Dan -- Had You Met Him, You Would Have Liked Him

Meet Dan.... I met Dan once, but I felt like I'd known him for years because he was Kerry's boyfriend and she talked about Dan all the time!! Kerry runs Afford A Geek Computer Repair and Solutions in Humboldt. One night about a year and a half ago, Kerry, Dan & I met for supper in Humboldt at Pasquale's Pizza and we talked about computer repair. Dan was just getting into helping Kerry and I was explaining the finer points of working with home customers. I was going to take Dan under my wing and help him out on some calls and then I was going to take everything up to Goldfield and Dan & Kerry would do everything from Goldfield back to Humboldt. That was the plan. It was a good plan and a fun plan -- as they were fun people. Dan seemed tired that night and drank coffee with his pizza to stay awake. That was the last time I saw Dan.

A month or so later, I got a call from Kerry that Dan was sick and had Leukemia. He was in bad shape in Ames. I drove down, met with Kerry and gave her my prayers to Dan. They transferred him to Iowa City....did all sorts of things and they got him to be CANCER FREE through a bone marrow transplant!

Then about 3 weeks ago, Dan was tired -- probably was having coffee with his pizza again and they went back to Iowa City and their worst nightmares had been realized, the cancer had come back....with a vengeance. Dan was in trouble, Kerry had been by his side and her computer business had taken a backseat to his health issues.

I got the word today from Kerry that Dan passed away this afternoon.

What I wouldn't give to have a cup of coffee and a slice of pizza with him and talk about the finer points of dealing with home customers. My heart hurts for Kerry and their families. They truly lost a gem in Dan.

EntreFEST 2014 - A Wrap Up

Once again, for the 7th straight year, I attended EntreFEST.  This conference is a valuable tool for people who are both new and established entrepreneurs and I have always supported their efforts.  Yes, last year was a bit shaky for me.  I wasn't thrilled with  a couple of things and I was hoping they would work themselves out this year.

 

They did.

 

I arrived at around 6:30pm on Wednesday and needed no introduction as I think  my reputation got there ahead of me.  I needed no "sign in ticket" as I was recognized when I walked in the door.  This is a nice feeling and no matter if you've been there 7 years or 2 years, it's nice to be called by name.  One thing that I wasn't thrilled about was that this event was held in 4 different buildings.  The Sheraton, The Hotel Vetro, The Iowa City Public Library and the Englert Theater.  They were actually closer than they looked on the map, but if a person had mobility issues, the theater might as well have been on the moon. 

 

I checked in to the Sheraton and was told my room was poolside.  UGH, a fate worse than death.  I told them that I'd really wish they could switch rooms and they did.  This hotel was fantastic...and I let them know that MULTIPLE TIMES!  More on that later.

 

I then switched things over from Facebook to Twitter...as that's where all the cool kids play.  ;-)

 

Shortly after arrival, they had a reception and drinks and a DJ. (An improvement from Tech Brew the year before.)  I was approached by a gal (I think her name was Rachel) who evidentially was in charge of monitoring my good (or bad) mood and told me that she read every Tweet I had from 2013.  Wow.  She wanted to know how I was doing at that time.  I told her that my ears were bleeding from that "Gawd Awful" music that the DJ was playing.  I'm sure he thought he was good, but as you could see by the disbursement of people in the room, no one was standing near him because you couldn't talk over the music very well.  She then brought over another guy from Decorah and we went back and forth about why EntreFEST always needed to be in Iowa City.  He hung his hat on the fact that they had 500 people signed up.  I never saw 500 people, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.  Sure, it's hard to argue with numbers, but I met a number of "students" who got in for half price and very few who had been there for more than 3 years.

 

I remember a famous quote by a famous Iowa businessman, Bill Krause of Hampton.  "I'd rather serve 1 customer a 1000 times than a 1000 customers once."  Remember, it costs more to get a new customer than to keep a current one....yeah, they forgot that.

 

The keynote speakers were all fantastic, from the first to the last.  Lydia Brown says that we need more women entrepreneurs in the state.  We rank 51st...and they are counting Washington DC.  We also learned how whiskey is now a go to when it comes for new business.  It was great to hear from both Scott Bush from Templeton Rye and Nate Kaeding formerly of the San Diego Chargers who are whiskey guys and great entrepreneurs.

