The “Chicken Plucking” Secret of Success | Copyblogger

"Charles F. Kettering, inventor of the electric self-starter for cars, once said, “My definition of an educated man is the fellow who knows the right thing to do at the time it has to be done…. You can be sincere and still be stupid.” Indeed. The world is full of sincere, hungry people waiting for food to magically appear on the table.

But let’s not bother with them right now. It’s almost time for dinner and we have work to do. While the rest of the world frets about ruffling feathers, let’s get busy plucking the chicken. We’ll eat. We’ll laugh. And we’ll drink a toast to our success." A good reminder for entrepreneurs! Click the title to read more...

Blogging for entrepreneurs...

2,433 Unread Emails Is An Opportunity For An Entrepreneur | TechCrunch

"I routinely declare email bankruptcy and simply delete my entire inbox. But even so, I currently have 2,433 unread emails in my inbox. Plus another 721 in my Facebook inbox. and about thirty skype message windows open with unanswered messages. It goes without saying, of course, that my cell phone voicemail box is also full (I like the fact that new messages can’t be left there, so I have little incentive to clear it out).

How do I deal with email now? I scan the from and subject fields for high payoff messages. People I know who don’t waste my time, or who I have a genuine friendship with. Or descriptive subject lines that help me understand that I should allot a minute or more of my life to opening it and reading it."

Wow. Talk about a dysfunctional way of handling communications! Are you having problems like this? Here are a couple of ideas...

1. Use Gmail. No other ISP offers the tools to handle large volumes of email like Gmail...
2. Read 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen. If you're in a hurry, skip to #3...
   
3. Check out Inbox Zero...

If you can't implement it on your own, scroll down and give me a call -- I'll be happy to help you out...

Differentiating Your Business | Entrepreneur.com

"Some of the most successful businesses in the world have made their mark by articulating their unique capabilities. FedEx put itself on the map by guaranteeing packages would reach their destinations overnight. Domino's Pizza once promised to deliver hot pizza in 30 minutes or less. Burger King let you 'have it your way.'" Click the title to read more...

Spirit of the Entrepreneur | Entrepreneur.com

"Qhat exactly is it that sets entrepreneurs apart from the rest? What is it that makes certain people believe in themselves enough to take the prospect of failure head-on and have the determination to come out on top? It takes a special kind of person to set an idea in motion, riding the highs and lows from humble beginnings to ultimate success." Click the title to read more...

Transform Your Website Into a Sales Powerhouse | Entrepreneur.com

"There's never been a better time to take advantage of the expansive opportunities for online business development and growth that the internet affords. According to a Juniper Research study, the number of U.S. internet shoppers will grow at an average rate of 12 percent per year through 2010, resulting in more than $144 billion in online sales." Click the title to read more...

Guy Kawasaki's thoughts on online life | Lifehack.org

"Guy Kawasaki visited Ireland to deliver his Art Of The Start talk at the Irish Software Association’s annual conference. His ‘Irished-up’ version of the talk was warmly received by a packed house. Despite his busy work and tourist schedule (this was his first visit to Ireland) Guy found time to sit down and discuss his online life, how he stays in touch with everything that is going on out there, and his new venture, Alltop.com." Guy Kawasaki is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this generation. Click the title to read his perspective on life online...

Alltop a single page blog dashboard of sorts | B2B Lead Generation Blog

Gathering information via newsfeeds is a critical part of the inbox zero approach to email. It will help you get distracting newsletters out of your inbox and into a newsreader where they belong.

"If you don’t have time to search though multiple blogs I recommend you check out Alltop. The site was launched by marketing wiz, blogger, author, entrepreneur & venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki.

What's different about Alltop? It’s really a selection of the top 50 RSS feeds (i.e. mostly blogs) in 20 categories. All that information is collected listed in a single page. Personally, I’m finding Alltop useful for keeping up with other topics I'm interested in but don't want to spend a lot of time on.

"Where are you going to put all the great stuff you find on Alltop? My suggestion is use Google Reader to collect and organize the feeds. Reader works with Gmail as a 1-2 combination to end clutter in your inbox. Gmail is for 'just in time' information and Reader is for 'just in case'. Don't let the two get mixed together...

Are you awakened or just an entrepreneur? | Duct Tape Marketing Blog

Here's some great news...

"My friend Michael Gerber is at it again, Awakening another generation of entrepreneurs and showing people how to dream intentionally.

His latest book, Awakening the Entrepreneur Within is shipping this week and is a high level overview of his Dreaming Room experiences.

Companies that embrace the method and practices contained in this book can become extraordinary by pushing beyond what they thought it meant to be a company. I am in Phoenix this week presenting marketing workshops for the users of Infusion Software - this is a company that is truly infused with the Awakened Entrepreneur message and it is just so much fun to be around people and companies that are so alive with a vision."

Click the title to read more...

I'm working on a project...

...to put my business online using only tools that are freely available from Google. The purpose of the exercise is to 'eat my own dog food' so to speak and thereby demonstrate that it's possible for any entrepreneur, SMB, volunteer group, etc. to have a robust web presence and take advantage of these tools for their own purposes. Sign up for updates in the Feedblitz box in the right hand column and track my progress...