Deborah Kimmett is a Gold Author on EvanCarmichael.com – to view her articles click here. We asked her how she use social media to grow her business – here’s what she said:

1) Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/index.html - Entrepreneur is the magazine for the small-business community.

2) ENTREPRENEURSHIP BLOG|Penn Entrepreneurs Put Knowledge Into Action

http://beacon.wharton.upenn.edu/entrepreneurship/ - We are launching the Wharton Entrepreneurship blog. We want to bring to you faculty, student, alumni, and staff voices. Our goal is to capture on a weekly basis goings-on in the Penn student and alumni entrepreneurial community, as well as in the broader regional entrepreneurial community. We’ll focus on topical developments

3) Development Marketplace|Turning Ideas into Action

http://blogs.worldbank.org/dmblog/ - This blog is hosted by the Development Marketplace. It is a platform for debate and knowledge sharing on early stage development, innovation and social entrepreneurship.

4) Treehugger

http://www.treehugger.com/ - TreeHugger is the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. Partial to a modern aesthetic, we strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. We publish an up to the minute blog, weekly and daily newsletters, twice-monthly radio interviews, and regularly updated Twitter and Facebook pages.

5) UNC KENAN-FLAGLER BUSINESS SCHOOL|Entrepreneurship

http://blogs.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/entrepreneurship/ - The UNC Kenan-Flagler Entrepreneurship Blog is the online extension of the UNC Kenan-FlaglerCenter for Entrepreneurial Studies. Our mission is to give you a behind-the-scenes look at life at a leading international business school.

6) CASE Notes|Center for the advancement of social entrepreneurship

http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/casenotes/ - “CASE Notes” is the blog of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. CASE is a research and education center that promotes the entrepreneurial pursuit of social impact through the thoughtful adaptation of business expertise.

7) MAKE A DIFFERENCE

http://blog.biz.colostate.edu/ - This blog comes out of the College of Business at Colorado State University. As a College, we acknowledge that the most pressing problem facing the world today is poverty, and from poverty flows many of the world’s ills. We will teach and conduct research and outreach programs in sustainable and socially responsible business practices that will help lift people and communities out of poverty and into prosperity.

8) Socialmouths|Kick-ass social media advice for the real entrepreneur

http://socialmouths.com/blog/ - SocialMouths is Francisco Rosales’ vehicle to deliver free advice on what takes to be successful online. I mostly talk about blogging, social media, web traffic, content marketing, conversion and email marketing.

9) Blog:Social Enterprise

http://managementhelp.org/blogs/social-enterprise/ - This blog helps you develop your social enterprise by providing articles, opinions, commentary and many related resources. The blog is for a general audience, including beginners and those advanced in social enterprise.

10) ASHOKA|INNOVATORS FOR THE PUBLIC

https://www.ashoka.org/ - Ashoka strives to shape a global, entrepreneurial, competitive citizen sector: one that allows social entrepreneurs to thrive and enables the world’s citizens to think and act as changemakers.

11) DELL SOCIAL INNOVATION CHALLENGE

http://blog.dellchallenge.org/ - The Dell Social Innovation Challenge identifies and supports promising young social innovators who dedicate themselves to solving the world’s most pressing problems with their transformative ideas. We provide university students with world-class teaching and training, as well as with start-up capital and access to a network of mentors and advisors.

12) Stanford Social Innovation

http://www.ssireview.org/blog - Stanford Social Innovation Review is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. SSIR is written for and by social change leaders in the nonprofit, business, and government sectors who view collaboration as key to solving environmental, social, and economic justice issues.

13) WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

http://forumblog.org/communities/social-entrepreneurs/ - The World Economic Forum was first conceived in January 1971 when a group of European business leaders met under the partronage of the European Commission and European industrial associations

14) Next billion 2.0|development through enterprise

http://www.nextbillion.net/ - NextBillion.net is a website and blog bringing together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise. It is a discussion forum, networking space and knowledge base for individuals and organizations interested in the “next billion”.

15) Ecopreneurist

http://ecopreneurist.com/category/social-entrepreneurs/ - Ecopreneurist is a blog for and about eco and social entrepreneurs, startups, cleantech, web 2.0 and disruptive business ideas.

16) Echoing green|Unleashing your talent to solve the world’s biggest problems

http://www.echoinggreen.org/blog - Echoing Green’s mission is to unleash next generation talent to solve the world’s biggest problems.

17) Skoll World Forum On Social Entrepreneurship

http://skollworldforum.org/ - Social entrepreneurs pave avenues of opportunity for those who would, otherwise, be locked into lives without hope. Learn more about social entrepreneurship and the Skoll World Forum, and hear why their innovations are the most promising solutions to global problems.

18) Simon Mainwaring|The We First Blog

http://simonmainwaring.com/ - Simon Mainwaring is founder of We First, a social branding consulting firm that helps companies, non-profits and individuals use social media to build communities, profits and positive impact.

19) Ennovent|innovations for sustainability

http://blog.ennovent.com/ - The community channel to share great stories, ideas and news about for-profit solutions to social, environmental and economic challenges at the Base of the Economic Pyramid.

20) INDIA MICROFINANCE

http://indiamicrofinance.com/ - Indiamicrofinance.com is one of India’s leading blogs on Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship. The blog publishes specialized news and information on the emerging microfinance sector with an emphasis on developments in the Indian economy.

21) Dasra Blog

http://www.dasra.org/blog/ - Dasra’s theory of change is that if philanthropists and social entrepreneurs are equipped with the knowledge, funding opportunities and people to make their work more strategic, then the social sector in India will be transformed dramatically. Non profits and social businesses will be able to create far more impact and benefit the maximum number of people faster. Dasra has several initiatives to help both philanthropists and social entrepreneurs at various levels in their journey towards bringing about social change.

22) A BLOG ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

http://www.socialearth.org/ - SocialEarth is the leading source for news and information about social entrepreneurship. The company has over 130 contributors in 25 countries which cover the latest trends and provide thoughtful analysis on socially and environmentally conscious news.

23) VENTURENEER|BUILDING SUCCESSDUL ENTERPRISES WITH HEART

http://ventureneer.com/ - Ventureneer provides online education and peer support for social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and values-driven small business owners.

24) UNREASONABLE.is

http://unreasonable.is/ - This website is a multi-channel blog and video library for those hungry to solve BFPs*. Each day we publish a featured post authored by some of the greatest thinkers and doers of our time and focused on big opinions and practical hard skills.

25) MakeSense|challenging people for social business

http://we.makesense.org/ - MakeSense is an open project which challenges people for social business.

26) The 7 Graces of Marketing – ethical marketing for social entrepreneurs

http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/ - The 7 Graces is a holistic approach to business and advertising, devoted to creating harmonious relationships with people, our economy and the delicate ecological balance of our natural world. They are the values we hold dear, and the principles to which we continually aspire to attain in our work and our personal lives.

27) ENTREPRENEUR THE ARTS|Innovating Through Artistry

http://blog.entrepreneurthearts.com/ - Entrepreneur The Arts tap into the power of creative artistry to innovate lives, bottom lines, and the communities we live in. We serve artists, corporations, universities and government.

28) School for social entrepreneurs

http://www.the-sse.org/blog/ - SSE was founded in 1997 by Michael Young. Its mission is to address inequalities and social exclusion by supporting social entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to transform their talent into real social outcomes, in the form of sustainable solutions to poverty and disadvantage in communities. It does this through the use of action-learning based programmes of personal and organisational development.

29) Berytech Community

http://blog.berytech.org/ - Berytech promotes the creation and development of new startup companies and the growth of existing high potential businesses through incubation, business support and company hosting in a dynamic and vibrant environment. Berytech assists existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in their projects, helping them identify business opportunities, develop their entrepreneurial skills, access information, local and international networks as well as funding.

30) Big social network|unleashing social energy

http://www.thebigsociety.co.uk/ - The Big Society Network exists to support and develop talent, innovation and enterprise to deliver social impact.

31) TechSangam|Social Enterprises. India. Social Enterpreneurs

http://www.techsangam.com - The May 17, 2011 post (Boiling the social enterprise ocean) provides the next level drill-down into the kind of social enterprises TechSangam will be covering

32) Friends international|Together,building futures

http://www.friends-international.org/blog/ - Friends-International works with marginalised urban children and youth, their families and communities to become productive, independent citizens of their country. We do this by listening to and being guided by those who matter the most to us – the children and youth we work with everyday.

