Here is a list and video tour of 25 items you’ll find in my office – many of which were purchased online.

In the video, you’ll see just how low-tech an internet / affiliate marketing home-based business can be!

Links provided direct to Amazon pages for more information about certain products. If you purchase a product through one of those links, I might be able to afford to buy a postcard.

1. Desktop Computer – As of 2010, I’m running my 4th desktop computer and my 3rd Dell. My computer techno-geek friend Ori is always singing this computer’s praises in regards to its power, speed and superior functionality. That’s what you get when you buy top-of-the-line.
2. LED Monitor – In 2010, I upgraded to a 24″ LED monitor. Anything that saves electricity (and money) is alright by me.
3. Ergonomic Keyboard – I gave up on flat keyboards ages ago when too much time at the computer resulted in carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive stress injury for which I narrowly avoided surgery. Switching to an ergonomic keyboard and taking glucosamine with condroiton has done the trick, i.e. no more wrist or forearm pain – ever. Taking more vacations has probably helped a lot too!
4. Ergonomic Mouse – My mouse is also ergonomic to reduce hand and wrist pain associated with too much computer work. Although I’ve used wireless (infrared) keyboards and mice in the past, both the keyboard and mouse I run now are USB-connected to reduce battery cost and landfill waste.
5. Humanscale Saddle Seat – Another piece of essential ergonomic equipment that makes sitting for long periods less harmful to your health. I bought this chair following my car accident in late August ’07… and I discuss more about the chair here.
6. Battery Backup Power Unit – This little baby has saved my work (and bacon) on more than one occassion during a power outage, something that seems to happen on a fairly regular basis here in the Valley. What I really appreciate is the ability to keep working at my computer for at least 20 minutes after an outage begins (the one linked here says only 13 minutes, but it costs less), which is handy when the writing is ‘flowing’ along nicely. It also guards against power surges, spikes, sags, and brownouts and protects your computer from those no-warning shutdowns that can be quite damaging. For less critical electrical gadgets, I use surge protector power bars.
7. External Hard Drives – I have a few external hard drives… one of which I take on the road with my laptop. It’s great for storing all those huge file-size pictures that I take.
8. Thumb Drives – REALLY convenient storage companion that lets you take all of your data to your home, office, school and anywhere you travel. The only downside is that they are so small that they can be easily misplaced… if you’re me.
9. Sony Vaio Laptop – I take this one on the road with me to conventions and also use it in the home office for video production. While traveling, I protect it with a foam sleeve that I bought from Magellan’s after airport security in Toronto dropped and broke my old laptop.
10. All-in-one Printer, fax, copier and scanner. Although mostly used for faxing and scanning, this is one of the first printers that has actually worked in my office for more than a couple of months. Has pretty speedy output too with 20 pages per minute for black copies and up to 13 ppm color.
11. Corded Telephone – This is a 2-Line integrated telephone with call waiting, caller ID & a speakerphone. It is also hard-wired, as the sound quality on cordless phones is too poor to produce quality webinar recordings.
12. Cell Phone – I use an iPhone when I’m in Canada and an Android when traveling in the States.
13. Digital Voice Recorder & FM Stereo Radio – This Diasonic DDR-3100 digital voice recorder is the one that was used to record Jeremy Palmer’s and my “Black Friday Webinar”.
14. Video Camera – I have a couple of different video cameras, but my all-time favorite is the FLIP. I’ve made a TON of videos with it and uploaded them to YouTube. The Flip is SO small, there’s no excuse not to carry a video camera with you anymore.
15. Digital Camera – The most successful promotions are accomplished when the affiliate establishes credibility with his or her audience and the easiest way to do that is to show a picture of yourself using the product. The DSC-T100 is my 3rd SONY Cyber-shot digital camera and I’m not surprised that it won a CNET Editor’s Choice Award. Ultimately, it is the best digital camera for my purposes with its small, lightweight design and BIG easy-to-view screen. Furthermore, Sony has made serious improvements to getting great shots in low-light situations.
16. Paper Shredder – Essential. Instead of throwing envelopes in the garbage, I use a Royal confetti cut paper shredder to shred all waste materials printed with my name and/or address to protect myself from identity theft.
17. Cork Board – Great for making lists of the things you need to do… and not being able to bury them or turn the page and forget about them.
18. USB Hub – Impossible to plug everything into the computer without this Belkin 7-port USB Hub.
19. Logitech Headset – For Skypeing with my friends… and the occasional affiliate manager.
20. D-Link Router – So I can use my laptop to comment on Oprah’s message boards while watching the show.
21. Digital Coin Sorter – A spur-of-the-moment purchase that proved to be a super time saver. Rather than throw all my spare change in a ziploc bag and spend an afternoon once a year sorting through all those pennies, dimes and loonies; I now throw change in the sorter and it goes straight into the coin wrappers.
22. CD/DVD Wallets – During a recent office cleanup, I filled 5 green garbage bags with those over-sized plastic CD/DVD holders and replaced the clutter with a few of these CD/DVD wallets, each of which has the capacity to hold 208 items. There is a LOT more air to breathe in the office now.
23. Flashlight – Great for poking around in the dark under the desk in search of dust bunnies and additional USB ports.
24. TV – I am not sure why I have a TV in my office as it almost never gets turned on.
25. Candy, “Chipper” the Bear, and my picture wall – Because they make me happy.

Please note that video below was shot in late 2008. One of these days I’ll put together a revised home office tour for you.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

A day after we dealt with the server and forum issues, my desktop computer decided to take a dive.

It would run for about an hour and a half, then the screen would go blank while the CPU kept running. On one occassion I watched as the computer tried to reboot itself while I was in the middle of working on something.

UGH!

Although I immediately suspected that the video card was pooched, my computer techie guy, Ori, suggested that it was time that I should perhaps consider buying a new desktop – after all, my Dell Dimension 8300 is more than 5 years old.

Ori tells me that the average lifespan of a desktop is now 5 years and for laptops, it’s a paltry 3 years — unless of course airport security throws your laptop around and then you’re down to about 3 months. His theory is why spend a hundred bucks or more on something that might not work when chances are that you’re going to have to replace the computer sooner than later anyway?

Sheesh, when you spend 5 grand on a Dell Dimension desktop, shouldn’t it work for at least 10 years – provided that you do basic maintenance and don’t overload it with huge ram-sucking programs?

Ori also mentioned that I should buy the new computer through his affiliate link. I guess he forgot that I was the one who told him about affiliate programs and the fact that Dell has an affiliate program. LOL.

Then Ed – who buys everything online and always forgets to use my affiliate links – told me that if I logged into AirMiles, I could collect AirMiles on my purchase, which ultimately was worth more than Dell’s commission.

I searched at Dell, but unfortunately, they were only offering one model that could be downgraded to XP from Vista (or ‘Beasta’ as forum moderator Griff calls it) on the Canadian site – and it wasn’t one that I wanted. I learned that what I want can’t be had. A big gaming model with 12GB of memory AND XP.

By the way, take a look at the huge differences between selection options and make and model availability between Dell.ca and Dell.com and then be glad if you live in the States for that reason alone. On the Dell.ca site, there are no “Vista with Downgrade to XP” or other convenient selection boxes.

Over the course of a day, I exhausted my tolerance for reading through all the nitty gritty details about new computers, and then told Ori that I really did want to try replacing the video card on my old computer and see whether that worked before I bought a new one.

My theory is that I’d rather spend a hundred bucks or two to try and fix the problem first, rather than blow several thousand to find out that my old faithful programs (Homesite, Paint Shop Pro, etc.) might not work with Vista – thereby forcing me to spend even MORE money to upgrade those programs. And as far as I’m concerned, the time (days, weeks, months) that it takes to set up a computer and new programs to your liking is an even bigger nuisance.

And guess what?

The new video card ($150) worked like a charm.

I have a feeling that Dell won’t like me much but I am going to keep this beautiful old machine running for at least another couple of years — or at least until Microsoft Windows 7 has been released and been proven a significant improvement over XP… we won’t even mention Vista.

Nothing is more frustrating as a new Internet marketer than trying to learn how to build a web site, install links or upload files before you even know how to operate your computer with ease.

I don’t want you to ever feel that frustrated, so here is a list of basic computer skills that you will want to be well-versed in before tackling web site building and selling online:

• Turning your computer on and off
• Using your mouse (right and left clicks)
• Finding files and programs
• Opening and closing files
• Saving files
• Deleting files
• Drag and drop
• Highlighting, cut and paste
• Starting and ending programs
• Downloading software and files
• Installing Software
• Setting up your Email software
• What to do when your computer freezes
• Maintaining your Internet Connection

You will also want to have a basic understanding of the following terms:

• ISP
• URL
• Web site
• Home page
• Bookmark
• Search engine

I’ve provided a Glossary of Terms for you to check when you need help with those and other terms related to your computer and Internet marketing.

Want to hone and polish your basic computer skills with a course?

Check out Joe Robson’s Newbie Club, which contains an extraordinary range of Free tutorials, newbie books, articles, email courses, newbie software and links to the best Internet and Computer learning resources on the web.