Are you an entrepreneur or company who feels that YOU have “The Big $25,000 Idea”?
Does your idea relate to manufacturing or technology?
If so, then you should consider entering this contest to potentially win $25,000!
The Lock Haven University SBDC has announced their 4th Annual Business Plan Competition. The contest is sponsored by the SBDC, Ben Franklin Venture Investment Forum (BFVIF), Ben Franklin Technology PArtners, and the Williamsport/Lycoming Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ).
Our region's contest is unique because we are able to present two awards for the contest. The grand prize of $25,000 is funded by BFVIF, and an additional award of $7,500 is sponsored by the Williamsport/Lycoming KIZ through a Penn College Keystone Innovation Grant.
More at:http://www.lhup.edu/sbdc/
Monday, September 17, 2007
SpiralFrog, the free, ad-supported music store, has finally opened its doors with over 770.000 songs and 3.500 music videos
SpiralFrog, the free, ad-supported music store, has finally opened its doors with over 770.000 songs and 3.500 music videos from indie labels and UMG.
The company has had a long journey, with many speculated that its business model would never work. With more than a few setbacks, SpiralFrog looked like it wasn’t going to make it at all on several occasions, and a similar situation was mimicked by Qtrax, another ad-supported music service. It did launch its private beta earlier this year, indicating that it would be ready to launch right about now. And SpiralFrog has finally come to be. UMG is the largest of the major record labels, and SpiralFrog is betting on this kind of star power to help kick off its public launch.
This isn’t the only place that UMG is looking to offer more options to consumers, and try to better capitalize on the web’s distribution potential by diverse measures. It’s signed on other online retailers like Amazon and teamed up with companies like gbox as well. While you can download music for free, there are a couple of catches. Music can be downloaded to compatible devices with Windows DRM employed, and the transfer of music is allowed only twice. You’ll also need to renew your account every 30 days, which is similar to other paid music subscription services that charge on a monthly basis.
More at:http://www.spiralfrog.com/
Via-Mash
The company has had a long journey, with many speculated that its business model would never work. With more than a few setbacks, SpiralFrog looked like it wasn’t going to make it at all on several occasions, and a similar situation was mimicked by Qtrax, another ad-supported music service. It did launch its private beta earlier this year, indicating that it would be ready to launch right about now. And SpiralFrog has finally come to be. UMG is the largest of the major record labels, and SpiralFrog is betting on this kind of star power to help kick off its public launch.
This isn’t the only place that UMG is looking to offer more options to consumers, and try to better capitalize on the web’s distribution potential by diverse measures. It’s signed on other online retailers like Amazon and teamed up with companies like gbox as well. While you can download music for free, there are a couple of catches. Music can be downloaded to compatible devices with Windows DRM employed, and the transfer of music is allowed only twice. You’ll also need to renew your account every 30 days, which is similar to other paid music subscription services that charge on a monthly basis.
More at:http://www.spiralfrog.com/
Via-Mash
Unusual Business Idea
A doodle netted Jared Fiorovich $5,000 and the only person who wasn't surprised was him.
"I'm always imagining things," says the 18-year-old Aptos teen who drew a sketch of an iPod shuffle case that doubles as a keychain and bottle opener to win a design competition at the MacWorld show. "Like sometimes I can't get to sleep and I'll just jot something down."
He stands in his room next to shelves stacked with broken skateboard decks and a drawer full of old shoes which he will sometimes tear apart and combine into new designs: for instance, a pair of golf shoes with skate-style soles that he spray painted silver.
"I daydream a lot," he says.
At the design contest set up by 20-year-old whiz kid Ben Kaufman, Fiorovich thought about how, since he used a skateboard as his main form of transportation, he needed to have things compact and efficient so they would fit in his pockets. He made his drawing of the holder/opener/keychain and added a cord rack, because he didn't like how his iPod cords always got tangled. Among the 120 new-product designs submitted, Fiorovich's came out on top. It's called the Bevy.
"It's rad," says Fiorovich of the fact his product is now for sale and that it includes his name on the package back.
In his room, the teen with the shaggy brown hair and faded board shorts, fires up a short video that features his skateboarding tricks, then digs into a jumbled closet of stuff for his Eagle Scout album which contains a photo of a bench he built for a local church.
He gives a short laugh. He likes it that he doesn't fit the mold: a skateboarding soon-to-be Eagle Scout inventor who's still working on his high school diploma.
