It’s easy for anyone to say “I don’t get it” and give up. Maybe you’ll say it in private, no one will ever know, and you can go about your business pretending it didn’t happen. Problem is, you’ll know you’re working harder at something then you need to be.

It’s the things we use the most often that we easily overlook in terms of shortneing processes, cutting down the number of clicks, or just producing better work. Whether it’s formulas in Excel, shortcuts in Photoshop, or a free utility for your cell phone, there’s something out there that is just itching to make your life more pleasant, more productive or both.

Don’t be scared of technology, embrace it. Learning things can be fun if the outcome is beneficial to you.

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1. How to Tame Your Technology in Four Easy Steps
2. How to make a Technology Taming Plan

For all the strangeness I’ve seen down here, one of the funniest ones is this guy who I call The Mad Printer.

The Mad Printer was discovered at Lion’s Coffee in Mission Valley. He started out like any other web surfer in a coffeeshop. He was posted up by the window with his laptop, quietly perusing the intarwebz, minding his own business. He was there for about 45 minutes before he disappeared to his car and returned with a large printer box. He proceeded to remove from this box a color inkjet printer and paper. He sets up the printer on a chair next to, plugs it in, loads some paper, and starts printing out email from Yahoo (not that I was looking at his screen or anything).

Coming to a coffeeshop with the intent to print things is, in my opinion, simply odd to begin with. Are there not better places to go? Aren’t you a bit embarrassed to have that complex of a set-up in a public place? Aren’t you scared someone is going to kick out a plug or bump into it? Not this guy, he was merrily printing away.

After I got over how silly this seemed, I went about my business writing a few blog posts. After another half-hour, however, I realized that this printer had been going full-bore that whole time and he had racked up a formidable stack of printed paper. This began to distract me as I wondered just how long it would continue.

In the end, this thing was printing continually for over an hour. At an average of about 20 pages per minute (guess), that’s over 1,200 pages of printed material… all from this guy’s email account. Part-way through, he abandoned his set-up to walk across the parking lot to the Staples and buy another ream of paper.

The environmentalist in me was furious, the financial advisor in me was dumb-founded, and the hater in me though this guy was out of his mind so I took pics and here they are.

A few tips for printing out material using less paper and less ink:

• Check out a  Print Preview before you fire up your printer. More often than not, there are pages at the beginning or end of your document that you can choose to not print. Watch out for blog posts in particular; sometimes you end up with page after page of comments you weren’t going to read in the first place.
• Try copying the text you want to read and pasting it into a word processor. Adjust the text size down if you can, remove images you don’t need, and shrink the margins. I’ve cut document sizes in half or more using this method which is a good thing to do if you’re talking about 10 pages or more.
• After you’ve chosen the Print option, click the Properties button and print two pages per sheet. This cuts the document and print time in half. If your printer is capable, also print on the front and back; this will also halve the number of sheets of paper you’re using.

Don’t be a Mad Printer. Print Smart.

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Why I read this blog

I started reading YEB because I am young (ish?) and an entrepreneur, for the  most part. I figured, hey, this thing must be written for me.

From what I’m read, I’m guessing that the staff don’t have a long history of starting and raising successful companies. I don’t say this because the advice is bad, I say it because it had more of a “hey, let’s get together and figure this out” feeling rather than a “I’ve done this and this is what works for me” feeling. Nothing wrong with that at all, it’s a great way to build community.

After a while, I really wanted to read about people who had really made it and how it all came together for them. Coincidentally enough, YEB started interviewing experts more and posting words from famous business starters from all different industries. Perfect!

I read the blog for the interviews and the Entrepreneur University section, for the most part. They include write-ups about other things but the unique content they provide me are the sound bytes.

Thanks YEB! Keep it going!

Tools and resources for entrepreneurs and business minded individuals who are growing their business at the Young Entrepreneur’s Blog!

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3. Give someone a social hand and write a review

Are YOU prepared? The greatest opportunities are spawned from the most formidable obstacles and deep wisdom is born from painful circumstances. Good always triumphs and there IS something good that will come from these hard economic times. Be prepared for the coming opportunities by:

• Getting out of debt.
• Setting up an emergency fund.
• Establishing a common sense budget.
• Living within below your means.
• Updating your skills and resume.
• Having a prosperous mindset at all times.
• Educating yourself on financial matters.

Be careful, stack loot, and stay financially safe. It’ll all be over soon but don’t lose more than you have to.

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