Archive for May 2009
Pet Lovers Can Pamper Their Fuzzy Friends And Make Money Too
Just like any parent, when you get pet parents together they are going to chat about what they love most, their pets! The topic might be the best shampoo or the best place to shop for their products, but if you get together a few Shure Pets consultants, the topic is likely to be about [...]
We’ve all seen the iPhone App Store TV commercials that basically proclaim there’s an app for everything you could ever possibly want to do. App For That, is a website that gives you a series of user submitted “App For That” jokes, which you can vote on, tweet out, email, or even submit your own. [...]
Niche Auction Sites Could Be Wave Of Future
Philadelphia e-Commerce Examiner: In eBay’s early days, it was a place where buyers and sellers of collectible items congregated to conduct business. Eventually it grew into the “Sell Everything” site that we see today. The changes that eBay has made over the last couple of years in addition with future changes might very well send [...]
Work At Home Mom Finds A Creative Way To Re-Gift With Her Business
PR.com: For work-at-home mom, Preya Shivdat saving a buck or two is always on her mind. That’s why she started sharing her idea of “gift swapping” with a few friends and a new money saving Web site, TheGiftSwap.com. “I usually have a reserve closet with items I find on sale or overflowing with toys that [...]
Popular Science: When Michael Callahan was 17, he lost his short-term memory when he hit his head in a skateboarding accident. “The neural pathways were all wrong,” he recalls. Within weeks, he was back to normal, but the incident left him thinking, how could he help people who had permanently lost abilities that most of [...]
Seacoast Kids Are Now Following Mom Into Business
SeacoastOnline.com: Today’s stereotypical working mother is not only working nearly the same number of hours as a man, she is spending the same amount of time with her children as stay-at-home mothers in the 1970s. Roughly 60 percent of mothers, with children under 6, are working, and women are opening businesses at 2½ times greater [...]
Download Squad: You’re sitting comfortably in your plush chair at the multiplex, when suddenly you feel that twinge. A quick glance down at your 136-ounce cola and you instantly realize that nature is calling, and it’s urgent. You don’t have time to wait this time, but next time you can plan ahead for your restroom [...]
Biz Poll Results: Work In Bed?
Marcel Proust was a French novelist, essayist and critic, best known as the author of ‘Remembrance of Things Past’. He spent most of his time in bed writing, in a room lined with cork to exclude noise. Apparently 71 percent of those responding to our poll agreed with Proust. 36 percent said YES, they have [...]
photo by Angie Carlson Last Sunday, I had a minor accident that as I attempted to remedy illustrated some basic failing that many small businesses suffer from. While weed whacking my yard, I shot a handful of small stones towards my house and broke my sliding glass door and another window. The outer pane of [...]
Natural & Recycled Beaded Bracelets Remind The Wearer To Stay Balanced
No matter how busy life might get, everyone needs to take a moment to relax. Synergy Beads bracelets are made as a virsual reminder to maintain your balance and interconnectedness as you move from day to day. Tell us about Synergy Beads. Synergy Beads is a new business that sells stylish unisex bracelets that infuse [...]
It’s Okay For Green Bizs To Make Money
Fast Company: When people talk to me about the green business they’re working on, it will sometimes become apparent as we talk that at least part of the problem they are encountering may not be what they think it is. Rather than being an issue related to planning, marketing, product development, or greening their operations, [...]
Grandmother Invents Sidecar Bicycle
Bay News 9: Jean Ulrey simply wanted a way to take her granddaughter with her while she was biking. As it turned out, she became an inventor and now an entrepreneur. Ulrey, who lives in Pinellas Park, came up with using the old motorcycle sidecar idea and adapting it to a bicycle. “We tried the [...]
2009 Invention Awards: Vascular Pathways
Popular Science: When Amir Belson flew from Israel for a pediatric fellowship at Stanford University in 1998, he carried a list of 64 ideas for medical inventions. One of them was an idea for a better intravenous catheter, one that wouldn’t damage veins or kink inside of them. By 2005, he had made his first [...]
Marketing Your Small Biz On A Tattered Shoe String Budget
Portland Small Business Examiner: In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever to market your business. But, like the rest of us, you probably don’t have a lot of extra cash to devote to your marketing budget. Here are some tips and tricks that you can use to get your business more [...]
Bad Economy? Become An Entrepreneur
Bradenton Herald: I normally write this column from the viewpoint of the established entrepreneur. However, in this column I would like to explain to people who are considering or who must consider new livelihoods, that entrepreneurship may be the perfect vehicle for them. In today’s tough times, working for someone else is no longer considered [...]
Unlocking Everyone’s Ideas For The Next Big Thing
Springwise: Seasoned entrepreneurs know there’s a big difference between a great idea in the mind and a successful product in the hand. Here to bridge that gap is Quirky, a service that uses a collaborative process to actualize killer ideas that might otherwise go to waste. Anyone can submit their business plan and sketches to [...]
