Archive for April 2009
Secrets of Millionaire Moms Seven Things You’re Wasting Money On Dry Cleaners Offer Free Services For Unemployed One In Nine Houses In The US Are Empty Dad Takes Hammer To Kid’s Cell For 10,000 Texts
Dibspace Hopes To Cash In On Bartering
SeattlePI.Com: How does a tight-on-money musician make plans to treat herself to a luxurious massage, accounting help and a marketing consultant? Seattle piano teacher Josie Davis, who intends to partake of all three, says it’s simple: Book the services without having to pay for them. At least not with dollars. Davis is a member of [...]
Hot Dog Business Opportunities
photo credit: TheBusyBrain Hot dogs are enjoying a renaissance of sorts, especially in Columbus, Ohio where six new eateries that specialize in the tasty bun-filled meals have opened up recently. Food snobs needn’t scoff: With toppings ranging from dried cranberries to cream cheese served on high-quality wieners, the timeless hand-held meal has turned into the [...]
Lawyers Find Niche Suing Debt Collectors
The Journal Record: The crushing debt faced by consumers is spawning a growing practice niche for consumer lawyers: suing debt collectors for illegal collection practices. Moore attorney M. Kathi Rawls said she has seen a 40-percent to 50-percent increase in clients coming to her with complaints about debt collectors over the past year. Many times, [...]
The Funniest How to Get Rich Book
Abtruse Goose has created the most humorous ebook cover I’ve ever seen: How to Get Rich by Writing a Book About How to Get Rich by Writing a Book About How to Get Rich by Writing a Book About How to Get Rich by Writing a Book About … ad nauseam. Unfortunately, it’s not a [...]
photo credit: cliff1066 According to Work at Home Chuck, the FTC planning to monitor bloggers: Supposedly this would only mean that bloggers would have to be identified as “paid endorsers”. Does that mean people who receive free samples of books to review have are “paid”? Will it relate to affiliate links? Will Google’s AdSsense have [...]
Pixazza: Price Tags on Every Photo
As if there weren’t enough ads already on the internet (including this website, I know!), a new startup called Pixazza, founded by former Netscape employees and partially funded by Google wants to turn every photo on the web into an advertisement for the contents of the photo. If the photo includes a pair of sunglasses, [...]
Wow! Sometimes (like today) it feels like 100% of my household’s ecommerce purchases are from Amazon. That’s closer to the truth than I knew. Amazon is responsible for over 1/3rd of all ecommerce in the United States. If you’re selling something online, you’d better see if you can make it available on Amazon. If you [...]
CharlotteObserver.com: Mike Gibbons took the stage and started his pitch. “These photo buttons,” he said, pinning one to his lapel, “are going to be the new fundraising tool.” His company, Buttons of Hope, is an Internet button retailer meant to support loved ones in charity events, sports teams, the search for missing persons and other [...]
MarketingSage Helps Businesses Out Of The Marketing Hole
If a company wants to get the word out about their services, they need to effectively market themselves. A marketing firm like MarketingSage can help a business do just that. MarketingSage offers cost effective services so businesses may concentrate on other aspects of running their company without the hefty price tag. They also offer a [...]
Bring Your Recipe To A Store Shelf
Eagle Times: Have you ever tasted one of your family recipes and thought, “Ya know, I should market this stuff?” Well guess what, that notion is not as far–fetched as you might think. In fact, many Vermont residents have been doing just that at the Vermont Food Venture Center (VFVC) for nearly 15 years. the [...]
Miami Program Offers Networking For Entrepreneurial Parents
MiamiHerald.com: Think you’re on the verge of the next great invention? Marla Brock had that feeling, too. Brock, a Miami mom and lawyer, founded a successful website for family travel. She now plans to share tips with other innovative moms and dads at a new program to support parent entrepreneurs called MOMentum. ”The idea is [...]
Mom Enters Into The Birthday Business
Asbury Park Press: As a young girl growing up in Poland, Monika Kuhn never had a birthday party. “For me, a birthday meant you got some fruit and that was your gift,” said Kuhn, who immigrated to the United States 24 years ago. “My mother would bake a cake from scratch. But there was no [...]
PioneerPress.com: Pamela Turner invented a sewing needle with a modified eye that makes it easier to thread. Her creation has won awards, but in business having a good idea doesn’t ensure success. Turner, who lives in Blaine, has been on a quest to make and market a better needle for five years — since the [...]
As Manufacturers Buckle, Winners Emerge From Havoc
The Wall Street Journal: While major retailers have gone bankrupt and manufacturers are being shut down throughout this harsh recession, a survival-of-the-fittest business strategy has allowed the more fortunate firms to reap the benefits. Stealing business from other victims is one of the few existing avenues for growth during these troubling times. In a quest [...]
photo credit: WTL photos In theory, a partnership, especially with a friend, is a great way to start in business. Unfortunately, it rarely works out right. Here are some partnership killers: Sharing your capital instead of expenses. Work out a plan where the costs and expenses are shared rather than all of your money and [...]