A trophy for perfect attendance stands among a regiment of skateboarding trophies. He tosses a ragged ball he made out of broken shoelaces into the air.
He limps upstairs, a bumper-stickered cane clanking on the metal stairway. He had reconstructive surgery on his ankle because of his skateboard crashes. Once that heals, he'll be on to the next thing: getting into the Academy of Art in San Francisco so he can become an industrial designer.
He thinks already having an invention just might help.
More at:http://mophie.com/
"I'm always imagining things," says the 18-year-old Aptos teen who drew a sketch of an iPod shuffle case that doubles as a keychain and bottle opener to win a design competition at the MacWorld show. "Like sometimes I can't get to sleep and I'll just jot something down."
He stands in his room next to shelves stacked with broken skateboard decks and a drawer full of old shoes which he will sometimes tear apart and combine into new designs: for instance, a pair of golf shoes with skate-style soles that he spray painted silver.
"I daydream a lot," he says.
At the design contest set up by 20-year-old whiz kid Ben Kaufman, Fiorovich thought about how, since he used a skateboard as his main form of transportation, he needed to have things compact and efficient so they would fit in his pockets. He made his drawing of the holder/opener/keychain and added a cord rack, because he didn't like how his iPod cords always got tangled. Among the 120 new-product designs submitted, Fiorovich's came out on top. It's called the Bevy.
"It's rad," says Fiorovich of the fact his product is now for sale and that it includes his name on the package back.
In his room, the teen with the shaggy brown hair and faded board shorts, fires up a short video that features his skateboarding tricks, then digs into a jumbled closet of stuff for his Eagle Scout album which contains a photo of a bench he built for a local church.
He gives a short laugh. He likes it that he doesn't fit the mold: a skateboarding soon-to-be Eagle Scout inventor who's still working on his high school diploma.
A trophy for perfect attendance stands among a regiment of skateboarding trophies. He tosses a ragged ball he made out of broken shoelaces into the air.
He limps upstairs, a bumper-stickered cane clanking on the metal stairway. He had reconstructive surgery on his ankle because of his skateboard crashes. Once that heals, he'll be on to the next thing: getting into the Academy of Art in San Francisco so he can become an industrial designer.
He thinks already having an invention just might help.
More at:http://mophie.com/
Salseman And A Car
Establishing & maintaining rapport is perhaps the single most important ingredient in sales & marketing. Always has been, always will be.
Let me tell you a little story.
Earlier this week, I got a call from a salesman after leaving a message about getting my stereo repaired. My expensive, but aging Nakamichi CD player is on the fritz, and I'm virtually tuneless. Not good.
It was a notable conversation for anybody interested in the art and science of persuasion. And in particular, the role that rapport plays in that process.
My apprehension was this.
I bought the unit about 8 years ago, and I'm thinking. OK, this is going to cost me some money. I could probably now go out & buy a new CD player for the same amount. Just getting an estimate is going to cost me.
So the guy calls up, & immediately starts building rapport with me. How does he do it?
After introducing himself, he says, 'So you've got an MB-1s, awesome unit, what do you listen to?' I tell him, 'I'm into rhythm & blues & jazz'. He probes a little to see what kind of blues I dig, & we find ourselves rapping for a bit about how much we both love the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan.
And then without missing a beat, he says 'So I suppose you'rewondering whether technology has advanced so far in 8 years that you could replace your MB-1s with a new unit for pennies on the dollar?
I say, 'yes'.
And then he goes on to tell me. 'Unless you're prepared to fork out a sizable chunk of change on a relatively high end unit, your going to lose some of the raw analog warmth & character that oozes faithfully from Stevie's Fender Stratocaster every time
you slide a CD into that Nakamichi'.
And I'm like, Wow, thanks for saving my life dude.
This wasn't the only guy I called, but I can tell you this. He was the only one I considered doing business with. And it came down to the rapport that he created.
So what can we learn from this?
First off, let me point out that while this was a personal interaction, you should take the principle of rapport very seriously, even when it comes to your marketing.
The fundamentals are thus.
I liked this guy. Because I liked him, I listened to him. Because I listened to him, I believed him. And because I believed him, I bought from him. Sure it wasn't a huge purchase. But what happened in those few minutes on the telephone takes place in virtually every sale that you make, whether you're an active participant in the process, or not.
You are developing an unspoken relationship with your customers, as a result of both your personal interaction, & every piece of marketing you deliver.
