travel

I had the privilege Friday night to speak to the MBA Program at the KV Institute of Management and Information Studies in Combaitore, India.   I was a guest speaker as part of their International Business Expert Series, and my subject was "From Small Business to Global Business in a Small Town."     I did the presentation over live video using ooVoo software, which is similar to Skype. 

There was a full classroom (pictured above) and the students were very attentive and very engaged.  Coimbaitore is a city of 1.5 Million people, so I started by trying to explain just how small South Carolina is and how small Wagener is.   I then spent time talking about two of my customers, Busbee Truck Parts and Tyler Brothers, as well as my own home-based business, Broadstreet Consulting. 

When talking about Busbee's, I told how they started selling truck parts on eBay before I built their ProStores store and eventually ported them to Drupal.  When I asked how many of the students had ever purchased something online, I was surprised that NONE raised their hand.  This points to a great opportunity for online businesses in India.  There are over a BILLION people there and a great number, even young people, have not yet made an online purchase.   I talked about how Busbee's is now selling parts all over the world using the Internet.

  I also talked about  how Tyler Brothers has used their Facebook Page to expand their reach among existing and new customers, extending their personal relationship to the online environment.   I then proceeded to talk about Broadstreet and how we have collaborated with eNova Technologies to provide reasonably priced Drupal development services for U.S. clients. 

After my presentation, we opened the floor to questions and the group had many excellent questions.  We discussed Internet business strategies for another 45 minutes.   Many thanks to Kumar Gounder and his great staff at KVIMIS for a great experience. 

My daughter Patti is in London, England for three weeks as part of the USC Law program, and we are keeping her daugther Eva.  We have been having nightly Skype sessions where she tells us about her day and she is even able to read bedtime stories to Eva.   It is amazing and it is free. 

Downloading and installing Skype is easy.   Patti has a headset that cost around $20, and at both ends we have a Microsoft Lifecam VX-3000 camera which is excellent and easy to use.  The Lifecam has a camera and built-in microphone.    Patti can use Skype-out features to call any phone for $.02 per minute.  Typicall she calls us at home to setup the call and follows up with a video call a few minutes later.

Skype is a must-have for anyone traveling overseas.

I'm getting ready to embark on a 3-day walk on the Foothills Trail, an 80-mile trail that meanders along the northwest corner of South Carolina, along the borders with North Carolina and Georgia.  I am walking alone, so I needed to find a shuttle so I could avoid having to walk in a circle.  I will be walking from Whitewater Falls westward to the Chatooga River and Oconee State Park.

I would not have visited Point Lobos Reserve this week if it had not been for my social network. About a year ago, my friend Chris introduced me to his friend Kurt. A few months later, Kurt invited me to breakfast where I met George. In May, George, Kurt, and I walked the length of the Art Loeb Trail in Pisgah Forest.

We had the privilege of seeing Michael Burks playing at Biscuits and Blues Tuesday night. Biscuits and Blues is THE place to go for blues in San Francisco.

Val & I had the pleasure of seeing blues player Brad Wilson at Lou's Blues on Pier 49 in San Francisco, and it was most excellent. Here's a link to Brad's Web Site: http://www.bradwilsonlive.com.

I visited Pink's Hot Dogs in Hollywood Friday. Pink's is world famous for being the "hot dog stand to the stars." There is always a line at Pink's. (That's me in the photo, looking at the camera.) I waited in line for an hour to get a Stretch 10" Chili Cheese Dog, onion rings, and a cream soda. Despiting it being a rather average meal, I'm glad I did it. Why? Because I ate at Pink's.