The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion

08.02.2010 - 16:49
I’ve found it just doesn’t pay to crow too much about what I’ve accomplished.Sure, I celebrate when things go well. But I’ve found that talking too much about my achievements leads not only to criticism, but to disappointment.There’s always going to be someone who’s done more or [...]

Five Areas to Focus On for Effective SEO Copywriting

05.02.2010 - 17:51
When I first started Copyblogger in 2006, I was almost militantly against on-page search optimization. Seems strange, since I’d been a successful student of SEO since 2000.It was because I saw all these people fretting over keywords like it’s 1999, and yet they had no links. Their content was we [...]

Landing Page Makeovers 2007-2009:Where Are They Now'

04.02.2010 - 15:46
This is another addition to our ongoing series of tutorials and case studies on landing pages that work.It occurred to me late last year, as I was readying yet another Landing Page Makeover, that the end of one year and the beginning of the next was a good time to do a “Where are they (...)

Does SEO Copywriting Still Matter'

03.02.2010 - 17:28
If there’s any one thing that can be said about SEO with certainty, it’s that it manages to cause a lot of confusion.For example, it seems like many people’s idea of SEO was formed 10 years ago, and hasn’t bothered to change with the times. Even an online veteran like Robert Scoble is comple [...]

The Third Tribe is Live (and on the move . . . )

03.02.2010 - 14:52
Those of you who subscribe to the Internet Marketing for Smart People email newsletter found out on Monday what Brian and I have been up to for the past few months.We knew it would be cool, because, well, we designed it to be cool.We wanted to build something people would really get value from.But s [...]

The Alfred Hitchcock Secret to Compelling Content and Copy

02.02.2010 - 15:19
The McGuffin has been a powerful storytelling device for a long time. It was Alfred Hitchcock who popularized both its use and the name that sounds like it should be on a dollar menu.The McGuffin has a cool job: to keep the plot, character, or situation rolling along. It draws us into the story and [...]

How to Quit Hitting the Snooze Button on Your Blog

01.02.2010 - 15:31
Conversation in social media is supposed to be “open source,” right'We’re supposed to gain energy and excitement from being open to the entire internet, to ideas that come to us from literally every corner of the globe.But too often “social media” turns into a predictably c [...]

Who Do You Trust With Your Online Business'

29.01.2010 - 16:14
Do you know this story'A scorpion needs to cross the river. He asks a friendly-looking frog to carry him across. "Do you think I’m stupid'” asks the frog. "You’re a scorpion. You’ll sting and kill me.” "No I won’t,” says the scorpion. "That would be completely against my self interest. [...]

Could Your Blog be Ruining Your Business'

28.01.2010 - 16:50
Many of you began blogging to get more business. I’m sorry to tell you that many of you are doing the exact opposite.Your blog isn’t getting you more business — it’s actually sending business away.How did that happen'A blog is supposed to create more interest in what you do or what you s [...]

How to Do 500 Times Better than AdSense

27.01.2010 - 15:56
Right around a year ago now, I made my first cent online. It was literally a cent — $0.01 — and it showed up in my Google AdSense account after a certain number of people had viewed an ad for dog food or a shiatsu massager or whatever on my old humor blog.That first cent (...)

How to Become an A-List Blogger

26.01.2010 - 15:40
If I asked you to define what an A-list blogger actually is, what would you say'I’m sure the usual thoughts like “thousands of subscribers,” “lots of comments,” and “large influence” come to mind.While these may be things that many of us agree on, they aren& [...]

37 Seconds to Great Storytelling

25.01.2010 - 20:38
We tell you about the power of stories quite a bit. And now we’re able to see what happens in our brains when we encounter a compelling story.But how do you learn to tell these types of stories' Often, just by studying great ones.Take 37 seconds to read this one:______The soul of the city is ( [...]

Want to be a Better Writer' Get Your Ego Out of the Way

25.01.2010 - 16:43
Raise your hand if you’re a writer.Now, raise your hand if you have a nice-sized ego.And now, raise your hand if you lied on that last one and kept your hand down.The thing is, writing and a big ego kind of go hand in hand. And if you haven’t quit, gone crazy, or offed yourself (...)

How to Blog like Shakespeare:Writing for Three Audiences at the Same Time

22.01.2010 - 16:40
William Shakespeare is the shorthand we use when we want to describe a great writer. He stands for the pinnacle of writing ability.One reason is that he mastered the art of writing for completely different audiences. He appealed to the ultra elite, to regular theater-goers who never missed a perform [...]

Three Quick Steps to Clear Writing

21.01.2010 - 16:46
“Few appreciate brilliance, but everyone appreciates clarity.”I came up with that line on Twitter, and thought . . .Why waste it there'Here’s the quick and clear guide to clarity in writing:ShortShort words are the rule that makes your exceptional words sing.Short sentences make powerf [...]

Job opportunity:We’re looking for a brilliant director of sales

08.02.2010 - 22:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.We’re quickly growing here at GasPedal and have an immediate opening f [...]

7 smart rules of social media manners

08.02.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.Some great business blogging advice (and life advice) from Christopher Burge [...]

Superbowl

08.02.2010 - 02:14
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.Ze Frank speaks for me: Best line: “Everyone knows it takes millions o [...]

How to scare away new customers

07.02.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.We ordered a sample pack of a new kind of computer paper. We even paid $10 f [...]

Cthulhu:Bad names stop word of mouth

06.02.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.A great quote from MyTVWithoutPity:The problem with films with unpronounceab [...]

A bathroom worth talking about

05.02.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.The family restroom at IKEA is quite cozy: It shows off their products nicel [...]

ConAgra’s video case study:Embracing a Social Media Culture

04.02.2010 - 22:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 16 in San Dieg [...]

Newsletter #768:The "Fill Their Stomachs” Issue

04.02.2010 - 17:15
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.(Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That Email Newsletter. This i [...]

Watch me dance:This is exactly the right way to get word of mouth

03.02.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more. After every Broadway performance of Hair the audience is invited on stage t [...]

Turner Broadcasting System’s video case study:A Thriving Media Company in the Social Media Era

02.02.2010 - 22:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 16 in San Dieg [...]

Sweat the details:The little things matter

01.02.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more. Rainforest Cafe is a masterpiece. They cram an entire theme park into a res [...]

Do you have the guts to delete all your email for a week'

31.01.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.I have serious respect for this auto-reply:From: Cory DoctorowSent: Sunday, [...]

Social media metrics:You’re missing the big ROI number

30.01.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.“… not one of the marketers we surveyed listed the amount of con [...]

Turn every fan into an audio advertisement

29.01.2010 - 15:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more. What if every time a customer’s cell phone rang, your song or jingle [...]

Newell Rubbermaid’s video case study:Social Media from a Multi-Brand Perspective

28.01.2010 - 22:00
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That - Andy Sernovitz Blog - Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 16 in San Dieg [...]

Soup Up Your Social Sales Channels

05.02.2010 - 01:00
If you make time for it and know your stuff, you can chat your way to more Web traffic.

Which Features Should Your Website Have'

05.02.2010 - 01:00
If you're taking things up a notch, consider these factors.

Take Your Startup Viral

05.02.2010 - 01:00
These entrepreneurs grew their businesses by teaching others the tricks of their trade. You can, too.

What's on the Horizon for Microsoft Office 2010'

05.02.2010 - 01:00
As Microsoft prepares the next release of its Office suite, here's what's in store for the mobile worker.

Focus on 'User Experience Optimization'

05.02.2010 - 01:00
Driving traffic to your homepage is important, but making the destination worthwhile is vital.

Create a Positive Corporate Culture

04.02.2010 - 01:00
Examine your beliefs, goals and values to create a positive atmosphere in your business.

7 Ways to Get Great Referrals

04.02.2010 - 01:00
Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Here's how to take advantage of it.

Build Your Own Bloomberg-Killer

04.02.2010 - 01:00
The Bloomberg Terminal is too pricey for most small businesses, so make one yourself for under $1000.

3 Weapons for the True Salesperson

04.02.2010 - 01:00
No more hoping--true salespeople won't accept anything less than 'yes.'

Leave Marketing to the Pros

03.02.2010 - 01:00
DIY isn't good enough--here are 5 reasons why you should hire a professional.

10 Ways to Validate a Sales Forecast

03.02.2010 - 01:00
Even without data, there are other ways to test your projections.

Moms Are Great Businesswomen

02.02.2010 - 01:00
Motherhood and entrepreneurship complement each other in many ways.

Make the Most of Bad News

02.02.2010 - 01:00
Learn to embrace negative feedback and use it as a competitive edge.

6 Ways to Dig Out of Debt

02.02.2010 - 01:00
Avoid bankruptcy and make your business more solvent with these tips.

Turning Urgency Into Currency

22.01.2010 - 01:00
Schedulist is tackling a problem that's already out of control--with a little help from some friends.

TV Spots Not That Effective,Say Advertisers Who Just Spent $150-Plus Million On Super Bowl TV Spots

08.02.2010 - 19:30
Looks like we're not the only ones ranting about lackluster Super Bowl ads. According to a new study from Forrester and the Association of National Advertisers, the majority of TV ad buyers (62 percent) say they think their 30-second spots are "not as effective" as they were two years ago. This isn' [...]

New Heinz Packet for Nugget Lovers Encourages Dippin' 'n' Drivin'

08.02.2010 - 18:54
A new ketchup packet from Heinz makes it easier to eat--and die--while driving.Does every problem need a design solution' Okay, those old ketchup packets were kind of annoying to open, and yes, they were a little bit puny, but still, is this so-called "revolutionary" re-designed packet from Heinz re [...]

The Career-Saving Surgery Behind the Saints' Super Bowl Win

08.02.2010 - 18:48
Without the exquisite handiwork of Dr. James Andrews, the top surgeon in sports, Drew Brees couldn't have won the Super Bowl. In fact, he couldn't have come back and played at all.At the end of last night'sSuper Bowl, CBS announcer Jim Nantz tried to convey the improbability of New Orleans' win over [...]

The Best (and Worst) Super Bowl Ad Spoofs You Didn't See Last Night

08.02.2010 - 16:18
While you were busy watching last night's motley crew of Super Bowl commercials, we were busy trolling the Internet for "spoof" and "banned" ads. Here's a look at the best--and the best of the worst:BEST: Is Tiger Feeling Lucky Today' (Google Spoof)Google's aww-shucks "Parisian Love" spot is reimagi [...]

National Biodiesel Conference and Expo

04.02.2010 - 23:59
So many things suffered in 2009 -- and you can add biodiesel to thelist. Oil prices sank, taking biodiesel demand down with it; the EPAwas late drafting its renewable-fuels standard, delaying federalmandates that were supposed to help biodiesel gain a foothold in themarket; and the EU, the U.S. biod [...]

Teens in Tech Conference

04.02.2010 - 23:50
Any parent seeking to make a kid feel inadequate need only point to17-year-old Daniel Brusilovsky. The Californian is founder and CEO ofTeens in Tech Networks (for young media producers), a TechCrunchwriter, and a marketing manager for mobile-video startup Qik. The whizkid, who's cochairing this San [...]

Tech Life - Sima Diane Sistani

05.02.2010 - 22:13
Tech Life follows the daily routines of the world's Fastest movers and shakers to find out what products make them click -- and scroll and surf, too.Business Development | Branded Entertainment | San Francisco
Blackberry or iPhone: Both--one for emails, and the other for fun. I am on three phones [...]

Calpine Corp. Building First Power Plant With Self-Imposed CO2 Limit

05.02.2010 - 21:57
The jury is still out on whether the Obama administration will pass a cap-and-trade bill, but at least one utility is gearing up for potential regulations. Calpine Corp. announced this week that it plans to build the first power plant in the U.S. with a federal permit that sets a limit for CO2 outpu [...]

Are These Ten Names the Future of Industrial Design'

05.02.2010 - 20:17
Philippe Starck thinks so. He picked ten of France's best and brightest to usher in the new decade. Is this the end of an era, or the start of something better' Decide for yourself.

Swirl Turns Washing Clothes Into a Game

05.02.2010 - 21:53
Remember the energy-generating SOccket soccer ball we wrote about last week' Turns out other designers have similar ideas kicking around in their heads. The "Swirl", a concept washing machine from Germany's designaffairs Studio, is a soccer ball-like device that cleans clothes during play.Using the [...]

Freeway System for Bikes Could Make L.A. More Cyclist Friendly

05.02.2010 - 19:32
Los Angeles is known for its freeways, sure, but trying to make use of those four-lane traffic pileups as a cyclist could prove disastrous. That's where a proposal from a cycling activism organization called the L.A Bike Working Group comes in. The group recently proposed a "Backbone Bikeway Network [...]

Detroitcicle:Abandoned House Covered in Ice Not Blight,It's Art

05.02.2010 - 19:31
Ice House Detroit raises awareness of the housing crisis there by turning a foreclosed house into a giant ice cube. As cramped as they sometimes feel, cities can be full of empty space, especially these days as houses foreclose and construction sites stall. What to do with those empty lots has been [...]

Can Your Shoebox Do That' Onitsuka Tiger's Magical Puzzle

05.02.2010 - 19:27
The shoe company's newest ad campaign features a real-live Japanese tansu box. Will anyone notice'We've seen (and yawned at) Adidas's augmented-reality-equipped sneakers. Well check out Onitsuka Tiger's new Web site and ad campaign--it's AR come to life.That giant tansu puzzle box shoe' Well, it's r [...]

Facebook Redesign Paves Way for Facebookmail:Google Beware'

05.02.2010 - 19:27
Facebook is beginning a roll-out of a redesign to its Web page that places more emphasis on notifications. It'll improve things for users for sure, but it's just the first step of a plan to give Facebook serious Web emailing powers. Though the tweaks to Facebook's Web UI are pretty subtle, they'll p [...]

Stripper Bowl XLIV:How the Big Game's a Boon to Boob Biz

05.02.2010 - 19:10
The Super Bowl is expected to pump $153 million into South Florida's hotels, restaurants ... and Bedazzled leather g-strings.According to one study, this weekend's Super Bowl will pump some $153 million into South Florida's economy, 3% more than last year's game brought to Tampa. There will be about [...]

Update from Pam before wild week

Welcome New York Times readers!

Plant a hundred flowers and watch what blooms

Personal branding insight from young expert Dan Schwabel

Let Ramit teach your kids to be rich

Escape from Cubicle Nation Book Officially on Pre-Order Today!

Final push to make a referral to a fantastic small business

Wow. There is some serious fear out there.

Let the wild rumpus start

The Upside of Fear

Resource if you want to write a book to help move your business forward

Take back the economy

How to become a masterful presenter with Nick Morgan, author of Trust Me

Do you have a safety net'

Free Entrepreneur Strategy Roundtables with Sramana Mitra

Inc. Goes Virtual

03.02.2010 - 17:34

How Important is Small Business Goal-Setting'

03.02.2010 - 16:48
Are small businesses properly highlighting their company goals and objectives for the New Year' According to the 4th Annual Staples National Small Business survey, which surveyed 300 nationally-representative businesses of 20 employees or less, more than 80 percent of businesses do not properly moni [...]

Attacks on Social Networks Increase By 70 Percent

02.02.2010 - 18:06
Warning: Social networking is a huge risk to your company.That's the conclusion of a report released Monday from IT security company Sophos, which found that the number of firms suffering attacks through social media jumped 70 percent between 2008 and 2009. Boston-based Sophos polled 502 c [...]