33) Seforum|SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FORUM

http://www.se-forum.se/blog/ - SE Forum is a membership organization promoting social entrepreneurship and supporting the entrepreneurs who are working to make the world a better place.

34) THINKBIGBEBIG ENTREPRENEURS

http://www.thinkbigbebigentrepreneurs.com/ - Thinkbigbebig Entrepreneurs was founded on December 17, 2008 by London based serial entrepreneur and consultant Timothy Bosworth as a weblog dedicated to providing news, reviews and opinions on the growing business, media, mobile, technology, social, media and Lifestyle Design market space and is part of the thinkbigbebig Group.

35) Have Fun.Do Good|Ideas,inspiration and interviews for fun-loving do-gooders!

http://havefundogood.blogspot.com/ - Britt Bravo, founder of the Changeblogger Network, blogs on topics that focus on teaching individuals and organizations to realize their big vision.

36) Social Capital Blog

http://socialcapital.wordpress.com/ - Wisdom on social capital, human interaction, civic engagement and community through research, news stories and life.

37) BULL CITY FORWARD|INNOVATE FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

http://bullcityforward.org/ - Bull City Forward is a community effort to dramatically increase the creation, scale, and impact of social enterprises in Durham, NC.  We are guided by the conviction that in purposefully recruiting, enabling, and scaling social enterprises and socially driven entrepreneurs, Durham can create a robust cluster of innovation for the region that will spur economic development, improve the lives of citizens, and produce a new model of urban development.  Thus, the mission of Bull City Forward is “to enable entrepreneurs to create positive change.”

38) Harambe Cameroon:engaging new social entrepreneurs

http://harambecameroun.blogspot.com/ - As the first social entrepreneurship program in Cameroon, engaging and training a generation of social entrepreneurs is part of our organizational DNA, Harambe is founded on an ambitious mission :”To inspire and engage a new generation of young leaders and entrepreneurs who see problems as opportunities in need of solutions, and have the poise and wherewithal to engage others to make long-lasting socio-economic impact.”

39) SOCENTLAW

http://socentlaw.com/ - Law And Social Entrepreneurship

40) Social Entrepreneurship|Empreendiment to Social

http://insead-social-entrepreneurship.blogspot.com/ - INSEAD has developed a unique social entrepreneurship programme. It brings together the expertise and academic resources of a top-tier business school with this dynamic and innovative field.

41) SOCIAL Entrepreneurship & Grant Writing

http://www.socialentrepreneurshipandgrants.com/ - Here at the Social Entrepreneurship and Grants blog, we wish to foster an open, collegial online community where ideas, questions and opinions are freely shared

42) sosense|YOUR SOCIAL IMPACT

http://www.sosense.org/en/blog - Sosense is an intermediary in the market for philanthropy, social investing, and social entrepreneurship.

43) Social & Cultural entrepreneur

http://www.culturalentrepreneur.se/ - On this blog we would like to explore entrepreneurship from a cultural and social point of view. Or rather put forward entrepreneurial initiatives within these two fields.

44) Social Venture Fund

http://www.umsocialventure.com/ - The Social Venture Fund (SvF) impact investment fund at the University of Michigan that invests in and supports innovative companies that place social impact at the heart of their business model.

45) FYSE Blog

http://www.fyse.org/blog-2/ - FYSE enables social entrepreneurs to achieve their utmost impact. We identify needs and develop innovative solutions that enable social entrepreneurs to effectively tackle our society’s most pressing social and environmental challenges while expanding their business and creating jobs.

46) SOCIAL ROI:A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP BLOG

http://socialroi.com/ - Social Roi’s goal is to enable social entrepreneurship and to spread the word about some of the good stuff that’s happening in the space.

47) Beanbags and Bullsh!t

http://beanbagsandbullsh1t.com/ - I’m David Floyd. I’ve been running a small social enterprise, Social Spider CIC, since 2003. I started the business with a couple of friends when I was 22 having left education after A-Levels and worked in the public and private sectors. I like social enterprise.

48) THE ZUGUNRUHE PROJECT|Making sense of deep entrepreneurship and social enterprise

http://zugunruhe.ca/ - Friends of Zugunruhe are comprised of a list of selected professionals working  in the social enterprise space who are also looking to help others succeed in their social enterprise endeavor.  Currently  this list includes an experienced Social Enterprise Practitioner,  Builder, and Strategist. But the list will soon grow!

49) Dream, Perform, Live| An Entrepreneur

http://www.an-entrepreneur.com/ - This Blog’s main theme is Entrepreneurship, based mainly on my experiences and knowledge. However it’s reach is much wider, as I also include Administration related subjects, such as Marketing, Sales, Strategies and others. Also, I include themes from my day job as a Consultant, including Innovation & Creativity, Internet and Technologies as Strategic Assets.

50) Salah’s Blog

http://salahboukadoum.wordpress.com/ - An entrepreneur’s views on ending poverty, social entrepreneurship, conscious business, microfinance, and more

Grab the Badge

1) Bits | The Business of Technology

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/ - The Bits blog covers the business of technology, from social media and mobile devices to cloud computing and computer security. The New York Times reporters and editors also use this space to explore how the digital revolution is changing business and society.

2) Blog | Reddit

http://blog.reddit.com/ - Keep up with the latest development updates, community announcements, and general reddit tomfoolery.

3) The Guardian | Technology Blog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog - Technology updates from The Guardian.

4) The Telegraph | Technology Blog

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ - Technology updates from The Telegraph.

5) Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/ – Engadget is a news, reviews and opinion outlet with obsessive coverage of cutting edge gadgets, consumer electronics and the science and technology they’re built upon.

Launched in March of 2004 as a web property, Engadget has since expanded to cover mobile devices and live events through video and photography in addition to the written word.

6) Techcrunch

http://techcrunch.com/ – TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.

Founded in June 2005, TechCrunch and its network of websites now reach over 12 million unique visitors and draw more than 37 million page views per month. The TechCrunch community includes more than 2 million friends and followers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and other social media.

CrunchBase, TechCrunch’s open database about start-up companies, people and investors, has become the leading statistical resource for technology companies and transactions.

The company hosts major conferences and events, including the Disrupt series, The Crunchies Awards, and various meet-ups worldwide serving as community platforms for industry conversation and collaboration.

7) Wired

http://www.wired.com/ - An award-winning pioneer of the web, Wired.com is the hip face of technology news and information online. The site is required reading for exclusive, original news chronicling technology and its impact on business, entertainment, politics, culture, and science.

8) Technology@Intel

http://blogs.intel.com/technology/ - This site features blogs written by Intel senior technologists and others at Intel who have a passion for technology. For example, Intel GM & VP, Doug Davis, Intel Senior Fellow Steve Pawlowski, and Intel Fellow Kelin Kuhn, and many others contribute to the blog. The bloggers will share their perspectives on the future of technologies ranging from architecture innovation and integrated solutions, to new usage models around the world. This blog offers you direct dialogue with Intel’s technology decision makers.

9) FT | Tech Blog

http://blogs.ft.com/tech-blog/ - Technology Blog of Financial Times.

10) Digital Inspiration

http://www.labnol.org/ - Digital Inspiration (www.labnol.org) is your guide to personal technology written by Amit Agarwal. Like us for your daily dose of software tips, tutorials and how-tos.

11) Unity Technologies Blog

http://blogs.unity3d.com/ - Unity is the award-winning development platform for games and interactive 3D on the web, iOS, Android, consoles and beyond.

12) Marketing Technology Blog

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/marketingtech – The Marketing Technology Blog discusses online marketing, search engine optimization, pay per click, inbound marketing, conversion optimization, analytics, email marketing and social media marketing strategies.

13) The Official Microsoft Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/ – This official Microsoft Blog aims to cover and add context around the top level news from the company and industry. It is intended to complement the Microsoft News Center, where you’ll find a steady stream of news and information about the company, as well as some of our partners and customers. On the blog, you’ll see the company’s perspective on the news, along with the thoughts and opinions of some of our employees and executives, and our reaction to what we see happening in the industry. The blog is managed by Microsoft’s Corporate Communications team but you’ll see posts from interesting people across the company.

Across Microsoft there are literally hundreds of teams and individuals actively blogging on almost every topic relevant to the work we do (and plenty that aren’t relevant but still interesting!). This blog is not intended to replace the richness and diversity of these blogs, nor to suggest reading just one blog is the best way to stay in touch with what’s happening.

