Erich Stauffer

Author: Erich Stauffer

  • Determining Your Purpose in Life or Process

    Brainstorming

    Occasionally, you should take time out to stop and evaluate why you are doing the things that you are doing.  Slow down to think if what you’re doing is the best idea or not. Brainstorm with pen and paper (yes, actually grab a pad of paper and a pencil).  The best ideas come by brainstorming, which provides an opportunity to evaluate your productivity, your methodology, and your overall goal. Brainstorming brings diversity of knowledge and perspectives effective for a more forward looking career. Brainstorming is a great activity, but it’s also good to talk to someone about what you are doing, in order to help establish the purpose.

    Mentor Review

    Take someone you admire out to lunch and pick their brain.  Tell them about what you are doing to get feedback from them.  Write down their responses, whether you believe them or not, and thank them for their time.  Make sure you pay for their meal.  Successful people like to share what they know (that’s why I have this blog) so don’t be afraid to ask them.

    Technology Review

    Also, keep yourself up on new technology and continue educating yourself to keep yourself alive and fresh.  It’s easy to become stale no matter what business you’re in.  Try to spend at least 2-3 hours a week just researching and finding new ideas.  It’s hard to break away from the normal routine but brainstorming with new ideas is refreshing and can renew enthusiasm.  This is part of innovation and entrepreneurship, which looks for innovations in changes in technology, among other things.  It could be that the way you have been doing things is no longer relevant at worst or at the very least, no longer efficient.  Ask yourself the following four questions:

    1. Is there any new technology I could be using? — Technology may have become more efficient since you first developed your original time-saving method. Relying on an old template could be costing you time and money.
    2. Have I learned any new ideas lately that I need to apply here? — You may have acquired some new skills or read about some new ideas that will handle your project even better than the time-saving technique that you are using now.
    3. Are there new requirements that mean that I need to review this process? — The client may have updated his or her requirements for their projects. Using your old template or time-saving tools may not meet the client’s newest requirements.
    4. Are there any other new tools I could be using? — There may be new tools or resources available to do the work that weren’t originally available when you developed your template.

    Personal Brainstorming

    At least once a month I block off an hour to go into a dark room and just wait for ideas to come.  I don’t anticipate thinking about any one thing, but there is something about the pitch black silence that allows great ideas to surface.  I’ve had many revelations, not just about business or problem solving, but figuring out why I thought certain ways about certain things.  It’s a chance to re-evaluate all aspects of your life and help you determine your purpose in life or in process.

  • You’re so money and you don’t even know it!

    If you’ve never seen the film “Swingers”, I highly recommend it.  It came out in the mid-nineties and struck a chord with many in the Gen-X and Gen-Y crowd.  To get a great feel for the kind of movie this is, check out the short clip below from Youtube (it is an R rated movie and contains profanity):

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODjE-_OB3JI&feature=related

    The characters from the movie have taken the words “money” and “baby” and given them wholly new meaning within the context of their group of friends.  Vince Vaughn’s character paints a great picture of what kind of attitude Jon Favreau’s character should have about himself.  It’s not just about self-esteem, its about what kinds of actions he should take if he’s really going to act like a bear with this bunny!

    Now, it’s tricky to draw a metaphor from a theme in a movie that is being made by another metaphor, so I’ll try to distill the truth that I believe the metaphors point to.

    Let’s say that you are looking for a job (here is my metaphor), and you are frustrated at a lack of opportunities.  Now, even a cursory knowledge of successful thinking strategies will remind you to stay positive, but it still doesn’t seem to be enough.  You’re right.  It is not enough.

    You need to think through both sides of the transaction.  In this case, the transaction is a business looking for a new employee and vice versa.  Now, even referring to the former as a “business” may be the wrong word to use.  Chances are (depending on the size of the company), that it is a human resources director or some specific manager that is looking to fill a position.  Now, if you were looking to fill a position with your company, and you knew that the new employee’s success (or lack thereof) would have some sort of repercussion with you, what would you do?

    Would you look in a phonebook and choose the people with the three best ads?  How is this different from having a well put together resume?

    In all actuality, you would probably rack your brain to think of somebody whom you already know that would be a good fit, whether they are currently looking for a job or not.  Next, you would probably look to the people whom you trust and ask them who they might recommend for the position in question.  Only then would you put out a listing for a new employee in some sort of job-finder service.

    So, what does this tell us?  If you are looking for jobs that are listed online, it’s either because the business could not find anyone else who was qualified, or all of the people they have already talked to about it are not interested in taking it.  Its not the prettiest picture, but it is closer to accurate than you might think.

