Archive for July 2009
Why You Should Get A Free Phone Number
photo credit: SimonDoggett Many of us think that in order to have a legitimate working phone number we have to sign up for a long contract and pay an outrageous amount of money for it. This is not necessarily true in all cases. Google Voice offers a free legitimate working phone number that you would [...]
How to Write an Ebook that Sells
Copyblogger has done a great review of How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook In five concise modules, How to Launch covers the entire process of writing an ebook that sells. How to research your market in 30 minutes or less. (If you don’t get this part right, you’re dead before you begin.) [...]
Last Friday, we ran a fun poll to find the ‘fake’ twitter app. Three readers got the correct answer, Twitletter. The other listings were actual Twitter applications. Twaitter is a tweet scheduling program. Twititon allows you to create a petition that people then use their Twitter username to vote on. Tweepular calls itself the ultimate [...]
How to Fund Your First Business
photo credit: pfala Adam McFarland, is the 26 year old founder of Pure Adapt, a company that designs, develops, markets, and operates e-commerce stores and other websites in an array of industries. Here’s his advice for funding your first business: Get a non-career job where you can work 30 – 40 hours/week and make enough [...]
ABC30: Sidney Miller’s friends have always praised her cookies. So when her corporate job gave out, she went to work in the kitchen. “So I’m out of a job and in the back of my mind I’m like, because why not?” said Miller. She started by using her Facebook friends to test the market and [...]
A Day For Entrepreneurs To Celebrate
Rhonda Abrams over at USA TODAY has this to say about today: I love the Fourth of July. Friends, barbecue, fireworks. Many years I celebrate the holiday with my family in Ashland, Oregon where I watch a small town parade. Afterwords, the community gathers in the downtown park for a music festival. Before the music [...]
photo credit: mugley As entrepreneurs, Independence Day, the 4th of July, means more to us than just fireworks and barbecues. It is the freedom to try out new ideas and opportunities. It means freedom to succeed because of our own ingenuity and resourcefulness; to find a need and fill it! This Independence Day, it is [...]
photo credit: Jesse Wagstaff Want to get into the solar business but don’t know anything about electricty? No problem, says the NY Times, neither do these guys: Technology advances and falling prices for solar technology have opened the gates for solar installations by businesses with no background in electricity generation. Energy generation “is not our [...]
Protect Your Business From Identity Theft
photo credit: lovelypetal It is so important these days to worry about identity theft not only in your personal life but especially in your business, maybe even more so in your business. Think about it, all the credit and charge cards your business contains, set up lines of credit for your business, hackers obtain a [...]
What Angel Investors Wont Tell You
photo credit: e³°°° In recent light of credit crunching down so much and the economy going down the toilet rapidly, we have all seen several articles posted on where to find additional help and financing such as with Angel Investors. However, as with any area of finance even Angel Investors have their bad points [...]
photo credit: geishaboy500 While today yes there are so many different web tools to choose from and you don’t need every single one, there are also many that a business definitely can benefit from and should have for their business. Below are a select few of the web tools for social media that I [...]
There are hundreds of third-party apps available for Twitter. Below are five apps. Which is NOT really a Twitter app? (At least not yet.) Twaitter Twitletter Twititon Tweepular Twicli View Results The answer will be revealed Monday. Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend. Photo by whothetweet.com.
Landing That Perfect Start-Up Dream Job
photo credit: Deon Maritz In today’s economy people are wondering what extra steps they should be taking in order to land that dream job of theirs, or even just to land A job in general. There are so many candidates going for the same job that many people feel they should practically be able to [...]
Work These Biz Books Into Your Summer
Advertising Age: Tom Martin over at Advertising Age shares some of his biz book favorites for summer reading. Enjoy the summer and the books. If you don’t see your favorite here, add it to the comments. How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market by Gerald Zaltman. I read this book a [...]
photo credit: smlp.co.uk I recently came across a blog posted on Seths Blog where he takes the point of view that you should never turn down special requests. That you need to treat all customers differently because they are not all the same. While i agree with his point of view on yes, customers are different [...]
Inc.: Brian Wiegand is no stranger to start-ups. His first business, BizFilings, launched in 1996 from his basement and later sold for $15 million to a public company. He and business partner Mark McGuire went on to start two others. The most recent was Jellyfish.com, which caught the purchasing eye of Microsoft only 18 months [...]
photo credit: lrargerich If you travel a great deal for your business or even just a few times a year then you now how expensive this can be, after you put together all the air fair, food, gas if you drive, renting a car, taxi cab fees, dry cleaning services, tips and more it adds [...]
Turn The Recession Into Revenue
The District Chronicles: Several tips for turning the recession into revenue: 1. Take it small scale at first. We’re not talking comprehensive business plans and venture capital commitments. Step one would be to get yourself online. Creating a Web site for your business or to tout your skills is neither difficult nor expensive, and it’s [...]
