If you’re reading this now, you’re likely desperate. Dude, don’t worry. Take a deep breath. It’s going to be all right. Okay, now go to the nearest ATM machine and take out the amount that is exactly your holiday gift-buying budget. Return your wallet (minus driver’s license) to a secure location in your home, and get ye to the nearest shopping center, cash in hand.

But first, in order to assure that said cash is, in fact, all you need, it’s worth doing the math. Use the procedure below to split your budget logically across your gift list. (I did this for the Science Channel last year, so you can just watch the vid if you prefer.)

1. Define your total budget. Be realistic. For this example, I’m using $500.

2. List everyone for whom you need to buy a gift.

3. Now next to each person’s name, give them an importance rank from 1-10 (10 high).

4. Sum all the people, multiplied by their ranks. It should look something like this 10(wife)+8(kid1)+8(kid2)+3(dad)+3(mom)+1(in-laws)+4(nephew)=37(total)

5. Set your total equal to your budget: 37(total)=$500

6. Solve for (total): total=$13.50

7. Multiply this “total” by each person’s importance to see how much you should spend. In this example, your wife gets 10*13.5=$135, and your kids get 8*13.5=$108.

With only $500 in your pocket, and without time at this point to dilly dally with another shopping trip, you’ll be forced to stick to it.

Still looking for the perfect holiday gift? Consider a copy of one of these babies. They’re soft-cover and so stocking stuffer (and holiday budget) approved.

Brain Candy: Science, Puzzles, Paradoxes, Logic, and Illogic to Nourish Your Neurons.

The Geeks’ Guide to World Domination: Be Afraid, Beautiful People

We’re geeks. We love giving geeky, technology-related gifts. We don’t (always) like being the default technical support for said gifts.  If you’re familiar with the “For Dummies” series of books, then you might just have an out on the tech support this holiday season with a subscription to “Tech Support For Dummies.”

I was sent a wrapped package with Alka-Seltzer pack attached to the ribbon. On opening the package, there was an Asus netbook with a flash drive – the instructions were to play the PowerPoint slide show and enjoy the music. The problem: the sound didn’t work. The next step was to call Tech Support for Dummies, give them my special code, get the problem fixed, and blog about the experience.

Why Alka-Seltzer? Because Tech Support for Dummies would solve my problem without any heartburn…well, before calling I could see what the problem was so I enlisted the help of my wife (who was very eager to try out a netbook). She called the number and gave the (first) person the special code. Charlie was very helpful even in the midst of struggling to find out who the account was registered to…which did take some time.

My wife was put on hold for a couple minutes and then registered. She was put on hold again before being transferred to another person. This person took some basic info and started working to resolve the issue. The first thing that the second-level person wanted was to take remote control of the computer. However, with the instructions I was given, the netbook was not attached to any network when the she called.

The person worked through the script and then struggled to figure out the problem without having a network connection. He pushed a couple of times for them to stop troubleshooting the sound problem so that the network could be set up. My wife played along saying “I think we have a Lexus router” (really a Linksys router) and finally said it was not going to be possible to set up the network.

The problem did get resolved and the person was very helpful (although he never once got my wife’s name right). Once the reason for the call was resolved, he again pushed to get the network set up and their remote control app installed. My wife declined.

I ran a stop-watch from the moment she called until she hung up. It took twenty-three minutes. How did those twenty-three minutes break down?

• six non-consecutive minutes getting registered
• seven non-consecutive minutes on hold
• ten minutes troubleshooting and resolving the issue (including attempting to get the remote control app installed)

My wife thought the two people she worked with were helpful and pleasant.

As a test, I disabled the sound again on the netbook and she Googled a fix. The Google search, the reading, and the trying out the resolution took five minutes. My guess is that the support analyst would have also taken about five minutes to resolve the issue if he had been able to follow his script (including not having to install the remote control application).

Our overall thoughts… Tech Support for Dummies was helpful, the people were nice that she spoke to and they did flex to the situation. My impression is that they might be a good back-up or additional gift if you’re giving a less-than-technical person a gadget this holiday season. Tech Support for Dummies supports a wide range of devices/items/software that include:

• PCs and Laptops and peripherals
• eReaders, mp3 players, digital cameras, and game systems
• operating systems
• Internet connectivity and home network hardware
• security devices and software

For the holiday season, they are running a special. If you go to Tech Support for Dummies and enter the code of “HOLIDAY CHEER”, you get unlimited 24×7 phone support for three months for $19.99 (usually a nearly $45 cost if purchasing three months at the regular $14.95/mo). $20 may just be the sanity-saving factor for your own holiday season.

Wired: nice, helpful support staff; 24×7 phone support; decent holiday price promotion for their service.

Tired: the push to have a remote control app installed on the device.

Do you need to advertise your business or event?

There is another way to advertise other than ads in the paper and billboards to get the word out about your business. Advertising on balloons is a great way to spread the word. Everyone likes balloons! People would be drawn to your business once they see the inventive way to get your word out there for your business. Small balloons with your logo or business on them can be given to the kids that may come in with their parents, then they will have the information at home if they want to come in your shop.

6 ft. advertising balloon with logo – $433.00

Go crazy on the holidays and the minor causes for celebrating. A huge bunny at Easter, Hearts for valentines day and so on Picture your logo on a big red heart for all to see! Put a cupid inflatable in the shop, elves on Christmas, maybe even reindeer with your logo on their sides! If you like, there are bigger balloons available and figures, and even an advertising blimp you can put your information on! Balloons are a great way that has been under utilized so far in advertising. Get some hologram balloons for that “bling” shine, they will attract the eye of passersby.

11 ft. Advertising Blimps with logos from $725.00

Anything can be put on a balloon from congratulations on your new baby, to welcome home for the private sector. They are great for holiday promotions and party favors on New Year’s Eve, use your imagination and you will find many ways balloons of all sizes can help your business to grow!

Do You Need to Advertise? is a post from: Advertising Balloons

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