A lot of my time over the past few weeks has had me longing for the days when a computer operating system was just an operating system, software was just software, a Web browser was just a Web browser and whenever you would update a database you would always account for the potential for embedded spaces by trimming or hashing them...

Go Silko – Congrats to my good friend Adam who, as the third-generation owner of Silko Honda in Massachusetts has added Volkswagen to the family with the opening of Silko Volkswagen of Brockton. I’ve learned a lot about business and the auto industry from him, and he is now preparing for the next generation to take the auto group to the next level.

Web Transparency – When I had my Web business, and even today, the first thing people will ask about a Web site is how much one costs. Where there’s some subjectivity to it, there’s many direct correlations to design, features, functionality and their costs. My good friend Emily Brackett of Visible Logic has launched a Website Estimator tool. By selecting (and deselecting) a variety of features as well as goals for a site, you can get a good ballpark estimate of to what a first-class Web site can cost. I think this is great tool, namely because she (and others in the business) have their price-point for their services, and it’s a good way to understand if you, as the one looking for a site, is ready to move up to that level.

Take Homeschooling to New Heights – EAA, the experimental aircraft association, has launched in beta AeroEducate, an online resource for teaching kids all aspects of flight. From my own research it looks like a great and fun service to add to homeschooling or augment classroom education.

Blatant Request to Support My Kiddos Girl Scouts Troop – In addition to the annual cookie sale, my kiddo also has to sell candy and nuts as well as paper magazine subscriptions this fall. The sale is only open for a few more days, if you are so inclined. The big sale for cookies, along with its own blog post, will be posted in the beginning of the new year.

Don’t Force Me Bro – You know when you go to log into a Web site or app and they want to send you a code by email or text message? That’s called two-factor authentication, or 2FA. With increasing crime online, it’s important to have it on an account. In most all cases this is an opt-in, optional service. Big Tech behemoth Google has offered 2FA for years, and is now going to start turning 2FA on for its customers, forcing them to use it. As I have always said, keep your contact information current on all of your accounts, as who knows where Google will want to send a text message. And you can’t exactly pick up the phone to call Google either if there’s a problem.

But If It’s Dead, Why Bother? – An interesting piece in Forbes magazine online states that Cybersecurity is Dead, Now What?. When you go into it assuming your information is already out there, it changes your point-of-view on how to approach it. In my opinion, this is for the better… and perhaps don’t put it out there in the first place?

Perhaps Put It on Your Own Web Site Instead? – I share this article about yet another business in my area closing not because they are closing per se, but rather because all they had was a Facebook site. For some reason small businesses are less concerned with having their own Web site and leave it to Facebook to promote their business for them (likely at cost). With increasing numbers of people leaving that platform and the fact that you truly don’t have a direct connection to your customers (e.g. their email address), this is a contributing factor to the demise of many businesses. If you disagree, feel free to comment below.

And Can People See What You Put On The Site? – The fine people at Siteimprove, a company that offers tools, services and education around improving your Web site, have released the latest version of their Web Accessibility browser plug in. Where the concept of Web Accessibility is still nebulous for many people, if you have a Web site, make sure you at least add a title to your images to start. Trying this plugin is a good way to see if you need help with this from an expert.

What the Font – Have you ever seen a font or text style and wonder what it was called, especially so you could use it? This article talks of ways to discover the name of a font and some of the names are amusing in themselves.

Clever History Lessons – New to me is the Liberty Kids series of historical fiction cartoons on the American Revolution. These have clearly been around for a while as the late news anchor Walter Cronkite is the voice of Benjamin Franklin, and the CBS newsman left this mortal coil over a decade ago. Like any such tales, they are not completely accurate to recorded history. I like them as they give a general idea of what happened at the formation of the US, and I then fill in the blanks for my kiddos after they watch them.

Honor or Consolation – Though October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, in my travels throughout Wisconsin I have seen very little signs of this. The other day at my kiddos soccer game I noticed the lines on the field were pink, to which I positively expressed my support for it. Another parent then stated that there’s a shortage of white field paint, and many fields are using other colors to compensate. Despite this buzzkill, I still took it as a sign to support those who have and are enduring this great challenge.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Happy fourth quarter! I once had a manager who would, um, celebrate the start of a business quarter. That was odd to me as it didn’t really have an impact on the work we did. As this was one of the managers I had had over my career who never took me to lunch this behavior didn’t surprise me.

