I knew that this week, right before the holidays, our small business spotlight had to feature something warm and fuzzy and completely heartwarming. I was going for It’s A Wonderful Life meets The Miracle on 34th Street meets a batch of chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven.  And I think I almost got it.

A missing pet can be as gut-wrenching as it is time consuming, and it’s not quite socially accepted for people to take large chunks of time off from work to search for a lost pet. That’s where NinjaDog Concepts comes in. Sarah and her team work 24/7 and launch full-scale search operations to recover a missing pet.  She takes care of posting pictures, responding to leads, and would probably even take on a mountain lion barehanded if it meant returning a pet to its owner. NinjaDog Concepts’ big heart is only matched by their willingness to go through any hoops to return missing pets. That’s definitely a great sentiment to get behind this holiday season.

NinjaDog Concepts is based in Los Angeles, they also provide a list of resources for those with missing pets.

Sarah had some more to say about her amazing lost-dog-sniffing abilities:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

NinjaDog Concepts works 24/7 to help people find their lost pets by creating and managing full-scale search operations.  Many people work or have other obligations that prevent them from being able to drop everything and look for their lost pet, as much as they would like to.  NinjaDog Concepts exists to take care of flyering, networking, using social media, responding to sightings, and everything in between!

 What are some industry specific challenges you faced?  

Some of NinjaDog Concepts’ challenges are dealing with the sprawling geography of Los Angeles, battling wildlife like coyotes, bears, and mountain lions that can go after loose pets, and educating people on the important of prevention (like keeping pets indoors/in secure yards, keeping current ID tags on them at all times, and microchipping them).

What’s the craziest story you have from starting your own business?  

The craziest story?  They’re all crazy when you chase missing dogs for a living.  And by “chase,” I mean, “crouch in a calm way and throw hamburgers at them until them come to you.”  I’ve (literally) crawled through drainage ditches, hopped fences, hung out with homeless folks, and traipsed through bramble in the hills to track dogs.  We always find dogs because of a confluence of all sorts of seemingly random happenings, which makes every recovery seems like a crazy miracle to me, no matter how many we do. Read the rest of this post »

 The new year is fast upon us and it is time for that ritual known as resolution-time! I am not talking about a new resolve to eat lighter and get to the gym 4 days a week. I am talking about business resolutions – specific actions and efforts you should take over the course of the next few months to strengthen your business, improve your customer’s experience, and strengthen your team in the year ahead.

Some of these suggestions are specific things to do to help increase business activity, other undertakings are meant to help you learn more about the current state of your business. Not all of these are for every company, but I hope that you find a few on the list that make sense for you. Here then are 10 new-year-business-resolutions for 2012!

1. Review your strategic plan. It is a good idea to dust off your strategic plan at east once a year, and what better time then now? Business strategy needs to be ever changing and ever evolving if you hope to compete effectively, and an audit of your strategy is definitely in order. Schedule a brainstorming session, look hard at what your competition is doing, consider your marketing tactics and come away with a fresh approach to your business for the upcoming year.

2. Audit your social media strategy. A SM assessment is an easy resolution to start the year, and Facebook is a natural starting point. Simple to use and critically important, FB is a key portal to your business, a point of entry for many of your potential customers. If you haven’t been attentive to this in 2011, start in 2012. Twitter is another channel that you should appraise and consider whether your efforts there are adequate or if they can stand improvement.

3. Attack your budget. We do this at the end of each year, and it is critical that you look closely at your budget as soon as possible. Track last year’s expenses and compare actual expenditures with budgeted amounts. Do a reality check and see where there is fat to be cut or where you are underestimating the true costs. An focused look at your costs will help you to keep them under control in the new year.

4. Try some experimentation. Resolve in the new year to set specific goals for your business, define strategies to achieve those, and then develop a short list of experimental tactics to execute. Perhaps you haven’t tried email marketing, social media, public relations, special events, or other marketing  methods and some or all of these may prove effective if you try. Be sure that you are able to effectively measure the results of any new tactic you engage in and be ready to quickly kill those that are not working and increase your efforts with those that are.

5. Gather your data. The new year is the perfect time to reconsider the business data you gather and whether you are measuring what is truly important. Resolve to measure effectively, develop useful reporting, just be careful that you don’t waste your time or the team’s on measurements which will not move your company forward.

Read the rest of this post »

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 logo design, web 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 image above is a print ad for the WWF. The ad, created and designed by Contrapunto BBDO (Madrid, Spain), educates people about desertification, which destroys approximately 6,000 species every year. More creative ads in the Social Media & Marketing section below.

