Blog

  • Indianapolis Android Apps

    Did you know there are Android apps made just for the city of Indianapolis and it’s attractions?

    Visit Indy

    The Indianapolis Convention & Visitor Association’s official handheld travel guide to the city. Discover where to eat, drink, sleep and be entertained, and with the help of your device’s GPS, you’ll see how easy it is to get around. Here’s what you can do with it once you’ve downloaded and installed:

    • Search hotels, restaurants, attractions and events based on your location and interests You can also search using Augmented Reality for a street view of what’s close by.
    • Plan your travels by adding preferred destinations to your favorites and generating customized maps.
    • Redeem cost-saving coupons directly from your phone at top Indianapolis restaurants and attractions.

    Whether you live in Indianapolis or are just visiting, the city offers something for everyone – and this Android app can help you find it.  From awesome hotels to delicious dining, the city that has is home to the NCAA and the Indianapolis 500 welcomes you to discover something more. (more…)

  • Top 10 Comedy Movies of 2009

    In alphabetical order, the top 10 comedies released in 2009:

    • Bruno
    • Extract
    • Funny People
    • I Love You, Man
    • Julie & Julia
    • The Fantastic Mr. Fox
    • The Hangover
    • The Informant
    • The Proposal
    • Zombieland
    Bruno – Universal Studios
    Extract – Miramax Films
    Funny People – Universal Studios
    I Love You, Man – Paramount Home Video
    Julie & Julia – Sony Pictures
    The Fantastic Mr. Fox – 20th Century Fox
    The Hangover – Warner Home Video
    The Informant – Warner Home Video
    The Proposal – Touchstone Home Entertainment
    Zombieland – Sony Pictures
  • What Are Our Basic Costs for Web Design and Maintenance?

    Our web sites can range from $600 to $3500 but I doubt you’ll want either of those. Here is what you’ll get for $1200 during our Spring Special (Ends April 21):

    • A custom-designed website co-designed by you to match your company, your brand, and your tastes
    • The training and ability to edit your website content whenever you want
    • In-person meetings, phone and email support
    • ‘One-off’ email setup or email management for your whole company via Google Apps
    • Logo and brand editing with options for logo creation and marketing material creation
    • Acquisition or transfer of your domain (your website address)
    • A Facebook page and Twitter account setup and integration (if not done already)
    • RSS syndication feed from your website
    • A marketing partner that can offer advice on web and traditional based advertising

    After the website is complete, changes are free for 30 days, after which you have the option of signing up for a monthly maintenance package than can include your mix of changes to the website or SEO/marketing of your business. Packages range from $200 to $800 a month. $200 gets you Facebook and Twitter updates and backlinks as well as minor changes to your website such as text changes. $800 is ‘outsourced’ marketing where we actually write copy for you on your site and others in order to create more backlinks and take up more search engine positions to cast a wider net for search engine traffic. We’ll also be available to take calls from marketing or advertising vendors such as AT&T. You’ll be able to forward them to us to find out the details and negotiate any deals that we may feel are beneficial to you.

  • Self-Hosting Tips for WordPress

    Thinking about hosting your own WordPress domain on your own server? Here are a few things to consider.

    If you use our hosting you are using a linux-based server running WordPress on a SQL database. If you hosted it yourself you would still have to have a linux server with access to a SQL database unless you wanted to convert the site to flat files that could run on any type of server. WordPress is a content management system originally developed for blogging that allows a user to login and make changes to their site, add, or remove content. Flat files are the old way of displaying a web site, which requires manually editing a file, then uploading it via FTP.

    The domain is hosted and registered with 1and1, the largest hosting company in the world. The actual server is in a data center in Kansas City, Kansas. It gets regular maintenance, backups, and has redundant power and cooling systems. We are happy to facilitate the change of your domain, but you should know the requirements of the website first.

    My recommendation is for you or your new IT department to get full FTP and WordPress access to the current account as a first measure followed by signing up for their own hosting account with 1and1, BlueHost, or HostGator (which all support WordPress) before buying and setting up your own Linux server with access to a SQL database. There are other security concerns too to take in consideration when you invite the public into your private network. A capable IT technician should be able to build adequate ‘DMZ’s and firewalls, but the safest, easiest, and cheapest route is to have your own hosting account.

    What we offer is management of a hosted account. This includes keeping WordPresss’ software up to date, checking to make sure your plugins (WordPress programs like web forms) still work properly, checking for uptime, and sending monthly reports. This also allows us to make minor changes to text when you need it. We charge $125 a year for this service. Compare that to buying your own hosting account for $60 a year then having to do all of the maintenance and reporting yourself. If you have the trained manpower and it makes sense to go that route, we will provide the files to do so and unlock your domain when ready. Your IT department would be responsible for pulling the domain over, setting up the SQL database, installing WordPress, and installing the theme. Any assistance to these items would be billed at our $65 an hour rate.

    Just let us know what you decide to do. We are here to help.

  • Top 10 Comedy Movies of 2010

    In alphabetical order, the top 10 comedies released in 2010:

    • Date Night
    • Death at a Funeral
    • Diary of a Wimpy Kid
    • Easy A
    • Get Him to the Greek
    • Grown Ups
    • Hot Tub Time Machine
    • Kick-Ass
    • Scott Pilgrim vs the World
    • The Other Guys
    Date Night – 20th Century Fox
    Death at a Funeral – Sony
    Diary of a Wimpy Kid – 20th Century Fox
    Easy A – Sony Pictures
    Get Him to the Greeks – Universal Studios
    Grown Ups – Columbia Pictures
    Hot Tub Time Machine – MGM
    Kick Ass – Lionsgate
    Scott Pilgrim vs The World – Universal Studios
    The Other Guys – Sony Pictures
  • Most Popular Christian Bands from the 90’s

    These may not be the most popular, but these are the ones I listened to the most. What are your favorite Christian bands, songs, or albums from the 90’s?

    • Eli
    • Sixpence None the Richer
    • Starflyer 59
    • Petra
    • Juliana Theory
    • Danielson
    • Joy Electric
    • Dogwood
    • POD
    • Slick Shoes
    • Charlie Peacock
    • Steve Taylor
    • Chris Rice
    • Stavesacre
    • Dakota Motor Company
    • Sonic Flood
    • Delirious
    • Rich Mullins
    • Burlap to Cashmere
    • Big Tent Revival
    • Five Iron Frenzy
    • Pedro the Lion
    • Black Eyed Sceva
    • Out of Eden
    • Satellite Soul
    • Seven Day Jesus
    • Poor Old Lu
    • Audio Adrenaline
    • DC Talk
    • Plankeye
    • PFR (Pray for Rain)
    • The Prayer Chain
    • Supertones
    • MxPx
    • Michael W. Smith
    • Johnny Q. Public
    • Steven Curtis Chapman
    • Third Day
    • Smalltown Poets
    • Pax217
    • All Star United
    • The Waiting
    • Switchfoot
    • Bleach
    • Caedmon’s Call
    • Geoff Moore and The Distance
    • Skillet
    • Jars of Clay
    • Plumb
    • Amy Grant

    After posting this to the 90s Christian Music Recovery Group on Facebook, I’ve added these to the list:

    • ZAO
    • Living Sacrifice
    • Guardian
    • Tourniquet
    • Michael Sweet
    • Stryper
    • Bride
    • Tonex
    • LA Symph
    • Tunnel Rats
    • Dear Ephesus
    • Project 86
    • The Insyderz
    • Buck
    • The W’s
    • White Cross
    • Disciple
    • Clash of Symbols
    • Dime Store Prophets
    • Value Pac
    • Ghoti Hook
    • Strongarm
    • Richard Smallwood
    • Mortification
    • Squad Five O
    • Johnny Respect
    • The Choir
    • Adam Again
    • The 77s
    • Daniel Amos
  • List of Entrepreneurs

    Top Entrepreneurs

    Focus has a list of the “Top Entrepreneurs of the Last 100 Years”, which features Andrew Carnegie, Oprah Winfrey (one of our Famous Entrepreneurs), Thomas Edison (one of Elon Musk‘s heroes), Estee Lauder, Ray Kroc, Bill Gates, Conrad Hilton Sr., Steve Jobs (one of our Serial Entrepreneurs), Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Michael Dell, Sam Walton, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, Walt Disney, Pierre Omidyar, and Ralph Lauren.

    Of these great entrepreneurs, themes emerge: work together, perseverance, design, success, action, customers, surround yourself with good people.  These entrepreneurs did all of these things.  Above all they did something – and they didn’t quit. What can we learn from that? When we feel like quitting and we are all alone.  Keep going, surround yourself with others like you, persevere, work together, and your actions will achieve success.

  • Famous Entrepreneurs

    Walt Disney – An influential innovator and entrepreneur in the mid 20th century, Disney is the man behind the Magic Kingdom, not to mention the hundreds of animated cartoons, countless feature films and endless toys that bear his name.

    Oprah Winfrey -an American television host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was once the world’s only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.

    Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield – lifelong friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield completed a correspondence course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University’s Creamery in 1977 and a year later formed Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Burlington, Vermont.  In 1988, the pair won the title of U.S. Small Business Persons Of The Year, awarded by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

    Richard Branson – a British industrialist, best known for his Virgin Group of over 400 companies. What started as a mail-order record business turned into Virgin Records, which was sold to EMI in 1992, giving Branson the capital to build Virgin Airways.

    Simon Cowell – Best known as the obnoxious judge on the hit TV show American Idol whose cynical comments sent contestants running out the door in tears, but what most don’t know is that his work didn’t start there and most definitely won’t end there. His list of achievements is long and includes being a successful record producer and executive for the BMG UK record company to gathering wannabe entrepreneurs on his show, American Inventor.

    Michael Dell – both Chairman and CEO of Dell computers, Dell started the road to success out of his University of Texas dorm room in with just $1000 and an idea in 1984. Dell now sells directly to the customer so to avoid middleman mark-ups.

