Search Plus, Plus, Plus: New Search Engine Combines Several Successful Features into One Offering

So, of course, "Google" has become to web search what "Kleenex" is to tissue. However, that certainly doesn't stop Microsoft and Yahoo from vying for market share and other start-ups from challenging the search status quo.

We recently learned of new search engine that offers a bit of an interesting twist by working to incorporate feedback from users into the search results. Scour.com compiles top search results from google, yahoo, and MSN (you can also sort your results by search engine should you choose), but also allows you “vote up” or “vote down” results based on their relevance, thus letting you, the user, ultimately have an impact on the search algorithm. (Google lets you “promote” results as well.)

If you want to go one step beyond “voting” you can also leave comments on sites or search results for others to see. Other advanced Scour features include a reward program where you accrue points for each search you make that can be cashed in for Visa gift cards, and a social networking component that lets you connect with other users.

* So, what do you think of all the bells and whistles that Scour has to offer?

* Which (voting, commenting, connecting, rewarding) are important to you?

* Could you reprogram yourself to use something other than google?

* What if you could get a $50 Visa gift card for doing nothing more than using a different search site?

To-Don’t List: Why focusing on the things you shouldn’t be doing actually helps you focus on the things you should

So, anyone who knows me, knows that I am a big list maker and a good “to-do-er”. (Case in point: I have been packed for two weeks for a vacation that doesn’t start for another 12 days.)

One of the best parts of my day is my morning coffee date with my to-do list. Going over the things that I want to prioritize for the day is a good practice and something that helps me stay on task…most of the time. However sometimes, despite my best laid plans, I still fall prey to predictable distractions and procrastination.

Often times it is things that I need or want to do anyway, but it isn’t the best use of my time to do them at that point. For example, (need) work on a project plan that isn’t due for 3 weeks or (want) peruse the Decor8 and OhJoy blogs (and don’t even get my started on Etsy). None of these things are bad, but they do compromise my worklife fit because three hours later I will still have just as much to do to be ready for the next day.

A recent post by Peter Bregman, made me think differently about how to stay on track.

Peter’s post talks about the overwhelming pace of our current world and long list of tasks and expectations that most of us face. He encourages that people should make two lists:
1. One with the things that are important to them, that they want to make time for.
2. And another for the distractions, the things that you don’t want to achieve, are not important to do, and that generally get in the way.

Of course, it seems that his point is much larger than the 30 minutes misallocated to Decor8, and is more about the importance of Saying NO in general, but I actually found the same principle to be helpful. At first it seemed a little counterintuitive…won’t writing the things that I don’t want to do out just make me think about them? But in actuality, of course, it makes sense that if I explicitly commit to not doing something (versus not really thinking about it at all) it is much more likely that I won’t do it.

So, starting today I wrote two lists -
My To-Do List: Things that I am going to do today.

And, My To-Don’t List: This included 1. things that I am going to do, but not today. 2. Things that waste my time and that I should try very hard to avoid.

So far, it has worked really well! I knew what activities were “off the table” and was able to stay clearly focused on the things I had identified as important...maybe ill begin to like my date with my to-don’t list more than my date with my to-do list.

posted by Adelaide

By Any Means Necessary: Extreme Goal Setting

Accountability and motivation are two things that many entrepreneurs struggle to maintain.

In the past we have seen a few offerings that are aimed at helping people to work towards a certain goal. Often the services are essentially "virtual tracking systems" or "reminder systems" that include goal setting, virtual reminders, groups of supporters, and financial incentives.

More recently however, we learned about StickK which seems to not only combines many of the features of other systems but also allows you to choose "the stakes" (either financial or reputation incentives).

StickK was built by Yale University economists who tested the effectiveness of Commitment Contracts through extensive field research, which demonstrated that people who put stakes - either their money or their reputation - on the table are far more likely to actually achieve a goal they set for themselves.

(Hummm, putting reputation and money on the line in order to achieve success....sounds like entreprenuership, right?)