 

The breakout classes were also good.  Last year I was pretty tough on Josh from a Social Media Company called Sculpt regarding his presentation.  I have to admit, he hit a homerun this year.  As a matter of fact, he featured my business, The Computer Guy, on his slides and I was humbled and grateful.  He didn't have to do that, and as much of a jerk as I was, he shouldn't have even given me the time of day.   I think I was a squeaky wheel...but I appreciated the grease.

 

One nice thing that was a topic this year was the amount of legal advice/help that was offered.  From what I could tell, there were 4 different breakout sessions with lawyers, PLUS there was an exhibit booth with a lawyer in it.  We overlook this as small business people, until it's too late.  I'm glad they had this as a resource.

 

I went to a nice presentation about Co-Working spaces.  Former Sheffield native Mark Nolte was one of the presenters.  A LONG time ago, Mark and I worked at KWGG radio together.  Now he does work for the Iowa City Economic Development and I'm very proud to have known his family. 

 

Another session I went to was from Nick Westergaard.  Nick had a conference in Des Moines once that I was less than thrilled with.  In fact, I walked out about 3/4 of the way through it.  However, being the nice guy that I am, I wanted to give Nick another shot.  Anyone can have a bad day and I'll take the heat and blame myself for that bad day.  He did a great job on the topic of being a Scrappy Marketer.  I learned a few tips and think that I will go to his 2 day conference in Coralville later this year....as he won't be the only one speaking for 8 hours straight. 

 

The conference was broken down into 5 areas or "tracks" depending on your need and stage of business.  70 classes, over 100 speakers and it was very polished.  It was a good comeback from last year in Cedar Rapids, but I will doubt it will beat the conferences in Des Moines or Dubuque -- those were my favorites.  I guess I met so many more "life long" friends.  I met people here this year, but doubt they will be back again, as from what I can tell it will be in Iowa City again and it will be about getting new people, not retaining the people who'd been there before.  There were 2 of us from Hampton there, Brook Boehmler, the mayor of Hampton and also the JPEC director at NIACC.  This is a sad reflection, because I know so many more people who NEEDED to be here...and it wasn't about the cost.  I think I only collected 4 or 5 business cards and those were from people who I honestly wanted to connect with down the road.

 

I didn't go to the Dream Big, Grow Here event as I still have a bad taste in my mouth about it and decided to meet a friend for supper downtown instead.  I was pulling for Tony Halsted from Rudd, but he finished in 2nd place.  The winner of it has a daycare and she will put the money to good use.  I heard everyone did a fine job.

 

Friday morning the conference breakfast was at 7am and speaker at 8am....yeah, that's what I thought too.  So I checked out and ran my bags down to the car.  The hotel "comped" my parking pass, a savings of $23 and when I went to pay for my breakfast at the hotel restaurant, that was also free, a savings of $13.  Like I said, a great place!  I was a bit late for the morning keynote, but from what I could tell, I wasn't the only one.

 

I realize that maybe I can be an ass.  I use the work "maybe" loosely, but I want this conference to be the best it can be for all of us who attend.  We are ALL in this together as entrepreneurs.  I want us all to take what we learn here and be able to use it, not just say, "Oh, well, the theory was great, now what?"  I want Chamber Directors and other businesses in our communities to scratch their heads going, "OH, what did we miss out on?"  A powerful conference can do that.  This one did that for a lot of people!  I came back with several good ideas, that's for sure.

 

All in all, I'd give it an 8 out of 10.  The emcee wasn't as annoying, however lunch on Friday failed miserably as we had to scavenge for our own lunch with "like minded" businesses.  That could have been done in the hotel with assigned tables as they were all numbered anyway.  I actually connect better when I'm at a table and we are eating and sharing ideas.  I like sitting with strangers as it gives me a chance to make new friends.  I do feel bad the events on the Ped Mall got rained out.

 

 

Top 5 things that I would fix....and this will seem like a broken record from last year:

 

1.  Change the Date to not conflict with GRADUATION WEEKEND in Iowa City.  This created a room shortage and a lot of other issues.  April seems to be a good month, just after the 15tth.

 

2.  Give a discount to Chamber Directors, Development Directors and Main Street Directors.  The numbers seem artificially boosted by a college student discount and those kids won't be there next year anyway.  At least when I get back to town, my Chamber Director won't think I'm completely nuts.

