Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on June 16, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship | 
“Business Makeover” Entrants Leave Your Comments Here!
Attention small business owners across the nation!
Are you looking for additional marketing and business initiatives to expand and grow your business? Our Business Makeover is here to help! We are giving away $15,000 in business startup services each quarter, for the next year to small businesses across the nation who are looking for a business makeover! Prizes valued at over $50,000!
7 Lucky Winners Each Quarter!
1 Grand Prize Winner - Will receive $ 5,000 in Business Services
2 Second Prize Winners- Will receive $ 2,500 in Business Services
4 Third Prize Winners- Will receive $ 1,250 in Business Services
Entering is simple, just follow the steps below:
Complete the short entry form
Retweet the following message on Twitter: “RT @BizCentralUSA is giving away $50k+ in biz services as part of the Business Makeover Giveaway! Enter 4 a chance 2 win http://bit.ly/qTmhj” TWEET THIS NOW!
Become a Fan of BizCentral USA on Facebook BECOME A FAN NOW!
Write a comment on our blog under the post, “Business Makeover” Giveaway Contest, answering the question: “How would $5,000 in business services help you grow and expand your small business?” (100 Word Minimum) POST YOUR COMMENT NOW!
3rd Quarter Deadline to Enter:
5pm EST, Friday, September 18th, 2009
* Official Rules
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
“Start A Business” Entrants Leave Your Comments Here!
Alert to all entrepreneurs: Starting a business has never been easier! If you have an idea we can make your dream of starting and growing a business a reality! BizCentral USA, the nation’s leading small business solutions center, is giving away $15,000 in business startup services each quarter, for the next year: Over $50,000 in Services! We can get you started and going with everything from a business plan, branding and marketing, web development, graphic design and more.
7 Lucky Winners Each Quarter!
1 Grand Prize Winner - Will receive $ 5,000 in Business Services
2 Second Prize Winners- Will receive $ 2,500 in Business Services
4 Third Prize Winners- Will receive $ 1,250 in Business Services
Entering is simple, just follow the steps below:
Complete the short entry form
Retweet the following message on Twitter: “RT @BizCentralUSA is giving away $50k+ in biz services as part of the Start a Business Giveaway! Enter 4 a chance 2 win http://bit.ly/127Aq3″
Become a Fan of BizCentral USA on Facebook
Write a comment on our blog under the post, “Start A Business” Giveaway Contest, answering the question: “I want to start a business because…. ” (100 Word Minimum)
POST YOUR COMMENT NOW!
Enter Today to Win!
3rd Quarter Deadline to Enter: 5pm EST, Friday, September 18th, 2009
Official Rules
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on June 9, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
Despite a struggling economy with high unemployment rates, tight salaries and a crumbling corporate world, a recession is actually a great time to start a business. History has shown that 
recessions can be birthing grounds for some of hardest working, most successful and creative entrepreneurs today. A recession can teach an entrepreneur a lot about running an effective business that has the potential to do great things in a sprouting economy. Practices such as learning to operate on a budget, investing more time in client satisfaction and taking time to trial and error your business model are essential to operating a successful business. The truth is if a business can survive even the toughest of times, that business is most likely to be a forerunner in the best of times.
Operating a business on a budget seems like it should be a common practice in order to be successful. Unfortunately, many businesses do not keep as close of a watch on their financials as they should. A recession can force a business owner to closely monitor its spending habits on marketing, advertising, operating costs and other company investments. In a recession, a business is more likely to search the market for the best deals on software and supplies, the largest ROI advertising opportunities and alternative methods to marketing aside from ‘big name’ publications, television airtime and costly PR campaigns.
More attention on customer satisfaction and retention is another valuable practice a small business will attain during a recession. Since a recession leaves many individuals watching their pennies and focusing more on product quality and credibility, it is the perfect time for a company to devote more time to their customer service department. When the economy recovers a business who has built a solid reputation among their target market will benefit drastically by word-of-mouth hype, additional spending and returning business.
A trial and error period is inevitable in any startup business. This is the time that a business learns what works and what doesn’t, and often times this will occur during the first year in operation. With more focus on company budgeting and customer satisfaction during a recession this is the best time to tweak the business module. Finding cost-effective ways of marketing and advertising could really work for a business that wants to test its messaging tactics. If a message fails through a less expensive outlet, it is not quite as painful as if a business were to spend upwards of $20,000 to promote that same message. Involving customers is another great way to find out what is or is not working for a company. Implementing customer surveys, free trials, suggestion cards etc., is a proven method to receive feedback on the quality of a product or service, the usability of a website, the effectiveness of an ad or anything else a business can use to improve upon their current module.
