Big-Biz Strategies for Small-Biz Owners

Learn how to improve your small business by implementing Six Sigma problem-solving methods.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Making the Most of What You Have

Sometimes, seeing the silver lining is all you need to keep your business burning bright.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Does your small business make your customers feel good?

It helps people to feel calm and secure, or superior - these feelings are deeply satisfying to all of us.Is that the only motivation why people buy, I don't think so.... If your product and service does not do one of the two, you may have a problem.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Compensating Salespeople

Finding the balance between salary and commission may be your ticket to loyal, motivated sales employees.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

5 Out-of- the-Ordinary Outsourcing Trends

Outsourcing is reaching new levels of creativity as entrepreneurs figure out more tasks that can be sourced elsewhere.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Success Makes Entrepreneurs Stupid!

You worked hard to get to a profitable position in your business and believe it is time to relax - all is well, and than "bang".A few years back I helped a business that used to be successful for a number of years and made good money.... Nobody had paid attention to the customers for all the time since the owner had left.The moral here is to make sure you hand the business over to people who understand that customer care is more important than a great product.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

E is for Entrepreneurship

Find out why three former teachers left red pens and chalkboards for A+ careers outside the classroom.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

A Good Place to Be an Entrepreneur

California continues improving its business environment by focusing on entrepreneurial concerns and what the state can do to help.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Rumors About Google and Skype

TechWeb is reporting rumors that Google is talking to Skype about an acquisition.

The rumor that Google might acquire Skype was started Monday in a blog on the U.K.s respected Guardian and since then, the report has taken on a life of its own at investment firms.

Like many Google rumors there is no solid basis for any such speculation (remember the Google phone?). But it persists because there are some logical reasons for the two companies to establish a deeper relationship.

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

StupidFilter

Software tackles stupid forum postings.

The software will sit on the server side of a website and examine new postings for signs that the contributor is not making sense. These might include repeat letters (ex. amazinggggg) and text-speak such as LOL (for 'laughs out loud').

complete article

Read More...

[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Keeping Your Marriage Intact

If your spouse isn't as supportive as you would like him to be, try these 6 tips.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Create Professional RSS Feeds

More and more companies are using RSS as a means to communicate, so having an RSS feed that is professional and well polished will help differentiate your company from your competition. What makes an RSS feed professional? Follow these simple steps to polish your RSS feed and take it to the next level...

Create Professional RSS Feeds

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Price Irregularities May Lead to Website Closures

Over half of Europes airlines including Ryanair could be forced to close their Web sites next year if they fail to remedy problems shown by the EU consumer affairs watchdog in a probe carried out in September.


The results of the investigation to be published on Wednesday and obtained by Reuters says over 50 percent of all Web sites showed irregularities, in particular relating to price indications, contract terms and clarity of proposed conditions.

complete article

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

The Week Ender: Government Contracts for Small Business?

I met an old friend the other day who told me that he sold his little business, he used to work on MoD - Ministry of Defense - contracts and had developed testing programs for them.I asked what he was doing next, go back and do it again?... If these alleged practices are true, than they would be highly damaging for small business.The only thing small business seems to be good for in the UK is paying more and more taxes, in return we appear to be lied to more and more.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Happy Thanksgiving!

While today is the "Thanksgiving Day", in reality the celebrations go on until Monday when everyone is back at work - it is by no means a one day affair.Having had the pleasure of celebrating Thanksgiving with a friends family in Massachusetts in the late eighties, I have always been a little jealous when my U.S. friends and employees leave on wednesday by saying "Happy Thanksgiving". Because I know the scenes around every small and big dinning-room table, with good food and the much needed family time - especially in todays fast living society.Thanksgiving is now an almost four hundred year old tradition in the U.S. (1619 - Berkeley Plantation in Virginia), and the holiday was first established by President Lincoln, with specific reference to giving thanks to God.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Are you working in or on your small business?

Don't get confused about what you, the business owner of your small business or start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, should be doing?... That is very wrong and also the reason why many businesses fail.Working on your business means to looking at it from the outside, remembering all these little customer comments, imagining a new type of technology to be employed in the business, changing the way you advertise, in other words making changes to the business, the whole business:- that will improve performance, enhance external communication with clients, improve the clients experience, cut costs out of your business,and many other aspects of your business.That is in reality the most important part of what a business owner should do - plan the future.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Is Your Referral Networking Working?

Contrary to what you may think, the referral process is not difficult to measure.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Data Protection the Government Way!

In this year alone the following list of "accidents" have happened: November 2007 - HMRC sent a disk with 15,000 Standard Life customers from Newcastle to the insurance, the disk never arrived;October 2007 - another computer from HRMC worker was stolen with hundreds of peoples personal data;November 2007 - BBC's Watch Dog uncovered a string of mistakes made by HMRC causing personal details to be sent to the wrong people;April 2007 - HRMC documents found in Nottingham containing sensitive information.And these are the cases we know about.... Combine this with the Capital Gains Tapper Relief and Northern Rock debacle and you get a pretty clear picture of the competence of this government.Watching Mr Darling defending any of these debacles beggars belief and leaves me speechless.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

5 Out-of-the-Ordinary Outsourcing Trends

Outsourcing is reaching new levels of creativity as entrepreneurial minds figure out more and more tasks that can be sourced elsewhere.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

What is your customer service agenda?

