–180 days to ensure they are the most effective in terms of costs and time management. An OTR trucking company could be doing a good job and have an outstanding “on time” delivery rating, but when performing due diligence you might discover a different delivery service that is less expensive and can deliver a day sooner.

The Impact of the 40-Hour Workweek

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:08:10 +0000

One workweek is equal to the total amount of hours in one, seven-day calendar week an individual spends at employed (paid) occupational labor in a commercial environment. Some countries have enacted law that mandates the minimum daily rest periods and the maximum number of working hours per day and/or week.

The industrial revolution made it possible for workers to be employed year-round due to work no longer being tied to a season or the amount of available sunlight. But, employers looking to maximize their profits dramatically increased working hours. In some industrial areas, records indicate that schedules as grueling as 16 hours a day, seven days a week were mandatory.

With a strong supporting role from progressive legislation and trade unions, working hours steadily declined by the mid-20th century. In most of the industrialized world, the workweek dropped to about 40-hours per week after World War II. In modern Western society, most salaried employees work Monday through Friday, 8-hours per day.

With this schedule, the average American worker spends 2,080 hours per year on the clock. This means that Americans spend 137 more hours per year at work than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and a whopping 499 more hours per year than French workers.

This is due in part to the average vacation days allowed by employers. Italians enjoys 25 days, Canadians 26 days, while French workers enjoy 37 day’s worth of relaxation per year! In contrast, the average American takes 13 days off per year with 26 percent of workers taking no vacation at all.

Studies supporting a four-day workweek indicate that reducing work hours not only increases consumption and invigorates the economy, but also improves worker’s level of education and mental/physical health. While continuing a 40-hour workweek policy, some employers are experimenting with various workforce scheduling methods to maintain their throughput.

Short Weeks
Four 10-hour working days with three full days off.

Flextime
Workers change their schedule around rush-hour traffic which shortens the time away from home.

Telecommuting
Permits employees to work from home without commuting.

What Does B2B, B2C & B2G Mean?

admin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:28:56 +0000

One of the many definitions of business is “the buying and selling of commodities and services.” Whether that business is conducted directly to another business, to a consumer or to the government, the basis of the transaction starts from a business.

In today’s fast paced business world, some marketing terms have been shortened. A business to business (buying and selling) transaction is now known as B2B; a business to consumer transaction (selling) is defined as B2C; and B2G represents selling a product and/or providing a service to the government.

B2B = Business to Business
There are far more transactions per day in the B2B world than B2C. Even something as common as a pair of pants has been assembled from a variety of business-to-business transactions. But to the consumer, it is just one transaction.

The jeans manufacturer must purchase ink, cotton, rivets and labeling from several different businesses. Ink might have been purchased from South Carolina, cotton from Mississippi, rivets from Indiana and the labeling from overseas. This doesn’t include the B2B transactions of hiring a clothing designer, a manufacturer to sew the material together or hiring a trucking company to distribute their products.

B2B can also revolve around business-to-business transactions ONLY. This means the business NEVER sells to the consumer — only to businesses.

B2C = Business to Consumer
The average consumer is unaware of the steps required before a pair of jeans can be placed in their shopping cart. In fact, most consumers only concern themselves with the three things:

1. Is my size available?
2. Do they fit?
3. How much do they cost?

Essentially, any product available online, in a retail store, street vendor or by catalog is a part of the B2C process.

B2G = Business to Government
This area of business deals directly with the government. The government agency could be federal, state or local and can include the military. Some B2G companies sell their products and/or services to B2B and more rarely, to the B2C market. B2G usually involves negotiated contracts as the result of RFPs, RFIs, RFQs.

Pros & Cons of Print-On-Demand Publishing

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:02:16 +0000

The best tool for promoting your business is to author a book in your field of expertise. Hand a potential client a one-page flier or tri-fold brochure and chances are they’ll never give it another glance. Present that same potential client with a professionally bound and well written book and your product’s credibility just went through the roof — not to mention your own.

So, you’ve spent weeks writing a document covering every aspect of your business and now you’re ready to turn those late nights into a book. Where do you go for publishing help?

Traditional Publisher
You must go through a literary agent and endure long waiting periods only to receive the proverbial rejection letter. In addition to being at the mercy of the publisher for distribution channels, your publisher has input to the size and cover design. In most cases, the content of your book will be under intense scrutiny from the publisher.

Print-On-Demand (POD)
POD has wrongfully earned a negative reputation among traditional publishers and old school writers. But, any method that balks at the traditional route will accumulate a group of naysayers that question its validity.

The first rumor to negate is that POD is only for vanity publishing (e.g., writers only interested in getting the title of “author” attached to their name). This is true in a small amount of cases, but POD is a viable and professional method for getting your work (and your name) in print.

The next rumor to dispel is the claim that the content of a POD published book is substandard. Not true. POD is simply the publishing method and has nothing to do with the skill or knowledge of the author(s).

Pros

Save time (months, if not years).
No inventory (print one book at a time).
Don’t have to be a professional writer.

Cons

Some bookstores/chains refuse to carry POD titles mostly due to the perceived inability to return unsold copies.
It costs money. In some cases, lots of money.
Marketing is the responsibility of the author.

Demographics: Understanding Your Target Market

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:57:14 +0000

Let’s say you’re a shop owner and a random customer comes into your store and purchases an item with cash and then leaves. Ask yourself these questions:

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’ve probably eliminated any chance to make that person a repeat customer. To solve this problem, you need to understand your demographics and how to incorporate them into your marketing strategy.

The demographics that are of interest to your business are the average/typical characteristics of the customers who buy your products and/or services. These characteristics include, but are not restricted to, the following indentifying factors:

Age/Gender/Race

Gross Annual Income

Education Level

Occupation Category (e.g., industry type)

Size of Household

Residence (Rent/Own)

Marital Status

Taking demographics one step further, psychographics includes IAO variables (interest, activities, and opinions). These variables and human behavior attributes include personality, interests, lifestyles, values, attitudes, etc.

