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Sixth Annual Password Habit Review

It kills me that people still use these AWFUL passwords. Why not just max out your credit card and throw the cash out the window of your speeding car?!

The 200 Most Common Passwords

Please read their recommendations!  I wholeheartedly support them.

Best trick I know – a password pattern. For example,

27_ _ _ _ _5#&%

So my password for Gmail is  27gMail5#&%

     my password for Amazon is 27aMazo5#&%

    my password for Dropbox is 27dRopb5#&%

Each password is unique to the place you’re using it.  If a hacker gets your Amazon password, they can’t access Dropbox.

The pattern fits 98% of all password requirements: 10 characters, at least 1 upper case, at least 1 number, at least 1 special character, no repeating character.  Yes, there will be a few places the pattern won’t work. But not often. Then your Password Keeper will help you out.

But the pattern is easy for you to remember!

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Middle Age Texting Codes

I thought you might enjoy a laugh!   Below are some middle age texting codes:

ATD = at the doctor
BFF = best friend fell
BTW = bring the wheelchair
BYOT = bring your own teeth
FWIW = forgot where I was
GGPBL = gotta go, pacemaker battery low
GHA = got heartburn again
IMHO = is my hearing aid on?
LMDO = laughing my dentures out
OMMR = on my massage recliner
ROFLACGU = rolling on floor laughing and can’t get up

Brought to you by The Good, Clean Funnies List

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You Just Can’t Beat Email Marketing

One of my clients had a great story this week about email marketing.Two young women sitting in cafe and talking

She met a woman at a luncheon. They exchanged business cards and had a good talk. My client put the woman on her email list.

20 years went by!! TWENTY!

The woman signed up for an event my client was hosting last week. She said, “I’ve always read your newsletters but never had a need for your services until now. But I certainly knew who I was going to call for help! The expert!”

​Keeping the woman on the email list for 20 years had a zero cost. My client has over 30
00 emails on her list. So there was no cost. No special effort. ​ But the woman came to the event with a friend and both are planning purchases!

Review your office procedures to be sure you are gathering every email possible. Add them to your lists. Make your content valuable so people will stay on the list. Watch your traffic reports to be sure the content is working with your audience. Build long term relationships!

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Don’t Buy a Mac

I’m trying to do a new website for a MAC user. She’s not super computer literate so everything she tries to share with me takes her twice as long. Her Pages and Numbers files don’t convert to Word or Excel cleanly. What she thinks is a graphic file, isn’t.

There are 4 times more Windows users than MAC users. So chances are REALLY good that MAC users are going to need to share files with a Windows person.

Why make your computer life harder? Unless you are working in a graphics related industry and the only people you share files with are other MAC users, stay away from MACs.

Sure you get free support from the Apple store. How much time do you have for standing in line during regular business hours? But don’t try googling a question for a quick answer because chances are slim you’ll find the answer. Have a Windows question? There are hundreds of answers in blog sites, YouTube videos and forums.

Want some training on the software? There are hundreds of YouTube videos and articles about Windows. Not so much on the iOS.

So unless your goal is to be a full time computer whiz who can rock all those graphics programs, don’t buy a MAC.

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Writing Your Elevator Speech

The American Family Business Accelerator program had an excellent presentation on writing your elevator speech. Even if you have an elevator speech I suggest working through this tool to see if it spotlights any fine-tuning you need to do.

In a nutshell:
     F  –  Find their pain point
     A  – Answer their problem
     R  – Reasons why you’re different
     M – Make them want more

In theory, it’s easy to tell someone what you do. You’re asked that question all the time. But in reality, it’s hard! And it is so important!  You want to wordsmith your answer so that it can be stated in 30 seconds. The words have to be clear and concise to give a total stranger the picture of what you do. It’s that pivotal “first impression.”

Beyond answering “What do you do?” your elevator speech plays a major part in your entire marketing plan. It is the first step, the foundation of the whole plan.

  • When you create a company brochure, you would start with the elevator speech and expand to share examples and details to support the speech.
  • When you are writing content for your web site, each page should support and expand upon that basic elevator speech.
  • If you participate in any review sites such as Angie’s List, Yelp or Kudzu, your elevator speech would be the content you fill in for their format.
  • The elevator speech would be the starting point for your Summary section on your LinkedIn profile.

Take the time to write a good elevator speech. Use this excellent tool. Call Your Computer Lady for help if you need it. We’ll brainstorm with you and help edit the speech until it’s just what you need!

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