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Introductory

Don't worry too much if you lack advanced technical computer skills. A lot of that can be remedied by just putting in a little bit of time each week in doing some self-study.

Don't worry too much if you lack advanced technical computer skills. A lot of that can be remedied by just putting in a little bit of time each week in doing some self-study. In this guide, you'll learn which computer skills are necessary to serve your sweet spot small business clients.

If It Works, Break It

You can do something as simple as getting a not-for-resale (NFR) copy of a product that you want to sell, install, and support and then working with the product in your lab. When you or one of your lead technicians or engineers has a spare half-hour to an hour, you can walk through the basic installations. Then, deliberately break the lab installations. Next, reinstall the software until you get more comfortable with the package.

Most of these products that you'll be installing for small businesses are very mature technologies. They're very wizard-driven, and at least for plain-vanilla configurations, they don't require tremendous levels of computer skills.

Installations Are Easier Now

Years ago, it was much more difficult to install the Novell small business suite or IBM equivalent, or the original 1997 Microsoft Small Business Server. But all of these companies, especially Microsoft, put a lot of money into making it easier for people who don't have advanced IT backgrounds and networking computer skills to install their small business server application suites.

In terms of your technical computer skills to service sweet spot clients, your staff needs to:

1. Have good strong PC hardware skills
2. Be able to handle a peer-to-peer setup
Computers and Technology
3. Understand what TCP/IP is all about
4. Know what POP3 and SMTP are
5. Know how to work with basic SOHO routers

If your staff possesses the above skills, you're definitely at a good starting point to get started with at least the smaller sweet spot small businesses (10-20 PCs).

Share the knowledge among your employees

Make sure your staff members cross-train each other and you. This way, no one's ever “too knowledgeable” to the point where they can blackmail you, extract huge raises or huge bonuses, or walk away with your client base. You have to make sure your company's internal know-how or intellectual capital can't just get up and walk out the door to your biggest competitor.

The Bottom Line about Computer Skills

In this article you've learned about which technical computer skills are necessary to service your sweet spot clients.

Chapter 1: Computer Backup

It's happened to most of us; we've lost a document or a folder because there was no computer backup.

Whether you lost a few lines you were typing because of power failure or your entire system crashed, computer backup is the only way to prevent such mishaps from destroying your files.

Computer backup can be basic or sophisticated, costly or simply the price of your average floppy disk. Depending on your needs and the importance of your files, you will need a computer backup system that reflects your budget and your lifestyle.

Many computer users prefer to keep it simple and back up their data with a floppy disk or by copying and pasting documents. This is the most basic form of computer backup, but it is not satisfactory for everyone. Floppy disks often wear out, and you can have files stored on floppy disks for years that might be not perform if they are stored on old disks.

On the other hand, if you use your files quite frequently, your floppy disk could wear out, which creates another problem for your floppy disk storage. If you simply store your document elsewhere on your computer, it might not survive a complete computer crash, although minor annoyances should not interfere with your files.
Because of problems with viruses, computer crashes are becoming a more frequent occurrence for many PC users, and therefore, computer backup software is the best option for many consumers.

There are many files that are worth the time and investment involved in obtaining good computer backup software.

Examples of such files are:

· Bank records
· Personal documents
· Digital photos
· Address books
· Software downloads
· Special projects

The best computer backup software not only creates a copy of your documents automatically, but it uses encryption algorithms to protect your information from unauthorized access and spyware. Your filename will also be encrypted to protect against intrusions. Most computer backup software is quite user friendly, and new files can be added instantly at the click of a mouse.

In addition to many great features, most computer backup software will enable you to:

· Create new backup programs
· Select files and folders for backup
· Define compression settings
· Choose target of backup
· Store backup info in various locations

The best computer backup programs are not rigid, but allow the user the flexibility to choose where and how their files will be stored. You can choose to have everything copied automatically, or specify which files you wish to have a backup.

If you have a large volume of material to store, you can select compression settings, which will minimize the size of your documents and will enable you to store more information. You can also choose where you want your backup information to be stored, and you can place the data in various locations automatically, for instance, in your hard drive, USB stick, Network folder, CD, DVD and Remote FTP Server. You can also create a simultaneous backup communication between a remote FTP server and local storage devices.

Your computer backup software should provide easy user interface, the option to store your data in multiple versions and the capability to restore your files to their original folders.

Most programs have a very easy to use help menu, and many have service lines to help customers who wish to communicate with an assistant. You can also obtain special features for your computer backup software, such as a disaster recovery CD or DVD, which will get your computer back up and running after a crash. You can have peer to peer backups for extra protection and virus scanning capabilities that will safeguard your valuable files against tampering.

Computer backup software varies in prices, and it is worthwhile to invest in the best program you can afford, especially if your business depends on valuable files. Don't let an unexpected computer crash destroy your valuable data, but invest in computer backup software today.

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Introduction

Deciding to set goals is one of the most important things you can do to improve your life. However, nearly 98% of people take the time to set clear goals for themselves in their life. It's essential for you to think about where you want to be, whether it's in one month, one year, or one decade from today. Taking the time to identify where you want to be is the best way to make sure you are going in the right direction and help you avoid pursuing goals that don't excite you.
Those who don't set goals for their life may not believe that they have any control over their lives, leading them to wander through life heavily influenced by the people and circumstance that surround them. They give their power over to the environment rather than using it to create the experiences they genuinely desire. This results in them achieving less than if they would have taken the time to set specific goals and plan their lives.

However, it is important to remember that merely having goals isn't enough. Something that can be just as bad as not having any goals in life have unclear goals that are not aligned with what you want out of your life. Unfortunately, many of the people who take the time to set goals, spend years in single-minded pursuit of a single goal, only to achieve it with the sudden realization that it isn’t want they genuinely wanted.

Setting specific goals is one of the best decisions you can make in your life. Learning to set the right goals will allow you to tap into your intrinsic motivation, live autonomy, mastery, or purpose, and put you on the right path for uncovering your hidden potential. This book will help you define your goals, as well as the kind of life you want to create. It will help you set goals that will inspire you and make you want to leap out of bed every morning. You might be intimidated about setting goals at first, but you’ll discover that the journey is more than worth it in the long run.

Chapter 1 – Why It’s Important to Set Goals

Setting goals gives direction to your subconscious mind, helping you to achieve your goals. They give you a path in life. However, setting vague goals like “I want to make more money,” or “I want to live a happy life,” won’t end up leading you to a fulfilling life. Your subconscious is a powerful machine, and gaining an understanding of how it works is a big part of setting goals that are successful. Maxwell Maltz, the author of Psycho-Cybernetics, explains how setting goals gives your subconscious mind direction.

"Your automatic creative mechanism is teleological. That is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve, you can depend upon its automatic guidance system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought. “You” supply the goal by thinking in terms of end results. Your automatic mechanism then supplies the means,”

Your subconscious mind behaves similarly to GPS; it is continuously scanning the environment around you for the information relevant to the details you've given it. This is why setting goals that are clear will provide you with a higher chance of accomplishing them. A strong signal is sent to your subconscious mind, allowing it to unleash its power of focusing on looking for opportunities to achieve the goal.

Setting Goals Empowers You

When you begin setting your own goals, in all significant areas of your life, rather than letting someone else set them for you, you stop giving your power away. When you set goals for your relationships, finances, career, health, and personal life, you begin to take your control back and become more empowered. You begin to make the conscious choice to become the creator of your own life and start to take responsibility for every single aspect of your life.

Taking the time to figure out your goals for your future will make a significant impact in your life. What would you do differently today if you knew how much you wanted to make in five years, where you wanted to be in twenty-five years, or how long you wanted to live?

Setting Goals Improves Your Self-Esteem

When you set clear goals, you can begin to improve your self-esteem. Having clear goals and knowing what you need to do to accomplish those goals not only builds your self-esteem but reinforces it as well. Part of our self-esteem, according to Nathaniel Branden, author of ‘The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem,’ comes from a disposition to experience ourselves as competent to cope with life’s challenges. This means that with every goal that you accomplish, you will feel better equipped to deal with other goals and problems in life.

One of the best predictors of personal happiness is directly related to high self-esteem. Consistently accomplishing the goals you set for yourself is one of the most efficient ways to build your self-esteem.