None of the suggestions I am going to provide below is new. I have been speaking and working on these issues for some time. These execution challenges exist and plague many restaurants and hotels to the extent that they can sometimes be the magical tippiing point of same-store-sales gain or even a gain of pennies per share in earnings for brands. In my observations below, I am going to name names for operators or restaurant segment sub-sets where appropriate.

Revenue slicers

Lack of suggestive upselling or actual down selling (QSR): It is a rare occasion where I have been upsold in a quick service (QSR) or fast casual restaurant. In some situations, the sale was actually downsold, e.g., “Will that be the sandwich?” That was asked even by store managers. My hope in 2012 is that a habit is developed of asking every customer to be upsold, at least once and face to face. In QSRs, there must be training for hourly staff to ask of a comeback situation in which the customer replies, “no combo”. What should be the default response by the order taker?

Overkill with POS displays (QSR): I counted the range of the number of printed in store visual communications pointed at the customer via a recent QSR survey. The high was 87 distinctive signs in a Carl's Jr. and the low was seven at Pizza Hut, with nearly all prices merchandized yet only two related product groups displayed.  Some drive thru windows and chutes were a veritable forest of signs. Assuming 45 seconds at the drive thru chute and panel, how much can be seen? Two many displays seem to be counterproductive and split the product mix.

Dessert size, portions and price prohibitive (Casual dining): I must confess that I have a taste for chocolate. But even I have often been blown over by the serving size, calories and price point ($6-8) for a post meal dessert item at casual diners. To my memory, both Chili’s and PF Chang’s (PFCB) have worked with smaller bite sized “tastes”, but have not reported on menu mix hit rates for these items. That might be illustrative for the industry. 

Expense generators

Staffing standards (casual dining) in general are too heavily staffed from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., especially in the Darden concepts (DRI) and at Chili’s (EAT), but understaffed after 9:00 p.m. (DINE-Applebee’s), especially among wait staff. The perfect matching of labor hours, customers and restaurant needs will never be possible, and hourly employees do want more hours, of course. Since the average check should go up in later hours, better labor hour, sales per man-hour standards and calculations are required.

Closely related to this point is the labor staffing for new unit openings (QSR and casual dining). When a new unit opens, owners are justifiably proud of the business. They want the opening to go flawlessly and to use the occasion to train new employees. But the necessary staffing up period goes on too long after opening, making it then unrealistic for both guests and employees, for when the eventual, sharp ramp back down to where a standard staffing level is sufficient. I suggest that the ramp up and ramp down period be more graduated and less sharp. 

Out of whack air conditioning (QSR and casual dining) from restaurants that are too cold are unnecessarily costly, particularly after sundown, when temperatures cool off. This could take CAPEX to fix if not separate units for the FOH/BOH. Starbucks and coffee houses are a strategic exception to this rule because colder environments can spark  consumers to drink more hot beverages being served. In generall, I see cooling temperatures out of whack for warm climates.

Too much product pre-cooking (QSR): The goal is hot food hot and cold food cold. With the growth of big burgers, more complex menus and 24 hour breakfast operations, the back of house is more challenging. Product is warmest when first cooked, and has a finite holding time in bins. Jack in the Box (JACK) does a nice job of delivering hot product. But I have noticed the cooling off of burgers being served at McDonalds (MCD) in the last year.

The new toy can be found under the “Explore” tab on the Foursquare.com homepage. As soon as you click, Foursquare invites you to start searching and there are some intriguing filter options — Foursquare recommended locations, or places that “I’ve been to,” “I haven’t been to” and “my friends have been to.” Or, you can just look for places offering specials.

I could type “restaurants” and use the “I haven’t been to” filter and Foursquare immediately knows to not show anywhere that I’ve checked-in to previously — pretty powerful and interesting discovery potential right there.

The search results offer standard visuals — business listings on the left, map and icons on the right. The filtering options carry through right below the search box.

When you’re searching Foursquare, you’ll be doing a full-text search that includes all of the tips other users have added into the system. Those tips are often very similar to what you’d call a “mini-review” of the business, and they’re usually pretty specific. If you’re looking for a certain restaurant dish or hotel amenity, you should be able to get better matches, especially in bigger cities with higher Foursquare adoption. Here’s a search for “chili” in Seattle, where matches are being pulled from Foursquare tips.

(click for larger version)

This is cool and smart on Foursquare’s part, but they’re not the first: Google Maps also offers full-text search that includes what’s written in reviews (from third-party sources, too). As best I can tell, Bing Maps doesn’t include full-text search.

The Big Question About Foursquare

The big question is: Will becoming a local search engine change how people use Foursquare?

Up until now, when Foursquare was mostly about points and badges and getting rewards for checking in at favorite places, the service was generally useless to local businesses like accountants, lawyers, insurance agents and so forth. It was best suited for restaurants, hotels, stores, salons and other places where customers visited frequently.

In other words, it wasn’t as much about discovery as it was about the game and rewards.

But will that change now that Foursquare has much stronger search and discovery tools? Will Foursquare users start to think things like, Maybe I should see if there are any good auto repair shops on Foursquare? Any good real estate agents? Any good dentists?

It’s easy to think that’ll never happen, but keep this in mind: When it began, Yelp was also seen as a restaurant review site. But, as Yelp has eagerly pointed out, there’s a lot more diversity on the site now in both reviews (as shown below) and the types of businesses adding/claiming listings there.

Obvious Suggestion

The obvious piece of advice here to small business owners that get regular foot traffic: Add or claim your Foursquare listing, just to be safe. User behavior may not change much – soon, or ever. But who knows? Foursquare has an extremely loyal user base that’s contributed 1.5 billion check-ins, tens of millions of tips and more than 500,000 lists.

Foursquare has a business page/guide with all the information needed to get started on that.

And, obviously, once you’ve claimed or created your listing there, build it out with correct info (consistent Name, Address, Phone is imperative), photos, and so forth. And if you’re in an adventurous mood, think about creating a Foursquare special to see if it attracts attention and foot traffic.

If you’re just getting started as a new business on Foursquare, I’d love to hear your experiences. Drop me a note when you can.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Foursquare: The Web’s Newest Local Search Engine (But There’s One Big Question)

The big story in small business lending continues to be the activity of alternative lenders — credit unions, as well as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), micro lenders, and others. They approved 62.2% of the funding requests , a rise from 62% in November. Within the alternative lender category, credit unions became increasingly active in small business lending in 2011. Credit unions granted 57.4% of small business funding requests up from 57% in November. December loan approvals by small banks increased to 47.1%, their highest rate of the year, up from 47% in November.

Optimism is on the rise as the year begins. We have seen a 30% increase in the volume of new loan applications, which is a good sign. Big banks were the only category of lender that dipped at the end of 2011. Approvals by banks with assets between $10- $50 billion fell in December to 9.7%, thereby reversing a three-month upward trend.

Large banks are coming back in the market, albeit cautiously. However, the big banks wanted to shore up their capital base at end of 2011 and thus reduced their outstanding loan portfolio in December. They are continuing to monitor the European financial crisis, as well as the debt battle in Congress. National and international issues impact big banks more than smaller lenders.

2011 Big Bank ($10B+ assets): Approval %, Small Bank Approval %, Credit Union Approval %, Alternative Lenders Approval %:

January:  12.8% - 43.5% - 48.9% - 49.3%
February:  11.9% - 43.9% - 49.1% – 51.6%
March:  11.6% - 44.2% – 48.8% – 51.9%
April:  10.4% – 44.6% – 50.1% – 53.6%
May:  9.8% - 45.0% – 51.2% - 53.8%
June:  8.9% - 42.5% – 52.3% – 54.9%
July:  9.8% - 44.9% – 53.4% – 52.2%
August:  9.4% - 43.8% – 54.2% – 58.0%
September:  9.2% - 45.1% – 55.5% – 61.5%
October:  9.3% - 46.3% – 56.6% – 61.8%
November:  10.0% - 47.0% – 57.0% – 62.0%
December:  9.7% – 47.1% – 57.4% – 62.2%

* Banks with more than $10 billion in assets are classified as “big banks.”
* Credit Unions are considered “alternative lenders.”
* The “alternative lenders” category includes credit unions, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), micro lenders, accounts receivable financers, and others.

The top story in small business lending is the aggressiveness of alternative lenders and continued flip flops on part of big banks in their lending policies to small businesses. Further, we have noticed an increase in startups looking for funding. Startups have an easier time securing capital from smaller banks and alternative lenders. Bigger banks are more stringent and usually seek to fund only businesses that can produce documentation that they have been operating for more than two years. Obviously, a startup cannot do that. So entrepreneurs are going elsewhere for money.

Based on what I am seeing, if you are a small business seeking funding from a bank, my advice is to think small – not big.

Money Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Loan Approvals Rising at Small Banks and Alternative Lenders

 Mr. Siebert presented his list of the leadership skills that a franchisor executive would bring to the office of U.S. President. They have the ability to spur job growth by focusing on small business, the ability to grow without over-borrowing and a knowledge of how to simplify systems. My own take on what each side would bring is this.

From the ranks of franchisor executive

Past history indicates that the American people prefer an individual with executive experience as their president. Out of the last 20 US Presidents, 12 had been a Governor and one, Dwight Eisenhower, was a distinguished military leader. It's not unrealistic to envision a franchise leader as President. However, this individual would need to possess the leadership, experience and stature of a William Marriott, founder of hotel franchise chain Marriott International Inc.

• A highly successful business leader experienced in operating a complex business organization that includes franchises.
• Has administered a group of business owner’s many of whom would be independent minded.
• Administers and upholds the terms of franchise agreements while maintaining a balance in relationships so as to avoid contentious disputes.
• Strong understanding of finance and credit markets particularly in the case of a publically traded franchisor.
• Has done business in international markets

From the ranks of franchise owner

There are franchisee leaders who operate individual as well as large multi-unit franchise operations generating millions of dollars in revenue and employing a large number of people. Many have the responsibility for leading large organizations and although guided by the requirements of franchise agreements are responsible for the day to day operations of their business. The fact that the previous path to the Presidency has followed either legislators or Governors indicates that the American people prefer someone with political experience. A franchise owner who became a member of congress, a senator or governor would be able to round out their credentials for President.

• A franchise owner must often negotiate and seek compromise with the franchisor.
• The franchise owner has the responsibility of operating a business with the same obligations that large companies have. This includes obtaining credit and working capital. A number of multi-unit franchisees have investors from VC and PE firms.
• Similar to a President having to deal with legislators representing various constituents the franchisees have a constituency of franchisor and customers. Often needing to balance their priorities among both parties.
• A franchise owner is constrained from taking certain actions that the franchisor CEO is capable of taking. This provides challenges that the franchise owner needs to overcome by exercising strong leadership skills.

When great business leaders are mentioned few franchise leaders are on the list. Unfortunately, the franchise industry still lacks a certain amount of respect compared to other industry sectors. Yet, it is not farfetched to imagine an individual who one day may rise from the ranks of franchise leader to become President of the United States. 

This is part of the Blue MauMau series on leadership and leading franchisees. Related articles:

• Domino's CEO Patrick Doyle on Leading
• Domino's CEO: Laying Groundwork for Change

Over at Jugnoo, our goal is to help educate business owners on the social web, and really help them both understand and improve their visibilty on it.

Part of our approach is to offer resources that will act as a go-to for news, best practices, tips and awareness for all the various parts that make up today’s business scene.

Recently, we launched the first salvo in this in the form of Social CRM Insider.

A blog dedicated to the increasingly important area of customer relationship management in the social media space, Social CRM Insider will show why this is such a key part of any company’s strategy, especially online. From the About Page:

Every week, we’ll share our insights, best practices, case studies and more on how to run an effective customer relationship program in the social media landscape, and build brand loyalty around your business in the process.

We’ll strip away the guesswork and provide you with real-world examples of who’s doing it right, and how you can adapt these methods to your own business. And we’ll do it in a way that you can understand – no industry jargon or buzzwords here.

Social media has always been about the relationship to the sale for business owners and their customers. Consumers have known this for a while; now it’s time for you to understand better too.

To help us with our goal, we’ve employed awesome social media and business blogger Joey Strawn as our blogger-in-residence and, while I’m biased, he’s already knocking the content out of the park, with a great amount of interest and feedback coming in.

As I mentioned at the start, we’re just beginning to ramp up our activities, and the Social CRM Insider is something we’re really looking forward to grow as we help businesses understand this space we play in.

I’d love for you to check the Social CRM Insider blog out when you have time, and if you have any kind of customer-centric needs for your own business, blog, store or or more, you might just find it’s the ideal new blog to subscribe to.

Cheers!

Introducing Social CRM Insider originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

Small Business Trends: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Jamie Turner: Sure. I am probably best known as the guy who runs The 60 Second Marketer which is an online magazine for business around the globe. I go on CNN and HLN occasionally and talk about digital marketing – anything from mobile to social.

Small Business Trends: There are so many things going on around smart phones and tablet devices. What is mobile marketing today?

Jamie Turner: In a nut shell, mobile marketing is anytime a corporation or an entity decides to use a mobile device to connect with customers.  So that may be a real estate agent who wants to go out and use a QR code to promote themselves, or promote a property that they are doing.  All the way up to a huge mega corporation like Coca Cola that is going to use a mobile app in order to grab people’s attention and get them engaged with a brand.

Small Business Trends: Just how prevalent is mobile marketing today?

Jamie Turner: You know if you do a Google search and look at the trends for people doing searches on mobile marketing it is growing exponentially. That said, there is still a little bit of hesitancy for the average business person. With mobile they get a bit intimidated because they think it is more complex and harder to use.  But the reality is, it is just as easy to use as social media. Once you have learned those fundamentals, it gets easier and easier.

Small Business Trends: What about location based services? How has that changed things?

Jamie Turner: One of the coolest examples I have come across is how Chili’s went out and said, “Anytime anybody checks into a Chili’s, they get free cheese dip.”  But what was so cool is that they said, “Hey, anytime anybody checks into any company within a 200 yard radius of Chili’s, they also get the same offer.” It was a great way for Chili’s to broaden their net as they went out and grabbed people from nearby locations and said, “Come on into Chili’s and get free cheese dip.”

Small Business Trends: Maybe you can briefly talk about how you go about layering the foundation?

Jamie Turner: With the “Go Mobile” book (co-written by HubSpot VP of Marketing Jeanne Hopkins), we said, “Let’s start with fundamentals of marketing. What is it that people are really buying when they buy your product?” A restaurant is a great example. On the surface they are buying food, but when you dig deeper people are buying a lot more than just food when they go to a restaurant.  They are buying an escape from the ordinary. They are buying the ability to communicate and connect with other people. They are buying the ability to not have to do the dishes when they get home.  So when you start with those foundational elements of marketing, that’s when people are buying your product or your services.

They are buying something more than what you think they are buying. You can build on top of that foundation a mobile media house that really stands solidly on some fundamentals of marketing.

Small Business Trends: Now in the book you have outlined a number of really interesting case studies.  Some great information. One that I have to admit caught my attention is the Domino’s Pizza delivery app.  Mainly because I have used it. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about why that is such a great example of effective mobile marketing.

Jamie Turner: This app is amazingly easy to use. Domino’s has used the mobile app to capture an audience and keep them hooked because once you have used that app, your reluctance to download a different app from a different pizza company is a lot higher than your reluctance to use a Domino’s app again.  So it is really a terrific tool for Domino’s to capture an audience and keep them captured.

Small Business Trends: Can you give me your impression of what Near Field Communication (NFC) could potentially do for mobile marketing?

Jamie Turner: NFC is a way for electronic devices to communicate with each other. Bluetooth can communicate from about 10 meters away while NFC devices have to be about 10 centimeters away from what it is communicating to.

It makes it perfect for people in the future.  Let me give a description of the future. You’re going to have your Android device or your iPhone; you’re going to have Google Wallet on your Android device.  So what is going to happen is you will load money into your Google Wallet at maybe $100 bucks at a time or $50 bucks at a time and it will hold that money in that account for you. When you go to buy a product at Target or any other company, you will open up that app, wave your phone in front of a little device at the cash register and it will go ahead and deduct that amount of money from your Google Wallet.  So it makes buying products a lot easier and a lot simpler.

Small Business Trends: In the meantime, what should people be doing now in order to take advantage of mobile marketing opportunities?

Jamie Turner: There are four things.  1.) Build a mobile website.  2.) Register a business with location based services.  3.) Run a QR code campaign  4.) Do a paid search campaign. Those are the first four things I would suggest for any small, mid-size or even large business.

Small Business Trends: Where can people get the book and where can they learn more about the other things that you talk about?

Jamie Turner: Go Mobile is available everywhere.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

From Small Business Trends

Jamie Turner of 60 Second Marketer: Mobile Marketing Maestro

Business no longer needs a physical shop space and so can advertise to the world from its home and so in the last decade we have seen a huge change in the way many businesses begin and are handled.

Home Business

Running a business from home used to come with the negative, of either having to section off an area of the home for stock, or having to purchase or rent a retail space. The advent of self-storage allows a flexible answer to this. Users can use their own stock control methods to ensure they have the goods needed on hand, while they can store others for periods in stores.

Flexibility

Storage options are significantly less costly than retail space, and many have the additional benefit of allowing entrepreneurs to use more or less space as their stock levels require it, mirroring this in costs, which are usually charged per square foot. Second to this, a storage solution for delicate goods is also provided for, with humidity controls in place for goods susceptible to damp environments.

Obviously, security plays an important factor when storing goods. Many entrepreneurs don’t feel comfortable with thousands of pounds of stock sitting around the house. Storage companies providing 24 hour CCTV, with individually alarmed rooms and sturdy perimeter fencing, provide safety homes never could.

Receiving Stock

For entrepreneurs who receive large stock, or deliveries via articulated truck, storage solution companies provide space and parking answers, which conventional streets, or roads just can’t. They also present options for unloading, such as pallets, trolleys and in some cases designated forklift drivers that require investment. Such lifting equipment obviously takes the cost, time and pain out of unloading stock.

Clearly, access is imperative and many of these storage points provide this seven days a week, with some even making provision for packaging needs via an onsite shop. This allows entrepreneurs to prepare items when onsite and save time, while being as productive as possible when on task.

Financial Aspect

Financial, storage solutions are also a positive, with costs low and storage flexible. People with storage needs often find the room required fluctuates, fortunately with such storage solutions it is possible to increase or decrease storage room depending on levels of stock. This means taking up less footage of an area when it’s required and so means paying less. Contract lengths are also quite short, with contract termination periods as low as seven days and storage allowed on the day signed up.

Storage solutions flexibility, economic costs, access and safety make them undoubtedly an ideal solution for the ways of much commerce in the 21st century.

GUEST BLOG: This helpful business advice was provided by Drew Davies on behalf of Big Yellow Self Storage

Turning Marketing Strategy Into Action

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Today I’m speaking with a group of small business owner that want to know about how to develop a marketing strategy that truly allows them to differentiate what they do from others.

To me getting clear about strategy is the most important challenge business owners face and I’m going to challenge them first to look inward. I’m going to ask them to choose a marketing strategy that is infused with who they, why they do what they do and how to use that story to attract opportunities and clients.

But then I’m going to give them a very specific set of tactics to put their strategy into action and on display.

Every industry group feels that their business, their needs, their way of marketing is unique – that they are the only ones that must rely on word of mouth or referrals. While every industry has a unique set of clients, a unique language, maybe even an unusual distribution model, the way that customers come to know, like and trust them is fundamentally the same.

Today, specifically, I am going to introduce this group to a core set of practices that every business can use to communicate their simple, clear, marketing strategy.

Build and tell stories – You must develop a set of core stories that you use in your business building. The stories that help people understand how your business is different, not because of what it does so much, but because of what it cares about or doesn’t do.

These stories must radiate from you, your staff, and your community and will ultimately make up the foundation of your brand promise.

Sell by teaching – You must commit to using education as your primary means of influence. This is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate your business in the eyes of those that come to work for you as well as those that comes to experience your unique point of view through exposure to your teaching.

When you embrace teaching in everything you do, your staff begins to understand that the company is their first customer.

Become a platform – It’s no longer enough to think in terms of building a product or service. In fact, it’s no longer enough to simply build a community of prospects, users and buyers.

In order to truly differentiate you must begin to think of your business as a platform for others to get what they need. You must expand your thinking from business to marketplace.

Can you create opportunity for strategic partners? Can you teach others how to launch businesses from your business? Can you mentor employees and become a hub for their personal growth?

These are questions that will take you far beyond the typical business building mindset, but the answers may become the higher purpose for your business.

