Speaking of RED, If you haven't heard of the Princeton EGGS and need you're weekly share of doom and gloom check it out.  Essentially, it's a high-tech predictor of the future some very smart scientists stumbled upon at Princeton University.  This article explains:

About the Project (explanation)

The egg thing: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/  go to bottom of page and click on "real time display" to see the "eggs". Last summer they were mostly green and yellow - right now they are all red. What does it mean? Nobody knows for sure...

Recession Tips for Survival - This relates to a software company model, but I think we can all use some tips on how to weather the recession.  http://www.clarrus.com/resources/tips_business.htm

The National Association for the Self-Employed conducted a survey that found the self-employed secure about their ability to withstand competition from big companies.

Nearly half (49 percent) of survey respondents describe themselves as optimistic or very optimistic about their business revenue in the current economy. Sixty-five percent of respondents believe small businesses are better able to compete against larger companies in a global marketplace than they were five years ago, while 75 percent agree that the recession and accompanying corporate layoffs present opportunities for growth among sole proprietors and micro-businesses. About 69 percent agree that micro-businesses are in a better, more flexible position than large corporations to weather challenging economic conditions and trends.

Here's an interesting statistic: 83% of small and medium businesses with websites containing ecommerce features are receiving monthly revenue from them! (Interland, 9/2005)

A viable option

It's clear that self-employment remains a viable option for many. "Self-employment is a career choice for more than one out of every 10 individuals who enter career transition, and almost 40 percent consider it at the beginning of their job search," says Mary Page, vice president and director of professional services of the Memphis, Tenn., office of Lee Hecht Harrison, an outplacement and career counseling practice with offices worldwide.

Gary Witt, a freelance media and video producer for 22 years says he's always had to be creative, confident, highly organized and flexible.

"I think these traits can really serve the self-employed when times are tough," Witt says. "It's as if you already have a built-in adaptability and resourcefulness, which can be a lifesaver when the economy is down and big projects are harder to land."

One of the easiest ways to become self-employed is to start a web business to supplement your "day job".  Whether you choose an online store, or some other web based service, a web business can conveniently mesh both worlds - that of employee and entrepreneur - because the web business is done in spare time reaping big rewards with a minimum of investment.

The $998 Starter Business Website

Custom designed, we build it for you

Free hosting & domain for 1 year
Up to 7 pages
Unique custom graphic design
Standards compliant XHTML & CSS
Search Engine friendly Google Site Map
Interactive Google Map (zoom, pan, pushpin)
Large photo gallery
Generous amount of digitally supplied text

$499 retainer, $499 before it goes live
Promotion code NL208

Hosting/service fee is $35 monthly or $385 annually after first year

Ok, we warned you Vista might cause problems, but if you got it anyway here are 10 articles about how to make it work better:

1. Vista is getting better - slowly

2. How to dual-boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first)

3. Performance monitoring in Windows: An overview

4. Vista draining laptop batteries and patience

5. Vista Betas Will Kill Your Data

6. Vista, IE7 help Microsoft boost search market share

7. Vista, Office 2007 get thumbs down from UK schools tech advisor

8. Vista security flaw no surprise

9. Migrating to Vista - the other side of the coin

10. Windows Vista Deployment

Don't forget - even if you don't need a website yourself, you can refer a friend! Earn up to $100 cash for each referral that becomes a new customer.  Register Here 

It doesn't matter where you or your friend is located, we can work with clients wherever they are -  by email, phone and fax. We are in Michigan, and have satisfied customers worldwide.  Visit our website at http://c-omalley.com.

What do our customers say about us?

16 tips to survive the current economic downturn and still be a profitable business:

1. Be an entrepreuneur - just because main job with a big corporation is gone doesn't mean you can't strike out on your own.  Look for a need and fill it - with the internet there is no easier time to start a small business.  Web advertising is cheap compared to print or media.  You just may love the freedom!
2. Scale back your expectations and frivalous spending (you know you don't need that new cell phone every year).
3. Make your regular customers happy
4. If necessary, cut rates or give really good deals until things pick up
5. Transfer some of the work to your website - automate! (Take orders, book events & appointments, provide FAQs that answer questions about products and services - freeing up employees for critical tasks)
6. Poll your customers - find out what they really need and what's not critical.  This is what they will be buying.  You can add a poll easily to your website for this purpose.
7. Website sales require less showroom space, and sometimes less warehouse space and can draw a larger, worldwide market.
8. Think outside the box for advertising - where you perhaps always had a yellow pages ad - online banner ads might be more effective when exchanged between your company and complimentary businesses.
9. Google Adwords campaigns are a way of advertising on a small budget. When customers type certain key words into search engines, you come up first (we can set up a campaign for you)
10. Advertise more, not less - but be careful where you spend your dollars.  Make sure to track your ROI.
11. Customers are going to need lower cost solutions along with the high-end ones.
12. Target your customers more closely.
13. Pay down credit cards, keep a cash reserve.
14. Cut your overhead - some businesses can be run just as well from home as a storefront
15. Take advantage of every tax break you can.
16. Don't stop investing in your company or nothing will be left when the economy turns around. 

Valentines day...how sweet.  Learn the History of that day papered in pink! 

Free Security scan - find out what others can find out about you when you surf.  Find out what those cookies have and the kind of information that can be found out about you on your computer.  Very comprehensive! Help prevent identity theft.   (Requires a download)

http://www.pcpitstop.com/store/erase.asp

Free health checkup for your computer...check your PC's health, configuration and performance

http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/

A search engine with LIVE PEOPLE??? Get free live chat and phone support from this search engine.
http://www.findinfo.com/

3 Important SEO Tactics you should know

1. Page rank sculpting - conserve precious Karma by promoting certain pages to search engines and telling them to by-pass others using rel=nofollow tags. 

2. 301 Redirects - what to do when you have a high-ranking page but you need to move it? 301 Redirect it.  The search engines will know where to find you and you won't lose all your hard work getting there.

3. Sponsored Reviews - essentially paying for a 3rd part to post a review of your site. You can generate a lot of buzz with good reviews.  This should not be confused with paid links, and works especially well for new sites.

Using a combination of strategies can help you move up the ladder.  Not always as quickly as you'd like, but over time you will see improvement in your page rank. Just keep plugging away and you will reap your reward - page one in Google!