 

3.  Please, move it out of Iowa City.  Rotate the thing back to Des Moines, Waterloo or Decorah -- cough, cough, cough. 

 

4.  Solicit to PAST EntreFEST attendees.  I got a nice discount (thanks!) because I had attended for the 7th time but there are only 2 of us left.  I think there was 1 person there with 6 years, and it isn't much better for 4 or 5 years either.  Again, it costs more to get  a new customer than it does an existing one.  Use that logic instead of the "cell phone company logic" I told them they were using.

 

5. Bring back the live interviews and video and make part of it "real time."  I miss that.  I miss "The Brand Chef" and others who made this conference pop in real time.

 

Again, a LOT was done right this year and I tip my hat to the people who put this on, it's no easy feat.  There aren't a lot of conferences lately of this magnitude and it's not priced out of anyone's budget.  I look forward to EntreFest 2015.....and don't change it to "Fest 2015" -- It's still about the Entrepreneur!

Black Friday -- Buyer Beware!

I want to give you some tips for Black Friday. A day where low prices trump quality. On Saturday, I went to a home to fix an Element TV purchased on Black Friday - 2012. This reminded me of several other issues I have with Black Friday.

Several years ago, in an effort to boost sales of Windows Vista, Staples had a $250 laptop. It ran terrible with only 1GB of RAM in it for Windows Vista. Good news for me, I did a ton of memory upgrades.

Target had a "deal" on Polaroid TVs. They were stacked on pallets. I watched the news as early morning shoppers fought over these TV as they hit the ground. When they broke, they had one unit inside to fix, BUT the warehouse got all of the parts messed up. I went to one business 3 times where the wrong part was there every time. I watched has he ripped the TV from the wall and threw it into the dumpster out in back of his bar. Yup, another Black Friday deal.

Samsung sold TVs that required the tech to re-solder capacitors to the TV. Unacceptable. I refused to do those.

Be aware that some models are "experiments" and really just not ready for prime time. Several years ago they had a TV that wasn't really ready to be released and it only came with a 90 day warranty. You guessed it....on day 91, that's when the problems started.

Last year, HyVee sold Toshiba TVs. They gave them away or sold them through a payroll deduction to their employees. I fixed a lot of those in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. Another Black Friday episode.

SO, what do you do????

1. Get the TV home and open it up and use it. Be sure you are clear on the return policy as most are 30 days. NOW, the last several years, Black Friday was on the 26th or 27th...... Christmas Eve/Day is the 24th and 25th. This would be MORE than 30 days. There's nothing more disappointing than a present that doesn't work on Christmas morning AND you can't return it because the 30 days has elapsed.

2. Find out how long the warranty is and buy more. If you pay by credit card, your card company MAY have an extended warranty provision. Get it.


3. Register your TV online right away as they all have websites.


4. IF you have problems, call in right away and get it logged and find out when the the repair will happen. If this is your 2nd or 3rd repair, CALMLY tell them you have had enough and want a new TV.


5. SAVE THE BOX!!! If a TV will be replaced, a common loophole is "oh, we can't do anything if you don't have the box."


6. Be nice to the guy (me) who comes to do the warranty repair. It's not their fault it broke, they didn't build the TV, they didn't call in the issue, so if the wrong parts are sent, it's not their fault. Please take the TV off of the wall if you want it fixed. TV warranty repair people cannot take the TV off of any wall if it is above 5 feet. Also, have a comforter on a table, so the TV can be fixed on a flat padded surface. The repair should take no longer than an hour. If it's longer than an hour, be prepared to have chocolate chip cookies on hand. (Ha, just kidding!)


The choice is yours, but don't just be tempted by price alone.

The "Microsoft" Hoax (With Video)

I've been doing computer repair work for the better of 17 years as The Computer Guy and nothing upsets me more than people who write viruses and do malicious things to unsuspecting people.  Viruses went from being able to just open another person's CD Rom drive from a remote computer to scaring people and demanding ransom money.  This latest hoax, telemarketing to people (mostly older folks) telling them that their computer is messed up is beyond low.

 

Here's how it starts out.  The phone rings with a blocked or spoofed number and a person with a very thick foreign accent proclaims to be from Microsoft or Windows or some other outfit and they tell you that your computer is spewing viruses all over the Internet and they need to "check it out" as this is the only way it can be fixed.

