The Cheap Revolution

8 Last-Minute Christmas Gift Ideas For Entrepreneurs

With Christmas around the corner, entrepreneurs are scrambling to compile Christmas gift ideas for friends and loved ones. Since the stress of finding the best gifts for Christmas strangles the spirit of giving out of us, we tend to wait until the last minute to make our purchases. Not only do we wait until the last minute, but we also have a tough time finding hours in our day to go out and shop.

If you're an entrepreneur that fits this description, please keep reading. To help simplify the process of finding last minute Christmas gifts, we at The Cheap Revolution decided to arrange a list of Christmas gift ideas for your convenience. 

1. Amazon Prime - One luxury entrepreneurs don't have is time. They don't like things that take up a lot of their time and when they want something, they want it now. If a friend came to mind that fits that description, grab them an Amazon Prime account. They'll give free 2-day shipping on any purchase and instant access to movies, TV shows and ebooks. 

2. Gift cards - This is on top of the list for obvious reasons. The most popular gift cards for techies are Amazon, iTunes, Groupon & Starbucks. Grab them and get up to 20% cash back for yourself at eBilleMe or at a discounted price on GiftCards.com. Giftcards.com enables you to personalize your gift cards & provides several gift related services for users. If you don't have the time to personalize your gift card, take a look at Giftcards.com's Predesign catalog. Gift cards from Groupon are available here.

3. Lumosity & Marbles: The Brain Game - Both of these services are focused on exercising the brain although they take different angles. Lumosity is focused on brain training through online modules that promise to sharpen memory, focus attention and enhance creativity. A two-month gift subscription is $29.95. On the other hand, Marbles sells tangible games such as board games, books, software and puzzles. 

4. Pandora or Spotify music subscriptions - Two of the hottest music sites, Pandora & Spotify offer an easy, last-minute solution with their email gift subscriptions. 

5. Gold Medal Wine Club or Craft Beer Club -- Since 1994, The Great American Beer Club has been sharing the finest and freshest brews with tens of thousands of people that appreciate America's small breweries. Why not share this experience with another? A member of the club will receive 12 bottles of microbrewed beer featuring four varieties, while also receiving free shipping on the delivery of those beers every month. From the same company, The Gold Medal Wine Club follows a similar concept. 

6. Harry & David -- For those of you with a clientele, Harry & David's gift baskets may be the way to go to bring happiness to your clients. 

Choose from a variety of baskets that can include fruit, chocolate, pastries and much more. Harry & David is known to strive to make your Christmas basket more entertaining and personal.

 

7. Restaurant.com -- Instead of taking a friend out to dinner for Christmas, purchase a gift card that allows your friend to eat and drink  with his or her's significant other, while saving money in the process.

Restaurant.com is known for introducing great restaurants with great people. With a simple to use website, Restaurant.com will get you ready for Christmas gift ideas in no time. Search through the website's database of participating restaurants to find what your friends may like, and then purchase a gift card for a restaurant that has their taste! 

8. Newegg.com -- What does Newegg have that Best Buy doesn't? Better deals. With more than 600,000 products, Newegg provides technology gurus with a website that fits their needs.

Before going to mainstream websites like Best Buy, take a look at Newegg for the latest deals for Christmas gift ideas. Pay close attention to its 2011 Holiday Shipping Schedule, so you'll know when a gift will be delivered.

If you live the fast-paced lifestyle of an entrepreneur, the above quick list will help you with your Christ gift ideas. Got ideas of your own? Feel free to comment!

For employers: Don't forget, we also listed 12 cheap employee incentives that would be fantastic as holiday ideas as well. 

12 Cheap Employee Incentives that Will Pay Off for Your Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every business is looking for ways to create happier and more productive employees. However, with the economic recovery still slower than expected, many companies don’t have the budgets they once did for employee incentives. In fact, many businesses are simply trying to survive.

