Category — Business Success

Paul Edmondson knew he had a great idea, but even he didn’t expect such rapid growth. Edmondson is the CEO and Founder of online publishing site HubPages, which launched in August 2006 and now has over 100,000 registered users. It gets more than 5 million hits a month, mostly from search engines like Google and Yahoo. Authors create content-rich pages with easy to add text, photos, videos, and RSS feeds and earn money from Google Adsense, Amazon, and Ebay. To reach the masses, Edmondson and his colleagues have created the site so that no technical knowledge is required. And it’s free. Definitely a killer startup.

In this interview I ask Paul Edmonson how he knew he was on to something and what prepared him to go out on his own.

LD: What gave you confidence that HubPages would be successful.

E: We thought if we made a great product and built a community that people would use the service. We had a simple plan. To try things. To do more of the stuff that worked and to stop doing the things that didn’t. Nearly 6 million people visited HubPages.com last month. One of the things we did well was monetize Hubs, so we introduced a new ad optimization product called YieldBuild that served nearly 200 million ads last month as well.

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Hospital administrators, and directors of other health care facilities, are taking a cue from personnel management theories taught in business schools. They’re finding that by effectively managing volunteers in their facilities, they can maintain many of the creature comforts their patients appreciate without becoming awash in red ink.

While the strength of any hospital or health care facility is its medical personnel, many of these facilities, faced with rising costs, have had to cut back on comfort services that made hospital stays a bit more pleasant for patients in years past. Administrators are now trying to make up for these paid-staff losses by seeking out dedicated volunteers to handle everything from non-emergency patient intake to food services, running the gift shop, taking patients to and from radiology, doing back-office clerical work, and even bringing a patient an extra blanket or a newspaper. Crucial to making a volunteer effort like this successful is keeping volunteers happy, and that means effective human-resource management.

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A lot of companies offering internships are actually recruiting for full time positions. They get to try out potential employees before taking on the expensive commitment of hiring and training. Even if you don’t think you want to continue with the company, treat your internship as an extended interview. Making a good impression can open valuable doors elsewhere. Internships give you access to professionals in your field. With that comes the opportunity to create relationships with potential contacts, mentors, and references.

Blend In
Just because you’re an intern doesn’t mean you have to act like one. Although co-workers may joke around and act like they’ll cut you some slack, that doesn’t mean they’re not also taking in your every move. Blend into the corporate culture by following standards for dress and decorum. Balance your socially appropriate snark with positive attitude and actions. Find out if there are different expectations for working with clients vs. working in the office. Work the same hours as your entry-level equals - show up on time and stay after to get the job done.

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Guest article by Angelique H. Caffrey

Need some inspiration after pulling yet another draining all-nighter?

Want to feel like that business degree you’re slaving away to earn could actually pay for itself before your own kids go to college?

Thinking of dropping everything and trying your hand at a Vegas blackjack table instead of plowing through another semester?

Stop and take heart. You’re not alone, and you could be on a fast track to buying your own private jet… or island.

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