Obama Outlines $30 Billion Small Business Loan Proposal

02.02.2010 - 08:31
Naming job creation as his priority for 2010, President Barack Obama pitched his $30 billion loan program proposal Tuesday to help small businesses grow their companies through increased hiring. In Nashua, New Hampshire, Obama said he hopes to take money repaid by Wall Street banks as part of the $7 [...]

How to Price Your Products

01.02.2010 - 18:19
One of the secrets to business success is pricing your products properly. Price your products correctly and that can enhance how much you sell, creating the foundation for a business that will prosper. Get your pricing strategy wrong and you may create problems that your business may never be able t [...]

How to Build a Brand Internationally

01.02.2010 - 18:05
Forty years ago, there were only a handful of truly "global brands" and they were made up of only the biggest corporations -- Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, IBM, Shell. Then a rash of upstarts came along, such as Nike, Microsoft, Apple, and Honda, and pushed their brand reputation further th [...]

With IPO,Tesla Hopes to Raise $100 Million

01.02.2010 - 18:01
Luxury electric car company Tesla is hoping to re-charge its bank account with a $100 million initial public offering. The company filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 29, putting itself in prime position to become the country's first mainstream electric car co [...]

Advertisement:

01.02.2010 - 18:00

Sponsored Section:Bricks or Clicks

01.02.2010 - 18:00
The Internet has wrought profound change on franchising. New concepts unimaginable a few years ago today deliver value to customers almost entirely through the worldwide computer network. Other businesses exploit a combination of bricks-and-mortar locations and virtual storefronts to produce hybrid [...]

How to Get People to Change

01.02.2010 - 18:00
Forget PowerPoint. If you want to influence employee or customer behavior, charts and data typically won't cut it, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the 2007 bestseller Made to Stick and the new Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. In Switch, the Heath brothers explore ways to manage b [...]

How to Advertise on Facebook

01.02.2010 - 18:00
These days, it seems everyone and his mother has a Facebook page. In the U.S., about 100 million unique visitors flock to the social network every month. Many business owners are among them, using Facebook profiles to promote their companies and create customer communities. For some entrepreneurs, s [...]

Elevator Pitch:Prime Time Boxing

01.02.2010 - 18:00
The Pitch: "We offer an intensive boxing fitness program for teenagers and adults. Our classes are not aerobics that imitate boxing -- our customers learn actual boxing skills. Because we have urban, industrial, and suburban locations, we know that our concept can thrive anywhere. We plan to expand [...]

Using Crowdsourcing to Control Inventory

01.02.2010 - 18:00
Susan Gregg Koger is a lot like her customers. The 25-year-old co-founder of ModCloth, a $15 million online clothing retailer based in Pittsburgh, Koger lives and breathes fashion, eschewing mainstream mall taste in favor of offbeat, often vintage-inspired pieces such as floral housedresses and flap [...]

The Best Tools for Creating Online Video

01.02.2010 - 18:00
Camtasia Studio (techsmith.com) TechSmith's Camtasia captures video of your computer screento demonstrate software features. It includes tools for voice-overs. Cost: $99 for Mac, $299 for Windows Ooyala (ooyala.com) Ooyala enables users to distribute videos across multiple sites and track metrics su [...]

Using Viral Video to Boost Sales

01.02.2010 - 18:00
When it comes to explaining what your company does, video often speaks louder than words. YouTube demos featuring seemingly mundane products such as blenders and mattresses have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers online. And getting noticed doesn't require slick production from a professiona [...]

5 Things Avatar Can Teach You About Development

08.02.2010 - 17:30
(Note: this is a guest post by Megan Berry (my daughter), social media evangelist for Mobclix. It was originally posted on the mobclix blog.)Avatar is a world-wide phenomenon and is currently the top grossing movie of all time*. How can you learn from its success and apply it to your own projects (e [...]

The Truth in a Graphic About High-Tech Distractions

05.02.2010 - 16:30
I just couldn’t resist sharing this. It’s called The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions, and it’s brilliant; and even better in full size, so you could click this link or on the picture to see the original. I got it from Ann Handley, @marketingprofs on twitter. It’s from a sit [...]

Business Strategy in Action,or Reaction,Both,or Neither

04.02.2010 - 16:29
Apple vs. Kindle vs. publishers, oh my. Do you know the background' It’s all over the web. And I posted here this week about how Apple and Amazon.com and Macmillan are wrapped up in an ebook battle. And it gets better. As I write this, Wednesday evening, the news is that Amazon gave in and pu [...]

Planning Fundamentals 4:Its About Accountability

03.02.2010 - 16:30
(This is the fourth in a series of posts reviewing the fundamentals of planning, with an eye for how they’re changing over time. Part one was Form Follows Function. Part 2 was All Business Plans are Wrong. Part 3 was Cash Not Profits.) I predict accountability is going to be an increasingly im [...]

Your Business is No Excuse for Being an A**hole

02.02.2010 - 16:30
To be honest, I thought it was a joke; irony, perhaps, or sarcasm. But no, to my surprise, I clicked on Love Your Business More Than Your Family, a column on entrepreneur.com, and he’s serious. Author George Cloutier says:Your cell phone is for keeping in touch with clients and sales managers [...]

eBooks:Hot,Flat,Crowded,and Not on Amazon.com. Let the Games Begin

01.02.2010 - 16:44
eBook wars, you say' On one hand, it’s about time. On the other, wow, this is strategy in action. And interesting spectacle too. That’s why in athletics the championship games are more interesting: two big winners squaring off.Mashable led over the weekend with Apple vs. Amazon: The Grea [...]

Contradiction and Paradox Are the Spice of Business

29.01.2010 - 16:24
Measurement, metrics, and accountability are everything. Except when they aren’t.Yes, I contradict myself. No, I don’t mind. Contradiction and paradox are reality in business as in life. As soon as you develop a general rule, you find exceptions.And I have posted here both the magic of m [...]

Planning Fundamentals 3:You Think in Profits,but You Live on Cash

28.01.2010 - 16:27
(Note: This is part 3 of my planning fundamentals review. Here are the links to Part 1: Form Follows Function and Part 2: All Business Plans are Wrong.)Cash flow is the most important mystery you have to solve. Cash flow is the real heart beat of business. And unfortunately, cash flow isn’t intuit [...]

Failure to Launch Can be a Good Thing

27.01.2010 - 16:20
There’s a sudden increase in what they’re now calling Boomerangers, according to MarketingCharts.com, in Young Adult ‘Boomerangers’ Head Home in Numbers:More than one in 10 US parents with grown children say at least one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the pas [...]

The Best of the Best Lists

26.01.2010 - 16:30
Of all the “best of” blog posts I’ve seen this month, Bob Sutton’s Work Matters: The Best of 2009 posts is the best.No coincidence, I suppose, that he writes very well and has a great blog, teaches at Stanford, and is author of several important books. But there are other gre [...]

Warning:Entrepreneurship Can Make You Fat

25.01.2010 - 17:29
This is one of those classic “do as I say, not as I did” posts. As our the company grew, so did I– around the middle.I’d been pretty good about regular exercise before then. But when our business took off, I couldn’t wait to get into the office early, get my coffee, and [...]

Free is Fashionable,But Still,Beware of Free Lunches

22.01.2010 - 14:30
I’ve been thinking about this Free business a lot. There’s Chris Anderson’s book Free, and the debate around it. There’s free content everywhere. I find great free photos on Flickr. I read free blogs every day.It’s not like free is all that new. I grew up with free rad [...]

Planning Fundamentals 2:All Business Plans are Wrong,But Vital

21.01.2010 - 14:55
(I posted most of this in 2007, but it’s even more important now)Business plans are always wrong. That’s because we’re human. Business plans predict the future. We humans are dismally inaccurate when predicting the future. Paradox: nonetheless, planning is vital. Planning means s [...]

Planning Fundamentals 1:Form Follows Function

20.01.2010 - 15:28
(Author note: I’ve been asked to go over some business planning fundamentals, and maybe collect those into a series. Consider this a first installment.)Your business plan isn’t necessarily a document; it’s what you want to do in your business or organization, what’s supposed to happen, and w [...]

A New Dimension of Haves and Have-Nots

19.01.2010 - 14:48
Wow. Talk about misreading data. They found clusters of autism and looked for pollution or some such problem as a cause, but found something entirely different, and probably just as significant. You have to read this, on NPR: Autism ‘Clusters’ Linked To Parents’ Education. It turns [...]

8 Hot Rules for MS Outlook Email Success:Free Dwonload

08.02.2010 - 15:00
Email is a powerful tool we use all the time. In order to maximize ones use of email, keeping in mind that most of you use Microsoft Outlook, it's so important to use rules setup in Microsoft Outlook to make it easier to automatically sort the emails you receive.Rack Space's Michael Ferranti has a g [...]

iPhone Apps:Maybe They Are THE Tools For Mobile Biz Productivity

08.02.2010 - 14:00
I've come across app after app after app that's created for businesses to be more productive for use on the iPhone. I'm wondering, maybe the iPhone is not a device just for consumers to have fun - maybe it's really a powerful device mainly for business productivity.In fact, maybe it's worth it that [...]

Converting Ideas Into Profitable Currency:How Tech Can Help

08.02.2010 - 14:00
One of the reasons that very large companies such as Dell, Starbucks, McDonald's, Toyota (yes even them) and other companies have succeeded and thrived is that they have in place processes to generate ideas and ensure those ideas can be nurtured into profitable new products, services or business pro [...]

Tech Tid Bits (8 Feb 2010) - Ratepoint Testimonials; Visual Customer Data; Theft Via USB

07.02.2010 - 21:35
What's Inside:Ratepoint Offers Free Testimonial ServiceSocialibrium Helps You Visualize Customer Touch Point PrioritiesBe Alerted To USB Data LeaksFree Customer Testimonial and MoreRate Point Offering it's services for free...up to 125 users. Free customer testimonial management, email newsletter, o [...]

Getting The Most From Adobe Acrobat and Other Popular Tools

06.02.2010 - 21:41
Adobe Acrobat is one of the most popular and oft used products in the tech industry. Beyond Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Internet Explorer (I use FireFox) and popular web site (such as Gmail), Adobe Acrobat is the "hidden" software that we use quite a bit.Documents we read online a [...]

Email Marketing 2.0:The Smart Phase of Customer and Prospecting Outreach

06.02.2010 - 20:05
Most businesses with any half decent type of marketing have an email newsletter and website. Everyone of them might not have a blog or be active in Twitter, but they definitely would have a web site and email newsletter.Traditionally, email marketing has been a very simplistic approach. Create your [...]

Amish Lesson:Business Growth With No Tech - Pros and Cons

05.02.2010 - 13:09
There's a lot of Amish business growing and thriving and they are NOT using cars, cell phones, electricity or other comforts of life that we non-Amish take for granted.Business Week writes that Miller Farm, a Pennsylvania food producer, has grown to $1.8 million in annual sales from less than half t [...]

Email Marketing:Lower Costs,Increase Profits

05.02.2010 - 23:16
The concept of email marketing is not news to most small business owners. However many are still not using this tool to reach prospects and customers, whether they are unconvinced of the benefits or unsure of how to begin. This guest column from Wendy Lowe, director of product marketing at Campaigne [...]

Amish Lesson:Business Growth With No Tech - Pros and Cons

05.02.2010 - 13:09
There's a lot of Amish business growing and thriving and they are NOT using cars, cell phones, electricity or other comforts of life that we non-Amish take for granted.Business Week writes that Miller Farm, a Pennsylvania food producer, has grown to $1.8 million in annual sales from less than half t [...]

Can You Measure The ROI Of Your Time' Here's How To Boost Productivity

04.02.2010 - 16:00
During the course of a given day, professionals all over the world are doing a variety of activities on their computers. Email, memos, web browsing and so much more.One of the challenges for business professionals is a) knowing how much time is spent on a given project and how to allocate that best [...]

Powerful,Simple and Affordable Video Hosting:Viddler

04.02.2010 - 15:00
Youtube is a decent platform for hosting video and its even has some limited video editing tools. But if you want to really make your videos impressive, like by adding comments within the video, or video comments within the video, Viddler offers a powerful platform.With Viddler you can put your OWN [...]

BtoB Magazine:Why you should collect preferences from my customers and prospects'

03.02.2010 - 16:00
If you think collecting customer preferences from your customers is not important. You're quite wrong. BtoB Magazine writes a very good article on this issue:Collecting preferences, interests, likes and dislikes from your customers and prospects to better understand them as individuals is the founda [...]

Making Passwords More Secure Takes Some Thought Not Tech Expertise

03.02.2010 - 15:00
We use passwords all the time - for access to our computers, for access to a variety of online activities and for access to various computer programs and services.Life Hacker gives you something to think about and how to take action to better protect your passwords from hackers:If you allow applicat [...]

Can You Measure The ROI Of Your Time' Here's How To Boost Productivity

04.02.2010 - 16:00
During the course of a given day, professionals all over the world are doing a variety of activities on their computers. Email, memos, web browsing and so much more.One of the challenges for business professionals is a) knowing how much time is spent on a given project and how to allocate that best [...]

What Apple's iPad Can Teach You About Resisting Technology

03.02.2010 - 14:00
Apple's released three gadgets - Cell Phone (iPhone), Portable Entertainment Device (iTouch) and now the iPad. Amazon.com's Kindle is exploding in sales (I can see it on the train all the time - taking a similar trajectory to the iPhone).What does this mean to you'As vendors push out new technology, [...]

Siri: A Cloud Based Digital Assistant for the iPhone

08.02.2010 - 10:00
Siri is a new generation virtual, digital assistant that is meant to act just like a human assistant. It understands what you say, accomplishes tasks for you and gets better at understanding what you want as you spend more time...

Good Summary of Small Business Hiring Sentiment

06.02.2010 - 19:25
Jan Norman's On Small Business column in the Orange County Register has an excellent summary of various surveys on small business hiring plans. It's no surprise that small businesses continue to be hesitant to hire.

Steve Rubel on Facebook Eating the Web

05.02.2010 - 18:49
Steve Rubel's Facebook Could Eat the Web expands on a theme we've been examining over the last 6 months or so, which we call Is Facebook Taking Over the Web' Since Steve is a communications professional, it's not surprising his...

Baby Boomers Flocking to Facebook,Twitter

04.02.2010 - 10:00
eMarketer is reporting that the number of baby boomers using Facebook increased 107% from 2008 to 2009 and Twitter usage jumped 714%. The chart below, from an eMarketer email, shows the growth for a number of social networking sites. Other...

Next Fab: A Gym for Innovators

03.02.2010 - 10:00
Next Fab is a new "gym for innovators" that released opened in Philadelphia. According to their website, Next Fab provides: Innovation facility: state-of-the-art members-only workspace with high-end design and prototyping tools. Education: courses and workshops covering topics such as software...

Global Poverty Rate Falling

01.02.2010 - 10:00
Fascinating article on the Vox blog with the very un-fascinating title of Parametric Estimation of the World Distribution of Income. In case you couldn't guess, Vox is a site for and by economists. The chart below is from the article...

What is Foursquare & Why is it Getting So Much Hype'

28.01.2010 - 10:00
Foursquare is the leader in a new generation of "find a friend" applications. According to their website, Foursquare "is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things." To use Foursquare...

