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    <title>ColoradoBiz Articles</title>
    <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/</link>
    <description></description>
    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:creator>lryckman@cobizmag.com</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Copyright 2013</dc:rights>
    <dc:date>2013-06-18T10:25:29+00:00</dc:date>
    <admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://expressionengine.com/" />


    <item>
      <title>Made in Colorado</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/made-in-colorado</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/made-in-colorado#When:06:01:41Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	

	The model you see wielding two Colorado-made products and wearing another knows something about innovation: He co-founded the state&rsquo;s first brewpub. (Those feathery green buds on his Rockmount shirt are hops, grown here for the brewing industry.)&nbsp;

	&ldquo;Everyone knows Colorado as this great resort community with incredible skiing and biking and white-water rafting. They don&rsquo;t realize all the innovation,&rdquo; says Gov. John Hickenlooper, who cited technology, aerospace, outerwear and recreational gear as examples of the state&rsquo;s leading edge. &ldquo;Colorado is the front-runner in almost all of these industries, and we don&rsquo;t get any respect.&rdquo;

	&ldquo;Made in Colorado&rdquo; features snapshots from 10 industry sectors that represent our state&rsquo;s manufacturing prowess and entrepreneurial ingenuity. Although you&rsquo;ll find many iconic brands, we tried to focus on upstarts. That&rsquo;s why you won&rsquo;t see New Belgium, Odell and Oskar Blues among the craft brewers, for example. All three have graced these pages before and have been widely celebrated. Like the &ldquo;50 Colorado Companies to Watch&rdquo; program &mdash; coming in our June issue &mdash; we hope to introduce you to some of the...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/made-in-colorado">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Magazine Articles, Magazine Featured, Small Biz,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2012-04-01T06:01:41+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Black gold</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/black-gold</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/black-gold#When:06:01:48Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	

	Five percent or more of the oil consumed in Colorado comes from a sticky, black substance called bitumen, which is mined 1,600 miles to the north in a forested, boggy region of the Canadian province of Alberta. The locals in Fort McMurray, the center of the mining operations, and at corporate headquarters in Calgary, spit out the syllables rapidly, slightly emphasizing the first: BIT-u-men.

	Bitumen is to Alberta what kerogen &ndash; the key constituent of oil shale &ndash; is to Colorado. Both are vast in scale. Using current technology and prices, Canada&rsquo;s bitumen can provide 173 billion barrels of oil, a reserve second only to that of Saudi Arabia. Both pale when compared to the kerogen deposits of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Leaving a large room for error, between 1 trillion and 3 trillion barrels are technically recoverable.

	There&rsquo;s one crucial difference: The bitumen of Alberta comes in a geological formation that, as one author noted metaphorically, can be spooned, while Colorado&rsquo;s oil shale requires a fork and knife. If the oil companies have invented those utensils, they&rsquo;re keeping quiet. This begs the question of why the oil companies need up to 2 million acres of public...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/black-gold">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Economy Politics, Magazine Articles, Magazine Featured,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2012-03-01T06:01:48+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Buckle up for a rough ride, Superman!</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/buckle-up-for-a-rough-ride-superman</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/buckle-up-for-a-rough-ride-superman#When:10:25:29Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	&ldquo;Obamacare will kill us!&rdquo; said my client, the co-owner of a labor-intensive business. &ldquo;We might have to shut the doors.&rdquo;

	Although this particular company had some significant hurdles, my client&rsquo;s partner and the executive team luckily weren&rsquo;t ready to throw in the towel. In fact, after facilitating a scenario planning exercise, we identified several potential business model changes that not only allowed continued prosperity but also identified new growth opportunities. Common wisdom says this company will soon be in trouble, but it won&rsquo;t.

	How would you like to be in the publishing business right now? If you read the headlines and have a pulse anywhere north of two beats per minute, you know the publishing industry is in deep doo-doo. However, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both have circulation increases (print plus digital) of around 15 percent year over year. How can that be? I guess they forgot to read their own headlines. It seems as though a quality product can succeed even when industry headwinds are gale force.

	As you might imagine, another client that publishes textbooks and journals has encountered tremendous change in the past...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/buckle-up-for-a-rough-ride-superman">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Leadership/Management, Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-18T10:25:29+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Seven tips to move beyond burnout</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/seven-tips-to-move-beyond-burnout</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/seven-tips-to-move-beyond-burnout#When:10:13:17Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	Have you ever experienced burnout? If so, you&rsquo;re not alone. This malady is getting so common that even The Wall Street Journal is writing about it.

