Business Opportunities Weblog

Female Entrepreneurs Less Profit Driven, More Risk AdverseSanLouisObispo.com: The American public’s attitude toward female business owners hasn’t changed much in recent decades, according to a new national survey, with 94 percent saying women only want to contribute to the family income and not grow a business. A nonprofit organization, Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, commissioned the survey, and a woman-owned business, Candice [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 10:00 am

Entrepreneur Is Concocting Her Own Food CreationsNeedless to say, after 26 years working in the food industry Karen Swisher knew what tasted good and what did not. During that time she created interesting foods, such as microwavable English muffins, low-fat donuts and host of other products, many of which has been sold through companies like Carnation/Nestle and Jenny Craig, reports [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 9:00 am

Casting Call for Dragons DenThe following is by Brenden Sherratt of In The Shark Tank. There is no news yet about a second season of Shark Tank, but if you’re interested in pitching your business to wealthy investors than Dragon’s Den is your show. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has started a coast-to-coast search for creative ideas and money-making businesses. Dragon’s [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:32 am

Eleven Year Old Game Inventor To Appear On EllenUsing a few household items, $11 worth of plastic ducks and an idea, Riley Magnuson has created a new pool game and landed himself on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Reports The Orange County Register. Riley is the creator of a swimming pool game he’s named and trademarked “Chuck the Duck.” Riley and his mother, Christine Magnuson, host [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:00 am

Mom Turns Passion For Fitness Into A BusinessKnoxville News Sentinel: Ironically, when friends complimented Carlene Steenekamp about how good she looked after the birth of her last child in 2007, their words had an opposite effect. “I got so tired of hearing, ‘Oh, you look great to have had three kids.’ I know friends meant well, but that was a backhanded compliment,” says [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:00 am

Take A Lesson In EntrepreneurshipGregg Fairbrothers wasn’t born into business, he was actually raised in an academic household, reports Fortune. “I didn’t know a debit from a credit,” he admits. Fairbrothers studied earth sciences at Dartmouth in the ’70s, got his master’s at Rutgers, and eventually moved to Tulsa, where he joined Samson, a gas driller, and earned his chops [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 10:30 am

Brazilian Entrepreneurs Thrive On The WebAccording to the BBC, the online revolution in Brazil has opened up new opportunities to create small businesses that never existed before. Fabio Seixas is a 35-year-old “serial entrepreneur” whose three previous businesses went bust. But he appears to have struck gold with an innovative way of selling designer T-shirts online, by getting his customers to [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 9:30 am

A Swiss Army Knife For KnittersIt all started with Barbara Barry’s new hobby, knitting. Whenever she’d learn something new she would find herself shopping at her local craft store for that new piece. Eventually those pieces would find themselves lost at the bottom of her knitting bag. So Barry took to the net in search of an [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 8:30 am

Daughter Inspires Homemade Soap Business18wlfi.com: When Lafayette mom, Jenny Reynolds’ young daughter developed eczema, she had no idea it would lead to a new business idea. “We did the steroid creams for a while but we wanted to something more natural,” Reynolds said. After trying a bar of natural soap, she and her husband were hooked. They decided to make the soap [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 7:33 am

High End Fashion For Plus Sized WomenNothing is more troublesome than trying to find high quality, high end fashions… especially if you’re a plus sized woman. The reality is that there is a growing niche in the clothing market, a niche that many stores are not that quick to fill. A plus sized woman herself, Michelle just wasn’t able to find [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 6:02 am

New Bizop Classified Ads This WeekNew listing this week on the Business Opportunities Weblog Classifieds. How To Start A Office Cleaning Business Internet Newbie Goes From Zero To $30, 000 In His First 30 Days! How To Build A Million Dollar Medical Transportation Company How To Start A Home Staging Business How To Buy And Sell Cars For Profit! How To Start A Daycare How To Start [...]
» 10 Mar 2010, 6:30 pm

CNN Money

Salvaged GM dealers in limboThe 661 axed auto dealers General Motors is offering to reinstate aren't ready to pop the champagne just yet. They're still waiting to find out about the terms they'll have to meet to regain their franchises.
» 11 Mar 2010, 1:56 pm

Can you learn to be an entrepreneur?Gregg Fairbrothers wasn't born to business. He grew up in an academic household. "I didn't know a debit from a credit," he admits. Fairbrothers studied earth sciences at Dartmouth in the '70s, got his master's at Rutgers, and eventually moved to Tulsa, where he joined Samson, a gas driller, and earned his chops at the right hand of the company's "hard-nosed founder." He picked up an MBA, but that was "just to get the toolkit," he says. "I learned my business on the job."
» 11 Mar 2010, 3:27 am

Frothy sales for craft beersTurns out booze isn't recession-proof.
» 11 Mar 2010, 1:48 am

Cult soda maker sold off cheapJones Soda, the struggling maker of cult-favorite soft drinks, has agreed to be acquired by rival Reed's at a deep discount in a deal worth just shy of $10 million, the companies said Tuesday.
» 9 Mar 2010, 12:57 pm

IdeaPaint all over your office wallsIn 2002, a group of Babson College entrepreneurship students ran out of room on their whiteboard. They had spent hours brainstorming new business possibilities, and the sudden space crunch threatened to cramp their creativity.
» 8 Mar 2010, 2:48 am

GM offers 661 dealers a repriveShuttered General Motors dealers hoping to get their business back should stay near the phone. General Motors is in the process of calling 661 dealers targeted for shutdown to offer them their franchises back, company executives said Friday afternoon.
» 11 Mar 2010, 8:46 am

Next tech goldmine: Medical recordsWhen Dr. Bradley Block, a family physician in Florida, began to investigate electronic medical record systems for his four-doctor practice, he discovered that many of the largest firms in the field were not particularly interested in his business.
» 9 Mar 2010, 12:51 pm

First spark of a jobs recoveryMain Street businesses shed another 18,000 jobs in February, bring the tally of jobs lost from America's small businesses to nearly 3 million since February 2008, according to a report released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP.
» 3 Mar 2010, 1:13 pm

Congress coughs up cash for loansAdded incentives for banks to make Small Business Administration-backed loans will continue through the end of March, thanks to a fresh funding infusion authorized by Congress as part of Tuesday's bill extending unemployment benefits.
» 5 Mar 2010, 3:59 pm

A fresh sound for soundtracksLike many aspiring rock stars, Jared Gutstadt, 32, used to split his life in half. He held down a day job editing television shows for clients like Disney, MTV and VH1. He kept his nights free for what he really wanted to do: make music.
» 3 Mar 2010, 6:54 am

