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5 simple lessons from the women who raised them helped these entrepreneurs succeed.

These tips on better concentration and work efficiency can bring mompreneurs much closer to the 4-hour work week.

From inventor to overnight millionaire? Not exactly. Here's the long-term solution to developing a product effectively.

In an insightful Q&A, social entrepreneur and reality TV winner Randal Pinkett discusses time management, finding balance and giving back to communities.

As customer review venues and their influence increase, business owners should capitalize on this trend.

How many times have you talked to a new acquaintance and heard him or her say "Just let me know if there is anything I can do for you!"  What was your response? For most people, it is a polite smile and "thanks." Boy, are you missing an opportunity! The more time I spend in business, the more I realize that people generally are brimming with desire to help others. My recent experiences on Twitter reinforce this fact: When my computer blew up, I lamented about it on Twitter and asked for suggestions for backup services.  I not only got great advice from about 20…

Some of you may remember that I got all excited about Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art and covered it in my podcast.  After I finished the recording, I emailed Steven to ask if he would be willing to do an interview with me about the concepts in the book, namely how entrepreneurs can overcome creative blocks. After an initial yes, he had to decline, since his schedule got packed promoting a new book. I was a bit disappointed since after reading the book I was a major groupie, but certainly understood his decision. Fast forward a year or so and my good friend Matthew Scott casually…

For this week's podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Schoeniger, founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative.  Gary has a really interesting story -- from dead broke desperate handyman to successful entrepreneur. Over the last 15 years, he has interviewed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs to discover which skills are critical for starting and running a business.  Many are not what you think. My favorite advice from the interview:  "Find a problem.  Figure out how to solve the problem.  Find more people with the same problem and you have a…

I have the coolest readers. Just got an email from the very positive Indonesian entrepreneur/athlete/musician  Herdian Mohammad about the soft launch of his website.  http://herdioflo.com/  I love the flavor and spirit of his brand.  And having corresponded with him for a few years, I know he is a really nice person, committed to his country, family and entrepreneurship with equal fervor. Congrats Herdi! We can all learn from your passion and commitment.

I am always a bit perplexed when people ask me how to come up with new material for a blog.  I say, let it come to you! Like this conversation I described on my new post for Martha Beck's blog.  I was halfway through writing on another topic when I got this call on my cellphone.  I couldn't get it out of my head, so I wrote this post as a way to provide support to the caller, "Beatrice."  Real life is better than fiction! My cellphone rang yesterday. "I can't believe I'm calling you," a woman I will call "Beatrice" said. "I don't know…

In 2006 I wrote about Vyew and asked the obvious question: “Does the world need another web conferencing product?” I guess the answer is "yes" because the company is now profitable and has 100,000 registered users. Vyew combines real-time (synchronous) conferencing and desktop sharing with always-on (asynchronous) collaboration such as highlighting, drawing, text and sidebar comments and sticky notes. This allows groups to have a live meeting and also carry on a contextual forum discussion over time at their convenience. It's a browser-only cross-platform tool without the need for…

A few weeks ago I was in Charlotte to make a speech for Network Solutions, and I met Justin Ruckman. He handed me his business card--which I just loved. For once, a business card that cuts to the chase and is readable. Hallelujah! So I asked him to make business cards for me. Take a look at your business card: Can people really read the 8 point type? If you want Justin to make business cards for you, his site is here.

I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo this weekend. I had no idea these things are so popular--so much so that I gave up the first time and returned in the early evening when there was more parking and a shorter ticket line. Think: Macworld Expo meets Burning Man meets MythBusters meets Woodstock. Here are a mere fifty pictures to show you what you missed. One thing is for sure, the Faire could keep Stuff White People Like busy for a month or two. There was lots of bikes made up of various other vehicle parts. For example, this is a lawnmower bike. A skateboard/bike hybrid. And a…

Roger von Oech is the author a classic book about innovation called A Whack on the Side of the Head. Believe it or not, this is the twenty-fifth anniversay of the book. When I was young(er), this book was the rage for the personal-computer generation in Silicon Valley. Join me on Sun's site for an interview of Roger. In it he discusses twenty-five years of innovation and provides advice to today's newfangled Web 2.0 companies. Click here for the interview.

Launch: Silicon Valley 2008 is now accepting executive summaries. The deadline is May 9th. This conference is a very inexpensive way to get your startup in front of a highly-qualified audience of venture capitalists and journalists. It takes place on June 10th at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, California. For more information, click here.

Here's an interesting  surprise, from Education and Tech Entrepreneurship, a Kaufmann Center research paper published yesterday:Twice as many U.S.-born tech entrepreneurs start ventures in their fifties as do those in their early twenties.I think it's ironic that this should be a surprise; a generation ago it would have been a common assumption. Then came the successes of industry icons Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, both young college dropouts. And a lot of people like them. Or so it seemed. The young techies ruled the PC industry boom in the 1980s, and again, the dot-com boom in the 1990s,…

I find this fascinating:"Yes, I think it's a really good idea, and everybody around here really likes it, but what I'm worried about is that when I talk about it everybody I'm talking to sees what they think I'm saying, what they want to be the idea, rather than the real idea."I'm not going to cite the author of that quote, because it could embarrass him with the others on his team, but it was in a phone call last week. It reminded me that what he's talking about is a common phenomenon. Until I find a better description, I'm referring to the misunderstood images of the original idea…

I suspect a 13-year-old Internet alliance is a rare thing these days, because 13 years ago was 1995, before the dot-com boom, and a very different world from now. That makes me happy to report on a pleasant conversation I had last week with Raj Khera, founder of MoreBusiness.com, which has been an ally of Palo Alto Software and our business plans site at Bplans.com since 1996. Raj and MoreBusiness.com joined up with Bplans.com in the very early days. It was one of our first business development contacts. That many years later, both sites are going strong. I had a nice talk with Raj. It's a…