What is all comes down to is; starting a business in a recession is probably one of the best decisions you can make. A recession will toughen up any small business and prepare it for even the most competitive market.
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on May 26, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
Traditional means of marketing are not dead; in fact, they are still very much alive and proving to be effective. Tactics such as face-to-face networking and word-of-mouth is proof of this. When deciding on what business networking methods you will use, it is important to first, understand how networking can work for you. Second, research what groups are right for you. Third, make a goal for what you want to accomplish.
Business networking in the form of joining and meeting with trade groups, industry associations, chambers of commerce and similar organizations in person can flat out increase your bottom line. By meeting other professionals in person, on common ground and at a place of mutual interest, you will begin to form relationships among your community. Once you start building relationships and regularity among these groups, members will begin to remember you, your abilities and your expertise. The next time a member needs something in your field; they will remember you and therefore will probably reach out to your small business. In essence, you will form a loyal network of followers who may at some point need your business, refer your business or want to collaborate on a joint goal. Overall, business networking is a great way to reach out to your local community, gain new prospects, learn new methods and in the end increase sales.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to networking and the cost of membership is usually low, but to avoid wasteful spending and time, you must do your research. An easy place to start is to check out your local chamber of commerce. Stop by the city office or attend a meeting to learn a little more about them. By joining the chamber of commerce, you will be able to reach more local businesses and you will have an array of resources available to you. Businesses in the chamber of commerce will vary in industry, sector, demographics and capital, giving you a more versified group to interact with.
Another option is to join an industry related trade group or association. Many trade groups and associations are national, but have local chapters that meet regularly. Trade groups and associations will differ from chambers of commerce in that you will be networking with professionals in your industry, but not necessarily in your sector. The major benefits to becoming a member of a trade group or association is the industry related resources and educational opportunities that will become available to you. Determining what groups, associations, chambers of commerce etc. will require assessing your goals to point you in the right direction.
Defining your goals will help you make the most of your new membership. Is your goal to learn more about the latest industry happenings? Do you want to reach out to your local community? Are you looking to meet other professionals to collaborate with? Whatever your reason to join a group, association, chamber of commerce etc., there should always be a goal involved with it that will directly or indirectly help your business.
Integrating business networking into your marketing initiatives will prove to be a smart decision. You will increase your bottom line by gaining a presence in your community or region, staying educated in industry trends and earning more word-of-mouth recognition among your peers and future consumers.
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on May 22, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
A website is a vital part of any small business, but having a GREAT website will differentiate a small business from a successful small business. A GREAT website can give your company the ability to better interact with your prospects, current clients and interested consumers. By providing fresh content, interactive elements, search engine optimization and simple navigation tactics your company can build and retain a faithful group of reader which will aide in growing your small business!
5 Ways to Add Sparks to your Company′s Website
- Implement a Company Blog-You can post tons of information on you company′s mission, event recaps, promotions and much more.
- E-Commerce- e-commerce is an easy way to let consumers make a puchase at their convenience. You can add products and services in an online store that never closes!
- Newsletter Sign up- Insert a section on your homepage where potential buyers can sign up for your company′s newsletter. People appreciate being updated with news that is of interest to them.
- Live Chat- You can use live chat to interact with people strolling around on your company′s website, answer their questions and potentially make a sale.
- Streaming Video or Podcasts- Add a sales video or an interview with a satisfied customer to your website. These are great tactics when matching a ‘face’ to your company.
Having a great website provides you with the opportunity to add a lot of marketing information about your company, product line, promotions, special events and more. The possibilities are endless and there are always new and exciting methods to improve your website. To gain the respect of your readers, it is important that you stand out as an informative, credible and personable source for your industry. With over a hundred million websites available today, you want your site to shine against the competition.
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on May 12, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
Most startup blogs are small, but with time 
and regular updates your audience can grow. As a small business it is important to start your blog early because this can be one of the most cost effective ways to start marketing your business. As your business grows so will your number of followers and those who become faithful, will appreciate your information and possibly become future consumers. Not sure how to get started, below are a few tips to get you on your way.
- Use other people′s blogs to establish yourself as an expert: Reading and commenting on blogs within your industry niche or close to your niche can help you to establish yourself as an expert. You can offer your own opinions or angles to the entries being posted. When appropriate, you can even offer links to your own blog entries or articles to offer as additional information to the readers. This step is very important because as a new blogger you will learn from others more experienced.
- Use your blog as a form of communication: Use your company blog as a way for your potential customers to know you. A blog is a great way to express yourself and show off your quality. You want your readers to feel like you are talking to them as a friend, without being too personal. You can also use the blog to ask questions to your readers in hopes of a reply or comment on your blog. All of this will help to establish an environment where people know they can receive answers to their problems, as well as read fresh, interesting content.
