When you think of the word tool you probably think about things like hammers, chisels maybe and spanners – or perhaps you think about the colleague in the office you don’t like who sits opposite from you.
In business however a tool is anything that is a ‘force multiplier’. That is to say that a tool is something that can help to increase output where the same amount of force is being used (force meaning effort and time). If you have a workforce of twenty men and you give them force multipliers then you will multiply their output and see impressive gains.
These tools might mean computers, they might mean forklifts or they might mean Blackberries. In any case though, these are going to be a great investment when the business chooses them well.
But the question is then, how can a web entrepreneur benefit from this, and how can the idea of force multipliers be applied to running a website or providing content or design? Here we will look at the answer.
The Use of Software
Essentially while a forklift is a useful force multiplier for a delivery warehouse or something similar, it’s not going to help you very much to build your website (though it might be fun to sit in while you work…).
Instead what can help you is hardware and software. Once you have a good computer that can multitask and run the software you need then your hardware is mostly sorted (a Smartphone to keep you connected is also advisable). However software is something that is always changing and that can almost always be upgraded.
So if you were a web designer, what force multipliers would you benefit from? These might be something like WordPress (which is basically a software package even though you install it on the server and not your PC), like Dreamweaver for easier programming, like Word for better typing and like Paint Shop for designing images. Using these you could create websites quicker and more professionally thereby serving more clients and making more profit. These are all great investments.
Designing Your Own Tools
If you want to turn this up a notch though and really start seeing benefits, then even better is to start designing your own tools – your own software. This way you can create programs that do your task specifically and that are designed to work around the way you work – thus they will allow you to work even more effectively. You can this way come up with unique solutions to problems that you have had, and you can do so for free without shelling out for a software package.
Invest some time in learning programming and you will be able to create any force multipliers you need – and you’ll be able to create specialist ones as and when you need them. Need to solve a particular math challenge? Make a program to do it. Need to upload a few hundred articles or put them in a certain design of web page – then make a program to do it. With the ability to custom make software as you need it, the web truly becomes your oyster.
