Are You Ready to Start A Small Business?

Have you dreamed of starting your own business? Are you wondering if you’re ready to make it happen?  Confused about where to begin? 

If this sounds like you, head on down to the Main Library next Tuesday, February 28th from 6-7:30 P.M. for our joint program with SCORE called “Are You Ready to Start A Small Business?”  Hank Cardarelli and I will share information that can help you figure out if you’re ready to break out on your own.

Registration isn’t required for this free event.  If you have questions, give us a call at 805-6930 or contact us via our Ask-A-Question service.

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Top HR Tips at the Small Business & Nonprofit Networking Lunch

One thing that both small businesses & nonprofits have in common?  Employees.  And where there are employees, you’ll find people doing the work of Human Resources.  Luckily for us, we have Pat Eardley, the Human Resource Advisor, coming to the Networking Lunch on April 19th! 

Pat spoke about HR at a popular session during the 2010 Small Business Resource Fair and we’re pleased she is able to come back to speak on the same topic at the Networking Lunch.  Pat has also written articles for the Post & Courier on human resource issues and she’s a great speaker, too!  If you’re new to HR or even if you have experience of your own to share, come out & join us for this month’s networking lunch.

When: Tuesday, April 19th from 12 PM - 1:15 PM
Where: Main Library Auditorium.

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Blogging for Business at the Networking Lunch

Blogs are an inexpensive, relatively simple way to give your small business or nonprofit an active web presence.  Learn basic blog setup and best practices for promoting your organization in this session lead by the library’s own business librarian blogger.

I started the CCPL Business Center blog to help promote our business collection & programs in 2007.  Since that time the blog has moved from Blogger to WordPress and has undergone minor updates and major surgery.  I’m happy to have a chance to share what I’ve learned about blogging in the process!

When: Tuesday, March 15th from 12 – 1:15 p.m.

Where: Main Library, 68 Calhoun Street

For more information, email us at askaquestion@ccpl.org, or call us at 805-6930.

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ReferenceUSA Video Tutorials

Just discovered something wonderful about the grandaddy of all our company research databases, ReferenceUSA: video tutorials!

We’ve been wanting to do our own tutorials for some of our most popular resources, so we’re thrilled that ReferenceUSA is providing links to a couple good ones from other libraries around the country.

The videos are on ReferenceUSA.com under the Take a Tour link.  I’ve embedded one of the videos below.  The librarian here demonstrates exactly the same search that I recommend when people ask how to search for competitors (especially if they want business expenditure data) or how to create a mailing list.

Alternatively, head on over to YouTube and search for ReferenceUSA.  You’ll see several how-to videos produced by various academic and public libraries around the country.  Keep in mind every library doesn’t subscribe to every available ReferenceUSA module, but these videos will give you a great introduction to this popular tool.

Ready to get started with ReferenceUSA?  You can login at home with your Charleston County Public Library card any time!  (If you don’t have card & you live in the area, you can always use the database at any CCPL library branch.  If you like what you see, you can apply for a card before you leave!)

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Podcasting 101 Live Blog

12 PM – We’re about to get started!

12:02 – Intros. Glad to see some familiar faces and some new folks here today.

12:05 – We’re starting.  If you couldn’t make it today, take a look at the slides on his website.

12:10 – thesocialmediamonster.com – Take a look at some different podcasts he’s done on his site.

12:15 – Podcasts are basically free to produce, and you can make them available for free to cheap.

- Topics?  Decisions to make – hardware to use – recording & editing basics – software options – web publishing – itunes – Podcasting is a great fit for nonprofits, cause it doesn’t cost a lot of money.

Things to Consider

- Before you get started, decide on format & type of topics you’ll cover on your subject.  Will guests be in person, or on phone/in Skype.  (Skype is easiest to capture the audio for the computer.)

- Frequency: be realistic!  Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.  What’s the optimum podcast length?  22-25 minutes, which is the average commute time in the US.  (Keep in mind people are listening to podcasts while driving or working out.)

- Live, or edited?

- Podcast artwork – helps distinguish you as a pro.

12:20 – Where to submit the podcast?  iTunes, Podcast Alley, etc.  Put it on your site & make it easy to listen to & to subscribe to on your site.

-Are you going to be free, ad-supported?  You’ll want to do it differently depending on whether you want to attract advertisers.

The Flow : Plan the Episode

-plan the episode & write it down, outlines are best

-brief idea of times per topic

-write down your name, website name, phone numbers – the pressure of being recorded will make you forget

- this is all the basics of the show notes.

Arrange your Environment

-minimize echoes & external sounds (squeaks, pets, people, phone ringers, keyboard clicks, chair squeaks, etc.)

Recording

-Talk normally.  Be real.  Start before you start, so you can get into the talking mode before beginning – Think about what it’s like to be on TV.  If you’ve ever done a spot on a show, they will talk to you during the commercials & while they’re putting the mic on you to help you get comfortable & be yourself.

- Multiple takes are fine.

-Consider both looking at a Google Doc or a chat window when you’re on Skype to help you both communicate silently.

12:30 – BACK.  IT.  UP……then begin to edit.

Adjust the Audio

- After editing, back it up again.  (Yes, Michael says, he is fanatical about backups.)

-Now add the bumper music, a little music between the segments

-Levelator – adjusts the audio to make it all the same volume.  Find a podcast you like & use it as a “model” – did you have to turn yours up after listening to theirs?  Is everyone talking at the same volume in your podcast?

-Export to an MP3 file, the defacto podcast standard because it’s easily playable on many many devices.

-Tag it (author, title, artwork, year, etc. attached to the file via tags)

Post it!

-upload to your host

-add your blog post that will trigger the RSS feed to make it show up in people’s subscriptions

-Test the feed as a subscriber yourself, to make sure it works.

Questions:

RSS feed? RSS syndicates the podcast so that it appears automatically on subscribers’ devices or feedreaders.

Hardware:

-Microphone: dynamic versus condenser.  Condensers are more expensive & cut down on ambient noise.

- Can use a digital recorder or digital recording software on a phone or iPod if you can’t record onto a PC

-Skype: Make everyone wear headphones.  If they don’t it will create a feedback loop because their mic will pick up their speaker sounds.

Software:

12:40  -Free options: Audacity – GarageBand (Mac standard) – Levelator

-Paid software: ID3 editor (adds your tags), ProTools, LogicExpress, Adobe Audition = the big boys that studios use.  Not cheap.

Publishing:

-Make sure your webhost supports podcasts.  (Check your Terms of Agreement – if you have unlimited and you have a big bump in traffic, you may still get a bill.  Know this ahead of time.)

-WordPress! Free software that will let you put blog online.  PowerPress by Blubrry an add-in to make your file a podcast.

Books:

-Podcasting for Dummies – Tee Morris

-Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies

-Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Audio & Video Podcasting

-These are good!  CCPL carries them!  Test them out before you buy them.

Website Resources:

Cliff Ravenscraft’s The Podcast Answer Man

Audacity to Podcast

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