As Bayt puts it:

With over 4,500,000 professionals and over 30,000 leading organizations using Bayt.com’s recruitment services across all industry categories and career levels, Bayt.com is today the single largest marketplace of professionals and companies in the region.

We’re very proud of this partnership and invite you to have a look and create your job profile on the Salam Business Club. Since we just launched we’re still in beta so if you run across any issues please drop us a short note. Thanks!

Searching for members

The screenshot above also tells you the name of our iPhone developer, Christian Hartmann.

List of contacts

This is the list of your business contacts on the Salam Business Club.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest developments. The App is still scheduled to appear on the Apple AppStore in July, InshALLAH.

This is the first application that is being developed using our newly released API and more will follow. We’re planning on developing an official BlackBerry and Android mobile client as well so if you don’t have an iPhone but any of the other mobile phone operating systems then please just bear with us for another few weeks.

Q: So what exactly is an API?
A: An API enables you to develop software that connects to our system and sends and receives data.

Q: What programming languages do you support?
A: All of them! The API is REST-based, expects POST requests (yes, the same that are sent when submitting an HTML-Form) and returns XML documents. So you may create your software in ANY programming language and for ANY device, be it a desktop computer or a mobile device.

Q: What kind of software can I create?
A: You could create an iPhone App and publish it to Apple’s AppStore. Or you could create a desktop client that enables members to use the Salam Business Club without a web browser. You could also create an application that checks if a member’s profile has been viewed by another member and notifies the member of it. The possibilities are endless!

Q: What is my advantage of creating such an application using the API?
A: You can increase your reputation by creating an application for the largest Middle Eastern business network. Besides that you may also generate revenue by selling your applications. Applications that are very useful may also be featured by us on our website and our weekly newsletter, for free.

Q: Where can I view more information on the API?
A: Get in touch with Rias, our CEO, and he will e-mail you more information on how to use the API.

Today, we officially announce 100 000 confirmed members. We thank all of you for being actively involved in the portal and spreading the word to your friends, family and business contacts all over the world. Salam Business Club reached members from more than 185 countries, across all the continents, via 7 languages (including Urdu & Persian) and we hope add more value in future.

Yes, we increased our membership by over 6 folds, Oct 2009 (15 000 members) – 7 months later 100 000 members

Key Milestones achieved this past couple of months:

• Re-design of the portal
• Hiring of Online Media Strategist: Khalil Aleker
• Launch of Twitter and Facebook
• Launch of Answers Section
• Launch of Job Profile Section

Coming Soon:

• Job Section – Surprise features
• Private Network/Groups for your Organization & Company

For more updates join us on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you once again for the support and let us know what other features you’d be interested in

Ideas for K-12 Classrooms

Implement these great ideas in your K-12 classroom to have students learning in a dynamic new way.

1. Make literature real. Have students create a Facebook page for a character from literature you are studying like this class did.
2. Follow famous people. Many famous people are on Twitter. Have students follow someone related to what you are studying, such as following President Obama when looking at government.
3. Twitter treasure hunt. Use GPS treasure hunting to send students in search of educational clues as one teacher did. (Skip to number 22 in the slide show.)
4. Learn probability. This elementary teacher uses Twitter to teach the concept of probability.
5. Study geography. Use a combination of Twitter and Google Earth to help teach geography-based lessons. This teacher used his network of Twitter followers to create an interactive lesson for his young students. Use her idea to spark your creativity for ways to use these two resources.
6. Connect with other classrooms. Collaborate with another classroom, no matter where they are in the world, to expand learning opportunities.
7. Recent public updates. The recent public updates on Twitter shows the most recent posts from all users and is a great tool to use when studying current events.
8. Field trips. Use Skype to bring the field trip into the classroom when it is difficult or impossible for students to go to the source.
9. Conference with parents. Stay connected with parents through social media to communicate their child’s progress.

Ideas for College Classrooms

Integrate these suggestions into college classrooms for engaging learning opportunities.

1. Window to daily life at school. Create a website like the one at University of Chicago Law School. that allows visitors to hear from students and professors about their daily life at law school.
2. Take a challenge. Look for challenges like this one held by Microsoft and Direct Marketing Educational Foundation.
3. Create apps. Follow in the footsteps of this class at Stanford and create your own Facebook apps.
4. Research social media. Social media is a topic itself worth studying. Students are researching and even writing dissertations about social media.
5. Help in developing countries. Create a project like this joint venture with MIT and a Mexican university, ITESM Zacatecas, that created a Twitter network that has saved small farmers in the area.
6. Follow mentors. Follow professors, mentors, or other important people in your field of study to find out about their research and professional activities.
7. Grassroot opportunities. Social media provides opportunities for students to work together on grassroot movements such as the one at the University of British Columbia where students fought to keep the weight room at their aquatic center open.