- Define you topic and stick to it: Now that you have decided to add a company blog to your website decide what your main focus will be a stick to it. For example, if you are in the organic gardening industry stick to topics like; organic gardening 101, dangers of pesticides, USDA regulations etc. Sticking with a niche topic will target the potential consumers that you want. An individual who swears by genetically modified food will be much less likely to become a consumer in the future.
- Stay current and up to date: Old news is bad news for blogs. This is not to say that you cannot post comments or complete a write-up on something that happened a few days ago, but you can′t post something that happened four months ago and expect people to value it. It is important to stay current with issues and news happening in your industry if you want to build a steady following.
- Don′t forget about spelling and grammar: Two benefits of blogging are that they are less formal and you do not need to be a professional writer to have and maintain a blog. Still, spelling and grammar should be a priority. Neglecting to spell check and use proper grammar can affect your credibility no matter what your writing experience is or the industry your blog focuses on.
It′s not necessary to be a professional author or multi-million dollar company to have a blog. All you need is opinions, information and insight in your area of expertise. If you prove to be genuine and knowledgeable your readers will notice and your blog will become one of the most cost effective marketing tools your small business could invest in.
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on April 28, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
When it comes to small businesses, many companies may have the desire to do right by the planet, but many times they feel they are not capable of doing so because it is far too big of a task. This couldn′t be further from the truth. As a small business or even a large corporation, you can actually do big things to help the planet by barely doing anything at all. Solar water heating, HVAC systems and wind turbines aside, here are a few simple tips to get you started toward a more sustainable business.
First and foremost, reduce, reuse and recycle are three terms your small business should live by if you are interested in becoming a more eco-friendly organization.
- Reduce: Reducing your amount of waste is a great way of helping the environment. Using a computer and switching from print or direct mailing to email and digital collateral can be a great way of reducing the amount of paper and ink you use.
- Reuse: Instead of throwing things away, why not try to find other ways of utilizing them. For example, the handy note tablets that you write any and everything on. Rather than throwing out the table once all of the front pages are filled, use both sides of the paper.
- Recycle: Many of the materials your company uses everyday are made out of material that can be recycled, but because business waste management services can be so expensive, many companies choose not to use them. If this is the case, try to network with other local businesses and purchase the service in conjunction with them. This way you will be splitting the costs between multiple companies and networking at the same time.
Once your company has the three R′s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) set in motion, the next step is to make an effort to convert to more environmentally friendly office supplies and practices. Both large and small supply stores now carry many green, natural and organic products such as recyclable paper, CFL or LED light bulbs, natural base cleaners and low VOC paints, just to name a few. In addition to purchasing more eco-friendly products, analyze your current practices to see if you are making all efforts possible to reduce harm to the earth. Turning off lights when no one is in the room, shutting down power strips at the end of the day and refilling ink cartridges instead of buying new ones are a few ways to get started. Think about these things on a large scale. When purchasing supplies and changing your attitude it may seem insignificant to your company at first, but the effects can be greatly rewarding in the long run.
You have started following the three R’’s, converted to eco-friendly office supplies and practices and you feel you are on your way to a more sustainable business. Finally, for all of the things you simply can”t control, such as daily commute, business traveling, electricity consumption and more, you can offset their carbon footprint. Services such as Terrapass, Carbon Footprint and Carbon Fund have great tools to calculate your business” carbon emissions. Once calculated, they will offer you tailored solutions to aide your company in becoming carbon neutral.
Running a green business is not only good for the environment, but it is also a benefit for your bottom line. Whether your company’’s goal is to become a 100% sustainable business or to moderately practice environmental stewardship, taking action is the first step. In the end doing your part to save the planet may also be saving your company some real green!
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on April 16, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing, Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending the Hubspot “How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers″ webinar. Thousands of social media gurus and newbies flocked together (maybe you were even one of them) to find out new tips and tricks on implementing social media into their company′s Client Relationship Management (CRM). What was most interesting to me, other than the webinar itself, was the outstanding viral effect of this webinar. From the planning stage through follow up, Hubspot set the groundwork for continuous promotion of their webinar through the use of Twitter.
From the second you hit the webinar′s landing page you were hit with an opportunity to “Tweet this webinar”, “Share on Facebook”, “Follow us on Twitter”, “Become a Fan” and “Subscribe to our Blog”. Once registered for the webinar, you were again hit with a larger “tweet it!” button, which when you clicked, it automatically opened up your Twitter home page and created a tweet for you!
The day of the webinar, as normal you were invited to listen in and follow the live webinar online, but you were also urged to communicate and ask questions on Twitter during the webinar. Well, that is exactly what thousands of people did! In fact, so many people participated in live discussions on Twitter that this webinar just about brought down the Twittersphere. Comments were 19 minutes behind due to high volume and “#hubspot” became the #1 trending topic on Twitter. Today when reviewing all of the comments made by Tweeps (the inclusive Twitter term for Peeps using Twitter) I became mentally exhausted after going through over 50 pages of tweets, and still counting. In addition to their massive exposure, Hubspot also engaged in the conversation on Twitter by fielding questions, posting updates on the Twitter status and tweeting a few “tid bits” along the way.
Was their webinar successful? I would say yes, definitely. Not only did they accomplish the task of finding people to attend their webinar, but they participated in proactive CRM and also got loads and loads of free marketing and PR for their company and the conversations are still going. If you were on Twitter that day, I think it may have been inevitable to not hear something about Hubspot, they just about brought down Twitter.
The moral of my story for small businesses is this: It is almost certain, that as a small or startup business you have a very minute amount of funds to work with for marketing and PR purposes, but using outlets like Twitter and Facebook are completely free! Take advantage of these social mediums to push your message out to the public. Embed your brand into the minds of the millions of Tweeps, Facebook groups and other social media stalkers-In this case a penny saved could turn into a penny earned!
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on March 31, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
So you met the tax deadline and your feeling pretty good, but what happens if the IRS decides to audit you? Will you be prepared? According to IRS officials, the audit rate for small business taxpayers is higher than the overall rate because small businesses tend to have more compliance problems than other taxpayers. How do you know if you are at risk? Really, there is no way of definitively knowing this answer.
The IRS selects returns for examination in five ways: 1)Computer scoring by DIF (discriminate information function), a formula used to select returns for review, 2)National Research Project, 3)Local and national projects that look at particular areas, 4)Information matching, such as Forms 1099, 5)Related returns. If selected, it′s good to know that some audits are worse than others.
Three Types of Audits:
• A Correspondence Audit- by mail, asking for a straightforward answer (by mail) on less complicated issues, such as proof of deductions.
• An Office Audit- held in the IRS office, where you′ll be asked to produce receipts and other documents related to specific issues.
• A Field Audit- where the IRS agent comes to your home or place of business.
While tax professionals say it is unlikely the IRS will come knocking at your door, if you are choosen, it′s definitely not a good place to be. After all, audits cost time and money – two things most small business owners have in short supply. Therefor, the best thing to do is be prepared!
Preparing for an Audit:
• Always keep any business-related records including: canceled checks, invoices or sales slips, handwritten notes, receipts or petty cash vouchers showing any payments etc.
• Pinpoint problems backing up income sources or expense deductions. You′ll need to legally show your right to take tax deductions or other tax benefits claimed on your return.
• Retain the service of a professional. Hiring a seasoned professional can make this experience less painful and cost you less in the end.
A IRS audit is nothing to take lightly. Improper bookkeeping and faulty filings can lead to thousands of dollars coming out of your small business. In the end, the more prepared you are, the less likely you will be penalized with hefty fines and the more likely your business will succeed!
Posted by BizBlogger NicoleR on March 26, 2009 under Small Biz News |
Yesterday, USA Today published a story regarding unqualified companies abusing the HUBZone Program (Historically Underutilized Business Zone). This is definitely something you might want to read if you are a small business owner, an entrepreneurial ′newbie′ or anything in between. In a short re-cap:
- The Government Accountability Office found that 19 companies were improperly awarded nearly $30 million in federal contracts.
- The GAO reported that ″there are likely hundreds and possibly thousands of firms″ in the program that don′t meet its requirements.
- The committee′s chairwoman, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., said she plans to urge the SBA to shut down the program until it can fix the problems.
- In July, the GAO reported that they found that 10 Washington D.C. area businesses were improperly part of the program. One company, for example, listed its office as a small room above a dentist′s office in a low-income area, while investigators found its main office was in the suburb of McLean, Va.
- It was determined that 7 of the 10 companies invested in the July report were ineligible.
- SBA officials told the GAO they are ″reengineering″ the program to make it more efficient and to do a better job of preventing and detecting fraud and abuse.
For qualified small businesses the HUBZone program can be an excellent opportunity to secure government contracts, help to empower communities, create jobs, and attract private investment. What happens though, when small businesses are taking advantage of this program?
As a small business owner, how do you feel about the millions of dollars given to these unqualified companies? What steps do you think the SBA can make in improving the HUBZone program and preventing such abuse?
Map of U.S. HUBZones
To read the full GAO report click here.
