Content Management Systems for Dummies

This subject could well bore most people, but here goes anyway.

I finally managed to do some major stuff today, backing up Live in Sweden.se and downloading/uploading a newer version of drupal. It is a huge relief to have that done - every time I went into the site I saw the red signs around the place reminding me of the necessary updates and the security alerts.

Until a couple of years ago I was clueless about web sites and once I decided to start Live in Sweden.se I had to work out how to build one. Sure I could get someone to build it for me, there are plenty of solo site designers around offering to do it for a cheap price, but I needed something I could make changes to myself and it had to have a whole lot more features than the standard flat website. One friend suggested going and doing an html course, but somehome I discovered content management systems - don't remember now how but I think it was a chain of events and I was without doubt influenced by this blog, I have learned a lot from the blogger tool.

Once I decided it should be a content management system I then needed to decide if it should be one I buy or one that is open source, which ultimately means it's free. I met with web companies and decided I didn't want to be dependent on one for their CMS - I mean what if I didn't like the results or working with them or if they went bust?? So that left open source and I contemplated three of the big ones, Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal. A number of people told me not to get too worked up about which one I chose, I could make a change at a later date and that they were really all much of the same. On the other hand I wanted something I could grow into and the idea of changing everything from one system to the other was mind-boggling. I found that the best way to compare is to go to CMS Matrix and check the boxes of the ones you are interested in. Assuming you have a clue about what you are after (this too is a long process for the novice!) and know all the necessary jargon, the results are really helpful. I'm guessing that if these people don't have a CMS listed, its either too new or not worth knowing about.

There are a ton of pros and cons for each system and for all the research I did it ultimately depended on whose opinion you asked and what their personal preference was. At the end of the day I was influenced by a couple of web companies that suggested Drupal was the better option for my site.

After having two web companies go bust on me (luckily I had not parted with any money) I finally found someone who was willing, able, and affordable. Buying services is tough when you are a novice, it is hard to envisage everything you need, especially fairly "technical" services. It was far from the easiest thing I have done.

Eventually, after many, many months of decisions, discussion and designing, I had the frame of my website, looking just the way I wanted it to. Then it was time to learn how Drupal works and start filling the site with content. It was pretty easy to navigate around and despite some minor frustrations that have led to changes, it hasn't been too hard to learn.

As with most projects, they change along the way and factors became evident that we hadn't discussed, hadn't solved or hadn't been obvious. All in all I felt I wanted more control over the site and decided I want to learn more about Drupal. I went along to the Geek Girl Meetup recently and listend to Annika Lidne share her thoughts, knowledge and experience of this CMS. It was enough to ignite a lot of enthusiasm and I was hoping the WPGirls or the WPFika group would be converted enough to start up a Drupal gang. Alas, that has not yet been the case. I'd be the first to sign up to learn more....

Annika did make it seem easy and I have decided to build a new site in Drupal. Myself. From scratch. More about that another time......

So while things have been going along relatively smoothly I have been getting increasingly nervous about the big version changes that are being made to the system and my need to update Drupal as well as do something about the security alerts!! I can't help but feel like I am way out of my depth. My manual from the web guy was far from complete but luckily a friend had a much better manual for her site. Still it was overwhelming and I hardly dared open it and look at it....

Today I managed to corner my darling other-half and force him to draw on his old IT skills by putting himself into the workings of Drupal. It took a while, and we worked through both my friend's manual and the accompanying Drupal instructions. We did it. Everything is finally, newly backed up and the latest version of Drupal has been uploaded - no more security warnings from the administration side!!

Thank heavens for that. Now it is on the the next task!

Live In Sweden is "Live"

Well I guess I can't put it off any longer - friends are starting to discover it for themselves!
Live In Sweden is finally live!!

I took the password off on Sweden's national day, I figured that was as good a day as any. And each year when we celebrate the coming of Sweden as a nation, I will be able to crack open the champagne and celebrate Live In Sweden!


In true Swedish style the site has been born - understated, un-promoted and uncelebrated - I will save all that for later.

Someone said to me today that I must be feeling proud - actually I'm cringing at the thought that people are looking at it - far too much left to be done for my liking! Even a simple blogpost is a scary moment - drawing attention to the site when there is so, so, so much left to be done. I'm not halfway there yet - but here it is - for all to see.

Live In Sweden has been a long time coming. It goes back to the dream I once had for the Southern Cross Club, to the vision I had almost four years ago, and to the years of thinking, planning and writing. It is a compilation of knowledge, of experience and of research. It is a vision and a dream I have been fortunate enough to finally realise!

