How to Get Free Money – These 17 Companies Will Give You $1,820.25

1. Look at Your Budget on PersonalCapital.com – FREE $10.00 PersonalCapital.com, a portfolio management site, will give you $10 just to open a free account! For those of you who aren’t familiar with PC, their site reminds me a lot of Mint.com. Basically, you input your account information and then their website helps you track your investments, credit card balances and changes to your checking/savings accounts. 

The layout is pretty cool too – a number of full-color charts & graphs lets you easily visualize all of your financial accounts at once. Here’s how to grab the $10… 1. Sign up for PersonalCapital.com using my referral link. The bonus is paid out via Paypal, so my advice is to signup for Personal Capital using your Paypal email address. 3. Add your financial account(s) to your Personal Capital dashboard. You must link at least one account in order to get the bonus. 4. Wait 30 days. Unfortunately, this bonus takes up to a month to pay out, but it’s free money so can I really complain? **You must be a legal resident of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia and 18 years or older in order to claim the bonus** Read more about it here: “Free $10 for Signing Up at Personal Capital”   

  2.  Trade Stocks at MotifInvesting.com – FREE $100.25 Motif Investing is unique among online brokers, because instead of picking individual stocks, you invest in a cluster of stocks (usually 20 to 30) from a similar field.  Sort of like a mutual fund, but the motifs range from Clean Energy, to Republican Companies, to Healthy and Tasty, to Obamacare.  Basically any interest you have or trend you’d like to invest in can be found on Motif… Even, better they’re giving away a ton of cash right now. If you open a new account and make one trade, you’ll earn $50. Make 3 trades, and you’ll earn $75. Make 5 trades, and you’ll earn $150! Now Motif charges $9.95 for each trade you make, so after making 5 trades, you’ll still be netting $100.25 in extra cash.  That’s like getting all of your transaction fees free AND earning $100 extra.  Sweet! Signup here - Free $150 Motif Promotion. Read more about it here: “How to Make $100 This Week with Motif Investing”  

 3. Download the Mobile Expressions App on Your Smartphone – FREE $15.00 MobileXpression is a research company that studies internet trends and reports to their clients about the popularity of different mobile phone websites. They are currently looking for a few thousand cell phone users to share some of the websites they are browsing on their mobile devices. All of the sharing is done with a special software that is installed on your phone and it doesn’t require any real work from you. Plus, they’ll give you a free $15 just to give it a try. Even better, you can also uninstall the software at any time if you decide you no longer want to participate. How it works… 1. Sign up at MobileXpressions here – You’ll need to share a little bit of information about your demographic which is similar to signing up as a Nielsen household. You’ll also need to tell them what kind of cell phone you have, because their software is only compatible with certain types of phones. 2. Download their software – It seems to be pretty easy and it runs in the background of your phone just like any other cell phone app. The site says it will have no affect on your mobile phone performance. 3. Send your data – This step doesn’t really require any work from you as the software automatically send the relevant data to MobileXpression. They don’t monitor your phone calls or personal information but they do check out the web pages you view, the links you access, and the usage times for certain device activities (e.g., text messaging, call lengths, and web browsing). 4. Collect your rewards – MobileXpressions will send you a $15 Visa gift card just for signing up and downloading the software. They also reward members with weekly contests and will have a drawing for $100,000 jackpot at the end of the year. Read more about it here: “Get Paid $15 to Share Your Favorite Website”  

 4. Try Banking at Capital One 360 – FREE $50.00 About a year ago, Capital One took over ING Direct and started offering free online checking accounts. What’s even cooler is that they’ll give you $50 just to open one. I’ve already got a checking account that I’m pretty happy with, but I don’t mind opening a second one for some free cash. Here’s how to do it: 1. Open a free checking account with Capital One 360. 2. There’s no minimum deposit with this account, but you’ve got to make at least 3 purchases with your Capital One 360 debit card during the first 45 days of opening the account. 3. On the 50th day, Capital One 360 will deposit a free $50 in your account. Sweet! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Capital One 360, they are a pretty popular virtual bank that gives spectacular interest rates. It’s completely free to open and maintain an account with Capital One 360. Go claim your $50 and take yourself out to lunch. Read more about it here: “Free Money Alert: Get $50 from Capital One 360” 

 5. Open a Netspend.com Account – FREE $20.00 This is another easy $20 just for requesting a prepaid, reloadable card from Netspend. I’ve tested this one and over 200 hundred readers have cashed in on this, so you know it’s a good one. 1. Click HERE and ”Open a NetSpend account” for FREE. 2. You will receive your NetSpend “Visa” Debit card within 10 business days. Mine made it here in 4 days. 3. Once you receive the card, simply log into NetSpend and activate it. 4. In order to get the FREE $20, you’ll need to load the card with a minimum of $40.00 using PayPal, a bank account or one of the other many options. 5. Once you load the $40.00, NetSpend will add $20.00 to your available balance on the card. I confirmed this myself with my own card. 6. Go to the ATM and withdraw the $60.00 total from your card or spend the funds at your local store, online, or wherever you can use a credit card. Yes, if you withdraw the money via ATM or cash back, you’ll be hit with the $2.00 fee for a PIN transaction or a $2.50 ATM Fee (would only be $17.50 – $18.00 bonus in this case). But, you can avoid the fee by ACH transferring it for free back to your bank Read more it here: “Free $20 Cash for Signing Up at Netspend”  

 6. Do Your Shopping via Ebates.com – FREE $10.00 The folks over at Ebates.com, the cash-back shopping site, are giving away $10 gift cards when you sign-up as a new member. You can choose either a $10 Target, Walmart, Macy’s, or Kohl’s gift card. You need to make a $25 purchase at any of the stores on their shopping list in order to qualify for the free gift card. I certainly don’t recommend spending $25 just to get a $10 gift card, but if you have plans to buy something online anyway, I would definitely cash in on this… Especially if you’ve got a gift card from a birthday or Christmas that needs to be spent. Look at this as a way to get a little bit extra back on your purchase. Some of the cash-back offers I use frequently include the 3% back on iTunes purchases, 1% back on Apple store purchases, and 3% back on Target purchases. But there are a ton of stores to pick from as well. Read more about it here: “Get a FREE $10 Target Gift Card from Ebates.com”  

 7. Open a Free Account at Plink.com – FREE $10.00 Plink.com is a new cash-back site that lets you collect rewards just by shopping at the places you already do. Right now they’re offering a sweet promotion that will pay you to $10 signup at Plink and then make a purchase a Mcdonalds. Since you do have to buy something, your actually profit might be a couple of dollars less, but my advice is just to buy an iced tea or an ice cream so you can keep most of the $10. One of the cool thing about Plink is that you earn rewards without having to carry any extra rewards card, coupons or special codes. Simply pay with your credit or debit card that you link to your Plink account. Your rewards will automatically be credited – it’s pretty cool! 1. Sign up with Plink.com – It’s FREE! To qualify for the FREE $10 Gift Card, you must be a new user of Plink. 2. Register your debit or credit card with Plink. 3. Make a purchase at Mcdonalds before 11:59 P.M. on Sunday, September 9, 2013. There’s no minimum purchase amount. 4. Wait for the 1,000 bonus points to apply to your Plink account (can take up to 7 business days). Finally, click the “Rewards” button and pick which gift card you want. That’s it! Enjoy. Read more about it here: “Get a Free $5 Gift Card to Amazon When You Join Plink.com” 

 8. Open an Account at Serve.com – FREE $50.00 Serve is American Express’s version of a prepaid, reloadable card and they are offering $50 when you open a free account, sign up for direct deposit and have two direct deposits put in your account. That’s a FREE $50 for about 5 minutes of work. Sweet! And here’s a tip: You can direct deposit a number of things besides your regular paycheck. I like to keep my paycheck going to my primary bank account, but for bank bonuses, I use other sources of income to fund it. Try to think of another place that you get monthly income from. Do you get a social security check? Insurance check? Second job income? Mystery shopping payouts?  A number of the “paid-to-email” sites also offer direct deposit. I know that Fusion Cash does, because I get a nice cash-out from them on the 20th of every month. Here’s a link to the promo page:     Serve.com $50 Bonus Read more about Serve.com here: “How to Get a Free $50 from Serve.com” 

  9. Take 5 Minutes and Open a Betterment.com Account – FREE $25.00 Betterment is a simple, online tool that allows anyone to invest in stocks & bonds without incurring transaction fees. It’s become pretty popular with small investors who want to start saving, but can’t afford the expensive fees you find at places like Etrade.com and Merrill Lynch. Plus, they’ll give you a free $25 just to signup! 1.) Open a free account at Betterment.com. The form takes about 90 seconds to fill out, so can literally do this while sitting in the doctor’s office or while watching television. 2.) You need to make an opening deposit of $250 or more within 60 days of opening your account. If you’re not ready to make a deposit right now, my advice is that you go ahead and fill out the Betterment promotion form today. You can always make the deposit later, but this way you’ll have the promotion locked in, just in case the promotion ends. 3.) Once you’ve deposited $250 (and waited 60 days), Betterment.com will deposit a FREE $25 bonus into your account. How easy is that? You can then withdraw your entire account balance or you can keep the $275 invested and earning interest with Betterment. Right now this is USA only. Read more about it here: “How to Make $25 While Sitting in a Waiting Room”  

10. Transfer Your Prescription to a New Pharmacy- FREE $25.00 If you’re one of the 70% of Americans with a monthly prescription from your doctor, I’ve got an easy way for you to make $25 bucks. Several of the national grocery and drug store chains have been know to run promotions where they will give you free cash or a gift card when you transfer a prescription to their store. For example, this month Walgreens is running a promotion where they will give you a $25 gift card for transferring a prescription to your local Walgreens. You can usually find these coupons in your Sunday newspaper circulars or on coupon blogs like DealSeekingMom.com and MoneySavingMom.com. You can even repeat this deal every month with a different pharmacy. Read more about it here: “Here’s a Neat Trick to Make $25/month if You Have a Prescription” 

 11. Sign Up an Account at OptionsExpress – FREE $100.00 Here’s another great way to make some free cash. This one is through OptionsXpress, a Charles Schwab affiliated brokerage house where you can trade stocks and options. From now until December 31, 2013, OptionsXpress is offering new US customers a $100 bonus when you open an Individual or Joint account and fund it with at least $500. 1. Open a new Individual or Joint account (IRAs, other tax-exempt, linked, or shared accounts are excluded from this offer). 2. Fund your new account with at least $500 cash or securities transferred from a brokerage firm other than OptionsXpress. 3. Make at least 3 trades within 12 months of account opening. 4. The $100 bonus will be deposited into your account within one month of meeting the terms and conditions of this offer. 5. Maintain at least $500 in your account for 6 months (excluding trading losses), if not, the $100 bonus will be deducted from your account. Read more about it here: “Look! OptionsExpress is Giving Away a Free $100 to New Account Holders”  

12 – 16. Sign Up for a New Credit Card – FREE $1,375.00 One of the best ways for a Penny Hoarder to make some serious extra cash is to take advantage of credit card sign up bonuses.  Of course, to get the most benefit, you should have excellent credit, and you should routinely pay off your credit card in full each month so you’re not paying interest.  (After all, every time you pay interest, you’re losing some of the positive effects of the bonuses.) Just recently I received over $1,300+ in credit card bonuses by selectively choosing new cards to apply for and use.  All I had to do was put my regular spending on the credit card over the course of a few months. US Bank FlexPerks Card –  $175 Signup Bonus Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – $400 Signup Bonus Barclaycard Arrival – $400 Signup Bonus Citi ThankYou Preferred Card – $200 Signup Bonus American Express Gold – $200 Signup Bonus For those of you wondering, here’s a great article on how to do this without hurting your credit score: How Opening and Closing Credit Cards Affects Your Credit Score Read more about it here: “5 Credit Card Promotions That Made me $1,375”   

17. Get Paid to Complete Tasks at InboxDollars.com – FREE $30.00 There are a number of sites on the web that will pay you to read advertiser’s emails, sign up for offers, and take surveys. I’ve tried about a million of them, but there are only a few of them that I would recommend. Inbox Dollars is one of those companies and I want to show you how I made $30 in a little over an hour completing offers on their site. It’s free to join Inbox Dollars and best of all, they give you $5 just for signing up! Inbox Dollars just requires that you accumulate $30 in earnings before you can “cash-out” and they pay you by sending a check. Some sample offers include one that asks you to sign up for a email newsletter from AMF Bowling. That pays 50 cents and takes about 15 seconds. Another offer asks you to sign up for a free account at Turbotax.com to earn $3.50. These are simple and there are nearly a hundred of them to choose from. One way to get to $30 in earnings in only a few minutes is by taking advantage of the book club offers. There are a half a dozen book clubs that are offering $10 if you try out their club. Signing up for a book club does require you to put some money forward which is why I suggest this method for more advanced users. If you don’t want to continue your membership in the book club, you will need to simply mark “Cancel- Return to Sender” on the outside of your first package and return it to the postman. The book club will give you a full refund and you get to keep your $10 for trying it out. If you are interested in giving Inbox dollars a try, visit the sign-up page here to get started.

