Hello all. Welcome to the first Public Newsletter of 2010.

Things have been pretty hectic recently, and I’ve just not been able to dedicate a lot of time to the blog; particularly in the last week.

As you may or may not know; the entire United Kingdom has been snowed on and frozen for some time, due to Easterly winds coming down from Siberia and the Arctic, which have brought snow and freezing temperatures.

As a result the country, which isn’t snowed on a lot and very seldom gets more than a couple of consecutive days of freezing weather, almost cane to a standstill as it just wasn’t prepared for this type of weather for such a long period of time.

I know the Canadians are calling us Brits wooses for getting jammed up by a few inches of snow; but they’re used to it and get it all the time: Therefore Canada is always ready for this type of weather; whereas the UK isn’t.

Ironically I was making some online friends in East Hampshire only days before the weather turned. East Hampshire happened to be the very worst-affected area when it snowed torrentially for nearly 24 hours almost non-stop, with the town of Petersfield virtually shut down, despite the fact that the main A3 trunk-road passes the West side and top of the town. The A3 itself was closed-down; and many drivers were stranded in their cars, buried in snow and unable to move due to ice. This was the case from just South of Petersfield right up to Liphook and beyond into Berkshire and Surrey.

The kind townspeople of Petersfield arranged shelters for the stranded in local pubs and churches, so that nobody went hungry or froze to death.

Thanks to the internet, which was fully operational throughout, everyone was able to coordinate efforts professionally and communicate weather, traffic, and social reports.

Something else took place on Wednesday (6th Jan) night, when a bare-topped thug in a pair of shorts – in sub-zero temperatures – harassed one of my online acquaintances in the village of Liss, North of Petersfield, and stole her mobile phone. Thanks to the internet the story was soon spread around the area. Unfortunately, despite having a live online webcam positioned nearby, the camera failed to see anything of this incidence.

The poor girl was distraught and terrified afterwards. I spoke over the internet with her and tried to reassure, advise, and comfort her, and it appeared everything was under control and that the police had been informed and were on their way.

If, by any slim chance, somebody from Liss or elsewhere has any information about this incident, or knows who the perpetrator was and happens to read this article; I appeal to them to please contact the police immediately.

So that’s the goings on around the time of writing, and things continue to escalate as more snow and freezing conditions are forecast for the next week for the entire UK.

I’m hopefully laying a few foundations, as it were, for what could be a rather large and exciting event to gradually unfold with regard to this blog at some point in the future. I won’t say any more than that for now, other than it could well involve (maybe multiple) live video streams – But it’s very early days and anything other than pure conjecture at this point is futile. – However I do have hopes; and maybe eventually a plan will be hatched, depending upon circumstance.

The weirdest thing about the weather; which incidentally I predicted a month in advance in more than one place on the internet, (Twitter was one of them.) is that it froze up mid-December as I expected, thawed out for Xmas in the South of England, (During which I had a stinker of a cold.) and then froze the entire country in again afterwards. I wish I could avoid Christmas, just like the Christmas weather did down here in the South. – Humbug

Right; to matters a’la blog, and a recap on what’s been posted since the last Public Newsletter. – Oh, incidentally, I intend to make this Public Newsletter a monthly thing in future, rather than bi-weekly.

S’no Time Like The Present for Maintenance

January 6, 2010 | 0

The UK freezes; but as we wait for a thaw; why not give your box some TLC?

Go on; be kind to your online friend that abides with you and does a lot of work for you.

Something Amazing is Happening Soon…

The amazing thing happening soon is: Blog Masters Club is opening its doors again!

January 5, 2010 | 0

Coming soon: It’s tried, it’s tested, it works – It’s from David Risley and it’ll blow your blog’s potential into the next dimension!

Windows 7 Usage

January 3, 2010 | 0

Statistics regarding usage of Windows 7 seem promising, if this blog’s audience can be taken as a representative sample of computer users generally.

A Twit Too Far?

January 1, 2010 | 0

A new online system for protecting yourself from being followed by spam-bots on Twitter has emerged: Find out why kkomp.com gives it the thumbs-down.

A Phone Running XP? – Yes – Really!

December 31, 2009 | 1

This gadget might end up opening a can of worms; or then again it might prove to be extremely popular. (?)

Battle of the Browsers 2009

December 31, 2009 | 0

2009 saw an exciting time in the Browser Wars saga; yet 2010 promises even more excitement – Maybe even the fall of Microsoft as we know it?

How Many Processor-Cores Should I Have

December 30, 2009 | 0

With single, double, triple, quad-cored processors around, with hex and octo-cored CPUs due to appear soon; what would be best for my computer?

Color Cop (Free Software) – multi-purpose colour picker for Windows

December 29, 2009 | 1

Bloggers, coders, and many more people too, will find this little freebie Windows-only app most useful.

A Bit More About 64-Bit

December 28, 2009 | 0

I want to talk a bit more about 64-bit and memory…

5 Predictions for Tech in 2010

December 26, 2009 | 0

I predicted the December cold snap in the UK a month ahead of the event. Time will tell if these technology predictions come to bear in 2010.

Pure Yuletide Genius!

December 25, 2009 | 0

In a break from the norm; it’s time for some art: In this delightful seasonal video produced days ago, Lisa Jackson brings to you good cheer.

The WordPress Classroom

December 23, 2009 | 0

"My name is Matt Wolfe, and WordPress Changed my life."

Matt Wolfe; famous US internet marketer, had his life changed in such a big way that he felt that he had to share his experience: –
Introducing: The WordPress Classroom

Five Things That Nark Shazza

December 22, 2009 | 1

Normally I’m easy-going; but some things severely nark me nevertheless: Yes, there is a real human here beneath this cloak of technology believe it or not.

You’ll Be Glad It’s Yule…

December 21, 2009 | 1

Have a couple of gifts with PLR, on me.

That just about wraps it up for this one then. If you’re in the new ice-box we’ve come to know as the UK; stay warm and stay well. Only drive if you really have to. – It’s only a matter of time and the extended cold-snap will eventually end. For now it appears that there’s more to come.

Enjoy the (frozen ) week ahead.

Hello and welcome to another public newsletter.

In this newsletter I’ll mention some changes I’ve made to this blog, we’ll take the usual look at and quick review of the last fortnight’s posts, and I’ll include some general small talk.

Ch-ch-ch-changes…

Ok, so to turn and face the strain, and get the ball rolling, I’ll mention that the last thing I’ve done, as far as this blog’s layout is concerned, is to have the latest post displayed in its entirety on the Welcome (home) page. This may change to having excerpts of the last few posts displayed with a “read more” link for each post. – I’m still fighting with php along with the assistance of some paid help, in order to get this optimised. – Bear with me on that. Time may change me; but I won’t change time.

I’ve also changed the logo again, as you may notice: Whilst the simple black-text on a blue background was easy to download and possibly sufficient, it wasn’t exactly particularly eye-catching, and failed to initially capture the reader’s vision.

