Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

From Both Sides Now- The Job Interview

  You can read the full post at  Blogher. Image Credit: Flickr Member Esthr Cartoon is originally from CVOnline, the Central European recruiting firm

On The Road at Blogher06 -- Signal Strength Low

If you can get over the fact that the hotel doesn't have an elevator and you have to drag your oversized suitcase up the stairs (yes, I could have asked the bellman for help), the rooms are fine. In fact, they are lovely.  The bed is comfy. I have a bathrobe and slippers. There's a  balcony.The air conditioning works. It's San Jose. It's delightful.

The price is definitely right .Since I am here to attend Blogher 06, I am paying the conference room rates. They are very reasonable. I'm happy  with everything--except the one thing that really matters -- THE SIGNAL STRENGTH..

At times very low , at others non-existent, this is the most unreliable Internet  access that I have experienced in years.

Did I mention that there are 700 women bloggers attending this conference--that would be 700 women with laptops who expect to use them  on a regular and frequent basis?

I wouldn't call it a disaster-- people are having way to much fun to allow a little thing like technology ruin the conference, but it's definitely a strain particularly for the women who are trying to "live blog" the conference.

Signal Strength Matters.

Even before the random access, I was less than pleased with the wireless setup at the hotel. They still charge for Internet access.  I am  not amused .My expectation is that free Internet  access is an amenity. I am not alone in my expectations.

 Last October, Wi-Fi NEWS reported on the situation, sharing links to articles in both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. The two papers had different takes on the situation. While the WSJ ( subscription required -when will they ever learn?) reported on the trend to offer this as a free service.....

"Robert Mandelbaum of PKF Hospitality Research, an industry adviser, estimates that from 2000 to 2004, hotels lost 55% of the revenue they used to make from telecommunications. One of the only areas where they're turning profits on in-room technology is from Internet fees.

In an attempt to win and retain customers, hotels have recently pushed hard to upgrade their rooms with everything from flat-screen television sets to pillow-topped mattresses and 350-thread-count sheets. Complimentary high-speed Internet access is just the latest move in the hotel industry's amenities arms race.

The NY Times (subscription required --when will they learn?)  business columnist Joe Sharkey wrote about the tendency for the "big hotels" to charge for wireless access.

...the pricier the hotel, the more likely you are to pay an extra fee to check your e-mail from your room, said Bjorn Hanson, the head of the hospitality and leisure division at PricewaterhouseCoopers. That is because three-star chains like Hilton's Garden Inn, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites and Marriott's Courtyard, Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn cater to price-conscious travelers, while the swankier names figure you won't much care about the extra few bucks.

Corporate travel managers are now trying to negotiate with four-star and five-star hotel brands to include Internet access in the room charge in future contracts, Mr. Hanson said

If the hotels are smart, they will concede the point. While baby boomers still outnumber them, Generation Xers spend more per capita on business travel, and have little patience for either dial-up connections or the general idea of paying for high-speed Internet access, which they have been accustomed to having free since college.

Moreover, with two-thirds of business travelers now using computers in their hotel rooms and with those in sales and training jobs often juggling big download files, the fees are becoming more of an irritant to just about everybody.

After a day of getting kicked off the Internet at the most inopportune times, I went to the front desk to discuss the fees. The women at the front desk indicated that they could not remove the charge from my room because it's billed to an outside service. She agreed to leave a message for the manager.

This morning, living by the motto that "hope runs eternal"  and thinking that the hotel technical staff had to have spent the entire night figuring out what was wrong, I again paid my $9.95 for a day of access. I was just getting ready to hit the submit button for my reservations at the Metropolitan Doubletree in NYC for a trip next week when I lost signal strength--again.

So instead of making my reservations on line, I called and talked to a very friendly reservation assistant Parochial for sure, but it worked.

 Oh, and it looks like I will have to pay $10.77 for Internet  access in New York....unless I go to a coffee shop or park--it seems like you can get free access just about anywhere you want--except where you need it.