Like some of the other cross-company sites, we have decided to restrict the ability to comment on posts, at least initially. As we establish the blog’s voice, we hope to enable comments and foster a dialogue with readers.

14) NewScientist

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/technology - New Scientist magazine was launched in 1956 “for all those men and women who are interested in scientific discovery, and in its industrial, commercial and social consequences”. The brand’s mission is no different today – for its consumers, New Scientist reports, explores and interprets the results of human endeavour set in the context of society and culture.

New Scientist online was launched in 1996 and now carries an archive of over 76,000 content pieces. We have developed our site to include specific channels to cater for our audience’s wide variety of interests. The website includes news and features, engaging headlines, fascinating stories and amazing facts, delivered through the latest news slots, in-depth articles, video, blogs and commenting. New Scientist explains why a development is significant as well as putting social and cultural context around it, delivering more insight than any other current affairs or science source.

15) Educational Technology Blog

http://blogs.bu.edu/edtech/ - Educational Technology Blog is a showcase for faculty technology innovations across Boston University’s campuses. Here, you can expect to find both announcements about up-and-coming technologies at BU, and case studies of new and exciting ways that faculty around BU are using technology to further their teaching and research goals.

16) DUKE CIT

http://cit.duke.edu/blog/ – The duke center for instructional technology helps instructors find innovative ways to use technology to achieve their teaching goals.

17) Flurry Tech Blog

http://tech.flurry.com/ – Technology lessons from the cutting edge of mobile and big data. Flurry helps more than 90,000 companies succeed in the new app economy across iOS, Android, Windows Phone and HTML5. Our industry-leading services help apps acquire larger and better audiences, increase user engagement and maximize monetization. Big data is at the core of our business, and we leverage the world’s largest cross-platform data set to empower apps to win.

Powering over 240,000 apps across clusters spanning thousands of nodes, we handle over 40 Billion data points per day. This blog is a place for us to share what we’ve learned at the cutting edge of both mobile and big data, and to have conversations about where things are going next.

18) Sun Star Tech Talk

http://blogs.sunstar.com.ph/technology/ - Tech Talk is Sun.Star blog containing the latest technology news, reviews, photo galleries and videos.

19) Abtblog

http://blog.abt.com/ - Learn about the hottest new products, cutting-edge technology, and special Abt events and sales.

20) Griffin Technology Blog

http://www.griffintechnology.com/blog/ - Nashville-based company making cases and accessories for iPhone, iPad, Kindle and Android.

21) Office of Information Technology Blog

http://blog.oit.wvu.edu/ – While OIT may not support some of the referenced technology, we do understand that many of our users use them and for that reason will try to add information that you might find helpful.

The WVU Office of Information Technology Blog is coordinated by the OIT Communications Unit: Chet Cook, Alisha Myers, and Jessica Latham. Contributors from other OIT units are welcomed and encouraged.

Contributed posts are subject to editorial review by the OIT Communications Coordinator for quality assurance. All OIT units are invited to participate in contributing information to the blog by actively writing posts and/or submitting post ideas.

22) Connecting Technology Blog

http://blogs.orange-business.com/connecting-technology/ - Our connecting technology blog is dedicated to the information technologies adopted by large international enterprises. We cover today’s most pressing technology challenges, including network optimization, security, and cloud computing, as well as newer technologies such as virtualization, IPv6 and M2M.

23) Clove

http://blog.clove.co.uk/ - A specialist provider of mobile technology products, including smartphones, tablets and associated accessories.

24) GeekZone

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/ - Geekzone is the largest tech community in New Zealand.

25) FACE IT – IESE TECHNOLOGY BLOG

http://blog.iese.edu/faceit/ - Face IT is a group edited blog maintained by professors of IESE’s Department of Information Systems. Our department seeks to help managers develop an understanding of how information systems can be used to meet the firm’s objectives. In this blog, we explore and discuss how new information and communication technologies are altering the business world, and how businesses are developing business strategies related to these technologies.

26) TECHi | Fresh & Never Boring

http://www.techi.com/ – Offering the latest news, reviews and in-depth feature articles, Techi is the ultimate online resource for all things technology.

Founded in 2010, Techi brings the latest details on cutting edge technology for the Information Age. Read the latest news and investigative reporting on everything from gadgets to gaming to Google. Our extensive coverage includes any and all topics related to today’s top technology, such as software, social media, gaming, Apple, mobile, apps, web design and much more.

Modern day technology is advancing at an exponential rate. Simply keeping up with the latest smartphones or tablet releases can often overwhelm the senses. Consider Techi.com com your roadmap to today’s most innovative technological advances.

Up-to-the-minute coverage on the technology industry’s biggest and boldest releases. Techi.com. Your only source for plugging in.

27) Qualys Community

https://community.qualys.com/blogs/qualys-tech - The QualysGuard Cloud Platform and its integrated suite of security and compliance solutions provide organizations of all sizes with a global view of their security and compliance posture, while drastically reducing their total cost of ownership. The QualysGuard Cloud Suite, which includes Vulnerability Management, Web Application Scanning, Malware Detection Service, Policy Compliance, PCI Compliance and Qualys SECURE Seal, enable customers to identify their IT assets, collect and analyze large amounts of IT security data, discover and prioritize vulnerabilities and malware, recommend remediation actions and verify the implementation of such actions.

28) PinoyTech Blog

http://www.pinoytechblog.com/ – Pinoy.Tech.Blog was founded in July 2005 and is considered to be one of the longest-running group blog about technology in the Philippines. Started by a dozen bloggers from various sectors of the IT industry in the country with the goal to provide an alternative coverage on technology news in the Philippines.

PTB has been featured and referenced in various newspapers, magazines and TV shows in the past years. It has also been a finalist in the Philippine Web Awards for two consecutive years.
The blog is now headed by Calvin Lo (Editor) with contributors, Joey Abiog and Raffy Pedrajita, who also help cover events. Fairly regular reviewers are Liane, Roy and Carl.

PTB has around 1,300 entries and close to 12,000 comments generating over 100,000 page impressions per month (not including the more than 2,300 RSS subscribers), PTB is one of the most read technology blog in the Philippines.

29) John Batelle’s search blog

http://battellemedia.com/ - Thoughts on the intersection of search, media, technology and more.

30) Technology & Marketing Law Blog

http://blog.ericgoldman.org/ - Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog.

31) Chief Marketing Technologist

http://www.chiefmartec.com/ - Thoughts on marketing + technology + management by scott brinker.

32) Dark Forest Group

http://darkforestgroup.com/category/technology/  - Darkforestgroup (DFG) was founded in 1998. Since then our goal has always been the same – to provide you with valuable information and free support in the field of technology.

DFG forum started out with a few dedicated members but our hard work means we have grown into a moderate sized forum. Our developers of various operating systems and modders have enjoyed the continuous support from us where we reward them and provide the tools and space for them to work in.

33) IFS | BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY

http://blogs.ifsworld.com/topics/business-technology/ - IFS is a public company (OMX STO: IFS) founded in 1983 that develops, supplies, and implements IFS Applications™, a component-based extended ERP suite built on SOA technology. IFS focuses on industries where any of four core processes are strategic: Service & asset management, manufacturing, supply chain and projects. The company has 2,000 customers and is present in approximately 60 countries with 2,800 employees in total. Net revenue in 2011 was SKr 2.6 billion.

34) R2I | Digital Marketing & Technology

http://www.r2integrated.com/blog/ - R2integrated (r2i) is a high growth, next generation digital/social marketing and technology firm specializing in creating meaningful customer engagement in the ever-changing world of peer-to-peer interactions. R2i provides advanced expertise in social media marketing and is able to bridge the gap between marketing disciplines and the advanced technologies required for 21st century execution. The company offers a comprehensive set of professional services and technology products including social/digital marketing strategy and programs, social/consumer data analysis technology, content strategy and content distribution technology, and reporting and analytics – all geared toward customer acquisition.

35) 3 Pillar Global Blog

http://www.3pillarglobal.com/blog – Technology moves at light speed, and business must adapt to meet the needs of their evolving client base. But today’s economy is not an environment where businesses can add jobs for every new technological change. Focus is key, but does that compromise agility?

3Pillar recognizes the business pain points uncovered with each new software technology shift. The impact to go-to-market plans can be devastating without a partner to navigate those waters. But just being a good technology partner isn’t enough. Today’s software product development partners must be ahead of the technology waves – leading their customers through the storm to a place of calm waters. Our thought leadership approach addresses this in a few ways. We believe in developing a number of pieces to satisfy our readers.