	What is Burnout?

	According to Helpguide, "Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place. When you&rsquo;re burned out, problems seem insurmountable, everything looks bleak, and it&#39;s difficult to muster up the energy to care &mdash; let alone do something about your situation."

	What to do about Burnout?
	
	RECOGNIZE IT. Watch for the warning signs in you and the people around you. Be willing to call it by name, rather than mask the indicators. Your inner, wiser self is bringing you a message. What is it saying?
	
	RESPOND. As hard as it may be, take some kind of action with the Practical Pointers below. The worst thing you can do is to ignore it.
	
	REGENERATE. Passionate pursuers &mdash; people who find their passion and align...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/seven-tips-to-move-beyond-burnout">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Careers/Growth, Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-18T10:13:17+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>COCTW 2013: Precise Cast Prototypes to Zen Planner</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/coctw-2013-precise-cast-prototypes-to-zen-planner</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/coctw-2013-precise-cast-prototypes-to-zen-planner#When:07:09:57Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	Precise Cast Prototypes &amp; Engineering

	www.precisecast.com

	Snapshot: PreciseCast is a manufacturing and engineering company out of Adams County that provides prototype and low-volume castings and machined parts to companies including John Deere, Lockheed-Martin, Bose and L3 Communication. Revenues for the 9-year-old company are projected to increase by 28 percent in 2013.

	Leadership: Brett Peak, the president of PreciseCast, assumed the position in 2011.

	Big Break: When three guys, Peak, Patrick Peterson and Craig Reeves, took a leap of faith and mortgaged their homes and assets to form a company in 2004, PreciseCast became more than just talk. Two years thereafter, they realized only a small portion of their customers drove the vast majority of profit. As a result they opted to diversify their audience, capitalizing on the niche prototype development market.

	Tech Edge: Translating customer designs into manufacturable products requires the expertise of PCPE&rsquo;s team of full-time electrical and mechanical engineers. These team members develop and implement processes from initial concept to the manufacturing phase.

	Company Culture: PCPE employees take pride and ownership of each project they complete. Due to a swiftly flowing stream of challenges and commitments, pride, loyalty and camaraderie are natural by-products that define the PreciseCast dynamic.

	...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/coctw-2013-precise-cast-prototypes-to-zen-planner">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Magazine Articles, Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-18T07:09:57+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Sports biz: Kroenke&#8217;s duck call</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/sports-biz-stan-kroenkes-duck-call</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/sports-biz-stan-kroenkes-duck-call#When:07:05:43Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	A delicious bidding war last month pitted Denver&rsquo;s Kroenke Sports Enterprises against a media industry rival for control of a TV channel devoted to &hellip; ducks.

	Well, ducks and people who like to shoot them, that is. Along with: fishing, hunting, close encounters with elk, more fishing, the work lives of federal conservation officers, white tail deer and how best to kill, gut and eat them, and more fishing.

	The TV network is Outdoor Channel, a once-sleepy cable channel that has risen to prominence thanks to a laser-like focus on its outdoor-enthusiast audience and the subjects that are meaningful to them. Based in Temecula, Calif., Outdoor Channel is one of only a handful of well-established, broadly distributed television networks that is independently owned, which is to say, not controlled by one of the Big Five companies that pretty much own cable television in the U.S. (Most of what you watch on cable or satellite TV is brought to you by &hellip; recite after me &hellip; ABC-Disney, Discovery Communications, Fox, NBCUniversal or Viacom.)

	Hunting for diamonds-in-the-rough like Outdoor Channel has become a sport unto itself. In another recent transaction, CBS Corp. bought up an obscure cable channel, the...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/sports-biz-stan-kroenkes-duck-call">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Magazine Articles, Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-18T07:05:43+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Top five ways to give great presentations</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/top-five-ways-to-give-great-presentations</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/top-five-ways-to-give-great-presentations#When:09:21:52Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	Say &ldquo;presentation&rdquo; to the average professional. Go ahead. I dare you.

	Let&rsquo;s face it. It wasn&rsquo;t that long ago that the color printer in the office was spitting out transparency after transparency to use on an overhead projector. When projectors started to plummet in price, the printing subsided, but the slides marched on.

