tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126392352009-02-20T22:34:41.491-08:00Notes on tools, applications, and tips for the very small business owner.Ellennoreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-51279216043519382522008-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:002008-01-17T18:09:08.283-08:00

I started Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? tonight and am enjoying it. But I can't believe I'm the only one that a) actually reads or b) received a damaged copy of this book. I have two sets of pages 9-40 and no pages 41-72. Amazon will take it back and send me a new one, of course.But the irony of missing the section that was apparently talking about quality (from where it

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-33219466521325521962007-11-06T18:55:00.000-08:002007-11-06T19:09:51.136-08:00

A while back I was lucky enough to attend a presentation by FutureNow that one of my clients hosted. Bryan Eisenberg had just picked up this book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. His enthusiasm made me go order it online at Amazon that evening, but it got lost in the ever-growing never-shrinking pile of books that seem worth reading.Another client of mine recently started

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-66618952859676646502007-05-14T17:07:00.000-07:002007-05-14T17:10:21.762-07:00

The New York Times has launched a new section aimed at small businesses. There's a nice resource center, plus blogs and columns.

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-30036211487554918742007-05-01T22:59:00.000-07:002007-05-01T23:15:02.242-07:00

border="0"This book is just fantastic. I don't know how else to subscribe it.If you long to grow an empire, have lots of employees, and work long hours to grow a successful business, don't buy this.If, however, you've hesitated to start your own business because you do NOT want employees, if you define your goals in terms of lifestyle rather than money in the bank, and you have a fierce desire

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-79127302943442939322007-04-27T16:04:00.000-07:002007-04-27T16:20:57.487-07:00

John Jantsch was kind enough to send me a copy of his book and I've been remiss in writing it up. That's partially his own fault though... There are so many good ideas in here you will likely be busy yourself for a quite a while after reading it!If you own a small business, I'd put this one on your Must Read list. To give you a clue of the book's credentials, the foreword is by Michael Gerber and

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1162867489554962612006-11-06T18:36:00.000-08:002006-11-06T18:44:49.573-08:00

I just finished this book and it is fantastic! I liked that he started out by defining the difference between persuasion and manipulation. That's an issue I wrestle with periodically. As we measure every bloody aspect of what someone does on a web site, my current playing field, we can see more of what they want, what they don't like, and learn, if we pay attention, how to present what they're

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1154742882909105012006-08-04T18:45:00.000-07:002006-08-04T18:56:12.520-07:00

I was feeling overwhelmed today. Not really overwhelmed but just out of control. I know I can get all the work on my plate done. But just this month I suddenly seem to have more than one plate and they keep rotating in and out from under me like I'm sitting at a rotating table as priorities change, new projects are added, I decide to take a short vacation, and then I walk out in the yard to relax

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1150946567440664792006-06-21T20:14:00.000-07:002006-06-21T20:22:47.453-07:00

Another great article from Steve Pavlina, about Relaxifying Your Workspace. I don't have any plants in my office but I think they would be nice. I just have a habit of killing houseplants somehow. I can do great in the garden, but houseplants and I don't get along somehow.I desperately need to pay attention to my office. I'm in a spare bedroom, which is normally just fine but in the summer gets

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1150848593198525082006-06-20T17:00:00.000-07:002006-06-20T17:09:53.213-07:00

I just had a book delivered by our local UPS guy. He's been the driver for this neighborhood nearly as long as I've lived here. When I worked for someone else eons ago and we did a lot of shipping, UPS was not the preferred venue. They had no tracking capabilities unless you shipped overnight, the people I dealt with on the phone were less than friendly and didn't really seem to care much about

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1149910456917058132006-06-09T20:24:00.000-07:002006-06-09T20:34:16.936-07:00

I'm a fan of David Allen's; I make no bones about it. I just bought Ready for Anything and quickly finished up The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner so I could start this. Of course, being in a book-binge mode I have 5 other books sitting there next to Ready for Anything. A few are web based and a few are just for fun novels.The subtitle is "52 Productivity Principles for Work & Life." I think

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1147930780470099222006-05-17T21:21:00.000-07:002006-05-17T22:39:40.533-07:00

When I turned our cable TV back on recently, I added the digital video recording. When I added that, they offered some special service that gave me HBO for a few months for free basically. I'd not wanted it, but figured what the heck. Well, I have enjoyed it--but the series, not the movies. Anyway, the trial period ended as I noted when I got my bill so I promptly called and cancelled the other

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1147482589506728902006-05-12T17:58:00.000-07:002006-05-12T18:14:28.500-07:00

One of the things I love most about being in business for myself is that I have time to learn what I want learn, to do what I want to do. One of the things I hate most about being in business for myself is that I have to learn what I want to get done, to do what I want done. Conundrum? Yep!Deciding when to hire something out and when to do it yourself can be tough at times. I'm in the middle of

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1146765776911033972006-05-04T10:56:00.000-07:002006-05-04T11:02:56.923-07:00

I'm a big fan of reading. When something grabs my attention, I'll often go buy a few books on the matter, hopefully ones with different perspectives, and pour through them, taking notes, marking up the margins, highlighting. I frequently loan (and borrow) books as well. I love sharing ideas like that!Reading online is harder. I can't do it comfortably from the couch--the laptop makes me too hot!

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1141752333235014252006-03-07T09:20:00.000-08:002006-03-07T09:30:16.830-08:00

I've mentioned my impressions of this book before. If you're trying to make some money off the Google AdSense program, you must have this! I rarely offer testimonials about products, but after just applying the simplest easiest changes to my cooking site, my AdSense revenues increased TENFOLD in one year so I had to write to Joel Comm and let him know. I just went to buy this brand new edition

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1138941186184359422006-02-02T20:18:00.000-08:002006-02-02T21:13:34.406-08:00

If you're doing business on the web, you've probably heard about search engine optimization or SEO, basically trying to make sure your web site shows up on the search results pages when people search for the proper terms.There are some catches.You want only the most qualified interested people to visit your site. It doesn't do you much good to increase your traffic if none of them want what you

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1137527283547221302006-01-17T11:41:00.000-08:002006-01-17T11:48:03.566-08:00

I've got my email set up so that it gets handled pretty well. I've created various folders for different lists I subscribe to, generally have a folder going for each active client, and stay on top of things for the most part. I also have a folder for newsletters (actually several, one of business interests, one for cooking, etc.) and I have the rules set up to throw the newsletters in

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1136850490304590152006-01-09T15:42:00.000-08:002006-01-09T15:48:12.890-08:00

I've put a few ebooks recently and most are sold through ClickBank. Since I've had nothing but good experiences as a buyer, I think when my own are ready to sell, I'll sell through them as well. If you're looking for content to sell, you can sign up to resell ClickBank items as well. Browse through the selection of e-books and sign up as an affiliate reseller, like I did to sell The Super

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1136678947304161212006-01-07T15:57:00.000-08:002006-01-07T16:09:07.323-08:00

I'm reading a fascinating book I picked up somewhere a while back, Millionaire Women Next Door : The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen . I'm not in that category yet myself but it's interesting to read and see how many traits I admire and, hopefully, share.For one thing, most of these women have a pretty frugal lifestyle. They seem to enjoy themselves but they do and buy things

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1132116286955983442005-11-15T20:43:00.000-08:002005-11-15T20:51:45.356-08:00

Let's see... I read that people like blogs to have an "about me" page, so here goes. By day, I'm a software designer and web content writer. The two go hand in hand to me. When I design software, I need to figure out what people want to and provide them with a clear path towards that end. When I write web content, I need to balance what site visitors want to do with what site owners would like

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1132113733262664862005-11-15T18:54:00.000-08:002005-11-15T20:02:13.323-08:00

I was chatting with a friend today who also has his own small business. He has a few employees. I'm a solo practioner. He can go out and get more business and deliver more, but always has that pressure of making sure the pipeline is full enough to support them all and can pay them all whether or not there's money coming in.Me? I can only take on jobs I can handle (or subcontract) but when things

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1131409344394223932005-11-07T15:11:00.000-08:002005-11-07T16:22:44.446-08:00

I admit to being a Microsoft user. It's just easier than swimming upstream. Most of my clients expect me to be able to deliver in Word for example. But I've been playing with the Firefox browser and love it. The tabs work great and let me more easily switch around from site to site. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a try. There's even a Google Plug-in Toolbar for it which I love.

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1130823666778635542005-10-31T21:26:00.000-08:002005-10-31T21:41:06.790-08:00

I have a cooking site that has begun to be a money maker. I added a blog a couple of years ago and have now developed a nice rhythm that lets me easily add to the site.Basically, I blog as often as I can for the food blog, Chronicles of a Curious Cook (and now for a garden site I started as well). Periodically I take the best posts and turn them into more regular recipes or articles on the site.

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1125338749113929872005-08-29T11:04:00.000-07:002005-08-29T11:17:37.606-07:00

If you are serving up AdSense ads on your content site, you might be eager to chat with some folks who are doing the same thing. There's a new AdSense Chat forum where you can come share your knowledge and glean some new information. This was set up by Joel Comm, who brought you What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense. I've definitely increased my AdSense revenue since

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1117667203350926382005-06-01T15:54:00.000-07:002005-06-01T16:15:35.810-07:00

I thought I'd create a page that lists the various resources I've found helpful. First, you can sell things online yourself. Other than a few e-books I don't have much experience with that, so I'll leave others to explain it. I did help set up a site that uses Yahoo Stores, which was fairly easy to learn how to use and seems to be adequate. Second, you can sell other people's stuff through

Ellennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12639235.post-1117311429792819092005-05-28T13:15:00.000-07:002005-05-29T11:31:26.103-07:00

An empty inbox is a scary thing. I'm used to using it as a holding place, a reminder of things to do. I get a lot of email. Some of it is personal, some of it is business, some of it is newsletters and e-zines, some of it is mailing groups, and of course there's a large percentage of spam in there as well.But I'm reading Getting Things Done by David Allan, again, and trying to implement a few

Ellennoreply@blogger.com0