36) AMIS Technology Blog

http://technology.amis.nl/ - Working together, that what counts most to us. With you, our partners and our employees. We offer solutions from within your perspective, act as co-creator and co-sourcer and invent, initiate and implement innovative partnerships with you. AMIS builds on teams of enterprising professionals who are able to look beyond the borders of their own specialty and combine result with unconventional thinking. People with a passion for IT.

37) Humanising Technology Blog

http://www.nomensa.com/blog/ - At Nomensa, we deliver user experience design solutions. Our blog, Humanising Technology is where we discuss our thoughts, ideas and solutions on user experience, web accessibility and web design.

38) Holtz communication + Technology

http://holtz.com/blog/ – Shel Holtz started Holtz Communication + Technology (HC+T) in 1996 with the goal of helping organizations communicate effectively in the emerging online space using intranets to reach employees and various dimensions of the Internet to communicate with other stakeholder audiences.

HC+T provides a full range of services for large organizations, from speaking and training to communication audits and strategic plan development.

39) Cleantech Blog

http://www.cleantechblog.com/ – Cleantech Blog was set up in 2005 as one of the first blogs on cleantech – hence the name, Cleantechblog.com!

We conceived of it as an informal home on the web for those of us seeking to expand the work in cleantech started by groups like the Cleantech Group and CleanEdge. For more history on cleantech, check out “What is Cleantech” the first history of the term cleantech which we wrote in 2008.

We took our original “spiritual leadership” from Rob Day’s Cleantech Investing Blog, Tyler Hamilton’s Clean Break, and James Fraser’s The Energy Blog.

We are a multiblog, and our bloggers deserve more credit than I do. We are not journalists, though we have several published authors in the group, most of us write about what we see and do in the sector every day. And not to reduce the efforts of the rest of us, but special thanks to Richard Stuebi, a long time cleantech executive and analyst who was our first blogger, and nearly 5 years later still starts every week for thousands of us with his Monday Thoughts on Cleantech column.

40) TechEd

http://northamerica.msteched.com/blog - TechEd is Microsoft’s premier technology conference for IT professionals and developers, offering the most comprehensive technical education across Microsoft’s current and soon-to-be-released suite of products, solutions, tools, and services. TechEd offers hands-on learning, deep product exploration and countless opportunities to build relationships with a community of industry and Microsoft experts that will help your work for years to come.

41) Patron Technology

http://patrontechnology.com/blog/ – Patron Technology strives to revolutionize the arts industry by offering world-class customer relationship management (CRM) technology, including ticketing, subscriptions, fundraising, e-mail marketing and staff collaboration technology. Patron Technology’s products are PatronMail and PatronManager CRM.

Founded in 2001 by Eugene Carr, the New York City-based company is the leader in e-marketing technology for arts and non-profit organizations. The company’s PatronMail e-mail service is used by over 1,800 arts and cultural clients in all 50 states and eight countries overseas.

42) TechnoLawyer Blog

http://blog.technolawyer.com/ - All the legal technology and practice management news that’s fit to blog.

43) Technology Blogs Simplified

http://techkiddy.blogspot.com/ - Techkiddy is an emerging Technnlogy Blog Inspired By The Power Of Networking which believes in Sharing and accord with Tech Toys

44) Assistivetek Blog

http://assistivetek.blogspot.com/ - Blog on the topic of assistive technology, eLearning, mind mapping, project management, visual learning, collaborative tools, and educational technology

45) CPA Technology Blog

http://blog.bftcpa.com/ - Brian Tankersley, CPA, CITP- Knoxville, TN CPA, Consultant, Speaker, Father, and Husband.

46) HRTech Blog

http://www.hrtechblog.com/ - HRTechBlog is ran by Sarah White, founder of Sarah White & Associates, LLC  a Market Strategy Firm working with some of human capital’s most innovative start-ups as well as best in class global solutions.   They work with vendors to educate the buyers, understand the marketplace and develop innovative market strategies.

47) Techolo

http://www.techolo.com/ – Techolo (stands for Technology Outlook) talks about current technology trends, gadgets, news, reviews and other cool stuff. We don’t just reblog anything and anything about tech that has been published almost everywhere. Though at times we publish common news for its technology relevance, we put more priority and value to real content, news and reviews.

Techolo started as ZunePhilippines.com on 2006 as I got my Zune on the month of its release in the USA. Since then I have blogged about Zunes and Microsoft products until there was a need to expand thus the name change to Techolo. This blog has upgraded (and spun-off) itself from Zune Philippines to cater to more topics, news and gadgets. From Zune’s to iPads, Androids to WebOS’s, Facebook to Chatroullete, and many more.

This blog is being moderated by Roman. Gadget and technology enthusiast slash Graphic Designer. I’m PC person who appreciates the aesthetics of Macs, “openness” of Androids and the familiarity of a PC.

48) Generation YES Blog

http://blog.genyes.org/ - We believe that technology in schools is critical to bringing 21st century educational opportunities to everyone. However, we see that traditional approaches to integrating real technology into classrooms have largely failed. Even though visionary educators have seen the potential for decades, there are far too few bright and shining success stories. More often than not there is a failure of implementation between the vision and the action. We believe the missing component is student involvement, student voice, and student ownership of the process.

49) Tech@FTC

http://techatftc.wordpress.com/ - The Tech@FTC blog is published by the Federal Trade Commission. The views expressed here are representative of the Chief Technologist, and do not represent the views of the Chairman or the Commission.

50) Think GIG

http://www.thinkgig.com/ – A blog dedicated to helping you run your business more efficiently. At ThinkGig, you’ll find discussions on the topics that matter to you most – such as tips and best practices on securing your business, improving customer service, driving revenue and cutting costs – as well as unique perspectives on industry trends that impact your business.

You can rely on ThinkGig to keep you informed on the issues you face every day and inspire you to think big when it comes to your business.

Grab the Badge

Holly Landau was featured on our list of Top 100 Leadership experts to follow on Twitter – we asked her a few questions about Twitter, here is what she said:

1) How does your business benefit from using Twitter?

Twitter has helped position me as a Leadership Expert on a global scale. My followers look to me for leadership tips, advice, and insightful articles on the topic of leadership.

2) Do you have some specific examples you can share with us?

When I’m hired by a company to represent them at a conference, they like the fact that I have a solid social media following of about 10,000 people (this includes LinkedIn and Facebook in addition to Twitter). For example, I sometimes represent American Express OPEN (@openforum) at leadership conferences by facilitating breakout sessions. OPEN knows that I’ll tweet before during and after an event and use event hashtags. I help stimulate the conversation and promote their brand.

3) What do you tweet and how often do you do it?

My favorite tweet is what I call, Today’s #Leadership Challenge. I challenge my followers to consider a new way to handle a typical leadership situation. For example, “Today’s #Leadership Challenge: Learn how to thank someone in their language. See results for making an effort.”  Admittedly, I don’t offer a leadership challenge every day. I probably offer about one per week.  I think I spend about five minutes on Twitter about three times per week.  That’s it. I am, however, on Facebook and LinkedIn a lot more.

4) How has your Twitter strategy evolved?

My tweets have evolved into more conversations with people interested in the topic of leadership. I comment or thank people more for their tweets than I used to.When I first started tweeting, I thought that I had to come up with lots and lots of original material,but then I realized that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  Now I connect with a lot of other people in my field and happily retweet their insights.

5) What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who are trying to find the ROI in Twitter?

I added my Twitter handle to my signature block in my emails and on my business cards and I believe that helped me increase my following.  I always mention to potential clients that I have a social media strategy that can include them when we sign the contract (and this can be real currency in today’s marketing strategies).  For example, I recently partnered with The International Womens Leadership Association (@TheIWLA), and part of their marketing strategy is to build their Twitter following and I can help them by mentions and retweets. So this is part of my value proposition with clients and partners. In fact, I’m giving them some exposure right now. ;-)

About Holly:

Holly has successfully led teambuilding and training sessions in classrooms and boardrooms all throughout the US, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. Her charismatic and flexible facilitation style allows her to motivate individuals and teams from all generations and various cultures. For the past several years, Holly created and facilitated leadership development programs for the multi-billion dollar corporation, Penske. She is a former US Army Officer, spokesperson for the Dept. of Defense, and Media Relations Officer for Defense Logistics Agency. Serving mostly at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, she designed and delivered media training programs for field officers across the United States.

