I’m always looking for a good deal on office equipment. Who isn’t?

Sometimes I find something for a low price and use the product for years with no problems. But other times a product that I bought at a ridiculously low price breaks constantly and reminds me daily of what a bad deal it was.

Before you spend any money on new equipment or modify your existing equipment, consider a few questions.

Will the new equipment help you save time?

Each month when I see my cell phone bill, I cringe. It’s more than I want to spend, but it’s worth the amount of time my iPhone saves me each month. When my clients need information or photos, or have any questions, I’m able to respond quickly.

Consider whether a new smartphone will improve your productivity. Then consider the other equipment in your home office. An all-in-one machine that prints more sheets than your current printer, can cut your printing time and printing costs significantly.

What’s your budget?

Can you afford to buy the latest, greatest, top-of-the-line computer or will you have to settle for a less expensive, less effective system? If possible, wait until you can afford the more reliable, better-performing system. The money you spend now, will help you save time later on.

Will you know how to use the equipment?

If it’s going to take you six months to learn how to use something, or if you’re like me and you refuse to read manuals, be willing to pay someone to teach you how to use the equipment immediately. Either pay a high school or college kid to figure it out — trust me, they can do it — or use a professional service like Geek Squad. Keep in mind that it takes time to save time, but the time you save can affect your bottom line.

When you own your own business, every penny counts. You may think that you can’t afford to upgrade your equipment, but in some cases, you can’t afford not to upgrade.

Which piece of equipment in your home office helps you save the most time?

The holidays are only a few days away and you still don’t know what to buy your favorite home office professional or your own holiday list is still blank?

Whether you’re looking for the perfect gift for a friend, spouse or business associate who’s just started working from home or has worked from home for years, look no further. As a self-proclaimed home office product junkie, I’ve scoured stores — both in person and online — to find the 8 home office must-haves this holiday season.

Click here to see all 8 gift ideas in my guest post for genConnect.

Today I’m excited to announce that after spending way too much time at Starbucks, on planes, and locked in my home office working on Organize Your Home Office for Success, the new and improved 4th edition is now available.

This is the ideal e-book (it’s also available in paperback) for entrepreneurs, home-based corporate employees, telecommuters, and stay-at-home moms and dads who need a space to manage a business or run a busy household.

How it all started

Eighteen years ago, I wrote the first edition of this book because I started getting two types of phone calls: one from business owners who wanted individual home office consultations, and the other from people who wanted suggestions for books they could use to organize their home offices on their own.

When I looked for a home office book to recommend, I couldn’t find one. It didn’t exist. There were plenty of home organizing books, but nothing that focused specifically on home offices and the challenges of working from home.

Sometimes ignorance pays off

After at least a dozen calls from home-based business owners looking for a home office book, the light bulb went off (finally). I realized I needed to be the one who wrote that book. I also knew that I was going to need a literary agent to sell it for me.

A few days later, I read an article about a literary agent who worked from home (and would understand the audience for this book). I sent her my proposal, she agreed to represent me, and within three weeks she had bids from three major publishers. Everything happened so quickly and easily.

When I look back, I realize how naive I had been to think an agent would take an unknown writer’s book and sell it to a publisher. I later found out that publishing doesn’t work that way! I’m glad I didn’t know better because fear of rejection probably would have kept me from approaching the agent.

New and improved

From the time my first book was published until now, the book has been through three revisions. Considering how much technology has affected the way we work from home, along with new challenges that those of us who work from home face, I knew it was time to do one more update, especially since the last update was in 2002.

The goal of this book is to help you organize your home office (of course), but in a way that makes sense and fits your working style. Think of it this way: I could come in, change your office, tell you to come back in, and watch as you struggle to find the papers you need, search for the notes you wrote last week, and try to make sense of your new filing system. That would be a waste of your time and mine, and the bottom line is that your home office wouldn’t stay organized because you wouldn’t have played a part in the organizing process.

When you take the time to organize your home office using proven methods in this book (the same ones I recommend to my clients and audiences), not only will your office get organized…it will stay organized.

Without sounding too infomercial-like, here’s what others are saying:

“Lisa – where have you been all my home-office life? As a ‘not naturally organized’ person who loves working at home, I’ve been ‘surviving’ my workspaces for years! Chapter 3 alone is worth the price of the book. Honestly, this book is the next best thing to having you come over and ‘get me sorted!’ As a coach to thousands of work at home professionals, I will absolutely be recommending this resource to them! I am breathing easier already!”

—Carrie Wilkerson, Author, The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom

“Your office is a reflection of you. If it’s a mess, then so are you. Lisa’s no-nonsense approach to decluttering your home office, will in fact declutter your entire business.”

—Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

“Filled with real-life scenarios, tips and strategies, Organize Your Home Office for Success is more than just a book, it’s a complete guide to setting yourself up to achieve work-at-home success. Lisa not only shares the pros of working from home, but she discusses the cons, and offers up solutions to some of the most common challenges that home-based workers encounter. This book is a must-read for all telecommuters and home-based entrepreneurs alike.”

– Holly Reisem Hanna, Publisher of The Work at Home Woman

“I was thrilled to read Lisa Kanarek’s newest edition to Organize Your Home Office for Success: Expert Strategies That Can Work for You, that included a chapter specifically on clearing off your desk. What’s most helpful about the book is that Lisa recognizes that when it comes to organizing, one size does not fit all and she provides a variety of tips and tools so you can use strategies that work best for you. Lisa gives you the information you need to set up a home office designed for productivity and profitability. “

— Leslie Truex, Author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible and Jobs Online: How To Find and Get Hired to a Work-At-Home Job, and Founder of Work At Home Success

Without giving away too much of the book, it definitely has a tidy ending.

Click the link below to order Organize Your Home Office for Success!

Technology is supposed to help you save time and make it easier to keep your business on track.  For most of us, it does, but the reality is that anything with a screen or a power cord is only as effective as the person using it.

Of all of the equipment in my home office, my laptop is the one piece that makes it easier for me to run my business.  While the only problems I’ve had with my laptop have been self-imposed, a computer can offer a few challenges that are easy to overcome.

Challenge #1: Storing too much information on your computer

You can store more data on your computer than in your file cabinets…great. But that doesn’t mean that your hard drive won’t fill up as quickly as your cabinets, which makes it difficult to find the files you need.

Solution:

Dump the files on your hard drive the same way you would the papers in your file cabinets. If you know you won’t refer to a file again, delete it. Otherwise, you’ll waste too much time searching through files you don’t need, to find the ones you do need.

Challenge #2: Being vulnerable to losing data

A computer is easy to replace, but data, not so much.

Solution:

Don’t wait until your computer crashes to think about backing up your data.You never know when your computer is going to give out or in my case, crash to the ground. One of the best investments you can make is in a reliable backup system. Whether you use a manual system or a virtual backup system, keep in mind that data can be time-consuming and even impossible to replace.

Challenge #3: Using slow, outdated equipment

If you total the amount of time you waste waiting for your computer to process, you may find minutes quickly turning into hours. Can you afford to waste that much time?

Solution:

After you take the time to figure out how much time you’re wasting while waiting to download files, print documents or process data, you’ll realize it’s time to upgrade your equipment. Computer prices drop daily and good deals are easy to find. Bizrate is one of my favorite sites to compare prices.

What computer challenges have you faced and how have you handled them?

Last night I decided to give up multi-tasking. I made that decision after I forwarded an e-mail without scrolling down completely and reading the last sentence. As I pushed send, I looked at the last line and let out a loud Nooooooooo!

The friend who had sent me the original e-mail, knowing I was going to forward it, included a smartass sentence at the end. Note to self: read entire e-mails before you forward them.

You’ve heard of what not to wear. There are a few things not to do when you send an e-mail.

Click “reply all”

When the e-mail should go only to the person who sent it, send it to that person only. If you write snide comments about someone on the distribution list and that person receives the e-mail, they won’t be too happy about it. Trust me on this.

Forget to attach whatever you’re supposed to attach

After doing that one too many times, and having to send another e-mail apologizing for forgetting the attachment, now I attach the document before I write the e-mail. So far so good.

Enter pet names as contact names

One of my clients sent a group e-mail and included her husband’s e-mail address on the list. In her address book, his name is “hot stuff.” I’m not sure everyone on the group listed needed to know that about him.

