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For the last two days I've been talking about productivity and the things that we have to do to ensure that we can be as productive as possible so that we go on making money in this industry. Today I'm going to wrap the series up with a look at some things that you may not think of when it comes to being productive with your work.

While you may not think of them as productivity issues they certainly are.

Invest in good hardware
Yesterday morning Steve decided that one of his machines needed rebooting so he went through the normal shut down and restart procedure and the machine just wouldn't boot up. He got as far as the graphic card image on the desktop and that's where things stalled ... three times.

I could tell from the groan that it had been a while since Steve had backed anything up and he was worried that he had lost everything. Fortunately for Steve on the fourth attempt the computer came alive just fine and all that work wasn't lost. Nor we didn't lose time by having the box down at the computer shop waiting to be repaired but you may not be so lucky if you waste your money on cheap hardware.

Sure, good equipment costs some serious money and you can always buy cheap computers but I can tell you that you're flirting with disaster if you rely on cheap hardware for the success of your business. Every one of our machines is custom built using the best quality parts and they cost a lot more than if we had just gone to Dell online and bought one of their boxes ... or wandered down to the mall and bought something cheap there.

But I see those cheap machines coming into our computer shop every day. I see them failing because cheap parts have been used and cheap parts have a very limited life expectancy. I rarely see one of the custom built machines that our computer tech builds come back for repairs because they just keep on working and in our business that's exactly what you want. Good reliable equipment that isn't going to cost you money in repairs and lost production time.

Oh ... and before I forget it, don't forget to back your files up regularly. Steve had spent several days working up a number of templates for a couple of our clients and all that work would have been lost if there had been a serious problem with his computer. Steve is now getting into the habit of backing up those important files daily.

Spend a little time keeping your computers clean
I've talked about this before but it's so easily forgotten but so very important. No matter how clean your work environment might be the fans in your computer will pull in large amounts of dust and the inlet filters will get clogged up very easily. Without that cool air the inside of the computer can become very hot and that can cause damage and that's going to cost you money.

Spend some time every week or so cleaning those vents with a soft brush. Occasionally take the side off the case and clean out the interior too. I've seen heat sinks on graphic cards get so clogged with dust that the graphic card fries so save yourself time and money by spending a little time keeping your computer clean.

Research time
Finally let's talk about research time. That's not the time you spend hanging out on the message boards or chatting on ICQ ... that's the time you spend researching things like the latest SEO techniques, the latest marketing techniques and all those other hundred and one things that we need to stay current with if we really do want to succeed here in online marketing. You might even find that some of that research time has to be spent right away from the computer.

It's a never-ending task because things are changing every day and it may seem like a complete waste of time to you. Sometimes it can be hard to justify spending time researching because that looks like time where you're not earning any money but nothing could be further from the truth.

The time you spend in research is every bit as valuable as the time you spend building your free sites and galleries. If you don't keep up with the current trends in marketing and search engine optimisation then you're going to end up trying to make money with out-dated techniques and there's nothing less productive than that.

So there are just a few thoughts on productivity and the things we can do to be more productive. There are certainly many other steps we can take to be productive than what I've talked about for the last three days. You need to be constantly monitoring what you do and how you do it to see if there isn't a better, more productive, way of achieving the same result.

Time certainly is money and when you work for yourself you have to make every second pay.