Small Business Tools

Deception Charges for FB

Facebook on Tuesday agreed to a Federal Trade Commission order that bars Facebook from deceiving consumers about its privacy practices and requires it to submit to monitoring for 20 years.

The sanction stems from privacy setting changes that Facebook made in December 2009, without asking users’ permission. The company told users they could keep their information on Facebook private, when, in fact, it repeatedly allowed information to be shared and made public.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg insisted in a blog posting that the company has a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information, but acknowledged that they’ve made a bunch of mistakes.

The FTC’s sanction comes as Facebook readies itself for a high-profile initial public offering of stock, expected next spring. Meanwhile, the company has come under rising criticism in the U.S. Read more…

Opening Big Without Spending a Fortune

This year, there was one Thanksgiving leftover that stuck with me more than the buttermilk pecan pie. It was a story my sister shared of a turkey-related grand opening event that sounded especially memorable. When Academy Sports and Outdoors, a Houston chain, opened a location in Auburn, Ala., a few years ago, it teamed up with a couple of local radio personalities to host a turkey-tossing event.

The toss started at 6 a.m. and my sister, Juli, who teaches school, stopped by on her way to work hoping, truth be told, that she wouldn’t run in to anyone she knew. With three kids playing sports, she decided the prospect of winning a $500 gift certificate was worth the potential embarrassment. So she competed in the ladies high-heel toss category. “We got there at 7:30 a.m., she told us as we passed around our own turkey, and it was cold, but there were already several hundred people there lining up to toss a turkey, laughing and drinking coffee it was like a big fair. And

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Tags: Opening, Opening Big

But Can You Run a Company Without Performance Reviews?

In my years in business Ive seen performance reviews from several angles, good and bad. As my employee numbers grew past a handful to several dozen, the reviews seemed more necessary than they were when we were smaller.

One of my earlier employees took the job offer only on the condition of two reviews per year.

But I was never comfortable with them. My management style was working shoulder to shoulder with the people, when we were a smaller team. It was hard to suddenly get into a boss-subordinate mode and deliver a report card.

The people who worked for me would tell you, I often put it off, and I didnt do that good a job when I did it.

On the other hand, people need and want reviews because they want to have some sense of how theyre doing. And as your company grows, it needs management too, as well as leadership. And reviews help people keep on track.

I caught an interesting post called Should Performance Reviews Live — or Die? posted by the Summers Hospitality Group earlier this week. I

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Tags: Performance Reviews, Reviews

CH2M Hill held an open house on Nov. 3

The CH2M Hill Corpus Christi Office held a Nov. 3 open house for their new location in the downtown Tower II building. At the event, CH2M HILL awarded a $15,000 Dollars for Doers Grant to Friends of the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Clean-Up. A $1,000 grant also was presented to Jeremy Barnes of the Boy Scouts South Texas Council. CH2M HILL encourages community volunteerism from its staff and awards Dollar for Doers grants to non-profits.

Tags: Ch2m Hill, Nov, Open House

The Dos and Don’ts of Business Christmas Cards

What type of Christmas cards should you send? What should you write inside the card? What’s the proper way to address your business Christmas cards?

And what’s the deadline for having Christmas cards done and in the mail? For cards that are being sent nationally, December 15th, according to Canada Post. See their Holiday Mail Inside Canada Deadlines for other dates.

Tags: Business Christmas, Business Christmas Cards, Cards, Christmas Cards

Phil Fernandez of Marketo: Conducting The Orchestra

Breaking through the noise requires coordinated communication to attract prospects, turn them into leads and ultimately convert them into buyers. Phil Fernandez, CEO and co-founder of Marketo, likes to think of marketing automation as the orchestra conductor and he firmly believes in that old saying, “It’s cheaper to keep a customer than to acquire a customer.”

In this interview, Phil spoke with Brent Leary about how the sweet music of marketing automation can simplify the process for even the smallest businesses.

Small Business Trends: Can you tell us about your background and Marketo?

Phil Fernandez: For the last 20 years I have been working on the intersection of technology and marketing. I have seen the need for technology to support modern marketing and the great opportunities to develop products for companies large and small. We st

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Tags: Marketo, Phil Fernandez

Playing Xbox and 5 More Reasons To Consider College At Home

How can college at home be worth it? Almost every stereotype about higher education requires us to imagine a sunny multi-ethnic campus, possibly with an out-of-control frat and a vindictive dean. That’s because every stereotype about college misses the point of the place. Universities aren’t meant to be co-ed dance parties where all the education can be taken care of in a quick montage jammed between 90 minutes of extended party scenes. College is about actually learning things, and that is something you can do at home.

Studying from home has a host of advantages. You can set up your environment to work the way you want to, without commuting or queueing or finding that the book you desperately need has been checked out of the library for a month solid because exams are coming up. If you have an Internet connection you have everything you need to complete college at home. You don’t even need a printer – a memory key and a local printing shop will allow you to get hard copies of what you need.

A major benefit of college at home is flexible timing. You’re

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Tags: Home