Web Tools for Entrepreneurs and Business-Leaning Life Scientists
As the competition for traditional life sciences jobs continues to intensify, many PhD-trained life scientists are looking for alternate career opportunities. One of the most popular and intriguing options is business—mostly because each of us more than likely knows somebody “who hit it big” by starting a biotechnology or life science-related company. While the entrepreneurial life isn’t for everyone, those intrepid individuals who are willing to give it a shot and possibly be successful ought to be aware of a few basic tools that will make life as an entrepreneur slightly less stressful. To that end, Emma Taylor over at Accredited Online Colleges sent me a blog post that lists 100 web tools that may be valuable to budding entrepreneurs and business-oriented life scientists.
Author Note: The list is a very valuable one; I am using several of the tools on the list that I had previously never heard about! So, here goes:
Organization
Keep your studies, ideas and research organized with these helpful online tools.
- Google Reader: Instead of visiting every blog you read, why not organize them all on this easy-to-use RSS reader?
- Backpack: Keep your notes, contacts, information and just about everything else for class or business organized with this tool.
- Stickies: This application makes it simple to make notes to yourself right on the web.
- Bla-Bla List: Try out this to-do list application for no frills tracking of all the things you need to get done.
- Mindomo: This web tool is great for laying out your thoughts for anything from business endeavors to class projects.
- FreeMind: Use this free mind-mapping software to figure out where you want to go with an idea.
- bubbl.us: This web application is perfect for brainstorming your next big project.
- iOrganize: Mac users can try out this application, designed to keep notes and important information centrally located and easy to find.
- Zoho Planner: Give this free planner a try. It’ll let you create and share to-dos, notes, contacts, images and more.
- Clipmarks: Those who do a lot of web research or just like to browse can save interesting links for future reference using this tool
Scheduling
Make sure you never miss a meeting, test or networking opportunity by using these scheduling apps.
- Google Calendar: Google’s calendar is easy-to-use and will let you organize all your important work, school and social events.
- Cozi: This calendar tracks everything from sports meets to shopping lists.
- Keep and Share: If you often work with others on projects or extracurricular activities, this calendar-sharing app could be right up your alley.
- Spongecell: With this application you can create and customize your calendar and share it with others when you choose.
- Doodle: This personalized scheduling app will help you arrive on time and prepared for the events in your life.
- StudyRails: Plan out your study time and know when important due dates are coming up with this application.
- 30 Boxes: Use this tool to keep track of all the things, both big and small, going on in your life.
- SlimTimer: Track how long you’re working on a project, create to-dos and generally manage your time more wisely with this application.
- WhichTime: This calendar makes it incredibly simple to keep track of where you’re supposed to be and when.
- Jotlet: Quickly jot down appointments and important due dates using this calendar app.
Networking and Marketing
Use these web tools to get your name out there, make connections and make the most of the millions of potential investors and employers using the web.
- Facebook: You can do a whole lot more with Facebook than just keep track of your old friends. Create a networking profile and get your name known.
- Twitter: Creating a Twitter account can be a great way to share updates about your business, school or your ideas.
- LinkedIn: Take advantage of this networking tool to get in touch with the thousands of other businesspeople online in your field.
- Elance: Using this tool you can make connections and even find some freelance work.
- iMantri: If you’re in search of a mentor in your industry, don’t pass up this excellent site for pairing young professionals with mentors.
- Company of Friends: One of the earliest business social networks, this site still offers a great number of professional contacts for those who are willing to search for them.
- Ecademy: Meet people, blog and join professional groups on this business networking site.
- Media Bistro: This site makes it easier to meet and talk with people in the content generation business, great for promoting your business or for making contacts.
- Jigsaw: Link your budding business up with others through this large B2B network.
- Meetup: Through this site you’ll be able to find business meetups, events and more in your area.
Staying Connected
Talk to business partners, clients, friends and colleagues using these great online tools.
- Gmail: Of the free email services out there, most would agree that Gmail is far and away the best choice. Better yet, you can link it up with a calendar, RSS reader and more.
