By Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO™"

I dare you... look behind your computer. My guess is that
it's a big, ugly, horrendous-looking jumble of wires. Looks
complicated, doesn't it? How could that possibly make sense
to anyone? How would you ever figure it out if you had to?

If you really think about it, though, it is really just a
lot of simple connections, each of which makes total sense
and is easy to understand. Let's take a look: right off
the bat you have the power cord for the computer itself.
The monitor has a power cord and computer connection; that's
two more wires. And then there is the keyboard and mouse;
another two. That's five wires so far. You probably have
speakers, so there is at least one more wire from the
computer to one speaker, and then a wire from that speaker
to the other. Seven wires. Some speakers require their own
power; that power cord now makes eight. What about the
printer power cord and computer connection? Don't forget
the telephone connection! We're up to ten wires, and this
is a simple system! What if you have an external modem,
and/or external Zip drive, or...???

In this example, each connection is simple to understand and
its necessity is obvious, but when you look at ten wires all
running hither and yon behind your desk, it looks pretty
complicated. In actuality, though, it isn't.

So it is with many things that we have to do to run our
businesses. That big, dark mystery that is "marketing"
seems so complicated; but it is really just a number of
steps required to communicate the benefits of your product
or service to your target market.

Sales? Sales consists of those things that you have to do
to move someone from "just interested" to saying "yes".

The point I'm getting to is that just because something
looks complicated doesn't mean that it actually is
complicated. So, rather than get discouraged and decide
that you can't do what ever it is (also known as "giving
up"), break it down into some basic elements that are easier
to get your arms around.

For example, would you like to get better at using the
Internet? URL's, search engines, browsers, Yahoo!,
directories, hyperlinks, e-mail, bookmarks, eBooks... wow!
That's an awful lot to learn! Sounds really complicated,
doesn't it? Maybe that's intimidating to you, but don't let
it be. If you break it down into small pieces and then
master it bit by bit, you'll find that it's not too much to
learn. First, experiment with your browser. Just do
something simple. Look in any magazine and find a web
address and enter it into the browser, or use mine:
TheStayAtHomeCeo. It doesn't matter what it
is; we're just practicing. What do you know... you're
browsing the Internet!

Try some different things. Click here or there to see what
happens. Just do a little at a time, and presto! You're
cruisin' the information highway.

The next time you need to do something that just seems too
complicated, remember those jumbled wires. It probably
isn't as complicated as it seems.

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