    Without a strong, but healthy belief in yourself, you will either stand still and achieve nothing, or stand still and unwisely wait for success to find you.

    So why do I encourage you to be a bad man from the rated R movie and not the guy from the PG-13 movie who everyone really hopes makes it happen?  Because we live in an R rated world, and great opportunities are MADE and not handed out.

    If you think too highly of yourself, you will expect the winning lottery ticket to be mailed to you, even if you don’t play the lottery!  You believe that you are destined for greatness, but immune to the preparation and effort that goes before it.  Even if you are handed a baton (let’s throw another metaphor in, shall we?), and you haven’t prepared yourself with effort and determination, you will falter.  You may get the digits, but by waiting too long to call, you will blow the opportunity.

    The other extreme is to be meek, and to look at opportunities with fear and trembling.  You can see 10 ways in which the endeavor will fail, so you abort before launch.  Even if you see one or two ways in which it could succeed, you stand still to avoid the possibility of failure.  The truth is that standing still is a failure all by itself.

    The key is to be balanced and healthy.  Get out there and talk to the people you already know.  Let them know that you are serious about finding something new and you value their opinion.  They may just refer you to someone else, but it is highly unlikely that they will ignore you.  In fact, the only way to guarantee that you will end up with nothing is to venture nothing with your current contacts.

    Whether you want digits, a job, a relationship, or a new chapter in your life, it takes belief in your mind before you can go safely in your body.  Don’t just think “money”…. BE “MONEY”!

  • Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation

    TED has a talk entitled, “The Suprising Science of Motivation,” where career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.

    With a trio of influential bestsellers, Dan Pink has changed the way companies view the modern workplace. In the pivotal A Whole New Mind, Pink identifies a sea change in the global workforce — the shift of an information-based corporate culture to a conceptual base, where creativity and big-picture design dominates the landscape.

    His latest book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, is an evolutionary transformation of the familiar career guide. Replacing linear text with a manga-inspired comic, Pink outlines six career laws vastly differing from the ones you’ve been taught. Members of the Johnny Bunko online forum participated in an online contest to create the seventh law — “stay hungry.”

    A contributing editor for Wired, Pink is working on a new book on the science and economics of motivation for release in late 2009.

    Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.

    All of these ideas will be especially relevant to the newest entrants to the workplace, the Millenials/Gen Y. I have been doing staffing models for a while now. To make this all really work, the requirements/expectations and measurements for each role need to be transparent. “Get your work done” is viable only when people truly understand what others think “getting your work done” really means. So, each employee needs to know the results that are expected.

    In my experience, organizations can miss the ball when they fail to motivate and innovate. They give people responsibility and lattitude, but they don’t clearly define the results expected and how progress will be measured. As we know from the Law of Focus, what we measure only expands and grows.

    On the other hand, a larger organization having every individual participating in business planning does start to become a bit challenging. The key is that the vision and goal of the business is clearly stated to all employees, that vision doesn’t change drastically year on year, and taking the time to recruit the right people who are buying into the vision as opposed to how much money they can make. Like Jim Collins says, “You have to get the right people on the bus.”

  • My Pet Operating System

    wuwhsrraI don’t know about you, but the OS’s that live inside my Virtual PC feel like little pets to me. I just love to take care of them, update them, install software on them. Sometimes I give them treats (more RAM) or a bigger hard drive. They are fun to take care of and they are helpful tools too. I use them to test software out before running it on my “real” PC. I can also use it to load images of CDs without actually having to burn a CD first. Of course, I can load real CDs too.

    I loaded the same Virtual PC on two of my computers. And like two twins separated at birth, each one has changed looks over time, but they both contain the same DNA at heart. Just like a good dog, they don’t complain, they just love to be played with. They can be good workers too. I’m sure as time goes on I’ll find new uses for my virtual machines and there will be new ways for them to be used. Companies are already using virtualization technology with thin clients to reduce hardware overhead. I wonder where virtualization will head next.

    vmOnPetI wondered if VMware could be installed on a virtual machine being ran inside Virtual PC 2007 and the answer is yes. The program itself runs, but I haven’t tested whether another virtual machine would run inside a virtual machine. What do you think would happen? Do you think we’re in a virtual machine now?

    The Simulation Argument says that (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.

    Regardless of whether or not we are living in a simulation (like The Matrix or The Thirteenth Floor), we do enjoy manipulating simulations in both games like The Sims and in movies. On a side note, check out the similarities between these two movie covers:

    The Matrix Reloaded

    The Thirteenth Floor

    If you enjoyed this article, you might also like 22 Movies that Question Reality.

  • Indianapolis Web Design and SEO Consulting

    Erich Stauffer is primarily an online marketing firm that uses two primary tools to promote your business or brand on the Internet. The first tool is your web page, which tells users about your business, allows them to interact with your business, or is setup to sell things for your business. The second tool SEO, or search engine optimization, which helps drive traffic to that website. The two tools are not mutually exclusive, however. The best SEO techniques involve improving the wording or layout of the web site and as well as promoting the site from outside using link-backs.

    Although relatively new techniques come out all the time to adapt to the methods search engines like Google use, content is still king. The easiest sites to market are those with lots of text about the company and the products or services they offer. Many times, businesses choose to hire copywriters for the sole purpose of helping to write articles for the website. These articles are either about the company or about a product. Another reason for using a copywriter may be to write objective press releases. Press releases are usually one of the best methods to get the word out about a new product or promotion and are a key to any SEO plan.

    If you would like more information about Erich Stauffer, about web design and seo in general, or about web design and seo in the Indianapolis area, please visit erichstauffer.com.

  • Generation X; Analog to Digital

    gameboy_256In the same way saw the Greatest Generation saw the change from horse drawn carriages to automobiles and the birth of airplanes to the rise of the space shuttle, Generation X has seen firsthand the transition from analog to digital: carbon copies to CC: and BCC:, and a slide rule to an iPod. GenXers began life processing credit cards at the grocery store with a carbon copy slider, called an “imprinter”. When they went to school, their teachers made worksheet copies using a “mimeograph machine” in purple ink. They were the last to be taught how to type on typewriters and the first to use a personal computer in school. Some started out on Apple IIs and others on IBM PC clones. By the time they were leaving primary school and entering college, portable computers and cell phones were common. The World Wide Web had turned the Internet mainstream. It was now odd for a GenXer to not have an email address and a cell phone number.

    Some things didn’t change though. The paperless office didn’t happen. More things were put online and sent via email, but paper remains in the office, schools, and at home. Email has decreased the use of paper mail though. Another example is flying cars. We still don’t have flying cars even though Back to the Future says we will by 2015 (we’ve got 6 years to get on that). Another hint from Back to the Future is cold fusion, which is still a dream. However recent breakthroughs by MIT in solar power technology may lead to a new era of cheap electricity which could change the economy in desert regions around the world.

    Read more about Generation X.

  • Google Maps Query String Parameters

    The following is a list of query string parameters that can be passed to Google Maps.

    These arguments are helpful if you want to get Google Maps to display driving directions, which are not available under the API.

