Create New Markets

This story from Crain's Detroit Business shows how companies find other ways to succeed during difficult times. If your company provides a service and the economy forces a rate cut, what do you do? Reliance One doubled its sales in 2007 and expects to up them by 56 percent this year.

Small businesses don't always have the luxury or resources to build a strong sales team that can outrun competitors. They don't have the resources to treat prospects to sporting events and fancy dinners. But they can get customers to say, "Yes." The Wall Street Journal writes about three small businesses that succeeded in getting to yes.

With rising gas and grocery costs among other issues affecting homeowners, many now manage their own lawns and gardens instead of using landscaping businesses to save money.

Two businesses felt the pain of the economic downturn, but didn't let that stop them from finding ways around it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that over 200 nursing schools plan to add doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) programs that prepare graduates for a role similar to those of primary care physicians.

Such a program runs for two years with one year of it spent in a residency. These programs aim to train students "to have more focus than doctors on coordinating care among many specialists and health-care settings."

It looks like, sooner or later, everybody has a blog (although not everybody that has one actually has something interesting to say). So after some research, I decided to jump on the band wagon.

Why? Why do it when there are - according to Technorati - about 40,000 new blogs every single day?!

What could I add to that (...cannot call it 'conversation'...we should call it... pandemonium)?

So here are some ground rules that I thought would make this blog interesting for you: