Terence's jottings
This continuation of the article by David Coursey relates very strongly
to small business owners. TK
Avoid Small Business Mistakes (cont'd)
by David Coursey
Lessons learned - what mistakes did I make and what did I learn from
them?
- I let the customer get too far behind on payments. The termination
fee and future percentages were lost, but there was $25,000 already owed
me when the break occurred.
- I trusted two people at the company I shouldn’t have. One I knew
about and went into the deal with my eyes open. What I learned was that
as long as the other guy needed my company everything was fine, but
things turned quickly after he decided he didn’t need me any longer.
- When things are going well, a contract can spell out the day-to-day
rules of the relationship between the two parties. But, when things go
bad, the contract may not be worth a thing. If legal action is needed,
take it quickly. Don’t delay.
- I’m now more aware of potential inequities between my business and
the businesses I am working with. As a small business, I may not have
the resources necessary to fight for my rights - even when they are
fully described in a signed agreement. If the other company is much
larger, they have legal resources I can’t afford.
- Sometimes it’s best to just walk away. As it turned out, I could
have saved $20,000 and a considerable amount of time and trouble by
realising the money was a lost cause at the beginning.
- My lawyer came highly recommended by someone I trust who had used
him in the past. I was too trusting in his assurances, which strung me
along until the guy disappeared. In a similar situation, I’d never put
up with the delays this guy used to increase his billable hours and keep
me hanging until it was too late.
- Big, successful companies may be difficult to do business with,
something that needs to be factored into what you charge them. But they
usually pay their bills. Eventually. The client who cost me so much
money was relatively small, and relatively new, and I did not understand
how shaky their finances were.
Obviously, this was an expensive learning experience and one I hope you
never experience. In some ways it couldn’t be helped, but there were still
things I could have done to reduce my losses and the pain associated with
them. And, thanks to what I’ve learned, I’ve not had similar problems in the
years since. Hopefully, you can learn from my experience, or at least take a
little comfort from someone who’s had the same sorts of problems you’ve had.
~~~~~~~~~~~
David Coursey is CEO of his own small consulting business and has written
for a number of technology publications, websites, and blogs. Write to him
at david@coursey.com . He's happy to
answer reader questions in his spare time.
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If you have found this newsletter to be helpful to you and you know someone who you feel could benefit from these jottings and tips please pass it on.
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About the Author
Cyberspace Virtual Services' Principal, Terence Kierans (aka TK), has been associated with the IT
industry for over 30 years. For the last 25 years, he has been
self-employed in that field.
If you are wasting your time and energy still doing the administration of
your business, or feeling burdened by your never-ending to-do list, or
losing money because of missed opportunities due to lack of time, I can help relieve your burden so that
you can concentrate on the more important things!
Visit virtualservices.com.au
to see how I can assist you when you need help. TK
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My favourite links
Kuler color theme generator
A web-hosted application for generating color themes that can inspire any
project. Try Kuler. Whether you're creating interior designs, scrapbooks,
websites, or any other visual, you can experiment quickly with colour
variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community.
http://kuler.adobe.com.
Quotation of the month
"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that
one's work is terribly important."
-- Bertrand Russell
Technical tips
Microsoft Excel
Indenting text within a cell
If you press “Tab” in Excel it doesn't indent the text in a cell, it will
just move the cell pointer to the next cell.
You could hard-code the indent by repeatedly pressing the spacebar before
entering text into a cell; but this can cause problems.
So, to indent text in a spreadsheet cell, use the “Increase Indent”
button on the “Formatting” toolbar.
- Enter your text without any lead spaces.
- Select the cells whose entries you want to indent.
- Click the “Increase Indent” button.
Each time you click the button, the text will be pushed to the right. If
you overdo it, you can click the “Decrease Indent” button to shove
the text back toward the left.
If your text entry extends beyond the right edge of the cell, then change
the cell's text alignment so the text wraps within the cell.
