How to instantly author your own e-book for just a few bucks
“Now Gary, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Or the medium way. Or the semi-medium-easy-hard way. Or the sort of hard with a touch of awkward-easy-difficult-challenging way.” – SpongeBob SquarePants In this quote, good old SpongeBob covers pretty much all the ways small business owners accomplish things. However, if […]
read moreAin’t No Mountain High Enough!
Ain’t no mountain high enough. Ain’t no valley low enough. Ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from getting to you, baby. You may remember this song popularized by Marvin Gaye in 1967. For some reason the lyrics keep running through my head -- not about my husband (although I do love him), but rather about my business. And not just my business, but every successful small business out there. I realize the song is about personal relationships, but aren’t our relationships with our business just as strong? When you launch a business, it’s personal. In the early days, you are the business. You nurture it, you do your best to protect it and you struggle to help it grow. The lines between your personal and business life are completely blurred. The business occupies your heart and mind constantly. Your business is a part of...
read moreHow to avoid this big company’s customer service fiasco
“I bought an HP all-in-one printer through Amazon the other day and encountered a problem when I set it up. During setup, the small touchscreen on the front of the printer – which is called the control center – stopped working. “It froze at one point. I uplugged and replugged in the printer and the […]
read moreThis week in small business: The stock market correction, beaucoup productivity hacks, and many marketing tips
It’s easy to talk about a drop in the equities market today, but Tim Duy was discussing it back in mid January. Check out the link at the bottom of today’s collection of curated content. On the way there, you’ll find some excellent advice on mistakes to avoid and productivity habits to adopt. Leadership, management, […]
read moreYouTube imposes strict new rules that prevent 1,000s from earning $$$
What do you think of this headline from the YouTube Creator Blog: Additional Changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) to Better Protect Creators YouTube wants to do a better job protecting creators! Good news, right? Wrong. YouTube is cutting off the small guys from its monetization program. It supposedly wants to protect creators from “bad actors” who harm “inspiring and original creators who make their living on YouTube.” Cutting off monetization won’t stop bad actors. Frankly, the bad guys on the Internet seem to continue their evil deeds just because they can, even if there isn’t money in the proposition. In any case, YouTube is implementing stringent new requirements if you want to monetize your videos with AdSense ads: You need to have at least 4,000 hours of watchtime over the previous 12 months, and You need to have at least 1,000 subscribers to your channel. This is going to cut off thousands of small vloggers and hobbyists who have been picking up some extra money via their YouTube channels. YouTube promises that as soon as users meet both of those thresholds, they will be eligible for monetization if they are complying with YouTube policies. It looks to me like YouTube is turning its back on the small creators that made the platform such a success in favor of a handful of “professional” YouTube creators. It is certainly their right to manage their business as they deem best, but there’s a lot of wisdom in the adage, Dance with the girl that brung ya. The unintended consequence of YouTube’s move will be to create an opening for a competitor willing to allow monetization for smaller video creators. YouTube’s policy will certainly send new creators who aspire to make money online to different video platforms. Further, YouTube’s policy seems to fly in the face of the huge movement toward microinfluencers. Content providers can use sites like Twitch and Instagram that have monetization programs without the draconian rules YouTube seems intent on imposing on its creators. If you search my site, you’ll find a few older posts on ways you can use YouTube to earn money. I guess I’ll have to go back to those pretty soon and add the label “Never mind…” to them. YouTube says the new policy goes into effect on Feb. 20, 2018. Let’s hope it comes to its senses soon and eases restrictions. Otherwise, it may be taking the “you” out of YouTube....
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