Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The Best Free Fonts of 2009 - http://bit.ly/2tm6ri

10 Best Content Management Systems for Designers - http://bit.ly/2i8Xym

The Ultimate Resource Package for Web Designers - http://bit.ly/2H0pxP

6 Ways To Take Your Webdesign From Good To Great - http://bit.ly/1R8MHp

What is design? 10 principles. simple and clear - http://twurl.nl/46q5hm

51 Brilliant Free (Photoshop) PSD Files from DeviantArt - http://bit.ly/4n1DKi

25 T Shirts Graphic Designers Will Love - http://bit.ly/tDKoc

Mockingbird: @wireframing on the fly - http://bit.ly/ENnRg

13 Really Useful Online CSS Tools to Streamline Development - http://bit.ly/3tHrRA

25 Outstanding Lighting Effect Tutorials for Photoshop - http://is.gd/4SDNo

Create a Stylized Twitter Bird Icon in Illustrator – Vector Plus Tutorial - http://bit.ly/24qNHs

Getting Started With Content Management Systems - http://bit.ly/7LoD7

50 Examples of Effective Uses of Typography Within Web Design - http://bit.ly/1U6joM

Redesign: When To Relaunch The Site and Best Practices - http://bit.ly/ecMga

43 New Typography Wallpapers For Type Fanatics - http://bit.ly/1rjq0X

A Guide to Creating Email Newsletter - http://bit.ly/4rFfJm

10 Free High-Res Agricultural Blueprint Photoshop Brushes - http://bit.ly/1Dufyj

26 Must Have Resources for the Web Developer’s Toolbox - http://bit.ly/rh5TD

Top 50 Most Creative Google Logos - http://bit.ly/24il3U

10 Fantastic and Creative Web Design Styles - http://bit.ly/2LsJsg

Custom Wordpress blog design checklist and walkthrough - http://bit.ly/3UxJT0

5 Simple, But Useful CSS Properties - http://bit.ly/2gRIfk

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In the past few months, I have attended more networking events for PR, startups and social media than I ever thought even existed.  At each event I feel like I’ve learned something, taken away some great tips and even made some great connections with other PR professionals in Chicago.  When talking about my position and PR for start ups in general, I kind of felt like we internal PR people (for startups) are kind of scrappy superstars.  We’re the girls that sit in a corner and observe, but can kick you butt if you talk bad about our company.  We’ve had to barter, beg and and almost sell ourselves to the devil just to get a little coverage and find it extremely rare when your tiny startup actually become a media darling.  How does that happen?  How does the media decide that this company is going to be their little shining start while the other thousands of pitches and information they get from other start ups go right in the garbage?

So here I am, at yet another networking event, starting to get envious of the traditional PR gal - the one that’s at a HUGE organization that everyone’s heard of who has media coming to them for stories instead of the other way around.  I felt myself feeling more like a mathlete instead of a cheerleader for PR.  Everyone wanted to hear what they had to say and what tips they had, but are they really working as hard as us start up PR chicks?

I came to a conclusion and I apologize if any of you “Traditional PR” chicks take it the wrong way (I’m not a hater, I used to be you) but PR people for start ups work WAY harder than you.  Here’s why - start ups don’t garner credibility until they are basically no longer considered  a “Start Up” and are considered a service that happens to be available online.  Therefore, the media doesn’t seem to want to take the time to cover a possible one-hit wonder or a here today, gone tomorrow company.  What if they’re wrong about highlighting it - what if none of their readers are interested.  They don’t want to take the risk.  We have to prove that our start up is going to be the next big thing, that it’s an innovative idea that WILL catch on and become the norm and not just a trend.  We work our butts off day in and day out, sometimes way into the night and weekends in the hopes that we get one tiny mention in Wired or Inc or on Mashable.  I have to say - WE ROCK!  We put blood, sweat and tears into our companies and are here because we believe whole heartedly in the new company and will do anything to help share the love of our company.

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Prior to crowdSPRING, I was a lawyer for 13 years - focusing on complex commercial and intellectual property litigation. This is the second in what will be a regular feature in our blog discussing important legal issues that impact every small business.

What is a Trademark?

Trademark law prevents businesses from operating under names - or using logos - that are likely to be mistaken for the name of an existing competitor.

For a more complete definition, here’s how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office defines a trademark: “any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods. In short, a trademark is a brand name.”

A service mark is similar to a trademark - but it’s used to distinguish the services of one provider from services provided by others (and to indicate the source of the services).

What’s the difference between copyright and trademark law?