Show everyone’s e-mail address instead of using bcc

Not everyone knows that bcc stands for “blind carbon copy.” In other words, it means don’t let everyone see your e-mail list because 1) it’s annoying to scroll past e-mail addresses to read the message and 2) some people like to copy the addresses and add them to their own e-mail list so they can send you annoying spam e-mails.

Forget to use bcc

You try to bcc someone on an e-mail but mistakenly put their address in the cc column. It’s hard to secretly copy someone on an e-mail when their e-mail address is clearly on the e-mail.

Not proofreading an e-mail before you send it

The time to think about spell check is before you push send. Last week I sent what I thought was an informative, well-written e-mail. As I pushed send, I realized I’d misspelled a word. Crap!

Sending e-mails to the wrong group list

A good timesaving tool is creating group e-mail lists for clients and business associations. Mistakenly sending a group e-mail to your clients about your girls’ night out is a good stress-inducing tool. It’s also TMI for your clients.

With regard to my friend who sent me the original e-mail, I’m still contemplating the payback.

Are there any e-mail mistakes you’d add to this list? Let me know in the comments below.

SugarSync is one way to store you data virtually

You’d think that after I drowned my computer a few weeks ago, I would have moved on. For the most part, I have, but I still can’t help reminding everyone I know about how important it is to backup information often. In another guest blog post, Chelanie Israel shared tips for backing up data. Another way to back up data is through virtual drives.

Guest post by Chelanie Israel

I’m asked often about virtual drives. Do they work and are they worth it?

A few questions

The questions you have to answer before you can determine whether a virtual drive solution will work for you are:

1. What are you backing up on the virtual drive?
2. How much space do you need?
3. Are you going to backup manually or use software?
4. How much do you want to spend?

The cost of online space

Online space can get very pricey. If you are backing up just the basics: your address book, calendars, accounting data, passwords and settings, online storage is very cost affordable. If you are using less than 5 gigs, you can sign up for quite a few services for free.

If you need more than 125 gigs of space over a year, virtual storage is probably not something you want to consider, unless you need the comfort or ease of not having to move a drive someplace else. You also need to verify that the service you are using fits your requirements.

The difference between backup and online storage

Virtual storage is a good solution, but only if you use it effectively. When looking for an online solution, you need to know the difference between backup and online storage. Carbonite, Mozy and iDrive are backup sites, not virtual storage.

DropBox, Box, MobileMe, Huddle and SugarSync are virtual storage. The difference is virtual storage allows you to access your files from multiple devices ( i.e. computer, iPad, internet access). Most online backup drives do not. Instead, they work with a single computer.

Whichever way you decide to backup your data, it’s important to take steps to protect your information.

Chelanie Israel, aka Miss Mac, has worked with Apple Computer since 1986. She worked for Apple for 16 years, Adobe for 9 years and has worked with Intel, View Sonic, and Sling Media as well as many other leading technology companies as a vendor representative over the last 20 + years.

A few weeks ago when I accidentally drowned my computer with a fresh glass of Crystal Light grape drink, the first person I called was my Mac guru, Chelanie Israel. When I met with her so she could pronounce my laptop officially dead,  I asked her to write a guest post about how to back up data, especially data that’s too valuable to lose.

Guest Post By Chelanie Israel (aka Miss Mac)

Clients often come to me after their hard drive or archive drive has died and when I ask them if they have backup, they give me a “No, of course not…why do you think I came to you?” look.

I can’t stress back up enough.

How often do I backup? Every day, every week, and anytime I’m doing something I don’t want to lose. For me, that’s everything.

I keep three copies of everything and sometimes four if it’s something I just can’t live without (i.e. my client database, the things that help me do my job: passwords, settings, Quickbooks, and the projects I’m currently working on).

Keeping Data Safe

Some of the things that I do to keep all of my data safe is:

• Replace my drives every two years. Why? Because a hard drive is just like an engine. When it gets to total time it will crash. The average life span of a drive is 3-5 years if you use it like a normal person. If the drive is being worked 7/24 (most servers, web servers, and backup drives) cut the life span in half. So replace those drives every year-and-a-half to two years to keep your data safe. I get a new drive and copy the data to the new drive. Then I keep the old drive as my second copy. When I get to the third generation…then I consider deleting the data, but usually just stick it in the safe.

• Back up often. TimeMachine will backup once an hour. It keeps 24 hours of hourly backups, and then it keeps one backup a day for 30 days and then a weekly backup until the hard drive is full. When my drive is full, I replace it. Then when I’m ready to replace it again, I take the old drive and erase it for use again. (Be sure to write the original date of service on it so you can replace it appropriately.) This gives me 6 months of backup that I can go back to at any given time.

• Manually backup once a week on another drive. These drives become my archive drives. They don’t get erased until I feel like the data will no longer be needed. In my business, that’s never. But you know how long the information you need should be kept.I also backup to an offsite server once a week, or whenever I feel like I have something I can’t afford to lose. If it will take more than two hours to recreate, I back it up offsite. For the average person, that’s an external drive that you can swap every couple of weeks somewhere offsite. Great offsite storage ideas are relatives, a safety deposit box, friends or a virtual drive.

• About every 3 weeks, check my backups. I check a few documents, my calendars, etc. to make sure that they are working in the old format. That way if something happens, I can go back and rebuild if I have to.

Archiving Information

Archiving information is not the same as backing up information. Remember, you have to backup your archives just like you backup your current data. You just have to decide how long to keep backup of your archives.

If you are going to keep your data for a long time, you might consider investing in a fireproof safe to store your backup drives. Of course it’s a great idea to have a copy of your backup drives locally and a copy somewhere else as well, in case of disaster.

If you are using a Mac and you have 10.5 or 10.6 it’s as easy as getting an external drive and plugging it in. If you are using a windows machine, almost all external drive comes with some type of backup software and if they don’t, hit Google.

There’s always manual backup, which I suggest you do even if you have back up software on the important and mission critical data. Mission critical is something that if you don’t have, it would make staying in business hard or impossible. It’s always good to have a minimum of two copies and three is better. Why, because there is always a chance of corruption in your backup.

Virtual backup is another option. In part 2 of this post, I’ll share tips about virtual drives.

Chelanie Israel, aka Miss Mac, has worked with Apple Computer since 1986. She worked for Apple for 16 years, Adobe for 9 years and has worked with Intel, View Sonic, and Sling Media as well as many other leading technology companies as a vendor representative over the last 20 + years.

A few days ago when I was finally on a roll and tearing through my To Do list, I reached over to grab something on my desk and knocked a full glass of Crystal Light grape drink into my laptop.

Crap!

A long list of “non-family-friendly” words flew out of my mouth as I grabbed my laptop and turned it on its side. The drink didn’t drip out, it gushed out. For the record, cussing does nothing to dry out your computer, but it may ease the pain a bit.

The next thing I did was to call my Mac guru, Chelanie Israel (“Miss Mac”). She gave me ideas for drying out my computer and told me to call in a few hours if it still didn’t turn on. A few hours later my computer was officially dead, so I scheduled an appointment to meet with Chelanie the next day to get some Mac tips and advice. Now I’m writing this blog post from my new MacBook Pro.

The good thing about writing a blog is that when anything unexpected happens, it usually makes a good “here’s what I learned” blog post. So…here’s what I learned:

• Never – not even for a minute – set a drink near your computer unless it’s in a sippy cup.

• Make sure your have a reliable back-up system. I back up my data often and had backed up my data the night before the big spill, so I was covered.  I also keep two extra backups off-site, but after this I’m going to start backing up my data even more often.

• Keep a computer guru’s number on speed dial. Chelanie is the only person I trust with any Mac issue. I think I’ll call her once in awhile to say hi instead of only when I’m in crisis.

• Own or have access to a backup computer or a tablet. In my case, I pulled out my iPad and used it to check email and do social media updates like this one:

• Invest in a good protection plan. Last year my older son bought a laptop with a 3-year warranty that covers everything. The Apple Care package I’ve bought with every other Mac I’ve owned doesn’t cover “stupid.” My new plan does. The sales guy told me that last month a guy spilled a Dr. Pepper in his keyboard. For some reason, I felt better.

