Heavy-metal rapper and speaker Bradlee Dean explains his mission to deliver moral living and Godly values to the young at a press conference.

How much trouble do you think you could get into if you hit all the hot-button issues today —  abortion, homosexual behavior, value-less sex education, socialist politics, and entrenched atheism? And yet that’s the job of a man who has taken on the roll of a modern-day John the Baptist: Bradlee Dean.

Dean, a rock musician, preacher, radio show host, and columnist, speaks to public high schools, colleges, at county fairs and at other venues. He encourages moral living and a return to Godly values, and to the principles promoted in the U.S. Constitution.

Here’s what his non-profit group, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, says:

You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Intl. is a non-profit organization that specializes in reaching America’s next generation through principles of morality, true freedom, and personal responsibility. Our mission is to equip our next generation with the Judeo-Christian values that made America great through a unique avenue of music and educational event forums in colleges, schools, churches, festivals, and arenas.

Some flack

Does he get flack about it? Yes, from about every group he criticizes. And yet the general public — kids in public schools and many of their teachers and administrators — have gone on the record saying he’s great. J.B. Elliott, principal of Hoisington High School, Kansas, said,

We had the pleasure hosting the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide assembly in our high school. I believe this program is the most successful program that we have had. Mr. Dean and his band did an incredible job of getting the students’ attention through their musical performance. Once they had the students’ attention, Mr. Dean delivered a message like no other. It was straight forward and to the point. Our student body was involved and interacting with Mr. Dean mainly due to his honest approach and genuine interest in the students. If you are a school looking for an outstanding program dealing with drug and alcohol issues, character issues, and helping students to make good choices, I would highly recommend this program!

Read more on the You Can Run Testimonials Page.
Read the rest of this entry »

Dry cleaners and chemical manufacturers are some of the businesses that will be affected by new regulations regarding the use of “perc” passed by the Illinois legislature Aug. 24, 2012. Learn more about the new “perc” law.

Penalties for non-compliance are severe. Major parts of the law go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.

You can keep up with the requirements by signing up for our occasional newsletter. We’ll keep you updated on the requirements, as well as provide you with qualified providers of the services and equipment that you need to comply with the law. Simply indicate which area of business you are in, and complete the form. You will not get spammed, and you can always unsubscribe your name from the list.

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New regulations over the use of “perc” chemical affects 1,000 dry cleaner owners

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The following news story is from the Illinois legislature website. (The subheads are ours.) Click for IL state “perc” law.

Dry cleaning shops in Illinois are subject to new regs

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn today signed a new law to impose tougher safety measures on the use of perchloroethylene (a solvent commonly known as “perc”) by dry cleaners. House Bill 4526 requires dry cleaners to use “best management practices” while using the solvent. The law is backed by the dry cleaning industry, environmentalists and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Click for “Perc” law passed Aug. 24, 2012

“If improperly handled, dry cleaning solvents can seep into our groundwater and skies, and pose a threat to workers,” Governor Quinn said. “This new law will help protect our drinking water and we salute the dry cleaning industry - and especially the Korean American Drycleaners Association - for partnering with environmental advocates to get this done.” Read the rest of this entry »

In trouble with the IRS? Owe money to others to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars?

These words ring out daily over the radio and TV waves, and similar ads are crowding the internet every day. And if you’re desperate, you just might go for the bait.

Don’t grab for an easy solution, says Chicago lawyer Joseph Shun Ravago, who not only practices law, but uses his knowledge as a CPA to pull his clients out of the financial doldrums. With areas of expertise in corporate, taxation, bankruptcy, immigration and real estate, Shun (pronounced Shawn), says that the key danger is that many such firms are not law firms, and thus run little risk of doing a poor job since they are not licensed. Immigration and foreclosure issues are also the target of those desperate for an easy solution. Read the rest of this entry »

Click for story on Family Business Journal

Home-based business and homeschooling: Can it work? Can children at home learn not only academics, but also the practical tasks of dealing with clients, thinking on their feet, coming up with creative solutions to problems?

Institutional schooling tends to be spoon-fed; it’s limited, with students given prepared problems on paper. What kind of education can a home-based business provide to fill in the gap?

Read the latest installment of Family Business Journal, in which a father deals with a problem with his young son, “Work with your hands if your will is stubborn.”

Kenneth Babin is an entrepreneur and father of a family who grumbles over getting stung on a business deal that fell through. The name is fictional, but the story is real. A new website, Family Business Journal, aims to chronicle one man’s “struggle to start a business and support his family,” as the website states.

The blog is written in a third person, novel-style:

Sure, Kenneth was hurt that the job had fallen through - a large one by his standards in his small one-man business. The reason it flopped was that Kenneth couldn’t agree to an opened-ended agreement that his prospect wanted, and the prospect chickened out.