Ways Students Can Use Social Media

From practicing a foreign language to finding scientific research, these tips will have students using social media to enhance their education.

1. Find scientific research papers. Check out the Tweprints project that collects abstracts on any scientific paper archived at arXiv.org and mentioned on Twitter.
2. Tweet famous conversations. Have students tweet imagined conversations between famous literary figures such as Romeo and Juliet, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, or Dante and Beatrice.
3. Attend lectures remotely. Have students attend a lecture or presentation at another campus via streaming.
4. Practice a language. If students are learning a foreign language, they can practice with native speakers through groups on Facebook such as this one or by finding native speakers on Twitter or Skype.
5. Watch citizen journalism in action. World events unfold immediately on Twitter, so invite students to follow citizen journalism along with the mainstream news.
6. Track a word or phrase. Track a word or phrase to see how it is being used by others to learn the nuances of language.
7. Learn personal responsibility. Students can learn personal responsibility when they find out about how to use social media sites responsibly.

Ways Instructors Can Use Social Media

No matter what level class you teach, there are ways for you as an instructor to use social media for the classroom, your career, and beyond.

1. Offer a class. Offer a class featuring social media such as this one featuring Twitter.
2. Collaborate with other professionals. Learn from and share with other instructors around the world by sharing ideas, tips, and techniques through Twitter or Facebook.
3. Use Twitter to teach journalism. Have students use Twitter to report news in 140 characters or less to practice communicating important information succinctly.
4. Answer questions. Be available for answering students’ questions via a Facebook page or Twitter feed.
5. Prospective students. Monitor Twitter or Facebook for specific key words to connect with potential students like how one man did at Queen’s School of Business in Ontario.
6. Conferences. Find out what’s going on at professional conferences through Twitter.
7. Have fun at conferences. If you are attending a conference, give BackChatter a try–a game that uses Twitter and makes attendees interactive participants.
8. Teach Twitter. Teach students how to use Twitter by offering assignments such as this one designed by Barbara Nixon of Georgia Southern University.
9. Post notes. Post class notes on Twitter so students who missed a class can find out what they missed and instructors can refer back to any notes they left.
10. Tweet lesson plans. Teachers can tweet their lesson plans, or links to them, to keep students updated and provide inspiration for other educators.
11. Faculty or staff forum. After you’ve gained experience using social media in the classroom, host a presentation for fellow instructors to share what you have learned.
12. Live blog. When you use Twitter to live blog a conference or lecture, you provide a transcript for others of what was discussed and keep awesome notes for yourself.
13. Instant feedback. Have a student tweet about your class to receive instant feedback. This is especially helpful for those teaching a large lecture class.
14. Take attendance. Have students tweet one thing you discussed in class as a great way of taking attendance.
15. Test new technology. Recruit help testing new apps or other technology from social media resources.
16. Recruit guest speakers. Recruit guest speakers for your class from social media contacts such as colleagues or past students.

Click here to see all 100 Ways to Use Social Media in Classrooms – by OnlineUniversities.com

“To keep an edge, I must think and act like an immigrant. There is a special optimism and drive that I benefited from and continue to rely on that I want all of you to find. Immigrants are inherently dreamers and fighters”

Interviews with dozens of successful immigrant entrepreneurs make clear that an innovative approach to business is part of a larger approach to life. They may hail from myriad cultures and backgrounds, but high-achieving immigrants display a common body of beliefs and personality characteristics. Most, we have found, possess these success traits:

1. A Keen Sense of Adventure

Explore the world. Become an “outsider” by traveling and living abroad. Immigrants have often leveraged the advantage of being an outsider or traveler to see opportunities that go unnoticed to Americans. International travel and relocation creates an intense appreciation for the opportunities and resources in the United States, which often have gone unnoticed and therefore under-utilized by many Americans.

While most of us can not simply pack-up and move to another country and become a temporary immigrant (although this is highly recommended, even if only for a year or two), you can become a virtual immigrant by visiting foreign countries, particularly countries that are off the beaten path, to view completely different cultures, markets and lifestyles.

Become an explorer/pioneer like Marco Polo. Get out of your comfort zone. International travel is often hard, with lots of unexpected surprises, that forces one to think on one’s feet, adapt, and be self-reliant. It builds up tolerance for the pain of the unexpected and the deprivations of creature comforts that you may have in abundance at home.
Much of the good things in life and in the business world can not be anticipated nor planned for. They just happen.
Keep your eyes open for fortuitous events, and be ready to explore deviations from the beaten path. A bit of dislocation will give you “fresh eyes” to see new opportunity.

2. A Reverence for Education

Regardless of your age or stage in life, never forget that your “inner immigrant” craves life-long education and reveres education as an asset than can never be taken away from you. Advanced education is the tool through which you can harvest the immense opportunities of countries like the United States.

