From the Real Simple Success newsletter.

photo credit: daniel9d

In this week’s issue: It’s the technology plus YOU that makes the technology magic. Don’t forget this, if you want to the technology to work for you.

My father came home with his first personal computer in 1983. Time had just named the personal computer its “Man of the Year” a year before. They were brand new as mainstream appliances.

It was magic. It lit up, and the tiny green characters danced across the screen, changing at a whim. No more white out, no more backspacing to underline a word.

My father was a writer, and for years, he planned to write a novel, but never quite got around to it. (In the last years of his life,he did get around to it–and wrote many good novels.)

After a few months with the MBC-1000, my father said, “you know, I guess I have to admit:

“I somehow thought the computer would help me be a better writer. But of course, it won’t make me be a better writer. To be a good writer, you just have to write. The machine’s not going to do it for you!”

It’s the same now, as it was in 1983. The magic of the technology dazzles us, and somehow convinces us that we’ll magically be freed from doing any work!

I think it is easy to–often unconsciously–apply this same thinking to today’s web technologies. While many of these attitudes are below the surface, I think it’s easy to get into mindsets that subtly reflect this same viewpoint. Attitudes like:

The fantasy: “Once I have an amazing, beautiful new website, lots and lots of new clients will find me and give me new business.”
The reality: The website is a tool to facilitate new business; it won’t bring it to you on its own.

The fantasy: “Our new FaceBook page will create lots of new clients.”
The reality: You can create lots of new clients, using FaceBook as a tool, by focusing on producing value for them, over time.

The fantasy: “Once we optimize our page to the right keywords, we’ll start getting a flood of traffic to our site.”

The reality: Depending on your keywords, this could be true, or much more work could be required. Focusing too heavily on keywords can get you distracted from your main mission; unless you have lots of money to spend, you’re better of starting by focusing on

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I don’t mean to sound cynical here. The point I am making is that the combination of these technologies, plus someone who really has
something to say, and really wants to help their customers–now that is very powerful. To ignore any of these ingredients, right now, is very foolish.

In each case, the point is that the collaboration between these wonderful new technologies, and a person who cares about his clients, and is devoted to helping them succeed–that is the powerful combination.

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My father kept that MBC-1000 for, like, 10 years. “It’s a dinosaur,” I would think, but “it gets the job done”–that’s what he thought. And over the years, I am sure that simple computer saved him many hundreds of hours of effort, over using his old Brother electric typewriter. He learned how to get it to do what he needed it to do, and it did it well, for many years.

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What’s your relationship with the technology you use? Do you expect it to “do it for you,” or do you find ways of working with what you
do? Please share, by adding a comment below.

People who teach public speaking tell their students to pick out one person in the audience and speak to them, to increase their focus and the personal feeling of the message.

Cold callers are coached to smile when making a call, because it makes a big difference how you feel when you are making the call, even though the recipient can’t see you.

Designers of web applications come up with a few characters, whom they give names to, so they can personalize the experience they imagine their users will have. “So then Judy comes to the buy page. She looks around… but, I’m not sure if she would be able to notice the button right away; it’s so small.”

In the same way, when you are composing an email to your mailing list, pick out one person in the list, and write to that person. Imagine what their needs are. Where they are sitting. What other tasks they are facing that day. The computer they’re reading it on. Now, imagine what they would want to know about right now, to help them solve a problem.