Vision 2020: Education Will Change Beyond Recognition |  |
- Vision 2020: Education Will Change Beyond Recognition
- 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Content Robot
- Upselling: Run Your Business Like the U.S. Postal Service and Thrive
- Couples in Business: You and Your Partner, Inc.
| Vision 2020: Education Will Change Beyond Recognition Posted: 20 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST
But this decade, I think, it is showing signs of a real, exciting, renaissance. Whether it is in the massively open online courses like Khan Academy and MIT's OCW or edX, or various tablet and smartphone applications that are enriching the field, we're seeing serious, high velocity action. I have written a great deal about EduTech lately. Today I would like to introduce you to a startup that has started showing good traction. The most successful ideas are very often born out of personal needs and experiences. In this story, we follow the journey of a student whose discovery of his own elite University's resources motivated him to make those available more broadly. Aurus Network Piyush Aggarwal began his academic career in India, in engineering with a focus in Computer Science. Through a combination of industry projects and summer internships, Piyush's focus shifted from academics to an interest in the ways technical innovation can be applied to solve real world problems. In this spirit, Piyush came to the U.S. to pursue his graduate degree at Stanford University. There, he repeated a familiar pattern of becoming overly involved in his research rather than attending classes. Happily for Piyush, Stanford made classes available online by offering video recordings of every lecture, which he watched in order to study for final exams. But soon Piyush was watching every lecture video, so that his time in the classroom could be focused on learning new material or a discussion with his peers. Intrigued by the concept of online education, Piyush investigated further and found that Stanford spent considerable resources to run the program. For other U.S. based schools, as well as those in emerging countries, it wasn't logistically or financially viable to provide comparable materials. But the market was there. Piyush discovered that India, in particular, suffered from a shortage of quality teachers, driving a strong desire among the Indian student body to find knowledge elsewhere. What began as an idea for a lecture capturing software grew into the Bangalore-based Aurus Network. A cloud-based platform allowing educational video creation, management and distribution. The solution allows any educational institution to offer online programs, locally or long-distance, without spending expensive financial or human capital. Aurus' system draws upon schedules provided by class administrators, automatically initiating and ending recordings and publishing live. Piyush has also incorporated multiple features to make the solution as flexible as possible. Aurus Network can deliver live streams at low bandwidths with two-way interactions. Custom presenter tracking technology eliminates the need for human camera operators. Aurus is offered in both a cloud-based and on-campus deployment option, and pricing is set in pay-per-use or pay-per-student models. Aurus Network was bootstrapped until 2011, when business from around 20 Indian educational institutes provided $150,000 in annual revenue. In order to scale further, however, they raised a round of funding through the Indian Angel Network in 2012. Piyush also expanded his advisory board to include well-known executives Sharad Sharma, formerly of Yahoo India R&D, and Ajai Chowdary, of HCL, on his advisory board. Since its release in 2010, Aurus Network has not encountered a great deal of market competition. While initially competing with video conferencing companies, this comparison is more often simply a mistake of prospective clients, as Aurus' offerings expand well beyond live communication. Piyush shares that the greatest challenge has been convincing educators to adopt this new form of teaching. The future of Aurus Network, Piyush hopes, will sustain continued growth as well as geographical expansion. Their offerings have already grown well beyond Piyush's original idea in the Stanford classroom. Today the target market includes test prep as a key early adapter segment, and future opportunities may include corporate training. The company is currently working toward partnerships with similar technologies in the industry, especially, Learning Management Solution providers. Piyush belongs to an entire generation of edutech entrepreneurs who envision that online learning at affordable price-points will dramatically enhance the world's learning quotient. This democratization of education on the wings of technology will continue to drive us forward over the remaining part of this decade. Come 2020, I fully expect the field of education to have changed beyond recognition. 2020 Photo via Shutterstock The post Vision 2020: Education Will Change Beyond Recognition appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Content Robot Posted: 20 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST
Can you relate? This year, I resolved to put more passion into my writing. Give readers a reason to read. Put more energy into my posts. To that end, I’ve created these tips for myself (and for you, if you like) to keep from being a content robot this year: 1. Set Aside Enough Time to Write When you get paid a set amount for a blog post, it behooves you (me, actually) to write faster and write more. But sometimes going too fast means your post lacks soul. That means it won’t be as popular as it would if you’d taken more time to reflect on what you write before you put fingers to keyboard. I block off time on my calendar to write. I could stand to block off bigger chunks of time, but like so many of us, I suffer from Facebook/email A.D.D., meaning I can’t write 400 words without checking one. 2. Avoid Clichés I like being on the same page with my readers, breaking the ice and taking the bull by the horns as much as the next blogger. But for my readers, well, it’s all old hat. So I’m going to strive to avoid clichés in my writing. They’re nothing but a cop out anyway. Let’s find our own unique words to say the same thing, m’kay? 3. Find New Words There are only so many ways to say the word “business.” Believe me. I’ve used them all. Company. Organization. Entity. Brand. I use Thesaurus.com heavily, because I keep using the same words in a single post. At one time, I prided myself on my poetic prose, which was anything but ubiquitous. But as I’ve honed my craft, I strive to use words everyone understands. Still, a curveball like “Apollonian” now and then makes my writing better. 4. Mix Up Your Style If you always write how-to posts, get out of your comfort zone (there’s that darn cliché again) and try a different style of post. Maybe you can interview someone at your company or in your industry. Write a book review. Share your insight on industry news. Writing the same type of content is boring for both you and your reader, so branch out. 5. Don’t Mask Your Passion Within five minutes of meeting me, I will have laid out an entire marketing plan for your business. That may not always shine through in my writing, though it should. I am passionate about writing. You’re passionate about something. People like passion. So don’t be afraid to let it shine brightly in your content. The posts that get shared the most were written by people who were happy to put the spotlight on their passions. 6. Take a Break Aside from those Facebook breaks, taking a respite from what you’re writing can be helpful in that you step away, give your brain a break, then come back with a fresh outlook. You’ll often see that what seemed magical when you first typed it is now kind of junk. You may also spot your errors quickly. Take a few hours or a day to get some space from your writing, then come back and read it again. 7. Read it Out Loud When I work with new writers, and when I teach writing, I insist that they read their content out loud. This helps them see that a run-on sentence needs to be changed, or that a particular phrase is awkwardly structured and needs revision. And sometimes Spellcheck doesn’t work, so reading it out loud can help you catch a missing “s” at the end of a word. 8. Have Someone Else Read It If you’re like me, every single thing you write is prizewinning. In your head, anyway. Sometimes you need another person to read it and give you honest feedback. Better for them to catch your errors or point out a confusing part than for a client or the blogosphere to see it and criticize. Be open to feedback and use it to become a better writer. 9. Try Writing About Something Else I have moments when I’m burned out on writing about business. I recently picked up travel writing, which uses a completely different part of my brain. Surprisingly, it makes business writing fun again. Try writing a different style, or on a different topic so that you don’t get jaded on what you write about regularly. 10. Constantly Improve The difficult thing about blogging is that there are no intermediate or advanced blogging courses. Everything’s about getting you started. So while continuing education in the traditional sense is difficult, you can learn by reading. Read other blogs and notice what you like about the writing. Find ways to incorporate it into your own style. It’s a great way to make sure you’re staying sharp as a writer. Robot and Pencil Photo via Shutterstock The post 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Content Robot appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Upselling: Run Your Business Like the U.S. Postal Service and Thrive Posted: 20 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST
However, on a recent visit to my local post office, I saw one thing the USPS was doing very well: upselling. Let me give you the full story. I had to ship back a defective cell phone so I took it to the post office. I put it in a priority shipping envelope, got in line, and soon (only took a couple minutes which impressed me) made it to the cashier. The cashier greeted me, took the package, and began his upsell pitch:
Followed by:
And then:
Now, to be honest, I didn't take any of these upsells. Because I was returning a defective product. And I didn't really care how quickly it got there, and I didn't want to waste any more money on it. But, if I were sending other packages, I very well might have take one or more of the upsells and thus paid the USPS a lot more money. Importantly, upsells can and will dramatically improve the profitability of your business. In fact, it's been estimated that McDonald’s doubled its profits when it started asking customers:
It doubled profits again when it started asking:
Upsells dramatically improve profits since you incur no additional marketing costs. You have already incurred the marketing cost (e.g., advertising, PR, social media, etc.) to get the customer there, so the additional sales are much more profitable. Airlines have also gotten better at upselling recently. The last time I purchased a seat, I was upsold on paying for:
Importantly, upsells not only increase your profits, but they allow you to advertise where your competitors can't and thus dramatically grow your company. For example, if your competitor's average profit per sale is $50, they can only advertise in media where they can generate new sales for less than $50. Conversely, if your company, via upsells, generate an average profit per sale of $75, you'll be able to advertise in many places they can't. For example, if one media source (e.g., a newspaper ad) generated new customers at a cost of $60 each, you would be able to advertise there profitably, while your competitors could not. When thinking about what to upsell your customers, think about what additional products or services you could give them that would better solve their problems. If you were a hardware store about to sell a hammer, could you offer the customer nails? Or a glove to reduce blisters? Some entrepreneurs and business owners think offering upsells is too aggressive. Sure, it can be if done in certain ways. But have you ever seen someone storm out of a McDonalds saying:
So, figure out the right upsells for your customers. Then create scripts for your employees to use to offer them. This can quickly boost your profits and allow you to dominate your market. U.S. Postal Photo via Shutterstock The post Upselling: Run Your Business Like the U.S. Postal Service and Thrive appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Couples in Business: You and Your Partner, Inc. Posted: 20 Jan 2013 06:00 AM PST
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based couple interviewed about 45 couples in business together to collect anecdotes and strategies for You & Your Partner, Inc.: Entrepreneurial Couples Succeeding in Business, Life and Love. I received a copy of the book from the authors and interviewed them over the phone after reading the book. My review of the book follows a few excerpts from my interview. When I asked the authors why they thought couples owning small businesses needed their own special business book, the authors said since they worked together as therapists, they were curious about how other couples managed to stay in business while maintaining a strong personal relationship. Hawley, who was a co-author of the iconic women's self-help book, Our Bodies, Ourselves, says:
Hawley said most couples are motivated to stay together for many reasons, but couples in business are especially motivated:
McIntyre, a therapist and coach, said success depends on keeping the lines of communications open and:
Hawley agrees, adding that couples in business need to set up a process for resolving conflict. To avoid power plays, the authors recommend the couple identify each person's skills from the start and be very clear about who does what:
About the Book The chapters are based heavily on transcribed interviews with the couples. While it's good to hear stories in people's own voices, the transcripts verbatim and in many cases, the stories shared, are not very interesting. The range of businesses the couples operate is what carries the book. The short tips and commentaries at the end of the chapters are helpful, but often too generic. However, if you are in business with a spouse or partner and want to learn from the experience of other couples in business, there are some nuggets. The business owners you'll meet range from retailers to restaurant owners to career counselors. The most interesting couple imports crafts from Kenya. Katy and Philip Leakey have 1,400 women making beads and crafts from natural elements including grass, for 2,000 stores in the U.S. Philip, son of archeologists Louis and Mary Leakey, met Katy because her parents were founders of the Leakey Foundation. They married in 2001 and started The Leakey Collection in 2002. Philip said in his interview:
Chapter Three on how to 'incorporate' your children and extended family into the business offers some practical suggestions, but nothing earth-shaking:
Every small business owner has to be a juggler – but working with your spouse or partner does add a few more challenges to the mix. The post Couples in Business: You and Your Partner, Inc. appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
For years, I have patiently waited for innovation in educational technologies. For a variety of reasons, the field simply didn't take off in the last two decades.
When you first start blogging for your company, your posts are probably more thought-provoking, insightful and well-written. But if you’re like me, the more you write, the more automated it becomes. I can write about social media, small business and marketing in my sleep, so sometimes I’m guilty of writing on autopilot.
In any list of companies and organizations to emulate, you certainly will not see the United States Postal Service. In fact, it was recently reported that the USPS is losing $25 million per day.
After firing my husband, Joe, at least three times from our family-owned communications and production company because we absolutely could not work together, I was anxious to read a new, self-published book by therapists, Miriam Hawley and Jeffrey McIntyre.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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