Last week we talked about the importance knowing your way around the world of finance and resources that can help you with that, but just as important as knowing the latest information about the economy is knowing how it all got started in the first place.
Jonathan Jarvis, graduate student at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California, put together the awesome video as part of his thesis.
Watch, learn, and enjoy.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
No matter where you turn, talk of the gloomy economy is everywhere. The longer the conversation continues the more heated and upsetting it becomes, especially when we hear about the irresponsible acts of others.
Perhaps even more maddening than the reckless behavior of others is the fact that a lot of us (whether we'll admit it or not) don't really know what the heck they're talking about. What we need is a translator, but since most of us can't afford to hire an economist to help us wade through the jargon of the financial world, we're going to have to turn to some alternative resources.
Wikipedia- C'mon, who doesn't love Wikipedia? It's user friendly and has information on just about any topic you can think of. Plus the summary gives the basic information for beginners and goes into greater detail for those who need it.
360 Degrees of Financial Literacy - This site focuses a lot on personal finance, but dies have some good information for business entrepreneuers. The Financial Guide Book is an excellent online tool for people who want a simple guide to understanding the world of personal finance. The guide is easy to read and is full of great information, not to mention live link to other great resources. There is also a Life Stages section that has useful information for every financial juncture of your life.
Investopedia- Investopedia is all about the world of finance. There's a great dictionary that covers topics from acronyms and buzz words to tech analysis and taxes. What's great about the dictionary is that Investopedia breaks down the definitions so they're easy for you to understand. There are also great articles and tutorials to help you along the way.
SBA- The Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the federal government that works to protect the interests of small business owners. SBA.gov has a wealth of resources to help you navigate through the financial world and has great resources for growing your business including small business bookkeeping.
Wall Street Journal- When people want news about the economy, a lot of them turn to none other than the Wall Street Journal. Sifting through the entire paper is a daunting task, but luckily they have an online edition that has a lot of great content. The bad news: you need to have an online subscription to read a lot of the articles. The good news: at $1.99 a week it's relatively inexpensive.
Forbes Forbes is claimed to be the world's most widely visited business websites, and we can see why. It offers real time reporting, analysis, and reporting. It's a strong online community for business owners and just like the print magazine, features lists of billionaires and their possessions.
Bloomberg, Yahoo!Finance and MSN Money - Probably the best way to continue understanding the world of finance is to keep up to date on what's happening. These are just some of many websites that offer this kind of information, but they are some of the most top visited financial sites on the Web. They offer some great information on personal finances and have up-to-date news feeds and stock information.
And don't forget about blogs! Blogs are great ways to find out information you just have to be sure that it comes from a trusted resource. Wisebread.com has a great list of the top 100 personal finance blogs.
In times like these, it's easy to get frustrated and angry when the topic of conversation turns to the dismal state of the economy but getting doesn't solve anything. Instead, take some time to learn about what's going on around you. The best thing we can do is keep our wits about us.
A study done by Nucleus Research took a look at areas of IT that companies should be focusing on during the recession and on their list of areas worth paying attention to was Customer Relationship Management software (also known as CRM software)
"If theres one technology area where you should increase you investment today, it's customer relationship management (CRM). As wallets shrink, customers will continue to do business with companies that treat them well. Nucleus also advised that "Continuing to invest in streamlining contact with your customers can reduce your overall costs while keeping customers happy."
But what's so great about CRM solution software? How can it help your business? Keep reading...
On Wednesday, April 29th at 11:00 am (Central Time) DataCraft is partnering up with Microsoft to host the webinar "Grow Your Business with Microsoft Dynamics CRM."
The webcast is free of charge and covers a lot of great information on CRM and what it can do for businesses like yours.
Microsoft CRM sfotware system can help your business:
- Stay connected to your business processes and make more informed decisions about your growth.
- Reduce the length of your sales cycle and increase your marketing effectiveness.
- Ensure your marketing campaigns are working at maximum efficiency and help you deploy your sales resources appropriately
Register today to save your spot for the CRM systems webinar on Wednesday April 29th at 11am central time.
If you can't make it, check back soon for notes from the webcast.
You really don't want to miss this!
Click here to register.