Archive for April 2007
eBay Is a Great Start For Retail Business
For someone who’s interested in starting a retail business, I can’t think of a more perfect incubator than eBay (EBAY – Cramer’s Take – Stockpickr – Rating). The auction site, now in its 12th year, is the world’s most robust online marketplace, serving up more than $44 billion in sales every year. Nearly a quarter [...]
PayPal Awarded Online Safety Leadership Award
PayPal today announced it has been given the Online Safety Leadership Award by the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA). The awards recognize companies that have demonstrated a commitment to preserving and improving online safety. The AOTA Leadership Awards were judged by a panel of experts in online safety including representatives of the AOTA Steering [...]
PayPal & eBay Face Unfair Monopoly Allegations
eBay warned shareholders yesterday that it is facing a possible class action suit in the state of California and is likely to be hit by more patent cases. The suit alleges that eBay and PayPal acted “to improperly ‘monopolise’ the forms of payment that sellers can use on eBay”. The plaintiff claims treble damages and [...]
eBay Rivals Can Use Amazon Distribution
Amazon.com, the world’s largest e-tailer, is expanding a program designed to allow independent sellers – including those on eBay – to use its network of distribution centers to store and ship their products, according to a report published Friday. The New York Times, citing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, said the e-tailer has had the “Fulfillment [...]
Pick an New Name for eBay Seller
Karen Dobos wants a new name. She feels no connection to her current name (which came from her ex-husband) or to her previous name (she was Karen Paul when she graduated from Poquoson High School in 1994). So she’s ready to let a complete stranger pick her new surname. For a price. “The idea really [...]
Leave it up to the kooks at Buffalo to come up with a strange design like this. This conference call speaker looks more like an overgrown gas mask or some sort of strange space ship than an actual useful device. But that shouldn’t take away from its functionality, right? Fully compatible with Skype, the Buffalo [...]
Skype Development Chief To Speak Reguarding 10 Million Downloads
Skype has announced that there have been more than 10 million downloads of Skype Extras since the Extras Manager in Skype™ 3.0 for Windows was launched in late December 2006. Extras are plug-ins written by independent third-party developers that let users expand Skype functionality and enrich their Skype conversations. I asked Paul Amery, Director of [...]
Why Should You Consider Working At Home?
Garden and Hearth: Working at home isn’t for everyone, there are certain major adjustments you have to do and hindrances you have to overcome in order to be a successful wahm. Still, the pros far outweigh the cons. So if you’re thinking of becoming a work at home mom yet still unsure if this is [...]
In Honor Of Mothers Day, New Website And Training Program To Help WAHMs
eMediaWire: With the launch appropriately coinciding with Mother’s Day, a new training program targeted at working moms, and dubbed 6 Figure Work At Home Mom, is being introduced on May 16, 2007. The program includes a five-week teleconference series designed to teach moms how to create a work at home business that will yield them [...]
Work At Home Moms Connect For Mothers Day
PR Leap: For Mother’s day this year, Two WAHMS have teamed up to sponsor a “Mama Said There’d be Days like This” essay writing contest. Baby boomer author Beverly Mahone of North Carolina and Internet Radio Host Rebecca White of Ohio decided to join forces after recognizing they were doing the same thing individually. Mahone [...]
eBay’s Long Term Potential More Diverse
With such large markets available for eBay’s new businesses, it is not difficult to imagine a future in which eBay’s auction business no longer dominates the company. eBay sees that long-term potential, though company executives underscore that a chief objective is to “reinvigorate” the core business. In its television ads, eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) describes itself [...]
Over the past couple of years, Skype has gained acceptance as one of the easiest ways to save money on long-distance phone calls, allowing users from anywhere in the world to converse for free over the internet. This popular VoIP telephony service also allows users to make dirt cheap phone calls to landlines and mobile [...]
