Archive for March 2006
Paul Graham: Are you a hacker who has thought about one day starting a startup? Then you’re invited to a free, one-day startup school this April 29 at Stanford. Where: Kresge Auditorium, Stanford University. When: 29 April 2006, 9:00 am. Application Deadline: 7 April 2006. The school is free, but because more people may want [...]
This week’s Carnival of Entrepreneurship is up at MooreThoughts.
Jason Calacanis: Offices are best at creating three things: politics, commutes, and distractions. Again, find great folks and do regular in person meetings, then let them go home and work. They’ll be happier, you’ll have less expense, and there will be much less drama. via Nicholas Roussos and Richard Miller.
Security Breach at eBay’s PayPal
Auctionbytes: AuctionBytes reported on Friday a vulnerability on the PayPal website that allowed anyone to find out if an email address was attached to a PayPal account, and if so, revealed the account holder’s full name (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m03/i24/s00). Several hours after AuctionBytes contacted PayPal about the security issue the page raised, PayPal fixed it, calling it [...]
Tough Tax Questions for eBay Sellers
E-commernce News: If you are like millions of other Americans, you made money peddling products on eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) Latest News about eBay last year. Many earned enough to enjoy a night on the town. Others collected enough to go on their dream vacation. Still others made a living selling widgets at the online auction [...]
Supreme Court hears eBay’s patent appeal
ZD Net: In a dispute that’s part of a broader debate over the future of the patent system, some U.S. Supreme Court justices suggested Wednesday that the patent at the heart of a suit against eBay may be too vague and trivial to even be taken seriously. During oral arguments that lasted about an hour, [...]
fibre2fashion: Aktieselskabet Af, a Danish clothing company, has filed suit against one of China’s largest e-commerce websites, eBay Eachnet in the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate Court. Company alleged that eBay Eachnet provided platform for selling forged goods and demanded public apology as well as 200,000 yuan (US$24,691) in compensation. Danish company has said it had [...]
Stolen eBay Account Reseller Shut Down
Security Pro News: A Russian-language site had been selling stolen eBay accounts along with a few pilfered PayPal accounts until their operation was uncovered and put to an end. Alex Eckelberry’s Sunbelt Blog recounted the discovery of the illicit site recently. Written in Russian, the site offered eBay accounts for sale. The sale price varied [...]
Forbes: Google Gunning For EBay?
Forbes: When Google began testing a payment system in February for Google Base, its virtual catalog product, Internet pundits assumed the company was moving ahead with efforts to go head-to-head with eBay, the online marketplace giant. Not so, Google executives claimed. That’s standard operating procedure for team Google (nasdaq: GOOG – news – people ), [...]
Business 2.0: Of course, fast-following isn’t as simple as saying “Me too.” To battle established leaders, you need the right product and strategy, and a big dose of savvy. Here’s how to show up after the starting gun and still come out on top. Be better, faster, cheaper, easier. Trip up incumbents with tactics from [...]
Business Week: Entrepreneurial companies make fast decisions. And most of the time, that counts in their favor. But if we don’t take care, we can spend a lot of time, effort, and money chasing solutions that merely mask the symptoms without diminishing the real problems. A key sign of a company achieving a transition from [...]
ecommercetimes: The lengthy patent battle between e-commerce Get Linux or Windows Managed Hosting Services with Industry Leading Fanatical Support. giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) Latest News about eBay and a small firm that says it came up with the popular “Buy it Now” technology first will get a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday. The [...]
Fox News: Ever since eBay exploded into a cultural phenomenon in the past decade, many frequent users have wished they knew how to quit the online auction house. Truth be told, eBay addicts often don’t want to give up their habits of trolling the trading Web site for that great deal or obscure collectible they [...]
County Turns to eBay to Sell Surplus
MPR: St. Louis County has saved a bundle on high tech equipment – by turning to the popular online auction site eBay. Many local governments use the web to unload surplus equipment – but it’s not so often a county gets new equipment that way. Duluth, Minn. — St. Louis County first tested e-commerce a [...]
Free Subscriptions to Trade Publications
I’ve recently added a new advertiser called Tradepub to the blog network. They offer hundreds of free trade publications, all of which are completely free and offer valuable information that will help you stay on top of your respective industry. For more than 12 years, TradePub has provided a quick and easy way to subscribe [...]
Charles F. Kettering: An inventor is simply a person who doesn’t take his education too seriously. You see, from the time a person is six years old until he graduates form college he has to take three or four examinations a year. If he flunks once, he is out. But an inventor is almost always [...]
Last Week in the Business Opportunities Weblog Network
The Business Opportunities Weblog Network is made up of eleven niche business blogs. Here’s a selection of popular posts from around the network: Other PPC Ideas You May Not Have Thought Of Turn eBay into your Personal Salesman Franchise Popularity Keeps Rising In China Is Your Understanding Of Network Marketing Outdated? POP3 on your Cisco [...]
Last Week in the Business Opportunities Weblog Network
The Business Opportunities Weblog Network is made up of eleven niche business blogs. Here’s a selection of popular posts from around the network: Other PPC Ideas You May Not Have Thought Of Turn eBay into your Personal Salesman Franchise Popularity Keeps Rising In China Is Your Understanding Of Network Marketing Outdated? POP3 on your Cisco [...]
Last Week in the Business Opportunities Weblog Network
The Business Opportunities Weblog Network is made up of eleven niche business blogs. Here’s a selection of popular posts from around the network: Other PPC Ideas You May Not Have Thought Of Turn eBay into your Personal Salesman Franchise Popularity Keeps Rising In China Is Your Understanding Of Network Marketing Outdated? POP3 on your Cisco [...]
Startup Journal: That said, don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll reap any major tax benefits from incorporating, says Robert Caplan, a certified public accountant in Foster City, Calif. Tax liabilities for corporations are generally the same, and sometimes even much higher, than those of a sole proprietor or partnership. “I hear people all the time [...]
Barry Moltz: I never understood why retailers framed their first dollar until I had a business of my own. Selling your own service or product to a customer is a special feeling. Did you save your first dollar? Do you have a story about it? Photo by (UB) Sean R.
Other PPC Ideas You May Not Have Thought Of
MoreBusiness: Embedded text is another option. It’s not nearly as big as the text-based ads that frequent most sites, but I’m seeing it with greater frequency. A site like www.investopedia.com has them, if you’re looking for an example. Here’s how they work: advertisers buy a word on the page and that word is underlined and [...]
Sarah Bosch turned in another great short review this week. This time it’s of Michael Lechter’s OPM: Other People’s Money, part of the Rich Dad series. We all know that cash flow is the basis of every successful business but most people do not have enough start up funds to forge their personal goals. OPM: [...]
Ironic Sans: Idea: Advertisements on the overhead bins (tags: advertising business idea bizopblog) Canadian Entrepreneur: Six Deadly Small Business Marketing Mistakes (tags: business bizopblog marketing) Be Excellentâ„¢: Best-Kept Secrets of the World’s Best Companies (tags: bizopblog businesss secrets) How to run a handyman business www.buildhandymanbusiness.com is a guide on how to start and run a [...]
Boomer Business Plan Competition
The Mature Market: Are you developing innovative products and services for the 45+ market? The baby boomer market represents over $2 trillion in annual spending power! The first of 76 million baby boomers turns 60 in January 2006 and by the year 2030 there will be 71.5 million Americans age 65 and older, more than [...]
How To: Selling for Entrepreneurs
Dave Lorenzo: Entrepreneurs already know how to sell. They sell their ideas to their family first. Betting their future on a new business takes some convincing. After the family comes the people who will finance the venture. The business owner must make a compelling case in a charming way. Next they sell to vendors. A [...]
Seth Godin: If you fund your company, even a little, you’ve just sold it. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but one day. That’s because rational investors are funding your company in the expectation that you are going to sell it and make them a profit. (sure there are exceptions, but not many). So, if you [...]
Never a Bad Time to Start a Business
The most cockamamie elitist BS I’ve ever read: It’s a bad time to start a company. via Pete Caputa.
NFIB: What is the best way to structure your small business? You have four options: a sole proprietorship, a partnership, some type of corporation or a limited liability company (LLC).
Google recently made a move into the print advertising world by auctioning off advertising space at cut rate prices in a variety offline print publications, including Martha Stewart Living to Road & Track. Unfortunately, even though the advertisers were able to get space that normally sold for $59,000 for $4,000, the return was not inline [...]
The Cash Flow Blog: These traps/mistakes are common to many entrepreneurs: Getting Wedded To an Idea And Sticking With It Too Long. No Marketing Plan. Not Knowing Your Customers. Ignoring Your Cash Position. Ignoring Employees. Confusing Likelihood With Reality. No Sales Plan. Being a Lone Ranger. No Mastermind. Giving Up.
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Radiohead Tour Sells Out in Minutes – eBay your only hope
Gigwise: If you didn’t get your Radiohead tour tickets at 9am this morning you’re out of luck – they’ve all sold out. Tickets for the band’s upcoming mini-tour of Britain and Europe sold out within minutes of going on sale, leaving thousands of fans disappointed. Despite lead singer Thom Yorke recently criticising the sale of [...]
This week’s Carnival of Marketing is up at A Shareware Life.
Mpire Launches eBay Research for Mobile Phones
Auctionbytes: Mpire has launched a mobile version of its research tool for eBay buyers and sellers. Mpire launched Researcher for the desktop in January, and now users can now access data about items that have sold on eBay through their cell phones using Mpire Researcher Mobile.
Ross Perot: Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touch down. via SoHo Savvy.
KansasCity.com: A makeshift mannequin that failed to fool police monitoring a high-occupancy-vehicle lane fetched $15,000 in an eBay auction, and the proceeds will go to charity, the buyer has announced. Denver-based Video Professor bought the Styrofoam head, coat hanger and clothing stuffed with newspapers from HOV scofflaw Greg Pringle, 53, of Broomfield, Colo., said Brian [...]
Brokeback Mountain Truck on eBay
Canada.com: A Pincher Creek teenager is selling a ’50s-era pickup truck made famous in the movie Brokeback Mountain on eBay, hoping to make some cash for college by giving up his dream vehicle. Matthew Kennedy, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student, bought the truck at an auction about a year ago, after a friend of his [...]
Autoblog: Be prepared to ‘go for baroque,’ because we know you’ve always privately lusted for a bold restyling of Pontiac’s Fiero. Always keeping our readership in mind, we couldn’t wait to pass along this minty-fresh red Zimmer Quick Silver now at auction. The 1986 model seen here is motivated by the General’s 2.8-liter V6, and [...]
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Financial Baby Steps.
How to Start a Beauty Salon – WikiHow Have you always dreamed of being successful in the beauty business? Here’s how to launch and establish your very own beauty salon. (tags: business bizopblog ideas startup howto salon)
Silicon Valley Startups See Cash Everywhere
Startup Journal: The market for high-technology start-up businesses is so intense in Silicon Valley that some companies are being showered with millions of dollars from investors — without even asking for it. It is a phenomenon called “pre-emptive financing,” and it has become more common in the past several months. The question is whether venture [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Decker Marketing.
Small Business Trends » Bootstrapping Your Way to Success (tags: bizopblog business bootstrapping) Feld Thoughts (tags: fitness computer bizopblog) Final VC objection to LLC’s gone (tags: startup llc business inc bizopblog delaware) When Good Investment Deals Go Bad – New York Times “It’s a Goldilocks market — it’s not too hot, it’s not too cold [...]
MoreBusiness.com: One of the things that kept me from becoming an entrepreneur earlier than I did was money. Of course, at the time I was twelve and selling lemonade at a stand wasn’t cool anymore but I just couldn’t seem to get an appointment at a bank for a large business loan! If you want [...]
Fred Wilson: Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, etc, then offer premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base. Photo by iboy_daniel.
First-Time Entrepreneurs Can’t Sell Too Soon
Paul Kedrosky: According to [Jason Calacanis], first-time entrepreneurs can’t sell too soon… too many people wait for a non-existent fourth buyout offer.
The Container That Changed the World
NY Times: When the first container ship set sail 50 years ago, businesses and regulators treated distribution not as a single process but as a series of distinct modes: ships, trucks and trains. Every time the transportation mode changed, somebody had to transfer physically every box or barrel. “By far the biggest expense in this [...]
Turn eBay into your Personal Salesman
Niall Mehaffey: Yes, that’s right, you can turn eBay into your own personal salesman. Now the question is how. If you have a look on eBay for ebooks, you will see thousands of them being sold and quite a lot of them are even being sold for as little as 1p. You can take advantage [...]
At AlphaGraphics, we work with people to plan, produce and manage their visual communications, enabling them to achieve their goals more effectively and confidently. Established in 1970 in Tucson, Arizona, the AlphaGraphics network is comprised of nearly 300 business centers located throughout the U.S. and in nine other countries. Our business centers offer complete visual [...]