Start Leaning On Your Financial Advisors More
photo credit: Andre Charland If you have a financial advisors, then you should already be listening to their advice, taking it into consideration, if you aren’t then you need to start. After all what else did you hire this person for if not to take advice from them on your businesses financial matters? Entrepreneur.com suggests that [...]
Biz Poll Results: Where Do You Get Your News?
On Monday, we started a poll that asked readers where they got their news. Six percent said they got their news from newspapers, four percent from radio, 13 percent from TV and a whopping 77 percent from the Internet. This was demonstrated this past weekend with the sudden death of Michael Jackson. The Internet was [...]
Moms Can Make Good Dough From Home
The Huffington Post: When a full-time job as mom doesn’t cut it anymore cash-wise in this struggling economy, it doesn’t necessarily mean going back to work out of the house. There are lots of ways to work from home, keeping your work hours to school hours and managing mom responsibilities. For many of these businesses, [...]
Overstock Kills Affiliate Programs In 4 States
The Wall Street Journal: Overstock.com Inc. informed its marketing affiliates in four states — California, Hawaii, North Carolina and Rhode Island — that it is ending its business with them to avoid collecting sales tax. Lawmakers in the states have passed or are preparing to pass legislation that would require companies to collect sales tax [...]
Chickens Are Hot in a Recession
photo credit: Faye Pini BendBulletin: Back in the early ’80s, when the nation was gripped by recession, Duane Schiedler and his wife, Julie, retooled their cabinet shop to churn out geodesic-dome greenhouses. Fast forward more than two decades and the Schiedlers are at it again, only this time they’ve expanded. In addition to compact greenhouses [...]
photo credit: wannes deprez / ony one Is having a business plan important, yes it is very important, but is it so important that you have to stress yourself out to the point of needing a sedative, not it’s not. Many are intimidated by having to write a business plan, this should not be the [...]
Who To Hire And Who Not To Hire
photo credit: Lee Jordan We have all seen the high increase in un-employment and the high increase in people fighting for the same job. You place an ad in the paper or even online and the next thing you know you have about 30-60 applicants for ONE position. So how do you choose? Just Tell [...]
SchoolOfMusic.com recruits music teachers and then provides music lessons in students’ homes, teachers’ home studios, and after school programs. Their bizop is a must see!
Obtain New Clients With All Your Old Work
photo credit: kevindooley Imagine getting new clients all the time using old work you’ve done in the past. How easy would that be? Wouldn’t it be nice? You can do just that – by having a great portfolio, located on Men With Pens. In business it is true that you need to show off in [...]
Babyglow: Life-Saving Invention
Suffolk Free Press: A landlord from Long Melford is cracking open the bubbly after signing a multi-million pound contract for his “lifesaving” invention. Chris Ebejer, 42, who runs the Melford Inn, said he had a eureka moment six years ago when he woke up on the couch one morning and saw a documentary about babies [...]
Do Small Business Communities Benefit With Twitter?
photo credit: eyesplash Mikul Some small business owners, especially those that live in relatively small towns as well wonder if they would even benefit at all from using Twitter. Given it is such a huge and well known program on the Internet today, they wonder if their small business would even pick up on its [...]
Mompreneur Creates A Business For All With LikeWear
News Blaze: After deciding she wanted something a little more intellectually stimulating than coordinating carpools, Lisa Gold got entrepreneurial while her husband was on a business trip. What started as a keen idea to embellish children’s clothes from her kitchen, has turned into LikeWear, a national direct sales company with apparel licensing deals for General [...]
The Power Of In-Between Technology
Fast Company: Why Redbox is the biggest movie-rental company you’ve never heard of? Its secret: the power of in-between technology. Redbox — founded in 2002 as a division of McDonald’s and purchased by Coinstar this year — runs 15,000 machines in stores across the country and plans to have about 20,000 in place by the [...]
Mom Corps Expands With Franchises Across The Country
PRWeb: As jobless rates soar across the country, Mom Corps is expanding and providing more alternatives this month to those who have lost their jobs and those re-entering the job market. Mom Corps is proud to announce the opening of franchises in Miami, Philadelphia and Atlanta in addition to their online web presence and existing [...]
Make Recycling More Accessible By Charging for It
My guest post is up on Cisco Webex’s Ideas in Motion blog. It’s about starting a nationwide for-profit recycling business. Here’s a snippet: This is not just an eco-friendly possibility but would also be a profitable business, because unlike most municipal recycling programs, the business would charge consumers to pickup and remove their recyclables. As [...]
Online Shop Brings ‘Hope’ To Eco-Friendly Soapmakers
Did you know that everything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body? That means the shampoo you use, the ink from the pen you used to jot a note on your hand, and your skincare products all find their way into your body. For some that might not be a problem, for [...]
