Archive for October 2009
Stamps.com Offers New Free Shipping Program
AuctionBytes.com is reporting that Stamps.com has a new free program for eBay sellers who connect their account with Stamps.com to import data. eBay sellers can print First Class Mail International and any other mail class as well as labels for all sizes of the Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes. Standard features are included, such as [...]
Do You Take a Proper Lunch Break at Work? Yes No View Results Photo by troyschoolspa.org.
Mommy Makeup Artist Helps Brides Look Their Best
The Hingham Journal: Hingham makeup artist Kelly O’Keefe is quick to admit that she is a “hopeless romantic.” So it’s not surprising that after fine-tuning her artistry at Andrew Zona Studio in Hingham, O’Keefe, a licensed esthetician, decided to start her own wedding-oriented business, “Blush,” when her maternity leave ended earlier this year. O’Keefe is [...]
Life magazine has put together a special collection of dumb inventions from the past. What were they thinking? Curved Barrel Machine Gun, 1953 M3 sub-machine gun with a curved barrel for shooting around corners. Baby Cage, 1937 A nanny supervising a baby suspended in a wire cage attached to the outside of a high tenement [...]
Virtual Money, Weapons And Gifts
People are paying real money for digital goods in all sorts of online applications ranging from Facebook apps to massively multiplayer online games reports GamesBeat. The No. 1 thing they buy is virtual money. Other top items include virtual weapons and gifts for social networking friends, according to a survey. Free-to-play games, where you can [...]
Invention Dries Out Wet Electronics
Struggling with hearing loss since she was a baby, Karen Wildman (left) knew a lot about drying out hearing aids from sweat, rain and other moisture. But when she realized she could apply her drying technique to other small electronics and started saving her children’s and friends’ gadgets, she knew she was on to a [...]
Public Speaking Lessons From Oprah
photo credit: dyobmit In business there comes a time when we all must do some sort of public speaking. For some this is no big deal but for others it’s scary, horrifying and down right the worst thing imaginable. Some don’t even really know how to give a public speech correctly. Oprah recently gave a [...]
Multiple Streams Of Income For Entrepreneurs
photo credit: country_boy_shane When you switch over from working for a company to working for yourself, you begin to realize just how overwhelming and stressful it can be especially during down times for your business. That is why it is always highly recommended that entrepreneurs have more than one source of income. I recently read [...]
The investors at The Shark Tank have some fun at the expense of this ‘entrepreneur’. The lesson to be learned here is how do you compete with the BIG dogs.
Amazon Launching Same-Day US Delivery Service
Reuters is reporting that Amazon.com is launching same-day delivery service in seven cities as the online retailer looks to win sales from last-minute shoppers this holiday season. Amazon said “Local Express Delivery” will offer customers same-day delivery in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Seattle and Washington, D.C. for $5.99. That price applies only [...]
photo credit: Mzelle Biscotte MakingTheMogul.com: “It is always a vital aspect of business to be respectful and appropriate even when sending out mass emails to your contacts.” When in business there are several times throughout our work week that we have to send out mass business email’s for various reasons, but some of us don’t [...]
Sell More At Your Retail Store
photo credit: j.reed Show don’t tell. While Ralph presented me with a three-page single-spaced handout about the Bee Skep after I purchased it, he knew the visual of watching an 89-year old man hand make a basket with a Diet Coke bottle would draw a crowd. From that experience of watching, he then just answered [...]
What You’ll Need To Get A Startup Loan
SCORE says to be able to convince a lender to make you a loan for a new business venture, you must demonstrate that you have done your homework and have prepared a business plan is what’s needed to apply for a small business loan. In addition to the primary purpose of using the plan to [...]
What Makes Up An Entrepreneur?
photo credit: > ange < 59.7 percent of respondents indicated they had at least one child when they launched their first business, and 43.5 percent had two or more children. I recently came across a very interesting article located at OnStartUps.com where they discuss the traits and components that make up an entrepreneur. We [...]
I’ve noticed that I don’t use email as much as I used to. On Wednesday we started a poll asking readers now that Facebook and Twitter are available, do you use less email to communicate? 20 percent said less, 7 percent said they used it more and 73 percent said they didn’t notice a difference. [...]
Crafty Moms Create Income Producing Hobbies
Houston News: They call her the Mum Lady, but Veronica Lozano doesn’t mind. The full-time working mother of three girls has created a side business by making homecoming mums for students in the Kingwood-Humble area. The idea started with one request and soon blossomed into a makeshift mum factory in her home selling hundreds of [...]
Invention Offers A Cool New Way To Organize What’s On Your Fridge
What is stuck to your fridge? If you’re like most people, you probably have a few magnets, some photos, a couple notes, and, if you have kids, the pictures they colored for you. Cluttered refrigerators are not uncommon. Some of the most organized homes have fridges that look cluttered with some useless papers and magnets. [...]
