Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Challenges & Opportunities

Many businesses are facing challenges in this economy. In the midst of belt-tightening and cost-cutting are some opportunities to innovate and expand. There are new opportunities to win customers looking for a better service, product or price and a pleasant buying experience. Tackling challenges and turning them into positive experiences will help determine your enterprise’s future success or failure. Your SBTV.com newsletter this week offers strategies, resources and options to help find the right opportunities for your business.

Green Grants & Strategies for Your Business
SBTV.com

The federal stimulus dollars are flowing, businesses offering green products and services are hoping to be a high priority for contracts. Two energy related business programs funded through the 787 billion dollar federal stimulus measure are now ready to hear from interested entrepreneurs. The Department of Energy has begun accepting applications for two electric vehicle programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The DOE has allotted $400 million to establish development, demonstration, evaluation, and education projects "to accelerate the market introduction and penetration of advanced electric drive vehicles." Applications are due May 13, 2009.

The DOE also is accepting applications for grants to support the construction of US-based manufacturing plants for building batteries and electric drive components and has made $2 billion available for that program: the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative. The grants represent the first two energy-related programs funded through the $787 billion federal stimulus package to take applications. Both programs are through the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Office of Vehicle Technologies. The DOE has $32.7 billion in grant money to distribute from the federal stimulus package.

You don’t have to be a green energy provider to cash in on sustainable practices. SBTV.com has an impressive selection of videos and podcasts to help you go green to save greenbacks!

Here are just a few:

Pump Up Business When the World Gets in the Way

Business interruptions can take many forms: a natural disaster, construction, or a personal crisis. The nation’s infrastructure is getting an update and many businesses are impacted by closed roads, bridges, utility interruptions and delays. SBTV.com followed three business owners coping with long term road closures and construction to get insight into prospering in the midst of a business interruption with this three part series:

10:43:15.389	Start	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.389	START GeoLocation	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.497	FINISH GeoLocation	00:00:00.1083915	15 %
10:43:15.497	Start LoadSharedQueries()	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.543	Finish LoadSharedQueries()	00:00:00.0458955	6 %
10:43:15.543	Start _nodeTOC	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.593	FINISH _nodeTopics	00:00:00.0498015	7 %
10:43:15.593	START if (!_jside_link_mgr.isLegacy)	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.593	FINISH if (!_jside_link_mgr.isLegacy)	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.593	START new UrlMgr()	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.593	FINISH new UrlMgr()	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.593	START_url_mgr.UpdatePostFromFolderUrl()	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.750	FINISH_url_mgr.UpdatePostFromFolderUrl()	00:00:00.1572165	21 %
10:43:15.750	new ContentNodeList(this)	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.810	START new Playlist(this)	00:00:00.0595665	8 %
10:43:15.810	START Load all AdBanners	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.914	START sbtv_AdBanner.lstAllAdBanners(_dc)	00:00:00.1044855	14 %
10:43:15.927	FINISH sbtv_AdBanner.lstAllAdBanners(_dc)	00:00:00.0126945	2 %
10:43:15.927	START foreach (sbtv_AdBanner sbtv_ad_banner in lstAllAdBanners)	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.985	FINISH foreach (sbtv_AdBanner sbtv_ad_banner in lstAllAdBanners)	00:00:00.0576135	8 %
10:43:15.985	FINISH Load all AdBanners	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:15.985	START Load all AdClips	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:16.075	FINISH Load all AdClips	00:00:00.0908145	12 %
10:43:16.075	START Load AdBanners into Zone and BannerCluster dictionaries	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:16.122	FINISH Load AdBanners into Zone and BannerCluster dictionaries	00:00:00.0468720	6 %
10:43:16.122	START SetBannerCuePoints()	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:16.122	FINISH SetBannerCuePoints()	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:16.122	FINISH new Playlist(this)	00:00:00	< 1 %
10:43:16.122	smpc Init() complete	00:00:00	< 1 %
TOTAL ELAPSED		00:00:00.7333515