January 30, 2008

PKF Texas Named to Best Company to Work For in Texas List

PKF Texas has been named as a Best Company to Work for in Texas. We ranked #16 in the Mid-Sized company category. We are excited to receive this honor! 

Our sponsorship of the Best Places to Work in Houston award program precludes us from entering, but since the Best Companies to Work for is a completely separate program administered by the Best Companies Group, we were able to enter. 

In all 24 Houston companies made the list. Other Houston companies included on the list are:

Administaff
Barhorst Insurance Group
FKP Architects
Patrick Henry Creative Promotions
Quest Diagnostics

Congratulations to all the Houston based companies!

Here’s a photo of our team members at the banquet last Friday.

 

Does your company enter Best Places/Companies to Work programs? How does your company gauge employee morale and satisfaction?

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January 28, 2008

Opportunity Houston Close to Goal

I was at the Greater Houston Partnership’s annual meeting a couple of weeks ago and they had a lot of great information about the goals and initiatives they will focus on in the next year. 

They spoke at great length about the Opportunity Houston initiative. I’ve mentioned it before but for those who don’t know about it, Opportunity Houston is an aggressive five-year marketing program that will generate leads for economic development organizations throughout Houston's 10-county region. So far they’ve raised $31 million out of the $40 million goal. 

Opportunity Houston will help create 600,000 net regional jobs, attract $60 billion in capital investment, and generate $225 billion in foreign trade for the greater Houston area. This is a phenomenal commitment from the Houston business community. 

They also spent time talking about Houston’s recent rankings on various lists. Rankings of note:

Houston ranks # 1

Job Growth
by: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Houston ranks # 1

Lowest Cost of Living and Least-Expensive Housing Among 24 Metropolitan Areas with Populations of More Than 2 Million
by: ACCRA Cost of Living Index

Houston ranks # 2

Texas -- Best Business Climate in the Nation
by: Site Selection

All this makes you feel good to be a Houstonian doesn’t it?

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January 25, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Social Networks

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Social networks are everywhere. From facebook to LinkedIn, they are they hottest way to communicate for the next generation. The question is how can you make a social network work for you and your business? 

The application of social networking in the business world is evolving, and it’s worth jumping on the bandwagon. Right now, Linked-In is the go-to site for professionals, offering the opportunity to expand your online presence.

To begin building your online network, set up a profile and search for colleagues, friends and networking partners. The main purpose of LinkedIn is to be introduced to other professionals through the people you know. 

Linked-In can also be used to find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended. You can post, distribute and search for jobs. And find business opportunities.

Don’t add everyone to every social networking site you join. There can be some overlap, but to use each network efficiently, target who is a part of each of your networks.

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January 24, 2008

Guest Spotlight: Stephen Nunes - Using Your Wii as a Multimedia Center

Stephen Nunes, the Controller from Merrick Systems (www.merricksystems.com) and I were recently talking about various technology trends and new items and the capabilities of the Nintendo Wii came up. It really isn’t just a gaming system. Stephen wrote a helpful document describing how to connect a Wii to use it as a multimedia center. With the success of the Wii during the recent holiday season, I thought this might be helpful to those of you who received one. Merrick Systems is a software and technology solutions provider for the upstream market located here in Houston.

If you have a Wii connected to your main television, it can be more than a gaming unit. You can also use it as a multimedia box to browse the internet on your television (go to Youtube to watch videos)  and to stream pictures, videos and music from your PC to  your TV.

Here’s how:

  1. if you have a wireless network in your home, start by connecting the Wii to the network
    1. At the main Wii Menu, go into the settings menu and follow the network settings from there. Connecting a Wii is very similar to connecting any other wireless device to your home network.
  1. Download the Opera browser for Wii to the unit. Do this by going from the main Wii menu to the Wii Store. You will need to spend $10.00 to buy “Wii Credit” on the site, but again, the menus will guide you through how to do that. Once you have the required credit, you can choose to buy the browser from the Wii store and it will download to your unit and update it’s operating system.
  1. At this point, the internet browser will appear as a menu choice in the main Wii menu. You can now use it to browse almost all web sites by typing in the web addresses on the on-screen keyboard using the Wii Controller. You can save frequently visited sites as favorites for one-click retrieval.
  1. To stream media from your PC, you now need to go to Orb.com, set up a free account, and download and install their client software to your PC. During that installation process, you point the program to the folders where your media files are. I have all my music, pictures and video stored on an external hard drive so it is separate from my other data. You can then go back to the Wii, an browse to your account on Orb. After signing in, you will see the folder with your music**, pictures etc and you will be able to double click on them to start them up. The flash media player within the Wii Opera browser should then allow you to view pictures and play music** and video.
  1. Note that you can even play music from your Itunes libraries, but all media has to be unprotected (non-DRM in the case of music) format to play. Thus music you added to your library from CD’s should play, but music purchased from the Itunes store will not.
  1. **Security note - Since I’m paranoid about hackers, viruses etc, I only start the Orb client on my PC when I want to stream multimedia through the Wii. Otherwise, I make sure that the orb client has been exited and is not running on my PC. As part of setup, I choose not to have it automatically start up when windows does.

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January 21, 2008

Pictures from the Rice Allience Michael Oxley Event

Back in August, I attended the Annual Rice Alliance Kickoff, which featured Michael Oxley, Vice Chairman the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. as the keynote speaker.  I just received a few pictures from the event that I wanted to share with you.

 Michael Oxley speaking at the Rice Alliance Kickoff.

 Showing his Texan side.

My laughing is saying that he looks good in cowboy hat!

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January 18, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Unusual Benefits

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Do your benefits stand out in a crowd?

These days there are a number of unusual benefits you can offer to attract and retain quality talent. Companies across the country are offering everything from pet insurance to a concierge service or housekeeper.

Survey your employees to find out which benefits would make the most impact. You might be surprised by the answers. Maybe they would like part of their child care or advanced education costs covered. Small things like free sodas or snacks can make a big difference.

Companies like Google offer a wide range of benefits to their employees including allowing pets at work.

Not all unusual benefits will be right for every company, but be aware of what can be offered and know your employees wish list. To compete in a crowded marketplace, making your benefits stand out can only help your company in the fight for talent.

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January 16, 2008

Moving to Houston?

Reed Wotiz, a reader of the blog and entrepreneur, recently asked me to take a look at his website, www.HoustonTexasRealEstate.com. It has all kinds of information about the Houston real estate market.

There is an interactive Q&A section where local professionals (agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers, etc.) answer your questions. Everything from home inspections to school districts is covered.

Another section details Houston’s neighborhoods. Each description provides general information about the area, average home price and commute time. 

They also have a blog where professionals contribute on a regular basis. Topics range from 10 things you should know when buying a home to where to find a home inspections school if you want to become a home inspector. 

All in all, if you’re looking to move to or within Houston, this site is a good resource to check out when you’re doing your research. 

Thanks for alerting me to your site Reed!

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January 14, 2008

Will We See Your Company on the Inc 5000 in 2008?

Inc. Magazine is now accepting applications for the annual Inc. 5000 list. 

To be considered companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2004, and be able to show four full calendar years of sales. Additionally, they must be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2007. Revenue in 2004 must have been at least $200,000, and revenue in 2007 must be at least $2 million.

With 13 FastTech 50 and 4 Aggie 100 companies on the 2007 list, the readers of the blog have a successful track record. Last year the Houston area had 75 companies on the list. Hopefully this year the number will be higher. I would encourage any entrepreneur who meets the criteria to submit themselves for consideration.

The entrepreneurs of Houston are an innovative bunch and you deserve as much recognition as possible! Last year’s #5000 had 20% growth and the 2006 revenue was $2.4 million. It proves that you don’t have to be a mega-corporation to be a player in the global marketplace.

If you choose to enter, good luck and let us know if you are included on the 2008 list!

