You need to be “in the know” – about your business, of course, but also about the latest industry news, small business trends, what your competitors are doing, and other events that may impact your income for better or for worse.

You set up Google Reader a while ago to monitor dozens of blogs and RSS feeds. Now you have thousands of unread articles and still no manageable way to process all that information. What can you do?
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“Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
–Henry David Thoreau

In his recent book, The Rare Find, George Anders details how Facebook discovered that the traditional approach to hiring just was not working. After a bit of head-scratching, they decided to try a different approach: Posting brain-teasing problems that required innovative programming solutions.

These problems were open to anyone, and potential solutions soon began arriving. In a moment of revelation, Facebook discovered that some of the smartest solutions came from people whose resumes would have otherwise appeared underwhelming. A few of those were hired and proved to be more than just good employees – they were superstars.

How can you use a similar approach to find the superstars for your business?
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If you run your business as a “sole proprietorship,” your fiscal year ended on December 31 – which means the countdown is on until your date with the tax man. Are you ready?

Staying above the pile of paperwork is something a lot of freelancers struggle with, especially when it comes to tracking expenses during the year. Sound familiar? Here are some tools to help get last year’s documents in order, and maybe make this fiscal year just a bit easier to manage.
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From senet – a game played by Pharaohs in ancient Egypt – to the more modern phenomenon of Monopoly, games have a powerful draw. And now they are being partnered with business objectives. Yes, it is the hot startup buzzword of 2012: “Gamification”.

If the pairing of “business” and “games” immediately conjures thoughts of time wasted on Farmville, then it is time for you to take a second look. Gamification is all about injecting fun, recognition and/or competition into otherwise standard business relationships – using game-like techniques to motivate employees and customers to help you reach your goals.
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Work 3.0 enables freelancers to work remotely, away from clients in another city, state or even country. As a result, while face-to-face conversations may not always be part of your working relationships, good communication is always essential — especially for “long-distance” working relationships.

Luckily, technology offers many options for meeting online. All you need to worry about? Making a good impression.
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