Archive for April 2009
photo credit: callme_crochet It has been stated in many articles that one of the biggest attributes to owning your own business is that you are passionate about the business. Without passion, the rough spots will be harder, the drive for success will be tougher and there will be a higher possibility of you closing your [...]
What Lead To The Financial Crisis
photo credit: net_efekt It is no surprise that we didn’t just wake up one morning to find that the country was in a recession, there were mistakes and errors made that lead us to where we are now. Below is a short overview of some of those mistakes that got us where we are today [...]
photo credit: nit bruna While a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that making money off of other business’ advertising on their site is easy, this is a huge misconception. In order to generate a large flow of cash you need to have a great niche, a huge amount of traffic through your [...]
photo credit: Pop!Tech As managers it is often found that they mis communicate to their employees, meaning they speak what they shouldn’t, they keep vital information to their selves or they just simply assume or say the wrong thing all together. Being in the position of manager is a very important role that requires you [...]
photo credit: kwerfeldein As little kids and even into our teenage years, time out’s were very well known for when we misbehaved and our parents felt we needed time to sit back and think about what we did or said. We may have hated it so back then, but now a day’s as adults that [...]
What Not To Say To Your Customer
photo credit: JelleS It seems that we have spent a lot of time talking about what to say to your customers in order to keep them coming back and keep them referring your business to their friends and family. However, I think it’s a good idea to address the things that you should not be [...]
Nurturing Tools For Your Leads
photo credit: CREEPETZ In business today everyone wants state of the art tools and ways to generate more leads to their business as well as ways to manage all the information retained on those leads for future easy access. Duct Tape Marketing posted an article on a few tools that are sure to help almost [...]
Keeping Your Employees Engaged
photo credit: Iain Farrell Marshall Goldsmith recently did an article on ways to improve the level of engagement from your employees during difficult times. With the way business and the economy is doing right now, it is very critical to keep your employees as engaged as you can. The biggest piece of advice is communication. This can [...]
photo credit: NNECAPA In today’s economy one might ask what is so great about starting a franchise, they may feel there are more risks than there is benefits. However, there are actually some really great aspects and postives to starting a francise recently discussed on Small Business Trends. Remember that when you purchase a franchise [...]
Computer Upgrading Made Easier
photo credit: Extra Ketchup Everyone who has ever owned a computer will tell you that it is a pain to upgrade and back them up, even more so if you are a business and have several different computers to deal with. Below are a few ideas found on Small Biz Technology on upgrading your computer systems without [...]
Negotiating With Your Creditors
photo credit: Andres Rueda As someone who has had creditors banging on my door in the past, I found this article located on Entrepreneur.com very interesting in negotiating with your creditors in business. We all in business or personal life eventually come to the situation where we are forced to deal with at least one [...]
Sherra Koerselman-Meyers, Editor & Co-Publisher of Southern Bride Magazine
Memphis Commercial Appeal: For Sherra Koerselman-Meyers, every day is wedding day. This Memphis mom of two boys — Jory, 8, and Devin, 5 — is the editor and co-publisher of Southern Bride Magazine and the new Romantic Destinations digital magazine (romanticdestinationstravel.com). An avid skier, tennis player and traveler, she and her husband, Ross, a physicians [...]
Cindy Ray Gets Kids To Write 'The Stapler Caper'
Dallas Morning News: In the world of Ryan E. Racer and the Evil Ruler, it’s OK to write in books. What is usually a no-no in a mom’s world has become a great business idea for Cindy Ray of Plano. The Stapler Caper, which encourages kids to write their own stories, first came to fruition [...]
April Fools’ Joke May Become Actual Product
CrunchGear: It’s true what they say: some of the best products start out as fake products on April Fools’ Day. I don’t know who says that but the next time someone says “You know what they say: some of the best products start out as fake products on April Fools’ Day,” the “they” part of [...]
Skyecandy Brings Speed Dating To Skype
PRWEB: Skyecandy introduced video speed dating to Skype users, a fast, fun and free service that matches members for 5 minute speed dates with real people all over the world from the comfort and security of their own home. Skyecandy is inviting male and female Skype users all around the world to be the first [...]
Start Up: Minimally Invasive Devices
Fortune Small Business: During laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon has to take time to remove and clean his lens multiple times, costing both the patient and the hospital time and money. When the Minimally Invasive Devices team presented its plan to the judges three years ago, their disposable defogging device was still in the development stage. [...]
How The Man In The Van Outsmarted Microsoft
The Sydney Morning Herald: He has been called a “born creative thinker” and “a man of extraordinarily high principle”. Others consider his inventions frivolous and derivative. Not that Frederick Bailier Richardson III – aka Ric Richardson – particularly cares. As of last week, the 47-year-old inventor, surfer and one-time dirt-biker stands to reap the lion’s [...]
The City Where Every Arrest Gets Twittered Here It Comes: Internet Sales Tax New Bill May Give President Ability To Shut Down Internet U.S. Now Has Almost As Many Paid Bloggers As Lawyers Chewing Gum Makes You Smarter
Customer Loyalty Repels the Recession
photo credit: Jacob Bøtter Small business’ today face a lot of challenges such as staying in good terms with your bank, finding new customers, healthcare issues, possibly having to cut staff and more, so it’s very important to stay on top of your current customer base. Keeping your customers satisfied and happy at all costs [...]
How to Recession-Proof Yourself
photo credit: Marshall Astor – Food Pornographer I read an article found on Harvard Busienss suggesting that younger workers now a day’s are questioning their job security. They see what is going on, but to them it’s out of a text book rather then real life like their parents have seen already at least [...]
photo credit: krossbow We have been spending a lot of time on advertising, sales, hiring, promotions and how to handle them, etc. But one of the most important factors in your company and what can be the most costly is safety. Below are a few key points that should help you establish safety in your [...]
photo credit: ginnerobot A recent study was done on small business Optimism last fall. While most would think that the answers would be dreary in nature due to the economy, it turned out to be actually quite the opposite by surprise. It was shown that more than half of the small business owners responded with [...]
photo credit: pfala While business owners watch their costs rise and rise, at some point they have to face the fact that some increase in pricing may be in store for them to redeem their business. But increasing your prices however does not have to in turn cost you your customer base which was recently [...]
Baby Kakes, Well, Takes The Cake
The News-Press: Talking shop with Stephanie Bloch and Michelle Forneris, owners of Baby Kakes. The company sells gorgeous diaper cakes handmade by Bloch as well as baby clothes and accessories. They have been in business since November. “We’re moms so we try to make the diaper cakes practical and include useful items in the cake,” [...]
Woman's Networking Group Forms In South Arlington
pegasusnews.com: Last week a group of area mom entrepreneurs met up at Chelsea’s Tea Room in South Arlington. Use of the tea room and lunch was provided courtesy of another mom entrepreneur Jackie Andrews. Each woman in the group is a mom business owner, and all wear various hats according to job requirements (pun intended). [...]
CNNMoney: For an elite Division I-bound high-school athlete, navigating the maze of college recruitment means choosing among the crowd of coaches lined up outside the door. But fewer than 10% of the estimated 1.5 million young athletes seeking a spot on a college sports team find themselves in that enviable position. The rest maneuver through [...]
Public Provides Giggles, Bloggers Get Book Deals
The New York Times: After Duncan Birmingham, a comedy screenwriter in Los Angeles, got one too many holiday cards featuring miserable-looking pets wearing fake reindeer antlers, he realized the photos were great material for a blog. Birmingham started Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves in early January, uploaded the first entry and asked readers to [...]
Fortune Small Business: It’s always standardized test prep season at CEO Karan Goel’s company. The proven prep method has caught on quickly, and not just amongst parents and students: high schools across the country are signing up. PrepMe doesn’t just focus on the exam; it focuses on the academic achievements of the students. This way, [...]
USC Grads Parlay Idea Into Startup
TheState.com: The next time your child makes her own movie on the Kerpoof Web site, keep in mind you’re looking at the brainchild of two University of South Carolina graduates. Brent Milne, his wife, Krista Marks, and their two partners met while working for the software company Xilinx in Boulder, Colo. They came up with [...]
Men Spend More Time Online, Respond Better To Ads
arstechnica: Men go online more often, stay on for longer, and respond to ads more positively than women do, according to a new report from eMarketer. The firm looked at the Internet habits of men versus women, partially because men are (technically) in the minority online and also because gender “is a distinguishing factor of [...]
Reader Mailbag: Start A Retail Biz?
Joan writes: How much money (do I need) to start a small retail business? What are the pros and cons I should be looking out for? You could start a retail business for as little as $10 or as much as $1.5 million for a national fast food franchise. Other questions to consider are do [...]
Tampa Tribune: Even when they’re off, many of your home office electronics are adding to the total of your power bill. Conserve energy and save money this Earth Day by switching off electronics and using less energy. But truly turning off the power isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. Many household electronics, known as [...]
Mompreneurs Looking To Increase Profits & Free Time Now Have FSM Magazine
WebWire: Women’s intuition is powerful but often overlooked. Pair it with business savvy, an eye for detail and a little humor and you have FSM, a magazine for all the mompreneurs out there juggling a business and family life. More than 90 percent of the Moms who have acted on at least one tip in [...]
CNNMoney: Nine million elderly Americans experience chronic falls, often leading to hip fractures and, occasionally, to death. Treatment currently only occurs after a fall, as there is no widely available way to diagnose poor balance in the elderly. IShoe plans to manufacture free-standing and mobile devices that detect balance deterioration, allowing those at risk to [...]