Reverse the experience – Finally, I’m going to suggest that the greatest way to deliver a remarkable marketing strategy is to deliver a remarkable marketing experience before, during and after a customer is a customer.

I’ve shared my concept of the Marketing Hourglass now with tens of thousands of small business owners, but only recently have I determined that the best way to construct any product or service experience with this tool is to do it in reverse.

To borrow from a well-worn bit of wisdom, if you want to deliver an exceptional experience you must start with the end in mind. You must begin the entire process by considering what you will do 90 or 180 days after you make a sale and then work backwards to the point where you first meet.

To some these ideas may feel foreign and not at all like a substantial way of doing business, but to others they will ring true and real and perhaps for the first time they will be able to differentiate their business with perfect clarity.

Enjoy the 31st edition of Eyeball Worthy Links of the Week:

1. Lending to Small Business up 18% in 2011 — Reuters — “In a possible sign of economic recovery, small-business lending hit a four-year high in November, a new report shows. At the same time, the number of small-business loans in delinquency declined.”

2.Are Doctors Going Broke? — CNNMoney — “Doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke …”

3. You’re Wired to Be a Leader — Inc. — “You were born with seven brain attributes for effective management. How much you turn the volume up or down depends on you–and what you want to accomplish.”

4. What’s an Entrepreneur? The Best Answer Ever — Inc. — “This classic 25-word definition pares entrepreneurship to its essence and explains why it’s so hard. And so addictive.”

5. I’m Trying To Be Respectful, But This Makes Me Crazy — FeldThoughts — “Following is something that happens to me on a regular basis, with a new and exciting twist. I’m telling this story both to vent (maybe I’m grumpy today – I don’t know) as well as for an object lesson on how not to interact with a VC, or at least with me …”

6. The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story of Humanity’s Oldest Analog Computer, circa 150 B.C. — brainpickings — “30 gear wheels of anachronism, or what a 2,000-year-old shipwreck reveals about the evolution of technology.”

7. Twinkies to keep coming despite bankruptcy — CNNMoney — “Rest easy, Twinkie lovers: Hostess Brands, the storied American manufacturer of snack cakes, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday, but said it will continue to churn out Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and other iconic products.”

Now it’s your turn. What did you see this week that is worthy of everyone’s eyeballs?

I’m constantly on the prowl for words, phrases, any snippet of language that I think I can play with. I think I heard this on the radio one day. Someone somewhere wasn’t happy about something and “declined to comment.”

Once something like that pops out at me, my head begins to run it through all sorts of cartoony filters. Can I use it with an animal? Can I reverse it? Exaggerate it? Does it sound like something else?

Obviously that last technique is what I used here. Change “declined” to “reclined,” back up just a bit to involve a big comfy chair, and you get this cartoon.

The cartoon itself is sort of medium funny, but what amuses me more is the idea of some executive putting his feet up, laying back a bit, maybe grabbing the remote, and then holding forth on the state of his business. That’s pretty funny.

From Small Business Trends

Declined . . Err, Reclined to Comment

Startup

Coo Coo Ca Choo! The lads from Liverpool came out of nowhere and changed the world forever. Kind of sounds like what you were hoping to do with your small business, doesn’t it? Here’ what the Fab Four can teach your startup before you can say “Yellow Submarine.” Inc.com

Trading the golden arches for a kiosk at the mall. A newer, smaller scale franchise is on the rise, one that may offer a more affordable option for small business owners who don’t have a huge savings to invest. If you’ve been looking for an affordable option, consider this. WSJ

Operations

What will impact your business? We’d really love to know. Hey, 2011 has come and gone, and whether it wasa good year for your business or not, we’re positive 2012 will bring new opportunities…and new challenges. So what changes will affect your small business this year. BizSugar Blog

Small town blogs and why your brand needs them. You may thing your business is too small to worry aboutg Internet marketing much less a blog. But it turns out blogs may be the perfect thing to set you apart from the competition, one small business blogger says. Strategies in Content Creation

Marketing

One more time: Why your small business needs Google+. Drew McLellan may not be the first person who’s told you about the importance of the new Google social engine for your small business and guaranteed he won’t be the last. Drew’s Marketing Minute

Forget the first impressions. It turns out that second impressions are what really matter. Here are some thoughts on why everything you thought about the way business relationships work might be a little more complicated and how you can make things work toyour advantage. Danny Brown

Mobile

Why just about every business is embracing mobile. If you think that mobile marketing is only for high tech firms, well, think again. Even more tradiional companies like waterparks and the hospitality industry are getting into the act. Mobile Marketing Watch

Events

Small Business Book Awards Now Open! If you love books on small business, are a writer or publicist than please take note. The Small Business Trends Small Business Book Awards are now open. We’re excited to announce details so please click through and read more about the details today. Small Business Trends

Strategy

How analytics trends affect your Website. You may not take much notice of the activity of the big search engines, but what they do can affect your business if you have a major presence online. Here’s one example ofhow trends at Google are affecting referrals on a variety of sites. Small Business Search Marketing

So, what’s different about you? If you can’t answerr this question, than your business is already in trouble. Do you use “me-too” positioning to define your brand? You may be sending a very clear message to your customers as a result. Small Business Branding

From Small Business Trends

What the Beatles Could Teach Small Business

This is the 4th year we are holding the Awards.  They recognize business books of special interest to small businesses and entrepreneurs.  Last year there were 106 books nominated and 41,000 votes cast by the community.

This year, over 100 books have already been nominated with over 2 weeks to go.

Books published between November 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011 are eligible.

You can nominate one book – or as many books as you like. Anyone can nominate. Authors, you are encouraged to nominate your own book. Publishers and publicists can also nominate books.

Or if you just happen to be a fan of a book and would like to recommend it to the world, please nominate it and make some author happy.

There are no fees to nominate — it’s completely free.  See Official Rules.

Click on the “Nominate a Book” button and fill out the form. It’s short and takes just 2 or 3 minutes. You’ll need a link from Amazon or some other Web page dedicated to the book, along with a couple of sentences’ description (just look it up in Google to find the Amazon page).  That’s all you need.  If you have more information fine, but it’s not necessary.

We will be reviewing all nominations to make sure that they are eligible. We may also edit book descriptions to make sure they are informational in nature and to eliminate obvious sales hype.

Nominations first, then voting later

Right now we’re in the nominations phase. You have through January 31, 2012 to nominate small business books.

The second phase is voting. Voting will be from February 1, 2012 through February 16, 2012.

Picking the winners

Winners will be picked by popular vote. The top ten vote getters overall will be the Best Business Books of 2012. In addition, the top five vote-getters in each category will be the Category Winners.  And what do the winners get?  Lots of recognition!

The Book Awards are an outgrowth of the weekend business book reviews we do.  

Each weekend we review at least one small business book.  We’ve been doing in-depth book reviews regularly since 2007, and have over 250 in-depth reviews in the site.  We started the book reviews because most small business books don’t get the recognition they deserve and get lost among the popular best sellers or the “Wall Street type” business and finance books. Our goal is to bring to the attention of small business owners those books that provide practical information to help them run their businesses  better.

