Secret to Success (and More Leads?)

As we near the end of another year… it never ceases to amaze me the number of folks who start crying the blues to me about how slow things are.. or how bad lead flow is.. or how far down sales are this year versus last, etc., etc.

 

Just like you, I’m constantly seeing advice on how to be successful. Usually it has to do with buying new technology, getting a new attitude, or learning new tricks of the trade. But over the years I’ve noticed something much simpler that almost always leads to success. I’m sure you’ve noticed it too: just keep moving!

 

No matter how little money you have, how little you know, or what your personal problems might be, you can eventually achieve success if you JUST KEEP TRYING.

 

Life seems to award the spoils to those who show up day after day. In most businesses, the real key to success is just being there.

 

Lately I’m seeing a lot of successful Internet and real estate businesses that started out in the late 90s with no money and little idea of what they were doing. How did they climb to the top? They didn’t give up! They just kept going, putting one foot in front of the other day after day, refusing to throw in the towel.

 

Nowhere in business is this more true than in marketing and advertising. I can just about guarantee your first ad won’t sell much. It’s your sixth, seventh, 101st ads that will deliver the goods.

 

You’ll have days that don’t go right, and times when quitting seem like the smart thing to do. But keep moving. Eventually your refusal to give up will create momentum for you and your project…and that always seems to lead to lucky breaks and better times.

 

This advice holds ESPECIALLY true when it comes to your advertising. Seems that when things slow down a bit.. the human tendancy is to pull back on that advertising. “No one is responding to the ads.. so let’s cut back right now until things pick back up.”

 

WORST THING YOU CAN DO FOLKS!!

 

As we enter this new year in just a couple of days… let me encourage you not to become frustrated with an ad that isn’t pulling what it once did. Don’t give up on a plan. If it was good enough to be a plan to begin with… STICK WITH IT! See it through!

 

I cannot tell you how much I have had to tell myself this over the past weeks. And so it is my year-end advice to each of you!

 

Stick with your marketing, even during slow times, it will carry you through and when times are good again, you’ll be GLAD you did!
Most of all… go in to 2007 with a clear vision as to where you want to be at this time next year! Plan your attack, and work your plan. If you don’t… next year at this time, you will be looking to 2008 in the exact same spot you are in now.

 

I simply love the line I know you’ve all seen at the bottom of my signature file, and I leave you with that today:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein

 

Happy New Year everyone! I look forward to an exciting year in 2007!!
 

 

Ed

 

 

Boiling Like Frogs

Since completing my recent whirl-wind conference schedule, I have been battling a severe throat infection that just won’t go away.  I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve been actually SICK in the past ten years, but this has been one of them!  Started today on a more potent antibiotic… so hopefully this will be short-lived now.

 

Wanted to (last week) send you this article… but just didn’t have the fortitude to type it all out… (still don’t to be perfectly honest)… but here goes anyway….  I will post a follow up to this article tomorrow… so please take the time to read both… as both go hand in hand for what I am recommending everyone take action on at this time.

 

You must have heard the story about the frog that sits in a pot of water that is gradually heated. The process is slow and the frog doesn’t notice as the temperature inches up, even when it gets quite hot. Finally, it is too late and the frog is boiled.  Well, we are all frogs in the computer security pot and it is getting awfully hot.

 

The manufacture and application of malware is no longer the province of script kiddies, thrill-seeking hackers, and occasional malcontents. It has passed into the hands of professionals who are in it for the same reason as bank robbers- money. These people are in the full-time business of removing your wallet. They are located all over the world and are almost impossible to prosecute (if they are ever caught). Not only do they use sophisticated programming but like other types of con men they are masters of psychology and social engineering.

 

It isn’t just individuals who seem to be ignoring the rising heat. Institutions like banks have been shameful in their neglect of basic security practices. It’s the old story of human behavior when faced with an unpleasant prospect. They hope it’ll go away and they won’t have to actually confront the situation. Security is too much work. Security is inconvenient. Security is unpleasant. Security costs too much.

 

Well, the problem is not going away. It’s only going to get worse; there are too many easy pickings for the international gangs.  The statistics that get reported are very discouraging. There’s no way of knowing the true numbers but various studies show that maybe 10 to 20 percent of PCs (or more) contain malware. Much of this is some form of Trojan horse that makes the unwitting owners of the infected zombie computer part of “botnet” rings. Even a small number of infected machines is a problem. The Internet is like a giant organism with low resistance and a few infected machines rapidly multiply their numbers.

