So, you’re thinking about a website…?

I’m a web designer and a good one (so I’m told). I’ve been building sites for a long time and I have an excellent reputation for integrity, quality and service. Here’s my list of the minimum considerations or investigations you should take into account when looking at a website so you don’t end up…well, you know…

1. BACKGROUND CHECK PART I
How much web design experience does the company or individual have? Is experience in your industry essential? If so, do they have an expert on board? Sometimes have a little industry “insider knowledge” can help with developing ideas for your site. If they’re new to the market, it doesn’t mean they’re a bad company to do business with, but you may have to make allowances. A newer company may be able to give you a price break because they’re building their portfolio.

2. BACKGROUND CHECK PART II
Can they provide references and a portfolio? So many people fail to ask this and it’s so important! Check both the portfolio and speak to the clients. How was their overall experience? Were there any surprises (good or bad)? Was the final cost the same as initially discussed? If not, why? Were all their expectations met? Would they refer the designer to someone they trust?

3. WHAT’S THE PROCESS?
How does the design / development and implementation process work? What deliverables can you expect and when? Will you be involved with the design? Does the designer give you three designs to choose from? Will there be deliverable dates and who will be required to do what to meet them?

4 “HIDDEN EXTRAS”
What will you get for your money? For example Will the design company submit your site to search engines? Do they provide any SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Will they upload your site for you? Will they help you buy a domain and set up hosting? Is that included in the price? Will your site be marketed? If so, what can you expect as part of the package and what is extra? Will you be expected to provide artwork, graphics, music or photography? Some of these items can be very expensive.

5. IS THIS A CUSTOM JOB?
Does the designer use templates or is their work custom? Template sites tend to be cheaper, but they’re more generic. Are you comfortable with that? Are you expecting a custom site but getting a template?

6. WHO OWNS WHAT?
Who will own what at the end of the project? Some companies retain ownership of all software they develop and only license you to use it. If this is the case, find out what ongoing license fees may be. At the end of the project will there be anything that requires you to maintain a relationship with the developer? There is nothing worse than finding you can’t take your site elsewhere or make changes to it without permission.

7. THE FINE PRINT
In addition to a written proposal, ask for a copy of their design contract. Be sure it stipulates who will own the rights to the work and anything that may be use as part of it (photos for example). Will you own it outright or will the designer be able to make copies and resell them? Ensure that there is an agreement for dispute resolution. You’ll hopefully never have to use it, but it helps.

8. WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARDS?
Does the designer offer support / maintenance programs and how much are they? Do they designer offer any warranty? There might be errors, typos or other corrections needed after the site goes live. Are these covered as part of the project or is it a separate expense?

9. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE?
Does the designer / project manager / sales person make you uncomfortable? Are they too “pushy”? Do you feel as though working with him/her could be problematic? If yes, then seriously consider your decision to move forward. Your gut feeling is usually the right one. This is probably the most important item on this list. You have to be able to work with this person / company.

10. DON’T RUSH IT
Sleep on it. Sometimes you were expecting to spend x and the quote you get is x times 10. A good developer will work with you and your budget to find a solution that is affordable and yet workable. Don’t write a check on the spot. Don’t fall for any “today only”…in fact, if that is even offered, walk, because no self-respecting web designer will use a tactic like that. Also worth mentioning here is that it’s unusual, in my experience, to be asked to pay 100% up front.

Some designers will offer to do a “mock-up” or “proof of concept” for you before you pay them anything. This is unusual so don’t expect it. However, once you have paid your deposit, then you have every right to…

Additional Resources

JDE

wikiHow – How to Find a Good Web Designer

Web Pages That Suck

Bad Design Features (Robin Williams

10 Tips For Avoiding Web Design Fraud (Christina Keffer)

Foursquare Innovations – Find a Web Designer

Dave

twitter.com/jdeltd

Dave Segrove provides small business web design and marketing services to a wide variety of companies. He has worked and traveled extensively in Europe, the US and Asia and loves nothing more than to help entrepreneurs and small business owners realize their potential.

Blog or website…or both?

Several of my clients have raised the question of blogging recently. Concerns run the gamut from “what should I write about?” to “what it no one reads it?” Questions that I’m sure we’ve all asked from time to time and ones which I do my best to help them resolve.

One of my clients, however, asked me about whether he should bother with a site at all and perhaps just start a blog. He’s a business coach and the nature of his work and his communication frequency and style make the idea of a blog instead of a site (at least to begin with) something worth considering.

