Esther: Welcome to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld.

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: And we are back with another wonder episode of the BusinessMakers Overtime Show.

Katie: Aaaaah.

Esther: And today we're gonna actually do things a little differently this time. We are going to talk about some CEOs in Segment 2 who are doing some incredible things for their employees and just how some CEOs could really take a lesson from those CEOs. So we're gonna kind of profile those CEOs without actually talking to those CEOs.

Katie: I don't know, it sounds like we're looking at the good news around CEOs where -

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: That's a good thing. (Laughter)

Esther: And then in Segment 3, we are going to talk about whether or not your brilliant idea that you think about in bed before you go to sleep, think about how you wanna quit your job and do this idea, if that idea is actually worthy of an actual business.

Katie: Ooooh.

Esther: Mm-hmm. There are 12 steps and we're going to talk about them in Segment 3.

Katie: Awesome. But first as always, we're looking at the business week in review.

Esther: Eeeee!

Katie: Woo-hoo!

Esther: Always some interesting stuff going on; and today we've got something that you all know is going on. If you don't know, you're living in a hole. The BP oil spill has not only affected obviously the Gulf Coast businesses but so many other businesses, including the independently owned gas stations that are BP branded.

Katie: And what kills me is, we found this great Wall Street Journal article that talks about how over almost all 10,000 BP service stations around the US are owned by independent dealers -

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: - which makes me feel like - okay, I'm gonna admit that I've been snarky and have driven by BP stations because I'm just like, "Screw you guys." Sorry BP. But I just really didn't give the thought that the people that I'm really impacting, it's not BP -

Esther: Right.

Katie: - it's the really nice guy that lives on my street who misses his wife.

Esther: I didn't know -

Katie: I didn't either.

Esther: - that the gas stations were all independently owned, otherwise I wouldn't have driven by them because I do, I would not go to a BP gas station right now.

Katie: Yeah, it's so upsetting.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: It's so upsetting; and the killer thing is is that these people that have these independent gas stations, they're actually contractually obligated to stick with BP only for years -

Esther: That's right.

Katie: - so it's not like they're in the process of changing. Like, "Alright, we're leaving this brand behind." They do not have a choice. They have to sell BP branded fuel. Tough stuff.

Esther: Mm-hmm.

Katie: So in kind of cool news for small business owners, for those independent rock stars that we love to meet and talk about so much, Overstock.com has actually moved into an interesting direction where they have opened this Main Street store that's actually all about helping small businesses sell their products on the Web.

Esther: Interesting; very cool.

Katie: So instead of, you know, Overstock.com for me, it actually is definitely a favorite place for me to shop, you get these amazing great deals. Like you sometimes don't really know what brand you're buying, where it comes from, if you're really getting that great of a deal; but you just get excited for the thrill of it all. But now to have this like much more, you know, kind of locally minded - you know, get that locally roasted coffee. You know, find those jewelry pieces that are made by local artisans. I feel like this is really a special step to help keep people around.

Esther: So basically Overstock just gets a small percentage of the sales that they make. Is that how it works?

Katie: I believe so.

Esther: Okay.

Katie: Yeah; and get all that Overstock.com visibility.

Esther: Right.

Katie: So check it out, Overstock.com/mainstreet. I mean it's even linked from their main sites -

Esther: Cool.

Katie: - and uh, yeah, pretty cool. We're all about the SLGT, Support Local Grow Together.

Esther: Absolutely.

Katie: So these sellers may not all be local, but at least you're helping some of the little guys.

Esther: Small businesses.

Katie: Exactly, exactly.

Esther: Something else that you found which I find hilarious and the dream job, this is - you wanna win the dream job, you wanna win the lottery? This is like every young single person's dream job. Apparently there's a way that you can become an executive without having any skills, without having any knowledge of the company you're working for. Basically you get hired by these out of country corporations in China and India where nobody speaks the language. They just wanna see a Caucasian face get on a podium and make a speech about how the company that's based in the United States and is now expanding to China is going to do wonderful things for the Chinese economy. What kind of job is that? A thousand dollars a week to do that job. We found this piece in The Atlantic, the piece is actually called if you wanna Google it, "Rent a White Guy".

Katie: (Laughter) I don't know why it's so funny to me.

Esther: It is.

Katie: Yeah. (Laughter)

Esther: I think it's maybe because the picture is really hilarious.

