What people may not realize, is this casual conversation may be the best test to whether their business idea is actually good - The Elevator Pitch. Can you break down your business idea and sell me on it being something that will make money in the time it takes for us to ride up an elevator?? If you can’t, then most likely, it’s not that great of an idea.

This is the concept behind The Perfect Pitch.  The Perfect Pitch 2009 competition is giving the opportunity to business people, entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, or even students to submit videos of their Elevator Pitch and get a chance to get funded. At the conclusion of the competition, the top 3 finalists will present at The Perfect Pitch Entrepreneur/Investor Conference at The Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey October 26, 2009. To submit your business idea and get a chance to pitch in front of Richard Branson and our judges panel made up of investors and GET FUNDED, visit www.ThePerfectPitch.com.

Who will be listening? The judges panel is made up of heavy hitters from these investment institutions:

August Capital - $1.3 BillionVCFirm

Cal Cap Partners - $200 MillionVCFirm

Rustic Canyon Partners - $700 MillionVCFirm

QualcommVentures - $500 MillionVCFirm

Price Waterhouse Coopers – Business Consulting &VCIndustry Analyst

And of course, our main guest of honor and breakfast keynote speaker who will listen to the top 3 finalists pitch their idea at the entrepreneur conference: Sir Richard Branson.

The conference itself is something special to be a part of. On top of Richard Branson speaking, there will also be many different experts from the business industry sharing their expertise, experience, and stories on how they became successful. To buy tickets to the Entrepreneur/Investor Conference, visit www.ThePerfectPitch.com.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the participants in the business panel discussions we have put together for you:

	INVESTOR PANEL
	John Babcock Partner - Rustic Canyon Partners An experienced venture investor, John Babcock has been a partner at Rustic Canyon Partners since the firm’s formation in 1999. John brings over 15 years of technology industry experience to both the firm and our portfolio companies. He focuses on investment opportunities in clean technology, technology-enabled services, outsourcing and advanced construction materials. Rustic Canyon Partners is one of the largest venture capital firms in Southern California. Rustic Canyon invests in seed-stage and later-stage opportunities typically requiring a $2-4 million initial investment.
	John Morris Chairman Emeritus - Tech Coast Angels; Managing Director - GKM Ventures John is both an active investor and an advisor for early-stage companies. He is a co-founder of the Los Angeles branch of Tech Coast Angels. John’s has previous experience in investment banking and venture capital with Sutro & Co., Wedbush Morgan Securities and NewCap Partners. John started his VC career as a partner with First Interstate Venture Capital. Tech Coast Angels is the largest angel investor organization in the country. GKM Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on IT companies in the western U.S.
	TECHNOLOGY & TRENDS PANEL
	Jason Nazar CEO/Founder - Docstoc Jason is the Co-Founder and CEO of Docstoc. Before starting Docstoc, he was a partner in a venture consulting firm in Los Angeles where he worked with dozens of startups. He holds have a BA from UCSB and his JD/MBA from Pepperdine University, where he was the Student Body President of both Universities. Docstoc.com is the premier online community to find and share professional documents.
	Jeff Tinsley CEO/Founder - MyLife.com Jeff is the founder of MyLife.com, which was formerly known as Reunion.com. Jeff is experienced in building profitable online ventures. Among his past successes are RealityTracker, GreatDomains.com and Intelligent Business Concepts. He has also invested in several other successful companies. MyLife.com is America’s largest and most comprehensive people search service with over 30 million registered users.
	ENTREPRENEUR PANEL
	Steven Lipscomb CEO/Founder - World Poker Tour Steve founded the World Poker Tour with a vision to create a professional league of poker players comparable to the various professional sports leagues. His experience as both an entrepreneur and television/film producer enabled him to achieve his vision. The WPT Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded company that oversees the World Poker Tour brand and various tournaments, programs and internet operations.
	Wing Lam Founder - Wahoo’s Fish Taco While surfing in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, Wing and his two brothers would refuel on freshly-prepared tacos found in roadside stands. Wing’s family had operated restaurants in Brazil and California. In 1988, Wing and his brothers decided to import the fish taco they craved and give it a unique twist. Wahoo’s was born. They combined the freshest ingredients with Brazilian recipes and an Asian flare. Wahoo’s restaurants became a respected brand among avid surfers. Wahoo’s Fish Taco operates 53 locations (and growing) in California, Colorado, Hawaii and Texas.
	EFFECTIVE WEB DESIGN & SEO - BREAKOUT SESSION
	Tony Adam SEO Manager - Yahoo! Tony Adam has been involved in technology since 2001, with a focus on Internet Marketing, Product Development, Social Media and SEO. He has worked with many SMBs, startups, and larger organizations such as PayPal and Yahoo! Tony currently works at Yahoo! as SEO Manager for Yahoo! Audience Marketing, specifically on the Traffic Acquisition Team. He is currently involved in creating SEO strategies and tactical SEO advice for various Yahoo! Properties. Yahoo! is one of the world’s largest internet companies with a network of integrated services and over 500 million users worldwide.
	Jackie Peters Founder - Heavybag Media Jackie started out as a developer during Web 1.0 - her career went from there to screen design, to multimedia development and ultimately to building and executing communication strategy. In 2001, Jackie co-founded Heavybag Media. Her role is to develop marketing strategies that utilize social tools, community platforms, traditional and non-traditional media and technology in order to enable brands to engage their audience on a meaningful level. Heavybag Media is an interactive marketing firm, which believes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and understanding how all of the parts work together makes it even greater.
	PR & MARKETING TACTICS THAT WORK - BREAKOUT SESSION
	Tyler Barnett Founder - Barnett Ellman Tyler Barnett was recognized as one of Business Week’s “Best Young Entrepreneurs Under 25.” He represents some of America’s best-known brands and has demonstrated a particular skill in using technology marketing to drive PR campaigns. Barnett Ellman is a public relations firm dedicated to firms interested in targeting the millennial generation.
	WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BUSINESS FORMATION - BREAKOUT SESSION
	Chas Rampenthal General Counsel - LegalZoom Chas Rampenthal is experienced in general corporate, partnership, venture capital and securities law. Before joining LegalZoom, he was a founding partner of Belanger and Rampenthal LLC and was an associate at firms in Boston and Los Angeles. Chas was also an officer and aviator in the United States Navy. Chas is admitted to practice law in both California and Massachusetts. LegalZoom is a legal document service company that helps people create legal documents, including business formations (incorporations, LLCs and DBAs), patents, copyrights and trademarks.

The biggest example of branded entertainment producing monstrous results is in the film industry.  The comic book movies started it all.  In 1966, “Batman: The Movie” was released.  But since that was based more on the hit TV series than the comic book, I give credit to 1978’s “Superman” with Christopher Reed as the first comic book feature film.  It launched the genre into the mega-blockbuster industry it’s become today.

We all have seen what this form of branded entertainment has become.  Not only are these long form commercials making millions, but they are also revitalizing many of these ancient comic book heroes into modern day celebrities:  Action figures, comic books, coloring books, lunchboxes, etc.  What could have been an extinct trend is remade into the hottest toy over and over again…branded entertainment is powerful.

Transformers launched a new era in branded entertainment.  No longer did it require for 50 years of a comic and millions of loyal fans to produce a feature film.  Action figures and classic TV shows are pulling the same numbers from adults and children alike.  G.I. Joe has even found its way on the major screen.

If there’s one thing this country is notorious for. its taking trends and exploiting them until every last penny is squeezed out of it.  Hasbro’s latest deal with Universal and Electronic Arts may be just that.  They have signed a 6 year exclusive deal with Universal to create feature films based on Hasbro products: “Monopoly,” “Clue,” “Ouija,” “Battleship,” “Magic, the Gathering” and “Stretch Armstrong.”  The deal with EA will be to create video games on these same properties.