Why Your Business Needs A Blog
photo credit: annnna. Many business owners wonder if their business truly needs a blog or if it is just a waste of their time. Below are some reasons stated recently on Startup Nation that pinpoint why you should have a blog for your business today. With a blog you can listen and learn. Remember [...]
Enlist A Global Work Force Of Freelancers
The New York Times: Small businesses increasingly are tapping a new talent pool: the world. A new generation of online service marketplaces is giving small companies more opportunities than ever to find specialized expertise and affordable labor. Main Street businesses can shop a virtual international bazaar of freelancers to recruit computer programmers in Russia, graphic [...]
Where To Find Your Content Inspiration
photo credit: svensonsan I can’t tell you how often I’ve uncovered the seed of an idea from something totally unrelated to marketing that I could twist to apply it in a totally new and relevant way. Duct Tape Marketing recently did an article on several different and some what unusual places where you can go [...]
Springwise: French tourism company Bocages has created a pop-up cabin for four that features a transparent dome in the roof, a telescope and a sky observation kit. Carré d’étoiles are portable and reversible cube-shaped structures crafted with recyclable wood. Included in each parquet-floored cabin are a double cabin bed, a sofa bed for two, a [...]
Preserving Cash For Your Business
photo credit: AMagill If you’re running a small business today and aren’t thinking about how to tighten your belt, you are surely in rarefied company. But if you’re like the rest of us, you’re scrambling to cover expenses, pay bills and make payroll. Take a look at all of your expenses going out in such [...]
USA TODAY: You’ve probably never heard of Rachel Taylor. But it won’t be long before you can turn on the TV and hear hard-sell pitches — again and again — to buy the one-size-fits-all hair clip she invented. Taylor is a rare winner in a world of inventors bedeviled by losers. She recently earned a [...]
Tips For Restaurant Owners To Follow
photo credit: d e r r i d a ! I recently ran across what I think are some very wise and helpful tips for restaurant owners on Inc.com, because lets face it in today’s economy we could all use a little help no matter what our business is. Make sure you buy wisely. As [...]
When Someone Googles Your Name, What Do You Want to Happen?
BusinessKnowHow: In my humble opinion, I want four (types of) things to happen: 1. SEARCH RESULTS. First and foremost. The instant barometer of your brand. Because if you don’t exist on Google, you don’t exist. 2. SILENT DIALOGUES. This comes second. This is the stuff people think when they see your name. 3. IMMEDIATE ACTION. [...]
photo credit: JustinLowery.com A recent study was posted on Small Business Labs pertaining to the fact that Entrepreneurship may be decreasing. However, I would have to disagree with this study given the fact that there have been so many reports recently on new franchises, now being the best time to start a business, many people being [...]
800CEORead: When Joe Bennett bought a six-pack of underwear in his local supermarket for five dollars, he wondered who on earth could be making any money, let alone profit, from the exchange. How many processes and middlemen are involved? Where and how is the underwear made? And who decides on the absorbent qualities of the [...]
Don’t Do’s For All Entrepreneurs
photo credit: jonfeinstein We spend a lot of time going over all of the correct decisions and moves that entrepreneurs should make, but I think we should spend a little time on the things that entrepreneurs shouldn’t do, I believe those are just as important. OpenForum recently suggested that you shouldn’t worry about your product [...]
Want Free Business Advice? Listen to Your Customers!
SmallBizBee: How well do you listen to what your customers have to say? Richard Branson points out in this short interview segment with Seth Godin, listening to all customer feedback should be part of your business strategy.
Alibaba: I write this article on the heels of a great runner’s high. I realized on my run that many of my articles take a hard look at being a mom entrepreneur. I focus on the risks, the reality and the struggles because I don’t want to glamorize what a mom entrepreneur’s life will be [...]
High Acheivers And How They Do It
photo credit: wili_hybrid Many people look at the high achievers in their company and think to themselves “how does he do that?” We wonder what drives them, is it a high level of energy, a person in the background coaching them on or do they drink way too much coffee? Finally here are some answers, [...]
"Safety In A Snap" Is The New Child Safety Trend
PR Web: While sunglasses, sun hats and sunscreen are still likely to be some of this summer’s most popular accessories, the Guardian Angel Bracelet ID is quickly making its way to the top of ‘mom’s must-haves lists’. Created by a mom who lost her child at the beach for nearly 30 minutes, the Guardian Angel [...]
U.S. Personal Bizs Grew By Almost 1 Million In 2007
Small Business Labs: According to new data released by the U.S. Census, the number of personal businesses – whicy are single person businesses with no employees – increased by close to 1 million in 2007 reaching 21.7 million. This is an increase of 4.5% over 20.8 million personal businesses recorded in 2006. This increases the [...]