142 years old and still hotDozens of entrepreneurial hot sauce bottles line up on a typical grocery store shelf, but only two or three boast significant market share. Tops among them is Tabasco, which has been made by the McIlhenny Company out of Avery Island, La., since 1868. The company, still family-run and privately held, won't disclose its financials, but analysts estimate that the iconic brand -- which supplies countless bars, first-class airline cabins and the U.S. military with bottles of its red sauce -- owns about 20%-25% of the market.
» 1 Mar 2010, 1:52 pm

Damn! I Wish

Chocolate poop: Will anyone remember?Choose your Easter basket: A. Candy bunnies B. Chocolate poop, a gummy rat, and a 36″ candy snake? One will be appreciated, the other will be remembered and talked about all year. Lesson: Anything worth doing is worth making remarkable. It’s not harder or more expensive, but it will be remembered, appreciated, and generate long-term word of mouth. (See what [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Q: How do you turn a mail-order customer into an evangelist?A: You give them something to show their friends. Great example: I bought a pair of amazing pants from Cordarounds. Everyone started asking where I got them. Guess what? In the box were a dozen little cards, each featuring a unique product photo and their web address. That gets a dozen face-to-face referrals, 20 cents each. (Get [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Newsletter #773: The “Break the Rules” Issue[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That Email Newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.] Sometimes a great way to refresh your business and earn some buzz is by shaking things up and breaking [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 8:15 am

Starting conversations, one at a timeBrian Goulet makes handmade, inscribed wooden pens. Truly fantastic stuff. But how does a one-person business stand out in a mass-produced, mass-marketing world? A small business can’t advertise their way past the clutter. You can’t do a mass-outreach campaign. But you can use your uniqueness to your advantage. Do what Brian did: Start giving unique products to loud [...]
» 10 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Saving the world isn’t as hard as you thinkCargo ships are giant fuel-guzzling polluters. Sailboats were invented 6,000 years ago. What if we stick a sail on cargo ship? Reduce fuel use, cost, and pollution 35%. SkySails invented it. (More on how GE cargo ships are using it.) Satellite communications need giant dish antennas. Disaster zones don’t have them, and they are too hard to move. What [...]
» 9 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

How to instantly get more press coverage — a cut-and-paste memo to your PR teamDear PR Department: Why are the videos on our website copyrighted? Why are they in some weird proprietary player? Why can’t people just grab them and put them on their blogs and websites? I thought the whole point of making corporate videos was to get press and exposure. Doesn’t making the videos impossible to share defeat the purpose? Aren’t [...]
» 8 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

What if you’re not big enough to get word of mouth?Answer: Team up with friends! Your little business may not generate break-through buzz. But a crew of similar businesses with more to talk about can become a buzzworthy story. 12 local Chicago childrenswear designers joined together to create the Kooky Children’s Shop. They now have enough collective activity to support a group website and pop-up stores around [...]
» 7 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Starbucks’ video case study: Building Meaningful Customer EngagementCome to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on April 7 in Cincinnati to hear Dell, Duke Energy, Procter & Gamble, Hilton Worldwide, AT&T, Tyson Foods, Rogers Communications, and General Mills share case studies in corporate social media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal [...]
» 4 Mar 2010, 1:00 pm

Newsletter #772: The “Team Up” Issue[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That Email Newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.] Finding a good teammate means better ideas, more resources, and better buying power. A few opportunities to make it [...]
» 4 Mar 2010, 8:15 am

Make it impossible to do it wrongHow do you prevent your dental assistant from frying herself with X-rays all day? The “on” button is OUTSIDE of the exam room. There is no way to do it wrong. You have to leave the room to turn the machine on. Your homework: Find one thing that keeps getting screwed up and change the process so it [...]
» 26 Feb 2010, 6:00 am

Newsletter #771: The “Get Great Ideas” Issue[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That Email Newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.] You can never have too many good ideas. How a few smart brands are finding their next big [...]
» 25 Feb 2010, 8:15 am

Duct Tape Marketing

Weekend Favs March ThirteenWeekend Favs March ThirteenThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing ShareWeekend Favs March ThirteenThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing I have a weekend routine where I share a handful of favorite things I tripped upon online this week. I usually about three and don’t go into much detail but suggest you check them out. The image featured in the post is a favorite creative commons image [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 6:14 am

How to Boost Your Customer Referrals in 7 Simple StepsHow to Boost Your Customer Referrals in 7 Simple StepsThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing How to Boost Your Customer Referrals in 7 Simple StepsThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 Customer [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:33 am

Is It Time To Practice a Little Selfish NetworkingIs It Time To Practice a Little Selfish NetworkingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Is It Time To Practice a Little Selfish NetworkingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 You know [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:29 am

How to Build Referrals and Become a Nationally Known SpeakerHow to Build Referrals and Become a Nationally Known SpeakerThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing How to Build Referrals and Become a Nationally Known SpeakerThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 Have [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:24 am

6 Ways to be More Referable than Edward Scissorhands at a Lawn & Garden Convention6 Ways to be More Referable than Edward Scissorhands at a Lawn & Garden ConventionThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing 6 Ways to be More Referable than Edward Scissorhands at a Lawn & Garden ConventionThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:21 am

Ring-Ring: This is WOM calling: Are You Listening?Ring-Ring: This is WOM calling: Are You Listening?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Ring-Ring: This is WOM calling: Are You Listening?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 Women control more [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:14 am

Make a Referral Week GiveawayMake a Referral Week GiveawayThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing ShareMake a Referral Week GiveawayThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Like it or not tax time is upon most small business folks. So, it seems like a good time to give away copies of Intuit’s Turbo Tax Business Software don’t you think. As an element of Make a Referral Week I’m going to draw 15 names [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:02 am

Word of Mouth Versus Key InfluencersWord of Mouth Versus Key InfluencersThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing ShareWord of Mouth Versus Key InfluencersThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This post is a special Make a Referral Week guest post featuring education on the subject of referrals and word of mouth marketing and making 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses – check it out at Make a Referral Week 2010 This summary of an article [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 3:08 am

Escape from Cubicle Nation

Announcing Escape from Cubicle Nation Workshop in a BoxI am thrilled to announce the launch of a new product that has been a long time in the making:  Escape from Cubicle Nation Workshop in a Box. This product was created with video footage of my New York workshop that I delivered last summer at the Roger Smith Hotel to a fantastic group of creative [...]
» 11 Mar 2010, 6:56 am

