I just read a speculative article on Mashable.com about Apple’s rumored tablet computer … a light, slim, Kindle-like standalone screen that could be drawing tablet, computer, internet browser and e-reader rolled into one. Maybe phone, camera, videocam, ipod and bread-slicer as well. It’s exciting as hell, but also maddening, isn’t it? Trying to keep up with new technology, I mean.

There’s the coolness factor, of course. (I tell myself frequently that this should be a minor consideration.) Closely related to coolness, for me anyway, is the little-kid-loves-colored-lights phenomenon. And then there’s the money thing. Can this gadget/software/etc. help you make more money? As a businessperson, does it help untether you from the many demands of running your own show? Make your life easier? Allow you to do things you never did before?

Some technologies entirely transform the way business is done. The web itself, for example, back in the early ’90s. People who figured out how to use it, early and well, made a ton of money. Remember Netscape? Ebay? Paypal? Google’s IPO? The founders of these now-giants cleaned up. And many of the early adopters, like the ones who figured out how to sell things on eBay while the rest of us were barely cranking up our copies of Netscape 1.0, also made fortunes.

This is still going on today—the revolutionaries and the early adopters reap amazing benefits. Then the rest of us straggle along trying to imitate their success. And eventually, that early success turns into a formula which others try to sell. Take blogging, for example. We’re not all Chris Garrett, or Darren Rowse. But how many of us have bought e-book after e-book, trying to make our blogs as successful and profitable as theirs?

I call this the Magic Ticket Syndrome. I would love to find a Magic Ticket to instant fortune and prosperity. Wouldn’t you? Innumerable folks find their own Magic Ticket by selling what purports to be your Magic Ticket to a profitable online business or blog—getting rich through publicizing your business/product/site/self, or being on national TV, or writing killer landing pages, etc. etc. I’ve got at least a dozen of these things in a “to read” folder on my desktop. I’ll bet you do too.

And then sometimes a technology comes along that really can help your business. For example, a client of mine manages vacation rental properties. Yet she herself could never travel, particularly during the summer, because of the logistics of collecting rents and deposits from renters and potential renters. A typical web-based shopping cart wouldn’t work for her, because her payment amounts always varied according to which property was being rented, for how long, in what season, how many people, etc.

Solution? I researched online invoicing software and services, and after extensive testing, suggested an online invoicing software called FreshBooks. Now, my client and her potential renters come to an agreement on dates and location, she emails a link to a custom invoice, and the renter pays online via credit card before arrival. No more checks, no more hassles with foreign exchange. And for her, no more being stuck in the office.

After seeing how smoothly FreshBooks worked for my client, I gave it a whirl in my web development business. I used to hate invoicing. Hate it. I’d procrastinate weeks before sending out my old MS Word invoice template. This handy little tool, however, makes invoicing—dare I say it? Not only easy, but almost pleasurable. And, it offers value-added statistics that I used to have to track in a separate Excel spreadsheet. So now my invoices get sent out on time and my cash flow has improved. Simple, huh? (In fact, in the interests of full disclosure, FreshBooks’ proven track record, speed, reliability, and responsive support have met all my stiff affiliate criteria. So yes, I am a FreshBooks affiliate and will make a minuscule amount of money if you click these links and decide to become a paying customer.)

I came across another business using this technology in a different way. WPhelpcenter.com offers technical problem-solving services for WordPress site developers. You describe your WordPress issue or glitch over the phone, they ask some questions, then give you an estimate. If you decide to have them do the work, an email with a FreshBooks invoice link appears in your inbox a few minutes later. As soon as you’ve paid, the guys at wphelpcenter are ready to start working. Again, simple.

Is this bit of technology a Magic Ticket? Nope. But does it enable business owners to be happier and more productive? Yes and yes, for my property manager client and for me. Does it elegantly facilitate a web-based business model that might otherwise be unfeasible? In the case of WPhelpcenter.com, yes.

Invoicing software isn’t exactly super-cool. Nor does it totally revolutionize the way business is done. But it’s useful. And it’s just one of dozens or hundreds of such products that appear with astounding regularity these days. How can we possibly keep track of them all, let alone figure out which ones will truly be helpful, let alone transformative, in our particular business?

March 2010 postscript: I’ve started a free weekly tips sheet to–one usable, bottom-line-enhancing tech tip per week. Sign up here: http://creatingwebsuccess.com/free-stuff/

And if you’d like to go one better, and give your business and your bottom line a shot in the arm of motivation, inspiration, and practical steps you can take right now to jumpstart your business, check out my new product, 99 Ways to Use Social Media and the Web to Grow Your Business, Reach More Clients, Sell More Products and Services, Make More Money, Make Your Life Easier, and Change The World!

So let’s forget the coolness factor for the moment. Is there a new piece of software or technology that helps your business work better, differently, more easily? I’d love to hear about it.

Have you ever clicked onto a web page, a long page full of description, bullet points, yellow highlighting, red dashes, astounding testimonials… and you’re instantly overwhelmed with the feeling that (a) you will regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t buy this product NOW, (b) you will suffer terrible consequences—or you’ll be sabotaged by your own lack of daring, money, willpower, etc.—if you don’t buy this product NOW, or (c) you suddenly feel so hooked into the fantasy of doing/having/being what this page promises that you absolutely NEED and WANT this product NOW…?

So you click. You pay. You download. You start the ebook, watch the video… but get stalled a third of the way through. It wasn’t as interesting, or maybe as easy, as the sales copy promised. Then you tell yourself you just don’t have the … time… right now to finish it. And there it sits, in a folder on your computer along with all the other e-books you’ve bought, and free handouts you’ve collected about how to make  your business better. You know… the ones you plan to read when you have time.

This is when I usually realize that I once again fell into the fantasy of thinking I could achieve or attain something I want, without working through whatever it is that’s been keeping me from doing it in the first place. And I usually feel a vague sense of shame, an unpleasant "yuck" feeling that comes from shame.

Some of us are always suckers for these fantasies, though, like Zack, a friend who is an internet marketing junkie. Whenever he sees a new sales gimmick, he wants it Whether it’s a Facebook site, a Twitter account, Youtube videos, an autoresponder ecourse, audio, video on site, voiceover testimonials, a dedicated sales page bursting with hypey marketing language… if he sees it, and some so-called marketing guru is charging hundreds or thousands for it, and promising it will earn Zack millions … he wants it.

Never mind if the advertising is filled with half-truths and exaggerations, and the product itself is wildly overpriced. Never mind whether or not the product, even if it performs as advertised, is a smart use of time and resources to achieve his site’s goals! Zack spends a ton of time and money on tools which can be valuable in themselves, but may not be practical for his site right now. And then he wonders why his sales just don’t keep pace with his expenditures. It’s a frustrating (and expensive) situation.

I have many clients who sell products or services over the Internet. The ones who build a profitable business that’s sustainable over time—without wasting thousands of dollars and many hours in wild goose chases along the way—tend to have one big thing in common. They have a plan.

How Can You Plan, in this Time of Rapid Changes?

Simple. Your plan, roadmap, whatever you want to call it, has three key elements. Here’s how to get started.

1. Know what and where you want to be. Dream big. In your wildest dreams, what does success look like to you? How much do you want to work, what kind of work will that be, what dollar figure would you like to earn… ask yourself as many concrete questions as you can. Don’t be afraid of the answers! This is "Point B," in other words, it’s where you’re going.

When you measure everything against an explicit goal, rather than a half-articulated fantasy, you know when to say yes, or no. For example, if your goal is to spend all your working time writing, say, and support yourself easily this way, then you probably shouldn’t plunk down your money for a course on cold-calling, or videocasting, no matter what kind of fame and riches it promises. What about a copywriting course? Well, does writing sales copy help you achieve, or is it part of,  your ultimate goal? If so, that’s a possibility to consider. If not, say no.

2. Budget. What’s coming in, what’s going out? How much money do you have? How much does your business earn now? How much or little time and money can you devote, right now, to achieving your goals? Be thorough, honest, and realistic. This is "Point A," your starting point.

Your budget is another kind of yardstick. Even if that ebook normally sells for $500, but—for today only!—it’s $150… do you have the money, and is this how it’s best spent to achieve your goal? Does this purchase enable you to progress toward your ultimate goal significantly faster or better than you would without it? If the answer to all questions is "yes," then the purchase is one to consider.

3. Strategy. Wikipedia says, "A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal." In other words, it’s a roadmap which tells you how to get from point A, where  you are now, to point B, where you want to be. It’s a sequential to-do list that will progress you from here to there.

Make a list. "Chunk it down," as my friend Connie says, into bite-sized steps. Write down every stage and step towards your goal, and every concrete task needed to achieve each step. Do as much research as you can—whether online, at the library, talking to people, hiring a consultant—to fill in the blanks. Put each tiny step in a logical, chronological order. This is your "strategy." It will change and evolve, but at any given point it is your best and most informed guess as to what you need to do first, next, and later.

It may not be perfect. Your timeline may be off, you might miss a step or two, you might decide to abandon step 3 and go directly to step 5. But this plan provides you with a structure—a guide into the trackless wilderness of the future, based upon your best understanding of the steps needed to reach your goals, and your available budget for doing so.

Flexibility and an Open Mind

Now that we have your plan, we also need to be able to alter or even abandon it. (Note: it took me many years to understand that this is not at all the same as not having a plan in the first place!) If a new technology comes along, a new opportunity comes your way, a new product is released, a seminar is announced… you need the flexibility to evaluate it rationally. Can it enhance or speed your progress? Will it require complete retooling, yet ultimately enable you to achieve your dream? Your goal, your budget and your strategy give you structure. Balancing the structure, we also need to give ourselves permission to abandon it when to do so serves our greater goals.

Ensure Success by "Paying Yourself First"

No, I’m not talking about money, I’m talking about time. Now that we have a roadmap to our goals, that has to become our priority. Do a step on that list every single day, before you do any other work, before you read your email, before you go online to get the news. Devote the first half hour, or hour, or two, of your work day to achieving YOUR goals. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get swamped by the pressures of day-to-day tasks. Do you want your plan for 2010 to look exactly the same as the one you did back in 2005? No? Then "pay" yourself first.

What has worked for you? Do you have a plan, did success just "happen," or are you still waiting for it? Please add your comments.

Being a business owner these days means you have to be adaptable. Trends and technology change quickly, and every time there’s a new online tool (blogging software, Twitter) or a new paradigm (social networking, web 2.0), entire business models can be conjured seemingly out of thin air, while others are relegated to the backwaters of Internet commerce.

How do you adapt to the new? Most of my clients feel a combination of excitement and overwhelm. The possibilities are incredible… but the act of just keeping up with what’s possible can feel like an unbearable and unfair burden.

The Myth of the Business that Never Changes

Even now, we can all think of a few businesses whose essence hasn’t changed in decades or even centuries. The London Times. Macy’s. Twinings Tea. This old paradigm, though terribly challenged by the current crisis, has the status of a legend.

For those of us in sole proprietorships or small businesses, the effort to create and build a brand sometimes results in the same kind of marriage to a business model. Wouldn’t it be great to create a “classic” brand? Yet this desire can have one potentially disastrous results for a business.

New Technology, Old Paradigm

I have one friend, James, who has been a visual artist for all of his working life. He believes in the traditional model of success: artist seeks reputable gallery representation; gallery handles all marketing and sales; artist achieves fame and fortune.

In this model for success, a web site is useful… but only as an adjunct to the traditional process of hauling a portfolio around for gallery owners to see, or sending out a box of slides. Internet tools can help publicize the work. But they don’t really change anything.

What if James used the web to turn his business upside down—and rather than courting traditional success, he used it to create a hierarchy of products (t-shirts, inexpensive prints, tickets to private showings and previews, special day-long studio art “classes” in the artist’s medium and style, all the way up to the sales full-scale works)—that would build a Thousand True Fans, as Kevin Kelly calls it—fans who provide a living income? (Find out more about this idea and many other new media business models in David Mathison’s Be the Media.)

The possibilities are endless for making a living doing art in a new way. But it’s risky. It’s scary. And it means the artist must be a bit more of a marketer than before. Gone is the isolated studio, the ivory tower, the focus on “pure” art, unsullied by market considerations.

Ego and Habit

There’s fear of risk, financial ruin, loss… and then there’s the role of ego, and habit. My grandfather, for example, owned a grocery store in a small town in Minnesota. When he purchased the business in the 1920s, the store had no refrigeration, made no deliveries, stocked no fresh produce. He turned it into an up-to-date business that thrived even during the Depression, all the way through the 1960s and beyond. But then when the supermarket chains came to town, business dwindled until the store finally closed, following my grandfather’s death, in the 1980s.

During those decades, my grandfather had turned down invitations to expand. He had found a working model, and he stuck to it. He could not imagine how to reinvent the store in a changing business landscape, nor did he want to. He loved interacting with customers, packing up groceries for home delivery, and keeping up with all the stories of the entire cast of characters he had come to know during so many years. And as long as those loyal old customers were still living, the store survived despite stiff competition. Even my uncle, who took over an increasing amount of the store’s management as my grandfather aged, couldn’t imagine fundamentally changing his father’s ways of doing business.

Visiting my grandmother one winter after my grandfather’s death, I drove her to the supermarket. I dreaded the trip, knowing their decades-long hatred of and boycott of any and all supermarkets. But once inside the store, my ancient half-blind grandmother careened from fruits to vegetables to the meat counter with the manic enthusiasm of a wild dervish. She loved the vast selection, the fresh array of produce, the spaciousness, the freedom to choose.

“Ray and I never had any idea what we were up against,” she said later. “No idea whatsoever. We never even set foot inside a supermarket.”

I was shocked. Their emotional investment in their own ways of doing things kept them locked into a mindset that kept the business from expanding, surviving, and supporting their kids as well as it had them.

Are You the Problem?

Chef Gordon Ramsay comes up against the same issue on his TV show “Kitchen Nightmares.” Ramsay offers a proven formula for restaurant success: good food that fills a local market niche, served quickly and attentively, in attractive surroundings. But so often the failing restaurants that seek his help can’t make the turnaround. And the reason isn’t lack of desire. All too often, it’s the emotional baggage of the owner: an attachment to a menu, or dish, or style of cooking, that just isn’t cutting it in today’s market.

And yet sometimes, old is good. Sometimes, the tried and true really works. Sometimes, the stubborn attachment of a business owner to their own authenticity is the key to their success.

So how do you know? How do you choose when to change, how to change, what to change? I’d love to hear your thoughts.