Small businesses who have attempted to create an internal Intranet know how daunting it is to set up and maintain. Google announced a new service today that makes it pretty easy. The service is called Google Apps Team Edition.
Company documents, spreadsheets, presentations and company calendar all are wrapped up in a tidy package for you. I tried it out. It took only about 5 minutes to create an account. By default the start page includes email and calendar with the ability to add/edit/share documents. Access can be limited to your company account holders or any/all can be made public.
Putting company information in a central location where it can be accessed by employees from wherever they are (work, home, travel) has the potential of enhancing the efficiency of a small business.
Take a look at my test site that I set up this morning.
You can create your own account at sites.google.com. Do you think this can be useful in your business?
February 28th, 2008 by Day Tooley
Posted in Communication, Collaboration | Enter a comment »
Please, no more boring PowerPoint presentations!
My mentor Seth Godin has been crying in the business meeting wilderness for 4 years about this. Part of what he advises:
Here are the five rules you need to remember to create amazing PowerPoint presentations:
- No more than six words on a slide. EVER. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.
- No cheesy images. Use professional stock photo images.
- No dissolves, spins or other transitions.
- Sound effects can be used a few times per presentation, but never use the sound effects that are built in to the program. Instead, rip sounds and music from CDs and leverage the Proustian effect this can have. If people start bouncing up and down to the Grateful Dead, you’ve kept them from falling asleep, and you’ve reminded them that this isn’t a typical meeting you’re running.
- Don’t hand out print-outs of your slides. They don’t work without you there.
If you hope to have effective presentations as part of a successful business, read Godin’s entire post.
February 7th, 2008 by Day Tooley
Posted in Communication, General | Enter a comment »
Where does your company get its personality, its values, its integrity? I have found that every organization seems to reflect the personality of a dominant individual in the company. Sometimes it’s the CEO, but often it is a department manager or some other person with a strong presence. Identify that person, and you will understand how to do business with that organization. Or maybe, you will decide not to waste your time and seek a more dependable partner to befriend.
One of the pleasures of doing business in the northwest is the recognition of the importance of reputation and relationships. Throughout my 30+ year business career in Portland, I continued doing business with individuals that I had known during several generations of employment and job titles. There is a lot of talk about companies, but the bottom line is that people do business with people.
In a world where marketing spin attempts to overcome sub-par products and services, it is refreshing to see how some companies take the principled approach and reject the “quick buck.” This morning’s Business Section of the Oregonian featured Rich Bader in an article by Mike Rogoway that recognized EasyStreet as an important business citizen in Portland.
Sustainable businesses are very much like sustainable friendships. They thrive on shared values for the long term.
December 4th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Sustainability, @ EasyStreet | 1 Comment »
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After a hiatus of more than 6 decades, I found myself back in kindergarten this week. It was my first full week as a ParaEducator substitute for Portland Public Schools at Meriwether Lewis Elementary, Room 1, where Mrs. Parks was called 'Teacher'. I was the other adult present. The children called me 'Day.'
It might be more accurate to say that there were 25 five-year-old teachers channeling wisdom to 2 adults.
My primary responsibility was to help a sweet but disruptive little girl stay on track and get through her day. She had a 4-syllable name which took some effort for her to write at the top of each paper. I will honor her privacy by using an alias of 'Dulcinea' (from Man of La Mancha ). Sometimes Dulcinea believed she was more of an 'Aldonza.'
Being there was both fun and profound. The classroom landscape was rich in possibility and unpredictable. I hadn't realized that a return to the basics would be so refreshing. Remember Robert Fulghum's 1990 book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten? His top 10 things were all there:
- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don't hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don't take things that aren't yours.
- Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Flush.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Pretty good reminders for those of us in business too.
November 9th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in @ EasyStreet, General | 1 Comment »
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Remember the frenzy in January, 2003 when the National Do Not Call Registry promised to block unwanted phone solicitors from calling us at home? Your phone-free dinners may come to an end soon.
- Stop Telemarketing Calls - Unless you opt-out again before December 1st, you’ll have to put up with 31 days of telesales calls while your new request goes active. Telesales companies are gearing up to make your life a living hell for those 31 days.
- Stop eMail Spam - Stopping it at the source is better than blocking it at your computer. I don’t have big hopes on this one.
- Stop Junk Mail - Trees are disappearing by the millions and showing up in our mailboxes in the form of junk mail catalogs. I carefully remove the label from soup cans and put it in the paper recycle box before smashing the can for its recycle box. A years worth of can labels don’t weigh as much as 1-day’s worth of holiday catalogs.
Today, I spent 20 minutes and $2.64 (4 postage stamps and $1 Visa charge) to eliminate part of this avalanche of unwanted marketing junk. And I did it at a new one-stop website: ProQuo.com. Here are the 16 bad actors responsible for a ton of cr*p that I hope I stopped:
Stop Request Received For Abacus (Division of Epsilon)
Stop Request Received For Acxiom
Stop Request Received For Aristotle
Stop Request Received For Choicepoint
Stop Request Received For KnowledgeBase Marketing
Stop Request Received For Publishers Clearing House
Stop Request Received For ShopWise
Stop Request Received For ValPak
Stop Request Was Confirmed For Credit Card, Mortgage & Insurance Offers
Stop Request Was Confirmed For Criss+Cross Directory
Stop Request Was Confirmed For Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
Stop Request Was Confirmed For Money Mailer
Stop Request Was Confirmed For National Do Not Call Registry
Stop Request Was Confirmed For PennySaver
Stop Request Was Confirmed For Switchboard.com
Stop Request Was Confirmed For WhitePages.com
Four of these global-warming marketing mills required me to print out a letter and mail a signed copy. The Credit Card, Mortgage & Insurance Offers service (OptOutPrescreen.com) asked for my Social Security Number (I gave it) and charged me a dollar on my credit card so I won’t get offers for more credit cards.
The National Do Not Call Registry required an email confirmation but was really quick (30 seconds total). Here’s the success confirmation screen:
Now to sit and wait for the storm to pass. You might want to give ProQuo.com a visit.
October 25th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in General, eMail | Enter a comment »
