Archive for February 2008
When Neither A Nor B Looks Good
The New York Times: A study in The Journal of Consumer Research finds that people have more trouble choosing between bad alternatives than good ones. In one experiment, college students were asked to choose between a car with a poor warranty and one without air-conditioning. They took 26 percent longer to choose than students who [...]
Nifty Invention Kills The Spill
Contra Costa Times: I have to admit — I like wine. Why do I bring this up? Because a hills mom has invented a nifty wine gadget that seems destined to succeed. It’s a set of four stainless steel stemware holders that stick in the ground to balance your glasses. Sue Hager is no stranger [...]
5 Morning Rituals For The Healthy Entrepreneur
Lifehack.org: No matter when you’re productive hours are, it’s important you set up your day for greater wellbeing with some healthy morning rituals. Here are some ideas: Wake up. Don’t hit snooze. Jump out of bed as if someone threw a bucket of cold water on you. Half of your day’s success is actually showing [...]
Stop And Think Before You Get Scammed
The Amesbury News: A scam is a “trick” used by a criminal for financial gain and far too many continue to be successful, despite an increase in public awareness. Some scams net a perpetrator a small amount of money while others can ruin the lives of victims. Many of the scams we investigate today are [...]
Full Time WAH Parents Can Do It All – The Job And Family
Chicago Tribune: Life is good in the Mayville household, about as good as it gets for two full-time working parents with demanding careers. Family life flows in and around an eat-in kitchen and two offices — one near the kitchen, the other at the opposite end of the main floor. You will find both parents [...]
Munchable Ice Sells Like Hot Cakes
The Wall Street Journal: When Kyle Burkhalter gets up in the morning, he goes into the kitchen and fixes himself a nice cup of ice. The 24-year-old director of research for a Web site chews the ice in the car on his way to work in Atlanta. He downs two or three more cups before [...]
BusinessWeek: What’s a small business owner to do if the current economic climate extends through 2008? Business consultants are busy weighing in on this question, so we rounded up some of their advice. 1. Don’t be caught off guard if the slowdown hits your company. 2. Keep your company lean, set and measure inventory targets [...]
Niche Biz: Press-On Eye Shadow Kits
Springwise: It’s not every day an innovation comes along that fundamentally changes the way consumers use a product, but colorOn and Eye Majic both appear to be achieving that feat with press-on eye shadow kits. Applying traditional eye shadow well requires considerable skill, time and expertise with brushes, sponges or other applicators. Matching colours can [...]
10 Foods For Enhanced Productivity
Lifehack.org: Most people eat to lose weight, get healthy and build muscle. There are some people, however, who snack correctly in order to enhance their productivity. The following is a list of foods you can eat to improve your eye-sight, improve your performance, energize your brain and keep your day on track. 1. Avocados 2. [...]
Entrepreneur: Let’s face it. Good marketing tactics are essential when it comes to getting your business to stand out from the crowd. So it came as no surprise that the room was jam packed for Catherine Seda’s session on Low-Cost Marketing Tactics at the Women in Charge conference. Seda presented invaluable information to a room [...]
It all started out simple enough, Angie wanted to get a hand print/foot print done of her new daughter. So she went to the store and bought one of the kits and gave it a try. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy with the end result. So she decided to take another route with a [...]
HeadStrong – Software To Help You Stay Sharp
DownloadSquad.com: Let’s face it. You reach a certain age milestone and suddenly, you forget where you put the keys a little too often, forget the row and aisle your car is parked somewhat frequently, and perhaps head off somewhere forgetting what you had originally in mind. To keep yourself sharp you have been told to [...]
Small Biz Owners Worry About Retirement, Health Costs
New Mexico Business Weekly: The latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey indicates that 43 percent of small business owners are concerned they will not have enough money to retire and 47 percent say they are worried about not being able to pay for the medical costs associated with a serious illness or accident. Eighty-seven [...]
Inventor Says He Has A Batter Idea
San Francisco Chronicle: Getting the pancake batter into the whipped cream canister actually was the easy part. The real challenge was when Batter Blaster creator Sean O’Connor started telling other people about his plan to revolutionize breakfast, one aerosol can at a time. Even the companies that let O’Connor and his spray-can pancake batter in [...]
Virtual Employment In A Material World
AppScout: Standard business tools are evolving into a collection of targeted and indispensable virtual services we can’t believe we ever did without: They are taking shape to resurface the rocky terrain of the once bubble-soft tech market. For example, take a site like GeeksOnTap.com, where the quaint traditional secretary has become a sci-fi worthy computer-based [...]
Telecommuters Count Their Blessings
AccountingWeb.com: According to the book Microtrends, about 4.2 million Americans work exclusively from their home (or the café or bookstore), which is nearly 100 percent more than in 1990, The New York Times reported. And the youngest people in the work force crave flexibility. Fortune magazine found that 61 percent of the youngest workers would [...]
