Archive for April 2009
CNNMoney.com: Andrew Smith and his fellow teammates from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business joined with an inventor who had discovered that a rectangular box is the least efficient shape for transport trucks to pull down the highway because it causes so much drag. Together, they founded ATDynamics to transform the shape of tractor trailers by [...]
Couple’s Invention Thriving Despite Economy
WYFF4.com: Two Upstate inventors are succeeding at a time when others are struggling. Tami Hammond and her husband have a home on Lake Lyman. They also have a keen sense of smell, which can be a negative attribute when around smokers. Based on a suggestion from their banker, who smokes cigarettes, they created GoneSmoke, an [...]
The Responsible Marketing Blog: On Monday, one of my colleagues handed me this: She realized I had no clue why I was receiving this crisp, new $2 bill, and said, “turn it over.” The Seattle Art Museum are using these $2 bills to promote their Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness exhibit showcasing 275 [...]
Real-Estate Investing Is For Soccer Moms
PR Newswire: If there is anyone who should seriously consider investing in real estate it is America’s army of Soccer Moms. “These extraordinary women generally have what it takes and need what it provides” so the assessment of authors and women real-estate investors S.A. Philipp and Barbara Heil-Sonneck. “The biggest threat to America’s Soccer Mom [...]
Momprenuer's Business Continues To Flourish, Despite Recession
PRWeb: A single layoff turned Nicole Dean’s one-income family into a no-income family over night. After that experience she decided to take control of her earning potential and started an online marketing business. That was back in 2001. Today Nicole Dean is not only running her online business successfully but is able to hire 12 [...]
CNNMoney.com: EMotion’s flagship product is the “BFF<3 necklace,” a wireless communication device that takes the form of a fashion accessory for the tween set. The necklace uses radio frequency to communicate with other necklaces within a 1,000-foot range, sending coded messages though patterns of lights and vibrations. “We saw this market as very underserved,” says [...]
Putting Twitter’s World To Use
The New York Times: The first reaction many people have to Twitter is befuddlement. Why would they want to read short messages about what someone ate for breakfast? It’s a reasonable question. Twitter unleashes the diarist in its 14 million users, who visited its site 99 million times last month to read posts tapped out [...]
Start Up: Green Dragon Pest Solutions
Fortune Small Business: In 2007, Green Dragon secured enough funding to begin production of its all-natural roach poison. CEO Jay Mullis formally launched the company in January 2008 and has since gotten a federal Environmental Protection Agency license to sell his boric acid formula. He’s now introducing his product into the market on a state-by-state [...]
Top Marketer Trends In Social Media
Website Magazine: It shouldn’t surprise anyone, but a new study surveying 900 marketers shows that marketers are heavily invested in social media, to the tune of 88 percent using at least one social outlet. What is a little surprising is that 72 percent of respondents claim they have only been using these resources for a [...]
Extra, Extra! Homeless Save Newspapers
The New York Times: Newspapers produced and sold by homeless people in dozens of American cities are flourishing even as the deepening recession endangers conventional newspapers. At many of them, circulation is growing, along with the sales forces dispatched to sell the papers to passers-by. The recession has hardly been a windfall for these street [...]
photo credit: *Susie* When you reach a point in your home based business that you decide to take on a staff, there are a few rules that you should take into consideration before moving forward. While I urge you to read the complete list at entrepreneur.com, I have put a few of the suggestions below [...]
Keeping Yourself and Staff in Line
photo credit: Zach Klein I came across an article located on Discussion Leader regarding maintaing good morale in your business. One of the challenges in any career is keeping yourself and your staff in line with each other, everyone being on the same page at the same time. Even more so today, this is a [...]
Addiction to Winning in Business
photo credit: gutter One of the most common and biggest problems of successful executives is their constant need to win, win at all costs no matter what. Big or small the competition…they feel the need to win it. But can this be too much for some? Can’t this damage business relationships over time? Winning is, [...]
photo credit: Eleventh Earl of Mar Today, many workers are beginning to ask themselves and their employers if now is the time for them to get in the innovation mode of thinking. Many feel they don’t posses this quality. That is not true. Everyone from birth is capable of being an innovator, it’s wether you [...]
Personal Identity Information in Business
photo credit: d70focus As we go through our day even in the business world, we throw a lot of our personal information and business information around every day. There are thousands of hackers out there just waiting to scope this information out and use it against you and your company which can mean big trouble [...]
photo credit: ionushi Every since business was around, all business owners have had one big thing in common with each other…selling their product or service! You dont sell it, you don’t profit from it. So one may ask what is the best and easiest way to sell their product or service. That part is easy, [...]
