New in Windows 7

Posted September 20, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: Computer programs, small business

Tags:

How to Migrate:

If you are currently running Windows XP and plan on purchasing a copy of Windows 7, there are tutorials available for upgrading or migrating.

Microsoft Windows Client Video Library takes you through the steps of using the migration tool available in XP.

How-To Geek shows another option, this one using Windows Easy Transfer and an external USB drive.

What’s New?

Built in back up program.

Pin programs to the taskbar so they are always available.

Easier window arrangement and management.

New version of Windows Media Center.

Aero Peek. Hover your mouse over the Show Desktop button. Open windows will be hidden with just an outline showing.

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7 Essential VA Tips for Small Business

Posted September 12, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: entrepreneurs, small business

Tags: , ,

Looking for specialized newsletters or how to stand out with social media? A virtual assistant has experience with both.

A VA will handle the personal side of your business also. Follow ups including thank you cards, gifts for special occasions, business dinners and arranging travel and accommodation for conferences are all part of what we do. Ask about concierge services.

Let your virtual assistant take over. Hire the best, pay them well and let them do what they are good at. A great VA will take your list of tasks, send you up dates and check in with you upon completion. Leave them alone to do their job so you can do yours.

The best virtual assistants think like entrepreneurs because they are entrepreneurs. To them, this is a business, not a job.

Look around for a team of assistants that work together. You will find everything you need in one place.

Shop locally, in your own country. These VA’s will know your business needs best.

Look for a team that has hourly invoicing as well as packages where you can select various services.1123376454_136168410c

Photo by Jeff Wilcox

Posted September 8, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

An educational system isn’t worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn’t teach them how to make a life!

Self-Learning or How to Succeed Despite a School Education

Posted August 31, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

Tags: , ,

Zen Habit’s Leo Babauta has a very timely post today on education in the schools.

When my first child was supposed to enter Kindergarden and I brought up the topic of home schooling with his soon to be teacher, she looked at me as if I were her enemy and proceeded to tell me that it was illegal and that if my son should not show up for school by Grade one, she would have the truant officer at my door. She went on to explain how the interaction with other children at school would  improve their social skills, which would affect their ability, later in life, to obtain the best jobs.

Three children and twenty years later, I look back and realize how wrong she was. My extremely polite and socially adept sons and daughter entered school as everything a parent wanted in their children at that age. They came out the other end when high school was over, totally confused about where their place was in this world.

Their manners and command of the English language had deteriorated; their self-esteem had taken a huge drop and many evenings over the years have been spent with them sitting down with me, looking for an alternate method of learning math skills in particular. They had, for the most part, every bit of curiosity drummed out of them. Schools do not teach you to learn on your own. For the most part, the teachers are only interested in keeping control of the group that is in their classroom at any particular time.

Slowly, since then, they have learned to think for themselves again. My younger son never really lost all of his intense wonder in everything which drove the teachers crazy when he was younger; one or two even smiled at his ideas with a look of nostalgia on their faces. My older son and daughter didn’t fare as well and it’s taken a few years of being out of the system for both of them to regain the interesting personalities they once had. All three came through without any of the major problems that are so common in younger people today.

Yes, the whole school system needs re-vamping. Our children need to learn that they have the capabilities at a very young age to create their own future.

Posted August 27, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

Who (or what) are you comparing yourself to?
http://ping.fm/QwkZ9

Posted August 25, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

Wearing my “Hockey Mom” hat all week..three of my 4 children at hockey camp! One participating, 2 working – priceless!

Posted August 20, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

Got Biz Idea? Tweet @Richard Branson http://ping.fm/Hzc5l

Posted August 18, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

Alternatives to Got To Meeting http://ping.fm/Bo7ej

Research in Motion

Posted August 18, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: Canadian business

Tags: ,

American business magazine Fortune has named BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion the world’s fastest-growing company. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Research In Motion reported that its quarterly profit was $643 million.

Canadian historian and author, Alastair Sweeny has compiled a corporate history of RIM. BlackBerry Planet: The Story of Research in Motion and the Little Device that Took the World by Storm is set to release in September.

From Forbes, a Brief History of the Blackberry.

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Web Conferencing – Beyond GoToMeeting

Posted August 17, 2009 by DemGen
Categories: small business

Tags:

One of our most popular posts several months ago was on web conferencing software. We had a short list of available options other than GotoMeeting. Today we’ve updated that list.

iLinc Web and Video Conferencing. Free trial. Mac and PC compatible, can be used for webinars, learning, support, meetings and audio conferencing.Integrates with CRM. This is the web conferencing solution the DemGen team currently uses.

For Microsoft fans, Microsoft Office Live Meeting.

30-day trial. Convenient for meetings, training and events. Integrates with other office products. Web access with  java for Mac and Linux.

Open Meetings

Something worth trying.
Open Source Web-Conferencing.Multi-language. GNU Lesser General Public License.

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