| Books: Work Your Way Around The World Posted: 05 Jun 2012 04:30 AM PDT  Ever wish you could travel around the world, living with just the pack on your back? Well, according to KK, here is a book that will help guide you to where the jobs are!
Most of these kind of books are a bunch of hand-waving generalities, or out of date particulars; this one is very specific and very current. It is massively researched, with tons of incoming gossip on where the easily-gotten jobs are this year, and what to do about paperwork and visas in that particular place, and how to land the job, and what you should expect, and letters from those who just did it. It’s all very helpful, practical and inspiring. But don’t get your hopes too high. There are really only two kinds of dependable quick jobs to be found “around the world”: 1) In the service industry in Europe — working at hotels, resorts, bars, camps for other tourists; and 2) teaching English in Asia. For most kids, that’ll be enough. There are hundreds of exceptions to these two, and this book will do its best to point you to them, but they are far fewer, and more dependent on chance. But even that skill — cultivating chance — is tackled with great intelligence in this meaty book, which I can’t recommend too much.
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| iPhone Case Made Of Wood Posted: 05 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT 
When we think of iPhone cases, we usually think of plastic. Well, JOE recently shared information about a case made of wood. Created by Dónal Moloney, Carve Cases is a one-man operation set up to fight back against the blight of cheap iPhone accessories that see users slap an uninspired, tacky piece of plastic on their coveted tech. Admit it, we’ve all seen it happen. Unique and undeniably beautiful, there’s a great contrast in having state-of-the-art tech housed in a home-made wooden case and it’s one of the reasons that Dónal is deluged with worldwide orders for his creations, with custom offerings set to follow in the near future. JOE: What was the inspiration behind Carve Cases? Did it bother you to see expensive gadgets housed in cheap covers? DM: There were a few things that inspired me to start Carve. Initially I was playing around, trying to create a unique case for my own iPhone. I couldn’t find one already on the market that I liked, so with my background in CNC [computer numerical control] manufacturing; I gave it a shot. When people saw it, I started to get requests to make more. The more I looked into it, the more I discovered that a lot of people don’t like to cover up their beautifully designed iPhone with plastic.
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| Biz Ideas: Delivering Ikea Posted: 05 Jun 2012 03:30 AM PDT 
Entrepreneur: The Cultons' business is based on their 13-hour round trip drives to the nearest Ikea store, in Minneapolis, to pick up furniture, placemats, flatware and other items with umlaut-bearing names for customers in Omaha and other Midwest cities far from the Swedish big-box retailer. "The odds of Nebraska seeing a store locate here in my lifetime are virtually zero," Dennis Culton says, citing a population that's apparently too sparse for the retailer. "However, Ikea products are very stylish and have a high demand, even in markets without easy access to purchase them." Customers ordering directly from Ikea's website don't have as vast a selection as those visiting stores, and shipping costs can run higher than the product itself, Culton says, so his customers can buy more and potentially save significantly on shipping. "We basically take the entire Ikea website and catalog and open it up to our clients," he says.
Photo by epSos .de 
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| Niche Biz: Wine Tasting Parties Posted: 04 Jun 2012 11:26 AM PDT 
Daily Record: A business that will offer in-home wine tasting events won first place in a business plan competition during Central Washington University's SOURCE (Symposium on University Research and Creative Expression) in May.
The business plan competition was sponsored by the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I4IE) in the College of Business. Thirteen CWU students submitted abstracts for the competition and five were chosen to move on to develop a full business plan to be presented at SOURCE. Cash prizes totaling $10,000 were awarded to the top three business plans. The money is to be used toward starting the businesses. The winners were announced last week during the SOURCE awards ceremony.
Kassidy Shepherd won first place and $5,000 toward starting her business, Versi Events. Versi Events will offer in-home wine-tasting parties. The parties are held in the clients' homes. Shepherd will purchase wines based on what the client recommends to bring to the event and will offer instruction. The summary of Versi Event’s business plan is after the jump.
Versi Events is a new company that will provide customized and quality in-home wine tasting events. Research has shown that wine can be intimidating and Versi Events strives to break down the barriers to increase knowledge and consumption. This increase in wine consumption will help boost the local and regional wine economy. The emphasis is on educating consumers on the multiple aspects of wine, while providing an irreplaceable experience in a comfortable setting. The business proposal of Versi Events is modeled after in- home jewelry, cookware and clothing events that have proven extremely successful. The target market will be the greater Seattle area, but statewide events are available. Versi Events offers the client the personalization and customization of each event, including setting budget parameters and other factors to provide an experience that exceeds expectations and is tailored to the specific demographic. Extensive research has shown that there are no big competitors in the greater Seattle area that offer customized education and events in a home setting. Currently, there are wine tasting rooms, wineries, and wine education classes, but there is a void that combines all facets into one convenient and customized event. This type of event would apply to any type of lifestyle, whether it is for an upper-class couple, experienced wine drinker, amateurs interested in learning about wine, a work party, bachelorette party, dinner night for friends, birthday, anniversary, and many others. 
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| Unemployed Can Now Use Benefits To Start a Business Posted: 04 Jun 2012 11:18 AM PDT 
Washington Post: The U.S. Department of Labor issued guidelines Thursday for state workforce agencies to create programs that would allow their states' unemployed to collect unemployment insurance while starting their own businesses. The so-called Self-Employment Assistance programs will be funded by a $35 million grant, divided among all 50 states and D.C., and disbursed to individuals who qualify for unemployment compensation but wish to start their own companies rather than find a new job. The programs would require interested entrepreneurs to bring their business plans to their local state-based programs for evaluation. If approved, they would receive up to 26 weeks of financial assistance equal to the amount they would have received in unemployment insurance, as well as entrepreneurship training, while they attempted to get the business running. They couldn’t before? Does anyone really think that this process will generate more small businesses? The states get to evaluate their business plans?< /p> 
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| No More Profiting from Public Domain Books on Amazon Posted: 04 Jun 2012 11:10 AM PDT 
I don’t know how long this has been in effect, but it was news to me. You can no longer turn public domain books into Kindle books and publish them on Amazon: Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content
Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books. This will have the effect of keeping out the junk, but at what cost to the reader? And at what cost to those of you who were making a living turning old books into Kindle books? 
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| Today in Entrepreneurial History: June 4 Posted: 04 Jun 2012 10:32 AM PDT |