You need to understand what level of customer care your customers want, so most of all you need to listen.I often come across small business, where customer complaints are causing stress and sometimes even anger.... You should get your staff to understand your customer service agenda fully, so they can do things professionally, courteously and promptly.If you don't have a customer service agenda, your customers may have a agenda, to go and buy somewhere else.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

People buy from People.

All these personal traits are important, but not as important as EQ - emotional intelligence - which means people who have natural warmth, are optimistic and can empathize with the plight of other people.Who would you rather deal with, someone who seems cold and distant, or someone who understands your problems and can suggest solutions or ideas on a services/product level, but also on a more emotional and beneficial level.... So when you hire, ask about faults, ask about being told off for getting something wrong, ask how they felt when someone else got told off at work?

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

When to ignore your critics!

An here I include the so called business gurus - just ignore them.Can you imagine what happened when Alexander Graham Bell announced he wanted a phone in every house - Western Union called it an "electric toy" and "totally out of the question";Henry Ford said he wanted one car in every family - most felt the horse was here to stay.The same happened to me still in 1995, when most people thought the internet was going to disappear faster than it had arrived - I remember the abuse very well. So why do people get so negative about other peoples business ideas: Lack of Vision is probably the biggest reason;Envy is another big reason - driven by the inability to take a risk themselves and the fact that they can't bear to see others succeed;Genuine concern for your well being - they thing your are taking too big a risk, you are naive, and so on.Take advise on certain techniques on how to run your business, but do not take advise on if you should start a business or not.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Small Business Maxim: Have a Passion.

I got up today at 4:00 am, because I have a great meeting set up today, with some people I wanted to meet for some time, and I can't wait to tell them my ideas about the future of our business, so I'm going over my presentation again.I'm sitting here at 5:00 am writing my daily postings to you all, you may think I'm nuts. Or you may think I'm driven by the idea to make small and micro businesses more successful, but whatever you think, it is not "my god is this guy greedy!"Greed is NOT the same as passion!

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Identify your most valuable customers and dont make them scream.

I have mentioned the 80/20 rule before, it basically says that you will do about:80% of your business turnover with 20% of your customers.Everyone in your small business should know these 20% of your customers by name, so when they call you can give them the "special" treatment they deserve.... Make your business the business, where your customers don't have to scream, but just phone and feel treated special, because that is what they deserve.Your reward for this kind of service is a loyal customer and word of mouth marketing you could not pay for.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Get Small Business Blogging with WinWeb!

Blogging is most certainly the most inexpensive and direct way to communicate with possible customers, you can blog about your products and services; explain certain aspects better;blog about your company and your business mission;blog about your industry, comment on development and differentiate yourself;blog about case studies to do with your product and services.In other words communicate with others on the internet and market your small business.... In the mid-ninties I used to tell people to get a web-site, today a web-site should be standard for any small business and a blog a must if you want to succeed in the future.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

WinWebs Free Online Accounting Software Now With Cost Centre Functionality.

WinWeb has just updated their OnlineOffice accounting module, to include cost centre functionality.This allows you to "tag" expenses to products, departments, services or projects - giving you the opportunity to analyze the true cost of a department or any project.... This functionality is free of charge along with the 24/7 live support for all of WinWeb's software products - another reason to sign up to LiveNet of OnlineOffice for the free 30 days trail, if you do not like or need the full OnlineOffice functionality, you can use the accounting module, including the cost centre functionality, free of charge forever.This will give you financial information to make even better decisions.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Benefits, Not Features is what sells!

Know who you are talking to, if you are talking to an industry insider, tell him all the technical details, because he understands enough of the technology to understand the details, and then work out the benefits for himself/herself. If you are talking to a customer who wants to use your service or product to gain a benefit from using you, let him/her know what the benefit is.One word about not being able to show a benefit, I would openly say to my client that there is no benefit from using our product, you may not get a sale, but you will get someone who will respect you and come back, because he/she trusts you.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Customer Service The Backbone Of Any Small Business

The reasons for this ore obvious, they already know your product or service and you do not need to sell your product to them anymore, lower marketing costs, less time spend on explaining the product or service.Don't misunderstand me here, your small business needs new customers all the time, but as mentioned it is far more costly to get them. If your business can't keep customers than that is a bad sign, and you need to investigate this ASAP.Turning new customers into loyal customers is the key objective in any business, small or large.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Small Business News Round-Up, November 16, 2007

I read some good articles last week and want to share them with you here: Web Worker Daily has a business example of a 100% Online We Consulting Firm, as I hope a growing trend.Jason Holden follows one of my favorite themes in Online accountant and online accounting?.Shama Hyder, apart from getting me onto twitter, has a great interview with TheFreeLanceNation.com.Wendy Piersall is telling all us bloggers how to monetize your blog, in nine different ways.The Digerati Life blog will let you know How To Safely Borrow For A House Purchase, as the US House votes to license mortgage brokers.John Jantsch has two pieces I liked - How to SCORE some seriously good start-up help AND NYC doing small business right.That is my little round-up for this week and your weekend. I hope you will enjoy some of these links, and undoubtedly you will find more great stuff while following these links.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

20 Palate-Pleasing Holiday Wines

Looking for the perfect, sippable gift? Wine shops and bars from across the country recommend their favorite holiday wines for less than $20 and $100.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

The Week Ender: Finding that Home Business Idea!