    Henry Ford – Founder of Ford Motor Company and manufacturing assembly line innovator, Ford was not the inventor of the automobile, but his innovations in assembly-line techniques and the introduction of standardized interchangeable parts contributed to making the United States a nation of motorists and produced the first mass-production vehicle manufacturing plant.

    Bill Gates – Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates is perhaps the most famous entrepreneur of this era. He had the vision to predict the evolving importance of the personal computer. This allowed him to top Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s wealthiest individuals, with a 2006 estimated net worth of $50 billion.

    Howard Hughes – once the most talked-about entrepreneur in the world – legendary for both his bold business tactics and his outlandish personal life. The recent popular movie “The Aviator” has prompted a new interest in this fascinating entrepreneur.

    Wayne Huizenga – the only person in history to have founded three Fortune 500 companies, and six NYSE-traded companies. Huizenga is founder of the third largest U.S. waste disposal company, Republic Industries; the global leader in video entertainment, Blockbuster Entertainment; and the country’s first and world’s largest publicly-traded automotive dealership, AutoNation. He’s also currently the owner of the Miami Dolphins football team.

    Ingvar Kamprad – IKEA Founder and one of the wealthiest man in the world, Kamprad still flys coach, takes the subway to work, and drives a ten-year-old Volvo. What started as a person-to-person business selling everything from pens to picture frames has grown to over 200 stores in 31 countries, employing over 75,000 people and generating over 12 billion in annual sales.

    Donald Trump – Billionaire real estate tycoon and host of the apprentice, Trump has a long list of accomplishments and assets in real estate development, hospitality and entertainment. He was the outspoken star and producer of “The Apprentice” making him one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs. With his rollercoaster track record, he demonstrates one of the most important entrepreneurial traits: the ability to stand back up when you fall down.

  • My CEO Heroes

    I am going to write about a couple of my CEO heroes, Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla Motors.  Previously I wrote about my media heroes, which included two CEOs, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg, but when I classify ‘CEO’ heroes I value the entrepreneurial spirit and management style of Schultz and Musk in the same way I value the media empires of Murdoch and Zuckerberg.

    Howard Schultz

    Starbucks CEO and former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics, Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 as director of Marketing after a sales trip to Seattle as a general manager for Hammarplast drip coffee makers, which Starbucks was buying at the time.  While working at Starbucks, Schultz travelled to Italy to buy coffee and noticed not only were they selling coffee, but espresso too.  He also noticed a new dynamic, one he would later embrace, “The third place,” after noticing Italians ‘hanging out’ at coffee shops all over the country.

    The Third Place

    The ‘third place’ is a phrase coined by contemporary sociologist Ray Oldenburg.  Oldenburg in 1990 that postulates that the third place is a term referring to a public place where people gather for the social satisfaction that they can’t get from the first two domains of the home and the workplace.  Oldenburg argued that the availability of such gathering places in America was lacking and so, inspired by Oldenburg’s observations, Schultz turned America’s ‘lack of place’ into a business opportunity encouraging loitering and turning Starbucks into a cozy home-away-from-home.

    The Great Experiment

    When Schultz got back from Italy he convinced the management team to add espresso to the menu.  They agreed to try it out in one store and although it went over well, the management refused to roll it out explaining that they didn’t want to get into the ‘restaurant business’.  Frustratated, Schultz started his own company to serve coffee, Il Giornale, in 1985.  Two years later the original Starbucks management team decided to focus on their Peet’s Coffee & Tea brand and sold the Starbucks name to Schultz and Il Giornale for 3.8 million.  Schultz renamed Il Giornale to Starbucks and aggressively expanded the brand across the United States.  In 2000 Schultz left the company, but rejoined as CEO in 2008, taking the company to new records in profitability.

    Elon Musk

    Co-founder of Paypal, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors, Musk is currently CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors in addition to being chairman of SolarCity.  Musk was inspired by Thomas Edison to solve three “important problems”: the Internet, space, and clean energy.

    His first company was Zip2, which Musk cofounded with his brother, Kimbal Musk. Zip2 was acquired by Alta Vista in 1999.  That same year Elon Musk cofounded X.com, which later merged with Confinity, which owned the domain, paypal.com. This helped him solve his first problem, the Internet.

    Paypal.com was originally used by Confinity for email payments by Palm users, but after 2001 became known for what it is today and X.com changed its name to PayPal.  Just one year later, in 2002, Ebay acquired PayPal and that same year Musk founded his third company, SpaceX. This helped him solve his second problem, space.

    Musk was still building SpaceX when he cofounded Tesla Motors in 2004.  He later became CEO in 2008.  Tesla Motors make all-electric cars, which use much less energy than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.  Lyndon Rive, Musk’s cousin, founded SolarCity in 2006 of which Musk is chairman of the board.  Together with Tesla Motors, Solar City helped him solve his third problem, clean energy.

    In 2007 Musk won Inc.’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and his fortune is estimated at over 300 million dollars. This serial entrepreneur and father of five works 100-hour weeks and is passionate about what he does.  His passion is an encouragement to me and that is why is one of my CEO heroes.