Archive for July 2009
Mom's Recycling Business Offers Job Opportunities To The Disabled
Chicago News: A northwest suburban mom started a small electronics recycling business that has given people with disabilities jobs. Since October 2007, Recycling Avenue has sold over 1,500 items. It’s a growing and successful business that is doing something good for both the environment and disabled community. “We collect the recycles, the recyclable items and [...]
Entrepreneurship’s 10 Commandments
Forbes: 1. Make meaning, not money. 2. Make a mantra, not a mission statement. 3. Jump curves. 4. In product design, “roll the DICEE.” 5. Don’t worry, be “crappy.” 6. Polarize people. 7. Let 100 flowers blossom. 8. Churn, baby, churn. 9. Niche yourself. 10. Follow the 10-20-30 rule. Go here for more details on [...]
Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?
Smallbiztechnology.com: Lyn Nielsen of web development company Desktop Solutions sent me these great tips in how and why to consider making your web site “mobile friendly” so that it more easily displays on web sites of cell phone browsers and I’d thought to share them with you. • Review your competition. • Think about how [...]
Imprint In Time Brings Together 7 Businesses Into 1 Franchise Opportunity
You don’t have to look hard if you want to find a sign, they’re everywhere. From the street sign to the sign on the public restroom door, it is pretty easy to figure out that signs won’t be disappearing from our world any time soon. This might even be an industry that continues to expand, [...]
Myths On Teens And Media – They Still Watch TV!
TechCrunch: Nielsen, the audience measurement company is releasing a brand new report on teens and media with a lofty promise of serious myth busting and hard fact presenting that will downright knock your socks off. Ready for some eye-openers? Here we go: With an ever-expanding media universe, social networks play an increasingly important roles in [...]
Catherine Patton: Business Ideas Come from Everyday Needs
WomenHomeBusiness.com: Catherine Patton, founder of Patton Medical Devices, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2001. As a result, she is now faced with the daily struggle of effectively managing her disease. Using injection therapy, Patton quickly grew tired of giving herself an injection each time she needed insulin. The multiple daily injections often left [...]
photo credit: Lauren Close First and foremost, we all know that the start of getting your foot in the door is a well put together cover letter accompanied by your well put together resume. The Next important thing is how you react to the interviewer themselves, always make sure you act appropriately to their behavior [...]
Fear No.3: Being Your Own Boss
Entrepreneur: Colleen Long, a psychologist who specializes in entrepreneurship calls it the “lemonade-stand fear.” “It’s the feeling the entrepreneur first gets when he starts any kind of business: the feeling that he’s operating a lemonade stand, this low-budget operation that doesn’t feel real,” she says. As a small business, especially during the startup stages, there’s [...]
photo credit: hansol A simplistic focus on sales may not be typical for most entrepreneurs, but even savvy business owners may falter when faced with complex vendor compliance programs. Here are steps to avoiding charge-backs. Be sure to be clear in all contracts what exactly has been promised to the customer. This way there is [...]
Achieve Your Goals By Putting Them Online
Web Worker Daily: Nothing will motivate you to achieve your goals like making other people aware of the specifics of what you’re aiming to accomplish. Making others aware of your plans also has the added benefit of potentially providing you with great feedback about how you might best go about carrying through with them, too. [...]
New Networking Site For Charlottesville Mompreneurs Has Been Launched
NBC29: A Charlottesville entrepreneur is bringing moms together. Angie Brement, of Angie Brement Photography, launched C’ville Entremom Tuesday. The networking website features local mom-owned business and marketing professionals. Brement says because so many moms are juggling their business and children, there isn’t a lot of time to meet other entrepreneurs. “Most days, I you know [...]
Emily Rose Launches Home Business Opportunity For Mom & Daughter Entrepreneurs
PR Web: Emily Rose @ Home introduces a new home party business for Mom and Daughter entrepreneurs’. Emily Rose has always offered significant savings on clothing and furniture for 18 inch dolls over the name brands (like American Girl) – and now they are introducing a way for Moms to make money while helping other [...]
Protect Yourself During Layoffs
photo credit: furryscaly I recently came upon an article located on Entrepreneur.com regarding ways that employers can protect themselves during layoffs and keep their company out of a law suit. I have to disagree with many thing’s that are stated in this article as it almost sounds like they are attacking employees and portraying employers to [...]
SmallBizResource Blog: Are you thinking about launching a new business? Do you have some new product or service you want to sell? Are you pretty sure the product or service will be a big hit if you can get enough money to get started, or get the time and resources together to add it to [...]
LotsOfJobs.net Brings Hope To The Unemployed
At a time when unemployment is rising and job opportunities are starting to thin, LotsOfJobs.net might be able to help. Not only do they give employers a chance to list their job openings but they also give job seekers a chance to search through and inquire about an opportunity for free. Initially inspired by an [...]