Webinar:Using Facebook to Grow Your Business

27.01.2010 - 10:00
MyVenturePad, in partnership with SAP, is hosting a free webinar - Using Facebook to Grow Your Business. The webinar is scheduled for February 2nd at 1:00pm Eastern (10:00am Pacific). The webinar will cover: How small businesses are using Facebook to...

The End of Men

26.01.2010 - 10:01
I jokingly refer to a set of trends related to changing gender roles as "the end of men." I am joking, so please don't send hate mail. But there is a growing set of data and trends indicating that men...

Time Spent on Social Networking Sites Exploding

25.01.2010 - 10:00
Can't say this is new or surprising, but it is still worth noting that the amount of time people are spending on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is rapidly expanding. The chart below - from Nielsen Wire...

Top 10 Social Networking Sites

21.01.2010 - 10:00
Marketing Charts has a good post on the top social networking sites. Not surprisingly, Facebook is by far the leader. Their chart, shown below, ranks the top 10 sites by visits. The data is for the U.S. and from Hitwise....

Reshaping Business Education In a New Era

20.01.2010 - 10:00
The McKinsey Quarterly's Reshaping Business Education in a New Era is one of the best descriptions of how business education needs to change I've seen. It is an interview with Blair Sheppard, Dean of Duke University's Fuqua School of Business...

Follow the Money to Spot Trends

19.01.2010 - 10:00
One of the tools we use in our small business trend identification process is "following the money." By this we mean keeping track of where venture capitalists, private equity firms and money managers are investing. The reason we do this...

Autism Clusters and the Coming Human Enhancement Divide

18.01.2010 - 10:00
NPR has a fascinating, but not surprising, story on autism clusters. According to researchers at UC Davis, clusters of children diagnosed with autism tend to occur in places where parents are older, well educated and white. It's not that these...

Pet Industry Trends

16.01.2010 - 10:00
One of my favorite list of trends is the annual Pet Industry Trends from Laura Bennett and published on SmallBizTrends. We own 3 dogs, so this topic is near to my heart. My favorite trends relate to the activities of...

5 Questions You Should Ask Every Customer

08.02.2010 - 14:33
5 Questions You Should Ask Every CustomerThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShare5 Questions You Should Ask Every CustomerThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingConstantly seeking feedback from your customers is a great way to learn how to market your business more effectively. If you’ve nev [...]

Weekend Favs February Six

06.02.2010 - 17:14
Weekend Favs February SixThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareWeekend Favs February SixThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingI’ve added a weekend post routine that I hope you enjoy. Each weekend I write a post that features 3-4 things I read during the week that I found interesting. Generall [...]

Extending Your Presentations Through the Backchannel

05.02.2010 - 14:18
Extending Your Presentations Through the BackchannelThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareExtending Your Presentations Through the BackchannelThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingThe term “backchannel” was coined in the field of Linguistics in the 1970’s to describe listeners [...]

Analytics from a Really Smart Guy

04.02.2010 - 22:19
Analytics from a Really Smart GuyThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingAnalytics from a Really Smart GuyThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingMarketing podcast with Avinash Kaushik (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunesAvinash Kaushik, author of Web An [...]

Right and Wrong of PR Pitches

04.02.2010 - 14:25
Right and Wrong of PR PitchesThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareRight and Wrong of PR PitchesThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingFor years I was on the pitching end of PR and, while I still do some for my own promotion, I am more often on the receiving end of pitches these days.It’s [...]

Social Media Infecting Every Aspect of Business

03.02.2010 - 18:41
Social Media Infecting Every Aspect of BusinessThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareSocial Media Infecting Every Aspect of BusinessThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingFor this week’s post at AMEX OPENForum I outlined 5 Ways That Sales People Can Benefit From Using Social Media Social m [...]

The Single Greatest Way To Discover Innovation

02.02.2010 - 16:14
The Single Greatest Way To Discover InnovationThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareThe Single Greatest Way To Discover InnovationThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingWarning: I have no scientific research to back up the theory I’m about to ponder, but I would love to hear your thoughts [...]

Social Media Pro is Re-Opened

01.02.2010 - 23:14
Social Media Pro is Re-OpenedThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareSocial Media Pro is Re-OpenedThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingLast month I introduced a beta launch of our 5-week social media training course called Social Media Pro. The launch was restricted to 100 people and we filled i [...]

5 Ways to Rock Customer Review Sites

01.02.2010 - 17:58
5 Ways to Rock Customer Review SitesThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShare5 Ways to Rock Customer Review SitesThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingThere’s been a fair amount of coverage recently about the ins and outs, good and evil, usefulness and rudeness of customer rating and reviews [...]

Weekend Favs January Thirty

30.01.2010 - 13:49
Weekend Favs January ThirtyThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareWeekend Favs January ThirtyThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingI’ve added a weekend post routine that I hope you enjoy. Each weekend I write a post that features 3-4 things I read during the week that I found interesting. Gene [...]

A Beautiful Way to Read More Blogs

29.01.2010 - 19:09
A Beautiful Way to Read More BlogsThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareA Beautiful Way to Read More BlogsThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingIf you use an RSS reader to subscribe to and read blogs (and you should) then you know what a great tool it can be to keep you up to date, well-read an [...]

My Favorite Tools and Processes to Automate the Routine

28.01.2010 - 15:58
My Favorite Tools and Processes to Automate the RoutineThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareMy Favorite Tools and Processes to Automate the RoutineThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingTechnology can be a great thing when it comes to getting more done. It can also be a way to wall yourself off [...]

5 Ways to Share Content to Create Referrals

27.01.2010 - 15:45
5 Ways to Share Content to Create ReferralsThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShare5 Ways to Share Content to Create ReferralsThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingCreating valuable, education based content is half the ticket to selling these days. The other half, of course, is getting that conte [...]

Talking Linchpin with Seth Godin

26.01.2010 - 14:18
Talking Linchpin with Seth GodinThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingShareTalking Linchpin with Seth GodinThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingMarketing podcast with Seth Godin (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunesI had the pleasure of visiting with [...]

How to Target GMail Users with Highly Relevant Ads

25.01.2010 - 15:35
How to Target GMail Users with Highly Relevant AdsThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingHow to Target GMail Users with Highly Relevant AdsThis content from: Duct Tape MarketingIf you are a GMail user you’ve probably noticed Google’s highly relevant ads running in and around your emails. [...]

IT’S FALL-WHERE’S ALL THE GREEN GOING'

29.09.2009 - 21:40
No, not the chlorophyll in the leaves, the green in your bottom line. If you had a daily metric report in place, you would be able to answer that question. What performance metrics do you want to monitor for your business unit on a continuous basis that are the most important and are very volatile f [...]

Are You Targeting The Right Customer For Your Summer Promotion'

04.08.2009 - 16:29
Now that’s the Million Dollar question, are you' When you set out to run your summer promotion, did you perform your due diligence on which you were first going to target with this promotion, so that you can see if you have the right customer, for the right outcome' When you run a general promotio [...]

Stop Your NO’s,Start Your KNOWS!

30.06.2009 - 16:20
If you say NO to something, ask yourself, "Why did I just say NO to that'” Start with knowing why you said no before you actually say NO, because once you say NO, that NO may have far-reaching consequences. When you commit to something by saying NO to it, and then end up finding out that you could [...]

Keep IT Simple

08.06.2009 - 16:06
Your businesses is what is "IT”, with all of the information and bombardment of calls, e-mails, faxes, twitters, IM’s, texts and people, a business owner can feel overloaded and get misdirected and forget to keep an eye on what really matters to their success, THE BOTTOM LINE! What’s the solut [...]

It’s June 1st,How Are You Pacing On Your Year-End 2009 Goals'

02.06.2009 - 22:47
Your 5/12 or 41.37% completed with the year, do your numbers tell you if you are going to make your 2009 year-end budget numbers today' If you had a twelve month pacing model in place for your business, you would have an accurate reading about this question. A pacing model can help your business uni [...]

Are You Open'

04.05.2009 - 17:26
Are your hours open to best maximize your top line sales or your lifestyle' When your business doors are closed, do potential, current, or future customers (economic decision makers) stop spending their money' Do outside and inside factors affecting your business and your competition stop, or is som [...]

Did You Draft A Good Team'

27.04.2009 - 19:58
How many of you watched the NFL draft yesterday' If you missed it, you also missed out on a great Human Resources lesson; do you know what that was' You must strengthen the weakest links in your Human Resources Chain to make sure your entire Team wins. Each Team that drafted yesterday asked the same [...]

Will You Spend A Penny Today,To Save A Dollar Tomorrow'

21.04.2009 - 18:19
Do You Have A Preventative Maintenance Program Installed In Your Business Like A Hotel Does' Preventative maintenance, or P.M., as we call it in the hotel industry, is a must to help lower your replacement costs and prevent possible operations and sales breakdowns that can affect your bottom line. W [...]

Radical Sales And Marketing For Your Small Business

28.02.2009 - 02:00
The meaning of the adjective radical is "not bound by traditional ways or beliefs.” Here are the "must dos” of a seasoned business unit’s radical salesperson and marketer.No stone goes unturned in your search for new leads and clients; no sales idea is too silly or stupid to try; you sell to e [...]

Building Top of Mind Awareness and Brand Recognition for Your Small Business

28.02.2009 - 02:00
Billions and billions of dollars a year from every industry and various product lines are spent to perform these above functions. Do you' No, not spend billions of dollars, but do you incorporate top of mind awareness and brand recognition within every one of your sales and marketing calls'Building [...]

Stop Wanting Things To Stay Consistent For Your Small Business Success

28.02.2009 - 02:00
Start understanding that the only consistent thing in life is change. If you want something to happen, no matter how little of a movement it is within your life, it will never take shape if you do not first embrace the change element behind it. Change is a great catalyst with a specialty to accelera [...]

Identify Express Service Potentials For Your Small Business

28.02.2009 - 02:00
We live in a world driven by express services, a quick this or a quick that, and we need it "this very moment” kind of mentality. In the hotel business, it was identified that two of the largest opportunities for express services were the checking in and out processes of a customer’s hotel stay. [...]

Stop Pushing Yourself Making Your Small Business A Success

28.02.2009 - 02:00
Instead, start utilizing your time more wisely. We are all spacers of time, to some degree. If we were given one hour to do a specific task or job, probability could tell us that we would do that task or job correctly in just fifty-five minutes, with no reduction in quality. If this five-minute savi [...]

Location, Location, and Location Will Make A Difference For Your Small Business Success

28.02.2009 - 02:00
This applies to everything regarding your business unit, not just the physical location of your operations. What if your Web site was incorrectly key-word phrased, and then no one could find a link to it with the most obvious words' What if your salespeople were making sales calls in a non-feeder ci [...]

Labor Efficiency Modeling For Your Small Business Success

28.02.2009 - 02:00
Getting yourself and your business unit into the mind-set of thinking about labor efficiency modeling is one of the keys to running a profitable business.The last time you looked at your current standards was when' Do you know what the correct production efficiency from each of your job codes is, ev [...]

An Honourable Profession

The Six Best Reasons to use CRM

Treat Sales People as Entrepreneurs

Polling Day has arrived

Focus on the individual not the organisation.

I’m Back!

Sales Podcasts - listen and learn

Qualification - what’s the second question to ask'

Today’s Top Tip

Alan’s thought for the day

I’m Exhausted

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Research… only fools avoid it.

What Can You Do'

Customer Service - the bare knuckle approach.

The Keen Thinker

20.01.2010 - 20:52
Hello friends of ChangeThis, The company that has cared for ChangeThis for the past five years, 800-CEO-READ, is launching an electronic newsletter, The Keen Thinker. There are 11,000 business books published each year. There is endless information about business being...

66.01 - Brainwashed:Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself by Seth Godin

13.01.2010 - 19:19
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "Years ago, when you were about four years old, the system set out to persuade you of something that isn’t true. Not just persuade, but drill, practice, reinforce,...

66.02 - Beyond Sink or Swim:The Case for Accelerating Leadership Transitions by Michael Watkins and Doug Soo Hoo

13.01.2010 - 19:16
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "Given the magnitude of the overall organizational impact, it is surprising how few companies invest in helping their precious leadership assets to succeed during transitions—the most critical junctures...

66.03 - The Creativist Manifesto:Consumer or Creativist'by Olivia Sprinkel

13.01.2010 - 19:15
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "I believe that the most significant choice that we can make in today’s society is to be a Consumer or to be a Creativist. (…) This default way...

66.04 - The Wow Factor is You by Frances Cole Jones

13.01.2010 - 19:12
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "The ‘Wow Factor’ is you. The knowledge that you’ve done the research, considered the risks, paid attention to every detail. It’s the calm that comes from no-regret living....

66.05 - The Need to Remember Our Aging Veterans by Andrew Gabriel

13.01.2010 - 19:09
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "So many of our parents and grandparents have, and unfortunately some still do, sacrifice their innocence as human beings in struggles to defend our very morals and ideals....

65.01 - The World on Reset by John Hope Bryant

09.12.2009 - 22:55
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "I keep saying that this is not a recession, it is a reset. What amazes me is how many brilliant people I know, in the US and around...

65.02 - Freedom,Inc. Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to Higher Productivity,Profits and Growth by Brian M. Carney & Isaac Getz

09.12.2009 - 22:54
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "From Genesis ‘in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread’ to Marx’s )the proletariat has nothing to lose but its chains,’ work has always been seen...

65.03 - Social Response Capitalism:Today and Tomorrow by Bruce Piasecki

09.12.2009 - 22:53
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "The American corporation is bad at culture. It’s good at management, finance, technology, and HR. It’s getting better at innovation, cocreation and social media. But culture' It still...

65.04 - Brands Are People Too by Joy Panos Stauber

09.12.2009 - 22:50
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "When you talk about ‘branding,’ you are not discussing a superficial activity. More and more business people are finally starting to understand that. A brand is not a...

65.05 - Start the Soloist Journey:Become the Hero in the Face of the Ten Least Wanted by Jonathan Littman & Marc Hershon

09.12.2009 - 22:47
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "The hero's journey has been the cornerstone of great literature and hit movies. We all know the winning dramatic premise: a beaten-down protagonist battles everyone from evil characters...

65.06 - Relational GPS™:The Road Map to Outstanding Business Relationships by Ed Wallace

09.12.2009 - 22:45
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "Identifying your core relationships is the vital first step you must take in shifting how you perceive your role in any business relationship. Instead of just wishing that...

The Upstarts Are Here!:What Can You Possibly Learn from Entrepreneurs in Their Twenties' Plenty. by Donna Fenn

12.11.2009 - 00:02
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "We’re smack in the middle of ‘perfect storm’ conditions for young entrepreneurs, which means that if you haven’t already noticed that the CEO down the road may look...

Meaningful Digital Strategy:The Next Evolution of Marketing by Bob Gilbreath

12.11.2009 - 00:01
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "Four years ago, I grew frustrated with the lack of brand investment in digital marketing and set out to understand the fundamental reasons why this promising new space...

