Archive for October 2007
Springwise: House-hunting can be a difficult and time-consuming process in which it often feels like you spend more time in a real estate agent’s car than you do viewing houses. Pedal To Properties has come up with a novel concept whereby agents offer customers the chance to check out properties and neighbourhoods in a more [...]
Internet Ad Sales Still Rising
Webware.com: Sales of Internet ads were up more than 25 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year ago, to $5.1 billion, according to a new study from the Internet Advertising Bureau. That was up from $4.9 billion in the first quarter of this year. The $10 billion for the first half [...]
Entrepreneur: Despite the best-laid plans, history is littered with tales of businesses whose marketing stunts ran amok. According to a 1926 Associated Press article, there was a candy company in Berlin that tried dropping foil-wrapped chocolates on its citizens to advertise their services. But police had to step in after they received complaints of injuries [...]
Small Bizs Plead For Permanent Tax Ban
Small Business Computing: As the November expiration date nears for a ban on some forms of Internet taxation, the House Committee on Small Business took a look at the issue, hearing testimony from online mom-and-pop shops that are urging Congress to enact a permanent ban on discriminatory and access taxes. Affordable Internet access — free [...]
Devils Lake Journal: Now that he’s retired from teaching and coaching at Devils Lake High School, Myron Loberg will have more time to devote to his pet project – EZ Step Inc. It’s an ongoing effort to develop and market a device that is designed to improve mobility and quality of life for people with [...]
Free Press Release: Janie Jones was a stay-at-home mom only two years ago when she began looking for an alternate source of income so that she and her husband could spend more time with their family. Janie found a work-from-home opportunity, in the direct selling industry, called AmeriPlan®, a discount medical plan organization that markets [...]
Cupcake Businesses On The Rise
13ABC.com: The cupcakes are the business idea baked up by Lori Jacobs and Dana Iliev. The two moms spotted a trend in New York and L.A. for cupcake stores. So they are bringing the idea to Toledo. Their cupcake place is called Cake In A Cup, which is opening soon. The two mom entrepreneurs will [...]
3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Brain Power
DumbLittleMan.com: Google “improve brain power” and you’ll find all sorts of tips, techniques, books, and games explaining how you could improve your brain power. While it would be cool if everyone could incorporate these tips, I highly doubt that after reading such advice you will start jogging for one hour every morning and change your [...]
Inventor Creates New Foot Rest
Citizen.com: Chris Haskell has always had an innovative mind. While he struggled through school, he grew up designing things, such as modified skateboards, during his junior high school days. Now he has two U.S. Patented products under his belt and he thinks that his newest invention may be the best yet. Haskell is the creator [...]
Top Small Workplaces 2007: NRG Systems
The Wall Street Journal: Think “great place to work,” and big companies like Google typically spring to mind. But across the country, many small businesses and nonprofits have built workplace environments and cultures that rival — or even outshine — the big names. When it comes to benefits and office environment, NRG Systems Inc., a [...]
Rhonda Abrams at Gannett News Service: You’ve picked the perfect name for your new pet food company: Cosmo’s Kitchen. You’ve even invented a cartoon character — an adorable white terrier named Cosmo — to symbolize your brand. Now you’re ready to take over the pet food world. Not so fast. You need to make sure [...]
Bill Would Open Small-Business Programs
Los Angeles Times: Here we go again. That’s the concern of some small-business owners who worry that a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would open a door for billion-dollar companies to benefit from federal small-business programs. The Small Business Investment Expansion Act, which has been fast-tracked for a House vote with little debate [...]
Home-Based Agents Make Trade Offs For Home Office
Inside Bay Area: Megan Hanlon-Akright wanted to get to back into the work force. But she didn’t want to go back to commuting to a job. A flexible schedule was what the 47-year-old Danville resident was looking for, something that would let her work at home so she could be around when her 9-year-old daughter [...]
Mom Whips Up Mini Pie Business
WBALTV11: A Baltimore County stay-at-home mom has started her own miniature pie business called Cutie Pie. Aime Stewart is a hard-working stay-at-home mother of three, but she’s also a self-described entrepreneur. She said that in the middle of the night one night, she decided she would start a business making individual-sized pies in just about [...]
Online Glazed Baked Ham Company Helps Moms Save Time and Money
Business Wire: Mother of two and Founder of Pams-hams, Pam Cole is on a mission to de-stress the holidays for Moms across America. The simplicity of the site’s specialty, a glazed baked ham, is that it is perfection with no preparation. That solved, moms can once again be part of the holiday traditions with their [...]
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Summer is the hardest time of year for Judi Thilges. She has a business to run from her Peters home, just as she does the rest of the year. But in those three frenetic summer months, she has her four children there with her, because they’re not in school. “You’ve got to be [...]