Follow #BizBookAwards on Twitter

Want to know which books are being nominated? Be sure to follow the Small Business Book Awards hashtag on Twitter #BizBookAwards.

From Small Business Trends

Attention Authors, Publicists, Book Lovers: Small Business Book Awards Now Open

Some unintended consequences began to take shape in late June 2011, when the Federal Reserve (Fed) issued its final rule implementing the law. While its initial proposals suggested that fees between 7 and 12 cents seemed “reasonable and proportional” to the costs incurred, the Fed’s final rule concluded that all future swipe fees would be capped at 21 cents plus .05 percent of the transaction amount to account for fraud losses. This was below the past average debit fee of 44 cents per transaction. However, swipe reform supporters were disappointed at the significant concessions the Fed made to big banks and credit card companies, especially since 44 cents was only an average. They felt there were many other transactions, such as small ticket purchases, that fell well below the average rates.

While the 21-cent-cap decision was higher than expected, many agreed that overall swipe fees would decrease. What no one expected, however, was that the credit card and banking industries would find a way to generate MORE revenue–not less–from imposing swipe fees. Worse, the businesses in which franchisees sold lower-ticket items were the ones that were about to be hit the hardest.

How did MasterCard and Visa manage to profit from regulations intended to lower swipe fees? Prior to oversight by the Fed, the credit card giants were imposing differing fee schedules based on multiple factors like industry segment, size of the transaction and volume processed. As a result, fees on small-ticket transactions were 4 cents plus 1.55 percent. After the Federal Reserve issued the final rule, however, MasterCard and Visa set new rates that treated the 21-cent cap as a floor for debit card fees. That meant that almost ALL transactions, regardless of cost or size, would be subject to a 21-cent fee. Therefore, franchisees selling lower-ticket items would now be paying a much higher percentage of the cost to the credit card companies. The result: every transaction made below $15 on a non-exempt card now has a higher network-imposed interchange fee than it did prior to the law’s enactment. Further, interchange swipe fees on purchases under $2.50 have now tripled in price because of the decisions by participating networks to raise all rates to the cap.

How did this happen? According to the organization primarily responsible for advocating the law’s passage, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), two parties are to blame for this result: the Fed and the credit card companies.

According to MPC, the Fed did not set a truly reasonable and proportional standard and therefore is now allowing banks to collect almost six times the transaction cost in debit swipe fee revenue. Also, because the Fed did not require merchant routing choices on every transaction (i.e., a signature or PIN number), they limited the competition between Visa, MasterCard and the other debit networks. As for the credit card companies, MPC points out that while the 21-cent rates are not required by law, Visa and MasterCard still raised the debit swipe fee to the 21-cent cap, which now serves as more of a floor in the eyes of the networks.

In late November 2011, retailers began fighting back. The National Retail Federation, the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Convenience Stores and other organizations filed a suit against the Fed for setting too high of a cap on interchange fees; buckling to pressure from the banking industry; and considering outside expenses, such as fraud, when determining swipe fees. The suit maintains that the Fed’s cap is an "unreasonable interpretation" that exceeds its authority under the law. In addition, the suit contends that the Fed wrongly interpreted another provision in the law—one that requires merchants have a choice of which network handles their transaction.

In the long term, hopefully the networks will begin to face some competitive pressures and swipe fees will decrease. Until that happens, however, franchisees need to write to their members of Congress and relay their personal stories of how the new swipe fee law is hurting–rather than helping–their business.

For example, it’s the new year and we have fitness resolutions dancing in our heads. But instead of thinking of the 4 or 5 workouts a week and the diet changes, you could choose to focus on a flat tummy in your favorite shirt, a shopping spree at the 20 pound mark, how fun Zumba classes are on Monday nights and the new tasty gourmet meals that you’ll discover, etc.

You still get the same results, but you have a lot more fun along the way.

I have found that adding the pleasure to your business plans makes it easier to do the grunt work as well. For me, it’s not about the workout. It’s about the 20 minutes in the steam room afterwards. It’s not about the hours at the desk, it’s about a solution for the small business owners that I know and love. Now, I’ll show up for that.

Here are four different types of business plans to consider for this year.

The Relationship Plan

In “What Matters Most: Business (Part II),” John Mariotti tells a simple (true) story that makes it easier for you to understand the power of tenacity and relationships in pursuing new clients. His tale highlights the never-give-up, never-back-down, but service-driven-attitude that it takes to attract new clientele. And it reminds you to keep showing up. Because one day your prospects will have an emergency, a problem that you can solve. You just need to be ready and available.

The “Who’s Next” Plan

Every business or program has to have successors but it’s common for small business owners to operate like superman doesn’t have a weakness. Well he does and it’s time to plan for it.  It’s time to identify and train a team that is ready to lead when the time comes.

But first you have to:

1. Get clear about every position in the company and who will fill each spot in the face of an emergency, life-change or tragedy.
2. Get your team ready to lead now with real world experiences. I love this one because there’s nothing like feeling the fear and handling the situation anyway.

When training your team, get focused on the position you are preparing them for and realistic about how long it will take to get them ready. There is a serious difference between being the right hand man and the front runner. Your team players need a chance to feel that difference and learn to manage it. And real world practice makes it better.

In “The Key to Succession Planning Is Having A Strong Bench,” John gives additional advice to help you plan for the long term future of your business.

The “No BS” Plan

Ivana Taylor says:

“The reason most of our business plans fail is because we leave them on the paper or we suck the life out of them by giving them uninspiring names.”

I agree and to combat that you can do what I did:

1. Choose the two or three major projects that you will to accomplish this year.
2. Name them something that inspires you and your team every time you hear it.
3. Create a visually appealing image to represent the project and put it on the wall.

There will be many details in order to complete your plan, but the core or your desire (with a cool name) will be in your face daily.

For Ivana’s no BS plan check out “A New And Improved Goal Setting Process For Your Business (And Life).” She encourages us to know what our real commitments are, to plan with those in mind, to get them down on paper as soon as possible and then off the page and into real life.

The Simple Plan

And if you are really overwhelmed, just start with the The Overwhelmed Small Business Owner’s Guide to Simplicity. You have to be in motion to be in the game. So even if you take baby steps, as long as you keep moving in the right direction, you will eventually arrive at your destination.

But if you stand in the same place, you’ll be left behind. So, just get started.

Plan Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Simple “Who’s Next” Relationship Plan: What Experts Say

Every day I see small business owners jump ahead in a couple of areas in their business. From marketing to networking to pricing you can do real damage to your future if you go to fast.

1. Marketing
Before you sign up to advertise in a magazine, pay for Google ads, or buy air time, ask yourself some key questions:

• Who is your audience?
• Where is your audience?
• What is the best way to transmit your message?

