Archive for the 'Trends' Category

Work from home - Save $38 Billion!
A survey by the public-private teleworking partnership Telework Exchange has concluded that encouraging those who can work from home to do so for two days a week, rather than commute into work, would save 9.7 billion gallons of gas or $38.2bn.
This is an interesting statistic. Workers certainly care if […]

Amazon.com will be selling office supplies and going head to head with Staples, Office Depot, etc.
“With our enormous breadth of selection, we have paper, pencils, sticky notes, pushpins and much more, all available for purchase with the click of a mouse, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Chris Rupp, director of merchandising […]

While home business people can deduct business related travel as some relief for the huge price of oil, you’ve got to wonder if some Monkey Business isn’t going on.
For instance Senator (and former Presidential Candidate) Christopher Dodd got a sweetheart deal from a lender he is now trying to bail out.
Another reporter noticed that the […]

Here’s an excellent post by Pamela Slim from Escape Cubicle Nation on the economic downturn.
The excitement of an economic boom is intoxicating.
I lived and worked in Silicon Valley right in the middle of the “web crack” growth period.  There was a buzz in the air that lifted everyone’s feet a few inches off the ground.  […]

Most small business start up decisions are based on “what’s hot now?” If we’re thinking about long term options though, it might be wise to ask… “What will be around tomorrow too?”
That’s the issue, in part, behind population demograhics.
They used to have a saying … “Find me 10,000 people and I’ll show you 200 willing […]

Mortgage misery: After months of decline, broker ranks seen falling by 80 percent from peak
The Subprime crisis is taking it’s toll. It’s easy to sell mortgages when you don’t have to qualify customers and banks just want to give away money.
With banks slower to lend and finally deciding they better ask for more documentation, the […]

Here are some posts I’ve made about Square Foot Gardening. This photo from my cell phone is the garden we actually have built in the last few weeks in our spare time. It’s actually become a family hobby and very relaxing. It’s not a business enterprise.
I definitely recommend the UPGRADE book regarding this system […]

Keep an eye on this trend… revenue hungry states are now trying to make online retailers collect taxes.
Will your online business be next for every ebook you sell or every ebook auction you complete?
Overstock.com sues New York state over new online sales-tax law
From Bloomberg News via Mercury News:
Overstock.com, the online seller of excess inventory, sued […]

Breitbart:
Jack Heacock, senior vice president at the Telework Coalition, a group promoting telecommuting, said the practice is moving beyond traditional areas such as call centers to other industries, even in manufacturing, where technology and service workers may be able to perform tasks from home.
“In the last six months we have been getting an increased […]

I used to pass through Danville, VA from time to time and noted that it had once seemed busy but often seemed to have lots of empty industrial buildings.
For example:
The textile manufacturer Dan River, a former Fortune 500 company, once employed as many as 15,000 workers by some accounts. It began hemorrhaging jobs as it […]