3D Printing Revolution Could Re-Shape World

Advances in 3D printing technology could revolutionise the way we produce goods and repatriate manufacturing jobs to the UK.

Additive manufacturing, as the process is technically known, works by building up solid objects layer by wafer-thin layer, in much the same way as a conventional 2D inkjet printer.

The object is scanned, or designed on computer modelling software, then sliced up, like a loaf of bread, into thousands of tiny layers, which can then be printed out to form a solid three-dimensional product.

If the last industrial revolution brought us mass production and the advent of economies of scale - the digital revolution could bring manufacturing back full circle - to an era of mass personalisation, and a return to individual craft.

Dr Phil Reeves, managing director of Econolyst, an additive manufacturing consultancy, explained: "The ability to mass-personalise products and produce individual products for individual consumers opens up an enormous opportunity, it almost takes us back to a craft industry where things were made for individuals.

"And then we moved into the domain of mass production and everything was the same - now we're using digital tools but to make individual products.

"At the moment we're 3D printing hearing aids, hip implants, we're starting to see consumer goods and personal products - toys - being personalised to the individual consumer, and that in itself has benefits to the environment because people are keeping the product for longer, and it has more value to the consumer."

Professor Richard Hague, director of the EPSRC Centre for Additive Manufacturing, demonstrated the technology to Sky News in his lab.

First, he printed a scale Ford Model T - the design that became synonymous with mass production in the early 20th Century.

Henry Ford famously joked that customers could have it in any colour they liked, so long as it was black.

3D printing means every design can be slightly different - without the need to re-tool, or redesign the production line.

The inkjet-style printer lays down a fine layer or light-reactive plastic, which is immediately set into place by a beam of light passing overhead.

The tray supporting the model then lowers slightly to allow the next layer to be added on, set into place, and so on.

Professor Hague explained: "So what we have here is a prototype Model T Ford being printed using a 3D-printing technique that is actually very similar to your conventional 2D inkjet printer that everyone has at home these days.

"What we do is add a third dimension and print the part out - we take the 3D cad model, chop it into a bunch of slices and print those one on top of each other."

But he stressed this is what they can do now - what is exciting is what they are working on for the future: the design freedom and the prospect of printing multi-material components, complete with working electronics.

In other words, they are no longer just talking about printing the case for your mobile phone - they want, ultimately, to print the working phone.

Professor Hague said: "The future research area we are working on is the printing of complex biological, conductive, or optical interconnects within the body of the part - so effectively what we're trying to do now is move away from conventional single material additive manufacturing, to really multi-functional additive manufacturing where we're printing the whole system."

The technology also means you can make each object to order - rather than having to mass produce.

In a small unit in east London, MakieLab are making individually-customised dolls.

You might expect them to be made on a vast production line in the Far East, but 3D printing makes it possible to manufacture the dolls in the UK.

Founder Alice Taylor explained: "Instead of having to make a mould and then make millions of the same thing in order to pay off the price of the mould and the manufacture, you can make individual objects one by one."

"It means that a start-up in London can make toys in London now, whereas two or three years ago that would have been impossible."

3D printing in the future could be used to make lighter aircraft, better body armour, one day perhaps even working body parts - the possibilities of 3D printing are only as limited as our imagination.

SOURCE: www.yahoo.com

A Mobile Approach to Gaining Market Share

“The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Crew Van with our company’s modern graphics and logo speaks to that sense of quality and sophistication that The Memphis Group is all about.”

“Food, Community, Culture since 1995” is the tag line of The Memphis Group, an operator of dining and entertainment establishments in Orange County, California. When co-owners Dan Bradley and Diego Velasco decided to expand the company’s full-service catering operation, they were intent on finding a way to do it while remaining true to that branding. Choosing Sprinter to execute the strategy was a no-brainer, Bradley says.

“When we made the commitment to significantly grow our catering and events business, we set out to make a bold statement to our customers―one that conveys we are a quality operation,” he says. “We knew the type of company vehicle we used would be one of the most powerful ways we could convey this. Of course, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter was the logical choice.” 

Versatility, passenger capacity, and brand image

Bradley and Velasco decided on a 2010 Sprinter Crew Van with a 144-inch wheelbase, which they purchased new last year. Topping their list of priorities were a versatile cargo space and the ability to transport staff to off-site catering jobs that vary widely in nature. “With its seating for five adults, the Sprinter Crew Van was perfect for our needs without having to customize the interior. If we need more cargo room, the bench seat is easily removable,” Bradley explains. They love the fuel efficiency and reliability of the six-cylinder BlueTec engine, he adds, “and even with its larger size, the Sprinter is a pleasure to drive.”

The biggest challenge The Memphis Group faces in growing its catering and events business is creating awareness of its existence. “Once we started driving the ‘Memphis Catering & Events’ Sprinter Crew Van around town, it increased brand recognition and inquiries immediately,” Bradley says. “Since our graphics-wrapped Sprinter was put into use, catering income has increased by 30%. When parked in our lot, it functions as additional signage, and our restaurant sales are also up as a result.”

SOURCE: www.inc.com

Importance of a Company Blog in 2012

Do you have a company blog yet? If you answered no then what you are waiting for? It is 2012, and your business can now benefit tremendously from a personal blog. Here are a few benefits that you will receive by creating a company blog:

Hopefully by now you have a business website set up and have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, or even YouTube. If so, then you must start creating content immediately! Businesses using social media should always be sharing informative content that is relative to their niche. By doing so, you will start to be seen as an expert within your field.

Now start writing those posts! Every time that you create a new blog post, you should share the post with all of your online communities. Joining LinkedIn groups can be extremely beneficial when it comes to sharing new content. If you belong to groups that are within your field of expertise, then sharing a post that is relevant will not be frowned upon. Also sharing posts on LinkedIn is a great way to start a discussion about the topic that you have written about and get like minded people to view your businesses website.

By promoting your content on social networking websites, forums, and other online communities, you should start to see an increase in traffic to your website. This can assist your business in gaining exposure and creating new and potential clients through your reader base. Always be sure to be consistent so that you keep your readers coming back for more!

