Archive for 2009
GripBoard Brings Surf Something New
San Clemente Times: It’s said that some of the best ideas are born of despair. For Thorpe “Sharky” Reeder, that expression is all too true, and the Capistrano Beach inventor-artist-fisherman hopes one day that the resulting idea will one day pay off in financial success. Reeder is the inventor of the GripBoard, a wave riding [...]
The Tampa Tribune: Faye Dowdell looks for any edge she can find in today’s gloomy economy. Dowdell spent the morning at the Tampa Port Authority office for the first installment of the NFL’s Super Bowl XLIII Playbook for Small Business Workshop Series. The free workshops are designed to help local small and minority businesses. The [...]
Magic Johnson Has Magic Touch In Biz
USA TODAY: Almost nobody would question Earvin Johnson’s skill on the basketball court. But in his second career as an entrepreneur, there were doubters from the start. Johnson, best known by his nickname “Magic,” remains one of the best players to ever don the gold and purple Los Angeles Lakers uniform. Executives he pitched on [...]
NBCPhiladelphia.com: Stacey Pace runs a small florist in New Castle, Delaware. So small that her office is her kitchen and she works from a laptop. “I got this e-mail directly to my business e-mail address from a John Larry inquiring about Eureka Tents,” Pace told NBC 10. She returned the e-mail explaining she is a [...]
Inventor Of Hawaiian Shirt Dies
Metro.co.uk: You’d be forgiven for never hearing of designer Alfred Shaheen. Yet he inspired one of the most colourful, amusing and unforgettable styles of fashion ever known – the Hawaiian shirt. Sadly the pioneering textile manufacturer has died at age 86, his family have confirmed. As tourists from the US to Hawaii after World War [...]
The Shower Professor Offers A Simple Solution To Help Shorten Your Shower Time
If you want to conserve water when you shower, then it only makes sense to cut back on how much time you spend in it. So a simple alarm would do, right? Not quite. If you want something to join you in the shower, you’ll need it to be either protected or waterproof. Randy Sonderhouse [...]
Soft-Hearted Bikers Keep 'Mom' In Business
The Sun: When her husband of 43 years died, Sue Paver needed someone to help fill the void in her life now that the love of her life was suddenly gone. And she didn’t have to look far. It was her customers – her dozens of sometimes rough around the edges, but softhearted bikers who [...]
ajc.com: Sisters are doing it for themselves these days. Lured by a more flexible workplace than the kinds of jobs their college degrees could secure them in the corporate world, single women and mothers from Atlanta and beyond are stepping into the world of food entrepreneurship. But the road to the kind of profit margins [...]
Start 2009 With An Empty Inbox!
Matt Cutts’ Blog: Matt Cutts (who works for the Search Quality group in Google) has a great idea for starting the New Year. Start with a fresh and empty inbox in your Gmail. There’s nothing like an empty inbox to motivate you and give you a fresh start for the year. But Matt,” you say, [...]
Startup Offering Unique Pet Service
Montana’s News Station: A Missoula-based Internet company recently launched “Pet Living Wills” as a way to protect your favorite dog, cat or goldfish when you are not there. If you could speak on behalf of your pets, what would you say is a question MaryEllen Campbell asked when a horse she was watching for a [...]
From Ad Exec To Baby Food Maker
Telegraph.co.uk: Since 2002 Tom Burrough, 43, has reinvented himself not once but twice: from well-paid advertising executive to stay-at-home father, and now, as the founder of a baby food company, launched from his kitchen table. In 2003 Burrough came up with the idea for Burrough’s Baby Food. He has always loved cooking, and remembers making [...]
One Woman’s Trash Is Another Woman’s…Lingerie?
The Wall Street Journal: Even though gift-giving was relatively stingy this Christmas season, enough stuff changed hands to generate plenty of leftover trash. And that means good tidings for the artists who transform cast-offs into commodities. Curbsides and trash bins are suddenly overflowing with bags, boxes and other booty that will become the raw material [...]
