An Interview with

Robert J. Hustwit, Founder & Director

System of Life Institute Inc.

robertj@soli.com

Republished from an Edited Interview at the askSam User Conference, January 1990

Remarks Updated, August 1996 by Robert J. Hustwit

LAURA GRAY:  Introduction please?

BOB HUSTWIT: My name is Robert Hustwit. I am Founder and Director of  System of Life

Institute, in Arroyo Grande, California.  

LAURA GRAY: Can you tell me how you use askSam?

BOB HUSTWIT: I use askSam in several different ways.  The two primary ways I use askSam every day are as a personal information manager and, secondly, in CD-ROM products that we publish.  askSam becomes the best, most flexible project manager I've found.

LAURA GRAY: How has askSam made your job any easier, or faster or more efficient?

BOB HUSTWIT: askSam has done that in a number of ways.   Being in business for myself, my job isn't limited to one small thing.  It's basically everything.  If there is a better way to sweep the floor, I have to figure out how to do that.  Because askSam is free form, I can use it everywhere.  I don't have to worry about only using it for certain things.  askSam has made my life easier because I am able to use it in all facets of my life, whether as a personal information manager or, as I said before, in System Of Life, doing project management, or managing mailing lists, phone lists, and, of course, as an idea manager.  I keep my thoughts and ideas in askSam.

There's another thing, too, worth mentioning, and that's askSam's ease of use.  What that means to me is that as a project grows and I have to hire someone, training is really fast and easy.   Because askSam is so easy to learn, people can become productive, and take over a whole project in no time.

LAURA GRAY: How did you decide on askSam?

BOB HUSTWIT: I purchased two other programs which supposedly were information management programs, I actually purchased them and returned them.  At the time, askSam was offering a 60-day money back guarantee and I figured, "What do I have to lose?"   I bought it and called them within a week to tell them that they didn't have to worry about me asking for a refund because askSam was a system that worked the same way I worked.

LAURA GRAY: How does askSam compare to some of the other programs?

BOB HUSTWIT: Well, for most people I think there is going to be little comparison because askSam works the way we work as human beings.  When we learn something, seldom do we know exactly how we are going to use it in the future. The problem that database managers and information managers have in general is that you have to know how you are going to use this information before you put it in.  Well, if you know that before you even put it into the system,

you probably don't need the system.  With askSam you can put it in any way you want, any time you want.  And just as our minds work, it gets structured when you get the information out.  It pulls what it needs from the various resources.  

LAURA GRAY:  Can you tell me about what kind of customer support you have received as a users?

BOB HUSTWIT: I wrote a letter about the customer support to a couple of magazines.  I have Microsoft Word and I have several other brand name products, including CorelDraw! and Pagemaker.  I challenge anyone to call any of those companies and talk to a live human being within five minutes.  With askSam, I have always spoken with a live human being and they have always been able at askSam to answer my questions.  Their technical support is what technical support should be and I haven't found any other company that gives me that type of support; not one.

LAURA GRAY: Would you recommend askSam and Why?

BOB HUSTWIT:  I recommend askSam absolutely.  askSam is very simply the easiest, fastest, most efficient and best way to store and then find and organize any type of information that you want to find.  It's easy to use.  It takes little or training. And as you get more familiar with it, you discover even more of its capabilities  and those capabilities get easier and easier to integrate.   I recommend it for everybody.

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Mr. Hustwit is one of the early users of askSam, and as you can see, he continues to use it in his day-to-day operations.  His large, fun, and very eclectic Website can be found at http://soli.com, and he welcomes any questions you may have on his use of askSam at his

e-mail address; robertj@soli.com .

Robert J Hustwit

Member HTML Writers Guild

Click here to visit System Of Life's eclectic, fun Website

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