The website, whose author is anonymous except for the fictional name, portrays not only problems and difficult experiences, but also solutions or plans that the business owner finds to overcome the problem in the future. The business provides online publicity and promotion. Other situations encountered are the difficulty of making time for tasks while working from home, cash flow problems, how to price jobs, and developing a good business plan.

To read the ongoing story, go to Family Business Journal.

Ever want to just ask a question of a business without getting put on a mailing list? Why not just type in a question on the business’s website, and get a real live person who answers your question right then?

That’s the idea behind a website-enabled chat box, or IM. Check out Chat Roll, a free and amazingly simple script that is put on your website. No, I don’t have a business relationship with these people, but I’ve been playing with their free service on one of our websites under construction. It works well. They also have paid chat services.

Here’s what they say:

“Get up and running in 60 seconds. Simply copy and paste the one-line Chatroll Module code into your existing website, blog or CMS.”

Well, it took me more than 60 seconds — more like 15 minutes. That’s because there’s a way to do it with WordPress, as a plugin, as well as for a static-page website. Fifteen minutes is still quick. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. That’s Chat Roll.

A new website for a retired school teacher looks attractive and contains an innovative way to draw visitors.

The website at www.RobertKellyTutor.com contains a widget that carries Kelly’s blog entries on Facebook. When Kelly adds a post on his Facebook page, it automatically is entered on his website blog. Saves time, don’t you think?

The website was created by this website’s parent company, TreeFrogClick (TFC), to attract students interested in advancing their language arts skills. “We now see the need for a solid social media presence,” said Kevin Banet, TFC president. “That’s why we either encourage our clients to post regularly, or offer a package to update their blogs for them.”

If you would like a personal website like this made, in addition to social media services like Facebook, please go to TreeFrogClick, or call Kevin Banet at 708-393-4098.

I’m a social media guy, and even I am impressed at the way Facebook can bring in visitors to a website. Our newest rollout, Great Catholic Homilies, was launched in April, and we’ve climbed up to around 500 visits each month so far. At the last check, 13% of the visits were coming from our Facebook page called Great Catholic Homilies. And we have fewer than 10 friends there.

One thing I do is post on my Facebook page about once a week, when I upload the latest homily on Great Catholic Homilies. I make an interesting comment about the homily and of course put the link there. I have also set up a widget for the Facebook page which is inserted into a page on Great Catholic Homilies called — well, what else — Blog. Each posting on Facebook automatically goes into the Blog page. It’s bringing ‘em in. Nifty, eh?

Here’s the old way of training office workers on the phone:

“See the ‘Edit’ button at the top of your screen?”

“I don’t see anything like that. What software am I supposed to be in?”

“Microsoft Word. What is on your screen?”

“Nothing.”

“Did you turn your computer on?”

“I thought it was on. Where’s the switch?”

Believe me, it is a case of the blind leading the blind. I’ve been frustrated, and I know my clients, miles away, have been too. (Of course, they’re not as ignorant as in the above example, however.)

The new training method,  on the other hand, is to direct people to YouTube, which has amassed thousands of how-to videos, many of them made by amateur videographers who get the message across by showing you how it’s done right on the screen. These geeks may sniff now and then if they have a cold, but they get to the point without a lot of big-company blah-blah.

For example, if you want to know how to add images to your WordPress-built website (which we here at TreeFrogClick use), just learn from Asha at the YouTube channel SocialMediaNinjas. He is probably from India, but his English is good enough. He uses a screen-capturing software, maybe Camtasia, to show you just where he is on the screen and what to do. In a few minutes, you can often find what you need.

Some videos are slick with music and fancy graphics, made by tutorial companies, and these are good, too. What is interesting is that the common man’s videos are usually just as good as those with the fancy wrappings. In any case, you can learn how to use all kinds of software. Just go to YouTube, type in “How to Use Microsoft Word,” and you’ll see 1,700 listings.

In the upcoming redesign of our TreeFrogClick website, we are including the below sample videos to help our clients learn the software the easy way.

WordPress Tutorials

WordPress updates its versions from time to time, so your admin page layout might look a little different than what you see on these videos. You will still be able to figure things out once you see them.

How to Edit a Page in WordPress, by ExcelNetMedia. Good simple intro. 1:45 min.

How to Add Images To Your WordPress Blog, by Asha

Tour of WordPress, by ExcelNetMedia. Overview

Google Apps - In the “Cloud”

Google Apps is a great file, calendar and website sharing program that works like an intranet, with password protection.

Google Apps Quick Tour, by Google. How you can share live documents on Google’s server among many collaborators in different locations. 1:58 min.

How to Use Google Calendar, by Bohemicus.

Using Google Apps Sites for Small Businesses, by AVL Marketing. Google’s internal website feature. 10:02 min.

Other Software

Microsoft Outlook 2007 - Setting Up Email Accounts by My Digital Works. 2:59 min.