Take night classes to get a bachelors or advanced degree. Enroll in continuing education at your local college or on-line courses. Challenge your children to the pursuit of excellence in their academic pursuits. Get on them. Parenting for excellence is a full-time job!

Given the emphasis on education in many immigrant cultures, it is no surprise that immigrants bring this reverence for education to America. Nearly 2/3 of all the Intel Science student winners are children of immigrants. As is often seen in Asian and other immigrant families, education of children is the reason for being.

Looking back, Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems’ Chairman, attributes much of his personal success to hanging out with smart immigrants. In a 2008 interview, he advised aspiring entrepreneurs to follow his example.

“First of all, I would suggest, when you go to school, hang out with really smart, innovate, super bright, off-the-charts people,” he said. “Stay at the party as late as they do. Become their best friends. That’s what I did.”

His foreign-born business partners (Vinod Khosla and Andy Bechtolsheim) valued his friendship as well. For if there is one lesson immigrants learn quickly, it is that native guides can help steer them through new terrain. They may spy opportunity others missed, but they usually have to work with the locals to seize it.

Immigrants can offer an added dimension to a partnership, like cultural savvy, multiple languages and contacts in growing overseas markets (where 95% of the world’s consumers live).

To find immigrant partners, go to where the immigrants are.

Outside of colleges and keg parties, a good place to strike up a relationship with professionals from abroad is within the networking groups that have sprung up in immigrant communities across the land.

The best known, TiE, has an Indian-American flavor and a busy schedule of gatherings nationwide. Taiwanese entrepreneurs welcome newcomers to the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association, named for the highest mountain in Taiwan. Latino entrepreneurs focused on high technology, biotech, and green tech collaborate through Hispanic-Net. Chinese immigrants are trying to build bridges between the American and Chinese business worlds with Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association, better now as HYSTA.

The networking groups provide opportunities to find teammates, capital, energy, and optimism. They may also offer a window onto the global economy.

5. A Tolerance for Risk and Failure

Make some big bets in your business and professional career.

Immigrant business success has a lot to do with high risk tolerance. Risk tolerance is the core common value shared by both immigrants and entrepreneurs. Reflecting this commonality, MIT Professor Edward Robert has said, “To immigrant is an entrepreneurial act.”

A very small percentage of people in the world ask themselves “why not?” move to another country, and then actually take the plunge, uprooting themselves from the only place and people they have ever known. If they had actually listened to the “why” voices in their head and those around them, they never would have made the move. Try to anticipate future trends in your industry, try to identify big opportunities before anyone else does (even if it labels you a contrarian or a little crazy), and place a big bet or two on an which you are passionate about.

This is more than a lottery – this is a hybrid of informed decision and gambling. No one knows who will be the winners. It might be you.

Break away from the pack and dare to be different in your business.
While no one wishes to fail or celebrates failure, prepare yourself for inevitable failure. Failure is part of the process of success.

If you are not failing and hitting insurmountable obstacles, then you are not trying hard enough to succeed.

Adopt a new outlook, and adopt a “why not?” approach. And keep moving.

6. Passion, Often Borne of Desperation

Act like you have nothing to fall back on, and work like your life depends on it. Convince yourself that your savings account is empty, and that your daily work offers the only hope of survival. Eat what you kill.

We know, this one will be difficult, since most of you are, unfortunately, not poor.

Many successful immigrants tell a similar story of coming to the U.S. with the proverbially few bucks and shoddy suitcase in hand. The poverty and deprivation of their homeland stands in sharp contrast to the wealth that abounds in America. There is motivation to permanently escape the limits of poverty, so they work. They work hard. In the new book, “Outliers: The Story of Success,” Malcolm Gladwell tells a great story in the chapter entitled, “Rice Paddies and Math Tests” about the grueling and complicated work in working a rice paddy.

He cites proverb used by Chinese rice paddy farmers: “no one who can rise before dawn 365 days a year fails to make his family rich,” to illustrate that there is no quick easy fix to success.

Referencing the Asian students who study late into the night at Western colleges after most have gone home, “Working hard is what successful people do, and the genius of the culture formed in the rice paddies that hard work gave those in the fields a way to find meaning in the midst of great uncertainty and poverty” – Gladwell writes.

7. A Tendency to Dream

Above all, dream and dream big. Immigrants have much to teach on this account.

Immigrants are the Dream-Keepers. Immigrants remind us that the American dream is alive and well.

Source: http: //www.immigrantinc.com/7step.htm

Here is a great Infographic by Gerardo Obieta, follow him here.