Kicking Make a Referral Week into GearI am an unabashed fan of John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing. He is not only a small business marketing genius, he is an exceptionally nice guy. So when he asked me to participate in the second annual Make a Referral Week movement over at his blog, I jumped at the chance.  The goal of Make [...]
» 10 Mar 2010, 6:52 pm

Do more great work, even if you live in a cubicleDo more great work with Michael Bungay Stanier from Pamela Slim on Vimeo. I am so glad that there are people like Michael Bungay Stanier working with  people who choose to stay inside corporations by choice or convenience.  Michael has been doing wonderful work at Box of Crayons for many years and has infectious enthusiasm. His book [...]
» 22 Feb 2010, 10:35 am

Winter musingsMy kids are sleeping and I felt inspired to share a few things on my mind. This has been a very wonderful and busy first quarter. I have been creating and running at least four programs.  Watching people learn, grow, get stuck, get unstuck and blast forward into new businesses has been really invigorating. Each day I [...]
» 20 Feb 2010, 5:16 pm

Business advice from a 94-year old barberThe LA Times ran a beautiful story this morning (covered in our local paper the Arizona Republic) about Elvie Lewis, a 94-year old barber in Los Angeles who is still cutting hair. The article says: His regulars travel from as far as Palmdale, Calif., to the three-chair shop on South Normandie Avenue in Los Angeles that Lewis [...]
» 16 Feb 2010, 8:17 am

How to start a business without destroying your relationshipOne of the unspoken stressors for new entrepreneurs is convincing a partner or spouse that starting a business is a smart idea. The rigors of start-up life require a whole new set of communication skills to ensure that you keep your relationship strong while you build your business. In this 30 minute podcast interview (go here to [...]
» 12 Feb 2010, 2:46 pm

The long winding road to doing what you loveThose of you who have followed this blog for the last few years know that I believe in structuring a business around what you love. You also know that it is not always easy to find the business in the passion. What better way to explain the subtleties of this sweet dilemma than this lovely post [...]
» 11 Feb 2010, 11:25 am

How do you want to lead your life?I had a very interesting coaching conversation the other day with a bright young woman. We were talking about her desire to expand her business and play bigger in the world. (And don’t worry, I asked her permission to tell this story. And no, that is not her picture, it is a stock photo [...]
» 8 Feb 2010, 5:30 pm

Your all-or-nothing attitude will bring all stress and no progressI can always tell when new entrepreneurs are starting to crack under the pressure of decisions. They say things like: “I know everyone tells me I have to choose a specific niche, but I really don’t want to limit myself to only working with one type of person!” “What if I spend all this time [...]
» 2 Feb 2010, 5:08 pm

Question for you: what stops you from testing your biz ideas early? What helps?I am really obsessed with the topic of test often and fail fast. I wrote a whole chapter about it in my book, and still feel like I barely scratched the surface. By “test often and fail fast,” I mean the ability to create a very small prototype or sample of your product or service and [...]
» 28 Jan 2010, 1:26 pm

Fast Company

DBA Wants to the be the Muji of Green DesignLet's admit that most green consumer products look terrible--if it's made out of recyclables, odds are, it also looks like it was made by someone wearing patchouli and dreadlocks. DBA, a small start-up based in New York, is looking to change that, with products that are both seductively minimal and fastidiously sustainable. 
» 11 Mar 2010, 10:17 am

You Saw the Exhibition, Now Buy the ArtThe Guggenheim is auctioning off the works displayed in its recent exhibition, Contemplating the Void. Recently, we brought you a slideshow preview of a lovely exhibition at the Guggenheim, Contemplating the Void, which runs through April 28. In it, the Guggenheim invited 200 artists and designers to imagine radical installations for the interior of the museum--fantastical ideas for turning the famous central atrium into something entirely new. Well, if you liked a piece from the show, you might also be able to own it: The Guggenheim is auctioning off 95% of the pieces. The list of works is basically a hit parade of architects and designers you're read about quite often on FastCompany.com--including (covered Snøhettahere); BIG (covered he
» 12 Mar 2010, 11:01 am

Behind the Music: Devendra Banhart's Visual Art Takes Center StageThe Us Weekly readers who know freak-folk musician Devendra Banhart as the hippie-haired beardo on the arm of Natalie Portman probably won't recognize him now. The Portman thing ended a while ago, for one. Plus he's wearing glasses these days, prescribed to him when he started getting headaches from poring over his miniscule drawings for a recent art exhibition, he explains in a call from his home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Also, he'll begin a tour next week to support his latest album, What Will We Be, with a scandalously short-cropped do. "It's like a lesbian librarian," he jokes. Along with the new bookish look, he's coming out as an accomplished visual artist--his second career that technically came first. His first
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:16 pm

Only 10 Tickets Left to Innovation Uncensored!No joke: this is your last chance to get a ticket to attend Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored conference on April 21.Who will be there? Along with the editors and writers from this magazine (which is being honored as a finalist for ASME's Magazine of the Year), you'll get direct access to people from the inspired companies that you read about in Fast Company and FastCompany.com every day. Here's the lineup: Mark Parker, CEO, NIKESusan M. Lyne, CEO, GILT GROUPESean Maloney EVP/GM, INTEL ARCHITECTURE GROUPDave Stewart, SINGER, SONGWRITER, COFOUNDER, EURYTHMICSTero Ojanperä, EVP, NOKIAMcG, FOUNDER, WONDERLAND SOUND AND VISION (and director of Terminator: Salvation)Alex Bogusky, CHIEF CREATIVE INSURGENT, MDC Ashton Kutcher, Actor and Co-F
» 12 Mar 2010, 1:32 pm

WANTED: The JakPak, a Jacket That Converts Into a TentFinally! Our wildest dreams for hobo-tech can now be had for $250. As a regular reader of FastCompany.com, you know that we keep sharp about developments in hobotech: From hobo-conventions for techies to rolling hobo shelters. So it's with great excitement that we bring you the JakPak, a jacket that converts into a tent. Previously, we'd only seen student concepts of this sort of idea. But the JakPak--pardon the egregious, vaguely pornographic name--will be available for $250 this spring. It's loaded with features, suited to three seasons of camping (spring, summer, and fall). The jacket itself is breathable and waterproof--it even has a routing system for iPod cords. Inside, extra fabric in the lining can be unfurled, to create a sleep
» 12 Mar 2010, 11:00 am

Clever Video Installation Encourages Charitable GivingUsing a video projection and text-message billing, a new project opens up hearts and wallets to problem of homelessness. A problem like homelessness hides in plain sight: It's easy not to give, because, as any city dweller knows, you simply don't notice the homeless after a time. And even if you intend to be charitable, you're probably loathe to give change--and neglectful in following up with the right charities. [youtube SWhdY-9DC0M] Those dilemmas are solved in a new installation created for the charity Pathways to Housing created by digitial agency Sarkissian Mason. First, there's a project of a shivering homeless person projected on the open street; viewers can then donate directly to the charity via SMS, via a number shown on the in
» 12 Mar 2010, 10:57 am

Virgin Media to Start Trialing Overground Fiber-Optic Broadband in the U.K.Inhabitants of the picturesque village of Woolhampton, 50 miles west of London, are set to be guinea pigs for an interesting broadband experiment. Virgin Media is to trial running fiber-optic cables from telegraph poles, piping ultra-fast broadband direct to the villagers' homes. Although you might think that it's just case of stringing up the cables on the existing above-ground network, it's apparently a bit more complicated than that. Workmen will have to install new poles, dig up the cable, stick it on the top of the pole, and then flick the switch. If the six-month trial does work, the good burghers of Woolhampton will see their Internet speeds increase tenfold to a tidy 50 mbps. Virgin Media is pretty excited about the project, saying
» 12 Mar 2010, 9:01 am

Tweetmaster General Evan Williams Touts Twitter as a Worldwide Force for DemocracyEvan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, has given a lengthy interview to the BBC World Service, in which he claims that social media is fundamental to the spread of democracy. Or should that be the other way around? In the 30-minute program, which debuts tonight, he also touched on why he turned down an offer from Facebook, and why the company is focusing on money first of all. "Our goal at Twitter is to be a force for good," he said, as he outlined plans for the Web site's expansion throughout the world. "We can't change the world if we can't pay for our servers and employees," he said, while admitting that a scalable business model for Twitter was still very much a work in progress. "What we want to do is build something into the
» 12 Mar 2010, 10:56 am

Bow to Your Robot Overlor... Er, We Mean, Check Out This Butler and Housemaid of Tomorrow!We've joked about the robocalypse a lot, but robot tech really is developing at one hell of a clip. And you may be rubbing, um, shoulders with robo-house assistants sooner than you think, as two recent developments from France and Japan remind us. First up is France's Robosoft with Kompai, who's specifically designed to assist old people at home, with a nod toward the well-known "aging population" problem that's facing developed nations--Japan in particular. (Just be sure to keep your Old Glory robot insurance policy paid up.) There've been several prototype devices over the years that aim to do the same sort of things as Kompai, but they totally lack the simplicity and, let's face it, panache that Kompai demonstrates. He's designed to be
» 12 Mar 2010, 9:30 am

Google-Mapping Your Life: Which Way to Omelet-Town?Christoph Niemann's latest project is an atlas of daily life. Maps aren't just for getting around anymore; they've become so ubiquitous--and so easy to manipulate--that they're more like raw materials that artists, designers, and everyone else use to make sense of the world as it is, or just make a new one. Sharing the shelves with dozens of newly compiled atlases of historic cartography are books like The Map as Art or Strange Maps, which show all the weird, alternative uses people find for boring old geography. There's an imaginary, world-wide metro, or Christian Nold's San Francisco Emotion Map. And now, Christoph Niemann's on the case. Niemann, the man behind the blog-post-now-book I LEGO N.Y., takes on Google Maps as his newest canvas
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:20 am

Infographic: Tracking a Toxic AssetNPR's Planet Money produces an astounding infographic that shows just how bad a bet the banks made when they went crazy for bundles of subprime mortgages. Toxic assets brought our economy to its knees. You remember those, right? They were bundles of sub-prime mortgages, which were sold to banks like bonds. As the bundled mortgages were paid off each month, they promised a steady portion of the cash. For the banks that bought these assets, the problems began when people couldn't pay the mortgages. NPR's Planet Money--which brought you the Giant Pool of Money story that explained the entire mess--wanted to get a more concrete picture of the foreclosure crisis gripping the country. So the bought a single toxic asset, formerly worth $75,000,
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:44 pm

Inc

HBO Launches Series on Young EntrepreneursIf you ever doubted that it’s incredibly hip to be a young entrepreneur these days, consider that HBO is about to launch a new Entouragesque series about the travails of aspiring young business owners. How To Make It In America, which airs Feb. 14 at 10 p.m., follows Ben Epstein (Bryan Greenberg) and Cam Calderon (Victor Rasuk), two twenty-something New Yorkers who decide to launch a premium denim company. Greenberg and Rasuk, along with co-star Lake Bell, who plays Ben’s ex-girlfriend, Rachel, and series creator Ian Edelman, were at the New York Stock Exchange this morning to ring the opening bell. I chatted with them before they headed down to the trading floor. As it turns out, each of the young actors had a little first hand exper
» 8 Feb 2010, 10:38 am

Tom Friedman Gets Why Youth Entrepreneurship MattersIf you missed Tom Friedman’s OpEd piece in The New York Times yesterday on why the Obama administration needs to focus on youth entrepreneurship, please read it here right now. Go ahead; I’ll wait. Friedman suggests that President Obama seems to have all but forgotten the “amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected.” I couldn’t agree more. Sure, there was a meeting of young entrepreneurs at the White House last March, organized by Elliott Bisnow, founder of the Summit Series. In attendance: Jake Nickell (Threadless); Tony Hsieh (Zappos); Aaron Patzer (Mint.com); Evan Williams (Twitter), and 25 or so others. But what has the administration done since then to engage this incredibly entrepre
» 25 Jan 2010, 10:47 am

Happy Holidays, GenY StyleIt's the time of year when our mailboxes and our inboxes are flooded with generic greetings -- electronic and paper -- from the people with whom we've done business throughout the year. The messages are pretty much all the same. We read them and often rack our holiday-fried brains to remember who we met where and what conversations took place. So when I checked my email this morning and saw that Zach Ferres had sent me a link to a video greeting, I guess I was a little cynical. Ah, I thought, the generic holiday video greeting is now replacing the generic email holiday greeting. Zach, the CEO of Bouncehost.com is one of the many young entrepreneurs I've had the privilege of meeting this past year as I've been spreading the word about the f
» 23 Dec 2009, 5:12 am

Is Milo the Next Mint?The ink was barely dry on the check from Intuit when Mint.com founder Aaron Patzer, flush from the software giant’s recent acquisition of his young company, wrote a check of his own last month. The happy recipient was 23-year-old Jack Abraham, who I met in Manhattan a couple of days ago and whose website, Milo.com, moved out of beta today with a million unique users and $4 million in Series A financing. Patzer is an enthusiastic participant in that round. Milo enables shoppers to research items on line and then actually find them in stock at local retailers. So if you’d like to buy, say, Upstarts: How GenY Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business (shameless promotion alert), you’d enter the book’s name and your zip code int
» 9 Dec 2009, 10:17 am