	A recent survey of potential clients for advertising agencies revealed one of the top reasons they selected one agency over another was the quality of the presentation. To deliver a truly great presentation, many pieces must come together &mdash; the content, the layout, the room, how everything looks when projected, and finally, the person presenting the information. You&rsquo;ve got a point to make or a story to tell, but sound effects and complicated (and sometimes distracting) slide transitions aren&rsquo;t the answer. Here are some ideas to turn a Slide Parade into a memorable, interactive discussion that will show your business off.

	&bull; Don&rsquo;t say it, show it. You don&rsquo;t need a staff videographer to inject some video into your presentations. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo have thousands of clips you can use to...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/top-five-ways-to-give-great-presentations">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Leadership/Management, Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-17T09:21:52+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>The Nordstrom secret revealed</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/the-nordstrom-secret-revealed</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/the-nordstrom-secret-revealed#When:09:07:39Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	I had a friend who once worked at Nordstrom, and she taught me this little secret.

	Now we all know Nordstrom as a place which, although slightly pricey, has excellent customer service. People (by which I mostly mean women) seem to love the return policy and the fact that getting help is easy as pie.*

	I already knew about the loyalty some customers had for this particular chain, but I always wondered why?&nbsp; And how?

	How can a retail store have a culture in which employees and management are so good at making customers happy? &nbsp;Do they have marathon training sessions? Are the rules super strict? Do the managers have magical powers?

	It turns out that it isn&rsquo;t any of these things.

	Nordstrom&rsquo;s has great customer service because the training for this part of the job is just one sentence long: Use your best judgment.

	WHA&hellip;!?

	That&rsquo;s right. Nordstrom lets their employees decide the best way to handle each customer. I&rsquo;m thinking they don&rsquo;t have carte blanche to just do whatever they want, but apparently if it&rsquo;s reasonable and appropriate&mdash;it&rsquo;s allowed....<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/the-nordstrom-secret-revealed">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Sales/Marketing, Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-17T09:07:39+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Motivation for the rest of the year</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/motivation-for-the-rest-of-the-year</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/motivation-for-the-rest-of-the-year#When:07:45:14Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	Here are 13 of my personal favorite motivational quotes to help get you through the second half of 2013:

	"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; Thomas Edison, inventor

	"I think when I work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky."&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; Armand Hammer, american industrialist

	&ldquo;Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; Henry David Thoreau, author and transcendentalist

	"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, &#39;What&#39;s in it for me?&#39;" &ndash;&nbsp; Brian Tracy: Personal and business training author, speaker and consultant

	"We are all, right now, living the life we choose."&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; Peter McWilliams, author

	&ldquo;You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; Zig Ziglar, salesman, motivational speaker and trainer

	&ldquo;The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ndash; Tom Hopkins,&nbsp; author, salesman and motivational speaker

	&ldquo...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/motivation-for-the-rest-of-the-year">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-17T07:45:14+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>Lessons from my father</title>
      <link>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/lessons-from-my-father</link>
      <guid>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/lessons-from-my-father#When:09:38:28Z</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[
	My father was never a rich man, but this has more to do with circumstances than ability.

	He was born in a village in northeast China. His grandfather used to own a lot of land.&nbsp; After the communists took over China in 1949, all landlords were rounded up and were either executed or sent to labor camps. The government distributed landlords&rsquo; belongings such as cattle and land to farmers. &nbsp;Since half of the village was related and shared the same family name, my great-grandfather wasn&rsquo;t treated too badly. Still, he lost all his property. My father was basically born into a very poor farmer&rsquo;s family.&nbsp;

	I learned many lessons from my father. One is that you shape your own destiny. After my father graduated from junior high, his family couldn&rsquo;t afford more education for him. He was destined to become a farmer just like his ancestors.&nbsp;

	He heard from his friends that an electrical vocation school in Beijing was recruiting students. If he passed an exam and was admitted, the school would pay for room, board and tuition.&nbsp; My father sneaked on a train to Beijing with only five...<br /><a href="http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/lessons-from-my-father">Read more</a>]]></description>
      <dc:subject>Web Exclusive,</dc:subject>
      <dc:date>2013-06-14T09:38:28+00:00</dc:date>
    </item>


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