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January 11, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: People Ready Business-Mobility in the Workforce

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Companies are discovering the value in having information workers do their jobs outside of the office. Work is no longer tied to a set, physical location. Communicating with others and accessing and working with information while away from the desk is improving the productivity of all types of professionals from consultants, sales representatives, and installation technicians to physicians, administrators, and store managers. Worldwide, 80% of companies are projected to start allowing their employees to work from home. According to research conducted by Gartner, "mobile workforce enablement is a top 3 technology priority for CIOs …"

Most mobile adoption has been driven by individual departments and point-specific solutions that assist, for example, sales and field service employees.   At this time of year our friendly UPS and FedEx drivers benefit greatly as well as us consumers with this technology. As mobile technologies become more reliable and wireless standards develop, companies are growing more interested in deploying integrated, organization-wide solutions that will drive positive business results and measurable ROI for the entire business.

This increasing demand has led to rapid growth in mobile software, ranging from more secure mobile e-mail, mobile instant messaging (IM), and mobilized corporate applications like customer relationship management (CRM) programs. When it comes to hardware, mobility has seen great adoption via mobile personal computers, as 75 percent of organizations now support wirelessly enabled mobile PCs.

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January 9, 2008

Route to Profits CEO Resource Event

Below is a message from Byron Hebert, Director of Entrepreneurial Advisory Services for PKF Texas. 

We began the Route to Profits quarterly newsletters as a way to prompt our clients and entrepreneurial friends to take a moment to stop and think about their business as opposed to working their business.  The response was overwhelming.  What we have heard from our clients and friends is "We want more!"

We have been working with Chris Mason at Mindshop for some time and have found his facilitation techniques very accurate and on point for today's business environment.  When you talk to owner operated businesses about how often they meet you usually get one of two responses:

1) “We stopped having meetings because they were either gripe sessions or just a waste of time” or 2) “We meet all the time and have all these great ideas but when we get back to our desk and get caught up in the day to day issues, we loose the momentum.”

The Route to Profits set of tools will help you organize your managers, put a plan in place and break the plan down into small manageable steps. 

We are very excited to introduce the Route to Profits CEO Resource to our clients and friends.  This program will introduce you to all the tools that are available as well as training on how to use the tools and providing a forum for you to discuss with other business owners how these tools are working in your business. 

Join us on February 25th for an introduction to the Route to Profits CEO Resource. The event details are located on the PKF Texas website at www.pkftexas.com/YRTP.

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January 7, 2008

Guest Spotlight: Walter Ulrich - 2008 The Year of Technology

This week's guest spotlight is from Walter Ulrich, President and CEO of the Houston Technology Center. 

Houston, Texas, January 7, 2008 – Mark my words, “2008 will be remembered as the inflection point for transforming the Greater Houston Region from the 20th century leader in oil and gas to a 21st century globally recognized high technology hub.”

 

How about “Happy New Year” first???  If you are in this region like me, you had better have gotten over celebrating the New Year by January 2nd and on your way to making a difference today and every day in 2008.

 

What is going on here?  Houston faces a great opportunity and a great challenge!

 

The challenge is that Houston must generate 600,000 new jobs over the next ten years.  If we do nothing, only 450,000 jobs will be created in Houston: The Oil & Gas equivalent of Detroit!

 

But a lot is being done.  The Greater Houston Partnership is raising $30 million to $40 million to bring in those incremental 150,000 jobs.

 

So problem solved?  Not so fast!  We attack the symptoms – job counts and wage rates – but that does not solve the underlying problems.

 

The Opportunity è the right kinds of jobs.  While we need more oil workers, logistics businesses, retailers, manufacturers and call centers, those kinds of jobs alone will not provide long-term, sustainable economic growth.  High technology employment is the flywheel that builds robust, growing economies.  The entrepreneurial spirit, which Houston has in its very DNA, will favor those who seize the opportunity and meet the challenges head on.

 

This cannot be accomplished using traditional economic development methods.  And competition, nationally and globally, is fierce, so we must create high technology jobs now.  THIS YEAR!

 

The stakes are HIGH!  Failure is not an option.  Did I say opportunity???  Under these circumstances, this is NOT an opportunity!  It is an outright OBLIGATION to transform this community and we must do it now.  THIS YEAR!

 

Houston: one of the richest troves of innovation in the world – thousands of entrepreneurs, tens of thousands of researchers and scientists, great institutions, lots of intellectual property and a regional economic base that rivals some of the largest countries in the world… oil and gas capitol… mega medical centers… $4 billion IT economy…  pioneers in Nanotechnology at Rice University… and NASA’s largest R&D facility.

 

And yet, “we don’t get no respect.”  If you believe the pundits, Houston is seen as one or two dimensional only with the real innovation elsewhere.

 

So why is that?  We have not demonstrated long-term sustainable high tech results.   We have the economic capacity; we have built the infrastructure in the last ten years.  We have to deliver the goods.  Now.  THIS YEAR!

 

The Houston Technology Center is ready to lead.  It is the largest non-profit community-based organization in the region focused exclusively on fostering innovation and driving emerging technology success:  Emerging energy and clean energy technologies, bio/life sciences, IT and web 2.0, 3.0 and beyond, nanotechnology and NASA-related aerospace.

 

Our full time technology development managers work side-by-side with over 70 emerging technology companies helping them to identify gaps, find customers, raise money, grow and prosper and thrive.  We partner with over a dozen other organizations and work closely with major Universities, economic development organizations, municipalities and the State of Texas.

 

Our objective is simple: Houston will be a globally recognized technology hub on a par with the most highly lauded technology centers of the last decade.

 

AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!

 

Go to our website, www.houstontech.org.  Attend the free orientation if you don’t know us.  If you do know us, then join us.  The HTC could not accomplish its mission without the support of the community and we need your help.

 

If you are a technologist or an entrepreneur, you share with us the challenge, the opportunity and the obligation.  Get engaged, give us your support and actively participate (and financial contributions are always welcome).  Greg, his shiny head and PKF Texas get it è they are actively involved and set a great example.  Make a difference!  Get involved!  RIGHT NOW!

 

www.HoustonTech.org

_____

 

About our guest contributor – Walter Ulrich is President and CEO of the Houston Technology Center, Chairman of the Gulf Coast Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization and active in many community organizations.  Appointed by Governor Perry, he recently completed a two year term as one of the founding members of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund Committee.  He has been CEO of several technology companies, a management consultant to major corporations, an expert witness on technology issues, and was responsible for the first commercially successful email service in the 1970’s.  A former Marine and graduate with a bachelors and master degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, he lives with his wife in Pearland.

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January 4, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: People Ready Businesses--Amplifying the Ability of People Through Software

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Globalization, connectivity, regulation, and demographics are reshaping the landscape for manufacturers. In this new world of work, the ability to create, share, and act on information from a myriad of internal and external sources can help manufacturers compete more effectively and operate more efficiently amid rapid change and relentless pricing pressure.

People are the critical factor to success in this environment. Only people have the agility and resilience to identify and act on new information quickly to meet challenges or capitalize on new opportunities.

By surrounding people with powerful tools and the right culture, manufacturers can bring innovative new products to market more quickly and mobilize a network of suppliers in deeper, more collaborative relationships. Software amplifies the ability of people to more rapidly adapt to challenges. In addition, software enables employees to take advantage of opportunities more quickly, to better understand customers based on insights derived from both data and communications, and to build better partnerships because they have the ability to collaborate more readily.

Furthermore, empowered people can drive operational excellence by constantly improving products, streamlining practices, and sharing knowledge. And they can work responsively with customers to build high-value relationships to drive business growth if they have access to the software and solutions that empower people to take the manufacturing business further.

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January 2, 2008

Ease Into Work

Welcome back! I hope you had a safe and happy New Year! To ease you back into work and to get you thinking about where your business is headed this year, here are a few more nuggets of wisdom from the Aggie 100 class of 2007.

Organization and persistence are essential for success; be consistent and never slow down. -Kurt Lobpries

Never stop learning! -Douglas Frey

If you fail to plan you should plan to fail. -Robert J. Albers

Trust your luck and always remember "the harder you work the luckier you get." -Gene R. Birdwell

Speak the truth. Provide great service and value for your customers. Don't be afraid to try and fail because your mistakes will lead to your successes. -Scott Moscrip

Listen to your customers and your employees. Your success depends on the satisfaction of both. -Steve Berry

To read the rest of the nuggets of wisdom click here.

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