The Juggling Entrepreneurs

Are you considering converting from a PC to a Mac?  If so, check out these two tools.

Outlook2Mac:  A great little tool for $10 that helps you migrate your Windows Outlook files to MacMail or Entourage.  (tip submitted by Kathie Goldsmith of Life Balance Virtual Assistance)

MissingSync:  Syncing with your Palm, Blackberry or Mobile Phone on a Mac can be frustrating - especially if you are used to syncing on a Windows PC.  MissingSync bridges the gap.

Luciano Pavarotti died this morning. (NPR, 9/6/07)

Great Word-of-Mouth Case Study:  Marie Digby: How MySpace and YouTube is transforming the entertainment industry.  (WSJ, 9/6/07)

Apple reduced the price of the iPhone by $200 to $399 ahead of the holiday season. (NYTimes, 9/5/07)  Apple also announed that it added Wi-Fi and touchscreen to the iPod. (WSJ, 9/6/07)

For the holidays, Amazon and Google will try to tackle the electronic book industry.  Amazon is introducing a reader that connects wirelessly to Amazon’s eBook Store.   Google is releasing a plan that allows subscribers to access a library of ebooks.  (Google News Release)

Yahoo has struck a deal to acquire BlueLithium, the 5th largest online advertising network. (Yahoo News Release)

Vudu announces a $400 movie box available at months end that will download videos and play them with the picture quality of a DVD.  Also NBC struck a deal with Amazon about selling shows as video downloads on Amazon.  (NYTimes, 9/5/07)

Scientists in Britian have gained permission to, in theory, create the first human-animal embryos. (NPR, 9/5/07)

I use media mail to send books I sell on Half.com. It can be used for sending video tapes, DVDs, CDs, software disks, books, and printed material. One risk is that the postal service can open it at any time.

Here are the general guidelines for sending Media Mail.

• Write and underline Media Mail above the recipients address, to the left of the postage.
• For the Continental 48 States, it costs $2.13 to send a package under 1 pound and an additional 34 cents for each additional pound.
• The maximum size is 108 inches in combined length and distance around the thickest part.

It takes an average of 4 business days for the recipient to receive it. The time it takes depends on how far away the recipient is.

You can put any package under 13 ounces in a mail box. Over 13 ounces, you must take it to the post office and hand it to the recipient. Make sure they weigh and stamp the package otherwise it may come back to you.

For a great reference guide to calculating postage see this Office Animation article.

In this week’s RealAge Tips, it was mentioned that eating some good fats a half an hour before dinner can help curb your appetite and keep you from overeating.

Some good fats include:

• 6 walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts
• olive oil for dipping bread into
  

It is very important for businesses to understand their customers and their shopping habits.

EMarketer released a great article, “College Perfect for Word of Mouth“, that summarizes several recent studies on the methods Americans use to gain information about products.

A study by Youth Trends shows that the top two methods college students use to gain information about a product are word of mouth (friends & family) and TV.

Only 29.6% of people over 65 use there friends and family for product information.

From the 2007 Center for Women’s Business Research Fact Card.

• Women-owned firms employ nearly 13 million people and generate $1.9 trillion in sales.
• Between 1997 and 2006, majority women-owned firms grew by 42%.
• 83% of women business owners are personally involved in selecting and purchasing technology.
• 2.4 million firms are owned 50% or more by women of color.

MarketingProf’s gave this advice recently in their Get to the Po!nt eNewsletter.

Here are three points about customer service:

• Customers don’t care about your problems.  They want the product or service delivered as promised.
• Customers don’t understand quality.  They only know the experience that surrounds the sale.
• Customers need you to manage their experience.  Put your best and brightest in key customer service positions.

Excerpt from NASE’s Washington Watch, August 29, 2007.

According to the GAO,

• Two in five sole proprietors (6.9 million) made an error on the gross income line of Scheudle C and are underreporting about $53 billion net.
•  An estimated 73% of sole proprieters (10.9 million) are over-reporting their expenses by about $40 billion net.
• 55% of expense misreporting occurred in the car and truck, depreciation, supplies and other categories.

The GAO recommends increasing assistance to first time Schedule C filers, deny benefits/payments until tax obligations met (Social Security, Medicare), withhold tax to encourage tax compliance.

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 With statistics like the ones above, no wonder the federal government is working on more legislation to increase the accounting requirements for businesses. 

Make Mine a Million $ Business announced last week that they were open for applications for their next contest.

This time, there are two categories:

• Make Mine a Million $ Program for women-owned businesses that have been in business for 2 years and have a current annual revenue of $200,000 or greater.
• Micro to Millions Program for women-owned businesses that have less than $200,000 in current revenues.

The finalists will give their presentation at the October conference in Texas.  The winner receives coaching, a financial loan, and other business tools.

See details.

How secure is your Internet connection at your local free Wi-Fi hotspot?   Not very.

Pogue’s Posts blog posting, “How Secure is Your Wi-Fi Connection?” (read the great comments with this posting), explains how a person can intercept your transmissions between your computer and the Internet.  A person involved in this activity is called a sniffer.

 Note: Cell phone transmissions can be captured as well.

Read the rest of this entry »