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Best Business Books 2010: Editors Choice Winners
Feb 27th
Readers (that’s you!) have already voted on the 2010 Best Business Books — Reader’s Choice Edition.
Now, as the Editors of Small Business Trends, it’s our turn. Below we present the Small Business Book Awards – Editor’s Choice version for books of 2010.
Here at Small Business Trends, we read and review well over 100 business books during the year. Some are provided by authors in draft form, giving us the opportunity to review and comment on the book before publishing. Some are sent to us by publishers to review. Some we purchase ourselves simply because we have heard they are good books and want to read them.
Regardless of how we got the book, what’s most important to us is the overall value the book will bring to small businesses. Are the ideas fresh? Does the book get us to think differently? Do we learn something we didn’t already know? Does it tell us enough, with sufficient detail, that we can put it to work in our businesses? Can the book make a difference to our businesses?
In 2010 there were a lot of excellent books — making it very tough to choose. For purposes of this list, we looked at books published between October 1, 2009 and October 31, 2010.
The following books are NOT in any order. It was challenging enough to whittle the list down from over 100 books we had – putting them in order would have really been tough. Without further ado, the 2010 Small Business Book Awards – Editor’s Choice version.
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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
Author: Dan Heath, Chip Heath
Book Site: Switch (Our book review of Switch)
Switch makes the psychology behind how hard it is to change accessible. It demystifies the basic psychological conflicts that can lead to poor choices or derail the most complex business team. It makes its points using narrative, yet the stories are rooted in scholarly sources.
Why We Love It: Switch is a lesson in how to fearlessly take on a challenge, and lead groups through a change. And if change is the one thing we can count on, this book has great ideas, inspiration and examples.
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Built to Sell: Turn Your Business into One You Can Sell
Author: John Warrillow, Bo Burlingham
Book Site: Built to Sell (Our book review of Built to Sell)
Are you running a business — or is your business running you? Whether you ever intend on selling your business or not, Built to Sell will turn your business into a money machine that you can either run or sell. John Warillow’s allegorical story about a business owner who transforms his business and himself will inspire you to do the same.
Why We Love It: Behind every profitable business and happy business owner is a systematized, automated money making machine. Built to Sell teaches you how to build your own business system in a fun educational way.
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The 1% Windfall: How Successful Companies Use Price to Profit and Grow
Author: Rafi Mohammed
Book Site: 1% Windfall (Our book review of The 1% Windfall)
“A study by McKinsey and Company of the Global 1200 found that if they increased their prices by just 1%, and demand remained constant, on average each company’s operating profits would increase by 11%.” If you’ve been avoiding pricing, this sentence alone should get you interested. Need to sell more product to existing customers – there’s a pricing strategy for that. Mohammed makes pricing easy and engaging by grouping pricing strategies by marketing challenges.
Why We Loved It: If you’re not making money, you don’t have a business. You can literally pick a pricing strategy from 1% Windfall and use it in your business today.
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The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself
Author:John Jantsch
Book Site: The Referral Engine (Our book review of The Referral Engine)
If we all know that referrals are the best, most cost-effective marketing strategy, then WHY do we continue to leave referrals up to fate or some happy coincidence? John Jantsch, author of “Duct Tape Marketing” and award winning social media publisher has filled his book with lots of practical, real-life examples and case studies that you can use as inspiration to develop your own referral strategy.
Why We Love It: Referrals are STILL the best strategy for building a profitable small business. The Referral Engine is loaded with creative ways small businesses of all shapes, types and sizes use referrals.
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Black Is the New Green: Marketing to Affluent African Americans
Author: Andrea Hoffman, Leonard Burnett
Book Site: Black is the New Green (Our book review of Black Is the New Green)
Uptown Media Group (known for Uptown magazine) Co-CEO and group publisher Leonard E. Burnett Jr. and Andrea Hoffman, founder of marketing research firm Diversity Affluence, apply their 40 combined years of experience to examine corporate America’s advertising relationship with African American consumers. Black Is The New Green solidly conveys how nuanced today’s African American consumer is, and how the strategy to target consumers must also be nuanced.
Why We Love It: If you’re selling to minority consumers, this book will give you valuable insights into how to connect with traditional affinity groups as well as how to structure your online marketing strategy accordingly.
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The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy
Author: Adrian C. Ott
Book Site: The 24-Hour Customer (Our book review of The 24-Hour Customer)
Today’s consumers are multi-tasking more than ever. This book shows you how to take advantage of time-slicing strategies to develop products and services that your customers will be happy to interact with. Ott uses a variety of research studies to show us how there are exponentially more products and services competing for a static slice of our time.
Why We Love It: Being at the right place at the right time is not just a trend, but a pre-requisite in being chosen by your ideal customer. 24-hour Customer will get you thinking in a new way about new products and services that you can launch in your business.
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Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue
Author: Jim F. Kukral
Book Site: Attention! This book Will Make You Money (Our book review of Attention! )
Small Business Trends Radio Show: Interview with Jim Kukral, Attention!
When you’re an entrepreneur and run your own business, chances are your marketing budget is limited. But you can make up for that limitation with attention marketing. Kukral gives loads of case studies and examples of outrageous entrepreneurs and the creative ways they get noticed. The best part is that you will start thinking about your own ways of getting attention.
Why We Love It: Guerrilla marketing is alive and well and this book is LOADED with low-cost high impact marketing ideas that will get you noticed and chosen.
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The Mesh : Why the Future of Business Is Sharing
Strong: Lisa Gansky
Book Site: The Mesh (Our book review of The Mesh)
Traditional businesses follow a simple formula: create a product or service, sell it, collect money. Mesh companies use social media, wireless networks, and data crunched from every available source to provide people with goods and services at the exact moment they need them, without the burden and expense of owning them outright.
Why We Love it: The movement for ecologcal living has openned up a series of services and products. The Mesh will show you how to build trusted brands and value through leveraging shared resources.
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The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done
Author: Peter Miller
Book Site: The Smart Swarm (Our book review of the Smart Swarm)
Based on extensive globe-trotting research, this lively tour from National Geographic reporter Peter Miller introduces thriving throngs of ant colonies and many other examples of the wisdom to be gleaned about the behavior of crowds-among critters and corporations alike. He explores how these “swarms” inspired computer programs for streamlining factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes.
