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Don't blame me this time for blasting Apple. There's a long line of tech writers, bloggers and, most importantly, consumers themselves with nothing but scorched earth comments about Apple's new social networking service called "Ping".What a long few days it has been since Steve Jobs took the stage in San Francisco showing us Ping for the first time with all of us breathlessly watching it streamed live.But here we are less than a week later and while Apple puts out happy press releases announcing its first one million Ping users in less than 48 hours (you have to wonder if its the same one million that bought an iPhone 4 and a iPad in those first days after launch); the masses are clearly not happy.Some of the big complaints:1. Spam and phishing scams. Apparantly, Apple didn't launch with much in the way of security like, oh say, filtering messages with dubious links and malicious messages promising free iPhones. The result is a hot mess. 2. iTunes 10, itself: home of Ping. In a word: it sucks. By all accounts its just clunky, hard to navigate and boots up about as fast as Windows.3. Ping is anti-social. It doesn't sync up with anything - Facebook, your contacts, your music library. Some "social" network, eh?But don't take my word for it.Here are some choice quotes from other writers, note user comments on the links as well:"The network is just another way to follow Lady GaGa."- Pete Cashmore, special to CNN"Adding a social networking interface, on top of all of iTunes’ other functions, is like grafting another limb to the forehead of an octopus. It’s just too much."- Wade Roush, Xconomy, "The Leaning Tower of Ping: How iTunes could be Apple's Undoing""I would have expected more from Apple with this first attempt at building a community around iTunes. It's not all bad, but if Ping doesn't improve soon this music-oriented social network will bomb faster than an American Idol wannabe."- Ian Paul, PC World, "Ping on iTunes: Not So Hot"""A few days ago, Apple released a social network. Gee, how bloody creative of them and they used to be so cool. There are enough social networks, too many actually."- Swizec, "Apple's Ping is a Big Pile of Steaming Dung""Even Ping's ace in the hole, that it has access to all the information about music listening habits from every iTunes users, seems to have been botched. Instead of broadcasting to the world what music you, you know, actually like best and listen to, it only tells people what you bought or rated at the iTunes store."- David Adams, OSNews, "Ping: Why Bother?""Simply put; Ping lacks spam and URL filtering"- Larry Dignan, ZDNet, "Apple launches iTunes Ping: forgets the spam filtering"As always, you are welcome to follow me on Twitter @oricchio (unless of course you want me to fill out a survey and promise me a free iPhone). Apple - Steve Job - iTunes - Facebook - Twitter

To celebrate Labor Day, we compiled some of entrepreneur Norm Brodsky's advice on managing a harmonious workforce. Tip No. 1: Avoid hiring people who remind you of yourself. Entrepreneurs don't make good employees," he explains. "What's more, they are often crummy managers. Instead, look for steadier hands who have worked in organizations as large or larger than your own.At a time when many employers are sending subtle (and not so subtle) signals to workers to cut back on customer service, you should rally your employees to go the extra mile. Not only will your customers love it, but you will also instill a sense of confidence and self esteem in your workforce.Brodsky is a vocal critic of sales commissions because he believes that they create factions, by pitting the financial self interest of salespeople against the needs of operations and accounting. "Because of the role they play and the difficulty of the work they do, salespeople will always earn more than most other people," Brodsky says. "But I want all of my employees to be part of the same compensation system."Sharing equity is supposed to be a great way to attract talent to your small company, but too often it leads to strife and legal wrangling. Brodsky says you should instead offer workers above-market salaries or generous health benefits. Anyone who hesitates to accept this probably isnt someone you want on your team anyway. Remember, Brodsky says, it's easy to give away part of your company but really hard to get it back.Though layoffs are sometimes necessary, they should be looked at as a last resort. That's because job cuts can do serious long-term damage to a companys culture and can cause you to miss out on growth opportunities in the future. Think first about freezing salaries, eliminating perks, not replacing old equipment, and so on," Brodsky says. "Your employees will understand and support you if you're trying to save jobs." Labor Day - Customer service - Employment - Business - No.1

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:Getting serious about in-bar promotions. Lovely gals selling candy-colored shots to drunk guys – sounds easy as pie, right? Well, it turns out there's a little more to the formula than meets the eye. Today the Wall Street Journal profiles a service that outsources these so-called "shot girls" to trendy Manhattan bars and clubs. Founded by a pair of former J.P. Morgan and Bear Stearns analysts, Auld D'Leo Inc. trains its 25-person staff in the 10 best practices of the trade, which are distributed to each new waitress-slash-promotions specialist on her first day of work. Unsurprisingly, the list includes practices like being as friendly, personable, upbeat as possible, and not spending too much time with a single patron or group of patrons. Following the practices, these mostly college-educated women rake in between $300 and $600 a night. And if all else fails they can get a little, well, creative. One woman uses her large hands as a secret weapon, coaxing guys into wagering a round of drinks over whose hands are bigger. Typically the guys take the bet, and buy the shots.Private sector jobs up, overall numbers down. In its August report on employment, the government announced that the private sector added 67,000 jobs last month, about 26,000 more than was forecasted, The New York Times reported. At the same time, the overall economy lost another 54,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate rising to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent. The government attributed the job losses to terminated Census-related temporary positions and the paper said the results were still better than expected. But as former Inc. reporter, and current Huffington Post associate business editor Ryan McCarthy tweeted: "What % of Americans actually care whether the jobs numbers are 'better [or worse] than expected'"?Forget cockroaches. Forget fruit flies. This isn't your typical office infestation, but it might just be the infestation of the future. Yes, Google has bedbugs. Infestation by the nocturnal, blood-sucking insects isn't as of late an uncommon problem for New York retail spaces - like Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, and BuyBaby. That doesn't mean it isn't gross. Meanwhile, the New York Observer is already trying to turn Google's bug problem into a whodunit. Start your bedbug conspiracy theory engines, because this problem for businesses isn't going away anytime soon.How everyone benefits from more women in technology. Venturebeat has a piece weighing in on the question of why there aren't more women in tech that takes a refreshingly practical approach to the issue, giving advice to members of both genders on how to boost the gender diversity and why they should bother. The author, herself a woman and tech journalist, counsels men that female employees and co-founders are a competitive edge that concretely bups financial performance. For women, she suggests making the most of the fact that they aren't insiders. She cites Anita Roddick of The Body Shop as a favorite female entrepreneur for "pioneer[ing] notions like environmentalism and fair trade in business long before they were fashionable or profitable." Check out the top woman building successful companies in tech and other fields on the Inc. 500.China gets the Google treatment. The former head of Google's Chinese outpost, Kai-Fu Lee, is investing in 12 growing businesses in China through an incubator he founded called Innovation Works. According to BusinessWeek, Lee's interest in Chinese innovation is part of a larger trend that sees more investors turning their attention East. One University of San Francisco entrepreneurship professor tells BusinessWeek, "While confidence in Silicon Valley has been declining among VCs, there's more money flowing to China venture funds." In Lee's opinion, because China's angel investor community is virtually "nonexistant," it's up to well-funded incubators like Innovation Works to encourage Chinese entrepreneurs to grow. For more information on doing business in China, check out our Beijing city page.Nine tips to being a better boss. Sometimes the best thing a boss can do is to get out of the way and let their employees do what they do best. With that in mind, the American Express OPEN Forum has a list of nine things a boss can do to remove those stumbling blocks that keep employees from reaching their potential. Excerpted from the book Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best...and Learn from the Worst, the post extolls the virtues of simplification. Among the key suggestions is to, "List all the performance metrics you use. Pick the three most important. Do you really need the rest?" (As long as you are on a self-improvement kick, here's our list of 6 ways to be a better CEO.)Tips for collecting on late payments. The first rule of making sure late payments don't spoil your cash flow is to act quickly, according to a post on BusinessWeek. The odds that the delinquents will cough up your cash drop drastically over time from an 81 percent payback rate at two months, to 52 percent at six months, and less than 25 percent after a year. So don't be shy about demanding what you're owed and doing it fast. For four more tips on coaxing money from laggard customers see the rest of the article.Silicon Valley, vacation destination? Well, the New York Times seems to think so. The former agricultural cradle that swaddles Apple, Google, Intel, and countless start-ups is featured in this week's "36 Hours In..." feature. What's hip to do on a vacation to programmer paradise? Rub elbows with venture capitalists at Rosewood Sand Hill hotel in Menlo Park, stake out the Googleplex from Shoreline Boulevard, or take an Airship tour to spy on Larry Ellison's "23-acre Japanese-style compound." The piece also urges visitors to stop by the bar where an Apple software engineer lost an iPhone 4 prototype last April. And don't forget to stay in the Avatar Hotel and visit the Computer History Museum! Oh, man, where are those shot girls when you need them?More from Inc. magazine:Get this delivered to your inbox.Follow us on Twitter.Follow us on Tumblr.Like us on Facebook. Apple - Kai-Fu Lee - New York Times - IPhone - Abercrombie & Fitch