May it have a long and prosperous future and inform, inspire, encourage and support those considering or actually moving to Sweden, as well as those already here and in need of support.

A celebration of the success of Nyföretagarcentrum. Thanks to Maud Olofsson for earmarking 1 million SEK!

Monday night was the Final Gala held by Nyföretagarcentrum in Gamla Stan here in Stockholm. Nyföretagarcentrum is a non-profit organisation with offices around the country, sponsored by government and businesses. Their goal is to promote start-ups and support small businesses in general - which it does with huge success. Of those who start a business with their support less than one percent have gone bankrupt after three years and 80% are still active and on average have 2 employees. That is pretty impressive results!

During 2008-2009 SNC has made a particular effort to encourage women not only to start businesses but to make use of the resources that are available - largely thanks to the money that has been eartagged by Maud Oloffsson. Våga Språnget, Starter Programmes, networking groups and inspiration evenings have been the focus of their Investment In Women campaign.

Monday night we were invited to attend a celebration of what SNC have achieved so far. We were treated to red carpet attention, champagne, dinner and a night of celebrating successful women.

The red carpet into Nalen.

A few of the Våga Språnget group from the spring of 2008.

Karin, Anne, Monica and Theresa

After the initial introductions from the evening's mediator Lydia Capolicchio, and Anna Nedeby Bar-Am, CEO for Stockholms NyföretagarCentrum we listened to a discussion on women in business held by a panel.

Carin Holmquist Professor Handelshögskolan in Stockholm
Mikael Wolf CEO Swedbank
Kicki Theander Founder Middagsfrid
Sten Nordin kuhiphr Stockholm Municipality

Some 350 men and (mostly) women listened and contributed with their own reflections - inlcluding the myth that it is difficult to start a business in Sweden.

While I was listening a security man walked up past me to the front of the audience - odd I thought. A few minutes later Maud Olofson Minister for Enterprise and Energy, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications stepped up onto the stage and I realised - ok, yes, I am in the presence of a national politician and I guess they do need their security force.

Maud was presented with a Thank You card by CEO for SNC Anna Nedeby Bar-Am on behalf of SNC as a thanks for ear-marking 1 million crowns to promote women in business. Maud went on to read some of the comments on the card written by the women (me included) who have benefited from this 1 million crowns.
As I listened to her speech about women, entreprenurialism, business, the recession and Sweden I couldn't help but be reminded of Pippi - seeing her standing there in her red shoes.

And finally, after dinner, wine and music the winners were announced and presented with their awards according to four categories.

From left to right

Angela Monroe, Monroe Design
Anna Kjellgren, Strå
Maud Olofsson, Näringsminister
Maria Rindstam, Båtskroten
Leyla Anabestani, Freja Assistanstjänst AB

And I didn't come away empty handed either - I got a nice diploma for participating in Våga Språnget.Monday's event was to celebrate the results:

• 1 666 women have started a over 1000 companies
• SNC have conducted 4 925 advisory sessions
• 388 women have participated in the Starter programme
• 60 women have participated in Våga Språnget
• Almost 300 women have participated in networking events.

Do you have an idea brewing away in your mind? Are you a small business in a period of change or in need of support, advice, expertise? I can't recommend SNC enough - they are a fantastic resource! Not only are their staff skilled and knowledgeable but they have endless contacts and have a huge range of experts available to assist those in need - all that and it is free too!

Twitter and Business In Sweden

I wrote a little while ago about Twitter and ever since I became a Twitter groupy and spoken positively about it. It's kind of like when everyone joined Facebook. Friends and family in Canada nagged and I said "yeah, yeah, yeah" until I joined, not only Facebook but the nagging committee too.

And I have to say I still speak positively about Facebook - it has put me in regular contact with some people who were and are very dear to me. It has had a huge value in my life but ultimately I see it as a part of my personal sphere - even if there are some great company sites I still tend to keep it fairly private.

Twitter on the other hand offers entrepreneurs, organisations, companies, students, researchers etc etc a fantastic opportunity to have a voice in big wide world - at least on the world wide web. And there is a ton of material out there telling us why Twitter is good for business - Google it yourself!What is interesting to see is how Swedish companies are getting into Twitter and through Twitter this morning I found this blog listing the who's who of Twitter profiles. I'm sure the list of small business/entrepreneur profiles would be oh so much longer...

But you know when the big guys get into the groove it just might be worth looking at. It offers enormous potential to communicate with those who want to be kept in the loop - your open hours, your service updates, product updates, immediate problems or opportunities, what you need or what you can offer. I suspect it just might overtake our B2B and B2C communication. Check it out!

24 Hour Camp this time in Sörmland

Did you read my post about the 24-Hour-Camp or the Geek Girl Meet-Up and think, WOW, that's sounds like a real buzz - i want to go to one of those?

Well your chance just might be here!
The 24-Hour-Camp has inspired a spin-off 24-Hour-Sörmland, this time to be held in Nyköping, Katrinehom and Eskilstuna the weekend of May 29-30.

The basic idea is the same - entrepreneurs from the region meet and develop web-based services within 24 hours. The goal is to encourage more people to start web-based businesses, but also, perhaps more importantly to give innovators and enthusiasts an opportunity to both meet and exchange and develop ideas.

And take it from those who know! Lilla Gumman Karin says it is the most fun and most inspiring experience she has had and that you do not need to know how to program or use the term css in every sentence. A normal blog built on a free platform can also be the basis of a great business idea!

Successful Business Women Seminars in Uppsala, Kalmar, Karlstad, Växjö & Linköping

Next Monday will see the start of a number of seminars around the country offering solid advice and exciting examples of how you can be successful in business even in difficult times. Take the chance to mingle with old and new business acquaintances.
What sort of business thrives in difficult times?
Strategies from the small business organisation Företagarna reveals what works and how to turn your business around as a result of the crisis.

How do your customers think when times are tough?
Trend Analyst Ida Hult reveals what people really do when we are in an economic downturn, what we buy, what we pay for.

How do you sell yourself and how do you get paid well paid?
Sales Expert Ulla- Lisa Thordén gives simple advice which has a big impact on your profitability.
Program and prices
For the program, contents and prices - click on the following link to the town that interests you:
April 27th Uppsala


May 4th Karlstad
May 6th Kalmar
May 8th Växjö
May 13th Linköping
Members of Driftig.nu have the opportunity to attend this seminar which is sure to be both inspirational and a vitamin kick for business - at a discounted price (one that makes it more than worthwhile to join Driftig.nu).

Driftig.nu is a great Swedish resource for women in the early stages of starting a business. Membership is free and includes a regular newsletter, access to experts who write a wide range of articles, great information about what is happening in the world of small business, and a forum providing an excellent opportunity to ask questions, share advice and experience and an opportunity to both market yourself and network.
I have written before about Driftig.nu, Beautiful Business and Sofia Bergenstjerna and Frida Haavisto and have full respect for anything they are involved in.
So if you are worried about where your business is heading as times toughen up, in need of encouragement and inspiration or just starting out - sign yourself up for a seminar and get ready to network with like-minded women!

Processing the Geek Girl Meet-Up

Fantastic to see how much Swedish publicity there has been since this event, with coverage from SvD both before and after (here, here and here), Aftonbladet, MedieVärlden and VeckoRevyn.

As I posted earlier, the day started with registration at 9.30am and as usual when I attend meetings, seminars and the likes I did not know a soul - the GGM was no different either. I have to confess I was a little star struck throughout the day, to think that I was mixing with girls that had attended the very exclusive (in my books) 24-hour-business-camp and I recognised some of the names and the projects discussed throughout the day.

The meet-up was opened by the three instigators Andie Nordgren, Heidi Harman och Mengmeng Du with Beata Wickbom as moderator.


Beata is by far the best moderator I have seen here in Sweden - her style was sharp, to the point and extremely productive. She encouraged networking to the max and gave the girls every chance to put themselves in the spot light, speeding up a process that can otherwise take eons. It kind of reminded me of the American style of the BNI meetings and each time someone in the audience made a comment or asked a question she had them up on their feet, concluding with what challenges they were facing in their work and what they were looking for.

In the lead-up to lunch she did the same thing, singling people out, asking their challenges and want they wanted, then turning to the rest of the group to ask if anyone could help with that. In minutes she had strangers making contact and then eating lunch together to discuss something of mutual interest.

It was potentially a horrifying moment for many - the sort of necessary pill that needs to be swallowed, but one that you feel all the better for having taken it. No jante law allowed here!

In the short term nothing sprang to mind, at least no immediate challenges that I thought this group could help me with, but had I had more time to think about it I could have used the moment more constructively - I will know for next time! I ended up joining others to talk to a venture capitalist - would love to have a little cash injection into my project..... or find someone to work with.

