Being Smarter

It’s been a while since we’ve raved about a piece of software, however this one could not go without a post… Our Windows Double Explorer review is below…

Windows users will know that the file manager, windows explorer, file explorer (everyone calls it something different) is never where you want it to be… and when you find it – moving and copying files and scrolling up and down the structure is somehow always harder than it should be.

There are a few paid for solutions out there – however this one is free and works a treat. It’s also incredibly ‘lite’. What I mean by that is that it’s not a huge download and doesn’t chew up system resources. It actually uses the same windows explorer application, but replicates it:

As you can see – it creates two windows for the price of one. I’ve tiled mine horizontally – and the only gripe I’ve got is that it won’t remember your tiling settings – however it’s a small price to pay. Imagine how easy it is to now drag files between windows… Life is simple again.

Download Windows double explorer here.

We’re delighted to welcome another guest blogger to the Being Smarter stable. Maria Sadler runs The Small Marketing Company and has set herself up (quite uniquely) as a Social Media manager for people who know they should… but don’t have the time.

Maria’s first thoughts for Being Smarter are below…

You don’t need to throw large sums of money at advertising and PR to get started you just need to be a bit savvy. So here are some tips to get you started.

1) Think about your targets first

This may sound obvious but if you start to really hone in on who your ideal customer is, you can start to identify where they ‘hang out’. For example if your business benefits mothers with school age children you could target PTAs and school newsletters. If your business or service would be of interest to local businesses, check out the local Chamber of Commerce and local networking groups.

Now you know who your targets are and where you might find them, you need to consider how to attract their attention. If you are targeting a busy professional who will no doubt receive countless emails per day you need to grab their attention fast by being brief, different and a little intriguing.

These are probably the ideal people to send an eye catching but short email – Targets to Prospects software is perfect for this – or consider approaching them via Twitter, where you get 140 characters to grab attention.

2) Now think about your message

Once you understand your customer, you can then start to craft your message to make sure you get their attention. Work out what problems and issues they face and then think how your product or service could help resolve them. You may be desperate to tell them about a great new feature of your product but guess what, your potential customer won’t care.

Try the ‘so what’ test. So what benefit does that feature give the customer, focus on the feature that gives the greatest benefits, and think about the problems your customer has that you can alleviate.

3) Differentiate yourself from the competition

Whilst price is always a factor, at the moment is isn’t always the decider. So you need to determine what is different/better about your service above the competition. Here is one of the places that being ‘visible’ and something of an authority on a subject can be of great advantage, and this is where an online presence comes in.

Think about when you are looking for a product or service – what is the first thing you do? If you are like most people, you will go to Google and do a search for the type of product or service you need. If your name or company name keeps appearing on websites, blogs, articles, Twitter and other social media, discussing that very thing – the potential customer will begin to believe in your credibility.

4) Get your customers to blow your trumpet

Once you start to sell your product or service, ask your customers if they could give you feedback – you can then start to use this on your marketing materials as proof that you deliver. This will also become a very useful source of information on how you can improve your product in the future and what new products you could add to expand your offering. Finally it shows your customers that you care about what they think, and want to provide the best customer service.

Maria Sadler runs The Small Marketing Company which specialises in online marketing using Social Media. Follow her at www.twitter.com/mfsadler

Simple and quick for you – a round up of the ways you could help, in a click or a tap or two:

1. Give $10 to the Red Cross to help the disaster in Haiti by texting “HAITI” to 90999 (USA only)
2. Donate via Save the Children here (US)
3. Donate via Save the Children here (UK)
4. Donate via World Vision here
5. iPhone users, purchase Twittelator Pro from the app store (aanouncement here)
6. Oxfam’s appeal is here
7. Text “Yele” to 501501 for a $5 donation to Yéle Haiti, a grassroots organization started by singer and Haiti native Wyclef Jean (US only)
8. Google’s disaster relief suggestions are here
9. Raise funds while you surf and shop using Everyclick (innovative)
10. Why not help a charity who’s been supporting Haiti Hospitals for years…

Add your ways to donate below… I can’t find a UK SMS number for instance…

So it’s now 14th Jan. Many people have already broken all of the promises they made to themselves on the cold light of day of January 1st (which seems like a year ago already…) If you haven’t already broken yours, but are starting to teeter on the brink, here’s our favourite top 5 ways to keep New Year’s resolutions we’ve found in the ether from around the world… and we’ve looked at quite a few.