Social Response Capitalism:Today and Tommorrow by Bruce Piasecki

12.11.2009 - 00:00
Click here to visit the site. Click here to download the PDF. "I believe we need something no less than a new kind of leader. Most social commentators today, from Sarah Palin to Barack Obama, note that we need leaders...

Set your local search engine optimization to Automatic

2010 Web Design " Local Internet Marketing

How to edit photos for your website using Picnik | Local Knowledge Episode 22

What every small business should know about WordPress,Episode 21 Part IIIb

What every small business should know about WordPress,Episode 21 Part IIIa

Part II - What every small business should know about WordPress

What every small business should know about WordPress

E-mail Marketing the Good,the Free and the Ugly

Access means Big Change Fast

Update your website for more leads

Free Press Release Websites for Small Business | Part II

12 examples of WordPress flexibility for small business

Free Press Release Websites for Small Business

Get your small business marketing in game shape

A website that generates sales leads

Expanding Distribution Channels

14.02.2008 - 09:00
Every small business wants to sell more. Rather than simply thinking of ways to get more customers into your store, start thinking of ways to get your products or services out to more consumers.

Tracking Your B2B Pay-Per-Click Online Advertising Campaign

13.02.2008 - 09:00
In the B2B world, tracking your pay per click online marketing campaigns can be complicated for many reasons. First, the sales process often starts with a request for information

Doing Business in China

12.02.2008 - 09:00
The Chinese economy is on a roll and business opportunities in China - both buying and selling - are more plentiful than ever. You can turn this economic wonder to your own advantage by seizing the opportunity

Barcode Software

08.02.2008 - 09:00
Using a barcode system can increase productivity, speed sales and improve accuracy. However, implementing a barcode system takes effort and requires specialized software.

Breaking Into the Film and Television Industries

07.02.2008 - 09:00
So you wanna be in show business. Maybe you've been working in a field that isn't exciting enough or doesn't use enough of your creativity. Or you're just starting out and know that a regular desk job isn't for you.

Creativity and Innovation for Small Business

06.02.2008 - 09:00
You have to be extraordinary agile to keep up with today's constantly changing competitive environment. The best way to ensure lasting success is to make sure that everyone in your company is encouraged and rewarded for thinking and behaving creatively.

Computer Training for Your Staff

05.02.2008 - 09:00
As a former training manager and instructor of a computer learning center, I've seen the results of computer software training first-hand. Most students immediately become more productive employees.

Leading Creative Workshops

04.02.2008 - 09:00
Teaching creative workshops can be an extremely rewarding way to supplement your income. You work for yourself, the overhead can be low to nonexistent, and teaching others keeps your own skills sharp.

Gmail for Work

31.01.2008 - 09:00
Gmail is a powerful email program from Google. The tools included with Gmail make it a serious alternative to other email options available in the office, and unlike the office, you can check your email on your Gmail account with any computer...

Using LinkedIn to Sell More,Faster

30.01.2008 - 09:00
One of the most common questions I get asked is, "How can LinkedIn help me sell more'" LinkedIn isn't just for job seekers and recruiters...

Creating a Great Business Plan

25.01.2008 - 09:00
A business plan is like a roadmap that shows where your business is going and how it's going to get there. This detailed look at where your business is heading can do much more for your business than simply provide you with a route to follow. You can use it to convey your vision to potential investo [...]

Setting up a Merchant Account

24.01.2008 - 09:00
It's a fact: Small businesses that accept credit cards sell more. Often much more. To do that, you must set up a merchant account to accept credit card payments. You may need an internet merchant account as well. Here's a three-pronged strategy to help you find the best merchant account provider: .. [...]

Learning Search Engine Optimization

23.01.2008 - 09:00
While many people consider SEO to be complicated I believe that SEO is nothing but an extension of traditional marketing. Search engine optimization consists of 9 main steps1. market research2. keyword research3. on page optimization 4. site structure5. link building6. brand buildin ...

60+ Free Web Development Tools & Resources for Entrepreneurs

22.01.2008 - 09:00
From ecommerce to social networking, there are many cool new tools that allow you to get your web presence jumpstarted for cheap. Here is a list of the best free resources for web 2.0 design, development, and ecommerce: ...

Online Business Networking

21.01.2008 - 09:00
Networking, in the form of direct personal contact and referrals, typically accounts for as much as 70% of an entrepreneur's new business. It's also the #1 way small businesses find employees, suppliers and strategic partners. While this used to be relegated to networking breakfasts, Chamber of Comm [...]

Stimulus Cash At Work:PatRick Environmental

08.02.2010 - 22:13
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 [...]

Cell Phone Dead' Buy A Charge

08.02.2010 - 19:10
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 wo [...]

Secrets Of Top-Selling Girl Scouts

08.02.2010 - 18:09
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 [...]

What’s Old Is New:Tech For Seniors

08.02.2010 - 17:08
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 [...]

Google Planning App Store For Bizs

08.02.2010 - 16:07
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&# [...]

Being A Mompreneur In The Business World

08.02.2010 - 16:00
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 w [...]

Mad Scientist Dentists Coming Soon

08.02.2010 - 04:58
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 g [...]

How Anyone Can Make A Fortune Online

08.02.2010 - 04:48
Can you make a dollar a day online' Sure. Just do it again. Over and over again.

Super Advertising…..

07.02.2010 - 23:20
from AdFreak.comFrom Business Opportunities Weblog.

Helping Rental Companies Take Their Biz Online

07.02.2010 - 21:55
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 [...]

Dip Or Squeeze'

07.02.2010 - 21:55
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 bas [...]

Shark Tank Episode 15:A Recap

07.02.2010 - 03:30
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 st [...]

Where’s The Cable Guy'

07.02.2010 - 02:15
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 se [...]

Conquering Your Email Inbox

07.02.2010 - 02:10
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’ [...]

Why I Didn’t Think Of That

05.02.2010 - 23:20
A selection of products to amuse and inspire.The DribPair it with your Snuggie and pig out on your sofa.Wine Glass Holder NecklaceAfter a few glasses this will come in REAL handy.PowerlungProven to make breathing more efficient and effective, according to "clinical independent studies” (none of wh [...]

Using WebEx for Online Meetings

23.07.2009 - 01:42
There are a few different online meeting planning applications available. I choose WebEx because they have proven to be the easiest to use. From scheduling online meetings on WebEx to conducting a presentation or training online for 2-20 people, I have never had any issues. WebEx is the easiest plat [...]

Using Skype for Sales Calls

13.05.2009 - 21:17
I am a traditionalist when it comes to sales. I’m far from old school but I have become fairly set in my ways on what technology is best and works most often. Every now and then I get a little geeky and try out something new. This week the new tool I started using was Skype. Skype is software [...]

Ideal Partner Profile

05.05.2009 - 20:43
Finding great partners to work with is hardly an easy task. Great partners are not found over night, the truly great ones have been developed over time through communication, training and support. The hardest part of identifying new channel partners is who do you start with. Instead of going after e [...]

Looking for Sales Jobs in a Down Economy

10.03.2009 - 19:41
The economy is in the tank. Not breaking news but it seems to have a very shallow light at the end of the tunnel for any time in the near future.I was working a good job in business development for a channel sales group and little by little the head count was being cut. I should have seen the writin [...]

Using WebEx for Online Meetings

23.07.2009 - 01:42
There are a few different online meeting planning applications available. I choose WebEx because they have proven to be the easiest to use. From scheduling online meetings on WebEx to conducting a presentation or training online for 2-20 people, I have never had any issues. WebEx is the easiest plat [...]

Using Skype for Sales Calls

13.05.2009 - 21:17
I am a traditionalist when it comes to sales. I’m far from old school but I have become fairly set in my ways on what technology is best and works most often. Every now and then I get a little geeky and try out something new. This week the new tool I started using was Skype. Skype is software [...]

Ideal Partner Profile

05.05.2009 - 20:43
Finding great partners to work with is hardly an easy task. Great partners are not found over night, the truly great ones have been developed over time through communication, training and support. The hardest part of identifying new channel partners is who do you start with. Instead of going after e [...]

Looking for Sales Jobs in a Down Economy

10.03.2009 - 19:41
The economy is in the tank. Not breaking news but it seems to have a very shallow light at the end of the tunnel for any time in the near future.I was working a good job in business development for a channel sales group and little by little the head count was being cut. I should have seen the writin [...]

Perfect Job Interview (video)

15.01.2009 - 18:36
With the economy in the tank, looking for and finding a job is more difficult than ever. There are many companies hiring but what is going to get you the job and not the person next to you in line' One of the first things a company looks at obviously is your resume. Without a great resume, your chan [...]

Sales People DO NOT Produce revenue

30.12.2008 - 01:32
I had an interesting discussion with a man today that owns his own software and services company. He would fit into that midsize area with only 180 employees. With the revenue that he explained to me that they were pulling in, it was pretty clear that the current economy wasn’t doing to much d [...]

The best professional business case

23.12.2008 - 23:27
I am kind of a bag whore. I have five laptop bags and briefcases that I switch between throughout the year. I like to get a new one for myself around Christmas. I had to find one that I liked enough to spend money on. Though I like new business cases to carry my laptop and paperwork, I don’t e [...]

Building a Channel Sales Team

23.12.2008 - 03:48
Building a Channel Sales team is not an easy job and getting one running is even more difficult. It is not an impossible task though. Many larger companies already have the infrastructure and just need to align them correctly. Smaller companies may need to bring on a few key people to bring the team [...]

Turn Challenging Questions into Sales

19.12.2008 - 02:23
Make the sales process a collaborative one and you’ll find yourself in the position of trusted advisor instead of just another company trying to make a sale.One of the most difficult and feared situations in selling is getting hit with hard to answer questions early in the sales process. Quest [...]

How to keep people from putting the seat back on airplanes.

23.11.2008 - 05:33
I’m not an executive of The Big Three. I don not have a private jet to fly me around for business. I need to take commercial airlines just like most people. And like most, I site in the back of the plane. Nothing bothers me more than when some inconsiderate person sitting in the seat in front [...]

Follow the LeadVine for More Money in Sales

19.11.2008 - 18:50
A reader sent me this link and though it nessassary to pass along. Many people in sales are looking for new and fresh leads that they can target for their product and services. LeadVine allow you to do this with thousands of other people just like you.LeadVine is an online social community that simp [...]

Information is Good,But It Can Also Steal Your Soul

31.01.2010 - 01:04
Seth Godin had a blog post a week or so ago about data - and how everyone wants more data, so they can prove their point. We live in the Information Age now. There's a common misconception that we entered the Informatin Age as a byproduct of computers. But we had an infatuation with data before [...]

Apple Vs. Amazon:Will the iPad Kill the Kindle'

28.01.2010 - 01:43
Lalee Sadighi seems to think that the new Apple iPad will cut deeply into the market share of Amazon's Kindle. He's probably right... The iPad is Apple's new tablet computer. It was announced today and a bunch of lucky people got to actually touch one and fiddle with it some. Mashable ha [...]

Seen that' - How To Beat The 1000lbs. Gorilla

26.01.2010 - 03:18
How To Beat The 1000lbs. Gorilla Bizinformer The Sunday Times - UK published an excellent article yesterday on the importance and opportunity for small businesses to attach themselves to market niches. "You do not need a sledgehammer to crack a nut. ...

The Bush Legacy

16.01.2010 - 04:53
© russelljsmith I don't usually write about politics here. But I saw a blog post recently that seemed to summarize clearly the economic impact of the Bush (43) presidency. I say economic impact because the policy decision of the second Bush Administration so clearly affected the national econom [...]

Are You Ready for Virtual Trade Shows'

10.01.2010 - 05:35
© Jeff Lowe USA Today recently pointed out a trend that is likely to gain more and more influence in the 21sr Century: virtual trade shows.Virtual shows combine the latest technology in webcasting, online chats, video streaming, webinars and avatar graphics to offer the elements of trade shows: exh [...]

Seen that' - Call Me When You Get a Chance

10.01.2010 - 03:19
Call Me When You Get a Chance Bizinformer I'm not sure if I like voicemail or not. I like getting messages when I'm either away from the office or on another call, the security of knowing I don't miss a call ...

Will the Tech Sector Drive IPO's Again

31.12.2009 - 19:29
© James & Vilija Paul Kedrosky thinks the leading startups in the tech industry have either gone crazy or are about to issue IPOs. And last week TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld came up with a "top ten" list of possible IPOs from the tech sector of 2010. Between them they have taken o [...]

Tax Tips for the End of the Year

23.12.2009 - 22:38
© alancleaver_2000 Small Business Trends and Entrepreneur.com both published predictable pieces on end of year tax tips recently. Among the concerns coming up for next year, Small Business Trends points out that audits may be more common next year.The ever-present audit threat is always lurking in [...]

Solving the Hiring Delimma

17.12.2009 - 04:13
© quinn.anya Is the recession over' I heard a joke recently. If you took all the macro-economists in the world and laid them end to end they still wouldn't reach a conclusion... Many companies feel that business has picked up, and they wonder whether the Recession is over. But they're not p [...]

Seen that' - People - The Most Valuable Asset of Your Business

16.12.2009 - 03:18
People - The Most Valuable Asset of Your Business at Bizinformer In the past, I've been as guilty as others in saying that a company's greatest asset is its customer base. I was wrong. Small businesses have no greater asset than their employees. ...

News Flash:Democrats Create Jobs Twice as Fast as Republicans

06.12.2009 - 03:34
As news of the somewhat improved jobs picture creates some small dregree of hope that the economy may really be improving, I came across this enlighting piece of historical perspective on jobs creation from Blue Virginia.This factoid should be repeated a million times until everyone has heard it and [...]

Trends Christmas Retailers Worry About

27.11.2009 - 16:56
© William Hook As the Christmas shopping season enters full swing, Social Path recently pointed out some worrisome trends that are keeping traditional retailers up at night.Smart phones, especially Apple’s dominant device, will be worth their weight in saffron this Christmas. Last November, [...]

Seen that' - Business Plan Archive

21.11.2009 - 03:18
Business Plan Archive at Bizinformer I save things. Ridiculous things - old magazines, newspapers, memorabilia that offers no real memory. I'm not sure why. I started saving odd things as a kid - certain school work, comic books, etc. Now, I save presentations, ...

Sen. Dodd's New Banking Bill Would Reshape the Financial World

11.11.2009 - 20:26
© SEIU International In October of 2008 Alan Greenspan conceded that an unregulated free market would not regulate itself as a matter of self-interest on its own part..."Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, [...]

Seen that' - A Question Of Ethics

07.11.2009 - 03:18
A Question Of Ethics at Bizinformer This morning's The WallStreet Journal has a cover article (subscription required) about the prescription drug trade, Internet marketing of said drugs, and the entrepreneurs that profit from differing laws between countries regarding prescription drug access. [...]

Herbalife A Proven Success

08.09.2008 - 12:42
Make Money At Home, Start Your Own Home Business With Herbalife!Over 1.8 million Independent Distributors in 65 countries with record retail sales of $3.5 billion in 2007!In 2007, Herbalife Supervisors were paid $2.4 billion in Distributor allowances, commissions, royalties and bonuses.* Industry-le [...]

Free Fun Way To Promote Your Blogs And Websites

07.09.2008 - 09:43
Share Your Intelligence and get backlinks, exposure, and traffic in return. There are 20,746 users on Qassia. If you're tired of exchanging links, submitting to hundreds of directories, or generally scrounging for links, you've come to the right place. Qassia is a the new, smart, and fun way to prom [...]

