Entrepreneur of Over 35 years Learns How to Train a Mouse!

What could be worse than the situation we all find ourselves in today?  Surely the death of a loved one from the Coronavirus would be the ultimate tragedy. This is why our Team, as well as many of you that we follow and that follow us, have chosen to quarantine and be cautious in these turbulent times.

For me, working from home is foreign.  Work means you go to an office.  You clock in, you organize your desk, you mingle with your associates, you put things in the boss’s mailbox for review and you may or may not even leave during the day…at all.  For many in the workplace today, a home office is essential, is used daily or many times during the course of a business year.  Things seem to get done, staff still communicate and deadlines are met.

I have seen this in action in the two days that we have now been working from home.  We had our first teleconference staff meeting today.  We are sending pictures, updates on progress, scheduling times to talk in a respectful manner as opposed to numerous interruptions, constant changes in routine and realizing that the day has passed and it’s 3:00 and you haven’t had lunch.  I’ve actually seen quite a bit of creativity and community in these two days.

So what’s up with the whole training a mouse subject line?  As I summarized my thoughts on how we are going to manage through these difficult times in the staff meeting today, my biggest problem was that my mouse wasn’t working….How would I ever be able to get my work done?  What was this awkward act that all of the other staff members breeze through with their fingers on the smooth surface at the bottom of the key pad?  How did they do that?  For me, it’s been who cares!  I have a mouse.

Well today my mouse died!  I actually googled it.  I did everything that everyone suggested.  I then proceeded to try to teach myself how to use my fingers on the pad.  Worked but awkwardly and slowly.  Then, I hit a brick wall.  I had to copy and paste.  Where was the right click button on the pad???  I broke down and called Emily.  She did a great job of introducing me to steps that worked but then we hit a stalemate.  My pad did not have a button but then again, I have no idea how old this laptop must be.  What to do?  I decided to venture out of the house for the first time in 2 days and I went to Staples to buy a new mouse.  I actually got a fancy one and was excited about trying my hand at the install without ANY HELP FROM ANY ONE.  Got ready, then I noticed this “thing” that looked like a zip-drive on the side of my computer as I was reading the instructions on the new one.  Hummmmmm….so I pulled it out and the computer made a noise.  Then I looked at it and the logo was logitech…”hey, that’s what is on the top of my mouse!”  So….I put it back in and wiggled the mouse and the arrow on my screen was moving all around.  I TRAINED MY MOUSE!  Joy, Rapture, Hooray….I feel like I just received an honorary PHD or something.

So, all you young people that make the VeryVera Team the best team there is…your “seasoned” leader learned something in the face of a crisis today.  I had no one to count on and I actually practiced some of what I preach all the time.

Today was a good day…now the decision will be do I keep the OLD mouse or do I plug in the fancy new one?