Business Generation

I regularly draw the ire of my employees when I tell them that email is not work. I’m poorly wording my message, but the intent is clear. Constantly checking for new emails, and responding to them stops one from being productive. Though I’ve known this for a while, someone from Harvard is now backing me up! Dorie Clark of HBR (Harvard Business Review) gives us 5 habits to help us in 2012. Full article here.

The quick hit list (though I recommend reading the full article)

1. Don’t check for new emails more often than every 90 minutes
2. Don’t continue to perform a habit, just because
3. Dispose of things which are no longer adding value
4. Make sure the work you win, is the work you want
5. Keep it simple!

SARTELL Sartell now has a one-stop shop for those items that might seem hard to come by and yet make your kitchen complete.

The Pantry opened in late November at 1001 Second St. S, Suite 200, as the latest enterprise of owners Bob and Linda Feuling, who also own Westside Liquor in six locations around Central Minnesota and several other Sartell businesses.

To run The Pantry, which is next to the Sartell Westside location, the Feulings tapped Sandy Wolter to be manager. She had worked at another of the Feulings businesses, Liquid Assets, for nine years.

They dreamed of a place for Sartell people to find items that you just dont find anywhere else, Wolter said of the Feulings motivation for opening The Pantry. We carry candles, salsa, baking products and everything from jellies and baked goods to lotions and bath products.

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The Portland Business Alliance board of directors today announced its endorsement of Eileen Brady for Mayor of Portland. “Eileen Brady will bring a fresh perspective as well as a business perspective to City Hall,” said J. Isaac, chair of the Alliance’s board of directors. “Throughout this process, we asked candidates about their views on private-sector job retention and creation, and Eileen has demonstrated to us that she supports our jobs agenda and is committed to improving our economy.”

The board also endorsed Rod Underhill for Multnomah County District Attorney. The board did not take a position in the primary election for Portland City Council Positions 1 and 4 or in the 1st Congressional District general election.

Alliance board endorsements are based on a process that includes candidate interviews conducted by its endorsement committee, followed by a vote by the full board. Two-third

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Mortgage rates have reached a record low on poor reports on the nations housing industry.

The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.94 percent, down last week from 3.99 percent, according to McLean-based Freddie Mac. A year ago, mortgage rates were 4.83 percent. The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage also reached a record low of 3.21 percent, down from an average of 3.27 percent last week. A year ago the 15-year average rate was 4.17 percent.

Mortgage rates were at or near all-time record lows this week amid a rough environment for housing, said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac.

The Federal Reserve said in its Dec. 13 policy announcement that the housing marking remained weak. During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, households lost $400 billion in property values, and delinquency rates of more than 90 days and foreclosures increased between the June 30 and Sept.

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Visitors can drill down for charts and analysis on operating and strategic costs of their infrastructures

IBM has introduced new Smarter Computing Workload Simulator, the online tool designed to give busy chief information officers a fast and easy way to view areas of potential savings and efficiency through the lens of IBM Smarter Computing systems and technologies.

IBM has introduced its Smarter Computing approach to information technology for organisations to realise greater efficiencies, improved reliability and better performance and all at lower costs.

With the new simulator, visitors can drill down for charts and analysis on operating and strategic costs of their infrastructures, and the potential costs and savings of the IBM alternative.

Visitors can click on the IBM System Consolidation and Evaluation Tool at the end of the simulation that provides a more comprehensive and detailed comparison.

The simulator gives option to the visitor to select either IBM Power Systems or IBM System z to compare to their own IT infrastructure and then it asks for the type of industry they are in, the type of workload to be compared, and the number and types of systems to compare, including those based on Intel Itanium, Intel x86, and/or Sun SPARC.

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Overheard:

I love your optimism. What I don’t like is the complete lack of experience that’s causing it.

Ideally, a business pitch is exciting because the business potential is exciting. Optimism ought to be a combination of potential market, product-market fit, scalability, defensibility, and management experience. Better yet, early sales, initial growth rates, proof of concept in buyers or users or subscribers or signups or something equally concrete.

Frankly, in a business pitch, I mistrust shows of undue optimism, passion, and resolve. I worry that early-stage entrepreneurs are working towards some mythological promise that they have the will to succeed, as if will alone can make a business successful. I don’t want to invest in passion unless it’s tempered by experience and based on a solid business plan.

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