The 238^th edition of the longest running internet blog carnival, the well known Carnival of the Vanities continues at Kehaar's Silflay Hraka.

The carnival, and indeed the entire blog carnival idea, was born over four years ago at Bigwig's Silflay Hraka blog. It is now back home to Silflay Hraka, as Bigwig's brother Kehaar has assumed the reins with great results.

Carnival of the Vanities is the original collection of blog postings, assembling some of the best and wide ranging bloggers on the internet.

This week's Carnival of the Vanities entries include politics, literature, religion, humour, and business.



I have an entry in this week's Carnival of the Vanities as well.

My post is titled "Business blogs: Small business secret weapon" where I discuss how business blogs are a secret weapon for the small business owner. While perhaps not as dramatic as some of the high tech toys, employed by Batman or Wonder Woman style superheroes, a blog can provide an even greater impact. The power of a business blog is global in scope, providing unlimited power that would even make Superman raise an eyebrow.



The host says the preferred participation option is to simply enter at Blog Carnival.

As I suggest elsewhere, hosting and contributing to the various internet blog carnivals is a great promotional idea for your blog.

When you send an entry to Carnival of the Vanities, or any of the many internet blog Carnivals, don't forget to link to the hosted edition. It's not only common courtesy, but helps to increase visitor traffic for all entrants. It also shows your appreciation of the hard work done by the host in preparing the post. Everyone shares in the benefits of the expanded Carnival readership.

Show the Carnival some linky love.

Next week's edition of Carnival of the Vanities appears once again at Kehaar's Silflay Hraka.

In the meantime, head on over to the Silflay Hraka hosting of Carnival of the Vanities and enjoy the posts on offer.

You will almost certainly be introduced to some great new and interesting blogs.

Tags: Carnival of the Vanities, blogging, carnivals, promotions.

READ MORE - Carnival of the Vanities 238 at Silflay Hraka

The Carnival of Entrepreneurs is open for business as it returns to Ben Yoskovitz's carnival home blog Startup Spark. The Carnival is in its eightteenth edition with this latest entry into the business blog carnival cavalcade.

The entries include posts from leading business bloggers on topics relating to entrepreneurship and operating your own independent business.



I have an entry in this edition of Carnival of Entrepreneurs as well.

My post is titled "Business blogs: Small business secret weapon" where I discuss how a blog provides global reach for your independent business. In the past, a startup entrepreneur was confined by geography and limited cashflow to a very localized area. In countless cases, that small trading field was insufficient to develop a viable customer base. Opportunites for minor niche markets were simply not possible. If not enough potential customers and clients were within easy travelling distance of the company location, the business failed from lack of revenue.



The preferred participation option is to simply enter your best entrepreneurship post at Blog Carnival.

As always, don't forget to link to the hosted edition. It's not only common courtesy, but helps to increase visitor traffic for all entrants. It also shows your appreciation of the hard work done by the host in preparing the post. Everyone shares in the benefits of the expanded Carnival readership.

Next week's edition of Carnival of Entrepreneurs visits Roberto Alamos' online business advice blog known as RobertoAlamos.com

In the meantime, head on over to Startup Spark hosting of Carnival of Entrepreneurs and enjoy the posts on offer.

You will almost certainly be introduced to some great new and interesting indeprendent business and entrepreneurial blogs.

Tags: Carnival of Entrepreneurs, blogging, carnivals, promotions.

READ MORE - Carnival of Entrepreneurs 18 at Startup Spark

Entrepreneur, author, blog marketing expert Liz Strauss (photo collage left), founder and driving force behind the SOBCon07 blogging conference, shares cutting edge ideas for building relationships with blogs and how blogging conferences can boost your business, as my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, April 12, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Liz Strauss talks blogs as relationship builders and how those relationships can be multiplied many times over by attending a blogging conference. You will learn:

* How to start creating business relationships with blogs

* How to build and enhance those relationships over time

* How blogging conferences can multiply the blog relationship power

* How to participate or speak at a blogging conference



ME “Liz” Strauss (photo left) has worked over 20 years in print, software, and online publishing. As VP and Publisher for an American textbook company, Liz developed products and strategic plans with publishers in Europe, Australia, the UK, and Ireland. She has worked small companies making acquisitions, companies in crisis, and corporate giants such as Pearson, Reed Elsevier, and Wolters Kluwer. Her expertise extends from product development and marketing into business-startups and long-term strategic planning.

Today, at Liz Strauss [dot] com, Liz is a writer, career coach, and strategic planner with a focus on corporate blogging and strategic marketing. Her business writing is known for its clarity, originality, and a voice that develops a warm relationship with readers. Her presentations are known for being jam-packed with information, motivation, and fun.



Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

Let's talk with Liz Strauss and learn how blogs can build relationships that will take your business to the next level of success, on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Liz Strauss, building relationships, blog conferences, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Liz Strauss: Relationship building with blogs

This week sees a finance capital approach to the travelling business show, recognized by one and all as Carnival of the Capitalists arrives at Marshall Lebovits' (photo below left) business finance capital blog known as Show Me The Money.



This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists highlights some of the best bloggers writing on the internet today, as well as some of the best and most popular entries ever to the Carnival.

Blogging topics presented include entrepreneurship, management, market trading, internet commerce, marketing, the national economy and personal finance.

As you would expect from Carnival of the Capitalists, there are many discussions of economics, marketing, business, and small business.

It's always great to read and discover the many high quality blogs out there in the blogosphere.

We don't always get to them all, and this edition of Carnival of the Capitalists has introduced many of us to some brand new ones; as well as some long time contributors.



I have an entry in this week's Carnival of the Capitalists as well.

My post is titled "Bootstrap business: Building a debt free company" where I discuss how bootstrapping a business from the ground up has a long history. Entrepreneurs have been creating companies based on little or no debt, and paying as they go, for as long as there has been a capitalist economy. As a business building strategy, bootstrapping will succeed in any kind of economic climate. With increasing talk of an economic downturn in the air, developing a debt free company may be just the right idea for the times.

If you wish to submit an entry to next week's, or any Carnival of the Capitalists edition, e-mail your entries to the new address:

bizosphere -at- gmail -dot- com

You can always use the handy entry form at Gongol.com where all you have to do is fill in the blanks. Talk about making it easy to be included!



If you are searching for new and exciting ways to expand your blog's readership, you should seriously consider sending an entry to Carnival of the Capitalists.

Merely being included in the company, of the first rate regular Carnival of the Capitalists contributors, will enhance the reputation of your blog.

The extra visitors sent to your blog won't hurt either!

The growth and staying power, of Carnival of the Capitalists, is beginning to catch the attention of people outside the blogging community. Each hosting, brings a fresh assortment of new readers, to the various blogs involved.

The visitors aren't only bloggers anymore.

Readership is expanding to include the mainstream media, various government and private organizations, many businesses, and other interested people from beyond the blogging community.

Many people are introduced to some tremendous blogs that they might otherwise have missed.

Next week's Carnival of the Capitalists will be at Steven Silvers' marketing and public relations blog known as Scatterbox.

In the meantime, click your mouse over to the Show Me The Money hosting of Carnival of the Capitalists.

If the great posted entries don't convince you to click, or the possibility of finding some brand new blogs to read doesn't do it, then visit Carnival of the Capitalists and get into business for yourself.

Tags: carnivals, capitalism, business, marketing.

READ MORE - Carnival of the Capitalists at Show Me The Money

It's said that people think with a herd mentality. Almost everyone does or thinks in much the same way as the group, says this line of thought. If the concept of a thinking like the crowd is true, then you can be highly successful by going against what is perceived as conventional wisdom. If people are more independent in their thoughts, then you can be successful in gaining the numerous niche markets opened, by being contrarian to several crowds at once. In any case, thinking and acting independently will be your most profitable course of action.

A good example of group thought was the high technology stock mania of the latter 1990s. At that time, internet based stocks of companies with no products or earnings were being bought at enormous prices. It was thought that the so called New Economy was somehow different from the previous economic rules of supply and demand. Unfortunately for many follow the crowd investors, no one told supply and demand that they had been repealed. Financial disaster ensued as a result.



Another example of group thinking is playing out before our very eyes. Both the mainstream and alternative news media are full of tales of housing market woes. With subprime mortgages and their lending institutions reeling, and the homeowners falling behind in payments as their adjustable rate mortgages take an uppercut, housing prices look ready for a correction as well. If you were a contrarian thinker, you were selling your home at its peak value last year, and pocketing the savings. The same quality of home could be repurchased now for much less money. The prices may go even lower before the correction hits its bottom.

In both instances, thinking like the crowd got the average person into deep trouble. While there were riches to be had, it's true, there were also huge risks being taken in hopes that wealth would appear in the end. Contrarian thinkers were not caught up in the mania, and kept their hands on their wallets, and paid down their mortgages and debt levels. Extracting equity from their homes, and taking that equity out for a walk through the mall, was not on the contrarian agenda. While there may have been scoffing at the peak of the housing bonanza, there is only relief on the part of those who avoided the many refinancing traps.



For business people, seeking an alternative path to business success may appear difficult at first blush. It is understandably very difficult to resist the siren call of following the crowd. When other businesses are laying off staff, it's time to consider hiring more people. If other companies are reducing their advertising budgets, there is no better time to go after their market share. Looking for alternatives, as contary to popular wisdom though they may be, might be the road to success for your organization.

Of course, not every sitaution calls for contrarian thinking, and many people made huge amounts of money during the dotcom boom and crash, and riding the housing bubble. It's also true that many more people lost a bundle, and that was cash that many could ill afford to see fly out the window. Caution and a healthy skepticism can save a tragic loss of capital. In the end, that may be even more important than chasing an ever elusive pot of gold.

Instead of chasing the same hotly pursued rainbows, look in the opposite direction. You will find an open field ready for harvest.

Tags: business ideas, contrarian thinking, housing bubble, dotcom crash.

READ MORE - Contrarian thinking: Move away from the crowd