Powered by QumanaTags: Hyatt, Blogher, Wi-Fi, Internet, Blogher06, business, travel

On Assignment with Boss Lady

The year was 1964. I was thirteen years old and riding solo on a Greyhound bus from Clearwater,Florida to Marion,Virginia. Somewhere in South Carolina a young woman sat next to me.

She was very excited. She had just gotten a full set of dentures. Our conversation made a lasting impression on me. Not because she got dentures --at the time I didn't think that was too weird--my grandparents had them. No, what I remember is that she called her boss the boss man.

I have no idea why that phrase cranked my motor but it still does. So when I recently saw that  Boss Lady had joined the Blogher Blog Roll I had an immediate urge to check them out.

As their tag line indicates, Boss Lady exists "because women run businesses." Although this blog is relatively young-- it is a reincarnation of sorts. Boss Lady's Bosses...Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears have been  producing Soapboxgirls, first as an ezine and then as a blog, since 2000.

While Soapboxgirls discussed a wide variety of issues of interest to women, Boss Lady is very targeted--focusing on the issues that are of interest and importance to women business owners. In addition to starting the blog, Bacon and Meirs are also co-authoring a book, called Boss Lady.

You might expect, as we did once, that the world would be full of books on this subject, because there are just so darned many women doing business with creativity, intelligence, and style… but the fact is, no one in the publishing world seems to have cottoned on to the fact that more and more women are heading out on their own to pursue their passions as entrepreneurs. At least, that's what we’re hoping. We’d love nothing more than to be the first to champion what we think is the most fun you can have while making a living. We started this website as a living guide to business, Boss Lady style. You can expect to find our thoughts and ruminations on business, updates on our book-writing and -publishing adventures, profiles of women-run businesses, resources for women entrepreneurs, and more than likely ideas on a few other assorted topics.

Just this week, Lauren Bacon and I had a chat about the blog, the challenges of getting a book published and why she thinks there are so very women business bloggers.

Fatique Management

When it comes to napping on the job, William and Camille Anthony have written the definitive book on the subject - The Art of Napping at Work.    Bill Anthony who runs a research lab at Boston University is a passionate napper. This is his second book on the subject -- the first was just a generic book on napping but the media seized on one paragraph in that book -- a paragraph about wife Camille's habit of using her bosses couch during lunch to take a snooze.  As Anthony explains in this podcast, it was when the Today show asked if they could tape Camille napping at work that they realized they had to write a follow-up book specifically targeted to the workplace.                                           

While Anthony says the concept of napping at work has yet to hit its tipping point, there are companies that are trying to provide napping services to the walking sleep deprived. To read more about napping in the work place, check out my post at Blogher.

There you go again...Comcast Got It All Wrong

Last week AOL fired a customer service rep caught on audio for doing his job . A blogger had taped his conversation trying to cancel his  service.

The soundtrack became an online hit. This week's online sensation is the napping Comcast technician. If you happened to be watching Cable News this weekend, this video got a lot of coverage. But it was the wrong coverage.

They focused on the fact that Comcast fired the poor technician, who after waiting on hold for an excruciating and obviously mind numbing 90 minutes to his own office,took a nap. The technician napping, wasn't the issue.

Comcast's horrible customer service was supposed to be the butt of the joke. Unfortuneately, Comcast's knee jerk reaction was to focus on the fact that the technician nodded off.

Who wouldn't fall asleep after 90 minutes on a  Cozy Couch?

The Comcast technician didn't deserve to get fired any more than John at AOL deserved his firing earlier this month. What he deserved was a Gift card to Starbucks.

A couple of weeks ago,I encountered the working conditions of a Comcast technician. I had offered to greet the Comcast technician at my friend Myrna's house while she visited her dad in the hospital. He was working in her bedroom. I was downstairs.

After 45 minutes I went in to check on his progress. There he was, sitting on the floor with the phone cradled in his neck..on hold with Comcast. At the time I found it amusing.While I was used to being put on hold for technical support as a customer, I had no idea that the internal folks were treated the same way.