Why We Love It: Since we live in a series of interconnected networks and have started using the wisdom of crowds to develop not just products and services, but policies. This book will give you ideas on how you can leverage your network for your business.
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Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time
Author: Landy Chase
Book Site: Competitive Selling (Our book review of Competitive Selling)
Landy Chase doesn’t believe in messing around. If you’re in a selling situation, then recognize that your customer is considering alternatives to what you’re selling – and you’d better be prepared. Sales people will find this book a sales coach in a box and marketing people will find this book helpful in defining exactly where you should put your focus to get your customer to choose you.
Why We Love It: What’s not to love about a book that gives you practical strategies on getting and keeping more new and profitable customers?
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About the Editors:
Choosing a book for the editors’ choice is never easy because there are so many wonderful books to choose from. This year we have four passionate and well read book editors that had to duke it out for their favorites to get on the list:
- Anita Campbell – The Editor in Chief and the publisher of Small Business Trends and expert on all things Small Business.
- Ivana Taylor - Book Editor for Small Business Trends and the publisher of DIYMarketers.com. Her focus is on finding and reviewing books that help small businesses get and keep customers.
- Pierre DeBois - Web Analytics Strategist and President of Zimana You’ll often find Pierre reviewing books on online marketing analytics and on topics such as minorities in small business and economic trends that impact small business.
- Margie Zable-Fisher – President of Zable Fisher Public Relations and business book lover. Margie also reviews across a wide category of books, primarily those that help small businesses.
WINNER’S BADGES: If your book was named an Editor’s Choice Winner, you can grab a Winner’s Badge here.
Best Business Books 2010: Editors Choice Winners
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
The Blockbuster Retail Holiday Season of 2010 – Fluke, or Trend?
Jan 19th
There was a lot of nervousness going into the holiday season. Would shoppers finally come out and spend? The answer turned out to be a big “yes.”
Cautious forecasts such as the 3.3 percent predicted by the National Retail Federation were blown out by the reality — retail sales were nearly 6 percent higher in December than in December 2009.
The question is, was that a blip on the retail radar, or is the recovery finally arriving for retailers?
I’ll give you an anecdotal report that explains why I think it’s the start of something big.
I live on a small island with only 25,000 in population, which means restaurants are always struggling to stay in business. We just don’t have quite enough residents for many eateries to stay afloat.
Yet I took my family out to the new Japanese restaurant recently on a weekday night — and we couldn’t get in, because they were completely booked. I mean, jammed to the walls!
Another recent evening, we tried the new Northwest/locally sourced/organic dining emporium. They also were booked up.
Finally, this week, we tried a long-established waterfront bar and grill. It’ll be a half-hour for a table, we were told.
Three sold-out restaurants in a row, all on weeknights? I’ve never seen the like in 15 years of living here.
My gut says: Things are turning around. There’s a rule in retail that consumers can only sit on their wallets so long before clothes look worn, appliances break, and pent-up demand for new products starts driving consumption again.
I think that point has arrived.
The case for gloom
There is a body of more measured, national evidence for the idea that the holidays were merely a bright spot in what might continue to be a gloomy retail picture.
For instance, the Conference Board’s confidence index remains low, and declined in December.
Also, consumers’ savings continue to shrink. That could trigger another round of budget-cutting at kitchen tables across America.
So shoppers may have just gone in for a burst of retail therapy to brighten their winter days, and a crash could be ahead.
Do you think retail has bounced back, or were the holidays a fluke? Leave a comment and let us know.
View full post on Entrepreneur.com – Daily Dose
Payments in 2010: What Business Owners Should Know
Jan 4th
This is a guest post by Stella Fayman of FeeFighters.
It’s hard to believe 2010 has come to a close, but looking back, this was a great year for consumers and business owners alike when it came to payment innovations. Here’s what happened:
Payments Startups- Awesome startups like inDinero and WePay launched, addressing direct payments issues and making life easier for business owners and consumers alike. Even established payments companies like PayPal released many new innovative features, including integration with many different partners such as Verifone for mobile payments, and a platform for microfinance.
Interchange Discussions- This was a big year for interchange (the fee that banks get per credit card transaction, and which is set by Visa/MasterCard). With the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010 going into effect, merchants benefit from a proposed rule lowering debit interchange fees. Hang on though, the rule will be negotiated until February, and other fees may rise to make up for the lost revenue to banks.
Flexibility- Merchants saw the rise of mobile payments solutions this year, especially with the debut of the iPad and Square. More options exist now than ever for merchants to use their mobile devices securely to accept payments. A business owner can start accepting payments quickly without the hassle of getting a merchant account with some providers such as Square.
FeeFighters.com is the comparison shopping site for credit card processors. FeeFighters lets business owners compare top quality processors on an apples-to-apples basis, similar to using Priceline for travel. If you have any questions, feel free to email Stella at stella (AT) feefighters (DOT) com.
View full post on Business Pundit
Small Business News: The State Of Business 2010
Dec 31st
As we come to the end of 2010, we find that many things about small business of changed. In some ways, the road has never been more perplexing, but then again the choices have never been so broad. From raising money to leveraging a flexible workforce to confronting long help beliefs about everything from outsourcing to goal setting, just about everything about small business has changed. Here are some of the highlights and stay tuned tomorrow as we look ahead to 2011!