At lunch on Saturday, in the judges' room, Jeff Mullin of Ropes and Gray, suggested I not rule out NeuroBank. "They've done a lot since the Rice competition," he said. "They've got a waiting list now." Jeff, however, is an alum of Carnegie Mellon. And NeuroBank was the entry from Carnegie Mellon. And NeuroBank finished third at the Rice University Business Plan Competition, behind Qcue and Klymit (I posted on that last month). And Klymit tied for first at the University of Oregon New Venture Championship, a week after Rice (I also posted on that last month). And the event…

The BBC reported it as "Comedian Robin Williams performed an impromptu stand-up routine before the delayed recording of a BBC World debate on the future of news."The TED blog added more detail: During the BBC World Debate hosted at TED2008 last month, a brief technical delay threatened to become an awkward, show-stopping break. Then a heckler stood up in the crowd. As Wired's Epicenter reports: ... a voice behind me spoke up, presumably a heckler, and began speaking loudly as if he were conducting a live news feed, joking that he was reporting live from TED but ... was…

Tony Sargeant from Atlanta is someone I've billed as "one of my favo...

The Center for Information on Civic Learning and Engagement (Circle)...

The economic downturn has retailers anticipating weaker spending this year.

The Webby Award winners were unveiled this week. The awards program,...

At the end of last month, from April 24 through April 26, I had the...

Have you ever asked yourself if you should be branding yourself or branding your business? You’re not alone. It’s a hot topic these days, and one worth thinking over. Anyone can open a business on the Internet. The little guy has a chance. The individual can make it big. New businesses are cropping up left, right, and center. People are feeling good these days, too. They have a shot at being someone special with their name in the lights and their work in demand. For professionals, opportunities are wide open. It’s the time to shine. But professionals have a problem……

One of the underlying themes from last weekend’s SOBCon was putting more you into your work. There are literally hundreds of millions of blogs out there, with more starting every day. In a sea of competition, you’ve got to capitalize on what makes you unlike anyone else. Your unique point of view. Your writing style. Your own individual, personal stories and the way they shape your message. There’s just one problem with all of that. It’s terrifying. It sounds great and idealistic to just be completely yourself online, to strip naked on your blog and hope people will…

Absolutely. In fact, I know a freelance writer who makes over $300,000 a year from writing white papers alone. And I can tell you from personal experience that I launched an entire real estate brokerage firm with a white paper that revealed the inner workings of the MLS. I’ve seen countless other small businesses go from struggling to successful with educational marketing content that not only goes viral… it persuades people to buy. Mike Stelzner has just released a great free video that reveals how he went from desperate to knee-deep in lucrative new business… all thanks to a…

The massive pool of blood in my head was pressing precariously against my brain. The doctors marveled that I was alive, much less walking and talking. They looked and shook their heads in wonder at the MRI results. I politely reminded them I was indeed alive, awake, and actually in the room. It was three years ago today that they wheeled me in for emergency surgery, and I said goodbye to my wife, not quite three-year-old daughter, and newborn son. I knew that sometimes people don’t wake up from brain surgery, and this might be the last time I saw them. Wait, let’s back up a bit. The…

This is my generation, baby. ~The Who The right words on your website gets you what you want: better sales, more readers or increased credibility. You can achieve all kinds of goals by tweaking to target your online market audience. Be like Robin Hood in an archery contest – think, research, test and hit it dead on, baby. Here are some good ways to get a head start: Engage in two-way conversational marketing. Tweak your tagline and make it benefit-rich and catchy. Test for the right words that resonate with your buyers and convey emotion. Is it enough? The Coming of Ages There are four…

This week my notebook computer (a Lenovo 3000 N100) crashed. I smelled a burning smell but since I have a cold I couldn't quite place where the smell was coming from. Even if I could - it would have been too late. Interestingly enough the battery but the electricity from the power adapter was not giving electricity to the computer. In fact when the computer was turned off, the power light flickered and other weird things happened. Clearly indicating that there was a major problem with the power of the computer. Of course...my computer was not in warranty and I hadn't purchased any fancy…

Most businesses, regardless of size, put a lot of thought and research into choosing a domain name. Often the naming of a new company is tied directly to the availability of a great domain name to go with it, or at least one that makes sense and is easy to remember. However, just choosing one version of your domain name may not be enough. In addition to registering the .com, .net, .biz, etc. versions and spelling variations of your domain name, having a domain strategy can be an important way to protect your online traffic. Register.com Senior VP of Marketing, Doug Shuman explains: The most…

With modern communication technology plus the speed and unlimited reach of the internet, it's easier than ever for small businesses to enter and compete in the global market. However, reaching potential customers in other countries with vastly different cultures presents a whole new set of communication challenges beyond technology concerns. While your business might do just fine thinking of the customers in the in your 10 block radius, or in your zip code, developing a global communication strategy to is critical. This global communication strategy, could in fact, be used to communicate…

In some industries people are used to having their voice mail boxes filled with voice mail. However, there's far more of us, I would guess, who deal with a daily battle of email inbox overflow. Email comes in all shapes, sizes and types. There's the real important email that you just can't help getting. Action items from your boss, emails from your employees/colleagues and of course email from family. The other email, which could be equally important but of a different type, are those emails that are cc'd to you for your information. You might not need to act on them directly but you do have…

Susan Shapiro, Owner, Bralan Consulting No doubt you’ve attended at least one meeting where a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation was made that you had a hard time staying focused on. You may have even dozed off. Why? Is PowerPoint really so bad? PowerPoint is an application that allows the user to create robust presentations. Offering multiple slide options, themes and backgrounds, as well as a variety of animation schemes (i.e. bells & whistles) users can create exciting presentations using text, images and graphs. So what’s the problem? Well, many speakers don't know how to create or…

In his NY Times op-ed piece The Cognitive Age David Brooks points out that if measured by output U.S. manufacturing is still world class.  Key quote:"Instead of fleeing to Asia, U.S. manufacturing output is up over recent decades. As Thomas Duesterberg of Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a research firm, has pointed out, the U.S.’s share of global manufacturing output has actually increased slightly since 1980."What has happened, of course, is that U.S. manufacturing employment has fallen substantially over the last 2 decades.  The chief driver of this employment change is…

