Microsoft Program Management for Dummies - Live, and on-line!

I will be giving my presentation about Program Management at Microsoft in a live (and FREE) web-cast at 12:00pm (Pacific Time) on February, Wednesday the 3rd. I will be taking time to answer questions at the end of the presentation.

You can look up details on how to register to participate in the web-cast here.

You can watch the existing recording of this presentation (given in August 2009) any time.

Entrepreneur Northwest podcast directory

Welcome to the Entrepreneur Northwest podcasts. In this series, Michael talks with entrepreneurs who are living their dreams. We talk about the successes, and failures, and offer words of advice for others trying to start their own businesses.

• (2010-01-05) David Meerman Scott explains that the old days of begging, buying, and bugging consumers with crude marketing efforts are over. The only way to get attention in the fractured world of the Internet is to earn it by publishing useful information, and content, that customers want to see. The key to marketing success is to think like a publisher, looking for the content that will appeal to the market.
• (2009-12-11) Andy Sack explains that angel investing is a labour of love for him and his partners at the Founder's Co-op. Instead of running startups himself Andy now is now offering expertise and money to promising ventures. If anything, the recession is making angel investing even more interesting as entrepreneurs are becoming much more practical in creating viable business plans that can make money quickly.
• (2009-12-01) Claudiu Geanta explains that marketing a business takes a lot more than social networking and search keyword advertisements on the Internet. Small businesses should consider some traditional marketing strategies like T-shirts and magnetic car signs, even if they are nation-wide. Marketing in your local community can be a great way to get exposure, and may have broader reach than you think.
• (2009-11-16) Rob Mathewson explains how Geedra (his latest startup) has been turning heads with plans to simplify job site photo management for the construction industry. Instead of just blindly dumping pictures into dumb folders, or requiring extensive efforts in naming, Geedra automatically generates meta tagging and associates pictures with the relevant parts of blueprints. Geedra has been a finalist in Seattle area startup competitions, for best business plans, and already has letters of intent from customers. All Rob needs now is to close on angel funding to actually start building a prototype. Check out http://www.geedra.com/ for help managing photos.
• (2009-11-16) Bob Scheier explains how entrepreneurs can learn a lot from curmudgeonly reporters. He can't begin to count the number of product pitches he heard in his years as a tech reporter that made his eyes glaze over. If you can't articulate what is new, or uniquely compelling, about your product to a reporter, then you likely won't have much luck making headway with customers.
• (2009-11-15) Chris Early explains how the Founder Institute can be a great resource for aspiring tech entrepreneurs to learn from others who have built successful businesses of their own, as well as network with other attendees. A unique equity sharing system for all attendees, giving everyone a stake in their respective ventures, fosters a great spirit of cooperation that lives on.
• (2009-11-13) Neicole Crepeau explains that Twitter can be an effective marketing tool for small businesses but that it takes persistence. It doesn't make sense for businesses to engage in one to one conversations on Twitter, but they do need to be consistently broadcast useful information throughout the week.
• (2009-11-11) Sam Beamond explains how to create a winning search optimization (SEO) strategy that ensures your web sites are number one on search engines. Web sites should be built from the ground up with SEO in mind. Usability and the quality of content are also critical components in ensuring your web site does well in searches. Other internet marketing venues, like blogging and social networking, may appeared over the years, but SEO is still the corner stone of any web marketing effort.
• (2009-11-10) Bryan Cox explains how his experience in the entertainment industry has taught him a lot about entrepreneurship and marketing. The new world of Internet Radio is hungry for content, and on-line resources make it easy for entrepreneurs to issue press releases and volunteer to help journalists as experts.
• (2009-11-08) Tim Reha explains that video can be a key part of the private label content created in web marketing strategies. It's not enough to just have blogs, or podcasts to reach today's fragmented audiences. Videos are also popular, and can reach target audiences on a deeper emotional level. Even deeply technical products can be talked about on video. The dropping production costs make it possible for even the smallest companies to take advantage of video for their marketing efforts.
• (2009-11-07) Greg Satell talks about the limations of social networking marketing strategies, and points out that marketing isn't a one way street: companies need to listen to the market to learn how to fine tune, or even repurpose, their products. Greg may live in the Ukraine, but his grasp of marketing strategies is both expansive and insightful. Tune in to get a intellectual view of marketing as well as a guide to practical applications.
