Briz.com
- Briz.com
Briz is about the empowerment of small business. We are driven to provide small businesses with the tools to succeed online. Briz enables small business owners with free tools and resources to connect to their entire business community, from customers to suppliers. Briz features communication tools and publication tools, allowing small businesses to stay in direct contact with their consumers and allowing them to generate more business within their local geographic and demographic networks.
July 03, 2008
July 01, 2008
June 25, 2008
Need some reading material for the summer?
Check out some great business best sellers:
1. The One Minute Entrepreneur
2. The 4-Hour Workweek
3. Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About
4. Harmonic Wealth
5. The Total Money Makeover
6. Now, Discover our Strengths
7. The New Paradigm For Financial Markets
8. Sales Bible
9. Bad Money
10. The Black Swan
11. Our Iceberg Is Melting
12. Women & Money
13. Predictably Irrational
14. Go Put Your Strengths To Work
15. What Got You Here Won't Get You There
June 23, 2008
Finding the right bank for your business needs
You have a lot of choices when it comes to selecting a bank for your small business. With 23 million small businesses (20 employees or less) in the US, many banks are capitalizing on this growing customer segment by offering more small business services. But you want to make sure you find a bank that suits your needs. What might work for one small business doesn't necessarily mean it will work for yours. The key is to identify just what your small business needs are and to find a bank that fits. (read more)
June 18, 2008
The Area Code Scam
Don't Ever Dial Area Code 809
The Scam:
They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you what won a wonderful prize, etc.
In each case, you are told to call the 809 area right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.
If you call from the U.S., you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute.
Most likely you will get a long recorded message. Point of the story is they try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.
Why it Works:
The 809 area code is in fact located in the British Virgin Island (The Bahamas). Therefore, making the charges afterwards a real nightmare because you actually made the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You will end up dealing with a foreign company in which they will argue that they have nothing wrong.
Tell friends and family about the 809 area code scam.
June 17, 2008
Emergency Meets Technology
Mobile Tech to saves lives... worth checking out: http://www.icesaves.com/
June 16, 2008
Stop That Thief
Losses from theft and fraud can sink a small business. According to the National Retail Security Survey, losses from theft, fraud, and error reached a new high of $40.5 billion in 2006. But perhaps the most surprising results from the survey is that about half or $19 billion is from employee theft. Although it is impossible to completely stop the current problem new technologies have made it possible to control theft and fraud. (read more)
June 12, 2008
Questions About Your Business???
Get Them Answered
Check Out Some Helpful Resources For Your Business:
June 10, 2008
How Names Came To Be?
The Detailed Stories Behind Some Well-Known Names
Apple
One day, when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were working on the startup of their new little computer company, Jobs told his staff (apparently in some frustration), "If you don't come up with a name by 5 o'clock I am calling it Apple".
Of such stories legends are made, you might argue. But wait. This is the most expensive name in Silicon Valley history. Turns out there was another Apple out there.....like in Apple records owned by The Beatles of mega pop star fame. No problem, Apple computers agreed to only use the name for computers, and not music or anything related to it. So one day, they announce the first Macintosh computer, and it has all these cool music and sound capabilities. And Apple records sue them to stop using the name. But of course, now they have big bucks and big lawyers so they fight this case all the way to the High Court in Britain. And lose - to the tune of $43 million! But now they are a big company with serious PR professionals and so their Annual report that year reflected the fact this was actually a financial win for their team as they were expecting to pay $55million or some such amount. Besides which, they would claim this amount back from their insurance firm so shareholders should not worry about the cost and at least now they had clearly established rights to the name. Fast forward to 2001, when their insurance company fights back. Now Apple has to not only pay The Beatles, but they have to pay all the legal costs of their insurance company's lawyers, because they lost again. And they still don't have exclusive rights to the name! Motto: Professional naming checking in advance can literally save you a fortune. But there was a slight problem when they announced the product. SyNET, a small software company in the Midwest called their lawyers and said, "Hey, we came up with that name. And look, here is our product and we used it in shipping code for a product to surf databases and the worldwide web." Being small, and short of money to pay lawyers, they were at first ignored by Microsoft. But slowly they collected evidence to prove how they had used the name and applied for its trademark. Eventually, (by which time they were even operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy) Microsoft was proven to have infringed on their name, and quietly settled for a reputed $5.4million. Simple name. Simple process. Simply amazing price! Today, the Registered trademark for the words Internet Explorer are still owned by SyNET Corporation, though it has been assigned to someone else (guess who). Microsoft, on the other hand, has a trademark on the logo as shown here, when used with the words Microsoft Internet Explorer. Motto: While big company, many lawyers, bullying tactics are often used in trademark cases, the bully doesn't always win! Stand up and fight for your rights. Want to read more stories? Check it out at: http://www.brighternaming.com/Internet Explorer
How much work Microsoft put into coming up with the name Internet Explorer, we do not know, though we suspect it wasn't much. An obvious name for an obvious product position. It's done every day in every creative business. A quick check to see that no one else is using that word, then off to the graphics department to get a logo and on with the coding.