I apologise to anyone still using dial-up, for the fact that the logo now takes about ten-times the amount of time to download; but such is progress. – In the same way that people no longer spend hours to optimise their blogs in order that any readers still using Internet Explorer 6 (spit) can gain maximum viewing pleasure, so I see no reason to use a minimalistic theme any longer for those still using dial-up. Internet Explorer 6 is yesterday’s browser, despite being the default browser which loads with XP; it’s horrible with a capital H, and these days webmasters expect people to use other browsers, which is easy to do. – Just download and run another browser; it cost nothing and it’s easy. – In the same way, if anyone’s still using dial-up, then I suggest that they start using a decent internet connection: Dial-up is yesteryear’s internet-connection, and should, in the light of necessity, be upgraded.

I’ll carry on making small changes to the logo over time, as I have been doing.

Another thing is that I’ve changed the name of this blog from “Beyond” to “kkomp.com – Beyond”. “Beyond”, by itself, says not-a-lot: Yes; it does convey a sense of being at the forefront or even ahead of that; but as a brand it sucks. kkomp.com says even less than that, true, but the two together are a definite brand-name ( See PC Mech.com: PC Mech is a linguistic invention in itself; although maybe rather more appropriate for a tech blog..): That’s something which will be important as this blog becomes more and more business-oriented and commercialised over time. – Don’t worry; I’m not going to start charging for every article: There’ll always be free content on this blog, but I can’t continue indefinitely to run this blog for no-profit or at a loss. – It’s just totally unrealistic to expect me to do so. – So I will be slowly and gently turning the blog into a moneymaking-venture in addition to hosting much free content.

I do hope that you like the improving layout. Whilst layout is only a part of the whole; it is nevertheless something that contributes to the overall attractiveness of a blog, and a good layout is therefore equally as important as producing great-value content. I’ll be doing another reader-satisfaction-survey in the foreseeable future, and I hope that I get a decent response to this one with regard to numbers participating: The turnout in the case of the last one was worse than that of a British local election.

Promotion

At this point; I’d like to remind you that I’m giving away a free report; “Some Things to Try if XP Crashes During Boot”. Windows XP can, and in certain cases, does, crash during boot-up. This 25-page report in pdf format will give you many tips and ideas for getting your XP computer restarted so that you can diagnose the problem.

You’ll see the purple text at the top of the sidebar on almost every page. Simply insert your email address in the space provided, and click on “Get the Free Report”. You’ll get a confirmation email from FeedBlitz with both a confirmation-link for my email list, as well as a download location for the free report. I ask you to download the free report as well as clicking the confirmation-link.

On The Move

On that note; I’ll be moving my mailing-list from FeedBlitz over to Aweber fairly soon; so at some point those already on my mailing list will receive a confirmation email from Aweber with a link to click to indicate that you still want to receive emails from this blog. I’d ask you to simply click that confirmation-link when you get the email from Aweber, and that’ll be all you’ll need to do. If you’re not on my mailing list then you’re missing out on a free report, insider information, notification of blog updates, the whole shebang. I suggest that if you’re not on the mailing list, you get your free report as well as click the confirmation – link so that you’ll be a part of it and you’ll stop missing out.

Let David Risley teach you the basics of a six-figure problogger business in only 3 days. The course includes 14 videos, and has a 92 page transcript, checklist, and audio podcasts of all modules included. Download my FREE 5-page .pdf report on 3-Day Money

Reviews

And now; a review of the posts that have been posted since the last Public Newsletter: -

 The Friday Moan

It’s great to see that you lot are so rich. I thought there was meant to be a recession on; but obviously that was just negative-media-hype. I’m still looking for the destitute impoverished homeless masses sleeping in the park, but all I’ve seen is a couple of winos. – Should I add that I smelled them first:  Aroma d’vagrant et l’alcohol. I also fail to see the long queues for mostly–empty shelves at the local supermarket. – So much for recession. This one is meant to be as bad as the one in the 1930’s; yet all the evidence seems to point to it being fairly superficial. Both the British and American economies have started to show signs of growth incidentally.

The reason I started off in this way is because, a few weeks back, I launched a small competition that had a small cash-prize associated with it. In the first week 2 people submitted 4 entries between them, and I published one from each person. The first one went straight to Number 10 in the kkomp Top 10 and then sank. The second went straight to Number 9 and floated around between Number 8 and 16 for a week before also sinking.

The object of the exercise was to write a post that would get to Number 1 and stay there over the Xmas Holiday Season. – Impossible? – No; I’ve already written a post that stayed at No 1 for over 6 months. I imagined that my 150+ original visitors per day might like to write something, get published, grab a free piece of internet real-estate, partake in a bit of link-love, and maybe win a small cash prize too.

I was wrong, so you lot miss out: However, since the Season of Goodwill to all Gluttonous Temporary-Alcoholics looms in the not-too-distant future, I’m going to offer a prize to anyone who can get their post to the Number 1 spot in the kkomp Top 10 on Christmas Day and stay there all day, or longer than any other post can on that day.

I don’t quite know why I’m offering to do this, as it appears obvious that you lot are all wealthy and happily well-off thank you very much. However, since I’ve scrapped the original competition due to lack of support, there’s the part of the prize-fund that I haven’t spent on eBay, namely £10UKP still up for grabs. -  If you want it then get submitting your guest posts now to drafts at kustomkomputa dot co dot uk. Whoever is at Number 1 with their post in the kkomp.com Top 10 on Xmas day and stays there the longest wins the tenner. – And yes, if it’s me with any of my posts at Number 1 on that day, I will donate the £10UKP to the Overworked Female Blogger’s Benevolent Fund, of which I am the proprietor and sole benefactor. – So if you want it, rather than allow me to have it, then get writing.

Furthermore…

Furthermore, on a totally different topic, Windows 7 is fantastic: If you don’t have a copy yet then get one: Home Premium is good enough for most people, including myself. If you don’t have a computer capable of running it then get one or build one and run it. I encourage everyone to use the 64-bit version, which requires around 2GBs of RAM minimum. Pretty much all computers built in the last 3 years are capable of running the 64-bit version; except for netbooks, which might find it rather heavy-going, don’t have 2 GB RAM as a rule, and would be better off with the 32-bit version.

RC Running Out of Time

On that note I will remind all of you skinflints and freeloaders who are determined to stick with the Release Candidate of Windows 7 because it costs zilch, nothing; that your free Windows operating system will shut down every 2 hours starting on March 1st 2010. – There really is no point staying in the Freeloader’s Legs all winter in a pokey little room with a packet of extra-strong mints for warmth and an ancient laptop with Windows 7 RC on it ‘til shutdown do you part. – Splash out: The RTM version is more stable than the RC anyway.

Seasoned

Suddenly it’s Autumn / Fall; well it is in the UK anyway: No sooner do the clocks go back than the balmy Indian summer turns into a facsimile of a monsoon, temperatures drop, deciduous trees shed their leaves… Actually it’s not all that bad so far: Despite the early darkness I’ve seen a bumblebee hard at work on my still-blooming lavender on October 25th, and the following day I saw a black ladybird with red spots on a bush…No the red spots were on the ladybird, not the bush, silly.

Enjoy this mild weather in the UK; because I predict that it’ll stay mild with a few exceptions right into early December, and then it’ll unexpectedly turn bitterly cold – I mean arctic cold – for a couple or a few weeks. I predict that there is a 50/50 chance of a traditional Victorian Christmas Day being entirely possible this year due to the natural weather.

What makes me predict this? – The way that nature’s behaving, that’s what. I’m a Witch: I could well be right: Then again, the last time I made a massive and well-publicised weather prediction, that time a prediction of a blazing June and a tropical July, we had one of the worst and wettest summers on record. (1997 if I remember rightly.)

Blog Matters

I’ve recently done some work on improving the design of this blog. – As you will appreciate, although I’m not a designer by trade, I am learning more about aspects of blog design and the science behind it.

You’ll notice that a few months ago I’ve changed the colour-scheme to blue and black with a smattering of red, from pink and red with a smattering of everything else.

This blog actually started off fairly aimlessly and directionless back in June 2008 with a not-very-good pink theme. – I never changed the theme since; I just hacked and customised the heck out of it. What you see today is still using the original basic theme framework called “Serenity Pink”. The logo started life as a pink line that was part of the original theme, would you believe.

On the subject of the logo; you’ll notice that at long last it’s relatively decent: It’s actually a brand, rather than a brand confusion. There is a reason why it’s been so crappy for so long until now: That reason is because I was trying to minimise the work involved by enhancement and recycling of the older crappy logos – aka laziness at its most sneaky. They say that lazy people always end up doing the most work; and in this case that was true. At the end of the day I had to scrap the multiply-re-enhanced design; if one can actually call it a design, and start again from scratch: Something which I should have done in the case of the logo some time ago, like a year ago.

Please understand that when I started this blog I was totally inexperienced with regard to blogging. – Yes really 100% inexperienced and completely without a clue: I’d heard of a blog before, although I wasn’t sure what a blog was; even though I’d read quite a few blogs and didn’t even realise that they were blogs. – That was my total knowledge of blogging at the time. I knew how to use html, was clueless about php, knew a bit about javascript, and was a corporate addict who avoided open-source software as I perceived it as dodgy stuff.

An online acquaintance, namely David Risley, who is now a top problogger, and was rising to that status at the time, suggested that I started a blog and recommended that I do so using WordPress. After further talking with him and mulling the issue over in my mind I decided to give it a go.

Installing WordPress was something that actually made me freak. – Honestly; I unzipped the files, downloaded them to the server, looked again, and screamed!

- I’m a trained and qualified electronics technician. I was never trained in blogging. I’d self-trained in software-maintenance plus basic-peripheral devices-setup-and-maintenance, and made a living from it for a short-time. I learned about hardware initially from sitting in on lectures at college for the computer course, and realised how actually simplistic it was to me on the basis of my electronics background. (I’d actually been studying and practicing practical electronics (Mainly analogue electronics.) as a hobby since age 7. – I only actually qualified in it later in life when I took the initiative to enhance my hobby at an academic level.)

- So I’ve learned and gained experience of computing at both a software and a hardware level, having an electronics background. I’m still learning and gaining experience of blogging right now. I’ve done Yaro Starak’s BecomeaBlogger course, which competently teaches the basics of blogging, and I’m currently undergoing David Risley’s BlogMasters course, which teaches how to blog professionally and properly, as well as how to generate an income from one’s blog as a problogger.

Time is a great hurdle to me currently, as I don’t have oodles of time to spend blogging: However, having said that, when I decide to fully throw my oar into the problogger pond I’ll be devoting most if not all of my time to this blog on a full-time professional basis, and hopefully generating a living from it too.

Does that mean I’m a problogger? Give me a chance; I haven’t even finished the course yet. Could I currently live on the earnings I’m making from this blog? Only if I were a nun with a vow of poverty and all my living expenses paid for by the church and/or state.

Do I intend to become a problogger? Eventually, yes: Hopefully in the not-too-distant future. Do I intend to make a living from this blog? Eventually yes; though maybe not just from this blog. Can I start making a living from and/or monetising this blog now? Well, in a way I am starting to monetise it in line with the BlogMasters training; although there’s a long way to go yet.

I’m not knowledgeable enough or in a position to tell you a lot about problogging at this time: However, when I’ve finished the BlogMasters course I’ll be trained in a lot of the aspects of problogging and will have more to say on the matter, as well as more to practice and implement too.

If you’re interested in problogging as a means of generating a living, then I’ll be advertising the BlogMasters course at some point in early 2010, when I’ve finished it and the doors open again to allow in more students. What I can tell you now is that it’s a six-month course spread out over 19 modules; each with multiple training videos downloadable online, along with transcripts and to-do lists. During the course you’ll get direct access to David Risley himself, to ask questions, make suggestions for enhancing the course material, say what you’d like to learn about, and generally gain the benefit of his expertise in the realm of problogging.

David Risley been blogging, initially as a hobby. since before blogging was called blogging, and he’s gained a wealth of experience over the years by buying lots and lots of training materials from a variety of other bloggers and interacting with them. Also he’s what you might describe as a born-problogger, so he’s used a lot of common-sense and integrated his natural abilities into his rise to success.

On another thread; I currently have a survey running on this blog, and I’d appreciate it if all my readers would complete it for me. It’s a fairly short survey which is conducted via Survey Monkey on behalf of kkomp.com. I forget when it closes; either today or in a week I think. Nobody who takes the survey will be personally identified in any way. The answers that you give to the survey will assist me to enhance this blog further and in a way that you readers would like to see happening. To take part in the survey please click here.

Back to technology

I do like to have a decent working pair of computers at all times: Why a pair? Well, if one should fail then I can always use the other while I’m repairing the failed one. Also I can try out new software on one of them and use the other for more mundane office work.

It is with this in mind that I once again encourage everyone to upgrade to Windows 7: With possibly a few exceptions for the time being. Read the article Windows 7 is Out There: Should You Upgrade? for more on this matter.

Other posts on the subject of Windows 7 recently include: -

How to Create a Task Manager Desktop Icon in Windows 7

Windows 7 has made using your computer much easier –except for one aspect: Calling up the task manager.

In this article we learn how to very simply create a Task Manager icon on your Windows 7 Desktop to simplify the process of calling up the Task Manager.

Can I Run Windows 7 64-bit on the XP Machine I Ran 32-bit on?

In which we look at running Windows 7 64-bit on your existing box.

There is a particular post which I feel will be very valuable to anybody running an online business. In fact it will be beneficial also to anyone who runs a physical corporate business also: -

Expert Help to Boost Your Business – For Free!

Seriously–this "Group Think Tank" process has the capability to increase your profits by up to 1,000%–or more–before the year is over.

A number of top-business experts have got together to share their valuable experience with you at no cost. – Yes that’s right; it’s free of charge expertise from top businesspeople. Can you really afford to miss it? The next session is this coming Thursday. I know I’ll be listening in.

On the subject of business; you might find this post useful also: -

Monetise Your RSS Feed

You could be leaving money on the table if you’re not making the most of monetising your RSS feed.

Yaro Starak’s had the doors open to another of his courses this last week. Oh you didn’t take advantage of it? Well you’ll have to wait until the doors open again in 2010 then. – I did publicise it rather much. – I even had an advert on Google for it: -

Doors Closing Soon … Oops; too late.

Lisa Jackson’s been video-making again: See her Halloween production here: -

Halloween Rules

- Totally off-topic for this blog; but what the heck? A little laughter never hurt anyone.

… And finally; here’s a rundown of the rest of the articles published since the last Public Newsletter: -

Benefits of Doing Your Own Upgrades

All you need is some basic electronics knowledge, general software knowledge,… a steady hand and relatively good hand-eye-coordination, and you’re away.

Keep Your Drivers Up-To-Date

To help get optimum performance from your computer, you should keep your drivers up to date.

How to Back-up Social Media – Bonus Article

Social media has no built-in backup; but there are applications out there which can do the job as far as Facebook and Twitter are concerned.

Computer of The Future: 2020

In this post I project my predictions, based upon my impressions of quickly-advancing technology, of how a computer could be in the year 2020.

An Introduction to Wireless Computer Speakers

Andy Zain tells us a bit about wireless computer speakers in this article: I don’t think this idea will ever go mainstream; but I’m sure that it has its uses.

Fake Antivirus Software is Infecting on a Massive Scale

Partly due to the corporate greed of the kosher affiliate networks, there are now criminal affiliate networks peddling malware. Criminals are making a fortune!

- That’s it for this Public Newsletter then: Enjoy your weekend, and if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere then remember, it’s getting cold outside lately; so why not stay in more, sit in front of the computer, and among other things, read kkomp.com.

We start this newsletter with a favourite subject of Brits: The weather. – And has it been a scorcher in the UK this week! Record temperatures, the like of which we haven’t seen since 2006; bringing back memories for me of sitting in that baking college classroom in front of a computer, sweltering hot with my blouse soaking wet from perspiration. Fortunately that blistering heat has moved into central Europe, and England has returned to average temperatures or just above for the time of year.

It’s with this hot weather in mind that I wrote the following article: -

Keep A Cool Box – Let It Breathe

I imagined computers left running 24/7 in hot airless rooms while their owner was out.

If only solid-state drives were cheaper and had more data-storage capacity: If that were the case I’d never use a standard spinning-platter disc again. I wrote an article about solid-state drives: –

About Solid State Drives

If you’ve not enrolled on the Become A Blogger course then you’ve probably missed your chance by the time you read this. – However, if this is the case then there’s always a chance of being first in the queue next time round; so do click on the link anyway: You’ll find that the 10 free videos are still available, plus you can also register your interest in joining up next time.

Become A Blogger Admission Window: Only 5 Days

There is, however, another course in the offing: David Risley’s Blog Masters Club will be launching on the 7th July 2009: Whilst this course is a little more advanced than Become A Blogger, in that it assumes, I believe, that you already have a blog set up and running; it will nevertheless enhance your blogging efforts, and teach you things that will give you the ability to blow your blog’s earning potential sky-high.

David is one of my long-term online associates whom I have a lot of respect for. I know for a fact that he’s been compiling this course and getting it ready to run pretty much full-time for well over 6 months. – That tells you that this is no rush-job from David; and based upon the success of the sensational 3-Day-Money course, I know that this will not only be a winner in itself, but will also put you onto a winner if you enrol in it.

One thing I hope is that you’re not running Windows 7 beta software on the computer you’re reading this on. If you are then prepare to watch it automatically shut down before your eyes at some point within the next two hours. Also if you want to get a free copy of Windows 7 RC you’d better be quick, as there are only around 6 weeks left for you to do so: -

Windows 7 Release Candidate Program Nears the End of the Line

Microsoft are naughty: They’ve strategically positioned an advert aimed at the UK consumer on their website in order to increase the sales numbers for Vista. Whatever you do don’t buy Vista: Wait until 15th July and you can order Windows 7 for £50: -

Microsoft and the Massive 7 UK Con

On rare occasions the event of Windows XP crashing as it boots is due to hardware failure. This part of the series looks at the death of a motherboard: -

Something to Try if Windows XP Crashes During Boot – Part 13

That’s it for this newsletter. If you missed any of the week’s articles then they’re all linked from here as you can see. If you didn’t or couldn’t make it for Become A Blogger then I do seriously suggest that you take a look at Blog Masters Club by clicking the link above.

Enjoy the weekend.

Namaste’

Sharron Field

Author and Creator of kkomp.com

Normally I begin a newsletter by rattling on about the British weather: That’s just an English thing, as our weather is so changeable that on rare occasions we can have literally all four seasons in one day. If you look at that from a positive note; that’s not bad value: Spring, Summer, Autumn (Fall), and Winter – All in 24 hours.

A couple of the posts that I’ve made this last week also give you similarly good value: -

  WordPress on Crack

This post was a brief introduction to the product called “WordPress on Crack”. – A course in which you can learn to write your own WordPress plugins in php. I found this a bit difficult to write in a way, as I’m certainly no php expert; which is why I simply introduced the subject matter and sent the reader to a page where the main vendor describes their course.

This course is a bit similar to the British weather, in that you get not only the specified course itself, but also 4 complimentary bonus products in one package. – Once again, that’s not bad value at all.

The next article I wanted to talk about is a review of a course by problogger and internet entrepreneur David Risley: -

3-Day Money – Review

In a matter of just 72 hours you can learn powerful tried and tested marketing secrets, used by David Risley himself to generate a six-figure income, all for much less than a six-figure sum. I have purchased and studied this course myself: It is amazing value for money; but be prepared to spend a while downloading it, as there’s a lot of materials packed into it.

Moving on…

Apple, seemingly minus Steve Jobs (Jobsweh), appear to be at it again; in the United States at least: -

Apple Con Their Customers Again

This has browned off a number of geeky US people, and no doubt they’ll try something similar over here in the UK too.

That’s not the only thing that’s got my goat this week though. (Ooh I am a grumpy bitch at times. )

Something’s Bugging Me…

How on earth can this be? The plot thickens – Like my head.

- And finally it’s back to Apple again: -

Mac OS X Has A Severe Java Vulnerability: Not Yet Patched

I believe, from reports that I’ve heard, that Microsoft have at last patched the Mac version of PowerPoint; but as far as I am aware, this vulnerability still remains, and this is solely up to Apple to sort out.

There’s the usual Friday review of the reviews and posts for the week.

This is Sharron Field, for kkomp.com, wishing you, as usual, a great weekend.

Keep reading this blog for more revelations and facts about the technical world in which we live; geeks and non-geeks alike.

Namaste’

Hello, and welcome to another newsletter.

This week in the real world the British weather has taken a turn for the worse; with cloud occasional rain, and low temperatures. The forecast for this coming week is rain and showers, with temperatures near normal for the time of year.

It’s Easter weekend in the UK currently; and tomorrow’s Easter Monday, which is a Bank Holiday; aka an excuse for a skive off work for those who rely solely on their 9 to 5 employment. The self-employed don’t get it quite so easy of course, and can use it as a time to catch up on things that are lagging behind in some cases.

Personally I’ll be using it as a day to break out of the usual routine, such that it is, and I’m hoping to be doing more surfing the internet than anything else. I may or may not produce an article also on that day.

On this blog in the last few days I’ve been fairly busy in producing more articles: -

*Yesterday (Saturday 11th April 2009) I produced an article on the Conficker worm’s recent activation; also what it’s doing and how to get rid of it if you’re infected. Conficker Kicks In

*If you’ve been following this blog for some time then you’ll be aware that major changes have taken place re. the theme; mainly during December 2008 and January 2009. I started off using a publicly-available theme, and customised it over time.

It appears that the original theme is no longer available online; so just for the sake of posterity I made it available on this blog.

WordPress Theme: Serenity Pink – Original

*I produced an article on testing a power supply too: Whilst this article only goes into doing very simple testing of the output voltages under zero-load conditions; I’ll be following this up with an article on how to build a simple circuit that will fully-load the PSU so that you can test it under those conditions. How to Test a Power Supply Unit: Testing Voltage Output.

*David Risley has been at it again in Tampa, Florida; producing another work of online-marketing genius. Once again the product is well worth the price. In a 3-day video – course, David reveals everything you need to know to embark upon an online career. I encourage you to buy it if you’re really serious about creating a successful online business. The Three Most Productive Days of Your Life

*For those who are new to the matter of computer hardware; there’s a useful post which will teach them how to visually recognise the difference between a SATA and a PATA drive.  How Do I Tell if a Drive is SATA or PATA?

*As for free antivirus solutions; see the post Free Antivirus Solutions: ‘Any Good?

*I’ve had a recent issue with my RSS feed at http://kkomp.com/kkompRSS.xml , which I’m using as an alternative to the usual blog feed which Feedburner sabotaged in 2008. Everything’s back to pretty much how it should be now. Apology re. The RSS Feed

*Something I recently observed other bloggers using, with success, is the Tweetmeme button. Go here to find out more: The Tweetmeme Button

This blog is always aimed at giving the reader good value; whether or not the content has a price ticket attached to it. Until now virtually all of the content has been totally free of charge. There may be some premium content introduced at a later date that won’t be free but will be exceedingly good value.

I also intend to publish information products in the form of eBooks and the like; which will also be on a pay-per-product basis. – That’s for the future though. Of course free content will always continue to be produced no matter what, and the paid-for products will be a high-quality extra information source.

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‘Here’s wishing you all much success and prosperity for the coming week. May good fortune smile down upon you.

Bright Blessings.

Shazza.

The sun is out and the daffodils are blooming in the UK; in fact they’re all but over. Spring is in the air; life returning everywhere. Eostre is just around the corner.

The spring has sprung; the grass has ris’:

I wonder where the birdie is?

It’s on the wing? – Well that’s absurd:

I thought the wing was on the bird!

( – Source Unknown.)

*It’s been quite a week: With the publication of the Akamai report it appears that the figures show that microblogging service Twitter had too much downtime last year; almost doubling that of the second-placed runner.

Twitter’s Fail-Whale Outperforms All Other Social Network Downtime Indicators

*Also in the report is not-exactly-unexpected news that UK broadband is lagging behind a lot of the rest of the world; although the spam and malicious traffic appears to be coming from elsewhere. (Well I suppose if you’re flooding the net with spam you’d want to do it on a broadband connection that’s capable of handling the traffic at a decent speed without overloading.)

The New British Snail

*Is your software up to date and clean? A computer requires servicing regularly or it’ll screw up. – Not the hardware so much as the software.

Service Your Software

*Last week I installed Apture and started using it on my blog. – This resulted in complaints from my hosting service about using too many server resources. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Why I Had to Stop Using Apture

When you view a website you might not be viewing the most current content: You might be looking at a snapshot taken by your computer.

How to Flush Your Local DNS Cache

*April 1st; April Fools Day; and I wrote an April Fool. – The problem was that as far as I’m aware nobody read it until 2nd April!

Zalman’s Wireless Power

And lastly: These days computer-makers aren’t including floppy-drives in their product; – which is fine and dandy unless the user happens to be running Windows XP and wants to use the Automated System Recovery function.

Using Windows Automated System Recovery With No Floppy Drive: Is it Possible?

Hopefully you’ll find these new articles both interesting and/or useful.

Let’s hope that the good weather and renewal of life continues at its already brisk pace: There’s just too much of Winter in the UK. (It must be utterly awful in places like Siberia!)

I discovered something recently that I feel you might find rather useful. I won’t rabbit on about it here: I’ll just link you to the relevant page.

Whatever you’re doing in whatever place on the planet; have a prosperous and blessed week.

After a pleasant-ish May and a below-average but reasonable June; July’s weather in the UK started out wet and continued that way – With low-pressure trough after cyclonic front piling into the islands and bringing precipitation after downpour – Added to which the developing lows running in from the Atlantic were sometimes so deep at the centre that the isobaric representations of them on weather maps were resemblant of something usually occurring from late October to April over the British Isles, with gale-force winds uprooting trees in places – We seem to now at last have a respite: Sunny skies and warm temperatures are forecast for the immediate future – Although a possibility of the odd heavy shower triggered by the heat is predicted towards the end of the week in the South.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/

Every subsequent raindrop began evoking memories for some of July 2007, where an entire month’s worth of rain fell in hours in a number of places in England, leading to flooding and massive property damage -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_Kingdom_floods

http://tinyurl.com/6jw4xd

- Not made any better by the inaction and unpreparedness of incompetent local authorities – Who were neither standing by for the forecast disaster nor able to cope with the aftermath. Hundreds of households, mainly in the Midlands, and upper Southern counties, watched in horror as roads turned into rivers and swathes of water, topsoil, vegetation, and raw sewage flowed through their properties.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/6911778.stm

England – July 2007 

So what of the rest of this year? Will the UK be basking in sub-tropical heat or swimming in torrents of mud?

I haven’t seen any predictions of expected weather trends as yet; but for what it’s worth; here’s my own long-range weather forecast based on the signs I see in nature:-

July will end with a warm and sunny climax in the South and Wales; although showers – Some heavy and thundery – will occur towards the end of the month. The North and Scotland will continue overcast with sunny periods and a Westerly breeze.

Early August will see the high pressure  system currently affecting southern parts building over Scotland and Northern France; bringing a south-easterly and settled air-stream to the entire UK: however another low-pressure from the Atlantic will threaten thundery periods of rain in the South.

As the high pressure system trundles north-easterly a second anticyclone will develop off Devon and build across the entire UK; bringing fine, sunny, settled conditions throughout the middle of August. Towards the last week of August and into September that anticyclonic area will fragment allowing another series of Atlantic lows to infiltrate the UK’s atmosphere – Bringing a return to unsettled conditions and longer periods of rain.

 
Picture taken near where I live in May 2008

Based on my forecast, (I can’t see much further than what I stated.) the message is to enjoy August – “Summer 2008 Part 2″ – as I feel a rather wet, although at times warm, September looms. (With possibly severe gales in October?)

How accurate or reliable is this forecast? Well I’m usually more right than wrong on this type of thing: It’s a combination of Witch’s intuition and female intuition. Nevertheless I could still be quite wrong: Keep your eye on the Met Office and BBC’s weather forecasts for more. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk

Addendum 31.07.08

Well I got the July forecast right to a greater degree; but the signs have changed and I no longer expect August to be quite as summery as I’d expected. Overall I’m expecting a settled, sunny, and largely dry month with occasional short periods of rain or showers; but I can’t currently be any more informative than that I’m afraid, as I’ve become a little confused myself to be honest: There are signs in nature right now indicating both excellent and lousy weather, and it’s hard to know what to make of it.

I’m not and never was a trained meteorologist; I rely more on the “country girl” forecasting method. Maybe it could be a mixed bag of weather for August; or maybe the signs will change again in the next week or so? Who knows?

I won’t be updaing this particular article again; but if I notice anything marked I’ll return to the subject in anoher post.

I had a couple of appointments in England’s capital city today.

The weather forecast which I heard yesterday sounded fairly OK: Rain was forecast to hit Southern England by 1PM and would probably get as far east as London by about 4PM, by which time I’d be on the London Underground and wouldn’t get any chance of getting wet until I got home – By which time the rain would have cleared. Perfect.

Having planned the day thus; I expected some heat with rising humidity before the rain, so a thin top and a light cardi were in order, and a cotton skirt was a good idea. It was rather grey and cool when I left home; but that was early in the morning and I expected it to warm up somewhat – Especially in London which of late has always been a degree or two warmer.

I got talking to a girl on the train- Hi if you’re reading this (I won’t mention any name as I didn’t ask for permission to do so anyway.) The PO Box number on the card I gave you is wrong BTW because it’s an old card; I’ve just realised that, but all the other information is current. The correct PO Box number is 2191 if I’m going on a Christmas list . I hope you enjoyed the day more than I did. All the best.

(At this point I think I’ll have a small-print rant regarding a totally unrelated issue to do with completely different people:-

Since that PO Box is Kustom Komputa’s box I’ll just state here that I notice that a few tards from the newsgroups have caused Google to be filled with a load of negative crap in relation to Kustom Komputa by making derogatory comments online whilst using the name “Kustom Komputa”: Listen tards; Kustom Komputa is a small personal enterprise knocking out the odd unique computer to a number of customers. All I get from it is pocket money if I’m lucky, as well as the joy of creating a new computer and making another customer happy. It’s not Microsoft or Dell; and don’t think that you can make yourself look big or better by openly criticising it. OK so some Lintards are better web designers than me: Good for them. End of issue. Also nobody has phoned Kustom Komputa regarding the matter of “AquireCredentialsHandle on Vista”, as stated in some of the Linux forums. (I have absolutely no idea why the author stated that they did.)

To cut a long story short I emerged at Waterloo Station to the same dank and dismal overcast weather as I’d left at home. As the day continued it seemed to start raining every time I emerged into the open and stop every time I went indoors. London seemed to lack that feeling of life in the fast lane today: In fact it seemed dead and uninteresting. I’m not sure if it has something to do with me getting old(er) but the “zing” has gone out of a lot of things and appeared in others which I never used to have much interest in at all.

Eventually I did a bit of window shopping, since I was quite wet anyway, and had to drag myself away by the ear from several items of clothing and jewellery that almost had me reaching for my purse, and probably would have had me reaching for a wardrobe extension and a larger overdraft facility had I purchased them.

So all-in-all the day could have been worse, but it was rather non-descript and it won’t be going down in my personal history record as anything worth going on about. So why am I going on about it here? I’m not. End of story.

—

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for a free scan.

Can a successful UK company advertise by word-of-mouth only and thrive? If the Utility Warehouse is anything to go by of this then the answer is YES.

Back in the 1980s a new business model was pioneered in the UK, at times by less-than-ethical entrepreneurs. It involved an interested party promoting a product through a tiered structure of affiliates, and became known as the pyramid scheme. Initially it usually involved new people in the “downline” purchasing a quantity of product and retailing this whilst at the same time building their own “downline”. Many unscrupulous types quickly cottoned on and used this method to retail cheap low quality products through their downlines with themselves at the top of the pyramid, raking in a fortune in exchange for very little work in return. The first sign of trouble, such as a trading standards officer sniffing around, or an investigation of any kind, and our shady character at the top would vanish into oblivion with their fortune and leave their downlines to carry the can. As people became wise to the recruiters offering unlimited income from this method, having either known others who had been stung as a customer or a downliner, so this type of business system developed a nasty reputation and went largely out of vogue. Eventually the British Government restricted and regulated this practice with legal constraints and enforcement to such an extent that it became impossible for unscrupulous traders to earn a fast buck from it, added to which the words “Pyramid Scheme” had virtually become a swearword. Certain more-ethical, sometimes reputable, entrepreneurs and businesspeople did try to continue to attempt to use the system, this time fully legally and ethically, under statutory regulation, even renaming it to Network Marketing; but it appeared that due to the bad reputation it had gained initially there was no future for it, and most of the schemes collapsed.

There was one man, though, who saw a massive potential in the regulated network marketplace; now “multi-level marketing”, and decided to take those ideas further despite the residual prejudice. This person was The Hon. Charles Wigoder:

The following quotations are taken from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Phone)

Biography

“The son of The Right Honourable Lord Wigoder, QC PC^[1] (his children are entitled to use The Honourable title), Charles studied Accountancy and Law at University of Kent^[2].”

“Wigoder qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1984 and was subsequently employed by Kleinwort Securities as an investment analyst in the media and communication sectors – where he met Michael Green. Green later hired Wigoder in 1985 as head of corporate finance and development at television services company Carlton Communications, to accelerate growth of the organisation; whilst he was there, turnover grew from under £5m to over £200m. He subsequently moved to Sangers Photographic, a USM listed wholesaler of photographic equipment, where he spent a frenetic 9 months taking the business to a full stock market listing and expanding the group’s activities to include a wide range of photographic, video and communications services.”

Peoples Phone

“Wigoder left Quadrant to set up Cellular Communications in March 1988, initially providing a mobile phone service to business customers through both a direct sales team and third party distributors. Demonstrating great vision and foresight, he was the first entrepreneur in the industry to recognise how consumers would transform the market, successfully positioning his company to take advantage of this opportunity by creating the “Peoples Phone” brand and establishing his own national High Street retail presence (a model subsequently imitated by all the Network Operators). By opening over 180 showrooms in just 12 months, Wigoder helped drive the expansion in mobile phone usage within the United Kingdom, gaining around 10% of the UK market – the biggest non-network owned business in the industry and the UK’s first true Virtual Network Operator. Within 4 years he had a built a market leading position, having overtaken all the other independent resellers who had started several years prior to his entry into the market, including substantial multi-national companies such as Thorn-EMI, Granada, Nokia, Marconi, Phillips, and Motorola. The business was highly cash generative, however a decision to write off all customer acquisition costs directly against profits meant that the company reported a loss after taxation of £10.6m on turnover of £175m for the financial year ended 31 October 1995. Following a disagreement between the major shareholders on the future strategy for the Company, it was acquired by Vodafone in November 1996 for £77m; however Wigoder only collected £6.5M from the deal, as most of the company was owned by Venture Capital investors. Vodafone followed this deal with further acquisitions within the sector (namely Astec and Talkland in December 1996) giving it greater control over the customers using its network. According to Vodafone’s 1997 annual report and accounts, Peoples Phone made £4.1M in the period to end 1996. “

With a good and successful previous record under his belt; Charles Wigoder was certainly not lacking in either resources or experience in business. For the purpose of employing his new concepts in multi-level marketing he bought a recently-formed company called Telecom Plus in 1988; which has been going from strength to strength thereafter. Taking up the commentary from Wikipedia again:

Telecom Plus/Utility Warehouse

“Wigoder joined Telecom Plus in 1998, investing heavily and listing it as a Plc on the London Stock Exchange (ticker = TEP). Its initial flagship product was the Smart Box, a free gadget that plugged into a phone socket and hunted out the best telephone call rates^.”