The challenge is this. How do you generate rapport, when you don't have the expensive luxury of personal contact with all of your clients at every stage of the buying cycle?
Here are a few ideas.
Be a person in your marketing. Far too many businesses make the dreadful mistake of coming off as stuffy, corporate, & boring, in the name of professionalism. Your business can be professional, & still have character.
Communicate with your prospects, in their own words. If you're marketing to engineers, & you know that they use acronyms, use acronyms. If you're selling to the CEO, speak in plain English. Just common sense, but so often ignored.
And finally, give your customers more than they expect. It is rare to do business with a company that demonstrates a genuine concern for the actual outcomes that their customers experience as a result of a purchase.
This is very different than simply being committed to the satisfactory performance of your product or service. You build rapport by showing your prospects exactly how what you're selling 'fits in' to what they are already doing.
In the final analysis, your prospects & customers should feel like they know you as a person from your marketing & advertising. More importantly, they should know you as the kind of person that they would call a friend, & look forward to hearing from.
Until next time, Good Selling!
Via-http://www.sellingtohumannature.com/
Let me tell you a little story.
Earlier this week, I got a call from a salesman after leaving a message about getting my stereo repaired. My expensive, but aging Nakamichi CD player is on the fritz, and I'm virtually tuneless. Not good.
It was a notable conversation for anybody interested in the art and science of persuasion. And in particular, the role that rapport plays in that process.
My apprehension was this.
I bought the unit about 8 years ago, and I'm thinking. OK, this is going to cost me some money. I could probably now go out & buy a new CD player for the same amount. Just getting an estimate is going to cost me.
So the guy calls up, & immediately starts building rapport with me. How does he do it?
After introducing himself, he says, 'So you've got an MB-1s, awesome unit, what do you listen to?' I tell him, 'I'm into rhythm & blues & jazz'. He probes a little to see what kind of blues I dig, & we find ourselves rapping for a bit about how much we both love the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan.
And then without missing a beat, he says 'So I suppose you'rewondering whether technology has advanced so far in 8 years that you could replace your MB-1s with a new unit for pennies on the dollar?
I say, 'yes'.
And then he goes on to tell me. 'Unless you're prepared to fork out a sizable chunk of change on a relatively high end unit, your going to lose some of the raw analog warmth & character that oozes faithfully from Stevie's Fender Stratocaster every time
you slide a CD into that Nakamichi'.
And I'm like, Wow, thanks for saving my life dude.
This wasn't the only guy I called, but I can tell you this. He was the only one I considered doing business with. And it came down to the rapport that he created.
So what can we learn from this?
First off, let me point out that while this was a personal interaction, you should take the principle of rapport very seriously, even when it comes to your marketing.
The fundamentals are thus.
I liked this guy. Because I liked him, I listened to him. Because I listened to him, I believed him. And because I believed him, I bought from him. Sure it wasn't a huge purchase. But what happened in those few minutes on the telephone takes place in virtually every sale that you make, whether you're an active participant in the process, or not.
You are developing an unspoken relationship with your customers, as a result of both your personal interaction, & every piece of marketing you deliver.
The challenge is this. How do you generate rapport, when you don't have the expensive luxury of personal contact with all of your clients at every stage of the buying cycle?
Here are a few ideas.
Be a person in your marketing. Far too many businesses make the dreadful mistake of coming off as stuffy, corporate, & boring, in the name of professionalism. Your business can be professional, & still have character.
Communicate with your prospects, in their own words. If you're marketing to engineers, & you know that they use acronyms, use acronyms. If you're selling to the CEO, speak in plain English. Just common sense, but so often ignored.
And finally, give your customers more than they expect. It is rare to do business with a company that demonstrates a genuine concern for the actual outcomes that their customers experience as a result of a purchase.
This is very different than simply being committed to the satisfactory performance of your product or service. You build rapport by showing your prospects exactly how what you're selling 'fits in' to what they are already doing.
In the final analysis, your prospects & customers should feel like they know you as a person from your marketing & advertising. More importantly, they should know you as the kind of person that they would call a friend, & look forward to hearing from.
Until next time, Good Selling!
Via-http://www.sellingtohumannature.com/
A new French company provides would-be adulterers with custom-made excuses that help take the danger of discovery out of cheating.
Looking to get away for a weekend fling without getting caught? A new French company provides would-be adulterers with custom-made excuses that help take the danger of discovery out of cheating.
