Month: August 2005

Eric Wise:

The only thing more offensive than getting no bonus or salary increase is getting one that is so insignificant compared to your accomplishments that it feels more like a “slap in the face” rather than the reward it was intended to be.

For example, a worker I know who works in the utilities industry came up with a new way of performing routine maintanence on some equipment that when down for maintenance costed tens of thousands of dollars a day. The maintenance being performed is highly complex and usually lasts 45 days. This new procedure ended up cutting 15 days off the average maintenance, a savings of $150,000 every time this maintenance had to be performed. Surely, the boss was pleased and wanted to reward this innovation from an employee. Upon coming into work the next week the employee was presented with a $20 gift certificate… to subway…

Technorati tags: hr, management

David V. Lorenzo:

Ninety-four percent of small-business owners say they are at least somewhat successful, 87% say they are at least somewhat satisfied with being small-business owners, and 84% say they would still become small-business owners if they had to do it all over again. However, becoming a successful small-business owner asks a lot of the individual and his or her family.

Technorati tags: entrepreneurship, statistics

David V. Lorenzo:

If you can laugh while working, you have an advantage over 2/3 of the working population. Work should be fun. If it isn’t then you are in the wrong job – no matter how much you make.

Technorati tags: happiness, careers

John of Freshblog has made some improvements to the XBlogThis! bookmarklet. He’s offering two new variations:

Here’s two other versions of the bookmarklet that are integrated with del.icio.us. Both include the rel=”tag” attribute that enables tag search services to identify the links as tags. The first points to an individual’s del.icio.us account (in this case, mine) & is useful for generating the technorati / del.icio.us combo tags that are the crucial tool for the categories method used here…

The second version takes a cue from Graywolf, and points to the “all posts for a given tag” page on del.icio.us. Your post will eventually get buried in an avalanche of posts with the same tag, but the link in your post will take your readers to similar material. You don’t need to edit / customise this script because it doesn’t point to an individual del.icio.us account.

Technorati tags: blogging, blogthis, xblogthis, blogger, tagging, folksonomy

Peter Caputa:

If I have trouble finding something on the web (like the phone number for a local store), I simply blog about it and it rises to the top.

I am personalizing google for me. All of it. Too bad for everyone else.

Technorati tags: blogging, google

Richard Breeden:

In a survey of the technology decision makers at the companies, 44% say their budgets are higher for 2005 spending, while 21% intend to spend less, and 32% say expenditures will be about the same, according to Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., technology research firm.

Technorati tags: software, market, forecast

Jeff Cornwall:

Find someone who knows about business, knows you, and can be constructively blunt with you when you need it. Have that person spend some time with you and your business once in a while to help you work out the kinks in your business.

Technorati tags: entrepreneurship, advice

Jeff Cornwall:

What is interesting is that this is leading many employers to outsource functions that they just cannot adequately staff. And guess who is at the helm of the small businesses that large employers are looking to for such outsourcing? That’s right, the young entrepreneurs who they cannot attract to hire!

Technorati tags: entrepreneurship, demographics

Sarah E. Needleman:

Thinking about launching a new venture or expanding your existing business? For inspiration and sound advice, try these suggestions from Craig Newmark, founder and chairman of craigslist Inc., a network of 175 classified-ad and discussion Web sites for users in 34 countries.

Technorati tags: startup, web2.0, software, books

Romesh Wadhwani:

4) Software Predicts the Future
I’ve spoken to 50 CEOs over the last two years. What is their biggest technological need? They want to be able to predict future performance. They say, “What if I ‘turned the dial’ on supply today? How would that impact my business? Or what if I turned the dial on distribution? HR? Sales?”

Technorati tags: software, entrepreneurship