Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack (Book review)

In an economy that takes pride in being led by large companies and strategic consulting prescribed by academia, like the Harvard Business School, 10% of the small businesses fail every year and 60% close after six years.

According to author Donna Fenn, there are seven reasons for this, from the backlash of big business to consumer lust for luxuries. In " Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack" the author consults with eight small businesses situated in different regions of the USA that have used certain strategies to outshine their competition and thrive, and she passes those strategies on to her readers. These eight businesses have flourished despite their sometime stories of failure and they have learned to get ahead in the highly competitive business world.

In the book, Fenn has focused on these eight businesses: Zane's cycles, a bicycle shop; Dorothy Lane Market Inc., three grocery stores; Auction Systems Auctioneers & Appraisers; Amy's Ice Creams, 12 ice cream parlors; THOR.LO Inc., manufacturer of sport-specific socks; Dancing Deer Baking Company (Boston); PR Consultants Group Inc., an alliance of 34 public relations firms; and Mike's Famous Harley-Davidson Inc.

The majority of the tips from these leading entrepreneurs deal with employee training, creating a workplace that appeals to the workers, getting new customers while retaining existing ones, being bold and fearless, giving good service, forming alliances, adapting to the new technologies of the times, continually re-inventing, tweaking innovations and keeping them close to home while upgrading wisely.

In the book, there is a section for each company that ends with ten tips from its entrepreneurs. At the last chapter, the author summarizes the very valuable marketing lessons from the entrepreneurs, which she names as the alpha dog DNA.

Fenn's writing style is direct, clear, conversational, and sprinkled with quotes by the entrepreneurs: "'When you are comfortable, you're never performing at 100% says Dave Barr. It might be Schwartz's mantra. Mike's Roadside Rest had earned him press accolades"

The author, Donna Fenn, has been writing as a contributing editor about entrepreneurs and small business trends in Inc. Magazine for more than 20 years. In 2001 she was a co-recipient of the Women's Economic Round Table Entrepreneurship Prize, sponsored by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Monthly, Working Woman, and many other publications.

"Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack" is in hardcover with 224 pages and ISBN: 0060758678. After the foreword and introduction, it has ten chapters followed by acknowledgements, sources, and an index.

If you already know how to succeed in business or own an MBA, but especially if you don't, "Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack" should be the book to pick because of its valuable tips worth several years of serious study. The information inside this book can give a serious boost to any enterprise.

This article has been submitted by Joy Cagil in affiliation with http://www.Facsimile.Com/ which is a site for Fax Machines.

How To Make A New Web Site And Make Money At The Same Time

Being in web development for the last 7 years, I have often been asked about making a web site for a friend or family member just as a personal site or for a simple business site.

Generally, to have your own web site hosted by a reputable hosting company, you have to prepay for one year and if you want to add or increase features the costs add up. This could include added storage space for files, amount of traffic allowed per month and other options.

But, did you know that there is an opportunity to have your own affordable web site developed and on the internet in 24 hours?

Yes! There is a company that offers a complete hosting package including a software program known as a web site builder that even a beginner can start designing professional looking web pages.

Everything you need to create web pages can be accomplished through the web site builder and you can have up to 10 personalized email addresses that you can access through the Internet web mail. Or you can setup your email using a software program called Outlook Express. It also has a picture gallery that you can upload pictures onto your site. Setting up a site is never easier, especially for a family if they wanted to create online photo albums for relatives, or for special events like weddings, anniversaries, vacations, birthdays, etc. The most attractive part of this hosting and web site package, is that it is only $10 US per month and you are not locked into an annual contract or have any initial setup fees. You can cancel the service at any time.

The only difference is the domain name extension.

Have you ever heard of the dot WS domain?

For example, Website.ws instead of Website.com?

If you haven't, that's OK!

Let me give you a brief history on the dot WS domain.

The dot WS domain was originally intended as a country domain for a little island about 1,600 miles north of New Zealand called 'Western Samoa', hence the named extension dot 'WS'. In 1998, companies and people worldwide were buying up the dot COM domains at an incredible rate making it much more difficult to find a desirable domain name with the over-crowded dot COMs. At the time, two gentlemen named, Michael Reed and Alan Ezair saw that there was definitely a need for a secondary top-level domain. Examining all the other country domain extensions, for example, dot US for 'United States', dot AU for 'Australia', the dot WS domain was the focus domain for 'Web Site'. Since then, the dot WS domain has grown in popularity and increased demand. In less than nine months, after offering the dot WS domain to the global community, they had 100,000 registered domain names! This is where Global Domains International (as known as GDI) was born and handles all registrations for the dotWS domains.

Ok, then how do I make money?

An incredible opportunity is available for having a dot WS domain. You not only have a registered dot WS domain, your own web site, and up to 10 email addresses for only $10 a month but If you bring others to register their own dot WS domains, you will make money from their referrals and it can goes on and on. For example, if the people that you had referred bring in more people and register, you will make even more money. Registering is a simple process because even if a dot WS domain name is already taken such as with many dot COM domains, there is a list of similar dot WS domains you can choose from.

Brad Jacobsen is a Web Developer and Internet Marketer.

The Playstation Experience

A few months ago a friend entered my apartment to announce that he has decided to perform a very important investment for our future in entertainment. I remained calmly at my sit waiting for him to continue and explain how lucky he was as he managed to find an incredible deal over the internet for the newest version of PlayStation 2. Frankly, I could not believe my ears. I have never played PlayStation in the past and the last video game I have played with my friends when I was still a kid, was an old version of Atari. I could not grasp how someone over twenty-five would pay any amount to become another of those inert players stack in front of their TV screens for hours or even days. But the experience I had when PlayStation 2 entered the premises of my house was not exactly as the one I originally imagined. PlayStation has proven to be an extremely fun and instructive gaming experience. After the first couple of weeks I realized that when someone knows how to keep a balanced life it is possible to spend time exploring this unique gaming experience without the feeling of guilt.

Produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, PlayStation 2 is the successor of the original PlayStation console that has been a tremendous worldwide success since its original introduction. By March 2005, the sales margin of PlayStation surpassed the 100.49 million units, becoming the first home console to ever reach the threshold of 100 million sold games. Dated back to 1986, Nintendo was the first to attempt to work with disk technology, but after encountering a number of problems Nintendo decided to approach Sony in order for the second to come up with a solution. Soon Sony recognizing the emerging video-gaming market planned to initiate production of its own console, leading Nintendo's management team to cancel all deals and form an alliance with Philips; this time securing control over its licenses on the Philips developed machines. By the end of 1992, Sony and Nintendo reconciled their major differences and Sony launched the first version of PlayStation in 1994 in Japan. By September 1995, PlayStation was introduced to the USA, European and Asian markets and its initial success was a prelude of its future sales breakthrough challenge.

The extreme popularity of the PlayStation console introduced the term "PlayStation Generation" and titles like Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, and Silent Hill, have become the favorite pastime games of millions of users worldwide. Having enjoyed over eleven years of continuous videogame production, Sony has announced that the next PlayStation generation, known as PlayStation 3, or PS3, will be launched in November 2006 and will also be a backward compatible device; meaning that it with be able to play all the games that have already been released for the other PlayStation versions.

Although the genius creators of the PlayStation consoles argue that the new version of this popular videogame will advance the user's experience, I doubt that it will actually manage to have the same success in the desired time frame. A vast variety of other videogame competitors, including the powerful Nintendo, have launched a number of games for their consoles, which have increased users' expectations and have made them extremely conscious regarding their next videogame choice. But, I am sure that my friend and I will continue playing the PlayStation games of our choice, like NBA 2K6 or Grand Theft Auto, as PlayStation 3 will be outside our budget for at least a while.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://everythingaboutgames.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://erecreationstation.com/ and http://esportssource.net/