A Grave Laugh – Let’s end the week with a good laugh with this short film from my friend and filmmaker Floyd Webb who is in and worked on its production.

Now For Something Short to Read – I learned my friend Jen has been writing more in the last year or so and has been publishing her short fiction on her blog. On her site she shared a short fiction Web site where all published works are 50 words. This reminded me of the monthly 53-word writing contest I have entered for a while and have yet to win.

Dear Mike Maddaloni, How Was the Movie? – I saw the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen this week. I haven’t seen the musical, and going into the movie theater I had no idea what the story was about. I enjoyed the movie, but it was very dark. It was also another high school movie that was nothing like my own high school experience eons ago. I recommend you see it, and let me know what you think.

Make Bank Web Sites Great Again – Redesigning a Web site is no small task – trust me on this one. However today there’s options for making something more turnkey, yet still effective. This week I learned that digital agency SilverTech launched KuberaDX to offer such a solution for banks and credit unions. I work with SilverTech and they are brilliant, so this offering will surely be in line with their excellence.

It’s the end of Box Tops as we know it... – With all of the back-to-school information flying around, one thing I haven’t heard about from either of my kiddos schools is Box Tops for Education. Typically back to school is when this program for raising money when certain consumer product purchases are made is one of the main announcements. But I am not surprised – over the last few years the program has morphed from where you collect little coupons printed on packages to where you scan your grocery receipt. Over the years the money the schools have collected has plummeted – I saw this in the app I used to have to do the scanning, and I believe this part of where the problem lies. Friends, families and complete strangers would collect the Box Tops, and it was fun to do – heck, a blog post I wrote years ago got me hundreds of Box Tops from complete strangers. This, and major brands like Kimberly-Clark and Ziploc dropping out of the program may have contributed to its decline as well. I’m not sure where the program will end up, but it may be a quiet demise.

Not Knoweth The Source Of Thine Potential Demise – I share this interview of Chris Best, the CEO of email publishing platform Substack by Brian Stelter on CNN not to engage in a debate about platforms blocking content or not, but rather because Stelter seems to be completely unaware of the success of Substack’s business model, where people can subscribe to people’s email messages. Clearly Stelter didn’t work as a paperboy as a child, let alone the fact that subscription models are nothing new to 2021.

There’s a Reason for Everything – If you or someone you know or love had a Web site that was giving a security error this past week, it could have been because of this error with a service that manages SSL certificates for Web sites. It was not because of caching errors, or some other blathering excuse that someone who has no clue what is going on told you. Or told to me for that matter.

Sayonara & Welcome – Smith & Wesson, the 150+ year old gun manufacturer that just happens to be about 7 miles from where I grew up is now moving over 800 miles away. This week they announced it was moving its headquarters from Springfield, Massachusetts – where it has always been located – to Maryville, Tennessee due to a changing “business climate” in the Bay State. Translation – it’s a changing political climate, as tightening of laws on guns in the Commonwealth would prevent them from being made there. Where I don’t own any of their product, when I had to go to the emergency room as a kiddo it was at Wesson Memorial Hospital. Engineering students at my college would get internships there where, among other engineering experience they would gain, they would get to test guns. Where the total potential jobs loss was not clear, it will certainly be a blow to that area.

Coffee & Learning – This week I decided to start my mornings with some short lessons from LinkedIn Learning. Among the topics I consumed along with my morning coffee were on Blockchain and Succeeding in a New Role by Managing Up. In this short course it had several videos from business leaders, and the one that most resonated with me was by Kathryn Minshew as she talked about when and how to work. My takeaways were to find the best time for you to work and put up the barriers necessary to make sure you can work.

Picked But Pretty – The above photo is of part of Hofacker’s Hillside Orchard a local apple picking farm that’s popular this time of year. Or rather a few weeks ago, as when we went this past week all of the apples were picked from the trees open to the public. Fortunately apples from their back orchard were for sale, as well as the zipline being open for the kiddos to enjoy.

Congrats Kim on the new gig, and I can't wait to hear where you land.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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He Opened Doors – This week I learned that tech pioneer Clive Sinclair left this mortal coil at age 81. Where not a household name today, back in the 1980’s his inventions including the Timex Sinclair TS1000 and other computers were all the rage for aspiring nerds. It was a small computer with a built-in membrane keyboard that used a TV as a monitor, and was known for overheating. Because of its narrow shape many of my friends called it a door wedge. Beyond computing he was also known for other electronics, including an electric car. Sinclair was on the scene at the time when the consumer tech world was in its infancy, and his nickname of Uncle Clive was only fitting.