25) Change how you answer the phone: Give your staff freedom to experiment with exciting ways to answer the phone. They’ll enjoy it and your customers should too. Just remember that the phone can be the first contact with a business; be aware of answering the phone in such an odd way that it puts callers off

24) Use promotional people: You can hire good promotional temps at very low cost to hand out flyers or otherwise spread the word. Dress them well, make sure they know your business inside out and ensure they are well motivated not to just dump the flyers and bunk off!

23) Cross promote products and services: What else could your customers buy from you? Once they have bought from you once, they are in a relationship with you, and are much more likely to buy something else.

22) Sell gift tokens: Everyone loves picking their own gift; if you sell products to consumers make sure you do this. The best news for you is that £1billion of vouchers are never used.

21) Do something unexpected: How amazing would it be if your supplier rang to say they had dropped their prices by 10 per cent, for no reason. Or the owner rings to say thanks for your continued business. In the internet age, business can be so anonymous, that even picking up the phone now and again can be seen as unexpected.

20) Send out a press release: A bootstrap marketing essential. A press release with a good story suggestion could get you valuable free publicity in your target media. That in turn will boost your reputation and could even generate sales leads.

19) Join organisations: Get involved with local networking and business groups, trade organisations, and even consider joining your local Round Table.

18) Sell on your invoice: If you sell to small businesses, it could be the decision maker who deals with the paperwork. Why not get a rubber stamp made up with a marketing message, and stamp every invoice? Your stamp could even be as simple as “thanks for your business, we look forward to payment”.

17) Issue a catalogue: A classic way to reach people who are interested in browsing your products. To keep costs low, print colour pages from your website, or look at professional digital printing, which can give you small quantities of catalogues at a high quality.

16) Pick up the litter: Or clean the windows of the local charity shop. Or donate something to the Scouts. Get your business involved in the community. And use company clothing plus press releases to ensure everyone knows you’re doing it.

15) Use case studies: Just like testimonials, case studies demonstrate expertise and happy customers. Well-written case studies are also ideal ways to position your people as experts in dealing with specific kinds of clients or solving certain types of problems – perfect to promote your most profitable work.

14) Do some fun guerrilla marketing: Leave sandcastles on the pavements with little flags promoting your summer sale. Or beam your logo onto the council building at night. Just be careful not to go too far.

13) Write to your local paper: Small newspapers often struggle for decent letters. Get in the habit of buying the local paper regularly, and write to the editor about issues you genuinely feel passionate about. If they are problems your business can fix – perfect.

12) Focus on how your staff represent your company: People will judge your business on the people within. Use mystery shoppers to work out what the experience is like. Incidentally, a member of your family can’t be a mystery shopper. They are too close to the business even if they don’t work in it.

11) Do what the others can’t or won’t: Analyse your competitors and pick the things you think customers demand but no-one delivers. They will probably be hard to execute, but should be worthwhile (and it’s because they’re hard that no-one does them). Talk to customers to find out what they really want.

10) Take a holiday: If you work on your business 18 hours a day, 6 days a week, 50 weeks a year, you will burn out. And you’ll stop thinking subjectively about the business. Incidentally, if you can’t take a holiday, you need to understand The E-Myth.

9) Do a publicity stunt: Do something to attract attention both from the public and the media. It should be related to your business in some way.

8 ) Use online business forums: If you sell through your website, online business forums can be a powerful way to build reputation and drive traffic. Put at least an hour a week aside to read posts and reply with relevant comments. Be wary of spending more time on forums than working on your business.

7) Text message your customers: How cool would it be to get a text from your dentist reminding you about your dental appointment that afternoon? It’s so easy and cheap to text customers, every business should be doing it. Use automated SMS systems to make it easy. Remember to give customers an easy to opt out of further text messages.

6) Reduce rates for repeat business: Buy more, pay less. Make sure customers understand that simple rule and keep repeating it. They will respond to it.

5) Have a spring clean: Clear your desk, premises, website, anything. A spring clean gets rid of the clutter and brings a new freshness. Customers will notice.

4) Support a cause: This is known as cause-related marketing, and is a powerful way to get your business noticed through its support for a relevant charity or organisation. Pick your cause carefully, commit to it in the long-term (better still form a partnership with them), and shout about everything you do to help it.

3) Tell your story: Even big companies benefit from the stories of their founders. Look at Richard Branson and Alan Sugar – they personify the companies that have made them very wealthy. Don’t be afraid to build your company around you; people like buying from people.

2) Pick up the phone: The phone is the cheapest marketing tool you have. Don’t waste it on cold calling. Use it to phone leads or contacts, rather than just email them. In a world swamped with electronic communication, this is a great way to stand out.

1) Never lose your enthusiasm: The most important thing you can do to stand out it… something. Businesses that do something regularly tend to perform better than those that do something brilliant now and again.

Source: http://www.bytestart.co.uk