Taking the time to answer these questions will help you avoid spending money in the wrong places. Think about it this way.  If you sell to businesses, does it make sense to put an ad in a consumer magazine or neighborhood paper? Not really. Sure, you can tell yourself that your target market will be reading that document. However, they won’t be reading it with an eye for what you are offering. Your message will be lost on them. That is not the best way to spend your marketing dollars.

Don’t allow yourself to be swayed by the salesperson or your associates. You must do your due diligence before signing on the dotted line.

Example: I have two friends who started an organization called Positive Thinkers Network. After it had been in operation for about a year they decided to launch The Positive Times, a periodical that goes into homes and has only good news stories in it. When the salesperson reached out to me about advertising in it my first reaction was to sign up. After all, I like the owners and wanted to support them if I could. My heart said ‘do it.’ When I took a moment to consider this I realized that it just wasn’t the place for me to advertise because I sell to businesses, not consumers. As much as I wanted to support my friends, this was not a good marketing decision. So I respectfully declined.

2. Networking
There are tons of opportunities to network, on and off line. You could be doing it all day and night, every day. However, that would not be the best use of your time. Once again you have to ask yourself some questions starting with what do you hope to accomplish. It is my opinion that networking is building relationships with people who may or may not need what you have to sell.

At the same time, since time is precious, you want to meet the people who can introduce you to your target. Visiting various events and groups to get a sense of them can be a very valuable exercise. Just pay attention while you are there.

Example: I have a client whose target market is CPAs and attorneys. I have another client whose target market is busy professionals and salespeople who like to thank their clients. Where they will network will be different. The first client should be around business owners as they are the people most likely to have CPAs and attorneys. The second client would do well with business owners but would also do well in a group of salespeople.

3. Pricing
This is an interesting place where time really matters. Sometimes new business owners decide to low-ball their pricing just to get the business. They are afraid if they price where they want, prospects won’t bite. There are a couple of issues with this thought process. When you do this you are telling your prospects how YOU value your product or service. Once you go low, it’s hard to raise your prices. You get locked into a belief system that can stick with you for a long time.

The other issue with this is the kind of clients you’ll attract. You’re going to get the clients who don’t want to pay for things; the kind who won’t value what you offer. There is the risk that they will demand a lot of your time and energy without reasonable compensation. Is that really who you want to work with?

Other times, business owners set a high price right out of the gate. They say, “I’m talented and worth this much.” The problem with this can be that they are so new they haven’t proven themselves yet. They know their history and capabilities. However, they haven’t given the marketplace time to trust them. When they start high they can be sending the wrong message. Once again, their target market won’t buy. Now what do they do?

The best thing you can do is set what you think is a fair price. Be realistic; be fair. Consider where you are in your business life and set a path for proving yourself. Don’t go too low or too high. Take the time to really consider what you should be charging. Take a look at what your competitors are asking for similar products or services. Consider what the market will bear.

I’ve watched brand new businesses charge really high fees for basic services. A year later those business owners are looking for jobs. Why? Because they hadn’t taken the time to prove themselves and earn those rates. Don’t be one of those people.

As you can see, taking the time to think about your decisions before you make them can save you a lot of money and heartache. You owe it to yourself and your business to ask the right questions and think unemotionally about your business. Then you’ll make decisions that will have staying power; and your business will grow nicely.

Growth Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Take The Time To Grow Your Business

These loans impacted 7,600 jobs and farmers. The previous record was $356 million in loans in 1992. Missourians are also being provided the capital that is much required to grow their farms. The result of it is that unemployment in Missouri is continuing to decrease and entrepreneurs are adding more new jobs. Farmers are also building up the confidence that the family farm is there for generations to come.

Community Lenders in Missouri are working to provide Missourians investment dollars that is much required for the economy to expand. With the grant of loans in Missouri, Statewide borrows have been able to save an estimated $7.2 million in interest. The qualifying borrowers are able to save 30 percent on the cost of loans.

Treasurer Zweifel’s expanded eligibility guidelines for loans making it possible to increase the dollar amount of loans in Missouri. The expanded eligibility guidelines enacted in 2009 has undoubtedly led to an increase in participating lenders. Since end of 2008, participating lender branches have practically doubled. From the start of January 2009, nearly $906 million in loans have been approved and that have saved Missourians estimated $16.3 million in annual interest. So far, more than 15,000 jobs and farmers have been impacted due to the granting of loans.

I think about my dad, an entrepreneur himself, and when he formed a start-up business many decades ago in New York.  First, my dad had to grow his business locally in New York, and when it came time to expand to other parts of the country, it required an actual presence where he wanted to go.  At this point, my dad had to make sure his original office was running smoothly AND then move himself to a new city to start-up and so forth and so on….He eventually had 5 offices running in 5 different cities that served their respective local area.

By the time the Internet arrived, others figured out how they could successfully sell what my dad was selling through the web all over the country with one office (more than likely a home office).  It worked out well for my dad, he sold his name, rock solid reputation, and list of current clients to the right guy to move the business forward into the current state of the business world.

Start-up Businesses of today can claim a national presence and following in no time by staking their place on the web.  This involves a website, strong SEO, blogging, keeping up with fresh content, and positioning themselves in all social media sites.  I love this!  As a parent, it is comforting to know that I can expand my business to other locations right from my home office.  We also have amazing tools like Skype, GoTo Meeting, and who can forget, Email, that allow us to conduct business far and wide.

Obviously, there is an ongoing love affair with the happenings of the Internet and start-up business, which is why I like to stay up to date and so should you……

Here is what is top of mind for me this week:

- Google is changing their search feature again to provide anyone logged into Google, results that reflect that person (as in YOU).  That is right!  Starting this week, Google is rolling out ‘Search Plus Your World.’ Basically, if you are logged into Google and search a term, your results will direct you to where Google believes your personal preferences lie.  I have not surfed this feature yet because it is slowly rolling out this week (and I did not get not yet), but you can read about it here.

My Question is…..How will this affect start-up businesses in coming up in a search if the results are no longer based on Google’s usual algorithms but rather one person’s perceived personal preferences?  Much remains to be seen…It can be turned off, but that is a user-based decision.

- Without getting crazy political with you all, I must mention SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).  This Bill if passed will place heavy regulations and consequences on websites that are perceived to be pirating information and/or linked with such sites.  As a blogger, I obviously do not endorse stealing content and I enforce copyright policies, however, this particular legislation may impede small business with radical censorship and dramatic punishments.

To learn more about SOPA - watch this:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

You should be aware of this and can contact your local congressman to DO something about this act here.

That’s it for now…if you have a chance to play around with the new Google Search - share your thoughts and experience!

Rachel

http://backngroovemom.com

ShareThis

According to Marc Chesley, Infusionsoft Vice President of Development and Technology, the tracking and analytics are unique features in the industry:

“Infusionsoft has a full-featured CRM that tracks all the social media activity, so our customers can segment and target their sales and marketing efforts to their lists of prospects and customers much more effectively.  Compare this with the typical social media integration where you may get an activity feed of social information, but no place to store the data, or more importantly, no system to centralize, organize and take action on the leads that bubble-up from the social media activity.”

