Good Indexing

A Profession in which Good Workers Can’t be Replaced with Technology
If you have ever repeatedly thumbed through an index in frustration, trying and failing to find the correct page number for an important passage which you forgot to plaster with a sticky note, highlight, or dog ear, then you know the value and importance of having a good guide in the back of a nonfiction book.

Many books have machine-generated indexes.
Computer software can make lists of general terms and page numbers, but a skilled human is necessary in order to create a detailed and well-written index, enabling readers to quickly find the information they are seeking.

Reference
So You’d Like to be an Indexer
http://www.asindexing.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3316




Prince Charles

Royal Philanthropic Entrepreneur
An irate mob of students, angered by tremendous increases in college tuition fees, attacked the Rolls-Royce carrying Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. Puzzling: apparently, the protesters forgot that
1.  Members of the royal family are not responsible for legislation.
2.  Prince Charles has long been active in establishing and funding entrepreneurial programs, which also involve disadvantaged teens.

 

References:
http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/

 

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/personalprofiles/residences/highgrove/homefarm/

 

 

 




Vastu

Working in Harmony
Vastu, the ancient Hindu science of design and architecture, is a sister science of ayurvedic medicine and yoga. “What yoga does for the body, vastu does for the home.”

In the 1990s, while feng shui was increasingly popular in the states, English-speaking publications in India documented vastu’s growing revival within the business community interested in improving their company’s success.

Note: Vastu and feng shui are completely different fields, but the two concepts ended up being mixed together during the feng shui popularity in the 1990’s, and that obscured some of the pure principles of vastu, says author Kathleen Cox, who lived in New Delihi and trained under a Vedic scholar and architect.

 

References
Space Matters. Kathleen Cox. Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 2007.
Vastu Living. Kathleen Cox. Marlowe and Company, 2000.
http://www.vastuliving.com/green.php

 




Internet Marketing Primer

Tips for Beginners 
Discussed in six nontechnical articles.
The Web Site
Search Engine/Directory Registration
Getting Links
Joining the Discussion
Online Advertising

What Is Online Marketing? Richard Hoy,  April 26, 2006.
http://writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/003402_04262006.html

Link Swapping is Unnatural. John Jantsch, September 25, 2006.
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/article/articles 23/1/Link-Swapping-is-Unnatural/Page1.html




Why Mothers are Targets for Work-At-Home Scams

red-840058_640

Profiting from Cultural Inequality
Employment opportunities for many Americans have disappeared during one of the worst recession since the Depression, as companies outsource their manufacturing capabilities to Asian countries where wages are 60 cents an hour. As a result, you can find street peddlers in Mexico selling straw hats made in China.

In the U.S., one area of financial fallout continues to be the never-ending supply of work-at-home offers from companies who target women with family responsibilities needing to earn an income. Poor economic conditions can trigger necessity-based entrepreneurship for some individuals in cultures such as the U.S., but others may view cultural problems as the inspiration for developing a problem-solving social business.

References
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_part_time_bind
The Part-Time Bind: Work-from-home scams target mothers searching for the flexibility that traditional employers don’t provide. Sharon Learner, March 22, 2010, senior fellow at New School University & author of
The War on Moms: On Life in a Family- Unfriendly Nation, Wiley & Sons, 2010.




Hidden Talents

Aptitudes of Louis Armstrong & Theodore Geisel

tumblr_n10mzgcbTV1st5lhmo1_500

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong is known internationally
as a renowned jazz musician, but perhaps only diehard fans
are aware that, despite his lack of formal schooling, he was a gifted writer, too.

He penned his autobiography solo, without the use of the usual ghost writer
or collaborator. Armstrong’s book is regarded as one of the finest written
in the genre, according to Wall Street Journal drama and music critic Terry Teachout.

 And consider, Theodore S. Geisel, unanimously voted least likely to succeed
during his senior year at an Ivy League college.
He had a 2.6 GPA and ranked 165th out of 385 students, yet during the Depression era
he went on to become a famous Madison Avenue ad executive, a satirist, cartoonist,
and Hollywood scriptwriter.

In time, Geisel would walk away from his career,
taking a massive pay cut to focus on the field
where he felt he belonged; writing and illustrating children’s books.