She earned a Meritorious Service Medal for her accomplishments while serving in the Public Affairs Office of the Secretary of the Army. Following her service, she became a Territory Manager in the retail industry in Washington, DC where she recruited, hired, trained, and retained a team of thirty. It was in this role that she honed her coaching and mentoring skills while developing innovative sales and customer service training programs. She is formerly part of the corporate training team, The Wellness Women, where she designed and delivered employee wellness and human performance programs. She has served as an Adjunct Instructor at Lehigh Carbon Community College and a Guest Lecturer at Penn State University.

Training & Education: In addition to completing extensive leadership training in the US Army, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Thomas Edison State College and is currently completing Cornell University’s Executive Leadership graduate program.

Focus Areas: leadership (emerging and experienced leaders), presentation skills, influence skills, resolving conflict, diversity, teambuilding, constructive conversations, behavioral styles (DiSC), strategic thinking, creative thinking, innovation, business writing, and executive coaching

Holly says: “My favorite aspect of my work is interacting directly with learners. I like to ‘keep it real’ and draw wisdom from unlikely places to facilitate dialogue that leads learners to their own powerful conclusions”

Contact Holly: hollylandau@landauleadership.com or call 570-985-7068

Click here to visit Holly’s website

I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. This post is brought to you by the Amex For Business Canada Facebook page, a popular resource for Canadian entrepreneurs.

Today we’re going to take a look at how a farm boy from Wales moved to Canada and turned a $4,000 in startup loan into almost $2 billion. This is the story of serial entrepreneur Terry Matthews and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.

 Must Watch Video

“That’s the secret. Timing, hard work, smarts and partners. Using that formula, I’ve either founded or funded over 80 companies, and none have gone bankrupt. Most have done very well.” – Terry Matthews

Terry Matthews was born on June 6, 1943 in Gwent, Wales, where he spent a lot of his childhood. As a boy, Matthews would enjoy taking cars apart and building small electric motors with the pieces. He was curious to see how much he could put together on his own. When he found a four-leaf clover in the field behind a local Wesleyan chapel, Matthews says he knew he was going to be lucky in life.

Alongside business partner and fellow British expatriate Michael Cowpland, Matthews borrowed $4,000 and founded Advanced Networking Devices. He had no business plan to speak of, but was convinced he had an idea worth putting on the market. The pair also wanted to raise seed money for future enterprises they were planning. Six months later, he changed the company’s name to Mitel. While some believe Mitel stands for “Mike and Terry’s Electric Lawnmowers” – after their first, failed product – Cowpland insists it stands for “Mike and Terry Electronics.”

Acknowledging that importing lawnmowers was not going to be his ticket to success, Matthews shifted Mitel’s focus. With the introduction of the touch tone receiver, as well as the PBX call routing system, Mitel revolutionized the telecommunications industry. Now, as a British Knight as well as a billionaire, Matthews continues to serve as founder and chairman of Wesley Clover, an investment firm with investments in telecommunications, real estate and leisure, as well as being directly involved in a handful of other companies – all focused on next generation technologies that Matthews believes will give him his next success.

Action Item #1: Be Persistent

If there were rules of entrepreneurship, being persistent would be close to the top of the list. Being an entrepreneur is tough. People will reject you, you’ll run short of money, you’ll even wonder if you’re better to just give up and go get a 9 to 5 job. If you have a passion for what you do and you’re providing a valuable service or product to your customers you have to keep going. Remind yourself why you started your business and hold on to the image of you being the successful entrepreneur that you want to be. It’s a long, tough road but it’s totally worth it. Be persistent and keep going.

Matthews’ career has largely been characterized by two things: his persistent and active involvement in all of his companies, and his thorough knowledge of the industry in which he is involved. Matthews started 80 different companies and has an excellent track record of success. He is a hands-on investor and persistent when it comes to business. When he first started out, he discovered when you leave things to other people you stand a better chance of losing money. By being persistent, you can keep reminding others that you have a good idea. By being hands-on, you will not be a passive investor and will know everything about the business, being able to solve challenges as they come up.

According to Matthews, “I don’t think I’m stubborn. I just focus on the task at hand and do what it takes. Persistence is the single most important thing for success… Our shipment of mowers was lost at sea and while we waited, winter descended and covered our green lawns with snow… That taught me a key lesson, the importance of timing. The shipping companylost the lawnmowers! By the time they showed up no one wanted them, as you can’t cut grasswhen it’s covered with snow.”

Action Item #2: Build Relationships

You can’t start a business in isolation. To be successful you need to develop relationships with potential customers, investors, media, suppliers, employees, and the list goes on. Listen to people and help them get what they want. You’ll not only get the satisfaction of doing good deeds, they’ll also come back to help you when you most need it.

As a young boy growing up in Wales, Matthews was a born engineer. He loved to fix anything that was broken, and break something even if it was not just for the fun of putting it back together again. If anyone in town had an electric motor that needed repairing, or even a musical box that needed a second life, they knew where to turn. But it was not just his engineering skills that were being developed at the time. Matthews was learning crucial people and relationship skills that would come in handy years later. That is why he truly believes that business success depends on teamwork and relationships with others.

According to Matthews, “I always had engineering in my blood and I got a reputation for being able to fix stuff, and when people asked ‘How much?’ I’d say ‘It’s a pleasure and no charge’. It left an obligation and I very quickly found when Christmas came around, I had so many gifts… If there is a payment, it is a settled account, but if it is for free, it is not settled and it engenders a very close relationship… I helped to build Mitel and then Newbridge and lots of other companies, developing a tight team relationship and a fighting spirit that wins. I love kicking ass.”

Action Item #3: Make the Product Beneficial

The amount of money that you make will grow according to how much value you’re giving your clients. If you’re helping solve a major problem for them and are providing outstanding value, you can charge more money. If you’re an average company selling an average product, don’t expect to get outstanding results. Keep focused on your customer and give them the most value you can think of and they’ll reward you with money in your pocket.

The bottom line for Matthews is delivering a product that will in turn deliver real benefits to his clients. Under Matthews’ leadership, Mitel introduced a product called “Your Assistant,” which won accolades across the board precisely because of its unique added value. Demonstrating value to clients is one of the biggest challenges companies face. Matthews has reached new heights of success because he has not just pushed new technologies, he has created products that open new opportunities and offer added value to companies. By focusing on the end results, he has been able to stay at the forefront of the industry, and always one step ahead of the rest.

According to Matthews, “To start, you are not looking at the replacement of simple things… So, for example, if I said to a business person ‘I have really good news, I am speaking to you through a Voice over IP system,’ well big deal, I can do that over a traditional phone network…Every different vertical has its own set of killer apps, but the important thing is that IP broadband has created a killer environment for new apps. During 2004 the conditions that allow getting killer apps were there, but the confusion as to how to get there and what they could gain was not present. Companies want to see benefits in a substantive way… Anything you can introduce that, one, speaks to revenue growth and, two, reduces costs and improves customer satisfaction – that’s all good.”

True Story

In 1980, Terry Matthews purchased the derelict 19th Century Manor House in Wales. The biggest reason he purchased the house was because he saw the potential to the community and believed it would benefit the locals, as well as Wales. One thing that was left out of this reason is that Matthews had been born in Manor House when it was a hospital and did not like seeing a place that was personally important to him get torn down.

Instead, Matthews invested $125 million in revitalizing the Manor House. It was a commercial venture, but more importantly, it was a place that Matthews found to be part of his past. The superb countryside and its placement close to a major highway was a good area to start some local businesses. It is now the Celtic Manor Resort that brings in millions of dollars to the community and provides hundreds of jobs to the locals. “I think the Resort can act as a magnet to draw new investment into Wales from across the UK and overseas,” he said recently. “I did my best to put up a building that you can see from the West End of London and I didn’t come far short of it!”

Quotes

“I don’t have time to play.”

“Make a mark; don’t be part of the living dead.”

“Lots of companies are cutting back because the so-called bubble burst, allowing me to hire some of the best talent on the planet. While they were cutting back I bought Mitel and increased R&D spending by 50 per cent.”

What Do You Think?

Are you persistent in business? Do you believe in teamwork and building relationships? Is what you are selling beneficial to others? Tell me what you think by leaving a message below. Learn more by reading my Terry Matthews articles.

Once again, this post is brought to you by the Amex For Business Canada Facebook page, a popular resource for Canadian entrepreneurs. Check out their page and join the conversation!