“Wigoder believed that a low-cost route to market would prove to be a critical element in successfully promoting services to the residential market, and established a multi-level marketing system of agents across the United Kingdom. In just over 7 years, the business amassed over 200,000 domestic and small-business customers, 15,000 of whom were also Distributors, signing up new customers in return for a residual income and cheaper utilities themselves. Trading as the The Utility Warehouse, Telecom plus is a “virtual” retailer, with no shops and no advertising – just a highly effective Head Office with 200+ staff, most of whom are dedicated to providing award-winning customer service. Wigoder says: “The secret of our success has been our unique business model. We also have the ability to move quickly to take advantage of opportunities.””

“Low costs allow Telecom Plus to offer competitive tariffs to their customers, which has driven sales growth by an average of more than 20% pa over the years to 2007. Since 2003, the Company has been highly profitable and cash generative, although in November 2005, Telecom Plus warned that high energy prices had resulted in significant losses in its gas business. In February 2006, the Company entered into an agreement with npower under which they took responsibility for purchasing the energy used by UW customers although UW remain responsible for all customer management activities, such as billing, customer service, metering, debt collection and administration. As part of the arrangements, npower have an option to acquire the 29.9% of the equity held by the Board during 2009.”

“On 6 June 2006 the group said losses experienced in its gas business during the first two months of 2006 reached almost £8m, off-setting the profits of £5.5m achieved during the first half-year. As a result of the losses, the group posted an overall pre-tax loss for the year of £1.6m, compared with a £10.5m profit the previous year. Turnover rose 33% to £136.3m. For the following year to 31 March 2007, Telecom Plus reported turnover had increased to £175m, with record pre-tax profits of £11.5m, and cash balances of over £25m with no debt. The latest year to 31 March 2008 saw a further increase in pre-tax profits to over £16.5m with cash balances of over £30m.”

Telecom Plus/The Utility Warehouse has continued to go from strength to strength since Charles Wigoder’s takeover at the helm in 1988, despite a hiccup in 1996. (See above.) Although growth could at times be described as slow compared to some other PLC’s, the level of such growth has by no means been sporadic but rather a steady gain over time, despite prevailing national and world economic trends and recessions, indicating good leadership on the part of Charles Wigoder – who appears to have an ability to weather and rise above any economic turmoil whilst driving on towards the target of continued growth. According to Mr Wigoder in an internal communication “This strong performance is being fuelled by increasing numbers of consumers looking for better value on their utilities, as they see their energy bills from other suppliers increasing on a regular basis.”

As household utility prices in the UK continue to rise, the quality of a lot of suppliers’ customer service continues to fall due to their decision to use badly-trained cheap labour; staff based in call-centres on different continents. the Utility Warehouse understand that their customers have a choice and realise the importance of good customer service. Their excellent standard in customer service was recognised in the UK’s Consumer Association’s Which? magazine, in which they were runners-up for the award of “Best Broadband Supplier” in their 2008 consumer awards. This was quite an achievement on the whole, considering the number of such suppliers available in the UK market as a whole.

The Utility Warehouse still maintain the networking structure, with a continued growth in downliners, known as “Distributors” on a weekly basis according to an internal company source. These recruits are attracted by the company’s opportunity to build a secure residual income, paid on a monthly basis, in what amounts to a profit-sharing scheme between the company and its multi-level Distributors, in which these Distributors are rewarded with a percentage of the nett spend of any customer that they introduce to the company for as long as that person continues to remain as a customer. – That’s how the company advertises: No advertising budget required, no glossy magazine ads, no in-store demonstrations, nothing – Saving the company a fortune – Any such promotional work that a Distributor decides to do has to be approved by the company and funded by the distributor themselves – But it’s not really necessary to do that as it seems personal recommendation and word-of-mouth are much more effective tools in this company’s case. It really is a rather good system from the point of view of a Distributor as once a customer is introduced to and begins to do business with the company by purchasing their household utilities through the company, the introducing Distributor gets paid a percentage from that client’s spend for a considerable time thereafter, even maybe into infinity if they recruit a particularly loyal customer.

Distributor opportunities are available in the UK only, as is the same with the customer base. The great thing about it all is that unlike the case with the earlier networking structures of the Twentieth Century, there is no need to buy a supply of product to sell on: Rather than Distributors supplying the finished product to their customers, the central company themselves cater for that on the individual Distributor’s behalf, meaning that any necessary initial financial outlay is minimal. Basically the role of Distributors is as customer gatherers, although “Distributor” sounds somewhat more professional than “Customer Gatherer”, besides being a component in an automobile engine. There are at this time and for the foreseeable future no plans to extend this business on an international level as far as I am aware.

UK investors are also beginning to realise and appreciate the strength of the company’s business model, driving the share price on the UK FTSE generally upwards despite market analyst’s fears of a recession. Since the company allows its Distributors to purchase its shares, many such Distributors have seen their total financial value increase as a result. This is also good news for the long-term future of the business as a whole.

In addition to the above, which is what I refer to in a kindly manner as “sharemongering”, the company also rewards successful Distributors with holidays at company expense, share packages, and gift vouchers, among other awards. They hold training seminars at various venues throughout the UK and have regular company meetings to which Distributors are invited.

Overall this is a growing company with a successful business-model which is proven to be working. In light of the vision and foresight of its Chairman in turning a dying concept with a stinking reputation into a glowing business model that exudes success from the very pores of its being; it is my opinion that this company has proved its worth to all concerned; consumers, Distributors, and investors – The marketplace as a whole.

If you’re resident in the UK and would like to discover more about this company; from the angle of just looking at becoming a customer and saving money on your household utilities, or from the desire to become involved in the business end and make yourself extra income by recruiting customers and other Distributors as a Distributor yourself, then the following links will direct you to the company’s sponsored affiliate sites which will provide you with all the information you need.

I may as well state at this point that I am involved with this company, and I will benefit in a small way from any business which you decide to transact with them through the links which I have provided. I will also state that whichever alternate way in which you choose to go about transacting with the company, should you choose not to use the links provided, the same tiny percentage commission of any financial transaction you choose to undertake will go to somebody - Therefore since you heard about it all here first; it’s only fair that any such percentage goes to me, and you may as well use the links provided to save yourself time and effort anyway.

Oh yes I almost forgot – You also get your own online store if you sign up as a Distributor – No word of a lie – Selling everything from books  to electricals: I’m going to post quite a few banners below leading to many individual aspects of the business, so please do enjoy clicking on as many as you can if not all of them:

My apologies to anybody who has clicked all of them; I’ve just discovered myself that the amount of destination pages has “shrunk” and some of them go to exactly the same place. I wasn’t aware of the revised system that the company has instituted with regard to this.

(I really do apologise to my US and international readers that none of this is available outside of the UK. ‘Sorry; nevertheless I hope it inspires new ideas for you if nothing else.)