It’s Not Personal, It’s Business
photo credit: Jolante We have all heard the timeless saying of “it’s not personal, it’s business” throughout our lives. Meaning that in business we need to look out for number one….us! While yes there is some level of personalibility even in business, that is in regards to being personal with your customers, your employees, etc, [...]
photo credit: hans.gerwitz Scott Anthony wrote a very interesting article that was posted on Harvard Business Publishing regarding ways that you in business can fail on the cheap side of thing’s. After all, in business if it is inevitable that were going to fail at some point, why make it the most expensive failure? If we [...]
photo credit: h.koppdelaney In business everyone is always looking for new and better ways to gain as much publicity as they can, generate as much traffic and attention to their business in a short amount of time. On of the biggest secret weapons to gaining more publicity is something that people rarely think about since [...]
The Parents Insight Network Connects Companies With A Parent Test Group
No one wants to put the effort into launching a new product to find that no one likes it, or it’s ineffective. That is why so many companies spend the time to find out what people think through the use of test groups. Lisa O’Connor was working as a consultant for a baby accessories company, [...]
4 Things That Separate Mompreneurs From Everyone Else
msnbc: Does a mompreneur really differ from any other entrepreneur? That was the question I was asked by Entrepreneur a number of years ago. I still get asked that question whenever I tell someone about my column, and my answer is a resounding “Yes.” Our motivation, work style and ideas all stem from motherhood. Here [...]
Communities Print Their Own Currency
USA TODAY: A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money. Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses. The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount [...]
Working From Home With Kids Takes Talent And Patience
Deseret News: I am right in the middle of a critical interview. I have been waiting two days for this call. To my 3-year-old, it seems like a good time to ask for help in the bathroom. “Mommy! Come wipe me!” bellows the little voice, just loud enough that I am sure the caller heard. [...]
Niche Travel Market For Recently Unemployed
eTravel Blackboard: With the recent launch of JetBlue’s Promise Program, many tourism operators have been working on similar programs to stimulate travellers from the ranks of those recently unemployed. JetBlue’s Promise Program allowed passengers who lost their jobs after booking their flights to cancel and refund their seats, despite the carrier’s well-known ‘no-cancellation’ stance. Since [...]
Niche Biz: Jewelry That Replicates Scars
Springwise: Tattoos have become a mainstream way for people to create lasting marks of their personalities, style and obsessions. Now, a new company is offering a different type of skin-based memento: one-of-a-kind jewelry that replicates scars acquired in accidents and surgeries. Launched earlier this year, It’s My Scar makes wax renderings based on photos sent [...]
The Wall Street Journal: An intrapreneur doesn’t quit her job to do her own thing. Instead, she develops a new process, product or service within the context of a larger organization. Using the resources and capabilities of the larger firm, an intrapreneur transforms a good idea into a profitable venture. Experts have been advising the [...]
How to Find Cheap Information Products to Sell Online
The Warrior Forum is a popular forum for internet marketers. Users range from rank newbies to expert internet marketers. Most internet marketers sell informational products and in these forums, the members discuss how to create, promote and sell these types of products. The key to making money like this online is the email list. These [...]
photo credit: House Of Sims In today’s current economic condition, many employers are resorting to telling their employees to take time off without pay. Some are doing this by telling them to take one day a week off, or maybe a few day’s every other week off without pay. While they are attempting this in [...]
Is Our Economy Still Bottoming Out?
photo credit: Paulo Brandão Some people would say that the economy conditions are already improving and the future look’s brighter everyday, however, other’s would say that their are still signs that prove the economy is still on a downturn and not getting any better. In a recent article found on Small Biz Labs there was a list [...]
photo credit: fabbio In the recent past due to our economy, many business owners were tending to focus on their short term gain rather than their long term gain. It was more important to think about their business being open in terms of tomorrow rather then 10 year’s from now. However, there are already some [...]
Essentials for Breakthrough Content Marketing
photo credit: quartermane Your in business for yourself, you have a website but can’t seem to get the traffic you would like and need. Your having trouble reaching your own part of the loyal customer base for your business. What do you do to fix these problems? There are a few suggestions on how you [...]
ServeMeHere.com Brings The Service You Want To Where You Are
Traditionally, when you want a professional service you need to go to their business or office to get it taken care of. Whether you’re looking for a massage or need the services of a notary. What if they could come to you instead? Servemehere.com took that idea and turned it into a reality. Some businesses [...]
Small Businesses Fighting Back in Reviews
photo credit: justgrimes Yelp is a site that allows customers from all over to go online and write reviews on small businesses such as stores, restaurants, and more. Reviews can be a great thing as they can provide great word of mouth advertising. However, the only problem with this is that businesses can’t go online [...]
