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Entries Tagged as 'Business'

Warren Buffet and the Benefits of Plain English Writing Techniques

July 12th, 2010 · View Comments · Business Plans

Ever read an annual report from Warren Buffet. Try it. Easy, isn’t it? Few successful business-people write so clearly. There is no pretension, no haughty references to obscure allusions and no strange acronyms. It’s all there in black and white. Here’s what Buffet had to say about other business writers, though, “For more than forty [...]

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Tags:Business·Format·Proposal·Style Guide·Tips·writing

37 Tips to Increase Your Business Writing Productivity

June 14th, 2010 · View Comments · Productivity

Post by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter. Working in China means more business writing and less technical writing, especially proposal development, web marketing case studies and white papers. As a few of the folks I hang out with on LinkedIn are also moving into business writing, I thought I’d add a few tips for [...]

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Tags:Business·Case·Example·Format·Free·guide·Proposal·Startup·Style·writing

Why Google Adsense is Not a Business Strategy But Still Money in the Bank

March 24th, 2010 · View Comments · Strategy

Would you take $740 if I gave it to you? Most people would say Yes. My Google AdSense check came today. It’s for 548.65 euros, about $740 dollars. I get this check every month; payments range from $700 (low) to $1200 (highest). But, I’ve decided to stop using Google Adsense. Here’s why.

Productivity Tip: How To Make Friday Your Busiest Day And Get The Rewards

March 20th, 2010 · View Comments · Productivity

Friday is my busiest day. Most folks power down and go into weekend mode. Not here! Ask yourself, ‘why do I go down a gear on Friday?’, ‘How does this benefit my career?’ Ok, let’s be honest. We do this because others do it. Right? This is a high-risk way to manage your career. You’re letting others determine how you behave. And it damages your career in many, many ways. Here’s an alternative approach.

How To Ensure Your Business Proposal Gets Accepted By Difficult Evaluators

March 19th, 2010 · View Comments · Business Development

What’s your success ratio with proposals? 25% is average. Very few get 50%. I help government agencies evaluate proposals. Most bids that come across my desk make the same errors, use the same flawed strategies and are never accepted. And the next time, they repeat the same mistake. Here are some ways to avoid this. It’s not painful, it just requires effort.

5 Alternative Ways to Attain Money for Your Business

March 9th, 2010 · View Comments · Business Development

Starting a business is stressful, we all know that, but did you know that small businesses make up around half of all U.S. private-sector workers, and have generated 64% of net new jobs over the past 15 years? With new businesses popping up more and more, what are these current and new business owners doing to gain the capital backing they need?

100 Words You Need To Speak Any Language even Chinese and Ancient Greek

February 25th, 2010 · View Comments · China

Did you ever wish you could speak French and read all those great novels? Or maybe Spanish, so you could travel to South America and have more than Buenos Dias? Or Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese. Most of us never start. It’s too hard. But, if I told you that all you need is 100 words [...]

The Dunning-Kruger Effect & How To Fail Slowly

February 9th, 2010 · View Comments · Strategy

Have you noticed this obsession with speed? Everyone is doing things, real fast. Even failure has to be fast. Fail fast is the new mantra. Christopher S. Penn takes up this point, ‘Ever done this? You see a traffic jam ahead, get off at the next exit, and spend 30 extra minutes on side and back roads to go around the jam… which in reality is only a 10 minute traffic jam? This is the dabbler. This is the person who fails too fast.’ Do you fail too fast?

12 Steps To Getting Started as a Business Consultant

January 26th, 2010 · View Comments · Business Model, Career, Strategy

Most people think it’s difficult start a career as a business consultant. I used to think the same in my early 20s when I started in IT. In retrospect, I should have made more efforts to establish myself as a consultant earlier; the benefits certainly outweigh the downsides. As luck would have it, I was forced into a consultancy role when I lost my 9-5 job. Time to learn to hustling and bring in business.

7 Tips for Business Trips to Shanghai

January 21st, 2010 · View Comments · China, Tips

Planning on doing business in China? Doing business in China is not the same as wherever you’re from. If you keep comparing China to your country, however wonderful it is, you won’t enjoy China very much. Take it on its own terms.

Do Business Leaders Need to Write Well to Succeed?

November 23rd, 2009 · Comments Off · How To

Thom Haller asks on TCW if ‘to be an effective leader, you need to learn how to write well’.

How do you measure technical documents? What metrics do you use?

November 21st, 2009 · View Comments · Career

One of our tech docs team was fired yesterday. Why? Technical documents provide no value. This is how Management sees it.

Are technical documents a waste of time?

November 20th, 2009 · View Comments · Career, Technical Writing

“Don’t worry” she said. “No one reads this stuff anyway. Just get it done.” Sounds familiar?

How to Study Technical Writing Online & Get Certified

November 10th, 2009 · Comments Off · Career, How To, Technical Writing

The University of Limerick, Ireland offers an excellent online course for those who want to study technical writing at home. This university has a pretty amazing campus, specializes in the Arts and provides a conveyor belt of freshly-minted technical writers to Microsoft, Google and IBM in Ireland. It’s one of the few universities in Europe [...]

5 Reasons Why Women Are Better Technical Writers Than Men?

November 7th, 2009 · Comments Off · Career, How To

Technical Writing attracts women. They’re very good at it and make great team leads. Maybe I’ve been very lucky but I believe women are far better as technical writers than men. Here are five areas where I think they have the edge of the guys. 1. Communication When in entered technical writing, I assumed my [...]