Business Opportunities Weblog

July 3, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 0 Comments

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 primary business, but it’s in our best interest,” said Mike Defferding, executive vice president of Forest City Military Communities, a developer. “There’s an economic incentive to make the jump to become an energy company.”

Forest City has installed more than 100 kilowatts of solar-generating capacity at housing it manages on a marine base in Hawaii, Defferding said. And it is planning to build a 3.6-megawatt solar farm on Hawaii’s Big Island to power affordable housing the company manages there.

In Eco-friendly, Energy | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

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 lot more money when stealing the identity of a business.

As such, identity theft has a “multiplier effect” on small businesses, he added. “You’re not only affecting the individual — you’re affecting the business so inexorably linked to that individual.”

Anti spyware is a must have for most businesses. These programs regularly monitor the content coming and going from your computer enabling it to alert you of any unusual behavior as well as block out many different hackers and spy’s.

Rather than using your own social security number (which is just a bad idea all the way around) get a EIN (employment identification number) for your business. Another great way to help secure your identity is to freeze your credit report, this means that a bank can’t even get their hands on it without you unfreezing it, so it definitely will stop a hacker from getting a hold of it.

Visit Small Business Blog for many other ways to secure your identity.

In Advice, Change, Identity Theft | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

 
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 about them. Look below for some key phrases that you’ll never hear an Angel Investor actually say even though they are thinking it, recently read about at OnStartups.com.

• I only want to support the entrepreneurs who are actually going to make me a lot of money.
• However the market did last week is impacting my decision this week.
• I never actually put your check in the mail when i said i did, i was out shopping and forgot to.
• I’m in this mainly to have fun, if i wanted to actually work then i would have my own start-up.

I don’t understand what half the things in the funding agreement mean either, but I’m betting that most of them are to protect me, not you.

In Economy, Financing, Investors, Money | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

 
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 think a business should definitely obtain if they haven’t already.

• Ping.fm. Write once, publish many. Ping allows you to publish to as many as 60 social networks in less than 10 seconds (NOTE: be careful. Understand how your message is being sent and where it is going so you are not Spamming anyone.)

• Tynt is another great social media tool. Do you ever wonder what people are taking off of your website? Well with Tynt you can track what users are copying from your site.
• Google Docs. With this tool you can customize your forms for surveys and downloads in under 10 minutes, that is a huge time saver for businesses.
• Slideshare. This tool allows you to step up the value of your slide decks even beyond that of a conference presentation, as suggested on Blog.Junta42.

In Internet, Media, Online, Tools | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

There are hundreds of third-party apps available for Twitter. Below are five apps.

The answer will be revealed Monday. Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.

Photo by whothetweet.com.

In Fun, Polls | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

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 perform nuclear fusion in order to secure the job above everyone else. Below are some helpful tips for landing yourself that perfect dream job, recently posted at OnStartups.com.

Match the culture:  Remember that advice about dressing one level above the job you’re hiring into?  Or the “it’s better to be over-dressed” advice?  Forget that.  Dress so that you’ll fit in.  Dress as if you’re already on the team.

Read up on the start-up of the company, know all there is to know about them and where they have been in their start-up so far. That way when being interviewed you will be able to show that you did your homework and are truly interested in their purpose.

The team for hiring a start-up employee wants to know that they are taking on someone who can “get things done” effectively and timely. They are in a position at the moment where they need focused and fast paced working employees, so show them and emphasize to them with given examples that you are just that person to “get things done”.

In Advice, Interviews, Jobs, Startup | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

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 few years ago and it totally changed how I think about marketing to consumers. Zaltman has developed a technique he calls “metaphor elicitation,” which is patented, to mine the unconscious. Truly one of the most interesting and impactful books I’ve ever read.

Margaret Mark’s The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes, which draws on Jung’s concept of archetypes. In the book, you are introduced to such archetypes as the hero, outlaw, lover, sage, magician, creator and innocent, and told that these archetypes cross lifestyle and cultural boundaries. I once used this book to help sell a truly great ad campaign by helping the client see how the work we created really spoke to a deeper need in his customers’ lives. So if you want get your inner account-planner geek on, read this one. You can thank me later.

Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business by Jon Steel.
As someone who has been in charge of biz dev at more than one agency and had my own gig for a while, I can tell you that Jon’s book taught me more than a few lessons on how to create and then sell ideas.

Photo by Auroqueiro.

In Advice, Books, Summer | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

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 and do have different needs. I do not agree with treating them differently.

If someone comes in with a special request during your most busy time of year and you do not accommodate them by putting their request before others who were already in line, my opinion on that is they should not have waited until the last minute for one, and for two they should expect to hear the word “no” to their request knowing it’s your busy time.

Yes, if you turn them down they may go somewhere else, but think about if you put them first and make the other 5 customers who technically came before them wait even longer because you accommodated one, they may also go somewhere else. So which would you prefer, loosing one customer or loosing 5 customers? If it were me i’d be able to swallow loosing one customer rather than five of them.

There are two really good reasons to turn down special requests:

1. because you’re marketing yourself as extremely busy and perfectly willing to turn down good work.

2. because you want to market yourself as someone who is a rigid artist, a stick in the mud or a crotchety perfectionist. This works great for pizza places.

In Customer Service, Decisions, Habits | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

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 after its inception.

The two could have stayed after the sale, but decided corporate life wasn’t for them.

Now the duo has launched their fourth online company, Alice.com, an online service in the consumer packaged goods industry. The site connects manufacturers directly to consumers, bypassing large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target.

Q: What made you want to delve into the tough consumer packaged goods industry?

Wiegand: We sat and thought about what else we could do, and we really looked at the consumer packaged goods space. When you really look at this, you find no one’s buying these goods online. Why? Everything else is going crazy; Amazon.com sells all kinds of things. These other online categories are growing, so why isn’t the household supplies market? The No. 1 reason is shipping. It actually costs more to ship a tube of toothpaste than it does for the actual product. Online prices are 30 and 40 percent higher than some of the mass retailers, plus you have to pay for shipping. We’ve created a model where we always offer free shipping with prices similar to the existing prices of, let’s say, a Target or a Wal-Mart.

Q: How do you make this shipping model cost effective on your end?

McGuire: All of this is centralized in one warehouse, and we pick, pack and ship everything. It’s not like Amazon’s model that ships bulk of these products to the consumer who gets a different box from each different manufacturer. Our model packs everything in one box.

Q: Other than jumping into a previously undeveloped online market, what else sets Alice.com apart from other e-commerce sites?

Wiegand: The “secret sauce” is that we’ve created a planning subscription service here. The use of [these products] is a repetitive type of pattern, so we’ve created more of a Netflix-style service. When you add paper towels to your virtual shelf, you’re actually adding a reminder and can set the re-order frequency. The site gets smarter as you order, and it knows what you use. This reminder set of tools is all drag-and-drop. We’ve created a price comparison, so if you click “check prices,” it shows you the prices at Walgreens, CVS, Target and Amazon. Then when you add a product, it goes into your personal shelf. When you want to check out, you just drag them into your cart. We’ve entered a number of Quicken-like tools to show you on a month-by-month basis how much you’re spending. We’ve taken all the coupons in the entire country and uploaded them here–they’re automatically applied–so you never have to get the scissors out. It’s very green.

Continue Reading: “Go Ask Alice…”

Photo by Alice.com.

In Competition, Consumers, Ecommerce | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

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 up to be one huge bill. OpenForum recently posted some suggestions on how you can travel cheaper this year.

Make lodging reservations directly with the branch you’re staying at.  Use web sites to identify places to stay, but before reserving a room, call the hotel directly before using the online reservation system and don’t hesitate to ask for a reduced rate while on the phone. 

Think about using the buddy system where there are co-workers who will going to the same location as you. You can share hotel rates, cab fair costs, food and more. Always remember to pack at least one day’s worth of essentials in your carry on luggage. All too often people’s luggage gets lost and then they end up having to buy all new items to make it through the next day.

Never ever spend any money in the airport. Don’t stop for a snack, souvenir, bottle of water or can of pop. Why, because the airport has such a huge market up on their prices. Go outside of the airport for these needs and wants, you will find that they are far cheaper.

In Low-cost, Money, Save, Travel | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

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 a great way to get started. Let’s face it, everyone searches online first when they are looking for a service or product.

2. Proactively network. Connect with new people on social and professional networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and Xing. And don’t forget to network offline too. Attend industry, chamber of commerce and community events - and always have a business card with you. Some of your best marketing can occur through your own face-to-face and offline communities.

3. Work with partners. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from those who have an expertise you don’t. You can also consider bartering your skills for theirs to keep your costs down.

4. In this market, flexibility and adaptability are key essentials to finding a new job. Consider new categories and positions that you otherwise might not pursue.

5. Believe in the power of the collective. Offer to help others when you can - whether it’s passing along a job tip, article or helpful contact.

Photo by tatanas.

In Economy, Recession, Strategy | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

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 many people end up making a rather large and wrong decision without sufficient advice from a financial advisor. This proves to be quite detrimental to the companies finances and well being.

Learn to recognize when you are facing a decision that you feel insufficiently informed to make, then find and contact advisors. There are experts in practically every field. Make your decision only after you feel confident in your grasp of the information.

Taking advice from more than one financial advisor can prove to be confusing when they may differ on their opinions, the thing to remember here is they all have certain limitations, certain areas of expertise. So remember to take all of that into account when making your final decision.

Listen to what each advisor is telling you, listen to their reasoning behind their advice, maybe even take notes so you can look back later and re-read what was suggested. Decide for yourself which advice from whomever makes more sense for your company.

In Advice, Benefits, Decisions, Money | 0 Comments

July 3, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

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 designed to survive a nuclear attack, but barely survived the singer’s death.

A series of web sites fell like dominoes as Boomers and GenXers raced to verify the truth of the Jackson death rumors. Twitter, Wikipedia, tmz.com, latimes.com, and Google News all reported outages, according to CNN — which had problems itself.

Photo by loonapix.

In News, Polls | 0 Comments

July 2, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

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 if they have marketing affiliates in the state. Affiliate marketers run blogs or Web sites and get a sales commission by featuring links to outside e-commerce sites.

Rival Amazon.com Inc. has taken similar steps in the past few days, ending ties with affiliates in three of the same states and warning about California.

The decision highlights mounting tensions between online retailers and cash-strapped states. Other states are considering similar laws that would use affiliates as a way to force companies to collect sales taxes for online purchases.

Chief Executive Patrick Byrne said Overstock plans to sever its affiliate relationships in each state that appears close to passage of similar laws, but will reinstate its businesses if the laws are found unconstitutional, vetoed or repealed.

Forcing e-commerce sites to collect tax upfront would strip a key advantage they have over traditional retailers, though consumers are technically supposed to pay a so-called use tax for online purchases on their own.

Photo by Overstock.

In Affiliate Marketing, Ecommerce, Taxes | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 2 Comments

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 (they’ve ditched the dome design), the couple also are building and selling compost bins, raised planting bed systems and custom chicken coops they like to refer to as “victory coops,” a play on the victory gardens promoted during World War II to ease food rationing.

What started as a sideline business last fall has since become a full-fledged business.

In Animals | 2 Comments

July 2, 2009 by Jaclyn | 1 Comment

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 case, it’s not rocket science and no one is expecting nuclear fusion to come out of your business plan.

When you’re compiling a business plan, leave out the hype. Do not use any colorful language or preconceived notions. People who will be looking at your business plan will want to see hard, solid facts, backed up by very reasonable assumptions. Milestones must be set, tasks established and sound logic applied to your reasoning.

Always be sure to recognize the fact that your business is not the only one of it’s kind, there are others that are considered to be your competition, so include information in your plan on how you estimate that you will rate against your competitors.

