What it takes to make money, growing mushrooms
The shiitake mushroom wasn’t grown in the U.S. until the late 1970’s. Before that they were imported as dehydrated mushrooms from China. But we found out some people in the Chippewa Valley are now making money, by growing their own shiitake mushrooms.
Deidra Barrickman has been growing the full flavored mushroom for 12 years on a small plot of land east of Eau Claire. She says what started out as a hobby — has grown into much more.
She says her patch has grown over the years, “This is probably around 800 or 900 logs we have now.”
The process starts in the winter when new logs used to grow the mushrooms are cut down. Then several dozen holes are drilled in the logs and shiitake spores are injected. She says, “As you can see, they’re kind of labor intensive.”
After that she says the logs have to stay well hydrated throughout the summer — creating a mini tropical forest. She says, “The shiitake is native to the jungles of Asia. So they do like heat and humidity — when we like being in the air conditioning — they’re growing fast.”
The more hot and humid it is — the more mushrooms Deidra can sell at the farmers market. She says last week she sold between 35 and 40 pounds at $10 per pound.
New Entrepreneurial Culture Taking Hold in New Orleans
IRVINE, Calif., July 28 /PRNewswire/ — With thousands of new jobs and tens of millions invested in business development in New Orleans, Entrepreneur takes a first-hand look at the city’s emerging entrepreneurial culture. The August issue’s coverage finds New Orleans to be another example of how entrepreneurship remains essential to economic recovery, particularly as troubled cities across the country search for a revival.
Four years after the more than 50 levees and floodwalls gave way during Hurricane Katrina, business owners are rebuilding New Orleans’ economic lifelines in a spirited environment flowing with creativity, community, mentorship and collaboration. Dozens of support organizations and incentives are contributing to the uprising with evidence of real results: The April unemployment rate for the New Orleans metro area was 5.3 percent, compared to the nation’s 8.9 percent.
“While known for its creative roots, New Orleans is fast becoming a business mecca as well, drawing innovative companies in everything from digital media to film, fashion, technology and more to find their place in the city,” says Amy Cosper, VP/Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur. “Business owners are brimming with invention and entrepreneurial energy after the clearing away of previously embedded industry and practices.”
To watch a video with local business owners discussing how entrepreneurs are leading the economic recovery, visit www.entrepreneur.com/neworleans.
Five things for employers to consider when hiring students
At this time of year, no doubt a large portion of employers will have a pit in their stomachs, knowing they may well have to take on a bunch of new graduates, who swagger around thinking they are God’s gift to their subject whilst thinking they have the relevant life experience to support themselves financially, mentally and independently.
1. Give them plenty of advice, direction and support.
While they are still in their learning phase, it is important to ensure they are given constructive criticism to help them fulfill tasks in the future to a better quality, but praise is also very important to maintain self-esteem and boost confidence levels. With this, give extra, specific and almost gratuitous details of the task in hand but without sounding patronising.
Have a read up on Herzberg’s two-factor/hygiene theory and put yourself in the mindset of the new employee.
Read all five here.
How to use Facebook if your company blocks it at work
I chose to post this because you might find it useful in reducing unproductive employees time at your own business.
For frequent users of social networking sites, finding a FaceBook unblock services can be truly valuable. The growth of the internet has lead many companies and schools to install internet filtering software that can prevent many web surfers from gaining access to desired websites.
While users of social networking sites may find themselves frustrated at looking at a “blocked website” message on their computer screen, there are ways to bypass filtering software. Proxy services are the way to work around filtering software. Proxy services work by allowing members to sign up for a membership that provides access to a proxy server. The proxy server site is not recognized as a dangerous or malicious website and is not blocked. Once logged on, members can anonymously go to their desired website without being tracked. And good proxy services prevent hacking by encrypting both incoming and outgoing activities as long as the user is signed on to the proxy server.
Free AK-47 for every pick-up truck
Max Motors, a Missouri, car dealer, is offering a voucher for a free AK-47 for every pick-up truck bought in August.
Auto sales have been absolutely clobbered–down 28% year over year–so the government, dealers, and auto makers are coming up with all sorts of inventive ways to attract business.
Mark Muller, owner of Max Motors, said the program builds on an earlier offer where customers had a choice between a $250 gas voucher or a gun voucher of the same value. An AK-47 can cost twice as much. Muller calls the initial deal an overwhelming success. He also says it generates a lot of publicity and really angers “liberals.”
Max Motors also offers more family-friendly promotions. Last Saturday, four used cars were sold for $5 each. The cars–including an 2001 Mustang and a 1998 Jeep Cherokee–went fast, and brought hundreds of customers to the lot. Max Motors sells several brands including Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac.
A Flash PDF Viewer for Reading PDF Files without Acrobat
Ever had a problem showing a PDF file too big for emails or slow internet connection? Make it into a Flash movie format which has smaller file size and can be viewed anywhere.
Like Scibd and SlideShare, PDFMeNot is an online PDF to Flash converter that will instantly convert any Adobe PDF document into a Macromedia Flash (SWF) movie while preserving the original layout, image graphics and formatting.
To create a PDF into flash, go to www.pdfmenot.com and either feed the PDF’s URL or upload the file itself to the PDF-to-Flash engine. Once the conversion is finished, you will get a link to view the Flash equivalent of the PDF.
And if you want to download the Flash file, go here for instructions.
Grab Your Local Listing in Bing
by reliable-web-hostings.com
Last week, Microsoft unleashed its brand new search engine onto the market. It’s called Bing and, contrary to what the name suggests, you do have to take it seriously. Even if you’re not planning to give up your Google search habit, you’ll still want to familiarize yourself with Bing to understand how you can help your site rank in their local search index.
To list your local business in Bing, head to the Bing Local Listing Center. From there, you’ll be able to check to see if you already have a local listing set up. If you do, you can modify it. If not, now’s the perfect time to create one.
