For the last six months I have been reading about the recession and how it is affecting businesses of all sizes.  And despite what I have read, I have decided to not to participate.  It doesn’t really sound like all that much fun.

And based on a report from the Harvard Business Review, I may be in very good company.   Author Greg Vanourek writes:

During our interviews with 55 successful business and social entrepreneurs worldwide, we were struck by the fact that many had started their enterprises during a recession or in the wake of one. …

Many people assume that entrepreneurs are allergic to recessions. It turns out that downturns can be times of tremendous opportunity–and, yes, profit–for entrepreneurs. But only if they play their cards right.

So what does playing your cards right entail?   For me, it is about ramping up marketing activities - more pr, more blogging, more visibility at local networking events.  We even added a little direct mail to the mix.   And the result …

Sales are good, we are about to close our biggest deal, and possibly hire another person later this fall.  Yes our costs are higher, but so are our sales.   We expet to out last this recession, and we will be ready when the economy turns around.  How about you?

My husband found this quote at the bottom of one of those cheesy inspirational emails. I trashed the email, but kept the quote, and added the image.

This may very well move to the top of my favorite quote list.  What’s yours?

About two months ago I dove into FriendFeed the same way I dive into most social network platforms and tools, because Kyle Lacy sent me a link and said check it out.

Initially I loved it.   Friending lots of folks to get a sense of what was going on, driving all my links to the site as well.  See my first post on the topic,  I thought it would be a great time saver.  Then  I was overwhelmed by the content and backed away.

I have found a balance point, diving into the stream, then following  the trail to individuals who write about things which interest me.  And one of the things which is always of interest to me is whether or not a particular tool has a buiness application.

FriendFeed is a great resarch tool, a bit disjointed, but a good way to track trends and new technology.  i definately knew more about Cuil within hours of it’s launch then I ever thought possible, so it feeds the info junkie part of my nature, but back to the basic question is there a business application for FriendFeed and does there need to be?

I just finished reading a wonderful book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Ann Barrows.

The story of the people of Guernsey is told in a series of letters  - and it is the writing style I found so appealing.  Even though it is fiction, the writing style gives the book a feeling of authenticity.

In contrast, most of my recent marketing communication seems flat, and without personality. And so, this morning my challenge to myself, is to bring back the authentic feel to this blog.  Why? Because it will be more interesting, and because - if you believe Seth Godin, and I do, it is a great way to avoid the Dead Zone

As a Networking Junkie, I love building relationships and partnerships.  And teaching others how to do that as well.   Not all my ideas are original.  Actually I have mixed my own experiences with best ideas from a number of people and made them part of my routine.

Check out this post from DuctTape Marketing talking about getting creative with partnerships. With it’s emphasis on strategic relationships, it sounds like the writer is truly a networking junkie!

So who are your most creative partners?

Although I am decidedly pro Obama, it isn’t for his singing or dancing skills.

This is a clever, and fun mashup of Barak and the 1987 Rick Astley song “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

I’m not your typical blogger. I write on a variety of subjects for different readers and I don’t believe all the information belongs in one place. As a result, I have multiple blogs. Well to be perfectly honest I have one blog, this one, (www.lorraineball.com) and several sites built on a Wordpress platform, where I write and post content for specific niche groups.

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Lisa Sirkin wrote the blog I meant to write.   In response to the Mayor’s proposal to cut funding for the arts she said: For a world-class city such as Indianapolis, I find this unacceptable. To that end, she has created SaveIndyArts which includes a petition. Her goal, to generate 1,000 responses.  In just a few days, she has already generated 1/2 of what she was hoping for.

And I think it is worth doing.

The tax base is generated by companies and individuals who chose to live and work here.   The arts do more then improve the quality of life in the city.  A vibrant arts community gives us a competitive edge when competing for the best talent, and corporate expansion. Attracting the very people who will help us expand our tax base.

While Indy’s city status is growing, as in interesting, affordable place to live, we still fall behind some of the more “creative cities”

Some of this boils down to what type of city we want.  The culturally dead naptown of the 80’s or the vibrant Indy of today.   My vote:

Vote yes for the arts.  Vote yes for our quality of life, and the health of our community.  Go to: SaveIndyArts to voice your support!

Summer is in full swing, and that means it is almost time to be thinking about Indy Fringe!

This year, the 4th Annual Ten Day  Indianapolis Fringe Festival will include 53 performers. 270 shows. Six stages. Organizers describe the event as a big, bold and bodacious celebration of alternative theater and performance arts.

If you have never been to Fringe, you are in for a treat. The following are my suggestions on ways to get the most from the experience, for more suggestions, check out the tips on Smaller Indiana

Lorraine’s Fringe Tips:

Check out the schedule:
Read reviews and descriptions
Plan on attending several shows, with time in between to enjoy the activity on Mass Ave
Go with Friends, and then split up, watch different shows and compare notes.
Build in time for a few drinks at some of Mass Ave’s best locations.
Hold on to your button, and come back several times!
Post your own mini reviews on Smaller Indiana

Last Monday, several former Google associates launched Cuil, a new search engine, that was supposed to be the first serious challenger to Google in a long time.

The company promises Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.

So how did they do?  Well not only could it not it handle the first day traffic, those that got through, were less than delighted with the search results.

The three column format takes a little getting used to, but I would be ok with that if the results were really good.  They aren’t

Here is what a few Anita Hamiltorn of Time Magazine had to say.

Robert Scobel was even more direct - His assertion, and I have to agree, is that they set them selves up for failure.  With 1/2 million servers, Google is pretty untouchable.

And to make matters worse, it turns out they didn’t do their homework on their name.  While they claim their name is acutally an old Irish word for knowledge, numerous on-line sources disagree.

So have you tried it?  What do you think?