OPEN Forum by American Express OPEN | Ten Tiny Things Every Small Business Owner Should Do in 2009
http://blogs.openforum.com/2008/12/31/ten-tiny-things-every-small-business-owner-should-do-in-2009/

Need to pop these on my list

The Inside Scoop on Design: Ten Questions with Hartmut Esslinger

Nice design interview.

If a young person wants to be a great designer, what should he or she do? “Design” isn’t a clear-cut talent profession, but one of coordination and catalyst between human needs, science and technology, business and economy, as well as sociology and ecology. The artistic talent required is more of an enabler at the end of rational and emotional analysis as well as strategic conceptualization. Therefore, it is vital to learn and study as much as possible about business, technology and human nature. In the end, there are flavors in design which are more esthetic—see New York Times “Style Magazine”—but design is only relevant when it improves human lives by appealing both to the mind and the heart. Finally, a young person with the right talents needs to have infinite desire and never give up. I apply a simple test with young students: smash a teapot into pieces and then hand out the glue. Those who rebuild the teapot won’t make it, those who create phantasy animals will.

Guy Kawasaki interviews Hartmut Esslinger, the founder of Frog Design on his new book "A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business."

The Art of Branding | Small Business Marketing Guide - Brought to you by HP

In this Web 2.0, user-generated, Open-Source, social-networking world, it’s so easy to forget that just

In this Web 2.0, user-generated, Open-Source, social-networking world, it’s so easy to forget that just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done. All branding, no matter whether it’s on a billboard, blog, website, or Twitter, should adhere to these simple principles. Here are nine keys to the art of branding

In this Web 2.0, user-generated, Open-Source, social-networking world, it’s so easy to forget that just because something can be done doesn’t mean it

The Alltop “advertising” justifies and pays for my tweeting—you can think of my tweets as PBS content and the accompanying Alltop promotion as the fundraising telethon. Question: Okay, but what if I don’t want to see Alltop promotions?

Habla de los ghostwriters, que es el equipo de personas que tweetean por él.

“AC, “GR,” “NC,” and “LF”

Sigh. I think the mindless bookmarking of little lists masking at blog posts is pretty annoying, but I can't help doing it myself. Damnit. Here's one such article that contains some obvious, but practical advice for both start-ups and those seeking to work for them.

Good questions

3. Customize the look-and-feel of your site. Posterous now supports customization. Select one of the built-in themes, and customize the colors. Or create your own custom theme. You can even port Tumblr themes to Posterous.

Posterous is sort of blogging, but not. It allows you to "lifestream" more easily and upload photos, text, etc. very quickly to a central site.

As a small business person, you can’t afford to look clueless anywhere on the Internet, but this is especially true on Twitter. Read on if you want to avoid this fate.

by Guy Kawasaki

A funny thing often happens to me: People tell me that they’re really into technology and ask what it was like to work for Steve Jobs. But they

Guy Kawasaki on His way of using twitter

@guykawasaki

so twittert Guy Kawasaki.

Most advice to entrepreneurs focuses on what they should do: build a great product, assemble a great team, provide great service. All are “duhis

A wealth of resources for business owners — videos, articles, blogs, and expert advice to boost your business, sponsored by American Express OPEN.

Good article!

Cool Apps to do quick things on the Internet

"This is Thanksgiving, so I’d like to show some gratitude for ten tiny apps that I use almost every day. If you’re a writer, blogger, speaker, or entrepreneur who uses a Macintosh, please give them a look because they will make you more productive."

OPEN Forum by American Express OPEN | |

Something is elegant if it is two things at once: unusually simple and surprisingly powerful. One without the other leaves you short of elegant. And sometimes the “unusual simplicity” isn’t about what’s there, it’s about what isn’t. At first glance, elegant things seem to be missing something.

Reality Check #1: Do one thing well If your startup tries to do too much, you’ll lose. Guy told me, “I meet companies every day who say, ‘well we’re software services, and we’re also consulting. And we are a social networking site, but we also do white labeling in case you want to use our technology to do your own social network.’ And you know what, it’s hard to do any one of those things, try doing four.”

Facebook is more hierarchical: As a marketer, you can have a dialogue with people who identified themselves as fans of your brand or category. Then, you hope that they will spread the word to their friends. On Twitter, you have access not only to those who are most passionate about your brand, but to anyone who mentions it.

twitter marketing paid service