Since you are providing your community with useful content that can help them, then you should expect to see an increase in your websites traffic. Sharing articles that readers enjoy, usually leads to them sharing it with their community’s as well. By creating your own blog posts, you can reach a whole new level of viewers that you were never able to reach before you had your company blog. Having a website alone is beneficial, but without a blog people do not have a reason to continuously visit.

When you give your community a reason to share your website, then they will start to come back more often. Maybe your blog will end up being the reason that they decide to choose your businesses services, or product since they see that you are knowledgeable about the subject. Keep posting well-written articles, and you will see users coming back for more, posting comments, sharing your content, and promoting your website within other communities as well.

In the age of the internet, not having a blog will leave you behind the pack and your competitors with blogs will begin to shine within your niche. Just a simple short post explaining what is going on within your industry can become a viral hit. It takes one viral blog post to become a star within your field, and have your community coming to you with all of their questions.

Without a well-informed community, you will never really get far when it comes to marketing your business online and showing your expertise within your field of work. Be sure to keep posting on your blog, whether it is a short blurb, or a highly informative article, to keep receiving increased chances of growing your online exposure. With the younger generation becoming the consumers, gaining exposure online has never been as important as it currently is!

SOURCE: www.businessfinancestore.com

5 Lessons Every Child Should Know About Money

by Jamie Simmerman

Your children being 5, 15, or 25 wouldn’t better – learning about money is a lifelong process, and the lessons they learn early on will affect the lessons they learn later in life. While it’s never too late to start learning about how to handle finances, some lessons, like the ones that form one’s attitude and beliefs about money, are more important than others. Here are five your child of any age should know.

1. Losing money is a part of life. Everyone loses money, perhaps children more often than adults, but financial loses happen. Your child may drop twenty dollars from a pocket at the mall, misplace a school fundraiser envelope, or have their lunch money stolen. How you react to the situation will affect how your child views money for the rest of his or her life. If your child acted irresponsibly and contributed to the loss, it’s important to help him or her take responsibility for their actions. However, you should talk with your child and explain that mistakes are part of the learning process, and formulate ideas to help prevent losses in the future. Punishment for losing money is usually not necessary, but the child may be given extra responsibilities to help recover the lost funds. Extra chores, after-school jobs, and community services may all be viable options for helping your child take responsibility for the loss.
2. You don’t have to keep all money that comes your way. One of the best ways to foster a healthy attitude toward money is to encourage your child to give to others. Whether you set up a structured system, such as tithing, or if you keep a special find for giving to others in need when the opportunity arises, it’s important to teach your child about giving early on.
3. Spending is to be expected. Especially when children begin to be aware of money, you can expect a long list of wants and needs to ensue. Help your child learn to narrow their shopping list to include items that will enrich their life. You can set aside a very small fund for small toys and consumables (like candy, stickers, art supplies), but the majority of your child’s spending money should go towards items that are higher quality and will be used and enjoyed for a long period of time.
4. Saving is essential. You should stress that saving is not an option, but essential even if your child decides to save just one dollar a month. Your child doesn’t have to save a large portion of their money, but he or she should set back something from every monetary source. Birthday and Christmas gifts of money or allowances should be examined and a portion allocated for saving.
5. Well-managed money is the goal. When learning about finances, your child may get caught up in the excitement of saving, spending, and investing, but your job as a parent is to help him or her stay focused on the main goal – to manage their money well. Even if investments don’t perform well, wise money management is a rewarding process for children when a parent supports them.

It’s never too early to begin saving for college, investing for future expenses, and learning to spend responsibly. Money earned and saved little by little fosters a healthy, responsible attitude for life.  What money lessons do you think are essential for children?

SOURCE: www.moneyning.com

Is Your Child a Born Entrepreneur? Here’s How to Tell

by Vincent King

You’re strolling down the street, hand in hand with your spouse on a warm summer evening, listening to the crickets sing and the wind whisper through the trees. Bobby’s set up shop on the corner, like always, this time selling candy to the neighborhood kids.

“He’s always selling something,” you whisper to your partner.
“Yeah, he’s never plays like the other kids. I wonder why?”
Simple: Bobby ISN’T like other kids.

Bobby is a Born Entrepreneur.

The old carrot and stick economy is slowly dying, while the Internet allows anyone with an idea the chance to thrive. Our children are watching, and the ones who are paying attention will be most prepared for a lucrative tomorrow.

Our children see, hear, and watch us run our own business. They grow fascinated, inspired by the thought of their own potential success.

And a child entrepreneur doesn’t operate the same as other children.
Most kids can be found playing video games, watching TV, or maybe throwing rocks at the neighbors. Their lives are centered around investigation and discovery; learning to navigate their way through the world, mostly concerned about how they fit into the larger picture of life.

Child entrepreneurs look at the world differently.
They focus. You could even say they “hyper-focus” on their projects. They’re driven to see what they can do, what they can earn, and how far they can take their ambition. Instead of fitting in, child entrepreneurs try to change the world the way they see it.

They constantly have new projects in the works, and their thoughts are almost always money or business centric.

These children are driven by challenge and are unwilling to surrender, simply because a project has failed. That failure will often spark their fire and fuel them further. A regular child will reach for their game controller when faced with the defeat, the entreChild doesn’t know when to quit.

What Can Child Entrepreneurs Do?

You may find them selling candy, cards, or even cookies. But one thing’s certain: you’ll always see them developing an idea, new or old, to see what they can make of it.

Child entrepreneurs love a challenge – an enviable trait that can carry them far in life. There are many examples of successful child entrepreneurs. Cameron Johnson built a greeting card business that generated $15,000 per day at age 15, and Ashley Qualls’ site, whateverlife.com is more visited than Teen Vogue or Cosmogirl!

Child entrepreneurs can, and will, do anything to build their businesses and parents who spot entrepreneurism as a strong characteristic in their child enable them and help them go farther than their imaginations ever dreamt they could go.

How to tell if YOUR child is born entrepreneur

Watching your child carefully will help you spot the traits that could lead them to a successful life as an entrepreneur later.
So what traits should you look for?

1. They’re easily bored playing with Jimmy down the street and would rather sit with Grandpa. Do you find your son bored with playing with other kids? Watch his behavior around other children and adults. If they show more interest in what is going on in the adult’s world and tend to ask questions about their environment around them, you may have the makings of a child entrepreneur on your hands.
2. They think beyond their age. For example, do they connect the dots between business and consumer relationships that kids their age don’t? Do they see past the salesman in front of you and have an idea of what he’s going to benefit from you?
3. They’re constantly developing new ideas for projects. You may even find them having trouble shifting from idea to idea without completing the first. A child entrepreneur may start a baseball card business and before the idea has had enough time to fully evolve, he’ll be on his way to selling t-shirts.
4. They have a better grasp of the concept of money at an earlier age. Your entreChild may understand how money works and what you do with it far beyond what Susie, Jill, Michael, and others of the same age understand. He may not have any qualms about waiting a month before he’s earned enough to get that Super Deluxe Hot Wheels Racetrack with Working Car Wash because he understands that money takes time to earn and knows that with the next paycheck, his due will come.
5. They focus on money and monetary issues. Is your daughter constantly on the lookout for ways to make more? She may seek ways to earn more for her next Barbie Dream House, complete with jacuzzi and Barbie car or ways to save more for the designer dress she has her eye on.

Whatever your child’s entreTendencies are, nurture and encourage them, at every age. You never how that seed will germinate, or what sort of fruit the branches may bear.
Does your child show entrepreneur characteristics? How do you handle them?

SOURCE: www.moneyning.com

Microloans Make a Macro Difference

By Michelle Goodman

inLisa McGrath knew she didn't need much money to start her natural pet-products store, but the $3,000 she had doggedly saved just wasn't going to cut it. So in April 2011, the San Antonio-based entrepreneur applied for a microloan from Accion Texas, a nonprofit that provides qualifying startups with loans of $500 to $50,000. 

 

 

 

 

By July, McGrath had dug up $12,000, courtesy of Accion's green loan fund for environmentally responsible businesses. In September, she left her job as a KLRN Public Television executive, and the following month she held the grand opening of her 965-square-foot store, Tails Natural Pet Market. We sat and spoke about the process. 

Why did you pursue a microloan?
I did a little research and determined that it would be very difficult to get a small-business loan through a bank. I knew they were probably looking to offer larger loans to businesses that had been in existence for three to five years. And I didn't want to put something on a credit card. I knew Accion Texas worked specifically to get small businesses up and running, and that they were more willing to help fund startups and women-owned businesses.

Did you have a loan amount in mind?
I was hoping to get anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000. I knew that would be the amount needed to stock my store and get the existing costs covered, things like deposits for utilities and internet.

What are your loan repayment terms?
It's a 36-month payoff at $441.15 per month. It's 10.5 percent fixed simple interest--their lowest rate--and I can pay it off early without penalty.

How are you using the loan?
I paid a security deposit equal to one month's rent and used the rest of the money to build my initial inventory. To keep my costs down, I didn't buy brand-new fixtures and merchandising displays for my shop; I bought things at flea markets and thrift shops, which is the look I was going for anyway.

What was the application process like?
I applied online in late April. That first step was a very nonthreatening one.

One of Accion's loan officers got back to me, and we did a lot of talking by phone. The process was actually not easy. They want you to work for it. I had to put together my loan package, including my business plan, and they requested 100 percent collateral. My father, who's elderly and lives with me, had paid off the home we all grew up in, so I ended up using that as collateral.

How long was it from loan application to approval?
Once I got my paperwork together, it was a fairly quick process. I had to provide copies of previous income tax returns, and they wanted to see the lease agreement I had signed, so I put all the paperwork together and submitted it in June. Then it was within four weeks that they had a decision. They were also there to answer any questions. I really felt like I had someone in my corner. I can't see a regular bank doing this, but the people I worked with are staying in touch, which is kind of that community feel. You really feel like they want to see you succeed.

What tips can you offer others seeking a microloan?
Talking with other local businesspeople and doing your homework and being very realistic about your expectations is key. You also need to make sure you're aware of your own credit, so get your credit report. It's true what everyone says about how important a business plan is. It helped me build a foundation for everything else that I put together.

This article was originally published in the April 2012 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Microloans Make a Macro Difference.

SOURCE: www.secondact.com

JOBS vrs ZUCHERBERG

By John Patrick Pullen

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It often takes a special type of person -- and personality -- to lead a startup to soaring success. Take Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg as prime examples. Each started a tech company that not only left their marks on Silicon Valley, but have created products that have changed the lives of millions of people.

But what can be said about Jobs and Zuckerberg as people, and leaders? While Zuckerberg considered Jobs a mentor, and Jobs, before his death last fall, expressed his admiration of Zuckerberg, both have independently exhibited tendencies to hold grudges -- just one of several personal and managerial traits the two leaders shared. They also are different in many ways, some of which may demonstrate a generational shift in the way bosses will lead in the 21st century.

Here we examine some of the similarities and differences between Jobs' and Zuckerberg's leadership styles:

Similarities

Desire for more than just money: Jobs famously made a salary of $1 per year, and Zuckerberg has promised to donate a majority of his fortune to charity.

Though his estate was worth $3 billion at the time of his death, Jobs put making the highest quality products in the world above anything else. And while Facebook's CEO is poised to become unbelievably wealthy with the company's IPO, his primary goal has been to connect people all over the world. In Facebook's SEC filing, a 2,200-word letter from Zuckerberg begins: "Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission -- to make the world more open and connected."

Coldness: Jobs was unapologetic about his brusque management style. "If something sucks, I tell people to their face," he is quoted as saying in the Isaacson biography. "It's my job to be honest. I know what I'm talking about, and I usually turn out to be right."

Both current and former Facebook employees have described Zuckerberg as robotic, and in an interview with The New Yorker, he even called himself awkward. In the workplace, this detachment can translate into both frustration and great results in that Zuckerberg is fearless about trying new things, writes Facebook employee Andrew Bosworth in an internal memo cited in a Wall Street Journal article.

Hard-driving style: In a well-documented story dating to before the iPod's launch, Jobs demanded that the music player be slimmed down. Engineers maintained there was no way to reduce its size, so Jobs took the prototype and dropped it into a fish tank. Air bubbles seeped from the device, ending the conversation by showing the empty space still inside.

Similarly colorful stories of Zuckerberg's demands have yet to surface, but former Facebook employee Yishan Wong called him demanding, "with a monomaniacal focus on making Facebook succeed in its mission." Zuckerberg has little tolerance for others' feelings while meeting his goals for the company, Wong says.

Differences

Failure vs. unbridled success: After vaulting to an early lead in the personal computing wars of the early 1980s, Apple lost market share and direction and ended up ousting Jobs as CEO. It was his failure and time away from the company he helped create that many credit with his and Apple's eventual rebound. Jobs developed what would become OS X, the backbone of the company's software success, as well as cutthroat negotiation tactics that helped earn his company billions.

Zuckerberg, meanwhile, has yet to fail in any major way and show how he would react. It's rare -- if impossible -- for an innovator to hit every mark, every time, and this perfect record may leave some investors gun-shy about Facebook's high stock price.

Products vs. people: In terms of revenue, Apple is foremost a hardware company. That's because Jobs had a product-first sensibility and solved problems consumers didn't even know they had. Apple's devices and software are often so refined that users don't have to bother reading the product manuals.

Facebook, on the other hand, takes a people-first approach, continually adding functions and services that keep users interconnected in a variety of ways. This development approach, which Facebook calls "The Hacker Way" in its SEC filing, can make for a feature-rich experience, but it can also cause usability to suffer when new features are half-baked or too advanced for people to adopt easily.

Privacy vs. openness: Prior to the publication of Steve Jobs last fall, much of Jobs' personal life was a mystery -- almost as secretive as the company's unreleased products. While much of his life has been laid bare, it's important to remember that Jobs decided to cooperate with the production of the book only after it became clear that he was dying.

Zuckerberg has been more open about his personal life. This is partly a reflection of the media-saturated era he operates in, as well as the nature of his business. While Zuckerberg's Facebook profile is set to private, he does periodically make public posts and is forthcoming with details of his personal life, whether publicly pledging to donate much of his fortune to charity or sharing his own dietary issues.

SOURCE: www.secondact.com

Celebrity Tours Drive Travel Startup's Success

By Kara Ohngren

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photos: courtesy of Zozi

Top-flight travel: Kayaker Tao Berman

Twenty people tore up Squaw Valley with Olympic gold-medal skier Jonny Moseley. National Geographic explorer Mireya Mayor led a small group on a wildlife "safari" through California's wine country. A group of thrill-seekers sharpened their whitewater skills in Nevada's Truckee River with world-record kayaker Tao Berman. These are the types of once-in-a-lifetime adventures, guided by celebrity gurus, that have helped drive zozi to rapidly multiplying revenue, backed by $11 million in venture funding.

"No other company has built an online platform that easily connects anyone to some of the most unattainable people in the world to go on experiences that will give you a lifetime of stories to tell," says T.J. Sassani, founder of the San Francisco-based company. "Zozi is ultimately a discovery engine that makes bite-sized adventures accessible to all kinds of people." 

When the site launched in 2010, it specialized in discounted nonguided quests, like a tour of medieval castles in Ireland, a five-day surf and spa retreat in Baja or the chance to hang glide to a beach picnic. But Sassani says he's growing the business to also focus on unique, full-price celebrity excursions, starting at $300. Zozi's niche is in creating short adventure trips that aren't available anywhere else.

The site operates in 19 U.S. markets, and its user base is approaching 1 million. Sassani will not disclose revenue, which comes through shares with merchants and partners, but says it grew 700 percent last year.

Venture capitalists are clawing for a piece of the exploding tech travel sector. Last year zozi raised $7 million in Series B funding from investors that included LaunchCapital; meanwhile, San Francisco-based travel search site Hipmunk raised $4.2 million and Seattle-based flight tracker Yapta locked down $5 million.

LaunchCapital co-founder and managing director Elon Boms says his firm was looking for a concept that could be a category leader through true innovation. "They've done just that. Zozi is unlike any other company in the tech travel space," he says. "Zozi is pioneering the future of travel and entertainment, and as VCs that excites us." He adds that leadership in the fragmented but huge U.S. travel activities market--worth $26.8 billion in 2009, according to PhoCusWright, host of the annual Travel Innovation Summit--will be "driven by a brand that both customers and merchants embrace, one that stands for quality and is used not as a bargain hunter but as a tool for discovery."

PhoCusWright senior technology analyst Bob Offutt agrees that the time is right for investment in travel companies with a tech component. "There's a sense that there's some gold to be found if you mine the right mines in this category," he says. "VCs feel there's opportunity to move the needle and come up with new ideas that will shift share to something more appropriate for the 21st century."

More Travel Brilliance: Online Help for Your Next Trip

1. WeHostels: This social booking site for hostels (and beds and couches) allows travelers to connect before their trip begins.

2. Ogomo: A business traveler's dream, this online store offers travel-size products that can be delivered directly to hotel rooms.

3. Tortuga Backpacks: A traveler exploring Paris doesn't necessarily need a rugged backpack fit for traversing the Himalayas. The carry-on-size Tortuga is designed for long-term urban trips.

4: Traveler's Joy: Register for "experiences" on this online honeymoon registry that has partnerships with The Knot, WeddingChannel and WeddingWire. Couples choose a dream destination, and friends and family contribute money toward their travel expenses, accommodations, dining and activities.

5. IMGuest: Business travelers who check in at their hotel on this free social networking platform can browse for like-minded guests and set up face-to-face meetings.

6. SpareOne: Ideal for travel or emergencies, this spare cell phone runs on a single AA battery and provides up to 10 hours of talk time.

7. Nanny in the Clouds: Matches parents with experienced nannies already booked on the same flight who can help take care of kids during air travel.

8. Hotel Tonight: Negotiates discounted rates for last-minute stays at curated properties.

9. OceanGate: This submarine operation funds marine research through "citizen scientists" who pay for the privilege of working alongside oceanographers as they explore the deep sea.

SOURCE: www.secondact.com

Inspire Your Team to Share Ideas and Offer Opinions

Word on the street has it that Newt Gingrich wants to have a permanent base on the moon by the year 2020. And then when it holds enough people, he suggests it should apply for statehood.

Wildly creative, some say. Just wild say others. Regardless of whether or not Gingrich will be the Republican nominee or even have a chance to implement his idea, at least he isn’t afraid to throw his ideas out there.

Can you say the same about your team? Are they willing to dream up new ideas? As a small business owner, there are steps you can take to encourage your employees to share ideas and offer their opinions.

Set the Proper Tone

Set the proper tone means creating an environment that embraces open discussion about new ways of doing things. For Cameron Hughes, founder of Cameron Hughes Wine, that means creating a “nurturing environment, one where people feel safe in saying what they think.”

As Evil HR Lady Suzanne Lucas suggests in the January 23, 2012 CBS MoneyWatch article “5 reasons employees aren’t sharing their ideas,” to encourage employees to open up and share their opinions and ideas, “you need to create an environment where things that are new and different aren’t immediately rejected and mistakes are not the end of the world.”

Communication is Key

Whether your idea-generating program is formal (such as a suggestion box) or informal, make sure that employees understand the proper way of communicating their ideas – at staff meetings, in writing to their supervisor, or another process.

All ideas should be reviewed and addressed. Good and bad ideas should be acknowledged and appropriately critiqued. To encourage employees to continue sharing their ideas, communicate the outcome of each suggestion.

However, communication goes both ways. Many employees may feel reluctant to open up at first. So as a small business owner, entrepreneur or company leader, your role is to encourage communication by asking for their input and opinions. Hughes says that when managers are actively engaged, employees feel better about sharing their ideas.

Reward and Recognize Employees

This does not mean you have to pay employees for their ideas, though cash does go a long way for many workers. It does mean you need to reward them. This might include a pat on the back, a shout out at the next staff meeting or a gift certificate to their favorite store.

While all ideas require encouragement and support, even if they are not implemented; quality ideas that are put into action – those that save the company time and money – should be held out for special recognition. Keep in mind that one of the best ways to recognize an employee is by implementing their idea, especially if it is utilized by an entire department or company.

Okay, your team might not come up with anything quite as far-out as colonizing the moon. However, with the right environment and a little encouragement, they may just solve a long-standing business problem or discover your next break-through product.

SOURCE: www.secondact.com

3 Rules of Successful Crowdfunding Projects

By Catherine Clifford

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Email Print ShareFor an increasing number of startups, crowdfunding is a way to get their companies off the ground when traditional avenues, such as a bank loan, are not an option.

 

Crowdfunding is a way to raise money by getting small donations from a large number of people, and sometimes the end result is big. For example, the Pebble watch that synchs with your smartphone raised over $10 million on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

Wondering if your business idea would be backed by a crowd of investors? Consider these three traits of successful crowdfunders, according to by Brian Meece, the CEO and co-founder of RocketHub.com, a New York City-based crowdfunding platform.

1. An intriguing, clear story. One reason that people give you money is because your story touches people, so you need to be able to express very clearly what you are trying to do and why it is significant.

"Crowdfunding is built around relationships," says Meece. "It is a very human phenomenon."

You have to be willing and prepared to put yourself in front of the crowd of investors and connect with them directly, through a video or photos. Meece says potential investors need to see enough of your passion to think, "Wow, I want to be a part of it."

2. An existing network. The process of crowdfunding depends on trust and reputation, so you'll need a core inner group to vouch for you and and help spread the word.

"Every successful crowdfunding campaign has an immediate first-degree network that jumps into that campaign," Meece says.

But this doesn't mean you need to have thousands of Facebook friends, you just need at least a small group that is willing to step out on your behalf to get it going.

"No one wants to be the first one dancing on the floor in middle school," says Meece. And investors have the same sense of hesitation: they feel better donating their own money when others have already, too.

3. Cool perks. In exchange for their money, you'll need to offer investors a reward, whether it's a sample, the ability to vote on how a product is designed, or an opportunity to get early access to a product or service before it hits the regular markets.

Also, you'll want to offer multiple levels of perks to provide an incentive for a broader range of contributions. RocketHub's most popular donation level is $20, but the average is about $75. And then there are the once-in-a-lifetime donations: "We have had strangers give $10,000 to campaigns. Crazy, absolutely crazy," Meece says. "You have to have those higher price points there."

SecondAct Asks: Have you used crowdfunding before? If so, share your experience in the comments section below.

This story originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com.

SOURCE: http://www.secondact.com

Will Allen's 'Good Food Revolution'

BY Jeanette Hurt

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Will Allen didn't set out to become a food industry revolutionary -- he just wanted to open a roadside stand to sell fresh produce from his small hobby farm.

But this former professional basketball player soon transformed a 2-acre lot with ramshackle greenhouses into a beacon of good food and hope amid the nutritional wasteland of convenience stores and fast-food restaurants in inner-city Milwaukee.

What started out as Will's Roadside Farm Market has evolved into Growing Power, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting urban farming and sustainable food practices across the nation and around the globe.

"We're a work in progress," Allen says in an interview with SecondAct.com. "Farming is always a work in progress."

 

Allen's new autobiography, The Good Food Revolution, chronicles his unexpected journey from ABA basketball player to Procter & Gamble marketing executive to urban farm activist.

"The book traces the legacy of my family all the way up to what we're doing today, and it has a lot of historical things about agriculture in it," says Allen, who received a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant in 2009. "My family has been in agriculture for 400 years or more. My family, like many families, migrated to the north.

"My book talks about the Great Migration, the loss of African-American farmers. But it's more than just an illustration of my family. It's also about the people I work with and their challenges, and it even covers some of the future of where we're going."

The 63-year-old farmer has traveled the world to bolster urban agriculture efforts. He admits he wasn't always so enthusiastic about farming. He resented it as a child. "As a young man, I felt ashamed of my parents' sharecropping past," Allen writes in his book. "I didn't like the work of planting and harvesting that I was made to do as a child. I thought it was hard and offered little reward. I fought my family's history. Yet the desire to farm hid inside me."

That desire germinated when he was playing basketball in Europe in the early 1970s after his stint in the ABA. He encountered farmers at open-air markets and then visited their pesticide-free farms; that inspired Allen to plant his first garden. "At almost every Belgian garden, I saw wooden compost bins. My father taught me as a boy how to compost," he recalls.

Composting became even more important after he purchased his own farm in 1993. "We have to grow new soil because a lot of our soil is contaminated, and every major city needs a major composting opportunity," Allen says. Good soil leads to good food, and access to good food is a social justice issue. "Without sustainable food systems, urban areas will never become sustainable societies," he says.

Initially, when Allen began fixing the leaky greenhouses and rebuilding the soil on his land, he invited local residents, especially older children and teens, to help him farm. His informal mentorships blossomed, and soon local nonprofits began asking Allen to teach them about farming, and Growing Power sprouted.

Growing good soil and growing healthy food remain Allen's top priorities. This spring, Growing Power will open its first inner-city café and grocery in Milwaukee, near the city's north side. The nonprofit organization is working to add more than 20,000 community and backyard gardens in Southeast Wisconsin before the year's end.

Growing Power also plans to hire more than 100 employees to staff 15 regional training centers across the country to train urban farmers. In September, Allen and his group expect to train thousands more at the second annual National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference in Milwaukee.

But every time Allen achieves a goal, he inevitably sees another problem that needs to be addressed, and he says he sets another, even higher, goal. His latest mission is to transform Growing Power's Milwaukee headquarters into the world's first vertical farm. The five-story greenhouse and conference center hasn't yet been constructed -- it's still wending its way through the city planning process, and construction funds still are being raised -- but Allen says he is confident it will happen. "I hope this building will provide a legacy that will ensure the survival of my organization and its mission when I am gone," he writes in his book, which is co-authored by Charles Wilson.

 

More than any building, Allen's legacy is the social change of helping move farms closer to people, the way it was a century ago, when cities boasted dozens of small farms and gardens. More and more people are joining "the good food revolution," Allen says, but not every revolutionary has staying power.

"My biggest challenge is to make sure that the people who get into this are people who will stay into it," Allen says. "People love the movement of a revolution, but they actually have to become passionate about it to stay in it. That takes time."

Three Facts About Will Allen

1. He doesn't watch television, but he loves listening to music. "I'm stuck in the '70s," Allen says. "I'm a Motown kind of guy, and I listen to CDs in my car as I drive from farm to farm. That's the only time I have to listen."

2. Every morning he fishes at a pond by his farm. "I do the catch-and-release thing," Allen says. "Fishing and farming were two of the things my father passed on to me. I know how to take care of myself, and I'm pretty self-sufficient."

3. He's a great cook. "If you're going to eat, you need to learn how to cook," Allen says. "I am known for my stir-fried collards, the way I fix fish and chicken, and my sweet potato pie. And, of course, greens. I make my own salad dressings, which is basically vinegar and oil. I use two parts oil to one part balsamic vinegar with some honey, add a little salt and pepper, squeeze a little garlic in and we're good to go. The more greens you use in your salad, the better the taste. That's what I eat. Sometimes I'll eat a whole plate of nothing but greens, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions."

SOURCE: www.entrepreneur.com

How the 'Little Guy' Can Partner With Big Companies

BY Colleen DeBaise

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Many small-business owners dream of selling their products in mass-market outlets.

But getting your merchandise into large retailers like WalMart, Home Depot or Target isn’t an easy task.

If you’re trying to break into the big leagues, here’s a checklist of what to do. The advice comes from a trio of panelists who spoke Sunday on the topic of “How Small Business Can Win Big with Large Companies” at National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C.

1. Attend business matchmaking programs and other networking events. The Small Business Administration hosts matchmaking sessions  during Small Business Week, setting up 15-minute meetings between qualified business owners and procurement officers at large corporations, including AT&T, Honeywell and Raythen, and government agencies. Organizations like the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, which certifies women-owned businesses, provide formal matchmaking programs. Or see if the large corporation you’re targeting hosts such an event. Hewlett-Packard, for instance, offers a number of regional matchmaking workshops and webinars.

2. Ask about a large company’s supplier diversity or HUB (historically underutilized businesses) program. You may qualify if you’re a minority-, woman-, disabled-or veteran-owned business, or if your company is located in a designated HUBZone. Essentially, some companies set aside millions of dollars in procurement contracts for diverse small businesses, often to make inroads into untapped markets. “Our customers are diverse, so our vendors have to be diverse in order to answer that demand,” says panelist Linda Boykin, Office Depot’s vice president of merchandising supplies.

3. Have your business plan and financial statements ready. If you’re able to score a meeting with a procurement officer, make sure you can communicate your great vision, and your long-term goals for your product. “If there isn’t a plan, it makes me think it’s not very well thought-out,” Boykin says. And get your finances, including your cash-flow statement, in order. If you don’t, “it’s going to diminish your opportunity to convince [the corporation] to take on a relationship with you,” says Mark Dobosz, a vice president at SCORE who also served on the panel.

4. Know the requirements. While you may be used to running your business in a more informal fashion, a large corporation will be concerned with UPC codes, product liability insurance and other packaging and labeling must-haves. (As an example, check out the requirements for working with Office Depot here.) And it’s not just about the technicalities. From a marketing standpoint, corporations will want to see that your packaging is attractive, consumer-friendly and “retail-ready,” not to mention priced correctly, Boykin says.

5. Understand your capacity. Some small businesses fail to consider what it would mean to win a large order, Dobosz says. Make sure you have a plan in place when it comes to the extra manufacturing, distribution and inventory management that a corporate contract would demand. A big business that has a reputation to protect won’t take a risk on your small company if it doesn’t think you can perform, Boykin says.

If you’re ill-prepared, work with a mentor. Seek advice from the experts at SCORE, the SBA’s Small Business Development Centers, or any number of business, industry or trade groups. Find a fellow business owner who’s gone through the process of landing corporate contracts, and who is willing to share the lessons that he or she has learned.

6. Don’t jump at any and all offers that you get. “Finding a big-business partner is sort of like a marriage,” advises panelist Holly Bohn, founder of See Jane Work, which makes stylish office accessories (think polka-dot pencil cups and floral letter sorters). Bohn says she had plenty of big-company suitors, including Target, after her company launched in 2004. “Any big business would call me up….and I would have stars in my eyes,” she says. Afraid to decline any of their offers, “I spread myself and my employees too thin.” Now, she’s more selective, and advises other business owners not to settle – especially if your brand or your beliefs don’t mesh with a potential corporate partner.

7. Be willing to put in the time. Bohn now makes an exclusive line of office accessories for Office Depot, but says it took three years to get her products on the megastore’s shelves. “You have to be incredibly patient,” she says. Boykin of Office Depot agrees that the process is time-consuming, especially for small companies that need to get up to speed on all the requirements. “It’s not going to go as fast as you hoped,” she says.

SOURCE: www.entrepreneur.com

Chobani Yogurt's Success Starts Where a Giant Left Off

BY Diana Ransom

Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani, won the SBA's 2012 Entrepreneurial Success award.

For Chobani Inc. May might as well be national yogurt month.

Not only did the Greek-yogurt maker announce its first-time sponsorship of Team USA athletes during the London 2012 Olympics, it learned that Chobani is rated as the top yogurt brand in the U.S., according to Harris Interactive's 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study. Then, this week, the Small Business Administration named the company as its 2012 Entrepreneurial Success award winner.

Here's why the accolades have been flowing in. After launching in 2007 out of a shuttered Kraft plant, the company -- which started with five employees let go from Kraft -- now has more than 1,200 employees. Chobani, based in New Berlin, N.Y., also has roughly $1 billion in annual sales and ships 1.5 to 1.7 million cases of Chobani to grocery stores across the U.S. each week.

Named for the Greek word for shepherd, Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya sat down with Entrepreneur.com to talk about the company's modest beginnings and growing pains as it breaks ground at a new, nearly 1 million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Twin Falls, Idaho. Here is an edited version of that discussion:

Entrepreneur: What has been the key to Chobani's success?
 

Ulukaya: Just about anyone can make a good product, but it’s the people that count. In the end, it's the employees who will take it from a kitchen-table idea to the next level. There are a lot of important things in business, but the people portion comes first.

Entrepreneur: What is your biggest challenge these days?
 

Ulukaya: You can find Chobani in every major supermarket, in club stores, convenience stores and airports. But we're not everywhere yet. We have been struggling with keeping up with demand. That's why we're building a new plant and hiring more workers. But, it takes time to build a factory to fulfill that demand. We had some difficulties. But, when we open the plant in Idaho, we'll be in better shape, with more products and more flavors.

Entrepreneur: You're hiring while giant companies lay people off. Why?
 

Ulukaya: I can only speak from what happened to us here. I look at this plant in New Berlin. It formerly operated in almost the same industry and it was closed. What was wrong before?

For me, it proves the need for small businesses. Every small business will give you an entrepreneurial way of looking at things. I guarantee you that for every plant that closes, if you gave it to one small-business person in that community, he or she would find a way to make it work. The small-business attitude is you always find a way to make it work.

Entrepreneur: With the added capacity from the new plant, will you move beyond yogurt?
 

Ulukaya: We never called ourselves a yogurt brand, but, right now, yogurt is still our focus. We are innovating, however. This year, we launched Chobani Champions, a line of yogurt that is packed and sized to appeal to kids. And we're also really excited about Chobani Kitchen, a site that highlights recipes made with yogurt. The notion that yogurt can enliven everything from soups to desserts hasn't reached people at large yet. Right now, 99 percent of the time Chobani is consumed in a six-ounce cup, and it's mostly breakfast.

Entrepreneur: What has winning this award meant to Chobani?
 

Ulukaya: I love it. We've been given a lot of awards and every one of them was special, but I'm particularly proud of this one. We couldn't buy the plant without a SBA loan. If they didn't support us then, there wouldn't be a Chobani story here today. There wouldn’t be 1,200 people working. I hope this is an example for my small-business colleagues: That a small startup can challenge the big guys, and one day they can find themselves in every supermarket.

Entrepreneur: Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Ulukaya: Go for it, if you believe it.

SOURCE: www.entrepreneur.com

Chobani Yogurt's Success Starts Where a Giant Left Off

 

Almost exactly three years ago, I found myself abruptly unemployed at the peak of the Great Recession. Mine wasn't exactly the standard layoff -- my communications job at Harvard Law School ended because my boss decamped for Washington, D.C., to join the fledgling Obama administration. (You may have heard of her: She's now U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.) The impact, however, was much the same as any other layoff: Like millions of others, I was looking for work at the worst possible time.

By Amy Gutman

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From the start, it seemed to me that I had two choices. I could view unemployment and its aftermath as an aberration -- as something that shouldn't have happened to me -- or I could do my best to accept the situation and ask what it could teach me (an option made far easier by the fact that I had some savings). I opted for the second path, and as it happened, in the months, then years, that followed, I grew increasingly fascinated by the inside of the downturn -- the inner lives of those of us cast adrift in the economic maelstrom. 

How can we cultivate happiness when things aren't going our way?

What strategies and resources are most helpful in navigating tough transitions?

What does it mean to be resilient, and can we really "just do it"?

Being a writer, my first impulse was to sort out these questions on paper, first privately and then, little by little, for public consumption. After "outing myself" at Salon -- "I'm Amy. I'm unemployed." -- I went on to explore those questions in a personal blog as well as for venues including Psychology Today and SecondAct.com. My goal was twofold: both to claim my own Great Recession story and to forge connections with fellow travelers in what I'd come to think of as Plan B Nation. ("Plan B -- it's the new Plan A!" I quipped to a friend who, like me, had an unex­pected reversal. "Plan A, that's so 20th century," I dryly remarked to another.)

It's been quite a journey, both harder and more rewarding than I could have imagined during those scary and confusing first weeks that followed my last day of paid employment. While my life has changed a lot since then (more about that to come), the post-recession world continues to be a vastly challenging place. During boom times, it can be easy to drift along, buoyed by a strong economy and the promise of life unfolding more or less according to plan. But when resources are scarce or uncertain, as is often the case today, we need to get creative, to clarify our priorities and make the most of what we have.

Strategies for doing exactly that will be the focus of this column. I'm thrilled at the prospect of connecting with SecondAct readers and look forward to sharing what I've learned and, of course, learning from you. I'll be recounting per­sonal sto­ries (both my own and others') along with looking at research likely to prove help­ful in traveling the often-rocky Plan B Nation terrain. I'd also love to hear from you. Are there topics you'd like to see addressed? Do you have a story to share? Please let me know.

There is no single Plan B Nation story. We have different strengths, different weaknesses, different temperaments, different needs. That said, my hope is that, whatever your situation, you'll find something useful here. While the facts of our stories may be quite different, our feelings are often the same.

SOURCE: http://www.secondact.com

Top Startup Businesses for 2012

You want your startup to succeed, so do we.  In the process of funding over 2,000 new businesses in 2011 alone, we frequently get asked for input from our clients on specific businesses or industries. While we are happy to give specific advice, here is some general information we’ve learned about some of the best startups to launch in 2012.

A recent IBIS World research study reviewed the best industries for your next startup. They based their findings on 1) projected revenue growth 2) forecast enterprise growth over five years 3) 2011 profit margins 4) the low barrier to starting such a business 5) and the amount of capital required (our specialty).

According to Brian Bueno, economic research analyst at IBIS World, the economy beginning to stabilize and other conditions such as job growth, credit conditions, and consumer spending will put “more money in the pockets of consumers and various opportunities for new businesses.”

If you’re ready to start a business and want to improve your chances of success, read the descriptions below of which are the up and coming industries of 2012:

Relaxation Beverages:
Everyone’s heard of energy drinks, but IBIS World’s research indicates that relaxation beverages are going to be big in 2012. Marketed for their relaxation or sleep promoting capabilities, the industry of relaxation beverages had a profit margin of 6.8 percent in 2011, as well as a low barrier to entry and minor capital requirements. Add this to the fact that the business grew 68.7 percent over the last five years (totaling $73.7 million) and suddenly, relaxation drinks are something to perk up about.

Social Network Game Development:
Now that smart phones are prevalent everywhere, the demand for game-related apps has accordingly increased: projected 5-year growth is an average of 24.4 percent annually. Even if the industry has a low barrier to entry, it does have medium capital requirements.

Internet Publishing and Broadcasting:
Having been in existence for years now, the continued popularity of smart  phones and tablets has made the industry of internet publishing and broadcasting more in demand than ever. Also to its advantage are the low barriers to entry and little labor input required to get the business started. The numbers for the industry are also positive; in 2011 profit margins were 17 percent, and it’s projected to have the third largest annual revenue growth at 9.9 percent.

Corporate Wellness Services:
In an effort to keep healthcare costs down, many employers are looking more and more to using corporate wellness providers. The fact that these services also improve employee productivity makes it doubly popular, which would explain why there is a projected growth for the industry of an average annual rate of 8.7 percent. Businesses in this industry are considered require a low capital costs with only a medium barrier to entry.

Online Survey Software:
With all the different types of marketing platforms available to us (especially social media), more than ever, businesses are looking for a way to track and predict their customers shopping habits. Granted, this is a fairly new industry, but the average profit margin was 60 percent in 2011, and the five-year annual revenue growth is projected to be 9.6 percent. While the barrier to entry is low, it’s capital costs are considered high.

E-Commerce and Online Auctions:
No longer the new kid on the block, e-commerce/online auctions (i.e. Ebay and Amazon) are still successful, with a five-year projected revenue growth of 9.6 percent. With almost 2,000 U.S. based e-commerce firms expected to join the industry, IBIS World, suggested that niche startups have the highest likelihood of success.

Wineries:
Buried among the internet and wireless technological startups are wineries, which have a five-year annual revenue growth to be projected at 4.9 percent. Particularly hot are the American wines, which are expected to increase at an annual rate of 2.3 percent. What helps make this such a promising business to start is the rising per-capita consumption of wine, and the increasing acceptance of American wines by those in overseas markets. The profit margin for wineries in 2011 was 7.6 percent, which goes to show that there is a high demand for this market.

Human Resources and Benefits Administration:
Now that the economy is recovering, many companies are looking to strengthen their human resources department by hiring outside firms to manage employees and their benefits. There is an expected annual revenue growth of 4.2 percent over the next five years, and the average profit margin in 2011 was 9.7 percent.

Scientific and Economic Consulting:
Consulting industries are also on the rise, with medium entry barriers and low capital costs, they have the highest employment growths through to 2016. IBIS World believes that the industry is expected to achieve annual revenue growth of 3.8 percent.

Street Vendors:
While fast food and food service industries experienced a decline, street vendors has steadily been increasing. IBIS World explains, “the potential for new and successful startups is particularly high in…street vendors…During the past few years, the industry surged ahead because of new consumer demand for unique and gourmet food trucks.” The industry is projected to achieve average annual revenue growth of 3.7 percent over the next five years to 2016, for a total of $1.7 billion.

Ethnic Supermarkets:
Like street vendors, ethnic supermarkets are a niche market with a lot of projected growth. IBIS World predicts that these industries will continue to grow “with changing consumer tastes and demographic trends,” and even though their 2011 profit margin was only 2.8 percent, another 365 markets are expected to open in 2012.

So if the economy is recovering at too slow a pace for you, and you’re ready to determine your own future, it helps to start looking at different industries to see which ones have promise. If you find the right balance between passion and aptitude for a business, you’ll be able to count yourself among the profitable numbers in no time.  But in order to make a profit, we know you need money to get started.  The Business Finance Store can help, fill out the form on the right to get information on potential funding opportunities for your startup.

SOURCE: www.entrepreneur.com