Grant ZoBell

I have been around long enough to know that Windows 11 is not something you need to concern yourself with, despite what you may or may not be seeing in the news. It may be released this fall, but you, you will bide your time. Your Windows 10 computer will work fine, and you will not be more productive upgrading to Windows 11.

If history repeats, as it has so far with Microsoft, Windows 11 will be a dud, and Windows 12 will be the OS that you want. If you really want Windows 11, bide your time until your current laptop is 5 years old, then get a new one with Windows 11.

I started to write this post and it got into blog length, not suitable for a LinkedIn post. Coming soon however, a blog about Pluto Micro moving to Microsoft 365 and Teams for our business telephone service.

We are looking forward to dumping the undisclosed service that we have been on for the last two years. It did not live up to the sales hype and has made next to zero improvements in 24 months.

The next milestone will be offering migration services to micro businesses.

There is no time like the present to change something for the better. Yeah, you may have been procrastinating it, and a little more procrastination isn’t going to make a big difference. However, what will make a difference is a forward movement, especially if that forward movement is the catalyst for never going back and never looking back.

Olympians come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and experience.

You could be a 15-year rookie or 40-year-old serial competitor.

You could have a bunch of medals or none or you might win your first one after many tries this time out.

You might just qualify for the experience or your country’s hopes could be riding on your victory.

Small businesses are the same. Startups, long-time family businesses, widely successful, or slogging it out.

Moving your hand from your keyboard to your mouse is inefficient computing. Keystrokes, such as Ctrl-C to copy and Ctrl-V to paste, save you time and repetitive strain from mousing.

One of my favorite key strokes that few people use is Alt-Tab. When you click Alt-Tab once it takes you back to the window you were using last. So much faster than a mouse click. If you hold Alt and then press tab once it will show all your recent windows. You can keep holding Alt and tab, tab, tab your way to the window you want.

Try it!

What is your favorite keystroke.

I’ve been burned recently, by trusting somebody to do what they say they would do after I gave them money to do so. I’ve been burned in the past, and I’ll probably be burned in the future.

Worse is that in the current situation, the person has completely quit communicating. Sigh.

For $20 a month you can use QuickBooks Online to file your payroll. Or you could calculate your payroll tables manually twice a month, or every two weeks if you hate your accountant, and then be responsible to write cheques and remit to the government.

Don’t do that. That is not worth $20 a month, even if you only have one employee.

Sometimes I’m lazy and I just do it myself. Some lazy people give it to somebody else to do, when I’m lazy I do it myself.

There is a time and a place to coach, but sometimes it makes sense to just do it yourself.

It makes sense to do it yourself when it is a one-and-done. We’ll never have to deliver these flyers again, so I’m just going to do it myself because coaching somebody else through it will take more energy.

I know, lazy. Selfish. Sorry.

Saving money by automatic withdrawal is an automated habit that can make you rich. Setting up automatic payments for bills can ensure you never have a bad credit score.

Another good automation habit is Pluto Protect from Pluto Micro. We make sure your computer has the latest updates and state-of-the-art security.

According to Stats Canada, a small business is 1 to 99 employees. That is not small, but leave it to Ottawa to make something up. The Small Business Administration of the United States is even worse, calling a small business up to 500 employees.

I think somebody didn’t get to watch Sesame St growing up as a kid. “One of these things is not like the other.” 1 and 100 are vastly different.

If your business provides products and services to other businesses, a solution for 25 employees is not going to be palatable for a business with 5 employees.

Pluto Micro Business offers technology support for organizations of 1 to 10. #microisthenewsmall

Sometimes I need tech support, even though I am typically the person people call for tech support. I needed tech support today. Usually, I get through technical challenges on my own, but not today. I feel like I might have saved myself an hour of time if I’d called tech support earlier. Live and learn folks, live and learn.

Measurement gives us knowledge of things past, things are they are, and can help us predict the future. What we don’t know, we cannot change; measurement helps us know if something is off course or on course.