Got pointed to an interesting Facebook group called Ultra Light Startups.  This group is focused on creating online businesses as quickly and as cheaply as possible.  They describe their methods as: launching "quick and dirty" proof of concept ventures (websites, Facebook apps, Mobile apps, etc) using outsourced talent, open-source/off-the-shelf software components, virtual/cloud computing services and minimal capital Build a prototype on "outsourcing marketplaces" like oDesk, guru.com, eLance, rentacoder, etc and go on to become more legitamate (funded, staffed,…

The Kauffman Foundation recently released their annual Entrepreneurial Activity report for 2007.  According to Kauffman, roughly 6 million small businesses were started in 2007.  Also, the entrepreneurial activity rate increased slightly over 2006.  Some of the key findings: Immigrants continue to start businesses at a much higher rate than native born and the spread is increasing. Men start businesses at a much higher rate than women and are now twice as likely to start a business. The entrepreneurial activity rate for Latinos increased substantially in 2007. The report also…

Maker Faire is one of the most interesting and unique events around.  Put on by Make Magazine, the event is described on their website as a "two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things." An estimated 60,000 people showed up this weekend to attend the show and see the 600 exhibits -everything from a giant replica of the old mousetrap game that covered hundreds of square feet, to life sized mechanical dinosaurs, to robotic model…

We tend to focus on trends and technologies that will impact small business over the next 3-5 years.  But we also follow longer term trends, and robotics is a trend that is increasingly showing up on our radar screens.  The last couple of weeks there have been several interesting robotics stories in the press. The Associated Press has an article on robotic animals being used by scientists in animal behavior studies.  From the article :"Rocky (the robotic squirrel) is among many robotic critters worldwide helping researchers observe animals in their natural environments…

How much would you pay for a twenty dollar bill? In tough times, many schools and non-profits rely on charity fundraisers, and a popular one is the auction. The method is simple: supporters donate things, and then they're auctioned off, with all proceeds going to charity. If you have a vacation house, the thinking goes, the incremental cost of donating a week is low. And wow, I can buy a week at that house for way less than it's worth. Everyone wins. If you have a friend who works on the Letterman show, you can get two VIP tickets for free and donate them and someone at the auction gets to go…

John sends us this astounding thought piece. It's a clock, turned off, not ticking, showing no progress, encased in glass. When you're ready to make the leap, to commit, to make something happen, you break the glass. The sculpture is ruined. All you have is shards of broken glass. And a working clock. It's alive and it's changing and moving forward. Analogy, anyone?

Connect like-minded people. My previous post only captured one part of the equation... the work of the marketer marketing to (or at) the consumer. It leaves out the future, which involves finding and leading and empowering the tribe of people who surround your organization. While the obvious successes are sites like Facebook or Flickr or Twitter, this idea of connection is far more pervasive than that. Starbucks connects people, and so does Apple. Accounting firms have the opportunity to create value by connecting their clients to each other, and so do trade shows. So, I guess we’re up to…

The product they sell is drama. When I went to business school, we spent an entire 90 minute class on how to read the Wall Street Journal. That's a rare treat... being taught how to understand and psyche out the media. With the vast bulk of our news coming online now, it's worth taking a second to look at the way mainstream media markets drama. You know and I know that they're doing this, but maybe it'll strike a chord with someone... Take a look at a screen shot from the front page of CNN.com today: I put a green checkbox next to every statement on the page that might be considered 'true'…

The New York Times, like all newspapers, is in big trouble. Unlike other papers, though, they've got a shot. And we can all learn a lesson about focusing on the great (by looking at what they should be doing, anyway). All the News That's Fit to Print used to be the motto they lived by. Of course, now, all the news that fits = the web. Unlimited space and free newsprint means the web can actually hold all the news. "Fit" is a big question mark. So, where can the Times excel? I'd argue they have two opportunities:1. If it's in the Times, it's true2. If it's in the Times, it's important I should…

I know that marketing doesn’t come naturally to most business owners. Not many people say to themselves - “I am such a good marketer I think I’ll start a business selling something.” No, unfortunately the conversation probably goes like this - “I sure love to work with spreadsheets and do people’s taxes, holy crap, I’ve got to learn how to market.” When the realization that you are in the marketing business hits, too many people want to grab onto the latest and greatest marketing idea and ramp up the selling machine overnight. When it comes to…

Many small business owners still think they can take a pass on the power of online social media tools, particularly if they reside in seemingly low-tech industries like plumbing, fishing, or lawyering. I want to share a quick interview I did with Jason Brown, 23 year old co-founder of Brown Lures. That’s right, they sell fishing lures to guys and gals that probably don’t call hanging out at Web2.0 conferences a good time. (I’m just guessing on that though.) Brown credits his blog with changing the way people find him, he created a podcast that gives him great “fishing…

My monthly live interview series featuring well-known authors and business leaders continues in May with Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto software. April’s call with David Allen is archived on the series page along with calls with John Battelle, Guy Kawasaki, Michael Gerber, Tim Ferris, and Ivan Misner. The impressive line-up also features Michael Port in June. Check out the archives and enroll to be notified for each call.

Content is the commerce of social media. But, relevant content, the stuff your customers and prospects actually want to know is the gold. Constantly cranking out this gold can sometimes present creative challenges. So how do you know what to write about, how do you keep the ideas flowing, how do you keep the content relevant and popular. There a number of ways to address these important questions, not the least of which is simply paying attention to what your prospects and customers ask on the daily basis. There’s another tool that not many small business know much about, but is a…

I’m guilty of some of the infractions on this list. Some are so common, it’s hard to remember the right way to handle these misused words and phrases. Great resource list and a pretty good weekend read!

Perhaps you recall the 3-part series I wrote, “Help, My Logo is So 1999!” In that series I invited you to weigh in and vote on your favorite logo designs. (I had used the Logoworks by HP design service and wrote a review of it.) I am pleased to announce that based on your feedback, we have a winning logo design. It’s logo revision #8: Revision #8 got almost double the votes of the next closest design, which was #2. Now the most interesting part about #8 is that it was a throw-in by the Logoworks designer who worked on my account. It goes to show that sometimes giving your…

Let’s not pretend that as small business owners and employees we don’t have to eat, drive cars or heat our homes. Rising prices hurt us because we are people … consumers … above all else. But as businesspeople, the situation can be even worse if you happen to be in one of those businesses that use the commodities and materials experiencing record-high prices right now. Think of food (restaurants); gasoline (businesses with fleets and delivery vehicles); and high heating costs (landlords and real-estate related businesses). I had asked the question last week whether…

Remember in high school or college the couple that seemed to have a never-ending, on again, off again dating relationship? One week they’re on, the next week they’re off. The next week they’re on, the following week they’re off. Well, in speaking with tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners, I’ve found that many have the same on again, off again relationship with their marketing. They do a few things to stir up business, then neglect the marketing and go to the “fulfillment” side of the business. When things start to slow down, they say…

Please join me in welcoming Clate Mask as a regular contributing columnist here at Small Business Trends. Clate is the President and CEO of InfusionSoft. As I have gotten to know more about Clate, I know we are going to appreciate him contributing to this community. You see, I have never actually met Clate in person. But we have spoken on the phone, corresponded via email, and I’ve seen him in some videos. So I was beginning to feel like I knew him. It was only when I happened to read an electronic book he’d written, called The Edge, that I gained true insights into his…

How does the typical entrepreneur come up with the idea for his or her new business? The popular perception is that most entrepreneurs search for them, looking at newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and so on for information about market trends and business opportunities unfolding in the market place. But the reality is different. Here’s some data from my book Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By that shows what I mean. (More information on the sources of these data is in the book). Only one-third (33.2 percent) of new…

You may have the greatest service in the world, but sloppy design will always destroy your credibility with prospects. Every day I meet another great entrepreneur that will never succeed because they tried to save a buck on web design.  It's not a matter of design snobbery, it's a question of credibility.  How can I trust you to do good work for me if you can't present yourself properly? It's like showing up to a job interview in dirty pajamas.

Most companies instinctively hide their problems.  That's the wrong answer.  Open up and ask your customers for help. They already know what's wrong (often more than you do), and they probably know how to fix it (often better than you). Example:  Customer support is a challenge for a tech company like Dell with 30 million customers, each with a different setup and knowledge level. So Dell went to their customers and asked them how to solve it.  They put their best ideas on the Ideastorm web site for open, public, customer brainstorming. Dell blogged about three great ideas…

"Hi! I totally agree with your post. Here is a link to a not-really-related post on my own site that I'm shamelessly trying to promote by posting this comment.  In fact, the only purpose of this comment is to create a reason for me to link to my post. I don't realize that I'm embarrassing myself with this cheap tactic.  What's I really seem clueless about is that if I made a substantive comment that added value to the conversation, more people would want to read my blog. But instead, I just turned off all your readers. Oh well."

Sometimes things just go wrong. Angry customers are storming the gates.  The situation is melting down.  It happens to every business. Find the fastest way to make people happy. It doesn't need to be a solution to the problem that made them angry.  It need to be a quick and grand gesture to show that you understand and that you care. Canceled flights?  Airlines should run to Home Depot and buy 100 power strips. Instant calm as 600 people can plug in and tune out. Long wait for tables at a restaurant?   Pass out free drinks to people in line. Waiting room…

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 savings is true, imagine if you add up those five minutes that you just saved and multiply it by eight hours in your workday. That equals forty minutes more in a workday to become more productive. Say you then took those forty minutes in a working day and multiplied it by five days in a workweek, which…

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.Currently, that express service is done at most hotels in one form or another, but what if you were the first hotel to do it, thirty or so years ago? Would you not have had the competitive advantage to grow your repeat and future guests by offering this untapped, demanded express service? Would…

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 accelerate events and make all things possible. Once you have that mind-set, you will no longer have the attitude, “Okay, what's next to go wrong with this situation?” Instead, you will say, “Great! What's the next opportunity to make, not have, success come to me?”The flexibility for action that…

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 top of mind awareness and brand recognition can be costly, but it can also be as simple as putting your logo and contact information on everything that a client receives when doing business with you. Go find your happy medium, but find it you must. If not, almost half of your effective message is…

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 everyone, every day, no matter what their size; you sell more than you market; you utilize yield management techniques; you just do not leave collateral, you collect a database for follow-up; you go down swinging and then get back up for another round; you are always in “selling mode;” you…

The allure of local online newspapers If you are wondering if an online news site is a good bet for your ad dollars I am going to save you a lot of money by sharing some money-saving secrets with you. Done the right way an ad on your local Newspaper web site can be effective but there are some major pitfalls that you need to know or else you will get burned - your ad dollars that is. Click to play On April 9th, 2008 Borrell Research, a well known firm that collects and sells their research primarily to newspaper companies reported that NEWSPAPER-OWNED WEB SITES EARN MORE REVENUE THAN ALL…

Want to appear towards the top of local search engine rankings on Google and Yahoo! when a buyer searches online in your city for your product or service? Sure you do - it is free search engine marketing after all. Today in Episode 11 on Local Na8ion (run time 9:57) we feature a video lesson on three quick and easy steps to optimize your web site for local search engines. Using non-technical methods, we will demonstrate three ways to hardwire your web site to increase local sales with something called a title tag, and adding your address to your web site footer (the bottom of your site). Our…

The difference between a local consumer and a local job seeker is the product they’re researching online. Finding good employees is one of the biggest challenges any company faces and just like selling your products and services locally you have to position your company to attract new employees. That’s why your local online marketing plan needs to include your job candidate. There’s a term in the recruiting industry to describe the majority of candidates - passive candidates. Because they’re not looking for jobs they’re tough to find - and even harder to woo…