- Google Voice: This online service allows you to get your voice messages no matter where you are and to consolidate your phone numbers.
- Campfire: Collaborate with others on school and work projects using this site.
- FaxZERO: Fax machines may be outdated, but in your business you’ll likely encounter someone who wants something faxed to them. That’s where this service comes in handy.
- K7: On the flipside, this service allows you to receive fax messages even if you don’t have a fax machine.
- LogMeIn: If you can’t always take your computer with you where ever you go, it’s not a problem with this service that lets you log onto your desktop from anywhere.
- Highrise: This web tool makes it simple to keep track of your professional contacts, perfect for helping you find work or drum up business.
- Wufoo: One way to generate a better product is by asking customers what they think. This site helps you do that simply and easily.
- Wordpress: What better way to get your business out there and stay connected with the world than by creating a blog? Get a free site here.
- Meebo: Chat with people on all chat platforms using this one easy tool.
Research
Whether you’re doing research for a class or for your own ideas or ventures, these tools can help.
- BNET: Get access to this site’s business library and news to stay on top of what is going on in the business world.
- Seeking Alpha: Research stocks and investing ideas through this site.
- U.S. Business Reporter: On this site you’ll find information about businesses, including their sales, statistics and more.
- BizShark: Whether you’re looking for a job or just want to know more about a particular business, this search engine makes it simple.
- Motley Fool: Find all the market advice and information you need through this site.
- Masterseek: This company search engine lets you search by brand, product or business.
- Zibb: Find just about any business and accompanying news, stats and information on this site.
- Google Scholar: The web is full of information, but not all of it’s reliable. This search engine pares down results to just scholarly and professional sources.
- Zotero: If you use Firefox as a browser, then try out this great plug-in that makes it simple to save, share and cite references you’ve culled from the web.
- CiteULike: Make sure your bibliography isn’t a total mess by using this easy citation generator.
Mobile Apps
Don’t let a little thing like being away from the computer slow down your business aspirations. Try out these mobile web apps to take your projects on the road.
- Business Reference Library: Make every time you don’t know something an opportunity to learn more with this amazing dictionary.
- Oxford Dictionary of Finance and Banking: Look up any words or terms that seem strange to you with this handy tool.
- mbPointer: Transform your phone into a fully featured presentation pointer using this application.
- Analytics App: See just how well your business or personal website is doing with this analytics tool.
- QuickOffice Mobile Office Suite: Whether you’re writing a business plan, tracking your finances or just preparing for class, this app lets you do it from anywhere.
- Pocket MBA Test: If you’re studying to get your MBA, practice the information you’ll need to know for the test while on the go.
- Glossary of Business Acronyms: Never wonder what an acronym means again with this helpful reference app.
- Leadership Quotes: Get inspired with this application full of great business leadership quotes.
- Bump: With this application you can share your business card simply by touching your phone to another.
- Wall Street Words: Not sure what the heck the Wall Street Journal is talking about? Don’t stay ignorant, look the word up in this financial dictionary app.
Multitasking and Productivity
Learn how to get more done with less by using these apps.
- OmniFocus: Try out this application to finally "get serious" about productivity with functions that let you take notes, turn them into to-dos and stay on task.
- Netvibes: Keep all your favorite websites organized in one place so you can see what’s going on with each at the same time using this site.
- Evernote: Create notes for yourself on the go and share, email and access them later with this tool.
- Remember the Milk: Get to-do lists on your computer that you can check on the web or on your phone with this tool.
- Ta-Da List: This simple tool lets you create to-do lists to ensure you get all your work done.
- Joe’s Goals: Set goals for yourself for this year, five years from now or this week using this site.
- Time Tracker: This tool lets you keep track of what sites you’re visiting so you can pare down your procrastination time.
- Rescue Time: If you’re easily distracted, this tool is designed to help you focus and limit the temptation to browse other websites.
- TreePad Lite: Organize your personal information, data, contacts, notes and more in one place using this application.
- Todoist: Use this application to track all of the things you need to get done in a day or week.