I am a skeptic when it comes to “I’ll be better when …”. When I get those new running shoes, when I get that new phone, when I get that new car, when I move, etc. I think I can do better with what I have.

However, we are getting a new application to run our I.T. support company and it is better than the one we use. It is exciting.

When I hear somebody use the phrase “race to the bottom”, it is usually with derision. Do you know who is at the bottom? Startups, solopreneurs, micro-businesses. I live here. Do you know why?

At “the bottom” is where the hardest working business people I know live and breathe entrepreneurship every day. The bottom is blood, sweat, and tears. The bottom is authentic.

So the next time “race to the bottom” crosses your ears or lips, remember that’s MY house.

If you are on LinkedIn, congratulations, you’re doing it. You are engaged.

The formula is pretty obscure, but this is what I learned today:

4 posts a week, three informative and helpful to your community, and one shameless plug for the services you offer.

I need to get better at shameless.

Today I was in a Zoom with Wayne Gretzky. He was mostly answering questions about his life as a keynote for an I.T. industry event I was invited to.

The nickname “the Great one” was given by a local newspaper when he was ten, however, he continues to live up to the name.

I noticed three things:

1) He taught respect directly by his words

2) He taught humility indirectly

3) Everyone that asked questions and listening admired him and wanted to be like him

Monday is like Jan 2, except you get one 52 times a year. Yes, we might have some lingering consequences from the weekend, but in general, we can forget last week and start fresh. Who is with me?

Getting a new computer is exciting. Your current computer is slow and heavy and ugly, and your new computer will undoubtedly be faster, lighter, and pretty.

However, a new computer is like a new house, in that you’ll have to move in and appoint it the way you’d like. It will take a least a couple of hours to get going, from opening the box to feeling somewhat comfortable. It will probably take a couple of days to feel like everything is in place.

Did you know what Microsoft does for small non-profit and charitable organizations? Microsoft offers free 365 Basic licenses for up to 25 users. The free licenses include email, OneDrive, Teams, and more.

If you want the flagship 365 Standard, you buy that for $3.80 a month, vs $16.00 per person per month. $16 was already an astronomical value, but for $3.80 a month, Microsoft will not be the institution standing in your way of success.

If you are a knowledge worker (hint, you work at a desk most of the day or spend a good amount of time looking at your cell phone), then you are probably wasting time and letting people down if you don’t have this habit nailed down.

The habit is the daily act of prioritizing and using a to-do list.

If this is your habit you use it to establish other habits, build the trust of gettings things done with those you work, and overall crush productivity.

If don’t have this habit established, I recommend Microsoft ToDo; it is free, simple, and sufficient for your needs.

Of course, there are plenty of options for a to-do list, including pen and paper. If you already have something that works for you, I applaud in your general direction.

If you are wasting your time and letting people down, well stop it! And start using a to-do list.

One of my favorites quotes about trust is by David Allen in his book, Getting Things done.

“When people with whom you interact notice that without fail you receive, process, and organize in an airtight manner the exchanges and agreements they have with you, they begin to trust you in a unique way.”

I can’t trust an unorganized person.

I don’t really have an answer to this quandary. Today I spent too long trying to solve a programming challenge, but I’m not a programmer. I think this is one of the lessons we each have to learn the hard way. I don’t like to quit, and I don’t like quitters, but I did try hard. I didn’t quit this morning on the last 1 kilometer of my 5K run, but I did give up on my programming challenge.

In any negotiation, you have to be prepared to walk away. I recommend going in with the line in the sand that you won’t go higher than or lower than, and be prepared to walk away

There a few things in this digital age that one should not lose control of, and one of those is your domain name.

It is easy for a guy like me to register a domain name on your behalf and get you a website going, but what if something happens. I’m very trustworthy, but I could get hit by a bus. Then what? Now you don’t have control of your identity.

It is better for you to create an account with a domain registrar like namecheap.com, and then give me the username and password. Then no matter what happens, you have control of your identity.

