People come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. For some things one size may fit all – this is not so for office chairs. Before you buy your next office chair look at how you plan to use the chair. Be honest with yourself about exactly what you require from your chair. Failure to have this “chair honesty session” with yourself can lead to costly replacements, back pain or possible permanent injury from using an unsuitable chair.

If you’re going to spend a lot of time in your office chair then invest in a heavy use chair. You’ll need one with good padding, a tilt mechanism and as much lower and upper back support as possible. If you’re going to spend a lot of time in your chair then it’s SO important that your back gets great support. Look for a chair that offers padded armrests also.

Then there are those of you who will spend a limited amount of time sitting down. You might be working in a mid-level managers capacity where you’re on the move as often as you’re sitting down. If this is the case look for a medium use chair with good lower back support and fixed armrests. Also check if your chair has a knee tilt mechanism. This allows you to lean back in the chair, yet still keep your feet firmly planted on the ground.

When buying a new office chair you’re looking for a combination of both function and comfort. The chair has to be designed for the work at hand but still allow the operator (you) to finish a long days work without any back, shoulder or neck pain.

Another important aspect is what fabrics to buy. Leather looks posh and comfy but it’s best avoided. It can tear easily (expensive to repair), is uncomfortable in hot weather (your butt will stick to it) and is cold in the winter. Go with washable and breathable fabrics that wear well and provide year round comfort.

Office Chair Basics

1. Make sure your feet can rest comfortably on the floor, and your thighs should be fully supported also.

2. Back support is essential. The angle that’s formed by your upper legs and torso should be between 90 and 105 degrees.

3. The chair should tilt easily but not so easily that you might lose your balance.

4. The chair shouldn’t limit changes in posture – it needs to be adaptable to your form or work requirements.

Choosing a desk for your home office is one of the single most difficult things to shop for. There’s such a wide variety of styles and shapes available it can feel like an impossible choice to make. They all look good right? So how can you possibly choose the right one for you? Here’s some simple tips to follow:

1. Lots of flat working space. DO NOT buy a desk with multiple split levels on it. These look great in the catalogs but provide you with no real working room and definitely no writing space. A desk with a large flat working area is best.

2. Leg room. You’re probably going to spend quite a bit of time at your desk so it’s important that you have enough room to move your legs around a bit. Otherwise you’ll wind up with cramps or sitting back away from the desk which in turn can lead to back and shoulder pain from your upper body being over extended.

3. 2 – 3 drawers. You’re going to need some drawerspace to hold pens, paper, disks, files, books and who knows what else. Make sure your desk has at least one small storage drawer and if possible one extra drawer for storing suspension files in.

4. Height adjustable. Some of the newer desks on the market are adjustable to exactly whatever height suits you most. This feature will soon become a requirement and all new desks sold. If your new desk has this so much the better.

5. Contoured. Personally I prefer a desk with a “kidney” shape to it. This allows you to sit into the desk in a more natural posture and will also make more of the remaining floorspace your office has.

If you follow these tips you’ll be almost certain to avoid buying those dud desks that most office furniture retailers will try to sell you.

Until the next time!

Niall

This book may seem off topic but believe me its anything but.

Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
by Sogyal Rinpoche

There are no mere words to define this book. For those of you who have religious beliefs that preclude the use of an open mind then you’d best stop reading now. For those of you who aren’t religious then don’t worry this book doesn’t attempt to convert you.

I’d heard about this book many times over the years but never found the time to read it. That was until my girlfriend of the time bought it for me as a birthday present. She knew I was a spiritual person by nature and thought I mighy benefit from reading it due to the recent death of my father. She was right in so many ways.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying opened my mind to viewing life differently. Unlike other “religious” texts it embraces all religions in an attempt to explain why we’re here, how we got here, where we’re going when we’re done and why. This book provoked more thought than my entire formal education. This is the main thrust of the book. We’re educated on literary, mathematical and scientific skills. Our true spiritual education is never taken care of and this in turn leads to a spiritual vacuum occupied by extremists, idealists, conmen and crackpots.

Not an easy book to define by any means. It’s also not the type of book you’ll sit down and read in an afternoon. There are so many “Aha!” moments and reasons for reflection and introspection that I found myself only reading 30 pages at a time. Perhaps I didn’t want to finish the book.

This book is worth reading regardless of race, creed or religious belief. It gives hope and shines a light in a society that is now almost utterly lost in materialism and violence. The principles of Tibetan Buddhism are so grounded in common sense that you’ll find yourself asking why kids aren’t taught these basic spiritual principles in school.