I may come up with some close ideas - but doing gardening everyday, no matter what someone payed me would be a definite NO-NO!Somewhere down the line I get to small business and I can say: I have had 30 years of small business experience;I have had formal business education;I'm passionate about small business;I know I make and will make mistakes everyday, failure for me is just another way of learning;I love listening to customers and their ideas about my business; I'm always surprised and learn something new;mad about the inability of politicians to understand very small business;sad about the accountants lack of a forward looking outlook in their profession;know we are in trouble with our environment, and I would like to make a difference;always loved high-tech, computers, software, my years as CEO of a leading ISP;building a company from zero to tens of millions in turnover in just four years.This is my personal list for my small business interest and after all that, what you get is WinWeb - my way of dealing with my passion and frustration about small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants - and it's a great business!... You noticed, I didn't mention an MBA, lots of money or bookkeeping, marketing, IT, and law experience, these are "nice to have" items, but not essential, unless you are working in those fields of cause.Like someone once said, when you are older, "You don't regret the things you did, you regret the things you didn't do."At the beginning and the end of our live we are all the same, what makes the difference is the bit in the middle, making it exciting and interesting is something you have to do - nobody is going to do it for you.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Q&A: What are some social and economic issues small business face?

I'm going to expand this question "slightly" into - I hope Walsh does not mind:What are some of the social, political and economic issues small business face?I should remind you that when I talk about small business, I mean 1 to 5 people businesses, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professionals, contractors, freelancers, self-employed, sole-traders and virtual assistants.Social issues are clearly centered around the work-place, work life and private life.... I believe you can start a business with $20/10 a month and grow your business, risk free (without loans) on the side, while still in employment, until the turnover is big enough to justify quitting ones day job.You may feel about a business on the side as you will, the fact remains this is going on as we speak, trends we see in the online usage patterns of our OnlineOffice, certainly support this theory.At the same time business failure is far less an issue, as the risk associated with these ventures is very small, with the right mental attitude of the entrepreneur towards failure, the learning effect of a failure can be enormous.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

And the winner is .. Again!

It was nice to meet Phil Woodgate and some of his colleagues again.My conversations of the evening have been focused around my changing attitude toward the accounting profession, and I was quite surprised to find that most of my conversation partners agreed with me on my assessment of the "backward looking profession" and it's damaging effect on very small business, which has been a constant source of concern for me in the past few years.... I for one, would prefer to live in London, where we can get up in the morning and have a smile about a serious point made the "Boris Way", rather than being embarrassed and upset by an intolerable and arrogant Mayor, who clearly does not understand even the basics of the problems we face in the future, a trait he shares with many in his party, especially when it comes to micro- and small business issues.All in, I enjoyed last evening immensely and thank AccountancyAge for putting up a great show.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Successful Selling Across Cultures

Our world is getting smaller. Our nations and communities are becoming more diverse. For example, my hometown now has a level of diversity more like a large city than a midwestern suburb. And it's a better place because of it.But the more we work with people from cultures different than our own, the more ...

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[Source: AllBusiness.com - The Small Business Blog]

Rewarding Employees Creatively

If you don't have the money for large bonuses or extravagant end-of-the-year parties, consider these methods to thank employees.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Making the best out of change or riding a trend.

While I always caution people, that change is not necessarily progress, it is also correct that change is what is creating new business opportunities every day.It is living with this change and realizing the opportunities change generates that is the important process here. So how could a small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants go about seeing these opportunities?The answer sounds easy, but requires patience, you need to look at your chosen market segment from the out-side.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

New Small Business Startup Idea: Coworking Space

It may be that you have some spare space in your house, out-building, or you even a whole house, you can't or don't want to sell or rent out, then you could generate income by setting it up as a coworking space, a coworking wiki-site explains it like this:Coworking is cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents.Or, it's like this: start with a shared office and add cafe culture.... Have a look at the website for coworking to get some more ideas.It will be a great place for working, socializing, and getting ideas and help from others.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Bored With Retirement? Start a Business

Use these tips for getting back in the game when your life savings is at stake.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Talking Tofurky

Find out how one man with a tempeh-fueled dream changed Thanksgiving dinner forever.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Price Irregularities May Lead to Website Closures

Over half of Europes airlines including Ryanair could be forced to close their Web sites next year if they fail to remedy problems shown by the EU consumer affairs watchdog in a probe carried out in September.


The results of the investigation to be published on Wednesday and obtained by Reuters says over 50 percent of all Web sites showed irregularities, in particular relating to price indications, contract terms and clarity of proposed conditions.

complete article

Read More...

[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

10 Search Engines You Don't Know About

Go beyond Google and get vertical. These specialized search sites will help you find the business information you need--fast.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

StupidFilter

Software tackles stupid forum postings.

The software will sit on the server side of a website and examine new postings for signs that the contributor is not making sense. These might include repeat letters (ex. amazinggggg) and text-speak such as LOL (for 'laughs out loud').

complete article

Read More...

[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Little Switch - Big Small Business Collaboration

Whatever your virtual service is, typing, bookkeeping, web-dasign, translations, telephone answering, diary management, PR, it does not matter with OnlineOffice and the Quick Switch facility you will easily stay in control.Accountants can use this in the same fashion, so when a client calls, "switch" to the up-to-date data and give advice.... Combine this with the benefits of online technology and it eco-friendly impact, and you will be excused for feeling good about your business.To use this technology, all you need is your find your LiveNet ID - in My LiveNet > My Profile - give it to your client and he/she can set you up as a user on their OnlineOffice system and restrict what you have access to.This means you can work for anyone in the world who uses OnlineOffice, or you can add contractors, virtual assistants, freelancers or free agents to your system at will.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

In-House

Thinking of starting your own homebased business? Take a peek behind the shutters and find out what it's like to make the dough right at home.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

What's Up With These Docs?