Any Size Space Can Work As Office
Washington Post: More than 20 million people work from home at least once a week, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But whether you work at home full time or just need a place to sort mail, pay bills and check your e-mail, having a dedicated space to get the [...]
Bad Tendancies Of Small Business Owners
photo credit: kevindooley Spending as much time as our firm does with Small Business owners, you begin to see traits and/or tendencies that are identifiers. At the end of the day, there are two very different approaches taken by those in charge when it comes to the progress and sustainability of their companies. Here are some [...]
canada.com: Desneige Meyer is a woman who takes her art very seriously. So when the talented sculptor gave birth to son Beckett last year, she did what any proud artist would do; she started incorporating him in to her work. Meyer comes from a family of women involved in art. Her mother is a clothing [...]
News & Observer: Many moms have had an entrepreneurial flash as they struggled with a badly designed infant seat or crafted their own new and improved onesie. While some might share their newfound expertise with close friends and family, more and more are acting on those inspired moments and starting their own business. They’ve even [...]
Local Invention Eases Concrete Work
Dayton Daily News: You might say inspiration came to brothers Chuck and Marc Bohse in the form of sore backs. Ask Chuck Bohse to demonstrate the fine art of screeding, or leveling, concrete, and he may show you the way he once did it: Bending over, slowly stepping backward, pressing a screed or leveling bar [...]
photo credit: markhillary Say you have just hired a whole new customer service staff and you need them trained as soon as possible, but how? When we think of customer service we think the training always has to be in depth and a long process, however, this is not always the case. There are some [...]
2009 Invention Awards: IronClads
Popular Science: Ben Hobbins didn’t set out to clean up his local lakes, but his IronClads baits do exactly that. The Wisconsin inventor’s idea — fishing lures that are extra-strong, eco-friendly and nontoxic — solves a serious, if little-known environmental problem. Flexible and cheap soft plastics are the most popular type of lure among sport [...]
photo credit: Dawn Endico If your in business for yourself and your one of those people who are bound determined to do everything on your own including your branding, then there are some helpful resources for you out there. Consulting Pulse posted an article on some books that you ought to check out for do it [...]
Open-Mic Nights’ For Biz Ideas
Springwise: Bloblive is a networking event that’s essentially intended to be a live version of Ideablob: Attendees air their business ideas in front of a live audience of fellow participants in exchange for advice, feedback and connections. The first Bloblive was held in Philadelphia last fall; since then, it has been expanded to Nashville, San [...]
photo credit: Nano Taboada When in business we all have many many decisions to make throughout our days, and we all wonder on just about every single one of them if we are truly making the right decision or if it will come back to haunt us one day. Below are some elements of what [...]
Nonnegotiable Rules Of Advertising
photo credit: showmeone In the advertising world there are many different forms as well as policies and practices that go along with them all. Small Biz Bee recently posted an article on a few advertising rules that are not negotiable in any market. Set a budget up front that you will allocate to your monthly [...]
Radio Interviews That Work For You
photo credit: Unhindered by Talent There are so many different ways of media coverage now a days that many people don’t even really think about radio interviews as one more way to obtain media coverage. A radio interview a lot of times is much cheaper media advertisement than many other forms of media coverage. Below [...]
Work at Home: Beaver Cleaver’s Dad Rule
Jeff Cornwall in the Tennessean: If you have children, teach them what I call the “Beaver Cleaver’s Dad Rule.” On the old sitcom Leave it to Beaver, Beaver’s dad, Ward Cleaver, had an office in their home. The kids knew to only go in there when invited — and if they were invited it was [...]
Electricity-Free Lighting from 2-Liter Bottles
Alfred Moser is an inventive fellow. During a 2002 energy crisis and blackout in his village in Brazil, he discovered that he could escape from working in the dark by hanging water-filled bottles from the roof of his workshop. They function like skylights, but are practically free. Pretty amazing!
Hattie Rose Designs Renovates The Bib To Be Stylish And Absorbant
Anyone who has, or has had, a baby is likely to have seen or used a bib at some pointi n time. While bibs are handy, the average bib isn’t very absorbant and they can pile up quickly over a short period of time. Jill Sandager would know. Her own daugher produced drool like it [...]
Could Self Employment Be Easier?
photo credit: DeclanTM A business is like a child. It needs support, guidance, and protection. And like a child, your business needs some things that you, the parent, can’t provide. And then there are things your business needs that you may not feel ready to give. Both situations call for outside support, recently stated on [...]
Mom-Owned Business Received National Recognition For Helping New Moms Breastfeed
PR Web: My Little Juel, owned by Suzanne Juel, local Houston Resident and mother of three, was recently certified by Medela, Inc. as a Medela Certified Nursing Center. This is the first Medela Certified Nursing Center in Texas, and one of less than 25 in the United States to date. Medela Certified Nursing Centers are [...]
'Mompreneurs' Building Businesses While Staying Home
Baltimoresun.com: Beth Adams spends the day fulfilling people’s to-do lists, everything from cleaning closets to picking up prescriptions to buying flowers. Then the co-owner of a Baltimore-based personal assistant firm and mother of four returns home – where she runs errands at no charge. “I’ll have to take someone to the game, or I’ll have [...]