National Post: Nobody wants to be caught reading The Joy of Sex while on the subway, or be deep in the final chapter of Understanding Your Bowels right when a hot date shows up for dinner. Well, nobody, that is, except Michelle Watters, who thrives on making jaws drop at the sight of controversial reading [...]
Direct Sales Offer "Best Of Both Worlds"
Tampa Bay Online: Sheryl Chelena never sat down. For three hours the tiny blond whirlwind sold her purses, talked with each of her guests and walked away with future business contacts. Chelena was giving a party at her Trinity-area home to promote Purse Party, a home-based, direct-sales business selling purses and jewelry. Women arrived throughout [...]
KansasCity.com: Caleb Markovich started Moovers Inc. back in 2005. It’s a household moving company, which has seven employees and operates within a 50-mile radius of downtown Kansas City. About 5 percent of the business is commercial. Why did you want to go into business for yourself? Markovich: “Entrepreneurship has always been a dream of mine, [...]
Gazette.net: Say you’re in China and come upon a road sign in Chinese. The problem? You don’t speak Chinese. The solution: your cell phone. That’s the idea behind new software being developed by David Doermann, a researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, and part-time entrepreneur. Doermann is among the cadre of University of [...]
Fortune Small Business: Cooking fuel doesn’t seem like much to ask for, but an estimated 2.4 billion people worldwide struggle to find it. Consider Haiti, where 700 tons of wood is burned annually, and smoke from thousands of charcoal fires has led to widespread respiratory infections. “Propane is not accessible, and electricity is not affordable,” [...]
Low-Cost Resources For Business Owners
BusinessWeek: Many entrepreneurs are eager to help new business owners find success, either through networking, mentoring, or even investing in startup firms. Fortunately, meeting them is not difficult and it can be a powerful way to obtain vital information and contacts in your industry. “Networking takes an investment of your time, but it can be [...]
Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall: What Startup?
Tim Berry at Up and Running: It’s another question I get asked a lot. What’s a good business to start? As if there were good businesses to start. Whoops, I guess people do make lists, experts even, about types of businesses to start. Does anybody ever go back and check on them? My favorite answer [...]
America’s Most Miserable Cities – Forbes.com Modesto is the eighth most miserable city in the country. I believe it. (tags: modesto news) YUI: CSS Grid Builder (tags: css webdesign yui grid layout tools design)
Two New Work-At-Home Mom Stories
WOWT: Moms trying to achieve balance between work and raising a family is a constant struggle. More and more women are quiting the corporate world and turning to home businesses. Kimberly Chickinelli works from home. It’s a much different atmosphere from her 15-years in the banking world. Her focus changed after she and her husband [...]
BusinessWeek: San Francisco serial entrepreneur Peter Yared was tired of spending thousands of dollars on computer servers and the gold-plated IT folks who run them. So this past April, when he launched wdgtbldr (that’s widget builder, severely compressed), a Web service that helps marketers create interactive ads, he wondered if the company could rely instead [...]
Starting A Business Instead Of Retiring
BusinessWeek: Ric Cox retired at 55, but he didn’t stop working. Instead, he launched ChicagoCondosOnline.com, a database that sells condo information to realtors and listings services. A first-time entrepreneur, he hoped to channel the same creative energy he brought to his 32-year publishing career into his new venture. About 20% of the entire over-50 workforce [...]
Bush-Bashing Entrepreneur’s Clock Ticking
The Associated Press: For three years, a Bush-hating Vermont pipe carver has built a million-dollar business around the digits “01.20.09.” On Jan. 20, 2009, Elliot Nachwalter and his company, “Bush’s Last Day,” will have to find new inspiration. That’s the day President George W. Bush leaves the White House. “I have a couple little products [...]
Small Bizs On Surviving A Recession
Reuters: Mario Bruni, who runs a plumbing and heating business in White Plains, New York, is bracing for a slowdown in the coming year. “We didn’t forecast huge growth,” says Bruni, who has brought expectations down to 4 percent from the more robust double-digit gains of recent years. In 2001, he hired a consulting firm [...]
The Complete Guide to iPhone Car Integration | iLounge For the Optimal Solution, you’ll need the Bluetrek/Contour Design SurfaceSound Compact, which adds a Bluetooth 2.0-enabled microphone and flat panel NXT speaker combination to your car visor. Contour plans to sell it for $100, but stores are already sho (tags: iphone car apple bluetooth tutorial guide [...]
Real Truth About Selling Your Invention
UpandRunning: Q: How can I approach investors for my invention? My patent professional says I should look for capital. I have no idea what it would cost to manufacture, and patents aren’t cheap. How can I write a business plan when I have no information? A: Before I give you the formal answer posted on [...]
