Independent Analysis: AI, SaaS, and Revenue Growth Strategy

I started my career reading this book & after #Growsmartbiz need to read it again to brush up , originally uploaded by ShashiBellamkonda . My dad first read this book and thought it important enough for me to read. The principles and discipline that I read in this book have helped me in my career. Even without a refresher I can recollect : a) We is more important than ! b) Always keep smiling c) Greet everyone whether you know them or not d) Networking and relationships are important. Today I was at a seminar organized by Reston Limo CEO Kristina Bouweiri "Designing the Exceptional Life" where Dr. Tom Hill spoke. he is a good speaker and has very actionable steps for everyone to follow. I think I am going to exercise more now. Thank you Kristina - Reston Limosine is more than a Limousine company, you are making your community efforts a large part of your business.

Event Live webcast : http://livestream.com/networksolutions Facebook App : http://apps.facebook.com/growsmartbiz/ HashTag : #GrowSmartBiz Metro and parking :  http://www.shashi.name/2009/09/growsmartbiz-conference-parking-and.html

Some tips if you are coming to the GrowSmartBiz Conference on Tuesday, September 29th in Washington DC a educational and networking conference for small businesses hosted by Network Solutions . A couple of people asked about Metro and parking. Renaissance   has Valet parking if you want to use it . I  recommend using the Metro. Subway/Metro : Gallery Place Chinatown (.2 miles S ) Directions from Metro : 1.Head north on 7th St NW toward H St NW 2.Turn left at H St NW 3.Turn right at 9th St NW ( hotel will be on the right ) Parking Choice : City Center Parking Lot 900 9th Street, NW (between N I St & N K St) Washington, DC 20001 (202) 265-0010 Source : yelp INTERPARK HOLDINGS INC 999 9th St NW Washington, DC 2000 ( Entrance on I Street) $15 for 9 hour This is a paid parking garage underneath the building. There are two entrances: one on I (Eye) Street and one on 7th Street. Both entrances identify the garage as...

The GrowSmartBiz conference is taking place on Tuesday 29th September at the Renaissance Hotel Washington DC and the tickets are selling fast. The GrowSmartBiz conference is a premier one-day event featuring renowned small business leaders and well-known industry experts, including keynote speaker Chris Anderson and Sen. Mark Warner. There is some great news for folks who are far away and cannot make it in person. You can watch the conference live and most sessions will also be online for viewing on demand later. Use the player here or go to http://cli.gs/gsblive to watch the LiveStream. How to watch the webcast live : 1) Go to http://livestream.com/networksolutions 2) Refer to the Agenda /Schedule for timings http://cli.gs/smartbizagenda 3) Chat in the LiveStream chat room  4) Join and watch the Twitterstream at : http://twubs.com/growsmartbiz/ How can you help spread the word. Add this link to your Facebook or LinkedIn Page Inform your Blog readers. if ...

#growsmartbiz

The Unofficial  pre-conference tweet-up for #GrowSmartBiz Conference   will be held the , Monday, September 28, 2009, at Clyde’s Restaurant on 707 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, at 7:30pm. Clyde’s is two blocks from the hotel and offers a delicious menu! Please visit the site for more information: http://www.clydes.com/main/RestaurantsDetail.cfm?Restaurant=Clydes_of_Gallery_Place&Section=Main . Thanks for Co-ordinating  Jill Foster (@jillfoster) and Joanna Pineda (@jpineda), as well as sponsor Grant Wickes (@gwickes) of WaspBarcode. Here are the details of the meet-up from Grant Wickes: Overview : Prior to the all day GrowSmartBiz, let’s get together at a pre-event gathering on Monday night… an informal get together of speakers, panelists, sponsors, press, bloggers and friends that are in town Monday night prior to the Tuesday event.  See details below… Location : Clydes of Gallery Place ( www.clydes.com ) - comes highly recommended by conc...

As a general rule if you get some link unexpectedly from a friend it may be better to check with them to see if the message is genuine before clicking on the link.  Mashable and  a few sites like SCMagazine posted warnings about this new threat that comes to you through DMs from people who you are foillwoing. . What phishers do is to entrap you with a link and when that opens up you get the same look and feel of a genuine site maybe looks like Twitter itself . If you are not careful you may enter your login info into this fake page and may innocently give your login info away to these phishers who will then use your account to defraud you or in Twitter’s case will start spamming your followers. If this has happened to you please login and change your password immediately. If you have received messages like these, you may be better off just deleting them. Example : hey, i made $484 yesterday . this website showed me how http://gglcash4u.info Twitter maybe actively worki...

I met Sekhar Puli for lunch on Friday. I had heard of Asha Jyothi as a organized that helped people in need in case of unexpected emergencies/tragedy. He told me the organization has evolved and has more global motives starting with helping underprivileged kids in India get a decent education and tapping the folks of Indian origin here who want to give a helping hand to their ancestral heritage.  Another surprising thing was that this volunteer run 501 c (3) organization prides itself on the ability to put 100% of the proceeds to the cause. On of the events they are organizing is a 5k run to raise funds and awareness for health and education for underprivileged kids in India. They started with one venue Fairfax city Virginia and then found calls for support from other cities so it has now turned into a 5 city run on September 26th 2009. Cities – Fairfax VA, Kansas City.KA,  Charlotte .NC,  Houston.TX , Dallas.TX, San Francisco.Ca. Details of the cities : http://as...

Today at the Enterprise and Consultants Special Interest Group of the CPCUG ( read about the CPCUG here http://cli.gs/dbZEBU ) Barbara Conn (@cpcug) welcomed the folks about 50 of them and then everyone got a minute to introduce themselves. I was amazed at the variety of folks who were there. NIH, Montgomery College, American Red Cross and many others. I met my friends Barbara Halpern and Alice Marshall (@prestovivace) and Jo Golden @jogolden ( http://www.chaostoclarity.com/blog/ ) who will be presenting on Saturday, December 12, 2009, 12 : 30 -3:00 pm ( Note: 2nd Saturday ) on Research Skills and Strategies for Business I laid out the Social media tools and the audience asked a lot of questions. Since Cleveland park does not have good parking garages a lot of people seemed to move in and out to move their cars and get back. The problems does not exist in the evening for restaurant goers it seems. Anyway Metro is the best for this meet up. Pamela Dunning from American Red...

The knock on the door was urgent. I opened it to find a firefighter who said there was a gas leak and they were asking all the neighborhood to evacuate while they detected it and fixed it. He asked me to go to the community center. I immediately asked him if I had time to get my wallet and my phone and he said that was fine but I had to hurry. Coming out of the house I smelled gas and I knew the source of my misery. The whole day workers from a telecom company were laying cables. The previous week I had seen other utility personnel marking underground cables and knew some kind of maintenance was on the way. Montgomery County Fire Department thinks of everyhting The timing was bad , this was the time when the school buses make their way into the neighborhood and I wondered about kids who would be home alone till their parents came back. Helicopters Overhead News Crews arrive I need not have worried. The fire department was on the case. A fantastic team took charge of ...

I am a confirmed NPR junkie. In 2007 I posted a poll on my blog and at that time 55% of my community said they listened to NPR. A lot has happened since then, media has begun to adopt different models. NPR has adopted new media tools very well. See today's news about NPR's iPhone app They are active in the social media and my friend Andy Carvin @acarvin works as the NPR's Social Media Swami :). MY evening commute is usually timed to Marketplace. I want to see how my network feels about NPR so help me understand and Take this poll: Some of the programs I love are : Marketplace , Wait Wait Don't Tell Me , Splendid Table . I am not surprised that in this economic crisis NPR has actually gained audience. I love the fact that they cover world events. A few day's ago I was listening to a program about Mongolian Horses ( I wish someone would invite me to Mongolia to talk Social Media - I love the country of Genghiz Khan) Some facts I found online: Broadcasts of NPR’s fl...

This Weekend only DC Small Business Conference - Sept 29 Register for $99 & bring a friend free - code GSB999 http://tinyurl.com/gsbiz - please share with friends. After this weekend the code is still good for $200 off the conference price of $299 i.e $99. Along with Chris Anderson the list of panelists includes several of my gurus and absolutely smart folks who have succeeded against all odds. Did you know our keynote speaker Chris Anderson runs 3 small business along with his day job? I am looking forward to him telling us about using technology smartly and may be for FREE. See a list of all the speakers here http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Custom.aspx?cid=17&e=41e08ae3-2ded-4c35-9c3a-67144406dfbe Any help in spreading the word on this conference is appreciated.GrowSmartBiz Conference DC Sept 29th in DC. Please help spread the word by sending this to your friends. Here are some things that will go a long way to help me and I appreciate it : 1) Mentioning it on you...

The FORD Taurus SHO has several cool features including one that reads text messages to you when you are driving. I am sitting in traffic on the Washington beltway and my N95 phone is going off with DMs ( Dms= Direct messages on Twitter) delivered to me by SMS. As the phone goes “beep beep “ I am tempted to look at my messages and keep an eye on the car in front while traveling at 5 miles per hour. At that moment I remembered a conversation I had with Ken Ken Czubay Ford Motor Company’s, Vice President, U.S. Marketing recently in DC where FORD held a tweetup to show people their 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. The FORD SHO using Microsoft Sync can read text messages to you ( How cool is that !). When talking about the car Ken Czubay told me the safety features first: Blind Spot warning indicator Adaptive Cruise control Adaptive headlights that automatically decrease brightness when there are oncoming cars I drove the car a few blocks around DC and it reminded me of a Volk...

For a limited time – buy one, get one free! If you  register 9.9.09 (using promo code GSB999), you will only pay $99 to attend AND be able to bring a guest with you for FREE! 090909 is making news all over the world , while some couples consider this a auspicious day to get married a Malaysian Newspaper The Star reports that “is a day that will be full of success as the number 090909 symbolizes longevity.” And the new video game featuring the Beatles - Rock Band is releasing on that day Recognizing that Small Business need all the help in jumping through the hurdles this economy is putting them through, Network Solutions® – will offer a one-day special registration fee allowing two people to attend for just $99 total, the GrowSmartBiz Conference – being held on September 29 th at the Renaissance – Washington DC. The Small Business conference I am helping organize is called GrowSmart Biz conference on Sept 29th at the Renaissance Washington DC. Chris Anderson the Editor of ...

Honored to be part of the Washington DC CPCUG’s - Entrepreneurs and Consultants SIG (E&C SIG) I am thrilled to give a talk at the Entrepreneurs and Consultants SIG (E&C SIG) meeting on September 19, 2009. This gives me a feeling of both honor and nostalgia . Honor becuase this a body of peers and gurus who were meeting and helping entrepreneurs long before there were the social networks we know of today. CPCUG's nearly 30-year-old motto is "Users Helping Users." Technology novices join to learn from techies, and to help each other as their knowledge grows. Nostalgia because when I was contemplating changing careers this was a organization that was on the forefront and presented me with an opportunity for both learning and networking. I went to meetings at NIH where speakers educated you on a myriad of topics. Over the past ten years I have been a subscriber to the CPCUG mailing list and gained by it. I interviewed Barbara Conn who is a board member of...

Cooling off in public dc summer , originally uploaded by ShashiBellamkonda . This was a great pic for a hot September Day and i wished i could have jumped in - jacket, shoes and everything on

Watch CBS Videos Online Cami McCormick is the CBS radio correspondent from New York and was on assignment in Afghanistan when a IED exploded and she was injured. I have heard she is stable and is being flown to the US  and my prayers and good wishes for a fast revovery. I know Cami from my days in Moscow when I did an interview for her on Radio Maximum “ Moscow in the morning Chef’s Corner maybe 18 years ago. We have been in touch and she is really a great person.