Get Paid To View Websites

06.09.2008 - 07:43
Hi,A new innovative, international and FREE English based service that allows advertisers to reach thousands of potential customers by displaying their ads on their, "Surf Ads" page.How does it work?You view websites in a few seconds via the "Surf Ads" page. Once the few seconds is up, you'll either [...]

Free Traffic And Free Make Money

05.09.2008 - 13:44
Hello,We all need traffic. I think this will be a great way to receive FREE traffic to our blogs or websites. I encourage you all to give this a try. I am a FREE member. Here is some information from my back office.Here's What You Get As A Silver WidgeteerFree Use of the Super Viral Ad NetworkOur sy [...]

Make Money With Clickbank, FREE To Join

04.09.2008 - 11:43
Please Click On The Check To Be Able To Read It. Thanks!Hi Everybody,If your new to making money, I encourage you to try Clickbank. I love this affiliate program, because they are real! When I first started out, I had to pay for this information. I didn't know anything about Clickbank. I know this i [...]

Change Your Life With Herbalife!

31.08.2008 - 12:23
Hi,I love Herbalife And The products work! I really enjoy the dutch chocolate shakes and the Total Control. I use original soy milk with my nutritious shakes. They actually taste pretty good. So easy to make. A great way to start your morning off. :-)Why Herbalife?What began as one man’s vision to [...]

Get Paid To Build Your List!!

29.08.2008 - 08:25
Hi,I Invite everyone to Join Simple List Builder. You can join for FREE! :-)With "Simple List Builder" you can capture the email addresses from visitors to your site and even get paid to do it.Not only that, but you'll have others gladly building your list for you.Members FeaturesHave every member i [...]

Free Traffic

28.08.2008 - 16:43
Hi,Another way to get traffic to your blog or website. :-)EZ targeted Adsheet INSTA builder If you haven't seen or used an insta optin list builder yet, you are missing out on very good income and almost instant advertising to a downline - that is built for you! • Want your email ad sent to member [...]

Your ClickBank Commissions (??)

28.08.2008 - 16:43
Hi,There's been a ton of buzz around this system over the past few days and if you haven't heard about it yet, let me just fill you in...It's called the "Commission Blueprint" - a radical formula created by Tim Godfrey and Steven Clayton that exploits ClickBank and Google in such a devious way that [...]

Buy text links on my blog easily with Ask2link

26.08.2008 - 16:24
Hi,If you have a blog, website, or forum, with a minimum PageRank 1 or Alexa rank under 2,000,000 (2 million), you could earn more money from your website beyond Google Adsense contextual ads. I have recently joined Ask2link.com Click Here FREE To Join. To enable advertisers to buy ad space on my bl [...]

New Cure for Excessive Sweating Could Boost Your Work Productivity

26.08.2008 - 08:44
A new study has confirmed what has already long been considered truth by many - that suffering from excessive sweating can negatively impact a person’s work performance.According to the International Hyperhidrosis Society, a recent study presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meet [...]

One small thing but a dramatic effect

25.08.2008 - 05:02
Hi,I just came across this really amazing site. I have never seen anything like it before.Before I tell you about it, let me ask you a question. What is one of the mostimportant things to have in a business?I know, there are a lot of things, but I think the most important is exposure.This place I fo [...]

Seoquake, Free Powerful Tool

22.08.2008 - 08:43
Hi,Seoquake is a FREE powerful tool for Mozilla Firefox and for Internet Explorer, aimed at helping web masters who deal with search engine optimization and internet promotion of web sites.Ease of use is a key factor when fiddling with something that relates to search engine rankings. The Firefox pl [...]

Legit Paid To Click Program

19.08.2008 - 08:41
Hello everybody,This is a very cheap way to make money at home. You can even join for FREE. I joined as a premium member it only cost me $10 for 1 year. I did this because, I could make more money with this program. After I upgraded they gave me a bunch of sites to click on. I was able to make most [...]

Free No Clicking Hover Traffic

18.08.2008 - 20:25
Hello,A SURE FIRE WAY To Get The Traffic Your Website Or Blog Needs !!If you want more traffic for your websites or blogs, this post is your golden ticket...Kenneth Kraakstad just Re-launched the most high tech, supercharged traffic exchangethat is guaranteed to boost your traffic to as many sites a [...]

The beatings will stop when productivity declines.

21.01.2010 - 14:24
This from the Conference Board press release:"Americans of all ages and income brackets continue to grow increasingly unhappy at work—a long-term trend that should be a red flag to employers, according to a report released today by The Conference Board. The report, based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. [...]

Creativity Defined

18.01.2010 - 05:40
On Friday morning I attended a presentation by my friend Adam Shames who does a great job getting people to be creative. As I understood Adam, he defines 'Creativity' as the combination of divergence (creating something new or unexpected) with convergence (something useful). The ideas created by the [...]

Collin's Observation On CEO Succession

27.12.2009 - 16:29
In his book How the Mighty Fall... Jim Collins points out that eight of the eleven declining companies when to outside CEO’s while only one of the contrast thriving companies went outside for their CEO. Also in the research for Good to Great, 90% of the CEO’s who led their companies to ‘great� [...]

The Innovator's DNA (HBR article - continued)

11.12.2009 - 19:46
In my last blog, I commented on a Harvard Business Review article entitled The Innovator’s DNA and promised I would look next at the ‘five discovery skills’ the authors suggest make up the innovator’s creative intelligence. These five discover skills are: Associating Questioning Observing Ex [...]

HBR December 2009 article:The Innovator's DNA

06.12.2009 - 03:38
Last month I’d glanced at the Harvard Business Review’s December 2009 article called The Innovator’s DNA, by J.H. Dyer, H.B. Gregersen, and C.M. Christensen and didn’t think to blog on it. Then this week, Chris Broxon pointed the article out again and I reread it. It is a fairly narrow piece [...]

Dichotomy of Mind

04.12.2009 - 18:09
Dichotomy of Mind In doing research for my just completed book on innovation (available as an audio book at http://store.payloadz.com/go'id=770643 ) I looked into a number of interesting studies of what is going on in the brain, to gain insight into how it is we created knowledge and solve problems. [...]

It's the Economy!!

13.11.2009 - 05:35
I attended a Harvard breakfast meeting this morning. Bill Hass and Shep Pryor, who are co-authors with Arthur Laffer on the book The Private Equity Edge. The talk was very interesting and I immediately drove to Borders in Deerfield and picked up an autographed copy.I ran into trouble right away. In [...]

Black Swans

07.11.2009 - 18:39
Black SwansI was in Starbucks doing a little work this morning when I ran into a well read and very bright friend who has great insights into economic issues, and dabbles in philosophy. In the course of our conversation somehow the Black Swan Events came up and he says, "What do you mean it’s nons [...]

Zebras

01.11.2009 - 21:40
I have been using Zebra Steel G-301 pens for several months. They are great, inexpensive pens that write really well and feel great in your hands. One of my business partners also uses the pens and when we discovered this we both held up our pens giving each other that conspiratorial look that says [...]

Mountain Trivia

31.10.2009 - 01:14
Question: What does the second highest mountain in Canada have in common with the second highest mountain in the United States' Answer: Pretty much everything.

Competitive Initiatives

26.10.2009 - 02:54
During the past couple of decades many companies have created competitive advantage by focussing on techniques to boost productivity. These include outsourcing, reengineering, automation, and getting incrementally better at doing the same thing over and over again through six sigma like programs. Th [...]

New CEO of Largest Automaker Apologizes

21.10.2009 - 22:09
The other day, the recently installed new CEO of the worlds largest automaker made a public apology for his company’s performance.Astonished reporters heard him apologize for the company being shamefully unprepared for the global economic crisis; apologize for billions in losses both last year and [...]

Korean Electric Car

13.09.2009 - 18:26
At the Korean Products Show in Chicago this week CT&T showed off their ezone electric cars.They are ‘in town’ cars with a maximum speed of 35 mph and will travel up to 80 miles on a single charge. According to the show, these cars cost about $12,000- $13,000 but are eligible for a $5,000 Fed [...]

The New Normal - Financial Leverage

10.09.2009 - 06:09
The new normalIn March this year the McKinsey Quarterly published an article entitled The New Normal. In it they said:" Obviously, there will be significantly less financial leverage in thesystem. But it is important to realize that the rise in leverage leading up tothe crisis had two sources. The f [...]

Cloud Computing

08.09.2009 - 03:47
At the Thursday PDMA breakfast meeting on September 3rd, 2009 we discussed the notion of cloud computing. The fundamental concept is that businesses today own a level of capacity that ensures a cushion at peak demand. This is excess capacity. When it’s added together across many businesses it amou [...]

Brand Update :Cadbury Dairy Milk

Brand Update :Mango Bite

Marketing Strategy :The Family Brand Conundrum

Brand Update :Logan

Infibeam Pi :Indian Kindle '

Mahindra Gio :Potential Category Killer

Maruti Eeco :Happiness Family Size

Listerine :Pioneering a Category

Brand Update :Idea

Vanish :Trust Pink,Forget Stains

Marketing Strategy :Don't Enter a Market Without Strategy

Garnier :Take Care

Brand Update :Sunlight

Binani Cement :Sadiyon Ke Liye

Marketing Strategy :Philosophical Branding

3 Feedburner Engagement Stats You Must Follow

13.10.2009 - 04:52
This post assumes you're a Feedburner user. If you're not, here's the short version: Feedburner gives you a bunch of free tools to enhance your site's RSS feed. You can read more and get set up (for free) here.Everyone brags about their Feedburner subscriber numbers. Too bad those don't really tell [...]

SEO,Title Tags and Rankings:CM Site Review #5

10.10.2009 - 07:18
This week's site review is OneTakeMedia.net. Solid site but it has the potential to grab a top 10 ranking for their best phrase with a few tweaks.And yes, that's my head talking in the video. Let me know if it's eerily horrifying, helpful or not worth the effort of actually combing my hair:Ian Lurie [...]

Dork detection:10 questions for 'professional' developers

09.10.2009 - 01:09
I don't have anything against developers. What drives me up a wall are people who think they're developers because they can drag and drop controls in Visual Studio or Dreamweaver.If you're not a geek yourself, though, it's hard to figure out who's full of knowledge and who's full of crap. So here yo [...]

Yep,Twitter is Down

08.10.2009 - 21:10
It's not just you - as reported by The Guardian and a bunch of other publications, Twitter is having some kind of bizarre problem. Again.If I had $100 million in investment dollars, my web site would never ever go down. I'd put servers in orbit, for God's sake. I'd pay someone $40k/year to stare at [...]

Get a $500 Website Review,Free

08.10.2009 - 00:44
Update: Submissions are now closed. I'll be announcing the winners on October 21st (or 22nd). Thanks everyone who submitted. I am, by the way, still accepting bribes.Something's wrong with your web site. Let me restate that: Something's wrong with your web site. There's always room to improve your s [...]

Update:Keyword Research Tools Showdown (Wordtracker)

08.10.2009 - 00:10
I did Wordtracker a disservice in my keyword research tools showdown last week. I am a long, long-time fan of their toolset. So long, in fact, that I'd neglected to thoroughly examine the slick new interface they've got, as well as a couple of additional tools.I'm a little embarrassed, but I'll get [...]

Why Gourmet Died:Publishers,pay attention

06.10.2009 - 23:17
I don't buy the whole "Gourmet was a luxury brand in a recession" economy argument. How'd they get through the 70s' The 80s' The early 90s'They're dying, in part, because the publisher refused to accept the Internet as a business channel. Here's a quote from CBC News: "The magazine industry in the U [...]

10 Comment Habits I Hate

06.10.2009 - 01:28
I publish every reasonable (and some unreasonable) comments on my blog. My tolerance for dumbassery is pretty high:But some tooth-grinding commenting habits cause immediate deletion. If you:Grammar that know sense makes use. I like Yoda and all, but please at least proofread your comment' If I can't [...]

Conversation Marketing:Now On Kindle

06.10.2009 - 01:22
My first Internet marketing book, Conversation Marketing, is now out on Kindle.It costs a whole $1.99You COULD read it for free, but for $1.99, why not buy it' Then you can geek out about reading an Internet marketing book on your Kindle, instead of reading plain old HTML. How cool is that'

Keyword Research Tools Showdown

04.10.2009 - 02:42
Disclaimer: Thar be affiliate links here. I have to support this blog somehow, so some of the links in here will earn me a buck or two, should you choose to sign up for the relevant service. But that in no way affected my review. K'At a recent event, someone asked me what the best keyword research t [...]

SEO and Your Business Model:Site Review of eHubPensacola.com

03.10.2009 - 04:14
For this week's site review, I took a look at eHubPensacola.com.My advice: Build a search-optimized home page.Focus on the business model. You're offering coupons and discounts. Make sure folks can get access to them quickly and easily. Then use that to build a relationship and get visitors to purch [...]

Fix canonicalization problems (part 3 of 3)

01.10.2009 - 23:26
This is part 3 in a series about canonicalization issues. Part 1 defined canonicalization. Part 2 gave advice for tracking down canonical problems on your site. This article deals with fixing the problems you just found.Now that you've found your canonicalization problems, you need to fix them. I've [...]

Detect canonicalization problems (part 2 of 3)

01.10.2009 - 01:22
This is part 2 of a 3-part explanation of basic canonicalization in SEO. Part 1 defined canonicalization and provided examples of the SEO issues it can create. This post shows how to detect a problem. Part 3 will explain how to fix it.Detecting canonicalization issues is easier (thank God) than defi [...]

Canonicalization Defined (part 1 of 3)

30.09.2009 - 00:46
This is part one of a 3-part series on canonicalization. Why 3 parts' Because it ended up being too dang long. Parts 2 and 3 will go live tomorrow and Thursday, respectively.It's a long word, I know, but canonicalization (not to be confused with 'canonization') is at the heart of SEO. Get it right a [...]

10 Words on a Line,Please

27.09.2009 - 22:10
Reading online ,10-15 words on a line is best.Don't take my word for it anymore. I'm tired of arguing with you.Just go over and subscribe to the Designer Bookshop Newsletter.They're design geniuses, and they say stuff like this:It is important that the columns are set to a length that is "proportion [...]

Brand Messaging:Visual Over Verbal

Brand Naming Origins:Academy Awards 'Oscar'

Legal Influence And Marketing Decisions

How Color And Flavor Names Affect Choice

Leading Brands And Being First In The Mind

Legal Influence And Marketing Decisions

How Color And Flavor Names Affect Choice

Leading Brands And Being First In The Mind

Klein's Anti-Branding View Remains Baseless

Klein's Anti-Branding View Remains Baseless

The Power Of Nostalgia In Advertising

Differentiating The Ultimate Commodity

The Power Of Nostalgia In Advertising

Differentiating The Ultimate Commodity

Master Branding Seminars

Thoughts For The New Year

29.12.2009 - 22:55
As we face the prospects of another new year, we lament with Dickens, “It is the best of times and it is the worst of times.”  In many ways, things have never been better in the entire history of the world.When you look at the explosion in technology and the tremendous opportunities tha [...]

What’s With These Guys'

09.12.2009 - 19:22
As I sit to write this, it’s 11:00 a.m. and still 8 degrees below zero.  We’re looking for a high that will not reach zero today.  It would be pretty discouraging if you didn’t have the right gear.  But for me, I say bring it on.  I’m ready for winter (with a new snowmobi [...]