Stratup
Raising money for your business is an art form.But it doesn’t have to be one confined only to the offices of venture capital firms and big time angel investors. In fact, as Nicole Fende observes, there are probably as many ways to raise funds to start your business as there are individual entrepreneurs with a drive to succeed. How do you plan to raise the funding to get your business up and running? 365 Days of Startups
Six mistakes to avoid in online business. Online businesses may be amongst the lowest in overhead cost. But be aware that starting an online business, like beginning any other venture, requires a clear plan of action and a plan that can realistically lead to success. Famous Bloggers
Customer Service
How customer service seperates you from the pack. Sherryl Perry shares this awesome story of customer service that pretty much shows why and how smaller companies can stay ahead of larger chains. Small businesses do things differently and that’s the nature of Sherryl’s story here…and an object lesson for small businesses everywhere! Keep Up With The Web
Do you have a purple goldfish to share. Here is the post that indirectly inspired Sherryl’s article on customer service. Stan Phelps is seeking 1,001 examples of what he calls “marketing lagniappe” , defined as anytime a business goes above and beyond to provide an experience that is Relevant, Unexpected, Limited, Expression and Sticky. Read more about it and share your examples for his book. Marketing Lagniappe
Self-development
Become a better entrepreneur spending one hour a day.Zack Shapiro has a method for acquiring new skills that could be a missing chapter from Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Work Week.(Hey, Zack! When is the book coming out?) Learning is a big part of what the small business owner/entrepreneur has got to do to get ahead and stay there. Consider this day one of a class stretching on for the rest of your life. The Startup Student
Outsourcing
The flexible workforce. Though outsourcing has been a thorny issue in recent years and something once only thought of in connection to large multinationals, today the concept of a “flexible workforce” presents opportunities for the smallest of businesses as well, creating a way to leverage talent in a variety of fields outside your core business. What could you offer with a flexible workforce at your disposal? Allied Worldwide
Why manufacturing may be making a comeback in the U.S. While talking about outsourcing often conjures ideas here in the U.S. of doing business with firms that are not domestic, the fact is that the U.S. as well will sometimes be the source of specialty service including manufacturing including this interesting post from Mark Harbeke. Mark’s post is also a rallying call for anyone interested in manufacturing as a viable U.S. small business. Winning Workplaces
Goals
Travis Campbell has a problem with goal setting. Well, not really. Actually he’s got a problem with unrealistic goal setting. Or, to put it another way, he’s got a problem with setting goals that are out of reach, unrealistic, a source of stress for you and your business and so rigid they are not adaptable to a rapidly changing marketplace…like the Internet. In short, the value of goals lies in habing the right kind. Marketing Professor
So, what’s your real goal? To hear Kelley Robertson tell it, you should have at least two. The more conservative goal, should be the one that will stretch you but is ultimately achievable and doesn’t take you out of your comfort zone. And then there’s the other one…Let Kelley explain. Fearless Selling
Small Business News: The State Of Business 2010
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
#YearInReview What did you ship in 2010?
Dec 30th
This might be a useful exercise. Doesn’t matter whether it was a hit or not, it just matters that you shipped it. Shipping something that scares you (and a lot of what follows did) is the entire point.
[Funny, it's actually difficult to publish a list like this... maybe that's another reason we hesitate to ship, because we don't want to tout too much].
Here’s a baker’s dozen from the year I’m wrapping up… this obsession with shipping can really make things happen:
- Launch Linchpin
- Book launch in New York, including triiibes dinner
- Worldwide blog tour, including book signing with Steven Pressfield
- Launch and run the Nano MBA program
- Launch Roadtrip—Boston, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles
- Two worldwide Linchpin meetups–more than 1500 meetups held
- Squidoo launches social gaming system and hits the top 90 on Quantcast
- Speech at the ISB in Hyderabad
- $40,000 for Charity:Water in July
- $275,000 for charity from Squidoo to celebrate 5 years
- 13,000 people at Catalyst in October, including Graceful booklet
- Launch and run the FeMBA program
- Announce the Domino Project with Amazon and hire accomplices to help launch it
I didn’t do all this myself… far from it. Thanks to Ishita and the thousands of readers and volunteers and colleagues, including the Squids, that pitched in and made these projects happen. There’s also another ten or fifteen projects that I started but couldn’t find the guts to finish or ship. If it doesn’t ship, it doesn’t count.
Your turn to post a list somewhere… You’ll probably be surprised at how much you accomplished last year. Go ahead and share with your friends, colleagues or the web… don’t be shy.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
75 Best Business Blogs of 2010
Dec 29th
The Internet is ablaze with blogs. We sifted through the web’s innumerable offerings to give you this year’s list of the 75 best business blogs.
Our topics range from accounting to work-life balance. We selected them based on timely, useful content; regularity of updates and quality of information. We categorized them by topic to help you find those most relevant to your field. We can vouch for every single one of the blogs on this list, and encourage you to read them to hone your expertise in your field.
Good work, bloggers!
ACCOUNTING
This is the resource on taxes for small businesses. Partners-in-CPA Donna and Chad Bordeaux give small business owners detailed, easy-to-understand guidance on how to take advantage of tax laws. They also help businesses plan taxes—and consult on the side.
Re: The Auditors is targeted at those interested in–or working for–the Big 4 accounting firms, with a focus on regulation, auditing, strategy, and other topics relevant to corporate accounting. Quality writing and an independent angle make this blog a winning read.
ADVERTISING
Advertising Age’s prolific blog covers ad industry news, campaigns, and commentary. Digest it daily to stay up on the ad world.
Another magazine-sponsored blog, this time from AdWeek. The bloggers present ad images and clips on each post, followed by a background and commentary. They have a penchant for finding really interesting content, about ads, companies, and people in the industry.
AGRICULTURE
Former journalist, marketer, and farm educator Stu Ellis writes about the trends in agriculture, and what they mean for those in the industry. A quality blog by a true agriculture expert.
BLOGGING
Longtime blogger and blogging expert Darren Rowse makes a living by blogging—and is the ultimate resource on helping you grow, nurture and monetize your blogs, too.
BLOGS BY CORPORATIONS
AccuQuote
Life insurance provider AccuQuote hosts this handy blog, which provides tips on saving money, safety, and insurance. It’s not the most glamorous of fields, but the tips are useful and sound.
ComScore
15 authors focus on e-commerce and the digital marketplace for the digital marketing intelligence company comScore. It’s a nice place to get your fix on digital marketing tips and trends, as well as an overview of the current digital landscape.
BUSINESS LAW
Five law professors weigh in on law, business, education, and a variety of other topics. Their expert analysis on business law is not only helpful for understanding events from a legal perspective, but also very readable.
BUSINESS COMMENTARY
DealBreaker: A Wall Street Tabloid
Snark, wit and Wall Street gossip define this self-proclaimed business tabloid, which doesn’t let any banker off the hook, no matter the bonus size. Editor Bess Levin is relentless in the best sense of the word.
CAREER
Simply Hired
SimplyHired.com’s blog offers practical, thorough advice that every job hunter can use, from explaining years of temping to an employer to jobs that are growing by industry.
COACHING AND CONSULTING
Coaching Commons
This interactive forum and quality ezine covers everything from coaching trends to practical tips to the history of coaching. Podcasts, videos, and all-around great reporting round out the offerings.
Maximize Possibility
This blog tenaciously provides quality links and resources that coaches, consultants, and anyone else in the business of learning business can use.
CONSUMER ISSUES
Consumerist is the definitive source on customer service, how-tos, shopping, investigations, and any other consumer-rights issues.
CONTENT
The go-to resource for copywriting, content marketing, and successfully building an online presence. Follow Copyblogger regularly to increase your skill set in these areas.
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Sharp business analysis, case studies, and an in-depth look at the things currently affecting CR define this thorough and well-written blog.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
This blog ties trends, communication, customer loyalty, and everything else you want to know about customer service into a neat, concise, story-rich package.
E-COMMERCE
Practical E-Commerce’s blog covers more than 12 topics and is written by a host of bloggers, making it one of the most complete e-commerce blogs on the web.
ECONOMICS
University of Oregon economics prof Mark Thoma provides relevant information for more than juct hic econ students in this helpful and timely blog. From more econ-ese topics like nominal GDP growth targeting to more mainstream analysis like how a smarter bailout could have shorted the recession, Thoma makes sure that Joe Q. Public can understand it all.
Konzal busts mythical media stories, unsound statistics, misbegotten assumptions and poorly thought out arguments to give you a keen look into the economy’s true situation. The man knows how to think a financial issue through; him sharing his insights through his blog is truly a must-read for anyone interested in real financial problem-solving.
Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw’s blog is geared at students, but is useful for anyone with an interest in economics. Subjects cover trends in economics, explain components of the field in a new and interesting way (“The Economics of Seinfeld” is one such post), and occasionally veer into other diverse topics.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
Full of tips, discussion, videos, and other resources for new entrepreneurs. TPE sets the standard for informing and supporting its venture-hungry readers.
The ever-enthusiastic and engaging David Siteman Garland hosts this multimedia venture, which includes a regular blog, online show, events, and resources for entrepreneurs. Bonus: As advertised, it isn’t boring—at all.
GREEN BUSINESS
Triple Pundit
Triple Pundit covers news, commentary, and analysis about the triple bottom line, which has to do with sustainable business and the environment. Consistently insightful and interesting.
FINANCE
This blog is written anonymously by a New York finance lawyer who used to work in politics. Finance, economic policy, and analysis of finance laws make up the general themes of this excellent blog. His insider perspective and unique experience make for a thorough read.
While almost everyone else is busy booing and moaning the sordid fall of the US economy, the folks at The Baseline Scenario are looking for solutions. Authors Peter Boone, Simon Johnson and James Kwak have oodles of economics, policy, consulting, management, and entrepreneurial experience between them, making for some formidably good reading.
Felix Salmon
Financial commentary king Felix Salmon deconstructs and gives valuable insights on mainstream media finance news.
Links: Abnormal Returns
This blog offers some of the best, most complete, daily financial links on the web, period.
FRANCHISING
The Franchise King
This blog shares news, contests, commentary, and tips for franchisers. His posts are consistently short, interesting, and relevant.
FREELANCING
Freelance Switch
Chock full of useful tips for freelancers, this blog speaks to workers who do it themselves. Bonus: Comics, contests, and anecdotes.
GENERATIONAL
Building Money and Career (Gen-Y)
Ramit Sethi, who cofounded startup PBwiki, gives tips on entrepreneurship, personal finance, and, well, getting rich, mainly targeted at young adults. His advice is useful and to-the-point.
Building Career and Family (Gen-X)
Guy Kawasaki
Alltop creator and tech guru Guy Kawasaki isn’t Gen X-specific, but his content is useful to any small business owner interested in tech and raising kids (which we would assume are mostly Gen Xers). He’s chock full of useful tips and practical ideas, making his blog worth a regular check-in.
Retirement (Boomer)
RetirementRevised.com is more of a sort of blog-ezine hybrid and all-around good resource for anyone thinking about retirement. As an age group, boomers have done many things differently; this blog focuses on a new definition of retirement and life after 50.
HUMAN RESOURCES
HR Bartender
HR expert Sharlyn Lauby likens herself to the neighborhood bartender who you trust with your problems and count on for good advice. If you read her regularly, you’ll see that she indeed lives up to that. Her expertise in social media in the workplace makes her content especially timely and useful.
INNOVATION
Innovation Tools’ Innovation Weblog
Chuck Frey curates this complete innovation blog, which covers news, trends, tech, commentary, research, best practices, management, strategies and more. Did we mention it was complete? That’s not to mention well-written and very much worth the RSS feed.
INTERNATIONAL
International Business—General
Two dozen contributors cover both international and country-specific business/economic issues. Their unique reports cover everything from Tehran’s first hypermarket to the fine art industry as a global economic indicator. An excellent place to catch up on general business happenings across the globe.
Africa
Emeka Okafor’s incredible range of business experiences include starting companies, co-running a food/beverage company, managing a PE fund, and directing the 2007 TED global conference in Tanzania. In Timbuktu Chronicles, he covers entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, technology, and more. His inclusion of individual people’s stories and entrepreneurial ventures lets you know the African business world through individual stories.
EU
Commentary on economic, business, and current news in the EU. 15 authors cover both individual countries and EU-wide news, as well as commentary on more remote countries, like the US.
Middle East
This Middle East-focused news site offers excellent business and economics updates for the entire region.
China
CBN is perhaps the ultimate network for anyone in the West who wants to get better at doing business in or with China. A handful of channels contain valuable articles that will help you make the right moves on your way East.
Latin America
Nine contributors cover business, politics, and culture in Latin America. Coverage is consistently good, as are the links to current news. An ideal place to load up on Latin America, in English.
India
Popular India business news, top-10 lists, trends, and startups are the focus of this prolific and entertaining blog.
Australia/NZ
Tips, analysis, trends and more are covered in this well-written, Australia-specific business resource.