Copyright and trademark law both protect intellectual property - but they protect different things. Copyright protects works such as poetry, movies, writing, music, video games, videos, plays, paintings, sheet music, recorded music performances, novels, software code, sculptures, photographs, choreography, and architectural designs. Trademarks are names, logos, sounds, shapes, colors and even smells that distinguish the source of goods or services of one party from those of another party.

Example: A computer software program may be copyrighted. The name of the software can be trademarked.

If a trade name or logo is protected by copyright law, is it automatically protected by trademark law?

No. A trade name or logo might be protected by copyright law, but is not protected by trademark law unless it is actually used in commerce. This is because trademark rights arise only through commerce (such as when you offer items for sale and use the trade name or logo in your marketing materials or on the products).

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You have a great idea, a viable business model, and investors lined up. Now, you need to build your web site. Likely, you’ll start by hiring a consultant or consulting firm. Consultants can be valuable resources, and good relationships with them can be key to growing your company. The unfortunate flip-side is that bad advice can lead to a stalled product, unable to scale and compete. Worse, you might find yourself locked into an expensive, tense relationship, with the consultants being the only ones who can get you out of the mess in which they put you. Because development cycles for web services are measured in months if not years, you cannot afford to make mistakes.

In this series of blog posts, I’ll offer some advice on how to interpret what consultants tell you and how to better express your needs to them.

Bottom line first: be conservative. Consultants will attempt to pull you into newer technologies, for various reasons attractive to them and possibly attractive to you. The risks may not be entirely obvious.

Part 1: The Myth of Productivity

The word “productivity” should be a red flag for you. Let’s unpack it. It seems to mean something like “the ability to produce results quickly.” It would seem that anything “productive” is good, and you should strive for more of it. Who wouldn’t want to move more quickly from design to finished product? However, “productivity,” as it is used in this context, can lead to the opposite. To understand this, we have to ask: What exactly is slowing down the process in the first place? And is it really, in fact, slow?

Part of the confusion is due to the process being obfuscated. Software engineers are extreme specialists and outsiders have little clue as to what really goes on. Software projects are fertile ground for buzzwords to take root. As an outsider, what you need to know is that there are components to the development process – drafting, prototyping, debugging, deployment, testing (all of which happen before integrating the product into its social environment) – and that together they compose a “cycle,” such that development moves back and forth between components. Slowness could mean three things in this context:

1) Some components are slow. Coding used to be the target of such complaints. Older programming languages and environments are often accused of being difficult and error-prone. From this criticism we get “visual” coding tools and IDEs (Integrated Development Environments). What you need to know is that this criticism is entirely subjective. There’s no objective speed advantage to using visual tools or newer languages. Many engineers find themselves coding fastest using minimal text editors and command lines, in good-old C code. Another supposedly “slow” component is deployment. Here, we do have measurable and sharp differences between technologies. In general, interpreted languages offer much faster deployment than compiled languages. For example, deploying PHP is almost trivial, while deploying C in a heterogeneous environment can be a nightmare. Another serious problem is deploying to moving targets, such as operating systems or platforms that are changing between deployments. In part 2 of this series, I will go into greater detail about how the choice of programming languages and platforms can affect your product, but my general advice at this point is that you should not be overly impressed by “easy” languages or platforms offering “zero” deployment.

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What a difference a year makes!  We’ve had a pretty amazing year here at crowdSPRING – we’ve seen some amazing company’s making the switch to the crowdsourcing platform, we’ve paid out $2.5 million in awards to our more than 40,000 creatives and we’ve expanded our office personnel.  We’re feeling pretty darn loved and lucky and because of that, we want to share the love! We really appreciate everyone and everything you guys are doing and have done and to show our appreciation we are pleased to announce the inauguration of our annual Springy Awards! These awards will take place at the end of each year and include four different categories for you to win:

Most Winningest Designer of the Year - The word may be made up but it’s the only word that’s able to capture how much you do for us as designers. crowdSPRING will award the designer who won the most projects this year.

The Community Award - This is awarded to the designer who contributes the most to our crowdSPRING community, whether it’s through the blog, our forum or feedback on projects themselves – we appreciate your mouthiness.

And here’s where you guys come in - the following are crowdSPRING’s People’s Choice Awards:

crowdSPRING Buyers:
Speak up!  We need you to nominate the designer you think deserves the Frenchie Award, named after our French customer service representative, Jerome. This is awarded to the designer that demonstrated their own customer service to their potential client - the designer that gave the most and best feedback.

crowdSPRING Designers:
It’s your turn to speak up and nominate the buyer you think deserves the Buyer of the Year award, which is given to the buyer who you love working with the most.

If you are a creative or a buyer in the crowdSPRING community or even just a friend of one, we would love to hear your nominations to find the best buyers and creatives that deserve an award this year (don’t be afraid to nominate yourself! We’ll never tell.)

