Happy 2010! It’s a new year and new opportunities. And what better way to kick off the new year than to winn a new FLIP video camcorder. As a way to promote the relaunch of their website, High Tech Connect is raffling off this fun, wacky video camcorder, this month, January 20th. Become a Facebook FAN and you’ll be automatically entered in their raffle.
Check out their website at: http://www.htconnect.com
What better way to launch a website, than to give away a great prize. High Tech Connect, a leading marketing communications placement agency did just that. They launched their new website with a social media blast, and encouraged everyone to signup as a FACEBOOK FAN. All fans will be entered into a drawing to win a FLIP video camcorder to be raffled off on January 20, 2010.
Goto: http://www.htconnect.com to sign up for a chance to win!
Succesful Thinkers will be doing a meetup and mixer for small businesses at the next Sacramento Kings basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 6 at 6pm.
http://successfulthinkersmeetup.com/cs/events/sacramento-kings-tickets.aspx
Great article on the need for change in SBA to refocus its agenda on helping small businesses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-chapman/obamas-first-year-short-c_b_346355.html
Excerpt:
- “End the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.” Since 2003, more than 15 federal investigations have found that billions in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms in the U.S. and some of the biggest firms in Europe and Asia. In February of 2008, President Obama acknowledged the magnitude of the problem by releasing the statement, “It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.” http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php
One of the challenging issues when it comes to the small small business is healthcare. It’s an absolute must, but who can afford it? As we continue to make cuts to shore up the bottom line, the cost of healthcare continues to rise. It is impossible to recruit and retain talent without offering healthcare benefits. Even then, trying to manage the paperwork when a claim is made becomes a major project in itself. And trying to keep up with the annual changes in the contracts becomes another added chore.
The proposed healthcare reform is supposed to benefit small businesses. But how much additional work will it take to reap those benefits? With every change comes a ton of paperwork that ultimately costs more to manage.
What will the new healthcare reform bill look like? We’ll have tø see. Rather than new “hoops to jump through” we need real reform, and real cost reductions that will directly benefit our bottom line.
Dealing with the everyday struggles of managing a business, we don’t need any extra burden thrown on our backs. It is a constant uphill battle for us business owners. Yet, one glaring issue that seems far out in the distance strikes a cord when I think about the legacy we will leave for the next generations of small businesses.
As the global population continues to explode (6.8 Billion people and counting) and the world’s natural resources depleting, (http://record.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/12786.html) it is the small business that will feel the squeeze. Already reeling in tax obligations and healthcare challenges, we have limited resources to take on any new challenges.
Yet, in the distant horizon, is the threat of global Climate Change (http://www.siliconvalleygreenball.com/site/?page_id=27). What we do today, will affect what will happen tomorrow. And for small businesses to continue and thrive, we need to change how we do business and improve the environment. We need to come together, united as small businesses to do what we can to “do the right thing” and still be profitable. Because we are the most resilient, savvy and resourceful kind of people, the small business owner will adapt and persevere. It is our nature. Our challenge and our opportunity. http://www.blogactionday.org/
Power to the small business owner.
P.S. Tell us what you are doing to slow global warming and improve the environment.
Great article by Tom Kaneshige, writer for CIO.com on “Five Fixes for Apple’s App Store.
From the Google voice fiasco to this week’s Pepsi pick-up line app, Apple’s vaunted app store is showing its weaknesses. CIO.com’s Tom Kaneshige suggests five steps Apple should take to make the store better for users and developers.
THU, OCTOBER 15, 2009 — CIO — In a little more than a year, Apple’s App Store has already become one of the world’s great retail success stories—but this doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The App Store has taken its share of lumps from critics who, for the most part, think Apple is too draconian in its management.
http://www.cio.com/article/505135/Five_Fixes_for_Apple_s_App_Store
When we talk about big business vs small business, I usually think of big business as a global, multinational corporation such as IBM, and a small business as “Joe the barber down the street”. On making millions in revenue, the other getting by month-to-month and putting in 60+ hours barely getting by.
Big businesses have clout, leverage, resources, and the capital to
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Drew Carey, comedian and host of The Price is Right, recently set up an account on Twitter. At first, he said he’d donate $100,000 to Livestrong if he gets 100,000 followers by the end of October, but people started following so quickly CBS got involved and upped the ante to $1M. Livestrong is Lance Armstrong’s NPO dedicated to finding the cure for Cancer, with the now famous yellow plastic wristband as its brand. Lance is also an avid Tweeter, his tweets making news during the Tour De France. You can join the action by joining Twitter at http://www.twitter.com. If you already have an account, you can check these links
http://www.twitter.com/drewfromtv http://www.twitter.com/livestrong http://www.twitter.com/lancearmstrong
Why it interests us? Twitter is a great way to get people involved in a cause. It’s the Web 2 equivalent of the Phone Calling Tree. If the cause has a celebrity around it. It’s been an important source of volunteers, attendance, donations and promotion for Livestrong. If you have something to announce, you can very quickly reach an audience of 1 million people with a very high response rate. If they are already following you, they know you, your values, your brand, are listening and ready to act.
Which is why CBS is willing to donate $1M so Drew Carey can get 1M followers. How much are each of those followers worth? After tax savings, somewhere in the neighborhood of $700k or $.75/follower. And if you have a 10-20% response rate, that’s a bargain.
Internet marketing has a bottom line. And it’s low, very low.
It’s great that mobile devices can now display your company’s website on its browser. But wait. Can you read it? How combersome to have to zoom in and scroll around, then zoom out to find the information you need. Viewing websites on a mobile device can be extremely frustrating. That’s why mobile device friendly websites is perfect for the business person on the go. No more zooming in and out and scrolling around. The type is formated specifically for mobile devices in a simple easy-to-read layout. The best sites don’t just take the content of a website and reflow it, but edit the content specifically for reading on a very small screen. Only the essentials.
As this is a new but growing field, it will be interesting to see how websites will evolve to accomodate good copy and graphics that will be of value to the mobile warrior.
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