Tuesday, June 30, 2009

'Connector" - Podcast - Tuesday evenings show

Alvin "Wyliemac" Borromeo and Rocky "RocksOn" VanBrimmer on Central Ohio's #1 hit live call in podcast "Connector!"

Guest:
1. Lisa Minken from Opera Columbus as she talks about "Opera Gone Wild" at the Columbus Zoo.
2. Andrew Hyde of Startup Weekend & Tech Stars, and Chris Anderson of Tech Columbus. Talking about the building blocks of start up’s & entrepreneurship.



Leading - Model The Way—Use Your Own Words

Written by Andrew Lewis in his weekly PMI Leadership newsletter


To successfully express your “self” you must be authentic. Your team has to immediately recognize what you are saying as your own words—and not a speech you’ve assumed from those above.

In all things be authentic—as you work to continue the culture that Dave has established (at Progressive Medical), to hold true to the principles and practices that set us apart from other organizations, you have to be yourself. Genuinely and unabashedly, you.

To do this requires deliberate thought and choice. You have to determine what matters to you and how you can best express it in your own words and ways.

Then go out and live it—matching your words with your deeds and Modeling The Way.

Personal Audit

What have your communications with your team in the last week sounded like? Are your words in alignment with our philosophy as an organization?

If not, why? If so, how and how can you demonstrate this to an even greater extent?

The rub about authenticity is that no one can teach you to be you. You have to discover your voice on your own. Thinking about last week is a good start, now think about what you are planning to communicate tomorrow.

HiLo Ride and Dougstock 2009 - wrapup and pics


What happened when the Columbus high tech community intersected with the low impact mission of the Columbus biking community?

We got the HiLo Bike Ride – a rolling and rocking, two-day bike ride featuring a 50-mile scenic ride, overnight camping on a beautiful organic farm, live music, great food, and a community testament to the use of bikes as a true means of transportation. All organized, promoted and staged by the central Ohio technology and biking community.

With over 50 riders this inaugural event was arousing success..Thanks to all our riders, organizers (Sandy, Steve, Mark, Willie, Dale, Bob,and Jim) SAG support (Mary and Paul) and especially Doug Morgan for hosting this incredible event. We'll see you all at next year's event.

Here's some pics from the event:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/bblanquera/sets/72157620576659461/show/with/3670826679/

Here's what some of our riders had to say:


This is the beginning of something really big. Let's keep building on it. Mark
The most fun I have had this summer ... and I met some awesome technologist and environmentalists to boot. A huge thank you to all organizers - you guys are more than visionaries, you are truly making a difference.
I had a great time for my first meetup with this group. Everyone was friendly and engaging. Many thanks to Ben & Doug and all the SAG team. The route featured the some of the best Central Ohio scenery on gently rolling roads. I wish I could have stayed longer at Dougstock; perhaps next year"
Great ride. The roads were very nice and well marked. Great group of people. The farm was awesome. Plan to make this an annual ride.
Thanks to all who made this event possible. The ride was beautiful, Doug's farm is wonderful and the conversations where great! Any thoughts to do it again in the fall? I'm happy to help. Thanks again!
Andrew Spott
This was just so much fun! The well organized festivities, well supported ride and amazing food/booze that followed made for a fantastic weekend. The people and conversations were stimulating and engaging, it was a great group. Thanks CTL and Doug and all the volunteers for making this happen!

Open Position (s) links - Over 100 openings - 6.30.09

If your company has openings please send me a link to the position listings and I'll post.

  1. Sterling Commerce - (4) http://bit.ly/Ih4p2
  2. OCLC - (36) http://bit.ly/18tOHF
  3. 2Checkout.com - (2) http://bit.ly/sCGWU
  4. Chemical Abstracts Services - (7) http://bit.ly/X4nFZ
  5. Ray & Barney Group Job Postings - (28) http://bit.ly/gYrqH
  6. Fast Switch, Ltd. - (30)http://bit.ly/mp108
  7. The Ohio State University (2) http://bit.ly/NgltP
  8. Quick Solutions (10) http://bit.ly/126ISW
  9. Tek Systems (3) http://bit.ly/4BcA8i
  10. Dawson (2) - Operations Manager, Technical Project Manager http://bit.ly/N7i0w
  11. TechColumbus job board http://bit.ly/yCFQ


For some support in your job search check out:

  1. Scioto Ridge Job Networking Group http://bit.ly/7xCbC
  2. Forty Plus of Central Ohio Home Page http://bit.ly/10fTGg
  3. Buckeye Resumes - Buckeye Resumes - http://bit.ly/QDJAP
  4. Worthington Career Services - http://bit.ly/KFXF5

SCI Engineered Materials Receives $1 Million Thin Film Solar Order

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- June 22, 2009 -- SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. (SCI) (OTC Bulletin Board: SCIA), a manufacturer of ceramics and metals for advanced applications using physical vapor deposition, today announced it received a $1 million order for Thin Film Solar products, which are expected to be manufactured and shipped during the second half of 2009.
SCI began developing additional products for Thin Film Solar in 2006 following several years as a materials supplier to that growing market. During the past two years the Company accelerated the acquisition of manufacturing equipment to scale its operations and also hired additional engineering and sales staff to specifically focus on Thin Film Solar. Currently, SCI is actively involved in the qualification process with several customers and has received a number of trial orders in 2009.
Dan Rooney, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are pleased to receive this significant order for Thin Film Solar products. It underscores the progress we are making in this strategic market that exhibits exciting long-term growth potential. We are continuing to scale SCI’s manufacturing and service capabilities to capture a larger share of the global Thin Film Solar market.”
About SCI Engineered Materials, Inc.

SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. manufactures ceramics and metals for advanced applications such as photonics, thin film solar, thin film batteries, and semiconductors. SCI Engineered Materials is a global materials supplier with clients in more than 40 countries. For additional information, click here.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Navigator Management Partners Named One of the “50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America”

Navigator Management Partners, LLC has been named one of this year’s “50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America.” The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and The Great Places to Work Institute, Inc. (GPTW) create the list each year; the 2009 edition was announced today in New Orleans before thousands of human-resource professionals attending SHRM’s 61st Annual Conference & Exposition.

The list, now in its sixth year, ranks the top 25 small and top 25 medium-sized companies using “best practice” people management strategies to develop successful organizations with highly productive and satisfied workforces. Organizations range in size from 50 to 999 employees and the GPTW selects the winners based on a randomly-distributed, employee-opinion survey. Each company evaluated was given a score based on employees’ responses to a detailed questionnaire about the organizations’ workplace cultures.

“We ask our employees to pursue remarkably high standards of performance on their consulting engagements,” Navigator Management Partners CEO David Schoettmer said. “Part of our strategy to recruit and retain those able to deliver to these standards is to offer a truly great employment experience. We are happy and honored to have achieved this recognition from SHRM / GPTW, but we are even happier about the caliber of our workforce.”

“Small and medium-sized companies make up the majority of the American economy and workforce,” SHRM President and CEO Laurence O’Neil said. “These 50 winning organizations demonstrate that investing in people is critical to their success, and we are proud to recognize their accomplishments.”

“These companies stand out because their employees find them to be places where they can trust the management, take pride in their work and have fun,” GPTW co-founder Robert Levering said. “Other companies have much to learn about how to be productive and do right by their people.”

Articles and profiles of the winners will appear in the June issue of Fortune Small Business, in the July issue of HR Magazine, and on CNNMoney.com. The winning organizations will also be listed on the SHRM (www.shrm.org) and GPTW (www.greatplacetowork.com) web sites.

###

About Navigator Management Partners, LLC

Navigator Management Partners is a regional consultancy specializing in Project Management, Business Process Design, Packaged Software Implementation, Organizational Change Management, and Enterprise Technology Strategy services. The team is comprised of individuals with a proven track record in business and technology consulting, many having served Fortune 500 companies and Public Sector institutions as employees of the world’s market leading consulting firms. Navigator was founded in Columbus, Ohio but has since opened offices in Raleigh, Phoenix, and Baltimore. Navigator’s business is focused in the regions surrounding its office locations. In these markets, Navigator provides an affordable, local alternative to its larger competitors. Navigator brings world-class consulting services to its local marketplaces

NAVIGATOR MANAGEMENT PARTNERS ON ELEVENTH ANNUAL INNER CITY 100

Boston, MA, May 20, 2009, 8 pm – Today, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) released its 2009 Inner City 100 list, and Navigator Management Parnters, a Columbus, Ohio based consultancy, is ranked 8th on the list of the fastest growing inner-city companies in America. Innovative practices and sustained growth are the predominant traits of the 2009 Inner City 100, a ranking of the 100 fastest-growing businesses in inner city communities nationwide.


Now in its 11th year, the Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest growing inner-city businesses in the U.S. For the 2009 list, over 5,000 nominations were received. The 2009 Inner City 100 winners grew at a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent and an average rate of 324 percent between 2003 and 2007. Collectively, the top 100 inner city businesses have employed nearly 17,000 people and created nearly 10,000 new jobs over the past five years.

Fifty-three percent of companies expect steady growth, 11 percent expect their revenues to double, six percent expect their revenues to triple, and a mere four percent expect their revenues to decline in 2009. Individually, the average Inner City 100 Company’s revenues were $23 million.


“We are delighted to celebrate businesses like Navigator that are playing a critical role to revitalize distressed urban communities throughout America,” said Michael Porter, founder and CEO of ICIC. “By creating jobs, income, and wealth for local residents, these high-growth businesses are vivid proof that the most effective way to address economic inequality in America is to equip every community to prosper in the market system. Inner City 100 companies also provide a window into the future where all companies will need to learn to address diverse customers and mobilize diverse workforces.”

With offices in Columbus, Baltimore, Phoenix and Raleigh, Navigator Management Partners is a consultancy specializing in Project Management, Business Process Design, Packaged Software Implementation, Organizational Change Management and Enterprise Technology Strategy services. Navigator provides the Fortune 1,000 and public-sector institutions a local alternative to larger firms. Their project teams are comprised of top-banded talent formerly of the world’s market-leading consulting firms. The company boasts client and consultant retention rates of over 90% since inception and was named “The Best Place to Work” for small businesses in Central Ohio in 2008. Navigator has been consistently placed on “Fast 50” and Inc. 5,000 lists recognizing rapidly growing private companies and was recently the recipient of a “Corporate Caring Award” recognizing the firm’s dedication to Health & Human Services causes in their local communities.

