I’m happy to announce the webinars are now public and you can check out the list of Zendesk webinars for January on the blog.

These webinars showcase how companies increase customer satisfaction while streamlining their support process using Zendesk. It’s been one of my foundation tools as a technology consultant so I was excited to help spread the message by holding live webinars!

Who’s Using Zendesk?

Companies big and small. Twitter uses Zendesk because, as you can imagine, they get a ton of questions from the Twitter community. Zendesk isn’t just for tech companies that are “web 2.0″.

Businesses focused on health, law, education, construction and even yoga are using Zendesk to effectively manage incoming questions and requests from their customers.

What’s In A Zendesk Webinar?

The webinars will show you how to use Zendesk, add popular integrations from  other cloud apps and how to go about customizing Zendesk to fit your needs. Since I’m running them, there won’t be any of that dry, boring sort of delivery. These are fun!

In the coming months, you will see webinars on Yammer, JIRA, 37Signals, SurveyGizmo, Get Satisfaction and more! We’re also doing a special series called, “Welcome to Zendesk” to help you get familiar with helpdesk practices and workflows.

What is Zendesk?

It’s a tool for your business.

Many of us answer questions from customers.  Right?

Most of us do this via email or by phone.  This works for a while until the business starts growing and then we start falling behind.  This is also a problem where someone who was working with a customer goes on vacation and all their email correspondence is sitting there in their Inbox.

Zendesk centralizes your communications with customers so you can quickly and accurately help them.  This is the core of customer service!

My Experience with Zendesk

I personally have been using the desk for a year to manage requests from my IT clients.  At first, I wasn’t sure if my clients would accept the new system but they quickly began sending requests for help!

For those of you who watch my live show at AskAdria, I did two shows involving Zendesk.  The first on in April had to do with a t-shirt they sent me (see video to watch my feedback on tech t-shirts that don’t fit women).  The second show evaluated Zendesk as a tool make you a tech support hero because when a tool makes your job effortless, you should say thank you!

Why You’ll Love Zendesk

If you’re a fan of David Allen’s GTD methodology or have been to Merlin Mann’s 43folders site, you know “Inbox Zero” can be something of a myth like finding a cheesburger eating unicorn on rollerskates.

Zendesk works as the central nervous system of your business allowing you to keep track of sales, support and development requests.

If Zendesk were an apartment, we would be showing you how to setup a fabulous flat that would be featured in apartment therapy!

There are other companies in the helpdesk market like Kayako, Cerberus and what not but Zendesk excels due to their streamlined functionality, clean design, extensive use of API and oh yeah, awesomeness!

Working With Zendesk

I’d also like to share that working with Zendesk rocks!  The people who make up the team are just entirely too much fun!  Not only that, they are seriously focused on making it easy to deliver great customer service.  I had the opportunity to visit Zendesk headquarters in San Francisco after Blogworld in late October and then again in December for the holiday party.

Zendesk is hiring so take a look and see if you could be the next uber funky developer to join the team!



Photo credit: adria.richards, Laughing Squid, etnika, adamjackson1984

I’ve used all these products in the last 3 years to build a successful IT consulting business that I’ve run in my pajamas with my dog Bluey snuggled under my desk.

Welcome iPhone App from LogMeIN!

They released the Logmein Ignition iPhone app last year and I just had to try it. Now, mind you, it costs $30 which at the Apple iPhone store is expensive but it’s well worth it. I’ve used it in a pinch to help customers while I’m on the road or grab a quick password from Keepass.

Contest to Win Logmein for the iPhone

I have some free licenses to give away! Let me know what you currently use to access your computer when you’re away from your desk and I’ll select the 3 most “interesting” comments.

• Contest runs until Friday, January 29th at 11:59pm CST.
• 3 Licenses will be awarded

Using LogMeIn To Build My IT Consulting Business

I have helped to maintain my client’s networks using LogMeIn’s tools to check on servers and workstations, do schedule reboots and quickly connect to diagnose a problem.

As my new focus of public speaking and training takes me on the road more (this weekend I’m speaking at Wordcamp Atlanta and at the Boston Wordcamp end of January), I find the need to access computers while I’m out and about. The iPhone is the perfect swiss army knife, allowing me to stay in touch with email, my social network and most importantly, my clients. It only makes sense that remote support should be available…well, remotely!

This is a sponsorship post for LogMeIn. They sponsored me for Blogworld 2009 and I had a blast talking with other bloggers, giving out 500 hugs, listening and sharing the story of Logmein with fellow geeky bloggers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I subscribed to the monthly version of Logmein Pro before I went out to New York for Wordcamp as I knew I would be transferring files from my home computer.  It worked out lovely!

