Product Review: Business & Traveler Tech Gadgets

I recently purchased a new tool that, as a business traveler, I use extensively. My standard M.O. was to go to a gas station and buy the cheap car chargers for my phones and then have to throw them out in a few months because they are so cheap. For around $10 you can buy most of the ones you need at most places, HOWEVER, the recurring cost is too high. I found one of the best-kept secrets for the small business traveler, medium or big business traveler. For a small start-up cost you can get charger attachments for around $10, or less, but the base of this device has six connections, as well as a means to plug it into a home base or a car. Learn More

It is a comprehensive solution that I wish I had found years ago, if it existed. This high tech device is called ChargePod and it a wonderful tool. You can charge almost EVERYTHING with the ChargePod!! And the attachments can be removed so you are not limited to just six devices. You can charge SIX devices at a time. Is that awesome or what? I just went and got a charger for my new BlackJack phone, which I will review soon, for less than $10, BUT I can use it in the car or at the home-office-airport, etc. I also bought one of their BlueTooth headsets, but I can’t review it because my laptop needs updating. When I upgrade the laptop, I will review all sorts of BlueTooth devices. I personally have not had much luck with the BlueTooth technology yet. Learn More

Also, if you like it, and have a website with some traffic, you can easily become a reseller. This is one of my greatest finds since I have been in business and had to travel for a living! I like this thing so much I bought the company. Well, I became a reseller. A little humor there. Sorry. Learn More

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High Tech Business Product Reviews: More High Tech Product Reviews, Best Web-Based Phone System, More Web Based Phone Systems, High Tech Author

Product Review: Small Business Web-Based Phone Systems

If you own a small business there is nothing more damaging to your company than a busy signal. Your competitors will use that against you and your potential customers will get a bad taste in their mouth immediately.

The next most damaging thing to your small business is an answering machine. It makes people think you are not accessible. It is better to have the owner answer the phone than the answering machine. So, you need a small business phone system that will track you down, or best case, have a professional sounding answering system, not a machine. Learn More

When we first started doing business, we found GotVMail and we looked immensely more professional immediately.

Before I found GotVmail we spent about $4,000 on a board for a server computer to handle voicemail and incoming calls, which also included roll-over lines. Later, I discovered GotVmail, which completely changed our company. We spent a very small amount of money and got a professional voice to answer the phones and changed our business model immensely. Learn More

The GotVmail folks also recently dropped their prices which makes them the MOST cost effective phone system for small business on the planet. Learn More

As many of you already know I am a serial entrepreneur and have many small businesses as well as one fairly large business and the one thing all these businesses have in common is that we use the Web-based phone system(s) available through the GotVMail system.

For less than $10 per month you get UNLIMITED extensions, sometimes the appearance of big is a key business factor or, at least, a better display of organization. Use different extensions for Sales, Support, Customer Service, etc. It gives the caller the impression that you are a bigger firm, but also a well organized firm, but you can place a return caller on the inbound sales calls by alerting them that there are leads that they need to call as soon as possible, while you or another person can be alerted of the other calls. Be a small home based business, but don’t look like one. Learn More

At the very least, you can explain that you are small, but lean and efficient, as a small firm. If you grow, which I’m sure you plan to, you can get 1,900 more minutes and two more toll free or local numbers for under $50 per month.

I have tested dozens of other system as well as purchased IBX phone systems for thousands of dollars and this Web-based system does it all, plus more. For a small fee we usually get a third party, pleasant, voice mail voice to answer the phones for us when we can’t get to them and calls go to voice mail. Learn More

I liked the system so much I bought the company. That’s a fib, I became a reseller, for full disclosure, but this is a great small business tool for a fraction of the cost.

You can look up numbers for free. Follow the link at the end of this article, then click on “Sign Up” to look up available numbers now. It doesn’t sign you up just to search the numbers. Learn More

CyberVillage SpotLight on Business: Neil Reich, Reich Supply

Sometimes the key to success is simply possessing the ability to read the signs all around you. Neil Reich, owner and founder, Reich Supply, has an innate ability to sense business environments and adjust to compensate. He also has the ability to quickly embrace new technology, leverage his time and pick a strong team. One of the best examples of the ability to leverage his time is when he was young boy of thirteen. Neil had a newspaper route in Utica and leveraged the time while he was deliveri… Continue

CyberVillage Spotlight: Lynne Mishalanie Utica Monday Nite

By PJ MALIN Like a wizard stepping out from behind a curtain, Lynne Mishalanie and her band, Jazz Garden, made a rare appearance recently on a Utica Monday Nite. [ Resources: Utica Monday Nite Events Calendar –… Continue

CyberVillage SpotLight: Denise Mishalanie, Founder, Whirled Peas

See this in the print magazine in PDF format. Necessity – Mother of Invention & Entrepreneurial Spirit Necessity as the mother of invention also frequently sparks new entrepreneurial ventures and careers. Denise Sachs-Mishalanie discovered such a venture through her friends and family network. The necessity was her family’s desire for the beads and jewelry she makes as well as the need and de… Continue

CyberVillage SpotLight: Peter Corn, Founder, Peter’s Cornucopia

As many of you might know, the owner of Peter’s Cornucopia is a gentleman by the name of Peter Corn. It seems like it makes sense, but maybe you didn’t know. We interviewed him for the Central New York CyberVillage SpotLight. [ See Print Version of CyberVillage SpotLight (PDF) ] The goal of the SpotLight is to learn more about business… Continue

CyberVillage Spotlight – Congressman Sherwood Boehlert

This interview with Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-23), started with my walk into the Alexander Pirnie building. I met airport-like security on the first floor. A walk-through metal detector and x-ray machine scanned everything. The office, now occupied by Congressman Arcuri, looks out across the off-ramp that leads into downtown Utica, northeast to the New York State Thruway, and a bit further north the Route 8 and Route 12 extensions can be seen meandering toward the Adirondacks, the larges… Continue

CyberVillage Spotlight – NYS Senator Ray Meier

Ask Former New York State Senator Ray Meier what made his job worthwhile and he’ll sound a familiar refrain. People. Not just adults who are old enough to vote, but youngsters who’ve probably never heard of him. Ray Meier believes that people of all walks of life and age groups are ultimately responsible for the direction of the various communities in which they reside and continually urges those people to take a more active role in virtually every area of local and state government as a way to… Continue

CyberVillage Spotlight – Adirondack Bank & McDonald’s Owner Tom Clark

Tell me about your ties to the Mohawk Valley. A: Big Moose Lake has a very special spot in my heart. That’s where I enjoy unwinding and thinking. My grandparents had a summer place in the Adirondacks on Big Moose and my parents purchased it when my grandparent passed away. It was then given to my brothers and sisters and myself. From spring to fall I can be at Big Moose lake. It’s about an hour and fifteen minutes from where we’re sitting. Many days in the summer I go to Big Moo… Continue

CyberVillage Business SpotLight: Croghan NY Jewelry Business

This week we shine the business spotlight on Lisa Nortz, Croghan New York, and her jewelry business. Keep up the gr8 work Lisa. It is business entrepreneurs like Lisa who will pull us out of the bad economy. From her blog: My name is Lisa Nortz and I’m married to my high school sweetheart, Mike. We live in the woods near Croghan NY between Tug Hill and the Adirondacks. Our 2 sons, Josh and Jeremy, are grown and live in Charlotte, NC and Oneonta, NY respectively. Mike and I have 2 dogs, Geronimo… Continue

Career Advice For Students

By Rob Thrasher

I recently saw a post from a High School Senior asking for career advice. This particular person was looking into Navy Nuclear Power School.  The advice I give today will be generic, no matter what career you might consider. I will also give some generic advice based upon my analysis of people in many specific fields.

Consider your personality when choosing career, or training, paths. If you have good grades, that is fantastic, but you should also consider your particular personality, as well as your ability to pay for college. Read Full Article

Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy

Search Engine Secrets: As simple as 1,2,3.

Part I)
Since I was in the New York Times way back in 1996, I observed, in horror, people who claimed to be experts touting the newest secret of the search engines. Some will say to place white words on a white background, but they were defeated by newer search engine technologies. While I never did jump on board with tricks because much as in life in general, the easiest things to do are rarely the most effective and long term strategies. Example: One of my customers decided they would follow the rest of the lemmings over the cliff, even if this isn’t what they do, and get a Facebook profile page. Sounds great right? I mean, don’t you always do what every other person does because it is popular? And don’t run your business by blindly jumping into the next big buzzword! How about Twitter? How about NOT! Pass on these sites, at least until you have an actual plan!

Part II)
If you haven’t even produced a basic keyphrase strategy to develop your online marketing plan then you’re leaving your online strategy up to chance! Is that how you run a business? When you get into Facebook and twitter, how will people find you there? In Google? When you get into these, or other social networks, like CyberVillage or FaceBook, you need to have a strategy. This strategy includes the frequency you will post to your social network pages, what the titles of these posts will be, and keyphrases to include in the text and tags. Otherwise you are flying blind.

Read the rest of Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy now.