The 2009 Inner City 100 winners operate from 55 cities in 31 states. Fifteen companies on the list are based in California and eight are from Massachusetts. Texas, New York and Colorado each have seven companies on the list. Pennsylvania has six companies on the list and Ohio has five. Three states (Florida, Missouri and Indiana) have four companies on the list. Among the top cities represented in the 2009 list Denver has seven winning companies and Boston, Philadelphia, Oakland, and San Francisco each have four companies listed on the Inner City 100.

The list is proof of concept that doing business in an inner city area holds a distinct competitive advantage. ICIC has been studying the economic condition of the largest 100 American cities for more than a decade and is working to revitalize inner cities across the country.

The 2009 Inner City 100 winners attended the Inner City 100 Summit in Boston for a two-day event featuring seminars for Inner City 100 owners and managers at Harvard Business School, a reception at the Harvard Club of Boston, and a gala awards dinner at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center that is expected to draw more than 800 guests.

Highlights of the 2009 Inner City 100 list include:

  • Inner City 100 companies are 34 percent minority-owned. Nationally, just 8 percent of companies with annual revenues over $1 million are minority-owned.
  • The 2009 Inner City 100 companies are 18 percent owned by immigrants to the United States.
  • 21 percent of the 2009 Inner City 100 are women-owned. Nationally, only 10 percent of companies with over $1 million in annual revenues are women-owned.
  • The 2009 Inner City 100 boasts an average workforce that is 53 percent minority employees and 43 percent inner city residents.
  • The 2009 Inner City 100 pay an average of over $15.00 per hour to hourly employees and $53,000 per year to salaried employees.

For more information about the 2009 Inner City 100 list, please contact Julia Ely at (617) 292-2383. The entire list can be found at www.icic.org

Entrepreneur magazine names top incubators - TechColumbus on the list!!! - Toledo on list also!!!

Roundup of Business Incubators

These 10 organizations can give your startup a leg up.
Entrepreneur's StartUps - June 2009

According to the latest estimates by the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA), in 2005 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 startup companies. Here are 10 of them that caught our eyes and might help you get your business started.

  1. NYU-Poly Incubator
    Part of a new program to help keep New York City’s business climate vibrant, this 16,000-square-foot space houses startups for only $200 per month, in addition to offering other assistance.
  2. TechStars
    Offering up to $18,000 in seed funding, advice and mentoring, and important connections, this Boulder, Colorado, hub is home to successful startups, including Socialthing (recently acquired by AOL).
  3. Environmental Business Cluster
    Voted as the nation’s top business incubator in 2008 by the NBIA, this San Jose, California-based incubator focuses on young, highly qualified clean-technology startups.
  4. La Cocina
    This San Francisco-based nonprofit incubator specifically works with low-income and immigrant women launching food businesses.
  5. TechColumbus
    This Columbus, Ohio-based incubator infused $4.3 million into 32 companies in 2008 alone. It also helped attract a 10 percent increase in VC funding for its companies last year.
  6. Slingshot Labs
    Based in Santa Monica, California, and founded by MySpace creators Josh Berman and Colin Digiaro, this new media-focused incubator launched in February 2008 and will nurture four to five startups per year.
  7. Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator
    An initiative of the University of Toledo, this incubator focuses on alternative energy and underwent a recent $2.2 million expansion.
  8. STAR Technology Enterprise Center
    Working out of a 30,000-square-foot space, this nonprofit incubator supports the growth of early-stage manufacturing and technology-based companies in the Tampa Bay, Florida, region.
  9. Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise
    This St. Louis-based incubator focuses on assisting life-science businesses and is home to about 20 companies that have raised more than $150 million in capital and investments.
  10. Ben Franklin TechVentures
    This high-tech work space and community in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, helps early stage companies grow with more than 11,000 square feet of dedicated wet-lab space.

Central Ohio Startup Toobla Ranked Tops by San Francisco Technology Community

June 25, 2009 - TechWeek

In its first public outing, Central Ohio startup Toobla received the highest ratings from a San Francisco technology group for its product demo. Toobla is a widget platform that lets users discover, save and share all of the most interesting bits of the Web. Users can find embeddable content such as videos, images, music, games and apps any where on the Web, save it on Toobla and then create a live channel on Toobla that they can share with others on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Toobla presented to the San Francisco technology community during an event called “Widgets up the Wazoo Smackdown III” sponsored by the SFNewTech meetup group. Toobla was picked by the audience as the best demo at the June 17th event, beating out widget industry leaders such as Clearspring, Gigya, iWidgets and others.

Toobla has received funding from the TechColumbus TechGenesis fund, the TechColumbus Pre-Seed Fund (formerly the Regional Commercialization Fund) and investments from Ohio TechAngels.

For more information, click here

Read the reviews as reported in The Wall Street Journal here

To view Toobla’s demo from the event, click here.

To view additional demo, click here

Clearsaleing Continues Growth Despite Economic Conditions

June 25, 2009 - TechWeek

Columbus-based Clearsaleing, an advertising analytics software provider, participated last week in the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition and reported to The Wall Street Journal that despite the recession, it has seen revenue growth every month since it launched three years ago.

“Good economy, bad economy, we have a great story to tell,” says Adam Goldberg, Clearsaleing co-founder and chief innovation officer.

Clearsaleing chose the conference as the site to launch its newest offering, Clearsaleing Purchase Path Technology. The solution provides attribution management capabilities that allow e-tailers to more precisely identify which online marketing activities are leading to conversions. Internet retailers can more accurately measure, compare and optimize ROI across their online advertising portfolio. In addition, marketers can now configure ClearSaleing to assign a cost to organic traffic for each search engine, providing for the first time a legitimate basis of comparison to paid advertising alternatives. The company has also developed industry-focused versions of the software to address the needs of advertisers within various industries including financial services, insurance, travel, pharmaceutical, automotive and retail.

Clearsaleing is backed by local venture fund NCT Ventures and the Ohio TechAngels.

To read the story in the Wall Street Journal, click here

For more information on Clearsaleing Purchase Path Technology, see the release from the company

Ohio Third Frontier Delivers Big Results

June 25, 2009 - Original posting in TechWeek 


The Ohio Third Frontier is the subject of the June TechColumbus newsletter published in Business First. It is the State of Ohio’s tremendously successful tremendously successful program that focuses investments on the state’s innovation economy. These investments are made to create new discoveries and to commercialize discoveries in Ohio that create high wage jobs in growth industries. “By every measure, Ohio Third Frontier is fulfilling its commitment to catalyze innovation, giving rise to competitive products, companies and even new industries,” said Norm Chagnon, executive director of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission. TechColumbus’ TechStart program shines as an example of how state funding accelerates the tech economy. Funded primarily through a $15 million three-year grant obtained in 2006 from Ohio Third Frontier, TechStart provides funding, coaching and mentoring to early stage technology-based companies in 15 counties in Central Ohio. In the three years since its inception, TechStart has helped to more than double the number of promising companies across the region.

To learn more about the program, download the June TechColumbus newsletter as published in Business First.

Friday, June 26, 2009

29 Technology Resource Groups in Columbus

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Open Position (s) - BI analyst, Java Dev, Desktop Tech

Business Intelligence Systems Analyst, 3 month contract

Customer Support Engineer-Java Developer, direct placement

Lead Desktop Technician, 3 month CTH

My favorite "Tipping Point" quotes

How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference - One of my favorite books

Leading - Challenge The Process— Generate Small Wins

By Andrew Lewis

Generating small wins is a significant aspect of the practice of Challenge The Process.

The same feeling a consumer gets from endowed progress can be realized through a leader that utilizes the power of small wins. It is important to note that endowed progress uses artificial advancement towards a goal—as authentic leaders there should be nothing artificial in our work. However, the general concept is nonetheless applicable.

When we create the opportunity for small wins for our teams we form the basis for a consistent pattern of winning. These small wins build people’s confidence and reinforce their natural desire to feel successful. Small wins also deter opposition—it is hard to argue against success. (especially important as we challenge the status quo)

Small wins make the project or goal seem doable within existing skill sets and resource levels—minimizing the risk of trying something new. Once these small wins are accomplished natural forces are set in motion that favor stepping out toward the next small win on the path to the larger objective.

If your team members see you as asking them to achieve that which they are quite capable of doing, they feel some assurance that they can be successful at the task. Their energy is directed into getting the job done; rather than wondering “how will we ever solve that problem?”

And in this they find heightened interest in continuing with the journey.

What small wins are you generating for your team?

Cost Effective Web Development Techniques

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Four useful tools for social networkers - David Strom

Facebook | David Strom's Notes


What do the services Pixelpipe.com, Etherpad.com, Tr.im and namechk.com have in common? All four are tools that I can’t live without these days and didn’t even know existed a few months ago. That is how fast the Internets are changing. I suggest you give each of the four a quick try out and see if you agree that you can save yourself a lot of time with each of them.

Pixelpipe is a service much like Ping.fm. It allows you to post the same piece of content to multiple sites. Whether it is a status update (which is just what Ping does), a blog entry, a video, or a series of photos, it is a very useful service and handles more than 80 different sites. Look for a review to come soon in Computerworld next month. The downside is that you have to store your authentication credentials with the service for each site, which may make you nervous if you care. And if you mess up, your typos will be immediately sent out to the world for many of your correspondents to see, because there is no easy way to recall the messages without visiting each site individually. I like it mainly because I post my blog entries to multiple platforms, part for redundancy’s sake, part because I don’t trust WordPress to be the sole repository of my work product.

Next is Etherpad, a service that allows multiple people to concurrently edit a document using just a Web browser. You create an unique URL and then send that to your collaborators via email. Once someone knows the URL, they can make changes to your document, and each author’s changes can be tracked with different colored highlights. I used this today with a client – even though we were sitting around a conference table in the same room, we were able to agree on the edits of a document within a few minutes, it was incredibly productive.

Tr.im is a URL shortening service with a twist: you can post the shortened link directly to your Twitter account. And while that is convenient, wait there is something that I really like. It will track all the people who have clicked on the shortened link and show you which client (browser, Twitter third party app, or service) was used in the process, along with time-series data on the clicks. You can really see the immediacy of Twitter, but you can also use it to track referrals on other services too.

