In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about the quest for stupidity and how often Entrepreneurs screw up their relationships with technology providers as a result of it.

This newsletter focuses on giving you practical, interesting insights into how to successfully use technology as a tool to improve the way you do business. Bridging the gap between knowledge and understanding that all entrepreneurs have will help you make money online.

The last edition of this newsletter Featured a Video Edition, which was fun to make. I plan to make more of them in the future and hopefully make it a regular feature here. Last week I was in Las Vegas at the Interactive Media Conference so instead of a video edition I made a live report from Vegas.

Click here to see the video report from Las Vegas

All the best,

Quest for Stupidity
...relationships with technology providers

Like most geeks I love science fiction and when I was a little kid I read The Chronicles of Naria with glee.

C.S. Lewis is best known for this work but my personal favorite is one of his quotes:

"The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed."

Lots of Internet Entrepreneurs I know have this problem and most of them don't even realize they are on a quest for stupidity. The way in which that impacts their relationships with technology providers is very serious and harmful.

It is easy to make fun of geeks - we are indeed a bunch of pasty difficult people - and most geeks didn't have the easiest time growing up. Girlfriends were for football players and nobody ever got to be the prom queen as a result of their incredible contributions to the audio/visual club.

As adults I think geeks often remember their tortured childhoods and they take an unconscious pleasure in intimidating the "football captain" types most of all. If you've ever been to an electronics store where the people are paid on commission you've experienced this - they spout off technical facts and features very rapidly , and you end up nodding even though you don't understand what they are talking about.

The trouble with this "intimidate the football captain" communication style is that it often works. In the words of one geek I know "if you make them feel stupid enough eventually they will write a check to shut you up."

For most Entrepreneurs technology is an intimidating beast and that can make it difficult to think clearly when dealing with it. Over time people tend to give up, which is the major contributing factor to a sad state of affairs: I can't learn about this stuff, it is just too complicated, can't someone else do this, I must just be "stupid" about technical things. This is a typical attitude that anyone can fall into, but none of this is true or valid.

It is pretty unlikely that you could rebuild your car's carburetor - personally I'm proud when I can find the latch to open the hood.

Automobiles are a complex and technical product - and yet most Entrepreneurs aren't intimidated by their mechanic. When they tell you a new part is needed you'll ask follow up questions like "so that's part of the suspension, right?". You understand just enough about your car to communicate with your mechanic even though they have knowledge you don't. You may even insist they explain an issue until you understand it sufficiently before you'll commit to buy something - that's a good plan.

If you take the opposite tact and give away all of your power to the mechanic - telling them to just do whatever they think is best and failing to communicate with them - the result is predictable.

I think Entrepreneurs should never buy anything they don't understand. You may not have the technical knowledge that a geek does but that doesn't mean you can't understand enough to make smart decisions.

Take some to think about your relationships with technology providers - are you on a quest for stupidity without realizing it? You don't need to understand every technical detail but you do need to know enough about your technology to make smart decisions and maintain control.

Truth be told geeks like it when Entrepreneurs stop their quest for stupidity and begin a quest for understanding. It will improve your relationship with technology providers and it will make your technology efforts much more effective.

Videos - YouTube Fun

I've recently setup a YouTube Channel and plan to create a video edition of this newsletter for each issue. I've also been thinking about putting my seminars online. I'd like to hear from you about what video content you are interested in.

Please send me an email and let me know what you'd like to see