The links take you to the full article – and the best bit is summarised below…

Time Magazine

One tactic he recommends for resisting those cravings is called “urge-surfing.” It involves being mindful of the fact that craving is like a wave — it rises to a peak, then falls. This happens whether you yield to the urge or not, though most people erroneously think their craving will escalate endlessly unless they give in.

The Times of India

People who break a resolution and then blame themselves with, “This proves I have no willpower,” are likely to give up. A more productive inner dialogue would say something like, “I had one cigarette but I’ve got to make sure I tell my friends that I’m quitting so this doesn’t happen again,” Marlatt said. “Try to be a little bit more accepting of the fact that you may make a mistake.”

The Happiness Project

Consider making only pleasant resolutions. We can make our lives happier in many ways. If you’ve been trying the boot-camp approach with no success, try resolving to “Go to more movies,” “Entertain more often,” or whatever resolutions you’d find fun to keep. Often, having more fun in our lives makes it easier to do tough things. Seeing more movies might make it easier to keep going to the gym.

Newsweek

…keep your resolutions affirmative. You’ll be hobbling yourself if you say, “Don’t eat chocolate”. All you’re doing is making sure not only that you think about chocolate constantly (very true) but that you break down altogether and eat seven bars for dinner. Instead, say to yourself, “I vow to eat a salad every day”

Sydney Morning Herald

Finally, if you want to improve the odds of success, consider making a plan. For example, if your goal is to put $1,000 in the bank, how are you going to do it? Are you going to deposit $50 a week from your pay? $100 per month? Are you going to stop spending $5 per day on coffee and put the money in a jar instead? Actually think about how you plan to make your resolution happen. Then track your progress against the plan as you go along.

If you’ve a tip (which is working for you… why not share it below)…

Related articles

• How To Make Yourself Happier… (jer979.blogspot.com)
• You can be happier by reading this post (penelopetrunk.com)
• The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin (boingboing.net)

So – on Thursday this week, Vodafone finally launch their iPhone here in the UK… I placed my order two weeks ago, and yes, I admit it, I probably won’t sleep on Wednesday night.

I have to say however, despite being a (what is the opposite of a technophobe?) I’m not quite sure where to start when it comes to iPhone apps and so, I thought I’d ask for your help and advice?

I need recommendations on the best apps for Twitter, WordPress, taking photos, train timetables, email (is there a choice?) and anything else you think would be useful for me. OK I admit it – I need something to do on a train too once I’ve found out when it’s leaving – so what’s the lowdown on the latest games etc…

PLEASE add a comment or two and help me out (and other iphone virgins too, so that Thursday goes smoothly… and it will arrive when they say it will – won’t it? Won’t it?

Thank you!

I’ve been toying with this phrase for a while now and Chris Brogan provided the inspiration behind this post, after I saw the video below on his site today.

Some questions for you…

• When was the last time you leapt out of bed in the morning?
• When was the last time you had a night out with your team or your clients?
• When was the last time you lol-ed in the office (laughed out loud )
• When were you last inspired during a day at work?
• When did you last learn something new?

If the answer to all of those questions is something along the lines of “I can’t remember”, then I’d suggest this Monday morning you take a good look at the situation you’re in. You could be in the same situation in 5 years time or 10 years time, and you won’t thank yourself.

