Cover Story
One note at a time
The first thing Mike Cleary did after returning from a recent two-day business trip to Milwaukee and Chicago was send 13 notes to customers, clients, vendors and others he had met.
They were simple notes, some as short as two sentences. One thanked a client for meeting with him. Another let a vendor know he really enjoyed a presentation, and a third reminded a potential customer about the services his company could provide.
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Letter From the Editor
Late
If you rode a Segway to work today ? you know, those big-wheeled, motorized carts that you stand on, looking faintly embarrassed as your clothes billow about and you jostle for space with the SUVs ? then you?re an early adopter of technology.
If you?ve got a box of PDAs, or personal digital assistants, that you?ve tried and discarded until finding just the right one, you too are likely a technophile. You?re unlikely to be overwhelmed by the vast number of technological choices available.
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Back Page
Tom Niccum, Lancet Software, on the value of expanding your world view
Tom Niccum returned in March from a two-week photography trip to Afghanistan, where he met up with Steve McCurry, a photographer for National Geographic. Their experiences included photographing a religious ceremony amid flying knives ? the type of thing that Niccum says makes ordinary business problems seem tame.
In his other life, Niccum is president of Lancet Software in Eagan, a firm he started with three partners. He says they?ve realized their No. 1 business goal: To create a successful place to work where you don?t curse when you have to go there on Mondays.
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Focus
Technology buyer's guide
Owners can cut costs for communication with expert strategies Continue reading →
Technology buyer's guide
Wireless technology sheds ?toy? status to become tool Continue reading →
Q&A
Low-tech process can
estimate return on tech
investment Continue reading →
Technology buyer's guide
Web sites that allow e-commerce are best bet, experts say Continue reading →
Technology buyer's guide
Analyze cost, benefit of office options before you buy too much
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Business Builders
Money
As a successful business owner, your key assets, such as your business, home and other savings, are very important to you. With the uncertain future of today?s estate tax laws, the failure to plan ahead could significantly affect your estate. Many individuals feel the best way to ensure their assets are passed on efficiently is to transfer their wealth during their lifetime.
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Technology
?When choosing between two evils,? quipped film legend Mae West, ?I always choose the one I?ve never tried before.? But when it comes to choosing among high-speed Internet access options for your company, you may find that your choices ? from DSL and cable to T1s, ISDN and DS3s ? might baffle even the indomitable Ms. West. Continue reading →
Strategy
In the March 2003 issue of Upsize, Kim Garretson told entrepreneurs to ?squish the strategy bug on the pavement.?
As teachers of strategic planning who frequently advise entrepreneurs, we initially cringed at this advice. After all, we might be considered to be priests in the temple of strategy.
Yet after a careful reading of Garretson?s argument, we found that he was not as negative about strategy as we first thought and that there are some points where we might agree.
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Human Resources
Last March, one of our vendors dropped by the office and found us having a picnic. She was clearly taken aback.
All of our staff members, dressed in Bermuda shorts and T-shirts, were sitting on blankets and beach towels, munching goodies from picnic baskets and getting ready to dive into a six-foot-long hoagie. The room was decorated with sunbursts and other items suggesting the long-awaited arrival of summer as driving snow swirled against the windows.
We invited her to join us and within minutes, she too was experiencing what we at our company call ?delight.?
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