entrepreneurship

Bullet Points: Working from “Anywhere”

The Hired Guns on September 19, 2011

bullet points, entrepreneurship Comment

Thinking of getting one of those trendy standing desks to avoid dying while in the saddle at work? It’s probably just as healthy to move around more. [Lifehacker]
It’s fun to talk about visual vs. auditory vs. movement-based learning styles, but now at least one psychologist has pointed out that evidence for such distinctions is thin on the ground.
Lots of rhetoric paints small businesses as places that effortlessly bubble over with new ideas and lots of growth, but few small businesses are really that innovative, says a new study from the University of Chicago: they “start small and stay small.” [Slate]
Entrepreneur and author John Warrilow comes up with seven tools he uses to work from “anywhere”—although most of the applications listed will only be truly useful in locations with a speedy internet connection.
Check out this animation that a student made using a year’s worth of his homework:

[via HuffPo]

When It’s Your Company, How Big Is Big Enough?

The Hired Guns on September 14, 2011

Adelaide Lancaster, Amy Abrams, Big Enough Company, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship Comment

We’re proud to announce that Hired Guns pals Adelaide Lancaster’s and Amy Abrams’s new book, The Big Enough Company, comes out from Portfolio tomorrow. Their guidebook was written to help small business owners navigate the challenges that come up when they try to run the kind of company they want to run, at the size and level of complexity that makes sense to them. The bottom line is that despite what some experts imply, there’s no one size that’s a perfect match for every entrepreneur out there.

To find out more, check out the book trailer below — and look for more from us about the book and its authors over the next few weeks.

How to Make Sure Your Senior-Level Design Title Doesn’t Lead to a Dead End

Jeff Gothelf on August 3, 2011

career management, design, management Comment

You paid your dues. You put in the long nights. You suffered under bosses who never “got” design and those who thought they’d invented it. And finally, you got there. You got the director role, the VP title, or the creative director position that you worked for during your entire career.

And this was good. As the department leader, you made a name for yourself. You grew the team and tightened up the company’s design discipline. You mentored junior designers and churned out some fairly impressive work. And then it came time to move on.

It’s right at that moment that it hits you—when you were an up-and-coming designer, there were lots of entry- and mid-level jobs. As a designer near the top of the heap, the opportunities for you now are few and far between. Rarely do these positions open up, and even more rarely are new senior-design roles created. By working yourself up the corporate design ladder, you may have placed yourself in a situation where potential new gigs are scarce.

Bullet Points: Ways of Thinking That Sink Startups; No Tech Bubble (This Time)

The Hired Guns on July 12, 2011

bullet points, entrepreneurship, LinkedIn, technology Comment

“This bubble talk is about everybody being unbelievably psychologically scarred from 10 years ago.” Mark Andreessen puts us all on the couch to explain why there’s no tech bubble. [NYT]
Goldman Sachs Won’t Let Its Employee Work At Dealbreaker Without Taking 60 (Paid) Days Off First [Business Insider]
Why are people using LinkedIn? A survey of 500 users gets the pretty-infographic treatment . . . [Lab42, via Mashable]
What makes a great company name? Inc. magazine finds some common threads.
At Businessweek, Karen E. Klein looks at the tech incubator Idealab and the “thinking traps” the company tries to avoid.

To Create a Great Customer Experience, Throw Out a Customer or Two

Mark Hurst on July 5, 2011

customer experience, customers, entrepreneurship, Mark Hurst Comment

This post previously appeared on Mark Hurst’s blog, Good Experience. It is reprinted by permission.

Not long ago, a moviegoer was escorted out of a theater in Austin, Texas. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has a policy of no talking and no texting. But even after two warnings, the customer persisted in texting during a movie. Out she went.

In a blog post called She texted. We kicked her out, Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League explains:

When we adopted our strict no-talking policy back in 1997 we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons. That was the plan. If you can’t change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don’t want you at our venue. Follow our rules, or get out and don’t come back until you can.

That’s one of the most pro-customer experience posts I’ve seen in a while. Because this theater is willing to filter out some customers it doesn’t want, it creates a much better experience for the customers who stay.

Or to put it another way: if you really love your customers, you’ll be willing to point them elsewhere, if the relationship just isn’t working.

The Alamo Drafthouse put it in even starker terms by creating this video containing a voice mail left by the offending (and, apparently, offended) customer. The cinema clearly enjoys emphasizing the benefit of its customer experience: watch movies here without distractions from other customers.

How might you apply this case study to your own business, organization, team, or project?

Bullet Points: the Zipcar IPO; Social Blogging; Hard Times for Reunions

The Hired Guns on May 16, 2011

bullet points, education, Facebook, Zipcar Comment

Like so many others, The Economist is talking tech bubble.
“Position yourself as an expert” (and other good advice) is in Inc.’s 8 Tips for Using Social Blogging to Grow Your Business.
Zipcar’s IPO last week had a good start, although the company has yet to be profitable.
Education-bubble watch: NPR reports that for-profit colleges are targeting people who can’t pay; the SF Chron writes about colleges that market to high schoolers, even though many of the students have little chance of actually being accepted. Doing so “[swells] school coffers with application fees” and “[makes] colleges seem more selective by soliciting and then rejecting applicants.”
The companies that organize high-school reunions are seeing a drop in attendance. Yep, it’s Facebook’s fault.

