Accounting 101: The Fundamentals

Below is a new accounting tutorial I learned about from my "Financial Management Essentials" course at PACE (Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment).
http://www.pacela.org


Accounting 101: The Fundamentals
I'll probably review the course and write a review and learnings here on the blog. :)


Here's the course content in case anyone is ever interested in a course at PACE.
Session 1: Principles of Financial Management, 5/25
Session 2: Profit and Loss Statement / Trend Analysis, 6/1
Session 3: Balance Sheet / Balance Sheet Analysis, 6/8
Session 4: Inventory Management & Pricing, 6/15
Session 5: Cash Flow Projections / Improving Cash Flow, 6/22
Session 6: Financing Your Business - Access to Capital, 6/29

Here's a little about PACE from their site:
PACE was created to offer job training and job placement services to its constituent communities.

Today, PACE’s scope of services includes workforce development, housing services and development, environmental services, small business assistance, and early childhood education. PACE is headquartered in the Downtown Los Angeles area with field offices and programs located throughout Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley and the South Bay. The agency has a workforce of over 380 employees who are multi-lingual and multi-cultural to meet various needs of its constituent communities.

PACE is a leader in making positive changes in our diverse communities that have social and economic challenges. PACE transforms lives through empowerment of individuals, families and businesses.

YouTube - NIKE WRITE THE FUTURE - FULL LENGTH VERSION

Ah-mazing...Not only all the cameos, but great art direction, and camera movement that captures the emotion of the game not only from the point of view of fans, but for the players as well. It really portrays the fame, celebrity, notoriety that comes with launching onto the world stage as a professional athlete.

7 Tips to Increase Networking Effectiveness during a career change | Interns Over 40

Great tips for networking...must remember for next event instead of being a wallflower...

7 Tips to Increase Networking Effectiveness during a career change | Interns Over 40

Evernote Review

My first review on productivity tools is Evernote. The image below is a description on their site about how to use Evernote. I especially enjoyed their soft edged graphics. But before I go into my review about Evernote, let me tell you how I discovered it. I stumbled upon an article titled, "12 Essential Android Apps for SMBs." http://tiny.cc/acl98 They listed the usual, Google Maps, Skype Mobile, Google Goggles which other blogs have been praising as well. I have some of these apps already but I discovered a few new ones I thought might be interesting to use and review like Evernote, Documents to Go, PageOne Personal Assistant and Pocket Lie Detector (that should be fun!).



So, couple weeks ago I attended an SBA/SCORE class in Glendale about building business credit and reviewed twenty recommended steps on how to accomplish it. Lots of great tactics and taught by an entrepreneur and business development consultatnt - super helpful! So, I thought I'd test my Evernote tool and record the session using the audio text tool. On my way home, I listened to the recorded sessions which I split into five parts. I found it useful because often times I can't write fast enough to get all the notes and for something as important as this I definitely didn't want to miss any details.

Next time, i may try recording it on Google Voice so the recording can then be transcribed, which I feel Evernote is missing. Also, would be nice if Evernote's text and audio notes could be transferred more easily to blogs.

Next productivity tool review will be Basecamp. It's an online project management tool I've been using for five years now and I can't imagine building my site without it. Stay tuned...

Evernote

So at my attempt to keep this blog about my site development, keep relevant and make the most use of my productive but very expensive phone I have decided to write about tools I use online and on my phone that keep me productive. For example i am writing this at 2:30am from my verizon motorola droid phone from blogspot.com.

My first attempt at writing a review will be about Evernote. I'll explain more tomorrow when I'm a lil more awake. I met w/my creative director tonight and his girlfriend. Lots of fun and lots of business. I have an SBA class about building business credit - should be interesting. Will let you know and tell you more about Evernote tomorrow ;)

trendwatching.com's May 2010 Trend Briefing covering "STATUSPHERE"

trendwatching.com's May 2010 Trend Briefing covering "STATUSPHERE"

"STATUSPHERE | As consumers are starting to recognize and respect fellow consumers who stray off the beaten consuming-more-than-thou-path, 'new' status can be about acquired skills, about eco-credentials, about generosity, about connectivity... All of this makes for a far more diversified 'STATUSPHERE' than most brands and organizations have traditionally catered to. Time to really figure out how and where your customers are now finding their status fix."

Not sure how this relates to the Inland Empire, especially with more suburban and simple values. Or, maybe I'm thinking of the older generation of consumers in the IE. Now that 12 year olds have cell phones and are mobile I guess the article's mention of "participation is the new consumption" would be very relevant.

Five Steps to Social Currency

Great article in May 2010 (issue 145) of Fast Company titled "Five Steps to Social Currency." They discuss insightful real examples of various social media campaigns that companies like Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, Gillette, etc. have done. The article called the following steps the new rules of the game.

1. Advocates trump followers: "'It's about all the interesting little things that let fans engage,'[David] Tryder says."
2. Context matters: "What's important is the bonding or "social context" during consumption."
3. Not every brand should be social
4. Social tools are a means, not an end
5. Gimmicks marginalize trust: Let the product be the hero

Welcome

So everything I read continues to convince me that I need to start a blog in order to promote my web site. So, that's what I'm doing.

I have been working in the online advertising and marketing industry for over seven years. I'm a nerd about advertising and marketing. I'm one of those people who watch TV for the commercials, enjoy going to random web sites to view banner ads and peruse numerous industry pubs on a daily basis to keep up to date and sharpen my skills.

For the past four years, I have been working on a site on the side from my 9 to 5 job (actually more like 9 to 9 and weekends also :)). The site is an online neighborhood guide for the Inland Empire in California (Riverside and San Bernardino counties). Over the years I've been lucky enough to learn how to develop, execute and maintain a web site and content from my 9 to 5 career. It's only been for the past couple years that I've been learning more about how to develop a business.

This blog is my response to numerous articles that recommend writing a blog to promote your business. I hope to share useful articles, resources, document my experience developing my business and maybe meet some new people along the way. Here goes...