WHY AREN'T YOU USING A COMPUTER?
There's plenty of excuses you can come up with. From "...my business
is too
small at the moment" to "computers take too much time to learn."
You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Computers are for young minds.
I can't change now. I'm not sophisticated enough. It worked right for
me all these years and there is no reason to change now. Why fix something
that isn't broke? I could never work a computer. I can't even type
a letter
let alone, work one of "those things."
The list of excuses goes on and on.
Does it sound like you've come up with a good enough excuse yet? Perhaps
you
can turn this report into an exercise and try and dream up more.
However, the fact remains that all those excuses are only "myths."
YOU CAN
afford a computer and YOU CAN increase your productivity while increasing
your income _ ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
All you have to do is get a computer!
As a business owner you took many risks in starting your business.
You didn't
let opinioned people stop you. You didn't come up with excuses not
to start
your own business _ you just did it. What happened to that part of
you?
A computer is nothing more than an appliance. It doesn't know more
than you
do _ you control "it" and tell "it" what you want "it" to do. The only
problem is you have to understand how to make "it" work to YOUR advantage.
It's really not difficult. In fact _ it's fun!
Always remember that a computer is a stupid thing. It only knows what
"yes"
and "no" are. It only knows "on" and "off." As complex human beings
we not
only know "yes" and "no" but also "maybe." We know about "on" and "off"
but
we also know about "lukewarm." Since we think on multi-dimensional
planes
and a computer only knows two _ in reality WE are really SMARTER than
our
computer.
So stop being scared to join the electronic age. Call up a computer
store in
your area and start trying to locate a 1-week night class for beginners.
Or
better yet, locate a neighbor or family member who has computer knowledge
and get them to show you a few things one evening after work on their
home
computer. Play a few games on it. Feel comfortable in knowing that
you can
actually touch the keys and it won't blow up.
As a computer instructor in the late 1980's, most of my time was spent
in
training beginners. Computers were not quite as popular as they are
today
and everyone was "more" emotional about touching them. In order to
help my
students relax and learn how to work with their mouse I installed a
Solitaire game on each computer. I then allowed the students to "play"
the entire first and second day of classes.
Since most everyone already understands the concept of playing the
game of
Solitaire with regular cards, they immediately were introduced to something
they already felt comfortable with. So instead of concentrating on
how hard it was to work a mouse on a real-live computer system _ they
actually forgot
they had a mouse in their hands. Their concentration was deviated toward
the Solitaire game itself.
Once this wall of fear was broken _ students learned at astronomical
rates!
Believe me, if I can take a 62-year-old lady directly from typing with
a
manual typewriter to producing high-quality brochures and flyers in
WordPerfect 5.1 _ you can do it too!
One of the keys to learning is by having people-to-people instruction
for
a couple hours if you have never sat down at a computer before. Some
people
will require more people-to-people instruction before they feel comfortable,
while others may be able to do it all by themselves. (Gene Brown is
a mail
order friend of mine that did just that. He is a self-educated computer
operator and is now wondering "how" he did without his computer before.
Gene will be the first to tell you that he cannot believe the time
and
automation benefits having a computer has made to his business.)