websense

Because of the nature of my business, most of the people who work with me are of the “millenial” generation. People born in the 80’s to early 90’s. These kids folks have grown up on the web, they know their way around a computer, and are largely to blame responsible for the huge growth in social media (but not Twitter, nope, that was totally all of us old fogies in our 30’s and ahem, 40’s).
Millenials are the go-to people for most of the work we do for our clients. They knew how to design a web site long before there were degrees offered in colleges. They grew up designing games and discussing them in chat rooms. These people created the Web. Maybe not in the technical sense, but they made it what it is today.
Millenials have different expectations in the workplace. I’ve spoken about this a few times, as it seems like a hard concept for people from past generations to understand. They expect flexibilty, interesting work, casual dress, and fun on the job. TKG has been lucky to find success in providing most of these things.
I came across an interesting article on harnessing the potential of Millenials, and managing them, that I thought was pretty on target, and kind of funny, as you read it, you can just see the helicopter parents circling above. Check it out, it’ll give you a little insight to this very interesting generation, and some advice for dealing with their differing demands preferences as opposed to prior generations.
For even more information:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/millenials.htm

I know this is a professional blog, and I’ll do my best to keep it under control, but I am mad. I am so angry. Our representative form of government (Dance, Boccieri, dance to Pelosi’s tune while you still can!) was shot all to hell today, and there are actually people celebrating. We called, we were polled, we protested, we made our voices heard, and hear us, they did. But they didn’t care. They were going to do what they wanted, no matter what the American people thought. Health care reform has been on the liberal agenda for a couple of decades now. Two words, TORT REFORM! Would’ve changed the landscape of healthcare today if it had been passed years ago, but now we’re in deep.

There are so many things wrong with this health care bill, I hardly know where to start. Congress is fine with this bill because they will not be subject to it’s consequences. They, unlike the rest of us, will still get to make their own insurance and medical choices. So if you are self employed or make more than $250k a year, you are in big trouble. If you are small business, you are in big trouble. If you happen to be older and sick, look out because the “board” might not think you are worth treating. The people that have insurance through big corporations are going to either pay more or receive fewer benefits when those corporations decide they scale back the benefits they offer! The only way to win is if you are on welfare… oh wait, people on welfare were already getting medical coverage through the state, so that means the states are going to be in just as dire a financial situation as the rest of us, as more and more people will lose jobs due to higher taxes, and apply for benefits.

There are many things wrong with this bill, but here’s a start:

1) Significant tax increases for small business and individuals in the midst of the worst economy in a generation, that will surely lead to the loss of jobs.
2) The likelihood (near guarantee) that insurance companies will go out of business leaving the government as the sole insuring entity, hence a single payer system. Insurance companies cannot survive the demands in this bill – they are businesses too, and already only turn 1-2% profit. (Single payer system = Governmental monopoly, socialism, tyranny)
3) This is almost the sickest part of all of this: the government takeover of student loans, i.e.> deciding which individual gets the loan, which schools get students through loans and the control this gives the government. Now the government can reward those institutions that sell their ideology and punish those that don’t. Don’t think they’ll do that? If they can pass a massive infringement on individual rights like this bill through unconstitutional trickery, they can certainly push their agenda through student loans. And please, remind me again what this has to do with health care?
4) The strain this will put on medicare, which is already tremendously in the red.
5) The gross infringement on individual rights created by this bill – it is not this government’s role to require us to buy an insurance policy or anything else – and the IRS will be enforcing citizen participation, with fines!… seriously?
6) The process – if this is the right bill for Health care reform, tell me why, do we have to resort to such underhanded, desperate tactics (bribes, special deals) to get it passed. It’s just wrong to pass such a massive piece of legislation with such partisan, divisive and likely unconstitutional methods.
7) Over control by the government will mean that you and your doc will no longer make your health care decisions. A board will do that, and let you know what they’ll allow. In response to this, we will lose doctors. This is already happening, and it will only get worse. Who wants to be told by the government how to do their job, and then be paid, too little, too late, for it?

This whole thing is something I never thought I would see in America. We planned to teach our children about individual liberties, Capitalism, States Rights, and the Constitution by allowing them to live it, experience it for themselves. Now, I am afraid these lessons will be gotten only from the history books. Thank God we homeschool, and for now, can choose our own books, or they probably wouldn’t even read about it in history class.
Some additional commentary:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703775504575136133814210008.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/03/22/andrea-tantaros-obama-pelosi-reid-health-care-cbo-abuse-power/
http://health.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/19/here-comes-the-health-care-bill-%e2%80%a6-there-go-the-doctors/

This health care bill, and the way it is being handled is an atrocity. No one thinks it, in its current form is a good idea. Even the people trying to ram it down our throats.

Let alone the way they are considering passing it.

Call or email your Congressman now. The 2 minutes it will take could save you thousands of dollars per year.

I am not a member of the so called “Tea Party”. I have however, been to a couple of the Tea Party gatherings. I think this movement has a lot of good things to say, things that absolutely need to be said. The Tea Party movement is a conservative movement. If you just consider the name, I think you’ll get the jist. They want lower taxes, smaller government and personal responsibility. That’s what they are all about, and I would be hard pressed to argue with any of that.

There have been accusations made in the media, and more specifically from a couple of pin head (to borrow a term from O’Reilly) celebrities, that the Tea Party movement is actually about racism. They have some how managed to mangle the message of the Tea Party movement to say that we don’t like this President because he happens to be black. The fact that President Obama is black has nothing to do with the fact that he is raising taxes. It has nothing to do with the reality that most people in this country do not like his brand of health care reform. Being black has nothing to do with his belief in global warming, (even though it has been dis-proven time and again) and his Cap and Trade bill that will cripple small businesses and families if it ever passes.

The Tea Party is about lower taxes, cutting government spending, cutting government in general. The Tea Party took it’s name from the Boston Tea Party. Garafalo and O’Donnell accuse the Tea Party of being “anti-intellectual”, and state that they have no idea what the Boston Tea party was all about. Guess what ladies, it was about lowering taxes on the people, it was about defending the people from an overpowering government. Get a clue, or better yet, a history book. I say the Tea Party Movement, with it’s peaceful intelligent protests, it’s stand for just taxation, smaller government and personal responsibility, is acting just as our founding fathers intended.

Side Note: Personally, I think it’s great that we have a black president, I just wish it had been Condi Rice or Ken Blackwell! Maybe next go round…

I have done the research for you, folks. I have found sound bits of advice, to do lists, and marketing tips just for you. I have scoured the net and brought back to you a wealth of small business marketing information. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but there are some great quick reads below.

1.The first post I have for you includes 9 tips for Small Business Bloggers. Very interesting read:
9 Tips for Creating More Small Business Blogging Ideas

“We all know by now that consistent small business blogging can drastically improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and overall web presence. Additionally, a small business blog can increase your opportunities to interact with (and highlight) your customers and provide an additional occasion for you to share your expert knowledge.

Unfortunately, nothing stops a would be small business blogger faster than a perceived lack of time, and the frustration that comes with a lack of ideas to blog about.”… I don’t want to repost the whole thing here, so follow the link I have provided, but you get the gist, the author has some really great ideas for you!

2. You all know that I think LinkedIn is a great marketing tool. This gal has a great post on 5 methods to getting the most out of LinkedIn.
Here’s a tidbit from her post which I have linked to above: “LinkedIn, however, stands apart from the crowd. The roots of popular sites like YouTube and Facebook are founded on the entertainment side of things. But since its creation, LinkedIn has been geared toward the professional business crowd.”

3. The basics of social media marketing: Face book and Blogging. Lee Odden did a great post about this back in September. His post Social Media Marketing Basics: Facebook & Blog Promotion has a lot of relevant information for Fan pages of small businesses. Check it out when you’ve got a few.

4. Here is a great post from over at Mashable – Top 5 Business Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them This post also has a great list of other posts at the bottom that you might want to check out. This is common sense stuff, but it can’t hurt to hear it again.

5. This post is also found on Mashable, I wanted to include it because it lists all the best places to promote your blog. Really a great resource! Top 20 Ways to Share a Great Blog Post

Of course this isn’t all the knowledge of the web, but these bits and how to’s will give you any needed boost for your business blog. It’s a great tool when you know how to use it, so get your studying done! I’ve already done the research!