Printing 2.0

Started on slick and colorful calling cards for the social networking circuit, Moo has quickly become an international stationery brand.

When people hand you a Moo MiniCard, they don’t surreptitiously slip the business card into your hand; they splay out their set of cards and let you choose your favorite one. Then they tell you about the image on the back, whether it’s a photo from a vacation, a product shot, an avatar or an innovative digital design. And though the pint-size cards may not fit neatly in your Rolodex–they’re only half the size of traditional business cards–their colorful appearance and slick, high-quality feel make you take notice.

[Read more at Entrepreneur.com]

Expand Your Ad Empire

Amplify your interactive ad arsenal with the latest technology trends.

The coolest ad technologies aren’t the ones that cost the most — they’re the ones that engage users. Thankfully, this year’s crop of cool tools doesn’t require the kind of attention your MySpace page does. From reaching people on their mobile to enhancing your online videos, these innovative ad trends can set you apart as a tech-savvy company while reaching users right when they’re ready to buy — and encouraging them to buy more.

[Read more at Entrepreneur.com]

New Ways to Pay

Want to close more sales without doing more work? Give customers more ways to pay with alternative billing methods.

Have you noticed anything different about your favorite online retailers lately? Take a closer look at their checkout options, and you may find some alternative payment methods beyond PayPal and Google Checkout.

A recent study by online marketing firm Brulant found that 30 percent of the top 100 internet retailers offer a form of alternative payment. In that same vein, a Javelin survey found alternative payment methods made up 14 percent of online purchases in 2007 and is expected to grow to 30 percent by 2012.

[Read more at Entrepreneur.com]

Also appeared on MSN

Funded by Google

Ex-Google employees cash in on their company stock to start businesses.

Free gourmet meals, on-site medical care, laundry facilities in the office, and a cool company culture complete with lava lamps, pets and ping pong tables, have made Google an attractive employer. But as it’s grown from a small, entrepreneurial operation to a corporate entity, buying out smaller tech companies and expanding around the globe, some of its more independent-minded employees have struck out on their own.

[Read more at Entrepreneur.com]

Also appeared on MSN

In Business With Breast Cancer

These 4 women entrepreneurs survived breast cancer and their businesses did, too.

When an entrepreneur is diagnosed with breast cancer, she has to rethink everything about her business: from figuring out whether to tell clients about the cancer to how she’ll cope with the treatments to what would happen to the business if she couldn’t return. Meet four women entrepreneurs who have survived breast cancer, and learn how they refocused their priorities and kept their businesses running through treatment and beyond.

[Read more at WomenEntrepreneur.com]

Death of an In-Law

When your spouse is grieving, how can you help them cope?

No matter how many times you wished your mother-in-law were dead when she unexpectedly dropped in for a visit, would you be ready to cope with the real thing? When your spouse loses a parent, you may be thrown into an uncharted ocean of emotion you may not be ready for. “When a parent dies, part of your past dies,” says Heidi Horsley, a therapist and grief expert. The good news that comes along with this reminder of how fragile life is: It can bring you closer together.

[Read more at Hitched]

Why Corporations Should Love WBEs

Corporate diversity programs help women get a foot in the door at big businesses and help corporations find and keep more customers.

Women-owned businesses have certain advantages–one of the biggest being that corporate and government diversity programs can help them land big contracts. Sounds like a great perk for you. But a new study shows it’s also a great perk for the offering corporations.

So what are corporations getting from contracting with women-owned businesses? In a Women’s Business Enterprise National Council survey of women consumers, 79 percent of respondents said that knowing a large company was working with women-owned businesses would entice them to try the company’s products or services; 80 percent said it would create loyalty to that brand; and 51 percent even said it would make them give the company a second chance if they were dissatisfied with the product or service.

[Read more at WomenEntrepreneur.com]

Facing Illness

Today, you’re healthy. Tomorrow, who knows? How would your relationship change if your spouse became seriously ill?

Carole Brody Fleet’s Story: Mike was a very physical man. I used to laughingly say that he was either chasing dogs (as a canine officer) or chasing bad guys. The man never sat still. To go from that kind of lifestyle to a wheelchair in a little over a year [due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or more commonly referred as Lou Gehrig's Disease]; to no longer be able to perform even the most perfunctory tasks; indeed, to have to deal emotionally and psychologically with the inability to take care of one’s own most basic needs is a devastation that defies description.

[Read more at Hitched]

Operation: Adoption

What’s the adoption process really like? Get the full rundown, from what your options are, to how much it costs and how the process will impact your life.

A few years ago, Dan and Tracey Rechtin decided they wanted to adopt. They had thought about it on and off throughout their marriage, but when their neighbors adopted a little boy from Belarus, they fell in love.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for Dan and Tracey. “We and two other families had a failed adoption in Belarus and were caught up in a political snafu. We had spent three days with our son, bonding and getting him to trust us. In the end, we had to leave our son behind; having no word on when or if we will ever be able to adopt him,” says Tracey, who works at Maryville University in St. Louis. That was more than two years ago. “That was one of the worst experiences of our lives,” she says.

[Read more at Hitched]

Mr. Mom?

When thrust into the role of stay-at-home dad, one husband has to make peace with his masculinity—and the new dynamic in his marriage.

Mitch Newman, 46, and his wife, Wendy, 41, had an incredible fantasy of how raising kids would be. Then reality struck. “It wasn’t like the stories I’d see on Oprah, where dads just loved being home all day with their kids,” says Mitch. “I personally don’t believe men are wired to be stay-at-home dads.” Or, he concedes, maybe it’s his lack of planning and clear boundaries that made things more difficult for him in the beginning.

[Read more at Hitched]