Don’t focus on just one awesome idea, you have to have more than one successful option in mind, other wise you are “putting all your eggs in one basket” as stated on Young Entrepreneur, which could prove to be very doom and gloom for you.

In Planning, Prediction, Startup, Writing | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Jaclyn | 1 Comment

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 Me How posted an article with some helpful tips on this matter.

Use screening questions. A short list of questions that quickly and effectively screens out candidates who just won’t make the cut. And screens in those who deserve the big interview. But the ‘don’ts’ come first.

Come up with some questions to ask the interviewer that will challenge their ability to respond quickly but yet effectively and their ability to demonstrate their true core skills for that job position. Make the list of questions should be relatively easy for you to do. Just come up with say 3 things that truly demonstrate a great work performance for the job, and then that should pretty much hand you your basic list of questions.

Set aside a certain block of time in your day to do your screening interviews, take notes during these interviews and really listen and pay attention. If need be in order for you to truly focus on what is being said, arrange for someone else to take the notes for you.

In Employment, Interviews, Jobs | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 1 Comment

SchoolOfMusic.com recruits and qualifies music teachers and then provides music lessons in students’ homes, teachers’ home studios, after school programs, and community facilities. They are the largest private employer of music teachers in Indiana, and now they’re expanding their program across the United States and Canada. They are looking for local licensees to help with their proven business model.

photo credit: J. Weissmahr

This turnkey opportunity offers two income streams:

• One is largely passive and consists of promoting SchoolOfMusic.com online locally. For that, you’ll receive e 10% of the lesson revenue generated by teachers in your city with only about 15 minutes of work a day by providing local support and posting information about SchoolOfMusic.com in your community. They will customize, host, and maintain the websites for your city.
• The other involves actively promoting school programs and programs in community facilities.

For SchoolofMusic to grow, they need a local presence in every single community. Their ability to expand is limited by advertising restrictions on Google Maps, Craigslist, Yahoo Local, Local.com, Bing, Yellowpages.com, and other websites that require a local addresses before posting. As a local affiliate, you will be able to advertise for free on these and other local websites while they provide the services necessary for your success.

The opportunity requires an annual investment of $350. They are so confident of your success that they guarantee a refund at the end of the first year if you follow their guidelines and are dissatisfied with the results.

The bottom line is, SchoolOfMusic.com provides you with the opportunity to derive income with a minimal investment of time and money.

photo credit: *L*u*z*a*

Income opportunities for the local licensee include:

1. Music Lessons. You will receive 10% of lesson income generated in your city. Most music students take lessons for a few years so the residual income would be continuous.
2. Retail. They will include Google Adsense, affiliate programs, and/or advertising for local businesses in your section of the SchoolOfMusic.com website. In addition to a mall page for your city, ads will be placed on most of the other pages for your city. We expect you to easily earn your annual fee, and more, with advertising.
3. Instrument rentals. They currently offer rental instruments through a third party vendor. You will receive the full commission for instruments rented through the local website.

You will:

• provide a local address for SchoolOfMusic.com
• place ads consistently in your local community and on online sites
• promote programs to local schools (optional)
• arrange programs in community facilities (optional)
• arranging local recitals (optional, income opportunity)
• other local networking (optional)

SchoolOfMusic.com provides:

• criminal background checks for all teachers
• reference checks for all teachers
• multiple websites for use by the local affiliate
• teacher interviews by a qualified music education placement director
• workmen’s compensation (required in all states for employees and subcontractors)
• a $1,000,000 liability policy (required by most school and community facilities)
• brochures
• a placement director and student services director available by phone or email six days a week
• billing and collection of tuition fees
• payroll for teachers (twice monthly)
• ongoing advice for existing students and their parents
• toll free numbers

If you like children and music, or just want to start a small business that doesn’t require a large time commitment, SchoolOfMusic.com might be just what you’re looking for. Visit their website, call 800-270-0512 or email info@schoolofmusic.com more information.

photo credit: wakalani

In Biz Ops, Education, Featured, Kids, Music | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Jaclyn | 1 Comment

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 order to obtain new clients. This is where you show off your credentials, your past work, references on past jobs you have done, past places you have worked with a outstanding track record, and more.