Even though it was very goal focused and we were asked even when we registered online how we would contribute, there was no doubt that the atmosphere was a friendly, relaxed one - everyone was there because they wanted to support women in the industry and be with other women from the industry. Many expressed their frustration of being in male-dominated world and were clearly thrilled at being a part of this gathering. And everyone was welcome - from students to experts. The range of women seemed to be wide, with the web being the common interest and surprisingly I didn't feel out of my league the entire day - I even got to contribute some information/tips during a couple of my conversations and send a link off to someone with something I had found (!) It seems I have gathered some knowledge in the last couple of years.

The presentations were only 30 minutes each, including question time, so things went pretty quickly. I made notes and with my laptop on my knee it was great to be able to get straight out onto the net and check out the things they were referring too. I got lots of ideas and inspiration but I think the most valuable presentation I listened to was Anna Oscarsson's use of Bambuser and how she covered the recent Pirate Bay trials. I was highly impressed by her and Bambuser and will be having a close look at it soon - as is often the case - I knew it existed but just have not had reason nor chance to find out what it is really all about. It opens up a whole lot of interesting opportunities. Watch her summary of the Geek Girl Meet-up here:



There were plenty of other presentations that I thought were great, interesting and would like to listen to again, so as to be able to better absorb them. There were also plenty of presentations that I missed and would like to have seen. Annika Linde made a live broadcast from each of the presentations although the connection was not the best so unfortunately they are not the best recordings. They are all in Swedish but you can check them out under Recent Activity on her Bambuser page. I plan to listen to what I missed! From what I understand it was a spontaneous action that was appreciated by all and I have no doubt that preparation will be made for filming at the next meet-up.

If anything was missing from this action-packed day it was time - it went so fast and there was little time to get your teeth stuck into anything and limited time to chat to the other participants. It was one of the few occasions here in Sweden where I have found it very easy to talk to people, everyone was open and approachable in a way I have not seen elsewhere. In fact I think I can safely say that the quality of this day was far superior to any of the other entrepreneur events I have attended here in Stockholm.

Most of the girls continued on and went to an afterparty in Gamla Stan - as far as I know everything from the day/evening was covered by an impressive list of sponsors. These girls have got talent - they pulled off a very informative and inspiring day, attracted all the right people and managed to get sponsors to foot the bill. That's quite an achievement. I will be much faster to sign up next time!

You can read more here: Twingly Blog Search, Flickr, Twitter (didn't manage to get my Tweets to register on there), Swedish Bloggy and Jaiku.

Geek Girl Meet-Up March 28th

Heading to an all-day conference on Saturday, which was brought to my attention by fellow blogger & Twitterer Kiwi Raiha.

I feel a bit like a fake as I have never considered myself a Geek Girl and programming friends immediately spring to mind before any vision of myself does.....

Saying that I am very interested in social media and the development of the internet, and almost all the topics on the agenda are extremely interesting.

The Web First on Internetworld
The change to thinking web before paper & how newspapers communicate through social media.
Miriam Olsson, Internetworld

Flash och 3D
Emma Nwaugo, talks about audio visualisation and Papervision as well as about her latest flash project, a quick game application in a whole lot of things I don't understand.....

From Idea TO Site With Wordpress And A Little Determination
Andie Nordgren shows how Wordpress can transform your idea to a site. With the right plugins and the right thinking Wordpress is a great system for much more than blogging. Build your own site on site, if you want, or just listen and learn.

Opportunity Capital
Venture capital industry rom the inside and what you need to know to get ahead.
Katja Lepola, Grädde Invest

From Idea To Mobile Service
Build your own service with tools from Mobilstart. Start immediately with a ready-made service or investigate your own solutions using Mobilstarts API.
Katrin Calderon, Telenor Mobilstart

10 Rules for Development of Services on the Internet
Paula Marttila

How I did a life report from the Pirate Bay-trials
Anna Oscarsson

Sociala media in large organisations - the culture is more important that the tool
Helena Lindh, IBM

The Apes' invasion of office life - technical and social toys
Paulina Söderlund Modlitba talks about her projects from MIT Media Lab. Monkey Business is about soft robots that can give a sense of what your colleagues are doing. GlobeToddler is a way form parents to communicate with their children through a soft toy that also lives in a virtual world.

Ada Lovelace and other stars from the IT heaven
Karin Adelsköld

Me and my beloved mobile!
I love mobile phones. Since 1994 I have had about 40 of them and tested over 100. I always have about 8 mobile phones with me which I change depending on what I am going to do. Get a peek into mobile passion taken to new heights!
Suzanne Fors

API and webhooks - what you need to know to understand the next level of the web
Andie Nordgren

The Future is Soon Here - media trends in the coming years.
Paulina Söderlund Modlitba talks about her work at Bonnier and the media trends they have identified for the coming years, as well as the challenges facing the media industry.