So basically, Universal has agreed to create 6 2-hour long live-action commercials and EA to create games (which will undoubtedly consume 10+ hours of each person life who plays them - EACH GAME) of their most popular titles of all time.  Not only will these “films” and video games create millions in revenue on resurrected sales of Hasbro’s products…but we, the public, will also pay $10-$15 to go see the two hour long commercials and $50 to play the game too!!!

On one side, I feel a bit embarrassed to be part of a society that is so easily influenced.  On the other, way to go Hasbro…you are marketing geniuses.

She was able to bring Yelp on board as a marketing partner.  They donated a newsletter sponsorship that went out to San Francisco yelp members to SFWAR.  This means that Yelp sent out a newsletter which read “sponsored by SFWAR” with a link to the website under the article title and also included a banner ad for the “dine for a change” event at the bottom.  Great exposure; great job Erica.

Well, turns out Yelp made an honest mistake, but one that should have been caught.  The topic of the newsletter that SFWAR was attached to was about bicycles.  A normal topic, nothing crazy about it.  That is until the writer came up with the title “Put the Fun Between Your Legs” - sponsored by San Francisco Women Against Rape!  I’m sure it was just a simple overlook.  Editors may not have realized that SFWAR was an organization treating rape victims.  But you can imagine the displeasure of many supporters of SFWAR and victims of rape that read that newsletter.

To my sister’s horror, she began to receive emails from people about the mistake minutes after the newsletter went out.  Even Yelp itself was getting phone calls from people complaining about the inappropriateness.  Yelp owned up to the mistake and sent a correction with a new, more appropriate title and an official apology for the overlook.

In the end no real harm was done and one could even look back and chuckle at what happened (since it was an innocent overlook).  As for my sis…no press is bad press.  She got two releases and probably more attention to that article, SFWAR, and “dine for a change” because of the incident.

You can actually tell when they release the correction because people comment on that.  The funniest response is the first person to realize the inappropriateness:

Anyone else notice the tasteless combination of an email title of “Put The Fun Between Your Legs” and just below the title, the statement “This Weekly Yelp brought to you by SF Women Against Rape”

Click here to see all the comments: http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-put-the-fun-between-your-legs

Anytime I get to watch good music, be it at a concert hall, Hollywood club, or private party, it’s always a treat.  This past Friday was much more than a treat.  In front of barely a few hundred people, Tiesto took the stage at DJ Val Kolton’s VMODA House high atop the Hollywood Hills.  The theme was set as a white party and everybody, I mean everybody, was dressed in white. 

The house was decked in white sheets stretched to the top of the 30 ft ceilings of Val’s house.  The house itself is unique as it resembles more of a club inside than a place of residence.  The ceiling is lined with smoke and light machines and a sound system that make several of the clubs here in Hollywood look amateur. 

What’s a classy party without the classy food and beverages:  Steak quesadillas, stuffed portobella mushrooms, cucumbers wrapped with prosciutto, champagne, wine, and never-ending vodka were just a few of the things I can recall consuming.  After a while, the dancing occupied all of my time and I soon forget the gourmet food.

Tiesto was nothing short of amazing as usual.  He had the whole house rockin’ on the dance floor screaming and flailing their hands in the air.  Cameras were flashing like crazy as everyone was trying to catch this rare moment on film. DJ Val Kolton closed out the night and kept the party going until the wee hours in the morning.  Even once the sun was coming up, we just simply moved to the movie theatre room (which has no windows) where Val already had a DJ table set up so the music never quit.

Plain and simple…one of the funnest (yes I used funnest) nights I have had in a while.  My legs hurt from dancing so much. 

Keep in mind, June 20th, DJ Val Kolton, Marshal Barnes, Casey Connor, Mr. White, and headliner Cedric Gervais will join Hollywood in taking over The Riviera Resort and Spa in Palm Springs.  I imagine there will be many more moments similar to this past Friday to make yet another weekend to remember. 

If you’re in town then, you need to seriously consider booking a room.  You can go to My House, Guys and Dolls, Foxtail, or any of the other Hollywood Clubs anytime you like, but the Summer Solstice is only once a year. 

The longest party on the longest days of the year.  There will be a Day Pool party and Night Event.  Words can’t describe, so check out the Summer Solstice 2009 Website and book a room NOW: http://www.thescene.com/solstice

For those of us who closely follow the NBA Playoffs, we all have definitely seen it:  The Nike muppet Kobe and Lebron commericial and the Vitamin Water commercial are being shoved down our throats every TV timeout.  Add in the individual Kobe and Lebron commercials on top of those, and you feel like your in the middle of a tight presidential race.

Think of the amount of money invested in this showdown that the whole industry is pushing for…not only does it guarantee sold out stadiums with $1000+ ticket prices, but I would imagine the Vitamin Water and Nike presence on the game breaks will be like Microsoft in a computer store pre-1998: Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of ad revenue.

We all know about the referee scandal that has tarnished the integrity of the game.  You can’t help but think with the millions being poured into what has been coined the “inevitable” matchup, that there may be some serious lobbying going on inside the trenches in the NBA.  The oil industry plays it dirty in politics, makes sense for the corporations to do the same in sports.  I highly doubt Vitamin Water and Nike have Carmelo Anthony vs. Dwight Howard commercials on stand-by (Carmelo is endorsed by Nike, Dwight by Adidas), so most likely the networks and the NBA will lose out if the matchup doesn’t happen.

I’m sure the debate has its arguement for both side.  Regardless, I think it’s a poor decision of the NBA to allow such a strong commercial campaign to occur throughout the playoffs.  The scandal has put the integrity of the game and officiating under such scrutiny; the league should really keep tighter control over their image.

In this tough economy, cash is king.  That means morals get only a secondary consideration.  I will admit that the finals so far have been close, but in all honesty, that makes it easier for officials to control destiny.

Hey…if the economy continues to decline, maybe next year we’ll see Sprint launch a “Text the Champs” campaign where users can text in who they want to see in the Finals.  There’s definitely some money in that!

Here’s the commercial for all to review.

Twitter has become the public AP wire.  The perfect example is when the Greater Los Angeles Area had a mild earthquake a couple days ago.  I was standing in my kitchen when I noticed my equilibrium seemed to be off.  An earthquake had just happened.  It was so mild, I had to ponder whether it had really just happened or I just imagined it.  A person in the room confirmed that they thought they felt something too.  The only way to confirm…the internet.  So I got on the web Googling ‘Los Angeles earthquake’.  The results I got back were of past earthquakes that had been written about.  Being that it was only moments after the quake, not even the earthquake sites had posted anything about it.

That’s when I thought, “I wonder if anyone is tweeting about it?”  To my amazement, the Twitter search turned up hundreds of results.  People tweeting about feeling it, speculating on the size of the quake, speculating on the epicenter.  If you were to go through every tweet the search brought up, one could probably come up with a pretty good guess on where the epicenter was.  Why?  The closer to the epicenter you got (Inglewood) the more people from that area had felt it.  Quite a phenomenon.  The earthquake sites, which are pretty quick in posting data, may have had postings on the quake up in 5 minutes at the quickest, but Twitters had postings on the quake up in seconds.

I think as Twitter continues to grow and more and more people join, you will see this trend to continue.  From sporting events (Did you see that shot?), concert events (So and so is a guest performer!!), car chases, natural disasters, and celeb gossip, the Tweeters will be the first on the scene and the first to report.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Google moving in and buying Twitter to add to it’s empire.  The site everyone was, at first, figuring out, is now slowly becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

There is a big disconnect with nightlife and event marketing and the online world. Sure…Facebook and Myspace have event pages you can set up…and there’s sites like clubplanet.com and metromix.com (wait…they’re going under) that exist. But let’s be honest, few of us ever go to those sites and if you have, you probably don’t go back there often.

Teaming up with TheScene.com, we have devised a solution that literally “connects” events with the online world. Facebook Connect is a fairly new technology that Facebook has developed. It helps integrate websites directly into Facebook. What does this mean? This means you can take advantage of the traffic and activity that takes place on Facebook with your website - Plug your website directly into Facebook. For the event/nightlife industry, this is huge!!

Speaking in terms of special events, Facebook Connect can help increase the value of the marketing exposure. Special events are where sponsors, music, and celebrities become involved and make the night something unique…more than just a normal night at a club. To date, sponsors have been supporting special events in order to reach the hundreds if not thousands of people that attend the event - and they pay good money too if you do it right. At most, the outreach, beyond the day of the event, goes about as far as the marketing materials (flyers, tickets, etc) that are passed out days, maybe weeks (at most), before the event. This is so restricting!! A sponsor of a website can get hundreds of thousands of eyes, if not millions of eyes on their brand. How do you connect these two worlds together??

The only way to explain it, is to show it, then explain it: www.hollywoodprom2009.com

Here’s what’s we’ve done:

Using Facebook Connect, we are able to make the sign in process painless. All people have to do is click on Facebook Connect, verify their email, and they’re in. This is key because I think we all can agree that the registration process of a site is sometimes so annoying we don’t even bother.

It doesn’t stop there though. Any and all activity user create on the website is published in their newsfeed so all their friends can see what they are doing. For example, on the Hollywood Prom Facebook page, there are almost 3,000 fans (in less than a week). On this page, people have been posting funny comments and old prom pictures of themselves. People are excited and engaged. Using Facebook Connect, TheScene.com can import that wall content into the prom website so that the posting is seamless on both sites. What you see on the Facebook page, is what you see on the Prom website.

This is friends telling friends about the site…think of the potential viral explosion. Hundreds become thousands, thousands become millions, and the next thing you know, the mere thousands of impressions (at most) the sponsor was expecting to get at the event, has now become hundreds of thousands, if not millions, potentially spanning worldwide. When thinking in terms of CPM, this is stretching that marketing dollar farther than ever thought possible before. Noone can throw an event with millions of people in attendance (ok…Jesus Christ does a pretty good job of it twice a year, although I think God owns that title sponsorship).

On top of all this, you now have a destination site that people can go to for post-event activity as well. To date, people had to rely on sites like napkinights.com to upload pictures of their event to. With a destination micro-site, you can hog those pictures for yourself and make sure that your sponsors are getting more branding even though the event is done. Take it a step further…capture video content that is edited in a webisodic format, and you have a compelling video piece that can be virally shared for months after the event…building the hype for your next one!

You may be asking yourself, “Why don’t big events just create these social sites for their event themselves??” Answer: Because the cost of a custom site would be 50k+ which is more than most budgets for events!! They’d never make any money. That’s where TheScene.com comes in. They have the technology built; they have the team in place. They can whip up a microsite for an event in less than a week (I’ve seen them do it). And now you’ve added a resource that not only can help you sell your sponsorships…but can also be a promotional tool to guarantee exposure, tickets sales, media, celebrities, etc.

This is a very innovative concept, but let’s be honest, it’s not a new idea…social networking has existed for several years. This is just a new idea for nightlife/event marketing. Because up until now, it was too costly to even consider.

The LA Tech Crew LA in all it’s glitz and glamour has been and still is the entertainment capitol.  Although technology is clearly a large party of some of the Hollywood blockbusters we all know and love, people wouldn’t necessarily refer to LA as a ‘tech town.’  Well it seems the times…they are a changin.

First, on Thursday, I attended an event at place called Blankspaces.  Blankspaces is a pretty innovative idea for today’s entrepreneur.  Let’s be frank, LA isn’t your typical ‘suit and tie’, ‘slave in an office for 10hrs’ kind of town.  Why?  “Oh the weather outside is weather.” - It’s too damn nice out to be stuck in an office.  Alas, to be a good entrepreneur you must have an office at some point in your work week (there are exceptions of course).  Enter Blankspaces.  For as little as $475 a month, you can “lease” office space at their complex.  That is the basic price, but the maximum price that I saw on their rate page was 1100 for a private office unlimited use for just 1 month.  Obviously if you buy in bulk, your rate is cheaper.  They have day rates as well, so basically, any solution to your office needs.  Pretty nifty idea if you ask me.

Back to the event…It was really quite amazing; the turnout was great and there was free food and drink (always the way to a crowd’s heart).  They had Shira Lazar hosting it (which only strengthens my argument that LA is becoming more of a tech town…afterall, Shira is the ‘hot tech girl’…duh).  Asahi was providing the beer (although I’ll admit I was too hung over from the night before to enjoy any of it), and there was live music and lots of networking going on. 

There are two sponsors I remember, one being a company called the Xbrand Group - another interesting idea.  You’ve seen it with water…take a bottle of water and slap your company logo on it and you got your own brand of water.  Well, take that idea and apply it to energy drink.  Now you can throw your own parties and tell Redbull and Rockstar to f#@% off!!  Actually this is a great idea for events where title sponsors want to own everything…even the energy drink.  I know you event industry people are feeling me on that tip.

TheScene.com was the other sponsor showing off the Hollywood Prom landing page and the technology behind it.  People are starting to get the idea that nightlife can be social.  If you are curious as to what I mean by that…I will explain soon in another blog post.  But for now, just visit: www.hollywoodprom2009.com.

On to the second event…the Tubefilter Meetup.  Before I get into this, take a look at this highlight video so you can get an idea of what I’m about to talk about.

After the Streamy Awards, Tubefilter kept the momentum going by producing this great mixer (what they call a ‘meet-up’) at Avalon in Hollywood.  Here again you see the influence of tech as Tubefilter’s  existence was born with the web television industry and the technology that goes behind it (ok…the art too).  The sponsors on board were a tech company out of Canada that has this cool iPhone app that brings web television shows right to your iPhone.  I’m behind the times because I don’t have a cool smart phone like that (I’m waiting Helio) so I’m not qualified to speak on such technologies.  But it seems as if the iPhone is turning into a portable entertainment center/computer.  Not bad.

So there you have it.  Proof that there is life on Mars..I mean…for the tech biz in Los Angeles.

With that, I give you:  How to Make Money in This Bleeding Economy for Professional Service Providers.

You may not realize it, but you may fall under this category.  If you offer marketing, web design, sales, PR, or IT consulting services, then you obviously offer professional services.  But in addition, things like dog walker, baby sitter, adult care, rehabilitation, physical training, catering, personal chef, writer, or even nightlife promotion all fall under the category of a service provider.  It’s just up to you to utilize the tools that the web offers to turn yourself into a professional.

How do you go about getting people to know who you are, what you do, and to hire you??  That’s the hardest part.  Good thing we have this thing called the internet that has millions of resources to utilize.

www.servicegem.com

This site was literally just launched not too long ago.  It can be looked at as a social network where service providers can market themselves and service seekers can find someone who provides a service they need.  REMEMBER:  The early bird gets the worm.  This site may be empty now, but if you are the only service provider listed for your location and area of expertise…not too hard of a choice for people looking for that service!

There is a very extensive and ever growing category list with sub-categories that helps list you under the right service.  That way it’s easy for people to find what they are looking for…your services!!  The site has a great search feature that allows you to easily locate service providers that are local to you (a babysitter in California can’t be at your door in New York in 2 hours!!).  All part of the qualification process that filter leads so that the only ones calling/emailing you are great potential clients.

This isn’t just a site that sits there though, it’s active and alive!  In the coming months there will be a social media marketing strategy that involves user generated content where you, the pro service provider, can use short “blog” posts where you are incorporating your expertise in the industry your service is in to show off to the “service seekers” how “expert” you are.

The best part is that it’s free to join on both accounts.  Service providers only pay based on valid quality leads that they send your way.  You can set a cap on how much you want to spend so you control your budget.  Keep your eye on this site because it could be a big source of business for services providers of all size and locale.

Craigslist.org

By now if you haven’t heard of craigslist, then you probably haven’t realized the internet is on computers yet (to quote Homer Simpson).  I wrote a little blog post about craigslist perpetuating the spread of Bed Bugs.  Don’t let that deter you from using the site (other than from buying used furniture!!) though.  Craigslist is one of the best resources there is to strum up new business.

Now here’s my theory on why this is a great resource.  Companies struggling in this economy can’t afford to hire someone on a full-time basis providing medical benefits, paying employee tax, insurance, etc.  But they have work that needs to be done on a specific project they are working on.  If they can’t afford to hire someone on full-time, they need someone to work as a 1099 contractor.  But, as many of you probably know, finding good contractors is not an easy task.  Many times the project requires some specific knowledge of the business and expertise in what they are executing.  A head-hunter is way too expensive to pay to find someone (remember they can’t even afford to hire someone on a full-time basis).  So more and more of these companies are turning to craigslist as a cost efficient and effective means of finding someone.

Go on craigslist now and look in the job postings or even the “gigs” postings.  You will find requests for all kinds of work.  Now, the trick then becomes, getting them to notice your response with the other thousands of responses they are getting.  That my friend is up to you.  I have my methods…but you’ll have to pay me to get me to reveal my secrets!!

www.Linkedin.com

Linkedin is another interesting story.  It’s probably the most successful social networking sites that targets the business audience.  When it first came out, it was just another friend connector.  I really didn’t use it that much.  But with the user base growing as large as it has combined with the upgrades and improvements they made on the site, this can be a great resource for finding business.  The job posting section is the main resource I’m referring to when finding business.  Like craigslist, businesses that can only hire on contractors on a project-by-project basis are posting their needs on Linkedin like crazy.

What’s great about Linkedin is that because you have your own profile, you have a lot more resources to utilize to sell yourself.  You can post much more than just your resume, you can link to websites of projects you worked on, list organizations your involved in, and simply paint a picture of who you are as a business person.  Let’s face it, we’ve all had instances of working with someone that was an “expert” but miserable to work with.  With Linkedin, this can be avoided.

There’s also a feature that allows you have people “recommend” you.  This can range from friends to family to colleagues to previous clients.  And nothing is a better testimony of the quality of your work than a client success story…written by the client!  Not only is this a great feature to have when seeking work, it’s almost a necessity.  I see a lot of the posts out there noting that they prefer candidates with strong recommendations.

You will face the same challenges as you did with craigslist:  Thousands of people reply to job postings.  So again you have to be creative in your ways to get through to that person reviewing all these replies.  And again…no I won’t share my secret!!

So there are a few ways I wanted to share with the world on how I strum up business.  It’s a tough world out there now and we all need to love and support each other so that we all make it out on top when the economy (and it will I promise) turns around.

It’s so disheartening to the movement for equality amongst all who live, work, and are the very lifeline to our struggling economy.  The South already has issues to deal with in escaping the stereotype for being racist.  It’s ignorant comments like these by public officials that reopen the wound making it easy for people to scorn at.  When approached by the Organization of Chinese Americans, Brown replied, “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”  She refused calls out by people to apologize for her statements.

What’s next?  Mexicans changing their names so it’s easier for American to deal with?  Japanese?  Russians?  The list goes on.  This is a country that prides itself on being a big melting pot.  We are proud of the different cultures that are represented…probably more than any country in the world.  It’s just a shame that ignorant people like Betty Brown can make one stupid statement and tarnish the “American Way.”  I just hope she comes to her senses and realized the stupidity in her statement and apologizes for it.