The Diary Of My Confused Mind

Featured Video – Zoho CRM

NetWorks! Boise Valley uses Zoho to track shared opportunities in each of our groups. It’s a nice complete CRM, easy to use, and very cost effective!

Xobni For BlackBerry – SocialScope – Rim OS 5

How cool is this? Way cool! If you use Outlook and are not using Xobni, you are really missing out, my friend. My challenge has been that, while I no longer use Outlook, I was under the mistaken impression that I needed Outlook in order to get Xobni for my BlackBerry. I am pleased to note that this is incorrect! Turns out that there are two versions and for a one time fee of only $9.99, you can bring most of the power of Xobni right to your BlackBerry. The Outlook version, Xobni One, requires a one-time fee and monthly subscription but it will then sync with your desktop. Fact is, when I add contacts to my Google account, those already sync to my BlackBerry which, in turn, is syncing to Xobni.

The interface is very nice and setup was a snap. Every contact now has a the usual phone #’s and email addresses in addition to records of calls exchanged, emails, and SMS. There are links provided to view both FaceBook and LinkedIn profiles. What is surprisingly absent is any mention of Twitter and there are also no streams for FaceBook. Perhaps these are available with Xobni One (not sure) but, I’m still a little surprised. Then again, Xobni in Outlook and Xobni in Gmail are not the least bit similar. It is what it is. Still, for $10? Tough to beat!

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Joe Cacopardo – Valtrend – NBV Member

Mr. Joe Cacopardo is a Director with Valtrend. Joe has over the last thirty years served in a number of positions in new business development, general management and as a small business owner. In these roles, Joe relied upon his strong strategic planning and team development skills in creating a profitable bottom line.

Joe was formerly a co-founder of M&SD Corporation, an independent consulting firm in the United States specializing in information management, which was acquired by EDS, a General Motors’ subsidiary.

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Meridian Business Day Workshop Prep – FireShot

I spent the better part of last evening laying out the power point presentation for my workshop entitled “Add a Little Social to Your Email & CRM” which I will conduct on September 30. You can register for the event here.

This workshop will cover several free tools that you can integrate with your existing email and/or maybe even your CRM. We will look at three popular platforms: Salesforce Outlook, and Gmail. Applications discussed will include: Gist, Rapportive, Etacts, Xobni, Outlook Social Connector, Outlook LinkedIn interface, and Twitter and Chatter for Salesforce. I’ll also throw in a little WiseStamp and NutShell Mail as I consider these applications to be beneficial and  appropriate. Links will be provided to all the tools discussed (we’ll even show some that will not be part of the presentation but worthy of a look) and, finally, those who attend will get a special sneak peek at something that very few folks are even aware of. That would be called “the hook”. LOL

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Meridian Business Day Workshops – NBV Speakers

Meridian Business Day is coming up on September 30, 2010. You were asked to vote for the workshops that you would like to see presented and several of our members and their companies made the cut of 9 from a field of 22! Corey Smith – Tribute Media, Darrin Jaszkowiak – RE/MAX West,  Mac Wrigley – Key Bank, Marti Hales – Premier Business Solutions, and I, your humble correspondent. If you were wondering about the quality of our membership, there’s your answer (smile). Please go to Meridian Business Day to register for the sessions. Introductory videos from each member are shown below ….

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UltraClean Smoke Out – 32 Business Tips

I attended the UltraClean Smoke Out yesterday as I do every month. This time it was sponsored by Sprague Solutions with help from a number of local vendors including Redline Recreational Toys (where the event is held), Event Rent who provides the tables and chairs, and Qdoba who was this month’s featured food vendor. Incidentally, UltraClean, Sprague Solutions, and Event Rent are all NetWorks! Boise Valley members.  If you have not attended this event in awhile, it’s a great time to start back up! The venue is excellent, the crowds are smaller and of a higher caliber, and the guest speakers are dynamite! Education, networking, and food? How can you go wrong?

The panel today was composed of:

Steven Nipper – nipper@stephennipper.com, Twitter – @nipper, http://www.linkedin.com/in/nipper

Rochelle Lierz DeLong – 208.409.1614, rochelle@thinkconsilio.com, Twitter – @rochelledelong

Erik Bolinder – ebolinder@givenspursley.com, Twitter – @erikbolinder

Paul Stark – 208.884.1995, paul@idahoblg.com, http://idahoblg.com

The discussion topic was – “32 Business Tips in 32 Minutes”.  As plagiarism IS the sincerest form of flattery …. here they are (smile).

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When Transparency Reflects “Stinkin’ Thinkin’”

With all due kudos to Zig Ziglar, this post is more opinion and observation than it is anything else. I have no professional experience or education in either of the subject areas. What I am is pragmatic. I look at the world, evaluate it’s condition, and take the steps I deem necessary to deal with it. I see a lot of folks talking today about the importance of being transparent. I hear that, in order to be successful particularly with social media, transparency is a must.

That’s all well and fine but, do some of us take this too far? Are we, in our quest for transparency, doing ourselves and those around us more harm than good? Does this need to be transparent translate to “unabashed and unbridled honesty in all things”? For some, it apparently does. I’m all for honesty but there has to be some limits ….

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