Notice the main word above, “past”. That’s right, all of your old work, jobs and references put into one very nice looking and well written portfolio and you have yourself some new impressed clients with all of your older work. It’s the same thing as a resume when you go on a job interview. Your showing the employer examples of all older jobs, older references and work you have done.

In your portfolio, always remember to keep it short and sweet. You don’t want to overload them with a 30 page portfolio with every single little small detail there is to know about you. The main points that you do cover and main statements that you make in your portfolio, make sure you have following information to back them up.

In Advice, Information, Professional, Work | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

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 not being able to regulate their body temperature.

In a flash of inspiration the father of one decided he would design a baby suit that changed colour when the baby’s temperature went up.

And now the pint pulling part-time scientist will soon see his ‘Babyglow’ invention flying out of production plants around the world at more than a million a month

“It’s incredible, off the scale. I don’t quite know what has hit me at this stage. I’m getting calls from every TV station in the world and this is just the beginning,” he said.

The suit will change colour at the first sign of meningitis and it could have a huge impact on cot death numbers and a number of other baby related illnesses.

The suit works by responding to the slightest changes in body temperature which then react with molecules in the cotton.

Photo by Suffolk Free Press.

In Babies, Safety | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Jaclyn | 2 Comments

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 radar.

Businesses of all sizes are sharing impressive results. Dell announced it has made $3 million worth of sales through its Twitter efforts. Even small businesses in big cities have started benefiting. Small bakeries can now buy an oven-gadget that automatically announces when fresh baked goods are available.

Even in small towns, people do have Internet or access somewhere to the Internet, and with the Internet becoming bigger everyday they all are beginning to use it for searching, shopping and more. You already have some fans for your business in your town, make your business more available to them in more ways by signing up with Twitter.

Also, don’t forget about the people who may live just outside of your town but still within a reasonable driving distance and may not realize you exist until they see you on the Internet. And don’t forget about the out of towners that travel all over and usually do research on the town they will be staying in, recently stated in a post on Small Biz Survival.

In Benefits, Internet, Small Biz, Twitter | 2 Comments

July 2, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

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 end of the year. Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, the innovative darling of the movie-rental business, has called Redbox one of his most challenging rivals. “It’s really scary,” Hastings told The Hollywood Reporter in March.

Redbox is convenient and it’s cheap, but the company’s fortunes also rest on a more sophisticated calculation about the marketplace. Ask any entertainment bigwig where the movie-rental business is going and you’ll hear one thing: digital streaming. Amazon, Apple, Netflix, the cable companies, and many startups are gearing up to send every movie to your home on demand.

But Hollywood’s byzantine licensing structure precludes that from happening anytime soon. Redbox has positioned itself as the perfect in-between technology — the next best thing to on demand. It’s winning by being in more places than Blockbuster and faster than Netflix.

What’s surprising, though, is how much wizardry goes into making Redbox work. Each machine is connected to the Internet via DSL or a 3G cellular modem. This lets customers browse and reserve movies at their local Redbox through the Web, and return movies they rent from one Redbox to any other.

Each machine packs a sophisticated inventory-management system that determines how many copies of different new titles to order based on past performance of similar movies at that location. The kiosks send their inventory orders up to the mother ship every week, and Redbox’s technicians fan out to each kiosk to stock it with new DVDs.

“That’s the most interesting part — where technology meets old-fashioned field distribution,” Lowe says.

Continue Reading: “The Power Of In-Between Technology”

Photo by Redbox.

In Competition, Vending, Video | 1 Comment

July 2, 2009 by Dane Carlson | 0 Comments

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 more and more people become eco-conscious, they are trying to do the right thing but don’t always know where to start. Paying a small fee to have your recyclables removed would be a great way to make a small contribution to the environment.

A service like this could make the business owner money and save the consumer from having to find and travel to the appropriate recycling facility in their area. People place more value on something that they pay for than what they get for free, so it is likely that people would develop friendly competitions with their neighbors to see who could have the most recyclable material at their curbside. There’d be status in being a recycler.

