The media has become awash with coverage of the late King of Pop. This surprising and tragic event has left the world in shock and news networks have scrambled to get any news they can.

Michael’s funeral has been reported to be scheduled for Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, despite previous rumors that it would be held at the Neverland ranch (and yes, people will be buying tickets to a funeral).

Newspapers are already touting that it will be the biggest celebrity funeral ever with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets in Los Angeles to get close to the memorial.

Online Viewing

Big live events that happen during the day often attract a large online audience since many office workers will use their PC at work.

When Obama’s Inauguration took place online viewing actually exceeded regular TV viewing with Nielson reporting nearly 40 million viewers, whereas online viewing was estimated to be around 70 million.

Given that interest in Michael Jackson’s death has already trumped Obama’s inauguration in the blogosphere, we can expect to see record breaking online viewers.

Where to Watch Online?

There will be a large selection of live online coverage of Michael Jackson’s funeral. The major news networks such as Fox, ABC, the BBC and CNN will likely provide live streams on their website. In addition broadband video sites like Hulu, uStream, LiveStation and others will likely broadcast the memorial service online.

WebTvHub previously gave a comprehensive list of ways to watch Obama’s Inauguration online, and are doing the same thing for Michal Jackson’s funeral here.

Jon Taplin’s blog highlights how financial mismanagement has wiped out almost all productivity gains from the digital revolution.

InventorSpot’s list of brilliant Ikea ads.

Gregory McNamee writes a cultural autopsy of Michael Jackson.

Mashable on how to use Wikis for business projects.

PETA urges Phish to rename itself as the Sea Kittens. Good Lord.

The other day I was at a business luncheon and the woman across from me was texting like a fiend. Her thumbs were a blur. I was grateful. Her bad behavior made me feel better about my own. Because who hasn’t checked an email under a table, pretending others can’t see?

After a few minutes this woman, a reporter, turned to me and asked about something the speaker had just said that she’d missed. She made a point of mentioning that people are always giving her the hairy eyeball because they assume she’s just checking Facebook or picking out a happy hour, when she’s actually taking story notes.

So apparently she’s not just a savvy business woman, but also a little psychic.

What do you think when you see someone tapping away? Do you figure it’s important business, or just frivolous socializing? And now that we can use our phones to do so many things (like check facts or take story notes) what’s the etiquette for using them in business situations?

Image Credit: Ada Harverd, Flickr

Would you trust a guy named Bobwho told you to “take control of your futur in a nation…which has been created by you and I?” Sometimes the ability to be articulate really counts. But don’t let that dissuade you. If you like grammatically challenged guys named Bob, midnight golf, and fire lookouts, this week’s list is for you:

1. NJ: Graveyard Range Attendant

P/T Graveyard Range Attendants needed. (Shift 10 pm - 6 am). Must be able to work weekends and holidays. Position is outside and pays $8.00 per hour. Some golf privileges included.

Must deal with weirdos who like to golf at 3am.

2. LA: help filling out bankruptcy papers

need help in the next 10 days/ evenings/ I need someone who is good w. numbers & knows about this

Please take my car as payment. I advise you to repaint it and change the license plate.

3. Hollywood: This is an opportunity to work for a DATING service

We are looking for stunnigly attractive females 18-35, all ethnicities welcome, HOT body all the works to accompany our clients on dinner dates, events, a day at the mall or companion ship. You may be required (so expect) to offer full body massage, dance and to show the client a good time. NOT A SEX SERVICE.

SERIOUS CANDIDATES NEED ONLY APPLY

OK, ok, it’s a sex service. Just don’t tell us if you do it.

4. Orange County: “9 to 5 Dosen’t Work Anymore”

Dear Friends,

In these hard economic times we are all looking for some sort of security in the wrong places. Since the last time we spoke, 11.1 million unemployed has rose to 13.7 million on May 8, 2009 here in the United States and still growing.

How long will it take for people to realize that we should take control of our own futur?We are a nation that has technology that far surpasses any other country, which has been created by people like you and I. So without having to even stress the fact of the “obvious” which comes to, there is no such thing as “job security” in this day and age.

If you are interested in learning the business in which you control and how you will find that the more ideas you come across, the more successful you will be, just give me a call or send me an email so I can show you how to be successful in this business.

Sincerely,
Bob

Hope he isn’t selling grammar books.

5. GS-4 Fire Lookout for Desolation Peak in North Cascades National Park

There is currently an announcement on USAJOBS for a GS-4 Fire Lookout for Desolation Peak in North Cascades National Park. This lookout is a remote one, travel by boat across Ross Lake, then a 6 mile strenuous hike up to the lookout. The only water available is what you can melt down from the last winter’s snow.

Heavily introverted people with the ability to ruminate for days on end preferred.

Happy Friday!

In additional to cartooning, I’m also a stay-at-home dad to my two young children. This means I read a lot of children’s books. In fact, I read so many that I can rattle off rather lengthy impromptu Seuss-like verse on almost any subject. (Fun at parties!)

Mother Goose is especially great for cartoon inspiration because it’s something that everyone gets right away. You just have to say “Hey diddle diddle,” and not only does everyone fill in the rest, but you get great images of superpowered bovine and anthropomorphic flatware to play with.

So often when I’m reading to the kids, I’m on the lookout for cartoon ideas. The above cartoon came from one Mother Goose marathon where, for whatever reason, “great fall” suggested the season instead of an action to me, and the above cartoon was born.

* * * * *

About the Author: Mark Anderson’s cartoons appear in publications including The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. Anderson is the creator of the popular cartoon website, Andertoons.com, where he licenses his cartoons for presentations, newsletters and other projects. He blogs at Andertoons blog.

From Small Business Trends

Fall Business Forecast

Some businesses try to encourage early payments from customers by offering what are known as trade terms.  Typical trade terms might be 1/10/30.  Those terms mean that the buyer gets a 1% discount if paying within 10 days, and the balance is due in 30 days from the date of the invoice.

Sounds simple enough, right?

But I wanted to know if trade terms work in the real world, especially from the point of view of the company extending the trade terms.  So I asked John Mariotti, President and CEO of the Enterprise Group and formerly the CEO of Huffy Bicycles.  He’s had a lot of commerce experience, both as buyer and vendor.  Here’s what he had to say:

Question:  Why do vendors offer early payment discounts?

Mariotti: There are five reasons the vendor would be willing to offer a discount to encourage early payment:

• Companies want their money.  It sounds simplistic — but isn’t.  Getting paid early is important in business.
• They want their money ahead of other people.  The buyer may not have enough money to go around.
• The longer it takes, the greater the risk that something happens and you don’t ever get your money.  The earlier you get paid, the less risk.
• It helps you from the perspective of working capital.  The more money you have in hand, the less need to find working capital from other sources.
• It lowers your costs of borrowing and can even substitute for loans.  The more money you get in hand, the less you have to borrow. This is important in times when it’s hard to borrow money or interest rates are high.

Question:  Is there ever a downside to offering discounts for early payment?

Mariotti: Yes.  Consider:

(1) Discounts cost you money.  Again, it sounds obvious — but discounts add up. A 1% discount for monthly invoices amounts to 12% interest a year.  A 2% discount, as some companies offer, would amount to 24% interest.

(2) Look out for the “double whammy.”  If you are having trouble getting a buyer to agree to a price increase, you might attempt to negotiate by offsetting the increase with an early payment discount. But the customer may squeeze you over price AND expect the discount — and still pay you later.

Question:  Are there any other advantages to offering early payment discounts?

Mariotti: Sometimes those who plan to sell their companies will offer early payment discounts to help reduce their DSO (days sales outstanding) number.  This could make the company appear more attractive to acquirors.

Question:  Now for the big question:  do early payment discounts actually work?

Mariotti: In my experience, many customers take the discount and still pay later.

If that happens, you may not be able to do much about it.  You can call them and try to jog the payment.  Penalties usually don’t work. You can try to charge the customer back to recover the discount, but then it becomes a confrontational negotiation and usually the penalty gets negotiated away in the end.

I’ve had the best response by going back to the buyer and saying “That wasn’t the deal we made. We’d like you to honor the deal you made.”  Sometimes that has an impact.

If you must go back to enforce the terms, the way to do it is to call and talk to a human being.  The second best approach is an email to someone you’ve previously spoken with, requesting them to intercede on your behalf.

Question:  What would you advise a small business?  Should they ask for early payment trade terms?

Mariotti: First I’d assess the situation. What is the prevailing practice in your industry?  Are competitors offering discounts?  Do customers expect a discount or not?

If you discover that a discount is expected, then a modest discount of 1% makes sense in most industries.

Some customers normally pay late –- so by offering an early payment discount you also are raising the issue of the time value of money up front.   And that’s a valid issue.

If the prevailing terms in your industry are to pay in 30 to 45 days, be sure to build that into your plans. Sometimes you build it into a price negotiation. You say, “Instead of charging an 8% increase, I’ll knock that down to a 6% increase and also offer you a 1% discount if you pay early.”

And always document the terms, even if just in an email exchange. If there’s a change in personnel at the other company, that documentation will be needed.

Question:  Is a discount of 10 days realistic?

Mariotti: 10-day discounts are usually not going to happen, unless the buyer has electronic funds transfer capabilities. The practical aspects of cutting checks and mailing them makes a payment in 10 days unrealistic.  Consider 15 days instead.

Question:  What about the situation where a small business is selling to a large corporation? Would you offer a discount?

Mariotti: No.  If I were selling to WalMart, my pitch would be, “WalMart, you can borrow money cheaper than my company — why don’t we just agree on 15-day terms and I’ll reflect that in my pricing?  Otherwise, I have to borrow at a higher rate than you – and also reflect that in my pricing.”

Most large corporations are good for payment.  Don’t waste your cash discounts on the highly solvent companies, but rather on the companies you’re nervous about.

Question:  You’ve given a lot of advice.  What points would you like to close with?

Mariotti: I’d like to emphasize 3 points above all:

• It is always good to get your money sooner.
• In case of noncompliance, fall back on the ethics:  “That’s the deal we made.”
• Beware of the double whammy, which is where the customer takes the discount and you still don’t get paid any sooner.

Thank you, John Mariotti.

Editor’s note:  this article was originally published at the OPEN Forum.

From Small Business Trends

The Straight Skinny on When to Offer Early Payment Discounts

Business Pundit will be a little different in July. I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks sitting on an inflated device one mile beneath the earth. This is otherwise known as rafting the Grand Canyon, a once-in-a-lifetime trip that I was lucky enough to land a spot on this year. As a result, I won’t be blogging as regularly as I usually do, at least for a couple of weeks. During this time, Business Pundit will still feature original daily posts, mostly of Listmania persuasion, and a few interviews.

I will be back towards the end of July. At that time, I hope to find a media landscape full of positive business news and devoid of celebrity deaths. If I do in fact find such a landscape, I will realize my dire navigational error and return to America ASAP.

Have a kickin’ 4th of July weekend. I’ll see you on the other side.

-Drea

Here's a short interview I did earlier this week with Scott Rosenberg, the co-founder of Salon.com and author of the new history of blogging, Say Everything.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on a gang of German senior citizens who kidnapped and tortured their financial adviser:

A group of wealthy pensioners has been accused of kidnapping and torturing a financial adviser who lost about $4 million of their savings.

The pensioners, nicknamed the “Geritol Gang” by German police after an arthritis drug, face up to 15 years in jail if found guilty of subjecting German-American James Amburn to the alleged four-day ordeal.

Two of them are said to have hit him with a Zimmer frame outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, before he was bound with duct tape, bundled into the boot of an Audi A8 and driven 300 miles (483 kilometres) to a home on the shores of a popular holiday lake in Bavaria.

During his alleged confinement in an unheated cellar, Mr Amburn, 56, claims he was burned with cigarettes, beaten, had two ribs broken, was hit with a chair leg and chained up “like an animal”.

Armed commandos stormed the house in the early hours of Saturday morning. Forty police, accompanied by a doctor in the light of the captors’ infirmities, found Mr Amburn in his underwear.

Just got a press release from GooseGrade.com with results of a study that Twitter users, on average, actually spell better than the average schmo.

The study was conducted last week and consisted of one hundred random*, English-speaking participants who either identified themselves as users or non-users of the Twitter service. Each group was then asked to write 100 words about what they did that day.

He found out that while Twitter users maul the grammar, they seem to spell well--once they're operating outside the cramped confines of 140-characters. But why would they (or we, since I'm a Twitterer)continue to cut corners on grammar outside the Tweet box, but improve the spelling? Ideas?

 

Novavax, Inc. announced today that it plans to license its vaccine technology to Spanish pharmaceutical company ROVI, who will use it to develop pandemic and seasonal flu vaccines (including one for novel H1N1). ROVI will also establish Spain’s only in-border vaccine production facility. This 60 million-euro program is sponsored and led by the Spanish Ministry of Health , is slated to eventually serve the entire population of Spain.

Swine flu aside, the whole business of public-private funding and the process it takes to get vaccines to the mass market is interesting stuff, and you can read more about it in the press release here.

I’m am just struck by this comment:

Juan Lopez-Belmonte Encina, ROVI CEO, commented: “The pandemic flu vaccine business is currently a key part of the strategy of ROVI, and we are committed to the business as one of the future growth driversfor the company. We are entering a new world of high technology and complex processes, but we are confident that our knowledge in this area along with Novavax’s extensive experience will enable us to fight on the front line against the devastating effects of influenza virus infection.”

Doesn’t it just give you a tiny heebee geebee that the potential for large scale loss of human life is good for business? I hate that. 

Image Credit: lauren nelson, Flickr

This Year's Management Off Site: Necessary or Negligent?

That's the title of a new article from Harvard Business Publishing, which offers up the pros and cons of scheduling the "annual planning retreat" during times of economic uncertainty.

The pros?

• Hunkering down is not a strategy.
• Management alignment is critical and at risk.
• Creativity is more important than ever.
• Pure ROI

The cons?

• Managers are talking more than ever now.
• It wouldn't be prudent to spend money on a hotel, food and facilitator.
• It sends a bad message to those still on-site.

BOTTOMLINE: The authors suggest the following:

"I would not advocate postponing or skipping your strategic planning session. Strategy is as important if not more important than ever. They are meaningful events. Successful off sites build employee loyalty and camaraderie. When I think back on my positive business experiences, they cluster around positive team interactions happening during off site sessions. Also, much greater work happens when employees are unencumbered by both in-the-business and personal obligations."

Crain’s Chicago Business has a sweet story about a potential Ferrara Pan Candy Co./Kraft Foods chocolate war:

Feeling betrayed by Kraft Foods Inc. after the nation’s largest foodmaker killed a partnership with his family’s Ferrara Pan Candy Co., Mr. Ferrara plans to hit back. This fall, he’ll roll out a line of premium European-style chocolate designed to compete with Toblerone, the flagship Kraft candy bar his company distributed until last year.

A 58-year-old who prefers handshake agreements to formal contracts, Mr. Ferrara isn’t fazed by taking on a bigger competitor with a better-known brand. Nor is he worried that his Forest Park-based company, maker of Lemonheads and Atomic FireBalls, has little experience making chocolate. In fact, he probably knows as much about Toblerone’s business as Kraft does. In two years of distributing Kraft’s European chocolates in the U.S., Ferrara Pan increased those brands’ sales by 150%, he says.

That deal ended in December, just three months after Mr. Ferrara took an early-morning cell phone call. Northfield-based Kraft, he was told, wanted out of the distribution agreement. Mr. Ferrara was completely surprised — and clearly infuriated.

“I was quite upset because we did a very good job — probably too good of a job,” he says.

Mr. Ferrara didn’t stew for long. Shortly after, he determined to create a new specialty chocolate line to rival his former customer’s. He already had the salesforce and wholesale brokers — hired to serve the Kraft account — and quickly developed a new concept: the Ferrara, an angular bar of Belgian chocolate.

More.

Mr. Ferarra’s stick-it-to-the-man chest thumping will make Ferrara bars all the sweeter. I’m buying one.

This Brad Feld post provides a good template for a sample set of board meeting minutes following the wise lawyer's advice to keep it light, stating:

"I go to a lot of board meetings. As a result, I’ve reviewed a lot of board meeting minutes. In general, the philosophy among most VC-backed companies – promulgated by the law firms for these companies – is to keep the board minutes “light.” They should cover the substance of the meeting and have any specific votes, option grants, or board level issues documented, but they should not contain extensive details about the presentations giving in the board meeting.

"I regularly get asked for “sample board meeting minutes”, especially among newly funded companies that are just starting to have board meetings and might not have their outside counsel present at the meeting (although most outside counsel’s that are credible and used to working with early stage companies will attend board meetings at no charge – just ask as part of your initial interview process with the firm – it’s very useful to them to be there so they can stay up to speed on what is happening at the company.)"

OK! Magazine’s latest issue shows a post-heart attack Michael Jackson on the cover. Tabloid rags are always pushing past the fringes of decency to grab reader attention, but this goes too far. It would have been acceptable if Michael Jackson had survived. But please, OK! Mag, remember the man as he was in his glory days.

What are your thoughts on this cover?

Facebook has come a long way since its inception. No longer just a site for college kids, Facebook has created some amazing advertising opportunities for SMB owners to take advantage of. And those opportunities have become even more powerful with the creation of Facebook Fan pages.

Facebook Fan pages allow you to officially represent your business on Facebook. You get to give your “fans” and customers a unified place to hold conversations about you, to get updates on what you’re doing, interact with you, and connect with other people who are “just like them” and love your products.

Here are some quick steps for how to create your Facebook Fan page to get the most out of it.

1. Set it up: First head to the Pages screen to get started creating yours.
2. Select your category/title: For most, you’ll want to click the Local option and select the appropriate category from the drop down menu. On the same screen, you’ll be prompted to give your page a title. This should be the name of your business, with keywords included when possible. For example, if the name of your wedding boutique is Stella’s, you can get away with titling your page [ Stella’s Wedding Boutique]. These pages will rank in the search engines, so keywords are your friends.
3. Add a profile picture: These photos are quite larger than the profile pictures for personal pages, so pick something that will translate well. It can be a logo, a personal photo, a photo of your storefront, etc.
4. Add company information: In this step you’re going to add all your basic store information, the same you would if you were filling out a Google Local profile or business listing.  Include your name, URLs, date the company was founded, an overview of what you do and your mission statement.
5. Build it out: Make your page stand out and unique by adding engaging content via your Tabs that that will attract users and keep them coming back to your page. That means adding videos, photo galleries, importing your blog, useful Facebook applications, incorporate coupons, etc.
6. Publish your page: Find the publish button. Hit it.
7. Find Fans: Once you’re all set up, become a fan of the page yourself. Then, send it to your colleagues and friends and invite them to Fan the page, as well. Do a search on Facebook for what you do and look for people in your area or networks who list it as an interest.
8. Advertise the page (!): Once the page has been built and Fans have been found, get the page (and your company) more exposure by using Facebook’s ad program to drive more people to the page. Facebook has an incredibly powerful ad program that I would recommend all SMB owners look into. Because of the personal nature of Facebook, users enter in all sorts of important buying information. They tell you how old they are, where they live, what they’re interested in, favorite bands, likes, dislikes, etc. The Facebook ad program allows you to target your ads based on ALL of this information. That means if you sell wedding gowns, you can set it so that your ads only appear for people between a certain age, who live within 20 miles of your store and who are currently listed on Facebook as being engaged. You can’t beat that kind of targeting.

Twitter isn’t the only social media powerhouse that small business owners should be aware of. By using Facebook’s Fan pages and combining it with their ad program, the social site gives business owners a HUGE opportunity to drive people to their pages, build brand recognition, keep customers updated on the latest happenings, and get them inside your stores.

From Small Business Trends

How to Get the Most Out Of Facebook Fan Pages

According to SearchEngineNews javascript links are now being crawled and they are passing on PageRank and anchor text. Keep in mind you may still want to avoid using javascript for links because other search engines still do not crawl or follow javascript links.

By Jim Estill

These are uncertain times. Many people and companies are facing hardship. This is a world of great economic turbulence. This turbulence has two effects on people - it can paralyze them so they do nothing and simply retreat into their shell and "complain" how harsh the world is to them. In others, it galvanizes them to take action.

The current conditions just are. Accept them. Use the harshness to create energy and action.

Not all actions are the right actions but taking some action is much healthier than not. This is a good time to "Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap". Try new things. Some will work, others might not. To fail is not to be a failure, to not try is to be a failure.
-----------------
Read the rest of this article at Canadian Marketing blog.

Read Jim Estill's CEO Blog - Time Leadership.

Jim Estill was a guest of the Business in Motion Radio show.

George Torok

Iconoculture: Earthaid.net gives consumers a one-stop spot online to see how much juice their homes are using. The new service helps consumers monitor their home's patterns, then pays them when they save energy.

Using the motto "Smart for Your Wallet. Smart for the World," Earth Aid Enterprises also sells Earth Aid Kits for between $75 and $99. The kits include home energy savers such as CFLs, smart power strips and rechargeable batteries.

Earth Aid, who also have an iPhone application, was the winner of the New Venture Exchange contest at 2009's Sustainable Brands conference.

Many wannabe-green consumers are first looking for ways to get a handle on what kind of impact they're already having on the planet. When products offer both money savings and environmental savings, they're a tantalizing option for homeowners who want to take control of the household.

Earthaid.net pays homeowners to reduce their energy use [Iconoculture]

Welcome to July, folks. We’re now officially knee deep in summer. That means along with the BBQs and sunburns, you’re probably also facing sluggish sales and a loss of in store face time with customers. As happens every year, warmer weather means people are spending more time at the beach and less time making heavy buying decisions. It’s the summer lull and there’s nothing you can do to combat it.

Or is there?

As an employee, I always loved summers in business because it meant the store grew quieter and the workload all but stopped. But as an employer, that same situation can be a little terrifying. However, it’s important not to panic. Instead, use this natural lull to revitalize, revisit and plan for the future.

Here are some ways to combat and tackle the quiet summer months:

Go to camp: Last week Seth Godin offered some great advice for business owners, telling them how summer camp could change their life. The same way it inspired and changed you as a child, summer can change you as an adult. If the summer months are typically slower, invest some of that time elsewhere and in other actions that will help you to grow your business. Learn a new skill, take a class, find a barcamp to help immerse yourself in your industry, form a Tweetup to make new friends and strengthen industry ties, etc. The knowledge and connections you gain during these months will make you stronger and more powerful once the cooler weather hits and things pick up again.

Create cross promotion incentives: Unless your business is summer-oriented, things typically slow down for everyone during the warmer months. That makes it the perfect time to band together with complementary local businesses and find ways to cross promote. Create new partnerships that will allow you to trade services and share referrals to create new incentives for customers. If you’re a bakery, find a local sporting arena or community theater and ask them to sell your cupcakes at their concession and offer to give coupons or notices about their events in return. If you’re a landscaper and your business is booming, hand out flyers for winter service companies to get people thinking early. If the recession has taught us anything it’s that people band together in hard times.

Do something crazy: You know that marketing strategy you wanted to try in December but you didn’t have time? Or that product you’ve been waiting to test? The local seminar you wanted to try and organize for your community? Now is the time to do that. When things get you slow, you have the best reason to experiment and try things you normally wouldn’t have had time to risk. The smaller group of folks now in your store make up the perfect focus group. Release that product and see what the reaction is. Hold a big in store event to get people interacting with you again. Try your hands at creating a viral sensation. Right now you have the time to brainstorm and implement things you won’t necessarily be able to fit in a few months from now. Use it.

Get more social with your brand: Similar to doing some crazy, now’s the perfect time to start experimenting with social media and to create your social media business strategy. Set up that Twitter account, create the Facebook Fan pages, and film those customer retention YouTube videos, etc. If things are getting slow, occupy that time with new activities that could strengthen your company in the long haul. We all have whiteboards of things we can’t wait to do if only we had time…now you have that time.

Research new forms of marketing: Break out of your current promotional bubble and look for new opportunities. Keep an eye out for new speaking opportunities, write articles to appear in industry publications, start making new connections with local media, and get a little bit aggressive with your promotional tactics. The media has a tendency to get a little “soft” in the summer months, help give them content to stand out among all the fluff pieces about summer festivals and events. They’re hungry for it and if you can pitch them a great story about your company, they’ll very likely take it. These types of activities will also help build your place as an expert long after the leaves begin to change colors again.

I’ve seen many small businesses let their spirits die due to the summer slump. Don’t take that mind set. Instead, use this time to try out new strategies, create new relationships and build momentum that will take you clear into the Fall. What are some of your avoiding the summer slump suggestions?

From Small Business Trends

Combatting The Summer Business Lull

A business that makes the decision to be environmentally-conscious will often promote goodwill among potential customers, while making the world a better place for future generations. Many businesses hesitate to adopt green practices because they fear it will hurt their bottom line and negatively impact profits. But many eco-conscious businesses discover that they can actually save money and bring in new customers who specifically patronize companies that actively make an effort to be environmentally friendly. Many customers may even be willing to pay a bit more for a product or service from a company that is green.

Businesses Going Green

Happy Canada Day!

On July 1, Canada celebrates 142 years as a nation.

Enjoy this collection of articles about Canada and Canadians.

Proud Canadians
I travelled the world to meet other Canadians.

10 Canadian Whines
Yes, we can laugh at ourselves.

In Canada We Have Freedom
How a visit behind the Iron Curtain made me understand and appreciate freedom.

The Yukon Spirit: Perfect for Entrepreneurs
Why the Yukon is the perfect environment for nuturing entreprenuers.

My 10 Favourite Places in Canada
You might agree or disagree with my picks.

Canadian Quotations
John Robert Colombo included some of my words in "The Penguin Dictionary of Popular Canadian Quotations".

Famous Lasting Words, Great Canadian Quotations
Another collection of Canadian Quotations from The Great Gatherer, John Robert Colombo.

Happy Canada Day!

George Torok
Canadian Motivational Speaker
Canadian Business Speaker

The successful execution of strategy ultimately requires a change in the behavior of employees.

New research conducted over the last two decades has produced a more accurate view of human behavior change resulting from an integration of psychology (the study of the human mind and human behavior) and neuroscience (the study of the anatomy and physiology of the brain).

An article titled “The Neuroscience of Leadership“, from Strategy+Business provides an interesting discussion on organisational change, some of the interesting points raised in the article are:

Some key points from the research:

• Change Is Pain: Organizational change is unexpectedly difficult because it provokes sensations of physiological discomfort. Trying to change any hardwired habit requires a lot of effort, in the form of attention. This often leads to a feeling that many people find uncomfortable. So they do what they can to avoid change.
• Behaviorism doesn’t work: Change efforts based on incentive and threat (the carrot and the stick) rarely succeed in the long run. Present the right incentives, and the desired change will naturally occur…… Yet there is plenty of evidence from both clinical research and workplace observation that change efforts based on typical incentives and threats (the carrot and the stick) rarely succeed in the long run.
• Humanism is overrated: In practice, the conventional empathic approach of connection and persuasion doesn’t sufficiently engage people. This phenomenon provides a scientific basis for some of the practices of leadership coaching. Rather than lecturing and providing solutions, effective coaches ask pertinent questions and support their clients in working out solutions on their own…. People can detect the difference between authentic inquiry and an effort to persuade them.
• Focus is power: The act of paying attention creates chemical and physical changes in the brain.
• Expectation shapes reality: People’s preconceptions have a significant impact on what they perceive. How, then, would you go about facilitating change? The impact of mental maps suggests that one way to start is by cultivating moments of insight. Large-scale behavior change requires a large-scale change in mental maps.
• Attention density shapes identity: Repeated, purposeful, and focused attention can lead to long-lasting personal evolution. For insights to be useful, they need to be generated from within, not given to individuals as conclusions.
• Mindful Change in Practice. Start by leaving problem behaviors in the past; focus on identifying and creating new behaviors. Over time, these may shape the dominant pathways in the brain. This is achieved through a solution-focused questioning approach that facilitates self-insight, rather than through advice-giving.

BOTTOMLINE: "Perhaps you are thinking, “This all sounds too easy. Is the answer to all the challenges of change just to focus people on solutions instead of problems, let them come to their own answers, and keep them focused on their insights?” Apparently, that’s what the brain wants."

(Tip of the hat to George Amber at The Practice of Leadership)

Sending text messages on mobile phones is becoming as commonplace as calling your best friend, and it’s all the rage among teens. We know trying to keep up with your teen and the technology they’re using can be daunting - so LG’s DTXTR is here to help you break it down and stay ahead of the curve.

Features on the DTXTR site include:

- DTXTR Translator: A cool tool that allows you to translate your tool in to shorter, more hip messages at the push of a button.

- DTXTR Glossary: Thousands of text terms (hundreds gathered from the BlogHer community at this fall’s Reach Out Tour!)

- Do U Know TXT Quiz: Test your texting prowess (say that three times fast...)

- Texting Tips: Everything parents need to know about texting, managing a texting teen, and thinking smart about text plans

© Dmitry Baranovskiy I've been contributing over the last few months to the content of a vibrant and growing site that points toward the future of the Internet and has profound potential for eComm...

George Torok was the guest expert of Stephen Bell, host of Authors Unscripted Radio, the internet radio arm of the International Non Fiction Writers Association.

The topic was the bestselling book, Secrets of Power Marketing and how entrepreneurs can market themselves more effectively in these challenging times.

Enjoy this 60 minute interview in which George Torok discussed:

• How he was influenced by his mentor and co-author Peter Urs Bender
  
• Why more business owners need to realign their marketing strategy to sell to the greedy not the needy.
  
• The best form of marketing and how to get more from it
  
• The most common and costly mistake in advertising
  
• The three criteria by which to measure all your marketing
  
• The cost – value conflict and why entrepreneurs get fooled by it
  
• Marketing in the recession – mistakes and tips
  
• What small business can do instead of branding and why
  
• And more

Here is another unusual perspective that George Torok offered in this interview.

Why do we think that we only need to provide a better mouse trap? What did the Second World War do to taint the self marketing beliefs of baby boomers? What parenting mistakes they made in teaching their offspring about self marketing? Once you understand the reason for the mistakes you can break the curse.


Click below to listen to this engaging and insightful interview with George Torok on Authors Unscripted Radio. (The sound quality is not so good but the interview is fabulous.)

Or follow this link.

http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WTjchPrx

------------------------
“George Torok is a man as passionate about running a marathon as helping your run your business and life well.

I had the pleasure of interviewing George during authors unscripted at www.infwa.com and I was impressed with his knowledge and how great of a speaker he is. If you want to take affirmations and the power you possess in your business to the next level George Torok is the man you need to listen to.”

Stephen Bell
Host of Authors Unscripted Radio
The Networking Masters.com
----------------------------------

George Torok
Business Speaker

Not so long ago, Yelp received quite a bit of attention when they began allowing business owners to respond to reviews left on the site. It was something SMB owners and others had been salivating for. And for good reason. Review sites and local search have changed the way your customers are discovering you and helping them make important purchasing decisions. If your company is who your customers say it is, then these online reviews play a pretty crucial part in giving them that voice.  And you need to be listening.

Let me share a quick story.

A good friend of mine was recently researching movers as she’ll be moving into a new home this weekend. Just like your own customers are prone to do, she started off by performing a local search in Google. That search presented her with a Google 10-pack, listing the names of ten moving companies, their phone numbers, URLs and links to existing customer reviews. She started from the top, clicking on the review for the moving company listed first in the search. The listing had one review — it was negative, citing several customer service complaints. It was the only review on the page and the company in question never bothered to respond. That company immediately lost the sale.

Online reviews often act as immediate, in-the-moment customer testimonials for your company when someone is trying to make a decision. They can help with search engine rankings and work to establish trust and brand recognition. You need to be monitoring your online reviews so that you can be proactive about managing them.

Know where your customers are leaving reviews

Your first step to managing online reviews is to know where people are leaving them. For most small businesses, this simply means covering the basics. You want to focus the bulk of your attention on the bigger name sites, as this is where most of your customers will naturally be hanging out and it will help you avoid spending too many hours trolling around the Internet.

I’d recommend monitoring these sites for online reviews:

• Google Local
• Yahoo Local
• CitySearch
• InsiderPages
• Yelp
• BOTW Local

Reviews on these sites are also the ones most often aggregated by other search engines. By addressing them head on, you’ll get double the benefit and visibility.

You should also check for any large niche review sites by doing a search for [industry name + review]. You may find that your industry has its own, very active niche sites. [For example, if you’re in the travel industry, you’ll want to check sites like Trip Advisor.] It’s very important that you monitor the sites most important to your industry as these sites will often have the most credibility for your niche.

Once you know where people are leaving reviews, make it easy to continually track new brand mentions by automating the process as much as possible. If you’re on Yelp, use the option to subscribe to the page via RSS so that you’re alerted each time it’s updated. Set up Google Alerts to watch your name. Most sites make it really easy to get updates via RSS or email. You want to take advantage of this to help keep yourself in the loop.

What to do when you find a bad one

1. Breathe: Every company is going to generate a bad review from time to time. You can’t please everyone and some people simply enjoy spending their day kicking things. This is okay. Don’t freak out.
2. Familiarize yourself with the site’s TOS: Before you leave a comment, make sure the site is open to businesses responding to their own rules. Most won’t say anything that prohibits it, but it’s always in your best interest to know the guidelines. You don’t want to accidentally offend and have to apologize later. You want to make sure your response fits inside their rules.
3. Address the complaint. Calmly: Apologize for their bad experience, invite them back for another go and restate your commitment to making things right. It will very often appease the angry reviewer, but more than that, it shows anyone else who stumbles upon that review that you care. When my friend searched for that moving company, there was no response from the movers. Had they taken the time to offer some type of apology, a promise to do better, or reached out in any way, she very likely would have chosen them. It shows they’re listening.
4. Always take the high road: Never ever attack or respond defensively. You’ll do nothing but hurt your company and make the situation worse.

If you need some help, I recently detailed an extensive plan for how companies should respond to negative reviews. You may want to check that post out for a more extensive plan.

As social media continues to take off and the search engines are using reviews as a factor in their local algorithms, it’s really important that small businesses take the time to monitor what’s out there and help manage any negative reviews that may develop. As my friend helped show, it means nothing if your site shows up first for a query if a negative review is there to scare people away. And because many small businesses won’t see too many reviews, it only takes one or two bad ones to send wary customers flying in the other direction.

From Small Business Trends

Take the Time to Manage Customer Reviews

Here are my Twitter Tips:

#1. Choose an avatar that incorporates your personality, use an eye catching image that will draw positive attention.
#2. Understand the Twitter culture before you dive in.
#3. Tweet on a regular basis.

According to PC Mag these are the tips they provide for beginners:

Shrink Your URLs
RT = Retweet
Direct Messaging
Use the @ Sign
Search For Your Friends
Categorize Your Tweets for Added Exposure
Share Pictures
Tweet from Your Phone
Pick a Good Desktop Client
Download a Mobile Client

I talked yesterday over at BizPlanHacks about getting customers through your company website. Do you have a company website? You should. SimplWeb has an online course available to help you start a we...

Hard to believe - but 2009 is now half over, which means it's time to assess how your organization faired so far.

The most important thing to do is step back and improve your strategic planning process.

Even top performing companies undertake a time-consuming strategic planning process that unfortunately leaves many executives frustrated with the results.

This sense of disappointment was captured in a recent McKinsey quarterly survey of nearly 800 top executives:

• Only 45 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the strategic-planning process
• Moreover, only 23 percent indicated that major strategic decisions were made during the process.

The operative question for organizational leadership is: "how can you make your strategic planning process more effective?"

Here are five ideas you can use to make make your strategic planning processes run better.

1. Start with the issues - conduct internal and external reviews and a SWOT analysis
2. Bring together the right people - involve the most relevant people in the organization, and consider involving external resources for new insights
3. Adapt planning cycles to the needs of the business - separate the strategic formulation process from the business planning process
4. Implement a strategic-performance-management system - that assigns accountability for results of initiatives and projects established to meet company goals.
5. Integrate human-resources systems into the strategic plan - include performance appraisal, 360 feedback surveys and incentive pay based on performance results

David Canton has updated and split into 2 his trade-marks guide. trade-marks-guide-part-1-registering-a-trade-mark summarizes what one should know before selecting and registering a trade-mark, and the advantages of registering. trade-marks-guide-part-2-after-registration summarizes how to properly use and care for a trade-mark after it is registered.

Source: Trade-marks guide updated.

In their book "The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage" (Harvard Business School Press), Harvard professors Dr. Robert S. Kaplan and Dr. David P. Norton (creators of the balanced scorecard) offer their lastest insights concerning the "rules" of successful strategy execution.

• The failure to balance the tensions between strategy and operations is pervasive.
• Breakdowns in a company’s management system, not managers’ lack of ability or effort, are what cause a company’s underperformance.
• By management system, they're referring to the integrated set of processes and tools that a company uses to develop its strategy, translate it into operational actions, and monitor and improve the effectiveness of both.
• By creating a closed-loop management system, companies can avoid such shortfalls.

Interestingly, Kaplan and Norton's description of such a closed-loop management system closely parallels the detailed steps of the Six Disciplines Methodology, (which are revealed in the award-winning business improvement book "Six Disciplines for Excellence," as indicated below:

• The loop comprises five stages, beginning with strategy development, which involves applying tools, processes, and concepts such as mission, vision, and value statements; SWOT analysis; shareholder value management; competitive positioning; and core competencies to formulate a strategy statement. (Discipline I)
• That statement is then translated into specific objectives and initiatives, using other tools and processes, including strategy maps and balanced scorecards. (Disciplines II and III)
• Strategy implementation, in turn, links strategy to operations with a third set of tools and processes, including quality and process management, reengineering, process dashboards, rolling forecasts, activity-based costing, resource capacity planning, and dynamic budgeting. (Discipline IV)
• As implementation progresses, managers continually review internal operational data and external data on competitors and the business environment. Finally, managers periodically assess the strategy, updating it when they learn that the assumptions underlying it are obsolete or faulty. (Discipline VI)

BOTTOMLINE: While Kaplan and Norton's observations and recommendations specifically target much larger enterprises, Six Disciplines is the first complete strategy execution coaching program that is optimized for small and midsized businesses.

Let’s consider what accountability is, and how we can build an organizational culture that encourages it.

Be definition, accountability is being answerable or responsible for something. Accountability opens the door to ownership – not necessarily financial ownership -- but certainly emotional ownership, where someone acknowledges they’re responsible for some aspect of the organization.

Accountability is not something you “make” people do. It has to be chosen, accepted or agreed upon by people within your organization. People must “buy into” being accountable and responsible. For many, this is a new, unfamiliar, and sometimes, uncomfortable way to work. Most importantly: individual purpose and meaning comes from accepting responsibility and learning to be accountable.

To learn to be accountable means coming to grips with an element of discipline. Accountability is the opposite of permissiveness. Holding people accountable is really about the distribution of power and choice. When people have more choice, they are more responsible. When they become more responsible, they can have more freedom. When they are more accountable, they understand their purpose and role within the organization and are committed to making things happen.

BOTTOMLINE: How can your organization become more accountable for its actions? Consider an external accountability coach, such as those who are certified to coach the Six Disciplines strategy execution program. Building organizational accountability requires not only a systematic method based on proven best-practices; it also requires technologies that make the framework practical to use and implement on a daily, weekly, monthly quarterly and annual basis. In addition, it takes an external accountability coach to hold you and your organization accountable and to help these cultural changes to “stick” – and to make the changes last. Find out more about how the Six Disciplines program works here.

Anyone else gleefully surprised by the 150-year sentence given to Bernie Madoff? Perhaps this will send a nice, scary message to other investment boogie men lurking in the wings. Treating...

It’s easy to watch someone else get all the glory. All you have to do is stand and listen. But if you’re an entrepreneur who craves media attention, you may ask yourself, “Why isn’t that me in front of the camera?”

Molding your business into an industry and media darling takes time and planning. If you truly want free publicity, it’s up to you to start and maintain the process of becoming an industry leader. Here are three painless steps to begin.

1. Write a comment or rebuttal whenever you see an article regarding your industry or a situation that impacts on your business.

Articles are published in trade journals, local newspapers, state-based magazines, and on Web sites. Save each submitted comment in a Word or Notepad document, along with the publication’s name and date, to track what you’ve written and to also help you craft future responses.

I practice this consistently, which puts my name and business in front of reporters and other media groups who need expert comments in upcoming stories. The exposure has the potential to increase notoriety and revenue by a minimum of 30 percent each year.

2. Contact television and cable news producers with timely information that makes you their only choice for an interview. Also, watch local news events for opportunities to elevate your expertise.

What’s your specialty - fire safety, social media, personal security? Prepare to call morning show and segment producers, telling them about the valuable tips and new trends you want to share with viewers. Write and practice your 30-second pitch to get on the air.

Contacting show producers helped me secure appearances on CNBC, The Food Network, The Discovery Channel, New Jersey Network, and New York’s Fox Channel 5. Plan the timing and pitch for your on-air fame, which usually lasts three minutes but is worth every second.

3. Speak at trade and public events where your topic attracts many who attend and on-site sales.

Entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses can’t stay quiet. They yearn to share their knowledge, but they provide just enough to validate their expertise and motivate listeners to buy.

Making a commitment to follow these three actions will put you in the center of everyone’s radar when it’s time to stretch your 15 minutes of fame into a lifetime of success.

* * * * *

About the Author: Shirley George Frazier is chief marketing officer at Solo Business Marketing, a professional speaker at worldwide business and marketing conferences, and author of Marketing Strategies for the Home-Based Business: Solutions You Can Use Today. Shirley twitters at @ShirleyFrazier and blogs at the Solo Business Marketing Blog.

From Small Business Trends

How to Become the Center of Everyone’s Attention

The internet suffered a number of slowdowns as people the world over rushed to verify accounts of the death of Michael Jackson. Search giant Google confirmed to the BBC that when the news first broke it feared it was under attack.

Millions of people who searched for the stars name on Google News were greeted with an error page. It warned users your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application.

complete article

ABCs of RSS Feeds - Implementing RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can be aided by an understanding of the terms relating to RSS. Learn the ABCs of RSS....

FindLaw's Small Business Center provides information and resources for small business owners, and help for entrepreneurs seeking to get a business idea off the ground. Here you can get information on choosing and forming the right legal structure for your business, legal tips on day-to-day business operations, an overview of employment law issues, and much more.

I am happy to report that my blog was included in this list of 100 Awesome Blogs for Your Business Education. Thanks to Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends for the link.

Authors Dan and Chip Heath (Made To Stick) offer a FastCompany article titled "Analysis of Paralysis," in which they assert:

"If your strategy doesn't help employees act, it's not a strategy. You don't need to embrace simplicity just so your people can comprehend your message. The point of simplicity is more fundamental: Simplicity allows people to act."

Their observation?

Decision paralysis is the culprit. Every business must choose among attractive options: growing revenue versus maximizing profitability, quality versus speed to market. Too many choices leads to confusion, overload, paralysis. Too many choices debilitates an organization.

The solution?

BOTTOMLINE: Simplicity. A simple strategy can resolve decision paralysis. Or at least, it needs to be expressed and communicated simply. The simpler, the better, so that all employees can understand and embrace the strategy. Start with your organization's mission and vision. Then move on to your shared values and strategic position. Without simplicity, your employees will not understand the strategy well enough to align their daily activities toward executing it.

So you have a product or service that you think is the greatest thing yet. You believe that people should really want it. And they will as long as you do a good job of explaining why. You think that sales is persuading and convincing.

Sales is really about matching your product or service with someone else’s needs. It’s not about trying to fit your product or service into their world, or about convincing them that they should have your product or service.

I see too many salespeople and small business owners who have this backwards. They think they are supposed to ‘sell’ their product/service.

That can be a costly mistake. If you aren’t paying attention to what your target market really needs or wants, you run the risk of putting something out there that they won’t buy. Consider the example set by Earvin “Magic” Johnson. After leaving the NBA, he bought an NBA store franchise that lost $200,000 before it closed. He had picked merchandise that he preferred, not that his customers wanted. He learned a valuable lesson that you can read more about in a CNNMoney.com article from June 16, 2009.

Because of that lesson, when he decided to partner with Starbucks and offer inner-city franchises to local entrepreneurs, they sell sweet potato pie instead of scones. As Dominique Hanssen, chair of the marketing department at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, puts it in the article, selling sweet potato pie instead of scones “shows customers that you’re trying to figure out how to serve them in new ways.”

You see, it’s not about what you find interesting or valuable. It’s about what your prospect base thinks is valuable. You have to know your target market well.  They aren’t going to buy what they don’t want. As “Magic” Johnson says, ‘the key is paying attention to customers.’

So, when you decide to hang your shingle, or go to work as a salesperson for someone, consider what your target market needs and wants. This understanding will not only help you determine your marketing message, but it will help you define WHO you should be targeting. When you get that figured out you will be able to find those people who need or want what you have to sell. The process will be relatively easy because you WON’T have to convince or persuade.

Remember that no one likes to be sold, but people do like to buy. So, educate them on what you have and why it is valuable. The people who should be buying your product or service will understand what you are telling them and they will see the fit. They will want what you have. That’s a good match.

Providing a service or product that others need or want will keep them coming back time after time. No matter what the economic conditions are, you can continue to succeed in business if you remember to consider your customers - what they really need and want; not what you want to sell them.

When you only focus on what you want to sell you will discover that it is harder to find people who want to buy it. If you, on the other hand, consider what your clients and prospects want and need, you can develop a message that speaks to how your product or service meets that need. It truly is about them, not you.

* * * * *

About the Author: Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach and the president of Seize This Day Coaching. Diane is a Contributing Editor on COSE Mindspring, a resource website for small business owners, as well as a member of the Sales Experts Panel at Top Sales Experts.

From Small Business Trends

Sales: It’s About Them, Not You

Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Billy Mays, was found dead the morning of June 28, 2009 in his Tampa, FL home by his wife. Paramedics were unable to revive Mays, who died...

People sometimes use the terms “credit card” and “charge card” interchangeably. However, they are different animals, and their differences should be clearly understood by any business owner searching for new credit.

Let’s look at some key needs/features that a small business owner might desire when seeking credit, and see whether credit cards or charge cards are best able to meet those needs. There is almost always a trade-off, so think hard about your business requirements to determine which is right for you. (Note: Because American Express is by far the main issuer of charge cards, my commentary on those cards is based mainly on their practices.)

• Flexibility to Float Purchases – Small business owners often rely on credit cards to start a business, or to float purchases while waiting for receivables to make their (too slow) journey into the owner’s bank account. Credit cards allow you to pay as much as you want each month, or to pay very little if the funds aren’t available. Charge cards, on the other hand, force you to pay off your entire balance each month. Winner: credit cards.

• Forced Fiscal Restraint -– With credit cards’ flexibility comes the possibility of racking up debt and paying high interest charges for the privilege. If you have a strong aversion to debt and may be tempted if allowed to revolve balances, the winner is: charge cards.

• Higher Credit Limits -– Charge cards generally allow you to put more expenses on the card, either via higher credit limits or by waiving credit limits altogether. Why? Because you have to pay the balance off each month, so you are less of a risk. Credit cards, on the other hand, offer lower limits, because there is more of a chance that you’ll build up a balance that you will later have trouble paying. Winner: charge cards.

• Rewards –- Charge card reward programs are usually much more generous than those of credit cards, from double points to more desirable reward partners to free companion airline tickets and hotel upgrades, to free memberships in “elite” travel programs from airlines, hotels and rental car companies. Credit card reward programs are usually less generous, and the trend is continuing in that direction. Winner: charge cards.

• Annual Fees –- Charge cards almost always have an annual fee, while credit cards rarely do (though there are exceptions). If you want to avoid annual fees, choose: credit cards.

• Insurance Coverage –- Charge cards are more likely to offer free insurance coverages that will replace items you’ve purchased via the card, as well as certain travel protections. Credit cards usually have fewer insurance protections, if any.  Winner: charge cards.

• Expense Tracking –- Charge cards are more likely to furnish the small business owner with detailed expense records, allowing for easier tracking of past charges, as well as annual records that allow for tracking by spending category. This feature is useful to any business owner that has ever looked at a credit card statement and said “Who is Pers Tlv Srvcs that I paid $79.95 to?” Credit cards are more likely to provide this service today than in the past, but the winner here is still: charge cards.

• Prestige? –- While a charge card won’t make you a better person, some people do get a certain satisfaction out of flashing an American Express charge card, as it may suggest a certain credit level, business authenticity, or other nebulous grandiosity that potentially could impress someone. Credit cards, not so much. Winner: charge cards.

As you can see, both credit cards and charge cards have features to recommend them. However, as with everything in life, the perks come with a price – only you can properly assess the importance of each card feature to the success of your business. But if you now have a better understanding of the differences between the two, you’re one step closer to deciding.

Editor’s note:  this article was originally published at the OPEN Forum.

* * * * *

About the Author: Adam Jusko is founder of credit card comparison site Index Credit Cards, which is regularly referenced in publications including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Money Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Chicago Tribune, and more. Of particular interest to Small Business Trends readers is the section of Index Credit Cards devoted to business credit cards.

From Small Business Trends

How to Choose Between a Credit Card and a Charge Card

June is National Entrepreneur Do-it-Yourself Marketing Month. If you are not actively marketing your business in everything you do, you are limiting your growth potential. Many entrepreneurs think of marketing...

Now in its 59th year, GOOD DESIGN is the oldest and the most prestigious Awards Program organized worldwide. Good Design Awards - Format: Graphic Design You can enter any graphic produced...

Tell Inc.com why you are the most outstanding start-up business owner of 2009 and you could win a $50,000 business grant or other prizes in the Neutrepreneur of the Year...

"Many companies diminish their effectiveness by managing M&A as a linear process. They treat each stage of a deal as if they were handing off the baton in a relay race, switching from the boardroom team, to the negotiating team, to the integration planning program leaders, to line management. This approach lengthens the time line of the acquisition, exposes the newly merged company to the impatience of the markets, and makes it harder to resolve issues early — so they surface later, causing additional delays and difficulties. The alternative is to pursue the stages of M&A in parallel (with substantial overlap and continuous referencing back and forth), managed by a single large team whose members communicate easily and regularly with one another and with the rest of the organization. This type of process places great demands on resources, time, and staff. But the results are worth the added effort." To better understand this approach, read more in this strategy + business article.