I’m a huge fan of Microsoft 365, but it had a small outage today. The symptom gave me a bit of a start.

For peace of mind, keep of backup.

Then be patient, cause everything is going to come back online.

After “Where am I?” and “Where am I going?” the next question is “How am I going to get there?”

The derivative questions might be:

How will I need to change?
How will I need to act?
How will connect with others?
How will I connect with God?
What do I need to learn?
What do I need to study?
What consistent actions do I need to practice?
Who do I need to love?
Who do I need to meet?
What behaviors do I need to change?

After you answered the question “Where am I?”, ask “Where am I going?” It is easier than, “What is my vision for the future?”

Derivative questions might be:
– Where am I going in my relationship with my significant other, or lack thereof?
– Where am I going in my family relationships?
– Where am I going spiritually?
– Where am I going in mental health?
– Where am I going in physical health?
– Where am I going in my career?
– Where am I going financially?
– Who am I going to be? (last but not least)

The answer always starts with, I am going …

In my last post, I wrote about three basic questions to help us see clearly through the much-hyped idea of mission, vision, etc.

I love the question, where am I? I’ve been randomly asking myself that question when I’m sitting at my desk and I’m not on task.

Derivative questions might be:

– Where am I in my relationship with my significant other, or lack thereof?
– Where am I in my family relationships?
– Where am I spiritually?
– Where am I in mental health?
– Where am I in physical health?
– Where am I in my career?
– Where am I financially?
– Who am I? (last but not least)

The answer always starts with, I am …

I have been pondering the semantics and utility of “mission” statements since 1998 when I read The & Habits of Highly Effective People.

This weekend I read something by Donald Miller and his spin. I also started listening to Change Your Questions Change Your Life by Marilee Adams. And I’ve had an epiphany.

When considering mission, vision, purpose, etc, etc, even goals, there are three simple questions to ask:
– Where am I?
– Where am I going?
– How will I get there?

In the past couple of years, modern web browser have add the feature were you can open PDF’s directly in a windows without open Adobe Acrobat or another PDF reader/ writer.

This is all fine and good until those PDFs have complicated forms. Then you get an error such as, “Please wait … If this message is not eventually replace by the proper contents of the document, your PDF view may not be able to display this type of document.”

To solve this issue, force your web browser to open PDFs externally.

In Chrome go to chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments and slide this setting on.

In Edge go to edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments?search=pdf and slide on.

In FireFox goto about:preferences#general , scroll down to Applications and change Portable Document Format to “Use Windows default application”.

I’m not a Mac guy, but I have Mac customers. So when I came across an old Mac Mini in the basement that my kids hadn’t used for some time, I plugged it in and looked up its serial number. What do you know, it still can load a modern version of the Mac OS.

So now I have a Mac on my desk. It’s not that bad. I love how I can do iMessage and other iPhone related things with a full-screen computer. I feel slightly more able to help my Mac customers when they have trouble.

I apologize for the disparaging things I’ve said about Mac in the past.

That is all.

Derived in law and “reasonable doubt” in the 1800s, we give somebody “the benefit of the doubt” when we don’t jump to conclusions about their guilt.

Giving the benefit of the doubt is ever so important in our social-media driven culture. The next time you feel the need to flame a post, give the benefit of the doubt and don’t.

I’m not sure if this is right term for it, but I like to use it like I know what I’m talking about.

ROI is “return on investment” and often measured in years. A 5 year ROI would be after investing $100,000, you’d earn $100,000 back.

Reverse ROI is the number of years or months it takes to lease, rent, or subscribe to a service to add up to the cost of buying that product or service outright. The shorter the team period the worse the investment.

I’m going to write a full-on blog about this later.

In my last post, I wrote about running in -30c, and how limiting exposure is one of two things that keeps you from dying in the cold. The other thing is activity.

If I paid more attention in Biology class, I’d know more about it, but for whatever reason, running, and other activities, keeps your body warm, even in -30c. Similarly in business, we have to keep our activity up, especially in challenging times, so we don’t die.

