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I'm Not Very Good With Computers

How many times have you heard people say “Oh - I’m not very good with computers!” – particularly people in business?

This is pretty amazing considering computers have been part of our working lives  since the early 80’s – That’s a good 30 years or so!

What about “I get so many emails in my inbox I can’t find anything” (more often that not an invoice!)

So we thought there was a more than pressing need to get down and dirty with the basics of computers as used every day in a typical small business.

We’ve created some really simple steps you can follow to show you just how easy some of the supposedly ‘hard stuff’ actually is.

By mastering even the basics you’ll avoid ‘killing’ your business or your reputation as a professional.

Ok we know some of this is pretty easy - for some people - but if you are still a little nervous of computers, there might be some god info for you here.

The Basics:

The Internet Browser – Typing In A Website Address
You already know how to use one because you’re reading this… although you may have heard it called by various names; Internet Explorer (or IE), Firefox, Mozilla, Chrome (from Google), Safari etc are the most popular.
While they all pretty well do the same job, my personal preference is for Google Chrome - http://www.google.com/chrome/
 
Whenever somebody gives you a website address to go to – like www.petsonhold.com.au DON'T type it into Google – there is absolutely no need and it increases the chances of you getting the WRONG website!

Just go to the TOP part of your browser (called the URL bar) where you now see http://www.petbizfocus.com.au/articles/89-im-not-very-good-with-computers  then simply highlight all the text there and start typing the name of the website you want (so that it overwrites whats there already) – and you can forget about http:// and also www. – both time wasters for the average user and confusing for the less than experienced as almost all sites work without these.

This tip alone will save you a lot of time and frustration wondering what link to click etc.. in fact once you have been to a site at least once or twice, if you didn't bookmark it (to come back to later) the 'auto-fill' feature on most browsers will start typing it in for you - keep an eye on the URL bar when entering your next web address and you'll see what I mean.
 

How To Stop ‘Losing’ Emails

Ok – for a start you can’t just ‘lose’ emails unless you delete them and THEN empty the trash (rubbish).

Here’s my simple steps for managing emails on a daily basis. The assumption here is that you have a WORK computer and a PERSONAL/HOME computer.
They may well be connected to the same ISP (service provider) but you ideally should use them as they are named.

1 – Make it a rule (for you and staff) to never subscribe to non-work related services on your work computer. This only muddies the water and could compromise that computer if a malicious email was accidently opened.. If you have already subscribed to something consider re-subscribing using a personal email address (used only at home or on your personal PC/laptop) or unsubscribing from as many as you can. This will free up the number of emails your receive each day.

2 -  Delete every email that you do NOT want again immediately.
I receive regular (subscriber) emails from www.alibaba.com and several other sites which keeps me updated on new technologies/services that are available. If I don’t see anything interesting I immediately remove it. I know where to go on their website anyway and I know another one will arrive in a day or so! – By the way… if you DO want to keep certain emails consider moving them to a specially named folder or learn how to control where they go once they arrive – more on that soon.

3 – Use the SEARCH feature of your email program to find ‘lost emails’. It happens to all of us – we get busy, a lot of stuff arrives then a week or two later we ‘can’t find anything!!’ – well believe me it will still be there. The search feature may be slightly different in different email programs so just use you HELP feature (usually the key F1) to learn more.

4 – Check emails twice a day. Some people check them once a week!! (WRONG... no wonder you have so many emails to go through!)  
Now I know we all get busy and some people tell me they check their email every few days. If you’re in business that is way too long between checks.
Mail comes in at any time of the day or night. If you need to boot up in the morning, just check your mail then after opening your email program and clicking SEND/RECEIVE. If no mail leave it until midday or just before you go home.

5 – Answer every email that requires a response with 24 hours – 48 at the most.
There is nothing worse than someone asking a very simple question that can easily be answered with a “thanks, we’ll get back to you next week” or “we love the idea but have decided not to go ahead at this time”. It’s also very unprofessional.

6 – Deal with invoices or attachments as soon as possible.
When you receive an emailed invoice – not at all uncommon these days – simply open it (or right click) and save it to a special folder – like Documents or To Be Paid.
That way you won’t ‘lose’ the invoice or important attachment that you want to read/watch/listen to later!

7 – Get a proper business email address. The one thing that immediately say’s ‘non-professional’ is a business email address through Gmail, Yahoo, MSN etc. You don’t need an actual website to register a domain name such as www.mypetbusiness.com.au and your stationary, business cards and emails will look so much better with something like ‘Email; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
By the way if you don’t have even a one page website why not? – find out why you should and how you can actually have one for less than a few hundred dollars including domain name and pages.

And while # 7 above won’t necessary help you keep track of your emails, it was important to remind you that good communications starts with the basics.

I hope some of the tips above will help – remember… there is no such thing as a LOST email... just use your email' search feature and you'll find it!

Photo Credit: Dreamstime.com

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