Read the rest.

In Administrivia, Eco-friendly | 0 Comments

July 2, 2009 by Angela Shupe | 4 Comments

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 others there are all natural alternatives.

Soap Hope brings together the makers of all natural and eco-friendly soap and body wash into one online shop. From Zum Soap to Hugo, they offer a wide variety of soaps that are likely to please everyone’s skin.

Tell us a little about Soap Hope.

Based in Dallas, TX, Soap Hope is a leading online retailer of all-natural, high-quality and affordable body care products. In addition to serving customers, Soap Hope uses its business as a platform to provide leadership and resources for green living, environmentally sustainable business practices, and social responsibility through women’s economic empowerment worldwide.

The mission of Soap Hope is to be the most trustworthy and reliable source for body care products for health-conscious people; to carry only products that are 100% all natural and of exceptionally high quality; to be the best value anywhere for the products we carry; to use business practices that create as little impact on the environment as possible; to provide our customers with the kind of service that creates lifelong customer relationships; and to give back to our world community.

What is good for the environment can also be good for business and customers. Soap Hope uses reclaimed (not recycled) packaging materials to create our now-famous “Ugly Box.” We re-use clean scrap cardboard from local retailers to create our own boxes, which has an even lower resource footprint than recycling. This practice also enables us to offer the lowest shipping costs in our industry, saving money for our customers and keeping operating costs low for our business.

Many of our suppliers and customers are women, so when we founded Soap Hope we decided to utilize our company’s resources to help women entrepreneurs locally, nationally, and internationally with a microloan program. Each year, we invest 100% of the profits of our company for a period of one year into funds that provide microloans, and only then do we distribute profits to our shareholders.

Our store is on the web at www.SoapHope.com. We carry both national and local specialty brands. Our current most popular products are made by Indigo Wild (known for its Zum Soap brand), A Wild Soap Bar, Hugo Naturals, Fraiche and Pangea Organics. Our products include bar soap, liquid soap, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. We select the highest quality products. We look for products that look, smell and feel great, that nourish skin and hair, and that give our customers a luxury bath experience while remaining affordable and accessible.

We also serve as an educational resource for customers and community. Our blog, The Soap Hope Learning Center, contains articles to help consumers learn about all-natural body care products, health benefits of specific natural elements, and how companies can be good citizens that conserve resources and help people in need. We are also speaking at nonprofit conferences, groups focused on women’s issues, and microfinance forums. Our leadership team also publishes articles talking about the way we use our business for good causes, in the hopes of encouraging other businesses to join us.

What was the inspiration for the business?

We previously started, built, and sold a successful startup. It was a technology business and its focus was on customers, employees, and growth – but it really didn’t have much awareness of the greater community. We decided that all our future business endeavors should give back to our local and global communities. What better way to start than by working with companies that create natural, handcrafted products, and to use our business as a platform for helping others in need. That’s how Soap Hope was born. We continually check to make sure our business, our values, and our actions meet the original inspiration behind our name.

How do you find the soap you sell?

We carefully select every brand and product we provide to our customers. We do detailed research on every product line that we carry to make sure it meets our stringent criteria: truly all-natural, high quality, cruelty-free, from a dependable and trustworthy maker. We look for companies that have a proven track record in at least their local market, and who a will benefit from our online distribution. Many soap manufacturers approach us at Soap Hope to sell their products. Our customers count on us to do the research on companies for them. They know that anything they buy from Soap Hope will be high quality from a maker they can trust, and that they will be getting a great price.

How might a soapmaker get their own soap products listed in your shop?

We love to meet new makers of all-natural body care products. We have an application process that new makers go through that allows us to test their products and, if selected, to publish all the important information about their products on our site. The manufacturers we represent get a big boost when we start carrying their products, because we send information to all our customers and we give new makers the opportunity to comarket their products at women’s events and nonprofit venues. Any maker who would like to learn about our boarding process can contact us at at: (888) 893-SOAP or e-mail at apply@soaphope.com.

What are your requirements?

We partner with manufacturers, large and small, who share our passion for all-natural and high-quality goods. We evaluate their products based on ingredients, quality, consistency, marketability and value.

We won’t carry products that include artificial colors scents, or preservatives; synthetic chemicals; products tested on animals; or products that have excessively wasteful non-biodegradable packaging.

Because adding a brand to our product line is a substantial investment of time and energy on our part, we look for manufacturers who want to participate with us in our marketing of their products by providing samples for our customers and giveaway items for charity events and summits where we speak. We love to brag about our featured makers everywhere we go!

What has the consumer reaction been like?

Our customer response has been overwhelmingly positive. Soap Hope was launched in December 2008, and we have experienced double-digit growth every month.

Our customers frequently tell us that they prefer to buy products from a company that is environmentally and socially responsible. They choose to do business with Soap Hope because we go beyond just selling all-natural products. Of course they appreciate our low-cost and expedited shipping process (we ship orders within one business day), but also I can’t tell you how many e-mails and letters we have received thanking us for our Ugly Box and our microloan program. Exceptional products, reasonable prices, great customer service and giving back to the community; it’s the whole package and that’s why customers keep coming back and what attracts new customers.

What has Soap Hope taught you?

Soap Hope has proven to us that it is possible to be both financially successful while being socially and environmentally responsible. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive, but rather they enhance one other to benefit the company, the customers and the community.

We’ve learned that customers really care about healthy living and environmental sustainability and want to interact with businesses that share those values. Consumers are using the Internet to more easily find, research, and purchase from companies like ours. As a web-based retailer, the Internet lets customers connect with us anywhere, anytime.

Would you mind telling us a little about your microloan program?

We announced in April of this year that Soap Hope will invest 100 percent of its annual profits each year, for a period of one year, in funds that provide critical lending and education for women entrepreneurs in poverty all around the globe. Soap Hope’s suppliers and customers are about 80 percent female, so we decided to use our resources to help women entrepreneurs around the world. Even a small oan can provide a family or even an entire community with life-long sustainability. For us, it’s about giving back to our world community and being socially responsible.

Soap Hope is not a charity or a nonprofit organization. Our microloan program isn’t a donation - it’s an investment. We earn a small (one to two percent) return on the funds we invest for one year. But the program creates huge opportunities for both our business and for microloan recipients. Our goal is to create even greater leverage for the funds we invest in by educating our customers and business partners about these funds, in the hopes that they will also invest in them.

How might someone go about applying for a microloan?

We invest in professionally managed microloan funds. By working with existing microfinance institutions, we can support and strengthen well-established organizations rather than reinventing the wheel. Individuals and small businesses can learn about microfinance by visiting our website and through other online research.

We believe micro lending is most successful when the lending institution also provides a component of education and empowerment beyond lending money; the recipients need practical business and trade education pertinent to their industries and countries. The funds we choose incorporate these elements into their lending programs.

At home, we are working to raise the awareness of customers, suppliers and the general public about the benefits and processes of micro lending. In our efforts to educate, we provide materials and information through our online blog, in inclusions in the packages we send to customers, , and to individuals and corporations who might also be interested in micro lending.

In Eco-friendly, Ecommerce, Interviews | 4 Comments

July 2, 2009 by Jaclyn | 0 Comments

 
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 when you were younger and your parents and teachers always said “you can never have too much knowledge”, it’s the same in business, you can never have too much.
• This is a great way to test some of your ideas that you are not quite sure about. If they do well on your blog, then you can pretty much assume they will do well in other areas.

Uncover New Opportunities. The more you blog, the more opportunities will present themselves to you. For example, I was contacted by a PR firm earlier this year to create a series of blog posts for the launch of a new website.

• If your blogs that you post do well, it is possible for them to rank very high in most search engines that people use everyday, which ultimately means a lot more traffic to your website and thus, more business for you.

In Benefits, Blogs, Growth, Online | 0 Comments