In the battle of the generations, entrepreneur style, who would win–Boomers or Gen-Yers?
According to a recent study by OPEN from American Express , it’d be a close tie.
Believe it or not, both generations actually agreed on several key issues. For example, both agree the economy is strong and opening their business was a good idea.
“It’s good news for the economy when both the established generation and the generation representing the future of small business are optimistic about economic growth and their own success,” says Susan Sobbott, president of OPEN from American Express.
But there are also several instances that didn’t bridge the generation gap. About 75 percent of Gen-Yers, ranging in age from 18 to 29 years old, say that ‘having fun is a priority in my business’ compared to about 66 percent of Boomers, in the age group of 42 to 64 years old.
Passion was the driving force for 55 percent of Gen-Y business owners when they started their business, compared to only 40 percent of Boomers.
One of the largest areas the generations couldn’t agree on is risk-taking. About 72 percent of Gen-Y entrepreneurs say they like to take risks, though only 53 percent of Boomers could say the same.
More at:http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/entry/177752.html
Friday, May 4, 2007
Get Your Business Publicized Free
The Internet is awash in social networking sites. More than a few of them are aimed at business networking, and some offer free press release distribution. Here are a few places you can go to get a press release for your business online with minimal effort and no expense.
1) Fast Pitch Network - These releases get seen by at least 20,000 other Fast Pitch Network members, generally small businesses and consultants.
2) Newswire Today
3) Free Press Release - This is a small service that buys a lot of Google ads. But a recent check of it seemed to show major corporations using it as another of their alternative distribution platforms. If it's good enough for CA, it's good enough for me.
4) SanePR
5) PRBuzz
6) MyFreePR
7) The Open Press
8) Pressbox - UK-based service.
9) AddPR
Most of these services offer paid add-ons, such as higher placement or search engine optimization, but you get the majority of what they can do for your for free. These services don't have the prestige of Business Wire, which is used by publicly traded companies, but the Internet is the great leveler. Even the free material listed on these sites does get scraped and seen by search engines.
1) Fast Pitch Network - These releases get seen by at least 20,000 other Fast Pitch Network members, generally small businesses and consultants.
2) Newswire Today
3) Free Press Release - This is a small service that buys a lot of Google ads. But a recent check of it seemed to show major corporations using it as another of their alternative distribution platforms. If it's good enough for CA, it's good enough for me.
4) SanePR
5) PRBuzz
6) MyFreePR
7) The Open Press
8) Pressbox - UK-based service.
9) AddPR
Most of these services offer paid add-ons, such as higher placement or search engine optimization, but you get the majority of what they can do for your for free. These services don't have the prestige of Business Wire, which is used by publicly traded companies, but the Internet is the great leveler. Even the free material listed on these sites does get scraped and seen by search engines.
How to Find Best Business
Web-based communities such as Yelp and Judy's Book have service and business listings for dozens of U.S. cities, and attempt to use the collective wisdom of their user base to make recommendations. My problem with these sites is there is nothing scientific in these ratings, the system can be gamed, these sites will come and go, and the communities reporting in may not be representative of me (or you). It's the online version of the old-fashioned newspaper reporter's “man on the street” method of gathering public opinion on a subject.
A more satisfactory measure of quality businesses and services comes from the research scientists at the National Quality Research Center at the Stephen M. Ross Business School at the University of Michigan. This group has developed the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a national measure of quality from the perspective of the user. ACSI measures 40 industries and companies from airlines, apparel and athletic shoes to specialty retail stores, supermarkets and wireless telephone service.
There's too much data to go into here, but some of the results may surprise you. Barnes and Noble's online service is rated higher in satisfaction by those surveyed than Amazon, although both are above the overall average for Internet retailers. Southwest Airlines is far ahead of its airline competitors in satisfaction, and Samsung leads among cellular phones.
Bonus: You may find valuable investment advice from reading the surveys. According to the ACSI website, customer satisfaction is a leading indicator of company financial performance. Stocks of companies with high ACSI scores tend to do better than those of companies with low scores.
More at:http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=28
A more satisfactory measure of quality businesses and services comes from the research scientists at the National Quality Research Center at the Stephen M. Ross Business School at the University of Michigan. This group has developed the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a national measure of quality from the perspective of the user. ACSI measures 40 industries and companies from airlines, apparel and athletic shoes to specialty retail stores, supermarkets and wireless telephone service.
There's too much data to go into here, but some of the results may surprise you. Barnes and Noble's online service is rated higher in satisfaction by those surveyed than Amazon, although both are above the overall average for Internet retailers. Southwest Airlines is far ahead of its airline competitors in satisfaction, and Samsung leads among cellular phones.
Bonus: You may find valuable investment advice from reading the surveys. According to the ACSI website, customer satisfaction is a leading indicator of company financial performance. Stocks of companies with high ACSI scores tend to do better than those of companies with low scores.
More at:http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=28
Travel Guru
Yapta is soon to be the among latest in the ever-growing cascade of websites promising lower rates for travelers. At Tech Crunch have and have given it a thumbs up, even though some commenters had questions. According to TC, the core of Yapta is a browser bookmarklet that lets users “bookmark” fares they find on major travel sites. At launch, 10 airline and travel sites will be supported, with more to be added. See a flight you are interested in and bookmark it. The flight and fare information is then stored in your account at Yapta.
Find a number of different flight options at different sites, and then go back to Yapta to compare them. TC said this can be helpful when you fly Southwest or Jet Blue, which do not provide flight information to other services. If the fare increases or decreases before you make a purchase, that will be reflected on Yapta. After purchase, Yapta will continue to monitor the price. If it falls, they’ll ping you and suggest you contact the airline for a refund or flight coupon. All airlines offer these on price drops but few consumers follow up. Yapta will help by reminding you.
More at:http://www.yapta.com/
Find a number of different flight options at different sites, and then go back to Yapta to compare them. TC said this can be helpful when you fly Southwest or Jet Blue, which do not provide flight information to other services. If the fare increases or decreases before you make a purchase, that will be reflected on Yapta. After purchase, Yapta will continue to monitor the price. If it falls, they’ll ping you and suggest you contact the airline for a refund or flight coupon. All airlines offer these on price drops but few consumers follow up. Yapta will help by reminding you.
More at:http://www.yapta.com/
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