Joan Ginsberg was featured on our list of Top 100 HR Experts to follow on Twitter – we asked her a few questions about Twitter – here is what she said:

1) How does your business benefit from using Twitter?

I benefit from Twitter both professionally and personally because Twitter opens me up to connections with all types of forward thinkers. I am a believer in the saying “Facebook is for people you used to know, Twitter is for people you want to know.”

2) Do you have some specific examples you can share with us?

I connected with China Gorman when she was the COO of SHRM. She has been an amazing person to know and has helped me grow both personally and professionally. I wouldn’t know her if not for Twitter. Laurie Reuttimann, a top HR blogger, was also an early Twitter connect. Now I am part of the HR Blogger Network for The Starr Conspiracy thanks to her.

3) What do you tweet and how often do you do it?

I mostly tweet links to great stuff I have read or I promote things I have written. I manage two other accounts besides my own personal account. I also live tweet conferences, webinars, etc., and I founded a monthly Twitter chat called #SHRMChat. I am on Twitter to one degree or another every day.

4) How has your Twitter strategy evolved?

When I first started tweeting, I spent hours upon hours on Twitter, watching feeds and responding. It fascinated me that I could have these types of conversations. But as time became an issue, I started following streams more selectively and participating only when I was really moved to do so. My strategy is to provide content and participate in conversation around that content as much as I can, maintaining my current connections and adding more high quality connections. But Twitter is not the only social media platform on which I am active so I have to divide my time wisely.

5) What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who are trying to find the ROI in Twitter?

My advice is to have a strategy up front. Are you trying to promote your personal brand? Are you trying to find people with similar professional or personal interests? Every ounce of time you spend on social media should be about trying to reach goals and objectives, even if those goals and objectives are about hobbies or leisurely interests. I have a daughter who uses Twitter only as a self-contained personal communication channel. That’s fine – for her. Another daughter is focused on the real-time, breaking news aspects of Twitter, but not much else. A summary of my advice would be to make it into what you need. The ability is there.

Yesterday was the second day of #SESTO and I was excited to start off the day and learn more on Search Engine Strategies!  See below for highlights of the sessions I attended:

Social Media Solutions on a Budget

The first session of the second day was presented by Danny Iny, Co-Founder of Firepole Marketing and Krista Neher, CEO of Boot Camp Digital.

-       Social Media is technically free, so when one says implementing social media solutions on a budget it consists of time commitment

-       Use social media to build three components that companies need to build with their customers:

• Know you better
• Like you
• Trust you!

-       Most believe Twitter and Facebook is the best tools to use in social media, however, there are plenty of other outlets that can help get better results such as:

• Pinterest
• Slideshare
• Scribd
• Review sites in non obvious categories

-       Social media is one of the only advertising methods that allows a company to have specific targets.  Keep your social media marketing efforts as targeted as possible

-       Use the marketing funnel to help you understand where you want to go with your social media marketing efforts

-       Most social media marketing efforts fail because a conversion funnel is not created, make sure to map it out in detail

-       There are brands out there like Swiffer who rather have their customers tweet or write on Facebook about how much they love using the product instead of spending time and money to get their customers to “like” their Facebook page.  Swiffer may not target a specific group such as men 20-30 which are unlikely to “like” Swiffer’s Facebook page, however they may tweet on their own measures telling their friends how much they love to use the product

-       There are possibilities to build partnerships with other companies that have the same target group as you – that way working together can build and market a larger target group

-        It’s important not to have content just to have it for the sake of content – it’s about being engaged with your target audience

-       http://bit.ly/get-naked – how to create something amazing

-       It is recommended if you don’t have a lot of unique visitors a day to only blog a certain amount of time because, no one is reading your posts.  Use that other time for something more productive

-       Try going to a brand and telling them how wonderful their product or service is and ask to write a review and if they can put it on their blog – that is a good way to get attention from the authoritative brand

-       It’s a good idea to repurpose your content from a blog post into a video etc.

Remarketing/Retargeting Done Right…&Wrong

Dax Hamman, Chief Revebue Officer, Chango and Kevin Lee, CEO, Didit were the presenters at the second session I attended.

-       If you use a CPC you may want to use a pixel measurement to see how many click-throughs you get

-       Success Factor: Considered Purchases: What is the window of opportunity for the buy funnel? The longer your prospects are in the market the more opportunity you have to remarket to them!

-       Think about how much time you have to retarget before you start thinking of ways to target your audience

-       Simple retargeting can be done in Google AdWords

-       Before retargeting it is vital to understand how much each of your target groups cost per impression before you start retargeting

-       Ghostery – Firefox – is a tool that can let you see what cookies your competitors are firing off

-       The seven types of effective retargeting:

• Search
• Site
• SEO/SEM
• Email
• Contextual
• Engagement
• Social

-       Search and Site retargeting work hand in hand and should be dealt with together

From Keywords to “Buy Words”: Finding High-Value Paid Search Keywords

The last session I attended on day 2 of #SESTO was presented by Andrew Goodman, President of Page Zero Media and Matt Van Wagner, President of Find Me Faster.

-       Keyword Primer:

• Queries vs. Keywords
• Normalization
• Keywords Match Types
• How to control keyword matching into and within your accounts

-       Bing matches keywords to plurals and Google matches to plurals and close matches (which you can opt-out of)

-       Search engines have different rules for ignoring extra spaces, punctuation marks and noise words.  Should you have a “&” or “and” – most punctuation marks are thrown away and not really important

-       There is a difference between Google and Bing – Google is more strict on the keywords and the precision of what is searched

-       The degree of closeness between what users want and the response process you offer them will determine your success

-       What could go wrong before getting to the landing page?

• Wrong geography
• Keyword intent is off
• Ad or listing is ambiguous

-       What you may be doing wrong with adwrods?

• Too many, stay, unmanageable keywords lurking in long tail ad groups
• Match type problems overshadow diligent keyword research
• Constantly reinventing the wheel, scanning search query reports after the fact to discover “converting” keywords
• Overreacting to isolated conversion events

-       Keyword Selection: Some quirky errors:

• Majority of intent on queries is informational
• Breaking new category
• You’re b2b; too many consumer searches

-       Google is always updating quality score keywords

-       Intent keywords have a higher quality keyword score

It has been another awesome year at #SESTO – thanks to the SES team and to all the experts that shared all their knowledge!

Welcome to a special video post brought to you by American Express Canada. They have recently launched their Amex for Business Canada Facebook Page where you can access the latest news, information and resources for Canadian entrepreneurs.

I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters.

Today, we’re going to look at how a Canadian entrepreneur went from getting arrested for bootlegging t-shirts to being the largest t-shirt manufacturing in the United States. This is the story of American Apparel founder Dov Charney and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success. 

Must Watch Video

“I knew I could do it differently, and I knew I could turn it around. And I knew there was a solution and there was no way, that kind of passion or can-do spirit; I said there’s no way I’m stopping now.” – Dov Charney

Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969) was born in Montreal, Canada to Jewish parents, but was sent to Wallingford, Connecticut to attend a prestigious prep school to control his behavior. Charney was a self-described hyperactive child and was frustrating his parents with his behavior. He would focus on just about everything else, but the school he was attending. While ignoring school work, he would find a money-making opportunity by purchasing t-shirts at a K-Mart and taking them across the border to Canada, where he would sell them for a profit.

Charney would then close a large order for t-shirts, but the order went south and he would eventually lose more than $100,000. This business disaster would make Charney quit the t-shirt business for a while and go to college. He found that the t-shirt business was calling him again so  he dropped out of Tufts University in his senior year to follow his passion. After moving to South Carolina, and getting a $10,000 loan from his father, Charney would start a new t-shirt business in 1989, American Apparel.

Today, American Apparel has over $500 million in revenue and over 11,000 employees. It’s the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States and has almost 300 locations worldwide. In 2004, Charney was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and he’s made quite a return for himself on that initial $10,000 startup loan!

Action Item #1: Narrow the Market

You can’t sell to everyone – successful entrepreneurs hone their offering around a specific target market and ignore the rest of the world. When you design for everyone, nobody ends up loving you. They might love pieces of what you do but it’s never perfect for them. When you design for a specific market you can make your product or service amazing for them, solve their problems, and forget about everyone else.

