' WEBSITE101: READING LIST
Reaching Great Minds Online
December 3, 2001 Issue #120
Mike Valentine, Editor, learn@website101.com
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WEBSITE101: READING LIST
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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==> Sponsor Ad: Oracle Small Business Suite
==> Feature Article: Twenty Six Hour Day Is Not Fiction!
==> Guest Article: Alternative Online Payment Systems
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FEATURE ARTICLE
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This Twenty Six Hour Day Is Not Fiction! A Book Review
by Mike Banks Valentine
Vince Panella might have been accused of writing a work of
fiction when titling his book "The 26 Hour Day, How to Gain
at Least 2 Hours a Day with Time Control". When he begins
his "Introduction to Time Control" chapter by stating on the
first page that he's . . . "come to the conclusion that --
time management does not work!" he immediately had me hooked.
I was charmed by the intensely human approach he takes from
the beginning. I've got to agree with him because my own
experience with time management is that it has a mechanistic,
almost robotic feel to it as presented by efficiency experts,
management consultants and minutia-charting time accountants.
Here is an approach that allows for "wasting time" and, even
more surprisingly, advocates getting sufficient sleep!
Although he suggests wasting incrementally less time than you
normally might he is clearly aware that as human beings, we
are driven less by deadlines than by emotional needs. At least
once in every chapter, reminding the reader that we are not
perfect and that it's OK that we're not precise as robots.
Panella blends the best of self improvement with his unique
approach to what he calls "Time Control", quoting personal
growth gurus Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra beside references
to American Statistician, W. Edwards Deming, the man who was
". . . given credit for engineering Japan's modern industrial
success over the last 50 years." Deming guided Japanese
business through a formula of continual success improvement.
Constant incremental refining of success formulas is certainly
not limited to Deming. One of my strongest early inspirations
was reading "The Autobiography of Ben Franklin", in which the
continual improvement of Franklin's character throughout his
life is chronicled. Self improvement predated Franklin as well,
but Panella has combined the best of personal growth with time
control to offer what he has called "Success Centered Time
Management."
Although Panella does cover critical topics typical to time
management such as standard issue and admittedly important -
* Winning the War Against Procrastination
* The Power and Purpose of Goals
* Reducing Distractions
Those key points are presented in ways that kept my interest,
a surprising accomplishment in itself. But Panella has some
more compelling thoughts on some new approaches he has refined
over his nearly 20 years of presenting this material. Notable
are several concepts that resonate strongly with humanity.
* Gain 2 More Hours a Day Through the Power of Sleep
As one with sleep apnea disorder, I require more sleep than
most, but Panella boldly proclaims that, "Lack of adequate
sleep is the reason for 90 percent of the problems many of
us experience in gaining more control of our time."
He makes a strong case for a society that values sleep far
more than does ours. He goes so far as to cite a Gallup poll
that showed "Twenty-Five percent of adults believe they
cannot be successful AND get enough sleep!" He gives ample
reasons, from reduced productivity and performance right on
through loss of life caused by drowsiness and inattention.
* Bit by Bit, The Amazing Power of Five Minutes
This section emphasizes devoting a simple five minutes to
gradual progress toward seemingly huge goals on a daily
basis. Slow and steady wins the race might describe this
approach. He refers to this technique throughout the book
in varied ways to suggest that progress doesnÕt have to be
measured in tireless devoted hours of struggle, but can be
achieved much more easily Òbit by bit.Ó
* Moments, The Secret of Life
As a teenager, I wondered what my life might look like as
a two hour movie and imagined what little slices of time
might make it to the final cut (as I experienced one of my
first identity crises upon finishing high school). Panella
suggests that all of our lives are much like that and are
defined by individual moments of positive accomplishment
and that all lives are made up of a collection of small
moments we strongly identify with and remember powerfully.
The striking concept he delivers in the book is that we
not only have that inventory of past moments, but that we
should consider steadily depositing in a bank account of
moments from each day, and further, that we consider
investing to accumulate a wealth of moments. ÒEvery day,
consciously look to create significant and simple momentsÓ
to add to your Òmoments accountÓ.
* Maximizing Any Experience
ÒBefore any event or experience . . . simply ask yourself
how prepared you are . . . for the event. YouÕll go through
details in your head and take a subjective measurement . . .
Then youÕll ask yourself what you can do to make the event
a little better ahead of time. YouÕll repeat asking this
question . . . listing your answers . . . When complete,
youÕll have a laundry list of actions to maximize the
event . . . You get to play armchair quarterback ahead of
time. You pull yourself back and look at the big picture
with a chance to make positive changes. Something we fail
to do more times than not.Ó
ÒMaximizing almost seems too easy.Ó Indeed it does, but
what a powerful tool if we only developed the habit.
