Intuit, the folks who bring us Quicken and QuickBooks, is holding a contest to award a local small business owner a hiring grant worth up to $50K. Unless you were on the WPO’s list of top 50 fastest-growing women-led companies, your own small business could probably use this. So what are you waiting for? Nominate your business, spread the word, and gather votes! Don’t forget to wax eloquent on the reasons you love to serve your customers and your community–your words will help the judges decide who will win the Grand Prize.

Tell us what you love about owning a local business. Is it the people? The community feeling? Leave a comment below!

Whether you work at a laptop on a table at the local Panera, or sitting in an ergonomically-friendly chair in your own home office, solopreneurs may often find their workspaces–well–boring. If you’re just such an entrepreneur and you have “jazzed” up your workspace to make it more entertaining (lava lamp? portable fish tank?) and less antiseptic, then Mashable and CNN want to hear from you. Send them photos or videos of your creative workspace by Friday, April 15th and you could be featured on either or both of their websites.

While you’re at it, post a link to your creative workspace in the comments below. We’d love to see how you work!

The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia

Thanks to those innovative folks at Google, now you can visit famous art museums and browse through their collections at a whim–without the cost of an airplane ticket! The Art Project by Google brings their street view technology indoors. Click on a link to the museum of your choice (including The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia and NYC’s MoMA) and find yourself virtually walking through their hallowed corridors. You can even zoom in on paintings of interest, taking a closer look at brush strokes and techniques just as you would in person. Visit Mashable to read more about how they put this project together. Bravo, Google!

What creative and innovative endeavor will you bring to your small business today?

When you were a kid, you probably couldn’t wait to hear your school’s name on the radio’s list of closings due to snow. That feeling hasn’t changed, at least for your kids. But while they eagerly anticipate a day off from school to play, you sit there dreading it. For a work-at-home mom, a snow day is just another work day–except with extra work and distractions.

But a snow day doesn’t have to mean you fall behind on your work or that you have to resort to duct taping the kids to be productive! With just a little bit of planning, you can make a snow day be that special, magical day for your kids–without sacrificing your productivity. Check out this article on School Snow Day Activities for ideas and tips. Our favorite tip? Employ your kids! Let them help you with your work. Yes, even a preschooler can help and they are at the age when they like to do it. You can even pay your children for the work they do for you, which has the added bonus of teaching them the value of work.

One last tip: Don’t forget to have fun yourself! It won’t put you behind in your work if you spend thirty minutes outside with your kids making snow angels. But what it will do is help make a lasting memory for your family. So go, be productive and enjoy that snow day!

Since the Thanksgiving weekend was a long one, I had an extra day to tackle my storage unit. The list of the items I brought with me to the unit were markers, tape, a pen, a notepad and scissors.  Little did I know, it would be my cellphone that would become the MVP (most valuable player for you non-sports fans) of the trip.

My original goal was to open 5 to 10 boxes at a time and record what was in each box with the pen and notebook.

However, I was stopped in my tracks by a text message. After I read it, I focused on the Evernote app I installed over a year ago. I didn’t think much of it until I opened my first storage box. I took the picture of the item, then I sent it to my Evernote account and I would sort it into a new notebook later.

The process went fast, that I cataloged more items than I expected. Now dealing with the storage is not so bad now that I know exactly what’s in the boxes.

The best things about Evernote is that its free and its everywhere (iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry and Desktop, Mac & PC versions) so there is no excuse why I can’t access information from my Evernote account.

Do you have an Evernote account? How are you using it? For business, personal, or both like I am?

Learn more about Evernote or sign up for a free account.

Amazon has just released its free Kindle for PC app, which allows you to read Kindle material on your desktop or laptop, even if you don’t have a Kindle. If you do own a Kindle, the app allows you to sync it with your computer, so you can pick up where you last left off in that book your reading on the train or manage your bookmarks and notes.

This now makes Ja-Naé’s “How to Start Your Business with $100” (recently available on Kindle) even more versatile for the new entrepreneur. Learn how to start a business on the go with your Kindle and use it as a reference when sitting at your workspace. What are you waiting for? Get it now!

Sometime ago, I written several posts about online retail sites that have wishlists.

Now, I’m back to provide an update.

If you are familiar with  The Secret and the Law of Attraction, then you know that a wishlist can be seen as an extension of Vision Board.

When I initially written  the 12 days of wishlists,   there was no way to centralize all the products that I wanted.

Now Amazon, has answered the call, with its Universal Wishlist.

With Amazon’s recent feature, you can “bookmark” any item from any online store and place it on  your Amazon wishlist.

This works out especially well if you are organizing gifts for members of the family. Just create a separate wishlist for them  and keep it private so there will be no spoilers.

So what are you waiting for? If you have a wishlist , great!  If not, its never too late to get started. Plus, you don’t need the holidays as an excuse to have one.

What is Google Wave?

Just in case you haven’t heard, Google has recently launched Google Wave. Google Wave is a service were you can collaborate with colleagues using text, photos, videos and links. I have used it to communicate with friends, but I am curious about its business applications. We have a few invites available. Every 100th subscriber to The WildWE Facebook Page will receive a Google Wave invite.

Also we are planning something extra special for our 1000th subscriber. So stay tuned.

If you are just joining us, we are doing “12 Days of an Entrepreneurs Christmas!” To see the music video that goes along with this, click here.

On the first day of an Entrepreneurs Christmas, my true love gave me this great gift.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Joby GP1-EBEN Gorillapod Flexible Tripod (Blue)

The Gorillapod Flexible Tripod is the perfect flip camcorder holder for the entrepreneur who loves to do videos and share them on their blog! To see other versions of the Gorillapod, click here.

As I mentioned in my previous post we are celebrating the 12 Days of an Entrepreneurs Christmas!

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)

It’s Amazon’s #1 gift and it is a great gadget for those avid readers.

Stay tuned for tomorrow for the 2nd day of Christmas!

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