How do you create mobile content for girls?
I work as a project leader at Telia where girls are an important target group and one that we have started focusing on. We have created a mobile site for girls: http://m.tete.nu which is just the beginning of something I think is very interesting. I will speak a little abou how Tête evolved and what our intentions are for the future. I will talk and show material as well as ask questions and create a discussion if anyone wants to partake. If there are any applications, sites that you have created yourself that should be on Tête. If you want to see a Tête sms send one to 71160
Suzanne Fors

New Media - old organisations. A discussion about motivation and the spread of knowledge around social media.
A discussion about motivation and the spread of knowledge of social media.In my work I try to encourage colleagues and motivate why it is so important to keep an eye on microblogs and blogs as a part of the usual business intelligence, but often find opposition. What do you do to not lose heart and still have constructive and good arguments as to why it is important?
Sandra Jakob

Library 2.0 - lessons from an educational program about webservices for librarians.
Ingela Wahlgren talks about how the library world is taking on new web services through the use of course model 23 Things.

OPK 1998 – pre Geek Girls
Gitta Wilén and Lotta Holmström

Women + Computer games = True
Lina Eklund from Stockholm's University talks about her research of girls in the World of Warcraft and how girls react to games and the game world. Are you a gamer? Discuss the world of games and meet the rest of the game nerds at the Geek Girl Meetup in a discussion after the seminar.

Curious? If you can read Swedish you can follow the Meet-Up on the web.

Twitter, Tweets & Swedish Bloggy

I joined Bloggy months ago but haven't really used it, nor understood what the point was. It is a Swedish version of Twitter, created by Jonas Lejon - a Swedish web entrepreneur who seems to have his fingers in a whole lot of pies and is behind a bunch of web-based services.

So I opened an account but left it to its own devices, I really didn't have a feel for it, what to write or who would even see it. That was until a couple of days ago.

In recent weeks I have noticed more and more bloggers are joining the micro-blogging trend, Twitter is being mentioned all around me and it has become more evident how people are using this service to communicate with their audience. AND, I have decided that I am going to add a Twitter feed to the www.liveinsweden.se website - it is a great way to update people on what is going on around me without having to write a full blog post about it. I also like the way they can all be linked together and update each other - blogs and microblogs.

So what is Twitter, Bloggy or micro-blogging? What this for an explanation.


I know what you are thinking - really I thought the same thing - at first it is a little hard to understand what the point is and how it can be used. And do we really need to have the small details of each others' lives? Do they matter? Are we becoming all the more egocentric?? Yes. Quite possibly.

But the reality is - it doesn't matter what we think - it is growing in popularity so we might as well understand it, even if we don't embrace it. After-all, what facebook user will deny that fb helps us keep in touch with people we otherwise struggle to communicate with?

And articles like this one in today's Metro (Swedish) that talk about the business use of micro-blogging make it all the more interesting - after all if Kevin Rudd and Barack Obama can do it - so can you! If you still need convincing read this interesting blog post - 50 ideas on using Twitter for business.

More Women in Business & on the Boards of Swedish Listed Companies

One of the big business debates that has heated up in the last 6 or so months has been whether or not to introduce gender quotas to the boards of listed companies. So far, the answer has been no, for many reasons, despite Sweden introducing a gender quota (50%) into politics in the 1980s.

Many big businesses claim that the lack of women in their boards is due to the lack of competence, a lack of women with the qualifications to carry out such a roll.

So Anna Carrfors Bråkenheilm of Passion for Business (a great business mag for women) decided to help the guys out and has compiled a list of 549 business women who are ready, willing and able to do the job. That list took two people two days to compile and is now being sent out to all Swedish listed companies!

Kaxig is a word that comes to mind - which translates to cocky but it doesn't quite have the same feel. All the same - I love it! What will their excuse be next?

Beautiful Business Awards: Sweden's Business Woman of the Year.

Headed out last night to Parken on Söder as the temperature was dropping and lone snow flakes were floating to their final resting place. It was lovely to walk in and be handed a glass of sparkling rosé, be stopped by a fellow Våga Språnget member and stand and chat while listening to the most amazing harp player I have ever seen or heard. I never knew a harp could be played like that.

We were there for the Beautiful Business Awards , being held for the second year in a row and hosted by Driftig.nu and Örlings PriceWaterhouseCoopers, supported by Nutek who this year added a category to the competition.

