5 Steps To Bootstrapping Your PR Efforts Public relations is just one of those things. It's something that every company knows they should do, but only see two ways of making it happen -- hire an expensive PR firm or cross their fingers and hope for the best. The latter is, well, not really much of a PR strategy. There is a third option, however. Bootstrapping. I've written in the past about how to bootstrap your PR efforts, but never really dug into the nitty gritty. Here it is, Moz family. Step 1 - The Mirror Check The first step is what I like to call the mirror check, something that gets glossed over far too often. Save your time, and more importantly, everyone else's. Step 2 - Building Your Publication List Once you've got a solid story, it's time to start building your list of publications. It's important to note that PR isn't a numbers game, as many think. Step 3 - Finding the Right Contact This is so important that it deserves its own step. The first three fields are fairly self explanatory, then we get into the meat of it.
Emprendedores: Cómo conseguir una buena financiación para tu proyecto. « Watching International Economy Hay siempre una necesidad latente en cada proyecto de emprendeduría. La financiación. Como nos explican en el blog TRW desde la evolución “desde la idea al mercado” de proyectos promedio de un emprendedor hasta su consolidación como empresa, se pasa por diferentes etapas de madurez que es necesario entender a la hora de escoger las herramientas existentes de apoyo. Cada etapa tiene unas necesidades diferentes y es por esto que existen, por tanto, instrumentos específicos de financiación adaptados tanto a las cuantías promedio requeridas como a las características de la etapa en la que se encuentran. De forma muy genérica, y sin ánimo de ser excesivamente rigurosos, las etapas de maduración de una empresa de este tipo podrían describirse como: Etapa 1: (0 – 15.000 €) A partir de una idea novedosa, o de resultados de investigación y tras un proceso de desarrollo, parte la idea de la creación empresarial. Me gusta: Me gusta Cargando...
Why Appreciation Matters So Much - Tony Schwartz by Tony Schwartz | 9:44 AM January 23, 2012 I’ve just returned from an offsite with our team at The Energy Project. As we concluded, I asked each person to take a few moments to say what he or she felt most proud of accomplishing over the past year. After each of their brief recountings, I added some observations about what I appreciated in that person. Whatever else each of us derives from our work, there may be nothing more precious than the feeling that we truly matter — that we contribute unique value to the whole, and that we’re recognized for it. The single highest driver of engagement, according to a worldwide study conducted by Towers Watson, is whether or not workers feel their managers are genuinely interested in their wellbeing. Feeling genuinely appreciated lifts people up. So why is it that openly praising or expressing appreciation to other people at work can so easily seem awkward, contrived, mawkish and even disingenuous? That’s unfortunate. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Principles for Managing Strategy and Innovation Through the years, I have been intrigued by the number of once powerful companies that are no longer around. Darwinian principles seem to apply in business as much as in biology. When technology and market environments go through major changes, as is certainly the case today, previously successful business strategies will no longer work, no matter how much you try to fix them. Companies that are unable or unwilling to adapt to the changes in such a Darwinian climate will become marginalized or extinct. It is not hard to understand how I come to this somewhat fatalistic view of business. More recently, Citi, which I joined as strategic advisor in March of 2008, has gone through its own near-death experience as a result of the financial crisis of the past few years. Why is it that some firms are able to go through ups and downs, yet survive and thrive? Cusumano is a professor in MIT’s Sloan School of Management, with a joint appointment in the Engineering Systems Division.
Startup Companies - Young Entrepreneur & CEO Interviews | Under30CEO How to spot a lie Story highlights Charges of lying are a regular feature of the headlines Pamela Meyer: People may be lied to as many as 200 times a day She says there are ways to spot liars Meyer: Studying posture, body language and verbal clues can help to detect lying Editor’s Note: Pamela Meyer is the author of the book “Liespotting“. A glance at recent headlines indicates just how serious and pervasive deceit and lying are in daily life. Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is busy trading allegations of sexual harassment with several women; each side accuses the other of lying. Last week French president Nicolas Sarkozy was caught on an open microphone asserting to U.S. Lying has destroyed careers and convulsed countries. Tales of cheating on school and college tests are rife. How much deceit do we encounter? Detecting lies, or “lie spotting,” is an essential skill for everyone to acquire, for both personal and professional reasons. How do you tell if someone is lying?
40 Ways Small Business Owners Waste Their Money We were curious to see where business owners waste the most money in the early days. So we reached out and asked what small business owners thought was the #1 biggest money waster for small business owners. Some common answers focused on different aspects of office space, marketing and hiring staff. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. Where do you think small business waste the most money in the early days? Awesome People + Awesome Places Travel around the world while making new friends Under30Experiences curates awesome experiences around the world for young travelers. Tags: featured, small business, wasting money Category: Startup Advice
The Top 50 Entrepreneur Blogs to Watch in 2012 1) TopRank - TopRank Online Marketing is a digital marketing agency founded by Lee Odden and Susan Misukanis that helps companies increase sales, brand visibility online and develop better customer engagement. We specialize in content based customer acquisition and relationship programs that emphasize social media marketing, search engine optimization and email marketing. Companies hire us for consulting, training and implementation services. 2) Small Business Trends - Small Business Trends was founded in 2003 by Anita Campbell, in Cleveland, Ohio. Small Business Trends is the premier source of information, news and advice covering issues of key importance to the small business market. 3) The Small Business Newswire - SBWire is an online newswire specializing in the needs of small to medium-sized businesses. 4) KISSmetrics Marketing Blog 5) Thirty Six Months 6)The College Investor 7) Brian Solis Brian Solis 24) Smedio
Young bosses, older workers: Bridging the generation gap - Ask Annie By Anne Fisher, contributor FORTUNE -- Dear Annie: A couple of months ago, my boss abruptly left the company, and I was promoted to his job as leader of a 16-person product-development team. This was somewhat surprising, since I am the youngest team member (I'm 27) and have been here for the shortest period of time (two and a half years). It's a great job and I'm delighted to have it, but several of my direct reports, who are twice my age or older, are not so thrilled. I'm trying not to let their wisecracks about my age get to me, but I am having a hard time getting them to take me seriously as their boss. Dear N.B.: Scant comfort though it may be, you've got lots of company. That figure seems set to climb: Almost half (45%) of manufacturing companies are trying to encourage workers in their 50s and 60s to stay on the job longer, so as not to lose their hard-to-replace skills and experience, according to a new poll of senior executives by Advanced Technology Services. 1. 2. 3.
The programme and its benefits - Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs The European exchange programme for Entrepreneurs Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs helps provide aspiring European entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to start and/or successfully run a small business in Europe. New entrepreneurs gather and exchange knowledge and business ideas with an experienced entrepreneur, with whom they stay and collaborate for a period of 1 to 6 months. The stay is partly financed by the European Commission. Benefits As a new entrepreneur, you will benefit from on-the-job training in a small or medium-sized enterprise elsewhere in the Participating Countries. As a host entrepreneur, you can benefit from fresh ideas from a motivated new entrepreneur on your business. It is really a win-win collaboration whereby both of you can also discover new European markets or business partners, different ways of doing business. Please read the programme guide for more information on conditions of participation.
Emprendedores.es Is your career switch actually worth the investment? - Oct. 28 Figure out if your career switch is worth the investment by calculating your ROI. (MONEY Magazine) -- The key measurement in deciding where to put your money is the expected ROI, or "return on investment." History and the current state of the economy allow you to make an informed guess about how different assets or classes of assets will perform in the future. Calculating ROI is straightforward enough: You take the final value of an investment, subtract what it cost you, and divide the result by your cost to arrive at the percentage yield. Buy a stock for $20 and sell it for $25 in a year, and your ROI is 25% (not counting trading costs). What about calculating the ROI on you? This is a question that applies not only to the factory worker who sees jobs headed overseas, but to anyone who thinks the decisions he or she made about the future while in high school or college are no longer valid. Best jobs for saving the world Figuring the payoff So is this transformation worth it? Watch for traps
Seedhack Founders Collaboration Agreement Starting a new company requires inspiring early co-founders to join you in your efforts and then quickly establishing an environment of trust where everyone works hard and fairly shares the upside of any success. To that end, we’re launching the Seedhack Founder’s Collaboration Agreement (download here in .DOC or in .PDF ) which is designed for a newly formed team to agree on what each founder’s shareholding should be as well as how to make sure that each founder puts a continued effort throughout the lifetime of the company in order to keep their equity stake. The hope is that this document will not only help events like Seedhack, where collaboration amongst team members is key, but also any ‘back of a napkin at a cafeteria’ brainstormed startups where people put a lot of sweat equity in even before they think about forming a ‘formal’ company. A big thank you to Tina Baker from Brown Rudnick for drafting the agreement. Supporting Organizations: Usage of the document: