Archive for February 2010
One More Time: Free Ebook: How I Create Traffic and Revenue from Twitter
Did you miss downloading a copy of my free e-book How I Create Traffic and Revenue from Twitter? If so, here’s your chance again. Click here to download.
We ran a post about these menu tricks a few weeks ago, but for those of your who are more visual, here’s a video.
The goal of the iPhone Freelancer site is to bring entrepreneurs and businesses closer to seasoned iPhone application developers and make the collaboration between these two groups not only possible but also fruitful, reports KillerStartups.com. The fact remains that the development of apps is not for everybody, and ideas which can be potentially lucrative end [...]
Stimulus Cash At Work: Leetex Construction
From fighting forest fires to laying carpet in day care centers, CNNMoney.com takes a look at what 5 small businesses that got stimulus-funded contracts are doing with taxpayers’ dollars. Leetex Construction in Dallas won just over $2 million in stimulus contracts to renovate existing construction, primarily at Fort Hood, a nearby Army base. The projects, [...]
Inventor Wants Kids To Get Excited About Math
Sometimes mathematics gets a bad rap. Kids whine that it is too hard or boring. Parents get frustrated helping with homework. But a local man has invented a board game he said gets kids excited about the often-dreaded school subject, reports Durhamregion.com. The board game, created by Greg Soave, is called TACTICO! The game isn’t [...]
When writing out your 2010 list of business resolutions, AOL Small Business says make sure to include a mobile-friendly Web presence. Here are three ways to get your act together: 1. Hire a Designer Not every small business needs to go out and drop a fistful of Gs on a mobile site, but for some [...]
Ingenious Marketing Strategy or Insane?
If you watch TV, you’ve seen the ad. Domino’s chefs are experimenting with a matrix of combinations of cheese, dough and spices — anything to counter some of the negative criticism that’s come their way. Domino’s reads some actual customer quotes, which are designed to make any television viewer’s eyebrows lurch upward: “Domino’s pizza crust, [...]
As gift cards have risen in popularity over the years (a whopping $87 billion of them were bought last year, according to research firm TowerGroup), you could be forgiven for assuming that they’re the perfect, one-size-fits-all holiday gift. Apparently some of the people you gave those ultra-convenient cards to didn’t see it that way, reports [...]
U.S. Teens Lose Interest In Blogging
Reuters is reporting that blogging by teenagers and young adults has dropped by half over the past three years as they turn instead to texting and social networking sites such as Facebook, a new study shows. The study by the Pew Internet and American Life project also found that fewer than one in 10 teens [...]
After Paul Sadowski’s wife died and he remarried, he and his new bride realized that they both had boxes and boxes of family photos. They agonized over how to display them, but every conventional method of storing and displaying photographs they tried left them with too many memories stored away in boxes. They decided that [...]
Bestselling Books for Entrepreneurs
Each month, we’ll highlight the bestselling entrepreneurship books on Amazon.com. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuck
When Allison Fleming got married and decided that she was ready to have kids she knew her life would have to change, reports the Tallahassee Democrat. It was after her son was born that she decided the time was right to leave her job and start on a new path, mompreneurship. That’s when she agreed [...]
photo credit: petechons A recent report on Inc.com stated that home businesses continue to grow and will continue to sky rocket through the upcoming year or two. It seems that working from your home is the new trend. Not only to start your own business from home but many companies are finding it cheaper to allow [...]
Solutions For Sticky Situations
Innovation is truly the mother of invention for Kim Olenicoff. From stick-on disposable pockets to sticky garment guards that stop underarm sweat from staining your clothing, it is possible that Kim has a solution for nearly any situation you can think of. The problem started with underarm stains on her white shirts. There wasn’t a [...]
MakeMySummer.com: Summer Camp Jobs
MakeMySummer.com launched last year as a way for students from the UK to find jobs in American summer camps. I recently had the opportunity to ask the founded Jacqueline Cole some questions about her business. What is MakeMySummer.com? MakeMySummer.com is a website where students can gain information and inspiration about how they can spend their [...]
National Start a Business Month
photo credit: mr_magoo_icu I didn’t realize that February was National Start a Business Month, but LegalZoom.com did. To celebrate they surveyed 1001 Americans at random to learn about their dreams of financial freedom. The results are interesting: The Perfect Business When asked what their perfect business would be, the most popular response (20% of the [...]
Although ever man finds an occasion to wear an undershirt, most men will continue to have their wives purchase them white t-shirts in plastic bags at the discount store. It takes a special kind of man to spend $36 on a white undershirt. For those men, Tommy John makes the crew neck and v-neck stay [...]
