TrendTracking: Entrepreneurs, Know Thy Self


A while back I started a weekly feature called “TrendTracking: a place for small business to see and be seen”, but then let it lapse. The name “TrendTracking” did not seem to have anything to do with “small business.” I was not satisfied with the name and wanted to think of a new one, but never came up with anything better.

I now have decided to quit worrying about the name — maybe inspiration will hit me one day when I’m taking a walk. Or perhaps one of you will offer a suggestion of a good name. Meanwhile, let’s talk about some items of interest to small business around the Web and blogosphere:

  • Awards: Rex Hammock’s B-to-B publication, called MyBusiness magazine, won the equivalent of an Emmy award, called the Neal. The magazine is custom published for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). Congratulations, Rex, and the NFIB.
  • Audio on Blogs: I am intrigued with some of the interesting ways people are using audio on their blogs. Deanna Spencer, on her blog, Learn Small Business, is posting articles — and then she is adding a podcast of the article in the same post. UPDATE: This blog has moved and the new URL can be found here.
  • More Audio on Blogs: Yaro Starak works audio into his site, Entrepreneur’s Journey, in multiple ways. When you arrive at the site, he offers a recorded welcome message. He also offers a guided tour pointing out features of the blog. And he offers podcast interviews with other people.
  • Entrepreneurial Quote: Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, speaks in a recent post about the importance of entrepreneurs knowing what they are good at — and what they stink at, saying: “When I was 23 years old, sleeping on the floor and starting MicroSolutions, no assistant. No organization. I was a procrastinator. Accounting was a shoebox of receipts. I was a mess. But I lied to myself and said that I could deal with it. That i would make time to get it all figured out and organized. That if I only set my mind to it, I could be a detail person. I could stop procrastinating. It doesn’t work that way.” It sure doesn’t.
  • Small Business Event: U.S. Small Business Week takes place in mid-April. Read about the Small Business Week conference being put on by the U.S. Small Business Administration on April 12-13, 2006. What are you doing for Small Business Week?

 

8 Comments ▼

Anita Campbell Anita Campbell is the Founder, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends and has been following trends in small businesses since 2003. She is the owner of BizSugar, a social media site for small businesses.

8 Reactions
  1. Thank you very much, Anita. That was nice of you to mention.

  2. Hi Anita,

    Your blog is a great resource as I’m a small business owner serving the corporate sales market. I’m the new kid on the block with her blog and audio podcasting as I’m hosting a series of podcast interviews titled, “Daily Dialogues with the Champions at Quarter-end”- sponsored by the TeleSmart Blog, Life in the Telebusiness Trenches http://www.tele-smart.com/blog.

    Since it’s quarter end and the most important week of the year for closing business, I’m going out there and speaking with the champions to see how they are doing this week- what are their closing tactics? I’ve gathered a talented group of champions from some of the software giants such as: Oracle, VeriSign, Microsoft, Apple, EMC and asking them how they are surviving quarter-end this week.

    Thanks for your words of wisdom,

    Josiane Feigon, President of Telesmart http://www.tele-smart.com/blog

  3. Hi Anita,

    Thanks for the mention. You know we really should get around to that podcast interview we talked about a few months ago.

    Are you still keen?

    Yaro

  4. Thanks so much for mentioning me in your blog Anita. I just wanted to let you know that I’m moving my Learn Small Business Blog to wordpress. The new url is http://learnsmallbusiness.wordpress.com
    I didn’t want you to be linking to a dead link.

    Great blog, keep up the good work.
    DeAnna Spencer

  5. Anita,

    Thank you for the mention of of Cool Corporate dot COM in the return of TrendTracking. I happen to be a big fan of yours, and the response I have gotten in the past few days from you mention has been amazing.

    J.C. Payne
    http://coolcorporate.com

  6. Thanks for the thoughts and links. This is my first visit to your blog. Will read on.

    Cheers,

    JP

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