If theres such a thing as a socialite in the start-up community, Chris McCann, the co-founder of Startup Digest, would be it.A little more than a year ago, he arrived in Silicon Valley, fresh out of college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he graduated with an entrepreneurship degree (a degree, of course, that he helped develop). Knowing few people in the Bay Area, McCann started hitting the start-up event circuit and networking with Silicon Valleys finest. Some events were useful. Some, not so much. To keep track of each one, McCann logged his experiences in a journal of sorts, which he emailed to a group of 22 friends back in November.Since then, what started as an informal email chain has grown into a weekly newsletter with more than 64,000 subscribers in 51 cities, from Houston to Tokyo. Startup Digest, as its now called, has representatives around the world, who seek out the most important events for entrepreneurs and recommend them to subscribers. Though McCanns a little too busy these days to attend every lecture and meetup in and around Palo Alto, where the companys based, he recently spoke with Inc. reporter Issie Lapowsky about Startup Digests growth and the crucial need it fills for entrepreneurs.When did you realize you might be able to turn your networking skills into a service for other people?I got to know my co-founder Brendan McManus about three years ago when he was working on a start-up called UpDown. I was one of the early users of it. We both independently moved up the Bay Area, and he randomly Facebook messaged me and was like, Im in Silicon Valley, do you know any place to stay? Coincidentally, I was being kicked out of the sublet I was in, so we came together to look for a house. What I loved about him was when we moved in together it was like 9 oclock at night and he was like, Well? What are we going to work on? I was like this is awesome. So we just tried a whole bunch of ideas out, and Startup Digest was one of those things.Howd you get the word out about it?The thing with the Digest is, I was actually going to the events I was featuring. At the event, Id always ask the organizers if theyd let me talk for a minute afterward to tell people about Startup Digest. So I remember the first time, I gave a little thing about it, and we originally didnt have a website. The only way you could sign up was you had to either email me or Twitter me, and that was the only way I could put you on the list. The first time I said it at an event, I had 20-30 people come up to me asking to be on the list. Silicon Valleys a very small place, so word spread quickly.Now that you have newsletters going out all over the world, how do you maintain quality control?We have curators in each city. Most of them are startup entrepreneurs themselves. Some of them are investors in startups, and some of them have cashed out of their startup, but they have to be somewhere along that chain. We pre-screen people, and then theyre the ones who pick the events in their city. And its not like we pick specific cities and try to find someone there. People come to us and say, 'Im a founder in Seattle, and I heard about you guys. I really want to do it here.' We have a little form where they can apply on the website, then we do a quick call with them to make sure theyre doing it for the right reasons and get to know them a little bit, and then we have an internal wiki to set them up.Were you surprised by anyone who contacted you?Actually, one of our fastest-growing cities was Capetown, South Africa. This guy has a company called Personera, which is really freaking cool. He heard about us because he had an investor in San Francisco, and he was like, 'Hey we need something like this in Capetown.' He just applied through the online form, just like anybody else, and he went from like 1 to 81 members in a week or two. Now, I think its at almost 1,000 people signed up.What's the cost of running a newsletter on this scale?The start-up costs were basically nothing. We started with Gmail to send the emails and Excell to manage the list. All we had was the website cost, which was, all in all, less than $100. Now the costs to operate are less than $1,000 a month. We're spending $500 a month on emails, then the rest on hosting, travel, events, etc. The biggest cost is Brendan and my living cost. We make the majority of our money through advertorial emails and sponsorship.Which events get the most attention?The ones that are always the most popular are private events, the ones you have to apply to get into. We usually feature the event and say, 'Heres how you can get in touch with the people.' Those do really well. Also, launch parties do really well. We feature events from huge conferences all the way down to really small meetups, and you find that the smaller meetups that are usually more technical and skill-focused, actually perform surprisingly well.You guys host your own events, too, right?We only do one event, and its more fun and silly for our subscribers. It's called Startup Waffles. Its free waffles, and whenever we travel, we do one for our subscribers, and we do it once a month in San Francisco.Do you have anything new in the works?At least for now, its all event listings. The Silicon Valley one is still the biggest of all the cities, and were transitioning that one slowly into more of a daily newsletter, sort of like Daily Candy, because people have been demanding more content from us.Why do you think Startup Digest has become so popular so quickly?As much as I use Facebook, Twitter and all that stuff thats out there, theres nothing thats going to replace person-to-person interaction. You go and meet an investor or customer face-to-face, and youre excited about it. You make a stronger connection really quickly. Then its a lot easier to follow up on these other channels, but that person-to-person feeling can never be replaced. Silicon Valley - Startup Digest - Facebook - Twitter - San Francisco Bay Area

