Green Car Maker Fisker Considering Bankruptcy, Taxpayer Loan at Risk

Fisker karma- green carmaker bankruptcy considered

Electric car maker Fisker is a study in how a startup can quickly implode on itself and likely take almost $200 Million in taxpayer money down the drain with it.  The carmaker that was once touted for the promise of innovative green vehicles,  now has so many woes it’s hard to know where to start chronicling them:

  • Last Friday the company terminated 160 employees, or 75% of its workforce, reports Reuters.
  • Fisker employees promptly filed a class action
  • Read More

The post Green Car Maker Fisker Considering Bankruptcy, Taxpayer Loan at Risk appeared first on Small Business Trends.



The Smallbiztechnology Weekly Roundup and Look At What’s Ahead

Each week on Smallbiztechnology.com, we post a lot of articles that help small businesses GROW their business. We want to make sure you didn’t miss anything, so here’s a quick roundup of what we talked about last week and a sneak peek at what we’ll be sending your way in the week to come. Check out our video here, or watch below:

Mobile Technology:

Office Technology:

Software Technology:

Social Media / Online Marketing:

Security Technology:

Online Communication / Collaboration Technology:

In Getting Customers:

We also have some amazing stuff coming up this week! Here’s a sneak peek:

On Monday, we’ll have Five Simple Steps To High-Quality Content and Five Must-Have Mobile Accessories for the Small Business Owner.

Tuesday, we have Google Analytics 101: Your Guide To More Clicks and More Sales, and A Look At If Google’s SEO Crackdown Is Affecting Your Search Rankings.

Wednesday, we have the details on Notebook Tablets That Provide A Great Alternative for Small Businesses and A Way To Make An Uber Cool Facebook Page Without Any Heavy Lifting.

Thursday, we have a look at How To Ship and Track Your Customer Orders With Ease.

Friday, we’ll tell you How to Pick Your Next Webmaster and show you How Printing From Your Cell Phone Is Even Easier.

Saturday, we have a look at a Cool New Device Makes Your Computer Ring When You Get An Important Message.

You won’t want to miss any of that, and there’s a lot more beyond what I just mentioned, so come on back and let us know what you think in the comments!



Klout Scores Now Include Bing and Instagram: What It Means to You

By now a lot of us may be tired of hearing about Klout, because it just doesn’t seem to make all that much sense to many. Measuring social influence is a great idea, but for some reason people still don’t seem to take these numbers seriously. Even after Klout made changes back in September 2012 (originally Klout scores only used about 100 signals to create this number, now they use more than 400), the response hasn’t grown much more positive.

However, Klout is not giving up. The network that aims to give you a score based on your influence online and on social media accounts keeps making it harder to ignore by bringing in some very serious players. As of this week, Klout has announced that Bing data and Instagram activities will now be a part of Klout’s algorithm.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Bing

The first, and probably most interesting, change is the partnership with Bing. Klout and Bing partnered up last fall. However, this week they have actually decided to take things to a new level.

First, Klout is going to use information about search results and Bing rankings in its algorithm. You have to first connect your account, and then watch your score increase (adding any new network to your Klout score will only help it improve) over the next few weeks. You can connect your Bing account by simply clicking the Bing logo that you will see under your name. It takes less than 30 seconds to get synced up. Below is a screenshot demonstrating where you can find it:

klout scores

Second, Bing is going to show the Klout scores of some professionals right there on the search engine. Below is a screenshot of one celebrity search result where the Klout score is shown right along with other basic information about the star:

klout scores

As of right now, only some celebrities have their Klout scores displayed on a Bing SERP (search engine results page). Klout is currently working on more ways to use the new partnership with Bing to affect Klout scores.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Instagram

Syncing up your Klout account with your Instagram account is a sure-fire way for many individuals to improve their Klout scores. You simply click the Instagram icon exactly the same way you did when you wanted to sync Bing, and you’re set to go. All of your Instagram moves will be factored into your score, and some of your Instagram photos will even make it to your homepage. According to an article on Social Media Today, over 77 percent of users who connected their Instagram accounts will see a score increase of between 1 to 5 points.

What the New Klout Changes Mean for Your Small Business

While only some celebrities can see the change on Bing, it’s safe to say that someday your Klout scores will be on display in Bing search results. Google currently displays the number of Google+ followers an author might have, thanks to Google authorship, and uses this number to help users learn more about a particular search result. Is it safe to assume that someday Bing will be doing something similar with Klout scores

It’s tough to say for sure. This isn’t really an assumption you should make. However, it makes sense to start getting prepared and looking at your Klout score a little bit more seriously. This is something that is going to set Bing apart from Google, and you never quite know what will come next.

The Prosecution: Regardless of the fact that Klout is making these changes, they likely won’t be enough for some people. It’s hard to reduce your influence down to one number, despite the fact that a search engine is getting on board. It doesn’t take into account different industries where you may have more influence than others, and it doesn’t take into account the success of a website you might have on your own.

I would have to say I agree that Klout still isn’t where it needs to be, but the idea is interesting. It seems to be moving in the right direction, but only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the new Klout advancements Do you think that Bing will start to use Klout information when it comes time to rank websites Will you take Klout more seriously, now that they are using data from Bing




Klout Scores Now Include Bing and Instagram: What It Means to You

By now a lot of us may be tired of hearing about Klout, because it just doesn’t seem to make all that much sense to many. Measuring social influence is a great idea, but for some reason people still don’t seem to take these numbers seriously. Even after Klout made changes back in September 2012 (originally Klout scores only used about 100 signals to create this number, now they use more than 400), the response hasn’t grown much more positive.

However, Klout is not giving up. The network that aims to give you a score based on your influence online and on social media accounts keeps making it harder to ignore by bringing in some very serious players. As of this week, Klout has announced that Bing data and Instagram activities will now be a part of Klout’s algorithm.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Bing

The first, and probably most interesting, change is the partnership with Bing. Klout and Bing partnered up last fall. However, this week they have actually decided to take things to a new level.

First, Klout is going to use information about search results and Bing rankings in its algorithm. You have to first connect your account, and then watch your score increase (adding any new network to your Klout score will only help it improve) over the next few weeks. You can connect your Bing account by simply clicking the Bing logo that you will see under your name. It takes less than 30 seconds to get synced up. Below is a screenshot demonstrating where you can find it:

klout scores

Second, Bing is going to show the Klout scores of some professionals right there on the search engine. Below is a screenshot of one celebrity search result where the Klout score is shown right along with other basic information about the star:

klout scores

As of right now, only some celebrities have their Klout scores displayed on a Bing SERP (search engine results page). Klout is currently working on more ways to use the new partnership with Bing to affect Klout scores.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Instagram

Syncing up your Klout account with your Instagram account is a sure-fire way for many individuals to improve their Klout scores. You simply click the Instagram icon exactly the same way you did when you wanted to sync Bing, and you’re set to go. All of your Instagram moves will be factored into your score, and some of your Instagram photos will even make it to your homepage. According to an article on Social Media Today, over 77 percent of users who connected their Instagram accounts will see a score increase of between 1 to 5 points.

What the New Klout Changes Mean for Your Small Business

While only some celebrities can see the change on Bing, it’s safe to say that someday your Klout scores will be on display in Bing search results. Google currently displays the number of Google+ followers an author might have, thanks to Google authorship, and uses this number to help users learn more about a particular search result. Is it safe to assume that someday Bing will be doing something similar with Klout scores

It’s tough to say for sure. This isn’t really an assumption you should make. However, it makes sense to start getting prepared and looking at your Klout score a little bit more seriously. This is something that is going to set Bing apart from Google, and you never quite know what will come next.

The Prosecution: Regardless of the fact that Klout is making these changes, they likely won’t be enough for some people. It’s hard to reduce your influence down to one number, despite the fact that a search engine is getting on board. It doesn’t take into account different industries where you may have more influence than others, and it doesn’t take into account the success of a website you might have on your own.

I would have to say I agree that Klout still isn’t where it needs to be, but the idea is interesting. It seems to be moving in the right direction, but only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the new Klout advancements Do you think that Bing will start to use Klout information when it comes time to rank websites Will you take Klout more seriously, now that they are using data from Bing




Klout Scores Now Include Bing and Instagram: What It Means to You

By now a lot of us may be tired of hearing about Klout, because it just doesn’t seem to make all that much sense to many. Measuring social influence is a great idea, but for some reason people still don’t seem to take these numbers seriously. Even after Klout made changes back in September 2012 (originally Klout scores only used about 100 signals to create this number, now they use more than 400), the response hasn’t grown much more positive.

However, Klout is not giving up. The network that aims to give you a score based on your influence online and on social media accounts keeps making it harder to ignore by bringing in some very serious players. As of this week, Klout has announced that Bing data and Instagram activities will now be a part of Klout’s algorithm.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Bing

The first, and probably most interesting, change is the partnership with Bing. Klout and Bing partnered up last fall. However, this week they have actually decided to take things to a new level.

First, Klout is going to use information about search results and Bing rankings in its algorithm. You have to first connect your account, and then watch your score increase (adding any new network to your Klout score will only help it improve) over the next few weeks. You can connect your Bing account by simply clicking the Bing logo that you will see under your name. It takes less than 30 seconds to get synced up. Below is a screenshot demonstrating where you can find it:

klout scores

Second, Bing is going to show the Klout scores of some professionals right there on the search engine. Below is a screenshot of one celebrity search result where the Klout score is shown right along with other basic information about the star:

klout scores

As of right now, only some celebrities have their Klout scores displayed on a Bing SERP (search engine results page). Klout is currently working on more ways to use the new partnership with Bing to affect Klout scores.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Instagram

Syncing up your Klout account with your Instagram account is a sure-fire way for many individuals to improve their Klout scores. You simply click the Instagram icon exactly the same way you did when you wanted to sync Bing, and you’re set to go. All of your Instagram moves will be factored into your score, and some of your Instagram photos will even make it to your homepage. According to an article on Social Media Today, over 77 percent of users who connected their Instagram accounts will see a score increase of between 1 to 5 points.

What the New Klout Changes Mean for Your Small Business

While only some celebrities can see the change on Bing, it’s safe to say that someday your Klout scores will be on display in Bing search results. Google currently displays the number of Google+ followers an author might have, thanks to Google authorship, and uses this number to help users learn more about a particular search result. Is it safe to assume that someday Bing will be doing something similar with Klout scores

It’s tough to say for sure. This isn’t really an assumption you should make. However, it makes sense to start getting prepared and looking at your Klout score a little bit more seriously. This is something that is going to set Bing apart from Google, and you never quite know what will come next.

The Prosecution: Regardless of the fact that Klout is making these changes, they likely won’t be enough for some people. It’s hard to reduce your influence down to one number, despite the fact that a search engine is getting on board. It doesn’t take into account different industries where you may have more influence than others, and it doesn’t take into account the success of a website you might have on your own.

I would have to say I agree that Klout still isn’t where it needs to be, but the idea is interesting. It seems to be moving in the right direction, but only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the new Klout advancements Do you think that Bing will start to use Klout information when it comes time to rank websites Will you take Klout more seriously, now that they are using data from Bing




Introducing Our New Small Business Infographics Gallery

We’re excited to introduce the new Small Business Trends infographics gallery. It’s a free resource of data visualizations -i.e, infographics.

Infographics are visual images. They are usually lengthy images with statistics in them, to help you understand a subject by presenting the data in a visual format. We like them because they are informative, interesting and fun. If you need a fast statistic or set of statistics for a PowerPoint presentation or article you’re writing, infographics can be extremely helpful. Or they can simply help you to better understand a topic.

We’ve included a thumbnail of the infographic and a few representative statistics. You will also find the embed code so you can quickly use one of them online.

small business infographics

We cover a lot of small business infographics here on Small Business Trends, because people find them interesting.   We’re always getting emails from readers asking if we know a good statistic for this or that. But many facts and stats are buried in infographics. We can’t always remember exactly where a particular statistic might be found, so we decided to collect the best of the ones we’ve encountered and put them in one place.

And since our entire focus is exclusively “small business” you can be sure that all the infographics are screened for relevancy.

Bookmark the small business infographics collection!

Categories: Announcements

About Small Business Trends

Small Business Trends is an award-winning online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them.

Small Business Trends is the premier source of information, news and advice covering issues of key importance to the small business market.  Small Business Trends appears on countless “Top” and “Best of” lists of small business resources.

We offer a variety of newsletters and information feeds to help you stay informed about the small business market.  As we like to Read More

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The Smallbiztechnology Weekly Roundup and Look At What’s Ahead

Each week on Smallbiztechnology.com, we post a lot of articles that help small businesses GROW their business. We want to make sure you didn’t miss anything, so here’s a quick roundup of what we talked about last week and a sneak peek at what we’ll be sending your way in the week to come. Check out our video here, or watch below:

Mobile Technology:

Office Technology:

Software Technology:

Social Media / Online Marketing:

Security Technology:

Online Communication / Collaboration Technology:

In Getting Customers:

We also have some amazing stuff coming up this week! Here’s a sneak peek:

On Monday, we’ll have Five Simple Steps To High-Quality Content and Five Must-Have Mobile Accessories for the Small Business Owner.

Tuesday, we have Google Analytics 101: Your Guide To More Clicks and More Sales, and A Look At If Google’s SEO Crackdown Is Affecting Your Search Rankings.

Wednesday, we have the details on Notebook Tablets That Provide A Great Alternative for Small Businesses and A Way To Make An Uber Cool Facebook Page Without Any Heavy Lifting.

Thursday, we have a look at How To Ship and Track Your Customer Orders With Ease.

Friday, we’ll tell you How to Pick Your Next Webmaster and show you How Printing From Your Cell Phone Is Even Easier.

Saturday, we have a look at a Cool New Device Makes Your Computer Ring When You Get An Important Message.

You won’t want to miss any of that, and there’s a lot more beyond what I just mentioned, so come on back and let us know what you think in the comments!



“Decisive” is the Right Choice for Making Business and Life Decisions

decision makingDecisions, decisions, decisions.

No matter your role in business, your daily schedule can be filled with decisions faster than seats to a Justin Bieber concert.  But if you want to prevent yourself from becoming a zombie numbed by decision after decision, you should read Chip and Dan Heath’s new book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices In Life and Work.

The Heath brothers (@heathbrothers) contacted me when their follow-up to their last book Switch, which I also reviewed, was close to release. Decisive is certainly an easy read to make hard decisions easy.

Decisive explores the topic of decision making without deeply rehashing Switch’s thesis about change. In Switch, the Heath brothers share the elephant-and-rider metaphor for managing rational thought.  They use it to explain one instance of an emotional short-circuit - “Chances are you know the people with Rider problems … your colleague who can brainstorm for hours but can’t ever seem to make a decision.”

Decisive expands that vision by explaining a set of biases that hinder decision making.  These biases are:

  • Narrow framing your selection, eliminating other viable choices.
  • Confirmation bias: Seeking support for your own beliefs in a decision rather than question.
  • High level of emotional investment in the decision.
  • Overconfidence in the answer derived.

The book is divided into four overall segments, meant to explore the solutions to each decision bias. The solutions are, respectively:

  • Widen Your Options
  • Reality-Test Your Assumptions
  • Attain Distance Before Deciding
  • Prepare to Be Wrong

Like Switch, the psychology behind Decisive is understandable. Reference ranges from business narratives, like Andy Grove’s decision to change Intel’s memory chip strategy, to more pop-oriented factoids, such as how an Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory has more calories than 3 McDonald’s cheeseburgers and a pack of Skittles candy.

Fast food fights aside, the Heaths assert that “process matters more than analysis” and that “guts can have questionable advice.”  This neutrality towards analysis and guesstimating makes the book an accessible guide for business owners who need to make heavy decisions in life, let alone business.  If you are in business for yourself and striving for life balance, this book will guide without being so touchy-feely that examples won’t impact business decisions.

The introduction alone has conclusive support for why and how we make decisions.  That support carries through the segments, such as multi-tracking, the consideration of many options to prevent narrow framing:

Many executives are worried that exploring multiple options will take too long. It’s a reasonable fear, but researcher Kathleen Eisenhardt…found that executives who weigh more options actually make faster decisions.

Eisenhardt offers three explanations. First comparing alternatives help executives to understand the landscape: What’s possible and what’s not….Second, considering multiple alternatives seems to undercut politics… Third, when leaders weigh multiple options, they’ve given themselves a built-in fallback plan.

For those analytic practitioners concerned about managing analysis, the Heaths wisely footnote a resource that explores the balance between analysis paralysis and being narrowly focused.  (The Heaths have definitely “widened their options” in choosing how to present new ideas.)

Another strategy, called bookending, encourages the reader to imagine two scenarios - dire and rosy. To “spotlight” the scenarios helps to prevent overconfidence in a decision. I felt the approach helps small business owners understand what managing risk really means. An investment analyst’s view of Coinbox, the parent company of Redbox, illustrated how “the future is not a point; it is a range.”  More on that range comment:

In the absence of bookending, our spotlights will lock into out best guess for how the future will unfold…even if we have a good guess about the future, the research on overconfidence suggests that we’ll be wrong more often than we think.

The authors simplify examples, such as noting how pervasive safety factors are. Yet they don’t talk down to anyone or stick with a dictionary-dry explanation.

Decisive narratives are meant to translate suggestions into actionable ideas.  One example of an actionable suggestion is psychologist Gary Klein’s premortem strategy:

A post-mortem analysis begins after a death and asks, “What caused it” A premortem, by contrast, imagines the future “death” of a project and asks, “What killed it”…. Everyone on the team takes a few minutes to write down every conceivable reason for the projects failure. Then the leader goes around the table, asking each person to share a single reason, until all the ideas have been shared. Once the threats have been surfaced, the project team can prepare to be wrong by adapting its plans to forestall as many of the negative scenarios as possible. The premortem is a way of charting out the lower bookend of future possibilities and plotting ways to avoid ending up there.

At the end, you’ll find notes and references to a complementary website with exercises.  But even if you choose to read Decisive without the extra material, you’ll find that you’ve made a great reading choice to make your business great.




“Decisive” is the Right Choice for Making Business and Life Decisions

decision makingDecisions, decisions, decisions.

No matter your role in business, your daily schedule can be filled with decisions faster than seats to a Justin Bieber concert.  But if you want to prevent yourself from becoming a zombie numbed by decision after decision, you should read Chip and Dan Heath’s new book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices In Life and Work.

The Heath brothers (@heathbrothers) contacted me when their follow-up to their last book Switch, which I also reviewed, was close to release. Decisive is certainly an easy read to make hard decisions easy.

Decisive explores the topic of decision making without deeply rehashing Switch’s thesis about change. In Switch, the Heath brothers share the elephant-and-rider metaphor for managing rational thought.  They use it to explain one instance of an emotional short-circuit - “Chances are you know the people with Rider problems … your colleague who can brainstorm for hours but can’t ever seem to make a decision.”

Decisive expands that vision by explaining a set of biases that hinder decision making.  These biases are:

  • Narrow framing your selection, eliminating other viable choices.
  • Confirmation bias: Seeking support for your own beliefs in a decision rather than question.
  • High level of emotional investment in the decision.
  • Overconfidence in the answer derived.

The book is divided into four overall segments, meant to explore the solutions to each decision bias. The solutions are, respectively:

  • Widen Your Options
  • Reality-Test Your Assumptions
  • Attain Distance Before Deciding
  • Prepare to Be Wrong

Like Switch, the psychology behind Decisive is understandable. Reference ranges from business narratives, like Andy Grove’s decision to change Intel’s memory chip strategy, to more pop-oriented factoids, such as how an Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory has more calories than 3 McDonald’s cheeseburgers and a pack of Skittles candy.

Fast food fights aside, the Heaths assert that “process matters more than analysis” and that “guts can have questionable advice.”  This neutrality towards analysis and guesstimating makes the book an accessible guide for business owners who need to make heavy decisions in life, let alone business.  If you are in business for yourself and striving for life balance, this book will guide without being so touchy-feely that examples won’t impact business decisions.

The introduction alone has conclusive support for why and how we make decisions.  That support carries through the segments, such as multi-tracking, the consideration of many options to prevent narrow framing:

Many executives are worried that exploring multiple options will take too long. It’s a reasonable fear, but researcher Kathleen Eisenhardt…found that executives who weigh more options actually make faster decisions.

Eisenhardt offers three explanations. First comparing alternatives help executives to understand the landscape: What’s possible and what’s not….Second, considering multiple alternatives seems to undercut politics… Third, when leaders weigh multiple options, they’ve given themselves a built-in fallback plan.

For those analytic practitioners concerned about managing analysis, the Heaths wisely footnote a resource that explores the balance between analysis paralysis and being narrowly focused.  (The Heaths have definitely “widened their options” in choosing how to present new ideas.)

Another strategy, called bookending, encourages the reader to imagine two scenarios - dire and rosy. To “spotlight” the scenarios helps to prevent overconfidence in a decision. I felt the approach helps small business owners understand what managing risk really means. An investment analyst’s view of Coinbox, the parent company of Redbox, illustrated how “the future is not a point; it is a range.”  More on that range comment:

In the absence of bookending, our spotlights will lock into out best guess for how the future will unfold…even if we have a good guess about the future, the research on overconfidence suggests that we’ll be wrong more often than we think.

The authors simplify examples, such as noting how pervasive safety factors are. Yet they don’t talk down to anyone or stick with a dictionary-dry explanation.

Decisive narratives are meant to translate suggestions into actionable ideas.  One example of an actionable suggestion is psychologist Gary Klein’s premortem strategy:

A post-mortem analysis begins after a death and asks, “What caused it” A premortem, by contrast, imagines the future “death” of a project and asks, “What killed it”…. Everyone on the team takes a few minutes to write down every conceivable reason for the projects failure. Then the leader goes around the table, asking each person to share a single reason, until all the ideas have been shared. Once the threats have been surfaced, the project team can prepare to be wrong by adapting its plans to forestall as many of the negative scenarios as possible. The premortem is a way of charting out the lower bookend of future possibilities and plotting ways to avoid ending up there.

At the end, you’ll find notes and references to a complementary website with exercises.  But even if you choose to read Decisive without the extra material, you’ll find that you’ve made a great reading choice to make your business great.




NFIB: Small Business Hiring Up But Future Uncertain

Small business employment rose at the highest rate in a year, according to a recent report, but that trend may be coming to a halt as owners say they plan to stop hiring in the near future.

According to information released by the National Federation of Independent Business, employment at small businesses nationwide rose by an average of 0.19 people per company in March 2013. This is the third straight month of gain according to data gathered by Read More

The post NFIB: Small Business Hiring Up But Future Uncertain appeared first on Small Business Trends.



NFIB: Small Business Hiring Up But Future Uncertain

Small business employment rose at the highest rate in a year, according to a recent report, but that trend may be coming to a halt as owners say they plan to stop hiring in the near future.

According to information released by the National Federation of Independent Business, employment at small businesses nationwide rose by an average of 0.19 people per company in March 2013. This is the third straight month of gain according to data gathered by Read More

The post NFIB: Small Business Hiring Up But Future Uncertain appeared first on Small Business Trends.



NFIB: Small Business Hiring Up But Future Uncertain

Small business employment rose at the highest rate in a year, according to a recent report, but that trend may be coming to a halt as owners say they plan to stop hiring in the near future.

According to information released by the National Federation of Independent Business, employment at small businesses nationwide rose by an average of 0.19 people per company in March 2013. This is the third straight month of gain according to data gathered by Read More

The post NFIB: Small Business Hiring Up But Future Uncertain appeared first on Small Business Trends.