Small business IT frustrations

Those working in the corporate world, or in larger small business that have a technical support person on staff are indeed spoiled, and should count their blessings that help is available.

Those of us working solo, or in the majority of small businesses, depend on our wits, our limited understanding of computers/Vista/Internet, and all of the wanted and unwanted trappings that go along with them. When things work well, the computer is a wonderful tool. When thing go wrong – oh the frustration.

I was humming along nicely on my ‘puter this morning, when all of a sudden my firewall started preventing me from using network printers, synching to my Blackjack, and making me go through hoops just to get to Google and this blog site.

It seems that during the night AVG (my virus protection software) decided I needed an update, which was activated at 8:30 this morning. Not only did it update my anti-virus, but it decided it wanted to be my firewall and kick out the Microsoft firewall I had been using.

Previously I had configured AVG to not use its firewall due to similar frustrations I had encountered today, and I had carefully made sure the Windows firewall was turned on. Apparently AVG is really upset that I did this, because they not only turned on their firewall, but have completely prevented me from turning it off and using Windows!!!!

I have tried to log onto their help site but keep getting errors – it could be 3 zillion other people are as frustrated as I and are also trying to get to AVG help.

If I had a resident Guru, he or she would probably be able to fiddle with my computer for five minutes and get me back to where I should be. But, being on my own, I’ll just have to limp along until I can find some help at AVG. Wish me luck.

When should a small business get help?

This morning I was asked an interesting question: “When should a small business seek outside help?”. The question is timely because so often I have been called in to help a small business owner when it is too late to save the business. A colleague complained to me yesterday that last week he had initial meetings with three small businesses which were all failing. His only advice to them was to close their doors. How very sad.

Small business owners are by nature self-sufficient and believe that they can do anything. The things that they don’t know they often don’t know. So when should they get outside assistance? When they are failing it is too late. Here are ten symptoms which, if not quickly addressed, may foretell failure:

1. Continual drawing on line of credit without paying it back down.

2. Declining sales

3. Employees concerned about their future

4. Not making timely IRS deposits

5. Ignoring financial statements

6. Quality control problems

7. Sleepless nights worrying about the business

8. Vendors putting the business on a COD basis

9. High employee turnover

10. Falling productivity

All of these are symptoms of deeper problems which may include ineffective management, poor planning, lack of a business plan, lack of a marketing plan or strategy, and inattention to financial data. These issues, when caught soon enough, can be resolved and once resolved substantially increase the chances of profitability and longevity of the business.

At some point business owners need to acknowledge that they may not have all the answers and bring in an independent small business advisor to help them.