Business can be fun. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, then of course it won’t be. If it’s not fun, then you won’t be doing your best work. If you’re not doing your best work, then… quite frankly, what’s the point? Sure you’ve got bills to pay and sure, not every day can be a bowl of cherries, but if your trend graph is point downwards, take action today…

Some inspiration for you below… take 5 minutes out and have fun.

Related articles

• Architectural Technologist – Taking time out (konstrukshon.com)
• Create a Video for Business or Fun at animoto.com (techtalkformoms.com)
• Fun can change behavior (swaroopch.com)

This is a really short post to remind Being Smarter viewers who work for the biggest 5,000 companies in the UK that in April, your world is going to change.

No longer can companies turn a blind eye to leaving the lights on, to not regulating heating properly or not EDUCATING their employees as to the importance of energy efficiencies.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will kick in from April, where those 5,000 companies will be ranked according to the change they make in their businesses over the coming months and years. Part of that change process involves educating employees.

Do you know know how you will educate yours? How can you train 00′s or 000′s of employees across dispersed geographies?

We have a solution. Our training venture, The 8.45 Club has teamed up with a leading futuroligist, Dr Graeme Codrington to produce a 12 module video course which can be delivered to desktops over a few weeks without impacting on employee productivity or incurring huge travel and off the road expenses.

You can buy this CRC energy efficiency scheme training course right here, right now… OR if you would like to have a tailored version delivered to your employees, then talk to us. We’re a friendly bunch and know what we’re doing.

Don’t leave it. It has to be tackled.

Yesterday was quite a day, and so I’ve had to give it a name. I learnt three big lessons and wanted to share them – so here goes with my story…

White Wednesday

12.01am Finished a Skype call with the excellent Guru Bob from the Thirty Day Challenge – he was being his ever helpful self – thanks Rob.

12.05am My wife and I were up late – watching the snow settle.

12.06am After a couple of weeks of indecision, because I was waiting for multiple things to be confirmed, she persuaded me that a) I can’t please all the people all the time and b) you can’t wait for everything to come into alignment before making  a decision. You can however make one decision and that will help everything else align.

12.12am Thud. Weight of snow (yes it was seriously sticky snow) brings down the phone line and the broadband with it. Obviously the out-of-use line was still going strong…

12.15am On hold to BT.

12.40am Fault reported.

12.50am Mobile broadband clearly couldn’t get through the snow on the local base station.

1.00am Went to bed without booking the flight to Australia my wife had persuaded me to book 55 mins ago.

7.00am Awoke with a start. Schools and nursery closed. Phoneline curled around cars in the drive. Ripped up plans for the day.

10.00am Went to my neighbours to fix their wireless, and then settle down there for the day. Booked the (last seat at the right price on the) flight, did the essentials.

12.05pm Remembered lesson #2 from this post and got thoroughly soaked playing in the snow with the children.

1.00pm More neighbours joined. Lunch was brought to us… working from home was attempted by a few.

2.00pm Did some more essentials

5.00pm Opened a bottle of red. Work fizzled out for all the neighbours. The 8 children who had been playing together all day continued (great to watch).

6.00pm Dad’s went down the pub. Yes on a school night. Except surely school would be shut tomorrow wouldn’t it?

7.00pm Dad’s experienced what the aftermath of armageddon would feel like, as we walked through the snow to a shining light that was the curry house like the three musketeers. Saw about 1 car.

8.00pm Enjoyed a wonderful meal.

10.00pm Thought it was time to go home, carried the kids through the snow and put them to bed.

So, what has this got to do with Being Smarter? What did I learn?

1. Accept when you have a problem, accept when it’s not fixable and do something about it. Don’t spend hours complaining about it.
2. Make decisions which are informed. Accept that every ‘i’ is never going to be dotted. Don’t not make a decision (you’ll pay an extra £500 on your flight )
3. Make time for your family and friends. Business is NOT everything. Some things really can wait. Some things (like trudging through the snow for a curry in the dark and throwing snowballs at your son) can’t.

What business lessons have you learnt recently from a memorable day?