Breaking eBay Down to The Basics
The world’s biggest online auction, eBay, can seem bewildering to beginners. You can buy stuffed squirrels, rare paintings, cut-price commodities and celebrity curiosities of all kinds. But the one thing people can’t seem to find on eBay is the manual. For many first-time buyers the frustration is palpable: they just cannot seem to win an [...]
Entrepreneur: It’s a giant among video game consoles, a brand name like almost no other, an entertainment product that needs no introduction. The Nintendo Wii. Some products and services are so well known, they hardly need an introduction. Nintendo Wii may not have the name cache of McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. But it does have brand [...]
SBA Names Small Biz of the Year
Entrepreneur: Two sisters from Lumberton, North Carolina have been named National Small Business Persons of the Year by the SBA. Bobbie Jacobs-Ghaffar and Lesa Jacobs’ healthcare business, Native Angels Home Care and Hospice, received the award during SBA’s two-day Small Business Week 2007 conference. The sisters, both members of the Lumbee Indian Tribe, launched their [...]
Great Biz Read: Out of the Crisis
Entrepreneur: Business authors and experts have proclaimed enough revolutions to fill a long shelf. Most of these turn out more like ripples than tidal waves, as a check of any bookstore’s markdown shelves will show. Of the thousands of business books published in the last 30 years, only a handful have withstood the assaults of [...]
Unusual Business Ideas That Work: Flexpetz recently launched in Los Angeles and San Diego, and offers consumers the option of having a dog for just a few hours or days a week. Which is a good solution for people who’d love to have a dog, but are too busy, travel frequently, or live in buildings [...]
It’s Never Too Early to Invent
Entrepreneur Daily: A new website and media campaign are encouraging children to use their imagination to come up with technological innovations of the future. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is working with the Advertising Council and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in launching the new initiative InventNow. The program targets kids between 8 [...]
Hire My Mom: Missing Link Between Qualified Professionals And Businesses Looking To Outsource Work
dBusinessNews: There’s a new breed of women professionals out there. They are experienced, talented and motivated. They are women on a mission to redefine their career path. This new generation of professionals is opting to leave corporate America for a more flexible work environment. No longer does having a career force them to sacrifice their [...]
Pajama Mamas Celebrate Working At Home
Best Syndication: Leslie Truex, aka The Pajama Mama has nothing against traditional jobs. What she hates is getting up early, leaving her warm bed, changing out of her comfortable pajamas, and then forcing her kids to do the same so she can get to a job. She found the answer to her dilemma by working [...]
Work At Home Based Business Opportunities – The Possibilities Are Endless
Best Syndication: When you look at work at home based business opportunities, you realize that you can make a lot of money supplying customers with products and services they really need. You don’t always have to deal with the Internet to find a great work at home opportunity. You can get started with a work [...]
Job Openings? Work-At-Home Moms Can Do It!
USA Today: Like many stay-at-home moms, Christie Thomas spends much of the day doting on her daughter, reading her stories, making her lunch and putting her down for afternoon naps. But Thomas is among a new generation of moms who have chosen to stay at home but earn an income, too. She’s a loan officer [...]
Postal-Rate Increase Could Actually Save Money
Inc.: While many businesses are bracing for the postal-rate increase scheduled to take effect May 14, those that make smart use of the new pricing system could actually see their costs reduced. The new postal rates contain hidden surprises — and therein lies the opportunity for business owners. While the cost of mailing a first-class [...]
Staples Announces 2007 Invention Quest Winners
BusinessWire: From an ingenious dry erase page called the “Problem Pad? to “No Poke Pins,? an innovative twist on traditional thumbtacks, Staples Inc. today announced the winners of the third Staples Invention Quest, its national search to find the next great product that makes school- or work-life easier. The 2007 Staples Invention Quest winners in [...]
Pet Food Panic Brings Opportunity for Small Bizs
Inc.: The ongoing recalls from major pet-food distributors have forced small retailers to create ways to calm the hysteria and still provide safe food for frisky felines or canines in their communities. More than 100 brands have had to recall the food because all the companies used the same ingredient distributor. But due to the [...]
