Kyle Lacy wrote an interesting post this morning about what Twitter becoming accepted by the mainstream.  As he described interactions with small business owners who don’t see how it could be integrated into their business I was reminded of a conversation I had with my mother-in-law about microwave ovens almost thirty years ago.

A gourmet cook, she couldn’t imagine ever using a microwave to cook a roast or bake a cake.  And she was right, the microwave was not the right tool for that type of cooking. However, as she began to experiment with it she did discover, over time things the Microwave did extremely well.

Today, at 79 years old, the microwave is the most used device in her very active kitchen.  She still bakes and roasts in the traditional oven, but she defrosts, boils water, parboils vegetables, reheats and steams in the microwave.

There is a lesson there for small business owners!  Tools become mainstream, when we figure out how to use them as part of things we already do.

Try it out.. boil and little water, and see the resuls!