Another interesting feature is that if you DO put money on the line, you can choose who gets it if you fail. It could be a person (friend or foe), a charity or even an anti-charity, if you find that to be more motivating.

What's an anti-charity? Good question! According to StickK, an anti-charity is any organization that you strongly oppose (they offer NARAL, NRA, Bush Library, Clinton Library, Freedom to Marry). You choose the specific charity that you theoretically REALLY don't want to support.

Yet another interesting feature is that if you do choose the (real) "charity" option, StickK wont tell you which one gets your money should you fail to meet your goal because they don't want you to feel better about having done so.

Seems like they have us all figured out!

WHAT STAKES WOULD BE MOST MOTIVATING FOR YOU?

All in Favor? Get Feedback on Business Ideas & Names!

Feedback can be a double edged sword - sometimes helpful, often not what you want to hear, and almost always unreliable, mostly because we ask people that we know and who are famously or predictably biased.

It would be nice to shop your ideas for once with those who don't have a stake in the outcome! Well, we have been really intrigued recently with several sites where people can do just that - get feedback on their business ideas, innovations, and even names from a larger unbiased community.

Love My Idea is an online community portal where ideas can be heard, loved, nourished and encouraged. Aside from idea rating, people use the LoveMyIdea community to search for partners and investors.

Why Not? Is an online idea exchange where community members can rate ideas on a scale of very weak to very strong. It is managed by book authors, Ian Ayers and Barry Nalebuff. Their book: "Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small" helps readers with creative problem solving and adapting innovative thinking.

If online posting is not your thing, you can take your query to the people with BlobLive from IdeaBlob. IdeaBlob hosts open mic nights where entrepreneurs and creative thinkers can pitch and receive feedback on their ideas.

Taking an "American Idol" type approach, Name This, allows people to solict, offer, or vote on names for a nacent idea or business. The solicitors pay a fee; voters and creators get rewarded. Within 48 hours you receive "three world-validated names for your thingamajig".

And of course, if you happen to be looking for a more intimate experience you can always try the IGC Open Mic Lunches or the GROW it! class!

Find more Idea Related websites here

Have you used these sites or ones like them?

What was your experience?

Entrepreneurship: Meaningful work for your mind, body, & soul

I would describe myself as an entrepreneur who has created meaningful work that allows me to think creatively and affords me the luxury of utilizing skills and talents that are natural, enjoyable, and at most times do not feel like work.

As I read Matthew B. Crawford’s “The Case For Working With Your Hands” in The New York Times Magazine, I felt that he was articulating a daily experience that many satisfied entrepreneurs could relate to. (I also think this article should be required reading for all career seekers.)

His experience details his path - for all intents and purposes – towards entrepreneurship. As I read his story, I felt he was describing an experience that so many of the dynamic women in the In Good Company community have expressed themselves.

For example, he writes that:

“A good job requires a field of action where you can put your best capacities to work and see an effect in the world.”

Many of the women in our community started their businesses with this very desire in mind. They wanted to do what they did best. And not only that, they believed that they could also have a direct impact on their own life (in terms of how much they work, or what they choose to pursue, or how they balance all the other aspects of their life) while simultaneously having a direct impact on those who they work with or the creations that they make. For many women, this is not always about making the most money but rather engaging in work that is meaningful, impactful and, is on their own terms.

We created In Good Company because we found that while on their entrepreneurial journey many women experienced road bumps when it came to “running the business side of things”. The new territory of entrepreneurship and the steep learning curve that comes with it made them crave a connection to a community of women in the same boat. Crawford also speaks a community that he tapped into for resources, information and support and the important role that that community played. Sound familiar?

Crawford’s entire commentary on the state of work in our society is poignant and thought provoking, so please don’t short change yourself by not reading it, but I will share this excerpt with you in order to spark your thinking.

"There is good reason to suppose that responsibility has to be installed in the foundation of your mental equipment — at the level of perception and habit. There is an ethic of paying attention that develops in the trades through hard experience. It inflects your perception of the world and your habitual responses to it. This is due to the immediate feedback you get from material objects and to the fact that the work is typically situated in face-to-face interactions between tradesman and customer.

