business

Crowdsourcing: a 7+7 Primer (Pt. 2)

Mike | January 23rd, 2012

Last week I posted the first part of this article on crowdsourcing strategies. In the post, I discussed some of the big-picture issues that I believe should be considered carefully when planning a crowdsourced project. Best practices for crowdsourcing require managers to first determine the best venue for their project, effective management of the process, [...]

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Crowdsourcing: a 7+7 Primer (Pt. 1)

Mike | January 16th, 2012

We write often about small businesses and startups and lean approaches to marketing and other business functions. Mid- to large-size companies can also benefit from the lean methodology and one way to do so is by actively leveraging crowds of workers: designers, software engineers, testers, writers, customer support people, customers, market researchers, and dozens of [...]

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The January cS Award and The December cS Award Winner

Mike | January 4th, 2012

Last summer, we announced that we would issue a monthly cS Award to honor quality work by designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community. January cS Award The cS awards are designed to celebrate the incredibly talented designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community and to encourage high quality work as well as community-oriented behavior. [...]

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What It’s Like To Be An Entrepreneur – Eboo Patel

Ross | January 4th, 2012

We’re thrilled to be part of a new web/TV reality series – Trep Life – giving audiences a unique, 360-degree view of what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. Each episode focuses on one company or organization. The first episode featured our friends Matt Maloney and Mike Evans from Grub Hub – a terrific [...]

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Small Business and Startups: End-of-Year Mishegoss, 2011 Version

Mike | December 12th, 2011

For those of you unfamiliar with Yiddish, the word ‘mishegoss’ is defined as craziness or senseless activity, and as small business-people we can certainly relate to that concept, particularly as the holidays loom and the year comes to an end. Of course, every small business is unique and every business owner has their own priorities for [...]

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The December cS Award and The November cS Award Winner

Mike | December 5th, 2011

Earlier this year, we announced that we would issue a monthly cS Award to honor quality work by designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community. December cS Award This month we want to celebrate the newcomers to crowdSPRING and will give a special cS award to a creative who joined our community in 2011! So [...]

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10 Habits of Highly Successful Freelancers

Ross | June 15th, 2011

The most successful freelancers are excellent communicators. Is it enough to have great communication skills to succeed as a freelancer? No. However, it’s nearly impossible to succeed as a freelancer without effective communication skills. We’ve seen many talented designers on crowdSPRING and elsewhere fail to grow successful freelance businesses because they were poor communicators. We’ve [...]

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Crowdsourcing, the Gulf Oil Spill and the Arrogance of BP

Ross | June 25th, 2010

BP has spent $2.35 billion dollars to date to clean-up, contain and pay claims for the largest oil spill in U.S. history. They’ve established a $20 billion dollar reserve to deal with ongoing obligations and liabilities from the oil spill. Despite BP’s efforts to stop the oil from continuing to pollute the environment, 35,000 to [...]

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Book Review: Rework (by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson)

Ross | June 15th, 2010

I admire 37signals because they make simple, easy to use web applications and because of their unique perspective on business. Rework is a collection of short essays by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, focusing on doing less and embracing constraints. Jason Fried co-founded 37signals and David Heinemeier Hansson later joined the company as a [...]

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Book Review: Delivering Happiness by Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh

Ross | June 9th, 2010

Over the past year, I’ve been fortunate to talk with Tony Hsieh (Zappos CEO) and Alfred Lin (Zappos COO/CFO), about ways that Zappos grew its culture and its phenomenal customer service. Most people don’t know that Zappos had a very turbulent history when it was founded, or about the many personal sacrifices that Tony Hsieh [...]

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