Barry Welch, founder of Internet Databases and developer of FurnishWEB, a portal for the home furnishings industry, and Anne Giles Clelland, president of social media public relations agency Handshake Media, share a Handshake 1.0 at Our Daily Bread in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Photo credit: A really nice guy at Our Daily Bread :)

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Here's how to get your Handshake 1.0 on Handshake 2.0.  Here are all the Handshake 1.0's on Handshake 2.0 - so far!  Can't wait to see yours!

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Internet Databases is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Barry Welch, developer of FurnishWEB and founder of Internet Databases, is one entrepreneur who has taken steps to imprint social search with his company's growing social media footprint.

In just one year, Welch has gone from hosting a traditional business web site to expanding his presence as an entrepreneur and business founder, as well as that of FurnishWEB, in multiple social media channels.

His list of social media channels includes:

• The FurnishWEB Blog
• A CEO blog
• @furnishwEB and @barrywelch on Twitter 
• A Barry Welch profile page on LinkedIn
• A FurnishWEB YouTube Channel
• Ongoing media coverage by Handshake 2.0
• A FurnishWEB Facebook Fan Page 
• Membership on the Ning GoFurnish network

Has Barry Welch become the Guy Kawasaki of the Furniture Industry? No.

Is FurnishWEB the SaaS armchair of the Furniture Industry? Not yet.

Can FurnishWEB and Barry Welch be found in search results due to their expanded social media footprint? Yes.

By expanding the social media presence of his company and himself, Welch has increased the number of opportunities to be found in search engines. Since social search was added to the search algorithm in December of 2009, social networks now play an important part in how results are ranked in a search. You've read it before: Google yourself. Video yourself. It works.

To read more about FunishWEB's evolving online presence, click here.

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Z. Kelly Queijo is the founder of SmartCollegeVisit and a frequent contributor to Handshake 2.0. You're invited to follow SmartCollegeVisit on Twitter, @collegevisit.

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Internet Databases, developer of FurnishWEB, is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Barry Welch, founder of Internet Databases and developer of FurnishWEB, a connectivity portal for the home furnishings industry, Anne Giles Clelland, founder of Handshake 2.0, a connector of people and portals, and Z. Kelly Queijo, founder of SmartCollegeVisit, a college visit portal with tools and resources for planning campus visit travel, share a Handshake 1.0.

Photo credit: Andrew Cohill

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It's still who you know!  You're invited to send us an image of you shaking hands with someone you know - a Handshake 1.0 - and we'll consider posting it in on Handshake 2.0.

Here are all the Handshake 1.0's on Handshake 2.0 and here's how to get your Handshake 1.0 on Handshake 2.0.

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Design Nine, Internet Databases and SmartCollegeVisit are clients of Handshake Media.

If my count is accurate, in 2009, I have written more than 70 articles for Handshake 2.0. Looking back, I find myself drawn to certain articles and topics that I catalog as "favorites" of the year. An author rating her own work, choosing one post over another, is akin to choosing a favorite child. However, the selection criteria I've used are not based on what I think represents my most-loved creation. Instead, they're based on topics that held a great deal of appeal due to the process of creating the work.

Most interesting company to write about: FurnishWEB

Of all the companies I covered, I wrote most often about FurnishWEB. FurnishWEB is a client of Handshake Media and, in my role as a freelance writer for Handshake 2.0, topics and people are often assigned to me to write about. Being a little on the geeky side, I found FurnishWEB, the software-as-a-service tool designed to serve the inventory management and order tracking needs of the furniture industry, to be a well-designed database with a solid user-interface. It's the kind of tool that when you see a demo, you come away thinking, "Doesn't every one in the furniture industry need this?" The answer, of course, is yes.

The other interesting aspect of covering the FurnishWEB story was getting to know founder Barry Welch, whom I dubbed The Sheriff of FurnishWEB.  He's an all-around great person to know who approaches life and business with enthusiasm, intelligence and kindness. I'm really thrilled to have the opportunity to help him tell the story of FurnishWEB.

Most fun to write: Selling Music Indie Style

Andrew Dickenson, a native of Christiansburg, Virginia and his wife June Suh, make beautiful music together, but their story does not end there. In fact, it's only beginning. The steps they've taken to market and promote their art online and through social media are impressive. Their story is a virtual "how to" with tools that include iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, ThumbPlay, CafePress, and others. Writing their story was an education on how individual artists can reach a broad audience using tools and media available to all of us.