Over Turkey Day weekend, I had a chance to finally test the remote sound.  The sound was great!  It was loud, clear and there were no skips while I played music in iTunes on my old computer.  This is a nice feature as I move applications, data and songs from my Shuttle XPC to my new Dell XPS 8000.

The Pro2 version would be great for someone who is on the road often.  Network administrators would also find it helpful to install on a server to quickly get a bird’s eye view of the system.  More on that in a future post.

LogMeIn has several tools you can use to remotely access your computer. You can connect to your PC or Mac while on the road and do it securely without installing any complex software.

The Pro version allows for remote sound and printing plus other goodies like file transfer and detailed diagnostics. The cost of LogMeIn Pro2 is $12.20 per month or $69.95 for the year.

There is also LogMeIn Free which provides you with remote access as well you just don’t get all the goodies mentioned below.

I’ve been using LogMeIn since 2006 and like the direction they’re going to have more cross platform support.

More reviews soon!

I bought this back in June after having tried Ignition for Windows Mobile last year. This is a lifesaver if you need to access a piece of software or an open file you have sitting there on your desktop.

You sign into your Logmein account and then you authenticate to the computer you want access to. I just tried to connect to my Macbook Pro but it’s rejecting the username/password so I will need to look into that.

Although you can store your passwords, I’d advice against it so in case your iPhone is lost, you don’t leave yourself (and your technology clients) wide open.

I’ve been able to help clients while away from my office quickly and easily using the Logmein Ignition for iPhone.

[ad#googleadsensepost]

Giveaway of Ignition for iPhone

This weekend at Blogworld, I will be giving away 5 licenses of Ignition for the iPhone. I’m looking for bloggers who have an iPhone (obvious one there), travel or are away from their primary computer on a regular basis and would want to take try something like this out.

Thank you to Logmein for sponsoring me at Blogworld!

Mobile Too Tiny? Try Logmein Free

There is also Logmein Free which allows you to connect from one computer to another and supports Windows and Mac (sorry Linux). The Pro2 version supports file transfers, remote printing and you can share your desktop with someone else so if you need to do a quick training or demo, you’re good to go.

So I finally went to the “darkside” as PC folks say.  Yes, I bought a Mac and here’s why:

5 reasons to “Go Mac”

1. Macs can run Windows - That’s right folks.  You can run Windows on Apple hardware.  You have a few choices.  You can boot into Windows using Apple’s Bootcamp or virtualized through VMWare Fusion or Parallels so all the excuses for compatibility are out the window (haha joke).  Seriously, I’d rather have a computer that can run 3 different operating systems than one that only supports Windows and Linux.

2. Macs have better power management – For mobile computing, reliable performance and stamina are a must.  How many PC laptop owners do you know who complain about battery life, laptops that burn up due to overheating or who find out when they closed the lid if their computer, hibernation failed so their computer was still on with the hard drive spinning as they rolled it over bumps in the road?

3. Macs are built better – Everything from how Apple computers look to the operating system to the guts, I am impressed each time I encounter them…similar to how I got to IKEA and the furniture just makes sense.  Last year, my sister’s iBook G4 needed the hard drive replaced.  I didn’t know the first thing about taking apart a Mac but using the awesome site, iFixit, I was able to figure out the 20+ steps to get to the hard drive.  I even ended up showing my sister how to do it.  We ordered a drive from Newegg, salvaged her files from the old drive, reinstalled the OS, created a backup plan with SuperDuper and she was all set!

4. Professionals use Macs -  All the cool kids are using Macs; For example,  37 Signals, the company that makes the wildly popular web based project management tool, Basecamp, develop on Macs.  Many  cloud computing companies develop on the OSX operating system instead of Windows.  This tells me that if I want raise the bar, I need to get a Mac.  Also, many more IT folks are picking up Macs.  I interviewed @rachelbaker about her choice to “Go Mac” as I was doing my research and got to hear from a geek with similar IT experience how she adapted and brought Mac’s into her life.

5. Apple has excellent service and support – Now people hate computers because trying to find out what’s wrong sometimes feels like talking to a rock.  It doesn’t talk, doesn’t move and gives no indication on what you should do next.  Until I had a chance to see the back end of an Apple store, I wasn’t familiar with how Apple delivered support.  I always get warranties on my hardware so with my first iPod in 2004, I got the extended 2 year Apple plan but never had to use it.  I can definitely say that Apple support is amazing and that the people who work for Apple are truly invested in providing a positive outcome, take responsibility for the resolution and truly seem like a happy-go-lucky bunch of folks overall!  When I’ve had to call in for support or went in to talk with folks at the Apple store about future purchases, I’ve been amazed at how helpful and knowledgeable they were.

