One tip I noticed more than once is definitely an important one… have a goal.

A lot of business dive into social media without a goal or reason why.   Big mistake.

Anita Campbell writes

Ask “who am I trying to reach with social media and why?” That’s a clarifying question. If you are very very specific in answering that question, you’ll pretty quickly get to a roadmap of which social sites you need a presence on; which you should monitor; and most importantly, how to use the social media sites you decide on.

The lessons are short (Seth Godin’s is a single sentence) and an easy read, so check out the entire list @ Mashable.com and let us know what you think.

The lessons are provided by

1. Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
2. Chris Brogan – ChrisBrogan.com
3. Anita Campbell – Small Business Trends
4. David Armano – Logic+Emotion
5. Rohit Bhargava – Influential Online Marketing
6. Seth Godin – Seth Godin’s Blog
7. John Jatsch – Duct Tape Marketing
8. Valeria Maltoni – Conversation Agent
9. Jessica Faye Carter – Technicultr
10. Todd Defren – PR Squared
11. Brian Solis – BrianSolis.com
12. Mitch Joel – Twist Image
13. Tara Hunt – HorsePigCow

Who’s lesson do you like the most?

1. Smartphones (is one)
2. Ultra Portable PC (pretty close)
3. Digital Video Cameras (has one and uploads directly to YouTube)
4. Bluetooth Headsets (uses one)
5. GPS Systems (has one)

Leave a comment!

Are there any other must have gadgets for business owners?

What do you expect from the next generation of smart phones coming this Christmas?

Read the full article @ American Express Open Forum

Tom Online, which runs the popular Chinese Web portal Tom.com, has turned to Google’s main search rival in China, Baidu.com, for Internet searches from its site. The company said the reason it switched to Baidu is because an agreement with Google expired, but Google’s search was on the site as of the end of last week.

Read more on Computerworld

In the world we live in, IT seems to run almost every part of our lives. Computers and technology are a huge part of everyday living and this means that we rely on IT solutions. Healthcare IT solutions are one of the most important and you can find a huge range of options on the web. However, you’ll need to do some serious research before you make any big decisions.

Finding what you need on the web is actually easier than a lot of people think. However, you will need to set aside some time in order to do some research. Making sure that you’re aware of everything on today’s market is very important because otherwise you’re never going to know if you’re getting the best deal or if you’re being ripped off.

It’s essential to do your research properly and this means getting a pen and paper and making notes while you browse the web. When you’re looking for something like healthcare IT solutions you need to make sure that you know exactly what you need from a service. This means doing your ground work and making sure that you understand the market.

You should also use the bookmarking system in your web browser so that you can keep a note of any web pages that you want to come back to later. This sort of research does take time but it’s worth it because it’ll help you save money when you’re buying or looking for something on the web.

Just remember to take your time while you’re searching the web because you could miss out of offers and deals if you rush into something. You don’t want to rush into anything that you’ll later regret and you should always ensure that you’re 100% satisfied before you make any big decisions.

Overall, finding healthcare IT solutions or anything else on the web is really easy but you’ll need to make sure that you do some research before you make any decisions or part with any cash. Take your time and don’t rush into anything that you may later regret.

Author Kai K Carroll talks about finding healthcare IT solutions on the web. http://www.centriq.co.uk has a huge range of options available, you should easily find what you’re looking for.

Being a contract executive protection (EP) agent and working for yourself on contracts is tougher than it looks. Most people only see the end product of protective coverage being provided to the principle. They don’t see the hours of advance work, the sometimes stressful situations and the demanding schedules that EP agents go through. They don’t know about the months of living out of a suitcase, being on the road all the time and eating dull hotel food on a regular basis.

This is the business and you can’t escape the downsides. But its still better than earning minimum wage stateside. If you’re serious about becoming a contract EP agent working for yourself you’ll need the right attitude, training and opportunity. Training should be your foundation of success. Read good books written by professionals in the industry, get certified and attend elite training academies.

In a world of increasing risk and uncertainty professional education counts. It is important for you to learn about threat management, EP tactics and advance work. Educate yourself to grow wiser and get high-paying clients. You must have a burning passion and desire to succeed in this industry. There is no magical way to grow and earn money in the business.

When starting out keep flexible and keep an open mind, solve security related problems and prevent threats. Be willing to pay your dues and be ready to perform physical labor in the form of advance work, conducting field surveys, running the routes, scouting airports, hospitals, hotels and venues that will be visited by your principle. Be prepared to conduct wall-way duty, guarding the outside of the principals hotel room suite, also known as “halls and walls” duty.

Being a contract EP agent is a pretty good way to earn a living and an honest way to make a buck. After you have built a strong foundation in the business by paying your dues and you have earned the respect and gratitude of your clients, its time to increase your services and income. Start concentrating your efforts on high-end clients and international protective assignments. When you work for yourself, you set the geographical locations where you want to work. You also reap the benefits.

Pick high and moderate risk locations where prospect clients travel to on a regular basis. Keep your expenses low while diligently building the financial resources for the initial up-front costs and funding of international assignments. Take calculated risks and have the courage to expand your EP business and generate some serious income for yourself. It is not the purpose of this article to go into the specifics of starting your business. The purpose of this article is to get you motivated to obtain technical knowledge, build your self-confidence and do something that others might not have the courage to do. Be committed to succeed. I know you will. Good luck and God speed.

Doc Rogers is the author of the new book entitled: Corporate Executive Protection – A Manual for Inspiring Corporate Bodyguards. Step-by-step instructions on providing corporate executive protection for those new to the industry as well as veterans. Doc is the Director of Diplomatic Protection (DDP) for International Corporate Executive Protection. He is a Certified Protection Specialist and has a Ph.D in Security Administration. Prior to his appointment as DDP for International Corporate Executive Protection he was a former veteran police officer. Doc is widely regarded as the leading authority on Executive Protection In Southeast Asia and India. To learn more about the author and his new book visit: http://www.international-corporate-executive-protection.com or to order online: http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000159783

Acquiring new patients provides a sense of progress and achievement without doubt. But so many of the dentists are unaware of the potential with current patients who already value their services. Increasing production is so often a matter of growing patient loyalty, and then reminding them regularly that you are there for them. Not only do they become a loyal patient, they also become your advocates and continually promote your practice through referrals.

• Dental Practices can create a high profit business in a small fraction of the time it would currently take by focusing on current patients and the value they can generate for the practice. Grow your referrals and generate positive word-of-mouth and revenue.

• Dental Practitioners can optimize their advertising dollar by focusing on proven advertising vehicles such as Patient Newsletters, DIrect Mail Neighborhood Newsletters, Direct Mail Postcards, Referral Cards, Door Hangers, and more… while growing patient loyalty.

• Creating enhanced long term value is not only profitable, it’s fulfilling. You’re providing dedicated service to patients who trust you and you’re finding additional value in patients they refer to your practice. It becomes a win-win for all.

What’s the value? “The subtle message is that you care enough about your patients to communicate with them on a regular basis.”

This subtle but powerful trigger prompts your patients to keep you top of mind. When a discussion turns towards dental care whom will they recommend? You and Your PRACTICE of course because you care about them.

That, in a nutshell, is the effect a sustained marketing effort can have on growing the productivity of your existing patient base.

Direct Marketing is communication. Effective marketing establishes communication that creates intimacy with the recipient, who should feel as though you are speaking directly to them. The target group should immediately feel “they’re talking to me!” before they read a word of copy. And I design strategically, so your materials will function this way.

So you’re looking into various home business opportunity models, that’s a good place to start. But I hope you also realise that you also need to conquer the art of learning. Follow these 3 steps to get you on your way.

Starting an online business is very exciting, you can see yourself in the future working solely from home with your PC and earning more than a full-time income. But in order to get there, you have to lay the foundations – and this begins with education and learning.

1. First of all you have to find out what you need to know! What? OK I’ll rephrase that, do your research and find exactly how you are going to make your income online.

Do this by choosing an internet business model and marketing strategy that you will enjoy doing on a daily basis. The is the important ‘step 1′.

2. Then you’ll need to learn about your new adopted business model and marketing strategy. You need to know everything there is so you can be as successful as your vision.

You can learn by:

• buying the best guides
• joining membership sites
• listening to teleseminars
• watching videos, or
• work with an online mentor

3. To do the best and achieve real success you need to take full responsibility for your online business. This means you need to stay focused and work on your online business daily learning and laying the foundations.

Don’t blame others if you start slacking, do things on a daily basis that will keep your motivation up until you start seeing the money coming in.

Do you want to learn more about building a successful internet business? Download my free 47 page book by clicking here: Successful Internet Business. Claire Bullerwell is a friendly, helpful online business coach. She has dozens of articles in print and has published 6 internet educational products.

A well performing team can accomplish great things. Teams are comprised of individuals who at times are tired, scared, stressed, and driven. As a leader, I spent a decent amount of time nurturing and developing my team. Every moment is well spent and worth it. Recently we have all agreed on a policy of venting, whining, and the problem solving cheese.

There are times where we just need to vent. It’s a burst, normally due to a straw however it is a burst. This is venting, it is complaining in a controlled burst not to last more than 10 minutes. My team and colleagues can release in their first venting on any subject matter and trust in having someone who will listen and hear their concerns.

However, when we get to the second or third time a venting occurs on a topic. It is time to bring the discussion around to problem solving. As individuals begin to focus on the negative and don’t engage in problem solving, this behavior is unacceptable. Life is short, and we have important things to accomplish. Let’s begin to talk about how to improve the state of affairs.

People normally whine about items they don’t feel empowered to change. They focus on what they can’t do, instead of what they can do.

The first time, it is a venting and commonly a subject matter problem. The next time we have a trend occurring, and this is where we need to coach our team player to be constructive process improvement artists. If the whining continues, we may be dealing with a negative attitude which has begun to permeate our colleague. It is time for a discussion on the consequences of a negative attitude, before it permeates our team.

In summary, when faced with venting, whining, and missing in action problem-solving try these tactics:

1. Listen - Normally the first time, this may just be vent. It is important as a leader to listen our teammate. A supportive ear is crucial.
2. Question - For the second time, whining is now official, it is time for Socratic leading questions. These questions should be poised based upon what the individual can do to solve the problem. On the third time, explore the previous solution’s outcomes; help the individual to be empowered to resolve the issue. If it is absolutely above the teammate authority, offer to help and commit to actions. Check up with your associate on their activities and check back with what you have committed to do. Have the conversations focused on problem solving.
3. Discuss Consequences - As we extend into the forth and fifth time, this is beginning to be a negative attitude. It is time for a behavioral discussion, which the consequences of a negative attitude.

Anticlue is the place to share and learn Healthcare IT practices. The goal is two-fold. By helping healthcare it professionals discover shared best practices for system implementation, we will be able to raise IT to a strategic enabler of hospitals and care delivery networks.

Please drop by and join the discussion on http://www.anticlue.net

With the recent flux in the economy worldwide, you would expect such things as petty crime and shoplifting to increase, as people have lost their jobs and lost their way in life, thus falling desperate. This, of course, is not the correct path to take and luckily only a few people find themselves with seemingly no other option.

The rate of crime has actually been reported to have fallen by 3.7% in the year of 2008, as compared with the previous year. This may at first seem like a good thing but studies have shown that there has been a rise in fraud by as much as 33% since January 2009, mainly in identification theft, at least according to the UK’s fraud prevention team, known as the CIFAS.

Along with the growth of fraud by a third there have also been an estimated total of 60,000 people that have been impersonated in order to get loans, credit and other goods in just the first half of 2009. Furthermore, reported instances of criminals taking over bank accounts, mobile phone and even mail order accounts have risen by 23% in 2009, in fact mobile phone account being taken over in particular have been severe with 2008′s statistics of 899 more than doubling in 2009 to over 2,000!

With this great rise of fraud there has been an increased pressure placed on business fraud prevention as well as business fraud protection. With the semi recent inclusion of the PinSentry system inside banks as well as online fraudsters have found it increasingly difficult to take control of another persons account. Unfortunately, as businesses get smarted in their tactics to stop business fraud so too do the fraudsters get smarter in gaining our account information.

So how can you help protect your private files? Here are some near timeless tactics that will always help you: Use a password that contains both uppercase and lowercase letters and if possible use numbers as well as a random forward slash (/) or hash (#). By doing this you can ensure that near no password hacker will figure it out. Do not give out your private information to any unsecured sites. Use the FireFox browser as it may warn you before entering such sites that they have been flagged as a bad site for X reason.

This is not the only place that businesses have felt the strain in order to increase their defence against possible business fraud: one such example would be with the free mail account providers who have put in place security that requires you to type in a random word or group of letters to proceed. By doing this they stop the risk of accounts being hacked by automated software. Granted doing these rather tedious tasks may seem pointless and time consuming, but if they protect the treasure box of information and personal details we, as people, keep then we collectively agree it is for our best interest, or at least I hope.

It is almost inconceivable that anyone could start up a home office or a home business without having a fax service or fax number. It is one of those necessities of doing business, no matter where your business is located. In other words, having a fax service and number is essential to the running of your company or business.

With the recent downturn in the economy, more and more people are switching their attentions to working at home in order to bring in extra income. Many of those same people are setting up home offices because it is much cheaper than setting up an office outside of the home. Besides, working from the comfort of your own home is very appealing to most people.

As mentioned above, one of the first things any prospective home business will need is a fax number. This is where an online fax service enters the picture. More and more individuals are turning to Internet faxing to solve or meet all their faxing requirements or needs.

First, you probably already know online fax is simply using your current email system and your Internet connection to handle all your faxing needs. Your faxes are actually sent as email attachments.

In order to use web faxing, you have to sign-up to an online fax service provider where you are given a local or Toll-Free fax number. You also get an online fax account (interface) where you logon to send and/or receive your faxes. Your faxes can also be stored in your online fax account.

There are several important reasons why many new home business start-ups are using Internet fax instead of the traditional office fax machine.

Here are seven major reasons:

1. There is no need for an extra fax phone line since everything can be done online and with your computer. This will save you money on your home business start-up costs.

2. There is no need for a fax machine, which will also save you money, since all your faxing can be done through the Internet and your email system.

3. You don’t have to purchase papers, inks, and toners in order to send and receive your faxes. Over the long haul, this can mean significant savings for you, not to mention, your savings on the maintenance costs of running your fax machine.

4. Online faxing is often cheaper than regular faxing. Monthly charges run on average around $10, but there are cheaper options, especially if you have minimum faxing needs. So it pays to shop around before you sign-up to any one service.

5. An online fax service is web based which means you can do your faxing anywhere you have the Internet and these days that’s just about everywhere.

6. Internet fax is extremely easy to use. Actually, it is as easy as sending an email and we all know how to do that. Besides there are no more paper jams, messy inks and toners to deal with in the running of your office. You can also send and receive faxes simultaneously.

7. It can make your home business more competitive since having your faxes available 24/7, 365 days of the year will give your business an advantage especially if you rely upon faxing for bringing in sales, clients or you rely upon it heavily for communicating with your customers. Also remember, online fax is completely scalable to meet your growing business needs. For example, if you should need extra fax numbers you can get them without putting in the extra hardware and phone lines.

Lastly, since online faxing is mainly done through computers and the Internet, it is often thought of as the modern way to run your business. So why not start your home office or business off on the right foot by using this modern way of faxing? The rewards and benefits are well worth it.

For more information on Internet Fax Services use this handy online Fax Comparison Guide to get your own: online fax services Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing try here: internet fax providers.

Titus Hoskins ©2009. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.