High Price Doesn't Always Accompany High Quality

Here's an example of someone who made a false start with e-marketing, reported in "Help With Your Business, Often Free, on the Web" in The New York Times. Jennifer Gordon, a Chicago based handbag designed attempted to promote her products through an e-mailed newsletter. However, she found that incorrect e-mail lists and outdated addresses led to undeliverable e-mail. Additionally, once a newsletter was sent out, she had not means of knowing if the document was ever opened.

Google Apps for Your Domain is a free group of web-based services. Small business owners can access tools to manage their website, as well as tool such as e-mail and instant messaging.

Numerous sites can also assist you with blogging. According to Ramon Ray, the publisher of smallbiztechnology.com, suggests that small business owners create blogs to increase Web rankings. Tools on blogger.com (owned by Google) and wordpress.com provide free assistance. Also, Typepad.com provides advanced blog features for $5/month. Another useful web tool allows numerous individuals to share and edit a document, kept on a company's server (Thinkoffice.org and zoho.com.)

Build a stronger business by using powerful tools readily available on the web.

Time is Relative

A (theoretical) timetable of events around the world, gelaned from a variety of news sources:

• Every 2 seconds someone in America requires a blood donation. (American Red Cross)
• Every 6 seconds someone dies from tobacco use. (World Health Organization)
• Every 6 seconds an Australian buys an item of clothing on eBay. (The Age)
  
• Every 6 seconds someone is killed or injured on a road somewhere in the world. (Make Roads Safe)
  
• Every 15 seconds the Large Synoptic Survey telescope in Chile photographs a section of the night sky. A complete panorama of the firmament is completed every three days. (The Guardian)
  
• Every 25 seconds someone in the United States is burned or scalded in the home. (Health News Digest)
  
• Every 26 seconds a student drops out of an American public high school. (America's Promise Alliance)
  
• Every 30 seconds someone in the world commits suicide. (W.H.O.)
  
• Every 30 seconds a child with birth defects is born in China. (China Daily)
  
• Every 30 seconds someone in the world loses a limb as a consequence of diabetes. (U.S. News & World Report)
  
• Every 35 seconds a child in the United States is reported neglected or abused. (KansasCity.com)
  
• Every 45 seconds a plane takes off or lands at Heathrow Airport, London. (The Economist)
  
• Every minute 1,000 people around the world sign up fr a cellphone. (TheStar.com)
  
• Every minute 253 children are born into the world. (U.S.Census Bureau)
  
• Every 4-8 minutes violent, profane, or sexual content appears during prime time "family hour" television programming. (Parents Television Council)
• Every 8 minutes a woman in a developing country dies of complications from an unsafe abortion. (W.H.O.)
• Every 15 minutes someone in Scotland has a heart attack. (British Heart Foundation)
• Every 38 minutes Louisiana loses a football-field-sized portion of it s wetlands. (Science Daily)
• Every hour & 44 minutes there is a case of "dowry death" in India. (The Guardian)
• Every 2 hours someone in New Zealand fractures a hip. (Osteoporosis New Zealand)
• Every 10 hours a driver with a suspended license crashes in Maine. (The Morning Sentinel)
• Every Day more than 1.6 million blog posts appear online. (Technorati)
• Everyday 6,800 are infected with H.I.V. (United Nations)
• Every fortnight a language falls out of use. (The New York Times)
• Every month 300 specialist nurses leave South Africa. (W.H.O.)
• Every month the American government adds around 20,000 names to its terrorist watch lists. (A.C.L.U.)
• Every month about 130 million rides are taken on the New York City subway. (M.T.A.)
• Every year the average American eats nearly 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish. (The New York Times)
  

Making Food Faster by Adopting High Tech Tools

In "Making Fast Food Even Faster" (The New York Times), Fitzgerald examines the technical advances in the Fast Food industry. HyperActive Technologies, which uses artificial intelligence to predict customer flow, landed their first corporate customer, Zaxby's Franchising, a chain of 400 restaurants in Athens, Ga. in January 2007. It took four years to have a restaurant chain by their product. This is just one example that exemplifies the Fast Food industry's minimal adoption of new technologies.