What's with that? We chatted. He said he always was put on hold for long periods of time.It was just part of the job. The guy who posted the video--Brian Finkelstein(who created his blog Snakes On A Blog for the sole purpose of being invited to the premiere of Snakes on a Plane) wasn't upset with the technician. He was upset with Comcast. That message got lost in the humor of the napping technician video. As he said on his blog,Snakes on a Blog,

At one point Comcast sent a technician to replace my cable modem/wireless router. This should have taken five minutes. Instead, when he called Comcast to activate my new modem, he was placed on hold for nearly 90 minutes. When I asked him why he was on hold for so long, he told me that phone reps were busy filling out customer service surveys. Then he fell asleep on my couch. I could have made a few suggestions for their survey. Anyway, after they missed two appointments in the last 24 hours, I’ve finally lost all hope of Comcast actually getting my internet connection working. To commemorate my miserable experience, I made this video (including footage of the technician asleep on my couch)

As expected, Comcast fixed the problem. Turns ot it was quite complicated and took at team over 5 hours to finally get his interent working. Jim Durbin, at Brandstorming also thinks that Comcast missed the point recommending that if they had had a blog they could have alleviated the bad press.

1) Link to the video from the Comcast blog. Comcast screwed up, and admitting it is the first step to take. Link the video, admit how embarassing it is, and call up Brian to personally apologize. Give him six months worth of free service.
2) Work to correct the problem. The problem is not the poor tech. It's the fact that cable service is a mockery, and everyone from sitcoms to comedians to average customers make fun of the service of cable guys. They even made a movie about it!
3) Don't fire the tech. Make him into a commercial where he drinks a lot of coffee. Turn this around. Use the guy as an example of how they are improving.
4) Highlight your successes by tracking progress. Highlight your successes. Make your improvements public.
5) Focus on other positive ways you can use blog marketing.

There's another aspect to this story. Instead of punishing the technician for taking a nap , Comcast should be applauding him --at least that's the belief of Camille & Bill Anthony of The Napping Company who are tiredlessly (because they nap) campaigning to promote work- time napping. More on that at another time -- but their point is that napping increases productivity. I hope to have an interview with them later this week. So in addition to the Starbucks for a year card, I think Comcast should also become a sponsor of National Napping Day --which always falls on the Monday after Daylight Savings starts.

Meanwhile, Comcast and AOL should rethink their firings, apologize to the booted technicians and yes, apologize to their customers.

Hat tip to Church of the Customer for leading me to Brandstorming. This is cross-posted at Blogher

Note: In the original post I had incorrectly identified Jim Durbin as Frank Durbin. Franki Durbin is his wife. The error was correct on 6/30/06.

Baby Love

To read the legal blogs, it would  a stretch to say that Elizabeth Vargas lost her job because of pregnancy discrimination.--there was that thing about ratings and chemistry..yada yada yada. However, there is a underpinning to Vargas' dismissal as discussed at the Feminist Law Blog

At the core of all this chatter is also an interesting and unspoken problem about pregnancy and maternity—and the ways in which women who are fully competent to do any job, at any other time—may nevertheless falter or choose to rejigger their priorities for a few years. There were days during my pregnancies when I couldn’t even rinse and spit, much less cover a major news story. When do you think I’ll be allowed to write that without setting back the feminist cause?

So while bloggers have been weighing in on the pros and cons of the Vargas case, over in Illinois a woman received a $500,000 uury award for pain and suffering, medical care, and front and back pay.settlement in what can only be classified as one of the more unusual pregnancy discrimination cases so the bloggers at The HR Cafe hypothesizes could open the door for even more lawsuits.

She felt that her supervisor, knowing she was pregnant, pushed her too hard, making her climb a rickety stairway to a mezzanine level where she had to crawl under desks to install computer equipment. She claimed her computer was sabotaged and her office moved so she couldn’t locate essential paperwork. On top of that, the supervisor gave her what she perceived to be an impossible mountain of work, and fired her when she couldn’t do it all.