Mother Pitches Invention To QVC
PRBuzz: Have you designed a new product and are now stuck wondering about the next big step? Jasmine Thompson, owner of The Sack Rack, wondered this too; but on March 26th she presented her idea to QVC executives in Los Angeles, California, along with thousands of other inventors. If The Sack Rack is chosen as [...]
Retiring Baby Boomers To Affect Companies
Inc.: Many businesses are not prepared for the loss of experienced workers that will occur over the next decade. More than 25 percent of U.S. businesses have done little to plan for the effects of an aging workforce, according to a new national study. Over the next decade, there will be a significant change in [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Geek Practitioners.
We are excited to have Gr1innovations.com as a new advertiser in our sidebar. They are an online directory of business opportunities. Choosing the right business opportunity is not always easy. There are so many out there. Gr1innovations.com is a directory of business opportunities that has been in operation since 2001. The truth is that many [...]
Entrepreneur.com: Moms know everything. They know where their kids left their socks, they know what time the carpool leaves, they know how to get a cranky 4-year-old through a shopping mall. Given their mastery of multitasking, is it any wonder mothers make such good business owners? It was motherhood itself that inspired Laurie McCartney to [...]
Companies Need Creative Hiring Solutions
Webpronews.com: There is no shortage of web design/development talent. There is, however, a shortage of companies who want to hire talent, understand the value of well-rounded skills and are flexible enough to accommodate their needs. There are three companies I can think of off-hand that I wish to chuck my work at home self-employment life [...]
Starting A Business With Your Mom (Or Daughter)?
MSNBC: Diane Salvatore, editor-in-chief of Ladies’ Home Journal, offers five start-your-own-business tips, whether you’re thinking about going into business with Mom, a friend or on your own. Know the business you’re getting in to: Just because you like to drink good wine, doesn’t mean you know a thing about selling it. Many successful entrepreneurs say [...]
Things I’d Like To See Affiliate Programs Or Be Paid For
Jon on Super Affiliate Marketing Blog has made an very funny post of 50 things he’d like to be able to receive affiliate payments for doing. Actually, I see some real business ideas in here: The emergency services of 911 (just dialing it!). Reporting sharks that swim too close to the shore. Reffering customers to [...]
MIT Sloan Sales Conference: 5/4/07
The MIT Sloan Sales Club, in conjunction with the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, is hosting its first-ever MIT Sloan Sales Conference on Friday, May 4, at the Cambridge Hyatt Regency. This event is the first forum at any academic institution to focus on the practical management and sales skills that drive great leaders and winning companies [...]
Springwise: Denmark’s Smukkeste Festival launched a novel concept for sleeping accommodations—oversized beer cans! The Can Sleep is a joint venture between the festival organizers and Royal Unibrew, Denmark’s second largest brewery. Standing at 11.5 ft with a diameter of 7.2 ft., each unit is fully furnished with a table, chairs, shelves, pegs and a mirror, [...]
Nearly Half Of U.S. Workers Not Happy
Inc: Employees complain of being publicly criticized, interrupted, teased, and ignored, according to a new survey. More than 44 percent of 534 U.S. workers surveyed feel that their bosses bully them on the job, according to the Employment Law Alliance, a San Francisco-based network of employment and labor attorneys. The survey also found that 64% [...]
BBC: Ever wished you could be in two places at one time? A Japanese scientist has managed it through making a robot that looks and moves exactly like him. The Geminoid was created by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro using a model of his body and hair actually from his head. When you poke its face, the [...]
Keeping Costs Low For an Internet Business
The Wall Street Journal: Hiring a Web developer to build an e-commerce site from scratch can cost at least $5,000, and often far more. But there are cheap alternatives for those willing to do much of the setup themselves — many of which don’t require much time or technical savvy. For an e-commerce novice, an [...]