Snoop Dogg Speaks to Young EntrepreneursTo kick off Global Entrepreneurship Week, I spent the morning at the New York Stock Exchange at an event called “Mentoring Madness,” sponsored by NYSE Euronext and the Kauffman Foundation. A roomful of eager, aspiring college entrepreneurs soaked up advice from a panel of inspiring veterans, including Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes, Barry Sternlicht, chairman of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Stephen Hanson, founder of B.R. Guest Restaurants, and rapper/entrepreneur Snoop Dogg (no wonder every seat was filled!). CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo interviewed the group and extracted some pearls of wisdom, relevant to all entrepreneurs, young and not so young alike: 1. Some Rules Are Not Meant To Be Broken. Blake Mycoskie talked ab
» 16 Nov 2009, 2:50 pm

An Upstart's Debut on the Inc. 500When I talk about my new book, Upstarts: How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business, which is out next month, people tend to assume that the bulk of the companies I cover are in the tech industry. And while it’s true that I do profile many awesome companies in that space (like Loopt, Xobni, Mint.com, Aviary, Quirky, and many more), I’ve got to confess that I’m always a little more drawn to companies that have become wildly successful in industries that are a bit more mundane. That was the idea behind my first book, Alpha Dogs, which showcased eight amazing businesses in relatively ordinary industries. So in Upstarts, I continued to seek out those kinds of companies. Among them is College Hunks Hauling Junk, which made
» 13 Aug 2009, 12:14 pm

Hiring Generation YNow that unemployment is at 8.5% and no one is really talking about a labor shortage any longer, can you forget all that nonsense about how you need to pay special attention to training, motivating, and engaging your Generation Y employees? They ought to be happy just to have a job, right? Not so fast, says Bruce Tulgan, author of Not Everyone Gets a Trophy (Jossey-Bass, March 2009). “The downturn in the economy will cause them to keep quiet for a while,” says Tulgan, “but by and large the essential equation remains the same. This generation is being shaped by a lot of forces that cause them to arrive in the workplace with thoughts, words, and actions that are out of sync with the needs of their employers.” Among those forces: ov
» 7 Apr 2009, 2:59 pm

'Tis the Season for Hard Core Capitalism?Jake Kloberdanz, the 25-year-old CEO of Hope Wine, doesn’t think the holidays are a particularly great time to engage in cause branding. For Kloberdanz and his team of seven GenY partners, cause branding is a 24/7, 365-day proposition: the Newport Beach, California company gives away half its profits to charitable organizations associated with breast cancer, autism, AIDS, serving the families of fallen troops, and green causes. “We’re the perfect balance between hard core capitalism and democratic socialism,” says Kloberdanz. (BTW, Kloberdanz incorporated Hope Wine long before President-elect Obama gave the word new meaning, but what a happy coincidence, eh?) It’s not at all unusual for GenY entrepreneurs to embrace social missi
» 23 Dec 2008, 4:47 am

The GenY Spin on Start-UpsI’ve been interviewing young entrepreneurs for almost two years now and one of the re-emerging themes in the businesses they start is dissatisfaction with the status quo. Sure, that’s pretty much true for all entrepreneurs, but this generation of upstarts has its own way of looking at existing products and services and judging them not quite up to snuff for their own needs. Their response: I can do better. The result: businesses like Mint.com, Unigo, and Ignighter. Mint.com, which was featured on our Inc.com 30 Under 30 Coolest Entrepreneurs list, and in our magazine feature, Cool, Determined and Under 30, was started by Aaron Patzer, who was frustrated with personal finance software like Quicken and Microsoft Money. They were “tedio
» 10 Dec 2008, 6:06 am

Social Media Can Get UglyI read a blog post by Chris Brogan this morning that I think everyone using social media for business should take to heart. Here’s part of the post: “Twitter isn’t amazing. The ability to connect to many voices in a collaborative way is amazing. Facebook isn’t the future. Having mutual social environments that permit deeper understanding of each other’s interest is the future. It’s important that we learn how to talk in terms of benefits and not the features.” The simple message here is “it’s not just the medium, stupid, it’s the message.” And that’s exactly were Johnson & Johnson went horribly wrong last week. The company launched a viral advertising campaign for Motrin targeted to new moms who may experience ne
» 21 Nov 2008, 8:11 am

Election 2.0Last week, Brett Jackson, the 22-year-old CEO of a Boulder, CO company called Generation Think Tank, got a call out of the blue from an organization called Protect Colorado’s Future. Would he be interested in a five-day, get out the vote project to convince young Coloradans to vote no on three business and labor-related amendments? The concern was that young people would go to the polls to cast their votes for the next president, but would ignore the amendments. A “hefty” fee was proffered, says Jackson, whose company specializes in non-traditional marketing and advertising. He singed on and got to work immediately, GenY style. “We did four things,” says Jackson. “We had a Facebook strategy which allowed people to update th
» 3 Nov 2008, 2:37 pm

Microsoft Startup Zone

Windows Azure - Microsoft's Cloud PlatformAt Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles, CA today, Ray Ozzie, our Chief Software Architect announced our new cloud operating system, Windows Azure. Windows Azure, built on Windows Server 2008, extends the Windows environment to the cloud for developers who want service hosting, scalable storage, and automated service management of their software applications. Azure is a component of the Azure Services Platform, a set of cloud-based technologies such as storage, identity, and multi-device sync that extend software development for both enterprise server and PC/browser/phone applications with services on the Web. As you can see from the image above, the Azure Services Platform includes SQL Services for relationa
» 27 Oct 2008, 12:57 pm

Microsoft reports strong quarter in turbulent timesMicrosoft  (MSFT) announced revenue of $15B for the quarter ended Sept. 30, a 9% increase over the same period last year. Operating income was $6B, net income $4.4B and earnings per share was $0.48 for the quarter. This was a strong performance in a difficult economic environment. Of course Wall Street immediately looks beyond this to the "guidance" for the next quarter and full year. The guidance was slightly lower than previously forecast, but not much. The stock market reacted favorably moving up in after hours trading. Other highlights for the quarter; Microsoft ended the quarter with $20.7 Billion in cash. Microsoft (Office) profit of $3.3 billion on revenue of $4.95 billion. Client (Vista) profit of $3.26 Billion on
» 24 Oct 2008, 8:47 am

Watch Them Now: Research and Technologies Revealed  We've just put together several video clips about some of the technologies we offer for licensing. Check out the clips - they're 2-3 minutes apiece: 3D Face Modeling takes a photograph and creates a 3D face model. Video clip. Exchange ActiveSync is a communication protocol that enables mobile, over-the-air access to Exchange Server mailbox data. Video clip. Microsoft Interactive Image Cutout makes it easy to remove objects from a photo. Video clip. Microsoft Interactive Display is a interactive display technology. Video clip. Locadio's signal strength technology makes it possible to locate objects in buildings. Video clip. Microsoft Research has developed a solution to create weathering effects. Video clip. Microsoft Sync Framewo
» 22 Oct 2008, 10:33 am

Where are They Now—Fractal:Edge Revisited  Fractal:Edge  NEW YORK, NY http://www.fractaledge.com   Wins 7 of Top 10 Investment Banks as Customer and Highlighted Twice by Gartner Fractal:Edge Limited is harnessing fractal technology (the power of mathematically defined geometric curiosities) to solve the complex problem of how to present large amounts of data visually. Built using Microsoft® tools and the .NET framework, its Fractal Maps are dynamic displays that leave pie charts, bar graphs and pivot tables in the dust. Fractal Maps give users the ability to digest huge amounts of information faster and more easily than ever before. Explains Gervase Clifton-Bligh, Vice President of Product Strategy and Development
» 20 Oct 2008, 1:00 pm

Completing the Technology Ecosystem - PACTPlug and Play is one of the valley’s most popular startup incubators. They house several hundred startups in their facilities. Plug and Play has been doing a great job of complementing their business acceleration efforts with offline events. Their next big event, called the “Plug & Play Acceleration Collaboration Track (PACT)” will be held on October 20 and 21, 2008 at their main offices in Sunnyvale, CA. The speaker list is extremely impressive. Dan’l Lewin, corporate VP of the Emerging Business Team at Microsoft will be doing a keynote at the event on October 21. And I will be participating on a panel called “Completing the Ecosystem” alongside key representatives from Cisco, Sun, Yahoo!, Orange and Symantec. The agenda look
» 17 Oct 2008, 6:26 pm

Start a company in a recession? Absolutely!Now is a great time to start a company. Why? Because great people are available to join you, VCs are loaded with cash, and office space is available cheap. Everything is cheap and readily available in a recession.   Paul Graham says "If we've learned one thing from funding so many startups, it's that they succeed or fail based on the qualities of the founders."  "Which means that what matters is who you are, not when you do it." In good times all the really great people are busy doing fun projects...and not available to join you in a startup. In bad times projects are cut, people are laid off, and big companies retrench to improving the existing stuff. New projects don't get any budget. So, great people get bored and start looking fo
» 17 Oct 2008, 8:03 am

MIT Enterprise Forum on Advertising NetworksThe MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge will host a panel conversation on October 28th to discuss the re-emergence of advertising networks and their growing role in reaching an increasingly fragmented audience.   I will be moderating the keynote panel which will include leaders from advertising agencies and ad networks. We will explore topics including the impact of new economics for the advertising inventory value chain, targeting methods and the future role of advertising exchanges in the ecosystem. We will also dig deep into how "attention data", the social graph, rankings, ratings, preferences, and click stream data may be used to better target advertisements.   Panelists: Ron Belanger -VP of agency development for Yahoo. Prior to
» 15 Oct 2008, 8:17 pm

Silverlight 2 Released to the WebYesterday, we announced our release of Silverlight 2 to the web. Silverlight 2 builds on its predecessor, Silverlight 1, which brought HD video and interactive animations via the browser plugin. The most compelling aspect about Silverlight 2 is that it brings the .NET runtime to the browser. This means developers who are familiar with any of the .NET Languages (languages like VB, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby) can leverage their knowledge to create rich interactive applications that run in a web browser. Cross-browser support Silverlight was designed with cross-browser and cross-platform support in mind. Silverlight supports Internet Explorer and Firefox on the PC and Safari and Firefox on the Mac. Through our friends at Novell
» 14 Oct 2008, 11:03 am

The Myth of Data Center Economies of ScaleOver the past year, current and aspiring cloud infrastructure providers have been locked in an arms race to build the biggest, baddest data centers out there, preferably somewhere in the boondocks with cheap land and big waterfalls. Yet in a recent paper, James Hamilton suggests that this scramble for “bigger is better” may be misguided. First, he points out that while the innards of a mega data center may be bulging with commodity, off-the-shelf IT equipment, the data center building itself is extremely proprietary and frightfully expensive, ringing in at about $200M per site. Part of this hefty price tag is due to massive (and wasteful) over-engineering to ensure that the data center never, ever goes down, since the failure of a mega
» 13 Oct 2008, 10:48 pm

Corebridge and Viapost case studiesWe've recently published case studies on two of the companies on the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program, Corebridge and Viapost. Both are great examples of the business benefits that startup companies can get from using Microsoft technologies. Through the Accelerator Program we have provided these companies with some additional assistance, but the many advantages that the technology provides are of course open to any startup company that chooses the Microsoft platform.
» 13 Oct 2008, 1:51 pm

Investigate, Innovate and InteroperateI often get asked what the “IP” in the Microsoft IP licensing team I work in stands for. It’s “intellectual property”. IP licensing is a possible way to innovate, creating new products. It is also an opportunity to interoperate, finding ways to make products work together. Drilling down a little further IP licensing offers a way to innovate by using the latest research and technologies from Microsoft without spending years trying to create your next big thing alone. The IP licensing team also offers protocols, protocol specifications and components for licensing to help companies interoperate. This help might be especially important for companies developing high value add-ons and feature-rich solutions that run on Microsof
» 11 Oct 2008, 4:15 pm

Seth Godin

We can do itToo often, it seems, this attitude is missing from teams, organizations or the community. It's missing because people are quick to opt out of the 'we' part. "What do you mean, we?" they ask. It's so easy to not be...
» 13 Mar 2010, 4:03 am

Naming tool of the weekOleg points us to http://wordoid.com/ It's a conjugator, brainstorming and domain finder, all in one. Nicely done. I've done a few posts on naming to help you get started. Here's an old one too. And while I'm sharing links, here's...
» 13 Mar 2010, 2:31 am

Wondering aroundI stumbled on a great typo last night. "Staff in the lobby were wondering around..." Wandering around is an aimless waste of time. Wondering around, though, that sounds useful. Wondering why this product is the way it is, wondering how...
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:16 am

Helping spread the wordSince Linchpin was published six weeks ago, I've gotten some terrific email. Most of it is about individuals who used the ideas in the book to instigate a process of self-reinvention or validation. Some of the best mail, though, has...
» 11 Mar 2010, 11:56 am

