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For Email Newsletters you can trust About the Smartfast Blog
The pace of business keeps you on the run. You need to make (SMART) decisions and take action quickly (FAST). Business attorney Jean Sifleet created the SMART FAST® blog to help. Whether you’re a start up company or an established company, SMART FAST® provides information that can help you make more informed business decisions. This is information – not legal advice.
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Category Archives: Innovation
Social Media – Goals & Guidelines for Business and Personal Use
Social Media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) are used by individuals and companies – and really blur the lines between what’s business and what’s personal. In the workplace, employers set the standards for conduct and acceptable speech. Outside the workplace, … Continue reading
Have you read — “The 12 Secrets of Highly Successful Women”?
In her new book, Gail McMeekin has pulled together some really practical advice — – into 12 essential steps. The book is inspiring – with the stories and experience of thirty successful women — and the patterns reinforced with her thirty years … Continue reading
Posted in Business Practices, Innovation, Legal, Uncategorized
Tagged Collaboration, Creativity, Entrepreneur, Intellectual Property
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Convert “Pirates into Partners”
At a conference on Innovations in Learning, sponsored by Brandon Hall Research (See: www.brandon-hall.com), I learned about how new technologies are being used to create “communities” that engage users – and help to improve products and services and build businesses. … Continue reading
Posted in Business Practices, Business Systems, contracts, Copyright, Innovation, Intellectual Property, Legal, Social Media, The Cloud, Uncategorized, Web-based services
Tagged Amazon, Collaboration, Copyright, eBay, Fair Use, Harry Potter, Intellectual Property, Partners, Pirates, Star Wars
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“Being Wrong” – Learning from Mistakes
There is an old adage that you learn more from your mistakes than your successes. But “being wrong” is hard to face. The natural human tendency is to want to be “right” and to dig into positions based on “beliefs” … Continue reading
Key Business Value Drivers — Intangibles and Employees
“Value drivers” distinguish successful companies from their competitors. While it’s easy to be distracted by all the demands competing for the business owner’s time and attention, successful companies focus on the key value drivers – which are frequently “intangibles” and … Continue reading
Posted in Business Model Profitability, Business Practices, Business Systems, Employment, Innovation, Intellectual Property, Legal, Non compete, Uncategorized
Tagged Copyright, Employees, infrastructure, Intellectual Property, Professional Services, Restaurants, Retail, Technology, Value Drivers
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10 Examples of Failed Projects Resulting in Successful Products
Even failed projects can result in successful products if people can see potential applications and learn from the experience. For example, Post-it notes resulted from a failed glue project at 3M. Kevlar (bulletproof fibers) resulted from a failed project at … Continue reading
Posted in Business Practices, Innovation, Intellectual Property, Uncategorized
Tagged aspirin, Intellectual Property, ivory soap, Kevlar, levi's, microwave, mistakes, penicillin, Post-it, scotchgard, sweetners, velcro
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“Law of Two Feet” – Catalyst for Innovation
I heard about “the law of two feet” at Innovation 2010, an UN-conference sponsored by Mass Technology Leadership Council. Basically, it means “If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use … Continue reading
Posted in Business Systems, Innovation, Intellectual Property
Tagged Innovation, Intellectual Property, Law of Two Feet
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10 Things I Learned from The Social Network – the movie about Facebook
10. An idea is not a business. The Winklevoss twins claimed their “idea” was stolen. But they did not build a business because they failed to implement their idea. They also seemed sloppy about protecting their confidential information and in … Continue reading
Emerging Business Model – “SPICE”
New business models are emerging that challenge the old assumptions about how to operate a business for profitability. In the book “Firms of Endearment – How World Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose” (Wharton School Publishing), the authors, … Continue reading
“We are all Self-Employed” – Job or No Job, Think Like an Entrepreneur
I encourage everyone to think like an entrepreneur. Even if you have a great W-2 job, that job can disappear for many reasons unrelated to your performance. Finding work at one company or another still requires you to adapt to … Continue reading
Posted in Business Practices, Employment, Innovation, Legal, Uncategorized
Tagged Employees, Entrepreneur
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