Every week, I open a new Brag Basket. This time, it’s a new year, too.
This is not really about bragging. It’s about sharing. It’s here so you can introduce yourself or share some good news. With a new year stretched out in front of us. What wonderful things do you foresee for 2010?
Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others’ stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.
This particular basket is open from Jan 1-3, 2010.
How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It’s not an ad; it’s a conversation with friends. So jump in.
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The rural small business blog. We talk about small town business, with how-to articles, especially on social media marketing and making your community a better place. We use this “author” for announcements and other things you’ll want to know.
My fellow New Englander @leslie (Leslie Poston) and I had a great idea for a conference, which we decided to take a stab at. Scub3d will investigate the sociology and psychology of social media.
We think it’s the first conference to get beyond the SEO, inbound marketing, follower counts and convincing-your-CEO-to-blog topics and get to the underlying human behaviors that drive it all. We went public yesterday with the Call for Speakers at Scub3d.com Perhaps you might be a candidate, Becky?? :)
It’s a big leap for me but I’m fortunate to be working with Leslie, who has done these types of things before. I’m trying to take a piece of advice from Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy.com: “Get out of your comfort zone and stay out”! :)
Hi Becky (and other Brag Basketeers).
I (and a small group of co-conspirators) have been working for several months on completely over-hauling the wiki, SmallBusiness.com (http://SmallBusiness.com) for a “soft re-launch” on February 1. It’s somewhat funny to put a date on it, however, as everything we’re doing is being done right out in the open on the site.
I haven’t really been talking about it, however, as the MediaWiki platform (the open-source platform we’re using — and the platform on which Wikipedia is run) is exceedingly complicated and one of the things we’ve been working on is trying to make SmallBusiness.com easier to use and understand. While it’s tempting to say we’re trying to create a “Wikipedia for small business,” we’re not. For example, while we’re using the same wiki platform, but we’re not following many of the Wikipedia “cultural” approaches. We’re trying to be transparent as possible, but we’re not of the school that says PR people can’t write about their own company. They can, as long as they say who they are, eschew any hype and know if they do, they’ll be called out for it.
The idea is this: It’s a giant wiki to help those who run (or want to) small businesses get to the information they need to make decisions.
All the content is Creative Commons licensed (share and share-alike) — so any content on the site can be used anywhere, as long as you credit it. (And we’re wanting to make sure we credit back to original sources on blogs and other sources.)
The goal is to make it simple to find knowledge — wherever it may be.
The “simple” part is not there yet. For example, I’m trying (with this post on Becky’s blog) to reach out to folks like you and ask you to go onto the site and suggest to me ways to do the following (which is what we’ll be working on between now and February 1):
1. What can I do to encourage small business bloggers, SCORE volunteers, people who work w/ small businesses at places like SBDCs and Chambers of Commerce, to add information about resources in their hometowns?
Let me note that we’ve added a “Contributor” section at the bottom of every entry so that if you create a page or help edit or improve it, a link to your userpage appears. In turn, you are encouraged to use your userpage to promote your business, blog, SCORE chapter, etc.
I have dozens of other things I’d like help on, but I’m going to keep this brag-basket post focused. Answer here or email me a rex@smallbusiness.com.
And have a Happy New Year,
(And thanks, Becky.)
Joe, your conference sounds terrific! Excellent to see events move into new territory. I don’t think I have any insights into human behavior to share as a speaker, but it should be an outstanding event. Congrats on moving out of your comfort zone!
Rex, we’ve been watching the SmallBusiness.com wiki since Feb. 2006! I just took another look, and you’ve made some wonderful changes. I wonder if we could manage to get you a speaker slot in front of the SBDC national conference to talk about this? Hmmm…. Jeanne?
Thanks, Becky. Funny you should mention SBDCs. One of the projects we’re working on is having a section for SBDCs like this one that is being developed for SCORE chapters: http://smallbusiness.com/wiki/Category:SCORE_chapters
We’ll have directions for SBDCs to create their entry and link to their official websites. Also, the SBDC folks can help us organize information and links to all the helpful resources in their area.
As we start MMX, I’ll be releasing a new mini-product today: Twitter for Brick & Mortar Businesses. It’s a pre-recorded webinar (I’m just putting on the finishing touches now) with an accompanying MindMap (transcript to follow). It’s a small piece of what is a much larger project. I’m hoping that lots of small, independent brick & mortar businesses start off 2010 with a twitter resolution!
My husband (@whitemtnchef) just completed his first Personal Chef gig! He cooked for 10-12 people for 3 nights over the course of the week including New Year’s Eve. Tons of appetizers, chowders, desserts, and of course main dishes. They loved everything. Hopefully that’s the start to what will be a huge success in 2010 for him.
I was completely unaware of smallbusiness.com. I’ve just registered and plan on contributing some content pronto! I’ll make sure to pass the link along to my newsletter subscribers and put it on my website as well.
Here’s to a great 2010 for us all!
Every small business that made in through 2009 should brag about their business. If your business grew, you should brad even more. Hopefully, 2010 will be a great year for a lot of small business owners.
Mary, congrats to you and your husband on a terrific start to 2010! Hurray!
Paul, you are right. I’m so grateful for every bit of increase this past year. Here’s to a profitable 2010 for us all.
Hi Becky and gang.
Happy New Year! It’s so exciting to see what everyone else is up to — a great way to kick off the year!
We started 2010 by launching our new Culinary Media Network Academy, which offers online courses in cooking and lifestyle-oriented techniques.
We started off with some of Chef Mark’s Cooking Tips, and our Entertaining Survival Guide. Next up is my new Bachelor’s Boot Camp (someone has to teach them how to make nice in the kitchen). :)
We’ve asked our readers and listeners to tell us what they want to learn in order to build the curriculum, so this should be a lot of fun! I hope we’ll see some of you there! The school is at http://academy.culinarymedianetwork.com.
Congrats to all and best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer, congratulations! You’ve put a truckload of work into your academy, and I’m so proud to see the launch. May it be a wonderful new year.
Congrats to all on their achievements. I’m off to check out the links provided here. I did not know about smallbusiness.com either, but what a terrific idea and resource.
Best wishes for a great new year!
Lauri
Cheers, Lauri!
This is the most inspiration and motivational comment thread ever. I love reading your regular brag basket but always feel funny posting my own brags. I think I’m going to step outside of my comfort zone today.
As of the end of 2009 I am officially a small business owner. My blog network is now my main source of income (and that’s a good thing, by the way) and I took it to the next level by getting an EIN number and treating it as a business. I don’t need to tell you how terribly grown up I’m feeling.
I also have a few interesting projects in the works including The Freelance Writers Guide to Social Media and a profitable blogging workbook.
I also didn’t want this comment to go by to mention that one of the highlights of 2009 was meeting and spending time with you, Becky. I’m so proud to call you “friend.”
I just must add my congrats to all of you that commented, such exciting things to report. As I often say, “You done good”.
MissDazey
PS: I am still searching for an online business.
Congratulations, Deb! You have built some wonderful resources for others, and I’m happy to see you rewarded. I’m really looking forward to seeing you again at SXSW, friend.
MissDazey, thanks for dropping in. I really think there is great potential for you to be the professional ambassador, bringing your generation to the online world!
OK Becky, how would I do that? As you know haven’t a lot of skills. I know that there are some good sites for senior health issues, retirement, etc. My focus is still people born between 1930-1945. Now I enjoy posting links to all you guys who are professionals.
Becky, got to share this. Since I have met you via Twitter I observe business differently when we travel. Always wonder what they are doing online.
MissDazey, there is no question that it’s a lot of work, but making yourself the center of a network is a great starting point. Be like Deb Ng: she’s THE connecting point for freelance writers. Be like JenX: she reached out to Generation X writers in all 50 states.
Or go with a business angle. Walk into those small businesses you see when you travel. Ask them what they are doing online. Ask lots of questions to find out what they need. Then work with them, for pay, to teach them some of the skills you have learned.
Happy New Year! I applaud everyone’s efforts and energy!
I am happy to share one idea — not mine — that someone came up with and now I am a part of this group. It’s phenomenal!
We all try to donate….$25 here, $50 there, and more. It all helps. But what if you were a part of a group of focused giving women?
There is an organization called 100(+)Women Who Care. Each quarter, women gather for only one hour. Members just commit to $100 each quarter and send their check, whether they can attend or not. Anyone who is a member (who will donate), has a chance to drop their name in a hat, to represent a 501C3 charity/organization in our county.
Three names are chosen and three women talk for 5 minutes about a non-profit organization, their mission, how they help, what they need.
After all three are heard, all members in attendance vote for one organization, and the one with the largest number of votes is the one each member writes a $100 check to. POW, that organization is the recipient of $10,000, or in this case, we now have 118 members, to $11,800!
It is helping others…at its best. The people you meet can be some of your best new friends; caring, wonderful, generous. The women who had this idea is Karen Dunigan from Jackson, MI. Our chapter is in the western suburbs of Chicago. http://100womenwhocare.com/DuPage_County__Illinois.html Maybe you know someone who can make a difference…or maybe 100 ‘someones’…and you can start one in your area. It CAN make a difference.
Luanne, thank you for sharing your experience. That’s a great way for folks to group up and make a difference.
I am happy to say that ending 2009 has been fruitful for me. First off, starting with an outsourcing coaching program has been a big help to grab a lot more traffic to me and that also gave me more reasons to help people know about the secrets in business through my own experiences. It’s really a good feeling that you help people and that they help you in return by also contributing their ideas, recommending you and that referring more people to experience your concept. I will be more proud to help more people this year and create more business opportunities.
Thanks for letting us share here! :)
Happy new year.
Congrats, Tyrone. And happy new year.