Still, with some creativity, you can come up with several affordable ways to incent your employees and make them more loyal and more productive. Here are 12 inexpensive ways of rewarding your employees that can really pay off for your company:

1. Free School Supplies. Buy your employees’ school supplies for those with children by letting them raid the supply closet at the beginning of each school year. Since there are volume discounts available from companies like Staples, the supplies will end up costing you hardly anything, while your employees will appreciate not having to buy school supplies for their kids. 

2. Snack of the Month. It’s no secret that people love variety, especially when it comes to food. Give your employees a new snack around the office each month, and they will greatly appreciate it. In fact, at the beginning of each month, the conversation will be guessing which new snack it will be. Some good online resources to save money on snacks are My M&Ms (branded with your logo), Harry & David, Dale & Thomas Popcorn and Nuts Online. 

3. Computer Discount Program. Along the same lines as the gift card incentives, many companies offer their employees the opportunity to buy a computer at a discounted price. HP has a special Business Center section on their site that has discount programs that are easy for most businesses to join. 

4. Gift Card Incentives. According to recent studies, gift cards have a higher perceived value for employees than cash. This is because it is easier for the employee to imagine what they will spend the money on. Gift cards are easy for employers as well because they are easy to order and distribute, and they can often receive volume discounts. You can go even further and use them as a branding tool by having the gift cards you distribute branded with your Company information by using GiftCards.com, which also offers cards at less than face value.  

Here are some suggestions for popular and affordable gift cards that will motivate your employees:

• Groupon: Groupon is one of the hottest ways for people to save money on purchasing products or services in their local area. They offer deals on everything from automotive to electronics to travel to countless other categories at significant savings over buying directly from the merchant. This is a great way to provide your employees with valuable incentives while saving money in the process. To get started, pick your city then scroll to the botton and click on "Corporate Gift Cards."
• Amazon or iTunes: These are two of the most popular gift card options. For the best deal, grab them at eBillme.com and save up to 10%. 
• Restaurants: Who doesn’t love to go out to eat? A gift card from Restaurant.com is sure to be a hit with your employees. They provide most $25 certificates for only $10 and allow you to select from local spots instead of chain restaurants. 
• Movie Tickets: People still love to go to the big theatre to see a movie, but many think it’s getting too expensive these days. A $25 gift card from Fandango.com can give your employees a rare treat they are sure to thank you for.
• Health Club Memberships: Encouraging employee fitness can pay off in numerous ways. You can give them a free month or two, or discount each month on a membership to a popular health club like Bally Total Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness (click the links for special deals!).
• Gas Reimbursement: With the cost of gas going ever-higher, employees are concerned about the expense of commuting to work. Why not help them out by rewarding them with a gas card coupon? I couldn't find a gas-specific gift card but there are many Visa, Mastercard or American Express cards to choose them at GiftCards.com.
• Tickets to Ball Games or Concerts: Even in a tough economy, sporting events and shows are still America’s favorite pastime. Your employees will really appreciate two tickets to a game or concert, and you can get them discounted from places like Tickco, Ticket Network, or Tickets Now. 

5. Put Your Employee on your Shared Wireless Plan. If you have a business that requires continual communication with employees outside the office, then it makes sense to put them on a shared wireless plan with your company. Be careful though, and make sure you set up a plan that does not allow them to rack up costly overage charges. 

6. Flexible Scheduling. Very few things make an employee happier than the ability to create their own schedule. If your company has the flexibility to allow your employees to at least partially set their own schedule, then by all means take advantage of it. 

7. Work from Home Option. Again, this is dependent on your business as to whether or not you can allow this. If you are able to allow your employees this option, why not let them work from home once a week or once a month? Employees love to have this option on Fridays, so they can be home earlier and get ready for the weekend. 

8. Weekly Pizza Day. Along with the snacks, it’s a good little perk to buy the employees lunch once a week. This saves them from having to pack a lunch or spend $10 or more going out to eat. Also, pizza is very popular and relatively inexpensive, especially when purchased in bulk. In keeping with the spirit of variety, order from a different pizza place each week. 

