Small Business Tools
Advanced small business tools help to avoid a big problems with the finance planing strategy.
Posted by Brian Reed on April 18th, 2012 ~
0 Comments When it comes to social media, the old adage, build it and they will come simply doesnt apply. Putting up a Facebook page and creating a Twitter or YouTube account just isnt enough. In order for businesses to use social media effectively, they must leverage it by building it into their business processes to truly give them the competitive advantage. Sandy Carter, Vice President of Social Business Evangelism at IBM joins Brent Leary for an in-depth discussion on becoming a social business.
Small Business Trends: Can touch on how you became Vice President of Social Business Evangelism at IBM?
Sandy Carter: At IBM we like to help our clients in new markets. As we do that, part of what we like to do for clients is to add value. Teach them about the new market and show them the value and actually become the social business ourselves.
So Brent, for the last four or five years in my businesses, I have used social to grow my businesses. Wh
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Posted by Sara Lopez on April 14th, 2012 ~
0 Comments Now here’s a prize that’s really worth going for – a once-in-a-lifetime, one-on-one mentorship opportunity with a business leader who has already been where you are and has the knowledge and connections to help you succeed.
And not just any business leader either – The business leaders who will act as mentors include the pioneer of horizontal drilling, which revolutionized oil and gas exploration, one of Fortune Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women,” as well as America’s second youngest self-made billionaire – only behind Mark Zuckerburg.
The Acton Challenge, presented by the Acton School of Business (Where do you know that name from? Acton’s MBA program in Entrepreneurship is one of the top ranked MBA programs in Entrepreneurship in North America), is actually three separate competitions, one for each of three industries:
How it Works
There are three phases to the Acton Challenge: Qualification, The Arena and The Main Event.
I wish I was in one of these fields so that I could enter!
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Posted by Sara Lopez on April 10th, 2012 ~
0 Comments Facebook and other social networks have become a large part of many Americans daily lives, and businesses and organizations can gain a better understanding of a job applicant by looking at an applicants Facebook profile. But growing privacy concerns have led some social media users to restrict access to their personal information. To get around this, some employers have requested login credentials to view the applicant’s otherwise restricted social media presence. Wisnefski said this could be the tipping point for social media privacy laws.
Lawmakers also appear poised to take action to protect social media privacy. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) asked the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate this practice. Wisnefski wrote, “Eventually, we will continue to see strengthening of support from legislators in Washington that could push for strict privacy laws banning this practice and calling for penalties on agencies that violate social media privacy concerns.”
Tags: Facebook
Posted by Sara Lopez on April 5th, 2012 ~
0 Comments In my last post, Susan Martin, a business coach, pressed Alexandra Mayzler to articulate her vision for her company, Thinking Caps Tutoring. Ms. Mayzler was clear that she wanted to see a revolution in education that elevated the importance of study skills. She was less clear, however, about what role her company might play in this revolution.
Next, Ms. Martin turned to Susan Parker, who owns Bari Jay, which makes and sells bridesmaid and prom dresses. “My vision is much shorter than Alexandras,” Ms. Parker said. “I just want to have more control over my manufacturing.”
“Let’s take it one step further,” Ms. Martin responded. “If you had more control, what would that allow you to do?”
“To grow the way I want to grow,” Ms. Parker said. “Right now, I’m so dependent on how many dresses I can get made and where and how that I’m constantly worried.” Last year, she said, Bari Jay grew so quickly that she wondered if its success would lead to its demise. “If people can’t get the dresses they ordered, they’re not going to want to do business with you,” she said. Things worked out in the end and have
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Tags: Coach, Coach Owner
Posted by Brian Reed on April 1st, 2012 ~
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Posted by Sara Lopez on March 28th, 2012 ~
0 Comments Ive always said that what business is right for you depends not on the market, or whats hot, but on who you are. So look in the mirror. Today I stumbled on two excellent blog posts that put this in good perspective.
First, What Kind of Startup is Right for You, a post by Nellie Akalp on Mashable today. Nellie goes right to the heart of an often misunderstood core concept of small business, which is that the best business for you depends almost entirely on who your are, what you want, and what you do.
The best business is always a matter of context. You look in the mirror and figure out who you are, then you apply that to business. Heres just a quick piece, two paragraphs:
Create a list of skills that covers what you’re good at and areas where you’re a subject matter expert. Then
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Tags: Posts
Posted by Brian Reed on March 24th, 2012 ~
0 Comments Site preparation work continues for a $1 billion pipe mill in Gregory.
TPCO America and its parent company, Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corp. broke ground on the project in August, which is considered to be the largest single Chinese investment in an American manufacturing facility.
At full operation, about 800 workers will recycle scrap steel and mix it with iron to produce 500,000 metric tons of seamless steel pipe each year, which is used as casing in the oil and gas industry.
The company envisions the plant playing a major role in boosting domestic supplies to meet the demand for this type of pipe and eventually export pipe as production grows, spokeswoman Leah Olivarri said.
The construction is split in two phases. Corpus Christi-based Ewing Construction Co.
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Tags: Billion Pipe, Billion Pipe Mill, Gregory, Pipe Mill