I found the “blog vs site” question a thought-provoking one. I could see some immediate benefits to the “blog only” approach, the first being the “free is good” factor, but also the flexibility and ease-of-use that the big blogging sites WordPress, Blogger, etc give someone who may not be very technical and wants the to “play around” with ideas. Plus, you can virtually build the remaining “site” components using many of the available gadgets that integrate with these tools.

On the flip side, a web site is (in theory) lower maintenance, more fixed than dynamic. There is somewhat more flexibility with customization, less “template”, more built-in “intelligence”(optional) and application support with a custom site, though some of the blog applications are challenging that theory.

Blogs take more commitment, time to manage and moderate, but they can engage the audience quickly and get a conversation going, essential if your business is communication.

I did some digging around the web and found that there had been some discussion on the issue a couple of years ago, when blogs were really just starting to reach the world at large.

Then I hit the jackpot, an article by Darren Rowse, aka @problogger. It’s titled “Should I Change My Website Into a Blog?” and for anyone considering that question or variations of it should read his post.

Forget to do something on your PC? Next time use the Windows Task Scheduler!

Microsoft introduced the Windows Task Scheduler several years ago. It’s one of those useful little tools that not too many people know about but comes in rather useful from time to time.

As the name implies, Task Scheduler allows you to set up an “appointment” to accomplish a task or run a program at a point or recurring time in the future. The scheduler is used by many programs already. For example, when you configure your antivirus software to update itself at 1:00 in the morning, it probably uses the Task Scheduler to store that information. If you have backup software, or for that matter, almost any software, that runs or updates something on a given schedule, it’s probably using the Windows Scheduler.

With a few simple steps, so can you.

Let’s say, for example, you want to defragment your hard drive on a regular basis (highly recommended, see my December 31 post 7.5 Ways to a Faster PC), but don’t want it interfering with your work and you don’t want to have to remember to do it before you finish for the day – a perfect reason to use the Task Scheduler.

To run the task scheduler, you need to access Control Panel or Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks. The Task Manager may already have some items in it, your antivirus updates perhaps?

You can use the built-in Wizard to quickly set up your task by double-clicking the “Add Scheduled Task” option. Selecting “Next” will take you to the list of programs you can run in your schedule.

If you’re using my Windows Defragmenter example, the Windows Disk Defragmenter, happens to not be in the list so we’ll select “Browse“. We need to browse to C:\WINDOWS\System32 and find the Defrag module (defrag.exe) and select “Open“.

Next, you’ll be prompted to give the task a meaningful name (I used “Weekly Defrag“) and set a schedule as to when you want to run it. Click Next.

Here you get to pick the day of the week and time of day to run your task (I picked Thursday at 11:00 pm). Click Next.

If you use a password to log into your system, you may be prompted to do that now. This is that Windows can run the task using your credentials, even it your computer is locked or logged out.

The final screen will show you what you’ve select to run and when and voila! When you look at the task scheduler next time, your new task should be there.

If you’re using my Defrag example, you’ll need to make one additional change. Right-click on the task you’ve just added and select “Properties“. In the little box that says “Run“, you’ll see “c:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe“. Put a space and “C:” (or what ever drive you want to defrag) after that so it reads “c:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe C:” and press “Apply.”

Deleting your new tasks is as simple as right-clicking and selecting “Delete“. You can modify a task too. If you’re a little more familiar with Windows, you can access the “Advanced Options” and play with a whole host of bells and whistles. Finally, you can test your task by right-clicking and selecting “Run“.

You can use the Task Manager for many things, starting and stopping processes, launching your email just before you get to work (a built-in office assitant right there for you…just need to figure out how to get the coffee machine hooked up to the PC).

Anyway, have fun but be careful!

Additional Information Resources

Microsoft’s Task Scheduler for Windows XP page

Microsoft’s Task Scheduler for Windows Vista page

Microsoft’s Task Scheduler for Windows 2000 page

Dave
Follow me on Twitter

You probably shouldn’t have said that…

This post comes on heels of a comment left by someone in a previous post. My last couple of ramblings have concerned the use of electronic communication and questioned the social impact. This particular post relates to the legal.

If you’ve heard, seen or read news about several major legal cases over the past year or more, you’ll have heard that email records are increasingly being used in court. Enron was probably the first big case that came to everyone’s attention, but the use of email and other electronic records (ie instant messages), has been growing.

Many companies now include an “acceptable use” policy for their employees to sign. Somewhere in it, it mentions that the company, not the individual, owns the computers, software and data, including messages.