 

I have seen what they have done from other techs who have done screenshots of the actions they take.  They use some "program" that shows bogus errors on your screen to convince you that they need to fix your computer AND charge you around $199 to do so.  They will take this payment as a DEBIT, so you have no recourse to get your money back.

 

As luck would have it, they called me.  This is the 3rd time they have and I happened to have my FlipCam in the car and decided to capture the conversation on that.  Naturally, play dumb to get them to give me more info, but after a while I bust them out and get hung up on.  The last time, I did this, they lost their foreign accent and really gave me every four-letter word they knew.

 

Click below to watch what I did -- all from my vehicle.

 

Enjoy the video!  Remember, don't trust the phone scammers.  I have the same remote tools as they do and I can FIX your issues, not create more of them.

 

For more tips, tricks and advice -- please become a FAN on Facebook.

http://www.Facebook.com/PatTheComputerGuy

BE SAFE OUT THERE!

An Email Nightmare -- A Guest Post

The following is a guest post by a friend of The Computer Guy, Pastor David Boogerd.  He tells of his issues with his hijacked email accounts.  This has been common lately and he tells how he fought back and WON!  Thank you for sharing your story with my blog readers!

 

 

Recently my Google email account (gmailiPad.  The hacker also had changed my settings to forward any incoming email to an account that was a duplicate of my @gmail.com account, but was a @live.com account.  Because I received several phone calls within minutes of the changes taking effect I had the forwarding turned off within 30 minutes of it taking effect.  To check on that, go to settings and choose “forwarding”. 

Getting my contacts and email back took a little longer, but only because it took longer to find the steps I had to take.  It turns out that Google makes it easy to restore your contacts.  On the Contacts page, choose “More” and then choose “Restore Contacts.”  This can be handy if you do something like messing up your contacts when merging or importing another contact file, but it works great when all your contacts have been deleted.  The “Restore Contacts” setting will restore your contacts to any time in the last 30 days.  In moments all your contacts will be restored.  Directions can be found here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1069522?hl=en&ref_topic=1689180

Restoring the email took longer.  If you do a google search for “restoring email after it’s deleted” you will find a number of places which will tell you that once your email is deleted from the trash folder, you are out of luck.  However, mixed in with all of these I found a more hopeful page.  https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78353?hl=en  This page explains the steps to take.  First, it will explain how to secure your account, then how to make sure your email is actually gone.  It might just have all been sent to the “Trash” folder, which you can easily rectify.  If everything is actually gone, the page contains a link to “file a report.”  (It’s at the end of the second paragraph.)  Within an hour of filing the report my emails were all back.

Hopefully you will never have to go through this, but if you do, there are helpful steps to take.  To keep it from happening, if you use gmail,com, and have not already done so, activate the “two-stop verification” process they offer.  It complicates things a little more (which is why I didn’t do it before), but if anyone tries to access your account from a computer Google does not recognize (or from any computer if that is how you set it) you will be asked for a verification code, which is sent as a text or voice message to a phone number your designate.  Without that access code, your account cannot be accessed.

 

 

Again, thanks to David for sharing his story -- hopefully, it won't happen to you.

 

The 2013 Commencemen Address I Never Gave

I've never been asked to give a commencement speech and quite frankly, I live too close to my former school district to ever be considered to give one.  I learned a long time ago, the farther you move away from Hampton, the more of an expert you are.  Nevertheless, I have come up with my 2013 Commence Address.

Graduates, students, parents, faculty and guests.  I am honored to be here today to speak to the class of 2013.  While you may wonder what someone who lives in Hampton is doing giving the address today, rest assured while I haven't traveled to a far away land, I still understand common sense and can relate to people who have watched you grow up in our fine community.

First off, I want to point out how special you are.  Just like all of the other graduates of 2013 across the nation.  Yes, you are going to be looking for going to college, to the armed services or to the work force like a lot of other graduates.  Get the chip off of your shoulder and let's go get busy on getting a head start on your competition, each other.  Yes, that's what I said, each other.  The sooner you view your classmate as your competitor, the faster you will understand what the real world is like.

Second, there are no ribbons for 10th place.  If you are lucky, you will MAYBE get a "thank you" for first place.  No one owes you a job, health benefits, a free ride, or the time of day.  Those things are earned. 

