Archive for October 27th, 2009
The Creation of the Day Care Industry
photo credit: n0seblunt The Tennessean: Has the recession made you an accidental entrepreneur? Not sure how to pick the right business to start? Business opportunities are most often the result of major changes in the economy, society, our culture or technology. These changes create customers who have new unmet needs. For example, when women entered [...]
What is a Minimum Viable Product?
Is your product too complicated? Maybe your company should sell the minimum viable product it can? What is an MVP? The product with just the necessary features to get money and feedback from early adopters. The minimum viable product (MVP) is often an ad on Google. Or a PowerPoint slide. Or a dialog box. Or [...]
You know the saying: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” A Las Vegas woman found out the hard way just how much the government does to keep itself in business: Delinda Epstein, 51, was living in a townhouse in the swanky Las [...]
BusinessWeek reports that more than half of all U.S. businesses are based at home. These companies often are dismissed as quaint hobbyist ventures, but new research suggests that’s a mistake. An estimated 6.6 million home-based enterprises provide at least half of their owners’ household income. Together these “homepreneurs” employ one in 10 private-sector workers, and [...]
Social Media Marketing Tips For Small Businesses
photo credit: Damien Basile Many of us in business know how important social media marketing is to our company, however, what most of us don’t know is how to go about it. We look at this concept and view it as complicated, confusing and time consuming but social media marketing can actually be quite easy [...]
Boomer Trends: Furry Little Critters
About.com reports that dogs and cats aren’t just pets any more; they’re treasured members of the family. Remember the old days when dogs slept in dog houses? Not in boomer households. Baby boomer pets eat, sleep and do things with their people. They watch TV, they get dressed up, they have their own friends and [...]
Declaration of (Financial) Independence
We’ve all heard of the man who bought a $4 painting at a garage sale, found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence inside, and sold it for $2.4 million. A once-in-a-lifetime story, right? Not so much, actually. Mental Floss reports that Michael Sparks was visiting a Nashville thrift store, where he bought a [...]
Real-Life Lessons From Shark Tank
Experts say there are real lessons for an entrepreneur to learn from the ABC reality show Shark Tank, in which entrepreneurs vie for venture capital, reports Entrepreneur.com. “If you’re an entrepreneur who’s planning on going in front of investors, this is a show you should start watching,” says Melissa Krinzman, managing director of the business [...]
Fast Company has an interesting article about Douwe Egberts, the market leader in tea and coffee, that has unveiled its conceptual BeMoved vending machine, which promises to elevate human-coffee interaction “to a higher level.” Literally. As in, you have to jump for your java. Okay, to be fair, that feature, part of an interactive game [...]
Mark Stevens at Entrepreneur magazine says instead of saying ‘thank you,’ show customers some real appreciation by giving them your time. You may be confusing the idea of celebrating your customers with fawning over them. But I have something else in mind. Something like actually paying attention to them: caring, thinking, dreaming and wondering enough [...]
CBS News reports that small business could feel the most pain from the H1N1 flu virus. In Boston, the Port Authority is training extra workers to operate snowplows – following concern regular drivers will get sick. And in Malibu, Calif., one restaurant is giving its employees vitamins and wiping down every door knob every two [...]
Insurance A Must For Home Bizs
Operating a small business from home can free entrepreneurs from the costs of leasing space and commuting. But too many of them may shortchange themselves when it comes to buying insurance, writes The Desert Sun. A recent survey commissioned by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) found that nearly 60 percent of [...]
Moms Take A Leap With Food Business
MyCentralJersey.com: The blip in the economy didn’t stop two friends — Pinky Kaur and Charan Singh — from plunging into the restaurant business and opening a Panchero’s Mexican Grill on Sept. 15. Singh, a former human resource specialist and stay-at-home-mom, and Kaur, an advertising representative for IndiaPost newspaper, have been friends for more than four [...]
A Profitable Opportunity In Concrete Coatings
If you’re not afraid of a little hard work, an opportunity to make money through concrete coatings might be in your future. With the help of Tim Tuohy, the founder of Concrete Coatings of Georgia, many contractors have been able to find the materials they need to perform the job and the training required to [...]
