Dot Net Dreamer Business Technology Blog
Latest Tips, Tools, & Technology to Build Your Business
When Your Business Needs Specialty Items
Jun 8th
When planning your business you need to consider every cost. Often your business will need specialty items. You need to know what these items are. Is it a one time buy or something that will be recurring? Is it tax deductible? Are you going to need to depreciate it over several years?
If it is a one time cost you can pretty easily see how much it is going to be. However, recurring costs are sometimes not as easily tracked. For instance, what if your business requires employees to wear uniforms and scrubs. You need to consider whether you are going More >
Creating A Mentoring Group
Jun 7th
Doing things alone isn’t a lot of fun. It can be lonely. You can get discouraged. You can even make mistakes that aren’t necessary. Creating or joining a group of people that are interested in the same thing you are can really help.
You can base it on different aspects of what you are doing. You can create a group of people opening new businesses, or focused on a particular business. You can create or join a group focusing on marketing, legal issues, financing, grant writing, etc.
The most important thing is to form a group that is in synch. You may More >
Clean Green Daycare
Jun 6th
You’ve been looking for weeks and have finally found the perfect location for your daycare center. The only problem is the building has been vacant for some time and there is a funny, musty smell that seems to permeate everything. Even after painting the walls, and cleaning everything in site, you can’t seem to get rid of that musty odor.
The final sniff test shows that it’s the carpet that still smells musty. You’ve been careful to use low VOC paints and your cleaners are green to the max. So, when considering getting the carpet cleaned you’ll only consider green carpet More >
Good Cook To Chef
May 30th
All your friends are ranting and raving about your meals. Constantly you’re hearing about how you should “really open a restaurant.” After hearing it for the thousandth time you’re starting to think it might be a good idea. Before you take the plunge, learning a little about what you’re getting into is well worth it.
In order to understand the restaurant business it might be a good idea to step into their shoes, literally. Working at a restaurant similar to what you want to open, will give you a feel for everything involved. Cooking for 10 or 12 friend is very More >
How To Rise Above The Crowd
May 26th
In this day and age, a new business has to really stand out in order to stay afloat. When opening we’re often more interested in the sales numbers than the customers. This is one of the biggest errors a new business owner can make.
There’s customer service and then there is real customer service. Recently the local grocery store started calling loudly “Welcome to (store name)” as you walked through the door. I was so shocked that I actually jumped. In their attempt to seem like they care about you, they had chosen to be loud and insincere.
When I enter my More >
Rescue Time Review
May 24th
After using the program for two weeks, I can see where it would be very useful for someone in a more stable work situation. Working from home, and also, the main gardener, cook, housemaid, errand person, banker, accountant, etc. I found that it didn’t really meet my needs. Almost everything I do went under the uncategorized listing, so it made most of my day look like I wasn’t working.
Also, since I surf the net as part of my work, looking for interesting information, statistics, etc., the time I spend on the net is positive, but unless I check each site More >
Mini-Projectors – Not Quite There Yet
May 19th
With the miniaturization of so many things such as iPod, Androids, etc. it seems that we’re moving into the “tiny society.” However, it seems that mini-projectors are not quite ready for the main stream, yet.
Although they are getting all the bells and whistles of almost being a small handheld computer, the main function they were built for, projection, seems to still be lacking in quality and light level.
After reading many reviews it seems that presenters should, at least at this point, stick with their larger projectors if they really want to impress someone. Almost every review, on several makes and More >
When Schedules Don’t Jive
May 17th
Being self-employed is fraught with all kinds of potential pitfalls. One of these is the schedule dance. If you and your spouse, or significant other, are both self-employed this dance can be intensified.
It is important to keep your objectives in mind when looking at the day’s schedule. It is easy to get caught up in the schedule of your partner and miss getting anything done with your own project, especially if your partner’s business is bringing in more money than your own.
The other thing that happens is that when things get rough, or you feel stressed, or just plain tired More >
Rescue Time
May 13th
One thing that I find difficult, since I have an in-home office, is staying on task. It’s easy to get distracted answering the phone or email, doing laundry, trying out that new online game, etc.
I just downloaded a program called RescueTime. It is supposed to keep track of everything I do on the computer. It’ll tell me how much time I spend on each web site. How much time I spend doing blogging (although it will just show I was using Word). I can even set it up so that I can’t get to my most distracting sites for a More >