Greenwala is a Philanthropic company focused on harnessing the power of a community to create opportunity for people to “Go Green” and improve their lives. They believe that every individual has the power to foster change. Through that belief that they feel that the Greenwala community will be the destination for those wishing not to just Green their lives but to improve the lives of those around them.

Greenwala has created a contest called “What’s your story?” They have teamed up with helpareporterout.com. They want your help identifying stories about the most amazing eco-friendly, environmentally-conscious companies, products and services on the planet.

All of our friends + GREEN advocates, please vote for our Green Printing company! http://www.greenwala.com/greenwala_contests/all/7-What-s-Your-Story/entries/mine/565

If you wish to enter, submit a photo of the company (product, logo, or representative image) and a description – up to 500 words about how it is helping to reduce our impact on the planet and revolutionize the green economy. The story that gets the most votes will win a $500 Amex Gift card — and a featured article about the company, product or service on the Greenwala blog.

Greenwala is planting an additional tree for each entry with Trees For the Future. For information or to enter click here.

Winner will be selected from the top 10 vote getters by Greenwala.com editiorial staff.

We had the pleasure of attending the San Diego Small Business Fair last week on Thursday, October 21, 2009 at the Handerly Hotel. This FREE event was sponsored by Michelle Steel, Board of Equalization Member and Southern California’s Elected Taxpayer Advocate. The Small Business Fair held a series of seminars or workshops with information on Surviving the Downturn (presented by SCORE – San Diego), Sales and Use Tax: How to Avoid Common Pitfalls (presented by BOE), Employee vs. Independent Contractor (presented by EDD), Better Business through Better Records (presented by the IRS) and Top Dollar Advice for Tough Economic Times (presented by FTB, EDD, BOE and IRS). The informative seminars presented a plethora of useful information for small or newer businesses in San Diego.

In between the presentations, there was an Expo with several Exhibitors including but not limited to BBB, City of San Diego, Franchise Tax Board, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Board of Equalization, Accion San Diego and many more. We gathered a ton of useful information including “How to do Business with California State Government”, “Taking Care of Business Checklist”, Information on 401(k), Simple IRA Plans & SEP Retirement Plans (for Small Businesses), FAQ’s Booklets, Brochures and more! As all business owners know, time is our most precious asset, so it was extremely helpful that all of this information was available in one place. Now the trick is finding the time to read through it all?!

We did get some important questions answered from the staff members manning the booths. One friendly man from the IRS said something to me that stuck: “Pension means required. Go with a retirement plan that is based on profit, if there is not profit, you don’t have to make any payments.” Wise words…and although it is such a simple concept, it was never so clearly laid out for me.

We stopped by the NAWBO desk and spoke to a savvy business owner by the name of Jere Batten, Treasurer of NAWBO San Diego and president of Batten Accountancy, Inc. She gave us her undivided attention and advice on growing a business. We dropped a couple cards in for the raffle to win a free NAWBO lunch and I won!

I never win ANYTHING, but I guess I was due The monthly luncheon event typically draws around 65 women business owners for a speaker presentation, lunch and mixer. Non-members are welcome but there is a fee to attend the events. For more information on NAWBO events in San Diego: http://www.nawbo-sd.org/component/option,com_jevents/Itemid,92/task,month.calendar/

During the Expo, we also had a chance to mingle with a few business owners that were browsing around. Among these, Antonio de la Cerda of VNet Professionals Inc., Justin R. French of Social Networking San Diego, Gabriel I. Collignon of AKB Solutions, Jenn Vela of 5byseven, Maria Montano of Accion San Diego and others.

It was one of those busy days at the office and we weren’t sure if we should leave, but it turned out to be an eventful and educational experience. I would highly recommend attending an event in the future if you have the opportunity.

For more information on this event and others like it, visit: http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/tpsched.htm

To growth + prosperity!

Many people may not realize that iStock gives away 4 free stock photography images each week, in addition, they also give away 4 free vector images, 4 free videos and 4 free audio tracks every single week! Hey, everyone likes free stuff!

iStock Photo has rapidly become the number one online source for royalty free stock images at reasonable prices. iStock is not only an expansive resource for stock photography, but also provides an online community where designers and photographers can connect.

Don’t you just love the internet and the unlimited possibilities!

You can review the free archives here

They recently added The Vetta Collection, where the best-of-the-best photographers sell their top shelf stock photos for between 20-70 credits. The average credit is about $1.50 each, if you pay-as-you-go. Their standard collection ranges from about 1-22 credits. Click here to learn more

If you are a designer looking for some online recognition, you are able to submit your designs (that utilized at least one element from iStock) to their Designer Spotlight Showcase. If your design is selected, it will show up for other members to review and critique. In addition, your design will have the chance to be selected as the “Design of the Week” which is displayed on the front page of the Designer Spotlight section. If that’s not enough to motivate you, you earn free credits on iStock for every submission they accept! Skybox Creative has submitted and showcased several designs on iStock, to view them, click here

Click here to learn more about iStock Designer Spotlight

Happy Friday all!

-Angelina

NEW YORK As the economy begins its turnaround, the global advertising market is showing signs of improvement. According to Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse, which tracks advertising across 27 markets in Asia, North America, Europe and Africa, overall media expenditures decreased 6.8 percent for the first half of the year compared to the first half of 2008.

However, the second quarter closed with a more contained decline of 5.8 percent compared to a 7.9 percent decline in the first quarter (vs. the same periods of the previous year). The Asia-Pacific region is driving the improvements, with 6.5 percent ad expenditure growth in Q2, while Europe and North America are still facing challenges posed by the economic crisis.

All media types have suffered from general cutbacks by advertisers throughout the first half of the year. Magazines and newspapers took the biggest hits, losing 18.5 and 7.5 percent, respectively, with negative growth in all regions. Radio has emerged in many markets as the media type with the most contained percentage decline (down 3.1 percent globally) — and it even registered an increase in the Asia-Pacific realm (up 3.1 percent).

Television, too, delivered mixed results depending on the region, with North America (down 14.9 percent) and Europe (down 8.0 percent) showing drops in spending, while Asia-Pacific showed growth compared to the first half of 2008.

As with the half-year results, television and radio are the media types showing the smallest percentage decreases in the second quarter and they are still showing growth in Asia-Pacific and losing revenue in both Europe and North America.

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As noted by AdWeek , Oct. 1, 2009