Entrepreneur Business: Ultimate guide to the Christmas and New Year public holidays; Your holiday reading list; Skype down for millions; Banks to fight Storm legal action

Dear SmartCompany reader,

Skype may be a great tool for saving money, but what happens when it fails? A massive outage last night has kept millions of users and businesses waiting for a solution, highlighting the perils of cloud computing.

Also today, we look at the decision of the Fair Work tribunal to start eliminating old awards, and provide the entrepreneurs’ ultimate guide to the Christmas and New Year public holiday chaos. We’ve also got 10 of the top books, articles and videos you should check out to keep you motivated over the Christmas break.

This is our last edition for 2010, but we’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, January 4. Whatever you’re celebrating this holiday season, we hope you have a wonderful time.

We thank you for all of your support during 2010 and we look forward to having another great year in 2011.

For all this and more, head to our home page.

News

Top Story
Your holiday reading list It's time to settle down, relax and recharge – and what better way to do that than by reading some of the best business material produced in 2010? BY JAMES THOMSON.

Top Story
The New Year’s resolutions of successful entrepreneurs Now is the time entrepreneurs need to be thinking about developing a strategy for the year ahead. Here are some helpful resolutions you could adopt. BY PATRICK STAFFORD.

Aunty B
The guy keeps stuffing around. Do I walk away from the deal? They are not a turkey so stuffing is out of the question. Six months is not that long in the scheme of things.

Trends

IT Systems
David Markus How do I know my IT management costs? Look to productivity as an indicator of IT success and create a roadmap for getting the right resources in place.

The Digital Bottom Line
Brendan Lewis Personal social media policy A lot of people in organisations are currently discussing their business's social media policies, but don't have a personal one. Big mistake.

Gen-Y Millionaire
Kirsty Dunphey What's better? Old or new? As a newbie in any industry let it sink in that you're going to make mistakes. It's how you resolve those mistakes that really matters.

Boss Lady
Amanda Gome What a year! For entrepreneurs, now is the time to relax, unwind and evaluate how you want your 2011 to look.

Have a great Christmas and New Year,

Amanda Gome
Founder / Publisher
SmartCompany.com.au

Take the opportunity to have a break. Leave the laptop at home, head off for a time, and recharge the batteries.

Before you barrel back into the office and get buried in tasks and your inbox; spend a couple of days doing some clear thinking about the six months ahead. It's a great opportunity to do some 'blue-sky' planning now that you've had a few days out and the phone isn't ringing off the hook like usual.

Andrew Thomas, Thomas Duryea Consulting

Click here for more.