Silicon Stetsons?

When it comes to the high tech, high fashion companies in the USA, there is no denying that California is home to some of the biggest brands in the world. Companies like Google, Adobe, Hewlett-Packard and Apple all grew up in the area known as Silicon Valley, close to San Francisco. It’s the spiritual centre of the world’s computer industry, but it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that other parts of the United States are home to equally innovative businesses. One of these places is Dallas in Texas, a location more associated with oil barons, ten gallon Stetson hats and cowboys than with high-tech industries.

Telecom Corridor

As well as being home to JR, Bobby, Sue Ellen and the rest of the Ewing clan, Dallas is home to the University of Texas, a high prestige university with a great reputation for training scientists and technological innovators. So many businesses working in the telecoms and computer sectors have sprung up in the area surrounding the university campus that it has become known as the Telecom Corridor. Over 600 high tech companies have made the Telecom Corridor their home. At the centre of the corridor is the small town of Richardson, which has been rated as one of the 20 best places to live in America, according to Money magazine.

Major Employers

As the name Telecom Corridor suggests, this small corner of Texas is home to more than its fair share of telecommunications companies. Names such as AT&T (originally the American Telephone and Telegraph company), Verizon and MetroPCS are not particularly well known in Europe, but are household names across North America as providers of landline telephones, mobile phones and internet services. They have chosen to locate in Telecom Corridor due to the local expertise and access to skilled staff.

Technology

There is a huge crossover between telecommunications and other sorts of technology, so it’s no surprise that other companies such as Ericsson, Cisco Systems, Samsung and Fujitsu have chosen to make their North American bases in Texas too. Other companies which are longer established in the Richardson or Dallas area include Texas Instruments, well known for their semiconductors and calculators, and Fossil, an accessories manufacturer which produces high-tech watches like their ladies Fossil ceramic watch and fashion items such as handbags or shoes. Fossil and Texas Instruments continue to innovate with new products, and products like the Texas Instruments’ TMS320 semiconductors and the ladies Fossil ceramic watch are just the last in a long line of innovations.

Working in America

Although there are many job opportunities in the Dallas area for innovators and technology experts, working in Telecom Corridor is not as simple as booking a one way flight to Dallas and handing out CVs. In order to work for one of these companies you’ll have to secure a job first, and they will have to prove you have skills that they can’t get from Americans for you to qualify for a working visa. It’s not impossible, but it is a lengthy and expensive business.

Morag P writes for a large range of websites on a variety of subjects including technology, finance and music.

 

 

Forget Washington — Cities Will Win or Lose America

by Jim Clifton

Throughout this year’s long election season, I was often asked: “Who will be better for jobs and the economy, President Obama or Governor Romney?” My reply most surely disappointed partisans from both sides: The president of the United States doesn’t make as much difference in terms of creating economic energy as you’d think, according to Gallup data.

In fact, if the president mattered that much, why is it that cities and states have such extreme variation in their local GDP and job growth? Shouldn’t they all go up or down together with each president?

Instead, Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn., are booming, while Albany, N.Y., and Stockton, Calif., are failing. Texas is prospering while California is almost surely going broke. Austin’s jobless rate is around 5%, while the unemployment rate in Stockton is above 13%.

The reality is, when it comes to creating economic growth and good jobs, local leadership trumps national leadership. For instance, Austin and Albany are both capital cities in big American states. Neither city is located by a port or a natural tourist attraction with beaches or mountains. They’re pretty much alike, except that Austin wins big and Albany loses big.

The difference, in my view, is that Austin has deeply caring, highly engaged business, political, and philanthropic leaders with principles, policies, beliefs, and values about human nature that work. They understand how to build a thriving, growing economy — one that welcomes business and entrepreneurship. Albany has the opposite, as I see it: Leaders with principles, policies, values, and beliefs that discourage business and entrepreneurship, if not outright scaring them away.

Cities across the country with great leadership are filled with booming startup companies, and those cities have thriving economies that create authentic, organically grown good jobs. These cities are saving America, while the others are letting the country down.

Great city leadership has never been so needed. Nationally, business startups are currently growing at under 400,000 annually. If this rate doesn’t double soon, in my view, absolutely nothing will fix our current nightmare of joblessness.

And this just isn’t a problem that Washington can fix, regardless of who is president. Of course good policy for small businesses is better than bad policy, but in my opinion, the estimated 10,000 business, political, and philanthropic leaders of all shapes and sizes who drive the performance of America’s top 100 cities are the most important people in our country right now. Nothing can be more important to these essential American leaders than turning their towns into roaring economic engines that encourage entrepreneurs to thrive. When it comes to building and sustaining economic energy, frankly, they matter more than the president.

The United States is at a critical juncture in its economic history. Whether the country makes a historic comeback or slowly goes broke, it will do so one city at a time.

 

Jim Clifton is Chairman and CEO of Gallup. He is author of The Coming Jobs War (Gallup Press, 2011).

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How to Tell if Your Business Needs a Virtual Assistant

A lot of business owners operate under the conviction that they don’t actually need any help with the normal, day to day maintenance of their business, and in some cases, they are absolutely correct. To people like this, it’s okay to hire out specialized workers because those are tasks that they cannot complete on their own. The problem is figuring out how much you can actually handle by yourself before it all becomes too much, and that is where virtual assistants can come in.Virtual assistants handle various administrative, clerical, or copywriting tasks for a business, and they can actually do even more, depending on their own unique skill set and the needs of the business owner. Virtual assistants are versatile, flexible distance workers who usually have no trouble adapting to their workload.

Why would you want to hire a virtual assistant?

Why would you want to hire a virtual assistant? In the long run there are plenty of reasons why you might want a qualified VA on your staff, but let’s take a look at the short term right now to see what the immediate benefits of hiring a virtual assistant might be. Most business owners like to micromanage, especially in the early stages of the business when anything can, and usually does, go wrong. By having their hands in every little inner working that goes on with the company, they can quickly identify and correct problems with the business, and from there they can figure out viable solutions.

Managing Workload

Depending on the size of your business, this can be a truly daunting task, and it can keep you busy from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. On the other hand, if you have a virtual assistant working with you to manage some of the workload, the tasks won’t seem nearly as difficult, and you may even be able to pay more attention to individual tasks that you would otherwise rush over in your haste to get everything completed for the day.When you are thinking about whether or not you need a virtual assistant for your business, consider several important factors before coming to a conclusive decision.

Scheduling Tasks

First of all, and in the same vein as the previous paragraph, could you use an extra set of hands around during the day? Most people could use this, although some business owners might not want to readily admit it. There are always going to be tasks that you don’t have to personally see to, and in these instances there is nothing wrong with delegating them off to someone else who is qualified to handle them.

Introducing Ideas

Second of all, do you think your business would ultimately improve if you had someone around to bounce ideas off of? You may not want to admit it, but not all of your ideas are going to be sure fire winners, and sometimes it’s invaluable to have somebody around who can tell you to get back on track. All of these are reasons why you might want a virtual assistant.

Patty Thompson is a well known blogger on virtual assistant topics.She has an experience of more than 7years in this field.If you are interested in Patty’s virtual assistant services or if you want to know more about virtual assistants please visit her website.

 

Going Fully Mobile As A Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants have the luxury of having plenty of options when it comes to their careers. A virtual assistant can work from anywhere in the world provided they have the right set up, and that’s something that not a lot of professions can boast. At the same time, it’s possible to work completely from home, which can be a huge benefit for stay at home moms and anybody who just wants to get away from the corporate rat race.This range of options that comes with being a virtual assistant is both freeing and slightly overwhelming at times. With so many choices you might be at a loss for which direction you want to take with your business. It may also be a little frightening, that feeling of having the whole world spread out in front of you for the taking. The best way to get past that feeling is to take a deep breath and think about all the benefits that really come from being a full time virtual assistant. You can literally work anywhere in the world. It’s not surprising that many virtual assistants take advantage of this and make the decision to take their business fully mobile.

Being a mobile virtual assistant means working without strings. Each client that you work for is on a contract basis, which means you are not tied down or obligated to stick with any employer if it doesn’t meet your schedule. You have the freedom to pick and choose whoever you want to work with, and if you’ve ever been an employee in a normal company with co-workers that you can’t stand, you know how important that really is.

Going mobile is a huge step, so don’t make that your first plan of action if you are first starting out, espeically if you have never been self employed before. The best way to handle it is to set yourself up in your regular home first and get a feel for the ropes. Traveling by itself can be hectic and stressful, and the last thing you want is the burdens of a full business hanging over your head when you don’t even understand the business yet in the first place.

Most virtual assistants like to wait a year or two before taking steps to go fully mobile and travel around the world, and that can be a very smart move. Doing this allows you to get a firm grasp on what kind of deadlines and work pressures are going to be given to you, and it allows you to build a relatively stable income before leaping off head first into the unknown.

The worst thing you can do is start your virtual assistant business and then buy a plane ticket to some new country the very same day. Take everything in its proper order and you’ll have a lot more success as a virtual freelancer. Once you have a firm grip on the business, then you should start looking for more variety.

Elisa Brent is an eminent blogger and she runs a virtual assistant business. she provides support to various virtual assistant companies. If you would like to know about Elisa’s assistants or assistant, please log on to her website

 

Texas Supplies Its Own Power

As one of the most rebellious states in the Union, Texas has always walked to the beat of its own drum. Boasting a larger-than-life attitude has given them a reputation for greatness, which was born out of self-reliance when the state became official in 1845. And when they say “Don’t Mess with Texas”, they mean don’t mess with their power supply. Why is that? Because Texas has its own power grid!

It’s amazing to think that an entire state is powered by its own power grid, but even more shocking to know that there are only two other power grids within the whole continental US. The other two are divided into the Eastern Interconnection and Western Interconnection and lace power to several states across the nation. So why is it that Texas got its own grid – and how?

Texas Has the Power
A feature of success for any great business venture has always been “location, location, location”, which contributes heavily in allowing Texas to go off the grid and create its own electricity. Taking this into account, having the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in your backyard is definitely a plus. The majority of residents live within the same region as the ERCOT.  Literally a power house in the state of Texas, the location generates enough juice to supply its own power, leaving the Eastern and Western Connections in the dust.

But the location of the power plant doesn’t weigh as heavy as the history behind the placement of ERCOT. That goes back to World War II when all the factories in Texas were churning out planes and ammunition for the war efforts. At that time, the Texas Interconnected System was created as a reliable way to keep assembly lines in full throttle without depending on distant states. The fact that Texas is rich in natural resources, including coal and gas, also helped to sway the decision even more resolutely.

As a self-contained state of power, Texas has decided not to break down its power supply to interstate customers, which keeps the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at bay. The Lone Star State’s residents are therefore exempt from government regulations on transmission standards and kilowatt prices.  But are they really better off on their own?

Green Energy
For as long as Texas has drawn from its own power, the state is not without turmoil over the decision. The historical event coined “Midnight Connection” occurred in 1976 when a Texas utility plant briefly sent power to Oklahoma. Just recently ERCOT imported power from Mexico in which it has three ties to the country.

With the push for green energy, ERCOT may be under fire with the Environmental Protection Agency for pollution violations. Because ERCOT in its present state was formed in 1970 many of the plants are subject to updates which means they’ll have to go offline during the process. This jolt in distribution could have adverse effects on the state of the grid and force it to rely on ties to the other two grids.
Being self-reliant has its perks and certainly suits the way Texas gets things done. But the future of the grid may be in the balance with the transition to greener energy and cleaner fuel sources.

Syd Martin writes for Premiere Tree Services and enjoys writing articles on green living, environmental issues and nature.

 

You just don’t boo the starting line-up

This is the greatest moment in “America’s game” and one that you haven’t been even involved in since 2002.  The last time you won one was about the year I was born, and I’m considered a fossil by most.  The fact that you lost more games than you won throughout the entire month of August and it took a total melt-down by San Diego for you to get into the playoffs…

The first thing the fans do is Boo the entire starting lineup of Texas, with the exception of Benji Molina – the only one on Texas who has ever “done anything wrong”  to our team (and not intentionally – HE PLAYED HIS HEART OUT FOR US).

WTF?

Have you not heard Josh Hamilton’s story and cried?  I did when he had to pawn his wife’s wedding ring for coke, and then later came back clean and sober.   There are 24 other stories on that team, probably better than the average schlep in the stands that has the audacity to boo them.

We are lucky to be alive, let alone in a world series.  They are also blessed to be our competitors.  For (whatever you consider to be your comfortable equivalent of God)’s sake.  Thank you lucky stars you can afford tickets and give your opponent some respect.  Just like Philly, he may be “better than you” but we could still win.   I think it might take all the Karma we can produce to effect that.  Wishing you opponent ill is NOT GOOD KARMA!!!

Those ignorant little so and so’s with their 3 martini lunches at ‘MoMo’s” could cost us a very humbling gut shot.  I don’t think we can count on 6 more 18 run games.   I will certainly understand it if Texas wins.  I humbly apologize for our disrespect.