Treehouse Online Technology Training

If you are looking to learn new technology skills, the Treehouse can help you with online training in web development, mobile app creation and coding and other areas of modern business using the Internet.

Treehouse enables anytime, anywhere learning accessed online at the learner's convenience. The flexibility is further increased with what at the time of writing is a low-cost monthly subscription model, starting at $25 per month.

Courses take around 45 hours of study for part-time learning, and they can be paused if necessary for other personal commitments and restarted later.

The site caters for beginner through to expert professional level and includes training courses for the following technologies:

• HTML - Building simple websites and accessibility 
• WordPress - for bloggers / website owners, WordPress building a theme and building a plugin 
• Javascript - Foundations, introduction to programming and building an interactive website 
• Writing a business plan, how to start a business, freelancing, blogging to build your business, soft skills, business marketing, copyright, career foundations and building your company. 
• CSS - Foundations, framework basics, building a responsive website and Sass foundations 
• Ruby - Foundations, building a simple application, building social features in Ruby on Rails and more 
• Design - HTML emails, logo design basics, usability foundations, Illustrator and Photoshop foundations, and aesthetics. 
• Several other course ranges that include IOS and Android mobile application development, and PHP. 

The website at www.teamtreehouse.com offers a free trial and the online course allow you not only to learn, but practise your skills and take tests. It looks a worthwhile investment if you are keen to enhance your web-based technology skills with a view to a career change or progression, but dont have the time for traditional, face to face training courses. 

Just Do It Motivation Speech by Art Williams

If you are procrastinating, waiting for 'the right time' or inspiration to make something perfect, this motivational speech from Art Williams should help. His Just Do It mantra is energising and reminds you not to wait and see, not to wait for permission to make business decisions etc

Some believe that this productivity speech is the origin of the Nike slogan Just Do It. However, the creator of the original advertising campaign that used the strapline, Dan Wieden, has stated that the night before he was to present a series of several ads, he was looking for something to hang them together. Strangely, he remembered the words of murderer Gary Gilmore to members of the firing squad when asked for his last words - he said "Let's Do It".

Wieden changed this to Just Do It and there we have it. Shows that not all big ideas need to come from rooms full of creative thinkers bouncing ideas off each other or epiphanies at the top of mountains in Tibet.

Anyway - hope you enjoyed the video!

Webinar and Video Conferencing Software GoToWebinar

If you are looking to start holding webinars or video conferencing with potential or existing customers, then GoToWebinar is one of the most popular and easy to use solutions.

This webinar software allows up to 1000 people to join a single meeting. The process of setting up is quite simple:

• You install the software
• Arrange a date and time for the webinar
• Add a title and description for what is to be covered
• An invitation and registration page for your guests is then automatically created by the system 
• Email a link for the unique registration page to all your invitees
• Start the webinar on the day and choose to do a screenshare presentation or show your face with video conferencing for more personal engagement. 

Webinars can be a great way for you to demonstrate a product or service to numerous potential clients without the time and expense of visiting the customer. In this way, it can be an excellent sales tool, as well as offering cost saving opportunities. 

Prices at the time of writing start at $99 for up to 100 attendees, but there is a 30 day free trial, so you can see if it works for you risk free - http://www.gotomeeting.com/fec/webinar 

Prezi Online Presentation Tool

Are you looking for ways to create dynamic, graphical presentations quickly and easily? Prezi is an innovative online presentation tool that helps you to escape from boring, text based slides and add some fun and movement to your information without needing any technical skills. 

The YouTube video above gives a brief overview of Prezi. 

This cloud based software product offers a virtual converse for adding text, images or even video, with each piece of information connected in any order. When completed, the presentation then flows from point to point fluidly, creating a much richer experience than simply skipping from from one slide to the next. 

Prezi has many potential uses, including: 

• A sales presentation tool for impressing business clients
• Making staff training meetings more interesting
• Students can add something different to their academic projects

My favourite aspect of the product is the fact that you dont have to start from a blank canvas - there are loads of sample presentations in various styles, which you can simply adapt for your needs.

You can learn more and have a free trial on the prezi.com website. 

PESTLE Analysis for International Expansion

If you are running an established business and are considering expansion into another country, there are so many factors to consider. Where do you start?

A common way to break international market research into manageable chunks is by doing a PESTLE Analysis:

P - Political
E - Economic
S - Social
T - Technological
L - Legal
E - Environmental

To elaborate slightly on each of the 6 steps:

Political - for starters, is the country stable enough for you to want to visit or send you staff there? Are there any trade restrictions between the 2 countries?

Economic - How does the exchange rate affect your pricing? Would you need to drop your prices to be competitive against local companies and if so, could you remain profitable. Are there any import taxes that would affect your pricing?

Social - is there already an appetite for your product or service? If not, is there a reason why or simply an opportunity to create awareness and demand for what you can supply? Technological - Is the necessary infrastructure in place for you to deliver your solution and for it to be used? For example, if you provide online software, do the right people have the right hardware to use it and good enough Internet connection? 

Legal - Are there any restrictions on the way you must trade in the target territory? Must you work through a local partner firm rather than being allowed to trade directly with the end buyer as an overseas company? Does your standard contract offer you sufficient protection in another jurisdiction?

Environmental - Are there any pollution / recycling related elements to your product?

There are so many factors for you or your marketing team if you have one to consider during overseas expansion, but but the 6 steps of a PESTLE analysis may help to break your research down into a less daunting series of tasks and look at the risks and opportunities more clearly.

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to the Business Quick Wins blog, which I will share many of the useful tips, tools and techniques that I find in my work.

This will be my journal of learning in the field of international business. I am picking up so much useful insight and advice from experts in fields such as traditional and web marketing, personal productivity, sales, corporate strategy and business growth that I need somewhere to keep a record and refer back to it.

Articulating what I learn should help me to make better sense of how to benefit from the latest research, websites and developments for SMEs through to global corporations and organisations.

I hope what I share will benefit you too!

When I find something big or complex of interest, I'll try to break it down and simplify it where possible to help you and me to establish quick wins that we can take and action within our own businesses.