The evening's moderators were comedian couple Anna Mannheimer and Peter Apelgren who welcomed the audience and continued to entertain with their antics throughout the evening.

In their own words Beautiful Business Award 2009 is a national competition aimed to bring focus to exciting self-employed business women so as to inspire Sweden to more sustainable business practices. The Beautiful Business concept is about inspiring business that is characterized by sustainability, innovation and ambition. It is a mindset, that is equally admirable whether it be governing business thinking or general human behaviour. It is business with a conscience.

The competition awards Business Women of the Year, Service Developer of the Year and Challenger of the Year and is open to all women who have started or are running a business full-time. The first step is the nomination with the second being an application filled in by the nominees. It follows the BBA structure and requires the nominees to motivate why they are worthy of the award according to the following categories:

Sustainability: The company must be run with a long-term concept in terms of profitability, environment and ethics.
Innovation: The business shall be characterized by innovation and creativity in some way whether it be product/service, the approach, the industry, distribution channels or market.
Ambition: The individual shall have a strong involvement, great courage and strive from growth.

This year an amazing 1731 women were nominated with 432 of those submitting competition applications. Of those 62% have been running longer than 3 years and 60% are limited companies with 34% or the women born in the 60s and 24% in the 70s. All regions of Sweden were represented with 34% coming from Stockholm and 14% from Västra Götaland.

The evening progressed and the 12 finalists and their businesses, selected by a jury, were presented and interviewed. Following on, last years winners Lingon & Blåbär presented their company and talked about what the award meant to them. We then mingled, snacked and drank more wine before the awards were presented.

Business Women of the Year 2009 went to Nina Ottosson of Zoo Active Products AB who designs, manufactures and sells her dog toys to 25 countries around the globe. Click on this link to see her products and watch an interview (Swedish) with her here. It was no surprise to see Service Developer of the Year awarded to Kristina Theander of Middagsfrid. Kristina and her staff deliver cleverly packaged and planned groceries and matching recipes to health conscious households in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö. She takes away the what are we going to eat tonight stress in busy households.

Business Challenger of the Year was awarded to three women: Petra Wadström of Solvatten, Jeanette Gorosch of Nannynu! and Britt-Marie Gyllensvaan of Utbilda.nu. This award brings recognition to relatively newly started companies deemed to have great potential.

Some of these women I have read about in business magazines, all of them were incredibly inspiring. They talked about the hard work and the determination that it took to get them where they are. It was wonderful to hear their stories and how thrilled they were to be nominated. Here is the whole list of finalists:
Nina Ottosson - Zoo Active Products
Jessica Löfström - ExpanderaMera
Mia Karlsson-Jonsson - Rex Bar & Grill
Bitte Ljungström - Vidilab
Petra Hammarstedt - Servicestaden
Katinka Bille Lindahl - LifeStone
Karin Bryskhe och Anna Stenstam - Colloidal Resource
Kristina Theander - Middagsfrid
Karin Almqvist - VICTRIX
Veronica Boxberg Karlsson - Better Business World Wide
Marianne Möllstam - Synergon
Veronica Hedenmark - VH Assistans
This fantastic award is the brainchild of Sofia Bergenstjerna and Frida Haavisto of Beautiful Business - themselves both very inspiring women. Fantastic that they have taken this opportunity to support both women and entrepreneurs.

Swede Runner-Up: Europe's Best Young Entrepreneur

Therese Albrechtson is having no trouble building her brand and is getting plenty of publicity to help her along the way.


Not only nominated but also runner-up for Business Week's Best Young European Entrepreneur 2008 this dynamic Swedish woman founded three companies by the tender young age of 23. While that might be amazing in itself, it is highlighted by the fact that an accident two years ago and a subsequent cerebral hemorrhage put her out of action for 12 months!

Still she managed to make her way back and now spends her days inspiring others.

Swedish Geeks' list of 53 new internet services

As the 24hr Business Camp comes to an end the entire list of 53 new internet services is available for your perusal. If you scroll down the live blog you can read (in English thank you very much!) each team's contribution outlining who they are and/or what they have come up with.

There are some great ideas amongst them.

Årets företagare - Business Person Of The Year - Stockholm.

While on the subject of business and networks I thought I'd mention Englishmen Jonathan Kirby and Martin Charlton who were awarded Business Person Of The Year 2008 for their Live It Experiences AB.

Their business concept is based on the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult to buy presents for people, so instead of buying someone a thing, you can get them an experience. They have gathered the best experiences Sweden has to offer and when you have chosen, ordered and paid for your gift an attractive Live It box is sent out with photos, booking information and a voucher.

