►Welcome
►Rid Your Business of Software Piracy
►What Does Your Desk Say About You
►Is Your Business Disaster Ready?
►Meet the Team
►Just for Laughs
 

Happy Birthday to Amnet!

This month we are 11 years old and growing! We sincerely hope to see you at the Business Expo on May 21st, 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. at the Phil Long Expo Center.

Also, stay tuned for details on our $25,000 Technology Makeover, launching June 30th!

Rid Your Business of Software Piracy: 7 Tips
by Monte Enbysk
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Pirates still roam freely in the ocean of software out there, but if your business is among the pirates, it could end up costing you literally and figuratively.

You may very well be a smart, community-minded business owner. But if your company is using pirated software — and you condone it, you aren't aware of it or you don't really give a rip — you're not a responsible business owner. And you are taking unnecessary risks.

No, you're not alone. In the United States, about one-fourth of the software programs used today by businesses are illegal copies, according to the statistics from the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an active industry group. For U.S. small businesses, those with 100 or fewer employees, the piracy rate is even higher: about 40%. While those numbers are bad enough, the piracy problem worldwide is worse — although software piracy worldwide has decreased since 1994, some $13.08 billion was still lost in 2002 due to pirated software.

Read more

What Does Your Desk Say About You?
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center

If you are sitting at your desk now, take a look around and ask yourself: "What is this desk saying about me?"

For example, what messages does a three-day-old apple core send to your co-workers, or the photo of your ex-girlfriend, or the novelty postcard from Uncle Bob’s big summer holiday?

Ask a psychologist and, unsurprisingly, they’ll tell you that just like the clothes we choose to wear or the meal we take at lunch, our desk is often perceived as an extension of our personalities. Nothing ground-breaking there – but certainly worth bearing in mind.

Recent studies have revealed that desks can be useful to managers attempting to understand and motivate their staff. Vice versa, if you are interested in the way you are perceived at work – and perhaps you are thinking of modifying that perception – a desktop makeover is a great place to start.

When considering the state of your desk and what signals it sends about you, keep in mind the following stereotypes:

Hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural events are disasters in every sense of the word. Lives are lost, property decimated and entire communities disrupted.

For your small business, these events can be just as devastating. But there's a great deal you can do — both to prepare before a disaster strikes and afterwards, to get your business back on its feet quickly.

Here are 10 tips to better protect your business and, if damage occurs, what you can do to speed your recovery.

The first five tips will help you protect your business:

Meet the Team

“If You Were a
Super-Villain,
Who Would You Be?"

Colin: Captain Barbossa
Corinne: Wicked Witch of the West
Craig: The Joker
Jay: Professor Moriarty
Jen: Dr. Horrible
Joe: Dark Helmet
Mary: Poison Ivy
Stephen: Dr. Claw
Tarah: Darth Vader
Tim: Dr. Evil
Trevor: Khaaaaan!

A warm welcome to our new
Marketing Assistant, Lauren!