Yahoo Users To see Less PayPal Phishing
iTwire Yahoo Mail is today applying the DomainKeys authentication technology to block emails purporting to be from eBay or PayPal. DomainKeys allows an email server to verify that an email really did originate from the domain it claims to be from. So a phishing email coming from a zombie PC connected to an ISP cannot [...]
eBay Fears Internet Access Taxes
Associated Press An eBay executive warned Wednesday that fewer small businesses would sell products through the Web auctioneer, and elsewhere online, without a permanent ban on Internet access taxes. Congress first imposed a moratorium on taxing Internet access — which bars state and local governments from taxing the connection to basic Internet content — in [...]
eBay to Crack Down on Selling Recalled Items
Kansascity.com EBay Inc. said sellers who inadvertently are listing recalled items will be sent a message from the company with a copy of its policy forbidding such sales. “Listing items on eBay which have been recalled is strictly prohibited, and if the Consumer Product Safety Commission asks eBay to remove an item, we will take [...]
Rapid TV News Skype’s co-founders have – almost – left the building! Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the co-founders of VoIP service Skype have resigned, and there are signs that all is not well at eBay which paid a mind-numbing pile of cash for Skype. The inventive paid are also the brains behind web-based download [...]
Rapid TV News Skype’s co-founders have – almost – left the building! Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the co-founders of VoIP service Skype have resigned, and there are signs that all is not well at eBay which paid a mind-numbing pile of cash for Skype. The inventive paid are also the brains behind web-based download [...]
Skype Not Pulling It’s Own Weight
Internet Financial News Business Week and the Wall Street Journal are all over eBays latest word on Skype”and that looks to be Whoops. After paying $1.3 billion cash… …and $1.3 billion stock two years ago, eBay is regretting its decision and partnering with Skype rival Jajah. eBay reports that theyll be taking a 3rd quarter [...]
Entrepreneur: A new survey sponsored by RSM McGladrey and the National Association of Women Business Owners has created a profile of today’s average woman entrepreneur. After surveying 650 women across the country, the 2007 Survey of Women Business Owners found that women entrepreneurs are more educated. Here are other key findings from the survey: They [...]
Niche Marketing Can Separate You From All The Rest
Gainesville Times: Once upon a time there were two soft drink companies. With the names Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, each tried with all its might to lure consumers to drink its product. A more contemporary name for segmentation in today’s business environment is niche marketing. Why is segmentation or niche marketing important to small businesses? [...]
Top Small Workplaces 2007: Gentle Giant Moving
The Wall Street Journal: Think “great place to work,” and big companies like Google typically spring to mind. But across the country, many small businesses and nonprofits have built workplace environments and cultures that rival — or even outshine — the big names. Moving is a tough, stressful business — one that few people plan [...]
Entrepreneur: Think hiring a driver means a flashy black Town Car and a hefty price tag? Avis Rent A Car is setting out to challenge that notion by offering chauffeurs to customers in the top 10 business markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C. Avis supplies the car, and WeDriveU, a San [...]
Mom-And-Pop Niche In Radio Market
Savannah Morning News: Savannahians who tune in to 1400 on the AM dial are in for something a little different. The former gospel station is the new home for classic oldies from crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Michael Buble and Tony Bennett. Part of the MarMac Communications family, Star 1400 isn’t looking to [...]
SAHM's Start Their Own Business
IndyStar.com: With only an idea and no business plan in place, Taquoya Porter and Crystal Dunn set out on a mission to redefine the term stay-at-home mom. With a shoestring budget and only the skills they had acquired through educational training and work experience, the two Indianapolis women started their own home-based business, S.A.H.M. (Stay [...]
Pawprints Unveils A New Low Cost Home Business
PowerHomeBiz.com: Original Pawprints has issued a highly polished home training option using DVD technology to help moms and families start a home business producing beautiful kiln fired ceramic handprints – baby handprints, pet pawprints – as cherished keepsake items. These clay handprint keepsakes are customized for each person (or their pet) to mark the important [...]
As Fall Approaches, Turn Full Attention To Biz
Rhonda Abrams at Gannett News Service: More phone calls. More e-mails. Hopefully, more orders. You’re still wondering where summer went, when – bang! – you’re suddenly back to work at full speed. Of course, as a business owner, you’re never completely away from work. Even when you went on vacation – and I hope you [...]
43folders.com: I’ve started collecting stories — some of which may be entirely apocryphal tall tales — of the purported lengths to which people are going to filter noise and to ensure that their time and attention aren’t ceded to bad ideas, thoughtless people, or garden-variety time burglars. Here’s a few of the more novel ones [...]
Interview with the New Owner of BusinessMoms.net
Last month, Bunmi Zalob sold BusinessMom.net on eBay for $3,050. At the time of the sale, we ran an interview I did with Bunmi. Today, we have a brief chat with the new owner, Janice Clark. You recently purchased BusinessMom.net. What attracted you the website? I love the idea of being able to help develop [...]
Top Small Workplaces 2007: Exactech
The Wall Street Journal: Think “great place to work,” and big companies like Google typically spring to mind. But across the country, many small businesses and nonprofits have built workplace environments and cultures that rival — or even outshine — the big names. Training at many companies revolves around teaching employees to perform their current [...]
10 Businesses Facing Extinction
Entrepreneur: Determining which industries aren’t long for this world may seem easy enough. But some types of businesses, such as telemarketing, are surprisingly hard to kill. And then again, other industries, probably the ones you’re sad to see go, can’t find a way to survive. 1. Record stores 2. Camera film manufacturing 3. Crop dusters [...]
