What kind of business mistakes can a person make?

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

There’s a slough of them: Legal formation mistakes, financial mistakes, advertising mistakes, productivity mistakes, testing mistakes… the list goes on!

The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn from the mistakes of others. Let other people figure out the tough parts of business for you so that you’ll succeed that much quicker.

Pull up a seat and watch this tip-filled video of Graham and Ashkahn presenting some of the most common mistakes a business owner can make.

05.16.2012 – Avoiding Common Mistakes Lecture

Watch this video on YouTube.

05.16.2012 – Avoiding Common Mistakes Collaboration

Watch this video on YouTube.

We’re steps closer on our plan for an  iTunes podcast account. Soon you can just listen to use while you work, jog around the neighborhood or just stare at the wall. We don’t judge. For now, download the music files yourself:

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post Avoiding Common Mistakes appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post Avoiding Common Mistakes appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

What kind of business mistakes can a person make?

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

There’s a slough of them: Legal formation mistakes, financial mistakes, advertising mistakes, productivity mistakes, testing mistakes… the list goes on!

The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn from the mistakes of others. Let other people figure out the tough parts of business for you so that you’ll succeed that much quicker.

Pull up a seat and watch this tip-filled video of Graham and Ashkahn presenting some of the most common mistakes a business owner can make.

05.16.2012 – Avoiding Common Mistakes Lecture

Watch this video on YouTube.

05.16.2012 – Avoiding Common Mistakes Collaboration

Watch this video on YouTube.

We’re steps closer on our plan for an  iTunes podcast account. Soon you can just listen to use while you work, jog around the neighborhood or just stare at the wall. We don’t judge. For now, download the music files yourself:

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post Avoiding Common Mistakes appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post Avoiding Common Mistakes appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

Hopefully your business gets to the point where you can bring on some help. You want to own a business and not a job, right?

So… How do you pick your first hire?

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

During week 19 of CAKE we uncovered the ins/outs of hiring your first employee.

Learn how to legally use interns and volunteers can give your company a staffing boost with little to no cost.

When you do pay someone, find out what you should be doing to stay in line with taxes and laws.

All of these topics and more are discussed in the video below. We also have available for download an audio version so you can take CAKE on the go with you!

Enjoy Graham sharing the many employment strategies of Float On!

05.09.2012 – Hiring Your 1st Employee

Watch this video on YouTube.

We’re steps closer on our plan for an  iTunes podcast account. Soon you can just listen to use while you work, jog around the neighborhood or just stare at the wall. We don’t judge.

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post Hiring Your First Employee appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post Hiring Your First Employee appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

Hopefully your business gets to the point where you can bring on some help. You want to own a business and not a job, right?

So… How do you pick your first hire?

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

During week 19 of CAKE we uncovered the ins/outs of hiring your first employee.

Learn how to legally use interns and volunteers can give your company a staffing boost with little to no cost.

When you do pay someone, find out what you should be doing to stay in line with taxes and laws.

All of these topics and more are discussed in the video below. We also have available for download an audio version so you can take CAKE on the go with you!

Enjoy Graham sharing the many employment strategies of Float On!

05.09.2012 – Hiring Your 1st Employee

Watch this video on YouTube.

We’re steps closer on our plan for an  iTunes podcast account. Soon you can just listen to use while you work, jog around the neighborhood or just stare at the wall. We don’t judge.

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post Hiring Your First Employee appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post Hiring Your First Employee appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

Everyone has a fear of public speaking, it’s only natural. If you don’t get even the slightest bit nervous, there’s something wrong with you. With that said, Ashkahn (co-owner of Float On) shared with us some tips that he’s accumulated over his years of speaking in front of colleges and conferences.

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

Conquer your fear of public speaking by digging into these resources:

“Freeing the Natural Voice” – A great book about vocal training.

Here’s a link to the tongue twister we did, and a little history on it!

Garr Reynolds’ website, specifically to the page about “presentations.”  Garr is the author of the book “Presentation Zen.”

Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule pertaining to PowerPoint presentations on his blog.

Ted Talks, a great collection of inspiring talks on a wide range of topics.

05.02.2012 – Public Speaking Lecture

Watch this video on YouTube.

05.02.2012 – Public Speaking Workshop

Watch this video on YouTube.

Like anything else, it takes practice. Follow these tips on your next presentation and then let us know how it helped you (or didn’t). Either way, we’d love to hear your feedback!

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post A Guide to Better Presentations appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post A Guide to Better Presentations appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

You can’t run from the fact that you need a professional website.

Face it, in today’s marketplace if you’re going to do business, you’ll need a website. You don’t have to hire a graphic designer, web programmer, or content copywriter to have a professional presence online.

In this week’s CAKE we discussed the variety of platforms that you can use to build a website. However, we heavily favor WordPress when it comes to a content management system for your business’s website.