Namechk is a very simple service that will lookup a particular username on more than 120 different social networking, blog and video sharing sites. It will see if it is taken or available. This is a very useful tool that you can show your clients how tuned in you are to that scene.

Let me know what you think about each of these services, and if you have others that you have recently found that could be useful.


Posted using ShareThis

Urgent - Act Now to Save our Libraries

Governor Strickland proposes to fill Ohio's $3.2 billion shortfall in the 
state budget by eliminating $200+ million from the Public Library Fund over
the next two years. His proposal will have a drastic impact on all 251 public
libraries in Ohio and on Columbus Metropolitan Library in particular.

This proposal by the Governor cuts library funding by 50% beginning July 1,
2009.

We only have days to have an impact.

1. Today, contact your legislators. We've made it easy to do. Go to:
http://columbuslibrary.org.

2. Call Governor Strickland's office at 614-466-3555.

The Governor's proposed funding cuts come at a time when Ohio's public
libraries are experiencing unprecedented increases in demands for services. In
every community throughout the state, Ohioans are turning to their public
library for free job help, children and teens are beginning summer reading
programs and people of all ages are turning to the library for information and
assistance during this economic downturn. That is no truer than here at CML.
We cannot allow these cuts to succeed, cuts which will drastically reduce
services and access. Act now.

Open Position - MOTIVATED IT (Information Technology) Recruiter

TITLE: MOTIVATED IT (Information Technology) Recruiter

LOCATION: Dublin, Ohio

Our firm needs to add a HIGHLY SELF-MOTIVATED recruiter or candidate sourcer who can deliver potential candidates to fill both consulting (90%) and direct hire (10%) positions for our clients.


We are a growing and successful IT Consulting and Technical Recruiting firm with more than thirteen years of experience in the Technical (IT) Consulting Services and Technical (IT) Recruiting Services business. As a result of our strong client relationships and ability to consistently deliver best-of-breed candidates, we must add another recruiter to satisfy our clients’ demands.


We have a very capable sales team that has strong relationships with our clients. The positions that you will be working on are all “real” and well-qualified opportunities.


We have been listed in the “Fast 50” for Columbus for three years (2004, 2005 & 2007 fiscal years), are now over 150 associates, have operations in Columbus, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan, have consultants billing in 8 states, and have proven our ability to satisfy the needs of Fortune 50 clients as a preferred vendor.

We are either preferred or approved vendor at some of the largest healthcare, information services, software, finance, insurance, retail, and specialty services companies in the Columbus metro area, as well as one of 10 preferred vendors for one of the “Big 3” auto manufacturers.


Our web site is a great place to go to understand the culture of our firm.


Most important to us is that you have a desire to do direct recruiting, not simply scan resume databases and respond to resumes submitted through our web sites.


Experience in the IT sector is mandatory.


Of particular interest to us would be a less-experienced but highly self-motivated IT recruiter with experience in the Columbus market who feels they are not being compensated fairly, or do not have enough open positions to fill to earn a six-figure total compensation package (base + commission).


Our compensation plan is structured to pay you “annuity” commissions from your consulting placements, as well as one-time commissions from consulting placements and direct hire searches successfully completed.


Expect to work from our offices in Dublin, Ohio, where you will have access to all the tools necessary to do your job and fill positions as rapidly as possible.


Reply by e-mail with a resume to:

mark_pukita@fastswitch.com

Realtors’ SEO Firm Gives Homes in Tijuana, Mexico

June 24, 2009 Columbus, Ohio – Search engine optimization company, Real Estate’s SEO, LLC optimizes Realtors’ individual websites while donating some of their proceeds to Bittersweet Ministries, a non-profit organization that builds houses for families living in a landfill in Tijuana, Mexico.

The owners of Real Estate’s SEO felt compelled to give back to the community in a way related to their core business. Since the need for housing outweighs the necessity for search engine optimization, the Internet, or even computers, they began to look for those who were most in need of housing. Karen Schneider, a founding partner, decided to donate to Bittersweet Ministries, a non-profit organization operating in Tijuana, Mexico. Homeless families in Tijuana are living in a landfill, scavenging for food and shelter in the waste. Bittersweet Ministries solicits the help of missionaries to build houses and distribute food and clothing to these families. They also provide daycare services, supply scholarships for children to attend school, and teach Bible studies and English classes for children and adults.

Real Estate’s SEO, LLC optimizes Realtors’ websites by performing on-page and off-page SEO and offering monthly status reports to show Realtors how their website is ranking for relevant keywords. After having their website optimized, Realtors will notice their site on the first page of the search engine results for the keywords related to their location and market niche, allowing buyers and sellers to find their future home or real estate agent online. With almost 90% of buyers looking for homes online Realtors must change their focus from print to online marketing and advertising if they want their business to survive. A study from The National Association of Realtors found that traditional Realtors earn an average of $36,700 annually while Internet Realtors average over $100,000 with 70% or more of their leads and sales coming from their website.

Real Estate’s SEO, LLC is currently seeking new clients. They are looking for Realtors who understand the importance of having a prominent web presence to promote their listings and services. Now through August 31, 2009 Realtors who want to understand how their website currently ranks can mention this news article to receive 50% off a website analysis report. For more information please visit http://realestatesseo.com or contact Karen Schneider at k.schneider@realestatesseo.com.

