| You? Start your own Internet business? Give me a | | | | helpful if you knew at least some of it.Which brings |
| break! You just don't speak the language, so why | | | | us to possibility number two. Why not learn a few |
| even try?It begins with 'booting up' your computer | | | | new things? Actually, that's what makes life an |
| instead of just turning it on. And you can't simply fill in | | | | ongoing adventure: no matter how long you've been |
| the necessary information to get something | | | | around and how much you've discovered already, |
| connected: it has to be 'configured.' Also, it's painfully | | | | there's always something (in fact, plenty!) left to |
| apparent that computer tables and windows bear no | | | | learn.And the good news is that, with the Internet, |
| resemblance whatsoever to the kind you have in | | | | learning just got a whole lot easier. You can't use the |
| your living room, nor is a browser someone | | | | excuse that it's too cold to go to school, or too hot |
| meandering through your local bookstore. And the | | | | to go to the library. There's information enough on |
| only directory you know anything about is full of | | | | the Internet for you to earn a PhD just by clicking on |
| telephone numbers.Then, of course, there are all | | | | your mouse. So what's your excuse now?I |
| those blasted letters: DSL, RAM, ROM, POP, RSS, | | | | remember, when I was a kid, looking at a piano, and |
| HTML, FTP, MLM . . . Good grief! How can someone | | | | thinking: "How could anyone ever know what all |
| like you even think about starting an online business? | | | | those keys are for?" Truth is, I was afraid to take |
| Hey, it's for the kids. They understand all this jargon, | | | | piano lessons because I was convinced that I'd look |
| all this technical stuff. But you . . .Well, what about | | | | foolish if I tried.And therein lies the rub: we're so |
| you? Okay. So maybe you don't know what most of | | | | afraid we'll look foolish that we're willing to be foolish |
| those letters mean. And it's a safe bet you don't | | | | instead! And how foolish would it be to refuse to |
| know a tenth of what the average techie does . . . | | | | learn new things - - things that could help us in any |
| maybe not even as much as today's computer-savvy | | | | number of ways, brighten our lives, ease our financial |
| ten-year-old. But does that mean you can't do this | | | | burdens - - just because we're afraid we'll look |
| stuff?At least, before you decide to pass on the | | | | foolish!But that's another great thing about the |
| exhilaration of creating your own online business (not | | | | computer. We don't have to walk up to the |
| to mention the extra bucks you might have at the | | | | blackboard with the whole class staring at us. We |
| end of the month), let's look at two possibilities.First | | | | don't have to worry about tripping, or not knowing |
| of all, the fact that you have no idea how a | | | | the answer, or . . . well, any of the things that |
| telephone works (unless you're a Verizon repair | | | | seemed to go along with learning back in the good |
| person) has never stopped you from making phone | | | | old days.We can be clumsy and bumbling and slow . . . |
| calls. And you're not afraid to turn on the television | | | | and nobody will ever know! Even if we do look |
| set because you don't know how all those moving | | | | foolish, it will be for our eyes only. The computer |
| pictures get inside that little box.And speaking of | | | | makes us blessedly, mercifully anonymous. It lets us |
| letters, even if you had no idea what 'TV' stood for, | | | | learn and work at our own pace, whatever that pace |
| you could still watch "American Idol." Nor is it | | | | may be.And so, if those letter combos have you |
| necessary to know what ATM means in order to | | | | feeling a bit inadequate, go ahead and look up the |
| make a cash withdrawal.Why, letter combos are | | | | definitions. There are plenty of free computer and |
| positively old hat. RPMs have been around since | | | | Internet glossaries available online. My personal |
| before Sinatra, and mpg was a Henry Ford staple.All | | | | favorite is if you're not exactly sure-fingered on the |
| any of it is, really, is that secretarial staple of | | | | computer, check out some tutorials. Get up to speed |
| yesteryear: shorthand. Only these letter codes are a | | | | on Word or Windows or whatever else you'd like to |
| heck of a lot easier to understand than all those lines | | | | try. It doesn't cost much. In fact, you can do it for |
| and squiggles.Just to convince yourself it's no big deal, | | | | free.And then, you can move on to setting up your |
| why not invent some code of your own? Certainly | | | | own online business. Yes: YOU!After all, when you |
| you have as much right to do it as any computer | | | | think about it, not getting your slice of the Internet |
| techie. So why not tell them to FTL and PHO . . . and | | | | pie just because you've let the jargon scare you off |
| be absolutely sure they NLFD. That's Fold The | | | | is like refusing a cruise to the Bahamas because you |
| Laundry, Pre-Hear the Oven, and make sure they're | | | | don't understand the bar code on the ticket.So why |
| Not Late For Dinner. Remember: sticks and stones | | | | not hop on board PDQ. (That's Pretty Darn Quick, in |
| can break your bones, but letters can never hurt | | | | case you didn't know.) You've got nothing to lose . . . |
| you. Nor should they stop you.Okay. That's the first | | | | and who knows what-all to gain?Bob Brooker's |
| possibility: breaking the code may not be as | | | | mission is to make home-based Internet business |
| necessary as you think it is, e.g., you don't have to | | | | accessible even to Internet beginners. Bob -- himself |
| know that NaCl is salt in order to sprinkle some on | | | | a devout non-techie -- looks for and personally tests |
| your tomato.Even so . . . whether you actually need | | | | products that are the simplest to understand and |
| to know all of it or not, maybe you'd be more | | | | use, even if your computer skills are limited to |
| comfortable if you did. And, obviously, it would be | | | | sending an occasional e-mail to your sister. |