Not only is it a great idea but the award was won by two non-Swedes. Both these guys are love-refugees, married to Swedes, and have been here for 8 and 9 years. Nice to know there is potential for all to be award-winning business people! Well done guys!!! After thier initial start in 2005 they now have 14 employees and have an annual turnover of 40 million SEK - not bad for a couple of English blokes!

Företagarna Stockholms Stad is a part of a national business organisation who present this award each year to a person/people not only for their accomplishments but also because they through their leadership are a good role-model and ambassador for small business people. are able to show extra creativity and are enterprising. They also need to be profitable and the owner/s must be actively running the company (SvD article).

According to the article Stockholm has 50 000 - 60 000 business owners, which makes for quite a few nominations. The winners are now candidates for the title of Swedish Business Person of the Year 2008. I'll hold my thumbs for them (and cross my fingers).

Women Entrepreneurs & Networks in Sweden & Stockholm

Went to the Venture Cup Inspiration For Women night last night and was truly inspired. I heard just what I need to hear and picked up a few ideas, some food for thought. The two speakers were Karin, founder of Grooming - Sweden's only grooming company aimed exclusively at men, and Caroline, co-founder of FUNtasi Fabriken whose goal is to bring dance to the people.

It is always interesting and inspiring to listen to others who have started a business and share their experiences - the good and the bad. And with only about 33% of Venture Cup applicants being women the organisation does what it can to encourage more to enter the competition and these women shared their thoughts about the difference between men and women in business.

Karin advised us to be clear in our communication, rather than talk around things as women often do. She also suggested that women are better at building relationships, and that this is something we can benefit from. She then went on to offer three very simple, practical, yet valuable pieces of advice:

1. ask questions and opinions and listen to those around you, but most importantly, listen to yourself
2. use your own network - talk to the people you know, rather than running around town mingling at different events and building up a very superficial network
3. have patience and perserverance. It takes much longer than you think it is going to. Hang in there - it is the same for everyone!

Caroline suggested we

1. have plans, long term and short term, but have a long term goal.
2. picture a number of potential scenarios right from the beginning and have a plan for how you will deal with them, that way there are no surprises.

Both before and after the speeches there was time for mingling. It is not that easy to stand amongst a bunch of strangers and mingle, in fact I don't enjoy it at all and I find it SO much harder to do in Swedish. So I was quite pleased to hear advice point number 2 and I go to these events mostly to hear the speakers - it really helps keep me motivated and focused on what I am doing.

There are a ton of business networks and organisations around and while many of them have events aimed exclusively at women, there are also a number of women-only networks around. If you too need inspiration and motivation, want a place to seek advice or companionship or are just curious about what others are up to, check out the following links:

Carpe Competencia - Sweden's biggest network for young academic women.
Driftig - Sweden's biggest online network for women who want to or have started their own business.
Kvinnliga Företagare - online meeting place for women in business.
Shenet - a network for women who want more out of their working life, bringing focus to female stars in business and inspiring others.
Göran - a network for women who want to share experience and advice on how to achieve balance in their personal and professional life.
KvinnorKan - an organisation promoting equal rights, obligations and opportunities for men and women.

Swedish 24 Hour Business Camp

are the words on everyone's lips at the moment (apart from Obama).

A star-studded list of about 90 guys and gals, divided into 52 teams, are heading out to Hasseludden tonight to spend 24 hours crunching their brains. Each team brings with them a web-based business idea and will spend the 24 hours getting it up and running. At the end of the camp they'll present and hopefully launch their fully working concept.

Amongst them are some of the hottest names in internet-entrepreneurialism, including the founder Ted Valentine, who has a long list of start-ups under his belt. Together they have an even longer list of internet-based services behind them, and in the next couple of days they plan to add another 52!

And the question of everyone's lips is "Why?"
In their own words they say -
To inspire. It has never been so easy to realise a business idea as it is today. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection.
It won't be Ericsson and Volvo who pull Sweden out of the economic crisis that is before us. It will be a large number of small entrepreneurs.

Wise words! Wohoo!!! - GO guys & gals, GO!!

If you want more information check out 24 hour business camp . Keep an eye on their live blog if you want to follow their progress throughout the 24 hours.
It will be very interesting to see what they come up with!!

Venture Cup Öst

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. We pretty much over the jet-lag and early morning awakenings, the kids are back at daycare, Ty has been back at work almost a week and I'm sitting here saying - where was I?

Thankfully I have a Inspiration Night for Women to go to tomorrow night, put on by Venture Cup Öst. VCÖ is, according to their own website, a business plan competition with the objective to stimulate entrepreneurship and to increase the founding of new companies in the eastern part of Sweden. Anyone with an innovative concept who wants to start a business is welcome to participate in Venture Cup, free of charge.

Just what I need, a little kick-start, enthusiasm and inspiration.

Försäkringskassan, SGI & Swedish Sickness Benefits

Well it is not too often that I get a full week of work with the one company, but this week I managed to land some work, only to be at home with a sick boy today.

His dad took him to work with him yesterday, and said that he could tomorrow and the rest of the week, which left today. We had thought he'd be ok, but that razor sharp cough woke me each time during the night, compounding my stress and contemplation of what to do. When I woke this morning, a few minutes after 6am, just before my alarm, I listened to the rain knowing I could not push him. He could not spend the greater part of the day outside in the dampness. Today was going to be a home-day.

So I kept both of them at home and we had a quite day, watching tv, building train tracks and embroidering. And I got the packing done - finalised! Complete! That takes a load off my mind. While my attitude to packing is fairly casual I still have to do it for 3 people, 2 of whom have grown out of some of their clothes, and account for temperature variation between 16 - 40 oC.

Kids are sleeping soundly and I have had a couple of glasses of wine since dinner, hoping to drug myself into a state of sleep. After all - I have nothing left to write on my list e at 1am tonight - there is nothing more I need to remember - it has all been done. Here's hoping I get more than the 5 hours of anxious restlessness I have had the last couple of nights.

Anyway, as ruthless as it sounds it is tough to give up a day's work to care for a child, and I understand there are often heated discussions in families to determine who will stay at home - whose job is the most important? Who will lose the most financially? As in so many places in the world the husband usually earns more, so it is most often the wife who stays at home to care for the sick child.This is despite the fact that Sweden has a very generous system where the parent who stays home and thus loses a day's pay, receives 80%of their salary back from the government. Now this might sound like a fair system that encourages highly paid parents to stay at home, but there is a ceiling on the payment which in turn discourages highly paid parents from attending to their little ones. Still, I can't help but think we are lucky. While I have no idea what the system is in Australia, I still can't believe my Canadian in-laws do not get paid to stay at home with sick children. What a lot of pressure that must put on a family, not to mention a child who may be unwillingly pushed out of bed and off to school if there is any doubt. Or if finances are tight.While my personal sickness benefits mean that I do not get paid for the first day I am at home sick (hence who only takes 1 day off??) caring for a child gives me coverage from the first day. And even as newly launched business owner I am still entitled to benefits. I have a right to send in a budget for 2009 (with 2008 being the start-up year) and a calculation is done based on that. That calculation is called my SGI and is the basis for my sickness benefits for the first two years of my business - whether it be for myself or for my children. Försäkringskassan is the government body that handles these payments and they not only require a budget but also a information about what salary someone doing the same job would receive, what background you have in the industry and what your calculations are based on - and you don't compile all this information in 10 minutes.

Once upon a time a new business owner's salary or SGI was calculated based on the salary of a person in a similar role, but that is no longer the case. It is almost entirely based on your budget, so be aware of that when you submit it - it will hold for up to two years if you don't provide evidence that you are doing better than you budgeted for.

All these things are worth knowing - friends of mine running their own business have been going without for years - every time a child was sick and they had to employ someone to work they took it as a loss in the business - and all this time they could have been claiming - just as every other employed Swede does. After all, that is what we pay tax for, even those of us who run our own business!

Time for me to get to bed, and hopefully sleep more than five hours!

So many things to write

but just so busy getting stuff done....

• passports
• visas
• web company quotes
• site specifications, layout, design, structure...
  
• picking up suitcases
• preparing for a week of teaching
• invoicing
• relocation clients
  
• Christmas plans
• birthday parties and presents
• preparing for first advent
• winter supplies - gloves, boots, hats
  
• försäkringskassan & SGI (more about that later)
• collecting cash for a pressie
  

and the list goes on....

The socialising, networking and information gathering opportunities are being ignored, for now.

Sweden Needs Entrepreneurs

that much I have known for a long time.
And apparently so much so that the government is sponsoring a one year entrepreneur qualification through Handelsskolan.


It is a combination of theory and practical work aimed both at those with a dream and those who already have a business up and running but are in the process of expanding. The contact hours are limited to three half-days a week and includes a final project. Each participant spends lot of the time working independently on their business concept.