“Right Click” and “Save Link As” to download this week’s CAKE recipe .pdf

For a complete website, we recommend reviewing these sessions of CAKE to get a total view:

Week 10: Killer Copywriting

Week 13: SEO for Small Business

Week 14: A Touch of Design

We changed up the camera angle for this week’s edition of CAKE. We’re trying to move away from the profile view and get more of a head on shot.

04.25.2012 WordPress Basics

Watch this video on YouTube.

Due to the basic nature of this topic, we opted to take the workshop portion offline in favor of having a more casual conversation about the inner workings of WordPress.

If you would like one-on-one personal assistance with your WordPress website, Graham and Derek are available for private consultations. If you’re interested in hiring one of the bakers of CAKE, contact us!

If you’re looking for a premium WordPress theme, check out WooThemes (our personal favorite), ThemeForest or Themes Kingdom to get a feel for what a premium theme can provide your website.

We covered quite a few plug-ins to check out during our presentation.

Here is a list of WordPress plug-ins that you should have for your website:

All in one Favicon – for branding, recognition

Better WP Security – gives you a checklist of tasks to improve security

All-in-One SEO – easily edit meta information for each page/post

Disqus – blog comment manager

Contact Form 7 – submission forms, etc

HTML / Javascript Adder – added ability for more than just basic html

BackWPup – prevent losing everything

WP Super Cache – helps page load faster

WPTouch – turns website into mobile friendly website

On a side note, don’t install too many plug-ins for the sake of having them. If they start to cause your site to run slow, not only will you frustrate your customer, but Google doesn’t like slow loading websites much either.

This was a lot of technical information, especially for those who know nothing about websites. If you need help getting set up, give us a call or email us.

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post Learn the Basics of WordPress appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post Learn the Basics of WordPress appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

You can’t run from the fact that you need a professional website.

Face it, in today’s marketplace if you’re going to do business, you’ll need a website. You don’t have to hire a graphic designer, web programmer, or content copywriter to have a professional presence online.

In this week’s CAKE we discussed the variety of platforms that you can use to build a website. However, we heavily favor WordPress when it comes to a content management system for your business’s website.

“Right Click” and “Save Link As” to download this week’s CAKE recipe .pdf

For a complete website, we recommend reviewing these sessions of CAKE to get a total view:

Week 10: Killer Copywriting

Week 13: SEO for Small Business

Week 14: A Touch of Design

We changed up the camera angle for this week’s edition of CAKE. We’re trying to move away from the profile view and get more of a head on shot.

04.25.2012 WordPress Basics

Watch this video on YouTube.

Due to the basic nature of this topic, we opted to take the workshop portion offline in favor of having a more casual conversation about the inner workings of WordPress.

If you would like one-on-one personal assistance with your WordPress website, Graham and Derek are available for private consultations. If you’re interested in hiring one of the bakers of CAKE, contact us!

If you’re looking for a premium WordPress theme, check out WooThemes (our personal favorite), ThemeForest or Themes Kingdom to get a feel for what a premium theme can provide your website.

We covered quite a few plug-ins to check out during our presentation.

Here is a list of WordPress plug-ins that you should have for your website:

All in one Favicon – for branding, recognition

Better WP Security – gives you a checklist of tasks to improve security

All-in-One SEO – easily edit meta information for each page/post

Disqus – blog comment manager

Contact Form 7 – submission forms, etc

HTML / Javascript Adder – added ability for more than just basic html

BackWPup – prevent losing everything

WP Super Cache – helps page load faster

WPTouch – turns website into mobile friendly website

On a side note, don’t install too many plug-ins for the sake of having them. If they start to cause your site to run slow, not only will you frustrate your customer, but Google doesn’t like slow loading websites much either.

This was a lot of technical information, especially for those who know nothing about websites. If you need help getting set up, give us a call or email us.

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post Learn the Basics of WordPress appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post Learn the Basics of WordPress appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

This session of CAKE dove into the world of testing. We primarily focus on using the scientific method when it comes to our business decision making. It may sound a little nerdy, but testing out your ideas will save you a lot of time and money by not chasing things that aren’t important.

There are many times we think the addition of a product or feature will send the customers flying in our direction. When that notion happens, take a moment and test out your idea before further developing it.

Follow these steps when it you want to test out an idea:

1. Begin by developing your question / hypothesis. Just make sure that it’s falsifiable before you move on.

2. Design the basic structure of your test. What variable are you testing? What are your control and experimental groups?

3. Write out your planned responses to the results of the test.

4. Run the experiment! Make sure you have a large enough sample size to increase the accuracy of your test.

5. Examine your data. The results should be glaringly obvious. If not, don’t be afraid to seek out more information.

6. Take action on the results of your test. Try not to rationalize the results if they don’t align with your hypothesis. Run with it and measure later on if you want to.

If you would like a deeper understanding of testing our your business ideas, we highly recommend the book, “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. This book is full of examples of a quick to test process called, “Build. Measure. Learn.”

It’s ok to make small failures in business, just as long as you fail fast and learn from your mistakes.

Without further ado, we present this week’s videos:

04.11.2012 CAKE Week 15 – Testing Methods Lecture

Watch this video on YouTube.

04.11.2012 CAKE Week 15 – Testing Methods Workshop

Watch this video on YouTube.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them at the bottom of this post or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

In other news…

We had a blast playing Blurble after this week’s workshop at the East Bank Saloon in Portland, OR. You would never imagine a game that seems so simple on the surface, be so challenging… and FUN! Not only will you have a great time playing it, but you might also develop a stutter. LOL

If you want to pick up the game of Blurble, make sure you get your pledges into Kickstarter before May 5th. They just reach $10,000 in funding and only have $5,000 to go! A simple $18 pledge will get you a complete deck of Blurble cards. So what are you waiting for already, pledge now!

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post This is Only a Test appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post This is Only a Test appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

This session of CAKE dove into the world of testing. We primarily focus on using the scientific method when it comes to our business decision making. It may sound a little nerdy, but testing out your ideas will save you a lot of time and money by not chasing things that aren’t important.

There are many times we think the addition of a product or feature will send the customers flying in our direction. When that notion happens, take a moment and test out your idea before further developing it.

Follow these steps when it you want to test out an idea:

1. Begin by developing your question / hypothesis. Just make sure that it’s falsifiable before you move on.

2. Design the basic structure of your test. What variable are you testing? What are your control and experimental groups?

3. Write out your planned responses to the results of the test.

4. Run the experiment! Make sure you have a large enough sample size to increase the accuracy of your test.

5. Examine your data. The results should be glaringly obvious. If not, don’t be afraid to seek out more information.

6. Take action on the results of your test. Try not to rationalize the results if they don’t align with your hypothesis. Run with it and measure later on if you want to.

If you would like a deeper understanding of testing our your business ideas, we highly recommend the book, “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. This book is full of examples of a quick to test process called, “Build. Measure. Learn.”

It’s ok to make small failures in business, just as long as you fail fast and learn from your mistakes.

Without further ado, we present this week’s videos:

04.11.2012 CAKE Week 15 – Testing Methods Lecture

Watch this video on YouTube.

04.11.2012 CAKE Week 15 – Testing Methods Workshop

Watch this video on YouTube.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them at the bottom of this post or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

In other news…

We had a blast playing Blurble after this week’s workshop at the East Bank Saloon in Portland, OR. You would never imagine a game that seems so simple on the surface, be so challenging… and FUN! Not only will you have a great time playing it, but you might also develop a stutter. LOL

If you want to pick up the game of Blurble, make sure you get your pledges into Kickstarter before May 5th. They just reach $10,000 in funding and only have $5,000 to go! A simple $18 pledge will get you a complete deck of Blurble cards. So what are you waiting for already, pledge now!

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post This is Only a Test appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post This is Only a Test appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

What colors and fonts do people respond to the most?

Where should you place your call to action?

What the heck is the rule of thirds?

"Right Click" and "Save Link As" to download this week's CAKE recipe .pdf

We dove into the world of design this week with CAKE. There are a slew of tips that one can easily implement to make their website, brochure, or whatever it is stand out in a crowd of competitors. Most of what we covered is deeply expanded upon in the awesome book, Before & After: How to Design Cool Stuff. If there is one book on design, let this be your guide.

To avoid any confusion, we subscribe to the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) method of design. The fewer items for people to get caught up in the better. In fact, if you can take useless elements out of your design, even better! If you truly want to know what makes the difference between good design vs. bad design, just pay attention to every piece of advertising you come across. You’ll start to know really quickly what stands out, what catches your eye, and what to avoid. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Stick to what works while adding your own personality to it.

In the following videos we’ll discuss how color affects consumers’ behavior, the importance of degradable actions, and how to pull attention to certain parts of your design. Our workshop consisted of picking apart Blurblegame.com. Grant from Blurble was a great sport in allowing us to dive deep into how his site design could be improved. If you don’t know what Blurble is, check out their current Kickstarter project and contribute to the cause! HURRY! You only have 30 days left from the date of this post. OH, let’s not forget to mention that Grant from Blurble also provided this week’s cake (the edible kind) AND ICE CREAM! He’s multi-talented! Another reason why you should pledge money to Blurble.

Without further ado, we present this week’s videos. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them at the bottom of this post or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.

04.04.2012 CAKE Week 14 – Design Lecture

Watch this video on YouTube.

04.04.2012 CAKE Week 14 – Design Workshop with Blurble

Watch this video on YouTube.

 

For now, you can download an .mp3 of this lecture:

(Right-Click as Select “Save Link As”)

Recap provided by Derek Wyatt.

The post A Touch of Design appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.

The post A Touch of Design appeared first on CAKEpdx Blog » Podcast Feed.