Beyond Pink is the first conference of its kind in Western Canada, and will act as the launch event for the Young Women in Business network (YWiB) in March 2008. The event will feature an interactive workshop series, speaker and panel sessions hosted by individuals with extraordinary backgrounds and experiences, the Connect! Women in Business Tradeshow, a break out luncheon with cross-industry mentors, and a celebratory Gala dinner to wrap up the weekend.

When is the event happening?
Friday, March 28 and Saturday March 29, 2008 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Where is it happening?
Sheraton Wall Centre – 1088 Burrard Street - Vancouver

Registration
To register for the event you need to sign-up here.

Event Fee
The $235 Fee includes two nights at the Sheraton Wall Centre, five meals, four workshop sessions, four incredible speakers, admission to the Connect! Tradeshow, admission to the “unwined” evening event, and a ticket to the Beyond Pink Gala Dinner.

If your like most people on the Internet your trying to make money online. There are many ways to do that but some are easier then others. I have been doing some testing of the Build A Niche Store (BANS) software and so far the results have been surprising.

I purchased 5 domains each with a separate niche that I have an interest in. The domains are pretty generic. These 5 domains I have setup each as a blog that I add one page of content to per week. This way the content on the site is fresh and gives a reason for others interested in that niche to return. Using the BANS software I am selling products that are specifically geared to that niche using the eBay affiliate program. The BANS software creates a store for you which you can easily start selling in a day.

I have had these running for a month now and the numbers so far:

- 4,628 unique visitors to the sites.
- 341 sales through eBay.

Total sales are $314.09.

- 5 domains at $16.95 equals $84.75
- 1 hosting account at $6.95.
- Build a Niche Store software at $97.00

Total expenses for the month are $188.70.

Total profit first month is $125.39.

Traffic to the site is coming from forums, blogs and groups in the respective niche and just posting a few times a day.

So let’s do a bit of extrapolation, the first year would be $3,503.93. That is presuming the current rate of traffic. I predict traffic will go up and that these sites would make $7,000 in the first year with very little effort.

I do recommend the Build a Niche Store software and be willing to help you choose a niche if you do decided to buy it.

Many businesspeople swear by their BlackBerry devices and can’t imagine their corporate lifestyle without one of those handhelds at all times. Little do they realize that there are so many other options in the marketplace that can be just as, if not more effective! There’s a good chance that your work computer is running on Windows and that’s why a Windows Mobile smartphone could be a very viable option for not only staying connected to the office, but being able to complete several tasks while on the road.

One of the latest Windows Mobile handsets to get announced is the highly attractive and powerful Sony XPERIA X1. Powered by Windows Mobile 6, the Sony XPERIA X1 is actually not manufactured by Sony. This is because Sony Ericsson smartphones have, up until now, been powered by the Symbian operating system. For the XPERIA X1, they turned to the expertise of High-Tech Computer (HTC) of Taiwan, a firm that builds WM phones for a number of other companies, including AT&T, T-Mobile, i-mate, Dopod, Qtek, and more. They know their way around Windows Mobile.

Key features on the Sony XPERIA X1 include a large 3-inch WVGA touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera with photo light, stereo Bluetooth, aGPS, WiFi, microSD expansion, quad-band GSM/EDGE, quad-band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, and a full QWERTY keyboard for ease of text entry. This is a great handheld if you enjoy devices like the AT&T Tilt, you’ll love the Sony XPERIA X1.

No word on pricing, but the expected launch date is some time in the second half of this year. The launch is for “selected markets”, so we don’t know if it is (officially) coming to Canada or not.

Congratulations to this weeks geek Matt. The final geek of the week questions are…

1. What does the chown command do?

2. What is a cronjob?

3. What does the updatedb command do?

4. What is the difference between the ll and ls command?

5. What command would use to restart Apache?

A few weeks ago we talked about the Law of Contraction and how you should shrink the focus of what your business offers to build a stronger brand. I thought I would discuss another example that shows the power of this concept.

In 1948 Charles Lazarus owned a furniture shop that sold baby furniture. The company was averagely successful doing what they were doing. Charles would hear many customers ask why they do not sell toys. He decided to add a small assortment of toys which grew and grew. Charles quickly learned that parents on average spent more money on toys buying multiple times per year, year after year then they did on a one time furniture purchase.

Armed with this knowledge Charles build the first big box toy store which most know today as Toy”R”Us. What does this have to do with the Law of Contraction? At that time and even today Toys”R”Us is the only major toy store. People had to shop stores like Sears, Macy’s or Eaton’s to buy toys prior to Toys”R”Us. Today Toys”R”Us is the first stop when buying toys for kids. Very few people even think of any other store.

Toys”R”Us is a great example of a business that focuses only on toys and has been successful.

What do you think? 

Welcome to another edition of In The Sphere. Let’s have a look at what the blogosphere has to say.

Miss604 is one of Vancouver’s most famous bloggers, so it only makes sense that she loves this city. It’s easy to point out the variety of cuisine and our obsession with hockey, but she also notes that she loves the nerds, the bus drivers, and the monkey puzzle trees too. She even likes the balance.

Bob Buskirk has established himself as an online entrepreneur, but the road hasn’t always been easy, especially since he started ThinkComputers when he was only 16 or 17. As such, he knows a thing or two about getting people to take you seriously. Respect goes a long way.

Dr. Kal wrote a guest post on Fat Man Unleashed, wherein he lays out 8 highly effective cold prevention strategies. You might be able to avoid getting sick by simply washing your hands often. Check the post for the other 7 strategies.

Michael Martine of Remarkablogger provides a balanced view on a recent trend. Take a look at his pros and cons of using a WordPress blog as your entire business site. Because WordPress is such a great CMS, it can easily power the websites of many small businesses, but is a WordPress blog really the way to go?

Zac Johnson is well-known in the blogosphere for his super affiliating ways, but he’s also very inspired by Dwight Schrute of The Office. As such, he wants you to say hello to his little friend, a newly constructed bobblehead in his image. You can get a bobblehead that looks like you too.