Entrepreneurs Turning To SBDCs For Free Advice
SmartBrief: Entrepreneurs are looking to economize these days, so it’s small wonder that free advice from Small Business Development Centers is in great demand, writes microbusiness expert Dawn Rivers Baker. SBDCs offer a range of services, including classes and individual counseling. The Small Business Administration’s investment pays off, Baker writes: For every $1 spent on [...]
Jewelry For Kids, With An Eco Edge
At a time when some businesses are starting to build around an eco-friendly platform, childrens jewelry is following closely behind. Using recycled gold, Iceing On Top creates quality jewelry for babies, young children, and even teens. The founders of Iceing On Top, Chelsey and Shella, answered a few of our questions on recycled gold, the [...]
Austin Weekly News: What started out as whimsical songs to help her 3- year-old son overcome a severe speech delay turned into a collection of educational DVDs that uses hip-hop music to teach early learning concepts. Oak Park native Candi Carter created It’s Hip Hop, Baby in 2006 using kid-friendly hip-hop beats to help children [...]
Frugal Coupon Mom Recognized Nationally For Money Saving Ways
tallahassee.com: Ashley Nuzzo, or to her virtual following, the “Frugal Coupon Mom,” is a teacher turned stay-at-home mom who wanted to save money after her family decided to live off one income. Nuzzo, 27, has become an expert at stretching pennies and has been recognized on the Dr. Phil show and in U.S. News and [...]
Opportunity: Desperate Job Seekers
photo credit: a.drian News.com.au: Increasingly desperate job seekers in the US are undergoing plastic surgery to give them a more employable look. Surgeons and patients are citing increased interest in surgery among people wanting to look younger and “fresher” for prospective employers. “I’m 56 and I’ve been in the music business for 35 years. We’re [...]
photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography Home party businesses combine the income opportunities of direct sales with a party at someone else’s house. Customers gather in the home of a host or hostess and see product demonstrations and socialize with their friends. The seller then takes orders before the party ends. New hosts are recruited at [...]
Twitter Alerts Bakery Customers To Fresh Bread
Springwise: BakerTweet allows bakers to keep their customers informed. But because bakery kitchens don’t tend to be hospitable to electronic devices—replete as they are with flour, eggs and other messy stuff—BakerTweet uses a specially designed box that can withstand the messiest kitchen conditions. Bakers begin by creating an account online with BakerTweet using their regular [...]
New Livelihood Selling Frankfurters
The Wall Street Journal: In hard times, some small-town Americans are turning to a new livelihood with relish. Among them are Andrea and Ben Guajardo. They began selling hot dogs from a pushcart on Main Street in November. Ms. Guajardo is a grant administrator for a health-care system. Her husband, Ben, is a pipeline operator. [...]
Ten Excellent Freelance Resources
Blogtrepreneur: Whether you are a writer, web developer, graphic designer or virtual assistant; there are more and more online opportunities every day for freelancers who want to work from home–either full time or to supplement their existing income. Here are some excellent online resources that you can use to start and operate a successful freelance [...]
Beware Of Telephone Relay Fraud
Star News: The Better Business Bureau warns small business owners that reports of scammers plying their trade through telephone relay services — typically used by the hearing impaired to make phone calls — are cropping up all across the country. BBB has received reports from many types of businesses that received suspicious orders through TTY [...]
New Economy Means New Entrepreneurs
The Street.com: Business school students are turning to entrepreneur courses during the recession rather than working toward landing a job with a Wall Street firm or a hedge fund, another sign that the U.S. has entered into a so-called new economy. With a $787-billion stimulus package and the second part of an enormous financial bailout [...]
Obtaining More Blog Supporters
photo credit: Brett L. When you operate a blog for your online business, it is important to have as many supporters as possible. Your blog supporters are the life blood of your blog, they make your profits and word of mouth advertising sore. Here are some tips on obtaining more blog supporters for your online [...]
Patently Absurd: Ice Cream Cone
Entrepreneur Creates New Recipe For Oxygen
Fortune Small Business: When an elementary school pupil collapsed with low blood oxygen levels in Orangeburg, S.C. last year, nurse Ashlyn Gray reached for a device that had been delivered just the day before. “It arrived not a day too soon,” she says of the emergency oxygen generator made by OxySure, a small company based [...]
Business, Franchise & Investment Show in Toronto, Canada
The Business Exchange presents the Business, Franchise & Investment Expo which is taking place on May 2 & 3, 2009 at the Toronto Congress Centre, in Toronto, Canada. The show is designed for entrepreneurs and investors seeking new opportunities at all investment levels. You’ll have an opportunity to meet with over 150 exhibitors offering established [...]