Stimulus Cash At Work: PatRick Environmental
From fighting forest fires to laying carpet in day care centers, CNNMoney.com takes a look at what 5 small businesses that got stimulus-funded contracts are doing with taxpayers’ dollars. This Oregon fire-prevention company won stimulus-funded contracts totaling more than $700,000 to “lop and scatter” the branches in two densely populated forests. Thinning a forest slows [...]
How’s this for a niche business? DaLuca Straps is a manufacturer of high end watch straps. They create one-of-a-kind custom straps for expensive watches like Panerai, Bell&Ross, Patek, IWC, and JLC. Each strap is uniquely handmade, so you’ll never run into someone else with the same strap. Dan also creates vintage watch straps that are [...]
Trendspotter Springwise reports that there’ s a new kid on the flat-pack furniture block, offering a portable high chair solution. Made from recycled cardboard, the Feedaway from Melbourne-based Belkiz is an easy-to-assemble, lightweight version of the traditional feeding chair. It’s designed to be used away from home, wherever baby or toddler feeding chairs aren’t available, [...]
Paul King was headed to the airport in Pittsburgh in 2006 when he suffered an ill-timed communications blackout. His cell phone died and he realized he still had his roommate’s house key in his pocket, according to a story at CNNMoney.com. If he didn’t call her to arrange a return, she would be locked out [...]
Secrets Of Top-Selling Girl Scouts
Gina Roberts-Grey over WalletPop says if you couldn’t resist buying a box or two of Thin Mints or Samoas from a Girl Scout recently, don’t feel bad. These pint-sized dynamos have honed sales skills that rival those of some of the most savvy adult professionals. If fact, some Scouts sell thousands of boxes per year. [...]
What’s Old Is New: Tech For Seniors
Making the leap from The Brady Bunch to entrepreneurship, Florence Henderson has started the FloH Club, a membership-based telephone tech support service for seniors, AOL Small Business reports. Henderson is definitely on to something big. The senior market is over 37 million strong in the U.S. alone and is still “a vastly under tapped market. [...]
Google Planning App Store For Bizs
Google is preparing an online store in which it will sell third-party business software to Google Apps customers, according to a report. The Wall Street Journal says that Google’s store could arrive as early as March with the works of third-party developers available as enhancements to Google’s office productivity software suite. It appears the store [...]
Being A Mompreneur In The Business World
If you’ve been thinking about starting your own business then you are not alone, reports the Evanston Review. More and more moms are clawing their way to the top of the entrepreneurial ladder than ever before. Until she became a mother, BabbaCo‘s founder, Jessica Kim, never imagined she would start a baby product line. Dissatisfied [...]
Mad Scientist Dentists Coming Soon
photo credit: A new study out from Germany indicates that bacteria-killing jets of plasma could soon replace the dental drills currently used to remove the cavities in our teeth making visits to the dentist’s office less painful. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, after solids, liquids and gases. It is formed when gases are [...]
How Anyone Can Make A Fortune Online
Can you make a dollar a day online? Sure. Just do it again. Over and over again.
from AdFreak.com
Helping Rental Companies Take Their Biz Online
According to a story at trendspotter Springwise, Rentcycle is an online platform for rental businesses. The brainchild of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tim Hyer, this startup offers web-based hosting and software utilities to help rental companies streamline their business process and improve customer conversion. In addition, the site aims to become a portal for consumers wishing [...]
The ketchup packet has been around for more than 40 years, and complaints about it for nearly as long: too messy, too small, too hard to open. Now, ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Co. is unveiling the first major packaging change to the to-go condiment, reports The Associated Press. The new design has a base that’s [...]
Shark Tank Episode 15: A Recap
The following is by Brenden Sherratt of In The Shark Tank. The Shark Tank was full of blood last night as the Sharks ripped apart, would be entrepreneurs who were looking for the sharks to fund their businesses. First into the tank was Michele Kapustka and Melisa Moroko two sisters who teamed up to start [...]
One day in 2001, Yuval Brisker was stuck at home, expecting a cable TV technician to arrive for a service call. First he waited. Then he waited some more. Brisker reflected that people all over the world were stuck in the same position, wasting hours without knowing when — or even if — a service [...]
Gina Trapani over at Fast Company has an interesting solution to your email overload. How many messages are in your email inbox right now? A few dozen? It’s probably more like a few hundred, or even a few thousand. We all get too much email. Getting through all those messages every day isn’t easy. Certain [...]
New in the Directory This Week
One of the often overlooked sections of this website is our directory. Over 2300 different bizops, franchises, dealerships and online opportunities are listed there. Here are the new companies from this week: Business Opportunities Dine-in Delivery Finger Print USA Friendly Songs Solid Flue Chimney Systems Franchises Captain Ice Cream PACK & SEND Pie Face Stratus [...]