I’ve talked a lot about Wordpress but I haven’t explained why it’s better than all the typical offerings pitched to small companies (products from Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, YellowPages.com, CitySearch, and others). Today I’ll do that in just 200 words. To accomplish my goal I’ll just hit the highlights and leave further explanation for later posts. It’s the tool the Pros use and there is good reason for that Offers you tremendous SEO out-of-the-box - this means FREE search engine marketing Easy to write and publish new content with no need for technical…

In our session today, Episode 10 (run time 9:54) we cover how to get your small business web site and blog hosted and activated with our recommended web host MidPhase using a method called auto-install (also called a one-click install). In our next video how-to session we’ll cover how to select a FREE or Pro Wordpress design for less than $100. Click to play You may want to watch my previous posts on this topic where I have covered the reason why we recommend Wordpress for your small business web site and blog. We also covered how to select a Wordpress host which includes a useful web…

The latest issue of ChangeThis has been posted. In it, the "human CliffsNotes" John Spence condenses his years of consulting and research into six strategies that all great companies focus on. "Performance Architect" Carlos Salum teaches us how to reach our peak performance, sharing his own incredible journey along the way. PR 2.0 author, Deirdre Breakenridge, discusses the new opportunities Web 2.0 provides to PR people, and the authors of Finding Keepers discuss hiring during an economic downturn. Concluding the issue, Marc Michaelson and John Anderson share their L3…

We have some interesting and counterintuitive advice this month. David Rendall advises us to flaunt our weaknesses, Barry Moltz tells us to temper our ambition, and Robert Rosen believes that we can, and should, use our anxiety to become better leaders. We also have Francis Wade weighing in on time management, suggesting we rid ourselves of the fancy PDA devices and gadgets until we have a grasp on the 7 basic skills needed to manage them. And, in the middle of it all, David Meerman Scott delivers a great tract on viral marketing, or "how word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free."…

Hello ChangeThisiners, It looks like the voting mechanism for ChangeThis proposals has been fixed. We'd like to extend great thanks to the brave men and women who made the perilous journey into the internets to fix the problem, and invite you all back to vote on the current proposals. This round of voting is set to expire on March 23rd, but if it seems necessary--due to a lack of voting activity--to extend the voting session, we will try to figure out exactly how to do that (actually... rather frustratingly, we already have, but we will try again with renewed effort if need be). Thank you all…

Just in time for the weekend... the March issue of ChangeThis is up! This month's manifestos revolve heavily around issues of community and connection--whether it be Richard Florida writing about why choosing where to live is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make, or the folks from Booz Allen Hamilton writing about how Government, Business and Non-Profits can unite to form megacommunities to address large and complex problems. Julien Smith and Chris Brogan discuss forming relationships and gaining influence in online communities, and Joel D Canfield talks about manners in…

Hello ChangeThisers, As some of you may have noticed, we have been experiencing profound and unpleasant  difficulties with the ChangeThis site for the past week now. We are doing our best to find and fix the problem, to expose the ghost in the machine, undo the kink in the tubes of the internet. So far, we have been woefully unsuccessful. We have a team out exploring the mysterious realm of the internets (think Robert Deniro's character as a superhero duct repairman in Brazil) and are hoping they come back alive and with solutions. As soon as we're back up we'll have a brand new issue…

We are, it appears, experiencing the joys of an economic phenomenon known affectionately as a credit crunch. The banks who have made billions out of us over the last few years have lost a few dollars due to their over zealous greed for lending and making high returns on dubious loans – all very good while the sun shines, but not so good when it rains… and it’s raining at the moment… metaphorically speaking and of course physically. Hay making - supplying natural resources Scientists tell us the physical rain has been brought on by the massive carbon footprint that the developed…

I’ve been travelling the length and breadth of the UK last week and not been able to put up any posts on my blog and so feeling a little more than a tad guilty I’ve been trying to put one together during my lunch break on one of the training workshops that I’ve been running… to help me I enlisted the help of some friends and so my thanks go to Tony, Richard, Elaine, Mike and Dave (aka Ishbell) who helped me develop this list. Here are our 5 best reasons why you should not manage your pipeline: You Might Make Some Money It may well be a fallacy that sales people want to make money.

I’ve just spent the week in front of the computer before an avalanche of customer engagements coming up and the brain is a little tired from all that thinking… not good… too much thinking. However, that’s not stopping me putting some thought into another sound bite before the weekend. This one reminds me of the time when I lived in South Africa… Never knock the competition… just build on their strengths. Gone are the days, well I hope they are gone… gone are the days when we have the keen sales professional knocking the competition; it’s no longer the done thing. Hopefully…

It’s a nice catchy title – good to great – and what’s more it only takes a day to understand how to get there… I wish it was my idea, but it’s not because it’s the brainchild of Chris Whyatt. I meet Chris a number of years ago way up North and recently he decided to look me up to get my view on a new thing he was planning. I gave him some feedback and agreed to meet up the next time I’m in his neck of the woods… about 300 miles from where I live. However, unbeknown to me, although Chris’ office is up north, he has moved south for love, not necessarily for the area,…

It sounds rude, but an oxymoron as I’m sure you all know, is defined as a phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect… well I reckon Pipeline Management at a corporate level is indeed an oxymoron. In fact, pipeline management at any level other than a personal level is an oxymoron. There are two words to prove my point… ‘So What?’ Go and see the CEO or the VP of global sales and get them to explain what they do with their rolled up pipeline report… ask so what… so what decisions do they make on the back of that report… and I…

From ecommerce to social networking, there are many cool new tools that allow you to get your web presence jumpstarted for cheap.

Need to create a great business plan, fast? Hey, why reinvent the wheel! Unless your business plan is something never before conceived of, there's probably a free sample business plan for precisely what you need that you can adapt as your very own.

While browsing through online forums, I noticed one question being asked over and over: I have a small business so why do I need web presence? In my opinion, there are 7 reasons why businesses of any size can benefit from being active online.

