Well if this is not the confirmation the world needed that we are in a recession:

The drop in porn rentals and sales is worrisome on several fronts: Till now, porn has been a recession-proof business. Further, with the country already in a dispirited mood, the fact that porn has gone limp may indicate a true plunge in consumer confidence. DVD porn is down between 10% and 30%, depending on which nook and cranny of the business you scrutinize.

Read all about it in Variety -Hard times ahead as porn goes soft?

Temporary CFO B2BCFO.com can provide your small to mid sized company with a highly qualified chief financial officer on a temporary basis from their nationwide network of CFO consultants. Check it out.

The Biggest Business Blunders Ever is an interesting article from Forbes.com.

The stories span industries from technology to real estate. Market miscalculations, short-term thinking and rotten ethics are the broad themes. Taken together, the collective devastation of these miscues in current dollar value creeps into the trillions.

Then go through the accompanying pictures. Learn from their mistakes

Then follow-up with The Biggest Risks To Your Business.

It’s amazing to me how many people do not use technology in their organization, be it a business, a practice, non-profit or shop. It has been a decade now that websites have become mandatory to disseminate information to your potential consumers or clients. When many of these business owners were starting out, personal computers were part of science fiction. Today, if you don’t have a website and email, you are way behind your competition.

But even if your business is not up to standards with technology, how do you personally become a better consumer? People are using the Internet to do so. And, if you as a business are passing up all of these learned consumers, how are you managing your own purchases, activities and education?

Like it or not, a website is a fundamental part of owning and running a business in the 21st century. Don’t have one? Woe is you.

I want to wish everyone a very prosperous and Happy New Year! It’s that time of year when we set our goals for the year ahead. While I know most have health goals (losing weight, working out), we also have Business Goals…for example, how much are you aiming to increase your profits in 2007?

So here’s how to set your most important core goals, based on the SMART acronym:

S - Specific … Goals must be specific, defining exactly what you want to achieve.

M - Measurable … You must be able to measure if your goal is being achieved, to give you the clear feedback you need to stay on track.

A - Achievable … Goals should be ambitious but they should also be attainable. You have to possess the belief that you can achieve the goal in order to

R - Relevant … Your goal must be personally important to you in order to increase the odds that you will be driven by the goal to accomplish it.

T - Timeline … You must have a deadline date to completion, which focuses you on the steps needed and time required in order to fulfill your objective.

Monitor goals daily and change your plan if you’re not getting the results you expected. Try to focus on a small number of key goals to get focused and avoid petty distractions. And once you achieve your goal, celebrate your accomplishment - and then set another goal!

Happy New Year and all the best to you in 2007!

Well I guess email spam isn’t all bad. Take for instance this 3 minute management course:

Lesson One
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.
A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing?”
The eagle answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.
All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson #1
- To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
____________________________________

Lesson Two
A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.”
“Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.”
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Management Lesson #2
- Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.
_____________________________________

Lesson Three
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold; the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Management Lesson #3
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

This ends your three-minute management course

Did you know that there are now 50 million blogs? That 175,000 blogs are started every day? That 7,200 are created every hour? A very interesting article about blogging, State of the Blogosphere. So many to read, so little time.

Good article at CIO Insight that makes you think: Why Business Schools Aren’t Turning Out Good CIO Candidates.

Most of my CIO friends and clients these days are business managers who currently happen to manage IT, rather than career technologists who have ascended to the role, a trend I have seen accelerate over the past ten years.

Here is an info-packed site for those of you starting, operating and/or closing a small business: Business Advisor Online. You can find industry-specific information in Retail, Manufacturing/ Construction, Services, Wholesale/Distribution and Professional Services.

A quick review of the Business Advisor Online Site shows that you can easily access hundreds of high quality Articles, White Papers, and Business Management Tools, as well as links directly to relevant information on other sites. Each of these has a brief summary letting you know what to expect and every article is rated in several different ways to tell you what type of information it contains.

When I stared browsing the white papers, I lost track of time and started searching different keyword combinations to see what would come up. And wouldn’t you know it, I came across information I could use. Any site that gives me actionable new information is okay by me. As a point of disclosure, several of my own whitepapers are on the site.

Potential clients feel more comfortable in their offices than in my office, no matter how plush. So it is a good idea to meet them in their office whenever possible. When meeting anywhere else, they tend not to reveal their whole hand.

I understand why some consultants prefer to meet in their own offices -— it increases efficiency. But what I lose in efficiency, I gain in trust and strong connections. I also get to speak to all managers, executives and some employees if necessary — something that does not always happen if I were holding meetings in my office. If others in the organization see me in action and give positive reports to the owner or other person-in-charge, I have a better chance of acquiring them as a client down the road because they trust me.

Brochures and newsletters don’t breed trust -— communication and performance do. The last thing I want my clients saying about their business strategy to their peers is that they have no idea what’s going on. These people are my ambassadors. That’s why I make my clients listen to my whole spiel so that all of us can sleep better at night knowing we’re on the same page.