Working From The Basement

Well I haven’t written a Tech column in awhile, so this morning while going through some stories I noticed that AT&T wants to limit your usage of its data network.  The problem is that if you have an Iphone you already are paying a premium for data service so what gives.  It seems that 3% of the Smartphone users are using a good percentage of the bandwidth, which seems a little odd to me.  Whatever the reason is their 3g network can be slow at times just retrieving Email, Twitter and Facebook which should all use very low bandwidth.  Streaming video barely ever works reliably unless you are using it on a standard wireless (WiFi) connection. My point is that I always try and find a standard WiFi connection which means I am not using their network.  So am I getting my money’s worth? Well I think I am the Iphone is pretty much more a computer than a phone and AT&T is subsidizing it, and I don’t think most business people are abusing their network.

Another Internet speed issue I ran into lately was when one of my clients upgraded to Comcast business broadband which has speed upward of 30Mb. When I went to speedtest.net the fastest speed I could achieve was 10Mb so after calling Comcast I determined that it was an older Sonicwall Firewall causing the problem.  So if you are paying for extra speed I would recommend that you test it at speedtest.net first, and then call your Internet provider if you’re not getting the bandwidth promised.  If they say its fine you may want to see if you have any older equipment in your network that could be causing the problem.

If you are having issues make sure it is the Internet provider’s equipment or problem before calling them out otherwise you could be charged.  This being said if you think you have eliminated all the causes on your end demand that they come out and take a look.  AT&T is the worst for not sending someone out or passing the blame back to you so if you have an IT resource make sure that person is there during any appointments.  Comcast on the other hand seems to be very responsive and will come out as soon as you ask them too.

Being a small business means that you need to be in constant contact with your clients and we usually invest in technology to be able to do this more effectively.  So make sure you are getting your money’s worth and check up on your cell phone plans, and Internet providers occasionally.

AT&T considers incentives to curb heavy data usage article

WFTB – Michael Lawson

When Diana and I started this blog it was pretty much for shits and giggles, well almost.  After attending Podcamp in Boston this year we wanted to try publishing content centered on small and micro-businesses.  Initially promoting the site just using the Social Media skills we had acquired in the past year also seemed like a good idea.  Since I already had this domain name registered it was just a matter of installing WordPress on one of my servers and setting up email.   If you ask me I don’t even remember registering this domain name, but the name fit and we where off to the races.

Our goal was to create a collaborative site; the reason for this is that both of us had gone very spotty on our independent blogs.  Writing one or two posts a week isn’t as hard as writing the three or four a week which is what I believe is the minimum you need for an independent blog site.  Still with our busy schedules it is still fairly difficult to maintain the pace, but we did it.  This will be our twentieth post in a month’s time which is right in line with what we wanted.

A funny thing happened though – I don’t think Diana and I have written very many articles from our original lists.  This is because we picked a really broad subject area to write about based on our everyday experiences and interactions from which we get fresh ideas. A lot of these ideas come from the comments left by our readers; these outnumber the articles 3 to 1, when you consider all the Social Media postings. The feedback we get when we attend networking events has also helped drive and motivate us like we never imagined.  So what started as a cathartic release on the joys and frustrations of the small business owner has became something bigger.

I included a chart at the beginning of the article to depict our traffic patterns using WordPress statistics which show some predicable results.  When we tweet and link the articles on Facebook, traffic is double or triple what it is if we don’t do anything.  Our rise in Google rankings is also helped by our frequent updates and posts linking us to other sites.  So anyone thinking of a way to drive traffic to their blog or website needs to post frequently and share the information using Social Media techniques.  Diana’s articles also usually rank higher than mine when we measure direct links back to the posts. This may be because I tend to promote Diana’s posts more than mine or she is just more popular, either way it is an interesting phenomenon.

We intend to expand the blog over the next few months to include podcasts and video to keep it fresh and interesting.  We really appreciate everyone’s feedback and comments both good and bad, and if you want to contribute please let us know.  We are particularly interested in expanding WFTB beyond Connecticut so if anyone is interested in covering events in different States please contact us.  Thanks again everyone for a great first month and for reading what Diana and I quietly refer to as the Seinfeld of blogs (it’s about nothing and everything, but it’s always entertaining).

WFTB – Michael Lawson, Diana Bartolotta

It gets lonely in the basement and once and awhile you need to get out in the light.  Meeting on a regular basis with other basement dwellers can help keep you motivated and focused.  One of these groups meets the first Thursday of every month at Ken’s in Glastonbury, CT.  It is important when forming one of these informal peer groups that a specific schedule is planned.  Groups that don’t do this are bound to fail, some people will always be absent, but by setting a specific day most of the members will attend.  Small groups like this can be either a great addition or replacement for the more stringent BNI groups that have strict attendance guidelines.  BNI groups can be particularly rough on solo entrepreneurs, since we are the only ones available to service our clients.

While the Geek Meet caters to the technology crowd it is actually attended by people in other businesses and has grown from 4 to about 8 regulars.  This time we didn’t get our regular table ahead of time so we had to spread out and make the rounds.  Some of the attendee’s are as follows:

Michael Lawson – (Me) Advanced Technology Consultant and head Geek
Ted Jennings – Financial Software
Harry Kiernan – Computer Consultant, Artist, Organ Donor, and Chief Schmoozer
Rick Williams – Web based Training and Compliance Software
Rachel Pianka – Website Design
Diana Bartolotta – (Diana) Awesome Attorney and certified geek
Greg Flint – Network Design and Consultant
Steven Summit – Desktop Support
Charlie Schein – New Independent Insurance Agent, formerly in Insurance Software sales
Tim Tracey – Insurance Software and founder of YouGottaCall.com referral network
Joe Courchaine – Former business owner

What most of these people have in common other than some technology interests is that we all are either independent, virtual or very small businesses.  Some of the conversations included Diana and I discussing our new collaborative website and getting the participants of Geek Meet to contribute articles.  Tim explained his website and how it can help grow your business, along with reminiscing with Charlie and myself about Insurance software.  Since I have the only Iphone I was being picked on for looking at it every 5 minutes, then showed everyone the new app I purchased called TFLN.  Harry is donating part of his liver, after donating one of his kidneys a few years ago, so I guess we will be seeing less of him (just joking). Lastly Charlie and I discussed some personal Insurance that I was interested in.  I am sure Diana will post a comment with what was discussed at her table once she reads this.

While groups like this may not always directly lead to business opportunities they can help keep you sane and provide a much needed break.  Larger informal groups such as the Tweetups also allow for even more exposure for your business and are good for network building.  Currently Suzi Craig runs the one in Connecticut called the CT Tweet Crawl and I highly recommend it.

On another note we all have a name for our spaces at home and I picked the name of this article based on Rachel’s.  She credited me with giving it that name, so whether you work from the basement, dining room, living room or  “fortress of solitude” always remember to change out of the PJ’s, brush your teeth and put on your super hero cape.

WFTB – Michael Lawson