A Trend 

A challenge that many businesses have with social media is that all too often your customer and prospect databases are disconnected from your followers and fans on social media — and disconnected from the conversations taking place on social media.  So it’s no surprise that companies that provide CRM (customer relationship management) capabilities and marketing platforms and services such as email marketing, have been looking to add social media tools and monitoring/tracking capabilities.  It’s a significant trend.

Companies providing social media tracking services and tools are sought-after acquisition targets.   In the email marketing space,  Vertical Response bought social media tool Roost.  Constant Contact acquired Bantam Live and Nutshell Mail.  ExactTarget bought Co-Tweet.  Giant CRM provider Salesforce.com snapped up social-media monitoring company Radian6  last year.

We’ve even seen some acquisitions go the other way.  For instance, LinkedIn, itself a social media company, acquired Connected, a CRM provider, late last year.

And those examples just scratch the surface of the acquisition activity that’s going on to integrate marketing and social media capabilities.

Infusionsoft Decides to Build

In a space where the buzzword seems to be “acquire,” Infusionsoft decided to buck the trend and build its own social media capabilities in-house, instead of acquiring them. This was a deliberate decision by Infusionsoft management, says the company, to provide exactly the right mix of capabilities that small businesses need.  ”We conducted a full cycle of disciplined target user research to get clear on what benefits small businesses want from social media,” explains Chesley. “Overwhelmingly, small businesses told us that they want to use social media channels to generate hot leads for their business.”

The lines between software categories such as CRM, email marketing, social media monitoring/marketing are becoming blurrier with each day, as companies add capabilities.   For instance, Infusionsoft calls its product  ”marketing automation software.”

The new social features provided by Infusionsoft are part of its “winter release,” which also includes  added CRM and e-commerce capabilities.  The new features are in the process of being rolled out at no additional charge to existing customers of Infusionsoft.

From Small Business Trends

Infusionsoft Bucks Acquisition Trend, Builds Its Own Social Features

Google Search Plus Is Shaking Things Up a Bit

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This week Google realigned it’s search results to officially add a feature that many had witnessed leaking into search results

The new functionality is potentially as important as the switch to Universal Search a few years ago. (I say potentially because Google seems to have a knack for live testing.)

The feature is something called Google Search Plus Your World – doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue but most are simply calling it Search Plus.

The idea is that Google is going to give you the option to search with results focused primarily on those in your social circles. Currently, this has heavy focus on Google+ as Facebook and Twitter don’t seem interested in helping Google paint a bigger picture at the moment.

The functionality is switched on and off with a little selector that shows up in the right hand corner of your browser window when you are logged into your Google account. (Oddly, the feature shows up in Chrome and Safari, but not in Firefox for me at the moment.)

The results are sort of fascinating at the moment as it’s fun to see some of this data organized in this manner. Time will tell whether or not this is a killer feature, but there are some things to like and certainly some things to note.

The rel=author attribute is more important than ever. I wrote about adding rel=author a while back but it seems it’s in full swing now. I am seeing search results for generic, but important search terms produce my homepage with my photo next to the results making it stand out even more. (For the time being it appears you can use the attribute on any page you author and eventually create this result – NB: for the time being, we’ll see how sorts out.) See the images below.

Notice my image to the left of the results from my site and the “more from John Jantsch” link embedded in the results. This came about through Google’s author highlighting that ties the rel=author attribute on all my pages to my Google+ profile and it’s hard not to think that highlighting makes that result stand out on the page. (Note: these searches were conducted while signed out of my Google account.)

Google is going to force you to like Google+ – okay that may be a bit strong but right now there is very strong evidence that playing in Google+ will benefit you when it comes to showing in Search Plus. It’s do in part to the vast amount of content that Google has total access to there and I’m sure it will settle down some or Google will damage its search integrity, but for now the connection is pretty blatant. See the image below.

Go read up on the rel=author attribute and go listen to my interview with Google+ maestro Chris Brogan and you’ll be off and running in the Search Plus game.

Top Business Trends

Learn from the experts. Podcast host Deborah Shane interviews small biz leaders Rieva Lesonsky, Melinda Emerson and our own Anita Campbell about some of the top trends in small business today in this small biz panel. Metropolis

How to raise money for your business. Whether your company is large or small, some basic fundamentals of fundraising remain the same. Entrepreneur Asheesh Advani shares some basics at the annual Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference Jan. 11. Entrepreneur

Top sectors for growth? Looking for the top sectors for business growth either as part of a plan to expand into a new market or to start a new venture. Here are some top markets that are performing well. Inc.com

Resources for Entrepreneurs

Seven important marketing links. These links are a treasure trove explaining everything from when to tweet to tips on e-mail marketing and much more. Take time to explore each one today. Copyblogger

Things to look out for when hiring. You may have come to view hiring as something of a crap shoot. How can you know the best people from an interview or resume. Here are some tips that will help you avoid bad choices. Small Business Trends

Advice from the Trenches

Tips for the online business. Yes, more and more businesses are moving online these days taking advantage of the opportunities for cheaper marketing and lower costs. But beware of these risks that even online businesses face. Youngentrepreneur

A recipe for success. Jason Fried of 37 Signals has plenty of advice to impart in this video interview about how his company became a preeminent provider of collaborative software. Here’s a business owner who, in many ways, has not played by the standard rules. Entrepreneurs Unpluggd

Technology Tips

Using the cloud for online data. Your social media and Website presence have become as important as everything else in your business. So why don’t you back them up the way you do other important business information? Here’s a tip critical to your online business future. Smallbiz Technology

Your Business Strategy

How to think long term. An important part of planning for your small business’s future is to make sure you consider the possible results of each action you take today. Taking a short sighted view can often lead to disasterous results down the road. Personal Branding Blog

Become your own boss by this time next year. If you’ve thought about starting your own small business but up until now haven’t taken the plunge, don’t worry! This guide could have you on the road to becoming your own boss within the next 12 months. Small Biz Lady

From Small Business Trends

Learn From the Experts: Top Biz Tips for 2012

If you take a look at a list of the oldest companies in the world, you’ll see the glaringly obvious fact that the majority of the companies listed are Japanese.

Germany makes a good argument for having a fair few, while the U.S. begins a late charge once they broke away from British rule. The rest is a mish-mash of European countries and developing countries (at least in the later part of the list).

So why does Japan have such a strong command of business, and what it takes to survive?

There are a few reasons. As someone who’s heavily influenced by Japanese culture, one of the things I’ve always admired about their business approach is how they encourage innovation and information-sharing from the bottom up. Everyone has a voice – it may not be used, but it will be heard.

Another reason is the permanent employment system Japanese companies use. This sees workers employed from college, but without a particular skill set to take to their new job. So, instead of being stuck in one division, the new recruit really does learn all about the company and its culture as he or she works their way through it.

Yet perhaps the biggest pointer on why Japanese companies often succeed where others fail is due to one simple reason, and one that’s more prevalent through smaller companies as opposed to the larger ones.

