Jorbb gets Jobs for You! Bringing Employers and Job Seekers updates on Singapore Employment News. Productivity related Tech Toys & Web 2.0 Sites will also be covered. Singapore's 1st freelance / casual / part time / contract job blog. Visit http://www.jorbb.com to join today!
Starbucks is hoping to harness the power of social media with a new ad campaign aimed at creating an online conversation between younger coffee drinkers.
Rolling out in newspapers, magazines and billboards in the US this week, the BBDO North America led campaign is understood to be Starbucks largest to date.
Outdoor activity encourages Starbucks' Twitter followers and Facebook fans to take pictures of the company's new billboards and be first to post them online. However, it was not revealed whether a reward would be offered.
In early 2009, H1Studio, Singapore, started research and innovation in Augmented Reality via Flash platform utilising the Flartoolkit SDK. At the same time, it is conducting R&I for AR via Mobile phones (Symbian and Windows Mobile). This is done via licensing of SDK from R&D centres in Europe and USA.
With the recent popularity of Augmented Reality applications such as Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera, GE’s SmartGrid and Mini Cooper’s Print Ad for Augmented Reality , we are now expanding our suite of services to include this, for Brands / Products / Services,
From Wikipedia - Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.
AR can be used in Advertising and Promotions / Marketing of a new product offering, allowing users to interact with the product replicated in 3D, in real-time, overlaid on the real video capture. It is a natural progression for the studio to offer such services due to experiences in 3D, interactive and mobile applications.
The Ministry of Manpower is introducing new measures under SPUR (Skiils Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) to further develop Singapore's manpower capabilities and provide greater support for companies and workers, especially Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), affected by the downturn. They are:
a) Increase in Absentee Payroll to better support training for PMETs - Annex A;
b) SPUR-JOBS to encourage recruitment and retention of trainees of SPUR and other WDA CET programmes - Annex B; and
c) Professional Skills Programme Traineeships (PSPT) scheme for companies to build new capabilities in growth sectors - Annex C.
IF YOU take good care of your associates, they will take good care of your customers, and the customers will keep coming back - such is the philosophy of Singapore Marriott, as spoken by its founder J W Marriott Snr.
'This is the bedrock of our success thus far,' says Greg Allan, the hotel's general manager. 'It identifies our main assets as our associates, setting us apart as an employer with a heart and an employer of choice.'
This belief has served Singapore Marriott well, for it has been deemed one of the country's Best Employers this year. It also won the award back in 2007.
Since it first opened back in 1995, Singapore Marriott continues to be steadfast in its commitment to training and developing its associates. With a staff strength of approximately 460, the hotel has a strong focus on staff welfare and career advancement.
'The working environment at Singapore Marriott is fair and dynamic,' says Mr Allan. 'We believe in providing equal employment opportunities and thereafter, development and training to all existing and potential associates.'
Short list: Anjaan RJ - India, Ben Henry - France, Ben Southall - UK, Cali Lewis - USA, Clare Wang - Taiwan, Clarke Gayford - New Zealand, Erik Rolfsen - Canada, George Karellas - Ireland, Greg Reynen - Singapore, Hailey Turner - Australia, James Hill - Australia, Juweon Kim - Korea, Magali Heuberger - Netherlands, Mieko Kobayashi - Japan, Mirjam Novak - Germany, Yi Yao - China.
Two Queenslanders are the sole Australian candidates for the $150,000 six-month contract as a "caretaker" on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, which will be announced in May.
The Queensland Government's tourism body announced 15 finalists for the job this morning, who will join the previously announced Taiwanese wildcard Clare Wang on the short list.
Hailey Turner, 20, is a student and IT sales rep from Brisbane and James Hill, 24, plans to return to his home in the Whitsundays after working as a photographer in London.
If he is successful in landing the Hamilton Island job, he can add it to his resume alongside a stint as official photographer for the Daydream Island Resort.
Ms Turner travelled to seven cities in 12 days as part of her efforts to land the stint in north Queensland.
"I wanted to travel to some of the largest demographics for international visitors to the reef and get out and meet as many locals as I could to encourage them to come and visit the reef," she said.
Alongside the two Australians are candidates from as far and wide as India, Ireland, the Netherlands and China.
The Tourism Queensland campaign attracted more than 34,000 video applications, and it was clear that an experience in the media was an advantage, with journalists, web developers, designers and an actress taking up nine spots on the list.
Other successful candidates include a charity fundraiser from England, a manager from China, an American PE teacher living in Singapore and a Japanese receptionist.
"The worldwide response to Tourism Queensland's Best Job in the World campaign has been nothing short of phenomenal and already we have achieved around $100 million worth of global publicity for Queensland," Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said in a statement.
After narrowing the thousands of applicants down to a short list of 50 last month, organisers decided they had to expand their original plans of a 10-strong short list to 15.
"Tourism Queensland has spent the past few weeks watching in amazement at the lengths these candidates have gone to in their quest for the best job in the world," Mr Lawlor said.
"From organising stunts like scuba-diving in a tank in Amsterdam, dressing up as a mermaid in downtown Singapore and spruiking at a London pub to conducting hundreds of media interviews, the top 50 have shown an incredible amount of ingenuity and passion."
The short list will be flown to Hamilton Island on May 3, and the successful candidate will be announced on May 6.
The successful applicant will work on the Great Barrier Reef, and report back on what they are doing.
The Techgoondus are "a bunch of technology journalists and ex-journalists from Singapore who share a common love for all things geeky and digital, from cellphones to graphics cards to games. Together, we’ve had decades of experience covering news and reviews from the early 1990s."
This event was organised as they felt tech start-ups don’t get enough visibility through traditional channels.
They are considering running this event on a semi-regular basis so that start-ups in Singapore will have an avenue to showcase their work. For more information or to lock in your interest, email Chi-Loong at chiloong@techgoondu.com.
A white paper is a report used to educate users. A white paper is also used for marketing the business as well. Information is the key in white papers and a successful paper can attract the reader to become your client.
1. You need to provide all the information about your solution or about your business when you a write papers. You should do an extensive research about everything related to the business. Never deliver white paper without proper information. Internet is a vast source of information from which you can collect all the data you want.
2. After collecting information about what you have to write, you have to set goals and objectives of your paper. You should clearly know what information you are going to provide for your readers. The issues, which are to be considered, and solutions to be identified should be outlined clearly even before starting to write a white paper.
3. You have to write the paper by viewing it from the reader’s perspective. The readers of your paper should gain some information and their questions answered. The profile of the readers should be borne in mind when you organize the information in the white paper. Your reader should gain some knowledge after reading your paper.
4. A proper structure needs to be given to your white paper. The flow of writing should be legible and logical. While looking at the front pages, the reader should understand what contents you have provided and switch to appropriate pages to get into the details of the topics. You should convince your reader that you are the best expert providing the solution for their business needs. You could achieve this by targeting the business needs of possible readers.
5. You have to use an appropriate word processor to generate error free white papers. You should know the template that is to be used because you want the information to be crisp and to the point. It should be noted that the reader would not be reading all the pages and hence you have to highlight at least the main points in your paper. You could also add interactive interviews and other fresh contents to make your paper look unique.
An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.
The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government said Tuesday.
In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.
The successful applicant, who will stay rent-free in a three-bedroom beach home complete with plunge pool and golf buggy, must be a good swimmer, excellent communicator and be able to speak and write English.
"They'll also have to talk to media from time to time about what they're doing so they can't be too shy and they'll have to love the sea, the sun, the outdoors," said acting state Premier Paul Lucas.
"The fact that they will be paid to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel and generally live the Queensland lifestyle makes this undoubtedly the best job in the world."
Lucas said the campaign was part of a drive to protect the state's 18-billion-Australian-dollar a year tourism industry during the tough economic climate caused by the global financial meltdown.
"Traditional tourism advertising just doesn't cut it sometimes and we are thinking outside the box by launching this campaign."
Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said some people might question whether it was risky to let an unknown person become an unofficial tourism spokesperson for the state.
"I think the biggest risk will be that the successful candidate won't want to go home at the end of the six months," she said.
"This is a legitimate job which is open to anyone and everyone."
Applications are open until February 22. Eleven shortlisted candidates will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May for the final selection process and the six month contract will commence on July 1.
So it's that time of the year again and blogs / forums are posting their most plausible product launch at this year's Macworld, also known as Apple's last Macworld, also known as, No Steve Jobs Keynote Macworld.
So here's our list:
1. New Mac Mini (highly likely) 2. New Mighty Mouse (with multi touch) (unlikely) 3. iPhone Nano (likely - someone posted a case making site taking orders for Nano casing) 4. iPhone Pro (unlikely) 5. iPod Touch (up size - 7") - this we like! We reckon that this would be Apple's foray into the netbook market. (likely)
Twitter has made Dell $1 million bucks in revenue. This is such major news for 2 main reasons.
1) It proves Social media can be "cash in hand" profitable 2) It begs us to examine the "How the hell they made this happen?"
I'm sure the article from Internet news will spark a gazillion emails from CEOs and MDs down to line level digital managers telling them to get their ass on twitter. Although those may not be the exact words, i'm sure some "leverage", "explore", "forefront", " maximize" was thrown in for good measure.
So is Twitter the new revenue stream for brands to take notice of? Will tweeting about your latest product promotions ( like Dell does) bring about a new spring of cash? The answer i feel lies in Dell's background. First off, lets not just look at "Dell + Twitter = $1,000,000". The equation goes much deeper as we examine some of Dell's social media position.
Dell has been conversing with its customers ever since Michael Dell took over back in 2007. The best thing he has done is to have made customer focus his only focus. ( It stuns me everytime someone in a meeting says we need to focus on several things) By thinking about what his customers want and hearing those comments enabled sites like Ideastorm and DirectoDell to take place. In the words of the man himself " "If we don't do that at Dell.com, it's going to be on CNET or somewhere," Michael Dell says. "I'd rather have that conversation in my living room than in somebody else's."
From redefining customer service to customer driven product innovation, Dell has over the last 2 years proven to be sincere about this shift in focus. As a result, their tweets are received by a multitude of followers that resulted in this million dollar revenue opportunity.
There is no shortcut to engagement and the equation certainly isn't as clear cut as it seems. If you are suddenly thinking about getting your 15% store discount on twitter. Stop. Go back to the chalkboard and look at the origins of the equation. Yes, you can make revenue from promo tweets but the pre cursor is your followers need to be your friends and top priority.
When you are at a business / social function, you have less than 15 seconds to make that first impression.
15secondpitch.com provides a quiz which will help you craft that 15 second pitch to market yourself, in a concise and compelling way.
Some guidelines: Create a pitch — for every niche. This is very important. Develop a straight forward pitch for every industry that your focused on. If you dabble in photography but work nine to five as a caterer - you need one for each.
Use it effectively — and have a pitch prepared for every event that you attend. Be it a barbecue, fundraiser, or networking event - when you are least prepared is when you are most likely to have a random encounter opportunity.
Include a bold — compelling statement that peaks the interest of the listener and provokes them to want to know more. As Seth Godin says, “Your either remarkable or invisible.”
THE sports industry in Singapore has crossed the billion-dollar mark for the first time, with positive spin-offs for the economy set to increase even further in the coming years.
The inaugural Formula One night race in September made a significant contribution, pumping an estimated $100 million into the Republic's economy.
The latest official number available for sports industry value was the 2006 figure of $906 million. With the same slate of events this year, adding the contribution from F1 would take this year's figure past the billion-dollar mark.
While Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Teo Ser Luck expects the economic downturn to put a dent in growth in the next two to three years, he remained bullish in his outlook.
He was confident that the industry would still meet the target of contributing $2 billion to Singapore's gross domestic product by 2015 and bring employment in that sector to 20,000, up from the current 14,000.
He said: 'With a concerted effort, I think we can still achieve the 2015 target.'
The $2 billion target was made earlier this year and was a revision of the $1.4 billion-a-year mark announced in 2001 by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
Much of the growth - from a sector worth about $680 million in 2001 - came via spin-offs from a flurry of marquee events staged here the last few years.
The Aviva Ironman 70.3 triathlon and a leg of swimming's Fina Arena World Cup were among high-profile events which made their debut here last year, boosting a local calendar which already had highlights like golf's Barclays Singapore Open and the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.
Along with F1, Singapore hosted golf's HSBC Women's Champions tournament for the first time this year as well.
Hotel accommodation for visitors, food and beverage spending and the construction of facilities such as spectator stands are some of the spin-offs from hosting such high-profile events.
Other events lined up are the Men's Junior Hockey World Cup and Asian Youth Games next year, the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and the 2011 World Netball Championship.
Mr Teo said: 'In this downturn, sports could also help create jobs. The YOG has added about 200 jobs for example, with more to come as we get closer to the event.'
When it is ready in about three years, the private-sector driven Sports Hub at Kallang and motorsports track at Changi will also provide big boosts.
Twenty20 cricket matches and an Asean club football league are set to be held at the Sports Hub, while the permanent track is slated to host at least two international-level races such as the A1 Grand Prix or World Touring Car Championship.
Also contributing to the industry's growth, according to Singapore Sports Council (SSC) chief executive Oon Jin Teik, is a flush of corporate sponsorship.
OCBC Bank recently pumped in $1 million to be the title sponsor for next year's Cycle Singapore.
POSB Bank spent $1.4 million on the ongoing Everyday Champions Award, while Barclays is understood to be spending about $2 million annually for its sponsorship of the Singapore Open.
Sport's growth here mirrors a worldwide trend. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers study estimates that the global sports market would grow from 2004's US$82.8 billion (S$125 billion) to US$111.1 billion next year.
But sports still remains a small contributor to Singapore's $243 billion GDP, with tourism contributing about 3 per cent and the biomedical sector (including pharmaceuticals) chipping in with about 5.5 per cent.
Still, it is not just the dollars and cents from the sports industry that is valuable.
Standard Chartered economist Alvin Liew said: 'The local economy is worth over $200 billion, so sports is less than half a per cent of that.
'But the...reputation and goodwill we build up for hosting international events...there's a lot more indirect impact.'
Businesses which provide outstanding service will now get a special mark of accreditation from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
The Singapore Service Star was launched by Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang on Thursday. The scheme rewards businesses with good service, in order to inspire the industry towards service excellence.
Mr Lim said Singapore now ranks 10th out of 134 countries in the Global Competitiveness Index's "Degree of Customer Orientation", which measures a company's responsiveness to customers' needs.
This is an improvement from the 17th position three years ago.
A Singapore Service Star decal will be given to nightspots, F&B joints and retail outlets that have achieved better-than-average scores in mystery shopping assessments.
Surveys conducted by the Tourism Board showed that 90 per cent of tourists feel confident in patronising stores recognised by a quality scheme. Service quality is also ranked as a key factor in gauging customer satisfaction.
Neeta Lachmandas, director, Service Quality Division, STB, said: "It's very, very important for businesses to remember that service quality is really linked to a business' bottomline. Service quality can be the differentiator and it can breed a very loyal set of customers as well."
Currently, more than 300 establishments have joined the scheme – a number which the Tourism Board hopes will grow to 2,500 by end-2013.
Members under the scheme include Larry Jewelry, Haagen Dazs, Marks & Spencer and 211 Roof Terrace Cafe.
STB will provide updated information on customers' expectations and perceptions, based on regular surveys and mystery shopping results, to help Singapore grow as a premier tourist destination.
Andrew Carlson has an good guide on how to write that Classified Ad.
1. It must invoke in your readers that they indeed need the thing you are trying to sell. Design it in such a way that it arouse their interest and act accordingly.
2. Keep it short and sweet. A long ad is tiring for the eyes and do not exceed the word limit for you would risk your ad being cut off.
3. Your ad should have plenty of empty spaces, clear fonts and pictures to avoid appearing cluttered.
4. It must have a powerful heading to attract attention. It must be visually appealing and professional looking to your viewers.
5. Tell your readers what is exactly in your ad and avoid words like cash, save or money that is used all the time.
6. When possible, quote from a well known source such as newspaper, persons etc
7. Use words to pull in people such as Amazing, Fantastic, Now etc
8. Look at what your competitors are offering. If their ads is boring and non colourful, you can make your ads colourful and full of fun words. If their ads are too informative and wordy, you can try to make yours short and to the point.
9. Offer some freebies or trials to your customers.
10. Look at successful ads by others. Reflect on what is it that makes them interesting and apply it to your ads. Of course, remember that people have different tastes and try not to enforce your will too strongly.
11. Do not use all caps words. This appears that you are shouting and is very annoying and distracting to viewers who have to sieve through all the capital letters to understand your message.
12. Before you launch your ad, do some surveys with friends or relatives and ask for feedback. This avoids you getting to a situation where you have to pay for something that is ineffective.
DesignSingapore Council, SPRING Singapore, and International Enterprise Singapore have launched a S$12 million programme that will help local companies enhance their competitiveness through the use of design.
The Design for Enterprises (DFE) programme will have three main thrusts - Design Touch, Design Engage and Design Excel.
These aim to help local firms progress through the different levels of design capabilities, from learning about the value of design to skilful integration of design into their business strategies.
Under the Design Touch programme, a centre will be set up for companies who are taking their first steps at understanding the importance of design as a strategic tool.
Companies can learn about design and seek professional advice on relevant resources and programmes by visiting the centre or calling its hotline.
The Design Engage Programme is a three-year programme targeted to help companies understand the value of design and to build up their design capabilities.
Some 200 local companies are expected to benefit from adding design elements to their business strategy under the programme.
Design Excel is meant for companies who have successfully transformed and redefined their businesses by using design as their central strategy. It provides further mentorship and leadership programmes for them to continue to achieve design excellence.
These programmes will help companies to groom a new breed of creative leaders in their organisations.
Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts said design is an important tool for enterprises to create unique value and sharpen their competitiveness.
We are doing a mention on these 3 sites, tracking local contests, events, promotions etc. You will find posts on our Xmas Draw for one of these netbooks (Acer Aspire One, AsusEEE, Dell Mini 9, LenovoIdeapad, MSI Wind).
Do check them out too as they are frequently updated.
With Netbooks in the rage now, we have selected the Acer Aspire One (we gave one out during the launch lucky draw), Asus EEE Pc, Dell mini 9, Lenovo IdeaPad and MSI Wind as the poll items.
We invite you to vote for the Netbook we should choose as the prize.
On 25th Dec 2008, we will award one lucky Jorbber / Jorbbee with the highest voted Netbook!
All you have to do is signup as a Jorbber / Jorbbee. Existing Jorbbers / Jorbbees are eligible for the draw.
Good luck!
Acer Aspire One
Asus EEE
Dell mini 9
Lenovo IdeaPad Netbook
MSI Wind
Winners to be announced 25th Dec 2008. Judges reserve rights to replace prizes of similar value. Judges decision is final. All registered users will qualify for the draw. Winner to be contact via email registered in system. Unclaimed prize will be forfeited after 30 days. Jorbb.com is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of the listed products or retailers. Contest open to Singaporeans / PRs only. Trademarks, service marks, logos, (including, without limitation, the individual names of products and retailers) are the property of their respective owners. Jorbb gets Jobs for You! Job Seekers join Free / Employers Post 1st Ad Free. Earn credits to exchange great gifts. Follow Jorbb on Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook Group and Mobiles/iPhones!
Are you bursting with business ideas everyday and hoping that one day, some of these ideas will transform into great businesses that you own? Have you ever wondered why some businesses succeed and why some fail, and how some small business can overtake the big boys in the industry? Most people dream of starting their own business. Yet few of them succeed. Sometimes it’s not about how good the product or business idea is. Conventional items can create hype among masses with unconventional way of promotion and packaging. And that requires creativity.
In this workshop, you will • Learn how to harness the secrets of entrepreneurship and marketing for bigger profits • Discover the power of 100 guerilla weapons and how to use them (most of the weapons are free!) • Increase your capacity to be creative and unique so as to cut through the clutter in the market and stand out from the rest • Find out what are the hot buttons people have and what attract them to buy • Spot the application of guerrilla marketing in everyday life • Analyze real businesses to understand what work and what don’t
Event details: Date: 6 Nov 2008 (Thurs) Time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm Venue: SMU School of Economics Classroom 4.3 Price: $30, $20 for SGE readers, quote “IMWITHSGE” when you register
99% of the time, the hard part about creativity isn’t coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you’ve thought of. The devil doesn’t need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics. And we are here to help you in unleashing the great business ideas in you such that you can make bigger profits without spending a lot of money.
Sign up now (email to RSVP) to find out how to turn ideas into products and turn products into profits.
What is Guerilla Marketing? Guerrilla Marketing is about going after conventional goals with unconventional methods, giving birth to ideas and tactics that bring about large profits from no or little investments. It is about using creativity and extreme sensitivity to what the people want. Guerrilla Marketing has extended to almost all fields that encompass marketing – from what it takes to start a small business, to sales, advertising, psychology and customer service. www.GMarketingSkills.com
As a solopreneur, one ingredient you need for a successful online business is traffic… and lots of it! But there are so many websites out there, all competing for the same traffic, that it can be difficult to attract visitors to YOUR website!
Today, I’d like to share with you my top five strategies for attracting highly targeted visitors:
1. Offer a Free Taste
Your free taste is something that you give to someone in exchange for them giving you their name and email address, and signing up to your list. Your free taste is also your chance to show off your expertise, and give your new subscriber a sampling of what it is you offer.
It must be something of value to your subscriber, without giving away the whole shop!
Then you simply promote your free taste on your website, in your email signature, in your Resource Bio, and any other place you can think of! Place a call to action and people will read it, and click through to your website to get what it is you’re offering.
2. Get Others To Promote Your website For You
If you have products and programs for sale then you can easily get other people to promote them for you by offering an affiliate program. People will sign up to your affiliate program and promote your products and programs through their website, newsletter, and/or blog. In exchange you offer them a percentage commission for each sale that your affiliate makes – and make it a generous commission so that they have a real incentive to promote you.
If you’re currently using a shopping cart service, check out everything they have to offer – they may have an affiliate program included as part of their service. Mine does!
3. Participate in a Joint Venture (JV)
This is an excellent way to drive highly targeted traffic back to your website, and very easy for you to organize. Gather together some of you colleagues who offer complementary products and services to you and agree to promote each other’s products and services to your list.
I participated in a joint venture earlier this year where the organizer created a dedicated web page for this promotion. Everyone’s promotional ‘blurb’ was listed on the website, and each ‘joint venturee’ sent an announcement out to their list during a specified period directing their subscribers to this webpage. I got a TON of new subscribers as a result!
4. Article Marketing
This is one of my all-time favorites… one of the most successful and cost effective online marketing strategies you can do is to submit your articles to various online article submission websites. This is a great way to:
* promote your services;
* elevate you to ‘expert’ status within your chosen niche; and
* grow your subscriber list.
It has been well documented that one-way links to your website increase search engine rankings more than reciprocal linking, and article submission is an excellent way to achieve one-way linking. It works by creating backlinks to your website, which the search engines love! With each article you submit, you include a resource box that contains information about you, your business, and an active hyperlink back to your website, newsletter sign up page, product, or special offer – you choose where you want to direct your readers. For example, my resource box directs readers to my newsletter sign up page.
5. Host a Free Teleclass
Hosting a free teleclass is a great way for you to get out in front of your target audience. They actually get to listen to you presenting your information, and have the opportunity to ask you questions on the call – all of which can’t be achieved just by writing articles!
And it also gives you to chance to interact with your target market, and find out valuable information about their struggles and pains. It all goes towards building the like, know, and trust factor that is so important when building a solo service business.
All of these strategies work well on their own, and I’ve had a huge amount of success with each one of them! You can choose to implement just one strategy, or use a combination. Whichever you choose, they all achieve the same goal… to drive highly targeted traffic to your website!
Online Business Manager & Virtual Assistant, Tracey Lawton, supports professional speakers, coaches, and authors to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com. Article Source & Image Source. Jorbb gets Jobs for You! Job Seekers join Free / Employers Post 1st Ad Free. Earn credits to exchange great gifts. Follow Jorbb on Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook Group and Mobiles/iPhones!
We are pleased to announce that we now have access to a 6.9m x 4.0m LCD screen at Queensway Shopping Centre, at the major cross junction leading to Orchard / Alexandra. Do look out for Jorbb.com's 15 second TVC when you are there.
Daily Air time is from 12pm to 10pm around 1800 spots / month.
We currently serve 15 and 30 seconds stills / animations (video / flash).
If you / your clients are keen in advertising in this channel, do drop us an email and our sales consultant will provide more information.
Location:
Across the Road:
Street Level:
Overhead Bridge:
The screen is at major cross junctions leading into Orchard and Alexandra; heart of the central urbanites.
Where YOUTH gather for the latest fashion and cool kicks; FAMILIES - for their lifestyle/ car / furniture buying needs.
Having used Jorbb.com as a Jorbbee, Loonshi's post talks about the many features of Jorbb.com and how you might earn extra income just by signing up on the site since relevant jobs will be sent to you.
And for posting the blog, we have awarded this Jorbbee credits, which can be exchanged for great gifts.
Check out Loonshi's blog, which covers "searching for money-making lobangs (opportunities)".
2 women had applied for a sales manager position. One had a diploma in hotel management while the other had risen through the ranks.
Orchard Hotel's general manager Melvin Lim picked the woman with no paper qualifications.
'Our business is about dealing with people, and she was less aloof and more friendly. She also showed a willingness to learn, so it would be possible for us to nurture her,' he told The Straits Times.
Increasingly, employers like Orchard Hotel are putting a higher premium on skills and attitudes that fit the job rather than academic qualifications. They can be an attitude of self-improvement, or an ability to handle complex tasks.
The growing emphasis on such capabilities is a trend the Government should highlight to people, said an industry-led panel overseeing efforts to train adults for jobs.
The 13-member Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund Advisory Council made the call at a media conference yesterday, urging the Government to send a 'strong and consistent message'.
Other recommendations it made in its annual review of the Workforce Development Agency's (WDA) work are: get regular feedback from employers on the types of skills they need, plus invest more in building better adult training centres and introduce competition among them.
In line with the recommendations, the WDA launched a public education campaign yesterday, with advertisements lined up for this month to encourage workers to pick up a skill.
The council, formed in 2001, oversees the budgetary matters and funding policies of the WDA's manpower development funds.
It includes representatives from the labour movement, self-help groups and various industries.
The chairman, Mr Bill Chang, hailed the Government's 10-year masterplan, announced in February this year, to boost continuing education and training.
This year, the Government will inject $800 million into the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund, to fund training programmes. The top-up will bring the fund to $3 billion.
But more needs to be done, said Mr Chang, an executive vice-president at SingTel.
Rapid economic changes tend to make knowledge outdated in a few years. With high value-added jobs coming in and low-cost ones moving out of Singapore, workers have to keep improving their skills to stay relevant, he added.
Such developments, however, seem to be lost on workers, said council member Sam Tan, an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC and executive director of self-help group Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC).
In the past 15 years of training workers, the CDAC found many have the attitude that they need to upgrade their skills only when they are retrenched, he said.
WDA's chief executive Ong Ye Kung noted that manufacturers, too, seek workers with such attributes as discipline and the ability to follow procedures, while employers in services look for those who can relate to people.
Retailer Metro's director of operations and human resources, Mr Edward Tan, recalled hiring graduates who failed as operations managers because they could not take the long hours and lacked a customer-first attitude.
'Customers are more demanding these days. Not everyone enjoys or has the passion to serve,' he said.
Twitter idiocy. Or Twitteriocy (I'm coining a term- run with it). It's what we are beginning to see on Twitter, and it is an easy thing to combat.
Now, while Twitter right now is the hot thing for corporations, and we have begun seeing more and more and more companies getting accounts, well, it is becoming obvious that there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.
DO appear on Twitter as a real person. Be like comcastcares.
DON'T let your PR firm do the tweeting. A customer-facing employee like comcastcares is best.
Who to follow: DO follow people who follow your company's account. DO follow people who tweet about the company more than once. DO follow people who talk about the company's space.
DO reply to people who direct-message you. Be engaged and responsive. Be personable. There's nothing worse than sending someone a direct message on Twitter ... and hearing nothing back.
Social Networking sites can be much more than fun distractions and a way to keep track of your friends. Used correctly they can be very powerful List building tools.
Websites like Twitter, Stumbleupon, Hubpages, Squidoo and Facebook are excellent tools for networking with and marketing to others in your niche. They are also great ways to drive traffic to your websites. If you want to build a niche list they are an invaluable resource.
The Micro-blogging site Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to follow one another through posts of 140 characters or less. It is a great place for posting small bits of information and for directing people to blogs or squeeze pages.
Stumbleupon is a social bookmarking site that works from a tool bar downloaded to your browser. It allows users to discover and rate web pages and ultimately functions to give social validity to some sites over others. The more your site is liked the higher value it is given by search engines. Stumbleupon is also a great tool for finding others in your niche.
