A few weeks ago I had the privilege of taking to Christopher Marasco a 2010 Finance grad of Gove City College. As we were talking he outlined three things he learned soon after graduating.

The first is that we have a great raw talent. You have pushed yourself hard to get this far. Our College demands a lot of its students. The Entrepreneurship Department sees your potential talent but also focused on shoring up all your weakness as an entrepreneur. Therefore, although you might always feel like you are always working at the edge of your ability, don’t forget how far you have come.  Additionally, don’t underestimate your ability to do great things now or in the future. Confidence is very closely linked to success. If you think you can do well, the chances are you will.

Part points 2 and 3 will follow in a moment.

Facebook currently has more than 500 million active users on mobile devices and they collect revenue from every single one.  This adds up to be an incredible amount, but here are three more ways that they could instantly increase their revenue:

1. Show more Sponsored Stories in the mobile news feed – These would be news pieces that would already appear in your news feed except they are turned into an ad.  In addition, consumers would find it hard to distinguish it as an ad.

2- Combining Location & Offers – These offers are coupons which any page owner on Facebook can create for free for their business.  This plan would just begin to begin making these offers appear in the user’s news feed.  This will get companies exposure to consumers as well as getting companies to purchase ads.

3 – Open up mobile device-specific targeting – Facebook has the knowledge of when users are accessing the site over their mobile devices.  This tactic would allow advertisers who select iPhones to have their ads appear specifically on the iPhone to someone using Facebook from their iPhone. If Facebook could drive app installs this would be key because they could then Facebook would have the capability to connect the user with the app store as soon as the button is clicked.

Read the full article here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/three-ways-facebook-can-leverage-mobile-to-grow-their-revenues/

For the first time in it’s three-year lifetime, Bing has been redesigned! Unfortunately for international lovers, they do not get to experience it yet, but every one in the U.S. can!

Bing has installed a new social sidebar which integrates searches and people in social networks.  This way anything that you find interesting, enjoyable, or exciting on the internet you can immediately share it with your friends.  In turn, if you link your Bing account with your Facebook account you can see which of your friends have “liked” search results.  This won’t affect the normal rating though which is a plus.

They are trying to rival Google’s image as being the clean, simple searches.  They have heard complaints about the clutter on Google searches with links and maps and reviews, so Bing believes they are now offering a simpler experience by not having all the features cluttered together.

To read the full article, click here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/bing-redesign-goes-live/

Sometimes when you have a medical issue it’s hard to find the particular specialist you need.  That problem is about to go away with a recently launched new site: DoctorsElite.  This site was created to link up patients, general physicians and specialists through a social network.  This solves the problem by making it easier for people to find certain kinds of specialists.

There are a couple other companies in the running for this kind of service (Sermo, Doximity, CareZone, and HealthTap), but DoctorsElite has some differentiating factors:

• They are starting out with a database of some 500,000 doctors and centers for advanced treatment in the U.S.
• Primary focus on becoming a directory for doctors in specific fields
• Directory can be searched by diagnosis, treatment, specialty, and subspecialty
• Directory is free for patients and their families
• Secure area where patients can store and centralize medical records that can be accessed by doctors.
• Offers secure section where doctors can communicate with each other to find specialty care fore their patients and advice from other doctors through open forums or instant messaging

There is a possibility that this could change the entire medical world. Now doctors won’t be limited to the doctors in their hospital.  Doctors can discuss with others in their field all around the world.

To read the full article click here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/doctorselite-wants-to-build-a-network-to-better-link-up-patients-specialists-and-medical-records/

Any entrepreneur considering building a website needs to strongly consider making it mobile friendly. Having a site that is designed to be viewed on a big AND small screen is now more important than ever. With the prevalence of iPhones, Android, and Blackberry phones among most target markets, the likelihood of a potential user visiting via mobile devise is tremendous. The real question is whether or not your site will be up to their standards.

Do you have the mindset you will need to design and keep track of such a site? If not, I would suggest you go over to LimeCuda and read their article about The Mobile Future of Your Business. The concepts, such as having realistic expectations, keeping track of statistics, having goals for mobile based usage, taking the time to gain an accurate understanding of what your users are looking for, are all familiar to the internet entrepreneur. But, that being said, there are some unique ways to implement the ideas.

Focus.com posted a fantastic summery of 12 key characteristics demonstrated by prominent entrepreneurs. Their 6th trait, simplicity, really struck me as something that more budding entrepreneurs need to hear.

The following excerpt has been replicated from the post 12 Characteristics of Successful Internet Entrepreneurs.

The Trait: Simplicity. The Entrepreneurs: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. The Company: YouTube.

Engineers have an old saying that drives the field to this day: KISS, or “keep it simple, stupid.” YouTube founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim understood this better than most when they created a site that existed to do nothing more than let the average Joe upload his own videos. Without any delusions of grandeur or pretense about changing the world (which it has arguably done anyway), YouTube rose to Internet stardom by simply creating a cool, useful service that people would enjoy using daily. The fact that YouTube links are shared over IM, text, and Facebook all day long is a testament to the value of simplicity in business, and explains why Google snapped up the video sharing site for over $1 billion in 2007.

It is important to not let ideas of grandeur get in the way of solving a problem. It is OK to change your vision for the future once you get there but too often Entrepreneurs don’t stick with one idea long enough to get to that point. There is an old adage that states the good is the enemy of the best. Don’t let that apply to you.

Additionally, the simpler your idea is, the easier it is to explain it to others. The easier it is to explain, the more likely friends are going to tell others. The more people who relate to your idea the easier it is to explain and the more opportunities you will have to pitch your idea.

Find the one need you want to address and stay focused. Don’t let the solution become something more than it needs to be. Also, don’t ever discredit an idea because it sounds simple. Some of the most innovative products –a personal computer for example- have come from very simple beginnings.

Some individuals within the gaming industry have found a new way to make money. Offer your games for free.

The concept of Free to Play, or FTP, games on the internet is gaining momentum. The idea is simple and has been around for a long time in various formats. Open up a version of your game to the casual and more serous gamming public for free. Let them experience the fantastic world of gameplay you spent months to years creating. Then, once they have seen how enjoyable the game is, let them know that they can get an even better experience by paying a few dollars. There are just some items that are too hard to come by or some areas that are off limits that can be accessed via a simple payment of real money.

Finally, once you have gotten your customer base used to the idea of paying real money, something like $2.00 dollars for a thousand Mana, increase the offer. Make harder to find items and charge more. It does not matter that only a few will take the plunge and splurge for that uniquely colored party hat -some will. And, when your user base is in the millions, the ability to generate thousands a month is easily within your grasp. It is no wonder there has been a large shift to catering to the casual gamier.