Favorite topic: Twitter

What can I say? Twitter is the velcro of social media. You never run out of ways to use it. (characters: 77)

Favorite interview: Aneesh Chopra, then Virginia's Secretary of Technology

On April 18, 2009, Chopra was appointed by President Obama as the first federal Chief Technology Officer, but when I spoke with him, he held the position of Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The fact that he returned my call, answered my email, and was willing to take the time to talk about opportunities for entrepreneurs to launch a business anywhere in Virginia, made government seem much more people-centric than I thought it could be.

I end the year as one of those people who launched a business in Virginia, confident that there is a terrific community of people and tools to learn about - and from - that will support and guide me in 2010.

Z. Kelly Queijo is the founder of SmartCollegeVisit and a frequent contributor to Handshake 2.0.

Andrew Cohill of Design Nine, a broadband connectivity expert, and Barry Welch, developer of FurnishWEB, a connectivity portal for the home furnishings industry, share a Handshake 1.0.

Design Nine provides visionary broadband network design and engineering services to clients, communities, and regions throughout the U.S.  To learn more, you can read the Design Nine blog, Technology Futures, follow Design Nine on Twitter @DesignNine, read about Design Nine in Design Nine Announces The Wired Road, and read about Design Nine's founder, Andrew Cohill, on Handshake 2.0 in Clicking Back Over the Years - Most Wired Town in America and Most Wired Town: Building Community One Click at a Time.

FurnishWEB is an online data management system for the home furnishings industry that expedites and systematizes order processing and product inventory tracking to optimize partnerships between manufacturers, dealers, sales representatives, staff, and customers. You can follow FurnishWEB on Twitter, become a FurnishWEB fan on Facebook, and read Barry Welch's blog.  FurnishWEB is an enterprise of Internet Databases, a custom web development company founded in 1999, located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia.

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It's still who you know!  You're invited to send us an image of you shaking hands with someone you know - a Handshake 1.0 - and we'll consider posting it in on Handshake 2.0.

Here are all the Handshake 1.0's on Handshake 2.0 and here's how to get your Handshake 1.0 on Handshake 2.0.

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Design Nine and Internet Databases are clients of Handshake 2.0.

"I found [FurnishWEB] to be the best and most complete site I have used."
 - Amy Perrin, Sales Representative, Sitcom Accessories

Hearing that from a FurnishWEB user was a high point for Barry Welch, founder of Internet Databases and developer of FurnishWEB, a dealer and sales rep portal for the home furnishings industry with a comprehensive online order, inventory, shipping and tracking system.  "What comes first for me is my clients' satisfaction.  If they're pleased, I'm even more pleased."

Barry Welch travels from his corporate office in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center to High Point, North Carolina this weekend for the National Home Furnishings Association's High Point Market, considered one of the top showroom and merchandising design events in the United States for the home furnishings industry.

Welch will co-present two sessions on Take a Critical Look at Your Company with Bob George of FurnitureCore.com and Impact Consulting.  Barry Welch will talk about ways FurnishWEB can be part of a solution to handling changes in the evolving home furnishings industry.  

For those unable to attend the session, here's the flyer Barry Welch will present about FurnishWEB (.pdf)and a video introducing FurnishWEB.

The Take a Critical Look at Your Company sessions with Bob George of FurnitureCore.com and Impact Consulting, and Barry Welch, founder of Internet Databases and developer of FurnishWEB, will take place on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, in the NHFA's Retailer Resource Center, Space 527, Plaza Suites with the 8:30 AM workshop for retailers and the 1:30 PM workshop for manufacturers.  Workshop attendees are invited to pre-register for the workshop.

Video credit:  Z. Kelly Queijo.  Thanks to Amy Perrin for permission to use her quote.

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FurnishWEB, a client of Handshake 2.0, is an online data management system for the home furnishings industry that expedites and systematizes order processing and product inventory tracking to optimize partnerships between manufacturers, dealers, sales representatives, staff, and customers.

You can follow FurnishWEB on Twitter, become a FurnishWEB fan on Facebook, and read Barry Welch's blog.

FurnishWEB is an enterprise of Internet Databases, a custom web development company founded in 1999, located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia.

What's the hot seller in the home furnishings industry in Phoenix, Arizona? How about Nashville, Tennessee? FurnishWEB is designed to answer.  In addition to tracking orders placed and shipped, a sales rep can also monitor sales trends based on product, style, customer, placement, and year-to-year performance. Barry Welch, developer of FurnishWEB, explains how it works.

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Z. Kelly Queijo writes about business and technology, people and their passions.  She is a frequent contributor to Handshake 2.0. You're invited to follow her on Twitter at @zkellyq.

Video credit:  Z. Kelly Queijo

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FurnishWEB, a client of Handshake 2.0, is an online data management system for the home furnishings industry that expedites and systematizes order processing and product inventory tracking to optimize partnerships between manufacturers, dealers, sales representatives, staff, and customers.

