Small Business Articles For Entrepreneurs & Small Business OwnersThe Small Business Financing CrisisThe current small business credit crunch is getting much attention and rightly so. We know very little about the overall small business universe because it is so huge and diverse. Most discussions about this topic focus on credit and lending, but the issue is much more complex than that. A more broad-based discussion is necessary [...] Increase Your Professional Presence1. You’re on stage. When you’re on the phone with a client, you’re playing the roles of a good-will ambassador, problem solver, public relations representative, and more. Whether you are having a good day or a bad day, your telephone call is a performance that should leave your client feeling positive about you. 2. Put [...] Meeting Check-Lists For Sales ProfessionalsThe devil is in the details – Preparation for customer meetings is critical. Here are a few items to consider before you visit your prospect. • Re-Confirm Date, Time, Place, # of attendees 24 hours prior to visit • Ensure you have an agenda for the meeting • Know how much time you have • [...] Costs to Open a Franchise: How Much Does a Franchise Cost?Putting Down Financial Roots One of the best ways to ensure personal financial success involves buying and operating a franchise business. There are literally thousands of opportunities out there in hundreds of different disciplines, and all it takes is commitment, dedication, and cash. The question prospective franchise owners ask more than any other has to [...] Staying Focused And MotivatedIt’s not easy to remain focused and motivated at work. There are many distractions and comforts that call to you. But if you can resist them, the benefits are many. You’ll get your work done during the hours you planned to work, and you’ll have time off with friends and family afterwards. This improved work [...] Networking With The MediaNetworking is all about building relationships…and it’s no different when networking with the media. You are never trying to sell anything – you are simply getting to know the other person. By getting to know your local media contacts in print, online, and on television and radio you can be top of mind when they’re [...] Creating A Successful Internet Marketing FunnelSocial media, blogging and article marketing offer effective ways to generate interest establish a presence for your brand and your company and create a powerful inbound marketing funnel. As with all forms of Internet marketing, online tracking and analytics help make this type of outreach accountable. They keep you on track, letting you know if [...] Can Honest Copywriting Succeed?I confess–I’m a marketing heretic! I’ve built my career on breaking all the rules–and one of the rules I break is that I don’t hype. Do I put the best possible “spin” on the truth? Of course! But I refuse to deceive my readers into action. What are some of the common copywriter tricks that [...] The Next Big Trend In MarketingThis is not “brand new” news, but it is news small businesses should be taking note of and considering ways to utilize it for their marketing efforts. Your target market watches television, listens to the radio, observes roadside billboards and building banners, reads newspapers and magazines, reads ads in their email and on the internet… [...] Small Business Owner / Entrepreneur Experts WantedWhat is an expert? Are you an expert? Do you call yourself an expert? Do your customers/clients refer to you as an expert? Undoubtedly, it provides value to be viewed as an expert in a certain field or line of work. Is aspiring to attain such status a worthy goal, or is attaining such status [...] How To Grow Your Home Based BusinessSummary – If you have taken the plunge and opened a home based business, you are likely interested in learning how to make it a success. The most important skill to master when working at home is marketing. How to Grow your Home Based Business Marketing is the key to financial success for any home [...] Do Your Own Business Valuation – Part 9: ConclusionThere are 3 approaches to valuing a business – market, income and asset. A thorough business valuation requires that you consider methods from all approaches. Each valuation method looks at a company from a different perspective, and sometimes the results vary widely. How do you choose the best method? Selecting Methods The asset-based method described [...] Creating Success Through Emotional MarketingIf you’re spending the bulk of your time focusing on how and where to market, you could be missing the boat when it comes to building a successful business. You can have a dynamite advertising campaign, the best public relations campaign, or the most far reaching social media campaign, but if you haven’t created a compelling [...] Do Your Own Business Valuation – Part 8: Asset-Based MethodsThere are 3 approaches to valuing a company – market, income and asset. This article covers the asset-based approach. The asset-based approach breaks a company down in to its pieces and attempts to value each individual asset separately. For most physical and financial assets this is a fairly straight forward process. Third-party sources of market [...] Do Your Own Business Valuation – Part 7: Income-Based Valuation MethodsThere are 3 approaches to valuing a business – market, income and asset. This article covers the income approach. Types of Earnings There are many types of earnings used in business valuation methods. Here are the most common ones with brief explanations. It is extremely important to use the correct type of earnings for the [...] Unemployed? How To Apply For Unemployment BenefitsThe loss of a job can hurt, especially if you have invested a lot of time into a particular career or a company. However, it is never the end of the world. Many unemployed people find a new passion or decide to shift to a completely different career path, reaping much more satisfaction in return. [...] Top 10 Marketing Success Secrets for BusinessesIf you want to market successfully, you need to communicate successfully. The biggest communication mistake businesspeople make is telling their prospects any and everything about their business or company. The same holds true when communicating with the media. When you’re being interviewed, producers and writers don’t have time for your life history, they want a [...] SBA Loan Limits On Business Buyouts – Good For Small Business?In March this year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) placed a limit on the guarantees it was extending on “goodwill” financing, capping them at $250,000, or 50% of the total SBA loan amount, whichever figure was lower. “Goodwill” financing is a part of a SBA business loan that is used to acquire the intangible assets [...] Job Searching? How To Find Your Dream JobA job is not just a collection of tasks that you have to complete in order to receive a salary. Self-actualization is also very important. The same applies to the job search as well – you are probably not only looking for any job that pays, you also want to find a job that suits [...] Why Nice People Should Use Fear To Market Their WorkThere’s no mystery about why marketers appeal to fear. Fear mongering works. Before Madison Avenue taught us to fear it, body odor was just a fact of life. Same with gray hair, weeds in the lawn, and dingy whites. Advertising has transformed what were at most minor disappointments or inconveniences into occasions of fear and [...] |
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