Charney knows who is buying his clothes and it’s a very specific market. He is tailoring his designs towards 20-somethings which means tighter and sexier clothes than the baby boomer generation before them were used to. It also means giving his clothes bright and bold colors. Charney identifies with his market, a group of people who are more socially-minded than their predecessors. To that end, he decided to market his company as not only brand-free, but also locally made and sweatshop free. As he sees it, Charney has connected with an emerging youth movement, a network of new hip youths that want cool clothes, but do not want to be walking advertisements for giant corporations. By narrowing his market, he has created the largest t-shirt manufacturer in the country.

According to Charney, “There’s the relaxed fit generation and then there’s the next generation, we like sexy at American Apparel… We don’t have branding on the shirts. It’s not a status symbol… I can’t wear any brand on my body – I just freak out.”

Action Item #2: Innovate, Don’t Exploit

Success depends on innovation. If you want to stand out and be different from your competitors you need to find innovative ways to separate yourself. Innovation takes many forms – it could be with your products or services, business practices, company culture, customer service, and the list goes on. If you don’t innovate you’ll risk being an average company that most people ignore and forget about.

American Apparel is about much more than clothes, or at least Charney hopes so. In creating the company of his dreams, Charney wanted to make sure that it stood for something, that it was selling a message along with its products. That message is that a company does not have to be exploitative to turn a profit. He makes sure his employees not only get a decent base wage, but can make more by working harder. Charney also implements several new t-shirts each month to keep his customers looking for new and creative t-shirts to wear. Not only are his employees happy, but his customers have several innovative choices when buying one of his t-shirts.

According to Charney, “We designed the rate in such a way that the average person should be able to make $100 a day, that’s our target. We want to pay more than the prevailing wages in Los Angeles, because we want to have the happiest work force we can have… What I’m going to prove, and I’m going to embarrass the entire establishment, is that sweatshops are more expensive in the end than vertically integrated manufacturing in Canada or the U.S… You see, those prisons in China are inefficient and the opportunity cost of offshore production is huge, because you can’t respond to market demands as quickly.”

Action Item #3: Efficiency is the Key

As entrepreneurs we tend to be time starved. There’s always much more that needs to be done and not enough time in the day to do it. Focus on what you do best and find ways to make everything else more efficient. It starts with eliminating tasks that are not really adding a lot of value to your business. Then automate as much as possible through technology. Finally you can delegate out the rest of the tasks that you don’t personally bring as much value to leaving only the high value, high enjoyment tasks for you to work on. You’ll grow your business and have much more fun in the process.

Before building American Apparel to what it is today, Charney had to file for bankruptcy. It was because his company was suffering from a lack of one thing: efficiency. His staff was all in their 20s, a wildly creative bunch when it came to graphics and design, but few knew the ins and outs of running a business. In response, Charney brought on Marty Bailey, an industry expert, who helped make efficiency American Apparel’s secret weapon against its competitors. One of his main strategies was to create what he calls “team manufacturing,” where groups of eight to ten people work on a single garment together, each performing a different task. Being more efficient during the manufacturing process allowed American Apparel to grow and Charney is determined to remain as efficient as possible.

According to Charney, “As a result of this system, we’re able to compete with China and kick ass the American way. It’s less expensive, for me, the way we do business, to manufacture here in the United States. There’s a high cost to going offshore… If you’re working with a supplier in China, you’ve got to work months in advance. If you’re working with your own factory, you can wake up one morning and say, hey, let’s make 10,000 tank tops today.”

True Story

Dov Charney was such a hyperactive child that his Canadian parents sent him to a prep school in Connecticut. There he would see many of his classmates selling t-shirts on school grounds. This gave Charney an idea of buying t-shirts from the local K-Mart and taking them across the border into Canada to sell for a profit which happened to be against the law.

During one of his bootlegging excursions he was arrested. “They took me down to Station 10, which doesn’t exist anymore, and after a couple of hours of me yelling, ‘Monsieur, monsieur!’ they let me out and gave me back my cash and my shirts,” recalls Charney. “So what did I do? Headed straight for the Cock ‘n Bull to try and unload the rest of them.” Even getting arrested did not deter Charney from selling his t-shirts.

Quotes

“America doesn’t need another faceless, institutional apparel company. They need an apparel company that gets it and does it right.”

“Look, I’m not that ethical, but you don’t have to be the most ethical person to know that slavery was wrong.”

“What I’m talking about is the exploitation of human potential instead of the exploitation of humanity.”

What Do You Think?

Can you narrow your market? Do you use innovative ways to market your business? Do you run your business as efficient as possible? Tell me what you think by leaving a message below.

Evan Carmichael

To learn more check out my list of Dov Charney articles. Also don’t forget to check out the Amex for Business Canada Page!

This special Ask Evan post is brought to you by American Express Canada. They have recently launched their Amex for Business Canada Facebook Page where you can access the latest news, information and resources for Canadian entrepreneurs.

I recently got an email from one of my readers about my advice for selling a business. I’ve changed the names of the business and the entrepreneur:

“Good day Evan!

Hoping 2012 has started on the right path and that all is going well!

We seem to be connected through several entrepreneurs on LinkedIn, and I found your website and service to the business community very exciting! So much so that I signed today as an expert author.

Evan, Finance Pro was established in the year 2000 and is a niche staffing organization specializing in the placement of middle to executive level accounting and finance professionals in contract and full time positions with a sister company HR Pro specializing in the placement of Human Resources Professionals. I am contemplating putting Finance Pro up for sale and am looking forward to any tips, suggestions or connections that you may have……

Thanking you in advance Evan, looking forward to connecting with you, have an outstanding day!

Best Personal Regards,

Michaela”

Dear Michaela,

Having sold my first business (a biotech software company) and helped others sell their companies, here’s some quick advice for you:

Set up the business to run without you

The more the business needs you to succeed, the harder it’s going to be to sell (at a good price). Entrepreneur founders are often the visionary leaders who created the business from just an idea and a lot of hard work. Can it continue to flourish without you being there?

Show your potential buyer that you’ve already stepped out of the day to day business and you have a solid team in place who has already taken the reigns and they’re willing to stay on board with the new owners.

Prepare your financials

Any buyer is going to want to see that you’ve got your financial house in order and they can dig deep into your financials for at least the last 3-5 years. When you’re running your business, most entrepreneurs will optimize their companies so they pay as little taxes as possible. This means you’re not showing a high net profit at the end of each year.

Unfortunately having low profits means you won’t get a good price on your business when you sell it. If you can prepare in advance then you can start running your business knowing that you’re going to sell it in a couple of years and show more income. If you show solid income growth over a 3 year period you’ll pay more corporate taxes but you’ll get a better valuation when you go to sell.

If you want to sell right now then you can’t change your previous statements. Just make sure you understand every number on your balance sheets and income statements and be able to show buyers where they can save money without you being in the business (i.e. if you took a high management salary or had other discretionary expenses).

Identify potential buyers

You have a few options  for who buys you: strategic acquisition, private equity firm, or a management buyout.

A strategic acquisition usually yields the highest valuation. Here you’re targeting someone who badly wants to be in the financial staffing industry and see buying you as a faster alternative to starting it from scratch themselves. Think about people you might be already a referral partner or supplier for. They might be looking to expand their businesses and you could be a great fit! Also look to see if anybody close to your industry has recently raised money and is looking to expand.

Private equity firms are investors and managers who look to buy private businesses and run them. They typically either look for distressed businesses that need to be turned around (in which case you don’t get a good valuation) or companies that have consistent cash flow and solid growth opportunities. If you have good numbers you can get a fair price, but don’t expect a great price.

Management buyouts are when you sell your business to your management team. Is there a group of people in place at your company right now who could afford to take over the business? The advantage of this solution is you already have a team in place and there will be little transition for your customers. The disadvantage is that usually employees can’t afford the asking price and it can cause people to worry about their jobs and to looking for other employment if they know the company is for sale.

Will you help finance it?

In addition to thinking about what your valuation will be you should also consider if you want to finance part of the deal or not. Do you want all the cash up front and just walk away or are you willing to take a  percentage up front and the rest over a period of time?

100% cash up front is usually the most ideal option for the entrepreneur but it’s the hardest one to convince a buyer to agree to. They may want to pay you partially in shares of the new business or they may want to spread out how they pay you and tie it to the performance of the business after they take over.

This option is used very frequently in management buyout situations. Your staff can’t afford to pay you all up front so they pay you a % right now and then you continue taking money out each year until they own it completely.

You’re tying how much money you make to someone else’s ability to run your business. Most entrepreneurs don’t like having someone else control their destiny but you don’t always have a choice.

How long do you want to work there?

