"Helping Your Business Fly"
Issue 28

[Editor's Note: Please excuse the lateness of the newsletter
this time. I have been blessed with an unusually heavy work-load,
recently, and am slowly catching up.]

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. FLIGHT LINES: Actions Today Yield Results
2. WING TIPS: Windows XP - Transfer Your Old Data
3. FEATURE ARTICLE: Eat Your Spinach
4. ALTER EAGLE: The Newbie Club - An Award-Winning Site
5. EAGLE'S TALON: TreeSize v1.61 (315k) - FREE Utility
6. FROM THE BENCH: Just a note on an upcoming series
7. EYE OF THE EAGLE: On a fine sunny day...
8. CONTACT THE FLYER: Send questions, comments and articles

1) ======= Flight Lines =======
[Observations on business and life]

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. --Thomas Carlyle

Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen. --Peter Marshall

While planning your distant business future, be sure to "connect the dots". List the actual steps you need to take to get from "now" to "then", and follow through.

2) ======= Wing Tips =======
[A variety of business helps and tips]

Windows XP - Transfer Your Old Data

Windows XP Professional offers a utility called the "File and Settings Transfer Wizard" for moving your old data to your new system.

First, you run the tool on your old machine and it archives the data to be transferred. Then you simply move to your new machine and run the wizard again. The data is transferred automatically.

[Of course you will need to have both machines connected on a network, or with a data transfer cable.]

Be aware that you will need to install your programs on the new machine, prior to using the wizard, and be sure to test your new setup after completion, to insure that you don't lose any data or settings.

And as always, protect your all-important data with a good backup [on separate media] BEFORE you start!

3) ======= Feature Article =======

"Eat Your Spinach" - By Ralph Moore

Have you ever heard that before? I have! My mom used to tell me "Eat your spinach - It's good for you." It wasn't so much that I disliked the stuff as it was that I EXPECTED it to taste awful.

Whenever the subject of food would come up among my school-aged friends, spinach always seemed to garner a sort of universal disdain. Nevertheless, as a result of my mother's persistence, I eventually came to include the vegetable on my list of edible foods. Now I can truly say that I LIKE it!

In the course of running my business, I have found some "spinach" items that I have to contend with. Certain tasks, although necessary, sometimes end up on the "back-burner", for as long as possible.

Just like a lot of small business owners, I take care of my own "books". I use an excellent accounting program called QuickBooks, by Intuit, makers of "Turbo Tax" and other fine programs. The software works great... does more than I could ask for. But, unfortunately for me, I first have to ENTER the information into the program. I would rather eat spinach.

For some reason, it's just not something I like to do. I often find that the papers are piling up for weeks, or longer, before I force myself to sit down and punch the numbers into the keyboard.

Of course, I know that there are many reasons to take care of such things as they arise. For example, I can quickly check to see if I am spending too much, or too little, on a particular expense area, such as advertising.

Here are some more reasons and benefits to help you roll up your sleeves and get started on those dreaded chores:

There may not be anyone else qualified or available to do the work.

Some tasks, such as accounting, may expose sensitive information and create a business security risk.

Many items that you "put off" are vitally important to proper functioning of your business, and a prerequisite to other work.

Resolving these difficult issues, quickly, paves the way for doing your best work on those parts of your business that you enjoy.

Taking care of problem areas builds self-confidence in your ability to handle whatever crisis might arise in the future, and sets an example for your employees.

Doing these things may assure your customers that you will be able to help them with challenging situations that impact their care and support.

So whenever you find yourself avoiding some specific project, remember what you might stand to gain, and get busy.

And on behalf of all of the mothers out there, don't forget to eat your spinach!

Ralph Moore is the editor of the FREE Eagle Flyer Newsletter, which offers "How To Technology and Tips That Can Multiply Your Business Online". To subscribe to the Eagle Flyer and receive a FREE report, visit: Eagleflyer.com

4) ======= Alter Eagle =======
[Products and services that we recommend]

The Newbie Club - An Award-Winning Site

I highly recommend this website for "newbies" and pros alike. A very comprehensive help site, Tom Glander and Joe Robson have excelled at making the difficulties of technology easy and understandable for anyone wanting to learn.

This could be the very last help site you'll need to visit!

Newbie Club

5) ======= Eagle's Talon =======
[Tools to help you "get a grip" on things]

TreeSize v1.61 (315k) - FREE Utility

Every hard disk is too small if you just wait long enough. TreeSize tells you where precious space has gone to.

TreeSize can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders.

Getting rid of unused files, or moving large files and directories to offline storage, can dramatically speed up your system and reduced potential conflicts.

This is a handy utility for hard drive maintenance.

Download:
TreeSize

6) ======= From The Bench =======
[Real-life accounts of hardware, software and more]

Just a note this week. I am in the process of releasing a series of articles on "Practical Security for Small Business".

The first article in the series will be featured in the next edition of the newsletter.

7) ======= Eye of the Eagle =======
[Ideas to help you think creatively]

On a fine sunny day, a boat was in the harbor. All of a sudden the boat began to sink. There was no storm and nothing wrong with the boat yet it sank right in front of the spectators eyes. What caused the boat to sink?

(Answer in the next issue of the Flyer)

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Answer to Last Month's Puzzler...

[What six letter English word contains ten other words without re-arranging any of the letters?]

The word is "spared", and contains spa, spar, spare, pa, par, pare, pared, are, re, and red.

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