INTERNET MARKETING
MarketingVOX
MarketingVOX covers industry news, trends, tools, and other marketing information that, according to them, “can have material impact on their work, as opposed to the hype of the day.” They’re right, because it’s a darn good resource.
INVESTING
The Aleph Blog
David Merkel, CFA, FSA has professional experience in equity management, investment analysis, investment commentator, and as a chief economist—but that’s not the only reason you should read his blog. You should read his blog because he knows how to read the economy and its markets, and he does it well.
Pragmatic Capitalism
If you want to pick up the crucial information that the mainstream media leaves out, look no further than Pragmatic Capitalism, which has one objective: “helping investors decipher information in a way that helps them create an investment plan that produces superior market returns.” Carefully researched and filtered information makes it easier for you to make smart investment choices.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP
HBR’s Tom Davenport
Author, research guru and management expert Tom Davenport has written nine books for the Harvard Business Press. He shares his insights and ideas with you on this quality blog. He’s currently focused on blogging about judgment in business; the topics he blogs about include exploring your leadership narrative, cultivating organizational judgment, and why some companies make better decisions than others.
Management consultant Lisa Haneberg focuses on making businesses more effective and aligned. Her 30+ years of experience feed well into her topics, which include everything from business tools to book reviews to business poetry.
MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS
Written by people who work for the enterprise software company Apriso, this blog advises and informs through posts that will, upon regular reading, keep you up-to-date and wise to the workings of the manufacturing world.
Matching Supply With Demand
The two authors behind this blog cover news, trends, and analysis for the operations management field. It’s geared at instructors who teach operations management, but the in-depth, instructive articles, which use real-life examples, benefit everyone in the field.
MARKETING
Geared at the small business crowd, this essential marketing resource offers news, tools, tips, and commentary relevant to SMB. The site also has an excellent podcast, books, and other resources.
Seth’s Blog
Seth Godin is a guru of sorts. His frequent, to-the-point insights make you both ponder your own outlook, then improve. Utterly essential.
Neuromarketing
Veteran marketer and consultant Roger Dooley explores the burgeoning field of neuromarketing with research news, company examples, trends, and more. A well-rounded and informative read.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
The New York Times’ DealBook consistently has superior details, background, and reports on the M&A space. Not that this should be your only resource, but it’s definitely one of the best.
MICROFINANCE
David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog
If you want to learn more about microfinance, look no further than this so-called open book blog by Center for Global Development Senior Fellow David Roodman. In his blog, Roodman shares chapters and drafts of his upcoming book on microfinance, as well as Q&As, guest posts and more. He asks the hard questions about how and for whom microfinance works, making for an engaging ongoing discussion.
MOTIVATION
Get Motivation’s Motivation Blog
Regular articles by self-improvement gurus Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Joe Tye, Jim Stovall, Robert Pagliarini, and others make this blog a complete resource for your motivational needs.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Five Cent Nickel
“Nickel,” the writer of this blog, raised a family and finished school without debt, and paid off his mortgage in less than ten years. So when he writes an article entitled “How to Get Out of Debt,” it’s worth reading. He covers other personal finance topics, from dry stuff like structuring your estate plan to the ever-interesting topic of how to become a millionaire, with a twist of philosophical insight that makes you want to read more.
As its name suggests, the Simple Dollar offers simple ways to manage your personal finances. Blogger Trent Hamm, after having his own financial meltdown, created this useful resource to explain and explore how to simplify your personal finances.
PHARMA/HEALTH
Written by longtime pharma journalist Ed Silverman, Pharmalot covers pharma news, trends, and issues. It’s really well-written, and could be considered a niche newspaper. A quality resource.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Brian Solis
PR agency principal Brian Solis writes about PR and social media news, trends, and events. His posts are short, and he updates frequently, making this a good blog to read in tasty bites.
PR Guru Stuar Bruce is the founder and CEO of the global PR company Wolfstar. Combine that kind of street cred with the topic selection and insights of a true insider, and you have one worthy blog.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Useful tips, stories, all-around PM wisdom, and even humor abound in this essential resource for product managers. Self-proclaimed career product manager Saeed Khan, competitive intelligence pro Alan Armstrong, product management consultant Prabhakar Gopalan, and software industry vet Ethan Henry share their abundance of knowledge in detailed and relevant posts.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Pawel Brodzinski on Software Project Management
Down-to-earth software industry vet Pawel Brodzinski offers a real-world perspective on all aspects of software project management in this blog. It might also be called “Refreshingly BS-Free Software Project Management,” but that’s probably not what Pawel was going for.
REAL ESTATE
Bigger Pockets
Covers real estate news, investment, marketing, sales, technology, and landlord issues. Useful articles both for seasoned pros and beginners. The blog also has a good networking component, via forums, groups, bulletins, and a resource directory.
SALES
Heavy Hitter Sales
Longtime salesman and author Steve W. Martin shares stories, tips, insights, research, and just about everything else you need to feed your know-how as a salesperson. Though he only posts monthly, his posts are basically all good magazine articles, the kind you’d want to clip.
This journalist-led SEO news and info site offers professional, compelling industry coverage.
SMALL BUSINESS
Lawyer-turned-small business owner Anita Campbell runs this blog, which covers the gamut of information useful to small business owners, from easy marketing plans to startup failure rates to—you guessed it—small business trends. It’s a great one-stop shop for any small business owner.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Mashable
Perhaps the ultimate social media resource, Mashable covers the gamut of social media news, tips, lists, and how-tos. It’s an extensive social media resource that you should bookmark and check at least weekly.
Social media expert and bestselling author Chris Brogan has been doing social media for 11 years. Yes, that’s probably three times as long as most of you. This is why he’s worth listening to, as well as the fact that he writes interesting, engaging, and relevant blog posts.
SPORTS BUSINESS
Sports Biz
Writer Darren Rovell reports on sports news from a business perspective. He covers the gamut of sports business, from endorsements to promising young players. An excellent daily read.
TECHNOLOGY/IT
ReadWriteWeb
Insightful news and analysis on web, Internet industry, and other tech news make this blog a daily staple for anyone in the world of tech.
News from the hardware/software/IT space, including new products, IPOs and funding, companies, campaigns, research, people, industry news, and more. Consistently good and on top of the tech game.
VENTURE CAPITAL
Longtime New York City VC Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures) covers company moves, public policy, investor behavior, media, tech, and a whole lot more. His brings insight and a human touch to all of his topics.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
This blog does an admirable job of addressing career issues for high-performing, thinking women. Cleverly curated categories include interviews, advice columns, office politics, money, and much more.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Zen Habits
Leo Baubata is a master of simplification, and everything in his blog—the lack of ads and photos, the reasonable, direct advice—reflects that. Take in his literary cup of tea for balance and health.
View full post on Business Pundit
The 10 Funniest Business and Finance Moments of 2010
Dec 22nd
This is a post by Minyanville.com.
‘Tis the season for year-in-review stories. Here’s our contribution to your reading and viewing lists: a look at the funniest moments in business and finance.
10. Tim Geithner Still Can’t Sell His House
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Home Crisis Investigation | ||||
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Call this one a running joke, held over from the summer of 2009. That was when we witnessed one of the best, if not the best, takes on the housing market — and a pretty spectacular takedown of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — courtesy of Jon Stewart and his merry band of Daily Show writers.
It seems that Lil’ Timmy was having a bit of trouble selling his Larchmont, NY home after moving to Washington—all the while, reassuring anxious Americans that they had no reason to worry.
Geithner and his wife, Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner, paid $1.602 million for the house in 2004. When he left for D.C., he put the five-bedroom Tudor on the market for $1.635 million. After it failed to sell, the price was dropped to $1.575 million. Still no takers. So the Geithners rented the place out for the princely sum of $7,500 a month—which likely didn’t cover the monthly payments on the two mortgages totaling $1.25 million, plus yearly property taxes of $27,000.
This year, the housing crisis actually worsened, with foreclosure scandals, fraud, robo-signing, and so forth making precipitously declining home values look positively quaint by comparison.
According to real estate website Zillow.com, the Geithner manse is still on the market, the last sale being recorded in 2004—the year Mr. and Mrs. G purchased it. Geithner must be getting desperate, too—the price has dropped again, to $1.339 million. And still no takers.
9. The Tea Party Gets Speling Rong
To the rest of us, members of the Tea Party are a bit like Scientologists. We can understand how they’ve derived their way of thinking, but even casual familiarity with the inherent concepts tells us it’s absolute nonsense and deception — not a path we’re ever likely to follow. Don’t get me wrong, there are kooks and simpletons on our side, too. However, you gotta admit, the Tea Party is teeming with them.
And no better way to illustrate that is the vast variety of signs with atrocious spelling and grammar. If they’re not calling Obama a “lier,” then they’re calling for English to be America’s “offical” language. And they’re dead set against a return to “Socilism” and “1930′s Gemany.”
Of course, in some ways, they’re right. The “Constution” is very important. “Are” country does deserve respect. And “your” not the only ones outraged.
But until you can produce that third grade diploma, Fox News would probably appreciate it if you didn’t credit the network for keeping you “infromed.”
8. Apple Employee Forgets iPhone at Bar
The stern and grumpy Apple chief suffered a rough couple of scrapes this year.
Despite the explosive debut of the Apple iPad, Jobs still needed to combat this growing epidemic known as Android with a flashy, dynamic update to Apple’s flagship iPhone. Unfortunately, his high-profile launch was undercut because an employee couldn’t hold his alcohol in a Redwood City beer garden. An iPhone 4 prototype was left behind at the bar and it eventually fell into the hands of Gizmodo’s Jason Chen — who pored through its features two months before its official debut.
The device was launched last June and sold like hotcakes nevertheless, but Jobs’ mood was visibly different regarding the iPhone 4. Complaints about the device’s “Death Grip” prompted him to reply, “You’re holding it wrong.” And a testy email conversation with a Gawker employee ended with the CEO firing back, “By the way, what have you done that’s so great?”
Reducing a billionaire to childlike taunts was, is, and forever will be hilarious.
7. Taiwan CGI Studio Covers Wall Street
When Jimmy Lai, described by some as “the Rupert Murdoch of Hong Kong”, launched CGI house Next Media Animation with a surreal re-enactment of the Tiger Woods Escalade-Angry Wife-Shattered Window-Late Night Crash fiasco, he must have known how big his big idea was. “There’s no better sensation than image. It’s so in-your-face!” he told Wired magazine. “This is like watching a videogame, but it’s the news!”
For the relative bargain price of $4,000 a minute, NMA recreates the news of the world in its unique style—like this one titled “Wall Street Gorges on Record Bonuses.”
While the subject matter doesn’t often lend itself to humor, it’s hard not to crack a smile.
“There’s a ghost in their machine,” says Matt Harrigan, a producer at Adult Swim. “They have limitations that force unusual decisions and interpretations. What we get back is usually different from what we expect. Sometimes it’s really funny.”
Just one question: does the Uncle Sam in the above video not look eerily similar to Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes?
6. Clarke and Dawe Explain The European Debt Crisis
The European Debt crisis is the subject of much coverage and debate right now, with Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and even Belgium being reluctantly forced by bondholders to line up outside the headmaster’s office of the IMF; each desperately trying to avoid getting to the front of the line. They all owe money to each other, at the same time as they’re meant to be bailing each other out.
Australian satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe tackled this subject in their inimitable way, ruthlessly shedding light on the follies of Europe’s interlinked (and inter-debted) economies last summer. This skit ran on Australian TV last May but quickly went viral once it appeared on YouTube in June.
Wanna read more? Numbers 1-5 are here.
View full post on Business Pundit
The Winners: Reader’s Choice 2010 Small Business Book Awards
Dec 21st
We are delighted to officially announce the winners of the 2010 Small Business Book Awards, Reader’s Choice edition, here at Small Business Trends.
About the Awards
This year — our 3rd year — the Awards were more exciting than ever, with outstanding support from the small business community. We set up a voting site using the same Pligg platform that we use for our social bookmarking site, BizSugar.com, but customized for one-click voting. Books were nominated by a combination of our Book Editors and by the community.
Of the 110 books nominated this year, nearly 60 nominations came from YOU – the community. Over 41,000 votes were cast – more than 10 times the number last year. It’s a real testament to the support given to the authors of these books. That support is especially important because most of the authors are themselves entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The year, we are recognizing the Top 10 winners overall, as well as the top 3 winners in each of the six categories.
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Winners overall:
- The Highest Calling — Author: Larry Janesky
- Social Media Marketing — Author: Liana Evans
- The 24-Hour Customer — Author: Adrian C. Ott
- A Cup of Cappuccino for the Entrepreneur’s Spirit Women Entrepreneurs’ Edition – Authors: Jeretta Horn Nord, Lou C. Kerr
- The Wealthy Freelancer — Authors: Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage, Ed Gandia
- Defy Gravity – Author: Rebel Brown
- The Last Original Idea — Authors: Alan K’necht, Geri Rockstein
- 31 Days to Greeting Card Marketing Mastery — Author: Bruce Brown
- The Termite Effect – Author: Shawn Brodof
- Internet Marketing From The Real Experts — Authors: Shawn Collins, Missy Ward
And following are the category winners — top 3 — in each of the six categories.
- Interstate 69 – Author: Matt Dellinger
- Predictably Irrational — Author: Dan Ariely
- The Economics of Integrity – Author: Anna Bernasek
- Getting to the Top — Author: Kathryn Ullrich
- Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work – Author: Paul Marciano
- Drive – Author: Daniel Pink
- A Cup of Cappuccino for the Entrepreneur’s Spirit Women Entrepreneurs’ Edition
- The Wealthy Freelancer
- Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months – Author: Melinda Emerson
- Social Media Marketing
- UNMarketing — Author: Scott Stratten
- Engage – Author: Brian Solis
- The 24-Hour Customer
- The Last Original Idea
- 31 Days to Greeting Card Marketing Mastery
- The Highest Calling
- Defy Gravity
- The Termite Effect
Winners’ and Nominees’ Badges
As a top 10 winner, a category winner or a nominee, you have earned the right to display a badge indicating your participation. We’ve created different sets of badges, depending on your participation level:
Go here for a Top 10 Winner badge.
Go here for a Category Winner badge.
Go here for a Nominee badge (all 110 books participating have the right to display this badge).
Congratulations to all who participated in the 2010 Small Business Book Awards. Here’s wishing the authors the best of success — and wishing the rest of you “happy reading.”
The Winners: Reader’s Choice 2010 Small Business Book Awards
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Small Business Awards and Contests for 2010 and 2011
Dec 11th
Welcome to this week’s list of awards and competitions for growing companies. There are some great awards and contests open for entry in these last weeks of the year. Why not take a little time away from the holiday rush to enter? (It’s the only way to win!)
This list of contests, competitions and awards for small businesses is brought to you every other week as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.
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Love a Local Business Hiring Grant Competition
Enter through December 2010
Enter by submitting a few sentences about why you love serving your customers and community. Each month between October and December 2010, winners of a $25,000 Intuit Hiring Grant will be chosen by popular vote on http://lovealocalbusiness.com. Judges will review the three monthly winners and choose a grand prize winner of an Intuit Hiring Grant worth $50,000.
Small Business Book Awards – 3rd Annual
Online – vote by December 15, 2010
The 3rd Annual Small Business Book Awards by SmallBizTrends.com are now open. The Book Awards celebrate books for small businesses and entrepreneurs. And since most such books are also written by entrepreneurs and small business owners, the Awards recognize their work. Ten winners will be named in the 2010 Book Awards, based on the number of votes. Vote for your favorites. You may vote once every day, per IP address. Vote for as many books as you wish. Currently there are 65 books entered in the Awards. If your favorite book is not there and it meets the rules, you can also submit it.
Extreme Payroll Stories
Enter by December 15, 2010
This contest awards participants with free payroll services for sharing their stories about how they’ve processed payroll under extreme circumstances.
To enter the contest, small business owners and small business employees who process payroll can submit their “Extreme Payroll” stories to the official contest site, and encourage family, friends and colleagues to vote for their extraordinary experience. The participant who submits the story that receives the most votes wins free payroll service from SurePayroll for one year. The participant who submits the story with the second-highest number of votes will receive free payroll service for three months.
Sales Rescue Team Contest for Lenovo M90z All-in-One Computer
Enter December 12-16, 2010
Small Business Owners that want an easy chance for a new, powerful desktop computer will want to check out this contest with four ways to win. Tell your story of how your business is succeeding in today’s crazy economy in a blog comment. Sales Rescue Team is giving away a Lenovo M90z Touchscreen-enabled 23″ all-in-one desktop to one lucky winner. There are also 15 other sites giving away an M90z during December. Details at Sales Rescue Team.
Rome, GA Small Business of the Year
Enter by December 17, 2010
To be eligible for nomination, a business must have been in operation for at least five years, have 50 or fewer employees and be a member of the Rome, Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Verizon Supports Small Business Saturday Movement
Enter by December 20, 2010
Verizon is joining the Small Business Saturday movement to urge small businesses to support one another and to shop at a local small business in your neighborhood. To further support Small Business Saturday, Verizon will give a $25 American Express gift card to each of the first 800 small businesses that post a comment on the Verizon site site.
To enter, in the comments section of the Verizon blog just write a short note about how another small business can use your services or shop in your store. Be sure to include your full name, the name of your business, your business’ address and website.
New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition
Enter by December 20, 2010
The New York Public Library, with its sponsor, Citi Foundation, announces the New York StartUP! 2011 Business Plan Competition for New York-based startup entrepreneurs with cash prizes totaling over $30,000. The second annual New York StartUp! gives aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to bolster their business acumen. Competition is open to those who are 18 years of age or older; live in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island as a legal resident or U.S. citizen; and wish to start a business in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island. 1st Place Award: $15,000.
NE Business Awards 2010
Enter by December 22, 2010
Note: This regional contest is open to companies in Northeast England – see website for details.
The search is on for North East companies with something to shout about for the year 2010. Have you launched a new product? Have you enjoyed success exporting? Have you been active in the community? Have you contributed to improving the environment? Or, have you just had a good year? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then there’s at least one business award category for you to enter.
Ten award categories include Company of the Year, Innovation Award, Newcomer of the Year and Small Business Award.
VerticalResponse Email Template Design Challenge
Enter by December 24, 2010
To enter the design challenge, design a compelling email template, following the guidelines in the official rules here. Package it up in a .zip file. Include the HTML, all required images and a screenshot of what the final template should look like, and email everything to: designchallenge@verticalresponse.com.
A panel of expert judges will select the top designs by December 29, 2010. These designs will then be posted for public voting from January 4-17, 2011. The top three winners will be announced January 24, 2011, and their template designs will be built into the VerticalResponse upgraded Email Creation editors for all VerticalResponse customers use.
Winners will receive Apple® gift cards for $2,500 (1st place), $1,000 (2nd place) and $500 (3rd place), and their email template designs will be featured for all VerticalResponse customers when they log into the service.
SoftCity Battle of the Blogs
Enter by December 31, 2010
The Battle of the Blogs is a contest designed to discover expert blogs for each one of the categories on SoftCity. SMB Bloggers looking to get some Internet recognition can nominate themselves for the Battle of the Blogs – SoftCity provides a free banner and will help via social media channels to promote each nomination
- Best blogger (blogs) in each of the 6 categories wins an iPad, online recognition badge for their site, plus a targeted audience of new potential users, followers.
DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award
Enter by January 7, 2011
The DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Sam’s Club, is designed to honor U.S. job creators and recognize their significant contributions as drivers of economic growth. View the eligibility and criteria at the website to learn more and check out the Application Process FAQs for tips on filling out the application.
CoolCalifornia Small Business Award
Enter by January 24, 2011
The annual CoolCalifornia Small Business Award Program is administered by the California Air Resources Board. The program recognizes small California businesses (under 100 employees) that have demonstrated exceptional leadership and taken action to reduce their energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions and made notable, voluntary achievements towards reducing their climate impact. We’re planning the awards ceremony and reception for early May 2011 in Sacramento.
Fin Tech Innovation Lab
Enter by January 31, 2010
Entrepreneurs developing mobile, data management and data analytics, security, social media and other tools can apply for a spot in the FinTech Innovation Lab, expected to open in May 2011. Six companies will each get $25,000, which will convert into their next round of equity financing. They’ll also receive workspace, access to users within financial services firms to test their products and mentoring.
Launch Lewiston-Auburn Maine Contest
Enter by January 2011
The Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council (LAEGC) and the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce have launched an entrepreneurial contest that has an ambitious goal of connecting with youth who have roots in the local community, and encouraging them to consider starting a business in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine. The program, called Launch L-A!, features a contest inviting young entrepreneurs to submit a proposal to start a business in L-A.
The winning entrepreneur will receive an equity infusion of $10,000 to $20,000 in seed money, along with a number of in-kind services for a year, including business consulting, accounting services, legal fees, advertising agency services, rent and more — all provided by Chamber members. Runners-up may also receive in-kind services. See website for entry rules.
The CITI Foundation Business Plan Contest
Enter by February 1, 2011
For Start-up and Existing Businesses-Put your ideas on paper to find out if you have a viable business and compete to win cash prizes. Eligible candidates must attend at least one of the following workshops by February 1, 2011: How to Write a Business Plan; Understanding Your Small Business Financial Report Card; or Boot Camp – CORE Four Business Planning Course.
All registration forms and business plans must be received by February 1, 2011. Please review the checklist on the website for all required information. Or call (312) 673-3462 or e-mail sbdcduman@jvschicago.org.
Rhode Island Business Plan Competition 2011
Enter by April 4. 2011
The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, open to everyone, seeks to promote entrepreneurship and development of start-up and early stage companies. Winners and finalists in the 2010 Competition shared more than $195,000 in prizes.
To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar. In addition, we also have a giveaways page; click to learn more about our small business giveaways section.
If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Small Business Event and Contests Form. (We do not charge a fee to be included in this listing — it is completely free to submit your award or contest for our review. )
Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.
Small Business Awards and Contests for 2010 and 2011
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
The 10 Most Expensive Halloween Costumes of 2010
Oct 26th
Expensive Halloween costumes are recession-proof. How else could certain hedge fund managers and health insurance company CEOs wow their respective Halloween parties?
When we nosed around for 2010′s most expensive Halloween costumes, we found that the quality of your costume is not necessarily related to the quantity of money you spend. But if you insist on lightening your dollar load, here they are:
10. Attila the Hun: $1,448
For the price of a plasma TV, you, too, can become a ruthless conqueror in a pointy hat.
9. Blue Panda: $1,950
Blue Panda actually gets his sheen from sapphire dust and is knitted together with gold thread. What else could explain the price?
8. Moulin Rouge Ringmaster: $2,400
Victims of the obesity epidemic need not apply.
7. Carbon X Robot: $3,500
Unlike some of the other costumes on this list, this robot justifies its price with high-end components, an automotive paint job, and an amplifier that make your voice six times louder. It’s safe to say people will envy you if you fork out for this one.
6. Medieval Knight: $3,850
Perfect your “NI!”, and you’ll be scaring the damask stirrups off fellow kingdom dwellers with this set. (Payable only in modern-day garnishments.)
5. Vintage Playboy Bunny: $4,000
Relive that 1970s sex appeal with your very own colorful vintage Playboy bunny outfit. Big hair and hot pink lipstick not included.
4. Bruce Willis’ Die Hard 3 Outfit: $7,000
Bruce Willis wore this outfit in 2005′s Die Hard 3. It even comes with the boxer shorts Willis wore on the set, man musk and all.
3. Spartan: $8,000
Fight to the death in this real live Spartan outfit from the fictional movie 300. Bonus points if you add some real blood to all those fake blood smears.
2. Human Slinky: $1,000,000
Two years ago, the miracle of plastics engineering was going for a mere $182,000. This year, for mysterious reasons, it’s up to a cool mil. If it appreciates that much again in the next two years, heck, it could be the ultimate investment.
1. A&W Bear: $5,000,000
Wondering why a big, pudgy A&W bear costume costs as much as Chelsea Clinton’s wedding? Because it’s the official mascot, alright?
View full post on Business Pundit