Video Sites Entice Users To Stay And Play
The Wall Street Journal: Online video — once a click-and-watch experience — is increasingly looking for audience participation. Web-video sites, including Google Inc.’s YouTube, Veoh Networks Inc. and Overlay.TV Inc., have recently added or plan to add features that let users embed interactive commentary and links into videos. Dailymotion Inc. added a feature called VideoZap, [...]
photo credit: TheTruthAbout… Tawnya Gilreath, writing on the Biz Ben Blog, offers an insightful look at how escrow accounts can protect you during a big transaction such as selling a business, or an invention: In dealing with business sales, often times the seller or the buyer will ask about the use of an escrow company. [...]
AppScout: Forget all that business about Twitter, BlackBerry apps, and the Palm Pre. The real news is that BlackSocks.com, which has sold over a million socks through the mail in Europe, has come to the U.S. For the not-too-bad price of $89 annually, you can get three pairs of men’s calf-length socks mailed to you [...]
Office Space Rented Out By The Desk
Springwise: While remote working is easier than ever, working from home or the nearest Starbucks can quickly lose its appeal. Enter Desk Space Genie, a new website that advertises vacant desk space. The service helps businesses make a bit of money from their unused office space and enables cash-strapped freelancers or other small businesses to [...]
Entrepreneurs’ Lesson #1: Do The Math
Fortune Small Business: Every business goes through three stages: start up, throw up and grow up. Right now, with the economy as bad as I’ve seen it, many entrepreneurs in this country are experiencing stage two. The first stage is exciting: the big idea, the perfect name, the projections of vast wealth. This is a [...]
Tampa Bay Business Journals: AARP Services Inc. launched an initiative designed to assist small-business owners with group health insurance, retirement planning and payroll services. The program is being test-marketed in Chicago and Tampa, a release said. The Small Business Services benefits package includes health and disability insurance options through UnitedHealthcare, part of Unitedhealth Group Inc.; [...]
Will The Recession Come to an End
photo credit: R i c h a r d We are all wondering the same big question….when will this recession come to a final end? We are all sitting around hoping, praying and looking to the government and our new president to tell us when this will be all over. On Tuesday chairman Bernanke put [...]
photo credit: truello Given that the happiness and feelings of his friends are Pooh’s chief concern (other than honey, that is), he’d likely build a strong community as a blogger. Here are six social media lessons we can all learn from the lovable bear who’s stuffed with fluff. ●You cant stay in your corner of [...]
Co-Working Thrives in Recession
photo credit: naemick Co-Working is the idea of renting a desk and limited space amongst others for around $250 a month for your working needs. Past studies show that co-working decreased in the first few months of previous recessions but then rapidly picked up as the recession continued. It is already prove true once again [...]
Letting Your Team and Successor Know You’re Moving On
photo credit: marfis75 When you reach that time of moving on to another company or even starting your own business, many people ponder the thought of how to tell their successor as well as the team that work’s directly under them. If you have worked with these people for say 20 year’s, it can be [...]
“In a recession what people want is a happy ending.” While most booksellers are struggling, Harlequin Enterprises, the queen of the romance world, reported that fourth-quarter earnings were up 32 percent over the same period a year earlier, the New York Times reports. Romance readers have always tended to buy in much higher volumes than [...]
Jetlev Flyer Water-Powered Jetpack
The Jetlev Flyer is a tethered water-powered jetpack. Unlike other jetpacks available today, flight times can be measured in hours and flights can be almost 200 miles in length because the Jetlev’s fuel supply and powerplant is in a floating mini-boat down on the water. The jetpack is teether to the boat by a long [...]
Getting Your Boss to Pay Attention to Customers
photo credit: batega While management and the team below them are key factors in the customer world, that is not to say that the higher up officials of your company shouldn’t be involved in some way when it comes to your customers. Afterall, the high boss is benefited just as much as you are by [...]
Entrepreneurs Find Gold In Gadget Startups
Wired: James Park and his partner Eric Friedman stood out like a couple of sore thumbs. They were in the middle of a crowd of other entrepreneurs at TechCrunch50, a small conference for startups, held in San Francisco last September. But unlike most of their peers, the duo weren’t touting a web-based mashup, a new [...]
The Dallas Morning News: I didn’t intend to start a business,” says Kristen DeRocha, a 35-year-old mother of two. “I made a baby sling for my daughter, and people started asking me about it, so I made a few for friends. Eventually, they got so popular that I launched a Web site and started selling [...]
Web Surfing Increases Work Productivity This Is Your Brain On Twitter Today’s Bizarre Eye Candy: Meat Jewelry Things You Can Learn From A Nancy Boy New Web Addresses Could Be Start Of Turf Wars