What purpose does this serve for a business person? Wouldn’t you like to feel more centred in this world? This book can help you along on that journey.

Available on Amazon

You now know what blogs are. Now it’s time to explain what splogs are. The term splog may not be something you’re familiar with now but believe me you will be – sooner rather than later. Splogs are set to become the next big nuisance after spam and spyware.

So what are splogs? They are splammy blogs (splogs for short). Blogs are meant to be useful sources of information on a huge number of topics. Blogs are meant to be shared with others and develop their own online communities. In short blogs are meant to something you want to visit often and tell your friends about so they can use this new resource too.

Then the spammers came. They realized that blogs ranked well in search engines like Google and Yahoo. Then they designed software to build blogs that automatically post new content each day or several times per day. This content is “stolen” from other websites or is just a copy of normal RSS feeds from other websites. Then they fill the blog with ads from Google and Yahoo. The blogs appears in the search engine, you visit the blog and realize it’s a pile of crap and then click on one of the more interesting looking Google or Yahoo ads. The splogger just made a “commission” from your click – sometimes $10 – $20 per click.

Worse again the sploggers then created software that could automatically create thousands of new blogs every single day. Each blog would only last a few hours in the search engines but in that time the splogger could make a lot of money from high paying keywords like mesothelioma (a form of cancer), mortgages, loans or any other high demand keyword terms.

Now in the course of setting up your own blog you might be tempted or advised to go down the route of splogging. Please save yourself the hassle of doing this. Keep you blog clean and keep your blog useful. Visitors will come and your business will benefit in more ways than one. Splogging is for suckers – even the spammers are looking for new ways to get your money.

Until the next time

Niall

All inkjet printers are the same right? Well no….far from it to be honest. That freebie printer you got with your new desktop or laptop computer most probably will not be suitable for business use. At best it’s a personal printer. This is where most people slip up. The salesman said the printer would do anything you wanted it to do. He was right… wasn’t he? Well no his job is to sell you something (anything) before you leave the store.

What most home officers will wind up with is a photo realistic desktop inkjet printer designed for home and family use. Home office use and home use are two totally different things. Somebody working from a home office will usually need to print multiple documents per day. A family member may need to print a few documents per month…. or even less.

If you use a low spec printer for high volume work only one thing is going to happen – the printer is going to burn out quickly.

Look at your printing requirements. Will you be printing a lot each day or just a few pages? How much color will you need to use in documents if any at all? Base your purchase on your actual business requirements and not on the slick salesman who sticks a brochure for their Super Duper Model in your face.

Realistically you’re going to need an inkjet with a high ppm (page per minute)count. I’d recommend looking for something in the region of 15 – 20 ppm. Also try to avoid the photorealistic models – unless you’re going to actual print a lot of photographs. The replacement ink cartridges for these can cost an absolute fortune.

Also make sure that consumables (cartridges etc) for the printer are available instore and an ongoing basis. There’s nothing worse than buying an inkjet printer only to find that you need to order the replacement ink from Taiwan or worse that the parent company went broke and there is no replacement ink available – ever.

Finding the right inkjet printer for you may mean searching around in a few stores – both online and offline but the reward is more than worth it. You’ll have a reliable and useful piece of office equipment for many years to come.

The time has come to either choose your new printer or replace your existing one. Whenever that moment comes everybody has the same question – should I replace my inkjet with a laser? Or vice versa? Both types of printers have many things in their favor and equally many things that may put you off them.

There’s an easy mental shopping/check list that you can use to help you make your mind up.

1. Do you need color?

Yes – an inkjet printer is best suited to your needs.
No – a laser printer is the ideal choice.

2. Do you need to print in high volumes each day/week/month/year?

Yes – laser printers are usually cheaper to run for high volume printing.
No – most inkjet printers are ideal for low and medium volume printing.

3. Do you need to print at high speed?
Yes – high end laser printers offer incredible printing speeds of up to 50ppm (pages per minute)
No – inkjet printers will suit your needs more although they can reach speeds of up to 30ppm.

4. Are running costs and costs per page a factor in your choice?

Yes – laser printers will offer a lower running cost over the year.
No – inkjet printers offer more affordable running costs for smaller businesses.

5. Do you need a multifunction printer (copy, scan, fax and print)?

Yes – laser and inkjet MFDs (multi-function devices) are widely available to suit most budgets.
No – go back to question 1 and start again.

Hopefully the above questions will steer you in the right direction when the time comes to upgrade your printer.

Hope you’re having a great day.

Niall