I went running last Friday, it was cold, -30 C, or -22 F. I’d never run in that cold of weather, I don’t think I’ve really done anything on purpose in that cold of weather.

I didn’t feel uncomfortable though. I kept thinking about two things and their corresponding business application. The first was exposure.

In adverse challenges, it behooves us to limit our exposure to risk. The only thing I exposed while running at -30 was a small band across my eyes.

When times are tough, limit your exposure.

Tomorrow I’ll share the other principle I learned while running at -30.

The is the second thing that has stuck with me from Tony Horton and P90X. He said once or twice, “Do your best and forget the rest.”

I often will say it to my kids, “Do you best and forget the rest.”

To me, it is the epitome of living in the present. Is there anything more important than focusing on what is immediately before us and in our control?

The rest might be extra push up you couldn’t do. The rest might be that might the questions you didn’t get right on that exam. The rest might be the haters dragging you down. Forget them.

About 10 years ago I was exercising to some DVD’s called P90X. A just like that DVD’s are not a thing, but what is a thing is regular exercise. There are a ton of ways to get it done, one popular way is subscriptions to exercise routines on your phone; not what I do, but whatever keeps you regular.

I don’t remember any of the routine, but two things that Tony Horton, the inventor of P90X said on those DVD’s has stuck with me ever since.

He said, “I hate it, but I love it.” That is me. I really don’t like working out every morning, but I love not having a full-on dad bod. Yeah, I have a dad bod, but it isn’t out of control. I can still run 5K without stopping, and I can keep up to my 17-year-old on the slopes. And my BMI … NORMAL!

Challenge – If you aren’t getting regular exercise, start tomorrow. You’ll hate it, but you’ll love it.

Tomorrow I’ll share the other thing that Tony Horton said that is even more important.

You might be tempted to not have meetings with your team, especially when challenges are prolific and money is tight, but don’t do it. If you’ve set a regular meeting with your team, there is a reason you did it, you were thinking clearly at the time.

I can’t say enough about having regular meetings. Even though our team is #micro, having regular meetings keeps morale high and helps us be efficient.

If you’re worried about the time and/ or cost of a meeting, consider a Level 10 meeting from the book Traction, by Gino Wickman. Meetings do have to suck (make you wish you were doing something else) and they don’t have to suck (wasting time and money).

Bussines Made Simple by Donald Miller is the latest book I’ve listened to. It is mostly an advertisement for his website of the same name, but nevertheless, it is not a bad read (or listen in my case).

Donald Miller’s goal is to give a business worker, business manager, or business owner the applicable knowledge to be an effective leader in what organization they are working in.

So for the cost of a paperback, you can forego that undergraduate business degree.

I love to show people how to do things on their computer, but sometimes it isn’t practical to stand over their shoulder (understatement of the pandemic), and often it is difficult to share screens at a time when you can get together. A screen recorder is a good solution, but some are expensive, and some are complicated.

Enter Apowersoft. https://www.apowersoft.com/free-online-screen-recorder

Their free screen recorder is easy to use, and makes tiny videos at appropriate quality for howto demonstrations, and sending via email.

Cudos to Apowersoft France

Today I attended what is supposed to be a big party for I.T. companies in Canada, where awards are given to the best I.T. service providers and their partners. For example, Microsoft Canada was an attendee and received numerous accolades. We met virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the littlest awardee to the biggest (probably Microsoft) I noticed how graceful most recipients were. They showed appreciation for the host, those whom they served, and those who served them.

It seems to me that this grace must have something to do with why each company that received an award did so. COVID-19 did not turn them inward, it turned them outward.

I have a bunch of stress balls leftover from an old company and old branding, and I just found a use for them.

Since we can social gather outside, the kids in my youth group have been wanting to have activities. On Sunday they planned to play a game called Home Free, where one player is “it” and tags other players trying to reach home. And I’m thinking, how are we going to social-distance in a game that is kind of the opposite.