Founded six months ago by former private eye Regine Mourizard, Web-based Ibila can cook up invites to phony weekend seminars, fake emergency phone calls from work, invitations to nonexistent weddings - anything to justify cheating spouses' absence.
Mourizard said her service is aimed at protecting couples and families by allowing adulterers to live their flings undetected.
"If the alibi is well done and the spouse doesn't suspect anything, this can sometimes save marriages," Mourizard told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Here's how it works: In an e-mail message or call to Ibila, the prospective client requests an alibi for a specific date and time. Mourizard concocts just the right excuse, taking into account the client's profession and personal circumstances.
She and her co-worker, a computer specialist, draw up fake restaurant and hotel bills, receipts and other documents to help shore up what Mourizard calls her "little white lies."
If the adulterer was supposed to have been away for a seminar, the company can even provide the kinds of freebies - pens, hats and tee-shirts - sometimes given at such events.
Mourizard said she that because of privacy issues, she could only give details about one of her past clients, whom she called "Geraldine."
Married to a "strict man," Geraldine was desperate to get out of the house for an hour-long meeting with an ex-boyfriend who lived abroad and was briefly passing through town.
"This man was practically the love of her life and she had to see him," Mourizard said. Together, they hatched a plan.
Geraldine owned a driving school, so on the appointed day, Mourizard called her home pretending to be a student who needed a last-minute lesson before her driving test the following day.
"The husband totally bought it. He even offered to get the car out of the garage for her," Mourizard said.
The simplest excuses - like Geraldine's - cost euro19 (US$27), while more the more elaborate and time-consuming alibis can run upward of euro150 (US$207).
Mourizard insisted her business is completely above board because she concocts fake bills from invented companies, hotels and restaurants and does not doctor or forge real documents. She also requires clients to sign a document pledging not to use her materials to swindle their employers or the French government.
Upon request, the company can handle the logistics for clients' secret rendezvous, from making hotel reservations to booking train and plane tickets. Ibila also offers to buy illicit gifts, so that suspicious purchases at flower, perfume or chocolate shops don't appear on clients' bank statements.
Most of her clients - about 60 percent - are men, Mourizard said. They range in age from 25-60, but most are in their mid-forties.
Mourizard, a 50-year-old mother of two, said it was her experience as a private detective that led her to open Ibila - Europe's second such service, she said.
"For 20 years, I worked to keep people from doing what they wanted to do. And I then thought, 'what if I help them do it, in a safe way?'"
Following a "very amicable" divorce from her first husband, Mourizard remarried two years ago. Asked what her spouse thinks of her new business, she said: "He thinks I have some pretty bizarre ideas."
Is he suspicious when she gets strange phone calls or receives unexpected invitations in the mail?
"No, he trusts me completely. And I trust him. I mean, if he were cheating, I'd find him out in a second," she said.
More at:http://www.alibila.com/
Founded six months ago by former private eye Regine Mourizard, Web-based Ibila can cook up invites to phony weekend seminars, fake emergency phone calls from work, invitations to nonexistent weddings - anything to justify cheating spouses' absence.
Mourizard said her service is aimed at protecting couples and families by allowing adulterers to live their flings undetected.
"If the alibi is well done and the spouse doesn't suspect anything, this can sometimes save marriages," Mourizard told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Here's how it works: In an e-mail message or call to Ibila, the prospective client requests an alibi for a specific date and time. Mourizard concocts just the right excuse, taking into account the client's profession and personal circumstances.
She and her co-worker, a computer specialist, draw up fake restaurant and hotel bills, receipts and other documents to help shore up what Mourizard calls her "little white lies."
If the adulterer was supposed to have been away for a seminar, the company can even provide the kinds of freebies - pens, hats and tee-shirts - sometimes given at such events.
Mourizard said she that because of privacy issues, she could only give details about one of her past clients, whom she called "Geraldine."
Married to a "strict man," Geraldine was desperate to get out of the house for an hour-long meeting with an ex-boyfriend who lived abroad and was briefly passing through town.
"This man was practically the love of her life and she had to see him," Mourizard said. Together, they hatched a plan.
Geraldine owned a driving school, so on the appointed day, Mourizard called her home pretending to be a student who needed a last-minute lesson before her driving test the following day.
"The husband totally bought it. He even offered to get the car out of the garage for her," Mourizard said.
The simplest excuses - like Geraldine's - cost euro19 (US$27), while more the more elaborate and time-consuming alibis can run upward of euro150 (US$207).