Katie: Yeah, it kind of is. It's this Chinese guy holding a smiling White guy mask by his face. Oh boy. So, yeah. If you're an expat living in China, you may have an amazing calling if you're a guy with a suit. (Laughter)

Esther: Really awesome.

Katie: Travel the world, shake hands, and sound important, but mostly just don't get too much of tan. (Laughter)

Esther: Right.

Katie: So let's jump into some of our Internet geeky love with our business links of the week.

Esther: He-he, I love this segment.

Katie: Whoo-hoo, I do too, I do too. So I have a link that's actually an online tool that's been pretty hot on my mind this week. We've had some new hires at Schipul and, you know, I've been looking to get some help doing some social media, marketing outreach, and I have been using something that you're probably familiar with Esther called "HootSuite".

Esther: It's a very great tool.

Katie: HootSuite.com, so it's hoot like a little owl - actually that's their logo. HootSuite, S-U-I-T-E.com and it's basically a place where you're able to oversee multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts. But not only that, you have this great dashboard that you don't have log in, log out, log in, log out to talk on different channels, but you're also able to do cool things like, you know, assign people different tweets or different Facebook posts to follow up with; or you can measure all of these different great stats with how many people clicked on a certain link that you've shared at particular times of day. And even cooler to me where I may not always want to be handing out artificial corporate passwords to everyone, especially if they're new hires, you can actually allow people to be a member of a company group so that they can tweet on your behalf. They can still have access to the communication channel, but they're not completely logged in.

Esther: Right.

Katie: And it's free. There's an iPhone app, I believe there's an android app out there as well that's, you know, like $299.00-$399.00, and it has really changed the way that we work our social media channels because it's just so easy. And now it's not just about one marketing geek equals me, you know, trying to keep up with all the buzz. You get the whole group in, but still keep it nice and secure.

Esther: Very cool.

Katie: That is my linky. (Laughter)

Esther: I like it.

Katie: So tell us about yours.

Esther: My link of the week is called TheFunded.com, just like it sounds, T-H-E-F-U-N-D-E-D.com. Basically TheFunded.com is a way for you while you are evaluating, while you're pitching your business, you're getting out there, you're doing your elevator pitch, you're getting offers for capital because they're just coming pouring in. You know, offers from venture capitalists and angels because you've got this great idea and all of a sudden, people just wanna give you money. This is a way for you to evaluate the capital partners. It's a way for you -

Katie: Oh!

Esther: The capital partners actually get ratings -

Katie: Ah!

Esther: - based on the funding.

Katie: The tables are turned!

Esther: Right. Based on how they've treated the other businesses they've funded.

Katie: Oh my gosh!

Esther: They have ratings. If you go to TheFunded.com, you will see all the different ratings and they're actually ranked by, you know, best rated and worst rated -

Katie: Wow!

Esther: - so you would know before you got involved with some fund that was like totally out there and wacky and has - you know, they rope you in to long contracts or they do something crazy that other people don't like. You know this one, Brain Capital Ventures, rated out of 10 a 3.1.

Katie: Hmmm.

Esther: That's not so good.

Katie: Mm-mmm.

Esther: You know, most of them are rated 3 or 4. And then it also has a nice blog where it gives you a lot of information about different capital investors and angel investors; and it's very interesting.

Katie: This is fascinating. I've never seen any tool like this.

Esther: There you go.

Katie: And it's neat because it looks like they have like a public and a private section, so it looks like there's some sort of membership level. And I love being able to, you know, to see places where it's not just that you can be complaining or upset about, you know -

Esther: Right.

Katie: - they didn't pick your project and blah-blah-blah, but people are able to vote things up and down. I mean this is fascinating. This is a totally cool little network.

Esther: There you go.

Katie: TheFunded.com.

Esther: The Funded.

Katie: Well selected.

Esther: Thank you.

Katie: (Laughter) I think that wraps up our Chapter 1 for Overtime Show #48.

Esther: Awesome.

Katie: Almost at the big 50 Esther.

Esther: So amazing! We're old.

Katie: We're old. We're age-ged. (Laughter)

Esther: We're so old.

Katie: (Laughter) But we definitely hope that you stick around for a fantastic Chapter 2, where we're taking a new look at the BusinessMakers breakdown and talking about those awesome CEOs that are taking care of their people; and really we'll be there to inspire you with their stories and iPad gifts. (Laughter)

Esther: Lovely.

Katie: You're listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. We'll see you in Chapter 2.