Instigator Blog

Shawn Hessinger has recently started a new blog entitled, bootstrapme.com - how to bootstrap your business to fame and fortune. It’s part of the creative weblogging network and definitely worth reading.

The blog is relatively new, but Shawn recently published 3 posts which include 45 bootstrapping ideas culled from Inc.com’s website content.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I wrote some of my own thoughts on bootstrapping your startup back in February.

If you’re in the middle of starting a business or thinking about it, these resources are going to help you immensely. Even if you’re not boostrapping a business, maybe you’re in the thick of things, or you’ve been running a business for many years — the principles here can still apply, and sometimes we lose sight of them which can turn our businesses sour. Good luck!

[tags]bootstrapping, entrepreneurship, startup, inc.com[/tags]

When IGotNewsForYou’s blog launched in January, 2006 I went ahead and looked for every blog and feed directory I could find. I submitted it to a ton of them, using MasterNewMedia’s list, but there’s so many it became difficult to track where the blog got listed, and if any updates ever had to be done on the listings.

Some use voting-systems to gain more popularity, some are just plain old directories. Some try and focus on certain niches, other are regional.

Almost none of them generate any traffic.

Recently I read Easton Ellsworth’s post, The 23 Most Critical URLs Where You Should Submit Your Blog or Feed.

So I went ahead and added IGotNewsForYou’s blog to those that I had missed in my previous efforts.

Easton’s got a few important ones listed like Google and Yahoo, which certainly will generate traffic through searches (which they do for regular sites too, of course) but what about all these relative bit players?

A newer player in the blog directory game is Business Blog Directory which focuses on business and corporate blogs. There’s a couple of requirements for addition that are fairly strict, compared to most of the other blog/feed directory sites, including a minimum of three months worth of postings.

Business Blog Directory has generated some traffic, which is a great sign. The stricter entry terms should help maximize the quality of the directory, which I think is where most directories tend to fail - there’s just too much noise.

One of the guys running it, Christian, has been very responsive to my questions and also runs a blog about blogging, marketing, etc. at iBlogMarketing.com which is a great way for him to become a part of the community he’s helping foster.

I’m abstaining at the moment on voting whether blog/feed directories really do help generate traffic (and quality traffic at that!) … but others may have had a different experience. Let me know what you think.

It’s simple: The longer I stick around (be it a store, mall, website, etc.) the better chance I’ll spend money.

Find a way to keep me around, draw my attention in, and I’ll probably, eventually spend money.

Here’s a good example — I’m on vacation at the moment in Vancouver with my wife and son (he’s almost two.) Keeping him occupied is a full-time gig, and sometimes it’s impossible to do anything else but keep him busy. Hard to spend money when I’m chasing my kid around.

But in one of the mall’s here they have a very simple setup that allows me and other parents to stick around. It’s a carpeted, padded enclosure, perhaps 20×20 feet. It has walls that are a few feet high (carpeted and padded) — it’s basically a “padded room” for kids. And the kids love it. They run around like lunatics in the enclosure, which also has sides that rise up, providing a slope for them to run down, roll down and jump around on.

My kid played in there for a good 30 minutes, which gave my wife a chance to stroll around and spend money. (And her money is my money, ergo the title of this post.)

This mall invested whatever small amount it was on a very low-tech, simple thing and there were probably 30 kids in there at any given time. Sure, one parent had to stick around and supervise, but that left one parent to shop (i.e. the wife.) And, the supervising parents could do so from comfortable benches around the enclosure, giving them a much needed respite. Getting a break makes parents happy…happy people in a mall spend money…

Malls in Quebec (where I live) seem to be completely clueless. Most have absolutely nothing to draw kids’ attention, and therefore they’re a pain in the ass for parents. Why doesn’t every single mall on the face of the planet have activities for kids? It just makes good business sense!

Sometimes, something simple, easy to do and fairly low cost can be that extra little thing your business needs to keep people hanging around and spending money. Call it customer service, foresight, good business acumen or whatever you want…it just works.

[tags]business, marketing, making money, success, marketing, customer service[/tags]

None of these are curse words because let’s face it, in a moment of crisis you may curse, by all means (so long as you’re not cursing at clients!) The idea behind this was inspired by George Carlin though; there’s no harm with mixing humor and business! Here are 7 words you should never say as an entrepreneur. Saying them is not going to help you, so don’t bother.

• Whatever
• Greedy
• Avoid
• Close-minded
• Bored
• Stupid
• Conceal

Please discuss.

What other words should never be said as an entrepreneur?

One of the things I’d like to do with IGotNewsForYou is add many more tech-related stories. I think there would be a certain appeal to having technology, blogging and social media-related stories in the mock news pages. So, about a month ago I started trying to write tech stories and came up with one related to using your iPod in the bathroom; where the toilet would have an iPod docking station (envision your name in the story, since IGotNewsForYou personalizes the mock news pages for you):

Trying to catch the growing wave of business surrounding Apple’s iPod, a new company, PoopTech has released the iPot, a specially-designed toilet with an iPod docking station. The toilet was recently made available to a test market in Montreal, where Ben Yoskovitz was one of the first customers.

“I’m in love with my iPod. I can’t live without it,” said Yoskovitz as he fondled the device amicably. “And, if I can, I take it wherever I go. And now, I can take it whenever I go!”

According to PoopTech, the iPot has a number of unique features. Spokesperson Steve Rubel noted, “The iPot detects when a loud noise is about to emanate from the person sitting on it, and alerts the docked iPod to increase the volume.” The company also claims the iPot will vibrate according to the mood of the music, although several early adopters, including Yoskovitz, have experienced problems with the feature. Yoskovitz said, “I was listening to some ripping techno beats and the iPot nearly shook me off the seat.”

Well, as is often the case, life imitates art (if you consider what’s written above to be “art”) and lo and behold I’m sitting on the toilet reading Maclean’s magazine (a must read for Canadians if you ask me) and I come across a short blurb about an iPod toilet roll holder!

It’s called the iCarta and it’s available at Atech Flash Technology. Looks like it’ll be available for purchase tomorrow in fact.

I don’t even own an iPod but I think I’ll have to buy the iCarta anyway. Dang.

So poop away my friends! And jive to the wicked tunes on your iPod at the same time (just don’t jive too much…)