An economy that is more entrepreneurial, less managerial, would be less subject to the kind of distortions that occur when corporate managers’ compensation is tied to the short-term profit of distant shareholders. For most entrepreneurs, profit is at once a more capacious and a more concrete thing than this. It is a calculation in which the intrinsic satisfactions of work count — not least, the exercise of your own powers of reason.

Ultimately it is enlightened self-interest, then, not a harangue about humility or public-spiritedness, that will compel us to take a fresh look at the trades. The good life comes in a variety of forms. This variety has become difficult to see; our field of aspiration has narrowed into certain channels. But the current perplexity in the economy seems to be softening our gaze. Our peripheral vision is perhaps recovering, allowing us to consider the full range of lives worth choosing. For anyone who feels ill suited by disposition to spend his days sitting in an office, the question of what a good job looks like is now wide open."

posted by Amy

image courtesy of henatayab

Re-Branding the US: In Honor of Memorial Day

Last month the editors of Paper invited 15 designers to "re-brand America" and re-define our country's image. The submissions are fascinating!! Since our country is particularly on our mind today, we thought we would share a few with you...see more here.

People like to help – know your KEYWORDS

In my experience, people like to help others (ok, not everyone, but most people do). Even if they are not “connectors” by nature, when asked a lot of people will make their best effort to help. Perhaps it makes them feel good, hopefully they recognize all the help they have received along their professional journey and feel obliged to pay it forward, perhaps they believe in Karma - whatever the reason, most people really are motivated to help in most matters!

But there is a catch – you need to be very clear about making it known how people can help you or what you need from them.

If you are trying to develop new business and you are taking partners and colleagues out to coffee to connect, be clear about what type of business you are looking for specifically. Often people tell others what they are good at, describe their product or service and assume that their needs / target market is self explanatory. I can assure you they are not! We are so inundated with information that it is hard to remember lots of details – keywords are the way to go.

When I meet someone new and they ask about my business, I want them to walk away knowing that I CONSULT to WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS and I have a WORKSPACE. If they can remember that – I am golden. What are your Keywords?

posted by Amy

Make Your Offering Less Painful

Recently our friend, Jessica Shambora, profiled a company called American Well in a Fortune article entitled “Paging Doctor Broadband”. American Well offers online health care by connecting individuals with doctors via the web with no appointment necessary. The service allows Doctors to practice anywhere and patients to receive treatment and consults anywhere and at anytime. Members pay be the minute while non-members pay a flat-rate session fee. American Well is also partnering with many insurance companies and health records management systems to make sure the experience is integrated and streamlined.

We saw this as another example of companies trying to find interesting ways to make health care less painful.

We have written about a similar though smaller scale company before, Hello Health, based in Williamsburg, Bk. Distinctions include the addition of an in-person practice but virtual management of the appointment process. Hello Health also is designed for those that are uninsured and offers flat-rate services that are akin to consultant or therapist fees.

Another company that has sought to reduce the frustration of finding and making doctor’s appointments is ZocDoc, which allows you to search multiple criteria to search across multiple doctors to find available appointment times that meet your needs. (note: ZocDoc is only in NY for now).

Similarly…
InQuikER, (recently profiled by SpringWise) allows you to reserve a place “in line” at the ER so that you can avoid waiting in the waiting room (note: only available in a few test markets).
The Carrot allows you to intuitively track health related information (diet, medicines, symptoms, etc.).

And this just barely scratches the surface!
While this speaks volumes about the future of health care (cool, can’t wait) it also offers lots of ideas that can be adopted by other service businesses.
* For example, could you offer virtual services on an as-needed basis? Hannah Clark Steiman recently posted about New Box Thinking, a PR help Desk for small business owners, that does!
* What are the painful parts about your industry or offering?

* What can you do to change them?