Social Networking sites are extremely valuable tools for building niche lists. You don’t want to send spam or blatant advertising through these sites, but you can drive prospects to your squeeze page or your website where you can give them an incentive to share their contact information with you through an opt-in box.
The goal with using any of these sites is to build up your list. If you can attract people in your niche market, drive them to your site and have them sign up for your mailings, suddenly you have a growing list of people who are interested in the products you are offering.
Singtel recently launched a new plan specially catered for the needs of foreigners working in Singapore. They call it the SIMple plan. It’s a postpaid SIM only plan with a 1-year contract.
The plan is rather straight forward. It offers the lowest price for all the services commonly required by any foreigner staying in Singapore. Such as:
Free Global SMS
Unlimited IDD Calls (Value Added Service)
Free Incoming Calls
Free Oversea Missed Call Alert
These new plans will allow them to manage their overseas cost while granting the convenience of mobile communications locally and connectivity to their home abroad.
Who Can Apply
3G iOne Plus (SIMple), 3G iTwo Value (SIMple),3G iTwo Plus (SIMple) are open to all foreigners in Singapore with a valid Employment Pass, S Pass or Dependent Pass (minimum of 6 months validity).
SIMple Student Plan is available for foreigners with a valid Student Pass only.
SingTel SIMple Price Plans are open to new line connections only and not applicable to recontracting customers.
The price plans are not applicable with handset bundle promotions.
Documents & Deposit
Customers will need to present their valid work pass at point of sign-up.
$300 deposit is required for Dependant Pass and Foreigner with a valid Student Pass.
Dependant Pass and Student Pass holders below the age of 21 years are not eligible for IDD calls.
Contractual Commitments
Early termination or downgrade penalty charge of $160.50 applies.
Monthly subscription will revert to national promotion rate after 12 months from sign-up.
The plan is not applicable to mio plan, mio supplementary plan, Corporate Individual Scheme, BRN customers and any other promotions/schemes.
More Info On Charges
Excess local airtime is charged at 16.05¢/minute.
Excess SMS is charged at 5.35¢ per local SMS and 16.05¢ per global SMS
Free Incoming calls until 31 December 2010.
Free unlimited v019 calls are only applicable for voice calls made to any residential and mobile line in the listed destinations.
Monthly charges of $5.35/month are required to enjoy free unlimited v019 calls to 15 listed destinations of Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Puerto Rico,Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and USA. Another monthly charge of $5.35/month is required to enjoy Free unlimited v019 calls to either Indonesia or to only fixed line termination in Philippines. Local voice call rate applies to all v019 calls made and the calls are deductible from the free local outgoing voice bundle.
Experienced professionals, recent and prospective college graduates and others interested in career opportunities with the KPMG network of professional firms, providing audit, tax and advisory services, can participate in the September 24 - 26 "KPMG World Jobs Fair," a live, 48-hour global virtual recruiting fair.
The "KPMG World Jobs Fair," taking place online from 9 a.m. GMT, Wednesday, September 24, to 9 a.m. GMT, Friday, September 26, aims to provide qualified, interested candidates with information on hundreds of job opportunities, particularly in tax, advisory and specialized audit services, with KPMG member firms worldwide. More than 10,000 interested applicants have already registered for the online event through KPMG's global website at http://www.kpmg.com.
During the event, KPMG's first external virtual job fair, participants will have the opportunity to chat with KPMG recruiters and network with KPMG professionals, particularly in high growth markets where KPMG expects to substantially expand its operations over the next several years.
"As an increasing number of companies conduct business internationally, there are growing opportunities for professionals in many KPMG member firms - especially in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China," said Timothy P. Flynn, KPMG chairman. "We're also focused on adding thousands of jobs to support KPMG member firms' continued growth in developed markets such as United States and Europe, including drawing specialists from around the world experienced in IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) as the world moves to that global accounting standard."
"The KPMG World Jobs Fair reflects a remarkable transformation in how KPMG member firms are attracting talent in a global economy - and a transformation in the way that professionals are seeking employment," said Flynn. "This event allows interested job candidates to easily explore opportunities and a potential career with KPMG, and it gives us an opportunity to tap into a global workforce. We expect it will attract thousands of qualified professionals and recent graduates worldwide."
The World Jobs Fair follows the success of a similar internal online event that 12 KPMG member firms held in May for employees and partners interested in exploring international rotation opportunities. The internal event attracted nearly 5,000 KPMG employees and partners, representing 104 countries, with the highest percentage of participants from the U.K., followed by the U.S., Germany, and China. The largest groups of participants by level were associates and senior associates, at 42 percent and 34 percent, respectively.
45 Member Firms
The global, virtual event this month will include an exhibition hall that features booths covering 45 participating KPMG member firms. Job seekers will be able to learn more about available opportunities in specific countries, and information on KPMG's culture, values, corporate citizenship goals, training and development and work/life programs.
Participants will also have the opportunity to watch live webcasts, chat with KPMG audit, tax and advisory professionals about a career with KPMG and apply for positions directly from the event.
"Clients are global and they need professionals with global audit, tax and advisory skills," said Flynn. "Taking advantage of global opportunities through an event like the KPMG World Jobs Fair helps people expand their skills and cultural perspective. At the same time, it gives KPMG a chance to help our member firms better serve their clients. It's what helps make KPMG an employer of choice."
In addition to KPMG member firms in Brazil, Russia, India and China, other KPMG member firms participating in the KPMG World Jobs Fair include Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, U.K., U.S., United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based software maker Unisfair is providing the technology KPMG is using to power its virtual career fair event.
Tim Brown from IDEO poses an interesting question about this Bodum mug. I actually have the Bodum Beer mug so my experiences are "opposite" of his. He felt that with a normal cup, the experience of his morning latte degrades with each sip, as it gets colder and colder. When I drink from the can, the beer gets warmer and warmer. But in the Bodum mug, the last sip is still as frosty as the first. Hmmmm.
Back to the topic, in my other post about Apple Apps Store and Experience Design, I wrote about up selling of a product and the potential monetary value of experiences which then come with owning the product.
Tim's ending paragraph resonates with how we are and will continue to mould the Jorbb Experience.
"In my opinion, the only products that deserve to succeed are ones that are key components of a valuable experience. If they are not designed to achieve that they will be irrelevant. If they are not marketed as an experience then consumers will miss their value and categorize them with every other product that has the same physical characteristics. Manufacturers must see themselves as experience curators not product makers. This is something I am reminded of every time I take a sip of coffee."
Tried to get your kids to memorise words from flashcards recently? One child psychologist from the US says that would only stifle your child's creativity and take away the joy of learning.
'Children are essentially explorer-discoverers, not rote-learners,' says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, author of the book Einstein Never Used Flash Cards.
Especially if you want your child equipped for the 21st century business world, which says that it needs knowledge-based people these days. The four characteristics of such as person is one who's a collaborator, a communicator, to have content and who's a creative innovator, says Professor Hirsh-Pasek, who's director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University, USA.
'Collaborators because people need to work in teams, to have trust. Communicators because they need to talk and write to make themselves understood. Then, people need to know how to read, write and do maths, while they need to be creative innovators because we don't know what kind of problems they'll face,' she explains.
If this is what the business community says, then how does one instil the four 'C's' in a pre-schooler? The answer is in playful learning. 'We learn best when it's meaningful, and we're actively engaged, when it's fun and when we're happy,' she believes.
It's a belief that's based on scientific studies. Children who learn drama, for instance, do better in reading and 'emotion regulation'. 'If you fill up children's time for them, they'll be drones in the future. Research suggests that children who manage their own time and pace will be bosses in the future,' adds Prof Hirsh-Pasek.
Research also shows that children who engage in playful games become more confident and have better reading and maths skills. Playing with puzzles and blocks, for instance, improves spatial skills. 'Parents also use more extensive vocabulary when explaining games to children,' she adds.
Research also shows that three to five years old are the foundational years of a child, so pre-school activities do matter. 'The idea is to let the child learn within a playful environment,' she says.
Prof Hirsh-Pasek was in town a while ago to give a talk on pre-school education, upon invitation by Mindchamps, an enrichment centre.
Thanks to the folks at E27.SG, we've just made it on their blog. We highly recommend that you RSS their blog for announcements on their many outreach programmes. In fact, we met Gothere.sg and Widgeo.us at the recent Unconference Singapore.
"Entrepreneur27 Singapore is the sister organization of the original Entrepreneur27 group founded by Noah Kagan in Silicon Valley/ San Francisco Bay Area.
The “27″ in Entrepreneur27 (E27) really means “<27″.>
Since Jan 2006, E27 Singapore has reached out to thousands of new media enthusiasts and entrepreneurs through our 4 unconferences and numerous other outreach events at polytechnics, Junior Colleges. Via our mailing lists, Facebook groups and event wikis, we seek to engage our community in a direct conversation. Our new partnership with NUS and MDA to manage a startup incubator for the Interactive Digital Media sector is going to take us in an uncharted direction for the upcoming years and we are very excited about the possibilities."
Welcome to the first post of a new section called "Jorbb Shows You How".
In a nutshell, we will develop interesting "How To" posts which will cover a myriad of topics ranging from Employment tips to Tech shortcuts.
At Jorbb.com, Jorbbers and Jorbbees can upload images to their profile. Now what if you prefer not to have your photo for all to see. Create a personalised Avatar with the many Avatar Generators out there.
With retail spending hit by inflation and more Singaporeans shopping overseas, local retailers are being urged to cash in on upcoming events like this month's Formula 1 race.
To do this, they should be flexible with their opening hours, given that the race will take place at night and visitors may be keen to shop after it ends.
S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, said: "Shopping malls, retail establishments and restaurants must adapt their operations to cater to this crowd of not only the F1 spectators, but also the many others who will be in the vicinity to soak in the atmosphere and excitement."
He also urged retailers to raise their service standards in order to attract the 50,000 overseas visitors expected to arrive in Singapore for the race.
The high-profile sporting event is expected to generate some S$100 million in tourism receipts. However, foreign tourists are likely to be the only big spenders.
Jannie Tay, president, Singapore Retailers Association, said: "I think for the general retailers, depending on the merchandising, depending on the people who are coming as tourists... I don't think the locals will spend during this period, but we hope to attract the tourists that are coming..."
Singapore's overall retail sales, excluding motor vehicles, in June fell 6.4 per cent on-year. And a recent survey showed that Singaporeans are choosing to spend more overseas instead of at home.
Andrew Lau, vice president, Media Research Consultants, said: "(As for the) weakness in the Singapore retail market, one of the things would be (that) our customer service really needs to improve.
"Another thing (is that) we have homogenous products across the different shopping malls. (This is) not creative, not innovative (or) attractive."
Singaporeans' overseas retail expenditure last year rose 21 per cent to S$4.15 billion.
We had to post this, hopefully more people will forward this around and some rich Samaritan with a few million to spare will help buy over the collection.
At over 3 million records, it's the largest in the world. He's trying to sell it due to his advancing age and health problems. Unfortunately, as he puts it, "no one gives a damn." Paul Mawhinney's record collection is appraised at US$50 Million but he only wants $3 Million for it.
Paul's been building his collection for most of his life. He used to run a record store, and while running it he never sold the last copy of any album or single, instead keeping it for his archives. Over the years, those really added up.
Now, at an advancing age, stricken with diabetes and legally blind, Paul wants to sell the collection. It's been appraised at about $50 million, but Paul is asking a mere $3 million. He's had no serious offers, and an eBay auction back in February fell through.
In a time when you can access pretty much whatever music you want online, hard copies of albums are declining in value, both monetary and sentimentally. But to see such a mind blowing collection as this sitting in a basement, unwanted, is really heartbreaking. This is historic, no matter that we live in the iPod era or not, and it belongs in a museum. If only one cared enough to buy it. [World's Greatest Music Collection via Nah Right]
The simple matter of an ad in a local paper, a few applicants and a handful of interviews began to get more complex 20 years ago.
Personal mobility, employees’ desires to change not just companies but countries, and employers’ tighter job specifications all led to a need for better job markets and faster information. There was another factor at work, too. Company culture became recognised as a reality. It had always existed, of course. Great patriarchal families such as Cadbury or Mars and early enlightened employers such as Marks and Spencer had attracted the cream of the available talent for generations. In Japan, the company was often an employee’s whole life, taking precedence over family and personal ambition.
Then, quite quickly, the picture changed. One cause was the recognition of the value and scarcity of real talent. The wage gap between the “average” employee and the top widened. Systematic training started, partly because of technology spreading its tentacles from factory into office and partly because employment costs demanded that every ounce of productivity had to be achieved to make a job viable.
This soon led to a recognition that the cost of an employee was not the wages and perks but the accumulated investment the company had made in his or her job and, subsequently, the maintenance of that asset in a changing technological world.
It was these influences that led to the rise of job portals and companies such as Monster and to the growing awareness that hyperbole in a CV plays a very little part in securing a job. My experience is it often turns off an employer because he has read it all before and is not prepared to do so again. Time spent reading copy-written CVs is resented, as is the carbon footprint involved in travel to interview overseas talent or the cost of bringing candidates long distances only to find out they in no way fit the bill.
So poor is the quality of many CVs that a simpler style is long overdue. At least one new service is shortly going to provide an online format for this. Meanwhile, if you are concerned about your CV and you care to send it to me, I will let you have a comment on it together with a content checklist to ensure what you are presenting is useful. I do not charge for this and all information sent to me will be held in strict confidence.
Technology now allows employee/job matching to move into a new era where “essential fact CVs” coupled with a short video provide a desktop way of searching through the credentials of many potential employees and producing a short list in a fraction of the time it used to take and at a tenth of the cost. All this can initially be done without revealing the employee’s identity until she or he is ready to do so.
New services such as SeeMeCV display enough information for an employer to make the decision to interview with twice the chance the employee might be hired than any other system provides. Candidates will still need skills in the preparation of their one-page CV and in filming their video clip. They will require excellent interview performance and all the emotional intelligence that face-to-face meetings always demand. But at least they will be reviewed faster, called to fewer wasted interviews and confronted by fewer frustrated employers wondering how to fill the half hour they know will not lead to a job offer.
The age of the useable CV has arrived. Is yours up to date and up to scratch?I suggest you review it now.
John Bittleston mentors people in business, career and their personal lives at www.TerrificMentors.com.TODAY/ra
During WWDC when Jobs launched the new iPhone 3G and everyone gasped at the "low" price, I was more interested in the Apps Store. At 5am, when I was listening to the keynote on a Qik stream, I had the "Eureka!" moment.
I used to work at a Research and Innovation Centre which did research work in Experience Design (XD) - an area of study popularised by Shedroff / Pines & Gilmore. In a nutshell, XD speaks about how every brand / product / service can be commoditized and there's a limit to profits you make from any brand / product / service.
There is more money to be made by selling the "experience cloud" around your brand / product / service especially AFTER consumers have purchased your product / service. You do this by introducing moments of engagement or touch points, so that the consumer will continually be reminded of your brand / product / service throughout their daily activities. The more "moments of truth" you can embed between your offerings and the consumer, the more successful your offering will be.
Apple are masters at doing this. Think iPod, iPhone, Macbook, iMac, iTunes Music Store, Apple TV, Apple accessories to complement your Apple products, and now Apps and MobileMe. They do this with heavy engagement between Ethnographers and Users of their products.
When I was at P&G, "Moments of Truth" are firmly etched in their brand philosophy. HP is another company to lookout for (reaching out to bloggers, marketing their PCs as a lifestyle necessity instead of a PC). Locally, I might also add that Singtel is slowly and steadily adopting this strategy.
The new iPhone 3G / iPhone 2.0 software really hit the nail. At a micro-level, how much profit can Apple make from selling an iPhone, after sharing with AT&T and overseas cellular providers?
Now fast forward to the Apps store and MobileMe. Sure, they have made a profit off you buying the device / call plan etc, but in order to generate continuous income, tadah! Apple presented the Apps store / MobileMe.
Either way, Apple earns. Selling the phones (Friggin' 1 million sold in 74 days) and selling the apps (10 million downloads) / pushing the convenience of the cloud.
Before I do the summary of TechCrunch's post, here's something you / your business should keep in mind.
Do not just sell products / services. Because products / services can be replicated, cheaper, faster, better than what you provide. There has to be an "sticky" factor for people to want to keep using your offering and more importantly, willing to pay more to enhance the initial investment they've made in the first place because they want to, not because they need to.
Back to the main reason for this post:
Development house taptaptap has just publish sale figures of their iPhone app. WhereTo retails for US$2.99 in the store and 24,094 copies were sold in the first month - netting the company just over US$50,000 in revenue after Apple took their cut (it currently ranks #69 on the top paid application list). Tipulator retails for US$0.99, and sold 3,168 copies which resulted in just over US$2,200 of revenue (it is currently unranked).
So question - If their products are ranked #69 and Unranked, how much are the top paid apps developers making? The current list can be found here.
NETS together with SingTel and United Overseas Bank announced the launch of a six-month trial which will enable Singaporeans to make payments using their mobile phones. The trial using Near Field Communications (NFC) commences immediately.
This public trial, involving 250 specially invited SingTel-UOB credit cardholders, aims to provide customers with smart, savvy and innovative solutions, allowing NETS and SingTel to be at the forefront of the mobile payment technology revolution. The aim of the trial is to allow NETS and SingTel to assess how consumers will use and adapt to this technology.
This public trial is a follow up of the September 2007 staff trial by SingTel and NETS that introduced the mNETS payment application (mNETS Wallet) and the mNETS Coupon application on NFC-enabled mobile handsets.
Participants of the public trial will also be able to make payments at more than 500 participating merchants island-wide who accept mNETS for payments. Users pay for goods and services easily by flashing their mobile phones at the NETS FlashPay readers at participating shops.
Participation in the NFC public trial is free-of-charge. SingTel and NETS will loan customers an NFC-enabled Nokia 6131 phone that functions as an mNETS Wallet. The SingTel-UOB credit card will be the default mode for topping up the stored value in the trial phone. There are no transaction fees or surcharges for purchases, and for top-ups using the SingTel-UOB credit card.
The key highlight of this trial is the innovative and convenient way for the participants to redeem coupons. Users simply open the coupon on their phones and flash it on a NETS FlashPay reader for the coupon to be automatically redeemed. NETS is the first in Asia to offer such an intuitive way of redeeming a coupon. The patent for this real-time coupon redemption feature by NETS is pending.
Teens are getting more wired these days, and it seems that gossip, as a hallmark of teen social life, has also made its way online.
A Straits Times survey of 100 teens here revealed that almost all, or 94 per cent of respondents said they had a profile on at least one social networking site. Some teens have their profiles on as many as seven of these sites.
More than half the respondents said they visited Friendster or Facebook at least once a day. Some said they check their online profiles more than 10 times a day.
These teens spend hours online finding out the latest about their friends, chatting, sharing photos and updating their profiles with details of their lives - where they hang out, what they eat and whom they are dating.
"It's an addictive habit," Secondary 3 student Sofia Akram told The Straits Times. She also told the English daily that users on such social neteworking sites can add people they don't know, and that others can add them likewise. "As long as they look interesting, I want to find out more about them."
The Straits Times reported that studies confirm that this rapid and widespread adoption of profiles on social networking sites is a worldwide trend.
Experts say teens who use such social networking sites usually fall into two groups, according to The Straits Times.
The first group are the "deep" users whose lives exist largely online through chat applications, forums and blogs. They usually create well-designed profiles that prominently showcase their "friends", who can number in the hundreds or thousands.
Their profiles are also heavy on content, with details such as the user's preference for flowers and so on.
On the other hand, "shallow" users have profiles that are light on content. They only spend a few minutes updating their profiles and do so only two or three times a week.
In Singapore, teens usually fall into the first category, The Straits Times reported.
Mr Alan Rambam, a senior vice-president at Fleishman-Hillard, told The Straits Times, "In Singapore, both parents tend to be working. These kids may be the loneliest generation ever. Naturally, they will reach out for friends at every opportunity."
Dr Chung Wai Kung, a professor of sociology at the Singapore Management University also told the English daily that popularity of social networking sites may be because of the accessibility of technology here.
Parents have a right to be worried, as social networking sites can invite unwanted attention, The Straits Times reported. Drawing data from its survey, the newspaper said that 84 per cent of respondents said they received messages from strangers, of which 34 per cent wanted to meet in person.
Check out these 2 links for resume samples / templates. Some are definitely eye-catching, which does help differentiate in the clutter of resumes the recruiter might receive.
Here and here. As bonus, here's one that's really... extravagant and another that you can wear.
Techcrunch posted a posting from Jason's mailing list (CEO Mahalo.com) who has sat through 200 company demos in 10 days. Great advice / tips on how to deliver a killer pitch / demo. Thanks Jason.
"For the past 10 days I’ve sat through 200 company demos for the TechCrunch50 conference. These demos are mostly done over the phone for 10 minutes using the phone and web conferencing software like WebEx or Adobe’s wonderful new “Connect” service.
After doing 2,500 minutes of demos (40 hours) this year and many more last year for the conference, I’ve learned a lot about what makes for a great demo and what makes for a horrible demo. Since demoing your idea is a key to your success as an entrepreneur, I thought I would share everything I know in a few simple bullet points.
These tips are applicable to presenting in front of an investor, a partner as well as a demo style conference. Of course, every situation is different so consider these loose guidelines.
Background: The TechCrunch50 conference is taking places on September 8-10th in San Francisco and you can find more information here: www.techcrunch50.com. Mike Arrington of TechCrunch.com and I started the event last year as a place where fifty startup companies could launch their products without having to pay a fee (i.e. the incumbent conference called DEMO charges $18,500 to launch a startup company–that’s really low/abusive in my book). Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Sequoia Capital and a bunch of other fine partners have joined us in hosting the event.
1. Show your product within the first 60 seconds ——————————————- Most folks start their presentations with information like the size of the market they are tackling (tens of billions, we only need 1%!), their inflated corporate bios, the philosophical approach they’re taking, and boring Powerpoint graphics explaining some convoluted workflow of their product.
The longer it takes for you to show your product, the worse your product is. Folks who have a kick-ass product don’t spend five or ten minutes “setting the stage” or “giving the background.” Folks with killer products CAN’T WAIT to show you their product. Their demos start with their homepage and quickly jump into the users experience. If a picture tells a thousand stories, then a product demo tells a million.
Show your product immediately, and if you don’t have a product to show don’t take the meeting.
2. The best products take less than five minutes to demo ——————————————- The greatest tech products over the past 10 years would take no more than five minutes each to demo. For example:
a) Larry and Sergey could demo Google search in less than five minutes. Here’s a box, type something in and you get a huge reward.
b) Steve Jobs could demo the iPod in less than five minutes. Plug it in, put in your CDs and it syncs your music. Turn it on and use the wheel to select what songs you want to listen to.
c) Chris DeWolfe could demo MySpace in less than five minutes. Sign up, fill out your profile, and add your friends. For bonus points add some widgets to your page.
I think you get the idea: the better the product the LESS time it takes to demo. If your product demo takes more than five minutes to demo, it probably sucks. All the tiny little features that matter to you are of course important–God is in the details–however, when presenting your company, you don’t have to show them. Larry and Sergey wouldn’t open up the advanced search tab and the list of operators you can use in Google during a demo.
Steve Jobs does take the demo details to a fairly detailed level, but you and I are not Steve Jobs. There is only one Steve Jobs and there is only one Apple. You’re never going to build something as cool as Steve, and as such there is no need for you to talk about your product for five or ten minutes.
3. Leave people wanting more. ——————————————- If you take my advice in point two, then folks should be either blown away or intrigued by your core product. If they are not somewhere in that spectrum, you need to rebuild your core product.
When I pitched Mahalo to investors, I had five sheets of paper with different search results on each. I put them on a table and said which one is the best. Obviously I knew my result was the best, and that simple demonstration lead to MASSIVE discussion: how was the page built? how long did it take to build? what would it cost to make that page? how often do you need to update it? how can you scale that business? how many pages can you create before it breaks even?
It’s best for folks to discover the merits of your product for themselves, and it’s up to you to make such a compelling core product that they are intrigued enough to explore it.
4. Talk about what you’ve done, not what you’re going to do. ——————————————- Weak startups and their leaders seem to immediately start talk about “what’s next,” as opposed to focusing on the core product. Anyone can say we’re going to add: a mobile version, collaborative filtering, an advertising network, visualizations, a marketplace, a browser plugin, a browser and a social network to their product. In fact, given the amount of open source and off the shelf software out there, combined with the large number of developers in the world, anyone can bolt these things on to their service in a week or three.
Who cares what you’re going to bolt on to your startup? What really matters is the core functionality of your startup.
Steve Jobs has become at once the world’s greatest salesman and product developer because he only announces Apple’s achievements. He doesn’t waste time on what Apple’s going to do: he talks about the here and now. Microsoft’s old strategy was to talk about products that were coming and that put them in the horrible position of having to backpedal when they changed their mind about a product.
5. Understand your competitive landscape–current and historical. ——————————————- This year I’ve had three companies show me group SMS messaging products, and most of them did not know what UPOC.com was (Gordon Gould’s group SMS messaging service that was five years ahead of its time). I’ve had three or four companies over the past two years of TechCrunch50 conferences pitch me on Third Voice–the controversial “web annotation” service from Web 1.0. [Side note: I loved the concept of Third Voice so much I considered starting a company like it and even bought the domain name annotated.com.]
When I pitched the idea for Weblogs, Inc. to Mark Cuban, Yossi Vardi and Jeff Bezos, I understood all the niche email marketing and newsletter companies from the early and mid-nineties cold. I researched why they worked and why they failed, and I knew which ones were sold and bought and by whom. When I pitched Mahalo to Sequoia Capital, I knew the history of human-powered search and directories from DMOZ to Yahoo Directory to LookSmart.
If you don’t know the competitive landscape, and the shoulder’s you’re standing on, folks are not going to be comfortable giving you their money, time or attention.
6. Short answers are best. ——————————————- When taking questions about your product answer questions shortly. This is a very challenging thing for many people–including myself–to do. If you’re like me, you’ve probably thought out your startup’s issues a thousand different ways. When I sit at the poker table I play a game where I think out every possible scenario for not only my hands, but the hands of my opponents (this is fairly standard among advanced poker players from what I understand).
Say I have Ace King and I raised out of position and the button called my raise pre-flop. Then they re-raised me on the flop, which had an Ace. What does that tell me? They could have an ace, they could have two aces and have slow played me, they could have a medium pocket pair and they want to see if I have an ace, maybe they are on a flush or straight draw or maybe they suck at poker. Who the hell knows?!?! You can go insane trying to figure all these things out–that’s why poker becomes very addictive.
The point is all that inner thinking is chaos when you try to explain it to another person. It’s pure madness after 60 seconds of talking. The best thing to do is answer the question with the most concise answer. For example, when asked “what happens if Google enters your market?” answer quickly and with confidence:
a) Google has entered many markets, but they are only #1 in search and search advertising. They trail in social networking to MySpace and Facebook, in classifieds to Craigslist, in news to Yahoo and AOL, in email to Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo, and in instant messaging to Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo.
b) We’re not sure if Google will enter our market, but hopefully we’ll have developed our product enough that it will be a real sustainable business by that time.
c) We think Google might enter our market at some point, and if they do they and their competitors will certainly consider buying us–creating a bidding war for our entrenched position.
d) Google is a very big company right now with a very big cash machine that they have to focus on and protect–they will never do our business with our level of focus. We will out execute them on all fronts.
These are all amazing answers (I did, after all, come up with them), and you can say them in around a minute. However, if you cram all four of these sentences together you’ve spoken for five minutes.
7. PowerPoint bullet slides are death ——————————————- Do not make slide after slide explaining your business in bullet points, because it’s really, really boring. Powerpoint/Keynote slides that are not boring include charts, product shots, feature set tables and the like. Things that explain big concepts with ease and grace are great, but bullet points of obvious facts show that:
a) you don’t have the ability to create a compelling story with data
b) you don’t think that much of the person being presented the information
I’m not a huge fan of “funny slides” or lots of graphics for graphics sake. You’re not pitching your company to get laughs–unless you’re on stage–you’re doing it to raise capital, close a partnership or get on stage at a conference. Keep it focused and to the point.
8. How to use this new device called the phone. ——————————————- When presenting over the phone use a handset and a land-line… only!
It’s amazing to me that any person doing a business call would conduct it on their mobile phone. Mobile phones sound horrible 95% of the time, and they frequently cut out. If you are presenting your company take it seriously and get yourself to a landline. You have limited time and don’t want folks to miss a single word.
Speakerphones are horrible, and putting the person receiving the demo on speaker phone during a demo is just disrespectful. You can hear all the rustling, side conversations and horrible echos when you’re on speaker phone. When doing a demo pick up the handset and speak. If you go to a Q&A session then use speaker phone. That’s why it exists.
Only use a headset if it is very, very high-fidelity and you have the microphone right up to your mouth. Also, don’t eat, drink or breath heavy into the microphone or you run the risk of sounding like an animal. I use an amazing Plantronics headset, and I like me some Green Matcha tea, but I hit the mute key when I sip!
I know it sounds crazy to have a discussion about how to use the phone, but the majority of these young people actually think it’s acceptable to have two or three drop offs in a call–it’s not. Grow up and get a land line.
9. How to handle questions you don’t know the answer to ——————————————- After you do your concise presentation you’re hopefully going to get a lot of questions. Here are some important tips to consider when you don’t know the answer cold:
a) take a moment to think about the question. You can even say “Hmmm… that’s a good question. Let me think about that for a second.” Folks appreciate a little consideration when someone takes a question.
b) if you don’t have an answer be honest and say you don’t. There are many ways to say this including: “I’m not really sure, I’m going to have to think about that for a bit and get back to you,” or “I’m not sure to be honest. What do you think?”
c) feel free to think out loud and brainstorm with the person. You can do this by saying “I’ve never really considered that. Perhaps you can expand the question a little and we can explore it right now.”
d) if you’re not sure of the answer you can always say you’ll cross that bridge when you come to it. “I’m not sure how we would deal with a sudden spike in the cost of bandwidth, we would have to collect more information and answer that question down the road. It is a manageable risk factor I suppose. ”
The worst thing to do when you don’t have an answer is b.s. the person. No one has an answer for everything, except a b.s. artists. So, feel free to say you don’t know–folks find it refreshingly humble and honest.
10. Always confirm the time of your meeting/call, and always be 15 minutes early. ——————————————- People are really busy and meetings get mixed up. Every meeting or phone call I do is confirmed twice: once by email, and once on the day before the meeting. Reconfirming meetings makes you look like a true player and it costs you nothing. You do this by sending a simple email saying “Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at your offices at 123 Main Street at 3pm. If anything changes you can reach me on my mobile at 310-555-1212.”
Also, be early. Come on. If you’re doing a meeting with someone who might invest in your company, do a business deal with you, etc., you can show a lot of respect by being in their lobby or on hold on the conference call five to 15 minutes ahead of time. Don’t show up more than 15 minutes ahead of time or you’ll look like a stalker. If you get to your meeting 45 minutes ahead of time go to the Starbucks and buy yourself a treat for being so on top of things.
What are your best tips for giving a proper demo of your company on the phone or in person?
In your mind, what are the worst things folks have done during a presentation?"
Mashable has come up with a list of 5 books that can help improve your thinking about the value of social media to the enterprise.
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Corporate executives are struggling with a new trend: people using online social technologies (blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, podcasts) to discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals. This groundswell is global, it s unstoppable, it affects every industry and it s utterly foreign to the powerful companies running things now.
When consumers you ve never met are rating your company s products in public forums with which you have no experience or influence, your company is vulnerable. In Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester, Inc. explain how to turn this threat into an opportunity.
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
"How do trends emerge and opinions form? The answer used to be something vague about word of mouth, but now it's a highly measurable science, and nobody understands it better than Clay Shirky. In this delightfully readable book, practically every page has an insight that will change the way you think about the new era of social media. Highly recommended." -Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Written by an in-the-trenches practitioner, this step-by-step guide shows you how to implement a successful Web analytics strategy. Web analytics expert Avinash Kaushik, in his thought-provoking style, debunks leading myths and leads you on a path to gaining actionable insights from your analytics efforts. Discover how to move beyond clickstream analysis, why qualitative data should be your focus, and more insights and techniques that will help you develop a customer-centric mindset without sacrificing your company’s bottom line.
The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media
"As word of mouth loses opinion-forming power to word of blog, companies are faced with a revolution in how their brands and corporate image will be shaped in the future. Paul Gillin provides a very insightful and well-written guide on how to effectively benefit from these dramatic changes. A must read!" --Patrick J. McGovern, founder and chairman, International Data Group (IDG)
The Art of Strategic Listening
Listening To Your Customers’ Conversations Can Provide Big Dividends
Do you know what your customers or bloggers are saying about your company and your products? Marketers used to be able to assess the perception of their company or their products by simply monitoring the media and reading any letters of complaint that came by mail, but that was pre-internet and social networking.
Now there are more than 80 million blogs, as well as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, video aggregators like YouTube and EveryZing and thousands of other social media sites on the web where customers talk with each other and make all kinds of comments, good and bad about your firm, your competitors, and your industry.
I'm sure you have seen cleaners using pressure-water-sprays to clean the floors in public areas. Here's a great idea to leverage on their efforts, albeit probably not legal.
GreenGraffiti creates advertising on dirty city streets and walls using the clean, green power of plain water. Armed with just a template and a high-pressure water sprayer, the company has “cleaned” advertising messages out of the dirt on behalf of clients including Elle, Telfort and Universal Music.
No paper, no ink, no printing process—GreenGraffiti’s ads are completely carbon-neutral, it says.
They last up to six months, depending on foot traffic, and cost a fraction of the price of traditional outdoor media, the company asserts.
2009 Outlook: Mr Beh Swan Gin, the Economic Development Board's (EDB) new managing director advised that Singapore is still on track for record manufacturing investments this year, the outlook for 2009 is 'murky' - no thanks to the fallout from the global credit crisis.
'There is no question that large investments being decided this year and 2009 will take into account the changing economic conditions,' said Dr Beh, who assumes the hot seat at EDB effective today. 'I think we need to see how the situation unfolds over the next few months.'
While he said that it's too early for EDB to give a guidance for 2009 - something usually done around January - Dr Beh nevertheless conceded in an interview with local media that 'I must say that this year, the picture is murkier than usual because of the US situation'.
EDB is 'reinforcing' or shoring up Singapore's economic pillars, Dr Beh said, by infusing knowledge-intensive aspects or activities within the various sectors like biomedical, semiconductors, or chemicals.
He also stressed there was a critical need for talent, both local and foreign. 'In the past, capital was critical for success, and attracting investments was key to that. Now, with knowledge and innovation, talent is critical - and that is an important challenge for Singapore.'
Dr Beh said the relatively new industry of water solutions is one example of what the EDB will focus on.
The sector falls under urban solutions, which, together with personal wellness and healthcare, and lifestyle products and services, are the three areas the board will emphasise on.
For example, for personal wellness and healthcare, it could look at how to make the systems more effective.
Dr Beh, incoming managing director, EDB, said: "It's important for Singapore but equally important is what companies in the region and all over the world will be looking for. So we can develop this solution through things like process re-engineering - maybe through better use of tech or IT."
It's no longer just real estate, even virtual estate can be undervalued. NYTimes article reported that Dave Hermansen did not own a bird or a cage when he bought bird-cage.com, an online store, for $1,800 three years ago. He simply saw a Web site that was “very, very poorly done,” and begged the owners to sell it to him. He then redesigned the site, added advertising and drove up traffic. Last December, he sold it for $173,000.
Mr. Hermansen, 30, is among the latest wave of entrepreneurs who, like the day traders and real estate investors before them, are looking to make a lot of money without much effort.
They use little more than home computers and free software to buy Web sites that appeal to a small and specific niche. Then they fix up the sites with hopes of reselling them for far more than they paid.
The changing economics of the Web have made it easier to find and exploit niche communities on the Internet. The Internet boom of the 1990s spawned companies like Pets.com that were Web versions of brick-and-mortar stores. They required stockpiling products and shipping them to customers. But that model came crashing down with the Web bust of 2000.
Since then, building niche Web sites and small-scale online stores has become cheap and easy. Free software, advertising systems like Google’s, and “drop shipping” services that allow Web site owners to handle products through a third-party supplier, have lowered the cost of doing business.
Instead of selling goods and services, analysts said most flippers are looking into the easiest way to make a quick buck, by tapping into specialized advertising.
Cuil has just been unleashed and it has been getting so much attention that their servers crashed on the first day. NY Times reported that Cuil is a search engine that the founders promise will be more comprehensive than Google’s and that they hope will give its users more relevant results.
Ms. Patterson left Google in 2006 to found Cuil. The new company has other prominent ex-Google employees, including Russell Power, who worked with Ms. Patterson on the large Google index, and Louis Monier, a former chief technology officer at AltaVista, a pioneering search engine. Cuil, which has about 30 employees and is in Menlo Park, Calif., has raised $33 million from venture investors.
Mr. Costello, a former researcher at Stanford, said that with 120 billion Web pages, Cuil’s search index is larger than any other. The company uses a form of data mining to group Web pages by content, which makes the search engine more efficient, he said. Instead of showing results as short snippets of text and images with links, it displays longer entries and uses more pictures. It also provides tools to help users further refine their queries.
FastCompany has a slideshow about 10 things you can do with Twitter.
We feel that one power feature of Twitter is the "track" command which is used in this way - "track singapore", "track jorbb", "track grand prix".
Anytime someone twitters about "singapore", "grand prix" or "jorbb", you will be notified via IM / SMS.
This helps you with environmental scanning of what's being said about your brand, or to keep up to date with latest news e.g. who just won the Grand Prix.
As part of being an E-biz Exhibition sponsor, which is happening at SMU today / tomorrow, 100for100 Web Hosting will offer its $100/yr for 100mb plan (Free .com .net .org) at only$50 for 1st year (subsequent years at $100/yr), that's a 50% discount! The account will have unlimited features such as unlimited email addresses, unlimited databases etc.
Visit this link for more information on the package and http://quiz.100for100.com to redeem the promo (500 new accounts available only).
100for100 Web Hosting, a TrustSg certified web hosting provider, is proud to be a sponsor for the event. We have been providing hosting services for online shops, start-ups, blogs, hobbyists with the popular $100/yr for 100mb package which comes with FREE domain name (.com .net .org). This Linux based package also comes with 1 FREE professional Flash template from a choice of 10 and unlimited email accounts, MySQL databases, and much more. With one-click installation, scripts such as shopping carts, blog scripts can be easily added to your website.
Come down to The E-biz Exhibition (TEE) - the FIRST exclusive e-commerce bazaar that will allow online entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products! Grab amazing bargains from nearly 40 different booths - we'll have gorgeous accessories, handpainted shoes, global fashion imports, personalized gifts, perfumes and more. At the same time, you'll get to learn all about online shopping, selling and entrepreneurship through a series of talks from our invited guest speakers!
Date/Time: 25 and 26 July 2008, 12pm - 10pm Venue: SMU School of Economics and Social Sciences Ground Floor
"Nicely sums up the explosion of digital-technology advances during the past 15 years and places the phenomenon in its global context...[Friedman] never shrinks from the biggest problems and the thorniest issues...Ambitious."–Paul Mangnusson, BusinessWeek
Listeners will receive the audiobook in three easy-to-download sections, and soon after that, as an added bonus, will also receive an exclusive prepublication audio excerpt of Friedman's HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED: WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA.
Mashable posted a great article summarising 35+ examples of a wide variety of businesses, industries and social media tools. As you can see, engagement takes many forms. Some are likely to generate more discussions with the company while others might result better connections between customers. Some will fade away over the next 6-12 months while others will continue to grow and evolve.
The list includes Blendtec (Will It Blend fame), Dell, Coke, Nike, MacDonalds etc.
There are no rules to what form your engagement has to take. Look at your company, identify its strengths, what types of conversations energize employees and determine how you can best grow/shape/build/join your own community.
Booking a taxi will be a breeze from next Monday (July 21, 2008). Taxi commuters will just need to call one common number - 6342 5222 - or 6-DIAL CAB. The number will be routed to 3 companies, in a relay, if one does not pickup, it will try the next one, and then the next.
There are many theories in the art of persuasion, particularly when it comes to sales. Consulative selling involves persuasive sales and there are some easy techniques to persuade someone to say "yes" to what it being offered.
1. Make sure you are exploring their real needs or desires. Don't just list features of a product or service. Find out what your customer is looking for so you can tailor the discussion around that.
2. Use the right questions. Build the discussion asking "what" or "how" questions (i.e. "what are you looking for in a new refrigerator" or "how do you think sales coaching will help you?")
3. Use stories or analogies to make the experience personal.
4. Use real testimonials. Tell them about the neighbor down the block who had a similar issue with insects, used your pest control service and had great (be specific) results. If you have a celebrity testimonial, even better!
5. Be sincere. Really try to help the customer find a solution. Don't just make the sale...build a relationship. Even if you lose this particular sale, if you are sincere and really attempt to help, the likelihood that the customer will seek out you, or at minimum, your company when they do have a genuine need (or pass the info on elsewhere) will improve dramatically.
Text 100, a global public relations consultancy, has just completed an extensive survey of bloggers in the Asian Pacific region and ended up with some unexpected findings. 153 bloggers who target technology, business and news audiences were polled on a variety of topics including how they view PR firms, how they communicate, how much time is spent blogging and more.
A surprising find is that bloggers welcome contact from PR firms or the clients they represent, as long as the contact is content appropriate. Bloggers prefer, not surprisingly, online communication, generally email. Bloggers offered additional input including that PR firms should:
send an introductory email before trying to engage in business with the blogger
know the content of the blog they are referring to
attend blogging events and understand the community
be sensitive to the fact that not everyone blogs professionally and know when to contact the writer
avoid mass-mailing
PR firms and bloggers agree that it is imperative that corporations utilize blogs as part of their media outreach, and thus, become more familiar with the genre and the individuals writing for said Web logs.
Our favourite "ideas" blog - TrendHunter'ssub site, TrendWatching has compiled 41 new business ideas in their "Innovation Avalanche" post.
"There's more innovation happening than ever before. New brands, new niches, new concepts, new products, new services and new experiences are flooding an equally fast expanding number of markets. Just as important, there are more freely available sources to track these innovations than ever before. And all of this is coming to (if not at) you from every corner of the world. The GLOBAL BRAIN has been unleashed, and there’s nowhere to hide for those who aren't part of it."
Check out the post after the jump, or download the pdfhere.
So we went to collect our Singapore GP tickets at the post office and when the staff came out with the 6 tickets, we were wondering why they came out in 3 big boxes!
Check out the unboxing of our Singapore F1 GP tickets. By the way, we managed to fit all 6 ticket packs into 1 box.
An Australian-based social networking site for business owners and professionals has just been launched.
"Our aim is empower businesses, employees and self-employed to reach their full potential through a business network which is Australian based", said Michael Brecht, the founder, "whether you are looking for a job, an investment opportunity, a business partner or a new employee."
ZaaBiz is free to sign up, but they also have a membership scheme. TechNation Australia has a summary of features:
- Skype Integration - can show Skype status in your profile
- Shows connections from many degrees away (LinkedIn limits to 3 degrees by default)
- You list your "Haves" and "Wants" in your profile - could a matching engine be added for connecting businesses in a barter-like ecosystem?
- Business Groups (like Facebook / LinkedIn) - where like-minded members can connect and create and post to forums. Michael noted a lot of offline/online activity happening in the Groups.
"The focus on business owners and developing presence where LinkedIn and Xing haven't yet developed strong footprints is great. Could they become one of the "big three" professional social networks? LinkedIn - North America, Xing - Europe, ZaaBiz - Asia? With Xing and LinkedIn battling each other head-to-head, they may just have a shot.
Following the report that retail sales rose over 11 per cent from February to March 2008, the Singapore Retailers Association is reporting that the outlook in sales is favorable through the end of the year.
ChannelNewsAsia reports that, despite the strong outlook, retail consultants are reminding retailers to offer diverse ways to lure shoppers in: one size does not fit all.
Cutting prices is only one way. Knowing your markets and offering great customer service are equally important.
Retailers are more concerned about improving customer service than any economic downturn, according to Retail Asia Online. They report that "the Customer-Centric Store, a survey conducted by RSR (Retail Systems Research), has identified “the need to improve customer service while keeping down costs” as the number one concern of industry players, with 56% of the respondents finding this a challenge." Image Source GreatSingaporeSale. Follow Jorbb on Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook.
Freelance Switch has a great article on protecting yourself on projects here. They point out 8 key areas you should be sure to cover in your service agreement before starting a project, particularly with a new client.
*Billing structure: what is your rate? how do you bill (by hour or project?)
*Late payment: Determine/state your grace period (usually 30 days) and late fees
*Interim charge caps: Put a cap on how much debt a client can carry before you stop working (for example, with a $500 cap, the client has to pay something to bring it below $500 before you continue with the project). Especially important for large projects.
*Scheduling: Are you on call 24/7 or Monday-Friday 8am-5pm? Can clients call you after hours in an emergency? Do you work weekends or holidays?
*Spec work: Working on speculation is essentially doing free work so that a client can judge your services and determine if they want to continue. Gary Horsman of Freelance Switch recommends NOT taking spec work and spelling that out in the service agreement.
*Termination of services by client: If your work is refused or your services rejected after you've already done part of the project work, state in your service agreement that work not paid for cannot be used in whole or part.
*Ownership rights: Establish who owns the work: you or the client. If you want to retain the work for use in a portfolio, state that in the agreement.
*Unforeseen or sudden termination of a project: If you are unable to continue due to illness, accident or for another reason, clients deserve protection. The best thing to do is have an agreement with a backup (or two).
By being clear and upfront, you establish yourself as a professional and prevent unnecessary miscommunication that could hamper your reputation.
Compliments of Mahalo.com, we have Steve Jobs' keynote on the upcoming iPhone 3G in 60 seconds. Why go through the 107 mins version when you can get all the highlights in a minute.
Quoted from their website - "Mahalo is a human-powered search engine that creates organized, comprehensive, and spam free search results for the most popular search terms. Our search results only include great links."
After the news that subscribers could switch carriers but retain their existing phone numbers, Singapore telcos are attempting to lure subscribers by offering new packages and, for SingTel, the iPhone. StarHub, MobileOne and SingTel are all presenting new plans including all-for-one services, roaming flat rates, unlimited same service calls and music jukeboxes.
Customers who choose their carriers based on price will find that there isn't much difference. Customers are more likely to switch based on their customer service experience or the coverage than special promotions and packages. Of all the packages, analysts say all-in-one packaging of various media including pay-TV, fixed line, mobile and Internet could prove the most popular of the new packages.
In the introduction to Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business can Become a Leader of the Pack, author Donna Fenn (Inc. magazine) recounts her first time meeting entrepreneur Chris Zane in 1995. Zane owned a bike shop, Fenn was not excited about the interview. But what she found was, despite the size of the business and Zane's age (30), he had an instinct for great business development: "stellar customer service, one-to-one marketing, continuous learning, employee development, and cause-related marketing".
Zane now has 65% of his market share, 4 competitors vs. the 16 he started with, and $6.1 million in sales. Zane is just one example of many in this realistic read of the successful small business experience.
Focusing on very small, mostly unknown businesses that serve niche markets and utilize creative, passionate marketing strategies, the book succeeds in inspiring and providing a road map for both those with a new idea and the CEO of well established companies. One Amazon reader says it will "energize your entrepreneurial spirit" and 29 reviewers give it 5 out of 5 stars.
Starbucks is hoping to harness the power of social media with a new ad campaign aimed at creating an online conversation between younger coffee drinkers.
