NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNINGS 2009!

Happy New Year 2009!

2008 was a challenging year in many ways for many people. The year is over and done. 2009 has so much opportunity it is incredible and amazing. 

There are more opportunities to create success now than at any time in the past. Any person, with an IDEA and the drive to make it happen [plus some persistance] can do great things. 

Take the challenge, make your IDEAS come true. Bring them into reality. Take a chance. Now is all you have.

What are you going to do to #MakeItGreat ?

COMPETING ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES: ITUNES VS. RHAPSODY

Rather amusing to see an Apple Itunes RSS has an ad for Rhapsody service. 

MICHIGAN JOB CLUB

Have been bouncing this idea around for a while, now is the time to make it happen. The employment situation is challenging to say the least. Below is an outline of thoughts and ideas regarding the formation of the Michigan Job Club.

A related post from November: "MICHIGAN IS HURTING" 

If you or someone you know may be interested... post a reply to this post or find my contact information on Twitter here.

Your IDEAS and comments are appreciated.

To: YOUR NAME HERE

From: David Damore

Subject: Michigan Job Club - 5 people [or more]

Date: 12/15/2008

Creation of a job club in SE Michigan... Metro Detroit... or anywhere in the state. Michigan has the highest unemployment in the nation at 9.3% [tied with Rhode Island]. The employment situation looks to get worse in Michigan before it gets better. 

Now is the time to take action. Building skills, knowledge and developing new talents. In doing so it is important to leverage these new skills to become, what Peter Drucker would call a knowledge worker. Knowledge is the way of the future. Those with it and using it will thrive as part of the US labor force. Flexibility is key and knowledge workers will be uniquely suited to benefit from opportunities as they arise. 

Mission: Create a small organization of...

• unemployed
• recent graduates
• reentering the job force
• Career transition [Boomer, new career/direction]
• Etc...

To: Leverage knowledge creation and social communication to advance for oneself and for society.

How: Using social networks and technology to...    

• Communicate
• Share technology
• Support
• Encourage
• Inspire
• Brainstorm
• Etc...

When: Meet formally for a conference call once every 2 weeks. Day and time are open for discussion. Time that works for all members will be the time we do. Time could be from 5 am to 1 am or so. Members can meet anytime using any of technologies listed below.

Tools: Technology

• Email
• Phone
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Skype
• Other IM clients... Google Talk, AIM [AOL Instant Messenger], Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger
• Talk Shoe and BlogTalkRadio are also possibilities.
• Google Docs
• Microsoft Office
• EtherPad "EtherPad is a web-based collaborative real-time editor, allowing up to eight people to edit a text document at the same time" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etherpad

BETA OF STOCKS VIA BUSINESS WEEK

Came across an interesting article on the Business Week website.  It provides a simple and clear explanation of stock beta numbers. This is college Finance 101. 

Key Point: The sooner you learn and understand this and other finance and economics related topics, the better off you will be.

Stock Screen: Low-Beta Beauties

S&P's latest list finds top-ranked stocks that tend to be less volatile than the broader market. Among them: Genentech, PepsiCo, and Wal-Mart

By Beth Piskora


The risk metric known as beta can be a useful investment criterion during these times of market volatility.

An issue with a beta of 1.5, for example, tends to move 50% more than the total market in the same direction. An issue with a beta of 0.5 tends to move 50% less. If a stock or stock fund moved exactly as the market moved, it would have a beta of 1.0. Thus, high beta is typical of a volatile stock, while a low beta is typical of a stock that moves less than the market as a whole. A stock with a negative beta moves in the direction opposite to that of the market. With a beta of -1.0, a stock has the same volatility as the market, but tends to rise when the market falls, and vice versa.

What are your thoughts?

EPRIZE LAYOFF AND MICHIGAN ECONOMY

Detroit News: "20 jobs cut by Internet's ePrize"
11/11/2008

"The company, which has 350 employees, has seen its sales increase 30 percent over the past year, Linkner said, but he hopes the cuts will fend off problems so the company can remain competitive."

• Sales are increasing 30% and you have too much talent?
• How did so many extra people get hired?
• What new technology has increased firm productivity enough to cope with such rapid growth and make the current labor force redundant?

"Many of ePrize's clients -- from the automakers to financial services companies to retailers -- are seeing profits dwindle or disappear, leaving fewer dollars to invest in advertising."

• The firms that hire ePrize are cutting spending?
• How is the firm growing at 30% in the throws of a recession?
• Fewer dollars for advertising and promotions?

"The laid-off workers received a severance package, though the company wouldn't disclose details. There are no plans for more layoffs, Linkner said."

• Severance packages are good for the people let go. These are smart and talented folks.
• No firm ever plans for more layoffs down the road. Cut once and cut deep. It seems that ePrize had a major RIF [Reduction in Force] last Summer.
• Two rounds of job cuts in less than one year is a signal of concern

There are no easy answers

In the past several weeks there was elevated traffic for search terms such as "eprize layoff". The increase was so dramatic, it indicated that the word on the street was that something was happening. Sure enough, the Detroit News reported ePrize layoffs in today's online edition.

Michigan Economic Conditions

Michigan is facing some very turbulent economic conditions. In October the Michigan unemployment rate was reported as 9.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, tied with Rhode Island for worst in the nation. The automotive sector, which makes up a large segment of the Michigan economy is likely to continue deteriorating.

Your constructive comments and criticisms are welcome

What say you?

BIG RESULTS

BIG Results are from thinking BIG then creating an effective strategy and executing it.about 15 hours ago from web

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David Damore

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BUSINESS BLOGS: THINKING AND ANALYSIS

Management, Marketing and Leadership

Currently there are 188 feeds in Google Reader. The ones listed below are very good to excellent resources. 

Check them out for yourself. They may challenge your thinking. If they do, you will have to sharpen your analysis; in the process your position will either change or become better defended as you find better information.

Carpe Diem

The Big Picture

The Tom Peters Weblog

Blog Maverick

Seth Godin

Guy Kawasaki

...

What business blogs do you read, share and use as a resource?

likemind detroit

Friday December 5, 2008 @ 9am

likemind detroit will be meeting up at Mercury Coffee Bar. This is in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, just down the road from old Tiger Stadium.


View Larger Map

2163 Michigan Ave
Detroit, MI 48216

(313) 496-4000‎


All other likemind locations can be found at http://likemind.us/.

This is the first likemind at MCB. Should be interesting as it looks like they just opened for business a month or so back.

As usual, the hosts for this event are Nev and Eric. It will be good to see them both, as it seems the last likemind was back in October.