Light bulb! Instead of tagging with the hand, I’ll use the soft stress balls. If you get hit by the ball you’re caught, tagged, out, etc. The kids are going to love this, and will probably even be more fun.

What have you repurposed in the last 10 months?

I remember my parents and youth leaders planning service projects which I didn’t want to be involved in, and then usually afterwards feeling good about participation. Then the next time it would be the same, complain and whine, then feeling good. Now I do the same to my kids.

I am reminded today that even in my more experienced and wise years that doing good is a good thing. Sometimes I forget that special feeling of solving a challenge for somebody else going in but never coming out.

Paul said that charity never fails. He then went on to list a bunch of things that do fail. My interpretation: doing the right thing, serving others, is always good.

My new habit for 2021 is to post every business day inthat I work in the year. I missed Friday. I have some lame excuses.

James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) says never miss twice. Perfection isn’t a thing for normal people, we are likely to miss a day, but just because we lost a streak doesn’t mean we should allow ourselves to throw in the towel.

Get up, dust yourself off, and get back on that horse.

P.S. I have not broken my pact with myself to stay off of Twitter this year!

Windows 10 Pro vs Windows 10 Home – Know the Difference – Pluto Micro Business

If someone is using negative superlatives in your general direction, such as (the worst, never does blank, always does that) it probably means that there is some truth to the statement. Now would be a good time to self-investigate for character flaws, and then make changes.

If you are using negative superlatives towards somebody else (literally the worst, dumbest, always, etc) it is likely that you are telling yourself an untrue story. Now would be a good time to ask yourself what other superlative stories you might be telling yourself, and then make changes.

…

Marketing consultants and agencies blather on about unique selling proposition, but don’t get caught up in their hype. It doesn’t always apply. Yeah, it’d be nice to have the corner on the market, but don’t lose sleep over it.

Lose sleep over the following principles, and you’ll find the success you need:
– believing in abundance, enough business for everybody
– helping others and being a decent human
– focusing on your passion, or being passionate about what you are focusing on
– operating in the black

When starting a new business, plan to be poor for two years.

What we hear about most is the skyrocketing startups, but what happens more often is a new business, even built on a solid foundation, takes about two years to make into the black.

Plan for it, stay the course, and give it time.

Aside from their chosen profession, micro-business owners need to have some level of awareness or competency in each of the following:

Bookkeeping and Accounting

Information Technology

Sales and Marketing

Government Compliance and Legal

General Business Acumen

The fun and challenging thing is that micro-business owners get to balance their chosen profession and the other five things.

What sucks is that most business to business service providers offering solutions in those other five areas are actually marketing to small businesses, up to 50 people.

If you are a micro-business, look for a business service provider that caters to micro-business.

If you are a business service provider, consider an offering that is specific to teams of 10 or less.

I screwed up an order for a customer today. I hate that. Actually, the screwup happened 10 days ago when I placed the order, but only came apparent when the product was installed. I hate that even worse.

Deep breaths … I can’t change what I did, I can only own my mistakes and fix them, no matter the cost.

Before I do any work in the morning, even before I workout, I create my to-do list for the day. This consists of bringing forward things from yesterday and combining things already planned for today and reviewing any new tasks from email and the previous 12 hours of things that I wrote down when they popped into my head.

Sometimes the list is 40 or more items deep. Sometimes the list is overwhelming and I think, “This day is going to suck, I am not going to be successful.”

That has never happened!

I can’t think of one day, where I started with a giant-sized to-do list, where I came out feeling like a failure. More often than not, the bigger the list, the more accomplished I felt at the end of the day.

When facing a huge to-do list, do the first thing on the list, and then the next, and then the next, and then the next.

When eating an elephant take one bite at a time.
-Creighton Abrams

Perseverance, dedication, tenacity, moxie, persistence, stick-to-itiveness, endure, drive, steadfastness, consistent, persistent, steady, true, constant, incessant, tenacious, unrelenting, firm, unstoppable., undeviating, etc.