Finding a Business That Matches your Personal Skills and Interests
photo credit: LaserGuided The following is a guest post from Bizymoms. One of the surest ways to succeed in any business is to try and match your inherent skills and natural interests with the kind of business that you choose for yourself. If you can do that, half your battle is already won. In terms [...]
Free E-Book: If A domain name is used well together with a creative idea, you can create a killer marketing campaign that can skyrocket your sales.
Oregon Overcomplicates Entrepreneurship for Unemployed
Oregon is trying to get people who are receiving unemployment to start a business. Because it’s a government program, though, it’s a bit more complicated than it needs to be. All enrolled Self Employment Assistance Program claimants must attend self-employment assistance counseling/training and engage in self-employment activities on a fulltime basis. Participants must complete both [...]
Entrepreneur Passionate About His Neckwear
The Florida Times-Union: When he was growing up, Efferem Williams would get a new suit each Easter. Williams would wear that suit to church each Sunday for a year. “What made it different would be the ties,” he said. When it came to ties, Williams took his cue from an older cousin, Vernon Franklin, who [...]
Via Michael Webster comes this video from the FTC on business opportunity fraud:
Is 2009 the year of the rental company? The Start Up Donut Blog thinks so: Zilok takes advantage of a number of relatively recent developments, not least the Internet (and in particular Google Maps), to enable you to search for things and then to rent them from a neighbour. They claim that the average drill [...]
Small Business Website Mistakes To Avoid
photo credit: juhansonin Many people think that setting up a website is less detailed then it really is. There are so many different aspects and sectors of setting up a website that either make or break how that website does in terms of traffic it receives. Here are some very important mistakes to avoid [...]
photo credit: √oхέƒx™ It appears that the reports of the death of the incandescent lightbulb were greatly exaggerated: When Congress passed a new energy law two years ago, obituaries were written for the incandescent light bulb. The law set tough efficiency standards, due to take effect in 2012, that no traditional incandescent bulb on the [...]
Ask Yourself Before Starting A Home-Based Biz
Sacramento Home-based Business Examiner: With the current recession it’s easy to be tempted by the lure of starting your own home based business. However, before making the jump you should assess your reasons and ability to start up a home-based business. • Do I have the necessary core skills? • Will I be moonlighting after [...]
Don’t Overthink Your Business Idea
photo credit: woodleywonderworks Wanna-be entrepreneurs tend to overthink and over-complicate their business ideas. Opening a pizza hamburger stand isn’t a unique idea, but depending on your location it could be an ideal business opportunity. There’s no reason to be clever just for cleverness sake. You don’t need to create something from scratch. Everyday I profile [...]
photo credit: emifaulk A group of Sheffield College (UK) students have developed the false teeth for cats. Seventeen-year-old Rachel Gilbert is one of eight animal care students who have come with help for unfortunate felines who have to have their damaged gnashers removed. Rachel is competing on Monday at her own Castle College in the [...]
photo credit: kevindooley There are so many blogs out there that get thousands of readers everyday, so how do they do it? How do they bring in all that traffic everyday? They have found ways to set up their blogs in such a way that it automatically attracts attention to the readers, it pulls them [...]
Fear No.2: Economic Uncertainty
Entrepreneur: Five years ago, the economy may not have been of forefront concern for a startup entrepreneur. But today, businesses big and small, young and old, are worried about what the declining economy means for them. According to the January 2009 “American Express OPEN Economic Pulse,” report, 66 percent of small-business owners surveyed said they [...]
What You Can Do With A Bad Headline
photo credit: Piez A headline to your articles is the single most important part of that article. Your headline is what will determine whether a person reads your article, just scans over it looking for important information or simply deletes it without even reading one sentence. Your headline tells what type of article the reader [...]
Your Home Based Biz And Your Children
The Home-Based Business Blog: There are many reasons to build a home based business. One that is not mentioned very much is how it can form your children. Working a home based business can provide a good example for your children. At the very least, it will provide them with an alternate view from what [...]
Oregon Helps The Unemployed Start Their Own Business
While this is not directly connected to mom-entrepreneurship, this is a great example of what our government can do for those of us that find ourselves unfortunately unemployed. This could also make for a wonderful opportunity, allowing working moms who have recently been laid-off the chance to become mompreneurs. OregonLive.com: Management consultant Mike O’Daly lost [...]
This is neat. FreePatentsOnline has launched a patent map. It is a Google Maps mashup that shows the location of over 3 million patents and patent appliactions based on the inventor’s city. Pretty amazing to consider that my little town of Mariposa, CA (population 1,300) has 27 patents!