SCORE Offers Web Resource For Entrepreneurs
Suburban Life Publications: Start out right for your business in 2009 with SCORE: Counselors to America’s Small Business.” SCORE provides a resource page called “Small Business Smart Start Tools”. This content area offers valuable resources for assessing your business, organizing your workplace and planning for success. Browsers will find the following tips and tools: • [...]
VisitorCamp.com Offers Search Engine Marketing For The Modest Budget
If you run an online business, you need your traffic to convert into customers. If the traffic to customer ratio is too low, you won’t have a business for long. The struggle to bring in traffic and convert those visitors into the customers you need is one that many businesses have to face. It’s not [...]
The Seattle Times: More than any government bailout, it’s people like Wendy Powell who will lift us out of our economic doldrums. Except it looks like her own government is going to stop her. Last fall when Wall Street was in meltdown and the credit system was in a freeze, Powell, a Seattle mom and [...]
Maternity-Leave Alternative: Bring The Baby To Work
The New York Times: SEVERAL years ago, Joyce DeLucca became pregnant at the same time she was building her new company, Kingsland Capital Management, an investment boutique in Manhattan. Her employees wondered: Was she going to take a maternity leave during this crucial period? She did not. Instead, Ms. DeLucca decided to bring her newborn [...]
Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar Becomes Amazon Bestseller
Mashable: What’s the best selling office product on Amazon.com this New Year? Perhaps printer ink and paper for all those holiday pics? Cases for all the new laptops received this Christmas? Try: none of the above. Currently leading Amazon’s Office Products and Supplies bestseller list is the Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar. According to the ad [...]
The New Work Ethic: Controlling Your Attention
intellectual properties: Columnist David Brooks, commenting in the Dec. 16th New York Times about Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book called “Outliers,” made a statement as profound as it was accurate: “Control of attention is the ultimate individual power,” he wrote. “People who can do that are not prisoners of the stimuli around them.” But why is [...]
Website Magazine: 2008 has drawn to a close, and many Web professionals are wondering what next year will bring. It may seem arbitrary to make predictions, but the Web business is not a static industry and forecasting often shines the light on our practical hopes for the future. 1. A Major Social Media Shift 2. [...]
Create Online Video That Works
Mashable: With the recent explosion and expansion of online video, the biggest question is how to best drive viewer action and monetize this new medium. Even with these strong benefits, most agree that the video opportunity has yet to be fully realized. Companies struggle to best make use of this new medium, and have found [...]
The Lowdown on Home Office Deductions
Making It Legal: The home office deduction sounds like it would be a great thing for small business owners. After all, many of us work at home, and it’s not as though the IRS is always so generous when it comes to deductions for the “little guys.” Deducting a portion of rent/mortgage interest, utilities, insurance, [...]
When you open your garage door, what do you see? Like most people, I would bet that you hope to see everything organized for an optimum amount of space. However, that’s probably not what you see. Jared Newman of Gorgeous Garage knows exactly how you feel. He started by organizing his own garage. Once he’d [...]
Flower Shop Home To Three Decades Of Sweet Smells And Even Better Stories
The Sun: Maybe you can’t change a person’s life with flowers, but in nearly 27 years in the florist business, Nancy Yeoman says flowers can sure make people smile. Brightening people’s lives is the best part of her business, said Yeoman, who owns Yucaipa Florist located in the Tower Center on County Line Road. Over [...]
Cosmetics Entrepreneur Kriss Soterion Is A Successful Inspiration
Not all women need to be parents to inspire women like us to start our own business. Kriss is an example of that. She found her talent and she ran with it. Her passion for cosmetics lead her to the success she’s had today. NHBR.com: Kriss Soterion is a Manchester-based former Miss New Hampshire with [...]
Simulating A High Five Machine: Great Idea?
Funny Patents and Inventions: Is there anyone out there who isn’t familiar with the high five celebratory gesture made by two people, each raising one hand to slap the raised hand of the other? It dates back to 1944 when in the movie, Cover Girl (1944), Phil Silvers’ character, Genius, tears up a telegram and [...]