To change the text alignment:
- Select the cell.
- Go to “Format / Cells / Alignment”;
In the “Text Control” section, select "Wrap Text”, and
Click "OK".
Excel will then indent all of the lines of text in that particular cell.
Microsoft Word
Customising the contents of a merge document based on value
Want to customise the contents of a merge letter based on the values
stored in a merge field? Do it with the "If...Then...Else..." merge
field.
Assume that in your monthly statements you want to show the number of
transactions for the month, a number stored in your data source in a field
called "Trans_Count". If the value in "Trans_Count" is 1, you want
to print "1 transaction." If the value in "Trans_Count" is 0 or
greater than 1, you want to make the word "transaction" plural, as in "0
transactions" or "9 transactions."
Now proceed as follows:
- Go to "Tools / Mail Merge", and edit your main document.
- On the "Mail Merge" toolbar click on the "Insert Merge
Field" button.
- Select "Trans_Count"
- Press the spacebar after the <> field.
- Type the word "transaction" in the main document.
- Click the "Insert Word Field" button, and choose "If...Then...Else...".
- Select "Trans_Count" from the "Field Name"
drop-down list and choose "Equal To" in the "Comparison"
drop-down list.
- Type "1" in the "Compare To" field and leave the "Insert
This Text" field blank, and in the "Otherwise Insert This Text"
field, type the letter "s".
- Click "OK".
Now run the mail merge.
The "If...Then...Else..." field will return nothing when the value in "Trans_Count"
is 1, so the phrase in the merge document will appear as "1 transaction." In
all other cases, the field will return the letter "s", turning "transaction"
into "transactions."
Microsoft Access
Save time with the caption property
You should define the "Caption" property for every field in a table. If
you leave this property blank then Access will use the field name to label
the field.
For example, when a wizard creates a form or report and the caption
property is blank, the result displays the field names used in the table,
such as "Employee_Num" or "Addr_1".
Field names are inappropriate as labels in data entry forms or printed
reports; so you need to relabel them to make them easier to read.
If you define the "Caption" property when you create the fields
then you won't have to change the field labels each time you create a new
form or report.
Using the same captions across all forms and reports will not only save
time, it also helps ensure data accuracy.
These, and other, tips have been garnered from many sources over the years. My grateful thanks to the originators.
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Time management
Leverage your time now!
By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
In over 2,000 Time Management seminars, which I have
conducted for more than 100,000 people from around the globe during the last
20 years, I have shown people how to get more done in less time, with less
stress; to help them have more time for the things they want to do in their
work and personal lives.
If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and
redirect it to a more productive use, you can make great increases in your
daily productivity and the quality of your life.
Here are five of the many techniques I share in our Time
Management seminars, each one of which will help you to leverage your time
and get at least one more hour out of your day for additional productive
time to do the things you really want to do.
1. Systematize
Stop reinventing the wheel and recreating the same
things over and again. Create systems to handle repetitive tasks.
For example, I have standard letters all created and saved in my computer
along with standard documents such as directions to my office and various
articles I share with others.
Be sure to have adequate supplies you can readily access. Use one
calendar to keep track of appointments.
Work with a clean desk and have most frequently used items within arm’s
reach.
Schedule maintenance for your equipment and yourself.
To be continued
~~~~~~~~~~
For free Time Management articles to help you get more done in less time,
with less stress, visit our website now at:
http://www.balancetime.com
Don Wetmore | Professional Speaker | Productivity Institute Time Management
Seminars 127 Jefferson St, Stratford, CT 06615 | (203) 386-8062 (800) 969-3773 | Fax: (203) 386-8064 Email:ctsem@msn.com
DISCLAIMER: Neither Cyberspace Virtual Services nor Terence Kierans endorse the quality
of any products obtained by you as a result of following any link or
recommendation published in this newsletter. Please perform your own due
diligence before purchasing any product.
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