Starting a Business
If you’re feeling ambitious and want to start your own business while in graduate school, these free tools can be a big help in getting the venture off the ground!
- Highrise: Use the website to track business leads, clients and contacts so you’ll never lose out on potential business.
- Freshbooks: Manage all of your business finances using this online tool.
- Basecamp: This project management site will let you dole out tasks, see where a project stands and keep it all organized.
- Wesabe: Whether you use it for your personal finances or to track a business’ worth, this free financial tool is a great online resource.
- ConceptShare: Get feedback on your designs, concepts and projects easily through this collaborative tool.
- PayPal: You’ve got to get paid somehow, and this site makes it pretty darn simple to get it done.
- MyNewCompany: Use this site as a great source of information to make sure you’re not making any big blunders when it comes to running your new business.
- Nolo: Find legal advice for your new business on this site.
- BigCartel: If you need a shopping cart app for your site, this one is reasonably priced and easy to use.
- Google AdWords: Google Ads are a great way to promote your business or to make a few extra bucks by placing them on your site.
Markets and Investment
Follow global economic trends, identify investors or and try your own hand at investing by using these tools.
- Covestor: Follow what more experienced investors are doing on Covestor to see how things work and gain confidence.
- Tip’d: Stay current with the latest business and financial news on this site.
- Market Watch Community: This site will help you to learn more about the market in an online investment community.
- Zopa: If you need a loan for your business, get one from everyday people and not the bank through this site.
- Market Watch: Keep up with the ups and downs of the market on this site.
- Quote.com: Find out where any stock stands by looking it up on this site.
- Investor Guide: Get stock quotes, investing advice and the latest financial news on this site.
- Go4Funding: Go through this site to find an angel investor for your business venture.
- Venture Worthy: Find out if your business has what it takes to draw in investors from this great website.
- Investing Minds: Share advice and ideas on investing on this online community.
Business Toolkits
These toolkits combine a wide variety of resources from business plan templates to financial calculators to make sure you know the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur.
- Inc.com: From finding a job to managing a workplace, this site is full of tools and articles to help you do it right.
- BizToolkit: Learn how to plan, market and grow a business with this toolkit.
- Entrepreneur.com: Find vendors, learn how to franchise, discover PR tools and more through this site.
- SCORE: Here you’ll get access to business-related quizzes, podcasts and links.
- U.S. Small Business Administration: There are numerous free resources available to small business owners on this government site.
- Bplans.com: Find sample business plans and learn how to build your own on this site.
- Green Business Guide: Try out the resources found on this site to launch your own green business.
- Small Business Toolkit: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created this set of tools to help you start, manage and expand your business.
- Goliath Business Tools: With business plans, a business encyclopedia, and a company profile database, this site is chock-full of business goodness
- Business Owner’s Toolkit Find everything you’ll need to get your business up and running on this site.
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!
My father was an elementary school teacher who eventually became an elementary school principal, a position that he retired from about 15 years ago. As you might imagine, education was an important part of the lives of my three siblings and me. Like my father, three of four of us eventually pursued careers in education: my sister teaches art to high school students in California; my brother is a professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Vermont and I have been a science educator for most of my adult life.(1).jpg)
Amy Bishop, a tenure track faculty member of the Biology Department at the University of Alabama-Huntsville 
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Let’s face it; scientists aren’t generally regarded as being funny. While I have met several very funny researchers during my almost 35 year career, the vast majority of my colleagues have been mostly serious and, at times, difficult to amuse; especially when things weren't going so well in the lab..jpg)
While this isn’t a 
Over the past year or so, more graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have been asking me about management consulting careers in the life sciences. I spent several years working as an independent management consultant and while it was a great experience the revenue stream was unreliable at best and the ability to work was highly contingent upon the economy. However, I can assure that my experiences as an independent management consultant were marketing different than those of consultants who work at the consulting firms like McKinsey or the Boston Consulting Group. For those of you interested in life style of a high-powered management consultant I highly recommend you visit their websites for more info. 