You can follow FurnishWEB on Twitter, become a FurnishWEB fan on Facebook, and read Barry Welch's blog.

FurnishWEB is an enterprise of Internet Databases, a custom web development company founded in 1999, located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia.

As a home furnishings industry product and service provider, Barry Welch found a home furnishings industry customer experience less than desirable when he and his wife tried to buy a recliner from a company that did not use FurnishWEB, the product he developed to solve just the problems he encountered.

In the video, Barry Welch explains how the shopping experience could have been different for him as the customer, for the salesperson, and, ultimately, for the manufacturer.

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Z. Kelly Queijo writes about business and technology, people and their passions.  She is a frequent contributor to Handshake 2.0. You're invited to follow her on Twitter at @zkellyq.

Video credit:  Z. Kelly Queijo

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FurnishWEB, a client of Handshake 2.0, is an online data management system for the home furnishings industry that expedites and systematizes order processing and product inventory tracking to optimize partnerships between manufacturers, dealers, sales representatives, staff, and customers.

You can follow FurnishWEB on Twitter and become a FurnishWEB fan on Facebook.

FurnishWEB is an enterprise of Internet Databases, a custom web development company founded in 1999, located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia.

In a comment on his post on the Four Hour Work Week, Jim Flowers writes, "I don't see anything there related to giving, only taking."

Here's an entrepreneur who gives:  Barry Welch, founder of Internet Databases and developer of FurnishWEB, was featured in the August 2009 issue of Valley Business FRONT for his philnathropic work in Haiti.

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An Entrepreneur in Haiti by Z. Kelly Queijo describes more about Barry Welch.

FurnishWEB, a client of Handshake 2.0, is an online data management system for the home furnishings industry that expedites and systematizes order processing and product inventory tracking to optimize partnerships between manufacturers, dealers, sales representatives, staff, and customers.

FurnishWEB is an enterprise of Internet Databases, a custom web development company founded in 1999, located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia.

Handshake 2.0 asked Barry Welch, founder of Internet Databases and developer of FurnishWEB this question:

“If you could speak to your 10-year-younger self - the one who founded Internet Databases 10 years ago – and remember the doubts you had then, what statement of reassurance would you offer yourself?  In other words, what do you know now that would have been fortifying to know then?”

Barry Welch replied:

"It's going to be okay."

Ten years ago, with a toddler at home and a pregnant wife, I had many doubts about taking the leap from a decent job with a steady paycheck, benefits and a vacation package to starting my own business.  My supportive wife Allison had heard me talk about running my own company for several years.  "Do it or you'll eventually regret it,” "No time is the right time,” and "Do it or be quiet about it!" were some of her comments.

She was right…but I had so much inertia to overcome.  "How will we pay the mortgage?", "How will we find customers?", "What if they don't like my product?" were questions plaguing me. 

I decided to interview three company owners I admired both in my industry and in other industries. 

The feedback I received was far from encouraging. 

The first owner, whom I perceive to be a very successful entrepreneur, opened the interview by saying if he had to do it all over he would not start a new company.  Because of constant work obligations, he missed suppers with his family, his children's sporting events, vacations, and quiet time with his wife.

The second company owner told me he was sick and tired and fatigued and frustrated from trying to make it work, and just that week had decided to close his business.  "Don't do it! " he said, "Keep your security and your sanity." Instead of gaining support, I got promises of dark days ahead if I pursued my dream.

I entered the last interview expecting more of the same, but what happened caught me off guard.  This business owner was happy.  He enjoyed a typical work week of 40-50 hours and expected the same of his employees.  He loved running his own business and the professional learning process that came along with it.  And, to my surprise, he wanted to be my first client if I took the leap.  The catch, however, was he needed me to start on the project within two weeks!  Obviously, I took the chance and have been running my own company since.

Over the past ten years, I've come to realize that if I am sincere, honest, open-minded and persistent, people and circumstances arise to help me through situations.  Time and time again what I've needed, whether I realized it or not, arrived in my path.  Knowing this would have made stepping out as an entrepreneur much less gut-wrenching.  I don't want to give the impression that I don’t have hard times, emotionally draining times, and difficult decisions to make.  But I find comfort knowing that if I follow my principles, things have a way of working themselves out.

"It's going to be okay."

And pursuing a difficult dream is much better than wishing I had.

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FurnishWEB, a client of Handshake 2.0, is an online data management system for the home furnishings industry that expedites and systematizes order processing and product inventory tracking to optimize partnerships between manufacturers, dealers, sales representatives, staff, and customers.

FurnishWEB is an enterprise of Internet Databases, a custom web development company founded in 1999, located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia.