As a computer consultant, I very often find myself privy to the frustrations and concerns of the many entrepreneurs and business owners in our community. Most of my clients are self-employed, and like me, few of them have any kind of formal training in business. In other words, they are just winging it. The results vary widely – some seem to have a natural gift for business, and do very well right out of the gate; others seem to be constantly putting out fires, juggling phone calls, expenses, customers, staff, payroll, appointments etc, without any clue how to prioritize. These people have let their businesses take control of their lives, and they merely react to the day’s events instead of doing what is important – growing their businesses.
One thing that stands out with most businesses is that their owners have little idea how to effectively utilize the technologies that they have invested in. I have some personal experience with this dilemma. My own store, which closed in 2003, was typical of a business which had taken control of its owner. Our phone traffic was a big problem; our phones rang so often and with such persistence, I found it very difficult to get anything useful done because the phones were constantly interrupting me. My ill-found solution was to purchase a very expensive, and as it turned out very cumbersome, phone system. It was a case of “I have a big problem, and I will spend whatever it takes to solve it”. Unfortunately, I was shooting from the hip, I did virtually no research, and I invested in the wrong solution. The vendor was inexperienced, and I was sold a system that was utterly unsuitable for my business. Additionally, the system never worked as expected, due to the inexperience of the installer. The result was that my customers began abandoning ship and taking their business to the competition, simply because their calls got lost and I never knew that they had been trying to contact us. I know now that that phone system cost me many times more than its very substantial cost.
Since closing my store, I made a decision to re-invent my business from the ground up, eliminate unnecessary expenses and distractions, take control of my finances, and focus on my core abilities. As a result, I have become more skilled at what I do, I have more time, I make more money, and I have virtually eliminated the stress that I believe was slowly killing me. I am happier, healthier, and more abundant than ever before.
Technology is a great interest of mine, and I utilize it to my advantage every day; however I have come to understand that many technologies are only vaguely understood by those who invest in them, and in many cases the technologies are hurting business-owners more than it is helping them.
My parents ran a Dairy Queen in the sixties and seventies, and there were no computers in those days. My mother kept all the records in the form of manual journals and ledgers, they had no email, no faxes, no book-keeping software, no voicemail, no cell phones, and they yet did just fine without all the technology available to us today. It’s one of those things that makes you go, “Hmmm”.
Next week we’ll continue with the topic of technology as a tool of business; meantime, if you have a story about how technology has helped you, or hindered you, please drop me a line.
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