http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081031-110818 How to Take Great Photos (Part 2)

Nearly everyone enjoys taking pictures and viewing snaps of friends, family, and travel. However, most folks end up producing blah snapshots (at best). Face it, if there wasn't a recognizable person or place in your photo, nobody would have the slightest interest in it. Let's see if we can't kick that up a notch.

Picking up where we left off last month, here are the rest of my tips to help you take better pictures and get the most out of that nice new digital camera of yours.

13. Master the rule of thirds
Imagine a 3x3 grid (two vertical lines and two horizontal lines) superimposed on your image. The intersections of those lines at the third points are prime locations for your main subject. Also, if you're taking landscape or beach photos, the horizon line should be on the upper or lower horizontal, depending on whether you want to emphasize foreground or sky.

14. Keep things off center
Placing your main subject dead square in the middle of your photo is a perfect way to end up with a boring, static image. Use the rule of thirds if appropriate, or think of an alternative framing that'll bring some energy to your composition.

15. Frame it
The world is full of natural frames: doorways, arches, trees and limbs, etc. Try to find positions where foreground objects will frame and enhance your photos. This works especially well for landscape and scenic photos, where it adds a great sense of depth.

16. Watch your background
Most photo-snappers are only interested in capturing an image of their main subject. Unfortunately, an otherwise great photo can be ruined by a distracting background. You need to look past your subject and observe the environment. Don't let a tree grow out of someone's head! Reposition yourself to avoid including an unwanted fixed object or take the time to move movable stuff (clutter) out of the way.

17. Use focus as a tool
To the extent that your camera allows control of focus, use it to enhance your photos. Try throwing the background out of focus (your camera's "portrait" mode may help). Pro portraits almost always have the subject razor sharp against a blurred background.

18. Paint with light
Lighting will make or break your photo. Pay attention to your sources, whether manmade or natural. As a training exercise, rather than just looking for interesting subjects to snap, go out and shoot photographs specifically of light and shadow.

19. Bounce it
A piece of cheap white foam board makes an excellent reflector. Try taking a portrait, seating your subject by a window and positioning the reflector on the other side, bouncing some light back to partially fill in the shadows. You'll love the result.

20. Grab some candids

Posed pictures have their place, but the more memorable shots are often taken when your subjects aren't nervously trying to look their best. The key to good candids is time. Just start snapping pictures while people go about their business (turn off the fake shutter sound if your digicam has that). After a few minutes, people won't pay much attention to you anymore and you'll start to get the natural unposed look you're after.

21. Shoot during the "golden hour"
My favorite time to take photos is during the first hour of daylight or the last hour before sunset. The low sun angle and warm color during those times is perfect for portraits and the long shadows add drama to landscapes.

22. Upgrade!
I know this goes against the 10/90 rule I mentioned last month, but better equipment will enable you to take dramatically better pictures if you know how to use it properly. I have a little "take everywhere" Canon SD750 point-and-shoot and a big 40D SLR with a whole bag of lenses. The little guy is great but when I'm on a photo mission, I take out the big guns. The better camera will enable you to take pictures in lower light without flash, throw the background further into blur (the Japanese call that effect "bokeh" by the way), have more control over exposure, focus, and shutter speed, react more rapidly when you press the shutter release button, and more.

Wrap up...
One of the things I love about photography is that it's an interesting blend of science and art. It has rules… but they're meant to be broken (if you know you're breaking them, and why). Therefore, don't carve any of my twenty two quick tips in stone. Use 'em as a starting point and then experiment. There's always something new to learn, technically and artistically. Get out there and snap away. Have fun.

Writen By Victor Urbach]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081003-175520 How to Take Great Photos (Part 1)

You got that nice new digital camera, the one with all the megapixels and everything. So how come your photos still look like you snapped 'em with an Instamatic? (I can help fix that.) Digital cameras, along with iPods and GPS units, are among the hottest-selling devices on the market today. Millions of people are buying digicams for the first time or upgrading earlier models to the latest and greatest. Few of us miss our film cameras. I never hear anybody say, "Gee, I really liked going out to buy film and then paying Fotomat to develop my prints." Besides being much cheaper to use and way more convenient, digicams can take incredible pictures... if you know a few pro secrets.

I'll share some of those tips with you in this short article. But first, what qualifies ME to give you advice on the topic? I've been an avid photographer for the past 40 years, ever since I inherited my great grandfather's prewar Zeiss Contax camera at age 11. I've owned many cameras since then, including a classic Rolleiflex twin lens reflex and the very first consumer digital camera, the one-third-of-a-megapixel Apple QuickTake 100 "(July 1994 for $695!). I now mainly shoot with a Canon 40D SLR, but of course have my eye on a bunch of new stuff hitting the market.

On to the tips...

1. RTFM
I'll willing to bet that you've never read your camera's manual (skimming it for 10 minutes the day you opened the box doesn't count). Using your camera in "full auto mode" will virtually guarantee mediocre pictures. There are good reasons why all those little buttons are on your camera. Learn what they do! Those buttons and menu choices will unlock all the creative controls you've paid for.

2. Take lots of photos
It's really true: quality comes out of quantity. One of the greatest things about digicams is that once you buy one, they're essentially free to use. So take tons of pictures. Snap away. Fill up that memory card.

Get away from the scarcity mentality of film, when each press of the shutter cost you half a buck in film and developing cost.

Be totally ruthless when reviewing your pictures. Chuck the ones that are less than great.

3. It's (almost) all you... not your stuff...
I'll try to break this to you gently: the reason for a great photo is 10% camera and 90% photographer skill. I've seen fabulous prints made from a pinhole camera in the hands of a pro, and (of course) absolutely wretched photos from a $5000 SLR held by a wealthy dilettante. Therefore, the best way to upgrade your photos is by upgrading your skill level, not your equipment. To start, there are some great books to read. I particularly recommend the ones by David D. Busch.
4. To flash or not to flash
One of the camera's most important setting controls the built-in flash. You must learn how to turn on the flash when your camera doesn't think you need it and turn it off even if the camera thinks it should fire. That leads to the next two tips.

5. Use flash for outdoor portraits
Your camera doesn't think you need to use flash outdoors during the day. However, when shooting portraits, they'll usually be improved if you use "fill flash" to supplement the sun's rays. This is particularly true when the sun's overhead, forming deep eye socket shadows that need filling-in, or when your subject is backlit and needs overall illumination to avoid becoming a dark silhouette.

On overcast days, flash will brighten colors and put a nice "catch light" in your subject's eyes.

6. No flash indoors
There's no quicker way to give your photos the snapshot look than by using flash when you don't absolutely need it. Flash-lit pictures are contrasty, have harsh shadows, and rarely make people look their best.

You know all about red-eye, but flash causes other portrait evils. It often makes skin appear greasy or pasty. Full-frontal flash flattens facial features (say that 3 times fast) and leads to character-less, boring pictures. Instead of flash, try boosting your camera's ISO (the manual will tell you how), and take maximum advantage of natural or ambient light.

7. Use a tripod
After demonic red-eye caused by flash, the second big photo killer is blur. You can fix red-eye in software but there's little to be done with a photo that has subject motion or overall blur. If your subject is blurry but everything else is sharp, your shutter speed is too low for the situation. Boost the ISO and/or open up the lens aperture; a tripod won't help. If your whole picture is less than sharp, you can try the above, but your best bet is to use a tripod or monopod. There are many good choices, from tabletop versions to big pro models, and quite a few specialty devices like the Gorillapod, beanbag, and clamp types. Any of them will yield far superior results to hand-holding your camera - and you'll finally be able to get in the picture t oo!

8. Don't use a tripod
Even though a tripod will enable you to take sharper, often better composed photos, it's not always practical to take one along or set it up. Therefore, you must learn to hold and shoot your camera properly. What you don't want to do is just whip the camera up to your face and slam down on the shutter release button. Take your time. Place your feet apart in a wide, stable stance. If your camera has an optical viewfinder, use it instead of the LCD. Pressing the camera against your face stabilizes it much better than holding it out in front of you. Pull your elbows in against your sides for even more stability. Press the shutter release down only half way while you compose your picture. Take a breath and let it out slowly. When you're halfway through the exhale, press the shutter all the way. For your patience and effort, you'll be rewarded by much sharper, better framed photos.

9. Hold it level
Be sure to keep the horizon level in your photos. This is especially important at the beach or lake. If the camera is tilted to one side, all the water will pour out the edge of your photo. Seriously, it's going to look bad.

Another no-no is tilting your camera up to photograph a tall building. The distorted perspective will make the building appear to "fall back" out of the photo. Much better to instead move farther back and (of course) use the wide-angle setting if you can.

10. Get in close
Many photos can be improved by zooming in closer. A tightly-framed portrait will often look better than one with a lot of distracting details in the background. And most new digicams have "macro" capability that'll enable you to explore a whole new interesting world.

11. Stand back
When shooting portraits, keep your distance and use the middle range of your zoom. If you stand too close and use the wider angle setting, it'll exaggerate your subject's nose while making the ears appear too small. Better to stand back about 8 to 12 feet and zoom to frame the head and shoulders. A medium telephoto zoom (~80 to 130 mm) will flatter your subject.

12 One subject at a time please
Unless you're intentionally shooting a group of people (of equal importance), your photo should emphasize only one subject. If you've got three interesting things, shoot three photos. Otherwise your viewer won't know where to focus his or her attention.

This example portrait of an executive is very effective. There's no doubt who's in charge here. Your attention is drawn immediately to her eyes, then her smile and confident expression, then to her assistants/colleagues. The background is simple, portraying an office setting without clutter.

The same "one thing at a time" advice goes for non-people images. Pick one "hero" element and feature it prominently.

More tips next month
I'll have lots more tips and photo examples for you in Part II of this article in the November Urbach Letter.]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080917-154851 Our recent press release –

Long Island, New York - Curran Corporate Design is pleased to announce that they have entered their 16th year of creative graphic design services for Quantum Medical Imaging - the Long Island based leader in Digital Diagnostic X-Ray equipment.

“We have had a long history with Scott and his team” said Tom Curran, President of Curran Corporate Design, “It has been a fantastic journey together seeing him take his company to this level of growth. I am excited to see where Quantum will go in the future and am looking forward to being an active part of his marketing team.”

Working closely with Quantum has allowed Curran, a unique understanding of the diagnostic x-ray field that few design firms possess. Curran Corporate speaks the language of the industry thus allowing for a better finished product. Look for great things from Quantum and look for Curran to be there supporting them every step of the way.
]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080917-152350
We first have been retained for our "Virtual Marketing Director"Program. We are now their in-house marketing coordinator who will provide accountability and scope of service management.
We have begun the development of the new corporate brochure, logo updating and web site redesign as well as a full strategic marketing plan and message development.

Metro One is a unique company with their own special value proposition. Our work will help convey this in a unique way as individual as Metro One!]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080917-151837
A footnote: Globecomm's President, Ken Miller passed away this year. All of us at Curran Corporate Design have felt privileged to have known him and to serve him - he will be missed.]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080603-075450 How to Declutter Your Life

Sad Clutter Woman Are you drowning in clutter? Spending too much time searching for stuff? Feeling like you're losing control over your work environment? You're not alone. Most folks wish they could get better organized... but the task seems too daunting. They wonder where they'll find the time to make sense of it all, and doubt they'll be able to come up with an organizational system they can live with. Maybe I can help. The system I'll show you here may not be perfect, but it works very well for me and is easily adaptable to your own personal situation. I'll concentrate mainly on office issues. You're pretty much on your own when it comes to organizing your clothes closet, garage, attic, etc. – although I'll point you in the right direction.

Email as the Center of Your Organizational Universe. For several decades now, people have been talking about the "paperless office." (It was the topic of last month's Urbach Letter). We're not there yet, but there's positive movement. Email and the web are the main reasons things are getting better. In the past, the main roadblock to getting rid of paper was the fact that everything started out on paper – and had to be laboriously scanned and archived first. Nowadays nearly everything is on the web. Why keep files of vendor catalogs, for example, when the latest info is available instantly on line?

The shift from faxes and letters to email as the preferred form of business communication is probably the most important driver to the paperless office. When info originates electronically, why convert it to paper (i.e. print it) and then file away paper copies? So much better to get organized in Outlook (or another email program of choice). I'm surprised that most people overlook the organizational capabilities of their mail programs. They have one giant inbox clogged with thousands of messages... or at the other extreme, delete everything right after reading it. So much better to set up virtual file cabinets and drag messages into the appropriate folder when each one arrives. Key to this is the concept of hierarchical folders. Something like this (click to enlarge): Outlook Folders

It is worth a bit of your time to develop a smart tree structure tailored to your personal work environment. Remember, it's easy to change folder names later, but the key is to start sorting messages as soon as they arrive. It's too hard (and overwhelming) to go back later and sort after the message is cold. Another big time-saver is to use "filters" or "rules" to autosort incoming messages based on content or sender name. Here's how to do it in Outlook and Outlook Express. If you're a road warrior, you can do similar organizational things on your smartphone. However, storage is limited, so you're probably better off having your PC or Mac as your main email repository, even if you access messages on the road. Unfortunately, many smartphones still can't handle attached files well, and these are often as important to archive as the message itself.

Label Everything. There's a Chinese proverb: "The palest ink is better than the strongest memory." It's way too easy to forget what's in a box or folder unless it's well marked. I label *everything* with a Brother P-Touch label maker. Some people are fine with hand-written labels on things, but us anal-retentive types prefer the sharp look and readability of Brother labels. The only slight downside is the cost of the label stock. It runs about half a dollar a foot. Still… if having everything nicely labeled and findable reduces my stress and makes me more efficient, I consider it money well spent.

Know Where to Find It. I discovered something quite profound when I was an engineering student thirty years ago. As a mechanical engineer, you study how the physical world works, and there are literally tens of thousands of equations that describe the physics of the natural and manmade world. Halfway toward my undergraduate degree, I already owned over a hundred thick engineering textbooks, each densely populated with complex equations. Sure, I memorized each chapter's equations for exams, but education "fills a leaky bucket." (Over time, knowledge slowly leaks out…) However, knowing WHERE to find something is often just as good as knowing the thing. As long as I understood the concepts, and could quickly look up a reference, I'd be able to work productively. Same with my current work life. I've stopped worrying about having everything close at hand, and instead structured my work environment so that I can quickly find the obscure stuff I occasionally need to do my job well. That means having a system.

Info Finding System. Here's the core of my system. It's an information hierarchy:

Visible – Fingertip – Steps Away – Archived

Things I'm working on at the moment remain visible to me. Whether it's a stack of work papers, a brochure, a shortcut icon on my computer screen, or whatever, I find value in having current projects "tangibilized." The next click down the hierarchy are the items that are out of sight but reachable without leaving my office chair (desk drawers, hanging files, etc.) After I've finished a project, anything related to it is consolidated and moved to the "steps away" storage area. In my case, (non-scannable) paper goes in a large file cabinet and dimensional objects go into labeled boxes that, for now, remain in my immediate work area. Every so often, I groom through the steps away storage and decide whether to retain the materials in archived storage or dispose of them. This is often a hard decision.

TRAF. If you're been exposed to any organizing conventional wisdom, I'm sure you've been taught the acronym: T.R.A.F. It stands for Toss, Refer, Act, or File. As you come across work items, you must decide upon one of four actions: Toss it out, Refer it to somebody else (my favorite), Act on it immediately, or File it away for future reference. Some people swear by this system, but for me, it's a goal rather than an absolute. I just encounter too many in-between items… and you probably do too.

Paper or Electronic? Last month, I went on and on about how you're better off scanning most new documents that come your way, and then organizing the resulting electronic files. You may find some of the things in this article appear contradictory. That's because this is an update to an article from way back in February of 2003. At that time, I hadn't yet gotten serious about paper reduction, and presented an elaborate way of storing documents. I decided to keep that original information intact in this update, for those readers who wish to remain paper-bound. And besides, there will always be certain actual documents that you'll want to keep around even if scanned files are accepted as "original."

What to Keep. I've marked the items you can probably scan and toss/shred with an (S) in the table below. The others should be scanned and archived too, but you should keep the originals. (This is NOT a legal or tax opinion -- consult your advisor for more definitive advice)

How Long Should You Hang on to Stuff?

Documents to Keep for a Limited Time

* Vehicle titles and registrations: as long as you own the car or truck
* Check registers and bank statements: 7 years (S)
* Loan papers: 7 years after the loan is fully paid off (S)
* Mortgage payments: 7 years after property is sold (S)
* Pay stubs: until W2 is confirmed at year end (S)
* Property deeds: as long as you own the property
* Records to support tax returns 7 years (S)
* Tax returns: 7 years (S)

OK to Toss Immediately

* Credit card statements – unless they record deductible business expenses
* Expired insurance policies – unless there is an outstanding claim
* Utility bills – unless needed for tax deductions
* Warranties, manuals, and receipts for items you no longer own

Documents to Keep Forever

* Corporate documents related to ownership
* Adoption papers
* Birth and death certificates
* Court orders such as divorce decrees
* Health records
* Marriage certificates
* Military discharge papers

File Hierarchy: Because TRAF doesn't work that well for me, I tend to do more paper filing than perhaps I should. At least I have a good system for it. I've got a file hierarchy, and it looks like this:

Cabinet # – Drawer # – File Section – Folder

File Cabinet Photo

Each free-standing cabinet gets a number and has a broad category. In the example, cabinet seven is for my corporate records. Each drawer also gets a number and a specific sub-category. Here, drawer number four holds tax records. Every drawer is divided into sections, as you see here, different kinds of tax records, separated by "Pentaflex hanging folder tabs." Finally, each section is populated by labeled manila folders within the hanging folders – in this case, one for each tax year.

Banker's BoxesDeep Storage. There is no sense in putting something in an unlabeled box. You might as well throw it out. If you have a reason to keep something in storage, if it's important enough to retain, then you've got to expend some additional effort to make it findable in some way. Here's how I do it. First the boxes… just any old box won't do. What you want are "banker's boxes." I like these from Staples at only a dollar apiece: Cheap Banker's Boxes.The key is uniformity and "label-ability." If you're setting up a good storage system, you don't do it with cast off liquor boxes. These letter/legal sized boxes are great for storing non-paper file objects as well. For the occasional oversize item, you can get a few double-length legal boxes too. The main drawback to banker's boxes is they're opaque. Therefore, they need good labels.

Loc 'n Press EnvelopeGood Labels. My banker's box storage system uses Loc 'n Press Envelopes. These are like clear Ziploc baggies with an adhesive back. You just peel off the back and stick 'em on the end of your banker's boxes. I recommend the Model #S-130, which are 6" by 9". Then your box label simply becomes a letter size piece of paper folded in half and inserted in the Loc ‘n Press.You can hand-write the labels with a magic marker if you so desire, but the next step up in anal-retentiveness is to format them with your word processor and laser or inkjet print them out. The ultimate level of anal-ness is to have a Microsoft Access (or equivalent) database listing all of your stored items, which will auto-magically print 100% accurate labels and enable you to actually find the thing you're looking for. (Yes, I do this.) The nice thing about using the Loc ‘n Press envelopes is the ability to easily change labels as your box contents change.

Plastic Storage BoxesEven Better: Clear Plastic. I'm a visual person. I like seeing things even more than reading descriptions. Therefore, I'm a big fan of clear plastic "Rubbermaid"storage boxes. Unfortunately, they're not cheap, although the knockoffs for sale at Target stores are well made and about half the price. These clear plastic boxes should still be labeled, to provide for both right and left brain identification of stored contents. I recommend buying many different sizes, from shoe box (great for pens and other office supplies) to the larger ones suitable for bulky stuff like bubble wrap.

Clean Desk Versus Messy Desk Philosophy. A lot of people I know subscribe to the messy desk philosophy at work. Whether they like it that way or not, they're afraid a clean desk telegraphs the wrong message to their boss. Namely, "I don't have enough work to keep me busy." To this, I say, "Start looking for a new job." If you don't already have a great reputation around the office for getting stuff done quickly, accurately and efficiently, hiding behind a pile of papers won't help you. Your days are numbered...

Final Words. You've just seen *some* elements of my personal organizational system, but I don't expect you to adopt every strategy. Please take whatever bits and pieces you feel might be appropriate to your own situation, and use them as you see fit. Happy decluttering!

]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080603-074423 What Cablevision Deal for Newsday Could Mean for Local Ad Market in New York

By Douglas Quengue, The ClickZ Network, May 13, 2008

With the Dolan family unexpectedly outbidding Rupert Murdoch for Newsday -- to the tune of $650 million -- the resulting company will quickly become a dominant force in the New York local advertising market.

By snatching up the Long Island media company, Cablevision -- which is led by founder and chairman Charles Dolan and president and CEO James Dolan -- gains access to several million new eyeballs each week, whether online or in print. While spokesmen for both companies declined to comment on the possible merger at this point, statements from both companies made it clear that the deal was driven in large part by the opportunity to dominate the local advertising scene and greatly expand the reach of both companies.

Newsday's daily print product reaches 1.5 million people a week, and its am NewYork title boasts an average weekday circulation of 335,000. But more important in terms of sheer reach is Newsday Interactive, which includes Newday.com and other local sites such as ExploreLI.com. As a group, Newsday sites reached over 3.2 million monthly unique users with more than 66 million page views. Newsday also includes Star Community Publishing, the Northeast's largest print shopping group, with a circulation of more than 2.6 million.

Combine that with Cablevision's assets -- which include cable systems that reach over 3 million households in the New York metropolitan area, as well as the recently purchased Sundance Channel and several NY sports franchises -- and you have pretty significant reach for advertisers, particularly those focused on local exposure. The increased power for both brands could mean a significant competitive boost in the region.

"Both Cablevision and Newsday are in the content, customer relationship and advertising business, and we see this as a wonderful fit," said James Dolan in a statement. "Adding Newsday Media Group's superb assets to Cablevision's portfolio presents a multitude of opportunities: to provide consumers with additional quality content on multiple platforms; expand advertising opportunities for both entities; and attract a larger audience than either company could on its own." The deal is expected to close late this summer, according to reports.

Naturally, Cablevision also intends to use Newsday's reach to help promote its own products and services. Among the opportunities created by the deal that were listed in today's release were "Promoting Cablevision's live sports and entertainment assets through Newsday's publications, particularly amNewYork, with its New York City circulation of more than 300,000." The release also mentioned the converse possibility: advertising Newsday's properties through Cablevision holdings.

Cablevision was the unexpected winner in the bidding for Newsday, a contest that seemed all but won by Rupert Murdoch in recent days. The triumph of Cablevision, however, means that one of Long Island's oldest and most well-known brands is back in the hands of a local owner -- something that should certainly sit well with the local marketers the company will now be aggressively courting.
]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080430-102757 This is the Latest Edition of the Urbach Letter. Check it out.

Getting Paper Out of Your Life
Paper Stack Misery Are you ready to start living a paperless life? Even if you don't go all the way, it's now quite easy to eliminate 90% of the paper that's clogging up your home and office and life. Not only will you regain tons of storage space, you'll also become much better organized in the process. This short article will show you what one person (me) is doing to eliminate unnecessary paper.

It's in Your Head
The major obstacle to going paperless is mental. After a lifetime of conditioning, it's really hard to let go of the paper security blanket. Indeed, there's something very reassuring about getting that cancelled bank check or portfolio statement in the mail. It's "real" and permanent and "official." There's also a feeling (although actually an illusion) of security knowing that your tax returns, old invoices, receipts, and other documents reside in a file cabinet or box somewhere.

You have to let go of this! It's holding you back from making some very positive changes in your lifestyle and workstyle. As an example, remember when you booked an airline reservation and got "real" paper tickets? It wasn't that long ago. When e-ticketing started, it felt really strange to head out to the airport with nothing in your pocket. Nowadays, nobody bothers with paper tickets anymore. It's easier to show your ID and get a boarding pass at the counter or kiosk. I can assure you that it's very much the same when you change over from printed bank and brokerage statements, bills, and receipts. You'll feel like something's missing at first, then quickly enjoy the convenience.

Why Paperless is Better
Let me count the ways... (1) reclaimed storage space, (2) less burden on the environment, (3) cost savings, (4) increased ability to actually find what you're looking for, and (5) better safety. Whoa, better safety? What could be safer than the "original" paper copies of everything? Digital storage, that's what. The problem with an original is that, by definition, there's only one of it. However, once that document has been scanned, we can create multiple images that can be safely and securely backed-up in a variety of ways. Moreover, in this digital age, scanned receipts and almost every kind of document are just as officially accepted as the paper versions.

Bankers BoxesReclaiming Space
Depending upon your level of pack ratty-ness (mine is extremely high), and your age, you may have been accumulating paper for many decades. Before I saw the light, I kept bankers boxes in my basement filled with twenty-year old phone and water bills. That's just one silly example. Multiply it by every other piece of paper that came my way over the years and I ended up with scores of boxes. Madness! Last year I decided it was finally time to reclaim all that storage space. It was a bit painful and took a full weekend but I was able to toss 90% of the boxes. There is simply no need to refer to a Cablevision bill from 1992 ever again. In the same way, I was able to go through dozens of office file cabinets and purge the non-essential files. Try it. You'll be amazed by how much stuff you're now keeping that you totally forgot about and will never ever need to look at again. Storage space is always in short supply and it's a wonderful feeling to declutter your life.

Paper is Not Green
Paper is an ecological nightmare. Producing virgin paper involves cutting down trees, and that's just the beginning. Processing (even recycling) paper requires a huge quantity of fresh water and employs toxic chemicals, especially chlorine to bleach out the natural brown hue. That SINGLE sheet of bright white copy paper upon which you just unnecessarily printed your last email used 13 ounces of fresh water to produce. Americans dispose of more than 72 million TONS of paper every year. That's 144 BILLION pounds of waste. If you stacked all the office and writing paper disposed of in the U.S. in just one year, you could build a wall of paper 12 feet high stretching all the way from Manhattan to Los Angeles. No wonder this planet is in trouble.

Cost Savings
Sure you can go buy a case (5,000) sheets of office copy paper for under $40, which is less than a penny a page. That's cheap. But printing some text on that page will cost five to ten times as much using a home inkjet or color laser printer (considering the high cost of replacement cartridges). Big black and white office printers and copiers use cheaper supplies but there's still a significant cost per print. And that's just on the production end. The greater costs relate to organizing and storing all that printed material. High end office space in major metro areas is leasing for $50 per square foot per year and up. Considering that a single lateral file cabinet can occupy 8 square feet of floor space, that's $400/year right there. But there's an even larger cost if we consider the human factors. According to a white paper published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the average worker spends 40% of his or her time managing non-essential documents. International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that information workers spend 20% of their day looking for information in hardcopy documents and 50% of the time, can't find what they need, at a cost of $18,000 each year per employee in lost productivity.

It Gets Worse
According to a Compulink Management Center report, the average office:

* Makes 19 copies of each document.
* Spends $20 on labor to file each document.
* Loses 1 out of 20 office documents.
* Spends $120 searching for every misfiled document.
* Spends $250 recreating each lost document.
* Spends $25,000 to fill a four-drawer file cabinet and $2,000 annually to maintain it.

On the other hand, as of this writing, a 500 gigabyte plug-and-play external hard drive costs less than $150 and can store upwards of 2 million scanned pages. For a bit more money you can buy a "RAID" drive enclosure with two redundant drives inside for extra immediate data security (you'll still need to back up however).

Climbing Paper Stack

If You Can't Find It, What Good is Having It?
That important document you're seeking may reside in a folder or pile somewhere. It physically exists... but if you can't locate it, that's actually worse than if the document was never printed. Searching for an errant document is a huge waste of a knowledge worker's time. That's why I'm a big, big fan of electronic document storage. We're so used to Googling for everything on the Internet, "search" has become second nature to us. Why shouldn't the same rules apply to finding all our own "stuff?" Modern desktop search tools make this incredibly easy.

Safety in Numbers
Ask anyone who's suffered through a fire or flood: the "security" of storing paper documents can be a tragic illusion. Sometimes that loss is unrecoverable. FEMA says 40% of small businesses never reopen after a disaster, often because critical business information has been irretrievably lost. However, when you "go digital" and incorporate an intelligent backup process, full recovery will always be possible. For details, I refer you back to my December 2007 article: Tomorrow is Going to be a Really Bad Day.

How to Get Started
If you work in a big office, your company may already have the technology in place to archive your documents for you. New "Multi-Function Copiers" have scanning features built-in. It's then a question of learning how to use these scan and store abilities. There are so many variables in the big-company scenario, I can't be of much help there. Therefore, what follows is more appropriate for the home or home office or small office setting.

A "Must Buy" Item
First thing you do is go buy yourself a Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 scanner.

ScanSnap

Trust me, even if you have a "regular" flatbed scanner for photos, you need this one too. It's not super-cheap at around $420 but worth every penny. Plus it includes a full copy of Adobe Acrobat Standard (which sells for $265 separately), an essential bit of software for the 21st Century office.

The ScanSnap will become the hub of your paperless wheel, rapidly converting all the random paper clogging up your life into neat electronic files. It's fast, at 18 duplex pages a minute (duplex means it scans both sides of the paper at the same time), and has a 50-page document feeder. Just dump your stack of papers in the hopper, push one button, and walk away. It'll scan in color and create a tidy word-searchable PDF for you. Nice. Included software (ScanSnap Organizer or Rack2Filer) will help you get your files organized too. The S510 will scan everything from business cards up to legal-size docs, even oversize "tabloid" documents when placed in a special carrier. There are other, similar scanners on the market but I can personally recommend the Fujitsu. Don't hesitate. Just buy the darn thing. You're not going to be successful at ridding your life of unnecessary paper without it.

Creating Less Paper in the First Place
The best way to have less paper in your life is to create less of it. (Duh.) It's time to break the habit of hitting the print button so dang often. Continually ask yourself, "Is it really necessary to print this?" You'll find, more often than not, the answer is "Not really." First, use the "Print Preview" option to see what the doc is going to look like. Next, if you need to archive something or send a copy to someone else for review, Portable Document Format (PDF) has become the de facto standard. Personally, I don't want people sending me printed stuff anymore. It means I have to scan it. I'd MUCH rather receive a PDF via email, and pop it into my virtual file cabinet. Granted, sometimes there's no substitute for printing on real paper. As an example, I laser print a draft this letter before it's mailed out to you, so I can better proofread and annotate it. Likewise, certain business correspondence must be done on paper, but I've been able to reduce at least 90% of it in the past year.

Office 2007 LogoIt's absurdly easy to create a PDF. If you're using Microsoft Office 2007, get this free Add-In: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS. For all other programs, Adobe Acrobat (not the free Acrobat Reader, but the paid Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro versions), or a number of other PDF creation tools install as a "printer" on your computer. Creating a PDF is as simple as hitting the print button and giving the file a name. Boom. It's done.

An Empty Mailbox
For years, your bank, cable company, insurance company, and every other company that sends you bills or statements has been BEGGING you to switch to email delivery. It's high time to take them up on their offer. Not only will you save trees, you'll also streamline your bill paying workflow, particularly if you couple e-statements with direct-debit of your bank account. You'll also reduce the chance for identity theft as an empty mailbox provides no documents to physically steal. For many great how-to tips on removing administriva from your life, read "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferriss. Highly recommended.

Catalog Clutter
I enjoy leafing through a good catalog as much as the next guy, but things have gotten out of hand. Some days a dozen catalogs arrive in the family mailbox. I know that many companies base their business model on catalog sales but enough is enough. I've decided to eliminate about 95% of the catalogs I receive. A new, free service called Catalog Choice makes it very easy to opt-out of catalog mailing lists. Also, the DMA Mail Preference Service helps remove your name from those infernal "pre-screened" credit card offers and other junk mail lists.

A Pox on Faxes
It's no secret that I abhor faxes. I pulled the plug on our fax machine years ago. When people say, "Can I fax it to you?" My response is "No you can't!" Most of the time, whatever it is can be emailed instead. However, I do maintain an eFax account for those Neanderthals that still insist on faxing something (usually a doctor's office). eFax is somewhat of a ripoff at $17/month but still better/cheaper than having a dedicated inbound phone line. In case you don't know, an eFax line is a regular phone number that converts the inbound faxes into a PDF and mails it to you. By the way, your Fujitsu ScanSnap functions nicely for outbound "faxing" (where your PDF is emailed to their system, converted to a fax, and sent on to its primitive destination).

Where to Keep it All?
All those PDFs need to go someplace, but where? You'll want to make an intelligent choice about this. You can store the files on your internal "My Documents" hard drive, an external drive, or networked drive. The key thing is to be 100% sure you have a good backup system in place. Check my December 2007 article (Tip #3) for help here. As a reminder, the Internet backup service Mozy (www.mozy.com) can be a great option for your home or business.

Getting Organized
The working world is divided into two types of people: those who carefully categorize everything, label everything, organize everything... and those who just dump the whole lot into one big heap and deal with it later. Fortunately, the paperless office can accommodate both work styles. While I think there's value in the former approach of creating a virtual file cabinet on the computer, with a careful hierarchy of nested folders and well-named files, it is possible to dump stuff in and still find it later.

That's where a good desktop search program comes in. Many people like the free (of course) Google Desktop Search but my favorite is "X1 Professional Desktop Search Client." Also free, it provides a more structured way of searching than does Google, and is extremely good at searching Outlook emails and contacts. I use it CONSTANTLY.

I'm sure there are other good desktop keyword search programs out there, and if you already have your favorite, stick with it. Anything is better than the lame search built into Windows XP. Mac OS and Vista are miles ahead in this respect.

There's More
As with many Urbach Letter articles, I can only scratch the surface of this topic. While I've provided some "get started tips" that'll be very helpful in the small office environment, enterprise solutions are much more complex. As a side note, after publishing an article like this one, I invariably get an email from an expert in the field telling me I didn't address this or that arcane subtopic... Nonetheless, I've hopefully pointed you in the right direction and provided some motivation to get unnecessary paper out of your life. And if I save a couple of trees as a result, I'll feel very good about spending a rainy Sunday afternoon writing this article for you.



Shameless Self-Promotion

About The Urbach Letter
With the exception of this special self-serving area, The Urbach Letter doesn't relate much to what I do for a living. It's mainly a vehicle for me to keep in touch with my business colleagues and friends. I strive to create something original each month that you'll enjoy and benefit from, not to promote my business. Even though several thousand people now receive my letter, I still write it with the same "voice" it had when the Urbach Letter only went out to a few dozen of my closest contacts. Therefore, occasionally I'll (inadvertently) offend somebody, but there isn't any editorial oversight to this publication. I just write it and send it out. So... if something in here rubs you the wrong way, please know there wasn't any evil intent on my part.

About the Optran Group
The Optran Group (www.optran.com) is a business transaction advisory firm serving owners of mid-market companies. Our clients are entrepreneurs who've built successful companies and now wish to cash out and/or substantially improve their personal financial security. Optran specializes in sell-side investment banking, ESOP's, and other liquidity transactions.

About Altegis
Altegis is a new company with a specialized program for very large professional partnerships and corporations. Our proprietary approach is directed to "rolling succession" issues, typically when senior partners and executives exit and others move up to fill their positions. My partners and I have invented a new type of "financial technology" and developed an innovative retirement benefit program for highly-compensated key employees and partners at major organizations.


Administrivia

That's all for now. More next month. In the meantime, please drop me a note with feedback, suggestions, or attaboys. I'm very reachable at victor@urbachletter.com.. I hope you liked this issue of The Urbach Letter. If you didn't, you can change your subscriber preference).

Read More from Victor Urbach at www.UrbachLetter.com]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080418-172315 All About The Annual Report

I found this cool article online about annual reports. Thought it might be interesting to some of you.
- Tom

The Annual Report: The annual report is a document released by companies at the end of their fiscal year which includes almost everything an investor needs to know about the business. It generally contains pictures of facilities, branch offices, employees, and products [all of which are completely unimportant to making your investing decision.] They are normally followed by a letter from the CEO and other senior management which discusses the past as well as upcoming year. Tucked away in the back of most annual reports is a collection of financial documents. Most of the time you can go onto a company's website and find the Investor Relations link. From there, you should be able to either download the annual report in PDF form or find information on how to contact shareholder services and request a copy in the mail.

The 10K: This is a document filed with the SEC which contains a detailed explanation of a business. It is reported annually and contains the same financial statements the annual report does, in a more detailed form. The benefit of the 10K is that it allows you to find out additional information such as the amount of stock options awarded to executives at the company, as well as a more in-depth discussion of the nature of the business and marketplace. Sometimes you will find that a company has no financial statements in the 10K, but instead has written, "incorporated herein by reference" This means that the financial statements can be found elsewhere [such as in the annual report or another publication]. Even if this is the case, it is still worth it to get a copy. You can find this by contacting the company, visiting their website, or going to FreeEdgar (freeedgar.com) or SEC.gov.

The 10q: The is similar to the 10k, but is filed quarterly [four times a year - normally the end of January, June, September, and December]. If the company is planning on changing its dividend policy, or something equally as important, they may bury it in the 10q. These documents are critical and can be obtained in the same way as the annual report and 10k.

You will want to get a copy of all three documents for the past year or two from the company you are interested in investing in. Most of them can be found at http://finance.yahoo.com - type in the ticker symbol of the company you want to research and then click the "financials" link. This will bring up a copy of the latest quarterly financial statements. (For all good purposes, I would recommend you first analyze the annual balance sheet, which can be found by clicking "annual data" in the upper right hand corner.) Another excellent source of financial statements is The Street. As always, it is best to get the information directly from the company.

What is a Balance Sheet?

Pretend that you are going to apply for a loan to put a swimming pool into your backyard. You go to the bank asking to borrow money, and the banker insists that you give him a list of your current finances. After going home and looking over your statements, you pull out a blank sheet of paper and write down everything you have that is of value [your checking and savings account, mutual funds, house, and cars]. Then, at the bottom of the sheet your write down all of your debt [the mortgage, car payments, and your student loan]. You subtract everything you owe by all the stuff you have and come up with your net worth.

Congratulations, you just created a balance sheet.

Just as the bank asked you to put together a balance sheet to evaluate your credit-worthiness, the government requires companies to put them together several times a year for their shareholders. This allows current and potential investors to get a snapshot of a company's finances. Among other things, the balance sheet will show you the value of the stuff the company owns [right down to the telephones sitting on the desk of their employees], the amount of debt, how much inventory is in the corporate warehouse, and how much money the business has to work with in the short term. It is generally the first report you want to look at when valuing a company.

Before you can analyze a balance sheet, you have to know how it is set-up.

Assets, Liabilities and Shareholder Equity

Every balance sheet is divided into three main parts - assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity.

* Assets are anything that have value. Your house, car, checking account, and the antique china set your grandma gave you are all assets. Companies figure up the dollar value of everything they own and put it under the asset side of the balance sheet.

* Liabilities are the opposite of assets. They are anything that costs a company money. Liabilities include monthly rent payments, utility bills, the mortgage on the building, corporate credit card debt, and any bonds the company has issued.

* Shareholder equity is the difference between assets and liability; it tells you the "book value", or what is left for the stockholders after all the debt has been paid.

Every balance sheet must "balance". The total value of all assets must be equal to the combined value of the all liabilities and shareholder equity (i.e., if a lemonade stand had $10 in assets and $3 in liabilities, the shareholder equity would be $7. The assets are $10, the liabilities + shareholder equity = $10 [$3 + $7]).

Current Assets

The first thing listed under the asset column on the balance sheet is something called "current assets". This is where companies list all of the stuff that can be converted into cash in a short period of time [usually a year or less]. Because these assets are easily turned into cash, they are sometimes referred to as "liquid". They normally consist of:

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and Cash Equivalents is the amount of money the company has in bank accounts, savings bonds, certificates of deposit, and money market funds. It tells you how much money is available to the business immediately. How much should a company keep on the balance sheet? Generally speaking, the more cash on hand the better. Not only does a decent cash hoard give management the ability to pay dividends and repurchase shares, but it can provide extra wiggle-room when times get bad.

There are some cases where cash on the balance sheet isn't necessarily a good thing. If a company is not able to generate enough profits internally, they may turn to a bank and borrow money. The money sitting on the balance sheet as cash may actually be borrowed money. To find out, you are going to have to look at the amount of debt a company has (we will be discussing this later on in the lesson). The moral: You probably won't be able to tell if a company is weak based on cash alone; the amount of debt is far more important.

Short Term Investments

These are investments that the company plans to sell shortly or can be sold to provide cash. Short term investments aren't as readily available as money in a checking account, but they provide added cushion if some immediate need were to arise. Short Term Investments become important when a company has so much cash sitting around that it has no qualms about tying some of it up in slightly longer-term investment vehicles (such as bonds which have maturities of less than one year). This allows the business to earn a slightly higher interest rate than if they stuck the cash in a corporate savings account.

Perhaps the most legendary cash hoard in the business world right now is Microsoft's - the company has $5.25 billion in cash and $32.973 billion in short term investments.

Receivables

Also sometimes known as "Account Receivables", this is money that is owed to a company by its customers.

Here's how it works: Let's say Wal-Mart wants to order a new DVD which is being released by Warner Brothers. Wal-Mart orders 500,000 copies for its stores. Warner Brothers receives the order, and within a week, ships the DVDs to one of Wal-Mart's warehouses. Included in the shipment is a bill (let's say WB charged Wal-Mart $5 per DVD for half a million copies - that's $2.5 million). Warner Brothers has already sent the movies to Wal-Mart, even though Wal-Mart hasn't paid a penny. In essence, Wal-Mart is buying on credit and promising to pay WB's the $2.5 million.

The $2.5 million would go on Warner Brother's balance sheet as receivables.

Generally a company that sells a product on credit sets a term. The term is the number of days customers must pay their bill before they are charged a late fee or turned over to a collection agency (most terms are, 30, 60 or 90 days). If Warner Brothers sold the DVDs to Wal-Mart on a 30 day term, Wal-Mart must pay its bill during that time.

While accounts receivable are good, they can bring serious problems to a business if they aren't handled properly. What if Wal-Mart went bankrupt or simply didn't pay Warner Brothers? WB would then be forced to write down its receivables on the balance sheet by $2.5 million. This is what is called a delinquent account. Normally, companies build up something called a reserve to prepare for situations such as this. Reserves are set amounts of money that are taken out of the profits each year and put into an account specifically designed to act as a buffer against possible loses the company may incur. (Reserves are touched on in Part 29). When customers don't pay their bills, companies can take money out of the reserve they had built up to pay back suppliers.

Receivable Turns

Common sense tells you the faster a company collects its receivables, the better. The sooner customers pay their bills, the sooner a company can put the cash in the bank, pay down debt, or start making new products. There is also a smaller chance of losing money to delinquent accounts. Fortunately, there is a way to calculate the number of days it takes for a business to collect its receivables. The formula looks like this:

Credit Sales (found on the income statement - not the balance sheet)
-------------------------(divided by)---------------------------
Average Receivables

Let's look at an example.
H.F. Beverages Balance Sheet (Excerpt)
2000 1999
Receivables $1,183,363 $1,178,423

Income Statement (Excerpt)
Credit Sales $15,608,300

H.F. Beverages* is a major manufacturer of soft drinks and juice beverages. It sells to supermarkets and convenience stores across the country on a 30 day term. To see if customers are paying on time, we need to look for the income statement. It is normally found within a page or two of the balance sheet in the annual report or 10K. With the income statement in front of you, look for an item called "Credit Sales" (if you can't find it, there is an item called "Total Sales" which is acceptable but not as accurate).

In 2000, H.F. Beverages reported credit sales of $15,608,300. If we look at the excerpt from its balance sheet (above), we will see that in 2000, it had $1,183,363 in receivables and in 1999, $1,178,423. We need to find out the average amount of receivables H.F. had in 2000, so we would take $1,1873,363 + $1,178,423 and divide it by 2. The answer is $1,180,893.

Plug the two numbers into the formula.

Credit Sales = $15,608,300
------------(divided by)--------------
Average Receivables = $1,180,893

The answer, called "Receivable Turns" by financial analysts, is 13.2173. This means that H.F. Beverages collects its accounts receivable 13.2173 times per year. Once you calculate this number, finding out the number of days it takes for customers to pay their bills is simple. Since there are 365 days in a year and the company gets 13.2173 turns per year, take 365 ÷ 13.2173. The answer is the number of days it takes the average customer to pay (in H.F.'s case, we come up with 27.61).

This means the company is doing a good job managing its accounts receivable because customers aren't exceeding the 30 day policy. Had the answer been greater than 30, you would have been wise to try to find out why there were so many late payments, which could be a sign of trouble. (Keep in mind you will need to read through the company's reports to find out what its collection deadline is. Not all companies require their customers to pay within 30 days).

*A Fictional Company for illustration only

From Joshua Kennon,
Your Guide to Investing for Beginners.
]]> http://www.currancorporate.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080417-162813 An All Too Convenient Truth: Many Marketers Pollute the Web

Earth Day is around the corner and a lot of marketers are thinking about the sustainability of our planet. Some are recognizing that doing good also helps business. Edelman's Good Purpose study found that 73% of consumers are prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly products.

However, it's not just the environment that is endangered by toxins. The atmosphere we breathe online is too is being threatened by pollution - from marketers. The all too convenient truth is that it's very easy for advertisers to pollute the web with their garbage. Most often, that's not their intent. But it's the end result and it's reaching an epidemic proportion. Now business needs to take the same approach online as it has done offline through corporate social responsibility (Jason Calacanis echoed a similar theme recently.)

First let's look at the the obvious ways marketers poison the web. These all intend to game the system ...

* Spam: 94% of all email is spam (Postini)

* Splogs: 53% of all blog pings is spam, including 64% of those in English (UMBC)

* Click Fraud: Increased last year by 15% (Click Forensis)

Still, there's more. In subtle ways marketers are contaminating the Internet without even knowing it by spewing millions of meaningless messages across thousands of sites. This may be contributing to the slow down. They're not adding value to your experience or working to help you meet your goals in a very meaningful way.

Consider these popular techniques ...

* Banner Ads: A lot of money is going here but click-through rates remain abysmal and their overall branding value is being questioned. Many of them just litter the web and get in the way of what you want to do. Eye-tracking studies in the past have revealed "banner blindness."

* Social Network Advertising: eMarketer predicts advertising on social networks will reach $2.2 billion this year. However, traditional display approaches to date have not performed. As Ian Schaffer from from Deep Focus noted, marketers need to dig in and figure out how to make the experience better. This means what does work is creating authentic content, widgets/applications and more that people pull because they add value to the community. (Note: MySpace, a major social network, is an Edelman client.)

* Social Media Optimization: This needs to be watched like a hawk. As I have said before, if you participate and add value you are rewarded with Google Juice - and so much more. If you just set up sites and spam social nets to get links, then I am sorry, you're bad.

Despite all the money that's flowing online, most marketers completely miss the boat on what the web really can do for them. As I have talked about before, the Internet isn't just a communications medium. It works best when it's used as a platform for open collaboration. This means taking a PR-centric approach.

This means companies and consumers need to partner toward shared outcomes. This can be as simple as "we want to be entertained" to "we want to find the best world-changing idea." The latter is what American Express will unleash again later this year with its Members Project.

The web is facing it's own global warming crisis as marketers continue to pollute it. Consumers are voting with their clicks and eyeballs by engaging with authentic content that adds value, while ignoring the rest. That's good news that shows maybe we'll solve this crisis, even as business continues to tackle the larger issues that impact our planet.

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