Chase ATMs

I use technology every day, serving my clients, talking on my cell phone, connecting with friend on Facebook and in any number of other ways. I must admit it takes a lot to rely impress me with a new technology. I have recently found a technology that though it has been use in other ways for some time I love its new use.

Chase now scans checks inserted in the ATM making deposits available more quickly and even gives you a print out with copies of the checks you are depositing if you want that. You can also safely deposit cash because it can count cash when making a deposit. Check scanning has been used inside the branches for some time now but this new implementation helps me be more productive which I like.

The thing about technology is it is only great if it works to solve a problem or gives us something fun to do. Technology should not be about the coolest most flashy thing (especially for work) if it does not make us more efficient. This technology though simple compared to others excites me because it will help me be more efficient.

10-7 Ask the DataMan

On Tuesday 10-7 Denver DataMan celebrated joining the South Metro Chamber of Commerce. As part of this event Steve Kessler of Denver DataMan answered questions from the floor. Here are some the of the questions we addressed and the resources that were given to solve problems

· What is Firefox? Firefox is an alternative browser for accessing the Internet. Firefox is free and open source and does some things better than Internet Explorer and Denver DataMan believes Firefox to be more secure. You can download it at www.firefox.org

· What antispyware program should I use? Denver DataMan recommends AVAST! It appears to work very well and it is fast.

·Is it more important to use antispyware or antivirus? They are both critical to keeping your computer and your information safe in today’s world.

·How large can my Outlook file be? Your Outlook file can be larger than you would ever want it to be. When Outlook starts to get slow it usually is the size of the Outlook data file. You can create another data file and move older information into that email store. I would not worry about the number of contacts (including small pictures attached to them), calendar events, appointments, and tasks that you have.

· How do I know how much RAM I have? For Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista right click on My Computer or Computer and go to Properties. You can also go to your Control Panel and go the system icon. You will find at the bottom of this screen it will tell you how much RAM you have (generally measured in either MB or GB) and the speed of your processor.

· Should I be using Microsoft Project for single person management of many tasks? Microsoft Project is designed primarily for many people to use at once. It is also a very costly program. One of my partners, recommends GantProject which is an open source application that does many of the same things. You will need to look at this solution and others to find what may be best for you.

· Is it a good idea to use open Source software? Open source software is freely available and that makes it attractive. It is often of a higher quality than some commercial solutions but it also sometimes has an overall feature set that is not as rich as the commercial solutions. Like all other software it should be evaluated and tested for your needs.

Other questions were asked as well but they are to specific to show on this page. For example how do I find information about a contact while I am currently speaking on my Motorola Q. Thank you for all who attended and made it a great event. A special thanks to Wendy Woods of Nexus Financial Services, Inc. for her help in arranging and promoting this event.

Defining Yourself as an Expert Online Part 6 of 6

For those who have read all my blog posts for the last 5 weeks about using the Internet to define yourself as an expert I appreciate it. For those of you who have not you might want to look at one or all of these articles to help you get more from this wrap up.

• Introduction Article
• Using Your Website to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Your Blog to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Social Networking to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Email Marketing to Define Yourself as an Expert
• Using Local Resources to Define Yourself as an Expert

Each of these articles provides one aspect of the parts of a plan. Your Internet marketing plan cannot work effectively if it is an island and not part of an overall plan to increase brand awareness and differentiate yourself from the others you compete with.

The reason for a plan is to see the big picture of what you are doing and evaluate what success means. It is very easy to invest all your time in answering questions on LinkedIn Answers or sending out the best eNewsletter the world has ever seen but if these things are not part of a greater plan how will they help you?

I love the book Good to Great by Jim Collinsand in the book the idea of a Hedgehog Concept is revealed. The Hedgehog concept asks three questions of a company that relate to a business plan but are the most overarching questions a business can ask should relate to marketing as well.

1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at)?

2. What drives your economic engine?

3. What you are deeply passionate about?

You can read more about this on the Good to Great Website but the crux of the story is that where these circles intersect that is your business. Once you know this about your business you can apply it to your marketing.

What marketing tools show that you are the best in the world as something that matches your economic engine and you are deeply passionate about. If you don’t like the idea of email and in fact you hate getting email you will not do a good job with it and it is not the right tool for you.

If answering questions online takes all your time than it does not match your economic engine. It is nice and important to share the knowledge we have but we must do it in a way that helps makes sure we have food on our plate.

It is important not spread yourself to thin. Is it better to be in more places with junk or fewer places with high quality content? I would hope you would say that quality is more important than quantity. Consistency is also a critical factor. Can you keep up the quality writing 4 blog posts a week or is it better to write 2 and sometimes three to keep up the quality?

Remember, email marketing is part ‘how we are doing this’ as well. Try to collect where you connect, meaning that if you are connecting with people ask for their email address for your email newsletter. You should have a form on your website, links on your blog and your social networking presence. Research suggests that email is the preferred media for reaching people over 30 and that it will be for a long time.

One of the tricks to all this is give people the information they want when they want it. You should provide links between your presences just like we talked about above with sign-up opportunities. The Denver DataMan contact page lists many ways and places to Contact Denver DataMan giving everyone the tools they want.

I hope you feel that you have better tools to define yourself as an expert. It is a lot of work and you will find there are things about it that are very hard but using it can also be a lot of fun. Share, grow and discover how these new technologies can help you.