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Business Improvement District security guards showed up, having been alerted to the disturbance, and instructed the costumed Brit to pack up his towel and set up shop elsewhere. The group was last seen walking down 6th towards Grand Avenue.

The Lower East Side Business Improvement District (LES BID) is reaching back while looking forward and giving New Yorkers a taste of contemporary fare traditional flair. Every Sunday from July 1st through September 9th on Broome Street between Allen and Orchard we will be hosting Lower Feast Side: LES a la ‘Cart’ an interactive street fair that “reinvents” itself every week!

The problem with most business improvement efforts is, for one reason or another, they don’t last.

One of the best ways to solve problems is by writing them down. When you write down a problem and some possible solutions, you can get more ideas than you previously had. You may gain better clarity about the problem and new ideas can pop into your head.

My short Advanced Sales Training course reviews the developments in selling techniques and provides professional salespeople with options for personal and business improvement. Qselling sales training programs deliver practical, ready-to-use selling techniques to generate better results for you and your organization. In each and every sales training program (Delivered in module format, you will uncover ways to increase your numbers by using the very latest and advanced selling techniques.

When you bookmark sites and they are public, you are creating an on-line profile. You are identifying yourself with the information you mark as a favorite. Be thoughtful about the on-line profile you are creating and that this information is public. Even if you choose to use a name different from your actual name, note that the web is an amazing place and that information gets linked and connected. So be thoughtful of what you want identified with your user name, even if it isn’t your actual name.

Tension seeks resolution, like a rubber band. If you're not feeling any tension right now, maybe you need to ramp up your ambitions or become more conscious of where you are in your life compared to where you would like to be. It may be the right time to take a risk.

Now that I have the LLC all set up I have to get the finances in order. According to what I read in my NOLO books (thanks for the tip on those Steve - far cheaper than a lawyer and though the information is out there on the internet its nice to have it all in one spot) I need to make sure I keep my LLC finances very separate from my person ones to maintain the LL part of the C. I currently bank with a credit union so much as I would have liked to open an account with them its just not an option since they don't offer any business banking.

Both Philadelphia and Baltimore have used Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) as a route to double devolution. BIDs are essentially voluntary neighbourhood business-led coalitions that make neighbourhoods a better place to do business.

There's tons of great business improvement ideas out there...take your pick: "Good to Great", "Covey's 7 Habits", "E-Myth", "Built To Last".....and hundreds of others by best-selling business authors.

Business success is exponential, meaning everything builds on what you have done previously. If you invest the bulk of your profits back into things that directly add to your bottom line, like inventory, business improvement or advertising, then you will continue moving your business forward. And that is the ultimate goal!

There are many business improvement methods out there. What we don't really need is YAGI (yet another great idea.)

The boss at a marketing company called a spontaneous Staff meeting in the middle of a particularly stressful week. When everyone gathered, the employer, who understood the benefits of having fun, told the burnt-out staff the purpose of the meeting was to have a quick contest. The theme was Viagra advertising slogans. The only rule was that they had to use past ad slogans,originally written for other products, that captured the essence of Viagra.Slight variations were acceptable. About 7 minutes later, they turned in their suggestions and created a Top Ten List. After all the laughter and camaraderie, the rest of the week went very well for everyone. The top ten:

All of our hotspots are funded by partner organizations. For example, the hotspots that are located in Downtown Manhattan are sponsored by the Alliance for Downtown New York, a Business Improvement District company. Some of our personal hotspots are set up and run by individual volunteers. We have some funding through personal donations to NYCwireless, but no formal funding arrangements.

Yesterday was a massive whirl of organizing flurry. I emptied drawers, threw out oceans of junk, and spent money at Lowe’s, Office Max, Staples, and Target.

I happened across this article on how Sarbanes-Oxley is a "business blessing in disguise" since it can show you where your organization's weak points lie, so that presumably you can fix them. Although it's primarily discussing ERP systems, this same concept (business improvement/competitive advantage through compliance) is an area that I'm addressing for a client right now by looking at how BPM fits into the compliance big picture. That has me thinking about all sorts of things: BPM, business intelligence, business rules, performance management, compliance, and how they all fit together. You can be sure that there will be more on this in the future.

My problem is this: what distinguishes the concept of business performance management from that of the decision support systems (DSS) or executive information sytems (EIS) that we built in the 1980's, except that the technology is a bit more advanced? This is being hailed as the new saviour of business, and I feel a bit like I'm looking at the Emperor's new clothes.

Because I made sure, as the owner of Irving Plaza, to be a good neighbor, the 14th Street Business Improvement District asked me to help with Washington Irving High School across the street. I walked in one day in 1997, just as the Internet was taking off for most Americans, and saw kids still typing on IBM Selectrics. I ordered a T-1 line, found some donated computers and sent one email to 10 friends asking if they would help me build a computer lab and connect it to the Internet.

Two hundred people showed up on a Saturday two weeks later. From that we started MOUSE.org, which today trains students to run the technology in their schools and has close to 1000 students in the program serving 89,000 other students and 6,000 teachers, saving the Department of Education a couple million dollars a year. More importantly, they’re making sure the technology works when the learning moments need to happen, which is priceless.

When will our elected officials wake up and realized that the store owners of this city are not a piñata to be beaten? City tax and regulatory policies are already creating an intolerable burden on neighborhood stores. Many of these stores, those located in one of the myriad Business Improvement Districts, are taxed twice just to get basic city services. On top of all this, Phil Reed wants more vendors.

Keith Longmire is the owner of JKL Business Growth Solutions. JKL specialises in bringing main stream business improvement and marketing solutions into the reach of smaller businesses. His website Breakthrough Business Growth has been designed to help owner-managers cut through the hype and produce innovative marketing plans that deliver results.

Six Sigma and Kaizen are two business methods that are used for business improvement. Now someone is comparing these approaches through nine different methods. The results can help companies make the right decision for their organization. The researcher is hoping that the study will reveal the definite differences.

By the way, CEDX also designs, installs, and maintains community wireless networks, whether they be sponsored by a municipality, a Chamber of Commerce, a Business Improvement District, or some other community organization. We'll help your group attract visitors, bridge the digital divide ( don't forget the laptops! ), or lower the cost of providing broadband access to your group. Contact us at 631-262-9300 for more information

As a business golf speaker, consultant, and author, I teach business professionals how they can utilize golf to strengthen their business relationships and increase sales. I discovered the power of business golf while I was a practicing attorney in San Francisco specializing in commercial real estate transactions.

We live in a world where more is expected of us every day.

First there were fax machines, now email and cell phones. Our number of communications daily from various sources is extreme.

How can we get to all of it in a timely fashion and still get 8 hours of sleep?

A sweet article on how to make the workplace more enjoyable. It's easy!

So all this absurdly long preface leads up to no more than a "tip." Or, really, two.

Tip #1: Think "Touch of Grace." What's one simple, "graceful" act you (independent contributor, boss) can contribute to your Working Ambience today/tomorrow/in the next fifteen minutes?

Tip #2: Think "Flower Power." From Vermont @ Minus 15F to Bangkok @ Plus 97F ... FLOWERS RULE! Flowers truly are a gift from the gods. Not flowers "given to someone" (fine), but GORGEOUS-LUSH-OVERWHELMING-ARRAYS-OF-FLOWERS. Nothing else--NOTHING ELSE!--will so lift the spirits & transform the "working" environment. Take it from me, an old Civil Engineer & MBA without a trace of "artistic" temperament!

Office Max doesn't have an aisle for blogs in their stores, but you might want a blog for your business or industry. BusinessWeek reports on blogs for the trade.

Weblogs Inc. is the purveyor of a network of more than 70 blogs, which it characterizes as the world's largest. The company is dedicated to creating trade blogs across industries in which user participation is an essential component of the resulting product. Weblogs Inc. network categories include Consumer, Technology, Wireless, Video Games, Media & Entertainment, Business, Life Sciences, Personal, and Events.

I believe blogs will grow increasingly prominent, because they offer interesting and unique content, are easy to search and organize, and have the potential to generate notable revenues and profits through the use of online advertising (primarily keyword search) and affiliate marketing. Gawker Media is another major network of blogs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see companies such as these make news on the financing front in 2005, by possibly raising private capital or taking steps toward an IPO. I believe some of the businesses highlighted above have bright futures. We'll see if investors (private and public) agree.

Here's a great intro on how to start a business blogs. Lots of choices. Office Max should offer business blogs from its website!

I have been writing about what blogs can bring to business this week. Recognizing the business potential in blogs, a number of IT, publishing, and online learning consulting firms are starting to offer help with blogs as part of their service offerings. Here are three that Amanda Watlington and I interviewed for our book, Business Blogs: A Practical Guide.

The Norwich Group, run by Anne Stanton, is located in Norwich, Vermont and provides business consulting focused on the professional firms specializing in IT consulting, technology or accounting services. Depending on the client’s needs, The Norwich Group can offer a variety of capabilities. Some of these capabilities have been developed into packaged solutions. One of these is help staring your business blog.

Windsor Media Enterprises is an author services company in Rochester, New York, with a focus on helping new and existing authors write, produce, and market their books. Its founder, Yvonne DiVita has also published a nice book on online marketing to women, “Dickless Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online. She recently started Business Blogging Boot Camp with Tom Collins to help businesses get into blogging.

If you need to go beyond an individual blog, Kathleen Gilroy of The Otter Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts has recently created Pingware, a Blogware-based platform for developing communities. The Otter Group provides custom designed online learning programs and online communities. Pingware integrates a newsreader, as well as blog publishing capabilities and can be custom designed for your organization. It is based on a common vocabulary and a unified view of the capabilities. The Wellesley College Alumni Association is one of the first adopters.