One of the most cost-effective ways to grow your business is through email marketing. Here is a round-up of methods you can use to increase your database and ultimately, your profits.

It is no secret that people are using Facebook for business networking and I wanted to share my own success stories and exactly what I did so that others can follow similar strategies.

The New York Times: What if you could make fuel for your car in your backyard for less than you pay at the pump? Would you? The first question has driven Floyd S. Butterfield for more than two decades. Butterfield, 52, is something of a legend for people who make their own ethanol. In 1982, he won a California Department of Food and Agriculture contest for best design of an ethanol still, albeit one that he could not market profitably at the time. Now he thinks that he can, thanks to his partnership with the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Thomas J. Quinn. The two have started the E-Fuel…

eMarketer: Nearly one out of five US Internet users surveyed by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation’s (NRF’s) “2008 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey” said they will go online to buy their mothers gifts for the upcoming holiday. Those who do shop online may do so to save on car trips. “Gas prices and other economic issues will still be at the forefront of people’s minds as they shop around for the perfect gift for mom,” said BIGresearch vice president Phil Rist, in a press release. Respondents said they planned to…

Independent.ie: Women often face a tough decision after having a baby – should they return to the workforce or should they forget about their career and concentrate on being a stay-at-home mum? There are pros and cons with either choice, but an increasing number of Irish women have settled on a third way, by deciding to enjoy the best of both worlds and setting up a business from home. There is even a glossy new name for these ladies – kitchen table tycoons. The phrase was originally coined by an expert at the London School of Economics and is now the title of an excellent new book by…

Big Idea Blog: Danny Deutsch over at the the BIG Idea Blog offers this quick test to see if you are sabotaging yourself in your quest to run your own business. 1. Do you ever ask “Why should I try to be successful?” 2. Do you consider money dirty , un-cool , or pretentious? 3. Do you have negative opinions about wealthy people? 4. Are you afraid of making more money than your parents? 5. When you walk into a room, do you prefer to remain unnoticed? 6. Do you tend to refuse opportunities to give to charity? 7. When you lose money on a bad deal, do you hold onto it as a regret? The…

With Mother’s Day approaching this Sunday it’s obvious to see why this mom-owned business is a good representation of that. Gillian Beerman is a mom whose business is to serve moms and the mom-to-be with their excellent line of Moby Wraps and their Simone Layne knitwear line which offers very stylish clothing that will adjust through pregnancy. Gillian is truly a business success story. She took her business from start to international recognition in only a period of 5 years. Her business also puts emphasis on teaching mothers about baby wearing and the benefits that come from it.

I read Jacob Nielsen's AlertBox today titled "How Little Do Users Read?". He showed an interesting study and analysis of time spent on page vs. that showed users spend only 4.4 seconds on a page for each additional 100 words added to the page. If we assume people can read at 200 WPM, the big finding is that for every 100 words you add to a page, you can assume that customers will read 18% of it. Choose words well, be concise...and I better stop writing to make the point! Or use this blog entry to make the point.

Oh, I have another one for you. This is a quick scan if you're a startup, boostrapper, small business, or a college student business...which is what I was when I wrote and used many of these ideas! These one liners may just be useful to throw around in your head and see if something better comes out. 81 One Line Marketing Ideas - Upload a doc Read this doc on Scribd: 81 One Line Marketing Ideas

A few weeks ago I added a small link in one of my posts to my unpublished beginning of a book of 193 Clever Marketing Ideas. John Moore linked to it and it got some interest, so I thought I'd give a more formal promotion here. Plus I want to see how Scribd works in my blog! BTW, Scribd and Slideshare are very cool! 193 Creative Marketing Ideas - Upload a doc Read this doc on Scribd: 193 Creative Marketing Ideas

A good friend and ex-Dell colleague passed away on Friday, April 25, 2008, after a courageous and inspiring battle with brain cancer. I want to celebrate and share the piece of his life I knew, and the words of wisdom he left for all of us.  Two months after I joined Dell in March 1999, a curly-haired Harvard grad moved into the cube next door. Over the next seven years Rich and I worked together to help build Dell’s consumer eBusiness to a $3.5B business, and then on Dell’s CRM and segmentation strategy (he worked on corporate strategy while I worked in Consumer division). But what…

Late post from the Forrester Marketing Forum Conference I attended a couple weeks ago. The topic was “Customer Engagement”, which is heralded by many publications as the new marketing buzzword. I love buzzwords…they get buzz! Which gets people talking, which gets people trying things, which causes failures, which creates learning, which (hopefully) creates better companies. I digress. The primary research and paper behind customer engagement was conducted by Brian Haven, who’s a great Forrester Analyst. I’ve known him for years and spoken in his workshops on Social networking and…

Finding new customers every month is just the name of the game in sales. One of the best ways to go about this is understanding trigger events and how they apply to your industry. Trigger events are specific events in a company that are key drivers for buying or not buying products and services. By [...] Read the entire article and leave a comment.

Drew Stevens PhD knows how to dramatically accelerate your business growth. He recently wrote an article that other sales professionals should read. A growing concern for many sales and marketing managers is optimization of sales leads. Each year selling professional’s get a plethora of business development leads unfortunately unearthing less than 47 percent. Worse, over 50% [...] Read the entire article and leave a comment.

Everyone has experienced the sales blues, when everything seems perfect and you are confident the sale is going to close until you hear the words, “sorry, we’re going ahead with someone else.” It is important that we take the emotion out of the sales loss and learn something for it, in order to learn from [...] Read the entire article and leave a comment.

Although having a successful online business sounds great, it is not for everyone. Some people lack the necessary traits to run their own business. You don’t have to be particularly smart to have your own business, but you need certain other qualities. Following is a list of the 7 traits of success that most business [...] Read the entire article and leave a comment.

I love sales training. I also love listening to sales trainers speak. They radiate enthusiasm and motivation that ignites passion for excellence. The methods they teach are often of the highest quality, however, they are usually no longer in the business of sales. Their marketing methods tend to be old, and old marketing styles are [...] Read the entire article and leave a comment.