Add Value To Maximize Return On Investment

30.11.2009 - 23:58
I talked to a man the other day who has cows — Jersey milk cows to be precise.  As part of his desire to be self sufficient, he wants to open a dairy.  he lives just a couple of miles from the creamery which would give him a bit of advantage to be sure, but (...)

Killing The Goose

12.11.2009 - 19:49
Like most of you, I watch with horror and frustration as those who “know better” than us make rules, raise taxes, enact legislation, and create entitlements that will cripple small business for generations to come.  Small business is under attack at a level heretofore unheard of.  When [...]

The Best Price Is Not Always The Best Deal

06.11.2009 - 18:50
If I’ve learned anything in my career, it’s that the best price is not always the best deal.  In fact, I’d say it’s seldom the best deal.  What so many people fail to realize is that price is less than half the equation.  What you’re really looking for is value ̵ [...]

Much Happens You’re Unaware Of

02.11.2009 - 21:22
I got a call today from a man who was interested in a business I had been working on.  He had spoken to someone who knows me reasonably well and another person with whom I am acquainted.  While neither of these people really know me well, they both know me well enough that they were (...)

No Lack Of Opportunity

30.10.2009 - 18:37
Well, winter has officially come to the Yellowstone eco-system.  We’ve been having snow (a skiff at a time) almost every day for two or three weeks.  But today looks like real winter.  The color of the sky, the depth of the snow (about 8″), the colder temperatures (about 15 degrees,) [...]

Profit Is Not A Dirty Word

29.10.2009 - 18:46
Somewhere,  somehow, people in our government and in our society have gotten the idea that profit is somehow wrong.  They would tell you that those who make a profit are “in it only for the money.”I’d like to remind everyone of a few things.  Every great invention, every meaning [...]

Work Ethic,Not Talent Or Experience Best Predictor Of Success

27.10.2009 - 21:09
I had an interesting experience while building my wood shop these last few weeks.  I got a bid from a framer for $3,000 to frame and sheet the whole thing (40 X 50.)  That’s a great price and I knew it.  I knew of the framer and had seen his work.  He does excellent quality (...)

Welcome Back My Friends

26.10.2009 - 17:26
In the lyrics of 70’s rockers ELP, “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside.”After a few months of self-fulfillment, and recharging of the batteries, I think I’m ready to resume this blog where I left [...]

If You Can’t Be Replaced You Can’t Be Promoted

23.06.2009 - 18:14
I love that saying on several levels.  Nothing frustrates me more as a manager than the employee who builds a wall of secrecy around his area of responsibility.  You know the type.  They build an ever increasing list of things that only they can do.  They guard the processes and procedures with [...]

Adapt Or Die:Part Two

22.06.2009 - 18:40
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the need to adapt or die.  Today I read an article that illustrates exactly why.  Kodak announced today that it will be discontinuing production of Kodachrome film effective this month.  The article talked about how sales had dropped to a point it no longer mad [...]

World’s Worst Customer Service

17.06.2009 - 20:26
I just returned from a week in New York City.   Paraphrasing what NFL quarterback Jim McMahon said on leaving BYU, “My favorite view of New York was the one in the rear view mirror on my way out.”  That’s not entirely true, or course, but there is certainly some truth there.I had [...]

Adapt Or Die

08.06.2009 - 19:43
I spoke with the owner of a very successful business the other day.  They have a unique business model that has worked phenomenally well since they opened the business.  They have experienced double digit growth month by month from their inception — until the last few months.Like many busine [...]

I Could Do That

04.06.2009 - 17:03
In this time of economic trouble, many people are losing their jobs.  As they go out into a sometimes hostile marketplace looking for a new job, they find that there are few positions in their field.  The trap many of them fall into is saying, “I could do that.”  What that means is, & [...]

Customers Are Available for Everyone,at Any Time

08.02.2010 - 18:20
You’re a sales genius. They love you; they trust you; and some of them keep on coming back for more. However, you can very suddenly go from Hero to Zero if you don’t keep your sales figures up to sc...

5 Things Avatar Can Teach You About Development

08.02.2010 - 17:55
Avatar is a world-wide phenomenon and is currently the top grossing movie of all time*. How can you learn from its success and apply it to your own projects (even if they aren’t billion dollar mov...

Back to the Internet Taxation Future

08.02.2010 - 14:11
Several days ago, I received an email containing the text of an article by Eleanor Roberts, Main St. Needs Tax Loophole Closed. It was suggested that I take a look at the information on a web site tha...

Establish Trust in Your Brand Online

08.02.2010 - 09:51
Trust is a key factor in any customer’s purchase decision. PR company Edelman have recently released their 2010 Trust Barometer which highlights that we are now less trusting of business than we hav...

Cheers to SMB’s Who Are Getting the Research Message

08.02.2010 - 01:00
I have spoken here at Frank Thinking about how it seems that SMB’s just don’t get it when it comes to Internet marketing and social media. Too much chasing rabbits and too little chasing reality....

What government services would you give up for a lower tax bill'

07.02.2010 - 19:45
Remind me not to move to Colorado Springs. Or even visit there. Its anti-tax residents have decided to rough it rather than pay for services most of us take for granted. Streetlights have gone da...

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Best Practices

07.02.2010 - 16:56
Search engine marketing (SEM) can be a powerful lead generation source, or a complete waste of money. B2B marketers often get less from their SEM programs than possible by overlooking basic but crit...

The least I could do

07.02.2010 - 13:58
One way to think about running a successful business is to figure out what the least you can do is, and do that. That's actually what they spent most of my time at business school teaching me. No...

Career Advice Part 3:Lateral Moves

06.02.2010 - 19:59
A lot of career advice these days deals with how to get a job and how to get ahead (promoted). Makes sense, given the current economic conditions. However, at some point in your career, you will most...

Five Steps to Not Getting Ripped Off on Credit Card Processing

06.02.2010 - 18:24
  The majority of businesses now accept credit cards, and for many it is the most important financial service - the one that is most mission-critical and most expensive.  Unfortunately, the ma...

Influence:Help Competent People Grow Through Questions

05.02.2010 - 23:05
Leaders do have to tell people exactly what to do when a person isn't yet competent--and confident--about the task or assignment. (The whole "leader" thing isn't just about high-concept and vision)....

How to Allocate Shares in a Startup When One Founder is Also an Investor

05.02.2010 - 19:31
I frequently talk to entrepreneurs starting a company where one founder is putting up seed capital while the others are putting in sweat equity alone.  The founders want to divide the company owners...

Influence Through Agreements

05.02.2010 - 17:14
There's a misconception about influence that gets people into trouble. It's the idea that influence is a matter of "positional negotiation": one side lays out a case while the other counters with ...

Repeals,Expirations,and Reinstatements:A Taxing But Critical Difference

05.02.2010 - 14:23
Words are precision instruments, but too often, even in the hands of professionals such as lawyers and journalists, they get used as though they are blunt instruments. In the hands of politicians, lob...

Will More Franchise Businesses Start To Open In Small Town USA'

05.02.2010 - 13:33
Most franchisors stay the course when it comes to searching for new franchisees, and even new franchise locations. They open new franchises in, or at least close to, major population centers. Pers...

The Art and Science of Guerrilla Pimping the Competition

18.08.2009 - 08:24
Take the strong arm tactics of street pimping and apply them to your marketing and public relations strategy. Who cares if your competition hates you as long as your customers love you. That's Guerrilla Pimping your competition.

Pulling the trigger.

12.08.2009 - 06:48
Eminem posed the question - "If you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything that you have always wanted, one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip' Now this post isnt about rap or rappers. It just goes to show that everyone recognizes that there are times in life where you make [...]

A Hustler Update

11.08.2009 - 09:51
I know a lot of you are out there struggling right now. The economy is bad. Unemployment is up. There is no a lot of money to go around (so it seems).Then you hear on the finance channels that now is the time to invest. Days like these are the days that made the Rockerfellers the Rockerfellers.Thats [...]

18 things a hustler needs to know how to do

25.02.2009 - 02:01
Ok, for some of you this list is going to be a little basic or cover some ground that you have already covered. But lately I have been getting some emails and messages from folks who really did come up from the street or didnt have someone to teach them this stuff. Everyone has to start (...)

Start that $20 Hustle and make a million dollars

25.02.2009 - 02:01
Sorry I have been gone. Those who are regular readers know that I am in the process of opening a bar/restaurant and that has been eating into my time and money. But it is an investment and I know that a little work now will pay dividends later. That reminds me of a post I (...)

There is nothing between us but air and opportunity

25.02.2009 - 02:01
I said that the other day out of reflex. I hadn’t said it in a long time. I was joking around with one of my buddies, play-fighting if you will. It is one of those standard responses when someone wants something from you (even if all they want is a fight) and you are trying (...)

5 ways to make some money after Christmas

25.02.2009 - 02:01
I have not forgotten about you. As always, I am on my hustle. Some of you know that I have just opened a new bar/restaurant and have been fighting with the city and the law in getting things going.All is good in time, but I know some of you are hurting.I have been getting calls every (...)

I got called out today - I’m a Hustler not a Gangster

25.02.2009 - 02:01
I was heading out to the office this morning and hit my emails before I hit the door.I saw I had a comment where I was told that "Every man is out for himself" and I hustle "Pussy Style".The point of the comments were that I need to be a gangster to really be on (...)

5 ways to make some money after Christmas

02.02.2009 - 16:00
I have not forgotten about you. As always, I am on my hustle. Some of you know that I have just opened a new bar/restaurant and have been fighting with the city and the law in getting things going.All is good in time, but I know some of you are hurting.I have been getting calls every (...)

I got called out today - I’m a Hustler not a Gangster

02.02.2009 - 16:00
I was heading out to the office this morning and hit my emails before I hit the door.I saw I had a comment where I was told that "Every man is out for himself" and I hustle "Pussy Style".The point of the comments were that I need to be a gangster to really be on (...)

I got called out today - I’m a Hustler not a Gangster

29.01.2009 - 00:01
I was heading out to the office this morning and hit my emails before I hit the door.I saw I had a comment where I was told that "Every man is out for himself" and I hustle "Pussy Style".The point of the comments were that I need to be a gangster to really be on (...)

5 ways to make some money after Christmas

12.01.2009 - 07:01
I have not forgotten about you. As always, I am on my hustle. Some of you know that I have just opened a new bar/restaurant and have been fighting with the city and the law in getting things going.All is good in time, but I know some of you are hurting.I have been getting calls every (...)

You need to move forward to move up

31.12.2008 - 10:01
The only person I have ever seen that didn’t have to follow this rule was Michael Jordan and Superman.I talk to a lot of people about a lot of things. I just got back from an event where I spoke to a large group of people. It was a little intimidating; there were hundreds of (...)

panning for gold at work - making the most of your day job

31.12.2008 - 10:01
Recently a reader asked a question. I was going to respond in thecomments but my last post was so weak that I thought you all deserved something a little better than my late night emotional digital outburst.So the reader said that he wanted to know, as he develops into his carreer as a teacher, how [...]

18 things a hustler needs to know how to do

31.12.2008 - 10:01
Ok, for some of you this list is going to be a little basic or cover some ground that you have already covered. But lately I have been getting some emails and messages from folks who really did come up from the street or didnt have someone to teach them this stuff. Everyone has to start (...)

News from Dallas

11.09.2008 - 09:04
It???s an exciting and busy time at Bill.com. On the heels of last week???s successful Office 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, we are in Dallas this week at the 2008 QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions User Conference.Today, Bill.com announced our enhanced QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online Edition (QBOE) [...]

Bill.com makes Waves at Office 2.0

03.09.2008 - 19:06
Come join us at the Office 2.0 Conference happening thisweek in San Francisco. Bill.com???s very own vice president of marketing, JeffSchultz, will take part in two Office 2.0 Conference panels titled,  ???Money 2.0??? and ???Going 100% SaaS.???The conference starts today(9/3) and continues through [...]

Managing Your Cash Flow???The Lifeblood of Every Business

18.08.2008 - 01:37
Managing cash flow is both a science and an art. Making sure you have enough cash in the bank while making decisions on what bills to pay, and what to do with your company???s cash, is a critical element of business operation, whether you are cash rich or cash poor.As I was growing up, I learned fro [...]

Managing Your Cash Flow—The Lifeblood of Every Business

27.07.2008 - 21:04
Managing cash flow is both a science and an art. Making sure you have enough cash in the bank while making decisions on what bills to pay, and what to do with your company’s cash, is a critical element of business operation, whether you are cash rich or cash poor. As I was growing up, I learned [...]

Small Business Accountants Make it Work

27.06.2008 - 17:24
We have big news at Bill.com. For the past few weeks, we have been incredibly busy working on the launch of a strategic alliance between CPA2Biz, a subsidiary of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and Bill.com. Through this new agreement, CPA2Biz becomes the exclusive pr [...]

Small Business Accountants Make it Work

17.06.2008 - 08:23
We have big news at Bill.com. For the past few weeks, we have been incredibly busy working on the launch of a strategic alliance between CPA2Biz, a subsidiary of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and Bill.com. Through this new agreement, CPA2Biz becomes the exclusive pr [...]

Setting up a Small Business Infrastructure

09.06.2008 - 22:21
Part III:  Tools, Benefits and PoliciesOther key decisions in setting up your business infrastructure include incorporating the tools that will manage day-to-day operations and deciding what the company benefits and policies are.Line up your tools.Leverage technology whenever you can.  I k [...]

Setting up a Small Business Infrastructure

27.05.2008 - 08:41
Part III:  Tools, Benefits and PoliciesOther key decisions in setting up your business infrastructure include incorporating the tools that will manage day-to-day operations and deciding what the company benefits and policies are.Line up your tools.Leverage technology whenever you can.  I k [...]

Setting Up a Small Business Infrastructure

19.05.2008 - 13:01
Part II The next two components to setting up the nuts and bolts of your business involve people and processes. It???s important to line up your advisor relationships. Think of your key relationships as a group of advisors, whether that???s...

Setting Up a Small Business Infrastructure

19.05.2008 - 08:01
Part II The next two components to setting up the nuts and bolts of your business involve people and processes. It’s important to line up your advisor relationships. Think of your key relationships as a group of advisors, whether that’s...

You???re a Small Business, Now What Do You Do?

13.05.2008 - 23:01
How to Set Up and Leverage an Infrastructure for a Small Business Part I It takes more than just an idea, some money and an office to get a business up and running. You need an infrastructure. Just what does...

You’re a Small Business, Now What Do You Do?

12.05.2008 - 08:01
How to Set Up and Leverage an Infrastructure for a Small Business Part I It takes more than just an idea, some money and an office to get a business up and running. You need an infrastructure. Just what does...

Attracting Great Talent & Hiring the Right People

19.04.2008 - 19:15
The most important thing you can do for your business is to hire the right people. We all know that, but do we all act on that, all the time? Probably not. In my experience as an entrepreneur, it is...

Attracting Great Talent & Hiring the Right People

18.04.2008 - 20:00
The most important thing you can do for your business is to hire the right people. We all know that, but do we all act on that, all the time? Probably not. In my experience as an entrepreneur, it is...

Welcome to my Blog!

