Archive for May 2009
photo credit: lepiaf.geo Social media can represent an overwhelming set of tools, websites, and communities for an organization that hasn’t yet gotten involved. Whether you’re trying to sell leadership on a plan to get going in social media or you’re trying to figure out how to get your own company more up to speed, you’ve [...]
photo credit: Eddie~S Now a days while hiring new people may be in order for companies, it is one of those long drawn out tasks that most managers don’t even have time really to deal with. so for the time challenged managers, HarvardBusiness has come up with some hiring blunders to stay away from in [...]
photo credit: wili_hybrid With so many thriving businesses already set in place and those that are newcomers to the business world, it is no wonder why the BBB was set in place in 1912 in order to help consumers find the right business for them. Inc.com recently did a post regarding the businesses that received [...]
photo credit: woodleywonderworks Today in business rather than having one blog related to your company or a few blogs that you advertise on, more and more business owners are realizing that Brand related communities are the way to go for getting more traffic and business sent their way. But how do you create a truly [...]
photo credit: MK Media Productions Today there are many different options that can boost your companies image, which is ultimately what all business owners are striving for today…a stronger image that will last. So why not try adding a video in order to boost your image? Entrepreneur.com suggests that it is not only a great [...]
Ridiculous Ideas That Made People Millions
KIVITV: Learn the stories behind some (seemingly) ridiculous ideas that have made inventors and investors very wealthy. You’ve may have never heard of Scott Stillinger but somewhere in your home or office you probably have one of his inventions – the Koosh ball, which made millions of dollars. Stillinger came up with the idea for [...]
Inc.: In The Republic, Plato famously wrote, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” What the esteemed Greek philosopher failed to mention is that reinvention is the way to build the mother of all companies. Innovation is the current buzzword, but in many ways, it’s become an overused term that means all things to all people. [...]
See Jane Fly Eases The Pain Of Flying For Women
The flying experience is not something that can be considered one-size-fits-all. Each person as their own needs. See Jane Fly realizes that women have separate needs from men and aspires to help them meet their needs with a customizable, free travel guide. Any Jane that wants to fly in comfort is likely to find the [...]
Venturebeat: There’s been a lot of talk about virtual currencies recently, with Facebook reportedly testing a payment system for third-party applications and MySpace considering something similar. Meanwhile, teen social network myYearbook is already making a healthy amount of cash with its virtual currency, dubbed “Lunch Money,” according to co-founder Catherine Cook. The New Hope, Pa., [...]
PCWorld: Many free, online resources can help answer your business questions. While some sites are skewed towards single-person startups, you can still find a community to help an established, larger business. The U.S. Small Business Administration is densely packed with information. You can learn basics about writing a business plan, establishing a trademark, and managing [...]
Inc.: Keeping employees engaged in the midst of layoffs, pay cuts and a skittish economy can be difficult. A new study suggests that organizations should adopt policies that address different generations of workers’ needs, rather than attempting one-size-fits-all fixes. The study, conducted jointly by Boston College’s Sloan Center for Aging and Work and MetLife, examines [...]
photo credit: Raúl A. The economics of news are changing, as the web forces prices down. What’s the future of the newspaper? I don’t know, but it’s almost like the early days of radio again. Back then, everyone wondered how it was possible to make money from radio, because with the right equipment anyone could [...]
Mom Makes Splash Selling Tummy Tubs
MSNBC: [Janis] McKellar — who was joined in Studio 1A by her husband, Brent — was expecting her fourth child in November 2007 when she first set about finding a better way to bathe a baby than the standard tubs she had been using. What she discovered not only filled her requirements — it filled [...]
8.64 Trillion Hits in One Day!
Fast Company: The day before India’s Lok Sabha elections, the country’s election commission made a new Web site live to provide election results in real-time. The commisson overbuilt the site, so it thought, readying it for almost 3,000 hits per second–that’s 80.6 billion hits in a single 8-hour day. The six-day voting process was supposed [...]
digtriad.com: The recipe for Sue Catherine’s greatest kitchen invention included aggravation and necessity. “I would get so frustrated because lunches wouldn’t fit, and so I thought, ‘Why not, I’ll just start making my own,’” she said. Catherine created the CaddySac in 2007. She based it on size on the size water bottles and plastic containers [...]
Today’s Twitter Updates 05-18-2009
# Small Biz Survival: Idea: Small town concierge service http://bit.ly/Rujqd # What People Trying To Make Money Online Blogging Don’t Get – ShoeMoney http://bit.ly/Z6NO3 # It doesn’t hurt to ask – Actually, it does. In the wrong way, without preparation or without permission. http://bit.ly/lsXy4 # Tips for coping when your startup is out of cash [...]
Wolfram/Alpha Launches: Can It Break Out Of Niche-Ville?
ZDNet: Wolfram/Alpha has launched, but after a few searches it’s an open question whether the search engine can break out of a narrow niche for select users. For many searches Wolfram/Alpha just “isn’t sure what to do with your input.” “Wolfram|Alpha is the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge [...]
Mom Is "Sold" On Direct Selling
Channel 9 WCPO.com: When mom Shannon Bambara was laid off…instead of applying to dozens of companies for work, she decided to become her own company. Shannon became a direct seller with Silpada Designs, a jewelry manufacturer. She peddles the company’s products at house parties…then takes a cut of the proceeds. Shannon says”an average Silpada party [...]
Inventors Club Turns Ideas Into Jobs
NCTimes.com: Politicians try to stimulate the economy by throwing cash at it. San Marcos businessman Adrian Pelkus starts stimulating at the source: the ideas of fledgling entrepreneurs. Pelkus is president of the San Diego Inventors Forum, a group that helps people develop their ideas and get them to market. In short, the forum helps turn [...]
Hockey Mom Cleans Up Smelly Gear
telegraphjournal.com: Being a hockey mom, however, she was curious about a new hockey development company in the Saint John area that was profiled in this column last December called Ozone Hockey. When she Googled the company name, however, she stumbled across a website that piqued her interest. The website was about a new process that [...]
Boy’s Invention Earns Him Spot On National TV
The Flint Journal: Thomas Beaubien’s bright idea has snagged him a spot on a national television talk show. It all started when the 10-year-old got tired of holding a flashlight so that his dad could see while working on his car — so he designed The Glove Light. And now Bonnie Hunt wants to hear [...]
Inc.: Entrepreneurs think the recession is making them better business owners, and, according to a recent report, they’re beginning to feel cautiously optimistic. The American Express Open small business monitor surveyed 727 owners of firms with fewer than 100 employees and found 77 percent think managing through the last few months has made them better [...]
Inc.: The use of computers and e-mail is ubiquitous among all white collar workers, but a recent study suggests that there’s a generational gap between how younger and older employees use the Internet at work. According to a survey conducted among 450 people by online information firm LexisNexis, Generation Y workers (those under 30) spend [...]
photo credit: Medmoiselle T In todays economy it is definitely tough times for business’ everywhere especially small business’. So how do you go about keeping your customers from having to share your burden of increasing fees from say your vendor’s, bank’s, credit card machine companies and more? Entrepreneur.com suggests that at some point it may [...]
Marketing Your Business When Your Broke
photo credit: Arturo de Albornoz While we may not be actually flat broke, we all still are looking for the cheapest and most effective way’s to market our business. This being said, there are actually free way’s to market your business, that’s right, absolutely free! Free classified ads. Do some google searching to see what [...]
photo credit: The Wandering Angel Many people are falling into entrepreneurship by total accident, meaning their job or this economy has left them no choice other then to survive on their own. But many of them are asking what businesses are the best one’s to create, especially during a recession. Some of the best businesses [...]
Today’s Twitter Updates 05-15-2009
# RT @WSJSmallBiz Reinventing Magazines http://tinyurl.com/p3temj Very interesting approaches – I like T-Post (via @PhitchOC) # Real PR has noting to do with smoke and mirrors, or selling, it’s about a good story. http://bit.ly/yXKK3 (via @AnthonyMoraPR) # So it appears that Donald Trump is moving into MLM with his merger/purchase of Ideal Health. Anyone have [...]
photo credit: JimFenton I received a slick, expensive, 20-page brochure in the mail the other day from Bank of America, promoting its home loans and other excellent attributes. It was thick, colorful, printed on heavy (unrecycled) paper, with only a single “impact” word on several of the pages; my favorite of these was “Confidence,” a [...]
photo credit: gwilmore It is unfortunately true that most people reading your copy only reads the first few lines. Now this does not mean that all of your time and frustration writing the copy has gone to waste, all this means is that if those first few lines don’t grab the attention of your reader, [...]
photo credit: adactio Many business leaders are very worried about the stability of their company, about their ability to replace the loss of key leaders during this recession, and their worry is definitely with good reason. Many companies are not doing as well as they have in past downturns. Marshall Goldsmith recently suggested that rather than [...]
photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com We have been seeing this trend of the government dishing out all kinds of bailout money to large corporations and now to large and small banks all over the country. We are about to see yet another bailout being handed to smaller banks in the near future. While treasury secretary [...]
photo credit: marcopako In business big or small we can always use as many helpful features and tools to run thing’s smoother that we can find. One of googles new features that is excellent for business owners of any kind is their google voice feature. Recently talked about on FastCompany, google voice is showing [...]
Unique products to inspire and amuse. Shoe Earrings The latest way to embellish your sneaks is with shoe earrings, a pair of faux diamond earrings which are meant to be worn in the top lace hole. A TV in your sunglasses A combination of mirrors, innovative see-through video displays, digital controls and good old-fashioned tinted [...]
Aspiring Entrepreneur Finds Her Way Through Unique Fundraising
When most people want to launch a business they will save the money, borrow from people they know, or get a loan. Christa Hastie created the Million Gumballs project instead. Ultimately it is Christa’s goal to raise enough money to build her very own a bed and breakfast. To do that she is selling gumballs [...]