9. Casual Dress Days. Most people love to dress casual and would prefer to go to work this way. If your business model allows it, let your employees dress casual or at least “business casual” once or twice a week so they are more comfortable while working. Friday is always a good day for this. 

10. Have Fun in the Workplace. A fun work environment enhances productivity. Put some people in charge of playing practical jokes and handing out novelty items to mix things up around the office. ThinkGeek.com has a great selection of novelty and odd items to spice up your work environment.

11. Regular Company Outings. There’s no better way for workers and management to bond and get to know each other better than a company outing. Organize regular company picnics and other outings like softball games. It will make your employees feel more like family and they will feel more loyal to your business. 

12. Hand Written “Thank You” Notes. Finally, when an employee does a good job, often times a pat on the back goes further than a financial reward. Don’t forget to take the time to acknowledge an employee when he/she does a good job. This will make them feel good about the company they work for and motivate them to keep performing well. 

We hope you found these tips for employee incentives helpful.  What are your favorite tips for employees?   Leave your best ideas in the comments to share with the community.

Grass-roots, The Great Disruption and Sandcastle Corporations

The corporate sandcastles we've built are crumbling fast as the waves wash them away.  Some have called our existing system a "Ponzi Scheme".  Throwing billions of dollars to rebuild them may not be the answer.  Maybe its time for some creative destruction?  But what will replace the sandcastles?  The answer may be right under our feet.  How can we create new competencies for building effective grassroots organizations that can solve many of the emerging problems?

For the impatient reader, I have put together a brief list of some of the competencies that seem to be necessary for the grassroots organizations of tomorrow. Afterwards, I outline some of the root causes and possible solutions in more detail.

New competencies for new organizations

So we need to build new competencies.  I don't profess to know all of what these competencies are, but I'm getting busy studying the grassroots organizations that have worked to see what we can replicate.  Here are my early learnings from this journey...

1) Effective Grassroots organizations must be grounded in people gathering around a specific, common interest.  The more specific, the better. Its all about getting traction. A tight definition helps.

2) You need a BHAG (Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goal).   As Jim Collins tells us in Good to Great, big goals set our souls on fire.

3) People need to be passionate in the topic.  Passion drives personal investment and volunteerism.  These organizations thrive on self-fulfilling human energy (which is a renewable resource!)

4) Specific governance practices are key.  I'm sure there are many ways to do it.  My favorite is Holacracy. 

5) Specific processes help.  Some may find prescribed processes to be too rigid, but the most effective grass-roots organizations I've seen have specific protocols, that are kept simple and understandable.

6) Provide multiple communication channels... and allow easy participation.  Whether it's by email, a forum, a blogging platform or Twitter, you need to enable full contribution from the members.

What have you found to be effective in building grassroots organizations that can make real change?

The Great Disruption

The New York Times columnist and "World is Flat" author Thomas Friedman posted a recent column called "The Inflection is Near".  He highlighted the convergence of our economic crisis and environmental crisis and suggested that we may have hit a wall.  Joe Romm of climateprogress.org calls our current system for creating wealth 'a Ponzi scheme".  

Our institutions were created to convert exploited resources into wealth.  For hundreds of years, most of our marketplaces, exchanges, financial institutions, corporations and governments have been built on the backs of slavery, deforestation, burning fossil fuels and vast ghettos of human poverty.  If you need to see how we got here in more detail, check out the apocalyptic Internet movie Zeitgeist Addendum.

The Sandcastles are crumbling...

My good friend Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent and I were talking about this.  We observed that the institutions (banks, corporations, etc.) we've built over the past 50 years or so are like so many sandcastles laid out along a coastline.  And the waves are coming in higher and higher and washing them away.  And our government... actually most governments, are throwing money into rebuilding the sandcastles!

Grassroots to the rescue?

Could the answer be growing right under our feet?  I believe that Grassroots organizations are emerging to supplant the role of these depleted institutions with vibrant clusters of activity.  Passionate individuals are self-organizing into collectives which plugin into the economic grid. 

There is no greater example of a successful grassroots effort than the work of President Obama's Presidential campaign.  The folks at Blue State Digital, the team that built the popular My.BarackObama.com platform, report that the Obama campaign mobilized over 3 million individual donors to contribute over $500 million online, sent 2 billion email messages, motivated over 2 million social networking participants who wrote 400,000 blog posts and created and promoted more than 200,000 offline events across the country.  If this isn't a testament to the potential of grassroots organizations, then I don't know what is!  (BTW - I have the honor of introducing Blue State Digital CTO Jascha Franklin-Hodge in this week's Emerging Technology Enterprise conference.  Come if you can!)

To further illustrate the point, I was recently at an advisory board meeting for The Founders Factory, a grassroots-based event put together to support the Philadelphia Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. This eco-system, it turns out, was recently re-invigorated by another grassroots organization called PSL (Philly Startup Leaders).  During the meeting, the board members rattled off several new organic organizations supporting the Philly entrepreneurial and creative community without batting an eye.    (Philly Startup Leaders, Founders Factory, PANMA, Mobile Mondays, IgnitePhilly, ...)

Across business-people, spiritual seekers, hobbyists/enthusiasts and any other group that has a center of gravity around a common passion, new groups are springing up.  How many new, organic groups are you involved with?

Can the government help?

One last thought.  You may wonder if the government is going to be able to get with the program.  I was pointed to an article co-authored by incoming SBA (Small Business Association) Administrator Karen Mills.  Ms. Mills recognizes that 70% of business is generated by small businesses.  In a paper authored in 2008 on Industry Clusters, Ms. Mills and colleagues advocate fostering a system of regionally grown clusters that share in a common industry focus.  Sounds like a great opportunity for some grassroots development to help rebuild our failing economy.

Where do you stand on this?  Will it be business as usual as we rebuild or are we ready for some Creative Destruction... with new, grassroots organizations that grow to dynamically meet the needs of tomorrow?

Launching your Web Business, Part I

Over at the "Inside Small Business: HP/Logoworks" blog, I put together a summary of some of the key steps for decisions around starting a web business.   We look at the Sweet Spot Analysis, Entrepreneurial Types and Bouncing your Idea Ball.  Take a look and let us know what you think!

Teleseminar: Increasing your Odds for Growing a Web Business

There is no doubt that 2008 has been an exciting year. As we close it out, we recognize that, along with the challenges we all face, new opportunities are emerging. Stable economies favor the status quo, but unstable economies favor the bold and entrepreneurial!

2009 holds promises as a transformational year in so many ways. Here are 3 reasons why every startup should define their goals before thinking about growing their e-business:

1. Goals need to be established to keep you on the right path and to help you assess your progress. 
2. Setting goals and habits will save you time and help you and your team become more productive.
3. Setting goals will reduce stress and help you develop a stronger focus. 

Join our teleseminar January 12, 2009 at 7pm to learn about how you can lay the groundwork for growing your web business in the New Year.

 

If you want to know the most highly leveraged areas to be working on for your Internet business, then this may be the most important call you'll ever listen in on...

Team and a Dream has teamed up with Transformation Coach Rob Scott of Fundamental Shift to create a new offering geared towards removing roadblocks to your Web success across vision, execution and implementation.  In our upcoming January 12, 2009 teleseminar, moderator Skip Shuda will interview coach Rob Scott as Rob leads you through the goal-setting process customized to building and growing a Web business.

In this workshop, we'll help you craft your goals and create a metrics dashboard to help track progress against those goals. We'll cover: 

• Creating a vision and mission for your business...or auditing the ones you already have against best practices
• Setting goals across the areas of marketing, technology platforms, launching, team, personal development, individual and readiness, market understanding and more
• How to create habits and commitments
• How to craft a metrics dashboard tailored to your business needs
• Creating a community of peers to support your growth

Sign up now for the Teleseminar!

The investment to attend the 60-minute teleseminar followed by a live Q&A session is only $27. Plus, you'll get an mp3 of the program so if you cannot attend the live session, you'll have access to the teleseminar later to review at your convenience.

Register today and join us to find out what you must know about setting the right goals for your Web business in the New Year.

Details and registration: http://www.teamandadream.com/setting-goals-teleseminar/index2.shtml

Workbook included! You'll get a downloadable workbook to help you tailor and track your goals across the key dimensions of your business.  

SUMMARY:

WHAT:       Mission, Goals and Habits – Increasing Your Odds for Growing a Web Business

WHO:         Moderator Skip Shuda of Team and a Dream will interview Transformation Coach Rob Scott of the Fundamental Shift.

WHEN:       Monday, January 12, 2009 from 7pm to 8pm EST followed by a live Q&A session

WHERE:     Virtual via tele-conference. For the registration page, click here.

WHY:        To lay a strong foundation for the New Year

PRICE:       $27

INCLUDES: 

1. Copy of the mp3 recording
2. Downloadable workbook to help you track your goals across the key dimensions of your business
3. Optional live Q&A session to answer your questions
   

Save the date! We hope to see you there!

Podcasts and Blogs and Twitter... oh my!

The number of Social Media options available to businesses today is overwhelming.   Should you start a blog?   How about Twitter?  Should you start tweeting?   What about LinkedIn?  Facebook?  MySpace? 

Oh My!  The options can be staggering and time consuming.

This is the second screencast in a series about using Social Media in your business.   In this Screencast (2 min 10 secs), Team and a Dream founder Skip Shuda provides a whirlwind tour of the P.O.S.T. approach to social media in business.

 

Anatomy of Building an e-Commerce Property

The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris revisted an idea made popular years ago by Robert Kiyosaki in Rich Dad-Poor Dad. That idea is that passive income represents the holy grail of business-savvy entrepreneurs. If we could only find products or services that require very little effort to generate repeat income, then we can literally “make money while we sleep”! 

In Rich Dad-Poor Dad, Kiyosaki takes a close look at the role real estate could plan in creating passive income streams.  The Four Hour Workweek talks about creating a “Muse” built using today’s eCommerce engines to generate online traffic.  Examples used in the Four Hour Workweek include selling specialized exercise DVDs through a shopping cart site or a stylish series of French sailor shirts through an eBay store.

In November of 2007, my wife and I took a plunge into the world of "passive income" by buying our first rental property.  This has long been a dream of mine, but it took years before we finally overcame the numerous hurdles needed to make it happen. The property is a lakefront home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  However, to make this work financially, we needed the property to produce revenue!

Talk is Cheap…Do Something Already!

One characteristic entrepreneurs possess is the inherent ability to constantly think of new ideas. I, for one, am always thinking of new ways to use an already existing product, combine multiple products together, or (my favorite) - come up with a new product or service altogether. I usually get really excited and proceed to call up a couple of friends to discuss it with. After some time passes though, I tend to feel completely disheartened and end up back on square one. Why? Let me start with a few examples:

• In the summer of last year, I was reading Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston and found myself highlighting certain sentences and making notes on some of the pages. Suddenly, it hit me – why not combine a bookmark with a highlighter and pen (and/or maybe post-its) that I could use instead of having a separate pen, highlighter, bookmark and/or post-its? I called up my best friend immediately and discussed the idea. Next, I did a Google search and - to my dismay - found a patent on a similar product. (Thanks to print moving online and products like Amazon's Kindle, you can see it's also a product that was probably not going to get far).
• Another idea I was also excited about was an online service that allowed obsessed fans to have personal images altered to include their favorite celebrities. I put together a few for my sister (this is when I used to be handy at Photoshop) and she loved them. I also created an eBay listing to see if anyone would be interested in paying for the service. However, I quickly learned about copyright infringement and a lawyer I hired advised me to go in another direction.
• Just this year I put together a business plan for a clothes swapping marketplace and spent months working on a business plan. I entered it into Temple's Business Plan Competition where I was chosen as a finalist. However, I didn't place and abandoned the idea a couple of months later when I couldn't get past a key issue in my plan.

What's the common thread among these examples? I DIDN'T LAUNCH ANY OF THEM!

What is it? Are the ideas flawed from the start? Are there focus or execution issues?

It’s cheaper than it’s ever been to build an online business. Unlike 10 years ago, you no longer need to spend millions of dollars creating a website for your business from scratch. There are numerous tools and resources you and I are now lucky enough to be able to leverage. For example, you can set up an eBay or Amazon store, utilize Guru or Rentacoder, or you can even purchase already existing code.

The online space has changed and it doesn’t require as much time or money to get started. So why aren’t you or I taking advantage it? In addition, another problem I had was that I kept trying to come up with an original idea. Is there really such a thing anymore? Plus, there is ALWAYS competition. It's time that you and I embraced it and focused on creating compelling differentiators on our product or service instead.

Skip wrote a great post last year titled "To launch or not to launch? Three reasons to launch now." In it, he discussed how easy it is to engage would-be customers and to get up and running quickly. What can you do differently today to finally start your business instead of just talking about it? Here are some steps I laid out for my current venture that may help. These steps can be used as "gates" through which idea must pass successfully - or be terminated with mercy:

1.       Bounce your idea around. Create a sounding board of close friends and family members to discuss your ideas with. Listen to their feedback and refine the idea as necessary. Check out “Bouncing Your Idea Ball” for more information.

2.       Do some market testing. This is the step that will help you assess your market and competition to see if the market you’re pursing is as attractive as you think it is. A lot of entrepreneurs will want to skip this step so they can just focus on getting up and going but I wouldn’t recommend it – plus it could end up saving you time and money (See “5 Reasons to Market Test your Startup Idea”).

3.       Identify your differentiators. What’s going to make you stand apart from your competitors? Determine your position and make it compelling.

4.       Look for beta users. Say I decided I wanted to pick up the clothes swapping marketplace concept again. I would look for users who would be interested in using the service and constantly ask them for feedback on the website, features, etc. In other words, I’d get them to help me with my business model instead of trying to figure it out myself.

5.       Discover leverage points. Instead of building a “walled garden”, look for other ways you can get out there cheaper and faster. For example, can you create a Facebook application instead of a stand-alone site? Can you use the power of eBay’s reach or Amazon’s?

6.       Build your team. If you’re a technology person – make sure you find a business person and vice versa.

7.       Post your project on Guru or Rentacoder (For others, see “7 Alternatives to Guru.com”). This is optional – if you can do it yourself by all means, go ahead.

8.       Launch a minimal version. Get a basic version out and use feedback from your users to build out your site. After all, they’ll be the ones paying for it and using it.

9.       Market your site. Once you’ve worked out the kinks and built out your business model – get out there and start telling others about it (For ideas, check out our previous post, “25 Nearly Free Ways to Market your Business”).

This post was as much for me as it was for you. I hope you enjoyed it. What are you going to do differently today to launch your business?

By: Yasmine Mustafa

5 Reasons to Market Test your Startup Idea

“Jumping into a startup without market testing can be like skydiving without a parachute”

"Will it work?" After brainstorming an idea for a new product or service, this is the first question an entrepreneur should ask themselves. Referred to as market testing, obtaining proof of concept or de-risking an idea, this step is imperative in formulating a business and should be considered early in the first stages of a startup. Below, I list five important benefits of market testing. 

1. Save time and money

Many entrepreneurs spend thousands of dollars and endless hours working on their product or service. When they launch, they may find a market doesn’t exist or launch to less than stellar results. Obtaining proof of concept – whether it’s with an online survey, an online focus panel or a Google Adwords test – can help entrepreneurs save time and capital.  These online formats can be affordable alternatives to traditional concept testing tools like focus groups, which can cost $5,000 or more.

2. Identify focus and differentiate from the competition

Some forms of market testing also allow entrepreneurs to determine Long Tail opportunities for their product or service. For example, a client of ours was looking into providing offerings to the general health and wellness space. However, a couple of weeks with some niche market strategies and a Google Adwords campaign specially designed to seek out new opportunities led to a focus on specific medical conditions.  The company is currently one of the most promising startups in Philadelphia.

3. Obtain feedback from your target market

You have an idea and you think it’s going to work. Why not hear it straight from your target market? Validation from your target market is instrumental and an important but often overlooked step by entrepreneurs. Let’s say you’re looking to launch a clothes swapping social network for example (one of my past ideas), wouldn’t you want to hear from potential customers what they think of the service or whether or not they would use it? You can even test out different price-points they’re willing to pay for your service. If you’re looking for investors down the road, this step is especially critical as you will need to explain how you arrived at your conclusions.

4. Ensure there is a need for your service

Related to the previous step, market testing also allows entrepreneurs to de-risk their idea. Hearing feedback from your target market is a great way to gain insight on how likely they would be to use your product or service. If performed correctly, you may also sign up beta users and attain specific areas of interest from your potential consumer. Sometimes entrepreneurs fall in love with their idea only to realize they are not filling a specific or large enough market need – make sure you don’t fall into that trap.

5. Test out different messages

Finally, another great advantage of market testing is finding out which messages are resonating with your market better. We’re currently conducting A/B testing on a service for a client of ours in the Green/environmental space. We formed two messages – one geared towards a specific psychographic highlighting the measurable benefits of the offering and another focused on a psychographic that highlights the impact on the planet and community.  Depending on the results from this kind of test, you can determine which message will convert more users and use it as part of your web copy. This can turn out to be a great way to ratchet up sales.

So now that you know the benefits of market testing, where do you start? Stay tuned for future posts where we’ll explore that topic. In the meantime, check out Steve Barsh’s blog, a guru at one of the DreamIT companies (For more on DreamIT, see our previous blog post “Announcing the DreamIT Series). He recently gave a great presentation titled, “De-Risking your Business Model: A Brief “How-to” Guide with some ideas and helpful insight.

By: Yasmine Mustafa

Previous Posts:

30 things every entrepreneur should know how to do
Building Trust with your Online Users
Top Entrepreneurial Quotes
99 Free Online Classes on Business & Entrepreneurship
15 DIY PR Idea

The Advantages of Virtual Teams

We're proud to announce our newest addition to our Dream Team and now guest blogger. Craig Landes is the #1 contributor on Startup Nation, an online community for entrepreneurs (Check out his profile here). Craig wrote a great, short article for us about virtual teams. Thanks Craig!

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What do we mean by the term, "virtual?" Is it the metaphysics of the nature of reality? No, nothing so complicated as that. The word "virtual" simply replaces the expression "the same as if."

We might think that virtual assistants, virtual teams, or virtual worlds all are brand new concepts, never before seen in human history. But really, whenever we use a representative "to act as if" they're fully vested with authority or knowledge, we're dealing with the idea of virtuality.

Think about an online forum, where you physically are located in front of a computer keyboard in the real world. You then have a screen name, and you might even have a tiny picture icon—an avatar—that represents you as a virtual being inside a virtual chat room. People interact with your screen personality and picture "as if" you really and physically were someplace.

The essential aspect of virtuality is separation. All of us have both a body and a brain. Yet those physical aspects contain or store knowledge, a third component. We can exchange or move knowledge and information around as an abstraction, but we can't always exchange or move bodies around so simply.