• (2009-11-03) T.A. McCann explains how Gist (his latest startup) provides a portal, and filtering mechanism, for all the data streams people have to deal with from their friends and acquaintances. Unlike his previous ventures, Gist has been well endowed with capital by investors, and has been able to take the time necessary to build a good product before taking it to the broader public. The real challenge will be to convince users there is enough value to pay for subscriptions when Gist begins monetizing their service later next year.
• (2009-11-03) Tracey De Leeuw talks about how blogging, tweets, and social networks can all be an integral part of a web marketing strategy. Rather than spam their services everywhere, companies should target the groups, and communities, most relevant to their target audiences. Content itself is key, however, since no amount of promotion will help draw interest in content with little value. Tracey also explains that affiliate programs, and referral commissions, are an oft overlooked aspect of web marketing that can make the difference with success or failure for many web businesses.
• (2009-11-02) Phyllis Zimbler Miller talks about how Twitter should be an imporant part of any web marketing campaign. The key to using Twitter successfully is to be genuine. Phyllis recommends avoiding the automated tools that rack up followers to focus on building relationships that matter. The new "lists" feature holds a lot of potential, but it's not clear yet how this will be used by the community, or how to best take advantage of it.
• (2009-10-30) Mary MacKinnon (aka marymac) walks us through a complete web marketing strategy for aspiring web startups. Any web marketing strategy starts by understanding where your money comes from, and will incorporate a variety of tools and activities. There is no single solution (like search advertising) for a successful marketing strategy. It's all about integrating your various efforts into an effective whole.
• (2009-10-30) Eric Goldman explains business to business marketing, and describes how effective inbound marketing can help generate the qualified leads that companies are looking for. Good content, search word optimization, and asking a few questions all play a part in finding customers.
• (2009-10-29) Rajeev Goel talks about how necessity is the mother of invention. His efforts to build a web site to manage his own daughter's science fair inspired him to create a service that any school could use. For now he is going it alone, creating http://oursciencefair.com/Home.aspx as the one-stop solution for managing and promoting science fairs. The challenge now is getting the word out, and Rajeev has been taking advice from fellow entrepreneurs about getting active in communities and reaching out to bloggers.
• (2009-10-24) Tim Ellis explains how he has built http://www.seattlebubble.com/ into on of the most popular real-estate web sites in the Pacific Northwest bust hasn't figured out how to generate significant revenue from. Pre-packaged advertising services from Google and Microsoft are of marginal value and direct advertising sales look far more promising. Tim also hopes to explore affiliate programs with select partners. Now, if he can only find the time to continue creating winning content while holding down a day job.
• (2009-10-24) Pandu Rao talks about how he and his partner (Harish Kulkurni) have built a social network bookmarking service (http://iter8r.com/) that they hope to give away to the community. They count on their public spirited business model to attract users and set them apart from the competition. Success for iter8r won't make Harish and Pandu rich, but it will teach them about how communities work, and enhance their credibility for future ventures.
• (2009-10-23) Denis Altudov has struck out on his own to devote all his energies to his iPhone applications that are already selling well. He is excited about being able to examine, and analyze, the entire end-to-end user experience, from product acquisition to support. As fun as it is to be working on his own Denis does want to find some colaborators to help with design and marketing.
• (2009-10-23) Bruce Roberts talks about his search for his next startup venture. Now that he's helped make a success of startups as a key contributor, he is now looking to become a principal, getting the venture going from the ground up. There are plenty of ideas for businesses around, but Bruce is focussing on good partners to complement his skills. The ideas will come on their own.
• (2009-10-22) Charlie Walsh tells us how his business was brought to life in six months, and started making revenue on the first day. Even better, his business of helping home owners appeal the assessments of their homes to reduce their tax bills is particularly popular when the economy is poor.
• (2009-10-20) The Startup that helps Startups. Matt Heaton talks about his new venture (http://www.bigstartups.com/), that provides a community and support for startups. The best medicine for aspiring entrepreneurs is to just do it, and build something, according to Matt.
• (2009-10-20) Startups on a Shoe-string. Eric Veal talks about how he is recruiting partners with Craiglist for his new venture to create a database modelling tool, and how startups can use a variety of strategies to overcome an absence of capital to get off the ground.

