“Small town people are carrying smartphones, playing location based games, and using Facebook even while out of the house. Visitors and travelers are using Google Local to find businesses in even the smallest of towns. Travelers and locals review small town businesses on sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon. All of this is happening now.Smart small town businesses are taking advantage of this, and 2011 should see more businesses in small towns offering coupons and deals through the established players like Google and Facebook. Mobile-friendly information and QR Codes will pop up, even in remote locations.” and “The wave of global outsourcing may have crested, and small town business can benefit by capturing more of these jobs through ruralsourcing. Rural service firms claim a number of advantages over global firms: shorter supply chains, better data security, intellectual property protection, cultural compatibility, and convenient time zones. Costs are lower than traditional urban firms, reflecting the lower rural cost of living. Those small town companies capable of partnering with large corporate clients stand to gain new business throughout 2011.” Go to the source to read the article: smallbiztrends.com
Smart rural economic development corporations, government leaders and business owners will pay heed and e1evation, llc can help navigate the technology issues. ‘Connect with me’ to discuss how this applies to your organization…
Business owners around the globe are asking themselves whether or not they need a social media manager. However, more and more of them are noticing the popularity of social media, but don’t know how, where, when, or why they should jump on the bandwagon themselves. They notice their colleagues, peers, friends, children & family have jumped on board, on a more personal level. But, what so many of them fail to see, is that their present and future customers have jumped on for a ride too!
Right now, as you read this, your customers are flying down the road going mach 5 with no end in sight. They’re enjoying themselves too while reading/writing reviews, articles, comments & opinions on your business. They’re chatting amongst themselves (and to the rest of the internet world) about their latest visit, what their experience was, and even how it bugs them that Sally the cashier always seems “nice”, but never says thank you when they are leaving.
Wouldn’t you love the opportunity to be in that cart flying down the road too? Do you want to know what your customers are saying about you? Do you want to be able to effectively converse back with them? Wouldn’t you love to hear, first hand, about their experiences? Wouldn’t it be great to know how they felt about Sally so you could enforce stronger cashier policies?
Go to the source if you’d like to get the 5 reasons: socialmediatoday.com. h/t @tommytrc.
If you’re like most adults, caffeine is a part of your daily routine. But do you know the caffeine content of your favorite beverages? And did you know that some sweets and even over-the-counter medications have caffeine? You may want to take a closer look at just how much caffeine you get in a typical day, especially if you’re bothered by headaches, restlessness or anxiety. If your caffeine habit totals more than 500 to 600 milligrams a day, you may want to consider cutting back.
Click the tabs to the left to see the caffeine content in popular drinks, sweets and medications. One note about the numbers: Use them as a guide. The actual caffeine content of the same coffee drink can vary from day to day — even at the same coffee shop — because of factors such as roasting and grinding, as well as brewing time. The caffeine content of tea also is affected by how long it’s brewed.
Here at Gist, we have embraced the phrase “connected people change history” as core to our mission and vision. We believe that technologies are more accessible than ever to the individual and that the more connected we become, the more we are able to do amazing things. Over the past couple years, we have talked to many smart people, learned a great deal from user feedback, examined how we work as a team, and looked forward to where we believe things are headed in the future leading us to the notion of the “new workstyle.”
So, what is the “New Workstyle?”
The New Workstyle blends the latest technologies and tools with our daily activities allowing us to accomplish more in both personal and professional endeavors, accelerate ideas of our own, and lead more productive lives.
Unlike workflow which is defined by scripted and static process for everyone to follow, workstyle is unique to the individual who calls upon information, technology, and connections as needed.
This definition along with our understanding of it will evolve as the pace of innovation accelerates and individual “style” is applied to work. Jason Fried’s great presentation at a TEDx event about “why work doesn’t happen at work” is an exclamation point on our concept.
Go to the source to read the article: blog.gist.com. Oh, and btw, thanks for NOT using Gist — it gives me a competitive advantage over you and your firm! :-D
To me, the absolute most powerful marketing strategy is to run a really great business that your customers love and tell all of their friends and family about. All the ads and social media effort in the world cannot overcome poor quality or lackluster customer service. That is why for the past 17 years my career has focused exclusively on studying the fundamental elements of business success.
Traveling worldwide at upwards of 200 days a year, I have worked shoulder to shoulder with some of the best (and worst) business leaders of our generation. I’ve also maintained a strict regimen of reading a minimum of 100 business books a year since 1989. In preparation for writing my book Awesomely Simple, I compiled all of my research and reading down to a single page that I called my “Strategy Map.” This single piece of paper represented more than 175,000 pages of reading on business excellence and an additional 5,000 pages of interview notes and survey results from my work as a consultant and trainer. I then took all of that information and tried to uncover the pattern… the formula for business success. Well, here is what I came up with:
(T+C+ECF) x DE = Business Success
Let me take you step-by-step through the elements of this equation.
I discovered John Spence and ‘Awesomely Simple‘ thanks to John Jantsch at DuctTapeMarketing. I suggest you add both to your list of thought leaders to follow in 2011…
To me, the absolute most powerful marketing strategy is to run a really great business that your customers love and tell all of their friends and family about. All the ads and social media effort in the world cannot overcome poor quality or lackluster customer service. That is why for the past 17 years my career has focused exclusively on studying the fundamental elements of business success.
Traveling worldwide at upwards of 200 days a year, I have worked shoulder to shoulder with some of the best (and worst) business leaders of our generation. I’ve also maintained a strict regimen of reading a minimum of 100 business books a year since 1989. In preparation for writing my book Awesomely Simple, I compiled all of my research and reading down to a single page that I called my “Strategy Map.” This single piece of paper represented more than 175,000 pages of reading on business excellence and an additional 5,000 pages of interview notes and survey results from my work as a consultant and trainer. I then took all of that information and tried to uncover the pattern… the formula for business success. Well, here is what I came up with:
(T+C+ECF) x DE = Business Success
Let me take you step-by-step through the elements of this equation.
I discovered John Spence and ‘Awesomely Simple’ thanks to John Jantsch at DuctTapeMarketing. I suggest you add both to your list of thought leaders to follow in 2011…
If it’s true that the first hour is the ‘rudder of the day’ than the next few weeks are the ‘rudder of the year’. If you lead an organization like I do, here are 4.5 books that will give you all the insight you need to chart a course for the year…
Getting Things Done. Another book that has become so popular that people have forgotten why.
Awesomely Simple. This one is new, but powerful enough to be a ‘must read’ recommendation for me. John Spence defines what a ‘book’ should be in the new millennium by hosting a website with bonus materials for readers. He’s also active in social media and eagerly engages readers…
Now for the how. Yes, I’m even going to tell you how to read them. Read them via Kindle. “What”, you say? “I’m not going to buy a Kindle just to read these books!” “Well”, I say, “you don’t have to”. Kindle software runs on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry and via web browser. It synchronizes wirelessly between devices creating a virtual library of all the books you download allowing you to access them anywhere at any time. So, if I’m reading a book on my Sprint Evo and highlight a section that I want to go back to later, when I get to my computer and synchronize my books, the same selection will be highlighted, along with any notes I’ve made, on my PC. Did I mention that most Kindle books are around $10 as well? The total in the title is the sum of all the Kindle books I recommended and you can click on any title in the slider to order it immediately…
This video will help you get the picture…
Now as much as I love all things Google, Kindle content is cheaper than the new Google Books by about 50% in my informal testing and although the Android reader for Google Books is more full featured, imho, Kindle software is a more compelling offering at the moment. btw, if you’d prefer to listen, there’s always Audible — another service from Amazon.com! Again, no special device is required because there’s Audible software available for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry and web browser. Instead of listening to talk radio, now you can get smart while you’re driving around!
According to Einstein, doing the same things and expecting different results is the very definition of insanity. These books, combined with new ways of consuming their wisdom, will help you get from where you’re at to where you want to be as a business leader in 2011. Really!
Bright, shiny objects! 
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