Hello,This is a honest paying program. Make extra money at home. Check it out today! :-)How do I earn money?Once you are logged into your account, click the "Browse Ads" link. On the "Browse Ads" page you will be shown a list of ads that are available for you to view, in addition to how much viewing that ad pays. When you click on a link for an ad a new window will open with a timer at the top of the page and the advertiser's page in the bottom frame. Once the timer counts down to zero (0), the amount stated for viewing the ad will be credited to your account. When and how will I receive my…

Hi,Today, I'm going to share with you a free traffic generation system.I'm very excited about this system. I've never seen anything like this before.Imagine you have the power to advertise to 1,398,100 prospects for Free, and it is just a conservative estimate!Initially, I thought this is just another scam or another hoax. But after understanding how the system works, it all makes sense to me.Check out this newly launched service and get in FAST before anyone else! You will regret if you don't.This is an ingenious system that combines the power of contextual advertising and network lead…

Hi Wealth Seekers,If you’ve ever tried using Google’s AdWords program to get traffic for your website, you know the big ugly truth...It can cost a TON.It’s a little ridiculous, really. Unless you know what you’re doing, you’ll end up paying scads of money and killing your profits.That’s the side of AdWords the “expert” never tell you. They make your eyes bulge out when they tell you they made $50,000 or something, but they conveniently leave out that they paid Google $45,000 of it.That’s because Google stacks the deck against you. Sad, but true.Well, Andrew and Steven show…

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Innovation requires a fascination with wonder “Whenever we initiate change, even a positive one, we activate fear in our emotional brain. If the fear is big enough, the fight-or-flight response will go off and we’ll run from what we’re trying to do. The small steps in kaizen don’t set off fight or flight, but rather keep us in the thinking brain, where we have access to our creativity and playfulness.” Larger design businesses don’t allow good design to happen “The problem is that the structures of most larger design businesses cannot effectively facilitate the transmittal…

More ammunition for why you should fire the workaholics: They don’t actually get more done. Q: Do workaholics accomplish more than people who work fewer hours? A: Often, they don’t. That is because, as perfectionists, they may become so fixated on inconsequential details that they find it hard to move on to the next task, [Psychiatrist Bryan] Robinson said. As Gayle Porter [a professor who has studied workaholism] put it: “They’re not looking for ways to be more efficient; they’re just looking for ways to always have more work to do.” Good advice for anyone…

The Park Inn Hotel (and attached City National Bank building) in Mason City Iowa is the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel in the world. It’s in desperate need of financial support to save the building. On March 12, Wright on the Park (WOTP) received a Vision Iowa grant of $7,500,000 from the Iowa Department of Economic Development for the continuation of the rehabilitation of both building segments. Along with the Vision Iowa grant, the sale of Historic Preservation Tax Credits is expected to yield another 67% of the total funding. For the first time, Mason City residents…

Facebook Sean Iams writes: Very cool feature on Facebook: When you’re typing a message, and you happen to include a valid link (i.e. http://www.37signals.com) in the body, Facebook automatically looks up the site and pulls back a description and a list of images that help explain the site. You then have the option to send the message with the image + description as an attachment or send the message without any attachment. It drastically clarifies the message with no additional effort whatsoever. Quick, simple, and easy :) MyPunchBowl Matt Douglas at MyPunchBowl writes: Thought you would…

VC isn’t the only way. Ronnie Angerer writes in with a great example of a site that asked its community for small donations instead of seeking an investor: My wife is a part of the online knitting and crochet community, Ravelry. She mentioned this weekend that they had asked their members for donations to support infrastructure growth and enhancements to the community. In the blog post about the “Ravelraiser” they write: “In 3 weeks, 3,457 Ravelers gave donated a total of $71,000 to Ravelry. Not only did we receive an amazing financial boost, we also received a flood…

I discovered Baby's Language a couple months ago when searching for a unique gift for a friend having twins. Among many other adorable items, the Baby's Language collection includes fun + quirky twin sets... Lisa Santos, owner of Baby's Language recounts the "birth" of her baby, "Baby's Language was born out of love. I was inspired from my daughter to communicate with her; I expanded my passion to communicate into a line of clothing. I was writing down all her coos & ahh's literally all her babbles and one day to my surprise we were communicating. I was overwhelmed with this discovery I…

crystalf, was the winner of the Munchkin Designs giveaway. Please send your shipping information to info{at}iknowamom{dot}com with "I'm the winner!" in the subject line.

I am pleased to introduce Lisa Komer of Munchkin Designs - a mom-owned online boutique offering hip invitations + fabulous gifts. Lisa designs adorable custom tees, photo albums, custom frames and more - it seems everyone is searching for *custom* goods lately - I mean, who wants the same thing as everyone else has - straight from the endcap at Kohl's?! Here's your place. And, Munchkin Designs is offering a 10% discount on any tee order to iknowamom readers through May 5th - so act quickly (enter INAM0408 at checkout). If you are expecting a little one or know someone who is - and you need a…

Well, my dears....we have a winner from the Ginormous Green Giveaway! Not only do we have a winner - we have compiled such a great list of green tips, we could write a book. Thank you for your participation and for all of your ideas. We had over 400 comments and as you look through them, there are bound to be some you had not considered before. Here are a few that were new to me and ones I plan on implement soon.Take tupperware to restaurants to use for take-home food. Dining out is one of our favorite things to do and we often leave with leftovers. My "mom" bag is surely big enough to tote…

I admit it - I'm stealing an article again! Due to busy-ness and an extremely cranky 18 month old who is working on his canines, I was not able to secure a Moms on Monday column this week. So, I am referring you to an article by mom, speaker, author, columnist, inventor and entrepreneur extraordinaire...Lisa Druxman. Lisa Druxman is likely the most famous mompreneur - she founded Stroller Strides, and among many other things, she is a columnist at entreprenuer.com - a fabulous resource for anyone starting a business. This week, I turned to one of her most recent columns :: "Unstoppable Moms.

