Smile if you pay more taxes

Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. – H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) I recently became bit despondent about the state of my business. I felt like I was taking one step forwards, and one step back: every time I […]

Digital Eve Meets Jerusalem at Speed-Networking Evening

Last night I attended my first speed networking event. It was organized by Digital Eve, who has held two such events in Tel Aviv, and last night’s was the first one in Jerusalem. Where? The venue, the Pera e Mela (Apple and Pear) restaurant in Safra Square, was great – good Italian-style food, nice ambience, […]

Blogging effectiveness report: February 2007

When I began blogging at the end of November, I asked a few questions about whether all the blogging evangelicals were right, and blogging really is good for business. I asked the following questions: Would I be able to keep up with the demands of blogging? Would I find that results from my site will […]

Women in the workplace

A recent conversation on the Digital Eve Israel mailing list brought up the topic of pregnancy and the workplace. While the law in Israel states that employers cannot fire pregnant women, this is apparently not enforced and many stories were related by women on the list who were fired when pregnant or upon return from […]

Don’t type on the baby

In Part 1 of my series on Self Employment and Maternity Leave, I discussed the technical aspects of getting compensation from social security for maternity leave. In Part 2, I discussed whether it is realistic for a business owner to disappear for three months and hope that the business will still be there when she […]

Self-Employment and Maternity Leave: Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about self-employed women and the issues facing them when trying to get proper compensation from Bituach Leumi/Social Insurance. However, a self-employed mommy faces another significant dilemma after giving birth: how can you just stop your business for three months? Can you afford to lose clients? Running a […]

Show me the dessert: the power of visual marketing

Our eyes play a significant role in our decisions to buy. There is a big difference between a written description of a product and the product itself in all its 3D glory. Salespeople who play to our senses may be more successful than those that rely on descriptions or texts to make their sales. No […]

Business Plans: What are they good for?

Business plans are considered standard fare for the budding entrepreneur. Business mentors and guides will tell you that you must have a business plan in order to succeed. Even if you aren’t looking for funding or loans, and even if your business already exists, they will tell you that you must put together a business […]

Self-Employment and Maternity Leave: Part 1

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the growing gaps between blog posts. Babies are great fun and too cute, and along with this privilege comes a lack of sleep, and a sharp drop in available time for activities other than holding and feeding said baby. Bloggers in the blogosphere all espouse the importance […]

New Category on illuminea blog: Bootstrapping

I am a big fan of the bootstrapping business approach. I am also a big-talker, since I was forced into bootstrapping by circumstances – investors weren’t knocking down my door, and banks weren’t handing me cash. I was a bootstrapper before I even realized that this approach had a name. At the beginning of my […]