Tree Farmer - September/October 2007 - (Page 26)

tools & techniques By Easley PAUL Expanding Techno World keting our wood products and found it to be much more lucrative. Not surprising, since the Internet is like a store that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — and your customer base is the world! Needless to say, in today’s world, we would never have a walk-in building for our product. And this is the way a very large part of consumer product sales is going to be. Here is a sampling of the things that I couldn’t even comprehend: I talk to my son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild in Okinawa, Japan, with a live picture through a program called Skype. It is a program you can download into your computer — go out and buy a $50 web cam and you are ready to talk to anyone in the world who has the same equipment. It’s almost like they are live right next to you, you just can’t hug them because they are on your computer screen. I can’t tell you how happy I was the first time I saw my granddaughter wave at me and say “Hi, Grandpa” from the other side of the earth! Now, here’s the real kick: It’s free! I can think of all kinds of applications for that technology. Maybe you have a product that is broken and you don’t know how to fix it? Show it to the manufacturer via the web cam and they might be able to assist. The ideas are endless. The simple things are really cool too. It used to be a real pain to write a column, print it and mail it snail mail. Then there were the pictures, go get them developed, go back to get them, into the envelope and snail mail. Now, we just take the photo with a digital camera, download to the computer, write the column and send the whole thing via email. Presto! Kathy and I now do close to 100 percent of all our business online, including banking and investing. You can check your account at the bank daily if you wish. You can pay bills without writing a check! Watch your investments daily, if you wish. The list is endless. The 1990 Illinois Tree Farmers of theYear Paul and Kathy Easley own and manage Oak Leaf Wood ‘n’Supplies, 210 N. Main St., Moweaqua, IL 62550; . Welcome to the When I was much younger, everyone used to say information was going to be the next big hot commodity! I thought that was pretty far-fetched since I was a build-it-and-sell-it type of person. Well, not only have all of those predictions come true, the forecast is for technology that will far exceed what my mind is capable of grasping! At the onset of the computer, I was very reluctant to learn something new. I know a lot of folks who still think that way. If you are one of them, I would suggest that you wake up your brain, dust it off, get to a class, and buy yourself a computer! You will be thrilled at the possibilities that are available. When we first started our retail hardwood business more than 17 years ago, we did it without the aide of a computer. It took us about a nanosecond to see we were struggling without one. Growth was out of the question without one. We had to fast-forward to the way the world was running. That was 17 years ago — and the information technology has completely changed the way the world does business. In our little world, Kathy and I kept our retail hardwood business open for about five years longer than we should have. It was the resistance-to-change thing. I knew we could do much better marketing online but we had wonderful customers that we didn’t want to let down. Finally, with a lot of pushing on my part, Kathy closed the store two years ago. We had started Internet-mar- 26 Tree Farmer SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tree Farmer - September/October 2007

Cover1
Contents
Cover Story
Conserving a Sense of Place
Northeast Tree Farmers of the Year
Wildlife Matters
Tools & Techniques
Taxing Issues
Woodland Security

Tree Farmer - September/October 2007