When the Driveway Doesn’t Quite Reach the Road: Marketing to Women

As a business that is not only itself designed and marketed towards women, but that also works closely with more than 200 women-owned businesses we see a lot of gendered marketing and offerings. In most cases even if these small business’ offerings don’t suit your particular taste or need, they still have a ring of authenticity to them.

Here are just three examples that tasteful, authentic, and are clearly intended to have a feminine appeal.
Just Say Jodi
Inner Rewards
Down to Earth Finance

These stand in direct contrast to the recent launch of two “for women” offerings by both Mars and Dell.

Mars is testing the “Fling”, their first new candy bar in 20 years. The candy bar is 85 calories and resembles a slimmed-down twix. Criticism has come over the fact that the packaging refers to the candy bar as “chocolate fingers” (apparently an industry term) and is stamped with the slogan “Pleasure Yourself”. Oh, and the candy bar actually sparkles. (More at NPR)

Dell recently launched a site focused on marketing their Netbooks towards the female consumer. The site is called “Della”. Della has 4 main navigation choices: Products (their standard laptops pictured in pink and red accompanied by watered-down tech language); Featured Artist (the connection seems unclear but profiles Robyn Moreno and features a video of her vintage shopping); Tech Tips (5 simplified “benefits” of having a Netbook – track your exercise regime, plan a vacation); and Giving (how to donate your old laptop). And of course the site is puncuated by "Shop Now" or "Buy Here" links.

Much of the critique on these two initiatives centers the campaigns seeming forced and overdone. At the very best folks have been saying that these products missed the boat on what is important to women consumers and at the very worst folks have been citing these products as prime examples of sexism.
Many of these comments can be found right on the Della site, or on the NPR site with regard to the Fling (interestingly aside from the overall calorie count, Mars didn't seem to pay attention to the health beenfits of the Fling as it has hydrogenated oils in it!).

Makes you wonder about the decision making process around these branding efforts, right? The idea to target women consumers is a good one, but obviously one that can be horrendously executed. I wonder in a market saturated with great examples of marketing done well, why these two campaigns have seemed to miss the mark so greatly. Certainly Luna Bar managed to market a food bar to women without insulting women in the process, and HP recently repositioned their netbook as an accessory by partnering with Vivienne Tam without mitigating women’s technological capacity and prowess.

You can see the “research elements” that each tried to capitalize on…sleeker, softer look for Della, the link between chocolate and passion for the Fling. Giving the benefit of the doubt, it seems that these companies just got a bit derailed in the “translation” process.

In my opinion part of the reason that these initiatives fall flat is that they seem to be a discordant patchwork of consumer insights with no real substance or mission or purpose backing it up. The result is a hollow candy shell of an idea that is empty inside. Unless of course, this is how these brands see us women, and then in that case it may not be a problem of execution but rather one of perception.

Posted by Adelaide

Quality vs.Quantity & the Myth of Multi-tasking

After a harried day at work (one where I had a zillion things on my to do list, I had piled on a slew of sales meetings and was all the while trying to stay on top of my email), I realized that while I had gone though a full day of activity I could not recall the details of any task accomplished!
I felt totally exhausted, and I also realized that in essence, I had wasted a full day of work and created more work for myself. I could not decipher any information or details from the conversations I had during the day and I had to double check my sent email folder to see reread my communication.

So I asked myself, does multi-tasking work for me? Not really. I was trying to accomplish SO much but had really accomplished very little. It made me think that quality is really more important than quantity. It is something that perhaps we all know, but often seem to forget.

What is the real cost of my multi-tasking? What did I lose by aiming for quantity accomplishments versus quality accomplishments? Since I was essentially not being present during my sales meetings, the likely hood that I would close the deal was pretty slim. By re-reviewing my sent email, I was wasting time and seriously doing 2x as much work.

This wake up call was a good one for me. I know that most of us have too much to do but perhaps if we focus on being present and tackling only what can reasonably be done within one day then we will actually have a shot at getting “the real work” accomplished.

posted by Amy

photo courtesy of help i need help