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I like talking to our clients, solving problems for them, and working on creative projects; but I hate dealing with computer issues and slowness.  I imagine you’re in the same boat.  Whether your focus is selling staffing solutions, finding qualified applicants, running a business, or trying to take your staff to the next level; your PCs and laptops are just supposed to work.

Which is probably what frustrates me about Vista so much, but I’m going to stop there before this turns into a rant!  Instead, this week I took a major step in accepting the fact that my Vista machine isn’t going to get any better unless I proactively do something to make it better.  The 20 minute boot-ups in the morning drove me to this common-sense realization.   So I’m going to share with you some of the very simple steps and resources I used to improve my Vista machine’s performance.

I know maintaining and improving your PC or laptop’s performance is not your main job and may not even be on your radar, but it’ll pay off exponentially if you and your staff gain 5 to 10 minutes a day.  The main article that got me off and running was “10 things you can do to increase performance in Vista,” on Tech Republic’s website: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=200&tag=rbxccnbtr1.

Besides adding additional RAM (this is the only acronym I’ll use – I promise) , here are the 3 most effective things I did to boost my laptop’s performance.  The first one only applies to Vista machines, but the second two apply to all PCs or laptops.

1.       Turn off Aero  - the slick graphical look that comes with Vista.

While Aero makes Vista look pretty, beauty comes at a price – memory and lots of it.  I’m content with a classic Windows look, so here is how you can change from the sexy Aero look to the workhorse Windows look:

Right-click the desktop and select Personalize, then click Windows Color And Appearance, click Open classic appearance properties for more color options, from the Appearance Settings dialog box select either Windows Vista Basic, Windows Standard, or Windows Classic, click OK or Apply and voila you’ve proven you care more about what’s on the inside than the superficial things of life.  

2.       Defrag  your hard drive, which rearranges your data and files in a way that is easier for Vista to access.

I know “defrag” sounds scary, but it is really quite simple; if you have a Vista machine, go to:

Your Start menu, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Diskeeper.  When Diskeeper is displayed, you can right-click on you your hard drive – most likely (C:) – and select Defragment.

This process slows down your computer, so it is best to schedule it or kick it off when you are not using it.  There are also many third-party defrag utilities available.

3.       Turn off extra startup programs.

You probably have a lot of processes, services, and programs running in the background that you may not even be aware of.  To turn off unnecessary startup programs, go to:

Your Start menu, Performance Information and Tools, and Manage startup programs, and you can literally go down the list and Remove any unnecessary startup programs. 

If you are not sure about removing a program, either ask your IT person, google the startup program name, or check out CNET’s The Download Blog’s startup posts: http://download.cnet.com/download-blog/?keyword=startup.

I hope this gives you the information and nudge you need to do something positive for you, your computer, and your productivity.  It was hard for me to get to this point, but I’m glad I tapped into my inner-geek.  If you need some further inspiration; get a bag of Doritos, Red Bull, and a your own hacker handle (alias) at http://www.rootcompromise.org/hhg/.  Mine is Static Darkness.  This week, follow these three steps and comment on this blog or click I actually did something good for my computer to let me know if you and your staff are saving time, money, and emotional health.

Static Darkness (aka Everett Reiss)
Business Relationships Development
The Staffing Cooperative
Check me out on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/evreiss
Check us out on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/StaffingCo_op

How are people getting to your staffing company’s website?  For that matter, who is visiting your staffing company’s website?  Right now, you may not know the answer to these questions, but today you can start driving quality traffic to your staffing agency’s website through your disciplined use of Linkedin.  I do highly recommend that you use Google Analytics, http://www.google.com/analytics/, a free tool that measures your web traffic and breaks that information down into many useful forms.

The following two videos will show you how we’ve increased the quantity and quality of your web traffic through Linkedin. 

The first video is geared towards staffing managers and professionals who are starting out with Linkedin and shows you how you can:

·         Publish your company’s website on your profile .

·         Drop into comments your signature with hyperlinks to your website as you participate in discussions.

This second video is for more experienced social networkers and discusses how to use Linkedin to drive traffic to your blog, newsletter, or some other regular content that you are producing.

Let us know how you’ve successfully used Linkedin or or get our feedback by submitting your questions or anecdotes to Linkedin Success Stories.

Click-in for next week’s Linkedin Success Story on “Creating  Valuable Discourse in Your Area of Expertise on Linkedin?”

Everett Reiss
Business Relationships Development
The Staffing Cooperative
Check me out on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/evreiss
Check us out on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/StaffingCo_op

How much time are you actively on Linkedin?  Are you wondering if Linkedin is worth your time?  Or is your staff, co-workers, or manager skeptical of the business value behind social networking?  This is the first blog-video of a three part series on “Linkedin Success Stories in the Staffing Industry” that will demonstrate to you and your fellow staffing professionals proven ways you can use Linkedin to:

• Gather valuable professional information that can sharpen your staffing game.
• Drive traffic to your staffing company’s website.
• Strike up provocative discourse in your area of expertise.

Let us know how you’ve successfully used Linkedin or pick our brains on the topic by submitting your questions or anecdotes to Linkedin Success Stories.

Additionally, check out the May 15th blog post we compiled off of a Linkedin discussion that we started on cold calling and leaving voicemails, http://www.staffingcooperative.com/news/?p=35.

Click-in for next week’s Linkedin Success Story on “How to Drive Quality Traffic to Your Staffing Company’s Website Through Linkedin?”

Everett Reiss
Business Relationships Development
The Staffing Cooperative
Check me out on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/evreiss
Check us out on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/StaffingCo_op

What do you know about your competition in your staffing market?  Richard Piske, co-founder of The Staffing Cooperative talks with his partner Dave Reiss about how when he was running a national staffing firm, his sales organization knew as much about their competition as their competitors knew about themselves.   

Richard says, “We knew how they thought…, what their strategies were…, how they behaved…, where they were weak…, where they were strong.  There wasn’t anything we didn’t know.”  Listen to this blog-video to hear some specific examples of the type of intelligence your staffing sales organization should be gathering on your competition.

This conversation was held before staffing executives and staffing professionals at AST’s 2009 Users Group in Jersey City. AST (http://www.astusa.com) has been providing staffing software solutions to the staffing industry since 1985.

In last week’s blog-video, “For the Staffing Industry – What’s Different About This Economy?,” Richard said that while this recession is “more comprehensive,” regional staffing agencies can gain advantage in their staffing markets by gathering solid market intelligence and leveraging the “tenure that they have in the marketplace.”   This week, Richard laid out the aggressive “need to know” attitude that a successful staffing sales organization has to maintain to gain in their market.

Ask Dave and Richard about the types of questions you should be asking about your competition by clicking on the following link: What should I be asking about my competition?

Click in next week for “Using Linkedin to Develop an Online Presence for Your Staffing Business.”

Everett Reiss
Business Relationship Development
The Staffing Cooperative
Check me out on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/evreiss
Check us out on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/StaffingCo_op