Third, for those of you who have put stupid photos of yourself on Facebook or any other social media site, clean them off of your site.  Chances are, Google has already indexed them, but just in case, no potential employer wants to see you making  a duck face with a beer in your hand... that you are holding for someone else, of course.  What you need to do is to get a professional head shot photo and put it on Linked In and get that page built up with your skill sets and services you can offer people.  The old school resume is about to become a thing of the past and if you run into a potential employer like me, I'm going to Google you anyway and look you up on Facebook.  If you look like an idiot because of some stupid photos, I'll let another company deal with it.  Young ladies, if you wanted to be treated like equals at whatever job you are going to be going to, get all of the "whore-ish" pictures off of there.  There are some idiot bosses out there as well, who may think you are less than a young lady and may take advantage of you. 

Fourth, get out and volunteer for something.  We have a lot of aimless kids in this community and country who really could use some help.  Become a coach, scout leader, helper at the school, service club member or ANYTHING, just help out some kids.  They need it now more than ever.

Fifth, remember 1 out of 10 young people are denied a  job because of something posted on the social networks.  If you have a problem with a professor, boss or spouse -- don't whine on Facebook about it.  Deal with the issue and move on. 

Finally, be proud that you came from the Hampton-Dumont school district and never forget to come back once in a while.  In fact, tell your friends that Iowa's a great place to raise a family and that our work ethic is pretty darn good.  As an employer, I'd rather hire someone from a small town than a big city, because -- small town people wave at each other all the time.  Being friendly is in our DNA.  When you come back and you see a former teacher, give them a pat on the back as well.  They put up with you all these year, the least you can do is thank them. 

Not everyone can be a rocket scientist, fashion model or famous actor, but be the best you can be.  In 1983 when I crossed this stage, I crossed it with 7 other Eagle Scouts.  Quite a feat as the national average at that time was 1 of out every 100 Scouts earns the rank of Eagle Scout.  The first line of the Boy Scout Oath is "On my honor, I will do my best."  If you stick with that, you will go far.

My best to you, the graduates of 2013!!

Welcome To FourSquare --- Sort Of

As many of you know, I'm somewhat of a "Social Media" junkie.  I Facebook, Tweet, Google, YouTube and all the neat things like that.  One of the things I really like to do is FourSquare.  Mostly it's to compete with my wife and friends for "Mayorships" of various venues.

Image Courtesy of FourSquare

Becoming a "Mayor" means you simply patronize a business and "check in" more than anyone else who uses FourSquare.  In some stores/bars/restaurants you get rewarded for check ins, or become Mayor.  When I had my business, every 3 check ins got you $10 off any computer service, while showing me that you just became mayor got your a free pizza or ice cream treat from my good friends at Breadeaux Pizza.

 

Now, there are two sides to FourSquare -- The front end and the back end.  I've just described the front end.  People check in and that's about it.

 

Here's the backend, and where businesses get lost or confused.  Many businesses out there did not set up their location and really have no clue what people are doing when they are "checking in."  However, if they ever DID take ownership, they could get a demographic of their customers -- age, sex, where they are from, time of day they are checking in, etc.  Many don't know how or don't care.

 

My other big complaint of this is that EMPLOYEES of a business check into their own work locations.  Now, for me to become a "Mayor" of an establishment, it means I patronize their business more than any other customer they have that uses FourSquare.  9 times out of 10, when I PATRONIZE a business I spend money there.  Many times, if I'm not the mayor, I will get other "badges" that show events of the day or trends in my check-ins.

 

When an employee checks in and gets the Mayorship, it devalues the location as then no other person can get any rewards for checking in, if they offer rewards, and it skews the demographics that the owner is looking at getting.  If Joey the employee is the Mayor and checks in 100 times, the business is not getting any useful data from....it's CUSTOMERS.

 

When I had a storefront, I could control that through the backend of the program.  I blocked myself, Becky and my other employees from becoming "Mayor."  They could still check in, but they would never become rewarded for it.

 

Bottom line, if your business is on FourSquare -- USE IT!! Maximize its potential.  Here are some stats from FourSquare:

30 Billion People use it.

3 BILLION check ins per day.

Over 1 MILLION businesses use the business platform part of it.

78,500 Mayors are ousted each day.

 

Again, it's a gripe I have and maybe I should be doing more to work with businesses about it. If your business wants in and really wants to move forward, then I'd appreciate your email or phone call.  I won't do it for you, but I will put you on the right track.

 

Patrick Palmer - Mayor at 27 locations all over Iowa!

641-420-1234

yankeez@mchsi.com