Office Closed

Promethius Consulting offices will be closed on Good Friday, April 9, 2004. We do recognize, however, that many of your businesses will be open and that you may need assistance. If you require assistance, please call
317-733-2388 ext. 101 and leave a message in Denver Abernathy’s voice-mail box. We will return your call as soon as possible. You may also call 317/513-8428.

Did you know?

Definition of the Month
Courtesy of Webopedia...

Hotspot - A specific geographic location in which an access point provides public wireless broadband network services to mobile visitors through a WLAN. Hotspots are often located in heavily populated places such as airports, train stations, libraries, marinas, conventions centers and hotels. Hotspots typically have a short range of access.

The start of April means the end of a quarter. What better time for a little introspection and analysis of your 2004 goals and your progress toward those goals. What’s that you say? You don’t remember what your '04 goals were? You have enough trouble just reading each day’s email, so how can you possibly justify the luxury of analyzing your progress? Because it will make you a better businessperson, you need to just do it! So grab your files, head out to the nearest Starbucks, pay WAY too much for a cup of bitter coffee, and figure out where you stand!

End of 1st quarter exercises

1. Review your '04 goals – What did you intend to accomplish in 2004? Are you making progress? Can you even find your goals listed anywhere? By the end of March, many of us have already lost the focus and motivation that good goals can cultivate. Spend some quality time reviewing your original intent. Visualize yourself achieving those goals. Get excited again! The name of the game is to refocus your efforts and your strategies.
   
2. Know the numbers – You need to understand Q1 numbers for your business. If you are in sales, understand your actual numbers relative to projections. What revenue did that generate? What was your profit margin? What products or services are more profitable than others?
   
3. Change course – Your analysis in steps one and two should uncover a few gaping holes. Pick at least one product, service or business practice that needs major help now and start charting a different course. By facing reality now, you stop the bleeding early. Why wait until '05 to fix something that isn’t working right now?
   
4. Celebrate – Make sure to reward your staff and yourself for the things you have done right. By rewarding the beneficial activities, expect continued success throughout the year.

O.K., now get out there to Starbucks and make it happen!! Don’t order a “small, medium or large” though. They won’t know what you’re talking about. Incidentally, we are always looking for good networking and general business ideas so please feel free to email them to support@promethius.com. We will make sure to credit you if we use your idea in an article.

E-mail Hoaxes

It is our sincere hope that one day all of Promethius’ clients will be able to spot an e-mail virus hoax the moment it arrives. It’s not that we mind answering questions regarding a possible hoax…honest it isn’t! (We do mind, however, being included on the chain letter forward lists. Whether it’s Microsoft’s money you’re after or trying to escape the evil hackers of the world, leave us out of it please.) My main concern is the number of users to ask me after the fact if deleting jdbgmgr.exe was the right thing to do. “You see a friend of mine forwarded this message to me…I found the infected file on my hard drive and I deleted it.” This is an example of how even a non-technical bad guy could destroy thousands of computers without even having the decency to learn how to hack a computer. It turns out that jdbgmrg.exe is a system file that isn’t all that important. What if whoever invented this story had chosen a critical file?! Admit it, many of you would be in some expensive trouble right now.

Here are some things that should signal hoax:

1. Are you asked to forward the message to everyone you know? Almost all hoaxes do.
   
2. Did the warning come from a computer expert? If the answer is, “No, my buddy Jim sent it to me ‘cause his cousin got hit with it yesterday,” then it’s likely a hoax.
   
3. Is all the information about the virus contained in the e-mail or does it link to an authoritative page? If the only information you have is contained in the e-mail, you are probably looking at a hoax. If it links to a generic authoritative website, like www.symantec.com, but not to a page with specific information on the virus described, you’re probably looking at a hoax.

My simple advice: Look before you leap. Here’s where you look (not necessarily in this order):

1. http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
2. http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/hoax.html
3. Promethius Consulting (317/733-2388)

Is there something specific you'd like to see? We'd appreciate your feedback and article ideas.
Please e-mail them to support@promethius.com.

Promethius Consulting, LLC
www.promethius.com