She successfully sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The court said the jury was allowed to consider the fact that the worker was “particularly susceptible” to distress because of her pregnancy.

Different discipline
In this case, the courts ruled that a demanding boss went too far. But all companies have demanding bosses, and employees don't always agree what's reasonable and what's not. This case teaches us that criticism and discipline that might be appropriate for a male worker, or a non-pregnant female one, could be seen as inflicting an unacceptable level of distress on a pregnant colleague.

It's been nearly 10 years since actress Hunter Tylo received a $5 million award because Aaron Spelling fired her from Melrose Place when he learned she was pregnant. At the time Tylo said,

I was attacked on every side. People were telling me I would never make it, that I was hurting my career. But I came through all of it" said Tylo, following the verdict, which she pronounced as a victory "for every woman, for every child that's not born."

Sometimes, victory is fleeting.

Image Credit: Flickr member Krissypants

Charmed, I'm sure

Stepping into Jennifer Warwick's The New Charm School is a Forrest Gump moment.-- you really don't know what you're gonna get and its all delicious! I bring up this overused,trite( okay and gagable) cliche because in a wickedly delightful diss,Warwick reminds us that the use of cliches is the mark of a lazy writer.

    Climbing the corporate ladder is tough. Doing it in 3-inch pumps is tougher, according to the National Association of Female Executives. Let’s just ignore the fact that cliches are the mark of a lazy writer. Am I the only one who finds this image irritating, for reasons other than the fact that it’s completely overused? There is a ridiculous new “self-help” book out for women called something like “Climbing the Corporate Ladder in Heels”…I’m so annoyed by the author’s conceit that I can’t be bothered to look it up. Basically, you take a little quiz to find out how you work, and then read your section for helpful career tips. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well, the choices available include CEO…Diva…and Cheerleader. Is this career advice or a catalog of collectible Barbies?

From bad books to suspect studies, Warwick tackles a wide array of issues of interest to working women. There's a category called Women and Technology. where she shares news and studies.

Policy makers, educators, managers need to recognize that you can’t generalize to all women,” said Dr. Eileen Trauth, professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) [at Penn State]. “There is far too much variation in the paths that women take for anyone to assume that women’s career motivations are the same, their methods of balancing work and family are the same, or their responses to motherhood are the same”…

You can be inspired by reading the stories of gutsy women of the world.

When Tina Dutton’s daughter Leanna told her that she didn’t like being the last person in the taxi after a night out, Tina heard her loud and clear, and knew it was time to act. She did her research, raised some money, and got to work. But she didn’t pursue the usual worthy activities, such as organizing a walk-a-thon to promote women’s safety, hounding her elected officials, putting up flyers about safety in the ladies’ rooms in bars, or recruiting a celebrity to do PSAs to scare the life out of solo women everywhere. Tina started a company. Pink Ladies, founded in 2005 in the UK with business partner Andrea Winders, is a car-hire company with a women-only policy on both drivers and passengers.

And my personal favorite category- The case for naps, cocktails, carbs,and cute shoes.

A Wake Forest University study of more than 7,000 “older women” (defined as women over 65) found that those who drink two to three drinks a day of alcohol have better verbal abilities and higher levels of mental function than their teetotalling sisters. Additional research is underway to determine whether alcohol also increases levels of “good” cholesterol, lowers the risk of stroke, decreases the likelihood of Alzheimer’s, and helps learning and memory function. So read the whole article and have a Sassy Red Lady. As we say here at New Charm School, you’re never too young to take care of your health.

On her website Jennifer.inc Warwick describes herself as "a women's career strategist who believes that when women bring their full selves to their work and personal lives, transformation happens for them, the people around them, and the world. As a coach, she supports and challenges her clients to take off their masks and bring their true selves to their work and their lives."

So, if you happen to live in a part of the country that is going to have a rainy weekend, pull up the laptop, get comfy and spend some time at The New Charm School-- you will be charmed, I'm sure.

Note: This is cross-posted at Blogher

Would you fly from Minneapolis to New York City with a birthday cake on your lap?

It happened about 20 years ago. The woman was an executive at American Express. She was in Minneapolis for business and had timed her trip so she could attend all the necessary meetings in Minneapolis and still get homein time for her young child's birthday dinner. The only catch -- in order to make it happen she had to buy the cake in Minneapolis and fly with it on her lap.( I forget the reason why her husband couldn't pick up the cake--whatever the reason that was her task) She was afraid to stash it in the overhead bin for fear the icing would get smushed. She sat for 3 hours with the cake in her lap because at the particular moment bringing a birthday cake home to her child was something she felt she had to do to feel as successful at being a mom as being an executive. Twenty years later, it seems that women are still struggling about how much of their mom life to bring to the office.

Recently the WSJ  ran an article about Harvard and other graduate schools that are now offering executive education programs targeted to stay at home moms who want to return to work.

Over at Watercooler Confidential Sarah Trammel has some issues with moms who bring mommying into the workplace.

I think I've hired a few of these women - the ones who didn't take the Harvard brush-up course. Including Sandie, mother of a pre-schooler and a third grader. Sandie quickly proved invaluable when one faced the "I need a birthday present for my niece but I'm clueless" crisis. But she didn't understand that while the edges of work and personal life sometimes get fuzzy, the phrase, "take care of what you need to" doesn't mean call home 26 times...in two hours. Everyone in the cubes witnessed first hand the "missing blankie" crisis, the "school uniform never got washed" crisis, and the "Mr. Principal, my son bombed the TAKS test because of your incompetent teacher" crisis.

Sarah's lament hit home. During the 18 months when I worked for Rapp Collins I had a strict policy that whenever my kids called, I would take the call.Often it was to say I was in a meeting and would call them back, but I took the call. My co-workers were not amused. I didn't care--- because nothing, absolutely nothing that we were discussing was as important to me as taking the 30 seconds out of my meeting to reassure my kids know that they were the most important thing in my life.

As far as the new programs are concerned, they are designed to help women fill in the gaps in their resumes.

...research suggests that many women who take a break from their professional lives to raise children are interested in returning. A survey of 2,443 women by the Center for Work-Life Policy, a New York nonprofit focused on work-family issues, showed that 93% of highly qualified women who are out of the work force want to resume their careers. It also showed that only 74% manage to do so. Part of the problem is that rapid changes in many fields -- from securities laws to accounting regulations to technology -- have meant that women who take even a few years off can fall behind.

Earlier this year the WSJ ran an article about corporations that are trying to woo back those moms who said, "Thanks but no thanks, I want to raise my kids."

In a study of 13,838 employees, Watson Wyatt, Arlington, Va., found women ages 25 to 40 making over $75,000 a year were nearly 20% more likely to leave their jobs than men. Female turnover was 11.4% a year, compared with 9.6% for men. But research also shows these women seek to return to the work force fairly quickly, as long as they have a workable and appealing setup. A survey of 2,443 women and 653 men, co-authored by Sylvia Ann Hewlett of the Center for Work-Life Policy, found women who take career breaks are only out of the work force for 2.2 years, on average. And only 5% of mothers who return even want to go back to their former employers; instead, they seek flexibility at smaller firms or by starting their own businesses. Big companies are trying to win these women back by addressing the barriers to re-entry -- offering flexible schedules and helping women bring out-of-date skills up to snuff and revive their neglected professional networks. Such efforts are often referred to as "on-ramping" because they create a path back into the workplace.

Is it fair to employers when you take time out to referree a fight over the video game controls?

Should co-workers be more understanding?

Should moms do a better job of setting boundaries?

How do you know what boundaries to set?

It's been nearly 10 years since I left Rapp Collins. My daughter is now 17. In the morning she'll ask if I'm going to be in a meeting when school is over. If I answer yes, she now asks if I can take a call  during the meeting. If I say yes, she'll call just to say hi. If the answer is no, shes sends me a txt message.

