This article gives 5 tips for effectively marketing your website and/or business through writing articles with resource boxes that can be distributed to article directory sites.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Today, I came across this article called Simplicity Can Untangle Complex Business Issues.
It was written by Mark Gottfredson, who is a partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co, and is the co-author of "The Breakthrough Imperative: How the Best Managers Get Outstanding Results
".
Gottfredson makes the same observation that I have seen in the corporate world - that the natural flow is for things to become more complex over time. Simplicity is something that managers must actively work on.
It was written by Mark Gottfredson, who is a partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co, and is the co-author of "The Breakthrough Imperative: How the Best Managers Get Outstanding Results
".Gottfredson makes the same observation that I have seen in the corporate world - that the natural flow is for things to become more complex over time. Simplicity is something that managers must actively work on.
Friday, 24 July 2009
On my Tao of Simplicity blog, I posted 5 quotations on simplicity from great historic thinkers.
I found this nice article by George Chua entitled "Complicating Simplicity".
It perfectly describes my experience in the business world - that companies and bureaucracies over-react to issues and problems - thus making things more complicated than they need to be.
This generates extra costs that must either be passed on to customers, or else absorbed (reducing profit margins).
I like this quote:
Many production and QA engineers tend to shoot themselves in the foot without realizing it by coming up with features and standards that their own customers don’t care about or are not even aware of.
It perfectly describes my experience in the business world - that companies and bureaucracies over-react to issues and problems - thus making things more complicated than they need to be.
This generates extra costs that must either be passed on to customers, or else absorbed (reducing profit margins).
I like this quote:
Many production and QA engineers tend to shoot themselves in the foot without realizing it by coming up with features and standards that their own customers don’t care about or are not even aware of.
This article talks about creating secure passwords from mnemonic phrases that are meaningful to you and easy to remember.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Here is an article on a man in Utah who lives in a cave and has not used money in 10 years...
His life is simple, but hard. He does not use welfare or food stamps.
His life is simple, but hard. He does not use welfare or food stamps.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
The Carnival of road to financial independence #9 is up with a lot of interesting articles.
I found a website called Doubletongued.org that defines new catchwords.
One of the definitions that caught my eye was negative operating cycle, because it uses a real interesting example of Amazon.com vs. Best Buy. I then did a Google search and found other sites that mention this.
It seems that Amazon.com is able to sell some things, like iPods, cheaper than Best Buy because Amazon turns its inventory faster (20 days vs. 74 days).
For example, let's say that both Best Buy and Amazon get a shipment of iPods at net 45 from Apple. So they each have 45 days to pay for the shipment. If Amazon can sell all the iPods in 20 days, they can afford to sell the iPods at cost, and make their profit by investing the money from day 20 through day 45.
Best Buy, on the other hand, has to borrow money from day 45 through day 74 to pay Apple.
One of the definitions that caught my eye was negative operating cycle, because it uses a real interesting example of Amazon.com vs. Best Buy. I then did a Google search and found other sites that mention this.
It seems that Amazon.com is able to sell some things, like iPods, cheaper than Best Buy because Amazon turns its inventory faster (20 days vs. 74 days).
For example, let's say that both Best Buy and Amazon get a shipment of iPods at net 45 from Apple. So they each have 45 days to pay for the shipment. If Amazon can sell all the iPods in 20 days, they can afford to sell the iPods at cost, and make their profit by investing the money from day 20 through day 45.
Best Buy, on the other hand, has to borrow money from day 45 through day 74 to pay Apple.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
I was just inspired to write a post on why simplicity is not valued more. This was a stream-of-conscious, passion type post, rather than thoughtful analysis.
A lot of divorcing couples are having to find creative ways to live together until the economy improves.
Monday, 13 July 2009
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Did you know that, even if you have bad credit, it may be possible for you to get a cash advance line of credit?
There are companies that issue secured credit lines. The issuer would probably require you to deposit a certain percentage of the credit line.
A line of credit like this can be a useful tool to help you rebuild your credit history. The key would be to use some of it every month for necessary expenses, and promptly pay off your balances. As you build a history of successful repayments with the issuer, they should slowly wean you towards an unsecured credit line. Your credit report and score will also start to look better.
There are companies that issue secured credit lines. The issuer would probably require you to deposit a certain percentage of the credit line.
A line of credit like this can be a useful tool to help you rebuild your credit history. The key would be to use some of it every month for necessary expenses, and promptly pay off your balances. As you build a history of successful repayments with the issuer, they should slowly wean you towards an unsecured credit line. Your credit report and score will also start to look better.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
This good article on internet marketing talks about not using Facebook and Twitter as your main communication method for prospects. What if they shut down tomorrow? You would then lose the fruits of all your hard work.
Instead, the article stresses using social sites like Facebook and Twitters as outposts. You drive traffic to your blog, and offer free reports, videos, etc. to capture email addresses.
Instead, the article stresses using social sites like Facebook and Twitters as outposts. You drive traffic to your blog, and offer free reports, videos, etc. to capture email addresses.
The July 10, 2009 edition of affiliate marketing and traffic building
blog carnival is out and it's large!
It's full of useful articles on internet marketing.
blog carnival is out and it's large!
It's full of useful articles on internet marketing.
Friday, 10 July 2009
The author of the Excellence in Presentations blog believes in simplifying your PowerPoint presentations to only having one idea per slide - with a short phrase and a picture.
Always avoid using bullets.
In this way, the presenter will be forced to converse with his/her audience, rather than recite ideas, point by point.
Always avoid using bullets.
In this way, the presenter will be forced to converse with his/her audience, rather than recite ideas, point by point.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
This marketing blog has a good post on simplicity applied to marketing.
The latest edition of the Carnival of College Admission is up with some great articles.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
The July 7th edition of the Money Hacks Carnival is up with interesting financial posts.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Friday, 3 July 2009
In many ways, today's college/tuition/loan situation parallels the real estate market before the bust.
With real estate, you had the government (through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and Wall Street (by bundling loans into securities) removing risk from the banks and other home loan originators. This caused them to get greedy and make excessive money available to unqualified home owners. The flood of money chasing homes caused prices to go up, thus causing a cycle.
The same thing has been occurring with colleges and universities. The government guarantees loans through programs like Sallie Mae, and Wall Street has recently been bundling college loans into securities. Lenders and for-profit career colleges (i.e. beautician schools) in urban areas have been pushing loans onto unqualified students. The flood of available money has allowed even distinguished colleges to bloat their bureaucracies and raise tuition faster than the inflation rate.
Students and their parents need to protect themselves:
1. Think twice before piling on excess college loans.
2. Aggressively pursue scholarships. Many scholarships go begging, or have only a handful of applicants. Use sites like Campus Scholarship Site to track them down.
2. Expect to be heavily recruited on campus with credit card offers, and resist temptation.
3. Research state colleges and universities. Their in-state tuition is many times cheaper than private schools.
4. Take part-time employment. If your finances are really tight, onsider if full time employment / part-time school might make more sense than going into debt.
With real estate, you had the government (through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and Wall Street (by bundling loans into securities) removing risk from the banks and other home loan originators. This caused them to get greedy and make excessive money available to unqualified home owners. The flood of money chasing homes caused prices to go up, thus causing a cycle.
The same thing has been occurring with colleges and universities. The government guarantees loans through programs like Sallie Mae, and Wall Street has recently been bundling college loans into securities. Lenders and for-profit career colleges (i.e. beautician schools) in urban areas have been pushing loans onto unqualified students. The flood of available money has allowed even distinguished colleges to bloat their bureaucracies and raise tuition faster than the inflation rate.
Students and their parents need to protect themselves:
1. Think twice before piling on excess college loans.
2. Aggressively pursue scholarships. Many scholarships go begging, or have only a handful of applicants. Use sites like Campus Scholarship Site to track them down.
2. Expect to be heavily recruited on campus with credit card offers, and resist temptation.
3. Research state colleges and universities. Their in-state tuition is many times cheaper than private schools.
4. Take part-time employment. If your finances are really tight, onsider if full time employment / part-time school might make more sense than going into debt.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
| pictures from the new Sears Tower 103rd floor glass balcony http://snipurl.com/skydeck |
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