25 Professional Business Cards Made By Designers

In the instructions for claiming a Place found on Facebook.com and other news sites around the web, claiming looks to be a fairly automated process. I’m not sure of everyone elses experience, but mine has proven to be anything but.

Upon submitting a claim request, instead of an offer to receive an automated confirmation phone call for validation, I am told my request has be received by Facebook User Operations. They’ll be getting back with me. If their manual processing system is anything like FourSquare’s, I’ll be waiting for months and never receive confirmation.

And my recourse? Nothing, It’s not a paid service with the quality assurance responsibilities there of. Ugh.

So, in less than a year, I’ll be turning the big 30.

In our current culture, turning thirty is supposed to be a big deal. It’s typically discussed as a time when you truly become an adult and leave your fun 20-something times behind you. It’s also a time when people younger than you can officially make fun of your age.

But I want to tell you a secret… I can’t wait to turn thirty. To me 30 is slowly starting to symbolize where I am in life… The best “place” i’ve ever been.

For the first time in my life, i can say I have nothing to complain about. In fact, I think my life is pretty great.

I’ve taken risks along the way, and they’re starting to pay off. I’m seeing the trend of my life and were it’s taking me. That’s a pretty great thing.

So, here’s to you 30. I’m ready for ya.

“The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work. He knows that any job, whether it’s a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much. He accepts that. He recognizes it as reality”

“The professional steels himself at the start of a project, reminding himself it is the Iditarod, not the sixty-yard dash. He conserves his energy. He prepares his mind for the long haul. He sustains himself with the knowledge that if he can just keep those huskies mushing, sooner or later the sled will pull in to Nome.”

I think this really applies when managing a project. As a project manager, sometimes it’s difficult to manage change. We so often want everything to be written in stone so changes are kept to a minimum. But that kind of thinking creates a resistive attitude to evolutionary changes that are required of all projects.

Being a project management pro requires us to be patient and flexible. This requires planning for flexibility in your management style, effort predictions, and especially budget models.

I grew up working in my family’s beach shop, so I’m particularly intrigued by how these services can benefit from a more web 2.0 way of operating.

The Gist: Credit Cards Now Accepted (by everyone)
Square has developed a small, simple device that adds credit card reading abilities to mobile phones like the iPhone. Using this devise, and their software, anyone can have a mobile credit card terminal for zero up-front costs.

You can find out more at Square’s website.

iPad Home Screen

The iWork suite for iPad are definitely beautiful and well developed applications. The problem is, without being able to access and edit my existing documents easily, they simply aren’t functional.

Having to export files, connect a USB cable, and hope the formatting isn’t too broken, is not a viable workflow.

Where is MobileMe support for saving documents to? And I’m sorry, but how is the world is iworks.com going to help? Answer: It doesn’t.

I’m extremely disappointed in these products and am kind of embarrassed that I bought them.

Josh Holden Get's an iPad

Ever since I was a Realtor in North Carolina (it was a few lives ago), I always longed for a simple device to carry around the loads of documents I needed to do business while also having easy access to web systems like the MLS.

Today, about six years later, I finally have such a device in-hand. While no, I’m no longer chasing leads and showing houses, my need for such a device is still strong.

I’m constantly running around the office with a laptop in tow when all I really need is it’s screen. I need to review word docs, presentation decks, and PDFs. I need to reference information on the web at a moments notice. And most importantly, I need to do it easily and without the need for a heavy laptop. (Carrying an open laptop around for quick access is a balancing act I don’t enjoy.)

So, i’ve had my iPad for only a matter of hours, but I’m thoroughly convinced that this thing hits the sweet spot. It’s fast, beautiful, and amazingly easy to type on… (I’m typing this post on it right now.)

So, while some ask, why do you need that? I’m having a blast swiping and tapping my way to a smarter way of working.

Thanks Apple!

TheHB.tv is a Internet television channel for the Holden Beach, NC community. We will be sharing video of local events, interviews, and lots more. This first episode highlights the first Holden Beach Festival by the Sea event, the town parade. We hope you enjoy.

Stay tuned for more festival coverage.

In his post he analyzes ESPN’s new policy that doesn’t allow employees to post to twitter without approval.  Why was this a wrong move? Jon hits the nail on the head after the jump.

Jon Burg’s Future Visions: ESPN’s Twitter Fumble

The Council of Economic Advisers in the White House released a new report on the impact health insurance reform would have on small businesses. In an interesting use of social media the White House solicited feedback on the report from LinkedIn members using LinkedIn’s popular Question and Answers feature. CEA Chair Christina Romer answered some of the most penetrating responses in a live video online discussion at WhiteHouse.gov on Wednesday, July 29th.ducttapemarketing.com, Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing, Aug 2009

You should read the whole article.