 

In my opinion, this is a situation that is rapidly getting out-of-hand. It’s a mess that gets more complicated by the day. You are supposed to have a vast collection of software to guard you. You need a firewall. You need anti-virus, anti-Trojan, anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-spyware. And of course, all of these programs don’t always play well together. Yes, you can get suites but so far there is no suite without at least one or more inferior components. All these things running in the background result in a big hit to system performance. Next, you need constant security updates for all of this. And you also need security fixes for all kinds of other applications. You need to update Windows. You need to update your browser. You need to update Microsoft Office. You need to update Flash, You need to update Java. And so on. Then there is the problem that not everybody bothers to update. The software companies are trying to make the updating as automatic as they can but the statistics on the results are not good.

 

Everyone gets “patch fatigue”. We’re numbed by the constant drumbeat about new malware. Even businesses with full-time IT staff have a hard time keeping up. The fact is, even with constant updating, systems are still vulnerable to so-called “zero-day” and undocumented exploits.

 

Moreover, it’s not just the PC that is a problem. People are becoming more and more connected. Cell phones, iPods, Blackberrys, and other similar instruments are ubiquitous. The criminals are not neglecting these fresh pastures.

 

I could go on and on with the lamentations and hand-wringing but all that becomes a bit boring.  Let’s look at possible answers.  We have to begin with the sad fact that our fellow human beings are not to be trusted. Most of us are basically decent and responsible people who do not steal or enjoy vandalizing other people’s computers. We would prefer to be able to use the Internet in a spirit of community and trust. Unfortunately, there are always hoodlums, charlatans and sociopaths waiting to take advantage of our trust. So we have to stop believing everything we read on the Internet. We have to treat all emails as possibly suspicious and never click on any links they contain. We have to regard unfamiliar Websites as potentially dangerous. We must test anything we download before we install it to see if it is malware. We have to trust less and verify more!

 

Also, there is no getting around the fact we must give up a lot of convenience. There is a clear trade-off between ease-of-use and security. Locked doors are less convenient to use than open doors. For example, online operations like banking will have to involve longer procedures. Security can be tedious but we must learn to live with computers that are harder to use. Reports on the Web about the annoyances of the new security features in Windows upcoming release of Vista illustrate that point.

 

Some people (usually officials who want headlines) suggest that more laws are the answer to the security problem so they urge or pass laws against Internet fraud. These efforts are so pathetic that I have to wonder how seriously the law-makers really take them. There are plenty of laws against fraud already. Does anyone really believe they are going to deter the gangs in places like Uzbekistan, and Iran, and Russia? However, if the legislators want to pass laws, there is a very important way they could help. Let them make fiduciary institutions like banks more responsible for security breaches. At present these institutions are woefully inadequate in guarding your personal data or in guarding against phishing. (There are some exceptions like Bank of America and Vanguard.)

 

If your identity is stolen, the burden is on you, not the bank. Let the legislators pass laws making the banks, stock brokers, etc. responsible for losses due to identity theft. Make them responsible for safeguarding your personal information. Make the institutions liable and then you’ll see a lot more security. Of course, this will cost money and make things like online banking less convenient but it has to be done. As long as it is really easy to steal somebody’s account information, thieves will thrive. As of now, institutions haven’t the incentive to do much about it.

 

I also believe the current notion that the PC should be an all-purpose machine with the same basic type being used by everybody from grannies doing email to big businesses with large applications is fatally flawed. Microsoft, Intel and Dell have a big investment in this model so we are probably stuck with it for a while but it makes no sense. A whole lot of the people who use computers at home simply don’t need the power and flexibility of the current PC and they are completely unprepared to do many of the security measures that these systems require. I deal with a lot of ordinary people who have little understanding of Windows and no interest in learning details about how a PC operates. They want something that works like their other appliances. They want to turn the PC on, do some email, surf a little and that’s it. The needs of this large section of the PC users could easily be met with a machine that is a lot safer and easier to use than the present PC type. It would also be cheaper and that’s the rub; there’s no money in selling a box with limited functions. Unfortunately, these average users are the very people who are the biggest security problem.

 

What about the defenses right there on our own PC? Can we improve them? Previously, I’ve written about “Do We Need a Paradigm Shift in Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Protection?”, where I suggested that the reactive approach with anti-everything software was clearly not working. The solutions mentioned in the previous article included using virtual machines and I think that may be the best practical solution.

 

There are various ways to configure your Internet browser to make your computer safer but that’s a subject that involves technical details and will have to wait for another time. Meanwhile, don’t let the scalawags out there ruin your enjoyment of the wonderful world of the Internet.

 

Tomorrow… I will continue this thread with a suggestive measure you can take now to help with your spam dilemma, which in turn will solve many other dilemmas for you as well.

 

Until then….

 

Ed

 

Care to comment on this article?  Your comments are welcomed below….