Mom Pours More Than Heart Into Her Business, She Pours Candle Wax Too
Examiner.com: It has been 2 1/2 years since Luminous Glow Candle Company was born. Since then, Belinda has found that right combination. Currently, her hand poured soy candles are housed in 19 retail locations in the Tampa Bay area including Carrollwood Florist and Abby’s Heath and Nutrition. Much of her business also comes from schools, [...]
photo credit: jyryk58 Let’s jump right to the question that every woman entrepreneur who’s thinking about starting up a business in today’s economy wants the answer to: “Should I start up now or wait six months?” There will always be risk in starting up a brand new business whether you do it during a strong [...]
ReadWriteWeb: According to a study published in The Columbia Science and Technology Law Review, patents may be harming our ability to innovate. Patents and the Regress of Useful Arts, written by Bill Tomlinson of UC Irvine and Andrew Torrance of University of Kansas School of Law, tested the hypothesis with a game called PatentSim. The [...]
Online Boutique Helps Create An Identity For Your Pet
As every pet owner knows, our four legged friends can be just as unique as we are and each one has its own personality. Since we don’t all like the same things, wouldn’t that also apply to our pets? Four Leg Identity allows you to buy products for your pet that fit its personality. They [...]
Building Business Credit In 2009
photo credit: apesara Many business owners don’t even truly understand the difference between business and personal credit, nor do they generally understand how each one is tracked and obtained. A lot of time we see business owners take what they feel is the easy route and just use their personal credit for business. Below [...]
photo credit: joiseyshowaa When we work for ourselves or are the owners of a company, we need to remember that we make the rules now, we no longer have to stick to the typical 9-5 hours of operation if we don’t want to. We no longer have to stick to the timeless classic of a [...]
photo credit: ChiBart In business we all know that our customers are our “bread and butter”, they are what keeps us alive in business and doing well. The more customers we have, the better we are doing, the less customers we have, the worse we are doing. It’s common sense. So in spirit of our [...]
photo credit: Nico Kaiser In our world of rapid growing technology and the fact that a large number of business owners do business outside of their office on all sorts of devices, I feel the need to post an article regarding mobile marketing and it’s benefits. We all know that marketing in general is important [...]
Are You Sure Your Customers See You?
photo credit: helgabj While Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging are great tools for communicating quickly and reaching a wider audience and will help to increase your visibility, they work best when done in addition to some of the more traditional marketing methods. Try writing a monthly newsletter to update them on you and your company [...]
photo credit: TheeErin Customer loyalty for a small business is as much about brand perception as it is about brand behavior. Your loyalty efforts can go a long way towards bringing people back into your store, but you can’t expect their return alone to bring profits. For that you need to continue driving value, service [...]
T-Shirt Comes With Free Music Downloads
Springwise: Much the way Webkinz pets are more than just stuffed animals, so t-shirts can be more than just t-shirts when they forge links to the online world. The conversation-starters offered by Reactee, Shyno and Augme are one type of example; now bringing a new purpose to such connections comes The Music Tee, a shirt [...]
photo credit: kevindooley Today businesses are sorting through a stack of employment applications wondering which ones will be the best choice for their company. The more applicants makes it harder to choose whom you think will be the best fit not just for the company but for the current employees as well. Here are [...]
Fortune Small Business: Matthew Fitch learned it the hard way: Sometimes you’ve got to look — twice! — before you leap. Fitch, 38, is the owner of Aerial Adventures Demos in Hopewell, Va., one of a handful of national parachuting companies that drop skydivers into outdoor events, with clients including San Francisco’s Emerald Bowl and [...]
Bootstrapping a Rental Company
photo credit: wohnai Chegg is a textbook rental website, and they began renting boks before it actually owned any! When an order came in, its employees would surf the Web to find a cheap copy. They would buy the book using Mr. Rashid’s American Express card and have it shipped to the student. Eventually, Chegg [...]
Small Business Benefiting From Unemployment
photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography Yes it is tragic when we continue to see the unemployment rate rise every month, it is depressing for most of us and stressful wondering if our job is the next to get cut. However, small business is actually benefiting from the high rise in unemployment, and we all know [...]
Entrepreneur: Without a doubt, an entrepreneur’s biggest fear is failing–understandably, because 95 percent of all businesses fail within the first five years, Colleen Long, a psychologist who specializes in entrepreneurship, says. When you’re starting with those kinds of odds, it’s OK to be a little freaked out. The list of what-ifs is endless: What if [...]
Helpful Tools For Working Offline
photo credit: trekkyandy Consulting Pulse posted an article that I felt brought up a very good point. While today we can stay connected to more people in more ways and places than our parents ever could have, we still shouldn’t rely just on online tools to do business. You never know when your computer will [...]
Two States Think Better Of Imposing Sales Taxes On E-Retailers
Internet Retailer: Threats by retailers to cut off affiliate marketing relationships in states that are trying to tax sales generated by affiliates have had an effect. The governors of California and Hawaii have vetoed legislation that would have imposed such taxes in those states. The governors acted after such major online retailers as Amazon.com Inc., [...]
