Wayne's Small Biz Tech Blog

Gut & Anxiety, Who Knew?

Be forewarned, I'm going to stray away from business and technology in today's post.

My daughter has had anxiety issues. We're not talking about the "nervous about the test in school" variety. We're talking about off the persistence and severity scale. I believe her record was about 7 hours at a level 10 as we drove her around Las Vegas while visiting family from 10:00 PM to 5:30 AM. We're talking about your above average anxiety, or so I thought.

My wife and I have been dealing with this for four years, so we've ventured down many paths trying to solve this problem. We've tried:

• .. to Ignore it, it will go away (it didn't, it got worse)
• School intervention (made it worse)
• Medication (made her worse and suicidal)
• Children's Hospital (recommended a blood test and Prilosec, not much help here)
• Nutritionist (got her to understand how important protein is)
• Therapy (good on coping skills)

While the therapy helped with her coping mechanisms, the anxiety persisted and still at extremely high levels. My wife Anita has long thought that the solution was food related. She didn't get much support on this from any of the medical experts. I was skeptical, too.

About two months ago (Jan. 24th to be exact) we had lost hope. Four years is a long time to deal with an issue like this, and it had integrated itself into every aspect of our life. Getting any sleep before midnight was just not any part of our reality. A meal at a restaurant? There were few we could go to, and even those we would end up paying for it that night with an excessive attack.

Anita had been talking to our daughter-in-law Julie, who recommended the GAPS diet. It stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome. Initially skeptical, she won me over when she said, "If kids acted the way they do today 40 years ago, they would be institutionalized". The definition of what was once called a mental illness had somehow become the new 'normal' for many children, within my lifetime. It was time to give this a try, what did we have to lose?

GAPS is not a "diet" as in a way to lose weight. It's a lifestyle change:

• No grains (corn, bread, flour, etc.)
• No starches (rice, potatoes, etc.)
• No sugar
• Nothing "processed"
• Only Organic

We have seen more progress in the last 4 weeks than in all of the last 4 years! My wife is out tonight on a Mom's night out (they do crafts or something!) and my daughter is sleeping. This was not even a remote possibility before GAPS. My daughter who was underweight, has gained weight and is now a low end 'healthy weight' and gaining. I've lost 3" around my waist. My wife is losing weight (again though, GAPS is NOT a weight loss program!) and looking GREAT.

GAPS is all about food allergies and avoiding processed food and pesticides found in a lot of today's food chain. My daughter constantly had dark circles under her eyes. I recently learned that this is an indication of a food allergy. Not one Doctor told us this. My daughter is sensitive to corn (its in everything processed, it seems), milk, and probably soy. She no longer has those dark circles since we started GAPS. I recently read to Kindergarten children as a part of a Rotary project. There were a lot of kids with those dark circles in the class I read to.

We did have had one setback, we introduced dairy into her diet in too large a quantity and all at once. Prayer got us through that. Thank you Pastor Myron!

Our grocery costs have gone up substantially because of the organics and grain alternatives, but we budget this gladly. If that's the price to pay for having a 'normal' family life, its a small price to pay. Anita and I started this diet to support our daughter. I don't think we could ever go back. Do the research yourself and make your own conclusions. I recommend you Google 'GMO hazards, 'corn fed beef vs grass fed beef',and 'corn allergies in children' (see http://www.cornallergens.com/symptoms/corn-allergy-symptoms.php.  I believe it relates to many of today's childhood illnesses now requiring medication).

GAPS has been a life changer for us. I recently realized our situation was in no way unique, although we thought it was. We felt no one could help, understood the problem, and few, if any, had experienced or were going through what we were. If you know someone that might benefit from GAPS, please pass this on.

Thank you.

Tech (Patent) Wars

In case you missed it, the big Tech News this week is that Apple is suing HTC, the makers of the Nexus Onesmart phone, for patent infringement. The Nexus One utilizes Google's Android 2.1 operating system software. Google is not named in the suit even though most of the patents named are related to the operating system, not the hardware.

The suit claims HTC violated 20 of Apple's patents, some recent, most 10 years old or more. Most of the patents are broadly defined ("Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image") or quite basic (conserving power by reducing voltage).

Most companies these days build large portfolios of patents. Most use them in countersuit situations, like Apple is doing in it's own patent infringement defense against Nokia. What makes this case disturbing is that Apple appears to be simply using the much smaller HTC to strike at its former friend Google. A direct attack against Google would be much more difficult and costlier simply because Google has a larger war chest and bigger guns than HTC.

Apple is just your basic schoolyard bully in this case. It should be noted that Apple has a good number of "innovations" that were simply features borrowed and extended royalty-free from pre-existing technologies (google: Xerox GUI Apple).

Even more surprising in this case is that Apple is tarnishing their image while giving the Nexus One and Droid free publicity. A lot of the techie's that are driving the smart phone market are taking a good long look at the Nexus One now, just to see what Apple is so afraid of. It just might be better than the iPhone!

In my opinion Apple has never been that nice little company their ads like to portray so well. I believe Apple is what everyone accuses Microsoft of being, only worse. Look for the Anti-Trust suits to start against Apple in the near future.

Hopefully Apple doesn't have a patent on "Using a Hand-based Extremity to Strike a Group of Alphabet Labeled Objects to Create Text Images on a Screen". Hmmm, maybe I should go see a patent lawyer ...

We Work For God

The sign was a simple one, right below where the cash register sat on the counter. My wife smiled and pointed at it as she went to pay for her items. I smiled back with a nod.

"We Work for God", it said. We had visited the little hobby shop several times and had come to know the owner a little. He was a tall, big shouldered, man yet very mild mannered. Sort of like if Clark Kent had chosen to sell toys and hobbies instead of being a reporter.

Each time we spoke, it was becoming apparent that the economy was taking a toll. The building his store was in had just been sold. He said that while business was good, the "For Sale" sign that had been up for many months had hurt sales. The new landlord, he told us, was not flexible and the rents in the area too expensive for a business like his. He was closing the store at the end of January, for a variety of reasons, and moving out of the area.

Lists of major stress factors usually include moving and job changes. Yet somehow, this guy seemed to be as stress free as anyone I've ever met. Didn't complain about the situation. He wasn't running around the place frantically. He tended to the customers as friendly and helpful as ever. I briefly met his wife and she was just as calm. I wondered how they both held it all together.

My daughter started collecting nutcrackers last Christmas. The toy and hobby shop had two large plaster nutcrackers outside the door. Since the store was closing, I asked if they were for sale. They were, but I would have to pick them up later in the week. When I arrived to pick them up the store owner asked if my wife and I liked the sign. He noticed our acknowledgment of the sign. I told him we did and were happy to see the sign. In this part of the country a positive sign about God is rare. I told him we had been looking for a good church in the area since we moved here and he referred us to exactly what we were looking for.  We had a brief, but very interesting, conversation.

We talked about how he had lost his daughter in a car accident a few years ago. Losing his store location didn't even rate on the same scale. Just like when he lost his daughter, his faith would get him and his wife through this. There were things out of his control and it was best to not worry about them. No matter what, everything would work out.

Our discussion reminded me about the final doctor visit I brought my father to. I had checklists of my dad's medications. I had an Excel spreadsheet of questions. I wanted to know more about his pain medications and how much he should have. I wanted them to demonstrate to me how to give him his Heparin shots, to make sure I was doing it correctly. Instead the doctor pulled me into a side office and simply said, "It doesn't matter, the end result will be the same".  No matter what, I couldn't control the situation. He made me understand that my father was beyond a cure and there was virtually nothing I could do to make things better now, or worse.

For me, this was not only a life lesson, but a business lesson as well. This economy is making it difficult for many of us small businesses. Don't waste time trying to control things that you can't control. It will only take time away from taking care of the business you can control.

To learn more about the hobby shop owner's daughter and the Scholarship Fund in her name, please visit kimhoule.tripod.com.

Here's to Pinchy

Pinchy has been acting strange the last 3 weeks. He hasn't been active at night like usual and hasn't gone into his home during the day. He's just been hanging out at a corner.

Pinchy is my daughter's hermit crab. Pinchy has been a member of our house (or "zoo" as I sometimes like to call it) for the last 2 years. Along with his cage mate Hermie, the two hermit crabs have gone on adventures under the couch and eaten quite a few carrots. They also require a few squirts of water from time to time. Today I picked up Pinchy to give him a few squirts, but something was different.

Pinchy didn't move. I squirted some more, sometimes it takes a while for Pinchy to come out and get the full watering he seems to enjoy. Instead, Pinchy fell out of the shell, or at least what looked like most of him. I had to let my daughter know. I think I probably worded it a bit wrong when I blurted out "The crab's dead". My daughter was devastated.

She cried, called her best friend, and cried some more. The funeral was held quickly, we found a nice small box to place him in. My daughter wanted the shell to remember Pinchy by, but pulling the remains out did not seem to be the right thing to do. No, Pinchy would be buried, shell and all.

The funeral was nice, we placed him about 2 feet under and my daughter planted a flower over him. A red flower, the same color as his shell. She hung out nearby for a while before she had to go to the library with her Mom. I stayed at the house, having work to finish up.

In the quiet after they left, something was bothering me. There was a claw in the shell that just didn't seem like a back claw. I got the book that came with the hermit crabs. The picture showed something like what I saw as a back claw, but still. I read on.

The book mentioned that it is common to mistake the exoskeleton of a molting hermit crab as a dead crab and not to do this. WHAT!!!??? Hermit crabs molt??? Who knew? Okay, probably all of you reading this knew. I didn't.

I ran out to the burial site. Pinchy had been under for a while now. Maybe he wasn't molting. Or worse, what if he was only molting but couldn't handle being buried for so long. Time to dig him out! But what if he really wasn't alive. I carefully dug out the flower before digging in. "Who was the idiot who put him 2 feet under??!", I said under my breath, as I dug through the dirt. Finally, the little box. I brought it out and put it aside. I don't know why, buy I reconstructed the burial site, flower and all, before opening the box.

"Hey idiot, what was THAT all about?", I could have sworn I heard Pinchy say as I opened the box and he crawled a little out of his shell. "A little water and oxygen tank next time, or at least a panic button to the outside built into the box, pleeeeze?". Pinchy was okay. I called my wife and left her a message that Pinchy was okay and to let our daughter know. I told her I dug him out and CPR was successful, but I digress.

To my daughter it was a miracle, Pinchy was alive and well. Her prayers were answered. Pinchy came back to her and rejoined Hermie. Not only that, Pinchie is all pink and new, having shed his old "skin" and is now awaiting his new "skin". He seems no worse for his ordeal today. I can't say the same for me. Of course, the miracle for my wife and I is that it didn't take 2-3 weeks before figuring out Pinchy was only molting.

We all sometimes feel like things are hopeless. Maybe business is down, creditors banging at the door, or our personal lives not going as planned. Like today with Pinchy, life has a way of showing us things aren't always as they seem.

Me for President '08!

Thank you to everyone who has done so much to help my Presidential bid! Together we can win! In case you've missed the story, Channel 3 did a pretty good job summerizing my campaign. Click here in case you missed it:

www.News3Online.com/NewCandidate062408.htm

My campaign slogan? "I can't possibly screw things up any worse than the other candidates!" It was either that or "Economy, what economy?"  I look forward to your vote in October or November or whatever month they hold elections.

I hear U.S. President pays okay, and you pretty much have the job guaranteed for 4 years unless you do something really, really stupid. I can use the extra bucks. A few vacations at Camp David sounds fun, too. I'd appreciate your vote!

Okay, so it's just a viral marketing campaign. But what a great marketing strategy! I had never heard about PalTalk until a friend sent me the video announcing his Presidential campaign. I've heard of them now and even know what they are selling. According to the website traffic ranking people, they have increased their traffic over the last month substantially, approx 2% which is considered very good due to their already high ranking.

While viral marketing sites like this one aren't new, give them credit. They are timely. The site is fun and gives the user a reason to spread their marketing message. And, they are doing no harm unlike what the spammers and virus "evil-doers" are doing (I'm even sounding Presidential now!). Note: "Viral Marketing" is using techniques to get others to spread your marketing message legitimately. Don't confuse the term viral with virus.

What are you doing to get your message out? Are you using the power of word-of-mouth and viral marketing? You do this through business networking, special offers and events, and creative fun campaigns like this one. How creative can you get? Think about it. Then do it.

It's The Service Economy, Stupid

I'm really worried about the economy. I bet you are too.

I'm worried for all the reasons you probably are. And some others, too. I believe a nation's true measure of how well it is doing can be measured by how well the manufacturing sector is doing. I may be biased. I spent many years working very closely with manufacturers. A country needs to be able to make tangible things. Things that it's own people and other countries want. Thats where the real money, and economic success has always been. At least in my opinion.

When the economic numbers came out earlier this month, two things stood out. The growth in the manufacturing sector is contracting. It's stalled near its lowest level in 5 years. The second was that the service economy expanded. That's good news, right? Well, maybe not.

According to "experts", the services sector makes up 80% of our economy here in the US. Ugh. The positive reading in the service sector resulted in stocks trading lower. Even wall street traders concluded that growth in services was a bad thing. They must go to the same businesses in the service sector I've been to lately.

Every once in a while, maybe once a month, I'll go to a place called McDonald's for a quick breakfast (I'm sure you have heard of it!). Last week I placed my order at the drive through and went to the window to pick it up. The "cashier" was busy making arrangements for the evening with what must have been a good friend he was talking to on his cell phone. I wasn't an annoyance since the "cashier" either didn't know, or care, that I was at the window. His manager came over to complete the transaction.

In fairness to McDonald's, my son is an assistant manager for a McDonald's in another state. His store has a firm "no cellphones" rule and even managers can be written up for violations. He assures me that the rule has been enforced effectively at his location.

Unfortunately though, for me the situations like the one I mentioned come up every day. I run into uncaring, sometimes rude, workers in the service sector daily. (If anyone working at Dunkin Donuts is reading this ... you don't drop chocolate covered donuts upside down from 3 feet into a bag. Take the 3 seconds to place it in the bag right side up please!)

It's not just a fast-food problem. It seems to be a problem growing as fast as gasoline prices in a lot of service industries.

It seems that, in general, we may not be very good at "service". In cases like the one above, we aren't even very good at managing. Of course, those businesses that offer great service are weathering the current recession better than those that aren't.

If we want to be a true, global "service economy" we better start implementing techniques across the board in all industries to ensure better customer experiences.

Happy New Year, 2008!

New Year's Day 2008 ended a great Christmas season and added some very good memories of family and friends. This year also hit home just how fast time is going by and how even the basic tenets of life are changing.

These days my parents need more help around their home. Age makes some things more difficult and I like to help them out, as do my brother and sister(I think my sister and her husband are working towards sainthood on this). This Christmas my dad asked if I would help him program the universal remote that came with his new digital cable package. Asking me for help with something electronic was a first for my dad, his VCR stopped blinking 12:00 long before mine ever did. He actually READS manuals. For me they make great firewood! Anyways, on Christmas Day I programmed his remote so it would control both his TV and his cable box. I even read some of the manual (some would say a first for me!).

While I was showing my dad how you press one button to turn on the cable box and this other button to turn on the TV, my son came by and said "Or you could just press this one big white button that says 'All On/Off'". I put my reading glasses back on, which I just started using within the last year or so, and there it was. Just one button to do what I was showing my dad he needed to do with four buttons. Sigh, it wasn't that long ago when I gave my son his first computer and then showed him how to fix the stuff he couldn't figure out on his own.

I guess we all expect time to change things for those around us. We need to remember time changes things for us, also.

We also have to remember that time changes our businesses and maybe even the way we should do business. The new year is the perfect time to review our marketing strategies and expectations for the upcoming years. To truly reach your goals, you need to know three basic things. First, you need to know what your target is. Next you need to figure out how to allocate resources to achieve those goals. Finally, you need to write down beforehand how you will measure success or failure. Each of these items needs to be reviewed, quantified, and updated when necessary.

For inspiring new marketing ideas and reinvigorating your business, nothing beats writing a Marketing Plan. If you do not already have one or are looking for new ideas, there are lots of basic Business and Marketing Plans readily available on the Internet. One thing time hasn't changed for me me is being frugal, I like "free". If you use MS-Word or any software that can read a MS_Word template, you can download a Basic Marketing Plan Word template here. It may just make you think about a few new ideas and new ways to define and reach your goals.

Happy New Year everyone. And a sincere wish for a prosperous and healthy 2008.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Well, it's after December 23rd so that means my Christmas shopping is pretty much all done. Okay, there are a few more odds and ends left, but nothing critical. It's time to sit back and enjoy the holidays.

I think Charles Dickens was onto something. "A Christmas Carol" says this is the time to think about Christmas's past, present, and future. I've really been thinking about all three lately.

Ben Szugda really knew how to celebrate Christmas. I worked for Ben right after I got out of high school, at his metal shop making tools and dies. Every other time of the year his employees were afraid of Mr. Szugda. He was tall. He was big. And he always seemed to be scowling as he smoked his cigars.  Such was his normal demeanor that when he said "good morning" to one of the employees one day, the guy immediately turned to his co-worker next to him and said "must have heard a monkey say that and doesn't know what it means". Ben was not social with his workers. Except for Christmas time.

He made time the week before Christmas to meet with, and talk to, each employee. He personally handed out the bonus checks that he could have easily had done through payroll. The talks, as I remember them, centered around family and how things were. He didn't spend the time talking shop. Then on Christmas Eve he had pizza, beer, and basically a fully stocked bar, set up in the break room. Work would be done at noon and the party began. Times have changed and few would risk the liability these days, but an awful lot of good memories came from those Christmas Eves. For me, like Scrooge remembering Fezziwig, the best memories are recalling Ben as a good person, not just a scowling boss. Note to business owners: How we treat employees during holidays can stay with them a lifetime.

This Christmas could not have come at a better time. One of the true gifts of the season is the power it has to help us forget our "worries", if only for a while. My daughter starts a new medication the day after Christmas and my dad has surgery coming up in January. But first we have Christmas! My own worries can disappear just like that scowl on old Ben's face at Christmas.

Christmas really is more than lists and gifts. While reading the other day I came across these notes on one of the books in the Old Testament. I think, for me, it needs to apply to not only this time of year but throughout the upcoming year. The author of Ecclesiastes observed that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. Enjoy the good things that God provides while one has them to enjoy."

Yes, life is hard, sometimes insane, and even unfair. It is what it is. So be it, not much one can do about it so take pleasure in the small things and enjoy what you can while you can. I like that.

Wishing you and yours a safe, happy, and peaceful Christmas and holiday season.

Go Elf Yourself! Really...

For those that think I can't dance ... check this out by clicking here.

Alright, this is fun. Want to relieve some of that Holiday stress? Go elf yourself. Really. It's fun, relaxing, and can really waste a lot of time. And best of all, its provided by OfficeMax for free! You can get to it from either the link above or by going to  http://www.elfyourself.com . All you need is a few pictures and you are ready to go. I went with pictures of me, my dog Zeus (or Nibbles, depending on who you ask), and some mystery elf. We also have versions of my daughter, my daughter and her friends, and so on. My eight year old daughter had a blast with this tonight!

I really like the simplicity of this little web application. The user doesn't need to know how to crop an image, drop out a background, or have to be technical at all. Anyone can do it. Just select a picture with a face in it and use the simple tools to zoom, rotate and define a simple outline to keep.

Another nice feature, you can annoy your friends by emailing the finished product to them, or write up a blog like this one and put the link in. After all, Christmas IS the season of sharing. Go ahead and share with me your finished ElfYourself by sending one to my email address, wayne@malibu-blue.com.

Maybe Brazil Knows Something We Don't

A friend of mine from California emailed me the other day. He wants to move to Brazil. It's not that he doesn't like it here. He just wants to be less dependent on gasoline and do his part to pollute less. The closest place he can go to do this, he says, is Brazil. They "get it".

During their own oil crisis in the 1970's, Brazil converted to E85 fuel. E85 consists of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. There is no noticeable difference in how a vehicle runs and the engine is basically the same as a gasoline engine with a few modifications. While the price of ethanol per gallon is less than gasoline, the actual cost per mile is higher because you get less miles per gallon with ethanol than you do with gasoline.

For those that may not know, ethanol is a fuel derived from corn and other crops. It pollutes less than gasoline. The United States is capable of growing so much more corn than we need that we substantially subsidize it to keep the price worthwhile. We have so much excess we've needed to create uses for it. Corn syrup has become a sugar replacement in soda and just about every processed sweetened food.

You would think with so much corn that we would be creating a demand for E85 fuel here in the US. You would think work on the "Ohio Pipeline" would be starting any day now. Whatever your thoughts are on Iraq, oil dependency had to play at least some role. Look how much we're spending there.

You would also think the American automobile makers would be leading the charge to make E85 capable engines. Guess what, they are. In fact, you may be driving a car or SUV that is E85 capable right now, and not even know it.

Flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs)have been around since the 1980's and American and European flex-fuel vehicles have now been generally available since the late 1990s. Flex-fuel vehicles look exactly the same as gasoline only models. So, it is quite possible you could have one and not know it. You can find a list of FFVs at the website http://www.eere.energy.gov, as well as a cost comparison calculator based on where in the country you live. For a quick check, look inside your fuel door. Most FFVs have an identification sticker on the inside of the fuel door. (For additional FFV identification instructions, click here)

Here's the problem I have with all this. There are very few gas stations that even have E85 in this country. Here in Massachusetts, we have exactly zero with one station in the PLANNING stage. The number of E85 stations in California? A grand total of FIVE, with only ONE accessible to the public. There are three more planned though. This is for the entire state.

How often do we hear that we need to be less dependent on foreign oil? There appears to be a solution that has been tried and adopted by other countries (Brazil and Europe). It must be working for them. Some say it is too expensive and uses more energy to create ethanol. I'm no expert but If this was true, how did the cola companies and cereal makers afford the switch to corn syrup?

Maybe Sugar Pops are brain food after all.