Don’t tell me you didn’t feel like it, because half the time I don’t either.

#microisthenewsmall

I was commenting to a friend about a way to accelerate snowboard learning. Most snowboard teachers will get on their snowboard and go up the hill with an adolescent and show and tell them what to do.

The best snowboard teachers will leave their board at the bottom and hold their student’s hands as they learn to balance on their front and back edges and then do their turns. It’s like a safety net, the fear of falling significantly impacts the speed of learning.

Stupid me! Why am I not applying this in my #microbusiness. Sometimes people just need a little handholding to get their balance.

Balance is everything, whether you’re on a snowboard or an important cog in a team. #microisthenewsmall

Most people don’t appreciate a lot of snow, but I do. It snowed in the mountains yesterday and the day before. Today, my son and I cut work and school and went to the hill. We decided at 8 PM last night, with little regard for previously made commitments.

When it snows we go snowboarding. We don’t abandon responsibility when the hill is open, but when there is fresh powder. There is something special about floating down a mountain on powder, and it is even more special doing it with somebody you love.

What special thing happens in life that you’re willing to abandon responsibility for?

About 15 years ago I read Getting Things Done by David Allen. One of the most important things I learned was to not keep important information in my head, especially things like tasks and commitments I need to complete.

Your brain is not a reliable storage device and cannot multitask. If you are relying on your grey matter to remind you of all the things you need to do, you are probably falling down on half of them.

Keep a to-do list in some form or another. This one lesson learned in 2006ish has changed the course of my life and allowed for some semblance of success.

I’ve seen this too many times in the last week to not talk about it.

For many years the data storage standard was on spinning disks, and you can still buy computers will a “hard drive” or HDD, but you shouldn’t. Solid State Disks (SSD) have been around for 10 years, and I would dare say the new standard for laptops and desktop computers. SSD’s have no spinning parts, just fast access to data.

Never, ever, buy a computer with hard drive, make sure it has an SSD.

It used to be empowering to be called a small business, at least to me. Then I found out that “small” is under 50, or in some circles “small” is under 100.

If 50 is small, then what am I with my start-up of 4 people. We are micro. Micro is the new small. Full of energy and passion. Taking on the Man and taking on Fortune 500. Taking on the stagnate “small”.

Even the definition for “micro” is debated. Some say 1-4, others 1-5, others 1-9. We love the number 10. Micro is the new small, micro is teams of 10 or less. Fight me or don’t, but know that I am ready for the fight.

Life should have a scoreboard, but not too many numbers. Kind of like baseball, you have Runs, Hits, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Batting Average, and On Base Percentage. Yeah, there’s more, but those are the main ones. Check in with Billy Beane if you must.

Two of my numbers are BMI (Body Mass Index) and my 5k time. My BMI should be sub 24.5 and my 5k run should be sub 30 minutes. These are like lines in the sand for me, when I’ve gone higher, I’m risking fat and slow.

Do you have numbers for your life? Share in the comments below.

My excuse: so much caloric edibles at Christmas time. Burn it!

Other excuses:
I didn’t sleep well. Burn it!
Traffic was heavy. Burn it!
I felt socially pressured. Burn it!
I wasn’t feeling good. Burn it!
I didn’t feel like it. Burn it!
I have a condition. Burn it!
But COVID19. Burn it!
But the Liberals are in power. Burn it!
The Conservatives are in power. Burnt it!
Bla, bla, bla. Pour gas on that and burn it!

There has been so much said on this topic, but I guess it needs to be repeated.

Yesterday I wrote about considering where you are as precursor to planning where you want to go. That’s all you get. One. Day.

Now action that! Do it!

Don’t get stuck in your plans, they are useless unless you action them.

So often at the beginning of the year we contemplate where we want to go and what we want to achieve. I love this, but don’t forget to think about where you are at this moment.

We cannot chart a path to somewhere from nowhere. We can only chart a path from where you are to where you want to go.

If we never really consider our starting point, undoubtedly we are getting started off on the wrong foot.