Another factor to consider is what does the transition period look like? Usually there is a transition period where the entrepreneur agrees to stay on and train the new buyers coming in on how everything works. It could be one year, it could be one day. How much do you want to be involved to help the buyer after you sell?

When I sold my business, for example, my two partners went to California as a part of the deal and stayed on with the company for a couple of years to help them. I was out as of the sale and moved on to other opportunities.

Is the timing right?

Industries usually go in waves. You’ll have a lot of small companies running niche businesses and then they start to get bought up and consolidated into a few big companies. After a while you start to see that the big companies are moving too slowly so new small companies pop up to start new niche businesses… and the cycle continues.

Just like the real estate and stock markets go hot and cold, the market to sell your business can be hot or cold depending on timing. You can always sell but you can get a way better price if you sell at the right time. We sold our business because the market was consolidating and we either had to sell now or wait another 7-10 years for the next round of consolidation to pick up. We chose to sell now.

Putting it all together

There’s a lot that goes into selling a business and each deal will be different. I’d recommend that you have a price in mind and be willing to negotiate depending on the factors I listed above. Some items might be non-negotiable for you so it’s good to know what they are before heading into discussions.

Good luck Michaela – I hope you get everything you ask for!

Readers, what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts if you want to leave a comment below! Also don’t forget to check out the Amex for Business Canada Page!

Welcome to a special video post brought to you by American Express Canada. They have recently launched their Amex for Business Canada Facebook Page where you can access the latest news, information and resources for Canadian entrepreneurs.

I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters.

Today we’re going to look at how an engineer discovered how his field was not for him and that business was more of his passion so he went back to school to get his MBA and focus on the business world. This man would go on to become one of the richest businessmen in Canada and is also well-known for his generosity. This is the story of Canadian entrepreneur Brett Wilson and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.

Must Watch Video

“Innovative thinkers are constantly asking the question: How can we make things better? No matter what stage you’re at in your career or what industry you work in, everyone around you can benefit from new ideas. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box – just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be better.” – Brett Wilson

Brett Wilson (born July 1, 1957), a Canadian engineer, businessman and television personality is best known for his appearances on CBC’s Dragon’s Den. After growing up in a middle class family, his father a car salesman and mother a social worker, Wilson went off to college to study engineering. He would get his bachelor’s degree in engineering and go to work for one of the oil companies in Western Canada. However, after a few years of working as an engineer, he discovered that he wanted to do something else – business.

After going back to school to get his MBA, Wilson would join nine other friends to start an investment club. They each put in $200 and invested in the stock market. They would soon each get back $221, but more importantly, understand how the stock market worked, how commissions worked, how to buy and sell stocks, as well as learn to research and watch market trends. It wasn’t much money, but this small investment club got Wilson moving and drove him to wanting to do more in the business world. He would go on to work for an investment bank, but his entrepreneurial spirit was still not satisfied. He would bide his time, network, make contacts and learn everything he could, so one day he could start his own business.

Finally, he would create his own investment advisory firm and later team up with three partners to create a brokerage firm, FirstEnergy Capital, that would offer investment services to the oil and gas industry. Today, FirstEnergy Capital has handled more than $150 billion worth of mergers, acquisitions and asset sales. Wilson has been named one of the top 20 deal makers in Canada and one of the top 10 mergers and acquisitions specialists in Canada.

Action Item #1:  Stay the Course

Most people have ideas to start businesses but they don’t take action. It’s scary, it takes a lot of courage, you might fail, and it’s outside the normal corporate world that most people are used to. It takes a lot of guts to start a business and in many cases your friends and family won’t understand why you’re doing it. They may tell you you’re crazy and you should get a comfortable job so you don’t have to worry. If you’re really passionate about being an entrepreneur, don’t let the naysayers get you down. Focus on why you’re running your business and keep jumping over the hurdles put in your way until you reach the success you’re after.

Wilson believes that real entrepreneurs have to stay the course, even when your friends and family don’t think what you’re doing is a good idea. Wilson started out his career as an engineer and had a good job in the oil fields, but was missing the passion. When he wanted to change careers and focus on business, his family and friends tried to convince him that he had a good job and he should stick it out. He then took a management test at his engineering job and failed it. They told him that he was not management material.  Wilson had to prove everyone wrong and so he left his job and started following his passion.

According to Wilson: “It was hard not to enjoy the success we were having, doing a deal a day. It was enthralling to be at the office. I got as caught up in my career as any investment banker could be… I worked for about three years as an engineer at one of the big oil companies. I discovered that I wasn’t passionate about engineering. I was passionate about business… Despite being told by one of my first employers that I wasn’t management material, I enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Calgary. I was the first graduate to major in entrepreneurship… After I started my business – a company named Wilson Mackie – my dad asked me if I was still looking for a job… Entrepreneurs have to be willing to stay the course even when those closest to you question what you’re doing.”

Action Item #2: Watch and Learn

When I started my first “real” company (a biotech software business), I was 19 years old and didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I was in over my head and didn’t want to fail. My ‘aha’ moment came when I realized that I wasn’t the first guy to try to sell software. I researched companies like Microsoft, McAfee, and Intuit to see how they got started. By looking at how Bill Gates grew his company, he became my mentor even though I had never met him. You can learn a lot about how to market your business and build your company by following the success clues that those before you have left behind.

Wilson had completed his education in both engineering and business, but the course he found most valuable was “Consumer and Buyer Behaviour.” Today, he believes this course taught him the proper way to market and how to brand businesses. His most valuable skill is watching and learning – watching what other businesses do to create brand awareness and how each successfully competed for capital. He desperately wants others to understand these behaviours and spends a lot of time trying to pass this information along to other aspiring entrepreneurs.

According to Wilson: “It does not matter if you are a doctor, scientist, engineer or lawyer – the tools of marketing are invaluable…. I sometimes think people over worry this ‘take me under your wing’ notion. People can be mentored by simply observing carefully. For example, I’ve been mentored by Richard Branson in the marketing world, and a variety of business people in terms of their business acumen. I watch and learn. And I’m still watching and learning.”

Action Item #3: Grow During Hard Times

When times get tough entrepreneurs often scale back, question if they are cut out to be a business owner, and often go looking for a job. When the economy is doing poorly, the successful entrepreneurs look at it as an opportunity for growth. They realize that their competition is likely not investing in marketing or new innovations and that there is a lot of talented people available who are looking for work. To grow through tough times you need to get closer to your customer and develop new products and services that can help them solve important pains that they are facing.

Wilson grew his business through the hard times by being innovative. He believes that entrepreneurs should focus on building a culture of innovation. Always look for ways to be better, improved, more efficient, and do things more intelligently. If you can’t find a solution, create one. If you’re constantly innovating you’ll have some failures but your successes will help you not just get through hard times but grow through them.

According to Wilson: “Innovative thinkers are constantly asking the question: How can we make things better? No matter what stage you’re at in your career or what industry you work in, everyone around you can benefit from new ideas. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box – just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be better… Don’t expect not to be afraid. Real courage is being scared to death and going ahead anyway… Hard times are an opportunity for growth. Struggle doesn’t so much build character as reveal it.”

True Story

When Wilson was young, his father set him up a job cutting the neighbour’s lawn all summer long. Wilson said he knew a friend that was making $3 for each cut and thought it would be a good way to make some extra money for the summer. He mowed the lawn twice a week for a total of 30 cuts. At the end of the summer, he went to collect his summer wages and she handed him a $10 bill.

Wilson was flabbergasted. He had expected $90 instead of the $10 she had given him. He would later be quoted as saying, as he looked back on his life, “I didn’t negotiate a price up front… I learned a lot about communicating and being up-front and establishing mutual expectations… In hindsight, a great learning experience and for a great cause – the widowed neighbor!”

Quotes

“I discovered that I was pretty average, and if I didn’t get my ass in gear, I was going to be pretty much below average.”

“I worked for about three years as an engineer at one of the big oil companies. I discovered that I wasn’t passionate about engineering. I was passionate about business.”

“Misunderstanding your target market both as the product you’re delivering and the desirability in that market, but that all ties to the bottom line of understanding your market.”

What Do You Think?

Do you stay the course? Do you listen, watch and learn from others? Do you learn from your mistakes? What did you learn most from Brett Wilson’s message? I think it is important to learn, watch and listen from others also, so tell me what you think by leaving a message below.

Evan Carmichael

To learn more check out my list of Brett Wilson Articles. Also don’t forget to check out the Amex for Business Canada Page!