From Laid-Off Reporter To Accidental Web Entrepreneur
TechNewsWorld: The death of a major daily newspaper in a city like Seattle leaves the public underserved and no small number of journalists underemployed. Kery Murakami aims to help remedy both problems with a new online venture he started after the Post-Intelligencer folded its print edition last month. However, the transition from newsman to businessman [...]
Entrepreneur Empowers Homeowners
News Blaze: Luke Fishback is a young entrepreneur with a good idea about energy conservation. It’s cheap, easy to do and saves money on electricity use. Hoping to tap into the growing environmental conservation movement, Fishback founded a company to install electric meters in kitchens and set up Web links so that residents can see, [...]
Mom-trepreneurs In The Baby Business
7online.com: If you haven’t run into Serena & Lily bedding and children’s accessories, you probably will soon. What’s so great about them? Serena (Dugan) and Lily (Kanter) help you create everything from stylish accents to complete looks for your little ones’ living (and sleeping) spaces. Whether you’re a novice or already have a strong eye [...]
A Twitter Spinoff Launches For Moms
The Wall Street Journal: Can mommy bloggers become mommy tweeters? A new microblogging site targeting moms and modeled after Twitter launched Friday. Rachael Herrscher, a 31-year-old mother of three, has added the abbreviated commenting feature to her site Today’s Mama. Ms. Herrscher is not the first to rip off the idea of Twitter. The more [...]
Young Inventors Aim To Aid Disabled
TuscaloosaNews.com: Hands-free fingernail polish, a Braille keyboard, a guitar pick for someone missing a hand, a baby carrier for a mother with cerebral palsy. These are some of the projects created by students at Northridge High School. Science teacher Beth Allaway first had them experience what it’s like to live with a disability. “The goal [...]
Small Bizs Hit Hard, Shifting Strategies
BizJournals: Steve Connelly isn’t waiting for the economy to get better. He’s doing something about it himself. The president and executive creative director of Boston ad firm Connelly and Associates is on the hunt for acquisitions, and he’s recently hired two people. But, like 86 percent of small business decision makers polled in a City [...]
Easy Weekend Biz: Sell Used Books
WiseBread: The best places for me to find cheap books were the public libraries around the Bay Area. Some of these libraries hold big annual sales where books are sold off in brown paperbags for $3 to $5 per bag. In one particular sale I got six bags of books for under $20 and sold [...]
Best Tax Advice Ever: The Tax Lady’s Guide to Beating the IRS
Unhappy with your 2008 taxes and got the tax day blues? Who doesn’t? Well, according to a new poll from Gallup, 61% of Americans think that their taxes are just right or even a little low. But, guess what: Consider this: about 40-50% of Americans pay no federal income tax at all. That’s zero dollars. [...]
Free Online Seminar: Selling A Business
BizBen is putting on another free online seminar about selling a business on April 22, 2009. 70% of all small and mid-sized businesses never sell when they are put on the market. Selling a business is not like selling a piece of real estate or any other type of asset. This webinar is designed for [...]
photo credit: ExperienceLA Bartering is no stranger to start-up businesses especially in the past, but today bartering is growing more and more with the recent recession. Businesses trade services and products with another business to help both of them maintain their cash flow. Businesses of all sizes are begining to use the barter system and [...]
More Stress Equals Less Productivity
photo credit: Dawn Ashley In a study done in 2007 called the “Stress in America” report, three-fourths of Americans stated that work was their number one stressor. This was an amazing 59% increase from the year before. The numbers have no doubtedly increase even more in 2008. There are a number of way’s and programs [...]
keloland.com: Every parent knows the frustration of buying new clothes for a child only to see rips and holes in the outfit just days later. One Sioux Falls parent decided to take things into her own hands, and with some help, a new clothing company was born. In a Sioux Falls home office, you’ll often [...]
Take Your Home Office On The Road
Wired: Times are tough, so stop looking for a boring nine-to-five. Use the stalling job market as an excuse to get the hell out of dodge—and into an Airstream, Winnebago, or Fleetwood. With an RV and a few tech hacks, you can create a flexible, self-employed lifestyle on the road. Yesterday’s freeloading hippie is today’s [...]
A Mother Decides To Try Out Silence
MACLEANS.ca: Seventeen years ago, the American novelist Anne LeClaire gave up talking to people for two days each month. LeClaire is married to a fisherman and they have a son and a daughter. At home, she ignores phone calls and won’t talk to her husband. When she’s out, she shows people a card that says [...]
10News.com: With water becoming a hot commodity, a San Diego man has invented a tool to make sure that not a drop is wasted. Many people have seen broken sprinkler heads that turn into geysers when a lawn is watered. Sometimes, many don’t realize they have one of these water wasters. The broken sprinkler heads [...]
