The Business of Blogging for Business

My friend Jonathan Fields has a wonderful blog always full of insightful information, written with a playful voice. So, the other morning over coffee I revealed my "crush" on his blog, and Jonathan generously shared helpful advice about blogging -- one of his tips being BLOG MORE REGULARLY...which I am now doing. (Thanks, Jonathan!)

Jonathan also gave me this short list of 5 small-business blogs which he says are "must reads" for anyone looking to not only stay in the loop, but discover a growing library of immensely usable tools! So here they are, for you all to benefit from as well!

1. Small Business Trends | Launched in the early days of blogging by former corporate lawyer turned technology CEO and, eventually, powerhouse blogger, Anita Campbell, this blog is updated daily with highly-practical, tips, software reviews, online tools and interviews.

2. Duct Tape Marketing | Rivaling Anita Campbell for time in the blogosphere, John Jantsch’s blog, drawing from his popula book by the same name, focuses on marketing and business-building techniques for small businesses, especially online. Recent additions include an interactive community called the Workbench.

3. How To Change The World | The blog of former Apple evangelist and now venture-capitalist and entrepreneur, Guy Kawasaki, you’ll find great profiles, breaking news, resources and opinions with a heavy emphasis on interactive entrepreneurship.

4. Dane Carlson’s Small Business Opportunties | Dane Carlson’s biz-opps blog is chock full of ideas and innovations, both for starting or buying businesses and taking existing businesses to the next level. Lots of profiles and reviews really draw you in.

5. Entrepreneur Daily | The blog for small-business magazine/website Entrepreneur.com, Entrepreneur Daily updates several times each day with small-biz tools, tips, and a healthy bit of news from around the world of entrepreneurship

BE HAPPY DAMMIT TIPS!

This has been a super fun week on my sirius show Be Happy Dammit at Lime 114.

Some highlights...

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 TH 8:00
A GOOD WAY TO BE GOOD TO ANIMALS: GOODSEARCH.COM

JJ Ramberg talked with me about how she created a world-changing company called Goodsearch.com. Every time you use its search engine, Ramberg has it set up that various companies advertising on her site donate money to a variety of charitable organizations -- like the TV celebrity Cesar's famed Millan Foundation -- aka The Dog Whisperer Foundation. Stacey Candella, the head of this Foundation, talked about how much she appreciates all the good Goodsearch.com is doing to help animals in need - and why raising money is so important for her cause.


WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 TH 8:15
SECRETS TO LONGLASTING AND LUSTING LOVE

Jonathan Fields talked with me about the Love Lab -- Dr. John Gottman's research laboratory which has found a way to predict divorce 10 years out -- with 94% accuracy -- based on a mere 15-minute observation of couples. Plus we talked about that magic 5 to 1 ratio which happy couples have -- where there are 5 nice moments to every nasty moment. Similarly. in the workplace, teams with 3/1 postive/negative interactions are significantly more productive. However, interestingly, when the ratio goes up to 13 nice to 1 nasty moment the productivity starts to erode – most likely because it starts to feel like false positivity which leads to a patronizing feeling.


THURSDAY, MAY 17TH, 8:00 - 8:30
THE # 1 SECRET FUEL FOR SUCCESS: PASSION


Daniel Schutzsmith is often called "an evangelist for creative people" -- because he has a business which helps inspire creative people to pursue their passions -- by guiding them with a wise strategy and productive process. He's famous for his "Creative Business Bootcamp", and talked with me about what it's like to give seminars at the CRE8 Conference set in -- of all places -- Disney World! And...Daniel and I will both be speaking at the same conference in June - THE HOW DESIGN CONFERENCE. So if you're interested in learning more about the business of creativity sign up for that conference ASAP -- in Hotlanta...um...er I mean Atlanta!If you do sign up let me know and I'd love to meet you for a drink at barside!


FRIDAY, MAY 18TH, 8:30-9:00
LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE:How To Have A High Intimacy, Low Maintenance Marriage

Morrie Shechtman literally wrote the book on how to do this. Actually, that is the title of his latest book -- which I loved and we talked about. Some of his provocative ideas included: How Smart Women Become Dumb When They Get Married; Why Most Couples Settle For Mediocrity In Their Relationships; If You Never Fight, You Lost Interest A Long Time Ago; Unconditional Acceptance: The Ultimate Abandonment; It Pays To Be Average Looking: Why Good-Looking People Struggle With Intimacy; Data Dumps: Why Most Couples Bore Each Other To Death;
Love Conquers All: Only For Idiots

If any of the above pisses you off -- or just plain intrigues you -- feel free to comment on my blog space below!

BE HAPPY DAMMIT TIP

In today's busy world, dads are researched to merely spend an average of 7 minutes a day of quality time with kids!

Meanwhile, the average person spends 2.5 - 4 hours a day watching tv, equivalent to a part time job!

Yikes!

Today on BE HAPPY DAMMIT (my daily 8am EST radio show on SIRIUS/LIME 114) I talked about the difficulties and funny aspects of parenting with Jonathan Fields (serial lifestyle entrepreneur)and Danny Evans (hot blogger of DAD GONE MAD)and Bill Brazell -- who brings me hot bloggers every week.

Another scary fact: 54 percent of young kids would now rather watch tv than spend time with their father!

BE HAPPY DAMMIT ASSIGNMENT:Step away from that TV -- and spend time with kids the old fashioned way -- play with them, talk with them, read to them!