The Information-Age is over. The invention of the computer is credited with the birth of the Information-Age. But it didn’t really hit the stratosphere until the Internet became the pantry of information. And early on, that is exactly what the Internet was used for. Companies set up websites to provide information about the company. Individuals put up website that gave information about themselves or about their favorite sports team, or actor, or disease. Today, thanks to sites like Yahoo and Google, we are using the Internet, not just as an information warehouse, but as a way to share…

On Friday evening Bonnie Dobkin had her first book signing for her new Young Adult book “Neptune's Children - No parents. No rules. No way out” at the Vernon Hills Barnes and Noble. She’d invited me to stop by so I did and got a copy of her book for my 12 year old. I gave it to him that night and by the next morning he came to me having been unable to put the book down and said “This is the best book ever!” He reads a lot, usually well above his grade level, and is pretty critical of his reading, so his enthusiasm means Bonnie’s book really must be very enjoyable. Way to go…

On Wednesday evening this week I attended Praveen Gupta’s Innovation class for their end-of-term project presentations. Almost all of these Illinois Institute of Technology students were first generation immigrants, mostly from India, China, and Korea. Says a lot about who thinks innovation is important! Many of the ideas presented centered around changes to existing devices such as cell phones, PDA, Music players, GPS, and remote controls. But there was also an idea to meet the need to identify financial customers remotely using biometrics, an idea for a mag-lev car, and intelligent bed, a…

Once I ran a Service Division which included a customer service function. Initially, we received so many customer calls at peak volume that we’d have long hold times. Clearly, -not good service. The reasons customers called had to do with poor performance in other departments within the Service Division. Those problems I tackled first. At the same time we provided extensive training to the customer service representative to give them expertise in solving customer problems, and we empowered them to make decisions. As we resolved the service issues, the call volume dropped and our quality of…

Recently a Nobel Prize winning economist suggested that global trade is driving a long-term convergence of per-capita GDP by enabling the distribution of knowledge, (know-how) throughout the world. But that is an incomplete view. It isn’t knowledge and know-how that will drive the leveling; it is the ability to innovate - the ability to create new knowledge - that will drive the leveling of economic well-being. Without the ability to innovate at par with the best of them, you will always be playing catch-up. This ability to innovate is the key valuable asset in any enduring for-profit…

Brand : NutraliteCompany : Zydus CadillaAgency : MudraBrand Analysis Count : 325Zydus Cadilla is a bold marketer. First it fought with the sugar by launching the sugar alternative - Sugarfree Natura and now its fighting with butter by relaunching the brand Nutralite.Nutralite is table margarine. World over margarine are used as a substitute for butter. Margarines are fat derived from either animal products or vegetable oils. The veggie margarines are used as a healthy alternative for butter. Nutralite was acquired by Zydus in 2006. The brand was then relaunched with a controversial…

Fastrack is moving on. The latest campaign of Fastrack presents a significant deviation from the earlier positioning. The brand is running a new TVC with the new slogan : Move OnWatch the TVC here : Move OnAccording to agencyfaqs, the brand is trying on multiple presentation platforms. That means multiple levels of positioning and experimenting with different themes and slogans. While the target segment and the personality of the brand remains the same, the marketer will not stick to a specific message. A classic example of this type of strategy is that of Pepsi. The brand tries to add…

Margo is set for a new life. The India's heritage brand is getting a brand ambassador in Rani Mukharjee. According to news reports, the Bollywood diva is set to breathe a fresh air into this brand.In my blogpost on Margo two years back, I had recommended some heavy duty celebrity endorsement for the brand. Glad that it is happening .Margo, which was in existence even in 1920s , derives its strength in the neem formula. But over these years, the brand failed to keep itself relevant to the changing consumers. But still the brand is popular in West Bengal and Tamilnadu.The brand is now not in…

Marketing Practice Reader Krishnan asks this question :"Is Indian automobile market (car) driven by family ? Is family influence more when someone buys a small car or a sedan ?"The answer to the first question is both Yes & No. The major segment in the Indian car market is driven by family. This is because of the current state of Indian automobile market. The market is still evolving .During the initial stages , every market will be unsegmented . But as the market matures, segments evolve. Marketers devise new methods /variables to segment the market. In the car market also, we had the…

Corporate Brand : AmwayAgency : Rediffusion Dy&RBrand Analysis Count : 324Amway is one of the global leaders in direct marketing. The name Amway is derived from the words "American Way " . Amway was established in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard Devos. Amway global now have a presence in over 88 countries and has a $6.5 Billion turnover.Amway was established in India in 1995 and commenced operation in 1998. Currently the company have 80 products in 4 categories. Amway operates in the following categories :Personal CareHome CareNutrition and WellnessCosmeticsAmway is often used as an…

The whole fuss around buying competitor's keywords in pay per click marketing campaigns is stupid. Moronic. Foolish. Wasteful. Did I mention bad? And stupid? There is nothing wrong with bidding on a competitor's brand name. Let me say it a different way: If you're Infiniti, it's perfectly OK to make sure your ad shows up if someone searches for 'Audi'. Why It's OK: It's Called Competition See, putting your ad next to someone else's ad is called competition. On TV, commercials say "Our product beat [competitor name here]'s product 3 out of 4 times!" Competitors buy space opposite each other,…

Today, ShoeMoney and Marketing Pilgrim provided great insights into why they think search engine optimization has no future. I don't agree. Times infinity. Nyah nyah phbltbltbltblt. So there. Marketing Pilgrim says: "Take my industry of health supplements. Do you think Google wants to reward the SEO contortions of unknown companies and affiliates with lots of free business? Of course not–they want to send their visitors to the top supplement sites in the industry." Very true, but only where it applies to affiliate sites offering no additional value. Why should an affiliate site rank higher…

Internet Marketing isn't all misery and torture. So, in honor of National Grump Out Day, I dug deep and celebration