These former doctors found the best treatment was to take two aspirin and start a business in the morning.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Can You Sell Your Small/Home-Based Business?

Some businesses, quite simply, are purely based on the person. The business IS the person. For example, many small consultants are based on the narrowly focused expertise...

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[Source: AllBusiness.com - The Small Business Blog]

Small Business Maxim: What If?

Look outside of your box, read books from other business entrepreneurs, try and see how they made a change work for them, read your wife's Cosmopolitan - your husband's Mens Health magazine, look at other industries, ask your kids what they like, be interested in anything and ask yourself all the time, what if.....?Your customer calls to complain about the last order - what if?... What if, applies to all aspects of your small business or startup business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants: Customer Care & Support;Sales;Marketing & PR;Accounting & Credit ControlEspecially Business Planning, and so on ....It just does not end, you may not be the next Einstein, but I bet you, you will get some pretty good answers from yourself, if you bother to find the right "What If....?"

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Senator John Kerry - Live Chat

Jennifer Lee emailed me yesterday, to tell me about this event:Hello Stefan,I'm writing to let you know that Senator John Kerry, Chair of the U.S. Senate on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, will be live online tomorrow, Nov.... He'll answer questions on health care, tax incentives, entrepreneurial development and other small business issues.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

10 Cheap Ways to Build Your Brand

Learn why branding reinforcement is important for your business.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Ramp Up Content Overtime

1. Adding gradual content over time is best. One article per week is ideal.

2. Syndicate your content using the author resource box for links back.

3. Place your articles in an RSS feed on your site with a link back to the full article in the Description field. If someone syndicates the feed and doesn't automatically link back to the full content, the link is still included. Don't include the full article in the feed, just teaser copy.

4. Re-submit the feed to RSS/search engines and directories after you syndicate your article.

5. You can manually post articles to a handful of key sites that aren't automated. You can email out using GroupMail to the common article listservs. You can also submit your article to a group of ezine editors that write for your market. Do this once a week.

6. When an author reprints and lets me know, I visit the site to ensure that the links are live in the author resource box. I then email the author, thanking them and telling them about additional articles they might find interesting. Sharon uses a macro set up TypePilot for her responses.

7. Your best articles are timeless or explain how to do things. Controversial topics are hit or miss.

8. Titles are critical. You must use keywords and capture the attention of editors and publishers.


Ramping Up Content Overtime

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Twitter, better late ..

It allows you to stay in touch with colleagues and friends while on the move or on your desk.It is an electronic messaging service, that works on the web and on your mobile via SMS - you get charged your standard SMS rates - so if you have an unlimited package, this is a great service. On my new iPhone - I'm an Apple junkie, with occasional supply problems - I can use the ThinCloud web-client for Twitter, thanks to O2 for free, that is really good.It could be a great marketing and networking tool, that is the idea anyway.

Read More...

[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

gowholesale.com

As the name suggests it's about sourcing and offering product, with the fine but important difference that they concentrate on small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and so on.If you are looking for supplies for your business, shop or want to offer your products and services you should go and have a look at this site: "goWholesale provides a one stop product sourcing solution to help you locate wholesale suppliers and find a steady stream of wholesale products to sell.... I think this service may very well be more targeted if used under the right circumstances.A nice feature is the free small business information and tools you get just for signing up, so give it a go if you are in the market for product.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Creating a Turbo-Charged Work Force

In part 1 of a 3-part series, learn how to make work feel like play for your employees.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Free Press Release Distribution for Small Business.

When you sign up to WinWeb's free LiveNet - still in public beta - you can also use our useful and FREE RSS Press Release service.While LiveNet is an online marketplace for your services and products, which allows you to promote your business to others and find others to help you with work you need to have done. It is also a great place to make new business friends and share experiences.The PR tool has been around for some time and we have registered this RSS feed with many different search engines and news sites.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

New Small Business Startup Idea: Virtual Import/Export Assistant

Or you could help the foreign business to import into your country.But remember you are working with small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, you need to keep the price low for them.... If they pay you a small commission on top, you are generating a nice little income for yourself.For this kind of service it would be advisable to get a low cost telecom service for your calls abroad, sometimes you can get fixed monthly subscription pricing for unlimited calls - have a look around.Other than that your setup cost should be low, if you have computer, ADSL, and telephone.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Web 2.0 Devices

These new, innovative devices are changing our interactions with the web.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Free Web Marketing Tips

Not all web marketing needs to cost money. Aside from website submissions, there are a number of things that web marketers can do that are free, though they may be rather time-consuming. Other marketing tactics are relatively inexpensive, and are often well worth the investment.

Follow these basic steps to market your website and business.



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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

7 Ways to Stretch Your Marketing Budget

Stretch your marketing dollars and boost your bottom line.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

First Small Business Export Summit in Washington, DC

There is also a great line-up of companies wanting to help those, who are interested in exporting.We used to have separate products called ExportOffice and GlobalOffice, which were especially designed for the very small exporting business, but we learned in time, that our OnlineOffice provided all the needed components as well, so we simply-fied our product offering in this regard.I will not be there since WinWeb sponsors an award at the UK Accountancy Age Awards, Best use of Internet in Practice, I'm committed to present the award in person. But, I'm sending an colleague of mine, Mr. Gran Thorell - should you be around, go and find him and talk to him about your exporting ideas, I'll be blogging about the Global Export Summit again, after the event.I would have loved to go, since I firmly believe the small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtusal assistants is highly under represented in the global market place.Opportunities are everywhere, you just need to see them.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Over and Out

Meet four ex-cops who left their badges behind to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

WinWeb Sponsors Accountancy Age Award 2007 For Second Year.

The event is held as last year at the Battersea Park Arena, Battersea, London, in the evening on November 14th, 2007.This award is the most appropriate award for us to sponsor, since - incredibly - we are still the only online accounting software provider, with an ICAEW approval.... Last year our friends at Goodman-Jones won the price, it will be interesting to see who will win it this year, especially as Goodman Jones is shortlisted again:BRALGoodman JonesMorris OwenI wish all the shortlisted candidates good luck and thank those who are not on the list for their great attempts to win the award and hope they will try again next year.I will be presenting the award and look forward to meeting one or two of you at the event.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Don't Give Away Ownership Easily

Unfortunately, you can't always retain full ownership of your company. If that's the case, here are some potential hazards to watch out for.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

New Small Business Idea: Local News Portal

Local news is still harder to come by, but you could change that with this little business start-up idea.You could get some pre-designed portal software, blogging software or a forum to set up your portal and then write about local events, with things like this: Live events - like Live Jazz in the local pub,New Business launch - write about the company, people and products;Evening Classes - anything from cooking to phontography;Club News - what time they meet, run a prifile.For Sale Section - from paperclips to houses and carsYou get the idea, there are many more events you could report about.... Have a look at your local paper that will give you some idea, what people want.It will get you involved in many areas of your community you didn't even know existed, get you out of the house, make new friends and earn you some money - what else can you want.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Q & A: What should I do when my bank cancels my overdraft without warning?

This question is hard to answer, because there are no simple answers here and the outcome of this situation could easily be fatal to the business and if you are personally guaranteeing this money - and you probably are - this could potentially be very serious for your personal life too.The things that you need to do, in my opinion are: Find out why?... Many years ago someone made the the umbrella analogy and it goes like this: When the sun is shining your bank gives you an umbrella (O/D, Loan);when it is raining, they need the umbrella themselves.It is best if you do everything possible to not need banks in the first place, by bootstrapping, outsourcing, planning your business and keeping your fixed costs as low as possible.Remember sometimes, attack is the best defense even with banks, they may need their money, but they do not need bad publicity either.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Google, am I stupid - or what is going on?

If you search google for " Apple Focus Customer" you get on the first page my post entry about "Learn About Customer Focus From Big Business." Nowhere on my blog page, including the comments, can I find:"I can not say enough good things about Apple customer support."How did that get there?

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Q & A: How Do I Find A Suitable Bank For My Small Business?

I would take this stepped approach to finding a small business bank in your area, and many of the steps are similar to finding other suppliers: Find out the facts - i.e. account charges, loan charges, banking hours, online banking and other benefits, like free advice, software, etc.Talk to the person who would be in charge of your account, meet with them.Talk to other small businesses about the bank and the bank manager, go to networking events in your local area.Make a Pro's & Con's list - then make your decision.You will notice that banks don't like to be called suppliers, or service providers, but that is exactly what they are, nothing more and nothing less.... This is probably the last time for a while that you hold all the cards, so it's better to find out what your bank is like before you really need them.For me business is between people, I move bank with my bank manager when he leaves, I'm on bank number three with him right now and that always served me well in the past, it is also a compliment to my bank manager, and he knows it.Better the devil you know......!

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Q & A: How much time should I spend on product development vs. sales/marketing in my small business?

Before you start in business, and the clock is ticking, sort of speak you should have a two things: at least one order or your product, to see if someone will actually buy it, preferably more order if possible andthe product to sell, which you will have produced in your spare time, while still having an income.But from the time you launch your small business or start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, you need to spend most of your time on selling and marketing, because that is what brings the money into your business.Many thousands of businesses go bust every year with a "perfect product", but no sales.... By now you will have had some feedback from your clients and they will guide you as to what they would like to buy from your next.That is the bootstrapper way of doing it, in my mind the only way to do it with the least amount of risk and on a shoe string.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

WinWebs Free Accounting Software For Every Small Business.

With our recent launch of OnlineOffice 4, we have kept our promise to supply our online accounting software to every small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants free of charge forever.But not only that - lets face it, if you want free accounting software, you could try the open source arena or other suppliers, even Intuit offers a watered down version of their accounting software free of charge - but a whole raft of other benefits can be gained by using our award winning product: Free 24/7 live online support - so when you work after 5 pm, we are still here to help and you do not have to pay for it; All future software updates are free of charge as well, so you will never have to pay for new or updated accounting software; Data backup and security included - while we all know nothing is ever absolutely safe, we back all your data up continuously and our investment in security would be unobtainable for small businesses, because of cost and complexity; All the benefits of online software (SaaS) - means you can access your accounting, write invoices and plan your business from anywhere at anytime. Online technology is eco-friendly - no shipping, no packaging, no manuals (help text in software) and our ClimateByte Technology.All you have to do, is sign up for our free 30 day trail of OnlineOffice, or our free LiveNet and you will have free accounting for your small business, forever.Let's face it, nobody makes any money doing their bookkeeping.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Apple - the customer support nightmare - Part II: The Criminal Investigation

As my readers will know I wrote a post last week about my customer support nightmare with Apple after sales support, not my Apple Store or Apple technical support, only the after sales support - this is the second part of this incredible story of bad customer care by Apple.There are still two issues outstanding:Firstly, my order for a new 17" MacBook Pro and the related problems of getting a new one, so I can get back to work properly.... Order a Mac Os X 10.5 Server and you have to start a criminal investigation to clear this mess up, because the Apple after sales support people couldn't care less - the fact that I need my server license did not enter the conversation one time.One point I would like to make, both police officers I spoke to told me to "never - ever" send a copy of your passport or driver's license to anyone, and that they have no right to ask you to do that.So this whole episode is getting more and more upsetting and insulting - only Apple can get away with that, you know why?My whole family bought iPhones last night and we absolutely "LOVE" them - I know - THAT IS SAD, I'm weak, what can I say?At this point I would like to say, my borrowed computer crashed yesterday and that is why I'm having trouble blogging currently, should not have given my old Mac away so soon.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

A Look at Drop Ship Direct

Drop Ship Direct is one of the many suppliers listed in the WorldWide Brands OneSource. Are they Legit?

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[Source: AllBusiness.com - The Small Business Blog]

Selling Your Business Online

Of course you can sell your product on the internet. But you can sell your business there, too.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Ramp Up Content Overtime

1. Adding gradual content over time is best. One article per week is ideal.

2. Syndicate your content using the author resource box for links back.

3. Place your articles in an RSS feed on your site with a link back to the full article in the Description field. If someone syndicates the feed and doesn't automatically link back to the full content, the link is still included. Don't include the full article in the feed, just teaser copy.

4. Re-submit the feed to RSS/search engines and directories after you syndicate your article.

5. You can manually post articles to a handful of key sites that aren't automated. You can email out using GroupMail to the common article listservs. You can also submit your article to a group of ezine editors that write for your market. Do this once a week.

6. When an author reprints and lets me know, I visit the site to ensure that the links are live in the author resource box. I then email the author, thanking them and telling them about additional articles they might find interesting. Sharon uses a macro set up TypePilot for her responses.

7. Your best articles are timeless or explain how to do things. Controversial topics are hit or miss.

8. Titles are critical. You must use keywords and capture the attention of editors and publishers.


Ramping Up Content Overtime

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Real Moms Do Blog

Whether you start your own or visit someone else's, blogs can help you build the relationships your business needs.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Lowering the barriers to doing business . small business!

Often you wonder why it is so difficult to get new business from existing clients or new clients, and often the answer to that is we build business barriers.Time and time again you phone a business and you are confronted with the one of the following scenarios: Nobody answers the telephone - that is probably one of the biggest barriers I see over and over again, often not even a answer machine, although I don't like those either; when you see this happening with virtual assistants (VA), then it's no surprise that the business is not working;There is no contact information on the web-site or e-shop - would you buy from a website, if you don't even know the name of the business or it's address, I hope not, even worse if you don't even have a web-site;No call back - you promise your customer a call back and you than forget;No staff training - it's a big turnoff if only the "boss" knows about the products and service, because anyone knows there are only 24 hours in a day for anyone;No Credit Cards - you need to accept any type of payment possible, up the price by the credit card fee.These are just a few points, you need to look at your business with your customers eyes. Learn when you go shopping or order items, write down if you think you got treated badly or if you enjoyed the experience, and then compare it to what you do in your small business or start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.How often did you get annoyed with some company, not because their product is bad, but it is hard work to place an order.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Optimizing for Blogs and Videos

Learn how to leverage these mediums for your brand and what you can do to optimize for search.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Beat Business Trip Boredom

These 10 ideas could turn your next mundane business trip into an experience you'll never forget.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

When Investors Join Your Board

Check out these tips for creating a board when raising money for your startup.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Q & A: How can I grow my business.

This is not unusual for many small businesses and start-ups, a home business is an ideal way to run your own business.Getting back to her question, there are really four answers: Increase the number of customers - this in turn will increase the your turnover, yielding the extra business you want, while at the same time make your business more recession proof;Increase the order frequency from your existing customers - this could be more difficult, you need to find out if you can replace someone else as supplier, or diversify your offering;Increase the average order value - same as before, offer higher quality or premium service.Increase your own efficiency - outsource more if you can, cut costs this will not grow your turnover, but increase your bottom line, so you can take more money out of the business for yourself.Once you start thinking about these options you will find out what you can do, often it is a combination of things to do.... ST.Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Boomer Small Business Start-Ups on the rise.

Figures released indicate that the average silver startup will work alone and from home with an average annual turnover of 67,500, and with one in ten turning over more than 100,000.... We all get older and have a much healthier life in older age, so why not do something you enjoy and make a business out of it.I agree with him, with added business support and a small business infrastructure, we could help many more entrepreneurs to be more successful in business long term. As I said so often before, this startup boom is just getting started, we will see much more in years to come, across all age groups.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Becoming a Master of Persuasion

Learn how to get what you want through the power of persuasion.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Bringing Work Home

You can go back home again. Many businesses are finding that homeshoring is a viable alternative to offshoring.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Small Business Advertising and Marketing a Black Art?