Facebook to Pay $250,000 for Top Apps
Entrepreneur: The second-most-trafficked social networking site, Facebook, is hoping a new offer will help it overtake competitor MySpace.com, which holds the number-one spot. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that the site is looking for software developers to create applications for the platform. The new incentives are part of a $10 million fund financed by two [...]
Storybookkitz Storycards Helps Parents Encourage Reading
PRWeb: A unique product from mother, author, entrepreneur Janelle Ray will bring families and children together in a new way. With the release of StoryBookkitz into the marketplace, parents can give their young ones snippets of books with colorful cards, placed under the pillow, into the lunch box, alongside an afternoon snack, that will encourage [...]
Working From Home Becoming More Popular With Businesses
KansasCity.com: Late at night and on weekends, the lights flicker on computers in suite 100 of Kansas City’s Penn Tower at 31st Street and Broadway. But this isn’t the work of ghosts. Home-based workers are connected to computers 24/7 at the headquarters of ARO Inc. All but about 30 of the company’s 200 to 300 [...]
Inventor Puts New Spin On Dusting
Miami Herald: In a crowded Miami workshop that once was a walk-in closet, David Kotkin designed GoDuster, a battery-operated duster that has put a new spin on an unpopular household chore. GoDuster is a rotating brush that banishes dirt and dust from furniture, fans, electronics and tight spaces. Sold with a dusting spray and a [...]
Web Video Viewers Logging More Hours
eMarketer.com: Three-quarters of online video viewers watch more video than they did a year ago, and more than one-half expect to watch even more next year, according to a study conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres and sponsored by AOL and Google. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they preferred keeping ads on video Web sites if [...]
Top Small Workplaces 2007: Alaska Wildland Adventures
The Wall Street Journal: Think “great place to work,” and big companies like Google typically spring to mind. But across the country, many small businesses and nonprofits have built workplace environments and cultures that rival — or even outshine — the big names. The Wall Street Journal teamed up with Winning Workplaces, an Evanston, Ill., [...]
College Is Good Resource For Small-Biz Owners
Augusta Chronicle: When school is in session, it can be good news for a business owner. Colleges and universities are a superb resource for finding part-time workers and for professional development and networking. How you can work together with local colleges to help build your company and expand your expertise: BUSINESS CONSULTING: Many business school [...]
Male Biz Owners Place Emphasis On Health Care
USA Today: Challenging conventional wisdom, a new survey says men — more than women — put greater emphasis on offering health insurance to employees at small businesses. The American Express survey of 627 small-company owners and managers found that 67% of men vs. 59% of women feel such coverage is important. The results, out today, [...]
Baby Swags Gives 2007 Emmy Award Winners and Runners Up An 'Unofficial' Emmy Swag Baskets
PRWeb: Plainfield, Illinois-based entertainment marketing company and their entrepreneurial women clients have presented the 2007 Emmy Award nominees with their first “Unofficial” Emmy Baby Swags Gift Baskets. Products for this one-of-a-kind “exclusive” baby basket include: Happy Panda – Happy Panda’s clothing is high quality tagless babywear, designed and made in the USA, using environmentally safe [...]
SFGate.com: When it comes to bringing order to the home, images of Mary Poppins, Fraulein Maria and Nanny McPhee come to mind – women with bags of tricks, harmonious voices and magical powers. But Lonna Corder is the opposite – a stylish, vivacious 44-year-old with a sense of humor. She doesn’t have an umbrella to [...]
Idea Gives Business A “Black Eye”
CNBC: Just when you thought that all the advertising space was occupied on the sports field, here comes the folks from EyeBlack.com. The company will sell millions of pairs of EyeBlack–yes, the stuff that’s supposedly used to cut down on glare–with college and high school logos on it this year. But there’s the dream that [...]
Wish You Could Read Customers’ Minds?
Inc.: If only you had a crystal ball for business. Gilbert Systems seeks to provide just that — with a new product that helps business owners anticipate their customers’ spending habits in order to maximize sales. Proclivity is a consumer predictive engine technology that is able to analyze a customer’s online activity and identify their [...]
Miami Herald: At first blush, one might assume the popularity of pickled pigs feet — a sour, bony, gelatinous food — has waned in recent decades as the array of munchies has grown. Unlike chips, dips and buffalo wings, they have yet to earn a space on the traditional Super Bowl party platter. But Jonathan [...]
Does The SBA Support Female Entrepreneurs?
Fortune Small Business: Women’s business advocates criticized the Small Business Administration for failing to properly support a national program for female entrepreneurs at a Senate hearing. Critics complained that the SBA was consistently late in paying out grants to Women’s Business Centers, slowing their work. Only about 30 percent of this funding arrived on time, [...]
Customer Service, Disney Style
Entrepreneur: Customer service just isn’t what it used to be. That’s why companies are asking for help from “The Happiest Place on Earth.” The Florida-based Disney Institute, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, has worked with companies like Delta Air Lines, IBM and General Motors since 1986 to help them improve their customer service [...]
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