Team Nerd Tech Show With Tim Gillen

Our guest this week is Mike Drilling, from Windborne Photographic Studios and Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realty. Mike's been running his studio for over 4 decades, and he's established himself as an innovative, creative, and adaptive business owner- and now brings that same creativity to realty. After our chat, Ruthy and Tim delve into the topic of backups, including what to look out for in a backup system, and the frequently-recommended brand that Tim says is inadequate for business.

We had such a good time chatting with Tim Brick of Brick Wheels, and we talked for over an hour! We can only fit 30 minutes of content into our official show episodes, so we put all the bonus extras in this episode. Enjoy!

Tim and Ruthy sat down at the start of June with Tim Brick, owner of Brick Wheels in Traverse City. Tim’s shop sells many types of outdoor sporting gear, including ebikes, fat bikes, and tunes and repairs snowboards and skis of all types. Our chat was long, and it was hard to condense it into our half hour! We covered tons of topics, including what he loves -and what he doesn’t love- about running a business in northern Michigan. 

Welcome to the special bonus episode of Season 2, Episode 1 with Tim Gillen. It's packed with all the good stuff we couldn't fit into the first 30 minutes. In this one, Tim talks about what it was like growing up in a family of entrepreneurs and his very first owned business, a marina in Leelanau County; the instance that lead him to tech, while running his second business, a tool resale business with SnapOn; his favorite parts about running a business up north and the people he encounters, and more. 

Welcome to Michigan Small Biz Stories! In this season, Tim and Ruth chat with small business owners in Northern Michigan about the real, frank realities of running a business up north.  For our first episode, Tim takes a step back as host, as Ruthy interviews him on what it was like starting Terrapin Networks in 1990, how his company has changed, what he really thinks about business in Michigan, and more.  **Don't forget to unlock the bonus content at mismallbizstories.com!

This week, Ruth and Tim chat with Dr Bryan Shumaker of Headlands International Dark Sky Park. We discuss the cultural impactor the dark sky, how people interested in astronomy or stargazing can get involved, and Elon Musk's SpaceX program completing its first successful rocket launch, with 2 astronauts inside. 

If you’re the one who makes all the final tech decisions, then guess what? YOU’RE the tech manager in your business. Not the guy or gal you’re paying to implement it. Is that really where you want/need to be?

This week, Ruthy and Tim are breaking down more nerdy tech and science news for your nerdy ears. We discuss a local pirate legend come to life with a shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan, a great list of remote tools for work-at-home business owners to check out, a disinfectant spray booth possibly coming to an airport near you, and a simulator that lets you fly a SpaceX craft form the comfort of your own home. 

This week, Ruthy and Tim talk about a new sleep science study that  proves what our dreams are really processing, we celebrate (?) World Password Day, discuss the Narnia-like place in this world without any coronavirus, agree that contact tracing apps, while hopeful in slowing the spread, offer little protection in terms of privacy, and a vulnerability with ShareFile that business owners need to know about. 

Tim and Ruthy break down all the nerdy tech news that's happening in the world.  This week, 5/3/20: Google Meet is free for Gmail users, Bubonic Plague is like the coronavirus (but not really), contact tracing apps and API from Google and Apple (is this a privacy violation? Guess what our opinion is), a PPE disinfectant out of Michigan State University, and an update on Elon Musks' Starlink and his possible solution for light pollution the satellites will bring. 

This week Ruthy and Tim connect with Rex Rudolph, owner of Padget Business Services in Traverse City. Padgett Business Services might seem like a company well suited for remote work, but the sudden switch wasn't as easy as it might have seemed. Rex shares with us the struggles his company has gone through, what they plan on changing when the country opens back up, and what he wants other small business owners to know about moving their operations from in-house to remote. 

This week, Tim and Ruth are chatting about their favorite video conferencing apps- and the ones they stay away from, and why. We'll dig into what exactly "zoombombing" is, as well as talk about the privacy issues concerning Zoom and the many other platforms we're talking about. 

In a break from our typical type of talk, Ruthy discusses how she contracted (she thinks) COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. She also gets into what it was like taking the controversial drug cocktail, hydroxychloroquine and a z-pack, to help her recover. 

This week, Tim and Ruth discuss some recent updates regarding coronavirus, and how it continues to affect the way we work as small business owners. We're expanding even more on our recent work-from-home conversation, and sharing our favorite Twiter threads that help to break down coronavirus information in an easy, digestible way. 

This week, Tim and Ruthy chat about how small businesses can shift their business operations to operate more employees as work-at-home...for the long term. We're covering the concept of making it a permanent part of your business. These are strange times with covid19 threatening the way our world works, and we're here to help you figure out how to adjust your business strategy seamlessly. We also cover a new type of Nigerian Prince email scam, and chat about our favorite video conferencing platforms. 

This week we have a special guest hanging out with us: Steve Kiger, from Rocketsource.com. Steve talks how small business owners can better connects with their customers, by asking what they want, following up at just the right time, and following their journey beyond their initial purchase. He's also sharing info about Rocktsource's new Platstack.com, an incredibly easy way for people to share information with each other.

This week, Tim and Ruth talk all things smartphones. We kick things off in Tech News with a rundown of cellphone battery myths and truths, and then we jump into the discussion of Android or iPhone in your small business- does it matter to declare your company "for" one or the other? Lastly, we're chatting about the EFF's browser extension Privacy Badger, and talking a little about why the EFF is such an important institution for online privacy matters.

This week's we're all about web domains for your business! Have you updated the account info? If not, you might be in for a scary awakening. Watch this to see what you need to get done, how to repair past mistakes, and why it's so important for your small business. Plus, an update on Elon Musks' Starlkink and SpaceX rocket and satellite launch, and an app that tells you which IoT appliances near you are tracking your moves.

This week, Ruth and Tim talk about a problem almost everyone has encountered- spotty internet. You were promised clear, fast internet by your cable guy... but in reality, it's not everywhere you need it to be, the connection drops, and sometimes it's randomly slow. What gives? We chat about what you can do to fix it, what to look out for next time, and why funky connectivity happens in the first place. Plus: What you can use instead of Google, Whatsapp, Facebook and Gmail. And why do we even have Leap Year, anyway?

Your printer locks up, or stutters, stops printing halfway through, or you need to get up and push a button on the printer in order for it to print... defeating the reason you installed the printer wirelessly in the first place! Today we're talking wireless printing and how small business owners can choose and install the right printer set-up for the least amount of printing headaches. Plus, Clearview getting sued by Google and YouTube (ha!) and the rise in anti-surveillance products for everyday people.