However, restaurant technology companies are becoming more popular as "'it's the last $100 billion industry that still makes all its products by hand,'" according to r. Coulter, co-founder and chief scientist at HyperActive. Other companies are looking for new areas to access in the food service industry, such as "speed of service" and outside call centers to manage orders. New offerings, such as a wireless tabletop hub to improve table turnover provided by ESP Systems, are being assessed by restaurants.

Additionally, increased interest in new technologies does not always translate into implementation of them. The food industry is primarily focused on food quality and restaurant image. Roger C. Matthews Jr., head of the restaurant group at the investment banking unit of the Goldman Sachs Group, sats that this market is risk-averse as no restuarant can afford a computer failure at peak time. Additionally, other low-tech and low-cost alternatives are available, according to Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a food and restaurant industry consultant. More specifically, Neal E. Sessions III, director of information technology at Zaxby's says that "'the restaurant technology environment generally lags other industries by three to five years.'"

One way to build a stronger business is to take technologies you know and apply them to new industries.

Watch Your Root Canal as a Web Movie

In "You've Had the Root Canal. Now See the Movie," in The New York Times, Eisenberg discusses the addition of internet movies to dental practice. Dr. Jerry Gordon, who directed and starred in "Root Canal Demonstration" shows his patients a root canal through a YouTube video. The video cost $2,000 to make and has been viewed 11,000 times in two months. Dr. Gordon's practice has grown due to the addition of the video. In 2006, 26 new patients found him on the Web before the video, compared to 68 afterwards. Other dentists, such as Dr. Kristy Vetter (www.drvettersmiles.com) have found the sheer act of opeing a website has increased new patients in the paractice, "'we've had three to five patients in the last month or so that came that way, instead of by referral.'" Dr. Vetter is also considering adding video clips to her website.

However, not all dentists believe that publicising videos of dental procedures is good practice: Dr. Roger P. Levin, cheif executive of the Levin Group, a dental consulting firm in Owings, md., remarks, "'I don't see videos of dental procedures on YouTube turning into much of a marketing tool, most people simply don't want to see how our procedures are done.'" Others, such as Julie Supan, YouTube's spokeswoman, see a rising trend in the viewing of on-line tutorials.

Educating your target market is a smart way to build a stronger business.

What Does Money Trigger for You?

According to a journal article in Science, one's innate impulse does not encourage one to share, when thinking about money. Carey investiages this claim in "Just Thinking About Money Can Turn the Mind Stingy," in The Wall Street Journal. In an experiment involving 52 undergraduates, individuals who were primed to think about money worked on a difficult problem longer and were less likely ask for help or offer help. These "money thinking" students also placed themselves physically father from other people in a room (16 inches further apart). The researchers in this experiment suggest that the effect of money on people's interactions can be seen in everyday life, as those with finiancial resources often hire people instead of asking acquaintances for help. George Lowenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, "'this study shows its pernicious side, how the pursuit of money can be isolating.'"

Build a stronger business by emphasizing beneficial aspects of your business other than money.

Think Outside the Box

According to Delaney in "Google: From 'Don't Be Evil' to How to Do Good", in The Wall Street Journal, Google.Inc has engaged in a project which will merge the boundary between the profit and non-profit areas. In this $30 million proposal, efforts will be made to predict and prevent disease pandemics, increase the poor's access to public services, and create new jobs. They will also be joining other efforts to improve access to plug-in cars and renewable energy sources. According to the Foundation Center, these grants and proposals "make it larger than any in-house corporate foundation in the U.S." Both company and foundation resources are being utilized in this initiative. Other groups, such as eBay and Pierre Omidyar's Omidyar Network are also working to merger the profit and non-profit worlds.

Thinking outside the box and expanding your business's reach will build a stronger business.

Building Stronger Relationships Leads to Building a Stronger Business

According to “A Society of Men, Sharing Faith, Concerns and Wisecracks,” reported by Steele in The New York Times, men are coming together for fellowship and companionship in groups such as The New Canaan Society. This group began in 1995 by Jim Lane, a former Goldman Sachs general partner. He was seeking meaning in his life and male companionship. This group began with eight man and now the weekly meetings range from 175-250 men in attendance. The men are providing comfort and support to each other, which many of the highly successful men feel are missing in their lives. The group helps men to combat the isolation they often feel in their lives. Fellowship builds a stronger business.