    Query

    Translation
    q= “q” stands for “query” and anything passed in this parameter is treated as if it had been typed into the query box on the maps.google.com page.
    near= “near” can be used as the location part of a query instead of putting the entire string into q=
    g= “g” is an address or location that provides extra context for the “q” parameter. Google Maps stores the last ran search here, but if it is the first search it can only contain your starting location. This is a potential information leak, so make sure you do actually mean to share the content of this parameter.
    mrt= “mrt” specifies a type of search. The default is blank, which searches for everything.
    start= “start” skips the first (start-1) matches.
    num= “num” displays, at most, the given number of matches. The valid range is 0 to 20.
    ll= “ll” stands for Latitude,longitude of a Google Map center – Note that the order has to be latitude first, then longitude and it has to be in decimal format.
    sll= “sll” Latitude,longitude of the point from which the business search should be performed.
    spn= “spn” Approximate lat/long span. The zoom level will be adjusted to fit if there’s no z= parameter.
    latlng= “latlng” takes three numbers separated by commas. The first two numbers (presumably representing latitude and longitude multiplied by 1000000) are ignored. The third number seems to be a Google internal “Company ID” number for a particular business.
    cid= “cid” is similar to “latlng,” but generating a different map size. It takes three numbers separated by commas. The first two numbers (presumably representing latitude and longitude multiplied by 1000000) are ignored. The third number seems to be a Google internal “Company ID” number for a particular business.
    geocode= “geocode” is a concatination of “geocode” encoded values for waypoints used in directions.
    radius= “radius” localizes results to a certain radius. Requires “sll” or similar center point to work.
    t= “t” is Map Type. The available options are “m” map, “k” satellite, “h” hybrid, “p” terrain.
    z= “z” sets the zoom level.
    layer= “layer” Activates overlay. Current option is “t” traffic.
    lci= “lci” activates layers of tiles and needs to be comma-separated.
    view= “view” can be used to select text view (view=text) or the normal map view (view=map).
    saddr= “saddr” source address. Use this when asking for driving directions.
    daddr= “daddr” Destination address(es). Use this when asking for driving directions.
    mrad= “mrad” gives you additional destination address.
    dirflg= “dirflg” is the route type: dirflg=h Switches on “Avoid Highways” route finding mode. dirflg=t Switches on “Avoid Tolls” route finding mode. dirflg=r Switches on “Public Transit” – only works in some areas. dirflg=w Switches to walking directions – still in beta.
    via= “via” gives a comma separated list of intermediate addresses for directions, that should be ‘via points’.
    doflg= “doflg” Distance Units. (Defaults to prevalent units in country of origin.) doflg=ptk outputs directions in metric (km) and doflg=ptm outputs directions in imperial (miles).
    cbll= “cbll” is latitude,longitude for Street View.
    cbp= “cbp” Street View window that accepts 5 parameters: 1) Street View/map arrangement, 11=upper half Street View and lower half map, 12=mostly Street View with corner map 2) Rotation angle/bearing (in degrees) 3) Tilt angle, -90 (straight up) to 90 (straight down) 4) Zoom level, 0-2 5) Pitch (in degrees) -90 (straight up) to 90 (straight down), default 5
    panoid= “panoid” is the panorama ID, which is the ID of the current nearby panorama object in Street View.
    hl= “hl” stands for “host language”.
    om= “om” stands for “overview map.” The presence of this parameter with a value other than 1 causes the overview map to be closed. If the parameter is omitted, or present with the value 1, then the overview map is open.
    ie= “ie” stands for “input encoding” and can be used to specify the input character encoding set.
    oe= “oe” stands for “output encoding” and can be used to specify the input character encoding set.
    output= “output” is for output format (blank is default).
    f= “f” stands for “form” and controls the style of query form to be displayed. f=d Displays the “directions” form (two input boxes: from, to). f=l Displays the “local” form (two input boxes: what, where). f=q (or no parameter) The default search form is displayed (single input).
    pw= “pw” stands for “print window.” It activates the print mode and initiates printing. Example, pw=2.
    iwloc= “iwloc” stands for “info window location” and specifies where the infowindow will be displayed. In a business search iwloc=A to iwloc=J will open the info window over the corresponding business marker, and iwloc=near will place it over the big green arrow if that’s currently displayed. iwloc=addr can be used on map search to explicitly request the info window to be open on the address, but that’s the default anyway. Directions search supports iwloc=start, iwloc=end and iwloc=pause1
    iwd=1 “iwd” stands for “info window display” and specifies that the infowindow displayed (iwloc=) will be a detailed (expanded) view.
    iwstate1= iwstate1=ssaddfeatureinstructioncard Specifies that the infowindow is in add place mode. Use with ssp=addf and iwloc=SS.  iwstate1=sscorrectthiscard Specifies the infowindow is in edit mode. iwstate1=sscorrectthiscard:ssmovemarkercard The infowindow is in Move marker mode, with the marker bouncing and draggable. iwstate1=sscorrectthiscard:ssedithistorycard The infowindow is in View history mode, displaying a graphical list of marker moves.
    msa= “msa” is involved in My Maps processing. It does nothing without the “/ms” and “/ms” does nothing without the msa=. msa=0 Used with msid= to show a particular My Map.msa=b Activates the “My Maps” sidebar when used in conjunction with “maps.google.com/ms”.  msa=1 shows the My Maps tab directly (like msa=b did). msa=2 Jumps directly to create new My Map form.
    msid= “msid” specifies a My Maps identifier. When used in conjunction with “maps.google.com/ms” and msa=0, the corresponding My Map is displayed.
    vp= “vp” stands for “view point” and the presence of this parameter causes maps.google.com to switch into Copyright Service mode. Instead of returning the html that draws a map, it returns information about the copyright ownership in Javascript format. The vp= parameter specifies the viewpoint (i.e. the centre of the map). Copyright Service only works when the spn= and z= parameters are also supplied, indicating the span and the zoom. Optional parameters are t=, which specifies the map type, and key= which specifies the API key of the site performing the request.
    sspn = “sspn” stands for “Screen span”. Map bounds dimensions in Degrees, to calculate this use: newGLatLng(map.getBounds().getNorthEast().lat() − map.getBounds().getSouthWest().lat(),map.getBounds().getNorthEast().lng() − map.getBounds().getSouthWest().lng()).toUrlValue()

    Here are some reference books on Google Maps programming that may also be useful:

    Google Maps APIMap Scripting 101Google Web Toolkit ApplicationsBeginning Google Maps API 3 (Expert’s Voice in Web Development) [Paperback]Map Scripting 101: An Example-Driven Guide to Building Interactive Maps with Bing, Yahoo!, and Google Maps [Paperback]Google Web Toolkit Applications [Paperback]

    One reviewer said about Svennerberg’s book, “It’s been a constant struggle for me to find accessible Google Maps API resources that not only cover the capabilities of the API, but also explain the JavaScript concepts behind them in a way that I can understand.” You might also be interested in Gabriel Svennerberg’s blog.

    What is a Query String Anyway?

    A query string is the part of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that can contain data (called parameters) to be passed to web applications such as CGI programs. When a web page is requested via a web browser, the remote server locates a file in its system based on the requested URL. This file may be a simple file or a program. If it is a program, the server may run the program (depending on its configuration), and send output as the required page. The query string is a part of the URL which is passed to the program. It’s use permits data to be passed from the HTTP client (often a web browser like Mozilla Firefox) to the program which generates the web page. This site uses software from WordPress which uses query strings to indicate criteria to search for specific posts or sets of posts in the database. This default use of query strings may reduce search engine optimization (SEO) efforts so pretty permalinks are used here instead. I use the /%category%/%postname%/ permalink, which is probably the most popular.

  • Analyzing Actions

    youtube-diggI decided to do a little research on how this blog was doing.  I went to Google Analytics, which records data on what keywords visitors use to find this site and exported the data into Microsoft Excel.  Data has a funny way of changing your realities from what your gut thinks to actual reality.  What we intended this blog to be about can be summed up in one sentence:

    Thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to results, so to change your results, you must first change your thoughts.

    This meant that Zac and I wrote mostly about thoughts, actions, analyzing the way you feel and think – basically changing the insides in order to affect the outsides, the results, in order to achieve success.  What the analysis told me is that even though we are writing about all that, most visitors only care about one of two things, “How to Delete a Digg Submission,” and “Youtube Query String Parameters.”

    Both of these subjects, or posts, are in the “Programming” category, which, out of all the categories (Actions, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Job Hunting, Life, LOST, Management, Marketing, Pop Culture, Small Business, Startups, Success, and Technology), Technology is probably the only one that is remotely close to being like it.  All the others, besides LOST, are mostly homogeneous.  So what we really have here is a kind of identity crises.  It’s a question of who we are.  It’s also an opportunity to innovate and make some changes.

    Blog Analysis

    Most popular posts and keywords are just one metric of the success or current state of a blog.  For each keyword there are, “Pages per Visit, Average Time on Site, Percent New Visits, and Bounce Rate.”  For example, the keyword which resulted in the most page views was, “youtube embed querystring parameters,” at 17 pages, whereas the keyword resulting in the lowest bounce rate, “creative avoidance,”at 42% also had 3 more page views per visit.  This tells me that out of all Managing Actions blog posts, the most popular post that also captures the essence of this blog, “manage your thoughts in order to manage your actions”, is “Creative Avoidance,” by Zac.

    I recommend breaking the “Programming” category off into its own blog and focusing on “Creative Avoidance“-type subjects along with the other popular trends in this category, “Purpose,” “Actions,” and “Confidence.” [Update: I have since started blogging about query string parameters (1,2) and how to stay alert. 9/15/2009]

    If you would like an analysis done on your blog or help with Internet marketing, please use the comment box below to leave your name and email address and we will contact you shortly.  Thank you for visiting Managing Actions – and may your thoughts lead to action!

  • Google Video Uploads with Comcast

    Comcast Users Experiencing CONNECTION INTERRUPTED at Google Video

    Google VideoComcast users trying to upload video to Google Video lately have experienced a CONNECTION INTERRUPTED message. If you are upset about this, please contact Comcast. It is not Google, it is Comcast or your Internet service provider.

    But just to be sure, in Windows XP, check your “hosts” file located in: C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetc
    Replace “C” with whatever drive you have Windows installed on. The Windows host file should look like this:

     

    # Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
    #
    # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
    #
    # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
    # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
    # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
    # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
    # space.
    #
    # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
    # lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
    #
    # For example:
    #
    # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
    # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

    127.0.0.1 localhost

    More > Learn about query string parameters.