I’m enjoying my new laptop and I’m glad I have it. It’s cooler, faster and the information I transferred from my backup is organized better than before.

It would have been nice, though, to have bought a new laptop because I wanted to, rather than because I had to.

I’ve been using Google Alerts for a few years to keep up on the latest small business and home office news, to make sure I don’t miss any articles written about my business, and to track what’s going on in my clients’ industries.

What I didn’t realize is what a good detective Google Alerts can be.

Last week I opened a Google Alerts email and saw a link for a blog post with a title I’d seen before…on my site. When I clicked on the link I saw a site with several of my blog posts on it and someone else’s copyright at the bottom of the page.

If I were a cartoon character, you would have seen smoke coming out of my ears.

Apparently the owner of the site had no problem taking my hard work and calling it his own. My guess is that he didn’t think he’d get caught. He was wrong.

There are words for people like that….words I’m better off not putting on this site.

I turned to my favorite Internet expert and business coach, Ori Bengal, for help. Within minutes, he posted a request for legal advice on his Facebook page. I was blown away by the number of people who responded. Here were a few of the suggestions:

“It is your IP (intellectual property).  Send them a cease and desist letter with a warning to take down within x time frame and if they don’t, follow up with a lawyer if you think it’s worth it.”

“Send a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If they don’t respond within 48 hours you can sue them.”

“I believe the only true answer would involve shovels and a secluded plot of land in the desert. Great place to talk things over while gardening!”

While I liked the last piece of advice, I opted to send a DMCA to the guy stealing my content and to the company hosting his site. Within three days, the hosting company shut down his site. They told me that they would release the site if he pays them a fee and agrees to stop stealing and publishing copyrighted material.

I’ll keep you posted.

While this was a major inconvenience, a few good things came out of it. First, I made some new friends on Facebook who know much more about intellectual property than I. Secondly, I took the time to add a few more words to my Google Alerts search list. And third, I’m more aware that there are unscrupulous people out there who don’t care who they step on to make money on the Internet.

You can’t stop everyone from trying to steal your copyrighted material, but there are a few ways you can slow someone down a bit.

• Use Google Alerts. You never know what you’ll find or who is using your content.

• Make sure your Web site clearly states that all content on your site is copyrighted by you unless otherwise indicated.

• Check out Creative Commons to learn about the tools they have to grant copyright permissions to your creative work.

Before I forget, thanks to Tom Raines for inspiring today’s headline through the advice he shared on Facebook. I don’t want to be accused of stealing anyone’s work.

My site has gone through a few transformations or what I like to call facelifts. The design is cleaner, it’s easier to read and is better organized than before.

The truth is that if a Web designer/friend with a keen eye hadn’t picked apart the old design and made me realize that while the site was good, it wasn’t completely functional, I would have kept it the same. I was so closely tied to my site that I didn’t recognize that it could be better.

Take a close look at your Web site and ask yourself a few questions.

• Is your site getting long in the tooth and no longer reflecting what your company stands for? Just as very few people will tell you when you have food in your teeth, unless you ask, no one will tell you that you should update or change your site. My friends do tell me when I have food in my teeth so my site should be in good shape for years!

• What impression does your site give? That’s important to know when someone wants to find out more about your business, or when he or she searches for a business that fits your keywords. Your site is your link to the outside world. It says, “Here we are…here’s what we offer…and here’s why you should work with/buy from us.”

• Make sure your site is up to date. If it’s October and your last blog post was in January, visitors will quit stopping by because there’s no new information. If you made a big deal about holding a winter sale and the banner on your site is still up in April, your clients and prospects will be scratching their heads trying to figure that one out.

• Are you having fun with your site? Add photos and videos. Let visitors get a sense of who you are and what you can do for others. I think some of us bonded over the video of me in my monkey pajamas.

Updating your Web site could be the first step to moving your business forward. It could help you clarify where you want to go and where you want your business to be years from now.

This is an excerpt from my FREE e-book, “How to Get Your Home-Based Business Out of a Rut.” Click here to get this e-book, a free chapter from my 5^th book, Working Naked, and various tips and updates.

Related articles:

5 things you need to know about your small business Web site

You CAN get the Web site you want

If you’re serious about business, you need a Web site