12.04.2008 - 11:15
Welcome to asklacerte.com! As the CEO of bill.com, I am somewhat obsessed with business. Check out my bio on the left. I come from a long line of business entrepreneurs and have created several successful businesses of my own. While...

Our Towns:To Survive,Dairy Farmers Go Co-op

08.02.2010 - 07:30
A former doctor’s effort to help small family farms in the Northeast stay in business by marketing and distributing their milk on their own.

Preoccupations:When She’s Ready to Retire,She’ll Know

07.02.2010 - 05:22
Dianne Fuller Doherty, who advises entrepreneurs and works to create jobs, says that "as long as I am doing something of value, why not continue doing it'”

Program Offers Money to Banks to Help Small Business

03.02.2010 - 23:31
The $1 billion will be aimed at small banks that serve poor communities to spur lending to small businesses.

A Small-Business Owner Takes His Case to the Top

03.02.2010 - 22:51
A Florida-based entrepreneur had the opportunity to ask President Obama a question that many others have wanted to ask.

Obama Promotes Small-Business Lending Plan

02.02.2010 - 21:13
Focusing on job creation in New Hampshire on Tuesday, President Obama promoted his $30 billion lending plan.

Van Nest Journal:In a Slice of the Bronx,No Banks in Sight,for Now

01.02.2010 - 06:53
For businesses and residents, the lack of a bank is an inconvenience, but it is also a problem that officials say has stunted the business community there.

The Places They Go When Banks Say No

30.01.2010 - 16:45
As traditional banks have spurned small businesses, many have turned to firms that provide a relatively expensive alternative: purchase-order financing.

Obama Outlines Plan to Increase Employment

30.01.2010 - 05:26
The plan would give companies a tax credit of up to $5,000 for each new hire and reimburse them for Social Security taxes if they expand their payrolls.

An Unlikely Haven for Rock ’n’ Roll Entrepreneurs

27.01.2010 - 21:57
A small town in Pennsylvania Dutch country is home to small businesses that support musicians’ tours, as well as makers of mousetraps, candy and pretzels.

Venture Capital Was Tight for Tech Start-Ups in ’09

22.01.2010 - 08:30
Venture capitalists invested 37 percent less money and made 30 percent fewer deals last year than in 2008.

Case Study:Looking to Expand,but Fearing It,Too

20.01.2010 - 22:39
Can Thinking Caps Tutoring of Manhattan, which employs 30 tutors and serves 300 students annually, expand while maintaining the quality of its services'

The N.F.L. Is Squeezing Discounters Over Apparel

20.01.2010 - 16:35
The league’s game day line of gear will be available only to companies that do a certain amount of business.

For Many Start-Ups,a Spot on the Nasdaq Is No Longer the Goal

18.01.2010 - 06:40
There were 18 tech I.P.O.’s in the last two years, versus 143 in the two years prior. Is it more than the recession holding them back'

Skin Deep:Avon’s Little Sister Is Calling

14.01.2010 - 06:50
Avon’s company Mark is known for its marketing techniques to reach a digitally-savvy sales force and consumers.

Small by Choice,Whether Clients Like It or Not

13.01.2010 - 22:18
Great Lake, a Chicago pizza shop, which has 14 seats and is open only four days a week, does not plan to expand, despite long wait times.

Wake-Up Call For Newly Hatched Entrepreneurs

06.02.2010 - 16:50
Important reminders for all the mothers, corporate soldiers and baby boomers looking to launch.

The 10 Dumbest Things Businesses Buy

05.02.2010 - 23:20
Are you paying for this stuff' Then stop.

Marketing In A Weak Economy

05.02.2010 - 18:00
Smart thoughts on brand strategy from the Wharton Marketing Conference.

What Kind Of Recovery Can We Expect'

04.02.2010 - 21:35
The final word from Davos isn't exactly encouraging.

Millionaire High School Dropouts

30.01.2010 - 18:30
For some, diplomas are (barely) worth the paper they're printed on. These star entrepreneurs jumped right in.

Fifteen Laughable Warning Labels

30.01.2010 - 00:00
Including ''Avoid Death'' and other nuggets of cautionary wisdom.

How The Best Small Businesses Spend Money

29.01.2010 - 00:00
Weighing your cap-ex decisions' Here's how America's Most Promising Companies aim to re-invest this year.

The Biggest Small Business Competitions

26.01.2010 - 22:35
Have a dream but starved for start-up capital' Enter one of these 15 university-sponsored contests.

The Costs Of China's Currency Policy

22.01.2010 - 01:31
More voices are screaming for a stronger yuan. Wharton experts weigh in.

When Lower Prices Equal Higher Profits

22.01.2010 - 01:27
Major record labels are scoring with a counterintuitive strategy.

How To Sell More This Year

21.01.2010 - 22:25
Start by working with honest-to-goodness forecasts.

Eved Aims To Shake Up The Event-Planning Biz

21.01.2010 - 21:40
Talia Mashiach has big plans for her tidy meeting planner business.

Why Cloud Computing Matters To Small Biz

21.01.2010 - 20:59
The reasons might surprise you.

The Greatest Risks They Ever Took

21.01.2010 - 19:15
What big risks will you take this year' Here's some inspiration from 29 entrepreneurs, celebrities, athletes and politicians.

The Case For Sharing Company Performance Data

19.01.2010 - 21:48
Small business owners often keep their managers in the dark. That's a huge mistake.

Own The Yes

Never Ruin an Apology With An Excuse

Action!

The "Don't" Interview

Fantasyland is in Orlando

How To Operate - YOU

If the Shoe doesn’t fit…

What’s True

Better Communication.

The Big Foam Finger

NOT the Other Guy

28.12.2008 - 07:47
Here is a suggestion for a really useful 2009 Resolution: from now on, whenever something happens (that you don’t like), here is a new/different question that you should ask first. And this is an easy resolution to keep because you ask this one question every time, no matter what has happened or r [...]

Shoe Hurling

15.12.2008 - 07:41
I saw some video today of George Bush in Iraq. In the middle of a press conference some nutty (or pissed off) Iraqi journalist threw his shoe at him from the back of the room. And then he threw his other shoe! Wow. It was easily a twenty-foot hurl. My first thought was, “that is truly an old schoo [...]

Annual (') Reviews

10.12.2008 - 03:21
The idea of annual reviews makes no sense. Does an annual review really mean that formal, thoughtful, actionable feedback is provided to an employee once a year' Actually, sadly, it does. Yet, consistent research that says employees crave more frequent and specific feedback. (www.Gallup.com) Even wh [...]

Are You Nailing Up Plywood'

15.11.2008 - 19:21
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."W. Edwards Deming wrote that iconic line in the sixties and it could have been written last week. This was illustrated dramtically when Alan Greenspan recently apologized to America for not knowing that the cowboy bankers were ruining thousa [...]

Are you Brand X'

15.11.2008 - 07:21
Companies spend billions trying to create compelling brands. Jello. Kleenex. Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. People have brands, too, and as a manager you surely have a brand in the eyes of your employees. Whether you know it or not.I recently went to my official, well organized digital card storage file ( [...]

Top Startup Mistake 7:Investment or Bust

08.02.2010 - 17:21
Hooray for bootstrapping. My startup mistake number 7 is accepting the popular myth that has startups always requiring winning investment from some outsider. This idea is way too common in business schools, blogs, and books.Sure, a few thousand high-profile startups get investment each year, but the [...]

Top Startup Mistake 8:Misunderstanding Equity

05.02.2010 - 17:30
There is only 100 percent ownership in a company. It’s for founders who are totally committed to it, for investors who spend money, and, later, for the most important trusted key employees.It’s not for your cousins or your in-laws or the lawyer who did the initial paperwork or the vendor [...]

Top Startup Mistake No. 9:Incomplete Teams

04.02.2010 - 17:29
(This is number nine in a list of top 10 startup mistakes, going from 10, the least significant, to 1, the most important.)So many of us do it. I certainly did, in my early startup days. We think entrepreneurship is supposed to mean that we do everything ourselves. Make the product, make the sales, [...]

Top Startup Mistake No. 10:Unrealistic Forecasts

03.02.2010 - 17:30
This is my number 10 on my list of top 10 startup mistakes. I used that list last week at the Growth 2.0 conference in Miami, so I want to share it here. Once upon a time I sat down for lunch with a venture capitalist friend of mine.To the standard rhetorical how are you (...)

What If There Are Already Lots of Competitors'

02.02.2010 - 17:30
New kinds of businesses, based on entirely new ideas, are extremely rare. The vast majority of new businesses are new attempts at existing types of business. And that’s fine. Don’t ever focus too much attention on the new idea, as if that were the only foundation for a good new business. [...]

Help for Teaching Entrepreneurship

01.02.2010 - 17:30
Are you teaching a class on starting a business' If you are, then I’d like you to be aware of course.bplans.com.That’s where I’ve put up a full curriculum/syllabus including lesson plans, exercises and assignments, online videos, and even more than a dozen PowerPoint slide presenta [...]

Why iPad vs. Kindle Flap is Win-Win for All Sides

29.01.2010 - 18:35
I’m watching with great enjoyment the Apple iPad announcement and especially all the analysis of the iPad vs. Kindle implications. That seems like the big issue. Google “iPad vs Kindle" some time. As I write this, two mornings after the announcement, I get 4.3 million hits on that. F [...]

How Much of My Company Do I Offer Investors'

28.01.2010 - 17:37
I had a really enjoyable time in Miami earlier this week as a guest speaker for the Entrepreneur.com/UPS Growth 2.0 Conference. You may have seen my 10 tips for startups here Tuesday, taken from my talk there.There was one question I didn’t answer well because it would have taken too long and [...]

10 Practical Tips for Starting Fast

26.01.2010 - 17:14
I’m at the Entrepreneur.com/UPS Growth 2.0 conference in Miami today, speaking on starting a business. I”m pushing getting going today, with the idea of starting a new business. Some highlights: Don’t wait until all the lights are green before you pull out of the driveway.The rig [...]

How Startup Life is Just Like College

25.01.2010 - 17:29
(Note: this is a guest post by Megan Berry (my daughter), first posted at her blog Part-time Perfectionist. It’s so closely related to my normal startup topics that I decided to repost it here)Early last year I was knee-deep in a job search and also a perhaps predictable crisis trying to "find [...]

The Right Page Limit for a Business Plan Contest

22.01.2010 - 18:56
I had an excellent encounter last night with a group of Duke students. It was hosted by Howie Rhee, who directs the Duke entrepreneurial program, and several others involved in this years Duke Startup Challenge, a startup contest that begins now and finishes this spring. There’s a $25,000 firs [...]

Entrepreneurship at Duke University

21.01.2010 - 17:30
This morning I’m very happy on my way to Duke University, where I’m going to meet a lot of students, talk about entrepreneurship and business planning, and have a good time. I love college campuses. I’ve never been to Duke, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.There’ [...]

Proving Ideas Are Easy:Kindle for PC

20.01.2010 - 18:05
It was only last September that I posted here I want a Kindle Reader for my Laptop. Going right along with my long-term theme about how the good ideas are already out there, and lots of people have them at the same time, it’s now clear that amazon.com was way ahead of me. Because the (...)

New Site Makes it Easier to Live with APIs

19.01.2010 - 18:03
Here’s an interesting new business that might be useful for web app and related entrepreneurs. I found it on TechCrunch this morning: WatchMouse Monitors 26 Popular APIs So You Don’t Have To. And if you don’t know what at API is, this probably doesn’t concern you; but it stan [...]

Portland OR is a Startup Haven

16.01.2010 - 01:38
Hooray! Although I live about 100 miles south of Portland (OR), I think it’s one of and possibly the best small city in America, so I’m very happy to see Never Mind the Valley: Here’s Portland on the very well read and respected ReadWrite blog. When asked what shapes Portland’ [...]

Google "translator phone” to enable real-time misunderstandings

Google’s romantic Super Bowl ad inspires awww

Off Topic

Quoted:California solicits geek aid

A voice from the void and other science news

Macmillan jabs Amazon with poison pen; Hachette piles on

Off Topic

Quoted:Brass bawls out Microsoft; Redmond responds

Haunted by hack attack,Google turns to the spooks

Amazon reportedly gets its hands on touchscreen tech for Kindle

Off Topic

Quoted:Sun CEO tweets farewell haiku

But you’ll need to put it in "airplane mode” for open-book tests

Nexus One gets multitouch; customer service getting human touch

Off Topic

Fox News - Fair and Balanced'

13.10.2009 - 16:18
Ah, no you’re not, and I watch you all the time. Let’s face it, you’re a conservative, Republican promoting TV News outlet. Get rid of this ridiculous tagline “Fair and Balanced”. It only makes you look weak.  Embrace your brand identity of representing the right. No o [...]

Are You Blocking Your Employees From Social Networks Like Facebook'

12.10.2009 - 19:45
If you are stop it. Now. Really, cut the crap! This sort of practice just gets morale down and makes your company an undesirable place to work at.Go ahead, tell me your employees will be less productive. Hogwash. They’re doing it anyway from their SmartPhones, iPhones and whoziedoozzies. Soon [...]

Obama Wins Nobel Smoke And Mirrors Prize

09.10.2009 - 22:23
Today I have lost all respect from the brand Nobel. Today they awarded President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. A fine prize to win based on one’s dedication and hard-work to peace. None of which President Obama has accomplished or worked hard at (he’s only been in office for 9 months).Pre [...]

New Phone Number Equals BIG News!

07.10.2009 - 16:09
New, Improved, Space Age, Hi-Tech, blah ba de blah… We have a new phone number: 617-504-2305 First person, company, alien to call it gets a huge discount on a NEW project. Need a new website' Logo' Tagline' Search Engine Optimization' Marketing plan' Now’s the time to call the new numb [...]

Yarrrrr - Avast Ye Scallywags It Be Talken’ lyke A Pyrate Day….ARRRRR

18.09.2009 - 15:03
Ahoy ye scallywags, taday be talken’ lyke a pyrate day. If ye agree say ayeeeee!Change ye facebook page and posts in ye blowgs. Cash inn ye booty an hide da wenches. It be talken’ lyke a pyrate day!Tanks ye salty dawgs!

Stonyfield Farmless Goes City

17.09.2009 - 16:58
Brand New reports on Stonyfield’s new brand identity:Here’s my 2 cents. The execution of the new logo is fine if you’re just looking to make a change. Personally I wouldn’t do it just for the sake of doing it. But obviously there was some sort of strategy change because they [...]

Creating A Brand

16.09.2009 - 15:16
Here is a sample of our latest brand identity project, BullPen. We created the name, tagline and logo and internal/external strategy. The look and feel represent the higher end product and service that our client Agar Supply brings to the table. We also wanted to stress that Agar is known for their [...]

Branding Czar Jonathan Salem Baskin Calls Republicans Out

14.09.2009 - 15:53
Well Republicans that like Glenn Beck anyway. In a recent branding blog article Jonathan says people that watch Glenn Beck are “a small group of right-wing loons, evangelicals, and would-be terrorists“. I happen to like Glenn Beck and I don’t seem to fit into the loon, evangelical [...]

GM Offers Full Refund

13.09.2009 - 17:04
Who Cares!General Motors chairman Edward Whitacre Jr. appears in one of the automaker’s new television commercials. (General Motors via Associated Press)The GM logo and the initials will not appear in the ads, however. Instead, the brands will be the focus, since consumers’ perception of GM is a [...]