The most effective way to fine-tune your marketing efforts is to combine the marketing research datum derived from both the demographics and psychographics applicable to your region. In fact, to define a demographic, most marketers combine several variables to create a profile.

A demographic profile provides enough information about the typical member of this group to develop a mental picture of this hypothetical aggregate. For example, a motorcycle manufacturer might tailor advertising based of the following demographic profile:

single, male, middle-class, ages 16–24, with some college

Marketing researchers typically have two objectives. First: Determine what segments or subgroups exist in the overall population. Second: Create a clear and concise picture of the characteristics of an average/typical member of each of these segments or subgroups.

Once these profiles are constructed and contrasted, they can be used to develop a marketing strategy. Marketing research can be conducted using in-house resources or by hiring an outside agency.

How to Get Sales Referrals Without Begging

admin — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:50:30 +0000

It doesn’t matter what product you’re selling; asking for referrals can be a very difficult part of your sales routine. In fact, many sales professionals have shared that asking for referrals is something they … HATE! Why is asking an already happy customer for the contact information for a few friends and family so difficult?

There are three parts to answer this question. First: If a sales professional is uncomfortable asking for referrals, it will show in their delivery and the client will detect it. Second: If the client doesn’t have your product in their hands yet (e.g., keys to the car), why would they willingly break open their address book? Third: Clients HATE giving referrals!

Next, ensure you understand just how valuable referrals are when compared to cold calling, walk-in traffic, and the standard channels of commercial advertising. Referrals speed up the sales process by virtually eliminating the getting-to-know-you steps. In addition, referrals extend your sales network with minimal effort, which reduces your overall sales expenses.

The main problem in asking for referrals is only asking once. In auto sales, for example, the sales staff usually asks for referrals during the time frame where the customer’s new car is being detailed and the paperwork is being completed. They feel the customer is at their emotional peak and are more than willing to share their happiness. So, the sales professional sees this as their “one chance” to draw from these emotions. Failure is not an option at this point.

If they fail to get any referrals, they’ve reached a dead end. Their one chance is gone! This is why sales pros hate asking for referrals. The key here is that after your initial request, turn your referrals into a transaction based system.

When your customer returns to pick up their license plates (transaction), ask for a referral. When your customer returns for their complementary oil change (transaction), ask for a referral. Because sales are a numbers game, you’ve just tripled your chances at receiving a warm list of referrals from a happy customer.

The Difference Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:36:56 +0000

Being motivated doesn’t mean you’re overly excited and stay so focused and on task to the point that you’re committed 24/7 to a project. But, it does mean that you’ll complete all assigned tasks even when they are difficult, time consuming or seem boring.

In its simplest definition, motivation is the direct activation of a goal-orientated behavior. An excellent example is when an actor asks the director, “What’s my motivation?” What the actor is really asking is, “What intrinsic or extrinsic factors do I need to understand to make my character behave in this manner?”

Intrinsic Motivation
This type refers to a motivation that is driven by a strong personal interest or satisfaction in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than being influenced by their environment or external (extrinsic) pressures.

Some marathon runners will compete for years without winning a single event. So, what keeps their intrinsic motivation going? Many runners will tell you that the satisfaction is in competing against themselves — not the other runners or a reward at the finish line. Sure, they’d like to win the race but it’s the feeling they get inside when running that satisfies their intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation doesn’t mean that an individual will not seek some form of reward. It simply means external (extrinsic) rewards are not enough on their own to keep a person motivated.

Extrinsic Motivation
This type refers to a motivation that comes from outside the individual. Common positive extrinsic motivators are good grades in school or fiscal rewards. Common negative extrinsic motivators come in the form of coercion and threat of punishment (e.g., loss of employment). These rewards (both positive and negative) provide either pleasure or satisfaction that the task itself probably can’t provide.

An extrinsically motivated individual will continue to work on a task even when completely disinterested because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward. The reward isn’t required to be something major, such as graduating from law school, and can be as simple as a “thank you” from a supervisor.

TEAM Building Basics

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 23:12:09 +0000

Many companies underestimate the importance of teams in fulfilling their overall mission. In reality, every company with more than one employee needs to assign tasks to a team — not an individual. In today’s complex and fast paced workplace, you’ll get left behind if you try to make it alone.

That’s because no one can contribute everything, but everyone can contribute something. One team member might have outstanding leadership talents while another team member excels at providing administrative support. Both skill sets are crucial to the team’s success, but they also play a big part in enhancing individual goals. This is exactly where the acronym “TEAM” comes from:

Together Everyone Achieves More

A huge benefit to team building is being grouped together with like-minded people who are all working toward the same goals. A side-benefit to this is being surrounded with the positive attitudes and actions of people that will progressively motivate you to reach your own potential.

Teams work using the power of strength in numbers. One person with an idea probably won’t go anywhere. Two people working on the same idea turns into an active discussion weighing in on the pros/cons, reviewing personnel management issues, and highlighting material logistics and strategies. These factors are combined into an understanding of how they relate to a fixed deadline.

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is simply changing the name of a general workgroup to “Team X.” A name tag doesn’t change anything. The team needs to be given individual assignments and understand how they relate to other team members within a reachable goal. Lastly, the team needs to be held accountable for both their failures and the accomplishments.

When working with a team, many individuals discover abilities that were unknown to themselves and to the team as a whole. Stretching boundaries and known limits within a group will allow more ground to be covered in a shorter period of time. Plus, a team can act as a support group to weaker team members and assist in overcoming obstacles that would have seemed impossible if tackled alone.