Converting to Square for credit card processing – http://bit.ly/s2KhpP

Using crowdSPRING’s crowdsourcing site for design and editing projects – http://exm.nr/vkc3BD

Small Business and Startups: End-of-Year Mishegoss, 2011 Version – http://bit.ly/t8NGzy

Bosses, Stop Caring If Your Employees Are At Their Desks – http://awe.sm/5bRhp

Clear Indications That It’s Time To Redesign – http://bit.ly/sbKjcB

crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Flightwise/ MyRadar Mobile Apps – http://bit.ly/rRa3Cu

Bosses, Stop Caring If Your Employees Are At Their Desks – http://awe.sm/5bRhp

Small Business and Startups: End-of-Year Mishegoss, 2011 Version – http://bit.ly/t8NGzy

Clear Indications That It’s Time To Redesign – http://bit.ly/sbKjcB

Using crowdSPRING’s crowdsourcing site for design and editing projects – http://exm.nr/vkc3BD

The trap of social media noise – http://bit.ly/sg8SBn

The 50 funniest tweets of 2011- http://funni.ly/vid1iG

The Real Story Behind Apple’s ‘Think Different’ Campaign – http://onforb.es/ujER41

Mobile Users Split on Check-In Services – http://bit.ly/t0BIEG

40 Fresh And Creative Print Ads – http://bit.ly/rEIfja

The Illusion of Choice – the mega-companies behind 90% of media, in an infographic – http://j.mp/vbWwSP

Send in the other you – http://bit.ly/rwEOhh

Infographic Of The Day: All About The Mobile App Market – http://bit.ly/uspgHV

25 Most Creative Typography Designs In Advertisement – http://bit.ly/tB1BnJ

23 Beautiful and Inspirational Fashion Print Ads – http://bit.ly/u1l7E2

20 Best Free Fonts From 2011 – http://bit.ly/sgcMHQ

Freelacing vs Agency Life – http://bit.ly/sKxAx8

Best Of 2011: Ultimate Collection Of High Quality Photoshop Tutorials – http://bit.ly/sgO7AA

50 Useful and Free Seamless Pattern Sets – http://bit.ly/rSoW3K

Read the rest of this post »

It’s that time of year again, when many of us will wrap our gifts, unsuccessfully try not to crush them while stuffing them in our suitcases, and then hope for the best as we head off to the airport.  Flying During The Holidays is difficult not only because airports are packed with every Tom, Dick, and Sally (and their husband, brother, sister, mother-in-law, and nieces’s daughter’s twin babies), but also because weather and other unforeseen circumstances can make flights unreliable and unpredictable.

Flightwise is a mobile app, developed by ACME AtronOmatic, that might be able to help you as you start your holiday traveling. The app can track any flight that applies to the IFR. This definitely includes commercial flights, you can track full fleets.  Originally developed for aviation professionals, it’s caught on with the commercial traveller. You are also able to tweet flight updates.

Another app by ACME AtronOmatic that might be helpful during any travels is MyRadar, which provides you with an update of what the local weather radar looks like, based on your GPS location.

Andy talked to me a little bit about flying wiser and the business of app development:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

ACME AtronOmatic develops web applications as well as  apps for mobile smartphones, like the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, and Android phones.  Our biggest focus on the web-side of the spectrum is Flightwise, an aircraft tracking website geared towards aviation professionals and enthusiasts – as opposed to commercial flight tracking, which tends to be geared towards the airline traveler.   On the other side of the coin, our most popular mobile app is MyRadar, which is a simple, single-use app that just displays nearby weather radar.  People seem to love it!

What made you use crowdSPRING? 

We needed to have a number of logos and icons designed for our various apps, but it was difficult figuring out where to in order to find good design talent.  We started scouring the web to help point us in the right direction and came across a number of web articles about crowdSPRING.  From our very first experience, we were hooked!

What was your biggest learning curve/experience?

From a personal standpoint, my greatest difficulty was growing from a geek-minded individual who wanted to have fun with technology into the “geek-minded individual who wanted to have fun with technology while managing a business properly”.  It wasn’t enough to just have fun with what I do for work, but I also needed to keep it all in the perspective of earning money from the work we do in order to ensure that the people who work with me are able to collect a paycheck. Read the rest of this post »

In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.

We’re very proud to feature Roman (crowdSPRING username: Romasuave ) today. Roman lives and work in Northridge, California.

1. Please tell us about yourself.

My name is Roman Faiman, I am 37, husband to a wonderful woman and father to 2 amazing children, Ben who is 7 and Olivia, 4. We reside in Northridge, a suburb of Los Angeles and I do all of my designing from the comforts of my home studio/Kids play room.