Mourizard insisted her business is completely above board because she concocts fake bills from invented companies, hotels and restaurants and does not doctor or forge real documents. She also requires clients to sign a document pledging not to use her materials to swindle their employers or the French government.
Upon request, the company can handle the logistics for clients' secret rendezvous, from making hotel reservations to booking train and plane tickets. Ibila also offers to buy illicit gifts, so that suspicious purchases at flower, perfume or chocolate shops don't appear on clients' bank statements.
Most of her clients - about 60 percent - are men, Mourizard said. They range in age from 25-60, but most are in their mid-forties.
Mourizard, a 50-year-old mother of two, said it was her experience as a private detective that led her to open Ibila - Europe's second such service, she said.
"For 20 years, I worked to keep people from doing what they wanted to do. And I then thought, 'what if I help them do it, in a safe way?'"
Following a "very amicable" divorce from her first husband, Mourizard remarried two years ago. Asked what her spouse thinks of her new business, she said: "He thinks I have some pretty bizarre ideas."
Is he suspicious when she gets strange phone calls or receives unexpected invitations in the mail?
"No, he trusts me completely. And I trust him. I mean, if he were cheating, I'd find him out in a second," she said.
More at:http://www.alibila.com/
The purpose of WordHugger is to enable micro-investing on your part, giving you a piece of Internet real estate in exchange
Word Hugger is a website about micro investments, which are the internet's newest virtual real estate gold. Investors can pick a word based on their hobby, business, interests, or expertise in a particular field. For a one time investment of $60, you own a page on the Word Hugger site for 10 years, and make ample amounts of money back from advertising, or you can resell your word at any time without restrictions. An example word would be if you are a movie fanatic, you can invest your $60 into purchasing the "movie" or "movie review" words on Word Hugger, and keep updated reviews on movies that you see. This is just one example of a Word Hugger micro investment page. To see more ideas on how people are making money from their micro investments, take a look at our most popular page. Word Hugger supports entrepreneurs in the developing world by donating 50% of all profits to Kiva, to lend money to those in need. Support the cause, expand your business, help other entrepreneurs, make lots of money, and be part of something great. Invest in Word Hugger today!.
More at:http://www.wordhugger.com/
More at:http://www.wordhugger.com/
Making Companies Moves Easy
World Moving & Storage is bonded and licensed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and is one of the largest residential moving and corporate relocation company in the country.
They are committed to ethical moving services business with more than 12 years of experience in the moving and relocation services industries, World Moving & Storage has the experience you need to get the job done — and done right.
Not only do they offer international and domestic shipping, they’ve also got tons of moving tips. They specialize in moving even the most delicate items—check out their piano moving section. Also handy are their coupons, discounts and fee estimates. If you’re moving, MovingCompanies is definitely worth a look.
More at:http://www.movingcompanies.co.il/
They are committed to ethical moving services business with more than 12 years of experience in the moving and relocation services industries, World Moving & Storage has the experience you need to get the job done — and done right.
Not only do they offer international and domestic shipping, they’ve also got tons of moving tips. They specialize in moving even the most delicate items—check out their piano moving section. Also handy are their coupons, discounts and fee estimates. If you’re moving, MovingCompanies is definitely worth a look.
More at:http://www.movingcompanies.co.il/
Reengineeringc.com is a business rules management system (BRMS).
Reengineeringc.com is a business rules management system (BRMS).
Internet Business Logic is an advanced technology Business Rules Management System, (BRMS) using a Web browser as the author- and user-interface.
It allows you to write specifications as English business rules, using your own words and phrases , and then to run the rules directly as though they were a program.
When necessary, the system automatically generates and executes SQL queries and transactions over networked databases. The generated SQL can be too complex to be written by hand, but the system can give you business level English explanations of the results.
You can write your own applications, by typing English business rules into a browser. You need not be a programmer, but some experience as a user of computers will help.
More at:https://www.reengineeringllc.com/
Internet Business Logic is an advanced technology Business Rules Management System, (BRMS) using a Web browser as the author- and user-interface.
It allows you to write specifications as English business rules, using your own words and phrases , and then to run the rules directly as though they were a program.
When necessary, the system automatically generates and executes SQL queries and transactions over networked databases. The generated SQL can be too complex to be written by hand, but the system can give you business level English explanations of the results.
You can write your own applications, by typing English business rules into a browser. You need not be a programmer, but some experience as a user of computers will help.
More at:https://www.reengineeringllc.com/
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