It is not a black art, you need to be clear about it's purpose:Advertising is about getting a response, nothing more and nothing less.So when you think about advertising start in a way that does not cost any money, talk to people, work online in forums, this will help you to get your message right.... You will not be surprised to hear that I prefer the internet and it's many way of telling people about yourself and your small business: Your Website with a little search engine optimization.Start a blog, a great way to get people to hear about you.Use RSS feeds to distribute your news.Use online PR tools to tell more people about your business.Best of all, these tools are all free to use once you set them up, which should not cost you more then $20/10 a month maximum.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Apple - a customer support nightmare!

I was promised an answer, but never got one.So I went ahead and did that, I ordered my new laptop with the new Mac OS 10.5 installed, and agreed to pay the extra for the keyboard.When the order arrived last Friday all hell broke loose: I was send a computer with OS 10.4 installed not OS 10.5.I received an extra box and had to install OS 10.5 myself.Then I discovered I had been charged extra for the Mac OS 10.5, I had to pay for one old and one new operating system.Next I discovered a new spec computer had been launched and I had been send the old one.I used the migration assistant to move all files across to my new computer and at first all seemed fine.I then gave my old computer to someone else and reformatted it.You guessed it, as soon as I had done that my new computer started having problems, no calendar or address book data anymore,then my email started going and so on - I rebooted and that was that - I could no longer log in.I called tech support and after waiting for about 20 to 25 minutes, I was told the FileVault is the problem a "known" issue.... That was not possible - so I said I would order a new computer, pay for it again and when I received the new one, I would send the old one back and get a refund.At this point Nicole (after-sales support) took pity on me and said she would get an supervisor to call, he/she could get me a computer before I had to send the old one back.You guessed it the supervisor did not call, so I called again after 20 minutes waiting time I was told to wait my turn.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Bring Out the Best in Others

In some cases, it won't always seem so obvious when it's appropriate to impose yourself on a conflict that employees haven't yet brought to your attention. Still, it is a manager's job to maintain an awareness of what's going on.

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[Source: AllBusiness.com - The Small Business Blog]

Holiday eBay Sales

Now is the time to start preparing for the holiday selling season on eBay--and thinking ahead to next year.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

RSS Helps Information Overload

As employees struggle to read an increasing amount of work-related material, some companies have turned to RSS technology to improve productivity.

With RSS servers and readers designed for workplaces, IT departments set up internal information feeds that employees can subscribe to, a delivery mechanism that, for some information, can be more precise and effective than e-mail.

complete article

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Microsoft and Piracy

Microsoft took another incremental step in its long-standing anti-piracy program this week when it filed lawsuits against 20 vendors in 13 states for allegedly selling pirated copies of its software.

The company also launched a new educational site, HowToTell.com to help teach buyers tell the difference between legitimate and counterfeit or pirated software.

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Small Firms shouldnt be forced to employ woman of childbearing age

If one of the six staff in my public-speaking agency found she was pregnant and needed to have a year off, I would have to keep her job open and to cover the job while she was on maternity leave, it would be very hard to find somebody else as committed, as that person would know that at the end of the maternity-leave period they were going to be booted out.... Here the state should provide a reasonable solution for the mother to be, it is unreasonable for any business - small or big - to be penalized for employing woman of childbearing age and it is unreasonable to turn on woman for wanting to plan a family.Reading these articles just reminds me always how stupid and wrong some of our policies are, and that our political correctness often achieves the opposite of what it aims to protect, our humanity.We should not seek to create new victims (woman), just to get away from being a victim ourself (small business) - we should seek to change the system to protect our human needs.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Should You Tell Your Employees Your Business is For Sale?

One of the worst fears is the fear of the unknown, and that is exactly what happens when employees hear their company is for sale. In addition, it can take ..

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[Source: AllBusiness.com - The Small Business Blog]

In the Market

For food businesses, farmers markets could be the perfect place to find a following for your products.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Business Law

Have you heard the one about the lawyer becoming an entrepreneur? It's no joke.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Talking Politics

With the 2008 elections less than a year away, find out what type of discussions are appropriate for the workplace.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Land that Job

Looking to hire? Looking for a new job? Check out this series Land that Job -

If you have decided that working in a call center is the right career path for you, you should realize that you are not alone. The U.S. Department of Labor reported in 2006 that more than 385,000 workers across America find employment in call centers. How can you stand out from the crowd and secure the job of your choosing?

Land that Job Part 1


With 385,000 American workers in the call center industry, competition is intense for the most desirable positions. If you are fortunate enough to be called in for an interview for one of these posts, how can you prepare yourself so that you stand out from the crowd?

Land that Job Part II

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Book Review: Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch

- but you never consciously thought about it, that is when you know you are reading something relevant and informative, to you and your life, business or otherwise.John's book is full of those moments, when he talks about " A Solution to THE Small Business Problem", marketing.... Along the way you will find many suggestions, like "Why the post office is a great resource" and many more.Any of you thinking about marketing should consider this book.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

The Week Ender: Having a weekend.

Now that I given you a recommendation on a book to read over the weekend or made you ponder your time management, you may also just consider having a nice weekend with family and friends.... Why not pick up the phone right now, and get some family and friends together and celebrate Guy Fawkes capture - I'm sure you can come up with a story why it might be important to you, even if you live in the US, Australia or India - it will be total BS, but who cares?Even better is when you don't need a reason, just get together and have a nice weekend, I know I will!

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

New Small Business Idea: Be A Niche Authority

This is a fun, flexible way to stay involved and great for any CV should you ever want to go back to work for someone else - although I doubt that very much.Long before you make it into the top 100 blogs of just about anything, you will find people willing to pay you money for ads, white papers, speaking at events, invite you to product launches, etc. - you will be an authority in your field, it's just a question of time and passion.You do not necessarily have to be that good at writing itself (look at me!), use a spell-checker - but be passionate about your topic and people will read your blog and respond. It is the a great feeling to communicate with your readers world-wide.One final point, blogs are being sold like hot-cakes for serious amounts of money these days, do not under estimate the selling potential of a venture like this!So just one question then - what are you an Authority in - tell me, I will read it?

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Business Card Tips

Networking is an invaluable opportunity, and one that should not be wasted. In order to maximize networking, it is strongly suggested that all business professionals carry business cards. The business cards can be exchanged during introductions, both as a convenience and as a memory aid. In other words, business cards allow networkers to further the relationship through future contact.

Business cards may include one or more aspects of striking visual design, but should also contain important contact information.

Business Card Tips

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[Source: A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.]

Time Management for Small Business: Cut to the Chase

No matter what kind of small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants you run, time is a finite resource for all of us, and we need to learn to use our time as best we can.... If you get your work done more efficiently it will help the overall business efficiency, but at the same time get you out of your office sooner, allowing you to enjoy the better things of life.Efficiency is also a bootstrapper trait, getting things done reduces overheads and other costs, you will see the results in your monthly planning exercise, your income will increase while your costs don't change.Here are some basic rules on time management - or cutting to the chase - as I would call it: Tell people who you want them to work with you, or how to use your time;Return the favor, treat their time as you want your time treated;No meetings without agenda;No long documents without a short summery;Make sure you know what is expected of you;Ask - don't wait for offers, go and get what you need to do your task.I'll be writing more one this later, but I guess you get what I'm getting at.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

New Small Business Idea: Local Fast Food Portal

Just start out with a simple service and then develop your business further.For example, you could start a simple website and put fast food restaurants and their complete menu online, to generate online orders for them, some places do it themselves, most small ones don't.Charge for the privilege a fixed fee per month and then advertise your site locally: talk to the local newspaper, they are always looking for stories,drop leaflets in neighborhoods,blog about it on the internet with a strong local focus.Then see where the road leads you, here are two ideas: you could develop your online portal more for other services and become portal for events, jobs, accountants and so on;you could deliver the fast food for restaurants who do take away, but do not deliver.I guess you can see what I'm driving at. One other benefit here is you can start this on the side, while you still keep your job, until you can afford to do this full time.Remember to plan your venture from day one, start making money first, bootstrap and enjoy the ride.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Q & A: What questions should I ask my accountant before I start my business?

Choosing an accountant/CPA is probably one of the most important decisions to get right, because you are unlikely to have an accountant's grasp of taxationcompany lawdealing with the tax authoritieswide range of knowledge about small business.You need to make sure you find an accountant/CPA who concentrates on small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants before you make any appointments.Another aspect is size, make sure you are not "one among millions" sort of speak, smaller accountants practices are often more in tune with your small business needs, because they are a small business too.Here are some questions I would be asking when starting out with a new business venture: Should I start my business as a sole-trader, partnership or limited liability company?Can you help me to find and raise finance? (Read about bootstrapping first!)Will you help me with setting up my cash-flow forecast?When do I need to register for VAT (UK), GST (Australia) or when do I need to charge sales tax (US)?Am I ready to start trading, or should I wait?Do I need to choose my financial year and trading year end date?Are you going to do my bookkeeping and accounting work?Will you work online with me, so we both can be up-to-date with my business progress?Will you deal with my employment issues, pensions, annuities and insurances for me?Will you help me to understand more and more of these issues myself, and will you be available for advice if and when I need it?There are many more issues to consider and they depend on your business, that is where your accountant will help you too.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Making It to the Inbox

6 steps to better e-mail deliverability

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

10 minute power meeting technique.

Don't waste your valuable 9 to 5 business time like that.Look at you calendar and write next to each meeting how long it should take and stick too it.While it is important to socialize, you have to make sure your tasks get done on time, so calling a meeting for ten minutes to just discuss the issue at hand will instill a sense of urgency and focus into the participants of the meeting.... Let me say it with the words of the British chairman of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. Arthur Bryan, who had this advice for any small business:The key is not to spend time, but using it.Remember this is a rule for internal meetings, for meetings with customers this rule does not apply - within reason of cause.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]

Business Idea: Diamonds, Danger and Desire

Call it love at first write. YourNovel.com literally transports clients to the land of pounding hearts and heaving chests.

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[Source: AllBusiness.com - The Small Business Blog]

Getting the Most From Tradeshows

Don't show up empty-handed. Make sure you're fully prepared to maximize your time at this annual event.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Healthy Travels

Think going abroad for cheaper medical procedures is scary? These businesses are here to help.

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[Source: Entrepreneur.com: Latest Articles]

Q & A: How can I build consensus in my small business team?

His answer was to make things happen more smoothly in his business and with less stress.The truth is there is no need for consensus on each issue, what is really important is that things get done and someone has to make a decision how and when they get done - to put it bluntly - consensus is a nice thing to have, but not necessary.... At the end of the day though I make the decisions - the bug stops with me - or in this case you.My team and I have an understanding, I will listen to all their concerns and suggestions, and my team accepts that in the end it is my decisions.Running a company, however small or big, is about leadership, not consensus.

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[Source: THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG]