Month: July 2005

Tony Parinello:

You have three big goals when it comes to developing an opening statement that works. You want to:
1. Make it sound conversational.
2. Deliver it with confidence.
3. Get a favorable interruption–one that will put your prospect in control as soon as possible.

Jason Calacanis: “I gotta tell, I’m much happier myself now. Our work is making people’s lives better (both reader and writer—even the advertisers), and my job over the last couple of months has moved from figuring out how to make the model work to—well—defending the business from being corrupted.”

Forbes: “In addition to transmitting news, industry gossip and occasional rants, the best small business blogs offer interactivity, allowing readers to chime into the dialogue with their own bright ideas. There are, unfortunately, too many small business blogs peddling the same prosaic resources you can get from a simple google search.” (via Matt Linderman)

Here are the winners:

Duct Tape Marketing
All Business Blog Center
Church of the Customer
Fresh Inc
Small Business Trends
BusinessWorks
Entrepreneurial Mind
Small Business Brief

Johanna Rothman: “But here’s the sad truth: you don’t have to be the best. You just need to be better than your competition.”

Frederick J. Beste III:

6. They have inner confidence. I noted earlier that optimism is cheap and it is. Optimism based on reason, however, what might be called “inner” confidence, is rare indeed. It’s the difference between “knowing” you’ll succeed because you’re part of the $220 billion electronics industry, and knowing you’ll succeed because your new product has nailed the competition right through the heart. It is, quite simply, confidence based on a knowledge of outstanding preparedness.

Joseph Anthony:

It seems like a silly question, but it’s one that owners of business startups have to answer. How much of a salary should they receive?

Depending on how the business is structured, the answer can be, “What the market will bear,” “Just part of what I’d make otherwise” or even “Nothing at all — at least for now.”

Jeff Sandquist:

As they say on Slashdot.org :->

1. Write some Cool Software using Visual Studio 2005.
2. Incorporate the Shareware Starter Kit
3. Sell the software
4. Profit

Michael Hiemstra: “I was struggling far too long for this post’s title. I started with a “A Window on Microsoft”, but blogs are not exactly a window. More like a pinhole. And it’s not like you are really looking in… it’s more like you’re viewing the bits that are oozing out of the pinholes!”

Tim Weiler:

I am absolutely 100% positive that sales of Syncura will wildly surpass my current salary. So what the hell am I doing strapped to my cubicle at work?

“You’re supporting your wife and kid and ensuring that we don’t get thrown out on the street”, my wife tells me.

She’s right. I can’t quit until it’s clear that I’m right about Syncura.

Scott Clark: “4. Espousing entrepreneurial arrogance. When you have a one-person business, you are in charge of everything, but as your workforce grows you need to maximize productivity. Even if you think you know it all, you need to let go, train your employees within an inch of their lives and then concentrate on providing the tools they need to do the best job possible.”