WHO ARE THE ENTREPRENEURS?

Top 25 Business and Entrepreneurship Blogs of 2013

Whether you’re studying for a business degree or thinking of starting a business of your own (or both!), business and entrepreneur related blogs can be a useful source of inspiration, insight, new ideas and networking opportunities. A number of business professors, owners, authors and entrepreneurs have taken to the blogosphere, where anyone with a computer and an internet connection can learn from their knowledge and experience. There are literally hundreds of such blogs on the web, so to help you get started, we’ve put together this list of the 25 most useful and interesting business and entrepreneur blogs we could find.

Because The Best Colleges is a website that focuses on learning, our list of the 25 best business and entrepreneur oriented blogs puts special emphasis on education: blogs that genuinely help the reader understand business concepts and how to be a better entrepreneur. Only blogs active in 2013 were considered for our list.

Top 25 Business and Entrepreneurship Blogs

Blogtrepreneur – Brothers Adam and Matthew Toren offer interviews, reviews and advice “for entrepreneurs that demand excellence in business.”

Breaking Free – Advice on breaking free from the daily grind and starting your own business from a successful web-entrepreneur.

Church of the Customer – The co-authors of “Citizen Marketers” and “Creating Customer Evangelists” talk business and marketing strategy in an engaging way.

Daily Dose – Entrepreneurship, business and marketing ideas from the folks at Entrepreneur.com.

DanteLee.com Blog – News and commentary for entrepreneurs from an experienced business coach, motivational speaker, businessman and author, with a special emphasis on the African-American business community.

e360 Blog – A news blog from the Kauffmann Foundation highlighting policies and initiatives that advance innovation and drive economic growth.

Erica.Biz - Successful online entrepreneur Erica Douglass shares her tips for starting a business and making it succeed.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich – NYT bestselling author Ramit Sethi attempts to do just what the title of the blog says with interviews, case studies, personal advice and more.

Mixergy – A collaborative entrepreneurship blog featuring people who have been there, done that.

Quick Sprout – Fun, interesting, snappy advice on business and entrepreneurship from young entrepreneur Neil Patel.

Ready Fire Aim – An entrepreneur and former investment banker offers useful advice and commentary on entrepreneurship, business, politics and more.

Small Business Trends – Daily posts on the trends affecting the small business market from one of the most popular business blogs on the web.

Springwise – Your daily fix of fresh entrepreneurial ideas powered by a worldwide network of over 8000 spotters.

The Blog of Prof. Czinkota – Informed thoughts on international business, marketing and strategy from a professor at the Georgetown McDonough School of Business.

The Business Blog at Intuitive.com – Insights on new media, analysis, strategy, managementand entrepreneurship from author, entrepreneur and consultant Dave Taylor.

The Entrepreneurial Mind – Interesting and useful commentary on entrepreneurship and other business related topics from Dr. Jeff Cornwall at Belmont University.

The Entrepreneur on Campus – Thoughts on business and entrepreneurship from the Executive Director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

The Small Business Blog – Two of the country’s top small business experts share their insights on the important issues entrepreneurs face in today’s challenging market.

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Blog – Advice and insights for new entrepreneurs from entrepreneur, author and speaker Mike Michalowicz.

Thrilling Heroics – Learn to “Live fearlessly on your own terms” from nomadic entrepreneur and lifestyle coach Cody McKibben.

Under30CEO – Learn how to “live the dream” and meet others doing the same thing.

Up and Running – New business and entrepreneurship advice from Tim Berry, former journalists, founder of Palo Alto Software and bplans.com.

Venture Hacks – Advice on startup companies from a couple of entrepreneurs (Epinions) and investors (Twitter) who have proven they know what they’re talking about.

Young Entrepreneur – Interviews, reviews, ideas and advice for other young entrepreneurs.

Young Go Getter – Energetic interviews, advice and commentary from a community of young entrepreneurs.

100 Search Engines Every Business Student Should Bookmark

May 25th, 2010

Learning about business in college can be a great way to prepare yourself for the working world, no matter what field you end up joining. Coursework can create a great foundation to work with, but students can keep up with what’s going on in the business and finance worlds as well as get some help researching for courses from resources on the web. Here are some great search engines that can help you find essential business resources and tools all over the web.

Business Centered

These search engines will help you navigate a wide variety of business topics.

1. Business.com: Through this site you can search for products and businesses and get answers to your business questions.
2. Zapdata: Sign up with this site to search for business data you can use.
3. Bloomberg: Follow the latest business news and fluctuations in the market using this site.
4. BPubs: Here you’ll be able to search for great business-related publications, great for personal and school research alike.
5. ThomasNet: Connect with others in the industries you find intriguing through this site.
6. Corporate Information: Use this search tool to find out more about businesses out there.
7. AllBusiness: There are loads of resources on this site that will help you learn about business and corporations.
8. BusinessInDepth: This site will let you go through business resources by country and search for what you need to know.
9. SmallBusinessExpo: Those hoping to start their own businesses can find a wealth of searchable services, software and franchises here.
10. Where2Go: Search through this site to easily find the resources you need to start and run a business.
11. Small Business Search Engine: This government site is home to numerous search engines that will aid you in searching for everything from legal issues to local policies.
12. TopTenWholesale: Retailers looking for wholesale products can search through thousands of listings here.
13. Zibb: Check out this global business search engine to get news, business updates and more.
14. BusinessSeek: Use this site to find businesses around the world.
15. Masterseek: Find products, news, jobs, business leads and much more through this search engine.
16. Fox Business: If you need a business quote, want some news or videos, this site offers easy searchability.

Entrepreneurs

Those thinking of starting their own business can benefit from these search engines.

17. Angelsoft Investor Search: Need an angel investor? This search engine can help you find one.
18. Business Finance Loans: Search through this site for available business loans.
19. Entrepreneur.com: You’ll find tons of information on starting and running your own business through the search tools on this site.
20. Head Startup: Try out these search tools to find websites, apps and resources for small business.
21. The Funded: Use this online community as a place to search for and see ratings of funding sources worldwide.
22. Vator.tv: Watch videos from other startups on this site and search to see others in your field.
23. Alltop Startups: When you search through this blog aggregator, you’ll get the latest news in entrepreneurship.
24. Young Entrepreneur: Search through this site for helpful articles and advice.
25. Partner Up: Using the search engine on this site, you can find members of this business community who can be investors and partners.
26. Entrepreneurship.com: This organization, dedicated to helping people start their own businesses, is a great place to search for guidance.
27. Inc.com: Try searching through this magazine for articles that fit your research or business needs.
28. Killer Startups: When you search through this site, you’ll find articles on marketing, blogging and technology as well as access to the Datapedia site so you can find relevant business data.

Stocks and Investing

Find out more about the stock market and investing–two essential components of business–from these search engines.

29. DailyStocks: Search for and track all the changes in the stock market using this site.
30. Yahoo! Finance: Follow the latest financial news on Yahoo! Finance.
31. Investor Guide: From managing your own finances to getting help with business prospects, search through this site for helpful articles.
32. Investopedia: This Forbes company will let you search through tutorials, study for CPA exams, and just plain learn more about finance.
33. TradeWiser: You can find an online broker through this site or just get some advice on smarter investing.
34. Dividend: Search for stocks that meet your interests here.
35. Option Find: Find out more about hedging options through this site and search for funds that match your needs.
36. Motley Fool: This site offers users a chance to search for specific information or to browse through articles, tickers and news.
37. Tickerpedia: Here, you can search for stock, Forex or brokers.
38. TradingDay: Search for stocks, highs and lows, quotes and more through this handy site.

All-In-One

These meta search engines will save you time in finding the results you need.

39. Powerset: This site offers a better and more comprehensive way to search through Wikipedia.
40. Dogpile: Search through all the major search engines at once using this site.
41. MetaCrawlerWeb: Save time and search through several search sites at once here.
42. mamma: mamma lets users find images, news, videos and tweets.
43. Myriad Search: Use Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.com at once here.
44. HotBot: This search engine goes through Yahoo!, LyGo and MSN to find the best results.
45. SurfWax: You can search news, RSS feeds, Wikipedia, shopping and more using this tool.
46. Clusty: Using several top search engines, this site combines the results into clusters organized by topic.
47. Copernic Agent: Search the web smartly using this search tool.
48. Scour: Scour makes it easy to get the latest and most popular results in images, news and videos.
49. Vertical Search: Get targeted, relevant search results on this site in a range of categories, including business.

Research

When doing research for your courses, these search engines can be a big help.

50. Google Scholar: This site guarantees that you’ll get great results that are academic and trustworthy.
51. WorldCat: If you can’t find what you want in your own library, use this search engine to locate it.
52. HighBeam Research: Search through tons of articles and journals using this tool.
53. iSeek: This site will deliver results focused on academics and education.
54. Librarian’s Internet Index: Find information you can trust through this search engine.
55. Virtual Learning Resource Center: Search or browse through loads of topics on this site to find the information you need.
56. Open Library: Doing research for a business project? This site can help, with access to lots of free books.
57. Virtual Salt: This site offers access to a variety of search engines as well as listing some tools that can help you find what you need.
58. NoodleTools: Not sure how to go about researching? This site takes into account numerous factors and gives you a plan to get it done.
59. Academic Index: Here you can search through academic and professional resources.

Economics and Finance

Find out more about the world of finance through these search tools.

60. EconLit: Search through numerous articles published in econ journals through this site.
61. National Bureau of Economic Research: Find out more about economic research projects by searching this site.
62. RePEc: Find research papers in economics by searching though the hundreds of thousands of papers listed here.
63. Inomics: Use this site to keep up with the latest news in economics meetings, education and jobs.
64. Google Finance: Follow the markets and important financial news here.
65. DailyFinance: You can search this site for market results, or just read the news published daily.
66. Boardmark: This financial search engine and community will put you in touch with great resources and people.
67. SeekFin: Search the web for the best financial information using this tool.
68. Business Finance: Through this site, you’ll get access to information geared towards business professionals.

Legal

Gain a better understanding of the legal aspects of business by using these tools.

69. FindLaw: Find answers about the law, get access to lawyers, and much more through this site.
70. LawForum: Here you can join in discussions on law and find helpful information through the search functions.
71. Everybody’s Legal Glossary: Use this site to look up legal terms so you can be in the know.
72. Law.com Quest: This search engine focuses on law firm sites and legal blogs to bring you results.
73. FedLaw: If the research you’re doing requires learning more about federal law, then try out this site.
74. World Legal Information Institute: Try out this site to find out about law and legal decisions worldwide.
75. Meta-Index for U.S. Legal Research: This site isn’t a search engine itself but will point you in the direction of dozens of other great searchable sites.
76. LawGuru: Ask a legal question or search through past answers on this site.

Advertising and Marketing

Try out these search engines to research advertising and marketing, past and present.

77. Ad Access:You’ll find over 7,000 ads here that you can search through.
78. Ad Forum: Using this site, you can search through a collection of modern ads and get access to an online community.
79. MarcommWise: Find articles and a glossary on this searchable site.
80. Marketer’s Portal: Search through this site for resources that can help you be a better marketer.
81. Vintage Ad Browser: Get an idea of what ads looked like in past decades from this site.
82. Workbook: This site is an excellent photography and illustration database for advertisers.
83. Marketing Find: Through this search tool, you can find marketing news and helpful apps to navigate the web.

Social Media

These social media search tools will help you better navigate social tools that can help you market and promote your business ventures.

84. Aardvark: Find all kinds of answers to your important questions on this searchable site.
85. Backtype: Type in any URL to this site to see its social impact.
86. Delicious: Use Delicious to search for information that is popular with web users.
87. LinkedIn: LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for searching for business connections.
88. Scoopler: Find out what the biggest scoops are out there in business, technology and more using this site.
89. Technorati: Need a blog? Use this site to search for those related to the topics you need to read about.
90. Taggl: Search for tagged posts relevant to your query on this site.
91. Twingly: You can follow big news stories or help yourself find ones that you really want to read by signing up and searching this site.
92. KnowEm: Search through all the big social media sites to see what people are saying about your company.
93. Omgili: Find communities, message boards and discussion threads about any topic using this search engine.

Green Business

With more and more businesses looking for ways to be green, these search tools can help you learn about the latest developments in sustainable business.

94. EcoBusinessLinks: Through this site, you can search for green products and companies.
95. EcoSeek: This site is a searchable green products directory.
96. GreenGamma: Use this directory to find out how green tech is being used by all kinds of different companies.
97. Green Maven: Search green news sites and blogs using this search engine.
98. GreenBiz: Use this site to find great blog posts and articles on the green business world.
99. Green America: Here, you’ll be able to search for companies who are changing the face of business by becoming greener.
100. Sustainable Business: Learn about green business, investing, connections, jobs and more through the search tools on this site.

1. Jason Decks Says:
   October 12th, 2012 at 12:52 am
   Very useful information you provided in your post. When I first started trading, I could’ve used any information available and even though I’m not a newbie trader anymore, I still find blogs and posts like this a must-read material.

'Switzerland is extremely entrepreneur-friendly'

After working for a large company, Swedish-born Ann Söderblom, 31, recently took the plunge from employee to entrepreneur. Söderblom, who advises expats on how to start their own business, tells The Local why Switzerland is the perfect place to set up your own company.

Tell us about yourself.

I’m originally from Sweden, where I completed my studies in human-computer interaction and went on to do a consultancy internship in Barcelona, Spain. Five years ago, I decided to move to Switzerland to be closer to my sister who was living there and to try something new. It also helped that Switzerland has a few more months of summer than we do in Sweden. I then spent a few years working for large multinational companies, doing project management work.

What did you make of the Swiss working culture?

There is generally a good work-life balance here and people don’t tend to work crazy hours. Swiss departments also tend to be very organized with a clear hierarchical structure. However, this hierarchy is not necessarily so good for women and the distribution of management positions tends to be very male-dominated. That’s one of the reasons why I prefer to work for myself.

Although, working for a multi-national corporation also meant I was very much a part of the expat community. In the last couple of months I am trying to be more integrated into Swiss communities by learning some Swiss German words and chatting with neighbors.

Tell us about your business.

My business, Söderblom Design, helps international people in Switzerland start their own business. I help them both with corporate identity and with making the transition from employee to entrepreneur the least stressful possible. My two current clients have a copywriting business and a life-coaching business. 

What made you decide to become your own boss?

I’ve wanted to have my own company since the age of 15, a dream that I kept alive while studying and working in big corporations.

When I was 15, I'd spend weekends, evenings and vacations producing and selling t-shirts, organizing and catering for events, sewing prototypes for children’s toys and later importing Japanese tableware. At first, I didn’t sell anything but it was all a good learning experience.

I learned a lot through making mistakes and hands-on experience. Finally, in 2011, I started doing corporate design work for a few clients, which inspired me to start Söderblom Design so I could pass on my knowledge with others.

Was it difficult to settle in?

When I arrived here, I had to apply for a work permit through the kreisburo, which was a very straightforward process. And when I started my own business, I got a treuhand (financial advisor) to take care of taxes for me.

I haven’t found the bureaucracy too bad here! Switzerland is really an efficient country when it comes to dealing with authorities.

So far, I’ve had no problems getting by with a basic level of German – but then most of my work is in English.

What advice would you give someone hoping to set up their own business in Switzerland?

I 'd say that starting a business is pretty much the same everywhere in terms of the fundamentals. Perhaps my best advice would be not to quit your job straight away but to start small and test your business ideas at weekends and in your evenings to see how it goes. Then start making a profit and you can scale it up over time.

One classic rookie mistake is keeping your idea secret because you think someone is going to steal it, when you really need to tell as many people about it as possible and get lots of feedback.

I'd also recommend learning just a few words in Swiss German as it gets people to open up a lot more. But you'll also find that people will be very happy to switch to high German – if you speak it.

Is Switzerland a good place to be an entrepreneur?

It's a very entrepreneur-friendly place. Not only are the taxes good, but there are lots of events where entrepreneurs can showcase and test their ideas — like the Technopark in Zurich, the Blue Lion initiative, Venture Kick and the Start-up Weekend for tech start-ups.

Would you ever go back to working as an employee?

Not very likely. Once you’ve tasted the freedom of having your own business, it’s quite hard to go back.