Are you ready to raise money for your startup? Leslie Mitts, Managing Practice Leader at the Wharton SBDC and Lead Advisor for the Wharton Venture Initiation Program, tells us that most entrepreneurs coming through her programs are focused on raising capital, even though there are higher priorities in many of their businesses. Since fresh dollars help drive the business engine, this is a natural entrepreneurial concern.

Picture the announcer in the middle of the ring broadcasting - "In this corner, wearing the red shorts we have the challenger, weighing 217 pounds, winner of this year's collegiate championship, introducing Sales Mindset. Defending the long-standing domination of this event, winner of 35 title bouts, defending heavyweight champion, weighing 224 pounds, in the black shorts, please welcome Sales Training." Can you imagine two heavy weights like Sales Training and Sales Mindset squaring off in the ring? It might be one exciting sparing match. Both are critical to ensuring sales professionals get to, and remain at the top of their game. Which is most important?

I've seen terrible images today on the television and internet—bodies of the elderly and infants floating in attics, buildings collapsing, seals washing up in the middle of highways. All I can say is that our thoughts go out to those in New Orleans, Gulfport and surrounding areas in this sad time. We will keep the people who have been hurt or passed away and those who were close to them in our prayers today and in the weeks to come. From the reports I've read, tens of thousands were unable to evacuate. 20,000 fled to the Superdome before unsanitary conditions, sweltering heat, high tensions, four deaths, and a broken roof forced officials to begin transferring these refugees to the Houston Astrodome yesterday. Looting has become rampant, the New Orleans mayor has said thousands may have lost their lives, and the levees have now broken and are overflowing. Bush has called the disaster one of the worst in national history. From what I've seen and read it seems truly terrible. As one nurse noted in an MSNBC story it's like living in a third world country. I can only be hopeful that the positive potential of the human spirit will shine through as the destroyed areas are rebuilt in the coming months and years.

North County San Diego has had some significant growth, and it appears to be a wonderful place to run a business. It has a strong middle class upward bias and plenty of opportunity and employment. If you are thinking of a place to live near the California Coast some of the best weather in the World you might consider it. Lots businesses, customers and cash flow. We visited Legoland in Carlsbad, California. What a great theme park for the whole family. Carlsbad is also known for being the golf club manufacturing capital of the world. It is home to Cushnet, Taylormade, and Callaway. We offer our condolences to Eli Callaway who is one of the true founding fathers of modern day golf equipment. “Thank You Mr. Callaway for a great life and for the great support you have given to the sport of golf.” While in Carlsbad we spoke with the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce about the growth of the area. The Carlsbad Chamber has a transportation committee, with sub committee focusing on mobile service. This Chamber of Commerce there is 1700 members strong, representing every business sector. It would be a great place to establish a franchise business or any independent business. All the cities of the area are good and a service business could do great running multiple crews in all the surrounding cities such as:

If your reading this, you must be online and most likely have a website. You must also be interested in making money from this website, but there is only one way you can do that- traffic and lots of it. You may have done those calculations in your head, which you use to try and justify getting really cheap, ineffective traffic by the bucketful. You might have signed up for those “guaranteed traffic” scams by thinking that “if only ¼% bought, I'd be a millionaire!”