My Love Affair with Apple

I’ve been trying to think when I first began to seriously consider getting a computer from Apple.  I think it was when I did the upgrades at the Apple stores in 2007.  I was doing contract work for a company that would send me out to various places to troubleshoot routers, install equipment and do upgrades (Interested in this?  Contact me as they’re always looking for good folks) when they told me there would be a string of assignments at various Apple stores in the Twin Cities.  The stores were getting their Internet connections upgraded so we would be replacing the routers and CSU/DSU (aka the modem).  I signed on board.  The hours were from 10pm until we finished which turned out to be about 3am.

What this meant is that I had time to see the Apple stores when they weren’t crowded with people.  I spent time looking at these “strange” looking computers and laptops and was able to ask the staff all sorts of questions.  I talked to the managers, floor staff and Geniuses about their roles in selling computers.  I found out that Apple had a totally different philosphy about how to sell and what to sell vs Dell and Geeksquad.  This blew me away that the Genius did not sell any product so they were free to focus on fixing things right.  The repair area was immaculate!  Everything had a place, cords were neatly hung up on wall hooks, bins were clearly labeled (and often barcoded) with replacement parts and computers in for service were neatly arranged and tagged.

The Average PC Repair Shop is Chaos

Most computer repair shops suck. It’s a chaotic, stress milkshake for staff and customers swirled with heavy dose of distrust and anxiety.  I’ve been in 4 positions in this scenario: PC workbench tech, working with PC vendors on RMA hardware returns, customer for warranty repair, customer service/front desk person at PC repair shop.  Working in this environment makes you grow old fast:  It’s a day filled with dread on who is going to complain, freak out, call or stop in.  Not fun.  Working with vendors wasn’t much better when I couldn’t negotiate simple requests for in-warranty hardware due to the cluster-poo support staff on the other end of the phone who must be reading from a knowledgebase article on how to accept RMA shipments.

The average computer repair shop looks like this:

• There are cords strewn over the workbenches
• You can’t find the right screws to close up a case
• Irate customers keep calling about their computers
• You can’t find the work order
• The customer can’t find out the status of the repair
• The receipt does not explain the repairs in plain English
• Repairs can take days or weeks
• The original problem was not fixed

I assumed it was like this for everyone but those experiences at the Apple stores woke me up to the possiblity that not every computer company ran like Microsoft, Dell and Geeksquad.

This experience was further confirmed when I ordered my 13″ Macbook Pro.  The online ordering process was a breeze, I called support to get the One-To-One training and got nothing but knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and focused service from the Apple folks.

Make your next laptop a Mac

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

AskAdria Ustream logo for my live, weekly technology show!  You can watch it each Monday at 5:30pm CST

Windows XP will be supported until 2012 2014.  It’s going to be the business mainstay for the next 5 years irregardless of Vista and Windows 7.

iPhones were built to be jailbroke.  This allows you to run additional software that you wouldn’t find at the App store.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation thinks Apple lost some marbles and that this is no different then when people modify their cars.

ThinkGeek makes awesome tech t-shirts for women!  In addition to geek stuff, they have jewlery

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform in the world!  Major newspapers including the New York Times use it to run their blogs.  WordPress also can run your website

Eventbrite is the best way to register for conferences and webinars!  It makes the promotion and sales for your events easy.  Post your event and get paid.

Ubuntu is an operating system.  It’s a specific flavor of Linux.  It’s become one of the most user friendly and popular Linux distros in the last 4 years.

Tux is the the mascot for Linux.  Yay penguins!

Moo makes awesome business cards.  I get lots of compliments on my business cards so I keep reordering from Moo!

Firefox is a web browser for the world and is made by Mozilla.  It now makes up over 25% of the browser market as more people get sick and tired of using crappy Internet Explorer.

Timebridge makes meetings happen.  It streamlines the process by allowing you to send multiple times to everyone you’re meeting with.  They all click on the best times and Timebridge adds the confirmed time to your calendar.

Google is the most popular search engine in the world and they took the time to take photos of the planet Earth and share it via Google Earth.  Sweet!

Dell is a great hardware platform if you’re going to stick with Windows.  It’s a solid choice for business desktops, servers and home systems.  You can net a sweet deal on a refurbished Dell for $300 with a 3 year warranty for your business.  I picked up my 23″ Samsung monitor from Dell because they had the best price.