I have a full time job, an Art Department Manager for a printing company, I handle all of the work that comes in and I prep it for printing, which is at times an arduous task since many so called graphic design gurus don’t really know how to set up their files for proper printing. On top of that I also spend a good 30-40% of my day creating designs for our clients. Our biggest account that I am involved in designing is The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, for whom I have designed anything from brochures to presentation folders to event books.

After my work day is over it’s time to work for my company, 4-8 Designs, my main focus at the moment is photo retouching, with print design, including logos, stationary secondary. My website is www.4-8designs.com

Read the rest of this post »

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 operating their venture, but there are many things that each has in common and the scramble at the end of the year is one of those. Bonuses and raises to consider for the new year, tax prep to accomplish for the accountants, gifts and cards for your best clients – these are the little chores that every business owner carries out during these waning days of autumn.

Some of us may already have these tasks checked these off the list, and others among us will no doubt procrastinate and not carry through until in the grip of a post-New Years-champagn-hangover, but sooner or later you will have to deal with the drudgery. I had planned a list of 12 tasks, one for each of the 12 days of Christmas, but could only come up with 8. So, in honor of the the 8 nights of Hanukkah (and in the spirit of Yiddishisms), I have put together a list of the 8 things you should be doing (or at least thinking about) over the next couple of weeks as the holidays approach.

1. Plan ahead. A new year is the perfect metaphor for a strategic assessment and a great opportunity to rethink your approach to the business. Make some time this month to review your current goals, strategies, and tactics. Look hard at the data and be ready to discontinue the efforts that are not paying off, renew the ones that are, and come up with some great ideas for new efforts for next year. Holiday time is also a great time to do some reading and there are a ton of great business books out there which will surely get your juices flowing and help you to generate some new ideas for your own business.

2. Review the team. Most companies use the evaluation process to determine bonuses and salary increases and December is the perfect time to sit with each member of the team and spend some time discussing their performance, contribution to the company, and personal/professional development. There are numerous methods to use for your employee review and each has it’s advantages, but on a practical level, most small companies approach this process as a simple conversation. My best advice is to take some time beforehand to prepare; for each member of the team write a list of the things they did well and the things they did poorly. Reflect on the employee’s overall contribution, their growth in terms of skills and abilities, and how they work with the rest of the team. Be honest in your feedback and identify areas for improvement and goals for the coming year. Be sure to write these down as they will serve as a guide for next year’s evaluation.

3. Arrange for time off. Holiday time is friends and family time and many folks at work will want to take some extra time to spend with theirs. Be as flexible with work schedules as you can and be prepared to give your people some extra time to enjoy the season. While our office is typically open the week between Christmas and New Years, we tend to encourage people to work from home that week, or otherwise limit their time in the office. This is a wonderful ‘gift’ in itself and the goodwill will mre than make up for the lost hours for that one week of the year. Not to mention that people come back after the holidays with batteries fully recharged and their attitudes happily mellowed.

4. Prep for the accountant. Well tax tie is here again! Not really, but it is just around the corner and now is a great time to get organized for the hand off that will happen early next year. Make sure your accounts are up to date, that your reconciliations are done through November, and that your income and expenses are correctly booked. It is a smart practice to send your Quickbooks, Freshbooks, or other financial file to the accountant this month and let her have a look. This way she can give you any notes,ask any questions, or make any changes ahead of time and eliminate the scramble that often accompanies the April 15th rush.

Read the rest of this post »

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 logo design, web 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 video above is “Resolution”, performed by the John Coltrane Quartet (featuring McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and John Coltrane). This video was captured in 1965.

Small Businesses Save Big with Crowdsourcing – http://t.co/fAUY3gbS

Important Advice For Business Owners: Only Two Numbers Matter – http://t.co/FiaaFVUc

Small Business and Startups: For Great Customer Service, Speed Counts – http://t.co/fuhS6zLN

Good read: How To Sell Almost Anything – http://t.co/J1qdZPOj

Want more people to pay attention to you online? Talk less about you, more about them – http://t.co/5egGbXSd

Important Advice For Business Owners: Only Two Numbers Matter – http://t.co/FiaaFVUc

Good read: How To Sell Almost Anything – http://t.co/J1qdZPOj

Small Business and Startups: For Great Customer Service, Speed Counts – http://t.co/fuhS6zLN

The Obvious, the Easy, and the Possible – http://t.co/c2OiPrtS

A good culture avoids these dangers: Eight Dangers of Collaboration – http://t.co/d3tmipYa

Don’t Be A Free User – http://t.co/Mz5bJ3H7

Cheap Willl Be Smart. Expensive Will Be Dumb – http://t.co/SwTbag6Y

Design for Continuous Deployment – http://t.co/0BQOmQZg

Klout, My Story & Why Opting Out Was My Only Choice – http://t.co/oJiekh5E

Intelligent critique of AdKeeper by Digiday’s @JackMarshall – http://t.co/14r518p5

Nice feature story via Chicago Tribune on @Ramon_DeLeon – http://t.co/TUCwiyHs

It’s only the beginning in the radical evolution of what agencies will look like in the future – http://t.co/2iaxSheU

“Thanks for calling. We see your Klout score is 10, so your hold time will be 5 hours.” – http://t.co/Pq6Hai6S

Ads: The Death of User Experience on CNN, Forbes, Mashable – http://t.co/rnnEJPqO

Want more people to pay attention to you online? Talk less about you, more about them – http://t.co/5egGbXSd

Good read: How To Sell Almost Anything – http://t.co/J1qdZPOj

6 Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Choosing Fonts – http://t.co/OpVBRnK1

25 Beautiful Examples of Text Art and Typography in Print Ads – http://t.co/9Zd2Rgxn

Mouthwatering Collection Of jQuery Plugins And CSS3 Tricks – http://t.co/8g9GyGuA

How to guarantee return clients – http://t.co/obs5wsdq

Read the rest of this post »

Howard Morgan, the Managing Partner of First Round Capital has a simple and practical view on evaluating Internet-based businesses:

If you have a business that’s based around the internet, basically only two numbers we need to know: What’s the cost to acquire a customer? What’s the lifetime customer value? If the lifetime customer value is higher the than cost to acquire, you’ve got a business. If it isn’t, you don’t.

All business owners – and not only those building Internet-based businesses – should follow this advice. Here’s Howard Morgan’s short video on this subject.

Do you agree?

There are lot of benefits to owning your own car.  Like not having to haul groceries a mile and then drag them up the stairs to your third floor walk up.  Or not having to limp around town on a sprained ankle. And having the independence to go where you want to go, when you want to go there, not arrive to work 40 minutes late because the train was delayed. Yeah, I’m having a really great week, why do you ask? One of the benefits of owning a car is definitely not finding a mechanic when something goes wrong.

Until ThriftyWrench.com came along.  Car repair services can sign up to have their name available on the site.  Users then provide car information (make, year, problem, etc.) and businesses will submit estimates to the person who posted their car’s problem. After comparing estimates, users can then go with the garage that gives them the best price, but still skip the step of calling or meeting with people.  Though ThriftyWrench is currently only available in western Wisconsin and the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, their ultimate goal is to have garages represented from all over the United States.

Co-founder, Jon, took some time to share these words with me:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

Tough economic times have convinced many Americans to hold on to their cars longer. As a result the odometer on the average car has risen to 105,000 miles and many are in need of more expensive repairs and maintenance. If you don’t have a mechanic you can trust the mind boggling complexity of cars today makes it hard for you know if you’re being overcharged.  ThriftyWrench.com is a free online referral service that solves this problem by connecting you with up to three reputable local repair shops so you can compare real car repair estimates. Our experience has shown that comparing estimates can save you up to 30% on almost any car repair.

What are some industry specific challenges you faced?  

In the automotive repair industry there are over 80,000 repair shops. Creating a system to identify the shops that offer you the best service at a fair price has been challenging. We’ve spend countless hours screening and surveying repair shops in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area to make sure you are working with the best. To make our service even better, in the coming months we will be adding a repair shop review section where you will be able to see real ratings from verified customers to make this process even easier for you.

What was your biggest learning curve/experience?

Coming into this industry as a consumer my biggest learning curve has been identifying the places where some repair shops choose to cut corners or unfairly pad their profits. It was amazing to learn the how many different ways shops take money out of your pocket. A few of the most common we saw were pushing unnecessary repairs or maintenance, using inferior parts, and exaggerating the time it takes to make a repair. We were able to avoid shops that were using these practices by talking to honest auto repair experts that have decades of experience in the industry. Read the rest of this post »

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 get your computer warmed up and submit your very best work this month; the award will go to the Creative who joined the site in 2011, and receives the highest average buyer score for the month. To be eligible, you must compete in at least 5 projects and submit at least 10 entries for the month.

Good luck everyone  - we’re looking forward to seeing your entries!

And now…. the November cS Award Winner….

Read the rest of this post »