Most people know that email isn’t anonymous. Even if a message is sent from a site (and email address) that the recipient has never heard about, electronic forensic evidence is always present. Just because you delete something from your email (or your computer for that matter), doesn’t mean it’s gone.

Email and instant messages often traverse many different servers and routers around the web. Huge computers, switches and routers literally “hand off” a message from one to the other. Some keep parts or all of the message in their log files.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we live in a “Big Brother” world just yet, but common sense should prevail, especially when electronic communication is used for business matters. While there doesn’t yet seem to be a comprehensive, all-encompassing set of laws (at least from what I’ve seen), email, instant messages and other e-communiques are increasingly being accepted as legally binding.

There is an excellent article about this by an attorney Henry J. Fasthoff IV on lawyerintl.com (here’s the link) called “Electronic Evidence as the Smoking Gun“. While not intended to scare anyone (ditto this post), prudence should be always used and Mr Fasthoff’s post is a good cautionary tale.

Especially when dealing with business associates, clients and vendors, and even more so if your particular role is to provide advice. It’s awful to think that what you thought of as an opinion could be interpreted as “legal” advice (it’s always about interpretation, isn’t it). If anyone has stories (good or otherwise) I’d love to hear from you.

Before you hit “send”, just remember that you don’t want it to come back to bite you…

I should probably put a disclaimer on this blog entry too…

1.5 Billion Internet Users…and Growing

According to the World Internet Usage Stats website, the current percentage of the world population that uses the Internet is almost 22%. The approximate world population is in the 6.5 billion range and there are almost 1.5 billion Internet users out there. I can’t think of too many changes in the history of mankind that have impacted that many people so quickly, for better or worse.

Less than a decade ago, the numbers were vastly different, with only 360 million Internet users. That means a four-fold increase in less than 10 years!

When looking at “penetration”, the total percentage of a population with Internet access, as one would expect, North America leads the pack with about 75.5% of its population “connected”. The US is followed by Oceania (South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand) with almost 60% and Europe with 48%. Asia has only a 15% penetration, below Latin America and the Middle East.

Look at the numbers, and the picture changes dramatically. Asia, lead by China, has over 578 million Internet users. North America comes third on the list with 248 million, behind Europe (384 million). If China continues to grow in business and technology as it has over the past few years, that number will double or even triple in the next few years.

What most impresses me is the sheer number of people now connected and the potential for people who could never had met before now getting together, collaborating, sharing ideas, cultures, information and friendship.

It’s mind-blowing!

Counting the number of websites is a little more difficult. This is in part because the definition of website is somewhat vague. Does a Facebook “site” count as a separate one from Facebook itself? According to Netcraft’s 2008 December survey, they saw almost 187 million web sites.

As I said, the definition of a “web site” is a little vague. According to Royal Pingdom, the number is 162 million. Pandia estimates the number of pages (not sites) at between 15 and 30 billion). ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) say in their 2008 report that there are 163 million domain names and 1.4 billion users.

Take the ratio of sites to users and you have roughly 8.5 users to every site. That’s not a big ratio.Web sites come and go, as do users, but in the past 10 years, the ratio has been dropping. In 2000 it was 9:1.

What does this all mean to us, down here? Search engine optimization, good site content, frequent updates, site promotion using everything from social media to advertising and a solid marketing plan is vital if your online presence is going to be felt.

That said, the possibilities are endless too. Never has a business playing field been so level. Sure, there are the big companies that can spend a ton in advertising to attract visitors, but there is plenty of room for the smaller player too. Collaboration and innovation is possible in a local, national and worldwide level. Success is possible with little investment, a good idea and the means to get the message out.

I those 1.5 billion users visit (we’ll say conservatively) 10 sites a day, that’s 15 billion visitors to websites around the world.

Just 1,000th of 1% of those visits means is 15,000…a day. Heck, I’ll take a tenth of that…for now!

The Internet is an ocean. Let’s go fishing.

Dave

Information courtesy of Pingom (www.pingdom.com), Netcraft (www.netcraft.com), Internet World Stats (www.internetworldstats.com), Pandia (www.Pandia.com, Yahoo (www.Yahoo.com), ICANN (www.icann.org).

Staving off Doomsday : 10 money saving tips to keeping your PC going a little longer…

I remember, several years ago, working on the trading floor at a Wall Street company. There was an old IBM PC XT in a closet. No one knew what it did, but no one dared switch it off because it did something important and had been doing so for about 10 years.

