Because I make my living by helping small entrepreneurs with their online marketing efforts, I am predisposed to resonate with the comments of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos as reported in Grand Forks Herald. In his comments at Marketplace for Entrepreneurs in Fargo, ND he said, “You can physically be anywhere as you do it, and you can affect the entire world with what you build.”
Of course, I doubt Bezos said that online marketing was free of risk or of trial and error. What he did say is that a small entrepreneur can have global impact from any location. I like that!
A local organization that is working to connect local businesses to the global marketplace is the Northern Adirodack Trading Cooperative. Though I may be biased by the fact that I have done some work for them, I believe their goals are worthy of support. Let’s support local businesses in their online ventures and see what world changing impact they can have.
Regional businesses that have made inroads online are:
There are too many to mention, some of them among my clients. Let’s support these innovators and see what positive changes they bring to the north country economy.
A Related Article, Can Tech Save Smalltown America? is available on Slashdot.
January 21st, 2006
On friday, I attended a Dale Carnegie training event at Canton Potsdam Hostpital. The past year has been one of growth in both the size of projects and the number of clients here at my Web design company and I hoped that this class would help me make better decisions about how I use my time.
Larry Heron, the presenter, offered a number of very useful pointers but the highlight of the event was the interaction between attendees. I found that, though I was one of the few who owned their own business, my stresses and challenges were identical to most of the others.
Here are a few of the challenges we identified:
- Eliminating wasted or duplicated effort
- Keeping a clean and organized workspace
- How to handle interruptions and minimize lost productivity
- How to avoid unproductive procrastination
- How to prioritize (Of course, the famous 80/20 rule)
- How to break the stress cycle by interpreting events more accurately
- and, how to delegate effectively
A quote Larry used that stuck with me is this one from Ed Foreman:
“Winners are those people who make a habit of doing the things losers are uncomfortable doing.”
… Not that life is a big contest! It just is a reminder that success doesn’t come from taking the easiest or most apparent path.
January 21st, 2006
Jakob Nielsen, Web usability expert, has weighed in on Blog design mistakes. Visit his alertbox article to learn more about Blog usability.
January 21st, 2006