I suspect by the growing numbers of people who read BioJobBlog, that some of you may be beginning to wonder who I am. While nobody has taken me to task about my credentials or musings to date, I figured it may be worthwhile to share my “story” with those BioJobBlog readers who may be at a crossroads in their careers. I credit my graduate school experiences and PhD degree for the tenacity, perseverance and the ability to reinvent myself during an eclectic, and oft times, circuitous career path. 
While life sciences companies are still reluctant to take the “social media plunge,” many other companies (with active social media programs) frequently hire employees known as social media managers who oversee and run their social networks. This is because successful social media websites require daily attention and are extremely time consuming and labor intensive. In general, employees who are hired for these jobs have strong backgrounds in social media and technology but frequently possess little expertise in the industry that they are working in. Because social media is so new, many hiring managers believe that the social media and technology skills of these managers are more important than an understanding of the industry that they work in. However, while this practice may be acceptable in other industries, it won’t be the case for the social media managers who oversee pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices and diagnostics social media websites. These managers will likely be required to have a firm understanding of current rules and regulations guiding drug development and marketing and advertising of approved life sciences products. This will be necessary if the drug makers who hire these managers want to steer clear of regulatory scrutiny by the US Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies.
After yesterday's post about career planning for life scientists, one of my soon to be former students in the Fundamentals of Bioscience Program aptly pointed out that my readers might have benefitted more if I had, in fact, offered information about alternate career possibilities for bioscientists. I don't want the student to get too overconfident but I had the same thought immediately after I uploaded the post. 
Yesterday, I gave a lecture entitled “Alternate Careers: Taking the Road Less Traveled” to over 100 members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Biomedical Graduate Student Association. As always, there were many good questions and comments during and after the presentation. Some of the career anecdotes offered by several of the students reminded me of a conversation that I had several weeks ago with one of my Fundamentals of Bioscience students—I teach a Product Development and Regulatory Affairs course in the program—who refreshed my memory about a typical graduate student approach to career development and job searching. “We don’t think about jobs or our careers until we begin writing our PhD theses” she said. “Until then, our advisers don’t talk about careers or jobs and only bring it up because our funding will run out” she added. Admittedly, I had forgotten this because so many years have passed since my graduate student days. That said, it forced me to consider how much the life sciences job market has changed since I was graduate student and how vitally important it is for today’s graduate students to think about and possibly explore different career options throughout the course of their graduate training..jpg)
By now, I think that most BioJobBlog readers understand that the job market for life scientists is lousy and that it isn’t likely to improve anytime soon. I know that many of you have spent close to 10 years training for a shot at an R&D job but the reality is that everybody needs to work to put food on the table—whether or not you find a job in your chosen profession. To that end, now may be a good time for those of you who are finding it difficult to land a job to consider one more year of training to get a certificate in a field that keeps you in science but not in R&D..jpg)
Are you a life sciences or healthcare professional with a passion for computers, IT or software development? If so, you might want to consider a career in health informatics—one of the hottest, new fields in the life sciences and healthcare industries. Health informatics specialists typically have expertise in medical records and claims, clinical care and programming. In other words, they have a foot in two worlds— medicine and technology — and can easily bridge the often daunting gap between them. It is important to point out that there is a difference between healthcare IT and informatics personnel. The health IT people run the servers and install software, but the informatics people are the ones who analyze and interpret clinical/ medical information and work with clinical and other healthcare staff to advise and help them.
For the past five years, I have been giving career development seminars that offer graduate students and postdoctoral fellows alternate careers choices (instead of research) for life scientists. The intent of these seminars is to get students who may not be enamored with a possible life long career at the bench (I know that there a lot of you out there) to think about what they really want to do after they complete their graduate or postdoctoral training..jpg)
I became a medical/science writer after a rather circuitous, unconventional and sometimes, checkered career. Along the way, I learned a few things that I thought would be important to share with other PhDs who are seeking to change careers, t broaden their horizons and or simply to bring home a paycheck! I am sure that I missed a few things but here are my top 10 reasons to consider a career in medical/science writing:
