This week sees a social networking approach to the traveling business show, recognized by one and all as Carnival of the Capitalists and arrives at CotC co-founder Rob May's business blog known as Business Pundit. CotC has completed four very successful years, and will begin its fifth year. Carnival of the Capitalists is now the oldest uninterrupted blog carnival.

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 "Staff training: A business essential" where I discuss how in the hustle and bustle of a daily business routine, proper training of the company staff is often forgotten. Whether the personnel requiring instruction are new hires or long time employees, good staff training is essential to business success. If an employee is unable to do the job assignments, simply as a result of not knowing how to complete the tasks at hand, the company bottom line can experience some severe damage.

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:

thecotc -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 next week's anniversary edition part 2 will hosted at CotC co-founder Jay Solo's technology and business blog known as Dispatches From Bloglivion. CotC has completed four very successful years, and will begin its fifth year. Carnival of the Capitalists is now the oldest uninterrupted blog carnival.

In the meantime, click your mouse over to the Business Pundit 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 Season 5 opens at Business Pundit

Punk Marketing

Get Off Your Ass And Join the Revolution

Authors: Richard Laermer &
Mark Simmons
Published: March 1, 2007
ISBN: 9780061151101
Hardcover: 272pp
Publisher: Harper Collins





Punk marketing rejects the status quo and recognizes the shift in marketing and branding power from the corporation to the consumer, according to co-authors Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons, in their challenging and provocative book Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass And Join the Revolution. Complete with a paradigm jarring Punk Marketing Manifesto, the book's punk rock ethos demands grassroots based marketing that engages the few with an honest and creative message.

Breaking down the barricades of tradition, and handing freedom from conformity to the people, is the power of the punk legacy. Co-authors Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons apply this principle to marketing and branding, while rapping a few knuckles along the way. Instead of accepting the bland and watered down messages and tired out ideas, the punk marketing revolution takes a bottom up, consumer led approach to sharing the message. In a world of infinite choices of marketing mediums, the punk marketer lets the consumer take control. While traditional marketers cringe, the punk marketer takes risks, and relishes the resulting chaos.



Richard Laermer (sketch left)

Anarchy and chaos are essential in an era when mass marketing is a failed dinosaur. Fragmented media and wide ranging consumer choices in products and services demand targeted messages. Not only must those messages be more sharply focussed in their markets, they are also demanded to me more honest. Transparency rules.

In a world where a simple click of a mouse or TV remote control can remove an intrusive ad, a connection must be developed with the consumer, on a deeper level. In other words, a relationship based on trust and honesty between equals is essential. Talking down to consumers will get a message deleted in the blink of an eye. Consumers demand control of the message, and punk marketers are prepared to let consumers take the ball and run with it; wherever it may lead.



Mark Simmons (sketch left)

For me, the power of the book is its revolutionary approach to marketing. Instead of spreading the usual cliches as disposable confections, the authors recommend a world altering shift in viewpoint. In a book where the writers themselves suggest destruction of their very own words and pages, the message of abandoning traditional marketing is clear.

Engage the consumer, and hand over the marketing and branding power, or face the loss of their business. The book is about taking a stand for quality and honesty, and for trust in the consumer's right to choose. Marketers who understand they are no longer in control of the message will thrive. Those who fail to answer the call to the revolution's barricades will perish, and be forgotten.

I strongly recommend Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass And Join the Revolution by Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons for anyone who is serious about engaging their customers and clients. The lessons learned from the punk revolution, about being true to yourself and to your core beliefs and values, are vital in the modern world of marketing.

Read Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass And Join the Revolution by Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons and become part of the revolution. Long Live Punk!

Tags: Punk Marketing, Richard Laermer, Mark Simmons, business book reviews.

READ MORE - Punk Marketing by Richard Laermer & Mark Simmons - Book review

In the hustle and bustle of a daily business routine, proper training of the company staff is often forgotten. Whether the personnel requiring instruction are new hires or long time employees, good staff training is essential to business success. If an employee is unable to do the job assignments, simply as a result of not knowing how to complete the tasks at hand, the company bottom line can experience some severe damage.

It is not unusual for a new employee to be shown the desk or work station and be left to fend for herself. It is also commonplace for a long term employee to receive a promotion or new job assignment with no direction or instructions. Without proper training and guidance the employees are unable to produce good results and generate less revenue for the company. Unable to complete their assignments properly, the staff members often become frustrated and leave the job. Rinse and repeat.



Some business owners and managers take the penny wise route of skimping on saving. They also experience the pound foolish outcome of lower productivity. To cut back on training is asking for lower monetary returns. Instead of recognizing that staff training is an important investment, it is seen as a luxury expense that is one of the first places targeted for budget cuts. Lower production numbers and weakened staff morale soon follow.

Increased company revenue and improved staff productivity and morale are the most visible benefits of proper staff training. Less well known are lower accident rates on industrial sites, lower company health care costs, fewer problems with meeting government standards and regulations, and possible lower insurance and Workers Compensation premiums. At the same time, some potentially very costly and even business crippling lawsuits may be avoided by ensuring employees understand their job duties and responsibilities.



Customers and clients of your business recognize well trained staff people as well. Customer questions are answered properly and fully by employees who understand their job and their department completely. By knowing and understanding the client's needs and requirements, sales can be made where they were lost in the past.

Proper customer service training helps keep patrons happy and returning to your place of business. Reports and projects completed on time help the business to meet new challenges and opportunities, in the marketplace, quickly and with the appropriate plan in place.

Don't neglect proper employee training. It may be the most profitable investment that you can make in your company's future. Most business people state that their employees are their most important business asset. Not everyone practices what they preach, however. You can walk the talk, however, by ensuring that your staff members are trained fully in their job and its requirements.

Staff training is vital to your company's short and long term business success.

Tags: staff training, personnel management, employee productivity, customer service.

READ MORE - Staff training: A business essential

Online community building expert Julie Schlack, founding member and Senior Vice-President of Communispace, discusses techniques for building powerful internet communities, and vibrant social networks for your business and personal success. Julie Schlack is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, October 4, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Communispace founding member Julie Schlack discusses techniques for building strong, vibrant internet communities and social networks, and shares idea on how they can work for you and your business. You will learn:

* How social networks can enhance your marketing efforts

* How building online communities will strengthen your client relationships

* Which social media and networks are best for your business needs

* How to incorporate social media into word of mouth marketing



Julie Schlack (photo left) is a founding member and Senior Vice-President of Communispace Corporation. Julie has been instrumental in designing and continually evolving the Communispace online community offering.

Over the past 18 months she has built an Innovation and Research Group comprised of ethnographers, data mining experts and social scientists whose mission is to uncover new patterns and trends in online community behavior and test new techniques and technologies for engaging people in online communities and social networks. Her group’s work has been widely published and it has transformed Communispace's ability to help companies hardwire the voice of the customer into their businesses.

Julie is also a member of the board of directors of WOMMA, the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association.



In her life before Communispace Corporation, Julie served as manager of learning design for Omega Performance and for Micromentor. Her background also includes consulting and developing training materials for clients as diverse as WGBH, Houghton-Mifflin, Upjohn, Sanders Pharmaceutical, Schering, Tufts Managed Care Institute, Arrow Electronics, and New England Telephone. Julie has received many awards in her 15 years in multimedia, including four New Media InVision awards, an Online Learning award, and three CINDY awards.

Julie is simply not your average marketing industry executive. She has an Ed. M. in interactive technology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in creative writing and psychology from the University of Michigan. She is a recipient of the Hopwood Award for creative writing, and writes book reviews monthly for The Boston Globe.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free 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.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with online community building expert Julie Schlack, founding member and Senior Vice-President of Communispace, as she discusses techniques for building powerful internet communities, and vibrant social networks for your business and personal success on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Julie Schlack, Communispace, online communities and networks, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Julie Schlack: Building Online Community & Social Networks - Blog Business Success Radio

This week sees a social networking approach to the traveling business show, recognized by one and all as Carnival of the Capitalists and arrives at the political and business blog known as The City Unslicker.

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.



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:

thecotc -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 next week's anniversary edition will hosted at CotC co-founder Rob May's business blog known as Business Pundit. CotC has completed four very successful years, and will begin its fifth year. Carnival of the Capitalists is now the oldest uninterrupted blog carnival.

In the meantime, click your mouse over to the The City Unslicker 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 The City Unslicker