Invention Helping Seniors Get Plugged In
The Washington Post: Two young inventors, with the help of hands-on testing at a retirement community, have created a device that they say might change the way older Americans get news and entertainment. Using modified MP3 players, computers and large touch-screen monitors in high-contrast colors for people with impaired vision, Charles De Vilmorin and Herve [...]
Fortune Small Business: Sweetriot produces chocolate treats for the health conscious and fair-trade fanatics – “rioters,” as CEO Sarah Endline calls them. You may have seen the bite-sized tasties in Whole Foods, where Endline has seen 100% sales growth each year since 2005. Lately, the brightly colored tins designed by local artists have started popping [...]
A Better Bottled Drink Dispenser?
photo credit: Etwood Loyd Schutte has described an interesting idea on the Resource Action Program’s Green Living blog: We’ve all seen the vending machines in supermarkets that allow you to refill big 3-5 gallon bottles of water and some even refill the smaller 1-5 liter size, but how about a vending machine that not only [...]
Pet Entrepreneurs Earning Big Bucks
suite101.com: Despite those cheering pictures of Bo, the Obamas’ new puppy, there’s nothing soft and cuddly about the pet industry. It is worth billions annually, a fact not lost on countless entrepreneurs who have started pet-related companies. In some cases, all that’s needed is a stove, a sewing machine or a willingness to walk or [...]
The Wall Street Journal: Next year, the organization that oversees the Internet will start selling rights to an unlimited number of new top-level domains — the suffixes like .com that appear at the end of Web-site names. Domains likely to appear include those that take their names from popular subjects, types of businesses and geographic [...]
Niche Marketing Tips For Business Success
photo credit: zenera The following guest post is by Alisa Johnson. Recession and business are not the best of bedfellows, but there’s a certain kind of business that does do well no matter how bad the economy is in general. And that’s a niche business, one that offers exclusive services and products to a targeted [...]
photo credit: mugley In business, shipping is kind of like cleaning your house. No one wants to deal with it or talk about it, but everyone has to put up with it and do the best they can. Some entrepreneurs find shipping to be quite a challenge as no one vendor or system fit’s anyone [...]
photo credit: liber Leading any business can prove to be quite a challenge for anyone, but during a recession, it almost seems impossible to some to lead in the right direction without panic striking amongst employees and colleagues. For the new year, there are a couple suggestions below from Harvard Business that may make leadership [...]
If it was the 1960s and I started Google, it would work something like this: 1. I’d advertise in the back of Popular Science magazine. 2. Users would send in a self addressed, stamped envelope. 3. I’d send back a postcard, like the one above, on which they’d enter their search query, check the appropriate [...]
photo credit: Whatsername? It can be very frustrating and nerve wracking when your wanting to take your home based business to the next level, but have so many obstacles standing in your way of accomplishing this. Below are a few examples of how to help you grow your home based business. Please read the complete [...]
Eco-Artware Sells Art That Is Earth Friendly
While more people start trying to live a lifestyle that’s eco-friendly now, some have lived that life for a while. Reena Kazmann is one of them. Inspired by some products she had spotted at the NY Gift Show, Reena started a business based around eco-friendly products. She brought together a variety of products that fit [...]
The Secret Lives Of Calgary Moms
canada.com: Four local mompreneurs juggle motherhood and flexible careers to find work-life balance The phrase work-life balance is bandied about a lot, especially as it relates to women returning to careers after having kids. Truth is, between long hours at the office, preparing meals for little ones, keeping house and everything else involved in living [...]
In this funny video Seth Godin looks at how many of systems and businesses we interact with in our modern life are broken. Includes some very good advice for small business entrepreneurs.
CNNMoney: Standard X-ray two-dimensional imaging delivers a significant amount of radiation to the patient. Even a single X-ray exposure may contribute to cancer and affect fetal development. NextRay is developing a relatively inexpensive imaging machine that uses a new type of 2D imaging, Diffraction Enhanced Imaging (DEI), which produces highly detailed images, can image soft [...]
The Better Business Bureau Warns Of Social Networking Ad Scams
Los Angeles Times: Old scams never die, they just move to new venues. The Better Business Bureau put out an alert Thursday that many of the dubious ads that have long popped up in e-mails and on websites are now invading online social networks, such as Facebook. “Ubiquitous ads for weight loss products, work-at-home opportunities [...]
Inventors’ Device Blocks Cell Use
The Cincinnati Enquirer: Fred Wenz, a deliveryman for UPS for 23 years, has turned his frustration with drivers on cellphones into a safety business venture. While on a run a few years ago, he came up with the idea for a device that blocks cell signals around a driver’s seat. It’s modeled on ignition locks [...]