They don’t make them like that any more.

The life expectancy of a PC is three to five years. There are many out there that have been around longer, I know, but software does tend to force upgrades.

When times are tough, people tend to cut back, and I speak from experience. Unfortunately, there is a semi-constant demand from your computer for your time and money. Consider license renewals, Internet costs, online memberships etc…and of course, the computer always seem to get slower and slower…

Here’s a list of 10 things you can look at that may help save you some money in the short run by improving your computer’s performance and extending it’s life a while longer.

1 Give your PC a RAM boost. RAM (Random Access Memory) is where the work takes place when your computer is on. When you switch on your PC, Windows is loaded into RAM, as are the programs and data you use to work. When RAM is filled up, Windows uses the hard drive to store temporary data and switches back and forth between the hard drive and RAM as needed. This can seriously slow you down, especially if you run many programs at once. Some new memory will boost this work space and speed up your computer. Windows XP does have a (just over) 3 gigabyte limit. So, if you’ve already got 3 gigabytes in your PC, any more won’t be used, it’s over to Vista for you. Many people don’t have that much and upgrading is very easy and inexpensive. If you visit www.crucial.com, they have a little utility you can run that will test your computer, figure out what memory you have and what you can do to expand it. Upgrading RAM isn’t a long-term for speed, but if it means not buying a new computer for another year…?

2 Lose the Bells and Whistles. Desktop tool bars, web browser addons, weather updates and anything that has to go out to the Internet for updates can slow down both your computer and your Internet speed. Do you really need three tool bars and the weather in two places and a cute little changing photo on your desktop?

3 Clean it Up. Delete or archive what you no longer use. Check to see if there are any online services you’re paying for that you don’t use. Those small amounts add up!

4 Free is Good. Last time I checked, the basic Microsoft office was over $200. OpenOffice.org is free. OpenOffice.org is a collaboration between Sun Microsystems and web programmers. It’s fully Office compatible and, did I mention, free. It doesn’t come with an email package, but Outlook is available as a standalone product. OpenOffice does take a little getting used to, like any new software, but it will read and save your Excel, Word and PowerPoint files just fine.

5 Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance. Keep up your basic computer maintenance, including defragmenting your disk, compressing old files and archiving emails. I posted a blog entry 7.5 Ways to a Faster PC.

6 Too Much Going On? Check the system tray, that’s the box in the lower right corner of the Windows tool bar How many icons are there and what do they do? Move your mouse pointer over them to find out. Many programs, in an attempt to be helpful, may load themselves into memory even though you use them once in a blue moon.

7 Email. If you use Outlook, how often are you sending/receiving? If it’s every couple of minutes, consider changing the interval. Outlook is notoriously heavy on the computer at send/receive time.

8 Security Software. Many people use security “bundles” such as McAfee’s Total Protection. Right now, you can get 3 PC coverage from them for $39.99 for one year. That includes firewall, spam protection, surfing protection and anti-virus. If you are a Cox high speed Internet user, in some places (such as here in Arizona), you get the whole McAfee suite for free as part of your service. Just log into your Cox.net account (if you don’t have one, you’ll need a bill for information) and select “Internet Tools”. It’s the same product that you pay for if you buy from McAfee. While “free” is good, I personally am a little hesitant about free security products, but that’s just my own opinion. But free is better than none.

9 Daily Exercises. Do your “Windows Updates” on a regular basis. Microsoft and many hardware manufacturers release updates to improve the performance of Windows.

10 Unclogging the Drains. Consider a registry optimization tool such as RegistryFix.com, but I urge caution if you’re not particularly technical. Any time you touch the registry there is some risk, so run the software with due caution or speak to a computer professional.

Dave

PS – Remember that old computer hardware should disposed of properly, as much of it contains elements that cannot go in the trash or is considered hazardous waste.

Mind Mapping in Marketing Part II (Seeing the Wood Through the Trees)

In part I you started gathering thoughts about marketing. What you hopefully ended up with were a lot sticky notes, each with a thought, some connected and others that just "popped" into your head.

Great work!

Now we begin sorting out the chaos. The final goal will be to get all your thoughts somewhat categorized. This will give you an idea of what each "category" involves. The next phase will then further filter each of these categories, set goals, determine what resources we’re going to need…

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Start grouping your sticky notes together in fairly broad categories. You can tentatively label these as they become apparent. Also, you’ll probably find that a sticky may fit into more than one category. For this exercise, simply write another sticky with the same thing on it so you can put on in each stack.

Since I’m using marketing as my central theme, some of my thoughts included web site, blog, flyers, advertising, emails, friends, business cards, announcements, hockey, business directories, free stuff, networking group, coffee, free gifts as well as others. I’m using a small list for obvious reasons.

When I organize my collection, I end up with 4 stacks:

Stack 1 : Internet : web site / blog / emails / friends / business directories/ announcements
advertising

Stack 2 : Print : business cards / flyers / announcements / free stuff / free gifts / advertising

Stack 3 : Social : coffee / friends / announcements / networking group

Stack 4 : Everything else (or what was I thinking) : hockey

You may very well have 5,6,7 or more stacks. If you do, consider the question: am I being too "granular"? Is there perhaps a broader category that would cover more than one?

Anything that doesn’t fit into the other categories goes into the "everything else" pile. While this stack may not appear completely relevant at first, the idea came up for a reason. In my case, I’m involved in amateur and professional hockey with a company called Athletes Resource. We hold tournaments and camps each year. When "hockey" popped into my mind, it was probably for a couple of reasons including potential advertising and I have friends who like hockey. So I’ll keep the sticky note and let it "ferment" for a while.

Trust me, your mind is working and as you gather your categories, you will think of things to add.

The final part of this section will be to flesh out some of your thoughts. On the back (or front if there’s space) of each stick, put down additional thought and questions for that subject.

For example, let’s take blog. I could write on this one: set up (how?), advertise, subject, how often? You get the idea. You could, if you wanted, start a separate stack of sticky notes for each of these. I’m advising against that, not just for your sanity and the environment, but because we don’t want to get bogged down in minutiae.

See you in part III.

Welcome to the Social Media Community : Start Here

Pick an Internet subject: how many "how to" guides are there, either online or in bookstores?

Web newbie? There is a myriad of introductory texts written for the semi-literate to the PHD. Need something more specific? You can find that too. Whether in print or electronic ("ebook") form, there are books galore, all vying for attention, many promising to be, in some way or another, the only book you’ll ever need.

If you need a guide on something somewhat established, say HTML programming, you have much to choose from. Unlike many of their contemporary subjects, however, social media guides attempt to capture a subject that is still evolving…at a rate far beyond that at which writers and publishers must be able to keep up with.

That’s not to say there aren’t some great books or blogs out there that are worth reading because they teach an approach to social media, not necessarily the "only way" to do it (a great beginner’s guide is Chris Brogan’s "If I started Today").

Now, many people who use social media on a regular basis are likely to be early adopters of new social technology. Each time something new comes out, these people take another step away from those people only just trying to figure out how to step on the ladder.

Do a Google search for “how do I use social media” or “new to social media”…if you know a little, you can probably sort out where you might want to look, but it’s intimidating if you’re not familiar with the web (One of good introductions, I came a across was Mike Fruchter’s "40 Key Elements to Getting Started In Social Media")

Doesn’t a "guide of guides" makes sense?

I would love to see a wiki-style guide or suite of guides (a wiki is an almost ever-changing document or site that is edited by the community at large). A wiki format does allow quick updating and rapid dissemination. It could be broken down into the myriad of subjects that all make up the world of social media and, more importantly, could be as up-to-date as the technology.

There are many bloggers doing some of this sort of thing on their own sites(Jonathan Fields’ "7 Unwritten Rules For Social Media Newbies”). There are some really great "how to" guides out there for varying levels of expertise(Saravanan Sahadevan’s “What’s Social Media?”). There is so much to learn out there that it can’t possibly be absorbed by any one person in any reasonable time. For those established bloggers with a reputation, a readership is already in place. But where do newbies go?

Of course, one has to acknowledge that people are trying to make money and earn a living. Popularity, whether in print or online, is crucial. My "semi-socialist" approach is a little to communal, yet would reflect the ever-changing, ever-growing world that web 2.0 will become.

There are so many brilliant people out there. Just spend a couple of hours on any one of the social networks and watch the energy at work – you can almost see evolution in progress! Imagine combining all these brains into a "distributed network", and harnessing the resources to develop and maintain the ultimate guide…"Welcome to the Social Media Community : Start Here"….

Maybe one day?