A selection of products to amuse and inspire. The Drib Pair it with your Snuggie and pig out on your sofa. Wine Glass Holder Necklace After a few glasses this will come in REAL handy. Powerlung Proven to make breathing more efficient and effective, according to “clinical independent studies” (none of which is detailed). But, [...]
AOL Small Business reports that while it’s been long established that numerous types of businesses can be franchised, from sign making to decorating homes for the holidays, there’s no denying that Mike Enos’ business is one of the more unique franchises in existence. His company, Fast Wrap, literally shrink wraps boats, cars, trucks, airport towers, [...]
Not Happy Year For Birthday Industry
If you’re a parent, you already know this: Birthday-themed companies are hurting in the recession. That’s not to say the entire birthday industry is suffering — people are still eating birthday cake — but anecdotal evidence suggests those who help organize and entertain at children’s birthday parties are going through some growing pains, according to [...]
Biz Psych: The Serial Position Effect
Business Pundit reports that a truly sharp marketer should understand how our brains process information. The “Serial Position Effect” (developed by Hermann Ebbinghaus) assists by explaining how we remember items we see or hear in lists. Ebbunghaus discovered that things shown at the beginning of a list and at the end of a list are [...]
More Than Half Of Americans Use Net For Health
Reuters reports that more than half of Americans looked up health information on the Internet last year. But only 5 percent used email to communicate with their doctors, the survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found. Researcher at the center used a survey of 7,192 adults aged 18 to 64 questioned between January [...]
On Monday, we asked readers which level of government had the biggest impact on their business. 22 percent of those responding said that local government had the biggest impact. 30 percent chose state government and almost half, 48 percent of readers said the federal government had the biggest impact on their businesses. Thanks to all [...]
Since rallies and protests look better on TV if there are thousands of people in attendance, a new breed of broker has emerged in Ukraine. Crowd brokers find and pay people to show up at demonstrations and political rallies. They’re big business in the former Soviet republic, as the Wall Street Journal reports: Want to [...]
Fat Brain Coffee: A Children’s Business Cirriculum
FatBrain Coffee is a children’s homeschool business curriculum that teaches children basic business skills. The curriculum has seven scripted and easy-to-follow lessons that will guide a guide the student into starting their own coffee business. The lessons teach sales and marketing techniques, accounting skills, day-to-day business operations, and public relations by starting a coffee business. [...]
The following is by Brenden Sherratt of In The Shark Tank. On this weeks episode of Shark Tank: Nicole Jones “The Shoe Professa” and her business Pillars of Slippers, her business offers fashionable shoes at a reasonable price. Nicole wants to franchise her business which throws ‘shoe parties’ similar to Tupperware party’s in peoples houses. [...]
The Commercial Appeal: As the wheels on the bus were going round and round, one of Sarah Chalk’s seven boys was becoming quite an entrepreneur. “I baked cookies all the time and they’d carry them to school,” Chalk said. “I didn’t know it, but he was selling them on the bus. The kids would be [...]
We have a new advertiser in the sidebar. The Local MugSHOTS business opportunity is a local niche periodical that every other week publishes a magazine of 200 current mugshots of locally wanted fugitives, recently arrested, and missing children. I asked the owner, Max Cannon, how he got into the business: I started this business in [...]
University Finds Free Online Classes Don’t Hurt Enrollment
According to a story at arstechnica, free online courses aren’t sapping enrollment numbers—in fact, they’re actually helping to spread the word. Those are the preliminary findings out of Brigham Young University, which experimented recently by granting free access to a selection of its distance learning courses. Though further study is needed in order to see [...]
Tackling State Of Small Biz: Zero Capital Gains
President Obama knows he has to help small business if the economy is going to recover. He made four major proposals directed at small business in his State of the Union speech. Rhonda Abrams at USA TODAY takes a closer look and sees what needs to be done to make them really work. Zero capital [...]
R/C Cars Are Wallet-Size Wonders
Cravable has a look at THE hot toy for Christmas 2010. Mattel’s super-small “Stealth Rides” aren’t making their official debut until the Toy Fair later this month in New York. They’re about the size of a credit card and the width of a cell phone, and with the push of a button they unfold into [...]
Build A Walking Work Station For Under $20
Back in January we showed you a $479 desk that you could place over your treadmill so you could walk while you worked. Jenny Evans over at LifeHacker demonstrates how to build a treadmill work station quickly and on the cheap. You should be able to pick up the supplies to make this slick treadmill [...]
Small-Biz Owner Takes His Case To The Top
Last week, one entrepreneur had the opportunity to ask President Obama a question that no doubt has been on the mind of many others. The venue was a town hall meeting in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, the day after the president’s State of the Union address, reports The New York Times. Thank you. My name [...]