The 26 Hour Day, IÕm convinced, is a real possibility
in terms of maximising events, investing in our moments
with sincere gratitude and bit by bit, in multiple five
minute increments, we can gain additional value from our
alloted time.
Vince Panella has unwittingly given me the blueprint for
my New Years Resolutions for 2002. IÕm committed to
investing significant time to his program of continual
success improvement over the coming year.
Buy the book
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Mike Valentine does Search Engine Placement for the Small
Business http://website101.com/Search_Engine_Positioning
WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet
Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet
http://website101.com/arch/
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Guest Article
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Alternative Online Payment Systems
by Godfrey Heron
One of the most frequently asked questions I get as a
webmaster is "can you setup an ecommerce system for
our company?"
For most businesses venturing into ecommerce, e-payment
means accepting credit cards. This involves setting up
a complex system including a SECURE order page/shopping
cart software, a merchant account (basically a bank
account that receives the credit card proceeds), and a
credit card processing service. Care has to be taken to
ensure that the shopping cart is compatible with the
authorization service. All the various elements need to
be compatible and interface with each other.
While the bulk of Internet ecommerce is still transacted
using credit cards, there has been steady inroads being
made by alternative methods of settling e-transactions.
These Web Payment Services (WPS) have ingeniously utilized
the most popular application on the internet "e-mail", to
appeal to customers.
By using an existing platform to launch their services,
WPS providers have enjoyed wide appeal with customers
worldwide. The largest of these, PAYPAL, has approximately
11 million users,processes 150,000 payments per day, and
attracts over 20,000 new users each day.
But are there any advantages of using these alternative
payment systems over credit card merchant systems? To help
you decide the following criteria will be evaluated:
(a) SetUp
(b) Maintenance Costs
(c) Ease of Use/Convenience
(d) Cash Flow Effect
(e) Customer Perception
SETUP
As mentioned above the setup of a credit card merchant
system is complex. The setup of a merchant account may
take up to two weeks or more for final approval to be
granted from the financial institition involved and
verification of the integration of various components
completed.
WPS services on the other side of the scale, are incredibly
easy to set up, almost laughably so. For example, Paypal,
which is the largest WPS just requires a merchant to go to
the Paypal site to register their account. This whole process
may take 5 -10 minutes. There is no transaction processing
software to install, and importantly, no shopping cart to
rent or buy. Paypal simply generates a HTML code which you
can place in your site next to your inventory items.
A click on these buttons takes the customer straight to
Paypal's secure server. When customers want to make a payment
they send a message to Paypal, and then Paypal, the middleman,
does the rest.
MAINTENANCE COSTS
Establishing your own merchant account for credit card
processing and installing a shopping cart can easily run
into hundreds of dollars. In addition there are the ubiquitous
monthly minimum fees and address verification fees (a proven
anti-fraud strategy).
WPS providers don't levy application setup or monthly charges,
and the costs are competitive with Credit Card transaction
processing charges. These average at $0.35 and 2.5% per
transaction.
EASE OF USE / CONVENIENCE
Although WPS providers intimate that their services are very
user-friendly, the fact of the matter is that WPS services
are not as easy to use as credit card systems. WPS services
require the user/ customer to register with them, if they
have not already done so. Now this is a major disadvantage
as it interrupts the flow of "impulse" purchases. Potential
customers have been known to abandon shopping carts for even
less interuptive purchasing hiccups.
On the merchant side, payments received in WPS accounts are
not automatically lodged to your bank account. The merchant
will have to manually claim and then transfer payments into
their bank account. With credit card merchant accounts your
account is automatically updated.
CASH FLOW EFFECT
Having your own merchant account will certainly increase
the flow of funds to your bank book. While a merchant account
provider will hold your funds to prevent charge backs losses,
the period of time is usually relatively brief, about 48
hours. Expect to wait for at least a week before money
appears in the account of WPS providers.
CUSTOMER PERCEPTION
At this point in time credit cards are the medium of choice
and a business that uses only WPS providers as the means of
receiving payments may appear to be amateurish and "small-fry".
In the online world, where site visors don't have a face to
relate to, perception is critical, and the ability to accept
credit cards has been held as a mark of an established, feet
on the ground firm.
CONCLUSION
There are definite advantages to using WPS providers. They
should however be used as backup payment services or in
conjunction with merchant accounts. Its always to your
advantage to present the customer with as much payment
options as possible.
The following is a list of WPS providers:
http://www.paypal.com
http://www.c2it.com
http://www.westernunion.com
http://www.billpoint.com
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Godfrey Heron is the Web site Manager of Irieisle Online
a leading web hosting and design company. Hosting solutions
Starting from US$9.95. http://www.irieisle-online.com
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Copyright © 2001 Mike Valentine
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