 

 

Dealing with Digital Disease

Dealing with Digital Disease

A virus is a program that replicates itself. It cannot exist on its own so it attaches to another program, usually an executable one. A worm is like a virus—it also replicates itself. However, it can stand on its own and does not need another program to run. It usually infects your computer’s networking features, which includes its internet connection.

Spyware and adware go hand-in-hand. Spyware is a kind of program which gathers information, specifically browsing habits. It tracks down what kind of sites you visit, and the adware will generate ads that fit with your interest which the spyware based on information it gathered in the first place.

Malware is malicious software. It’s any program that is useless, or worse, destructive. A Trojan a program pretending to be good but once it’s deep in your system it proves to be quite the opposite.

In spite of all their differences, they have one thing in common: they are out to give you headaches by rendering your computer unusable.

To protect your computer as much as possible from being infected, here are four dangerous activities that you should avoid, or at least minimize:

• Opening email attachments
Do not open any email attachments if they aren’t scanned by antivirus software. Worms can spread through email, so even a friend can unwittingly send you one by way of an attachment.

 

• Internet File-sharing
In file-sharing via the internet, your computer is exposed and open to others it is communicating with. If other computers’ files can be transferred to yours, the same thing can be said about a virus, if the others are infected.
 

• Downloading free software of questionable origins
Free software is free for a reason. If you bothered to read the End User License Agreement (EULA) of a software you are installing—which you probably didn’t—you most likely will come upon a short and tiny clause saying that if you agree to the terms, you are allowing advertisements to pop up on your screen, or other software to be installed in your system. So be careful with what you download. Read product reviews and find out if other people got headaches from using it.

 

• Visiting ad-heavy sites
If you visit a site and you’re immediately bombarded with pop-up ads, leave immediately. You might click on an ad that activates an automatic download of malicious software to your computer.

Here is a list of activities which you should be doing instead:

• Invest in good antivirus software. Going online without the protection of antivirus software is like going out naked in the snow. That’s just how vulnerable an unprotected computer is.

• Most antivirus software packages include an internet security program (also known as firewall). A firewall acts as a barricade between you and unwanted content from the internet. When buying antivirus software, it’s better to shell out for the internet security as well.

• Once antivirus software is installed in your computer, keep it updated always so it can recognize and remove newly released viruses.

• Whatever browser you are using, check that its security settings are all in default unless you really know what you are doing.

• Periodically delete files that you no longer use.

• Download spyware- and adware-removal tools and run them at least once a week. Be warned that many of these removal programs are a scam, so make sure that what you download is reliable. You can easily search for product reviews to check if the program is legitimate or otherwise.

• Back up all your important files all the time.

• If possible, have two computers at home. One will be used to connect to the internet, and the other should not be connected at all. The second computer will act as storage of all your important files so that even if the first one crashes, your life won’t be in ruins.

Don’t be dependent on removal tools and antivirus software packages, though. A bit of prevention is always worth a megabyte of cure.

Have a great weekend!

Ed

 

Big Win for Internet Freedom

Thanks to your calls and letters, we took a major step forward this week in the fight for Internet freedom.

 

A bipartisan majority on the House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed the “Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act” — a good bill that would use antitrust law to protect Network Neutrality. Special thanks to those of you who called the key members who cast the deciding votes.

 

The question before us is simple: Will the Internet remain in the hands of users and innovators?  Or will a handful of telephone and cable companies determine which Web sites you see and which you don’t?  Yesterday’s vote — a milestone for our movement — would have been unthinkable just three weeks ago.  But we’ve shown once again that organized people can defeat powerful corporations.

 

Our opponents spent untold millions on high-priced lobbyists, slick ad campaigns and fake grassroots groups. But the voices of hundreds of thousands of citizens — your voices — made the difference.

 

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition led by Free Press now boasts nearly 700 groups that span the political spectrum, including MoveOn.org, the Christian Coalition, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Gun Owners of America, Consumers Union, and the American Library Association. Thousands of blogs have taken up our cause. Yesterday, the coalition’s petition drive surpassed 750,000 signatures.

 

Our top priority is increasing the number of people who know about this threat to Internet freedom.

 

One thing you can do right now: Get five friends to join the fight

 

The struggle in Congress isn’t over. The full House will take up the bipartisan Judiciary bill (H.R. 5417) — as well as the massive rewrite of the Telecom Act — after they return in June. The Senate is also considering major legislation that currently fails to protect Net Neutrality, though a bipartisan group of Senators are lining up behind the excellent Snowe-Dorgan bill (S. 2917).

 

 

Our work is not done. But momentum is on our side.

 

Stay tuned for futher updates on this subject when I get them.

 

Have a WONDERFUL Memorial Day Weekend!

 

Ed