I had been intending to get in touch with The Utility Warehouse for their additional comments; but after thinking about it having completed this article I decided that it would just hold up publication as no  additional comment is really necessary in my opinion.

©KKomp 2008

If you were attracted to this post because you thought you’d find a scheme to make you an instant millionaire/ss overnight you’re out of luck: There is no such scheme; not from kkomp.com, nor from anywhere else. There are many schemes that claim to be such; but that’s utter piffle to get you and a few thousand others to part with your money so that the person who runs the scheme can vanish with it eventually: Yes it’s a one-person get-rich-quick scheme; and that one person aint you.

So why call this post “Get Rich Quick”? Is it a plan to attack Rich Menga of PC Mech? Is it a conspiracy to commit the ultimate cyber-crime? What is the point?

Options

The point is that you have 2 main “get-rich” options: The slowest of those being to work for someone else for less than 1% of their nett income whilst giving your complete mind, body, and soul to them for up to 8 hours or maybe more, at least 5 days a week, ad infinitum – aka “Get a job.”. How slow is that as a “get-rich” option? Very slow; and incredibly so: In fact it’ll most likely never happen. It pays the bills for as long as it lasts, yes. It’ll keep you ticking over, maybe it’ll even get you the occasional luxury, possibly you might even manage to save some of it up, but you’ll never get rich doing it: Your employer or your employer’s boss probably might well do so though; at least to a greater extent than you ever will.

That’s a complete non-starter then – But I did say there was another option. No there isn’t a guarantee with it – There’s not even a guarantee that you’ll be better off than with the first option initially; but if you’re prepared to stick at it in a positive and self-motivated way then the sky’s the limit – Allow me to restate that in a different light: You’re the limit: If you put only a little in you’ll get even less out of it – But if you put a lot in you’ll probably get even more out of it. (Notice I did say “probably”: There is no guarantee as I said; and there are losers – There have to be losers for there to be winners: Fact of life; yin and yang, swings and roundabouts, call it what you will, whatever, but the thing is with this method you have to be in it to win it.) What am I on about? Self-employment.

No Streets Paved With Gold Here

So all self-employed people are rich? No; but show me an employed person who is rich. Yes they might well be comfortably off and living well as long as they do their job and make someone else rich, but could they stop what they’re doing and stay that way? Can they decide when and for how long they take a break from the job? In short no – So they’re under the boss’ thumb and they’ll have problems if they don’t keep working to the boss’ dictates or they lose their comfortable salary: They’re not rich then.

What benefits will self-employment bring? You want the honest answer to that? Good; because that’s what you’re going to get, and I’m not going to give you any bull: If you’re totally serious about the self-employed venture and are wanting to go for it in a big way then the initial benefits are nothing, nil, zero, zilch, sweet FA: There aren’t any. In fact at first the opposite will be the effect: More going out than coming in, expenses appearing from places you maybe didn’t even know existed, and all the possible demotivating influences imaginable in your face. You’ll be seemingly investing all your time and money and reaping no result whatsoever other than losses at first: that’s the truth and that’s the major make-or-break time – Probably the biggest drain on your resources that you’ll ever experience; and pretty it is not. If you’re going to go under then that’s when it’s most likely to occur. If you’re serious about the venture then you’ll want to put all your resources into it; so before doing so you need to know that you have sufficient resources to weather the storm that you’re about to create for yourself. You’ll need:

1) Investment capital. This can be generated by either making (a) part-time, “on-the-side” venture(s) previous to going for the “big-one”; by working for someone else whilst living frugally, and saving every available penny over a period of time; by building up your assets from nothing gradually by investment and/or by partial enterprise over time, or by any combination of those.

2) Self-motivation, positive attitude, and determination. You’re lacking on any or all of these? Stay with the smaller side of enterprise for now in that case. In the meantime build up these personal qualities to a point where you’re confident that you can and you know you can. Self-doubt and a lack of motivation will kill your efforts off from the start otherwise. Believe in yourself: To do so you must grow self-confidence, you must like yourself, you must become your own best-friend:  You must believe totally in yourself and in your own abilities. Don’t bullshit yourself though: If you don’t have the necessary abilities first then you need to develop them before you go ahead and make an investment in them; otherwise you’d do far better giving your hard-earned investment capital to a charity.

3) A plan. I once needed an audio amplifier in a hurry when I was at college; so I switched on my soldering iron and I built one. It worked and it got me out of a tight spot. In doing so I wasted a large number of resources, mainly physical components, and I dismantled it afterwards; as it was, to be honest, an abomination to my eyes: Had I tried to get anyone else to buy it I’d have wasted my time – I probably couldn’t have even paid someone else to take it off me. Why? Am I that awful a technician? Not at all: The thing was I had no plans to build it to; and yes it worked for what I needed it to do right then and there, but other than that it was virtually useless. I later built a very similar amplifier to a plan as part of my City and Guilds exams and it helped me to pass them. The moral of this story: No plans = no good.

Draw up your business plans from day one and adjust them with the passage of time to accommodate current trends.

4) Goals. Especially good if your business is a soccer team, but realistically you must sit down and contemplate exactly what it is that you want to achieve. Example: Your ultimate goal is a million dollars/pounds. Your current status is what you have now. Define every stage between now and your ultimate goal and write it down in proposed chronological order. Having done that set yourself realistic targets of achievement leading up to and including the ultimate goal. Be positive, stick to the schedule, make sure you do it exactly as planned: Write your goals down: eg. I will make another $4000 by next Monday by such-and-such a method – Note the “I will” and make sure you do; by the deadline, to the plan with any necessary minor adjustments: Setting a goal involves knowing what you wish to achieve and when you wish to achieve it – Anything less just doesn’t work: “I will make another $4000″ without setting a deadline means you’ll still be making it for the rest of your life.

It’s hard, it’s tough, it’s mean, it’s a lifetime’s work, and it doesn’t always either go as you planned or work as well as you’d hoped, and sometimes both. At least it does (normally) make some kind of progress, towards not only enriching the individual’s character and resolve, but also enhancing one’s personal financial position, with varying results from case to case – Which is a hell of a lot further than a 9 to 5 job can ever get anyone.

And Finally…

Back to the title – Get Rich Quick: You might get temporarily wealthy quickly if you’re running a get-rich-quick scheme and you happen to attract enough gullible individuals. Let’s just hope you can vanish into exile even faster when the authorities pick up your scent. Other than that you can’t: As we’ve seen though, you can probably get somewhere or you can definitely get nowhere,depending upon which option you choose. Strangely most people would rather choose the latter; which is good for those who choose the former as it does reduce the level of competition to some extent, making it a bit easier to be a winner because there are people who are determined to lose, as well as those who don’t make it anyway try as they might.

Me? I haven’t made it yet; and I’m seemingly making steady, though not as fast as I’d like to, progress forwards… But I’m still alive so I’m still getting there. Can I make it? Yes. Will I make it? If I can – And if I can then what’s stopping you? Like me you were hopefully born with 2 arms, 2 legs, and 24 hours in each day. If so then you were born with everything I was born with: We started from the same starting line – In fact you were born with everything Bill Gates was born with too: Use it wisely.

To Bill Gates…Born like most of us with 2 arms, 2 legs, and 24 hours in each day…Who made it.

©KKomp 2008