Creating the list...is not the same as obeying the list. Do you make the list you check off, follow and work on every day? When does it get made? Who approves it? Do you identify tasks or perform them? If you had...
» 11 Mar 2010, 2:21 am

The Wordperfect AxiomWhen the platform changes, the leaders change. Wordperfect had a virtual monopoly on word processing in big firms that used DOS. Then Windows arrived and the folks at Wordperfect didn't feel the need to hurry in porting themselves to the...
» 10 Mar 2010, 2:35 am

The factory in the centerOld time factories had a linear layout, because there was just one steam engine driving one drive shaft. Every machine in the shop had to line up under the shaft (connected by a pulley) in order to get power. That...
» 9 Mar 2010, 2:24 am

You rockThis is deceptive. You don't rock all the time. No one does. No one is a rock star, superstar, world-changing artist all the time. In fact, it's a self-defeating goal. You can't do it. No, but you might rock five...
» 8 Mar 2010, 2:07 am

Losing Andrew CarnegieCarnegie apparently said, "Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory." Is there a...
» 7 Mar 2010, 2:43 am

Spring reading list--big ideas for idea peopleReaders have told me that they enjoy my off-the-wall book lists. Here's another. Science fiction, Tom Peters, Krista Tippett and even a book for touring musicians. Enjoy them. And don't forget it's okay to share books. They don't wear out.
» 6 Mar 2010, 9:44 am

Pulitzer PrizefightingPeople are drawn to existing competitions like moths to a flame. It's precisely the wrong way to succeed. Lots of journalists take significant detours in their careers and their writing in order to win a Pulitzer. Maybe not to actually...
» 6 Mar 2010, 2:36 am

Shoestring Branding

Book Review: ZAG by Marty NeumeierI was so impressed with the presentation Marty Neumeier put together for The Brand Gap, that I decided to order his second book, Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands, which deals with the subject of differentiation (when everyone else zigs, zag!). This book is a great manual and reference guide on how to [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:20 pm

Are you working on your brand associations?In my recent trip to Brazil I took a picture of this shirt, which I think vividly exemplifies a very important attribute of great brands: their ability to generate clear and consistent mental associations as soon as somebody hears their name. The words on this shirt are exactly what comes to mind when we hear “Brazil”.  [...]
» 9 Mar 2010, 2:48 pm

Water bottles, coffee mugs and the power of brandsThe following example is a testament to the power of brands. Head over to your closest Whole Foods and you’ll probably see this Sigg reusable water bottle display: Each bottle sells for $19.99 or more. If you head to Walgreens, you will find very similar bottles selling for $3.99.  The difference?: the brand is not Sigg. Keep browsing through [...]
» 29 Dec 2009, 6:41 pm

Niche Marketing Example: Bamboo Bike StudioEntrepreneurial creativity never ceases to amaze me. I was going through some Twitter feeds today, and found a link to this excellent report on NPR about a company called Bamboo Bike Studio, based in Brooklyn, NY. Three entrepreneurs, Justin Aguinaldo, Sean Murray and Marty Odlin are the force behind this remarkable outfit that is, in [...]
» 23 Dec 2009, 7:57 pm

Is it personal or is it just business?Can we really separate our personal life from our personal brand? When every person is a channel and broadcasting something to the world is as easy as sending a tweet, everything we say or do is pretty much out in the open. If we say one thing and do another we will sooner [...]
» 4 Dec 2009, 10:04 pm

Social Media Marketing: A Three-Legged Stoolhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/marc0047/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 With social media consultants popping up faster than Realtors in 2006, we need to set the record straight: knowing how to use the tools doesn’t make you a social media expert. Like the proverbial three-legged stool, using social media effectively means paying attention to three basic elements: Strategy Tools People Strategy: Before you [...]
» 26 Nov 2009, 6:31 pm

When a Company Name Can Build a Brandhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/paulofierro/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Your company name can be one of your most important brand signals. In some cases, like in the example I’m about to show you, a name alone can build a brand. In 1999 the HVLS Fan Company, a manufacturer of large industrial fans, opened for business in Lexington, Kentucky. HVLS [...]
» 21 Nov 2009, 8:27 am

Burger King Gets BrandingI live five minutes away from Burger King’s headquarters, and today I passed by a BK restaurant located next to their building.  This is one of the few restaurants that sports BK’s recently launched new look.  The new BK, more upscale and futuristic (and more sit down than drive through) clearly stands out from other [...]
» 10 Nov 2009, 5:04 pm

Sandbagginghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/chaimann/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 A few weeks ago I took my car to the dealer for an oil change and the clerk promised it would be ready in about 1 ½ hours. Once the car was ready, he presented me with a questionnaire which asked, among other things, if the car was delivered within [...]
» 7 Nov 2009, 12:25 pm

Rediscovering Your Personal Brand AssetsI was browsing through my advance copy of the next issue of Personal Branding Magazine, and found an interesting interview with MC Hammer. Hammer, as you probably know, is a hip hop artist who had his fifteen minutes of fame back in the 1980’s, and after many years under the media radar has now [...]
» 31 Oct 2009, 6:52 pm

SmallBiz Trends

How “Built to Sell” Could Help You Become a MillionaireI first heard about John Warrillow’s “Built to Sell: Turn Your Business into One You Can Sell” from Anita Campbell.  She had gotten her hands on a super-early preview copy (still spiral bound) and had stayed up all night reading it.  She was so excited about this book, that I begged her to give it to me so I could take a peek too. Well, I finally got my very own hard-back copy in the mail last week.  Now I can finallyRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsHow “Built to Sell” Could Help You Become a Millionaire
» 13 Mar 2010, 6:05 am

Small Business News March 12, 2010There’s plenty of news for small business owners out there as innovations change the market and hard times yield unusual opportunities. Keep a perspective with our regular selection of small business news exclusively gathered by the Small Business Trends team Monday through Friday in our small business roundup. Here are the news items and blogs we’re watching today. Leadership Small business in the driver’s seat? In hard economic times when statistics show small businesses may be the answer, it’s time to step up. TomRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsSmall Business News March 12, 2010
» 12 Mar 2010, 3:21 pm

Costs Are SkyrocketingPart of me is always on the lookout for words, phrases, or situations I might use in a cartoon. After so many years it’s not even a conscious thing anymore. It’s just always there below the surface, and occasionally something trips my cartoon radar and I jot it down. I remember hearing a business story on the radio and the phrase “costs are skyrocketing” popped out at me. It’s so common that you generally ignore it, but “skyrocketing,” when examined more closely, opens up a lotRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsCosts Are Skyrocketing
» 12 Mar 2010, 4:00 am

Small Business News March 11, 2010It’s that time again. Time for our daily roundup of top small business news from blogs we follow and other sources handpicked for your benefit by the Small Business Trends team. If you have a friend who values small business news, share this post with them today. Marketing What’s the buzz, tell me what’s happening? Here are some important guidelines for anyone interested in using Google Buzz in your marketing arsenal. Marketing Professor Don’t fail to plan when it comes to marketing. Four simple steps canRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsSmall Business News March 11, 2010
» 11 Mar 2010, 1:27 pm

Automatic IRAs: What Would They Mean to Small Business?Among the raft of recent proposals that President Obama announced during his State of the Union address was a plan to help Americans increase their retirement savings. As reported by AP, the proposed package would guarantee all Americans access to a retirement plan through the workplace, increase tax credits to reward retirement savings, and increase regulation of 401(k) plans. The proposal small-business owners will be most interested in is the “automatic IRA.” The proposed program would require employers who don’t offer aRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsAutomatic IRAs: What Would They Mean to Small Business?
» 11 Mar 2010, 9:43 am

Yelp Launches Free Webinars For SMB OwnersAs part of their mission to bring value to small business owners, Yelp is introducing the Yelp for Your Business webinar series that will offer advice on how SMBs can market their businesses using the site. It’s a smart move for both Yelp and its users. And even better, the first one kicks off this evening! Appropriately, the first Yelp webinar will help small business owners learn how they can use the free tools on Yelp to promote their business, which IRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsYelp Launches Free Webinars For SMB Owners
» 11 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Small Business News March 10, 2010From marketing to startups, operations to policy that directly affects small business, the small business news roundup from Small Business Trends has it all. Here’s the latest installment of what we hope will become an indispensable part of your daily small business fix. Marketing Seth Godin talks “Creative Value.” Learn more about what he had to say at the recent “Art of Marketing Conference” in Toronto. Biz Money Matters How helpful is Facebook for B2B Marketing? Tom Pick thinks aloud on the subject with some illuminatingRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsSmall Business News March 10, 2010
» 10 Mar 2010, 2:12 pm

Introducing “Business.gov Insights”: Tax Season Preparedness; Tips for Avoiding Filing PitfallsDid you know that the Small Business Administration offers small business owners an online forum to share information and experiences with other business owners and subject matter experts alike? Business.gov, which has long operated as the government’s official website for small business, not only brings together resources from across government to help small businesses start-up, operate and grow, it also operates an online Community (with more than 8,000 members) that enables business owners to interact directly with government and industry professionals, whileRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsIntroducing “Business.gov Insights”: Tax Season Preparedness; Tips for Avoiding Filing Pitfalls
» 10 Mar 2010, 11:01 am

FourSquare Adds Analytics, Real Business ValueLast summer Google made SMBs owners very happy by releasing a new business dashboard for sites that claimed their Google Business Listing. The addition put actionable data and stats directly into SMB owners’ hands so they could learn about the folks visiting their site and act on the information provided. Well, now it’s FourSquare’s turn to grown up. Yesterday everyone’s favorite location-based social network revealed new plans to provide SMBs owners a free dashboard and analytics tool to give them  importantRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsFourSquare Adds Analytics, Real Business Value
» 10 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Looming Commercial Real Estate Crisis Threatens Small BusinessesRecently I blogged about President Obama’s proposal to help community banks lend more money to entrepreneurs. For many small business owners in the Great Recession, community banks have been a lifeline. But that lifeline could be about to snap. The Congressional Oversight Panel, which monitors the financial bailout, just released a report on the state of commercial real estate lending—and the news is not good. “There’s been an enormous bubble in commercial real estate, and it has to come down,” panel chair ElizabethRead MoreFrom Small Business TrendsLooming Commercial Real Estate Crisis Threatens Small Businesses
» 10 Mar 2010, 3:29 am

The Entrepreneurial Mind

We've MovedThe Entrepreneurial Mind has moved. Nothing has changed other than our address. After almost five years of blogging we had started to outfgrow our old digs. So decided it was time to make a move. It is the same blog...
» 27 Jul 2008, 6:16 am

VCs Have Regional FlavorsWhen first entering into the world of VC funding entrepreneurs often overlook in the importance of understand the local "flavor" of VCs. VCs tend to be more geographic in their investing -- they tend to favor deals closer to home....
» 25 Jul 2008, 8:14 am

Entrepreneurship as Tool to End World PovertyThe Social Equity Venture Fund (SEVEN), just launched a competition to develop new indicators and models for investment in emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises. The competition is open to everyone, and is offering $50,000 in funds awarded for the...
» 23 Jul 2008, 9:26 am

So Why the Long Face, Professor?For many years I have been the optimist. The enthusiasm that I experienced in my daily interactions with entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs was contagious. The data that was showing a shift to an entrepreneurial economy gave me so much hope...
» 22 Jul 2008, 6:26 am

Small Business Owners Are Hunkering DownI have been writing my advice to entrepreneurs on what they need to do to weather the current and near future economic storms. But just what are they all actually doing? A new poll from NFIB offers some insight. Here...
» 21 Jul 2008, 9:39 am

Venture Capital Going to Shore Up Later Stage BusinessesOne of the best barometers of the economy is the behavior of venture capitalists and angel investors. The stage of investment is one key to follow. When they shift to later stage deals as they have the past few years,...
» 21 Jul 2008, 5:41 am

Your Business Should Match Your LifestyleMy column in this week's Tennessean: When people use the term "lifestyle business," they usually are referring to something small and even part time. I would argue that every business should be viewed as a lifestyle business. If you choose...
» 21 Jul 2008, 5:32 am

The Two V's of the Good EntrepreneurMany of you know about the Four P's that make up a marketing strategy -- product, price, promotion, and place. Those of you who read this blog regularly or have had me in class also know about the Three M's...
» 17 Jul 2008, 5:51 am

Leadership and FailureOver the years I have become more comfortable using my missteps and failures as lessons and examples for my students. Of course, they seem to love to hear the success stories. But they need to learn that hardship, challenge and...
» 17 Jul 2008, 5:37 am

Inflation Heats UpThe inflation news released today is not good news. We had a 1.1% increase in the CPI in just the past month, according to a report released today by the US Department of Labor. This is the kind of double...
» 16 Jul 2008, 12:26 pm

So Many Good Blogs, So Little TimeBen Cunningham sent along a link to a great blog called Church of the Customer that focuses on building customer relationships. Nothing could be more important in these uncertain economic times. The blog authors offer a variety of helpful inform...
» 15 Jul 2008, 10:29 am