Google Wave is a different animal, but I think it will prove useful for a variety of projects. It reminds me of Google’s now retired “Notebooks” because you can drag and drop text, photo, videos, etc. without cutting and pasting source codes and file names.

You can share documents and videos. There’s a video chat extension that I installed but haven’t tried.

I can see how this would be very good for collaborating on projects without the annoyance of email going back and forth, back and forth and missing something in the process – that happens to me all the time.

But since the people I know don’t “live” on Wave like the do on Twitter, I still need email or a Twitter Direct Message to get them to turn on their Wave and join in.

I think it’s so handy for collaboration, I’m not sure I’d want it for more mundane uses frankly, but we’ll see. I’m just getting used to it.

If you have business colleagues you need to collaborate with – such as an MLM downline, it’d be excellent for training, discussion, presentations etc.

It could even be used to make sales presentations.

How are you using Google Wave?

Here’s the Announcement:

Dun & Bradstreet has come out with an Award for Outstanding Service to Minority Business Communities (RUSA)

The sponsor is the American Library Association

The sponsor provides a $2,000 award to recognize a librarian who, or library that, has created an innovative service for a minority business community, or has been recognized by that community as an outstanding service provider.

For more information, visit:
ALA

More: The sponsor provides an award to recognize a librarian who, or library that, has created an innovative service for a minority business community, or has been recognized by that community as an outstanding service provider. The award is based on the library or librarian’s impact on the community.

1. Make a Big First Impression
Make your postcard look at first glance like a message from a friend instead of like an advertising announcement.

2. Get Right To The Point
State your biggest benefit as a headline at the top of your postcard.

3. Sell the Right Thing
Marketing postcards are most effective when they are used to generate website traffic or sales leads. They are less effective for closing sales because they don’t provide enough space for a detailed sales message.

4. Be Clear and Direct
For example, limit your postcard to just a few short sentences with blank lines between them. Reduce several sentences to a short bulleted list to save space and reading time.

5. Stimulate Fast Action
Give them a REASON to respond now.

Image courtesy Bob Leduc

I want to use this day and this post to celebrate Early Black Entrepreneurs an interesting page I found while surfing the web which I wanted to share with you today.

During Slavery

Paul Cuffe (1759-1817), a free black man, operated his own successful shipbuilding company in Connecticut in the late 1700′s and early 1800′s. He used the wealth he accumulated to help other blacks.

William Johnson, freed in 1820, earned a modest fortune operating barbershops in Natchez, Mississippi in the 1830′s and 1840′s. He kept detailed records of his business and personal life.

James Forten (1766-1842) sail maker, abolitionist and inventor made a fortune in the maritime industry, in which blacks were represented at every level.

Cee McCarty ran an import and dry goods business in New Orleans which operated throughout Louisiana. She owned thirty-two slaves and accumulated a fortune of $155,000 (about $2 million in today’s dollars.)

According to local tax records, before 1855 there were twenty-one black businessmen in New York City who made more than $100,000 per year.

Early 1900′s

Arthur George Gaston formed the Booker T. Washington Burial Society in 1923 in Birmingham, Alabama. Operating on a subscription basis it offered a decent burial at a reasonable cost. In 1939 he founded the Booker T. Washington Business College, offering courses in bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing for blacks who could not attend white business schools. Also started the Gaston Motel, and Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1957. In the 1960′s he founded the A.G. Gaston Boy’s Club.

Maggie Lena Walker (1867-1934) the daughter of a poor washer woman, started the black-owned and operated Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia in 1903, becoming the first American woman to found a bank.

Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker (1867-1919) known as Madame C.J. Walker, invented a treatment for straightening hair and began a million-dollar business promoting and selling her hair care products.

This issue continues the tradition of not only talking about how people became successful in buinsess – millionaires in fact, but helps you learn HOW THEY DID IT and points to valuable resources to help you emulate their success.

Click through to see the first page of these articles.

Leading the Pack
Don’t tell Dan Clark he’s a motivational speaker. Deemed one of the greatest “inspirational� speakers of our time, Clark continually imparts his abundance mentality to hundreds of companies nationwide and overseas to U.S. military troops. A songwriter and author of 20 books, he walks the walk with his own 12 precepts to live by.

A Web-Made Millionaire
The son of a multimillionaire Russian immigrant, Yanik Silver began perfecting his marketing skills at the age of 14. Today, a multimillion-dollar Internet guru himself, Silver markets everything from e-books to self-improvement courses and prides himself on empowering others to realize their financial dreams.

Consign by Design
Terri Bowersock launched her $36 million-dollar consignment furniture store with a crayon-drawn business plan, $2,000 from grandma and not one single bank loan. With her mother as a business partner, Terri’s Consign & Design has thrived for over two decades and through personal tragedy.

Internet Marketing Mogul
Entrepreneurship was in the blood for Robert Imbriale when he found his passion — Internet marketing — just a few years after acquiring his first computer. Now, amidst the seminars and motivational books, Imbriale provides his step-by-step marketing secrets in audio format with an encouragement to listeners to face their fears and do what they’re passionate about.

Mark Victor Hansen’s Recipe for
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Best known as the Chicken Soup for the Soul guy, Mark Victor Hansen has had his spoon in many different pots. Starting out as a teen musician, he then added a pinch of college professor with just a touch of dome designer, and now he has become a world-renowned motivational speaker and author.

From a Bullet to a BMW
A young man hanging with the wrong crowd, Stephen Pierce wanted desperately to make his break in the world with every “next big thing� advertised in the back of magazines. After numerous failed attempts and hitting bottom after being shot and left bleeding in the street, Pierce studied and equipped himself with a new mindset for business that today has made him one of the most successful Internet marketers, marketing consultants and optimization strategists in the country.

Purely Profitable Pearls
Looking for a way to make some extra money, college student Amanda Raab stumbled upon the lucrative world of e-commerce. She combined her interest in pearls, a strong desire to succeed and the dedication of an athlete to create Purepearls.com — a company that has grown to revenues over $2 million in just two years.

King of the Beach
Although most people thought his new advertising idea was nuts and his applications for a patent were denied three times, Patrick Dori knew that his invention for a sand imprinting machine was going to be big news. After convincing Skippy Peanut Butter to give his advertising method a try, Beach’n Billboard stamped its way into advertising history.

$1,000,000aire Blueprints$1,000,000aire Blueprints Magazine is brand-new and designed to answer the questions of today’s entrepreneur. Packed full of inspiring stories about real-life millionaires who have gone from rags to riches, there is no other magazine of this kind available anywhere. Each issue includes helpful “how-to� information and detailed question-and-answer interviews with self-made millionaires.

Camp Invention is a weeklong summer enrichment day program offered in local communities for children entering first through sixth grades.
Participating daily in five activity- oriented thematic modules, children enhance their understanding of science, math, history, and the arts while having lots of fun.

This exciting program invites children to let their imaginations run wild through teamwork, creative problem solving, and inventive thinking

Search here for a camp location near you…