When you apply the laws of leverage to life, it’s the creation of a new lifestyle design, one which allows for travel, independent living, a great lifestyle and income muse that supports this all. Check out more such thoughts at Leverage: Fancy Business Word or Staple of Life? « The LifeStyle Maverick: beta
Server Virtualization, What Your Outsourced IT Company May Not Be Telling You
I am not going to get into the nuts and bolts of operating system virtualization but I am going to give you enough information to follow along. Software virtualization is the ability to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same computer. The basic premise is that for most of the day your server is basically idle and the CPU and memory are not tasked with processes all day long, the server has excess capacity and virtualization allows you to maximize your investment by installing another full version of an operating system on your hardware at the same time.
The reuse of surplus computer time can help to minimize the majority of hardware acquisition and maintenance costs and reduces your total cost of ownership and it can result in significant savings for any company.
How does this help me?
Here is the typical scenario; a company has a server that was purchased in 2002, it runs perfectly but there are concerns about its age and the cost to maintain an out of warranty system. The IT people are getting feedback from all the users that the system is slow and that you need more disk space, but overall everything is working just fine.
Based on my 15 years of experience with these types of migrations here are your costs. New Server for a typical 25 user company, with Windows 2003 Small Business Server, Tape Drive and 150GB of RAID 5 storage with tape backup software will run you about $6500.
Small Business Scenario
In scenario A: Company buys a new server and migrates the users, settings and configuration from the existing server to the new server. Most of the basic migration steps can be done without disrupting the users, the accounts are synchronized, the shared folders are created for the data migration, the Exchange Server and SQL server are installed and patched and the migration begins. (This is after the 2 weeks of planning and trial migrations, and the inevitable reinstall because something was just not right) The heavy lifting is done after hours or on a weekend if you have internal IT staff and the process will take anywhere from 8 to 32 hours depending on how your network is configured and how the users access the server. One the migration has been completed the testing begins. Can the users access their mailboxes, are the shared folders there, are the protected folders still safe, does the database work, a huge flurry of tests and you are finally satisfied that the migration has worked.
You then shut down the old server and the company is now running on the new server with new hardware, more disk space and perhaps even the latest version of the operating system. The IT guys love it, the users are finding that things are not EXACTLY like they expected them, especially the printers and email but for the most part SUCCESS. It may take a few days to iron out all the kinks, a huge milestone for your IT staff and not one person will say thank you!
Just a few ways to use a Virtual Assistant
* Proof read your documents before you send them to clients
* Plan your business lunches, give them access to your calendar and have them coordinate your networking.
* Answer incoming phone calls
* Write and send a newsletter to your clients
* Check voice mail and transcribe to email
* Follow up on direct mailing for marketing purposes.
* Ordering Thank You gifts
* Get directions to meetings
* Confirm / or make hotel reservations
* If you need a brochure created, give them the task
* Powerpoint presentations need to be spiced up a bit?
* Monthly reports to customers.
* Let your VA teach you how to use Word, Excel or Outlook more effectively.
* Having a conference call, record it and have your VA transcribe and send it to the participants.
* Updates to your website
* Website promotion and directory submissions
* THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!
Turkey Trot 5k San Diego Run
On Thursday I just completed my very first 5k. It was the SDJA Turkey Trot. The race started at 8am and Lisa and I were consistently in the middle of the pack the entire race. At about the 1 mile marker my achilles on my left leg really started to kill me, I think that it was the uneven pavement, but none the less it hurt.
We finished in about just shy of 35 minutes and for my first 5k I am thrilled with the results. I am looking at the calendar to see what other fun runs there are in the next few month. The best part of these little runs are the causes that they support; I am always happy to support a local charity or children’s organization!
Mark my words, the first of many 5k runs…
Industry Press / Broadband Wireless Exchange Magazine
Its always nice when a article about your company gets picked up by the major players in your industry.
Robert Hoskins from Broadband Wireless Exchange Magazine wrote about Skyriver’s efforts during the fire and how we as a company responded to the needs of the community.
Broadband Wireless Network Demonstrates Its Natural Disaster Survival Capabilities By Providing Emergency Communications During Southern California Wildfires
Brad Slavin, Skyriver’s VP of Engineering and Network Operations stated, “The fact that our network survived these tremendous fires without a single network outage is a true testament to the carrier-grade engineering approach we have implemented. We have full redundancy at each of our sites, ensuring that our customers have seamless connectivity through even the worst of natural disasters.”
Living the preaching of the 4 Hour Work Week
Tim Ferriss is living what he is always preaching at Uwe’s blog: Is being connected soooo 2007?
An Interview with Timothy Ferriss – Ajaxworld Magazine
A nice long interview with Tim Ferriss at Interview: Timothy Ferriss, Bestselling Author of The 4-Hour Workweek @ AjaxWorld Magazine
Is Timmothy Ferriss Lying?
Is the 4hww possible for all? Is Tim really practicing what he preaches? For more on these lines, check out this comment on http://www.emaildays.com.
Learn Language by Deconstructing
Planning on a mini-retirement? If it is not in your home country, you will certainly need to learn the native language. And Tim Ferriss’s approach to deconstructing language is a good one. Look at this blog Omniglot Deconstructing languages
Culling Information Overload
No on can take advantage of you without your permission. Very apt if you have been complaining about information overload. More at Information Overload on educationbusinessblog.com.
New York Times and Timmothy Ferriss
A detailed 2 page article appears in theNew York Times about the 4 Hour Work Week
Selective Ignorance
On selective ignorance to unclutter life and more in a good video at BlogWrite for CEOs: Tim Ferriss, author of the best-selling The 4-Hour Workweek, on “cultivating selective ignorance,” the futility of “results by volume”
Batch Processing
A good review on batch processing at Business Services, ETC – A Virtual Assistance Company Which Gives Business Owners Freedom by Managing the BS, etc.
Social Media fuels Literacy Fund Drive
The power of social media is becoming obvious. Litliberation is being successfully fuelled by social media activity. One such site is B.L. Ochman’s weblog: Internet marketing strategy, social media trends, news and commentary.: Lit Literacy Aims to Use Social Media to Raise $1 Million in 4 Weeks
4hww listed as a self help book :-)
This blog lists 17 self help books with 4hww included. The others too are good. Change your thoughts to change your life
4HWW is full of Promise
For everyone who wants to live indoors, still have regular meals, travel the world even but still be at work, Karen Burns, Working Girl » Work Only Four Hours A Week has a good blog to offer