Blackberry and Texting Etiquette

An increasingly large number of my clients are getting Blackberrys (or is it Blackberries…) and other texting devices. After all, it’s a tried-and-tested technology for those on the move. But speed and convenience seems to be leading to short replies that may be misinterpreted…

When your email is routed to your Blackberry and you want to reply, it’s relatively straightforward: type and send. However, the nature of the devices tends to mean that quick, one-liners are the norm. I often get these in reply, with a message footer “Sent from my Blackberry”. I know that a short and often abrupt-seeming reply is nothing more than that. Be careful, however, if you’re replying to a client or someone who may be a little more sensitive.

Interpretation of email and text messages can be very mixed. I, for one, am guilty of misunderstanding a sentence or two as mean something quite different than intended by the sender. The written messages don’t reflect the tone of the sender, so it’s prudent to take a moment and consider how the message may be interpreted.

Am I too concerned? Perhaps. But if someone sends you an email, for example “is this the best offer we can get” and you, caught up in a thousand other things, respond “yes” on your texting device, will your client think you’re being a little abrupt…even rude because they’re used to you explaining youself in “regular” email or on the phone? Will they understand BRT, LMAO or CUL8R? For those who would like to know more, here is a list of text abbreviations from Webopedia.

As technology moves forward and communication gets quicker, it’s easy to forget that what you meant to say and how it was perceived can be very easily blurred.

Here’s a Top 10 list of SMS etiquette tips from WirelessDevNt.com.

Don’t text and drive!

Dave

Texting a signal of wider trend (BBC).

Mind Mapping in Marketing Part I (Deer in the Headlights)

To understand what a mind map is can be a little difficult at first, but once you get the idea, you’ll realize that there are dozens, if not hundreds of applications for them.

Simply put, a mind map is a diagram, started around a single word or idea, linking tasks, ideas, words etc to that idea and to each other. Ideally, when you first put down your thoughts, you use what’s called a “stream of consciousness” approach. This means any idea that pops into your head while considering the central subject shouldn’t be discounted. A definition and history of the mind map is at Wikipedia.

When considering putting a marketing (or any other) plan together, especially if you’re thinking about employing new technology, new techniques, or just want to leave no stone unturned, a mind map can be a very effective and cheap tool to get you going.

Mind mapping techniques are used by large corporations, small companies and individuals. The approach can work with in team environment or if working alone. One of the beautiful about mind mapping is that there aren’t too many rules to worry about and you don’t have to be an expert.

There is software that allows you to develop your mind maps on your computer. I’ve listed some of them below. I prefer introducing people new to the concept, to the tried and tried “sticky note” approach. It’s easier than using a sheet of paper and provides the flexibility for you to add things “ad hoc”, take up an entire wall and not worry about having to learn new software when you have more important things to think about.

So, got a pen and stack of stickies? Got an empty wall you can borrow?

Let’s get started.

Write down your first idea. Let’s assume it’s “marketing”. Put it on a sticky note and put it on the wall.

Now, what is the first thing you think about when you see that word?

Blogging? Flyers? Website? Social Media? Sushi?

The important thing is to write down each thought on a note, no matter how irrelevant it may appear to be. I only half-jokingly added sushi to the list. If you thought of something obscure, there may have bee a very good reason for it. Perhaps, to take my idea a step further, I thought about sushi because I know a friend who likes sushi and I haven’t seen him for a while. Ha! Must get in touch with old contacts.

New idea: old contacts : write it down, put it on the wall.

The most important thing, as I emphasized earlier, is to not rule out anything. Write it down and put it up there. If “private jet” it is, then “private” jet it shall be. It might end up in the “things to do in 2020” pile but you’re letting your mind wander and the jet popped in there for a reason…

If, while you’re performing this exercise, you come across a task that can be broken down further, you have a couple of options: you can write a small note on the big one, or use separate notes for each part of the idea. Just don’t get bogged down in detail. We’ll flesh out the ideas a little later.

What you’re building is a mind map without the lines connecting the ideas. We’ll do that in the next step. You’ll form relationships between the ideas, begin to categorize and prioritize your ideas, and begin putting a plan together.

The beauty of this process is that you can add ideas any time. At some point, you’ll have to stop and focus on what you’ve got, but new ideas will continue to arrive as your creative juices start flowing. We even have a solution for that so we don’t waste anything.

I will post part 2 shortly.

In the meantime, some excellent resources:

• A history of mind mapping on Wikipedia
• Software : I would avoid getting software if you’re not familiar with the process of mindmapping or if you’re not comfortable with new software. You don’t want to add stress to your planning in which case we’ll stick to my old fashioned method.
• Mindjet MindManager
• MindMapper Professional
• A great blog post by Nicola Lane: Using Mind Maps To Write Articles