Penny App – Chat with Penny to track your spending and plan for a better financial future!
About Rhonda – USA Today columnist and entrepreneurship expert, Rhonda Abrams shares common issues for small businesses and advises on do-it-now action items to set your business up for success.
http://www.planningshop.com/rhonda-abrams/
Key issue: Good business plan “You can’t reach a goal you haven’t set it”
- Overall business plan
- Annual business planning
- Quantifiable, specific goals
- Estimate resources – time, money, people
- Set deadline
- Get real
Have a BIG IDEA journal (when you get an idea), write it down, then overtime review and assess. The most important piece of planning is what NOT to do.
Key issue: Marketing “Repetition, repetition, repetition”
- Market
- Message
- Method
Major methods, think of it as creating leads for you.
- Social media, pick the one that works for you.
- Online SEM/ads
- E-Newsletter, has about a 20% rate, which is way better than direct mail (which is 2%). It has to be relatable and thoughtful content.
- Networking/word-of-mouth, critical. Nothing beats face to face marketing.
- Traditional (meh!)
- Collateral (e.g. business card “what you do and a call to action)
Key Issue: Team “You can’t grow alone.”
- Determine your needs. “They don’t need to be on your payroll to be a team member.”
- Figure out a budget, “Are you growing a job or growing a business.” Make a choice. A business requires scale (e.g. Employees, contractors, etc)
- Start slowly, “is hiring employees really the best first start.”
- Make the mental learning “What are the job you are doing now, that are keeping you growing. Is it something you can outsource. (e.g. Administrative things)”
Key Issue: Mobile “Go mobile or go home.”
- 94% own a cell phone.
- 64% access internet on phone:
- 34% primary internet access
- 10% only internet access
What does this mean for you:
- Mobile enabled websites
- Get found
- Accept mobile payments
- Run your business in the cloud
Great list for a HOMEWORK assignment:
- List one or two niches you can /do serve
- List your specific goals for the coming year
- Define or refine your core message
- Identify skills you need to grow your business.
Want to catch butterflies to earn discounts? Now you can with your iphone. Mobile Art Lab in Japan has developed a new iPhone App, iButterfly, that lets you catch virtual butterflies and turn them in for valuable offers. The application uses augmented reality to take video feed from your phone’s camera and superimposes virtual images — in this case butterflies. Users can travel all around Japan and see a wide variety of ‘butterfly species’, collect them in virtual albums, trade them with friends (via Bluetooth), or exchange them for commercial gifts. A quick swipe of the phone and the insect is caught. Restaurants or stores can make promotional offers through the iButterfly system. iButterly App is a fun and smart advertising tool disguised as a game!
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Great examples of Animation.
At Codrops you’ll find experiments, plugins and articles related to web development and programming.
DK an innovator advisor, speaker, producer recently posted a Innovation Podcast featuring me.
Check out DK Innovation Podcast series
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Great new PDF from Google Think Insights
The headline – “As consumers increasingly turn to their mobile phones, it is critical for businesses to understand the range of “mobile conversions” that can occur, such as phone calls, store visits, or purchases on other devices. In partnership with Nielsen, Google analyzed over 6000 mobile searches and the actions that resulted, drawing precise and measurable connections between mobile searches and the online and offline conversions that they drive.”
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Hi All, I’ve been working on a Google Glass Unofficial Prototyping Tool (for Keynote).
Download POWERPOINT Version 1.0
(If you modify the template or add any new elements, please send me a revision. So I can leverage the awesome work you do!).
Allot of the elements were recreated from the original Google Glass video (see below)
]]>From the introduction:
“Mobile The Next Media Powerhouse”
“When the first call was placed on a handheld mobile phone in 1973, the
prototype device used was capable of less than 30 minutes of battery life
and took 10 hours to re-charge. Fast-forward some 40 years later and
mobile device ownership has reached critical mass around the world.
Today, these devices serve as the primary communications and media
vehicles for many and play an increasingly important role in the daily
lives of consumers in both developed and high-growth economies.
To better understand today’s mobile world, we’ve selected data from the
following countries – Australia, Brazil, China, India, Italy, South Korea,
Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States – for an indepth
look at mobile consumers and how they use their devices around
the globe.”
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DesignModo: Skeumorphism in UI Design, What is It?
Cole Peters: Flatliners
John Gruber: The Trend Against Skeuomorphic Textures & Effects in User Interface Design
Max Rudberg: Flat UI is not the only way forward
Matthew Moore Design: Almost Flat Design
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