Carnival of Entrepreneurs 16th Edition

The [tag]Carnival of Entrepreneurs[/tag] has travelled halfway around the world and landed in Australia (it is around 19385 kms from Montreal to Sydney).

Highlights

The highlighted posts this week were actually inspired by Wayne Hurlbert’s post on politeness. Each of these highlighted posts not only thought about themselves when submitting their post to the carnival but they also thought about the carnival host. By taking a few extra minutes in the submission process and providing a well-rounded description they not only piqued my interest but also made my job of host just a little bit easier. Something for everyone to keep in mind for future submissions. Thank you!

So here are our respectful participants …

As I mentioned Wayne Hurlbert at Blog Business World raised an interesting subject that may seem old-fashioned, but is just as relevant today as ever, when he talks about Politeness: Respect for others pays.

Being a polite and courteous person makes one a rare individual in today’s world. Politeness, and a genuine concern for the rights and feelings of others in our society seems to have slammed the door in our faces. A culture of rudeness has become a feature of modern society. Whether it’s loud cellphone conversations, line cutting, or terrible customer service by staff people, finding politeness in the world is on the decline.

Jim Logan touches on a subject that was very familiar to me when I worked in the corporate technology world – white papers. He is urging those of us still inclined to them to Use white papers with caution in complex sales lead generation.

White papers are wonderful documents. I encourage my clients to use them in their sales process. I’ve personally used them in countless sales opportunities, where they’ve proved to be effective at advancing an opportunity. More companies can and likely should use them more often. As much as I like white papers, I don’t use them in lead generation. Here’s why:

John Peter at OhCash.com touches on some interesting thoughts with that old chestnut of Business Networking Techniques. He has some good tips for those of us (and I am talking me here) that still hate this part of business.

Clearly business networking is one of the most effective methods of generating and maintaining business, but how do you do it? When you first enter a room full of business people, how do you overcome your fear and work the room.

Dave Prouhet, the Editor at Business Advice Daily presents some useful and interesting tips on Starting a Home Based Business.

Thousands of men and women make the break each year and exit corporate America to join the ranks of home-based business ownership. Some would argue that a home-based business is just like any other business, except for the location. Well, yes and no.

Jack Yoest presents Managing Management Time: Harvard’s Monkey Paper by Oncken posted at Reasoned Audacity. Every capitalist thought leader and opinion maker dreams of creating a cliche that enters the popular language, the popular culture. The Tipping Point. The Three Second Rule. The Monkey on Your Back. The Monkey on Your Back is one that I had heard of in other contexts but here Jack shares this expression as the situation where an individual has the next move in an assignment (based on the classic article, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass)

Wilson Ng presents Choose your Battles posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife.

We are so used to competing, that we spend a lot of time and resources winning or excelling in unnecessary things in which has no meaning or bearing to your overall goals. “I was not harrowing myself into unnecessary battles in which winning was meaningless. And I made myself think — what are other life battles which we spend so much energy to be ahead, instead of just letting go? Why not compete where and when it is important? Why not choose your battles?”

Self-Knowledge

Pete Aldin (aka The Riddler) actually encourages us to live our strengths in all their gory, I mean glory, in his post Don’t Turn Away from Your Strengths – Support Them at Great Circle.

Do you put a lid on your natural personality and aptitudes? No! You find out what’s missing in your skillset and work on that instead! Don’t downplay your strengths – find new ways to support them.

Carolyn Manning, it seems, has been reading some of the same books and thinking some of the same thoughts that I have lately in her post Less Will Always Be More posted at Thoughts & Philosophies.

While it’s a great idea to keep an eye on starting up, we also need to think about slowing down. “The world won’t blow up if we don’t personally clean it.”

In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore is one of my favourite books of the past 12 months.

Pushpa Sathish presents 101 Bonehead Mistakes Every Manager Should Avoid (what a great title) at Business Intelligence Lowdown. These tips even work for those of us who manage ourselves. Solopreneurs also need to forgive their “staff” occasionally. And yes there are 101 tips – lots of food for thought even if you don’t agree with them all.

We’ve all heard that “To err is human, to forgive divine,” but how many of us realize the truth behind that old adage? We tend to make more than our share of mistakes, and most of our compatriots show that they are 100 percent human and zero percent divine by never letting us forget our trespasses. And in case you’re a manager or superior of some kind, the divinity aspect goes flying out the window.

Debra Moorhead is suggesting a slightly different way to get organised in her post Using Vision Boards to Organize Your Life.

Everything came together for me visually. I have a difficult time visualizing, so I knew that creating a vision board would help me, but I did not expect a life altering experience. Even with all the good vibes out there about vision boards, I still just thought it would be something just “cool” to do. Interesting arrangement – be, do, have!

Nala at The Abundant Life wants to know Is Your Life Working For You? If what you are doing each and every day isn’t working then something has to change.

Our life is either working for us or it is not. Either way, we know. I don’t simply mean your job … or your TV habits … or your drinking habits … or your work ethic. What I mean is something much bigger: is your way of thinking and being in the world working for you?

The Positivity Blog takes a look at Why some people almost always are successful. One of the best ways to succeed is to model yourself on the characteristics of successful people. In this post at the Positivity Blog Henrik Edberg shares 14 qualities of success that he has gleened from studying people like Michael Jordan, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford.

Stephanie West Allen at idealawg scared the pants off me with her post title, Decrease snake consent: Soon those workplace jerks will look kind of silly. Just like Stephanie I don’t like snakes – but especially the reptilian kind. In her post she raises the point that our reactions actually give the human “snake” some of their power.

I am reminded that snake consent is a choice each of us can make or choose against. There is an inverse relationship between snake consent and self-esteem. Examining that relationship gives us valuable insight.

Business Knowledge

Amy L. Fontinelle at Personal Finance Advice presents Ten Tips for Entrepreneurial Success . There is a wealth of good advice in Amy’s 10 tips, and not just for the new business owner (sometimes those of us in business a while need a reminder). I particularly like tips #3, #4 and #5.

Sudhanshu uncovers where the convergent world of technology may be heading in the post Why Web 3.0 would really be Mobile 2.0? The start of Moogle.

The mobile market, they say, is wide open. Mobile search is still in its infancy, so are most of other applications.

Emmanuel challenges people looking to start there own business to take a long, hard look at some of the critical factors to success in the post Before you go the crazy route? at Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions.

You must realize that family support is also an important factor to business success. Otherwise, you might start feeling lonely as you go through your endeavours.

Matthew Paulson at Getting To Graduation presents Writers: How to Make $1000 a Month from Associated Content posted . Matthew is an entrepreneur in the making, who in amongst a large demand on his time from study and other activities still manages to find time to write 30 articles a week that allows him to pocket around $1000 each month. Not a bad part-time job!

Joseanes at Money And Investing looks at the minefield that can be incorporation in the post Incorporating… Too Many Options. This is the path that is taken for a North American business owner, so I wouldn’t recommend that too many of my fellow Australians follow this path. The final paragraph though seems to be universal -

What Happens If I Do Not Incorporate? Nothing. You still live a happy life. You can make an Sole Proprietor business or a Partnership. You still get income to report and pay taxes on them and you can still open accounts for the business. The only difference may come if you need some personal legal protection from debts or claims/lawsuits.

Ted Reimers has put together a post on the Best Business Schools for the Entrepreneur at CampusGrotto. If you are looking to back your entrepreneurial skills with some big business school academics then Ted has put together a list of 10 options primarily for people in North America (unless of course you want to travel).

My Additional Recommendations

There are many reasons that some very good blogs don’t get around to be included in carnivals such as this – too little time, not knowing the carnival exists or even plain old apathy. So I have decided to add a section to this week’s carnival where I reach out and include some of my favourites of the past few days.

18 Stupid Mistakes Bloggers Make in their First Year
This post by Christine Kane is one of the best blog-versary posts that I have come across. Christine shares that she has

“learned more this year about websites, blogs and the internet than I ever thought I’d want to learn. Lots of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned through my mistakes. Some of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned from other people’s mistakes.”

I particularly liked tips #1, #2 & #3.

How the Discovery Channel Can Help You Score Links
Brian Clark is always font of knowledge about how to best position your blog to attract attention but in a recent post, How the Discovery Channel Can Help You Score Links, he used a phrase that I love “we are all geeks”.

When it comes to our own profession, hobby, or circumstances, we’re all geeks. We want to know the latest specialized details that matter to us, and we love it when that information is presented in an interesting or even entertaining manner.

Getting Still #3 – Stilling Your Thoughts
Káren Wallace has been posting a series on Getting Still and one of the most valuable to me as an entrepreneur is her post on Stilling Your Thoughts. I call this trying to stop the “business owners brain” syndrome. At times stop my mind from becoming awash with all manner of business thoughts is like trying to close the airlock on a submarine when the water has already started coming in. Karen shares something that many entrepreneurs struggle with -

For me, and for quite a few people I talk to – meditation by sitting and clearing the mind is very, very difficult… and I find that I can gain a better result with a moving meditation where my body is active (added benefit there:) and my mind has to be calm .

And so the carnival comes to an end for another week. As I pack up all the trappings and send it over the seas once again to Ben I will remind you that you have only one short week to submit your posts for next week’s carnival.

Enjoy your week!