EPNW: Why publishers make the best entrepreneurs

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" David Meerman Scott explains that the old days of begging, buying, and bugging consumers with crude marketing efforts are over. The only way to get attention in the fractured world of the Internet is to earn it by publishing useful information, and content, that customers want to see. The key to marketing success is to think like a publisher, looking for the content that will appeal to the market.

You can check out more of David's ideas at http://www.webinknow.com/ or the new edition of his book, "The New Rules of Marketing and PR".




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NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

seeking CTO for fast growing affiliate startup

If you are a talented internet software engineer, with deep experience working on web sites and databases looking for a ground floor opportunity in a startup, I want to talk with you!

I am a partner with a company that is setting up a network of auto service shops that pay referral fees for customers who come through our service. We generate the majority of our customers by signing up non-profits to receive donations every time one of their supporters get their cars serviced at a member shop. We charge the shops 5% of the gross bill for every customer we send them, and we give the charities 3%. The beauty of this is that the charities do all the hard work of marketing our service (i.e. telling anyone and everyone to get their cars repaired at our member shops), keeping our costs super low.

Our business model is self-financing , and will start generating revenue within months. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky dream that hopes for a pay-off way in the future. Because we will be generating cash soon, and because our technology and marketing needs are modest, we are confident we can be self-financing, and will not need to give away big chunks of equity to investors.

We are currently starting off by getting this business (www.referredautorepairs.com) running in British Columbia. Once we are fully running there we plan on taking it across North America by the end of the 2010.

The best part is that we are seeing a simply PHENOMENAL demand for this. Charities are almost beating down our door asking to participate, and a LOT of auto repair shops are really hurting, making them eager to sign up. The worse the economy gets, the better it is for us as charities get more desperate for new funding sources, and service shops look for new ways to find customers.

The downside is that we are very cash poor right now, and really can’t afford to pay a CTO anything at the moment. Our back-end is our weakest link, and our reliance on off-shore developers is just taking far too long. We are currently a business of salesmen and marketers, but lack the technical skill to make the back-end hum smoothly.

This is the chance of a life-time for any web developer who is able to sustain themselves for a few months while putting in a lot of sweat equity into putting the finishing touches on this venture into place. We already have a lot of the back-end built (using the LAMP stack), and it won’t take a lot to get the very basics working. As soon as we have a working system to accept the on-line customer shop bookings, we will have a huge pipeline of PAYING customers to use it.

Most of the people in this company are in British Columbia and Seattle, but we don’t mind working with people who live elsewhere in North America. Most of our work is virtual anyway.

If this sounds interesting, just let me know and I would be happy to talk with you and share details.

Tales from the job search trenches: anatomy of a job search

Join Michael's discussions with fellow job seekers and job placement professionals to look at the different strategies people are using, and brainstorm on ways to make job search efforts more effective.

• (2009-12-14) Marissa Marsala explains how recommendations can be instrumental in helping a candidate stand out. Writing recommendations for others can be more effective in getting reciprocal testimonials than just asking for someone to write them for you.
• (2009-12-08) The Undercover Lawyer explains how legal issues can have a significant impact on how employers choose employees. There are a lot of practical things that applicants can do to alleviate the liability concerns their employers might harbour, but are afraid to voice. In a tough job market it makes sense for job seekers to take legal considerations into account as they search for a new job.
• (2009-12-01) Kelly Harington explains that tapping the hidden job market requires a lot of effective networking, and how to go about doing it. The earlier a candidate can get in front of a hiring manager the better. By the time a job actually gets posted on a public web site it is often too late to get noticed over the crush of applicants.
• (2009-11-23) Kevin Kermes explains that today's challenging employment market requires a different approach by job seekers. Candidates need to find activities which allow them to both demonstrate their skills, learn, and network at the same time. Offering free advice, and help, to companies you are interested in working for can build those relationships you will need to get your job. Don't just send a resume asking for a job, tell people how you are going to help them.
• (2009-11-20) Mark Hovind explains that 6 figure executives approach job searches in a very different way from the average job seeker. They pay good money to market themselves. Networking is certainly a good tool, but it has its limitations, and highly compensated individuals understand the need to run marketing campaigns. In particular, Mark has seen that mass mailings by post can bear real results in small to mid-sized organizations, which don't typically post their openings on public job boards.
• (2009-11-17) Christian Buckley talks about how job candidates have to stay busy, doing projects, and work, to keep them mentally fit, and in an optimistic mood, even if that next great role is taking a while to appear. After departing from Microsoft, it took Christian nearly 6 months to find his new position, and this was with a company who had talked with, and kept meeting with, from his first days as a job seeker. Candidates need to be patient, and willing to give their time and expertise freely.
• (2009-11-09) Jennifer Ellis explains how companies such as Microsoft often like hiring alumni to fill new openings. Job seekers should consider their previous employers as places to work, and ex-employers often value the knowledge of the business, and organizations, that they bring to the table. Better still, the connections that alumni have with their ex-employers give them a distinct advantage over other applicants.
• (2009-11-09) Lynn Ferrari Rodriguez explains how the intense competition for jobs means that candidates must work extra hard to differentiate themselves. She offers practical advice on how to make your resume stand out, and shine during interviews. The difference between landing the job and coming second place can be miniscule, and candidates need to have a plan for setting themselves apart.
• (2009-11-08) Mark Richards tells how his efforts to help fellow job seekers, with blogs and networking groups, led to landing his own ideal role. He also explains that one of the first things every candidate needs to do is an realistic assessment of their goals and objectives. Make sure you really are the type of person that companies are looking for in the field you are targeting.
• (2009-10-28) John Polhill gives an insider's perspective to the world of corporate recruiting. Amongst many other gems of wisdom, John explains that on-line job applications aren't a complete waste of time, but you have to know how to game the system and prepare your resume to make it through screenings. He also gives guidance on the questions you need to ask before heading into an interview, and to be very wary when you are applying for a completely new position.
• (2009-10-27) Mike Hogan talks about how his desire to have more control over his own job search led him to create http://www.ponkabonk.com/, where job seekers can offer to pay commissions for successful placements.
• (2009-10-22) Jordan Shaw talks about his life as a recruiter. "Good" recruiters really are willing to go the bat for quality candidates, and job seekers can make fast friends of placement professionals by lending a hand with introductions to employers.
• (2009-10-22) Rob Gelhausen tells us how LinkedIn is the indepensible tool for job seekers. Rob shares the tips he has learned in his years of experience as a recruiter and job coach, in offering advice as to which activities are the most (and least) productive for job seekers.
• (2009-10-22) Dan Callahan tells us how helping other people, and participating in communities, can yield dividends in both networking and searching for a job. People should be open to helping others as part of their effort to grow contacts, rather than be narrowly focused on activities that have a direct monetary reward.
• (2009-10-21) It's all about networking. Mark Warren, a 30 year veteren in career coaching, discusses how the job market has undergone massive changes in the last year, and that many of the old strategies for finding employment are no longer very effective. Building networks at targeted companies should be the top priority of job seekers, but they also need to continue building relationships with recruiters and applying to job postings (even though these efforts don't yield a lot of results).
• (2009-10-07) Meet Chengya Liang, a research scientist in the bio-technology and pharmaceutical industry. We talk about the challenges of moving from academia to the private sector, and strategies for building relationships in companies where Chengya doesn’t yet know anyone.
• (2009-10-07) In this episode Michael talks with Yvette Francino about her strategy in looking for a job as an IT manager. As a power networker, and social networking expert, Yvette actually gives Michael most of the advice.

If you like this podcast you can check out Michael’s article outlining his own job search strategy to get more tips. I also have the indispensable guide to building relationships with potential employers, walking through the steps of how to use blogs and LinkedIn to network in companies where you don't have any contacts.

NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on “Tales from the job search trenches” podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you. Check out Michael’s LinkedIn profile for contact information.

job search tales: how to get recommendations without even asking

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", Marissa Marsala explains how recommendations can be instrumental in helping a candidate stand out. Writing recommendations for others can be more effective in getting reciprocal testimonials than just asking for someone to write them for you.

Check out more advice from Marissa at http://employerandcandidateconnection.blogspot.com/.




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NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.

EPNW: Angel investing is a labour of love

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Andy Sack explains that angel investing is a labour of love for him and his partners at the Founder's Co-op. Instead of running startups himself Andy now is now offering expertise and money to promising ventures. If anything, the recession is making angel investing even more interesting as entrepreneurs are becoming much more practical in creating viable business plans that can make money quickly.

You can check out about how the Founder's co-op helps tech startups at http://www.founderscoop.com/.




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NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

job search tales: The Undercover Lawyer tells job candidates how to use the law to their advantage

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", the Undercover Lawyer explains how legal issues can have a significant impact on how employers choose employees. There are a lot of practical things that applicants can do to alleviate the liability concerns their employers might harbour, but are afraid to voice. In a tough job market it makes sense for job seekers to take legal considerations into account as they search for a new job.

Check out more advice from the Undercover Laywer at http://www.undercoverlawyer.com/.




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NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.

EPNW: Tradional off-line marketing can pay off for your web business

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Claudiu Geanta explains that marketing a business takes a lot more than social networking and search keyword advertisements on the Internet. Small businesses should consider some traditional marketing strategies like T-shirts and magnetic car signs, even if they are nation-wide. Marketing in your local community can be a great way to get exposure, and may have broader reach than you think.

You can check out more of Claudiu's marketing ideas at http://www.defactomind.com/.




Powered by Podbean.com


NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

job search tales: By the time a job is posted on the web it's too late

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", Kelly Harington explains that tapping the hidden job market requires a lot of effective networking, and how to go about doing it. The earlier a candidate can get in front of a hiring manager the better. By the time a job actually gets posted on a public web site it is often too late to get noticed over the crush of applicants.

Check out http://careermaxgroup.com/ for more of Kelly's ideas on how to build a successful career.




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NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.