This episode, however, is all about just what you can do to make a living these days. No, not the job itself, but the technology that sets you free. Previously a startup or freelancer would have to pay through the nose to look as professional, and respond as quickly as someone working for a large Enterprise. But that has all changed.

Still questions remain – should you hack things together with Free Open Source, or should you invest in Commercial Proprietary SW? What is the basic starting kit for anyone going out on their own? Is there a really a difference in Smartphone, or will all do the same job? Should you invest in a Virtual Office?

Not only does Jamesmcc tackle these life changing (well, certainly business changing) questions, but we interview a non-Geek: Peter Black, ex-PWC Consultant, turned Executive Coach.

So that’s Episode 8 of Technology for the Aussie Guy. If you enjoy, please tell another 3 people, if you didn’t, then ping us at tag@channel42.info or call me – you can find my contact details at http://rog42.tel

To keep up, this week James was talking up Digg again, and I’ve just finished reading “The Back of the Napkin”. More on that in another post.

as ever, send your comments, thoughts, and frustrations to tag@channel42.info

You can subscribe by clicking this link, or directly on iTunes.

Or you can just play the file from the web page.

See you on the Flipside

Coming Soon in Episode 9:

What is the best Mobile Phone Application? Rog42 and Jamesmcc will discuss the life saving, bacon saving, and saving graces of mobile phone apps. If you know of people that rave about their iPhone, or couldn’t give a Rats, this will be the episode for them to listen to.

They are password protected to protect the confidentiality of our ideas, please DM me on Twitter or email me for the password.

Team	Pitch
Faarms	http://www.vimeo.com/7466557
Vice Versa Reality	http://www.vimeo.com/7466898
Twin Cities	http://www.vimeo.com/7506637
Mobeseek	http://www.vimeo.com/7506428
I Hate Shopping	http://www.vimeo.com/7506159
Strine	http://www.vimeo.com/7507412
Big Richard	http://www.vimeo.com/7507117
Arcadia	http://www.vimeo.com/7506895
Nibble	http://www.vimeo.com/7518588
Global Mobile	http://www.vimeo.com/7518301
Chance Too	http://www.vimeo.com/7518039
Hopshopper	http://www.vimeo.com/7505889
GrowSME	http://www.vimeo.com/7504641

Team	Critique
Faarms	http://www.vimeo.com/7466752
Vice Versa Reality	http://www.vimeo.com/7510418
Twin Cities	http://www.vimeo.com/7516639
Mobeseek	http://www.vimeo.com/7606008
I Hate Shopping	http://www.vimeo.com/7517079
Strine	http://www.vimeo.com/7512921
Big Richard	http://www.vimeo.com/7510626
Arcadia	http://www.vimeo.com/7515899
Nibble	http://www.vimeo.com/7512592
Global Mobile	http://www.vimeo.com/7511047
Chance Too	http://www.vimeo.com/7510861
Hopshopper	http://www.vimeo.com/7512291
GrowSME	http://www.vimeo.com/7516245

And of course Tim Parson’s 2 Minutes of Power

Enjoy.

To make a baby then, all you need is:

• Nine months
• A man, a woman, a room with a clear wall
• Big Lungs

Feel free to head over to David’s site, and let him know that Rog42 in Australia sent you

We answer all of these questions and more.

Also, we’ve decided to change our name, from Technology for the Average Guy to Technology for the Aussie Guy.

1. We felt it just increasingly difficult to talk about technology without getting technical – we’re technologists at heart.
2. We continued to struggle to identify just who is “average” anyway
3. We’re hooking up with http://strine.net.au; a new Australian Social Media news site – check them out

We’ve also changed our final segment from Follow, Listen, and Read to Keeping Up!

Simply put, we just starting running out of people to Follow, Listen to, and Read for every episode. So we thought it made far more sense to continue to highlight how we keep up, and people/publications of interest.

Keeping up this episode then:

• James: data.australia.gov.au
• Nick: Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly
• Rog42: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

That’s it for Episode 7 – we really do hope you enjoy the podcast, and we’re making the right changes, as ever, send your comments, thoughts, and frustrations to tag@channel42.info

You can subscribe by clicking this link, or directly on iTunes.

Or you can just play the file from the web page.

See you on the Flipside

Coming Soon in Episode 8

Technology and Tools for Free Lancers – do you run your own business, consult, or contract for someone else? What are the technologies and tools that make your life easier, more profitable, or even possible…

I tend to read at night, the last thing I do before going to sleep; no matter how late it is, or how early I have to be up in the morning. I alternate self-development/professional skills books, with fiction, and probably get through about 4 – 6 books a month, just more than 1 a week. With “The E-Myth” I found that I couldn’t wait to read the next chapter. In itself that’s a little unusual for a business book, but it just reads so well, and I resonated with the content so intimately.

The tagline is “Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About it” and the preface mentions what we know, and what it seems everyone wants to tell us: 80% of small businesses will fail in the first year, and of the remainder, another 80% will fail within 5 years. These are US figures, but I suspect they’re not overly different from most of the western world.

Michael Gerber, the author, runs a company now, called The E-Myth, and has consulted with thousands of businesses in hundreds of countries, in dozens of industries. His observations are consistent across these wildly different businesses, started by diverse people from different ethnicities, backgrounds, personalities, languages and in different markets.

His message is simple: The E-Myth, or Entrepreneur Myth, is that great businesses are started by someone with a good technical skill, be that a baker, plumber, or programmer. They’ve reached some inflection in their life, have struck out on their own, rather than working for “the man”, and struck gold. This is a myth!

Which is why 8 out of 10 businesses will fail within a year, and 96 out of 100 within five.

It’s also why, even many successful small business owners work far longer hours, hate much of their working day, and don’t actually make that much money. In fact many of them would be happy to go back and work for “the man.”

The book is written allegorically. You follow the progress of Susan, a Pie shop owner. Although the author also uses metaphor extensively. Hence the really quick and compelling read. Most of all, what he says just makes sense, a crystallisation of what you already know.

The book does allude indirectly to Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits” (another must read), especially around habit #1, Be Proactive.

The book postulates that there are three approaches to every business, or within every business person: The Technician (baker, plumber, programmer), the Manager, and the Entrepreneur. Every business has work for all three, and needs to be lead by the Entrepreneur, not the Technician (focussed on the content of the business) or the Manager (focussed on the processes in the business).

He illustrates a successful small businesses owner by using Ray Kroc, whom modelled McDonalds as a franchise. This way you could hire the lowest competent workers, because your business processes had been documented to a tee, which anyone could follow. Managers just need to ensure that Employees follow the processes, and you, the Entrepreneur can focus on growing your business. New products, new markets, better customer service, more innovation.

Here’s where I disagreed. But only academically, and only in my personal circumstance. I don’t want to have to create a gazillion operations manuals, covering every eventuality of my business, but would rather hire smart people with autonomy and creativity.

I do take his point, however, that the lowest competent person is industry specific, so if you’re starting a surgery, you still need doctors, but with good processes, you don’t need the smartest doctors available. I also take the point, from my recent exhausting experience, that there is just waay too much for one person to do.

The book is a must read for anyone starting a business, or running a small business. I’d recommend it as required reading for anyone in an outplacement program, or on a business course.

If you’ve read the E-Myth, or been to the site, and wondered if anyone in Australia can help you, there are a couple I’d recommend.

First is a good friend of mine, mentor, and business colleague, Janet Horton. She has extensive experience in starting, running,  and consulting to businesses of all sizes. She runs a consulting company called Handspring Consulting.

Together with a partner, she has recently started an organisation, “Two Heads Advisory Services,” to help small businesses grow. Although clearly she will be providing a lot more depth and assistance, the premise of Two Heads is based on the E-Myth. Janet recently featured on the BTalk podcast about Making Goals Work.

Another is Peter Black, who was my outplacement consultant and consults for DBM. As part of this program, he runs a Starting your Own Business Course, and a coaching company called, Peter Black Coaching.

I’d be delighted to facilitate an introduction to either/both Janet and Peter.

Enjoy the book. Also available as an Audible Audio Book. If you have an MP3 player, this is a great option

This week we talk about video, for personal and business use, from capture to distribution. All you need to know (and probably a lot that you don’t) to select your equipment, thoughts about shooting and editing, and how to get it onto a computer or TV for people to enjoy.

Video has been one of my passions for the last 9 years or so. From MiniDV to AVCHD and everything in-between, I’ve produced videos for training, proposals, enterprise clients like HP and Vodafone, church, and of course family. From vox-pop videos on my phone, to interactive stories on stage. There’s a couple of really basic tips that will change your video to looking professional rather than looking like a home video. We’ll cover these.

If you listen to people speak, you’d be mistaken to believe that you have to have a Mac to produce video. You’d be wrong. Although Final Cut Pro on the Mac is widely used in commercial circles, so is Adobe Premiere (now in CS4) and Sony Vegas Platinum Pro. Premiere has versions for both the Mac and the PC. Vegas is only available on PC. The truth is, most people will be using a Consumer or Prosumer product (not having budgets that stretch to >$1000 just for software), and in this price range there is more choice on the PC platform than the Mac.

Of course if you’re like most people, your computer won’t be a dedicated video production facility, but likely used for more tasks. In fact chances are that you’ll be connecting to business systems. With this in mind, the PC platform provides the most versatility, not to mention value for money – especially now with Windows 7. So don’t agree to feel like a 2nd class citizen because you produce video on a PC. The computer, like the camera, the software, and the lights are just tools. Learn how to use them well, and have fun producing video.

This week’s FLR:

James:

• Follow – @Digg_tech
• Listen - Diggnation
• Read - Digg.com

Nick:

• Follow -@TathamOddie
• Listen – The Home Server Show
• Read – MobileJaw.com

Rog42

• Follow – @TheDVShow
• Listen – TechNation with Moira Gun
• Read - Technation Australia

As ever please email your questions, thoughts, comments, suggestions, and angry arguments to tag@channel42.info

You can subscribe to the TAGCast at http://tinyurl.com/TAG-C42

or directly on iTunes at http://tinyurl.com/TAG-C42-iT

I would also like to acknowledge this week’s tune “Slowly Divide” by Powderburn. Note, I did speed up the track a bit.

Enjoy, and see you on the flipside…

Being a start-up and (yet) a small business, a particular session caught my eye: The Connected Business, to be delivered by Iggy Pintado, one of the “25th most connected people in Australia.” It was there that I met Iggy, one of the Real Tweeple , and bought a copy of his book “Connection Generation.”

It’s interesting, I’ve been using “Gen C”, as the subsequent to “Gen Y” for some time. “C” for Connection, and I’ve read a number of blogs, listened to a number of podcasts about this generation. Iggy’s book sums it up succinctly, and reminds me of a TED Talk I heard on the subject. The difference with this “Connected Generation” is that it is the first that isn’t purely chronological, but comprises people from the pre-boomers, “Baby Boomers”, “Gen X”, and “Gen Y.”

What I liked about Connection Generation is that it defines the various stages of involvement with Connection Technologies, and ensuing behaviours. Not only with people, but connections to information as well.

The reality is that one can’t escape the pervasiveness of the technology. According to Nielson, 25% of Australia’s Internet usage for June 2009 was directed at Facebook – that is a phenomenal statistic. It’s not bad, it’s not unproductive, it’s not about distraction, but it is an indication of how we as a species are wired to connect, and technologies that enable that, the telegraph, phone, fax, radio & TV, email, mobile phone, and now the so-called “Social Media” technologies, very quickly become endemic. So as we can’t escape it, then why the tension? Why the BBQ conversations that start with “I just don’t get Twitter!” and the corporations that ban Facebook? Here’s where the book explains 5 different Connection Levels of individuals and groups, how to identify them, and the behaviours they exhibit: Basic, Passive, Selective, Active and Super!

Once I understood the groupings, I found it relatively simple to “profile” someone, which immediately allowed me to tailor my conversation. There’s no point in arguing the benefits of Twitter to a Basic Connector, better to encourage the relationship (Winners of Arguments are losers of friends), and perhaps gently influence them to the next level, the Passive Connector.

Although “Gen C” is not chronological, there are more people from “Gen Y” represented, merely because they’ve grown up with ubiquitous technology. So whilst there will always be Basic’s and Passive’s, these groupings will diminish relatively over time. Check out this hilarious video on just how amazing life is, everyday, and how much we take it forgranted.

The book also goes into more detail about the behaviours of all connection behaviours, and there are more acronyms or mnemonics than you can poke a stick at –

• The “ABC’s of Connection – Attitude, Behaviour, Context
• The “Three ‘R’s’ of Why Connect – Reason, Relationship, and Return
• PLAN steps to managing connections – Personalise, Listen, Activate, Nurture
• HITS the online profile of connection – Hunt, Interact, Test/Trial, Share
• GROUP how to be successful with online groups – Gather, Regulate, Organise, Unite, Participate
• The four ‘P’s’ of (successful)Online Connection – Purpose, Profile, Participate, Persist
• SCAN the factors of connected businesses – SMART Goals, Customer Focus, Accessible, Nimble – and –
• OPEN the key steps to managing connected groups – Opportunity, Participate, Engage, Network

Personally I found the book rather basic, and found myself scanning over chapters and reading ahead. Many of the concepts, although clearly explained, and illustrated with anecdotes from all chronological generations, seemed too detailed. Of course I appreciate that I’m not the target audience for the book, rather it’s aimed at “newbies” to this Social Media explosion (whatever their Connection Profile); nevertheless I did get a lot of value from reading it.

I also felt there were too many acronyms, or lists. These make great presentation frameworks, but as a book tend to be overwhelming. Having said that, in doing this review, I can see that using the book as a reference, something to go back to when planning a campaign, or considering tactics in a communications strategy, this approach is helpful.

The Connection Generation is a quick read, and I would recommend it to everyone, who….  ….well, I guess everyone really. If you’re active on Facebook, but don’t get Flickr or Twitter; if you just have a mobile “to be contacted in emergencies,” or if you’re Scott Monty, the head of Social Media for Ford; you’ll get value from this book.

If you’re interested in this book, you’ll also be interested in works by Seth Godin (Purple Cow etc – check out his Tribes talk at TED); Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, Tipping Point); and perhaps even Robert Cialdini (Influence! – the Psychology of Persuasion)

Do head over to Iggy’s site, check out, and order the book, connect with him on Twitter, oh, and please say Rog42 sent you

This morning, I received my very own host pack for the Windows 7 Launch Houseparty….

I suspect the party will be more about the BBQ, wine, and maybe even XBox360 (Rockband anyone) – but we’ll definitely use those napkins

For better or worse, the computer developed, projected visual aid presentation has become a big part of this. (Read Powerpoint, Keynote, etc) and there is much debate as to whether this is an effective method. I won’t bore you with that debate here. Of course it is!

Not, however, as method, but as visual aid. And then, only when used well!!

In the last 24 hours I have delivered 3 presentations, and seen another 5. It was interesting to watch 2 Pitch presentations this morning at the “Coming to America” entrepreneurial event. Both promising start-up companies, both having done 2 years plus research and development, both looking for about the same money, both with a potential consumer market that reached the millions, if not billions. Yet they received very different reactions.

One was questioned about a number of issues: Distribution, Market, Vision, Competition, all questions that should have been answered in their presentation. In fact, I seem to recall slides that explained some of their answers on the very topics. But they hadn’t answered the questions for the panel, despite their slides explaining these at great length.

The second received about 3 questions of the “give me some more detail?” and “what makes you assume this?” variety. They were actually offered a cheque (pity the VC was in San Francisco at the time).

So what was the big difference?

Well there were a number of differences, in the way the 2nd team structured their presentation, pre-empted questions, built rapport, and…

…effectively used their visual aids.

The biggest difference in the slides? Words!

Or rather, lack of them! The first was what we call “death by bullet point!” Slide after slide of 8 – 10 bulleted sentences. The second used imagery that evoked emotions or highlighted key relationships and information. What’s interesting is they both had the same time, shared the same amount of information (actually the second presentation shared more) yet one answered the questions and influenced their audience and the other, despite all of the information on the screen, didn’t!

What’s interesting to me, after 20 years of consulting and managing consultants, and delivering presentations from team meetings to international technical conferences, is that this is almost a mindset. It’s as if people who’re determined to fill a screen with text just won’t consider another way to do this. It’s the “way things are done.” I’ve coached consultants, cajoled fellow managers, worked with sales people, directors, teachers, trainers, executives. Some, willing to learn, get an “aha” moment, the switch flips and they start a journey to “Presentation Zen” (which in my experience doesn’t end), whilst others (most) trot out the usual responses:

“That’s just touchy-feely stuff, this is serious business!”

(yep, and the serious pitch got questions, the touchy-feely one got $$)

“I need to remember what to talk about”

(Really? Then you haven’t prepared enough, or shouldn’t be doing this presentation)

or my personal favourite:

“This is a reference document for later”

(There’s a tool for that. It’s called a word processor)

Seriously. Think of the most influential presentations of all time: “I have a dream”, “We will fight them on the beaches”, “Yes, we can” or the most influential presentations in your personal experience: “Inconvenient Truth”, “9/11”, or “that bloke who sold me our house” (I infer that was serious to you). Chances are, they didn’t use 63 slides with bulleted text.

I’ve been privileged recently to be a student on the MEGA program. In NSW this is facilitated (brilliantly) by Tim Parsons. It’s been a great experience, and again, I’m challenged, inspired, and humbled by this group of people delivering increasingly great presentations. I discovered, however, that Tim delivered a presentation on Self-publishing, and I personally think it’s a great presentation, which I wanted to share here: