Tag Archives: desktop

The secret to getting the BEST deal on your next computer.

Business, Computers, concepts, Entrepreneurship, , , , , , , , , ,

This is part of my Computer series of blog entries, click here for the others.

Ok almost everyone, and every business needs a computer to do their day to day business. For most people a computer is a large purchase.  For some businesses that buy hundreds of computers it can be a major part of their budget.  So getting a good price on this major purchase is very important.

What I am about to tell you is a secret that the people in the computer industry do not want you to know, in fact when I was running my retail store I have fired people for telling customer this.  The secret is this, computers are very easy to build, and you can buy the parts directly and shave off 30-50% of your purchase price.  It has always been cheaper to build your own but recently it has become very easy.  The parts are designed to work together, and you can mix/match them almost any way you like.

If you think that this is an off the wall idea then you would be very wrong.  The large computer companies are called Tier 1 Companies in the industry.  The rest of the companies that sell over 100,000 computers a year are called Tier 2 Companies.  The rest are simply called White Box, the industry word for Generic.  For the last 5 years the white box makers have been gaining market share, according to intel they sold over 57% of their CPUs in the white box channel.  During this same time the number of computer stores has fallen dramaticlly.  So how can this be, the answer is because millions of people and business are building their own computers.  The number one largest user of computers in the world, Google, has never purchased a server or workstation, they have built them all.  Microsoft is the same way, so is many of the fortune 500 companies, and millions of smaller businesses.  Many shop online, or they go to stores that sell parts.  Fry’s Electronics has built an empire on this with mega computer stores selling parts, but Frys is over priced, has very little help and it is hard to return things to them so I would never suggest you buy from them.  The best bet is your local computer company, if you are in Arizona call on us to provide your hardware, if you are outside of AZ you can still call us for advise, we can even tell you where to get the best deals online.  It is now said that as many as 1/3rd of all new computers are built by the end user, so why are you not doing it.  Let me tell you how.

So here is how you do it. First you need to buy the parts.  Only buy new products from a good company and you will be good.  Pick out the CPU you like, I usually suggest AMD because they are good, but in reality it matters little, as for most people any $80 cpu will do.  Now you get a motherboard that supports the CPU, just look for any new one that has the same socket.  I like MSI the best for motherboards, they are high quality and well priced. Basically every new computer uses DDR2 memory, so buy that, I would get at least 2GB if you plan to use vista.  Next you need a hard drive, again for most people just get the size you need then find the best price.  For most businesses the 160GB is the best to shoot for.  I like WD for the brand but others will also do, just make sure it is SATA.  Now you need a optical drive, I suggest a DVD burner, they do everything and only cost a bit more.  I usually suggest people get a card reader for all that digital memory.  Last you need a case to put the whole thing into.  The case will come with the powersupply and most will be good for basic systems, for really advanced systems with lots of extras a good powersupply is a good investment. That is it, you have everything you need to get started.  Guess what, you can do all this for well under $250.

Now lets talk about ad ons.  For most business systems you really don’t need a video card, just get a motherboard that has one on board.  You only need a video card if you want to run two monitors or if you play 3D video games.  If you play games then there is much more to consider, I will talk about that at a later time, but mostly this is a business blog.  You may also want a new keyboard, mouse, speakers or monitor with your new computer.

When you get all the parts simply open the case and start putting everything in.  I suggest putting the drives in first, then the motherboard, then the CPU, RAM and connect all the wires.  Don’t force things but use firm pressure where needed.  The hardest part is connecting the case wires to the motherboard, but there is a chart in the motherboard book if you get lost.  Next you boot on your OS disk, install the OS, then install the drivers.

Doing all of this may take 3-4 hours the first time but you should save at least 300-500 by doing this, and for most people they don’t get paid $300 for 4 hours of work.  For a business that is buying 20 computers they probably just saved over $8,000 and even if they don’t want to build the computers they can hire someone to be an IT person for a month for way less than that much.

By building the computer you also will get some added benifits, first the parts are much higher quality then most name brand computers.  Next if anything goes wrong with the computers you have common parts that are easy to replace, unlike the pripority computer parts most large companies sell.  Lastly you get a clean OS installed, without all of that added on spam and advertising that the large companies put on all their computers.

So next time you need a computer buy the parts and build it, you get a much better deal that way, even if you need to hire an expert to help you.

What you need to get set up for a successful MLM business

Business, Computers, concepts, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Marketing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This is the second article in my series on the MLM concept. Here is the first one with links to the rest.

I am going to define success as a business that is large enough to replace your entire normal income and also make a large positive change on your lifestyle. To be successful you first need to have a success mindset. You need to know how to make sales, how to make presentations and you need a team

For this blog I am going to assume that you have all of this in place and it is time to get started. Here is what else you need to get started quickly. These are the tools that I use.

Computer: You MLM is probably online, and you need to keep track of your customers and use your computer for marketing. (If you need a good deal on a computer go to Emerald Computers)
An office: You need a place where you go to work. This can be in your house or outside. It should be easy to bring potential customers there to talk with. I like to have a desktop as my main computer because you can use it longer with less fatigue. A laptop is also very useful.

Ok those are obvious, as should be having a good vehicle and an email account.

Now let me get a bit deeper, on what you need. I will assume that you are building an online business because most MLMs now are mostly online.

First you need your own domain name. You company has a web page and a domain name, but they control that. You need your own, something that is good for what you do, easy to spell, easy to remember. You then will get an email address on your domain. Never run a business using the email address from your ISP or one of those free sites like yahoo, msn or gmail, it really looks bad to many people. I use GoDaddy for my domains, it is cheap, had good support and works well.

Next you will want software to track your contacts. We use a program called ACT. With this program you enter in all the information about the people you are contacting. It them allows you to keep notes about them, update the info when you are on the phone, and most importantly it reminds you of the times you need to follow-up with these people. I also use a Palm Pilot to take all of this info and make it mobile, so that I can access and update it on the road.

Next you will want an auto-responder to manage your emails. What this does is track all of your contacts that wanted to be added to your various mailing lists. You also can preset automatic mailings, and send mass broadcasts to your prospects. There is much more you can do with it. I use a company called GetResponse and for the $150 a year I pay I get unlimited usage and it is well worth it.

Next you need your own website, you can make a simple site that you control. You should have a site for your prospects to visit. Another for your customers to visit and yet another for your team to visit. You need to learn about making a squeeze page, a way to extract data from your customer to feed to your auto-responder. I use a company called PrecisionWeb for my hosting. They offer much more than others for a great price. Check out the main Capital Active site for a great example of a basic page.

Next you should join networking websites like linkedin, Myspace, YouTube and make sites here for your business. You also can find many people who may be interested in your products.

Next it helps to have a blog, it is great way to establish yourself as an expert, as well as get a following of people finding out about you. It also really helps get you on top of the search engine results. I use wordpress because they are free, easy to use, fast and give you a ton links.

I found a lady who seems to have done everything PERFECT. I don’t know her, I just found her site from her blog today. She has her own great domain wealthcreatorsinc.com, and a nice blog. But you may not notice the two most important things she did, she made her page a squeeze page, where you must give her your information to go on. And second she DID NOT mention the name of her MLM this keeps you courious and willing to go on, and it lets her advertise without worrying about the rules of her company.

Next you need to create business cards with YOUR business name on it. I would suggest NOT to use business cards with the name of your MLM on it, they limit your advertising, and they are less flexible when you are marketing. Now carry many of these cards with you wherever you go. I hand out over 80 cards per week on average. More important than getting your card out is getting the cards of other people. I usually flip them over and write on the back details of what we talked about so I can remember.

I also often print up fliers with an upcoming event on it, as well as info about my website. Using this you can get a few more people a month to join your team.

You now need professional clothes. Depending on where you live you will have a different dress code. For Arizona pants and a nice button up shirt is good for most meetings. For the east coast you should wear a suit most of the time. No matter what, you need to have a suit for special events.

When I leave my house, I always have my Palm Pilot, my wallet with at least 20 business cards, my keys, my cell phone, an ink pen, a comb for my hair and usually I have my green laser pointer because it comes in handy all the time.

Well I hope this helps you be more successful.