Please submit your nominations no later than November 20, 2009 to springy@crowdspring.com.

Simply email us the crowdSPRING username of your nominee and a quick reason why you believe they should win the award. Put the award you’re nominating for in the subject line of the email.

The Winners will get a special crowdSPRING winners package complete with award!

Thinking about the health-care debate has caused me to reflect on our own approach to our team has given me a chance to consider some ways in which we add value to our own venture, create a stronger company, and (hopefully) achieve a real competitive advantage.

When Ross and I started crowdSPRING, we were determined to hire the best people we could find, treat them fairly, allow them to grow into their jobs, and share with them the responsibility for building our community and our business. Among our priorities was to provide a package of benefits which would communicate not just our commitment to the folks we hired, but also the values we held. The health care benefits we provide to our workers and their families are just one way in which we try to make the team feel valued and secure.

It shouldn’t stop at health care benefits; all aspects of human resource management should be considered and thoughtful policies established. Business owners should carefully apply several “levers” which, when operated effectively, can have a huge impact on a company’s vitality and sustainability. Among the strategies to consider to build a strong team are: recruiting, development, reward, empowerment, job/team design, and modeling. These levers, when implemented with clarity, transparency, and integrity, can give a business a sustained advantage in a competitive landscape and create an environment of trust, learning, and growth. We believe that it is our responsibility to create such an environment, and we also believe that, by doing so, businesses can directly benefit.

RECRUITING: Take the time to develop a detailed job description, distribute it through the correct networks, and post it in the appropriate forums. How you talk about your company and the job you’re trying to fill, will go a long way to attract suitable applicants, and will also help you to screen those to uncover the best fit and the most promising candidates. In writing these descriptions, we try very hard to use language and a voice which reflects our own values and the “flavor” of our company and this also helps to attract strong applicants.

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT: We are life-long learners and committed to our own ongoing educations in business and in life, and we hire for this quality. But it’s not enough to just employ people who share this value. When we hire someone, we make a commitment that we will help them to develop new skills; allow them to take on new responsibility; and  empower them to share their own knowledge to help other team members. We encourage them to pursue other avenues of creativity away from their jobs, and to communicate to us ways in which they can grow for their own benefit and the benefit of our venture.

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end povertee

I just love when I find a project posted on our site from a company that is just an amazing feel-good.  And this company mixes fashion with the feel-good.  To me, it doesn’t get any better than that! end povertee® clothing line was created as a platform that would inspire, bring awareness and empower every one of its customers to make an impact to reduce extreme poverty in our Global family.

Every time you purchase end povertee® tees and products 50% of the net profits raised from the sale of the goods is given directly to charities/organizations working to eradicate extreme poverty. The money is used to provide a variety of basic needs including; education, food, shelter, clean water and proper medical supplies.

When you wear their stylish and sweatshop-free t-shirts not only do you look good on the outside but you feel great on the inside knowing that your purchase changed the life of someone living in extreme poverty. How cool is that? And making their logo for them is even cooler.

I recently asked Jenni Young of end povertee about their business and needs and here’s what she had to say:

1.     Before crowdSPRING, what method did you use for creative service work?

In the past, I was part of creating several websites for films etc and I would find creatives to do work through networking with friends, co-workers or posting ads to craigslist.

2.     What made you decide to use crowdSPRING?

While we were in the beginning stages of the launching the business, the web designers kept giving us ideas for logos but nothing seemed to fit.  We never had the wow moment of THIS IS IT!  When we were just about to choose any logo, assuming we needed to make a decision and move forward…we happened upon the crowdSPRING website.  I don’t even remember how we found it but when we did…we thought wow!  This could be the answer to our problem.  We looked around other projects… got so excited and listed the logo ad immediately! Approximately one week later…we had the moment of saying…WOW that’s our logo!

3.     What is your small business bible?  As in, what is a must-read every day for all small business owners and employees?

As a small business I wish I had more time to read everything but I don’t.  I depend a lot on friends who have small businesses for advice.  I do keep up with and love Entrepreneur magazine, which I have been reading for over 20 years.  I also read my daily dose of affirmations from Neale Donald Walsch to keep me on a positive note and moving forward fearlessly.

4.    If your best friend told you they wanted to start a business and asked for your best piece of advice, what would it be?

1) Make sure it is something you are very very passionate about…it could take a very long time to reap any type of financial benefit.   2) Make sure it has something new to offer your customers.  3) Make sure that your company makes it a priority to give back to the community in some way!

Oh and Jenni wanted to make sure we gave a great shout out to the winning creative – Great job YuSee Grafisch!

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

Web Design Trends for 2010 - http://bit.ly/458nIe

45 Animal Inspired Logo Designs - http://bit.ly/u5JWi

40 Incredibly Useful Web Design Tools You Should Use Daily - http://bit.ly/44p4ik

The 16 Most Influential Web Design Blogs of 2009 - http://bit.ly/2K8sRX

45 Inspiring Navigation Menus That You Must See - http://bit.ly/2kpZQ9

Build a Slick Rich User Interface in Photoshop - http://bit.ly/2sbi1g

50 Clean, Sleek, and Modern Website Designs - http://bit.ly/3IeGxx

50 Clever, Creative Logos - http://bit.ly/3wnyzA

Ten great Twitter bird design tutorials - http://bit.ly/5D0Y0

Fonts Used In Logos of Popular Websites - http://ff.im/-b05Fv

Photoshop Brushes • Free Hi-Resolution Paint Stroke - http://bit.ly/KfkX1

Photoshop Tutorial: Dull Color Fix: Duck girl - http://bit.ly/KRSCh

A-Z of Free Photoshop Plugins and Filters - http://bit.ly/2VP6Xs

Mega Drop Down Menus w/ CSS & jQuery - http://bit.ly/30f6Ic

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The crowdSPRING message is all over the place - we have a blog, we use Twitter, we have Facebook, we have email, we have customer support tickets and oh yeah, we even have phones. We’ve tried to cover all our bases on how to get out our message and constantly work on ensuring you’re able to talk to us as well. We think we’ve hit all the angles, but being the matchmaker that I am, I want to make sure you’re 1. getting information from us that you’re looking for and 2. able to contact us any way you want to.

We want to know:
- what news/information do you want to hear from us?
- how do you like to get that news?
- how do you like to share information about your experience with crowdSPRING?
- what is the easiest way for you to contact us if you have accolades or concerns?

As you know, a relationship can only work if there’s open communications and you’re on the same page. We want to make sure we’re not that annoying girlfriend sending you non-stop emails about things that you could care less about or that emotionally distant boyfriend who will only communicate with you the way he wants to and when he’s good and ready.

Let us know how we can make our communications better for you. Come on–we want to hear you!

Would your small business benefit from reducing costs, improving product and/or service quality, more effectively competing with bigger companies, innovating more, enhancing your expertise, and better managing your own capacity and the capacity of your small team? You bet!

In this post, I discuss 10 ways that your small business can leverage crowdsourcing. I’ll explain each suggestion and will recommend ways that you could take advantage of the service for your small business. I’ll include examples for each suggestion to show how a small businesses can leverage each service.

First - a short background. For the past 20+ years, many companies have outsourced certain types of work - such as product design, manufacturing, or customer service - to a third-party. Often, the third-party was located overseas (India, for example). Historically, outsourcing was the done mostly by larger companies. Although outsourcing continues to be a popular option for companies in many different industries, the diminishing savings from outsourcing, coupled with some of the disadvantages (quality, communication issues, turnover, etc.) have made outsourcing a less attractive option.

Over the past 6-7 years, some companies have found new, more creative ways to leverage others - through crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing involves taking a task which is traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to a large group of people - rather than to a specific third party (like one would do when outsourcing). Some large companies have been leveraging crowdsourcing for years (see Innocentive below).

How can your small business leverage crowdsourcing? Here are 10 suggestions:

1. uTest.

What it is: uTest is the world’s largest marketplace for software testing services. A community of 20,000+ quality assurance professionals from around the world help software companies test their web, mobile, gaming and desktop applications.

How You Can Leverage uTest: If your company develops software, you can leverage uTest to provide functional, usability, load and performance testing. Companies that develop software know that testing is time consuming and tedious. And while larger companies often have quality assurance staff - or entire departments focused on testing - small businesses must rely on their own employees or third parties to thoroughly test their software products. By crowdsourcing software testing, you can both control and reduce your costs, and make sure that your products are thoroughly tested before they are released, without putting tremendous strain on your small development team. You pay only for the services you need/use.

2. Innocentive.

What it is: InnoCentive is an online marketplace where organizations in need of innovation can leverage a global network of over 160,000 people to solve technical and business problems.

How You Can Leverage Innocentive: If your company runs into a business or research and development problem, Innocentive could be a great alternative to help you overcome that problem. You set the challenge reward (these are typically in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars). While the cost to post a problem to Innocentive and attract a robust community of people to help you is not small (you set your own reward amount), many small businesses developing complex chemical or electronic products incur much higher costs when working with third-party contractors. And while Innocentive has traditionally been a great option for large corporations - it is equally attractive to smaller companies that must find ways to overcome complex and expensive problems that are delaying product launches.

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