Posted by Jim Van on October 29, 2010 under entrepreneur, small business | 
I’ve had an entrepreneurs’ group for five years now, and it’s really grown. Over the past three years, I’ve seen the membership change several times, with members from a broad spectrum of industries. (For info or to join, go to http://www.meetup.com/ProvEntrepreneurs)
There IS one thing that almost everyone asks about, though: ”How do I find someone to sell my idea/product/services?”. For those of you who are in a successful, or at least operating business, you already know that YOU are the one who closes the deal. At best, you may find a ‘hunter’ who is experienced in cold calling, or has the networking skills necessary to help you get your product or service into the marketplace and in front of prospects. However, when it comes to actually closing the deal, in most small business cases, it’s the owner, or someone very senior, who ‘gets’ what they’re selling. Problem: most entrepreneurs suffer bouts of anxiety at the thought of participating in any way in the sales process. It’s no wonder that most businesses don’t last 3 years… Read more of this article »
Posted by Jim Van on October 19, 2010 under business continuity, disaster recovery, small business |
I was thumbing through security results the other day, and came up with some interesting numbers:
When asked for top 5 business issues, only 18% of small business owners listed technology as an area of concern. Most were concerned with regulation (67%), taxes (74%), capital availability (58%), and even succession beat out technology at 24%. The numbers add up to more than 100% because business owners were asked to list their top 3 concerns.
In an age where most of our businesses are technology-driven, most of us don’t think about technology, until something goes wrong and our business comes to a screeching halt because of a technical glitch. I hope that never happens to you. Read more of this article »
Posted by Jim Van on October 13, 2010 under eOffice, mobility, portability |
I was recently at T.F. Green airport, waiting at the gate area for my flight to board. I had my iPhone with me, and was listening to a favourite Paris-based radio station while reading a book on the Kindle app. I took a break to take a moment to shop for a birthday present for a friend on Eddie Bauer, and went back to my book. All of a sudden, I received an alarm that one of my clients’ servers was acting abnormally. Within a minute, I was accessing the server, and within two minutes, I’d solved the issue and was back to my book. The flight boarded 10 minutes later.
This is perhaps one of the best examples of two things: How our personal and professional lives have merged due to tedchnology, and how they’ve done so in the absence of a conventional computer desktop. Meet the new portability. Read more of this article »
Posted by Jim Van on October 6, 2010 under entrepreneur, eOffice, mobility, portability, small business |
I live in a relatively affluent neighborhood. Everybody, even the 80-year old couple across the way, has a broadband internet connection. And, most people I know own smartphones and access various internet functions through them.
When I go to almost any public gathering place, from the library to a restaurant, Wi-fi internet access is a given, even at the local McDonald’s. In less affluent areas, broadband, while widely available, isn’t as well deployed, but is still widely available.
So, now that we’ve established the near ubiquity of broadband access to the internet, at least locally, what’s next Read more of this article »