The New York Times: A New York couple is betting on the idea that at least one thing is recession-proof: demand for a convenient and clean public toilet. SitOrSquat, an ad-supported Web site and mobile application created by Danika Landers and Jonathan Glanz, delivers a handy listing of public bathrooms, from the ones at Starbucks [...]
Trendhunter: Christoph Brown is the Etch-A-Sketch Man and he’s amazing! He makes highly detailed drawings using an Etch-A-Sketch. You remember the Etch-A-Sketch, don’t you? It’s that red box with something inside that lets you make pictures. If you think this ingenious system is complicated, try drawing with the thing! Few people get past creating the [...]
How T-Shirts Keep Online Content Free
Wired: In 2003, Burnie Burns got together with three friends and created Red vs. Blue—an animated comedy series set in the world of first-person shooter Halo. Nerds loved it, and within months nearly a million people were downloading each week’s free show. Burns & Co. decided they wanted to quit their jobs and work on [...]
Tough Times? Check Out Local Libraries
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: David Lovich visits a library near his home several days a week to look for a job. On Monday, his favorite spot in a busy east Cobb County branch was taken. At public libraries across the metro area, business is booming, and patrons are visiting the libraries for more than recreational reading. More [...]
Watch Choice Takes On The Luxury Watch Market
For every product, there is a niche to reach. Those who love to fish are more likely to reach out to a business that specializes in what they want over something much more generic. For those interesting in buying or selling watches, Watch Choice has given them the ultimate luxury watch marketplace. With a free [...]
Wowing Women With The Perfect Career Or Business Opportunity
PR Web: Women’s Opportunity World, a new online resource guide that inspires women to fulfill their ambitions, whether it is to find their dream business, work from home, or further their education. “Every woman has a story to tell, and these stories can often help identify new opportunities for other women” says Juanita Jones of [...]
alibaba.com: Margarita McClure found that when her first baby was born, she had a lot of extra time on her hands. “For those first few months, the baby doesn’t do much,” she recalls. So she filled the hours with a project that eventually became a business earning 2008 sales of more than $1.4 million. In [...]
Top 10 Life Hack Business Ideas
Springwise: The best new life hack business ideas spotted in the last 12 months—smart concepts that will continue to provide entrepreneurs with plenty of opportunities in 2009. 1. ModerNash — Niche delivery biz brings IKEA to Nashville 2. Ticket to Mind — Gift-giving simplified through a prepaid plan 3. Babyplays — Toy rental service 4. [...]
Springwise: The best new fashion & beauty ideas spotted in the last 12 months—smart concepts that will continue to provide entrepreneurs with plenty of opportunities in 2009. 1. Yakkay — Stylish helmets for urban cyclists 2. Transitional Sizes — Clothing rental for size-changing dieters 3. Catwalk Genius — Adopt-a-designer program for crowdfunded fashion 4. Sneakart [...]
Springwise: The best new retail ideas spotted in the last 12 months—smart concepts that will continue to provide entrepreneurs with plenty of opportunities in 2009. 1. Filippa K — Swedish fashion brand launches its own secondhand store 2. Gerbola Vin — Wine selling & storytelling 3. Fashionology LA — Retailer helps tweens make their own [...]
Top 10 Lifestyle & Leisure Ideas
Springwise: The best new lifestyle & leisure ideas spotted in the last 12 months—smart concepts that will continue to provide entrepreneurs with plenty of opportunities in 2009. 1. vibrantBrains — Brain gyms for baby boomers 2. Tikitag — Connecting online & off with RFID for the masses 3. Hello Health — Platform for healthcare 2.0 [...]
Springwise: The best new food & beverage ideas spotted in the last 12 months—smart concepts that will continue to provide entrepreneurs with plenty of opportunities in 2009. 1. Graze — Healthy snacks, delivered by mail in serving sizes 2. Geschmackslabor — Taste lab restaurant lets customers add flavour to their meals 3. Honibe — Honey [...]