How much money are you planning to pull out of your company this year?If you own your business outright, the decision is yours, but if you have one or more partners, things can get a little dicey, says Jordan Dolgin.Dolgin is a Toronto-based lawyer who specializes in business law and has seen many business partners fall out. In one example he recounted to me, two partners had vastly different ideas about how much money they wanted to take out of their thriving business. One partner had a healthy appetite for the finer things in life and wanted to claw out most of the cash to fund his ever-growing lifestyle. The other wanted to leave most of the cash in the business to fund new projects and provide a safety net. Their difference of opinion escalated into an all-out war. They stopped talking and eventually couldn’t even be in the same room together.Finally, the more conservative partner asked their banker to change their account so that both partners had to sign all company checks. This move caused the bank to lose confidence in the business, and their credit line was pulled until the partners could work out their differences.Like with all marriages, it’s better to size up your partner before you commit. Here are three ways to evaluate your potential business partner:1. Go to lunchWatch how your potential partner treats your server, and you will have a good idea of how he or she will treat your employees.2. Compare your numbersAsk your potential partner trade-off questions to evaluate their need for financial reward with their lifestyle aspirations. Once the business gets going and the profits start rolling in, how much money do you need to be happy, and at what point is an extra week’s vacation more important than the next $10,000 in personal compensation?3. Look in the parking lotCompare your potential partner’s current spending habits to yours. In particular, get a look at the car he or she drives. A car is the ultimate expression of the image we want to display to the world. If your potential partner is driving a Porsche, and you’ve got a sensible sedan, consider this a reliable bellwether of problems to come.John Warrillow is a writer, speaker and angel investor in a number of start-up companies. He writes a blog about building a sellable company at http://www.BuiltToSell.com/blog. You can also follow him on Twitter at @JohnWarrillow. Business - Angel investor - Startup company - Twitter - Law

Small-business owners have been slapped with credit card interest rate increases of more than 30 percent since January 2010 because their cards aren't getting the same protections as those of consumers, says a new study.The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, enacted last year, limits rate increases, requires banks to apply payments to higher-rate balances first, and mail bills 21 days before the due date instead of 14 days, among other provisions designed to protect consumers from unfair billing practices and rate hikes. But cards offered to businesses aren't included in the legislation. According to a study by BillShrink, a search engine that compares product options, before the rules took effect in February a third of issuers raised consumer card rates an average of 16 percent. But rates on small-business cards can rise unchecked – and so far have increased more than 30 percent this year, says the study, which analyzed data from 2,300 small businesses seeking advice from the site. "We predicted earlier this year that small businesses would be subject to rate increases as the banks try to make up for lost consumer revenue resulting from the CARD Act," said Schwark Satyavolu, CEO of BillShrink, in a statement. "Since small businesses aren’t protected, they appear to be an easier target for card rate hikes." (How keen are credit card companies to cash in on this loophole? So keen that they are reportedly offering corporate cards to peoople who don't own businesses, prompting Senator Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat, to write to the Fed asking it to curb the pitching of the legislation-exempt cards to consumers.)Small firms also have a lot more offers to be wary of: Issuers increased mailings of corporate-card offers by 256 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the year before, according to Synovate, a London-based market research firm. And according to the Federal Reserve, 83 percent of small businesses in 2009 used business and personal credit cards, which essentially amount to short-term loans.Despite the different treatment from credit card companies, small businesses tend to pay off their monthly balances more often than consumers, according to the BillShrink study. Just over a quarter of small firms don't pay off their balance every month compared to 40 percent of individuals. The average debt held by a U.S. small business is $12,100, compared to $7,020 for consumers.Other survey findings: Perhaps not surprisingly, small firms that pay off their balances tend to have better credit ratings and larger annual revenues than those that don't. A full 60 percentof companies carrying a balance have revenues under $149,000. (For the record, these business owners rated cashback benefits as the most important card reward feature, followed by airfare rewards.)Switching to a card with better rates and improved rewards could save the average small business owner more than $1,500 a year, the study said. Credit card - Business - BillShrink - Small business - Schwark Satyavolu

Effective July 1st of next year, eBay will no longer allow third party checkout transactions for customers. That means you will only be able to make purchases using eBay-owned PayPal. eBay claims that only about 10% of purchases made are done by third party options. In the same announcement, the online auction giant tried to throw a little oil on what will surely be turbulant waters as reactions ripple through the web. eBay says it will be upgrading its checkout system with better credit card integration, tax reporting and smoother shipping to places like Alaska and Hawaii. Yeah, yeah....Speaking of turbulant waters, there's already been some brouhaha over eBay using this to throw Google Checkout out of its sandbox. Just a clarification; Google Checkout was never in the eBay sandbox to begin with.It's long time until next July, we'll see what the FTC has to say about this between now and then. EBay - Google Checkout - Credit card - Shopping - Servers

Take it from those of us who know: An easy way to ruin your relationship with the news media is to send a bad press release. Newsroom fax machines and reporters' inboxes are flooded on a daily basis with press releases from companies, government agencies, non-profit groups, and even average citizens trying to get their neighborhood plight noticed. If you send in a press release that's riddled with grammatical errors, buried in a convoluted e-mail, or completely irrelevant to the reporter's coverage area, you might as well be tossing your press release down a sewer drain. If you deluge a news organization with unprofessional or uninteresting releases, your chances of ever getting favorable news coverage are zero-to-slim. But when done correctly, a good press release will grab a reporter's attention and force their curiosity to want to learn more about your announcement. "I want to be a trusted resource for that media so I'm trying to give the journalist all the information when they need it so they don't have to go anywhere else," says Gillian Pommerehn, director of public relations for Crosby Marketing, which is based in Annapolis, Maryland, and whose clients include the U.S. Department of Agriculture and DuPont. The trick, professionals say, is knowing how to format a good release, where to send it, and what information to include. The release is the face of your company that you're sending out into the world, so it's not a task to be taken lightly. Don’t forget: With most press releases now available online through wire services or your company's website, customers or clients may also be reading them, not just reporters. "Really good, clean, crisp, grammatically correct writing is so important in creating a positive impression of your company," says Lauren Selikoff, chief marketing officer for Allison & Partners, which works with Samsung and Michelin and is based in San Francisco. "This is not a task to turn over to the intern." Here's some tips to help you craft your message. Writing a Press Release: Mind the MessageOne thing comes to the mind of any good journalist when they receive a press release: Why would I care? The "news" in your news release has to be obvious, or else your notice will be on a fast route to the recycle bin. The first step is figuring out exactly what message you are trying to get across, and how it qualifies as news. "The hardest thing for people who are new to PR to grasp is you really have to take your ego out of it when it comes to finding something the press is going to write about," Selikoff says. "What's newsworthy to a publication's readers is often completely different than what you are trying to get across." That means your release needs a good headline. That can be something saying how your new product is going to make life easier, or how it relates to a news event. Your headline should be an attention-grabber, so reporters can see right away how the announcement affects their audience. Dig Deeper: The Art of the Press Release Writing a Press Release: Seek out Examples If you've never written a press release before, you're in luck: The Internet is chock-loaded with examples and models you can use. More than likely, someone has already composed a press release on the same topic that you can use for inspiration. Don't copy — but do soak up their style and manner of ordering the content. PR professionals recommend checking out press release distribution services such as PRWeb and PR Newswire to find a model on which to base your release. Searching Google for announcements related to your business — promotions, new product launches, new branch openings, etc. — is also likely to produce an example you can copy.Dig Deeper: How to Manage Your Own PR Writing a Press Release: Mastering the Structure Experts say press releases should be no longer than one page. Every press release has a basic structure:Top:Put the words "For immediate release" at the very top of the page. The headline — the key to grabbing attention — should be centered on the page, and usually written in bold or capital letters. Under that, put a subhead, often in italics, that elaborates on the headline. The headline and subhead are the prime places to work in keywords that will help search engine optimization and draw traffic to your release once it's online, says Leyl Master Black, managing director at San Francisco's SparkPR, whose clients include Bing and Barclays. For instance, she says, if you're launching an e-commerce platform, you want the words e-commerce, platform, and software to appear in your headline and opening paragraphs several times. First paragraph: Black and others say you should assume no one is going to read beyond the first paragraph, which makes it the most important. Many releases also take up a journalistic style, beginning with a dateline, or the city and state the news is coming from. "You need to have the theme and anything that is newsworthy summarized very concisely and neatly," Selikoff says. "The remainder of the press release is kind of fleshing out the story. But the main story has to get across in the first paragraph." The old standard is that a release should be similar to a story the journalist would write. Reporters often stick to a structure known as the inverted pyramid, which means the most significant parts or the story should be at the top, with everything getting less important as you go farther down the page. This ensures that even someone who just reads the top of the release will get the most important information, and makes it easier to cut text from the bottom for space.Quotes: Experts recommend that your release should also include at least one quote in the body. The quote should come from someone knowledgeable about the announcement being made, such as a product manager if you're announcing a new invention, or a top executive if announcing company wide changes. The quote can also be used to explain how your announcement makes you stand out from other competitors, even if you don't mention them by name. "The quote is where you can add context to your announcement and offer an opinion about it," Black says. "The quote is where you can talk about why this is important to the industry."Selikoff also warns against using a canned quote talking about how great your company is. Use a quote that provides some insight instead. It's also helpful to know some publications' standards on using quotes from a release. While blogs and very small publications will often use information directly from a release, and re-use quotes you include in the release in their story, major publications most often will not. Boilerplate information: The last paragraph is typically a standard set of information about your company, including your mission, when the company was founded, awards it has received or other achievements. This provides basic background information the journalist or the public can use to put the release in context and understand more about who you are.Contact information: You don't want to pique a journalist's interest only to have that person scrounging and searching to find who to call for more information. Contact information can either be at the top or bottom of the page and should include the name, e-mail, and title of whomever the media contact for the story is. Usually, it will be your company spokesperson or a dedicated staff person familiar with the topic who can answer reporters' questions. "There is a certain format for press releases that media are accustomed to getting, " Pommerehn says. "It's Important to kind of keep that format." Multi-media: You'll most likely be sending out releases through e-mail and posting them on your company's website, so experts say you should consider including some digital features, such as video and audio. It's also an opportunity to link back to other company information available online — previous press releases and related matter such as customer testimonials or performance reports — that will give the news media additional context. Dig Deeper: The Power of Press Releases for Small Businesses http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/2009/01/the_power_of_press_releases_fo.html Writing a Press Release: Target Your DistributionThe first rule of sending out a press release to know which reporters you're trying to reach. "Not only is the press release itself important, but who you're communicating with is very important," Pommerehn says. "It’s a major pet peeve for journalists when the PR person or the person doing the press release does not do their homework."If it's a local news event, find out who in the local media covers your neighborhood or issue. Do some research on bigger news organizations to find out which reporters or producers cover your industry. Some media organizations have designated e-mail addresses or fax numbers to which all releases are directed. Professionals say to be mindful of what kind of organization you're reaching out to as well: a reporter at an environmental magazine, for instance, might be turned off by a flood of paper-consuming messages coming from the fax machine.Most journalists expect press releases to arrive by e-mail these days. Put your document in the body of the message because most reporters won't open an attachment from someone they don't know. If you have a public relations budget, you can also send your release to a wire service for broad geographical distribution. Small companies can distribute through PRWeb.com for as little as $80, Black says. Other services such as Businesswire.com and PRNewswire.com are pricier but will expose your release to a broader audience.Don’t' forget that media organizations run on tight deadlines. Pommerehn says the morning is typically the best time to send a release for most publications while late morning or early afternoon is better for television and radio outlets. Advance notice helps too. If you have an event you are trying to get covered, waiting to send notice until editors are rushing out of the door on Friday evening could lead to a missed opportunity for media exposure. Editors will have to scramble to fit it into their story budgets for the weekend, leaving a bad taste in their mouth about your company. Dig Deeper: How to Talk to the Press About Your Company Google - Press release - Bing - Journalist - News agency

Advertising on radio has consistently proven to be an effective and efficient medium to help generate brand awareness and grow business for a variety of companies and in a variety of geographical markets. But for small and mid-sized businesses that are on a tight budget, it pays to know some tricks of the trade to keep radio advertising affordable."Negotiation is key. You have to go in and negotiate what you want," says J. T. Hroncich, managing director and principal of Capitol Media Solutions, an agency that helps companies buy advertising. "There's a lot more to it than placing a simple print ad. You have to look at the target audience your looking to reach, size of your budget and the ratings of the stations you are interested in purchasing."The sections below will detail how to understand your options for radio advertising, tips for negotiating deals for radio ads within your budget, and other promotional opportunities on radio.Dig Deeper: Making Your First Advertising BuyHow to Buy Radio Advertising On a Budget: Understand Radio Advertising OptionsDespite the rise of television, cable, and the Internet as advertising platforms, radio advertising "still makes sense," says Hroncich. During the recent economic downturn, some businesses stayed away from radio, fearing that as people lost jobs, there wouldn't be as many commuters during drive-time hours. But that seems to have settled down. "It is still really relevant, but a lot depends on the market. If you're in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles, where a lot of people still drive to work, it's a good platform to get your advertising message out."Certain types of companies tend to advertise more on radio – auto dealers, banks, jewelers, salons, and so on. They tend to be local and they often provide a phone number, website, or location so that you can reach them. "At the end of the day a lot of them want you to come into the store," Hroncich says.Often, radio stations will help produce the commercial for you as part of negotiating an advertising deal. "You can give them the copy and they'll create the ad for you, as long as it's a pretty straightforward type ad," says Hroncich. "Most times it is included in the price. Otherwise you can pay $1,500 to $3,000 and up to have an ad created."Before negotiating, you have to figure out what target market you are trying to reach and then find radio stations and programs that do a good job of reaching those markets. Advertising agencies are often hired to do the research and the bidding for you, and can often negotiate more "value added" features to a contract.Dig Deeper: On-Air EndorsementsHow to Buy Radio Advertising On a Budget: Tips for Negotiating Radio Advertising DealsThe first rule of thumb to save money on radio advertising is to plan early and negotiate a long-term (13- or 26-week) or yearly contract. "Stations very often provide discounts and/or value added for clients who commit to purchasing a designated amount of advertising in advance," says Wendy A. Schmidt, a 20-year radio sales veteran in the Boston market who is a senior account executive for CBS Radio's premier Boston station, WBZ NewsRadio 1030 AM. "When you lock into a longer term, your rate is guaranteed for that contract period against future rate increases, and you do not pay in advance. Airtime is generally billed weekly or monthly only after the commercials air." If you don't purchase your radio campaign in advance, you are at the mercy of supply and demand, whereby rates may increase as inventory decreases, Schmidt says. And, you may not be able to run your campaign at all if a station is sold out during busy months. Here are some other tips for buying radio ads on a budget:Short durations. Many stations, in addition to offering the standard 60-second commercial, offer advertisers the option to purchase shorter commercials – in 30-second, 15-second, or 10-second intervals. Time is money on the radio and these usually cost less during the same time of day. "Some stations may offer just a 'billboard,' or 'blink ad' – a 5-second, name-only mention," Schmidt says. "Shorter durations are particularly attractive to advertisers on a budget as they are often priced below a 60-second commercial, thus stretching your advertising dollars." If you can get your message across quickly, these shorter durations may be for you.Run of station (ROS) commercials. ROS commercials, otherwise known as rotator spots, are lower-priced commercials with a broad window of airtime although there are usually no guarantees when your commercial will air, Schmidt says. The most popular, and thus most expensive, times to run radio ads are during the morning and afternoon "drive time" – the rush hours, when lots of listeners are commuting. But an ROS commercial may air anytime from 6 a.m. to midnight. "While rare, if a station has availability, it is possible to get some prime time commercials at the lower ROS rate," Schmidt says. "Consider purchasing times for which you will be guaranteed to run, and supplement some of your airtime with rotators."Fringe days or times. Fringe are the days (or time of day) that are less in demand, or not as highly rated as other time slots, and thus, are priced accordingly, Schmidt says. "Consider midday, evenings, or weekends, when rates on many stations are generally less expensive than during weekday drive times," Schmidt adds.On-air features. Outside of standard commercial spots, radio stations often allow businesses to sponsor certain on-air features, such as news, traffic, or weather reports. These typically include a sponsorship mention –"This news report is brought you by [company name]." Schmidt says these features are negotiable items which may or may not require a premium. "While a premium carries an incremental cost, it is well worth the investment to get the additional attention a sponsorship provides. The advertiser's company is then highlighted by the sponsorship mention, making the company stand out."Dig Deeper: Saving Money on Radio AdvertisingHow to Buy Radio Advertising On a Budget: Other Types of Radio PromotionsOutside of on-air radio spots, there are other opportunities you may have on radio to promote your business. Here are a few: Radio station promotional events. To add value to your radio campaign, you may want to sponsor a radio station event as part of your advertising, Schmidt says. This can be negotiated as part of your advertising package. Make sure to ask about any promotional opportunities. "For example, a radio station may host a business breakfast series in which qualifying advertisers are included as sponsors," Schmidt says. "Or, a station may also customize a promotion exclusively for your business."In addition to on-air exposure, you may be able to capitalize on in-person exposure to potential customers. "Your company may be allowed to provide samples or sell product, do demonstrations, and/or distribute promotional materials at the event," Schmidt says. It depends on the client whether sponsoring events makes sense, Hroncich says. "If it's an event featuring the most popular DJ in the area, you're going to have to pay a little more appearance fees, but it may really lend credibility if you have a popular on air personality reading your commercial or endorsing your product," he says. "That goes a long way."Cross promotions with other advertisers. Schmidt recommends that businesses ask the radio station sales representative about other advertisers who may be interested in cross promotions. "Each advertiser would mention the other in their advertising, often providing an offer such as something free or discounted with purchase," she says. "For example, a supermarket may advertise a discounted ticket to an area attraction with the purchase of specific food items. The attraction, similarly, would promote the supermarket." Cross promotions can be rewarding for both advertisers, as they are increasing their airtime and exposure, while simultaneously providing a consumer incentive to help drive sales for both businesses.Determine if you qualify for co-op advertising funds. Schmidt says co-op advertising funds may be provided by a manufacturer whose products the retailer sells. "The amount of funding the retailer receives is generally based upon meeting a sales benchmark of the manufacturer's product," she says. "For example, a particular brand may pay a percentage of the store's advertising, provided that the radio commercial mentions the brand and/or slogan a designated amount of times." Co-op funds may accrue yearly or quarterly, but have specific deadlines in which to use the funds, otherwise they lapse. "It's important for retailers not to overlook this valuable potential source of advertising funding," Schmidt adds.Tap into the radio station's online audience. Most radio stations have websites, and "stream" or broadcast their programming online. Generally, for a minimal investment, advertisers can add value to their on-air radio campaign by also advertising on the station's website. Sometimes, Hroncich says, radio stations will sometimes throw in website advertising as part of the "value add" in an advertising contract. –––––How to Buy Radio Advertising On a Budget: Recommended ResourcesThe Radio Advertising BureauThe sales and marketing arm of the radio industry, the RAB has nearly 7,000 members including some 6,000 stations in the U.S.Radio LocatorThe most comprehensive radio station search engine on the Internet.Radio Ad LabAn independent organization funded by radio industry companies to further the understanding of how radio advertising works and to measure radio's effectiveness.ArbitronA media and marketing research firm serving the media -- radio, television, cable and out-of-home -- as well as advertisers and advertising agencies. Advertising - Radio broadcasting - Radio - Business - Los Angeles

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Google is working on a social networking solution to compete with Facebook, although when asked if the solution will resemble Facebook, CEO Eric Schmidt said, "The world doesn't need a copy of the same thing." They are talking with top game developers like Playfish and Zynga (the company that brought Farmville to Facebook).Google already owns Orkut, a social network that enables instant messaging and the sharing of photos and videos, just like Facebook. If you remember, I previously blogged about four guys who were taking on Facebook with their own solution, Diaspora. Will anyone ever be able to tame the Facebook beast, or are all attempts in vain?Google is big and smart and rich and Facebook is a UI nightmare, so maybe there's a way for Google to win here, but they haven't won at everything and they don't make money on everything. They still make most of their money from search ads. Lotsa luck guys! Read more of Curt's musings Google - Zynga - Facebook - Playfish - Eric Schmidt

Venture capital firm Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham sent the VC blogosphere into a tizzy this week when he tweeted:“Convertible notes have won. Every investment so far in this YC batch (and there have been a lot) has been done on a convertible note.”At issue for everyone was whether this was 1) true and 2) a good or bad thing.If you’re interested in the various opinions, I offer up these links:Fred Wilson, a well-known New York VC: Some Thoughts On Convertible DebtFoundry Group managing director Seth Levine: Has Convertible Debt Won? And If It Has, Is That a Good Thing?The Business Insider: What’s All This Noise About Convertible Debt?Those are some pretty big responses to a 25-word Twitter message. In the end, no one could really agree on who benefited from the trend. The most common answer: well, it depends.But back to Graham himself. He offered a follow-on post at his website explaining why he thinks the rise of convertible debt is a positive trend for both entrepreneurs and investors. The short answer is that it speeds up the fundraising process and is generally fairer to everyone involved.In terms of legal complexity, drawing up a convertible note is a breeze compared to equity. Therefore it's a lot cheaper. Additionally, you don’t get sucked into the debate over valuation.By far the biggest influence on investors' opinions of a startup is the opinion of other investors. There are very, very few who simply decide for themselves. Any startup founder can tell you the most common question they hear from investors is not about the founders or the product, but "who else is investing?"Since no one wants to be the first mover when it comes to investing and putting a valuation on a company, it’s easy for fundraising to grind to a halt.Graham argues that the beauty of convertible notes is you can bypass the groupthink and give different prices to different investors, rewarding those taking more risk and those likely to help you in the future. He refers to this variable pricing as “high-resolution fundraising.”(This is presumably opposed to the low-resolution process of fixed-size equity rounds where no individual investor is willing to pipe up with his or her intent to invest or valuation.)This seems a lot more equitable to Graham (pun not intended):Bolder investors will now get rewarded with lower prices. But more important, in a hits-driven business, is that they'll be able to get into the deals they want. Whereas the "who else is investing?" type of investors will not only pay higher prices, but may not be able to get into the best deals at all.And whether or you're on board with this kind of system, it doesn't much matter to Graham: “Different terms for different investors is clearly the way of the future.” Paul Graham - Venture capital - Business - Fred Wilson - Y Combinator

You've probably spent a lot of time and energy building up your business, so now it's time to locate those people who love to shout from the mountain tops how great they think you are. Why? Well eventually you'll want to reach out to these very special people, thank them and treat them extra special.At my company VerticalResponse, we create a list of advocates from different channels so that when we're ready to really motivate them even more than they already are, we can do it easily. So where do you start?Your Employees - Your employees can be the very best advocates for your business. You know who your best employees are and those who love what they do. Ask them to talk about your business on Twitter and Facebook if they'd like, and to post that they work for you on LinkedIn.Best Customers - Look to see who your best customers have been, these are probably people that have purchased from you a number of times. Then based on your criteria, create your "best customer" list.Survey Responders - If you're sending out customer satisfaction surveys, why not monitor who responds positively to your surveys? Then create your "survey advocates" list.Google Alerts - Sign up for FREE Google Alerts with your business name, your name, even you competitors name. See if there is anyone who keeps talking about your business more than a few times. Call this your "google advocates" list.4Square - If you've got a local business, monitor who becomes the Mayor of your business on 4Square. When they check in, make sure you know and you find them and give them a special discount or deal. They'll be sure to visit often and tell their friends. Call this list your "4Square Mayor" list.Twitter - Search your twitter handle on twitter.com. You will see who is talking positively about you. We use TweetDeck and set up a variety of keywords to track. Then from that easy interface we can manage our conversations with them. Make sure you RT them asking them to send you an email, include your email address. "Thanks for the RT! Email me at [email address] for a special deal!" You only have 140 characters so make sure you can fit it all and you will get their email address so you can start to build your email list of "Twitter advocates."Facebook - Create a Facebook Fan Page and monitor who is speaking up with comments and likes. Set up a "Reviews" Tab and ask your followers what they think about you. Then message them back thanking them. Ask for their email address so you can send them something (free product, discount.) For anyone who "Likes" what you write, add them as a friend on Facebook. Then message them and ask for their email address as well. Start to build your list of "Facebook advocates".Blog - Check out those who've commented on your blog. Most blog platforms enable you to see their email address. These will be your "blog advocates."Now that you've collected all of your advocates, keep this list fresh at least every month. Then be sure to reach out to them with an email marketing campaign, thank them and give them some extra special love.Are you finding your best advocates? If so, how? Please comment! Twitter - Google Alerts - Facebook - Google - LinkedIn

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:Google vs. Facebook: the employee bidding wars are on. Sure seems like a good time to be a developer at Google. According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, Google is combatting an increasing number of employee defections to Facebook by offering some astounding perks: in one recent case, Arrington writes, Google offered a developer threatening to leave for Facebook "a 15% raise on his $150,000 mid level developer salary, quadruple the stock benefits and...a $500,000 cash bonus to stay for a year." The most concerning part for Google? "He took the Facebook offer anyway," Arrington writes.Ten B-School courses not to miss. The debate over whether an MBA is of value to entrepreneurs starting a business will likely rage on forever, but for those who do choose to go back to school, Business Insider has a list of the 10 MBA courses entrepreneurs must take. Using data gathered from professors, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs, the article lists the courses that have proven valuable to entrepreneurs facing real-world business dilemmas. Among the must-take courses are the core finance classes as well as classes on feasibility analysis and new venture management.Flex your personality muscle. Last month a group of online marketing and social media trendsetters came together to share advice on how companies could increase their influence online. This week the New York Times' MP Mueller reports how the findings of the aptly-titled "Influencer Project" can help small businesses. Overwhelmingly, and somewhat surprisingly, the experts agreed that good social media skills really boil down to good communication skills. The same things people have been doing for centuries offline -- telling great stories, listening intently, being transparent -- seem to work online as well. Use social media platforms to share your stories, passion, and ideas with consumers along with the products they purchase. Consistency is key to forging relationships and resonance with your audience. For more social media tips, visit our Social Media Toolkit.When will your cell phone be your wallet? Perhaps as soon as next month. Sure, the Japanese already have tap-your-phone-to-pay technology, and call it osaifu keitai. Now it's coming to the United States. Visa is releasing an iPhone case that makes the smart phone compatible with tap-to-pay consoles. And MasterCard is using tags that stick directly to phones. But these are just temporary solutions - Nokia will include near-field communications (NFC) chips in all new smart phones next year, Fast Company reports. At that pace, NFC should be ubiquitous in the United States in three to five years.31 start-ups named world's tech pioneers. Yesterday, the World Economic Forum announced a group of 31 tech start-ups having a noteworthy impact on the world (via ReadWriteWeb). Past winners include Twitter and Kevin Surace's, an Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year, Serious Materials. Some winners this year include the location-based social network Foursquare, and the augmented reality company Layar. The winning companies and their technologies were chosen for "empowering people in all walks of society by giving them more information, more options, a bigger voice in the world around them and more control over their own health and their impact on the environment."Entrepreneurs on the campaign trail. Today's Wall Street Journal tells the story of a few companies who attribute the bulk of their growth to political campaigns. Take VictoryStore.com. The Iowa-based company, run by a former Republican party chairman, expects to nearly double its revenue this year thanks to a new product line: cardboard cutouts of political incumbents. Other businesses, like Broadnet, are replacing automated campaign phone calls with interactive broadcasts of live town hall meetings. It seems regardless of who wins the Senate and House elections in November, there are some business owners who stand to win either way.Dr. Seuss on innovation. In the Harvard Business Review, Scott Anthony writes that bedtime reading helped him visualize why a company was approaching innovation the wrong way. Remember the story of the star-bellied sneeches? Well, they thought themselves superior to the sneeches without "stars upon thars." Sylvester McMonkey McBean unveils a machine to add a star to the belly, and then one to remove stars. Eventually, no one remembers who had a special star in the first place. How can this apply to business? When structuring a company, creating an autonomous group - like a board or a review panel or a marketing group - remember to make sure it is actually autonomous, and isn't just a special label applied, like a star upon the belly of a sneech.More from Inc. magazine:Get this delivered to your inbox.Follow us on Twitter.Follow us on Tumblr.Like us on Facebook. Wall Street Journal - TechCrunch - United States - Business - Google

Thirty seconds into one of the insanely popular Twilight films (or a quick look at any Twilight poster) and you know that Taylor Lautner, a.k.a. Jacob Black and the guy whose pecs are usually on display, would win a match of muscle against a mere mortal.But by challenging Lautner to a push-up contest, the owner of a trailer company just might come out the stronger man – or at least with stronger sales.The saga began last month, when Lautner started legal proceedings against McMahon's RV of Irvine, California, after a dispute over a customized trailer.Lautner, 18, was planning to use the custom-painted, upgraded vehicle on the Pittsburgh set of his latest flick, Abduction, this summer, but was unable to relax in his new $300,000 toy, as the dealership failed to deliver it by the June 21 deadline. When McMahon's RV finally did deliver it, Lautner and his company Shark Kid Entertainment claimed it was not safe to drive. (The RV company says Lautner paid the full purchase price, accepted delivery of the RV, and did not attempt to return it. The company denies any wrongdoing.)So Lautner and his dad Dan, who negotiated the contract, sued McMahon's RV, claiming breach of contract and fraud—and that the late delivery caused him emotional distress, according to the Associated Press.Brent McMahon, the 47-year-old owner of McMahon's RV, was not cowed. The former RV salesman turned entrepreneur (he started his company in 2000, after 14 years working in the field), flexed his PR muscles, challenging the Twilight star to a push-up contest to settle their differences.McMahon – whose company website claims its "one of the only RV dealerships in the world that employs a dedicated Customer Satisfaction Department" -- said he'd hand over the damages if Lautner won, but would give the cash to charity if he lost. (Lautner's legal team had told McMahon they'd settle for $40,000, which is when McMahon suggested the push-up contest.)Asked about McMahon’s chances of beating the super-fit Lautner, McMahon’s attorney joked: "He works out regularly, but he’s a 47-year-old man. He’s no Taylor Lautner."Team Taylor, however, isn't giving him a chance. They've rejected the challenge, with lawyers insisting the move demonstrates the trailer company's "lack of professionalism.""McMahon RV's response to our client's legitimate claim further demonstrates the lack of professionalism that Mr. McMahon, his company, and his employees have exhibited from the outset, and that compelled the filing of this lawsuit in the first place," Lautner's legal team said in a statement.The team does, however, "welcome the opportunity for [McMahon] to resolve the matter by making a $40,000 donation to the charity of Mr. Lautner's choice."So far, McMahon hasn't let Lautner's refusal get in the way of (possibly) doing well by doing good – he's said he'll donate $50 to the Children's Hospital of Orange County for every motorized RV sold until December 2011. Taylor Lautner - Children's Hospital of Orange County - Jacob Black - Vince McMahon - Lawsuit

So, there's Apple's new social network for iTunes called Ping. It was just announced this week and as Steve Jobs himself described it; it's "like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes."We all know how this goes. Jobs launched it, so count on Ping to be Webster's newest verb by Friday. (As in, "let me ping you that song" or "what's the name of that new group? Can you ping it to me later?").But wasn't there already a Ping brand out there? What about the golf brand, Ping?It turns out, Apple has already cut a deal with the owner of the Ping name in golf. Ping's parent company, Karsten Manufactoring, has even put out a press release blessing Apple's new music endeavor."Like Ping, Apple carries a reputation for innovation and quality."- John Solheim, CEO of Karsten Management Apple - Steve Jobs - Facebook - Twitter - Social network

Every business owner likes to think that he or she has a commitment to quality. If that were truly the case, of course, no product would ever disappoint, and no service would result in a complaint. So how can you improve quality at your company? Here are 5 steps you can take to put you on the right path.1. Make a commitment. W. Edwards Deming, the father of the quality movement, famously laid out 14 points for management—chief among them, the notion of "constancy of purpose."Deming argued that a company's commitment to quality had to come from the top, and it had to be reinforced over and over again. Unless a business views quality as its single, non-negotiable goal, workers will inevitably feel the need to make tradeoffs and quality will slip."Constancy of purpose means that quality decisions are not situational," writes the operational expert Rebecca A. Morgan. "End of month quality is the same as beginning of month. It means that the long term benefit of the organization is not sacrificed to hit quarterly targets."So are you ready to commit? If you are, you should tell your staff—and then think about how you will handle the first conflict between your stated objective and a pressing deadline or an attractive short cut.Dig Deeper: The Power of Purpose2. Track mistakes.If you are going to commit to quality, first you must define exactly what quality is. For manufacturers, this process involves statistical quality control, the process of setting a product's specifications and then sampling a small number of units from the production line to see how closely they measure up to those specs. Standards are set and, if too much deviation occurs (or if quality appears to be trending in the wrong direction), the manufacturing process is altered. Tracking quality is admittedly more difficult in a service business, and efforts by groups such as the International Organization for Standardization (known as ISO) to create meaningful benchmarks beyond manufacturing have had mixed results. One way to gauge customer satisfaction (and, by extension, the quality of your service) is by tracking what is called a net promoter score. Devised by a Bain consultant named Fred Reichheld, a net promoter score keeps tabs on the number of customers who would recommend a business to their friends. A customer who answers 9 or 10 is seen as a promoter; a customer who answers 7 or 8 is seen as passive; and a customer who gives a company a score of 6 or lower is seen as a detractor. By subtracting the number of detractors from the number of promoters, a company arrives at its net promoter score.Dig Deeper: How to Address Quality Issues3. Invest in training.An old saw of the quality movement is that any business with a quality control department is doomed to poor performance, for it has demonstrated to every other employee that quality is not his or her chief concern. Instead, quality experts recommend that businesses train workers at all levels to look for ways to improve quality and to ameliorate problems.Training takes on several dimensions. For starters, you should set up a new-employee initiation program that trains workers to focus on quality issues from their first day on the job. Different CEOs have different perspectives on how best to do this. Ralph Stayer, the quality-obsessed CEO of Johnsonville Sausage in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconisn, believes your existing employees should be put in charge of training new employees, because only they can provide a firsthand perspective on how your company's operations work. Ari Weinzweig, founder and CEO of the Zingerman's Family of Companies in Ann Arbor, Michigan, takes a different approach: He personally leads all new-employee orientation training sessions (which last several days) because he believes an employer never has a better chance of instilling values and a sense of purpose than right after he or she has hired a new employee.Whether you hand train duties to your employees, take them on personally, or some combination of the two approaches, it's important that you provide workers with a history of the company through the lens of quality. Let them know what problems you have had in the past, how you corrected these problems, and where your company stands with respect to its quality goals today. You should also go over your definition of quality in detail, and show them how you measure quality (see the previous section.) Finally, train workers to see the connection between their actions and, more broadly, their work ethic, and the company's overall performance. By tying individual behavior to an overall system of work, and then showing where that system can, on occasion break down, you will be giving workers the information they need to be good stewards of your business.Dig Deeper: Ralph C. Stayer on How Johnsonville Sausage Embraced Quality4. Organize quality circles.Your staff members may roll their eyes at the introduction of such a dated technique, but organizing employees into quality circles can be an effective way to identify and address problems. Simply put, quality circles are groups of employees who are encouraged to assess processes and recommend improvements, all with the goal of promoting quality, efficiency, and productivity. The concept was developed by Deming in post-war Japan, and made its way to the United States in the late 1970s. At one point, half of all large corporations had adopted quality circles, but then interest in them faded.That's a shame. Quality circles, by any other name, are teams of workers who are given the authority and responsibility for making a business better. To succeed, experts say that participation in a quality circle should be voluntary; circles should draw members from all corners of a company; and the circle should set its own agenda (rather than pursuing a company owner's agenda.) Once you have invited workers to join a quality circle, provide them with adequate resources to pursue their analysis, and schedule a time in the future at which they may present their findings. It is important that you act on their recommendations, even if the group's conclusion is not necessarily one you would have drawn yourself. Remember, the purpose of the exercise is less to solve a particular problem than it is to engage workers in the process of finding and addressing concerns. Moreover, you should be tracking customer complaints or product defects on a regular basis, so if the circle's recommendations do not produce the desired result, you'll know it, and be able to act.Dig Deeper: How to Set Up Quality Circles5. Have the right attitude.Too many people turn the quest to improve quality into something oppressive. No less an authority than Deming rejected the idea that the quality management had to be dreary and involve a lot of negativity. "The prevailing system of management has crushed fun out of the workplace," Deming moaned in an interview in the 1990s. This attitude is not necessarily easy to adopt and runs afoul of some of the basic management practices we take for granted. For example, Deming was not a fan of performance reviews, as the writer John Case has explained. "[I]f your evaluations are fair, you will determine that half your workers (by definition) are below average, and you will tell them so," Case writes. "Result: half the work force is instantly discouraged and demoralized, and any sense of common purpose is undermined."Rather than pointing out inadequacy wherever it might be found, Deming believe that the job of managers was to frame the pursuit of quality as an interesting, noble, and worthwhile goal. If you are to truly improve quality at your business, whether you manufacture products, distribute goods, or perform a service for your clients, your first step (and also the hardest) is to resist the temptation to dwell on your company's flaws and instead rally your team around the cause of rooting them out.Dig Deeper: Zero-Defect Management Business - International Organization for Standardization - Quality management - W. Edwards Deming - United States

Steve Jobs just wrapped up another keynote–Chris Martin from Coldplay is playing a little send-off right now. As far as Apple announcements go, the keynote might have felt like a bit of a letdown, but there were three important reveals:1. Apple TVThe scuttlebutt: An iTunes-connected TV box–Kevin Rose guessed it would be renamed the iTV–that would run iPhone apps, thus creating an opportunity for app entrepreneurs to invade the living rooms of millions of Apple fanboys.The reality: The device is still called the Apple TV. It's cheap, it looks sweet, and there are cut rate prices for video rentals. But no app store.The upshot: A big letdown for entrepreneurs, who would have had a shot at reaching consumers in yet another place. I expect that apps will eventually come.2. New iPodsThe scuttlebutt: Apple would launch a new version of the iPod touch to keep pace with the iPhone 4.The reality: Delivered! The new touch is basically an iPhone 4 without the phone. It includes the same display and processor, plus two cameras for video calls and the ability to record videos in high definition. Plus there's a new line of the smaller iPods. Jobs called this "the strongest lineup of iPods we've ever had."The upshot: Great news for app developers, especially those making games and communications applications. During the keynote, Jobs pointed out that the iPod touch is the most popular portable game player in the world, with more than 1.5 billion entertainment apps downloaded. The improved iPod Touch should make the device even more attractive–and further broaden the market for game companies.3. WardrobeThe scuttlebutt: Black mock turtleneck, of course. The reality: Crew neck!The upshot: Bad news for high neckline holdouts. Your icon has left you. Apple - IPhone - Steve Jobs - IPod Touch - IPod

On the heels of Amazon’s new lower-cost Kindle, Sony has announced the launch of three e-readers that are slimmer and lighter than the company’s previous models, with improved touchscreen technology. All three devices have E Ink Pearl paper-like displays that are readable in direct sunlight. Here are the details on each model:The Pocket Edition has a 5-inch touchscreen and 2 GB of memory, enough to store up to 1,200 books. It comes in silver and pink. Cost: $179The Reader Touch Edition has a 6-inch touchscreen and 2 GB of memory, along with dual expansion slots for adding up to 32 GB of additional memory. You can also play MP3 files and AAC audio files on the device, which is available in black or red. Cost: $229The Reader Daily Edition, which has a 7-inch touchscreen, provides a wireless connection to Sony’s Reader Store using AT&T’s 3G network. It also has WiFi and basic Web browsing capability. Like the Touch Edition, it has 2 GB of memory with the ability to add up to 32 GB. It comes in silver. Cost: $299 Sony - E Ink - Wi-Fi - Amazon Kindle - Touchscreen

Last year, a New York Times reporter quoted 84-year-old Hugh Hefner as saying, “If I sold it (Playboy Enterprises), my life would be over.”If your workday entailed lounging around in a robe at the Playboy mansion, most guys could see why you might not want to give it up.But assuming your business is a little less—ahem—sexy, could you imagine life without it? Some psychologists have likened the sale of a business to the loss of a child in terms of its psychological impact and sense of loss for the founder. I think there are some steps you can take now to lessen the letdown.When I started Warrillow & Co., my name was literally on the door. In the beginning, I was so desperate for it to succeed that I poured all of my waking hours into the business. My hobbies and relationships started to wither from lack of attention. I rationalized my schedule, saying that once I got the business going, I could get back to “my life.”After a while, the business did get off the ground, but I never changed my work schedule. The source of my drive evolved from necessity to the adrenalin rush I got from building a successful company.It all started to come undone in 2004, when the departure of an employee made me feel personally rejected. This employee was an important part of our team and managed one of our key relationships. She was going to a great job with a big multinational firm, but I felt betrayed.The loss of this popular employee triggered the departure of a number of other workers soon afterward. I was left with a skeleton staff, a troubled business and a bruised ego.The whole experience made me realize just how much a part of my personality my business had become—and just how personally I was taking things associated with it.Eventually, I picked up the pieces and rebuilt the company. But, like a person who had been betrayed in a relationship, I became more hardened and started to look at my business as an inanimate economic engine instead of a defining aspect of who I was.Rather than continuing to give all my time to my business, I vowed to get back in touch with the people and things that were important to me.I stopped putting “life” off and started to get one. I taught myself how to windsurf again. I bought a mountain bike and competed (that’s a charitable way of describing my performance) in a three-day stage race. I started running; I bought skis and a snowboard and organized an annual trip with old friends. In short, I got back in touch with the things I like to do.Now that I am no longer working in my company day to day, I do miss the people. However, for the most part, I don’t miss the business itself because the void has been filled with other relationships, hobbies, interests and investments that I started nurturing long before selling my company. When I look back, I’m glad I had a near-death experience in my business as it forced me to nurture outside interests and investments in my life before I actually attempted to sell.As for Hef, my guess is that all of his interests can still be found at the office. John Warrillow is a writer, speaker and angel investor in a number of start-up companies. He writes a blog about building a sellable company at http://www.BuiltToSell.com/blog. You can also follow him on Twitter at @JohnWarrillow. Business - Playboy Enterprises - Hugh Hefner - New York Times - Company