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And more often than not, George’s information
– though useful and definitive – was simple at its core. A few
keystrokes, or a quick primer on troubleshooting the problem at
hand, usually was all it took to resolve my issues. While the cost
wasn’t exorbitant, the time spent reaching this would-be sage –
and asking him about what ultimately was a simple solution – would
have been better spent on more profitable endeavors.
After all, time is money. And in the
small business world, both often are in short supply. And man,
don’t I feel sheepish every time I bug him about something that
(once it’s resolved) was so simple that even an adolescent,
on his or her first PC, could have figured it out?
In my almost 10 years of writing about small
business management and IT issues, I’ve found that entrepreneurs
take on dual roles as IT consumer and IT manager. The former
is much revered.
When systems are running smoothly, the PC has
proven itself the power tool of the small business. It allows one
person or a handful of workers to multitask and perform seamlessly
the functions essential to the operations of the modern business.
The latter, on the other hand, can be much
reviled. When systems fail, even those small businesses with an
employee overseeing IT are limited by that staffer’s knowledge –
or lack thereof – regarding technology and troubleshooting issues.
Or, these small business owners are at the mercy of the computer
consultant’s availability and fee.
If I may, a quick, telling tale about IT
support: A company’s computer system fails. The owner calls in a
consultant, who looks at the system, taps a few keys and fixes the
problem on the spot. He then hands the business owner a bill for
$500. The business owner is aghast. “But you only hit a few keys
and fixed my problem,” he pleaded. “I charge $5 for hitting the
keys,” the consultant said, “and $495 for knowing which keys to
hit.”
That’s where What Your Computer Consultant
Doesn’t Want You to Know comes in. Joshua Feinberg knows which
keys you can hit to solve your own IT problems. He has
condensed more than a decade spent at IT help desks and small
business back offices into 288 information-packed pages of tips,
insights and plain old common sense. Just flipping through the pages
I can see scores of ideas that, if implemented, will serve me well
in my future computing. This book has earned its place on my
reference desk beside my golden Rolodex, tattered dictionary and
thesaurus. I might even call it “George.”
So I ask again, “Where was this book when I
was setting up and managing my own small business computer
system?” Luckily for today’s small business owner, “George”
now comes in paperback.
Jeff Zbar
www.chiefhomeofficer.com
Small business columnist, author, advocate and speaker
U.S. Small Business Administration 2001
Small Business Journalist of the Year
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