Geisel had taken only a single art class,
having been told long ago by experts that his strange doodling lacked artistic sense.
But Dr. Seuss had finally found his calling.

Takeaway: Most people have, on average, six innate aptitudes,
many of which are unused or hidden, according to aptitude researchers.

Dee Adams is the author of
Finding Your Niche: Discover…
http://wp.me/P3Kr4S-U

References

 

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. Terry Teachout. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Thedore Suess Geisel:Lives and Legacies. Donald Pease. Oxford University Press, 2010.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/293722-1




Einstein’s Smart Refrigerator

Killer Appliances
Although many people know Albert Einstein as a scientist, many are probably not aware that he was also an inventor. After winning the Nobel Prize in the 1920s, he began looking for a solution to a deadly problem. Entire families were being poisoned to death in their sleep by the toxic ammonia coolant leaking from their refrigerators. 

Einstein invented a safe refrigeration system and tried to market it, but was not successful. Refrigerator companies had developed a safer coolant and replaced the chemical in the existing refrigerators, which meant that there was no need for Einstein’s invention. Or so it seemed. Years later, studies would show that the industry coolant, Freon, was harmful to the environment.

Lesson: Genius alone will not guarantee success in the marketplace. Einstein did not factor the competition’s Research & Development departments into his plans.
Sometimes industries solve their own problems in a simpler cost-effective way.

Reference
The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems. Henry Petroski. Knopf, 2010.




Gadget Trouble

Pitfalls of Product Invention
A  meat probe allows a home chef to moniter cooking temperature to avoid serving undercooked or dried, tough, overcooked food.

However, when the PBS program America’s Test Kitchen reviewed different brands of thermometers on the market, many had serious design flaws. For instance, one model had a cord which was too short to stretch from inside the oven to the kitchen countertop, so the user couldn’t read the gauge in order to know when the meat had finished cooking.

Lesson: New product ideas should always be used several times, by different people, if possible, before mass-market production in order to spot and correct flaws.

 

Reference
www.americastestkitchen.com

 




Lessons from American Idol

Marketing 101
Each year, the judges on American Idol stressed the importance of “choosing the right song.” On last week’s show, the consequences of not heeding that advice was evident when singing sensation Joshua Ledet, one of three left in the competition, did not receive enough votes from across America to make it to the finals.

It was a decision that clearly dismayed and stunned some members of the audience outside the singer’s family, including mentor to American Idol hopefuls, Jimmy Iovine co-chairman of the International Music Company Interscope.

The three singers had to perform several songs. Ledet’s opening melody was one that I disliked…a lot. In fact, I’d never heard the song before. On the other hand, the other two talented singers performed compositions from musicians that included Mariah Carey, Rob Thomas, and Michael Jackson.

Ledet chose the wrong composition, and presumably made it easier for viewers to exclude him from the finals. Based solely on his vocal ability, Ledet should not have been voted off.

“Choose the right song” is code for achieving marketing success in this  industry niche. There are countless talented people vying for the stage. The song is the product and the other crucial element. The brief, straightforward instruction, “choose the right song” is in reality a complex set of rules, a mix between art, science, business, marketing, and gut instinct.

For the first time, this season’s commentary by Iovine hinted at the elements involved in the process behind the cryptic advice “choose the right song.”

Ironically, after being voted out, Ledet’s farewell repeat performance of This is a Man’s World was arguably, based on audience reaction, a highlight of the show. Had Ledet been able to choose that performance or something similiar the week before, it would have been much harder to take him out of the running.

Lesson: Every industry has a unique set of marketing rules, and you have to figure out what they are and whether you have the skill set to execute them successfully.

References
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/05/american-idol-recap-joshua-ledet-goes-out-with-style.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/interviews/iovine.html

 




Taking Entrepreneurial Classes Online

E-Learning & the World of Business
Some of the countless good resources on the Web for learning entrepreneurial topics include UCLA’s Extension Department. However, a comprehensive list of online institutions are available through U.S. News and World Report.

References
https://www.uclaextension.edu/fos/Business.aspx
http://www.usnews.com/education