Small Biz Lacking Access To Capital
Inc: The nation’s small-business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to access capital, a recent survey found. Out of 500 small and midsize companies surveyed nationwide, 33 percent said it was becoming more difficult to obtain financing, compared to just 24 percent in a similar poll seven years ago, accord to the National Small Business [...]
Franchise Meal-Maker Serving Up A Cookbook
Winston-Salem Journal: Twenty-one years ago, Stephanie Allen started getting together with a friend once a month to make a dozen dinners in one day. She would stick them in the freezer to pull out on those nights when family, work and other obligations all seemed to conspire against a home-cooked meal. Little did she know [...]
Work At Home Moms Submit Articles And Win Prizes
eMediaWire: Many work-at-home-moms (WAHMs) already know submitting articles to online directories can build a web presence for a home business. One article site is doing even more to help WAHMs build their businesses, one writer at a time. WAHM-Articles.com, the article directory that provides WAHMs with inspiration and legitimate home business information, launched its Writer [...]
Mocha Moms Offer Support And Sisterhood
Tennessean.com: Mocha Moms, Inc. started in 1997, when Jolene Ivey and Karla Chutz began publishing a newsletter called “Mocha Moms,” “in the hopes of connecting with other mothers of color across the country.” According to information on the national Web site, by June of 1997, Ivey and Chutz teamed up with Cheli English-Figaro to make [...]
Business 2.0: As students at Stanford University, Lily Kim, Shu Lindsey, and Adrian Mak had trouble finding the precision pens they liked to use, the Japanese made ultrathin ones with tips half the width of the average ballpoint. They started importing their own in 2004 and turned their passion into a business, pooling $9,000 in [...]
Cross-training to Keep Your Company on Top
BusinessWeek: As a business owner, you know about every part of your business. When your business was fairly small, you did all or some of everything. As you grew your business, you handed off specific tasks, such as cad-cam work, programming, sales, or reception. However, as a small business, your company may need more skills [...]
Make Money Without Really Trying
Business 2.0: When word of a whites-only scholarship at Boston University hit the media last fall–drawing coverage from bloggers and biggies like ABC alike–Daniel Kovach smelled opportunity. His goal: to boost traffic to the website he runs, Scholarships Around the US. So he paid a writer to crank out “The White Man’s Guide to Getting [...]
Entrepreneur: For business owners, the $1.6 trillion “Mommy Market” is well worth pursuing. In the book “Trillion Dollar Moms”, Maria Bailey and Bonnie Ulman teach you how to take advantage of this lucrative market. They describe three generations of moms: baby boomer moms, Gen X moms and Millennial new moms. If your company is still [...]
Yahoo Finance: Ryan Mongan’s role model is Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group fame — not so much for his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, but for his love of starting a seemingly endless string of businesses. Since launching his first business, Speck Design, 11 years ago, Mongan and his business partner have founded Speck Products, [...]
PayPal First Quarter Up With Yahoo Help
PayPal Inc. saw its transaction volume swell 19% in the first quarter, to 177 million payments, while its non-auction business expanded to 39% of all transactions in a performance widely credited with boosting parent eBay Inc.’s financial results for the period. News of the e-commerce transaction processor’s performance comes just as it has wrapped up [...]
In its television ads, eBay describes itself as the place to get “it,” whatever it may be. The company deliberately leaves “it” undefined to emphasize the immense variety of goods available for auction on its site. “It” is anything a consumer can imagine. But as eBay expands into myriad new businesses—from telecommunications to social networking—some [...]
Stay-At-Home Moms Get Entrepreneurial
Startup Journal: Tamara Monosoff, a former business consultant and Clinton White House staffer, quit work to stay at home when her daughter Sophia was born. Then she found herself annoyed by the constant need to re-roll the toilet paper Sophia unraveled onto the floor. So she invented a special latch to prevent the problem. Now, [...]