Apple makes great laptops.  I have seen these macbooks last for years, find them to be made of high quality parts and most importantly, have excellent power management vs many pc based noteboooks which I won’t name.  I will be getting a 13″ Macbook pro in the next few weeks (fingers crossed) and will rejoin the computer world as a cross platform IT person.

Lijit is a custom search plugin for your blog or website.  It crawls your site and provides visitors with a Google-like results page.  Lijit will also list content from folks on your blogroll.  Pretty cool stuff plus @tarable and @micah work there!

Flickr is a social networking site based on images.  It has huge Google juice so if you care about SEO for your website, find a way to incorporate Flickr.  I have their pro account which allows me to upload a lot of images.

Netflix is a superior alternative to renting movies from your local video store because there are no late fees, you can queue up movies, no shipping charges, a much larger selection and they launched “Watch Instantly” in 2007 so you can watch movies on your computer.  I’ve been using Netflix since 2003.

I didn’t mention two companies as I’m waiting for their logo banners but I’ll mention them here:

Zendesk is a web based helpdesk ticketing system which centralizes IT support requests and will save you time and money.  It’s scalable so you can be a single consultant or helpdesk with 200+ support folks.  I started using it last year, Twitter copied me this year as did MSNBC (probably because I was on The Rachel Maddow Show) and Viddler.

Harvest and is one of THE BEST solutions I’ve used for easy time tracking and invoicing that is cross platform.  They support Quickbooks export, you can Tweet your time and they talk to Zendesk so I can bill right from my tickets.  Did I mention they recently added the ability to collect payment via Paypal and create reoccurring invoices?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tweetdeck (version 0.30.5)  is aiming to save you time when you’re posting your tweets and they have 2 cool features I share in the video:

You can now paste links directly into the post area and Tweetdeck will automagically shorten them

You can drag photos into the post area and Tweetdeck will upload them to TwitPic

They have a few alternate URL shortening and image hosting options but my preferences are Bit.ly for url’s and Twitpic for image hosting.  With the bit.ly service, you can add in your username and API key so the click traffic can be tracked via your bit.ly account.  Sweet!

Nice job Tweetdeck!

Want to launch your own successful technology company?

This Thursday I’m holding a 2 hour webinar, What Every Geek Needs To Start A Company that will show you all the essentials of starting a tech consulting business.

My special co-host will be Chris Pirillo, founder of the Lockergnome community and Gnomedex conference!

This webinar will cover:

• What it takes to become self employed
• Setting goals and how to to stay on task
• Recruiting mentors
• Creating a company brand that sets you apart from the crowd
• Identify your customer base or niche
• Do you need a logo?
• What’s a good business name?
• Developing your business network
• Your 30 second pitch
• Finding clients
• Networking for Geeks
• Time tracking
• Invoicing clients
• Why contracts are essential
• PR and exposure to build your credibility

and..

Specific Challenges When You’re a Geek Starting a Company

• Feeling uncomfortable in groups
• Difficulting promoting yourself
• Matching socks
• When “not” to talk about geek stuff
• Finding unlikely allies

You’ll Leave With

• New communication skills to help you close with new leads
• Dozens of tips, tricks and exercises to use when starting your business
• Better understanding of common pitfalls new entrepreneurs encounter
• A list of essential business people you need to start your business
• Outline of milestone items you can use to setup your goals
• A sense of relief you don’t have to start from scratch
• Resources online you can turn to for encouragement and guidance

Date: Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Time: 7pm – 9pm CST
Where: Online

Photo Credit:

by yummyporky

by theogeo

by dodgysnapshots

by Tomotaka

by letmebeyourswearword

by meddygarnet

by DSmous

by adpowers

by scottfeldstein

by midnightcomm

by meddygarnet

by LuChOeDu

by the mad LOLscientist

by googlisti

by misocrazy

Click here to view the embedded video.

How I edit Voice Memos after MP3 conversion

1. In iTunes, select the voice memo you want to edit
2. Go to “Advanced” and select “Create MP3 Version”
3. Right click on the newly created file to view the file location
4. Copy the file into Audacity for editing

The audio recording quality of the iPhone 3G S has been beyond wonderful and enables me to capture my public speaking events quickly and easily. I just hit “record” and put my iPhone on the speaking table. This time, I asked the other speakers if it was okay first as I want to respect people’s choices. I then email them once I finish uploading and we all benefit from having working samples!

Not sure how to get the MP3 option to show up in iTunes?

I’ve made a video for you!

Instructions can be found on the new blog post showing how to change your iTunes settings to allow new imports and conversions to happen in mp3 format