Don’t Make A Sale, Make A Long-Term Customer
NFIB: Establishing ongoing relationships with customers enhances the long-term success of most small companies. It’s more cost-effective and a lot less stressful to serve ongoing accounts than it is to continually search for new business. Cash flows are more stable, and increased operational efficiencies can reduce internal costs, increasing profitability. To secure a long-term customer, [...]
New Work At Home Options For Moms Affected By The Economy
PR Newswire: With today’s uncertain economic climate, moms across the country are seeking ways to offset the economic downturn with flexible work options. From starting their own home businesses to freelancing and telecommuting, thousands of moms — many of whom are highly educated and experienced — are jumping back into the workforce and choosing to [...]
McDonald’s Commits $100 Million To Coffee War
MSNBC: McDonald’s Corp. has began a more than $100 million marketing campaign including TV, radio, print, online and outdoor ads for its McCafe line of espresso drinks. The drinks are now being rolled out to the chain’s 14,000 U.S. locations. The ads portray the drinks as the antidote to a miserable day and aim to [...]
Springwise: Greeting cards that talk or play music have been around for a while now, so it seems natural to see those capabilities extended to the floral bouquet. Sure enough, global florist FTD has just released a line of floral arrangements that deliver a spoken message along with the flowers. FTD’s Say It Your Way [...]
Monday, we asked readers “Do You Backup Your Data Off Site?” 44 percent replied Yes, 49% No, and 8% Sometimes. Sometimes ain’t gonna cut it, unless you like playing Russian Roulette. And did you notice that the poll mentioned ‘off site?” If you don’t backup your data offsite, you might as well not back it [...]
Today’s Twitter Updates 05-14-2009
# Why 60% of all restaurants fail within their first 3 years. http://short.to/65q5 #RCS (via @JeffreySummers) # RT @WeberBooks: Charge Amazon Kindle users a fee to read your blog: http://bit.ly/vUvHc (via @tnhuckaby) # Video CES 2009: Touch-screen vending machine http://bit.ly/BvxUX # RT@TMarketingTips is giving away a confidentail report: 7 Black Hat Dropcard Marketing Ideas at [...]
Best Management Tools For Your Small Business
photo credit: juanpol If your managing your own small business, then you already know that you hold more titles than you technically have time for during your day. This can become very overwhelming quickly if you do not utilize the right tools to help you. SmallbizTrends has come up with some management tools for your small [...]
Self Help Tips For The Home Office
photo credit: Risager When making the transition from office to home office, there are many aspects that people never think to look at, many things that they take for granted in the outside office and don’t even think to make sure they are in place when moving to the home office. Below are a few [...]
photo credit: Lee Jordan Take a minute to sit down and think about all the little thing’s you use throughout the day that you probably take for granted. From the internet to something as simple as the phone book. Think about what you would do if you didn’t have these inventions at your finger tips. [...]
photo credit: jurvetson If your starting to think about taking your business to the next level, consider building a team rather than hiring employees. The employees that are already set in place is a great place to start and building foundation for your new team that you want. Open Forum recently posted an article on [...]
What You Want From A Web Desginer
photo credit: Robert S. Donovan When contemplating designing a website for your business, there is a vast range of options and things that need to be thought about and many decisions to be made on the look, feel and operation of your site. It’s your site that speaks to your customers about you and your [...]
Fast Company: As Memorial Day, the unofficial beginning of the summer grill season, looms, the industry remains red hot. Here’s a tasting platter of stats. More than 74 million American barbecued in 2007. Last year Americans bought roughly 900,000 tons of charcoal briquettes. Kingsford, a unit of Clorox, has about 80% market share. According to [...]
Inventor Touts New Medical Bracelet
The Arizona Republic: A Chandler man has a patent pending for a medical bracelet with a memory card that he says could save paperwork and even lives. The inventor, Jeff Hexamer, says the card will contain a person’s photo, medical history, insurance information, blood type, medications, past surgeries, X-rays, emergency contacts and whether the patient [...]
Get Your Product On Retailers’ Shelves
Fortune Small Business: Q: I have a children’s eco-friendly clothing line. We are taking it slow because we are branding our line and are in some ways picky about who we sell to. I have recently been approached by a distributor, but I’m not sure if this is the best way to launch into the [...]
Interest In eBooks Continues To Grow
Read Write Web: According to the latest data from Hitwise, however, interest in eBooks continues to grow steadily. Looking at the data for the U.K., Hitwise’s Robin Goad concludes that searches for ‘ebooks’ doubled between January 2008 and 2009, with a clear peak around Christmas. As the Kindle isn’t available outside of the U.S. yet, [...]
Successful Entrepreneurs Need Negative Feedback
Knowledge@W.P. Carey: Tom Blondi has been involved with several start-up companies, and he’s learned there are two essential ingredients every successful venture needs. First, someone needs to come up with a good idea. Second, the founder needs to hear negative feedback about that idea. In fact, the negative feedback may be the more important element [...]
