Business, Marketing, and New Technology
Business
Make Money with Photo Booth Rental
Mar 22nd
Entrepreneurship runs in my blood. I’ve considered having my own hot dog stand. It seems like such a good idea. Hot dogs are easy to make. The add-ons are standard, and no one expects gourmet food. Just set it up at a street corner, or a park, or a civic fair of some kind, and rake in the money.
Even easier is having a vending machine business of some sort. At least in theory. I know a bit about this, as I’ve tried it. At first, you are thinking that the vending machine does all the work. It just sits there, 24/7, and people come and put money in it. Then all you have to do is go around and collect the money. Well, the catch is, you have to put stuff IN the vending machines. That’s the rub. If you have enough machines to make much money, you’ll find yourself spending all your time driving from one place to another all day long just reloading the machines. My mistake was to put chocolate in the machines, and since I was in the car for hours delivering chocolate, it would melt. So, now you’re dealing with finding some method of keeping the goods cool, while you travel. In the end, it just was not worth it to me. It was just a hassle. Who starts a business expecting to have MORE work and less money? Scratch that one.
Now, here’s a small business with real potential, and I bet you’ve never thought of it: photo booth rental. You know those photo booths at the beach? Where you and 3 other kids crowded into the booth and made funny faces? Well, those booths are portable now. People will rent them for personal occasions like graduation parties, weddings, reunions and birthday parties. You can get one, and rent it out!
This is even better than a hot dog stand because you don’t have to man it.
It’s better than a vending machine because you don’t have to stock it. (well, just a little)
Just roll it in, and roll it out!
Way cool!
Working From Home
Mar 14th
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be able to work from home. I guess I am a hopeless entrepreneur. I don’t like being told when to be somewhere, or that I have to sit in a certain place, for a certain amount of time. I resist with all my strength when someone trys to tell me when I can answer the call of Mother Nature, and when I cannot.
Perhaps it is in my blood. Great grandfathers on both sides of my family had their own businesses. My grandmother ran her own business, (she had a group of hair salons) both grandfathers ran their own businesses, (one was a carpenter, and the other was a Doctor) and my father had his own business (as a Doctor also). It might not be in me to do anything else. Anyway, needless to say, I have had a life goal of making sure that the 9-5 life was not mine. So I’ve spent quite a lot of time online and off, searching out ways to make a go of it on my own.
I have several businees started, and chugging along, but I’m interested I finding out what you guys are doing. Have you found any fairly simple, yet effective, ways to make income in unusual ways? How’s that working for you?
Musical Instruments Made Totally From Ice
Mar 8th
The worlds first and only ice musician plays concerts inside frozen waterfalls, on glaciers, and inside domes of frozen ice. He has to have it cold, because all his instruments are made of ice.
Terje Isungset, from Norway, has been playing the ice, shaped into various instruments, for over 10 years. He is the founder of the annual Ice Music Festival held in Geilo every winter.
Check out this amazing video, and hear what the ice sounds like. More >
Does Your Doctor Wear White?
Mar 5th
Have you ever noticed how the medical profession has become just little less intimidating? It used to be that Dr. offices were so sterile and cold, and now, they’re so much nicer, with plants, and bright colors, and the nurses wearing colorful scrubs that come in happy patterns, and coordinating colors, and all kinds of wild designs for the scrub hats. I’m really glad, too, because all that white wasn’t nearly as much fun as the warm, welcoming colors that nurses wear nowadays.
My dad was a doctor, and I was used to seeing him in his lab coat, and of course, it was always white. (I still have a couple of his lab coats in the closet.) As far as I know, doctors are still holding onto this vestige of authority. I’ve never seen a doctor anywhere in anything but white, even though you can get all manner of scrubs uniforms in just about any design you’d like. Well, go figure.
I’m not a nurse, myself, (nor a doctor, either) but I have discovered that scrubs are good for more than just offices. A nice pair of white scrub pants are great for the summer; they are comfortable, and durable, and so easy to keep clean.
Project Managers Need to Be Innovative as Well as Efficient
Feb 28th
Most project managers are going at full speed, with their hair on fire. It seems like there is too much to get done, and too little time. However, it’s just when you think you don’t have time, that taking a breather could be the most efficient thing to do.
You have systems already in place, and processes that have been used successfully time and time again. But, times always change, and technology moves on. Just because something was done a certain way in the past does not mean that it must be done that way forever. IT managers can pretty much depend on the fact that there is always a better was, if for no other reason than that something new has just been invented.
So, taking some time out to sit and review a process, to see it from a different perspective, just might reveal a new, or slightly different tack that will make the outcome better, faster, or easier for all concerned. Taking time at the beginning of a project to pause and think innovatively might make a difference in time, resources, and the quality of the finished project. Moving forward sometimes takes a little creative thinking.
Here’s a suggestion: When you are beginning a project that is familiar, something you’ve done before and think you have the perfect tools for, stop. Take some quiet time to think and look at the challenge from as many different angles as you can. Try to see it through new eyes with new perspective. Is there some way you could do things differently, upgrade, or include new innovations? Taking this time requires discipline, as project managers are always busy. But doing so just might make a positive difference in the final outcome.
Working With HP Photosmart C4200 Ink Cartridge Issues
Jan 24th
I have the HP Photosmart 7350 and it has worked flawlessly ever since I got it. However, some of my friends, who have the HP Photosmart C4200 and C4300 series printers have been getting error messages like “incompatible cartridges” or ‘missing cartridges”. So I was very happy to find this YouTube video which shows a work-around for the problem.
If, for some reason you cannot see the video, these steps might help your printer to print again.
1- Press both the “Power” button, and the “Cancel” buttons at the same time.
2- Watch the screen; it should tell you to enter a particular combo key. Then press first the blue button, then press the green one, then the grey button.
3- Then press the grey button until you see the “information Menu”.
4- Press the green button to Accept.
5- Press the grey “down” button again until you see “Checksum for relock data input”.
6- Then press the green button for ok.
7- You should now be seeing a number on the screen. Just back out of everything by pressing the cancel button 3 times.
Hope this helps! Here’s a video for extra explanation.