Remember Your Grammar...

I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why.

by Kyle Wiens 

"If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building."

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Another Second Life Resource

"TBD has broadened its scope to include development of full learning environments in the virtual world of Second Life. This new offering includes consulting on land selection and purchase, security configuration, marketing plan development in-world, terra-forming, landscaping, facility builds, avatar customization, team onboarding and training, and development of custom learning curriculum."

TBD Consulting Launches New Offering in Second Life

Has TBD Consulting done a market analysis? Is there an interest in hiring a consulting firm to establish a presence in Second Life?

In my experience with Second Life, those interested dive in and do it themselves. I found more consultants for Second Life than actual clients interested in hiring a consultant. Knowledge is free in Second Life. Residents are very willing to share with one another.

I have also witnessed people claiming to be potential clients receive a price quote and back away. The price quote is given in "real life" dollars. They were expecting virtual currency. It is more cost effective, easier and simply more fun to do it yourself.

Technorati Tags: Second Life, Consulting services, virtual worlds, business

The Modern Entrepreneur's office

clipped from www.inc.com Escape from Cubicle Hell From retirement-averse baby boomers to Gen Y-ers disillusioned with the corporate world, a growing number of people are starting businesses out of their homes in a wide range of industries. The latest U.S. Census statistics on nonemployer firms -- defined to include home-based businesses and those run by one or more individuals -- show that the number of self-employed reached 20.4 million in 2005, an increase of 4.4 percent from the previous year. Additionally, home-based businesses constitute 53 percent of all small businesses in the United States, according to NASE. Experts are predicting that economic factors will drive the growth of home-based businesses even farther in 2008. "I believe we're heading into a recessionary period," says Terri Lonier, author and founder of workingsolo.com. "Traditionally, in these times, more people turn to self-employment because traditional jobs are more difficult to come by."

Too much information!

Too much information!

By Lara Nieberding

The Internet is an over abundance of information. Have you ever researched a product online? Do your eyes bug out of your head when you see all the “Os” in the word Google at the bottom of your search? How do you sort through all your options?

I would like to thank Michelle Ulrich, Chief Villager of The Virtual Nation, for her comment that inspired my post today. She said when she does research she selects five resources. She looks at those five resources and from that prioritizes them into her top three decision points. Then she makes a choice. After she makes her decision, she moves on. Michelle is a successful virtual professional. Her time is of the essence, as is your time.

It is excessively overwhelming to worry about the 1.3 billion other options you did not consider. How do you sort through all your options? To keep you organized, efficient and productive here is an action plan:

· Organize

o Write down the product/service you are looking for.

o Write down the top ten features the product/service must have.

Unbelievably, writing down these two things is a critical action. As your search progresses, you will be inundated with details of the product/service. It is very easy to get side tracked from what you are actually looking for. Having a written reference will keep you focused.

· Efficient

o After writing down the product/service and the features you need, get online and start a search.

o Out of the search results, select five resources with these criteria:

§ Select one resource from the most expensive or most popular or the one with the best reviews category.

§ Select one resource from the middle price wise, recommendation wise, etc category.

§ Select one resource from the least expensive, least known, etc category.

§ Select one resource from the “looks interesting” category.

§ Select one resource at random.

o Thoroughly research your five resources.

§ Read the FAQ

§ Watch demos

§ Refer to your top ten features list

· Productive

o After thoroughly researching your five options, make your decision.

o Know that you made the best decision you could based on the information available to you at the time.

o Do not doubt yourself. Give yourself permission to let go of the fact that you did not consider the other 1.3 billion resources. Your productivity depends on it.