Open Position (s) - Operations Manager, Technical Project Manager

OPERATIONS MANAGER - Retail/Branch Operations Leadership Opportunity!

Responsible for leadership over multiple retail stores in a health-related industry.

The Operations Director will directly manage office-level managers in multiple locations throughout the Midwest. Responsibilities include hiring, training, mentorship, and store performance. This position requires travel (primarily day trips) to impact retail staff. Core responsibility includes mentorship and motivation to foster and maintain a positive & productive staff.

Requirements:
• Strong Leadership Experience Required
• 5+ years total experience, with at least 2+ years of management over multiple levels of staff
• Degree required - preferred in business or related
• Retail and/or healthcare experience a plus
Salary range: $60,000 - $90,000 /Year
Travel: Up to 50%

-This posting represents a Full time / direct hire / Columbus, OH / salaried position

-Relocation assistance is not available
-Work Visa Sponsorship is not available

For prompt consideration submit resume to jowens@dawsoncareers.com.


TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGER - Are you a Project Manager with a passion for technology?

Our client is seeking an experienced Project Manager to assist in the development, delivery, and support of development projects, including business requirements, functional requirements, resources, schedules and delivery milestones, and overall quality.

The ideal candidate will be IT-centric and lean towards the technical development side. This position requires the ability to direct and balance a variety of diverse requests, priorities, and activities. The Project Manager must have a thorough understanding of both the business needs and the technologies being utilized to implement the business solution.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to be a part of an organization where they're treated like family versus a commodity.

Requirements:

  • 5+ years of IT experience in one or more of the following roles: Application Development Management, Web Project or Program Management
  • 4+ years IT experience in managing technical development professionals
  • A sound understanding of a wide variety of methodologies and be able to adapt quickly to apply the right processes and procedures to make your projects a success
  • Must understand the underlying technologies and risks/constraints of such technologies
  • Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a fast-paced environment
  • Success at achieving advanced technology goals on-time and on-budget
  • Strong project management skills - advanced knowledge of MS Project, XLS and Visio
  • Excellent communication skills: ability to define deeply and communicate what needs to be done, and successfully drive it to completion

Strongly prefer:

· Project Management Certification (PMP)

-This posting represents a Full time / direct hire / Columbus, OH / salaried position

-Relocation assistance is not available
-Work Visa Sponsorship is not available

Salary range: $65,000 - $85,000 /Year
Travel: Negligible

For prompt consideration submit resume to jowens@dawsoncareers.com.

10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business - TIME

10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business - TIME


twitter business 10 ways twitter will permanently change american business

Microblogging platform Twitter has 32 million users, an increase from about 2 million a year ago, according to research mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. Some Internet measurement services show that figure increasing 50% to 100% month over month. While it is not clear that Twitter will become as large as social networks MySpace and Facebook or video-sharing site YouTube, the company could certainly have 50 million visitors by the end of the year. View the 10 ways Twitter Will Change American Business here.

Because Twitter can be used with ease on both PCs and mobile devices, and because it limits users to very short messages of 140 characters or fewer, it has become one of the largest platforms in the world for sharing real-time data. A number of large businesses and celebrities have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. This includes personalities like Oprah and Ashton Kutcher. JetBlue (JBLU), Whole Foods (WFMI) and Dell (DELL), along with other multinational corporations, are among the most followed names on the service. (See the top 10 celebrity Twitter feeds.)

As Twitter grows, it will increasingly become a place where companies build brands, do research, send information to customers, conduct e-commerce and create communities for their users. Some industries, like local retail, could be transformed by Twitter — both at one-store operations that cater to customers within a few blocks of their locations and at the individual stores of giant retail operations like Wal-Mart (WMT). In either case, having the opportunity to tell customers about attractive sales and new products can be done at remarkably low cost while providing for greater geographic accuracy.

For Twitter to be a part of a company's efforts to communicate with customers, the customers must be willing to "follow" the company on Twitter. That allows the individual consumer to choose which firms he is willing to get messages directly from. It may not be surprising that "new age" brands like Whole Foods and JetBlue have large followings and older and much larger brands like Kroger (KR) and American Airlines (AMR) do not. Whole Foods and JetBlue have successfully marketed themselves as being "customer-centric" — the kind of companies that would not misuse the access to a customer's private Twitter information. (Read Ashton Kutcher's take on why the Twitter founders made the TIME 100.)

While there may be commercial value for using Twitter to communicate with customers, the danger is that the Twitter community could turn against a marketer viewed as being too crass by being relentlessly self-promoting. Twitter users have set up their own rules of conduct when using the service, not unlike those with MySpace and Facebook. These rules were not put together by Twitter itself, which mandates only rules of use. Like many social-network sites, Twitter is self-governed by its members, and companies must take that into account as they join the service.

Twitter is still in the early stages of developing a plan for making money as a company, but plenty of large corporations like Starbucks (SBUX) are already using it as a marketing tool. Twitter will probably evolve into both a community of individuals and a community of companies that provide goods and services for those individuals.

24/7 Wall St. has come up with 10 ways in which Twitter will permanently change American business within the next two to three years, based on an examination of Twitter's model, the way that corporations and small businesses are currently using the service and some of the logical extensions of how companies will use Twitter in the future. Some of these firms are already using Twitter, but their efforts are in the earliest stages of development. 24/7 Wall St. evaluated other sensible and potentially highly profitable ways Twitter's real-time, multiplatform presence is likely to be exploited — in the best use of that word — to expand businesses both large and small.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Leading - Mcleadership and Inspiring a Shared Vision

“You deserve a break today” is ranked by Advertising Age as the greatest jingle of all time. You may be able to sing the words as you read this, even though the jingle hasn’t been used for years.
This jingle was born of countless interviews of
“housewives” across America. (In 1971 that’s what they were called)
In these interviews it became clear that these women worked hard in their daily routines. They planned meals, and sometimes ran out of menu ideas, but they always wanted to please their families.
The jingle built on this desire to provide for the family, but also connected to the diligent work performed and the need for the occasional break from these tireless efforts.

What you do, your vision, is much more than selling hamburgers. However, we can learn from the success of McDonald’s now legendary jingle. They viewed their desired outcome from the eyes of their customers and then positioned their product to address a personal need.
In the training world we use the term WIIFM - “What’s In It For Me?” When addressing learners we always strive to make clear what value lies in learning the topic for the participant. The same theory was leveraged by McDonald’s and can be applied in your efforts to Inspire A Shared Vision.
If you want people to “buy” your ideas remember this—people buy for their own reasons, not for yours.
Find out what motivates your team members. See things from their point of view. Ask questions before presenting your plan. Then present your plan in a way that highlights the benefits for the people that are involved. Never discuss your own gain, most won’t care. Draw the picture from their perspective. They will work harder to help you achieve success if they see their own success through yours.
Writing Your “Jingle”
Work this week to see your vision through the eyes of those that will help you achieve it. Practice positioning your vision in terms of their success rather than your own.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

2Checkout Featured at Internet Dating Conference

Vic Cleary and Geno Arce from 2Checkout will be featured speakers at the Internet Dating Conference (iDate) in Beverly Hills, California Friday, June 26.

Cleary and Arce will provide internet dating executives and entrepreneurs a product demonstration of 2Checkout’s features and benefits explaining why 2CO is an excellent value for businesses competing in the online dating space.

iDate, the largest Internet Dating and Social Networking business management conference of its kind, is held twice in the U.S. and at least once internationally each year. Event topics include internet dating business strategies, payments, mobile technologies and marketing, social networks, and a number of legal and consumer safety issues.

In addition to Friday’s product demonstration, 2Checkout will also be compared to a variety of e-commerce options used by online dating companies in a discussion led by Courtland Brooks’ Director of Strategy, Glenn Millar at 9:00 a.m. the same day, titled “Removing the Veil: Payment Processor Rates and Options for Dating Companies”. Attendees interested in learning more can also speak to a 2Checkout representative at the company’s booth during the event’s Expo starting Thursday, June 24.

Open Position - links - over 100 jobs listed in Columbus IT

Here's a few links to open IS positions in Columbus

  1. 4 open positions at 2Checkout.com - http://bit.ly/sCGWU
  2. 40 openings - multiple employers- http://bit.ly/4w9Ekw
  3. 29 openings at Ray & Barney Group http://bit.ly/gYrqH Sales/IT/Social media - little bit of everything
  4. 42 open positions OCLC - http://bit.ly/18tOHF - A Computerworld top 100 places to work
  5. 4 open positions with the State of Ohio http://bit.ly/sUz5R
  6. 17 open positions at Resource Interactive - http://bit.ly/TLE3F
  7. 4 open jobs at OhioHealth http://bit.ly/PesIj
  8. 3 open positions at Ohio State University http://bit.ly/4Cu3g
  9. TechColumbus job board http://bit.ly/yCFQ

For some support in your job search check out:

Scioto Ridge Job Networking Group http://bit.ly/7xCbC
Forty Plus of Central Ohio Home Page http://bit.ly/10fTGg
Buckeye Resumes - Buckeye Resumes - http://bit.ly/QDJAP
Worthington Career Services - http://bit.ly/KFXF5

eXecution - You can't run a project if you can't run a meeting

When starting out in project management focus on something small. Learn to run a effective meeting.


about eXecution - timely tips when getting things done matter

Ideas To Deals - Planning Good - Plans not so much

Original posting on Ideas To Deals by Michael Bowers


I think as an SBDC business consultant I am supposed to tell people that they need to write a "business plan". I guess I'm breaking the rules because I'm going to tell you Not To Write Business Plan! Many entrepreneurs think writing a business plan is an exercise to engage in only when seeking a loan or investors. There is so much focus on the development of a 40 page, 12 point font plan that SuperStock_1491R-1040111 the true purpose of a plan, to guide the operation of the business, is missed. I've seen plans where the narrative and the financials did not relate to each other, as a matter of fact looked like two separate businesses. Other plans I've seen are full of Gartner references but contained no real guidance on execution of the business. The worst plans I seen are the ones that are sitting on the shelf in the founder's office covered with dust. More than likely all of these plans were written for the banker with no real thought as to using this as a document to drive the business. The problem with that is if a loan is made it is based in part on the plan. If the plan is not followed and the business does not meet it's milestones the bank will be less likely to extend further credit in the future...or worse.

My advice is to forget about writing a plan and focus on the "Process of Planning". Start with a blank pad of paper or flip charts. Write something that you can embrace and use to drive your business, not as a paperweight or a doorstop. You should develop a working, living document that will allow your business to reach the levels that you desire. It should clearly articulate the steps you need to take as you grow the business. I've heard that the keys to running a business are knowing "Who's out there to buy your product." and "How are you going to get them to buy it." Maybe there is a little more involved than that but if you don't have the answers to those two questions down cold it's going to be a struggle.

Here are some steps to consider in your planning process:

  • Review Mission: Why does your business exist? What are you doing this for? Good businesses drive margin based on the mission of the business.
  • Review Vision: Where do you want the company to be in 12 months, in five years? This would be in many different factors: financial goals, role of the founders, employees, location, etc. This will help you determine action steps to take later and help build your business direction.
  • Do a Strategic Analysis: This will really allow you to determine where the business is and what opportunities might be available that you are not currently thinking of. A good format is a SWOT Analysis. For each of these you should list items that will impact future strategy:
  • S-Strengths: Skills, distinctive competencies, capabilities, competitive advantages, or resources the organization can draw on to build strategy.
  • W-Weaknesses: The lack of one or more Skills, distinctive competencies, capabilities, competitive advantages, or resources the organization can draw on to build strategy.
  • O-Opportunities: Situations in which benefits are fairly clear and likely to be realized if certain actions are taken.
  • T-Threats: Situations that give rise to potentially harmful events and outcomes if action is not taken in the immediate future ~ These must be actively confronted to prevent trouble.
  • What products do you want to offer? This is a brainstorming activity where you can put anything forward. Create a list of possible product regardless of priority at this point.
  • Put some detail around the product offering: Take each product you want to offer and consider what those look like short-term and long-term. Who is the customer? What do these products accomplish? Discuss ROI, revenue, expense (don't forget opportunity costs).
  • Start to prioritize the products: Put the products in order of value for the company relating to the mission/vision and financial goals of the company.
  • Do any of these products work together? Think about the possible synergies created by coupling products into one offering. You might now decide to create one product that drives higher value than two individual products.
  • Validate the market need for the products with database research: Research possible users/buyers of your products. Find who is out there to buy the product. Most libraries have research capabilities and databases that you can access simply by having a library card. If you are in Columbus, Ohio check out the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
  • Validate the market need for the products with customer research: Get to the customers and find out what they think of your products. This can take the form of formal focus groups or facilitated discussions or meeting with potential customers one-on-one to gauge their interest. This is critical step because you are gathering the opinions of the market not just you and your buddies opinions. An important note here, it doesn't have to cost a lot to do this. You don't always have to have professional, paid facilitators...just talk to people.
  • Layout Milestones/Timelines: You have to hold yourself accountable. Develop milestones for taking your product to the market. These milestone events might include: When can the products be launched based on funding, employee resources and timing for the market, etc. Take each of these milestones at least three layers deep so that you have detailed steps to implementation. Once you decide what the milestones and steps are you need to develop timelines, answer the WHEN question.
  • Execute: Take what you have done and bring it to life...Implementation and Execution.

Let's be clear, you can start/run a business without doing all of this. The difference is the level of control over the outcomes of the business that you gain by going through a planning~implementation process. I often have entrepreneurs come to me after being in business for awhile and want to "get serious" about moving their business forward. This allows you to do that. It also makes it easy to create a "business plan" for financing because you have all of the information needed, all you have to do is drop it into the right format.

Did I miss anything? Let me know your thoughts.




Agile is everywhere - ITMartini

From our friends at ITMartini

Agile is Everywhere

Agile has gone from buzzword to mainstream industry practice, which all started one wintery weekend back in 2001 with a simple manifesto. At the time, it was considered only a ‘light-weight’ approach to software development - until its current, famously well-known name, was identified at that meeting.

Agile comes to Columbus Wednesday morning (6/24) with Elizabethe Kramer at Platform Lab for a discussion about bringing Agility to Business Analysts. Register to hear Elizabethe, an Agile Business Analysis Coach from Athens, Ohio, talk through the coaching and training she developed as part of her practice at Atticus Scribe LLC.

Then Wednesday afternoon, the Columbus XP User Group brings Dr. Martha Lindeman, President of Agile Interactions, to OCLC for a discussion about User Modeling. RSVP to understand how user modeling starts early in a project, by identifying users’ access points, roles, and goals - and the advantages of detailing them into task sequences on an as-needed basis.

Friday (6/26) morning, at Three Nationwide Plaza, Dustin Potts gives a guided tour of Nationwide Financial’s Agile Development Center. Ony 15 registered guests are going to be taken through the development center team space, witness an actual stand-up meeting, and be able to ask questions.

And finally, next Tuesday (6/30) morning, TechColumbus hosts a panel discussion about Agile Enterprise Transformation, with some local heavy-hitters: Linda Farrenkopf (Sophisticated Systems), Jay M. Johnson (Nationwide), Gene Johnson (Fairhaven Solutions), and Matt Van Vleet (Pillar Technologies). Register to share your Agile stories, objections, questions, and challenges.

Stay Agile!