Two guys finish a business meeting. They swap phone numbers. The one guy spells out his cell number.

The second guy says "I don't have a cell phone. They don't work for me. I tried them out when mobile car phones were first introduced, but they were so big and bulky and expensive I gave up on them. So I am not going to waste my money now!"

Crazy, eh? [True story, although most of us are not quite as extreme in our fear of new things.] Yet we all behave like this in some area of our lives. In many cases it can cripple our business efforts. It's not just the resistance to new products and technologies that make our business lives more effective - but also the intense resistance to new ideas and knowledge.

[After writing Petes Weekly for more than 5 years, I am no longer amazed when an educated graduate assures me I am wrong when I say that most business owners don't like bankers, or that most business owners are deeply frustrated with their accountants. Yet each time I make such a statement - a few stalwarts will email me in purple prose to tell me how wrong I am, and how dare I criticise their fine professions, and threaten to cancel their gratis Petes Weekly subscription should I dare to voice such opinions again.]

Take Voice Recognition Software, for example. I have been successfully using it for the past 4 years. Prior to that it was awfully crappy, but the more recent versions or the product I use [Dragon Naturally Speaking 7] are exceptionally good. Each time I mention that I can dictate much faster [and more accurately] than most folk can pound a keyboard, I am assured that this is impossible because they tried the software back in '95 and it didn't work then, so it cannot work now! Yo! Catch a wake up guys. Thne PC you're reading this article on is 1000 times more powerful than the codebreaking computer at Bletchley Park that won the last great war! And it's doubling in power every 18 months.

And each time I mention how using such software removes the need for a personal assistant, someone will try and convince me of all the other benefits of a personal assistant - BEE, the national economy, coffee making, stretching my nascent HR skills, great legs, etc.. [Call me conservative, but in my mind spending less than a single months PA salary to buy software that will work 24/7/365 for the next 2 years outweighs any personnel advantages.]

Our lives are growing in depth at an increasing pace. Yet it seems that our ability to accept, accommodate, assimilate, or welcome these changes is not keeping up. Even though we have access to unimaginable knowledge and power [at least unimaginable a few short years ago], we insist on sticking to those same tried and tested ways that didn't work for us 10 years ago, and work even less today.

This weekend my son asked me to assist in buying some saltpetre so that he could test his new gunpowder recipe. In his mind that's the only reason saltpetre exists. I told him that I would - provided he could find 40 other uses for saltpetre. [I mentioned that the SADF was rumoured to use it back in the bad old days to reduce their soldiers' enthusiasm for women, and he was inspired.] Ten minutes later he - via Google - had a list of 10 uses. I sent him back to the task, and one hour later, with a little digging - he had more than 40 different places where saltpetre was critical. And that's how I research anything these days.

Contrast that with being at the mercy of your local library or bookstore. Yet I still get requests like "I've been asked to invest in this firm. Have you ever heard of them?" Check out the web, my son, and all will be revealed!

I have been deeply disappointed by the accountants servicing my firm these past few years - and a professional glitch last week cast me from the frying pan onto the [very] hot plate. [I suspect that I am not the only SME aggrieved at spending money on folk that government insists we use, but who have a great business model - do no work for Peter Carruthers!]

Last week I was so distressed by the issue that I tried out some new software. Simply feed in your bank statement [downloaded from your bank via the Net], and it will automatically allocate everything to the right place - including the VAT. Ha! Heard that before. But desperation is the mother of all effort - or words to that effect.

Here is my experience:

Installed new software at 11:00am Friday 25 February.

Set up and running at 11:15am.

Downloaded statements by 11:30am.

Imported entire bank statement [for 11 months of the past year] by 11:45.

Started allocating bank statement items [allocate once, and it happens automatically thereafter]

Reviewed complete financial picture of year at 1 :00pm [except for missing month] Friday 25 February.

Emailed bookkeeper to fax missing month's statement at 1:15pm [still waiting on following Wednesday at 10:00am]

Realised I am an accounting genius at 1:16pm - even though I know NOTHING about accounting!

Single handedly completed consumption of bottle of Zonnebloem Shiraz to celebrate newfound financial freedom, while contemplating where to find substantial funds I discovered I still owed SARS.

Now wondering why I am spending more than R15000 each year for a 'professional' to do all of this , and thinking of giving it directly to SARS in mitigation of bills.

My point being that I have, in the past, tried almost every accounting package ever manufactured - and found that I could never get past the difficult questions they asked before I could start using them. When I first looked at this new package - the same thoughts assailed me. But, by now, I was desperate - and my accounting professional wasn't even answering phone calls.

Since everything that happens in my firm happens via my bank account[s], it made sense to go down this road. I now like this software so much I want to buy the company! It's going to take a week or so for me to lose this initial blush of enthusiasm - and then I will tell you where to get it. Something this good must have a few warts, and I am going to find them before I share it. Otherwise I have no doubt you will find the blemishes and take great delight in sharing them with me!

If we lose our fear of new things, and attack new ideas/products with vigour, then only two things can happen - and they're both good. Either we will make more money - and that's not too shabby. Or we will learn how not to make money for now - and that knowledge is priceless.

And now, since my accountant has not yet sent me that last statement, I am off to my bank to extract a copy from them. Have a great week, and don't be afraid to do something new with your banker or your accountant: be honest about your feelings.

March 2nd , 2005 - Umhlanga Rocks

PS I received more than 500 emails with birthday wishes last week, so I must apologise if you sent one and I did not reply. I simply ran out of time. It's sobering to realise that a mere 18 years are left before I descend into that great decrepitude we call retirement. What a wake up call.

Warrior Comment

I joined Business Warriors in October 2004 after a friend forwarded 3 editions of

Pete's Weekly to me.  I was so intrigued that I joined within days.

In less than 4 months I have learned so much, I have met so many wonderful

people in cyberspace, I have changed my entire time-schedule to accommodate enough time to go to suggested web-sites, read newsletters, build my own blog on the internet, asking questions on the forum and in personal emails, getting amazing answers from people just like myself.

For less than R175 per month, [tax deductible] -hardly possible one would think?

Remember the old clichÈ "Everything you ever wanted to know about (your) business but were afraid (or too broke) to ask?"

If you join Business Warriors you can ask all the right questions to all the right people and get all the right answers all the time.

Pieter Naude'

Uvongo Pharmacy

[A few weeks ago I couldn't even spell blog, now I has one!]