Trademarks 101: How To Protect Your Good Name
CNNMoney: The difference between copyright and trademark isn’t always obvious, but the distinction matters here. Both are ways of protecting intellectual property, but copyright generally protects “original works of authorship” like a book, song or poem. A trademark covers the right of such things as brands, titles and logos. In your case, establishing and protecting [...]
Entrepreneur Shares Tricks Of The Trade For Success
The Rocket: In an interactive hour-long presentation, business entrepreneur and author Beth Caldwell shared her “secrets to success” to an audience that filled Eisenberg Classroom Building’s auditorium.” Caldwell is a public relations consultant in Greentree, Pa., where she owns her own public relations firm and focuses in working with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She [...]
2009 Invention Awards: Greensulate
Popular Science: Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre want to line the walls of your home with mushrooms. The young entrepreneurs have created a strong, low-cost biomaterial that could replace the expensive, environmentally harmful Styrofoam and plastics used in wall insulation, as well as in packaging and a host of other products. Wind-turbine blades and auto-body [...]
Some Inventions Born Amid Recession
LA Times: They might never get as big as chocolate-chip cookies, which supposedly were invented during the Great Depression, but most of these inventions came about because the people behind them were laid off during this economic downturn. • The iTie. Joe Sale of Tampa, Fla., invented it after he was laid off from his [...]
Do We Learn From Our Mistakes? Or Not?
Trusted Advisor Associates: A Harvard Business School study of venture capital-backed entrepreneurs tested whether or not we learn from our mistakes. The results are confounding to many—including me. Here’s the story. Several thousand VC-backed companies were studied over 17 years. First-timers had an aggregate success rate of 22% (success meaning going public). The study is [...]
photo credit: kevindooley In business there comes a time when we have to put certain policies and boundaries into effect, but how do you go about this in a nice manner that doesn’t upset someone? Most managers have a fear right off the bat that trying to implement boundaries and policies will be their next [...]
photo credit: woodleywonderworks If you are just entering the work force or even just getting ready to make a change in your career, i’m sure you know that you will need to update or write a new resume. Most people dread the thought of doing their resume, however, it really is not as bad as [...]
photo credit: glass window Most of us think of the Internal Revenue Service as the people who come after you if you don’t pay your taxes. But the IRS, under its mandate from the department of Treasury, also has many services to business taxpayers. The IRS can provide you with a ton of information that [...]
photo credit: Josh Thompson The new economic stimulus law signed by the president on Feb. 17—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—gives small business owners a second chance at a “one-time” tax-saving opportunity. Business Management Daily recently did an article on some major tax breaks for small businesses to apply towards next year’s filing. [...]
Gigi's Cupcakes Open For Business In Napa
Napa Valley Register: Offering mouthwatering morsels in flavors such as Red Velvet, Devil’s Food Cake, German Chocolate and Meyer Lemon, Gigi’s Cupcakes Napa hopes to entice cupcake lovers one bite at a time. Gigi’s Cupcakes is enjoying sweet success since opening on Valentine’s Day, said Laura Young, “Business is good,” said the self-titled Chef de [...]
CNNMoney.com: With shopping no longer their favorite pastime, Americans appear to be spending their money in other ways, such as acquiring new skills, getting help with their finances and visiting the dentist. This change in spending behavior is helping trade schools, accounting firms and even your neighborhood dentist survive the economic downturn better than other [...]
Mom Turns Tooth Fairy Pillows Into Treasure To Help Provide Crisis Dental Care In W. Africa
PRLog.com: Elisa Hope, mother of three, is excited to announce the official launch of Sorrisi Décor, a Kent-based business that offers beautifully-designed tooth fairy pillows with a twist – a portion of the profits will benefit children in need of crisis dental care in western Africa. The idea for the business came unexpectedly when a [...]
Every Minute, Almost A Days Worth Of Video Is Uploaded To YouTube
TechCrunch: Today brings another amazing stat about YouTube: Every single minute, over 20 hours of video are now uploaded to YouTube. Think about that for a minute. In that minute, nearly a days worth of footage will have been uploaded. And the pace is quickening. Back in 2007, shortly after Google bought the service, it [...]
2009 Invention Awards: Rescue Reel
Popular Science: As the 9/11 inferno unfolded on television, one question kept dogging Kevin Stone: Why weren’t the people trapped in the World Trade Center able to make their way to safety? “I said to myself, This is crazy,” recalls Stone, an orthopedic surgeon and seasoned inventor in San Francisco. “There should be a better [...]
Lifehacker: Interruptions can really disrupt your workflow. You spend time dismissing or addressing the person doing the interrupting, and then on regaining your focus. I have a friend who doesn’t own an iPod, but wears the ubiquitous white earbuds nearly everywhere he goes, tucked into a pocket. He’s found that people only talk to him [...]
Do you ever work in bed? Yes Sometimes Never View Results Photo by assbach.