Freemium Can Work For Your Startup
Om Malik over at GigaOm has put together a list of 10 commandments for a successful freemium app. 1. Make sure that the usefulness and engagement of the app are in perfect sync. 2. Make your user value proposition a simple one. 3. Focus deeply on one single domain. 4. Clearly define what is free [...]
With Economy Down, US Military Recruitment Up
Helped by tough economic times, the US military had a banner year for recruitment, meeting all its goals for the first time since creating an all-volunteer force in 1973, AFP is reporting. High unemployment, which just hit a 26-year-high of 9.8 percent, helped recruiting as well as a multi-billion dollar effort to attract volunteers to [...]
Internet Users Object to Tailored Ads
A recent study revealed that most people don’t like tailored web ads and they don’t appreciate advertisers using their personal information to direct those ads according to a story at Inc.com. Professors at the University of California, Berkley, and the University of Pennsylvania, teamed up to conduct a study that focused on adult Internet user [...]
The black hair industry is a $9 Billion dollar business. NBC’s Mara Schiavocampo looks at what so many women are spending their money on, and why.
Women Ventures Fund Helps Female Entrepreneurs
DeSoto entrepreneur Gail Warrior-Lawrence is a poster child for investment in businesses led by women. In 2007, the Texas Women Ventures Fund lent $1 million to the Warrior Group, the construction firm she co-founded and leads. She repaid the money in March and now is becoming an investor to help other female entrepreneurs reports The [...]
Mompreneur Strikes Gold With New Twist On The Baby Sleeper
IndyStar.com: Momprenuer, local resident, and mother of two, Cindi Wise, has formulated an entire baby clothing line that aims to make parents lives easier using more practical, yet stylish, ways to change a baby’s diaper. Hello World™ Clothing Company launched its first product, the patent pending SmartZip™ Sleeper, in June 2009. This infant sleeper literally [...]
Building A Company On Government Contracts
The New York Times interviewed Sharon Brown about the challenges of being a government contractor. Q. When you started your business, Environmental and Occupational Safety Services, you did work for the state but didn’t consider bidding on a federal contract. Why? A. I thought a federal contract was beyond us because of our size, but [...]
Sawyer Sparks, a 22-year-old college student from Purdue University, walked into the Shark Tank with a bright idea: modeling dough for kids with wheat allergies. On paper, that sounds like a pretty weak concept, but bet you didn’t know that one out of eight kids has that problem, and bet you also didn’t know that [...]
Wal-Mart is looking to jump-start holiday sales by expanding last year’s $10 toy incentive tenfold writes CNNMoney.com. The world’s largest retailer said it will offer 100 toys, from Barbies to Transformers, for $10 through the Christmas holiday. Last year, the program included only 10 toys. The company decided to expand the $10 program and roll [...]
Crazy Ideas That Would Make Our World Perfect
Retire phone extensions just like ballplayer numbers. They did it for Ruth, Mantle, Mays. Why not guys like us? Pete, ext. 236—we salute you! That’s just one of the many ideas Mens Health has put together that they feel would make a perfect world. • More rollover options. Cell phone minutes and vacation days are [...]
Rhonda Abrams at Gannett says to think like an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship can be applied to virtually any field or profession. No matter what products and services are currently on the market in your area of expertise, there are always opportunities to improve them and to better serve the customers who buy them. That said, if [...]
US Broadband Lags Asian Nations
CNNMoney.com is reporting that according to a study South Korea leads the world in providing broadband services. The United States did not make the top 10. South Korea dramatically improved the speed, quality and availability of its Internet service in 2009, pushing past Japan, the former worldwide leader, according to a team of business students [...]
Now that Facebook and Twitter are available, do you use less email to communicate? Less More Same View Results Photo by rannay.
Home Business Is Sweet Proposition
Rocky Mount Telegram: The smiles are the best. When Renee Martinez delivers a basket filled with homemade goodies or a custom-designed cake and sees the smile on the face of the person receiving it, it makes her day. “I did a superheroes cake for a 5-year-old’s birthday party that incorporated Superman, Batman, the Power Rangers [...]
From Business Management To Children’s Products, Design Biz Does it All
Expanding from internet marketing to a series of business-related services might not seem like a big leap for a business to make, but going from that to children’s products might. It takes a truly passionate, hard working individual to grow a business into a variety of divisions that suit their interests and to make it [...]
7-Eleven knows one thing that drives customers bananas: brown bananas wilting on the counter next to the cashier writes USA Today. So, today, the nation’s largest convenience store chain will test at 27 Dallas-area locations a new plastic wrap developed by supplier Fresh Del Monte Produce to keep single bananas yellow and firm for five [...]
Reader’s Digest has an interesting story about former spy, now entrepreneur, Greg Quinn. A tall, brawny Irish American walks into your office, puts a crystal goblet on the desk, and pours out a serving of a deep-purple nectar. “This stuff used to be illegal,” he says in a gravelly voice. “We’re the guys who got [...]
Spicy Buffalo Flavors Stampede
Buffalo flavor is hotter than hot so says USA Today. The spicy, hot pepper-laden flavoring that first took root years ago in Buffalo, N.Y., on chicken wings is now showing up in gobs of other new products at fast food joints and grocery stores. Subway rolled-out a Buffalo Chicken sub last week. Wendy’s recently introduced [...]
photo credit: cod_gabriel Your teleprospectors must be smart, articulate, engaging and organized. Their training should focus on making them productive and sustainable extension of the selling effort. If your company is a sales company then you know how important it is for your companies future to generate as many great leads as you possibly can. [...]
Are Entrepreneurs Born Or Made?
Blogger Scott Shane at The New York Times ponders an interesting question…are entrepreneurs born or made? The tendency to be an entrepreneur is heritable. (Heritability is the proportion of difference between individuals explained by genetic factors.) We found these heritabilities were substantive regardless of what indications of entrepreneurship we measured: owning or operating a business, [...]
Thoughts On Small Business Financial Planning
photo credit: Jeff Belmonte Financial planning in business can be overwhelming and stressful especially for those who may be first time business owners and are not exactly financial savvy. So in light of this subject I have put together a list of some thoughts to keep in mind when going through your small business financial [...]
With Halloween fast approaching, Fast Company has an interesting article for those with a sweet tooth. The U.S. candy manufacturing industry includes about 1,600 companies, but just 2 (the Hersheys Co. and Mars Snackfoods U.S.) make 15 of the top-20 selling chocolate candy bars. Only 26% of homes gives out full-sized candy bars. Fun-sized Snickers [...]
photo credit: William Hook Even though social media is becoming more and more relevant everywhere you look today, many business owners still feel it is important to put a face with a name whether you put a profile picture on your website or still manage to meet your clients and customers in person. People still [...]
Deluxe Golf Carts As Neighborhood Transportation
There’s been plenty of lip service paid to electric vehicles in recent years, but the fact remains that in many communities, they’re still more frequently discussed than actually seen. Not so in several U.S. neighborhoods, however, where golf carts and other diminutive electric vehicles are part of the very fabric of community life writes trendspotter [...]
The Truth Behind Word Of Mouth Advertising
photo credit: pedrosimoes7 Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking: “Marketing is easy: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free.” Most business owners realize that one of the best forms of advertising is word of mouth advertising, but at the same time [...]
The New York Times reports there are many federal contracting opportunities for small businesses, but to take advantage of them you have to know the ins and outs of the government’s contracting rules and regulations. Of the more than 20 million small businesses in the United States, only about 500,000 are currently in a position [...]
Stay-At-Home Mom’s Cook Up Cake Business
KOAM TV: Trisha Liberatore and Laura Bailey are sisters with a common passion – making and decorating cakes. They are the owners of Batter Up Cakes and More, a new store in Webb City. “We’ve been busy, we’ve put in a lot more hours then we thought we might in the beginning,” Laura says. “It’s [...]
Remembering Loved Ones Through Huggable Pillows
It’s tough to lose someone you love, whether they were a close friend, a parent, sibling, or even your family pet. Cheryl Concepcion knows exactly what that pain feels like. When Cheryl’s father passed she found herself needing a way to continue to hug and remember him. Using some of his favorite shirts she was [...]
The design of pogo sticks had barely changed between the time they were first patented and sold in the U.S. in 1919 to about 2000. Inventor George Hansburg promoted the toy by teaching dancers for the famous showman Florenz Ziegfeld how to pogo. He once staged a wedding where the bride and groom bounced into [...]
A Sleek Alternative To Bottled Water
Fast Company has an interesting story on an alternative to bottled water. Designer Oliver Craig attempts to remedy the bottled water conundrum with the Source Project, a system that requires stores to place a Source Water Fountain outside their shops. When consumers buy a Source Water Bottle, they are granted use of the fountains. Each [...]
For committed pet owners, the joy of holidays is often diminished by the guilt associated with leaving a faithful friend behind in strangers’ hands reports trendspotting website Springwise. Aiming to spare pets and their owners the anguish that can result, SwapaDog is a new network that helps dog owners in the same area connect and [...]
Make Money Creating Your Own Products
Print-on-demand technologies have made it possible for anyone to create and sell goods over the Internet with little or no up-front costs. Josh Catone over at Mashable.com has put together a list of places to make money creating your own products. CafePress is one of the oldest print-on-demand services online and they offer one of [...]
Even in this enlightened age of recycling, a majority of all bottles and cans end up in landfills. More than 200 billion beverage containers are sold each year in the U.S., says the nonprofit Container Recycling Institute, but fewer than 75 billion are recycled. That isn’t just bad for the environment — it’s money left [...]
