At SXSW, Britt Raybould and I met, introduced by Chris Brogan (who else?). We had some excellent conversations about working in a high tech field, without being from a major metro area. We both got lots of surprised comments from the big city folks. Of course, I wanted to introduce her to you, too. Before…
In our massively connected professional networks, handing work off to friends and associates is pretty common. But it also triggers some tax issues in the US. When you pay someone to write an article, to be your virtual assistant, to redesign your site, to work with you on a project for your client, basically anytime…
Based on the enormous success of Checklists for starting your first business, we are starting a series of 100 practical, how-to small business posts. I stole (or borrowed) this idea from Chris Brogan and his Social Media 100. So let’s call this the Small Biz 100. Small biz owner Rick Cockrum also suggested that we…
Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton decided to take on creating sequel to the incredibly successful group-written book, Age of Conversation. The winning topic is “Why don’t they get it?” I’m already formulating my thoughts on who doesn’t get it and why that is. But I’m joined by 274 additional outstanding writers on this project. Expect…
What do you do with interactive tools like blogs, video, all that web 2.0 stuff, to build relationships, to reach customers? First, it’s not about you. Let’s start with the message I previously shared from Hugh MacLeod, small town global microbrand, who writes and draws at Gaping Void: Marketing is moving away from our message…
Checklists for starting your first business has generated some follow up questions and discussion, so let’s go over those. Can I deduct computer equipment and software I purchased before I started my business? Partially, but you won’t get much of a deduction. Here’s Maesz’ explanation: The previously personal items of equipment that are converted to…
While we talk about interactive web 2.0 type tools, there’s an older definition of an interactive experience. Michael McMillan told this story on the Harvey House listserv group, shared by Sandie Olson to Angie Koehn to me. My wife and I were crusing the Mother Road [Route 66] up in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle…
Jon Swanson, formerly the Entrepreneurial Chicken, is writing about small business again. He helped again this year with a training event for a small retail cooperative. What I heard today made me more optimistic about the presentations in any time in the past 6 years of doing this. Today, one of the groups said, “We…
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