November, 2006

It all started with just a few pretty graphs from our server using Awstats. It told me how many hits we had, what pages, and a few more details.

But it wasn't enough to keep me coming back to it daily. Then I came across Wordpress GeoTrack and spent a weekend getting it up and running on my website. My gradual addiction started.

Every day I would look at my GeoTrack page to see which visitors around the world came to my humble site. But it wasn't enough. This led me to Google Analytics — GeoTrack on steroids. Simply amazing. If my website doesn't show some improvements with all of this detail, I should get out of the web world.

But as addictions go, I still didn't have enough. My latest fix is Crazyegg – it's Heatmap feature is the eye candy that Google Analytics lacks. Very nice. I'm on the hunt for more web crack. So please, push more my way!

This is a video about creating a strategy that standardizes your practice while incorporating online collaboration tools. If you haven't already done this already, you should soon! (narration done by Mr White).

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The quickest way to learn life's lessons is to travel or start a business. These are just a few I learned with my first business, Trematon UK Ltd.

1. Have a good accountant - if you can afford to hire someone part time to maintain your books, its an excellent investment. Don't be afraid to sack your "CFO" if they are no good. A bad accountant can run a business in the ground. Or worse, it can take years to recover from a year of bad books.
2. Be prepared to do every role in the business - from cleaning the loo's to sealing up the $1M deals, you have to do it all. So be prepared to drop the plunger and go shake on a deal all in the matter of minutes.
3. Read a book about - be sure to read up on the following subjects
• small business accounting
• sales and negotiation,
• marketing
4. Co-locate rather than host - if you have the IT knowledge, get your own server and co-locate rather than pay for hosting services. It gives you power over your IT which you WILL need eventually.
5. Your Accountants and IT Services are your best friend - they have the power to make or break your business, so stay in the good and ALWAYS know what they're up to.
6. Be your business's best sales person - if you can't sell the business, no one can. It's the only way to get ahead.
7. Always know what the competition is doing - and befriend their employees. Take them for a beer. You'll learn a lot. And they may come to work for you one day.
8. Take advantage of the freebies - there's so many free ways to market your business online. Here's just a few
• Create an account on Myspace
• Network through LinkedIn
• Keep a Blog about your business
• Submit your blog entries to Digg
• Make a video about your business and submit it to YouTube.
9. Join a lot of clubs and network - and don't just be a member, take control. Give speeches and become known as the expert.
10. Be a master of creativity - always pursue a different perspective on your business to develop creative ideas. I use the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. model to view my business differently (substitue, combine, adapt, modify, maximize, or minimize)

Tomorrow is election day in America. In my home state of South Dakota, there are a number of issues filling the ballot. There's the very hot topics of abortion, medicinal marijuana, same sex marriage, and taxes on cell phones and cigarettes.

These are all very important topics, and there's been heavy discussion on all of these issues. So I'll write about another concern — getting Steve Kolbeck the job of Public Utilities Commissioner.

With a career heavily involved in the Internet and modern communications, it's important to me to see someone with future vision and an understanding of modern technology in that role. Yes, I'm friends with Steve. We went to high school together. But that doesn't automatically win my vote.

If you read Kolbeck's profile, you'll quickly realize that he's a man of vision who understands modern technology. His opponent, , John Koskan, on the other hand, doesn't even have Internet in his home or a cell phone. So Koskan's main campaign push is wind energy. But he is using the "wind energy" cause to veil his true objective of building nuclear power plants in South Dakota. He is a strong supporter of nuclear energy and sponsored SB165 providing $450,000 tax dollar expenditure on nuclear energy research. Mr Koskan unapprised views on the dangers of nuclear energy concern me with statements such as "Chernobyl is almost humorous". He wants to put South Dakotans in harms way for the benefit of exporting energy to other states.

Voting for Koskan will be a vote against South Dakotans. Kolbeck has my full support tomorrow. He has what it takes to do the job and take South Dakota into a technology future that will create jobs and grow the state's economy. Good luck Sudsy!

Today is my birthday - the perfect time to quickly reflect back on my 30-something years of life and see what I accomplished. Over the course of time, accomplishments feel too few and far between, but unfolded on a few lines in a blog, it might look like a lot more. I'll only account for milestones achieved in my adult years. (why include the blue ribbon prize at the State Fair?) 1989: Dedicated my second year at university towards learning German and winning a scholarship to study overseas. 1990: won the scholarship and moved to Germany for a year. 1990 - 91: learned German, traveled Europe, and found my true calling. 1992: Passed my GSAT and got accepted to graduate school. 1993: Graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Arts, Minor in Business. Started Business School. 1994 (spring): Got my MBA and MIS and launched a recycling program at my university town. 1994 (summer): Road tripped to California where I lived on the beach and recovered from grad school. 1994 (fall) - 1996: Road tripped across the US again. Moved to Washington DC to work on a Pentagon program to get rid of nuclear weapons in the Former Soviet Union. Also helped kids in underprivileged DC neighborhoods with programs like midnight basketball. 1996: worked for the US Olympic Games in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia. 1997: Started with Microsoft Dynamics (formally known as Great Plains). Began their US consulting group and lived in Boulder, Colorado. Taught myself how to snowboard. 1998: Lived with a Cuban family in Havana to learn more about the country and it's people. Fell in love with the place. 1998: Traveled to the middle east for the first time. 1999: Moved to London, UK, to launch Microsoft's European based consulting practice. 2000: Expanded consulting practice across Europe, traveled to Venezuela, and countless other places. 2001: Expanded practice to India and the Pacific. Visited Viet Nam and many more places. 2002: Met my best friend and future husband. Traveled to China, Australia, and across the US. Launched my first business, Orbit8 Wireless, in London. 2003: Expanded business, taught myself a new world of technologies and got our first clients. 2004: Business growing even more. Branched out in more consulting practices. Traveled around some more. 2005: Got married in Bali. Introduced the in-laws and had a great party in the US. 2006: Excellent opportunity called us to the US. Started business State-side and made it through a really tough year. Which brings me to present day. And it doesn't stop there. I have some fantastic ideas on how I can expand on these valuable experiences in ways that will benefit others across the globe. My goals are trivial, but nothing worth while is.