Nothing’s wrong with you. I’m the problem. And I’m working on it, but damn baby, it’s a tricky situation.

The Plan Resonate blog has technical difficulties. (Oh the technical hoops we jump through to deliver steamy new content).

Update: The broken links are fixed. Please report any if you find them. Thanks. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Anderson recently posted on the subject of RSS feeds and strategies to differentiate information. In the post he drew some interesting conclusions about his own patterns of consuming and filtering information.

What all these blogs that have earned their way to my feed list are doing is adding value to commodity information. The ones I’m reading do this in at least one of three main ways:

1. Add value with a unique perspective or analysis.

2. Add value with unique information.

3. Add value by providing a unique filter/lens on content available elsewhere.

Like Chris, I rarely visit mainstream news media sites, and I get most of my news from blogs. I’m no media scholar, nor a journalist, and Chris’ ideas make sense to me.

Some factors that aren’t in Chris’ list above:

1. Having an editor.

2. Getting paid to write.

3. Restricting your content to an “objective” point of view (whatever that means).

I’m inspired by the SHARANYA community.

It’s always useful to reference the work of talented organizers. SHARANYA provides a good case study for effective community building. Community building tips from SHARANYA: Read the rest of this entry »

Anita Campbell has reported that economic conditions look positive for small businesses. Her recent post references the SBA’s Quarterly Indicators Report, as well as the Small Business Economic Trends Quarterly Report from the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Check out her post for links to the PDF reports, as well as her insightful summary.

If you own your own business, these indicators could forecast a strong market that will likely carry well into 2006.

But what will happen if your business owns you? You could spend all of 2006 working day and night and never quite get ahead. Or maybe you’ll get ahead financially, and it’ll cost you your relationship with family or friends. Sorry to sound pessimissic. I’m not. I just think it’s important to keep these risks in perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

Then maybe you’ll appreciate what the people at the Searle Herbarium of the Field Museum are doing. Their Rapid Reference Collection is a beautiful, free, web-accessible database of neotropical plant specimens.

Although they consider the project to be only in pilot phase, the collection of 14,000 samples is impressive. Each specimen is presented larger than life, with nice high resolution images.

Deleting spam from the inbox is a waste of time. Could you imagine what a huge waste it would be if you started responding to the sender, to politely decline their invitation?

“No, I’m sorry, but at this time I don’t need any amazing pre$cr%ption pills. Thanks for asking!”

Yet if you’re trying to sell something online, it’s occasionally worthwhile to respond to what may be fraudulent inquiries. Scams. Some scams come from Nigeria. Some come from the US or other countries. The ones in the inbox are probably far less risky than the ones in the capital - but that’s not what this blog is about. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a list of business books? Josh Kaufman has prepared one that he calls the Personal MBA. It is being distributed as a free downloadable “manifesto” by Change This.

The Personal MBA could be a valuable resource. It presents a selection of 42 popular business books. What it lacks in depth should be forgiven. The author is web savvy and has done a great job promoting this piece. He deserves applause for encouraging reading and self education.

The Personal MBA list can also be easily amended to suit your preferences. Josh left out some books that I personally think you should read / own as a management resource. They are: Read the rest of this entry »

The [tag]Plan Resonate[/tag] blog is on. We launched today with the resounding splash of one special drop of rain in the ocean. An ocean that’s rising faster every day. And so here we are. Together.

The blog will include information about Plan Resonate, and some analysis of business. There will be postings of interest to our local communities, and postings about our lives. You’re invited to please comment.

Of course there will also be the internets. We’ll make an effort to present some of the better information that we find out there. With any luck, we’ll filter out the really bad crap and steer you to some of the relatively better crap. We have high expectations.

In summary, we’re going to supply information (free!) about business and community and occasionally things that are happening in other places on the internet. Beyond that you’ll have to trust us, and hopefully everything will work out in the end. Thanks.

Looking forward,

Jeffrey