A couple of resources that might come in handy for you as you kick your business up a notch in 2010:

DimDim.com
(http://www.dimdim.com)

Allows you to deliver live presentations, whiteboards and Web pages while sharing your voice and video. No downloads required.

HearMe.com
(http://www.hearme.com)

Small business owners can conduct an online business meeting with clients and contacts in an affordable manner. Educators can use HearMe’s web meeting services to teach students around the globe.

paltalk.com
(http://www.paltalk.com)

Lets you explore your online world of chat sites with community chat rooms, lots of people and cool webcam technology that lets you see and be seen. Use for voice and video chat. All for FREE.

Gutenberg.org
(http://www.Gutenberg.org)

Project Gutenberg is the place where you (in the U.S.A.) can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone or other device.

Lifelong FREE e-Learning

In this tough global economy, online education — especially when it’s top caliber and free — is worth a serious consideration. It can never hurt to take a refresher course that might very well strengthen your competitive position in the world marketplace.

OpenCulture.com
(http://www.openculture.com)

The best free cultural and educational media on the web. This place is terrific. Take the time to dig and learn!

It’s time to start thinking of special gifts for special people in your life since the holidays are nearly right around the corner. Every week or so, we’ll feature a unique item made from a different part of the world and will include a link on where you can buy it.

We have no tie or affiliations to these organizations. It’s our way to shine a spotlight on businesses worldwide who are doing remarkable things and many for a very long time. If you have a remarkable product that you would like to have featured on The Global Small Business Blog, send us an email and we’ll get our team right on it. Here goes …

Country of Origin: Portugal

From Oprah’s Favorite Things 2007

Established in 1887 in Porto, Portugal, the Ach Brito Company (site in Portugues or English) is the oldest family owned soap and perfume manufacturer in Portugal. Until the 1960’s Ach Brito specialized in producing soaps and perfumes for the wealthiest of Porto’s merchant families. The products were made and packaged specifically for certain families. The bath products produced in this factory are still made today, using the same turn of the century methods and techniques.

A place to buy? Try here.

Or go direct:

Top photo: Claus Porto, Classico E Fantasia
Bottom photo: Claus Porto, Madrigal – Water Lily

From far away, a friendly light, a safe haven and place to hang your dry hat.

Hope your weekend shines bright.

Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Lighthouse directory

More info on the lighthouse shown above.

According to Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup, “hardly.”

There are still vast new business frontiers left unexplored.

– thank goodness!

Here are 14 questions that Jim addresses with interviewer Jennifer Robison of GALLUP Management Journal® (GMJ) on the future of corporate leadership.

GMJ: Before you talk about the next generation of leadership, what was the last generation of leadership?

GMJ: How is the business jungle more dangerous? And what should the next generation of leaders know?

GMJ: What do you mean by “states of mind”?

GMJ: Explain what you mean by “mathematically describing states of mind.”

GMJ: So why will leaders who can quantify states of mind be the winners in this new world?

GMJ: What’s the value of mathematically describing states of mind?

GMJ: Do you need direct access to people to affect states of mind?

GMJ: That’s the political angle. What’s the business value of quantifying states of mind?

GMJ: Such as workers and customers?

GMJ: Quantifying your customers’ states of mind seems difficult and expensive. Isn’t it cheaper and easier just to create their state of mind through marketing?

GMJ: That’s a lot of complicated things for businesses — or governments, for that matter — to measure.

GMJ: When does policy succeed?

GMJ: How, ultimately, will behavioral economics data benefit leaders?

GMJ: Well, yes. What’s the meaning of life?

Read — but get yourself in the right “state of mind” before doing so — the fascinating discussion here. And while we are on Gallup, you might also explore the Gallup World Poll.

If you run a global small business, and I am assuming many of you do, what should you be doing to swing open that door to China? The first step is to track what others are doing and determine success rates.

For example, innovative healthcare product company Novartis announced on Tuesday that it will spend U.S. $1 billion spread over five years to make China (starting in Shanghai — pictured) a third global pillar for its research and development. Why? Couple of good reasons:

1. Rapid growth is one key reason for the expansion.
2. Projected to become one of Novartis’s three biggest markets by 2014.
3. Revenue in China has been growing at annual rate of 30% in the last few years.
4. Health-care reform alone will fuel growth.

The question Novartis asks is: “Where do you need to be down the road, and clearly it is here.” It’s a question many of us should be asking and facing but what small business can afford to make the kind of investment required to do business in China?

Do you think at the very least it might be prudent to give Novartis a call or send an email to an appropriate person to see how you might partner with them on some of their initiatives? It’s a great way to attempt to crack open the market — together.

Read more here.