Something Positive About Education – I feel every time I hear something about educating our young people it is always negative. This is why I was pleasantly surprised to learn about Student Sponsor Partners an organization in New York City supporting kiddos getting a great education. SSP was the feature of John Stossol’s latest video as he has been directly involved with them. They are student-focused, which means its centered around getting kids into private schools and providing them with mentors. As dealing with the machine that is public education is daunting, such an approach – though not for all – will help some be the best they can be.

Clearly As-A Disservice – There’s a phrase in the tech world, “as-a-service,” which refers to virtual technology rather than having physical servers. This week I learned this has been taken to new lows, as there is now something called PHaaS, or Phishing-as-a-Service. Yes, you, in the privacy of your own Internet connection, can attempt to steal the private information of the masses... ugh.

Clearly a World Class – Have you bought chicken in the last decade? If you are not a vegetarian or vegan, you likely have. If you think this is a silly question, it is, but you may be entitled to a check – seriously. A class-action lawsuit alleges collusion among chicken producers. If you live in one of the nearly 2 dozen states involved in the lawsuit, checked out the aptly named OverchargedForChicken.com and put in for what I am guessing may not even be a dollar per person.

Real-Life Agile Coaching – An important aspect of Agile work frameworks is continuous improvement. This is why roles with the name “coach” in them are pervasive. But do coaches need coaching? The obvious answer to this question is why AgilityIRL started PartnersIRL, a service offering that in a variety of formats . I took my Certified ScrumMaster training from Mike Stuedemann, one of the principals at AgilityIRL, and I know people will collaborate and learn greatly from this service.

My Time of the Year – Fall started this week, which I can’t emphasize enough is my favorite season. With this entry, summer exits.

Ticket Free or Free Tickets? – The NFL kicked off the 2021 season this past weekend, and the local team to me was featured on Monday Night Football. Thanks to my friend Jason Jacobsohn of Propellant Ventures, I was at the game with him and his friends. This game had a lot of firsts, beyond my first regular-season NFL game in a long time , it introduced digital tickets and cashless for concessions. As one might guess, it didn’t go all that well.

After I waited over a half hour to go thru a metal detector, there was nobody there to scan my virtual ticket in my phone app. Had we not sought out someone who was scrambling around to scan the tickets, would we have been in Lambeau Field illegally? I saw online someone I don’t know post they knew people who had gotten more people into the iconic stadium than had digital tickets for because nobody scanned them.

In addition the payment for concessions being by debit or credit card only, the stand I went to at halftime ran out of bratwurst. For Wisconsin, it may have well had ran out of beer or oxygen for that matter. One could blame under-trained employees or poor planning, but this is the juggernaut that is the NFL and I cut them no slack. The next day I got a survey from said football team asking me about my game experience. As most of the questions were focused around safety – physical and viral – perhaps their focus needs to circle back to what they are there for, an escape from the problems of the world.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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One Score Down – Happy business anniversary to my good friend Emily Brackett and her branding and design firm Visible Logic who celebrated its 20th year last Friday on September 10. Yes, she started a business the day before 9/11/2001. Despite this she grew the firm into a force in the space, with all the great work they do, plus unique products like Branding Compass and Mail on the Mark. I got to know Emily when she was in Chicago before relocating to the coast of Maine and we collaborated on several projects. In the Web world there’s a handful of people I wholeheartedly trust, and she is one of them. Cheers to the first 20 and here’s to the future!

Making Malls Mighty – In the last week I learned of 2 projects to convert empty mall stores into athletic facilities. A former Macy’s in Virginia will soon be an indoor 50-meter pool and one proposed in southern Wisconsin for a former Sears will be two ice rinks and a field space. As the shells of these stores are likely still in great physical condition (something I learned about from serving on the local library project advisory board) this is a perfect use for them. Now if we can just get a 50-meter pool at one of the empty stores around me in northeast Wisconsin...!

Training People in Person > Training People Remotely – As part of my job I train users on the Web content management system I support. Where I have conducted over 200 training classes over the years, only one of them was in-person, and it was by chance the participant just happening to be in my office. This past week I conducted my second one to a live, in-person audience, and it was a great experience. Proximity again played into it, and it made me want more in-person events of all types, and soon.

Nothing on Netflix – I was late to learning that 90’s hit TV show Seinfeld is coming to Netflix on October 1. Apparently it was previously streaming on Hulu, but I don’t have it. As much as I enjoyed watching the show when I did, I never saw every episode and can’t quote the show like most people I know. I will binge it.

It’s All About the Case – Presented without further comment is a link to my kiddos’ school system’s newly-launched COVID-19 dashboard. It presents number of cases and the percentages for the approximately 16,000 students in the school system.

Do Frogs Eat Broken Links Too? – Also new to me is the Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool. I don’t pretend to know about every Web tool out there, and I am going to try this one out against the Web site platform I support.

Cleaned Out – I learned my favorite dry cleaner ever, Donny on the Spot, is shutting down at the end of September. They were previously a long-standing family-run business and during the lockdowns they pivoted to a purely delivery-based model. I wondered why they didn’t pick-up my cleaning bag this week, and then I saw the note on their Web site. It’s sad to see such a business go, especially one that had friendly, quality service and the nearest competitor being the most expensive dry cleaner I have ever encountered in my life. I wish them all the best of luck on whatever is next.

A Fish Called Carolyn – I get text messages like this all the time. No, my name is not nor was ever Carolyn. I have no idea who had my phone number before me, but maybe it was a Carolyn. And no, I didn’t click on this link. Please delete and block the number from any such texts like this you may get, and see you next time.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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After having run my own business, I learned that for as much of the advice you receive – invited or uninvited – by others, you really need to learn it the hard way in order for it to stick. This experience is priceless, though in some cases you can put a cost to it as you may have lost money in the process of learning it!

Brilliant Breakthroughs for the Small Business Owner Volume 4 is a chronicle of such advice. Each chapter is written by a different person or group of people, and offers hard-learned advice from those who lived to tell the tale. I bought the book as I know one of the authors, Mark Boeder. That being said, I wasn’t going into reading this book with any bias.

So some of you may be saying, why are you reading a book geared towards small business owners, as you aren’t one anymore? Even though I no longer have my own business and am no longer in consulting, I still approach my work as if I was still doing both. This approach has worked generally well for me over the years, and is why I have takeaways from the book. Here’s a few of the key ones that resonated with me the most.

Irreplaceable vs. Indispensable – In the chapter by Mark Boeder is the comparison of irreplaceable versus indispensable. He talks of employees who are irreplaceable are really ones who have positioned themselves to have retained certain knowledge to ensure they keep their job, where those who are indispensable will help you grow. Over the years I have seen both employees and consultants in both of these roles. The former hold their cards close to their chest and are protecting their turf. The latter are there to make you and your organization better, sharing their knowledge and wisdom, and as a result being more likely to be kept by said organization than the other. As you might guess, I strive to be indispensable.

Imposter Syndrome – This was a new term to be, however as I read Mike Raber’s chapter, it is something I was actually familiar with. Imposter syndrome is the sense you are a professional phony. In our society where job descriptions for some reason are supposed to match a candidate’s skills one-to-one, some may feel they are an imposter if their skills don’t match, and the delta to deeper knowledge is crossed with this feeling they are not genuine. “Fake it till you make it” is a common term on the other end of this spectrum. Over the years I have encountered many situations where I didn’t fully know what I was doing going into it. I would be honest about this and do my best – sometimes I was successful, and sometimes not so much. If someone else took the approach I do, I would never consider them an imposter.

Maslow’s Law of the Instrument – Many years ago I heard a quote from former US Army General Wesley Clark, where he said what I found in this book is Maslow’s Law of the Instrument, “... if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” In the chapter by Dennis Hill, he talks of integrating the various tools that are vital to the success and growth of a business. Where I am familiar with psychologist Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from my Management 101 class in college (and used it in figuring how to deal with various DJs on my college radio station!), I didn’t know he also is credited with this quote and concept. It is something I often think about when I pull myself back on a situation and look at it from the Big Picture, especially when what I am doing isn’t working as well as I would like.

Brilliant Breakthroughs for the Small Business Owner Volume 4 is part of a series of books where business advisors and consultants share their wisdom, as well as offer their services. Where there is a sales element to the book, the stories told are genuine and can be taken for what they are – good advice. Though there’s no shortage of such books, I recommend reading this one, as it made me think and introduced approaches to me that I hadn’t thought of before. As I giveaway all books I read, this one was placed in a Little Free Library in a high-profile location, one in which I saw other business books.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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