If this bothers my clients, no one has ever said anything. And I've asked.  For whatever reason, when you are a consultant and tell a client you may be getting a call from your daughter  it doesn't set them in quite the same tailspin as it does co-workers.

Image Credit: Flickr member margievz

This is cross-posted at Blogher.

Is J.Y.N trying to get dooced?

This is cross-posted at Blogher.

 I worry. Unless, of course, J.Y.N's intent is to get dooced--then I would say she's getting some jollies and entertaining a lot of us on the way down. Since April, J.Y.N aka Jayne Smith aka Pagan Girl has been sharing what life is like on the inside. It will make you laugh in that painful I would cry if it wasn't so funny kind of way. Be sure to read the section called "Why my job is a suckfest". The target here is a woman she calls Roz- The Corporate Witch. J.Y.N has a scrolling list of messages that ROZ sends her about the errors of her way.

6:52 AM:  I also received no report that John would not physically be in the building. As you are aware, it is corporate policy for all officers to apprise their immediate managers when they are absent from their desk and for what reason. This I need the DAY BEFORE it occurs by the way- which would have been yesterday… in case you didn’t know. – Roz       Update From Roz: April 15, 2006: Uh FYI - Dr. Martin AirWare Flyers are NOT corporate dress code policy. – Roz       Update From Roz: April 16, 2006: FYI - We do not clean our managers office with essential oils. Please use approved cleaning materials henceforth. – Roz       Update From Roz: April 17, 2006: TUPAC SHAKUR IS NOT APPROPRIATE LISTENING MUSIC!!! Regardless that you listen on your own headset, the fact remains that should your headset disengage from your pc it would be an EMBARRASSMENT to the entire department. Take note. - Roz       Update From Roz: April 18, 2006: In case you were unaware, casual business attire means you still NEED TO WEAR APPROPRIATE SHOES. Bongo "happy mutant" boots DO NOT fall into this category. - Roz

       J.Y.N has recently added The Daily Dish a section of the blog where she is encouraging others to share their stories. Anonymous said...

   Hello Jyn-     I happened over here and I would like to say KUDOS for filling a void in the blogging community. While there is a great deal of information on "how to be executive" and fit in to such environs- there is NOTHING out there on the reality of "living in" the executive world - day in an out. I appreciate your candor! While it is clear you have only just starting developing this topic, I would encourage you to continue as I would bet there are many others (particularly women) that would be able to relate to your boss and his hilarious behavior! Best -     Gina

So why did J.Y.N decide to create a blog that she has to know could get her fired?

I recall when another director saw me attempting to hide my tears in the ladies room one day. She pulled me aside and said, "Look- from one woman to another, I want to tell you that you are amidst one of the most conservative corporate environments here, it IS run by men, it has been that way for over 50 years, and will probably not change. All women here have realized this "truth". If you want to keep your job, you will need to learn to accept this because it probably won't change. You came in like a fresh breeze on a gloomy day with enthusiasm, and a smile for all.... Everyone has seen this and we all have been waiting for the day when the disenchantment would set in, because we all have been there. Take my advice, learn to accept or find a new job. That is how it is here."

What I find so absolutely compelling about ths blog is that if J.Y.N didn't share in her profile that all of the posts are the truth, I would have to believe that they were a portfolio building device for an interview for a job writing sitcoms. The question is--how long can J.Y.N share Roz's emails and the day to day stuff in her office without being found out? Of course if she is dooced, she will get the satisfaction of being able to "reveal" the true identity of her boss John Snape and the intriquing ROZ. It might not be a paycheck but it will probably make her smile.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck

In traditional media it's easy to  differentiate between direct marketing, advertising and pure information pieces. It's not so easy when visiting blogs. They all look and often sound like point of view pieces--information that the blogger is sharing strictly for the sake of sharing information. Over the years, I've had several friends who have "invited" me to attend an introductory seminar for EST and then later, the Landmark Forums. Both promised to help me reach my human potential. I always liked the idea of reaching my human potential. I just never liked the price tag. Or the scientology-zest that members seemed to have for  all things Forum. I never signed up. Blogs are full of recommendation on how to reach your human potential as an entrepeneur. As I was surfing the blogs this weekend to get a sense of how work -at- home moms were planning to deal with having the kids home for the summer, I came across some blogs that were talking about their Mastermind groups. My first introduction was Wendy Piersall's eMoms At Home.

"You may be wondering what a Mastermind group is. Each week, for 16 weeks, we get together with our group of 3-4 people, and publically make known what we are committing to do within the next 7 days. These are commitments above and beyond what we are currently committed to. We also then impose our own consequences. I don't mean light consequences, either - these have to be REALLY PAINFUL consequences. Such as, two of the women in my group have committed to giving each of the other participants $100 if they don't do what they say they are going to do. Another said she would have to go without makeup for a week. I said I would have to grow out my usually well hidden moustache - and don't forget, I am a woman ;). This is just the leverage I need to move ahead on all of my new home-based business projects. I'm already through 5 of my 11 commitments and we just started yesterday. But I'll also admit that I took the easy ones out first!"

Her blog had a link to winbig.org- a site she says she just discovered that day because of her MasterMind Group. As she says,

"WinBig has a series of programs for business growth, leadership training, and, not surprisingly, Mastermind groups! Particularly intriguing is his free Six Steps to SuperGrowth - a 6-CD set audio program. I'm downloading as I type."

Of course when you visit the winbig.org website you'll find that while there are some freebies, participating in their programs is far from cheap. Judith Morgan, who writes about wealth creation for entrepreneurs,is also recommending the power of Mastermind groups.

"All it takes is a dream, a team, and a theme to create a stream of perpetual income."   From The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen. Keep learning, keep fresh and get support and what better way to do this than with a Dream Team or in a Mastermind Group?  People love to help others; you only have to work out what you want and then seek out the experts, the Masterminds, and ask for their help.   The worse that can happen is that they say no. But you've gotta hang with the right group.

Then there is Lynnelle Bianco's Bold Business Vision blog which has had just four or five posts in the past 18 months and serves as a  marketing device for  Bold Vision Consulting which,like Winbig.org, promotes Mastermind groups via their Ocular Forum.

"Ocular Forum was created with Napoleon Hill’s concept of the Master Mind group in mind. You can read about Hill's Master Mind philosophy in his books, Laws of Success and Think and Grow Rich."

Which brings us back to Werner Erhard,the controversial founder of EST. Seems that Mr. Erhard, shared the same fascination with Napolean Hill that the organizers of Mastermind Groups share.

"Of more interest to his transformation, however, are the books he read and was influenced by. William Warren Bartley III (Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man) tells us that Erhard was "profoundly dissatisfied with the competitive and meaningless status quo" and was deeply affected by Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. Hill's three basic principles are: every achievement begins with an idea; plans call for their implementation and; what you think is what you do. Think positive, you will do positive deeds. Hill also advised visualizing objectives and selecting similar-minded friends. Hill gives good advice, but it is very vague and is not very systematic. It doesn't offer much to people who haven't got a clue what their objectives are or should be."

Do these proponents of Mastermind groups need to share with me that the same person who influenced the creation of EST and The Forum is also the inspiration for MasterMind Groups?

If the groups are effective and working for folks should I care?

Is it deceitful to omit that little bit of information when talking about these Mastermind Groups?

And,if a blogger receives a fee for referrals to a program, do they have an obligation to share that with their reader?

The issues for me isn't the benefits and strengths of having a network of entrepeneurs to help you visualize and achieve your goals. I certainly don't have a problem  with someone paying me $100 if they don't complete their action steps for the week.

The issue is I want to know when I am reading a a blog-atisement and when I'm reading a blog.  That way if it's supposed to be a duck, I won't be surprised when it quacks.

This is cross posted at Blogher

Image Credit: Flickr memberFancy Hunt.