Is it Really the Thought That Counts?

#211-customergiftsFinding the right holiday gifts for clients can be tricky. I’ve given clients everything from baskets filled with yummy chocolate, to Mrs. Prindable’s apples, to donations to charity.  If you spend too much, the gift may come across as a bribe or worse, a kickback.  But if you spend too little, you give the impression of being cheap.  What’s a working naked professional supposed to do…stop giving gifts?

In her post Customer gifts shouldn’t be economic casualties,” Joyce Rosenberg makes a good point for continuing to give clients gifts.  According to Rosenberg, “Gifts selected with care convey to customers how important they are, and how much an owner will continue to value their relationship going forward.” [Read more...]

Picking a Planner

I’ve tried most of the planning systems out there so I’d know which ones to recommend to my clients. It’s hard to recommend something if you haven’t tried it. After using Day-Timers, Franklin, Time Design, Day Runner, Filofax and a few other systems, I figured out which systems were effective and which ones were duds.paper

Sue Shellenbarger, author, writer and the Wall Street Journal’s Work & Family columnist did the near-impossible…she tried three systems in three weeks.  She made some interesting discoveries. [Read more...]

Working Naked Gift Ideas

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Working Naked Day—you’ll learn more about that last holiday in a few months—are just around the corner. Are you worried about what to buy for someone in your life who’s working naked? Worry no more and check out CIO’s slide show  Cool Home Office Gear.” From futuristic chairs to ingenious desktop accessories, you’ll find hot, new gift ideas for that special working naked someone who’d probably be happy with a pair of underwear.

There are several have-to-have products in the slide show but two of my favorites are:home_cabledrop_6

Generation chair by Knoll. This sleek, awesome chair looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. No matter which way you move, the chair moves with you.

CableDrop clips. These colorful clips are a simple way to keep cords from dropping behind your desk. They’re functional and cool at the same time. Another one of those “why didn’t I think of that” products.

Starting Out On The Right Business Foot

#205-Best resourcesLately I’ve met a few home office folks who’ve come up with great business ideas and products, but they don’t know much about business.  More importantly, they don’t know what their next steps should be so they can grow their business.

You don’t need to have a business adviser in your back pocket when you start a business—although it doesn’t hurt to have one—but you can take advantage of the many resources out there to get your business started. The post 20 of the Best Resources to Get Your Startup Off the Ground lists a range of sites to help you start a business. [Read more...]

Hooking Up With LinkedIn

I use Twitter and FaceBook to stay in contact with clients and associates.  LinkedIn is another tool in my social media toolbox, but honestly I don’t use it much.  The Small Business Trends post 6 Ways To Create Opportunities on LinkedIn changed my mind. From now on I’m going to embrace LinkedIn or at least give it more of a try.  The post offers a few good tips.#204-Linkedinlogo

How Guy Kawasaki Tweets

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures and the author of nine books including Reality Check, has over 180,000 Twitter followers. He’s often asked how he uses Twitter and on the American Express Open Forum he answered questions about his Twitter strategy.

Kawasaki follows everyone who follows him because he feels it’s common courtesy and he wants people to be able to send direct messages to him. He considers Twitter a marketing tool and not a social activity. His goal is to drive readers to his site.

Something I found interesting is that Kawasaki repeats his tweets. He rationalizes that not everyone is on Twitter 24×7 and they don’t always scroll back to see what has already been tweeted. He compares repeating tweets to CNN repeating news stories throughout the day.

A Second Life For Electronics

A little over a year ago, I read about a physician who left his computer on the curb for the monthly bulk trash pickup.  He’d wiped the hard drive clean so he wasn’t worried about anyone accessing his patients’ records.  #202-Recycled comWhat he didn’t count on was a savvy computer geek picking up his computer, bringing it home, and then opening the doc’s complete patient files.  So much for HIPAA rules.

One of the best ways to donate a computer is to leave it to the pros. There are collection companies that will take your computer and refurbish it, re-sell it to a charity for a nominal fee, or recycle it. That’s a better option than dumping electronics in a landfill. [Read more...]

A Few Cool Web Tools

With a seemingly large number of Web tools out there for small business, which ones do you choose?  Inc.com recommends 12 cool tools.12 cool tools

It’s hard to know when someone’s ringing your virtual doorbell but Demandbase knows and tells. Its free real-time ticker scans your virtual visitors’ IP addresses and compares them with information they have from Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis and other sources. Demandbase can provide you with the names of the companies at which your visitors work (for a fee of course). The average cost per lead is just $1.80. [Read more...]

Award-Winning Businesses

SBA awardsThe SBA’s National Small Business Week begins May 23, 2010. Get a head start on the celebration by entering your business to win one of several 2010 Small Business Awards. The long list of awards includes:

  • Small Business Person of the Year
  • SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year
  • Minority Small Business Champion of the Year
  • Women in Business Champion of the Year
  • And more.

Hurry…the entry deadline is November 13, 2009.

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