Get Your Blog On: Scott Beale of Laughing Squid on Building an Audience

Bill Brazell on April 27, 2011

blogging, Laughing Squid, Scott Beale Comment

For the second of my interviews with blog movers and shakers, I didn’t have too far to look–I’ve known Scott Beale for many years. As the creator and founder of Laughing Squid, a web hosting company and “online resource for art, culture & technology,” Scott’s an amazing source for finding out about the rise of blogs and blogging platforms. We discussed his company’s origins (including its unusual name), the backwards way he got into blogging, and how to grow a blog when you want to write about all sorts of things, not just a single niche. “Not everyone’s going to like every post, and that’s the way it should be with us,” he says. Check out the rest of our half-hour talk below:

Listen to internet radio with Bill Brazell on Blog Talk Radio

The Tax Man Cometh: 5 Small-Business Tips for Next Year

Beth Temple on April 21, 2011

entrepreneurship, freelancing, IRS, small business, taxes Comment

Today we welcome to the blog Beth Temple (@bethtemple4u), a digital consultant whose column is for the “preneurs” in The Hired Guns family. Although her focus will be split among advice for the entrepreneur, intrapreneur, and solopreneur, she will always return to proven ways to get ahead–whether it’s by growing your company, mastering important leadership skills, or learning how to sell yourself.

I know what you’re thinking–you missed the mark. Tax Day has come and gone. Well, for this year it has, but trust me, it will be back next year, and the best time to start planning for April 15, 2012, is now.

If you are like most small business owners (and yes, being just one person counts as being a business!), you’ve probably made some tax mistakes. I did my first year out: I didn’t realize that I had to pay quarterly estimated taxes based on forecasted income. Only made that mistake once.

Here are some things you should be doing now (and forever after) to help ensure a smooth tax season next year:

1) Beth’s 40% rule: In order to be sure I have the money I need throughout the year to pay for taxes, I take out 40% from every check (let me repeat that–EVERY check) and put it in a special account just for taxes. This way I don’t see it, I don’t spend it, and I always have the cash I need. Put the money in a saving account attached to your business checking account–it’s never a good idea to co-mingle your business and personal money. At the end of the year, if there is any left over in the tax account (and there usually is), that’s my yearly bonus. I either invest it back into the business or buy something small as a reward. (You could also use it to bulk up the three to six months’ worth of living expenses that financial experts say we all should have but often don’t.)

Get Your Blog On: Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends Talks Strategy

Bill Brazell on April 14, 2011

Anita Campbell, blogging, entrepreneurship, podcasts, Small Business Trends Comment

We’re proud to add Bill Brazell to our site. As the first director of author services at Federated Media, a current senior associate at WIT Strategy and blog wrangler at collectivecontext, he’s worked closely with popular sites that include Dooce, Boing Boing, Behance, and many others. He’ll be interviewing some of the stars of blogging and uncovering some tips that the rest of us can use to grow our online presence. So take it away, Bill!

With a few exceptions, bloggers are fun, interesting people. In this series of monthly podcasts, I’ll be talking with a few of the most outstanding ones, asking them to enlighten the rest of us on what makes them so influential, what kept them going in the early days when no one knew they existed, and what blogging has enabled them to do that they might not have been able to do otherwise.

First up is Anita Campbell, editor in chief and founder of Small Business Trends — an award-winning blog for entrepreneurs.

The Good Guns: Hockey Bloggers Flog Their Services for Charity

Allison Hemming on April 13, 2011

Good Guns, hockey, Jason Orach, Right to Play, Ryan Lambert Comment

With their teams eliminated from the playoffs, two bored hockey bloggers decided to go all “mercenary” (or, dare we say, Hired Gun) and make money for charity instead of throwing in the towel on the season. Ryan Lambert, a contributor for Flamesnation.ca, and Jason “Chemmy” Orach, from TheLeafsnation.com, are using Ebay to auction off their blogging services. They’ll continue to blog though the Stanley Cup finals for anyone willing to pay up, whether it be a hockey fan blog or for a big media player. Right now the auction stands at $335.00, with 25 bids. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to Right to Play, a charity that gets kids involved with sports regardless of age, gender, or disability.

Fine print: If you win the auction, Lambert and Orach say, they’re do what they do best: “create hilarious controversy by trolling your playoff opponents. You’ll get guest posts on your team from big-name writers. We’ll wave pom poms for your team on Twitter. You’re buying the services of two hockey blogging pros and helping out some disadvantaged kids.”

Really fine print: If your team gets bounced too, Lambert and Orach will re-list their services in order to donate more money to charity. They’ll provide you with as much material as possible, but make no guarantees about quantity.

Page 1 of 212 »

Gunsworthy

The Hired Guns Blog

Topics

Authors

Archive