I’m Scratching My Head

11.09.2009 - 15:57
In disbelief.Head and Shoulders is the leader in dandruff shampoo. When I was a kid I used it and it worked great. Eventually I no longer needed it but it was and probably is still one of the best dandruff  shampoo’s out there. Their brand identity is eliminating dandruff.Now for the brand ki [...]

You’re Only As Strong As Your Weakest Link

10.09.2009 - 01:28
Your brand identity has to be communicated throughout the organization. Even down to your weakest link.  Let me give you an example.The other day we took guests visiting from St. Thomas on a Boston Duck Tour. We hyped them up for a fun day and a lot of “quacking”. The Boston Duck Tour [...]

The Dark Side Of Facebook

07.09.2009 - 13:21
Social media puts you right out there. It’s unforgiving and it’s a permanent record. Recently I had a political conversation with Ex-Heavy Weight Champion of the World Shannon Briggs. Shannon is promoting his Fight 2 Breathe brand, http://www.fight2breathe.com. A brand he approached me o [...]

My Customers Can Perform Brain Surgery

03.09.2009 - 14:22
Your water heater breaks and you need a new one. You call a plumber, agree to a price and he comes to install it. When he arrives do you have your tool belt on, wrench in hand ready to work with him' To give him guidance as to proper water heater instructions' Are you telling (...)

Finally Patients Are Getting Through To Doctors

28.08.2009 - 16:50
Suddenly Doctors are upset that consumers are going online and giving them negative reviews about long waiting room waits. Some docs are even having patients sign waiver forms stating that they will not write any type of review online. Here’s an idea…don’t overbook and people won& [...]

Comcast Sinks To New Lows With Anti Fios Commercials

28.08.2009 - 03:51
Here’s what I know about advertising….when you have to feature a competitor in your own spot you’ve been beaten. End of game. Imagine spending valuable budget dollars on TV spots that just slam your competition' This spot is a great example:That entire spot is one huge advertisemen [...]

POTW: How to Pickup a VC

12.06.2008 - 17:22
It has been a dozen or so weeks since our last post of the week. Thanks to The Great Kawasaki, we're back ... here is his chortle-filled take on how to pickup a fat head:Many entrepreneurs ask me what is the best way to open a pitch to potential investors. I'll answer that question at the end of thi [...]

Step on the gas

12.06.2008 - 16:04
In idle times this week, I have volleyed between surfing for a hybrid (to replace my hyper-consumption Landcruiser) and reading Natural Capitalism. It's a cerebral paradox; the latter read, in the form of environmental guilt, gas-at-$4.50-plus-a-gallon remorse, and plain common sense, feeds the form [...]

BeenUp2

10.06.2008 - 16:04
Invariably a conversation begins with, So, whatcha been up to? It's a good, extemporaneous test to gauge what's important to you, or what is top of mind. MySpace and FaceBook exist for this reason ... communities of people instantaneously keep track of what they and their friends are up to. Though I [...]

Behavior

26.04.2008 - 05:16
A few what's-up? shots have been thrown by way, jabbing at my apathetic blog behavior. I'm guilty; no excuses, and I'll commit to change my behavior.Part of the what's up is a cool campaign I'm incubating with a comrade to raise money for Davis schools. The school system's a mess, the politics bruta [...]

Ubuntu

19.04.2008 - 05:31
Most lunch meetings are uneventful: Raw fish, small talk about kids, bemoans about fatheads, cut-to-the-chase business dealings, and cordial encapsulation and good-byes. Starched shirts, formal posture, firm handshakes. Necessary encounters, but not necessarily memorable. I killed a plate of sashimi [...]

This sucks; I've gotta have it

19.04.2008 - 04:45
I've been awol for too many moons; big time remorse and no excuses. In a word, abandoning the blog sucks (though, of course, no one needs to have it). Which leads me to a cool story.I enjoyed a thoughtful talk at UCD last week by Paul Hudnut, founder and director of Envirofit. Like most talks by [...]

Treasure hunt

08.04.2008 - 21:30
My kids love mazes and maps. There's something enchanting and engaging about starting at point A and weaving your way to point B. In particular, my boys (I sense) love the exploratory virtue of treasure maps; as the author and illustrator, I enjoy dreaming and charting their quest. Treasure hunts ne [...]

Persist

08.04.2008 - 21:30
Over a beer with a friend this week, the subject of startups wearing blinders percolated. Some people never learn, she mused. They perpetually do the same thing and make the same mistakes. Failing fast and failing better is virtuous, I chirped, kicking myself for instinctively regurgitating the them [...]

Selfless

08.04.2008 - 21:30
I met with a colleague today who is going through a divorce. We had calendared a chunk of time to brainstorm. Storm we did, but only after engaging more important stuff.We talked about the selfless sacrifice of relationships, heavy stuff. And, we shifted gears to the immeasurable magnitude of giving [...]

Bang

08.04.2008 - 21:30
There’s something insanely sick (or sickenly insane) about partaking in a meeting with predictably eyeoring Eyeores, especially when such contrarians are new acquaintances. Perhaps it’s a seventh sense: An ability to eye and engage Eyeores. Today baked the cake.My friend Mike is chairing the hom [...]

POTW: The Pitch Coach

08.04.2008 - 21:30
We have invested a good chunk of real estate herein (here, here and here are a few posts) exploring the virtues of telling stories and delivering clear, concise and meaningful pitches. In short: Most all entrepreneurs are smart. Most all are passionate. Most all are chaperoning good (or great) ideas [...]

For immediate release

08.04.2008 - 21:30
I had a meeting last week with a collection of new business partners. Great guys (and firms). As our conversation evolved, we shifted gears to the marketing of our collaboration: Positioning, messaging, talking points, media outreach, etc. Basic blocking and tackling.In practice organizations too of [...]

Alltop

08.04.2008 - 21:30
One of my favorite features of a good blog is their blog roll, or list of blogs I read. It's a virtual card catalog of similar subjects and thinkers. Marc Andreessen's is excellent (several dozen categorized sites), Freakonomics too. Such compilations appetizingly fill my thirst for at-the-ready, in [...]

Treasure or trash?

08.04.2008 - 21:30
You may have a comrade like my friend Dave who has a penchant for siring ideas. Lots. Dave’s ideas – products to develop, companies to create, businesses to buy – come in flurries. All are interesting Why not? or What if? musings, most are of the don’t waste your time variety, and a few are [...]

Tell me a story

08.04.2008 - 21:30
There’s something wrong with situations, real or simulated, where dreaming is frowned upon. Alter egos and Eyeores pragmatically vault you back to reality. Get real. Seriously. C’mon. Yeah, but. Dreamer. Life kicks you around in normalized ways.It takes a while for kids to be normalized. We (par [...]

Project Management and the Plumber

05.02.2010 - 16:37
Project management is used by everyone in business to greater or lesser extents. It is still, however, considered a tool for IT and Engineering. Joe the Plumber shows us this is not the case!12 Vote(s)

5 Ways to Effectively Follow Up (Without Being Annoying or Breaking the Bank)

05.02.2010 - 16:31
All of them pester, and all of them lose my business. Yet, they keep trying. They know if they can effectively follow up, they're likely to become a repeat customer who will bring you a steady stream of revenue. How can a small business balance the need to maintain a connection to their customers wi [...]

Why Your Business Articles are Like Money in The Bank with Compound Interest

05.02.2010 - 14:41
Yesterday I was contacted and hired by someone who had read a business article of mine. To my surprise it was an article I had written five months ago. That's when I realized that business articles are like money in the bank: they generate some interest now, but the real interest "accumulates&q [...]

Federise your Business for Ultimate Success

05.02.2010 - 05:26
Amazing as it may seem, the essential essence of Roger Federer and his keys to achieving unbelievable sporting and financial success, can be found in 16 simple words all starting with the letter P. This article provides business owners with the secrets to business success, as distilled from the ex [...]

Lessons from a Consultant about Business

05.02.2010 - 05:21
This article features 8 lessons from an SEO contractor about how to be successful in business. It could apply to any consultant or professional, including an attorney or management consultant. I thought this was a valuable article because one of the hardest things any new consultant or professional [...]

Moms Are Great Businesswomen

05.02.2010 - 05:15
I think being a mompreneur is a pretty tough job. I struggle daily to find balance between work and motherhood. And yet, I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I believe that each somehow complements the other.13 Vote(s)

Using Twitter as a Powerful PR Toolkit - Better Closer

05.02.2010 - 03:16
Twitter is a public relations professional's dream or nightmare. It's one of the simplest, but at the same time the most complicated of recent communication tools. This dichotomy has fueled must of the fear in the PR community. That is why I thought I would give you a few simple tips to make Twitter [...]

Small Businesses Could Get $5,000 Tax Credit for Each New Hire

04.02.2010 - 14:41
Need some help around the office at your small business' Consider hiring an extra employee here in the US and the federal government may give you a $5,000 tax credit. It's all part of a job stimulation plan unveiled by President Barack Obama recently and reported on in this article from CNN Money.co [...]

A Beautiful Way to Read More Blogs ::Duct Tape Marketing

04.02.2010 - 14:39
If you use an RSS reader to subscribe to and read blogs (and you should) then you know what a great tool it can be to keep you up to date, well-read and inspired. I've used the free Google Reader tool for a long time and love it's simplicity. However, a reader of this blog (Rob Kirby) pointed out a [...]

Advice On Mobile Marketing For Small Business

04.02.2010 - 14:39
Have you ever thought about doing mobile marketing for your small business, or are you an entrepreneur already doing some form of mobile marketing' Be sure to check out the #smbiz Twitter chat for small business on Tuesday, Feb. 2 from 8-9 pm ET, where we'll discuss mobile marketing for small busine [...]

Does Feedback in Your Organization Flow Both Ways'

04.02.2010 - 14:37
Feedback is vital for learning and improving, as much in business as in life. As one very successful business author once said, "The major difference between the most successful and least successful executives is their level of self-awareness. Successful executives are critical of their own pe [...]

Finding New Customers in New Markets

04.02.2010 - 14:35
Finding new customers in new markets is a major element of any profitable business-growth strategy. However, many companies struggle with how to do it successfully, and as a result they keep mining the same markets and the same customers, even if neither are profitable anymore. 14 Vote(s)

Amazing Stats on Social Media!

04.02.2010 - 14:31
The wagon wheel of social media is ever increasing and moving at a jet speed influencing our lives and behavior and opinions!12 Vote(s)

Consumers spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter

04.02.2010 - 14:27
According to The Nielsen Company, global consumers spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in December 2009, an 82% increase from the same time last year when users were spending just over three hours on social networking sites. In addition, the overa [...]

5 Year-end Small Business Tax Tips

04.02.2010 - 14:10
These five year-end small business tax tips from Darrell Zahorsky, About.com small business guide, include some suggestions that are obvious and some you may not have heard of before. But all are great food for thought when considering the possibilities in filling out your small business taxes. Cons [...]

Strategic Incubator Interviews Me

What is Our Company’s Purpose' The R-O-I Method

Tom's SpeedLink #16

Impersonal Communications:7 Costly Glitches

Engagement in 4 Minutes

Seth Godin's new Manifesto:Brainwashed

MultiMedia Narratives:3 Commitments for Successful Engagement

Tom's SpeedLink #15

Daniel Pink's Top 10 Publications and 5 Trends to Watch in 2010

Social Media At Work:Arthur L. Jue Interview

5 Simple Steps to Transform Any Talking Head into an Irresistible Story

Reading List January 2010

Tom's SpeedLink #14

How to Tell a Story with NPR's Scott Simon

Believe Me:A Free Business Storytelling Book for Innovators

New Blog Posts

Time is More Valuable than Money

Life is an the Ultimate Open Book Exam

FAIL in order to SUCCEED

Brainstorming Rules:What TO DO and What NOT TO DO...

The "Rule Breakers" Career Guide

What do YOU wish you knew when you were 20'

What is Creativity'

Five Minutes of Fame

The Art of Teaching Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Talks coming up...

Radio Time... on VoiceAmerica.com

My Favorite (27 second) Video Clip of all Time

Jeff Hawkins... My Creative Hero!

In Conversation with Guy Kawasaki

Economic Corrections and Relaunches

18.06.2009 - 22:20
I keep hearing this term lately, "Economic Correction", and all I can think is that it doesn’t matter how much honey you spread on liver - it’s still going to taste pretty bad. All jokes aside, a true CEO would celebrate a recession as a time of opportunity, not as a time to roll [...]

Marketing your Website, A Podcast Series

23.02.2009 - 21:01
The fifth podcast in the 5 Steps to Marketing your Website series has been released, and you can listen to it here:Marketing Your Website #5 of 5: Sync Up with Search Engines and Online ToolsTo hear the complete series, follow these links:Marketing your Website #1 of 5: Focus on Content and CodeMark [...]

I’m Working On It!

23.02.2009 - 21:01
I’m sorry if you show up on the site in the next few days and things seem out of sorts or they keep moving around. I’m building a new theme for the site and it might take a few days before regular activity is resumed. Stay tuned!P.S. The ads are not real—they just came with (...)

I’m Getting Closer!

23.02.2009 - 21:01
For most people, purchasing a template for your site saves money through reducing programming and graphic arts costs.For a developer, it may save money if you don’t do the artwork yourself, as you save yourself from having to pay an artist, but it ends up costly in terms of changing an already [...]

Less, Part 2: Noise

31.12.2008 - 10:01
I dropped the ads from my site.In the end, it had nothing to do with the aesthetics or the influence, but with clarity. I simply felt the ads were distracting me from my true, internal reasons for having this site, and I couldn’t let that happen. The ads were removed, my purpose for this site [...]

Marketing your Website, A Podcast Series (Part 4)

31.12.2008 - 10:01
The fourth podcast in the 5 Steps to Marketing your Website series has been released, and you can listen to it here:Marketing your Website #4 of 5: Create Press and Write ArticlesIf you would like to download the podcast directly, you can control-click (or right-click on a PC) this link and save it [...]

Carnival of the Capitalists

31.12.2008 - 10:01
Side note: I didn’t get a chance to enter in this week’s CotC nor have I been writing much this week. I have a sick 2-year-old right now, and the world pretty much stops for her.This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists for January 29, 2008 is up at Bizosphere. This week’s host [...]

Less, Part 3: The E-mail Diet

31.12.2008 - 10:01
I had been using Eudora for my e-mail for a very long time, as it was handed out as part of the computing package at my school, Cornell University. And then I disaster happened: while my mailboxes were compressing, I got an end-of-file error, thereby losing about half of the e-mails in my inbox. I ( [...]

Marketing your Website, A Podcast Series

31.12.2008 - 10:01
The fifth podcast in the 5 Steps to Marketing your Website series has been released, and you can listen to it here:Marketing Your Website #5 of 5: Sync Up with Search Engines and Online ToolsTo hear the complete series, follow these links:Marketing your Website #1 of 5: Focus on Content and CodeMark [...]

A True "Lifestyle Business"

31.12.2008 - 10:01
I started this post on February 19th. That’s right—nearly a month ago. The irony in that is that the very things I was talking about, such as focusing on your life plan and having a lifestyle business, happened to me. My daughter, the light of my life, got a serious respiratory illness a [...]