New employees are given mentors, and they spend years learning their craft, honing their skills and understanding every part of a machination or process that their employer goes through every day. They focus on needs and future needs as opposed to current successes.

It’s probably no surprise that this system can be found in Germany, under the term Meister– perhaps the reason Germany is second only to Japan when it comes to longevity and success.

So, simply put, knowing what you’re talking about and how to transfer that to what your customer needs is the secret of not only Japanese business’ longevity, but longevity in general when it comes to you too.

• Make your blog your fountain of knowledge as opposed to your drainpipe of loose facts.
• Make your speeches your topic of personal knowledge as opposed to a Googled equivalent.
• Make your business the one that finds the answers it doesn’t have, as opposed to your customers finding them first elsewhere.
• Make your job the one that educates you for your next position as opposed to the one that educates you on killing time.
• Make the books you read enhance your knowledge as opposed to entrench your growth.

We all want long-term success. We all want to be recognized or known for what we do, long after we don’t do it anymore. But sometimes we think achieving longevity is something others do, not us.

The funny thing is, longevity is a lot easier to come by than we think it is – you just have to know how to find it, and funnel it.

Ready to start learning?

Heritage, Culture and What the Japanese Can Teach Us About Business Longevity originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

So what measures can you put in place to avoid being a negative statistic, giving your business a better chance of doing more than just surviving?

Do your research Yes, I know it sounds boring but researching at least the basics about your market (e.g. trends, scale), target groups (where they spend their money and time), and competitors is essential to inform the rest of your business plan.

How are you helping the market? For most businesses to succeed you need to have a pretty clear idea about what problem your business is providing a solution for and/or what need you are meeting. If you’re thinking of entering an already busy market, consider how you’re going to differentiate your business from competitors. What are you going to do that’s better?

Keep listening and talking to customers This sounds obvious but it’s surprising particularly during the early years how we can be so focused on getting the business off the ground, learning the ropes and managing day-to-day that we forget the most basic of requirements for a successful business to listen to and talk with your customers. Create an authentic and meaningful relationship with them to engender loyalty and make sure you’re meeting their often changing needs.

Don’t take everything on yourself Easy to do in the early days when money is often scarce, but take a long, hard, and honest look at your skillset and time available. Consider outsourcing anything you’re not so good at. Doing your accounts is an obvious one (particularly if you’re Limited company) but help with administration or sales could be equally valuable. Ensure your network of colleagues complements your own skills and knowledge and don’t forget to keep an eye out for collaborative opportunities with complementary businesses – so much more can be achieved with a collaborative effort

Avoid starting with debt Being under-capitalised is one of the key reasons why businesses can fail. If your cash flow is poor to start with you could face an uphill struggle making the figures stack up. If you’ve done the figures and are short of money to start up take a look at some of the alternative funding sources such as crowdfunding (I’ll be writing a blog about this very soon) or even for small amounts your local credit union.

Find a mentor Many new initiatives that have started in the last year encouraging start-ups and existing businesses to find and benefit from a mentor. Some of these are volunteers and others charge a fee. Recent evidence suggests 70% of mentored small businesses survive longer than 5 years (double the number of non-mentored enterprises) so finding a mentor or coach isn’t really an option anymore, it’s essential.

Consider finding a Non-Executive Director This option isn’t for everyone however if you have genuine aspirations to grow your company quickly but need investment and skills to do that, you may want to consider finding an Investing Non-Exec. Once the domain of large corporations, an increasing number of start-ups are now choosing this route to add credibility to their management team as well as much needed funds and contacts. You can read more about this with some case studies here.

Test-trade or work 5-9 Thousands of people right now are holding down full-time jobs whilst starting a business of their own. They do this by working what is commonly referred to as the ‘5-9’ shift although in reality of course the hours are much longer! Test trading in a small way and/or working 5-9 can be an excellent way to find out a) whether you’re suited to being self-employed (it really isn’t for everyone despite what you may hear others say!) and b) help you determine basic information such as whether there really is a market for your business and if so how much people will be prepared to pay for your product/service.

Whatever your situation and whatever you decide to do, I wish you every success in 2012 and beyond.

A few years ago, I met Stan Phelps, another marketing guy, online (I think he commented on my blog and we started chatting via email) and before I knew it — we were friends.  He was just dipping his toe into the blogging waters and I tried to be helpful along the way.

Fast forward to today, January 11, 2012.

Stan’s first book, What’s Your Purple Goldfish*, is being released today.  I’ve read it and know you’re going to love it.  Really love it.

I’m also very humbled to say that Stan asked me to write the forward for his book.  So I can think of no better way to introduce you to Stan’s excellent book than to share with you a bit of what I had to say.

“…He understood that marketing is about being so remarkable that people can’t help but talk about you.  That if you absolutely delight someone – they will not only come back but they’ll bring friends.  They become your sales force.

Stan delivers this marketing truth over and over again in this book all wrapped in the idea of lagniappe.  What’s so awesome about the whole notion of marketing lagniappe is that it not only teaches us what to do but more importantly, it reminds us that it must be done from the heart.

True lagniappe can’t be faked or forced.  We banter the word authentic around too much these days.  But for lagniappe to work, it must be just that — real and offered without expectation of anything in return.

In other words – you do it because you want to, not because it’s in a marketing plan document or because your ROI calculator told you it would generate a 42.36% return. (And no…there’s no such thing as an ROI calculator!)

As you read the stories that Stan has collected for this book, I think you’re going to be amazing at the creativity and generosity that many businesses have and in the end, I suspect you’ll be inspired to let your inner spirit of lagniappe loose.

You’ll probably fill up a notepad with ideas of how you could do a little something extra to enchant your customers.  When you’ve turned that corner and are thinking about them rather than what’s in it for you – you’re truly ready to practice lagniappe.

I honestly believe that the guys in the white hats do win in the end.  And companies that embrace the belief that if you give first and you give generously – you will earn customers for life are marketing’s good guys. This book shows us time and time again how to make that happen.

In the end, this book is Stan’s own lagniappe for all of us.  A genuine gesture of sharing what he truly believes with the hope that it is of great value to us.  I’m so happy for you that you’ve found Stan, his book and are about to receive a gift that could, if you let it, change how you do business forever.”

True to his belief in lagniappe — Stan is making it possible for you to enjoy his book for free.  (You can buy the paperback version here* if you’d like to go that route)

Option #1:  If you own a Kindle and are an Amazon Prime member, you can download the book for free by visiting this page.  This offer is good for the next 90 days.

Option #2:  You can download a free copy from Scribd by clicking here.

Option #3:  You can buy a paperback copy here (only at this site) and if you email your receipt to Stan (click here to do that) then he’ll send you a signed paperback and a little surprise for free.

The book is well worth the $16 and it’s a freaking steal for free.  Get it however you choose to — but get it.  And as you read it, hopefully the marketing lagniappe stories will inspire some lagniappe of your own.

Go on… get the book.

*Amazon affiliate link

Related posts:

1. What's your marketing lagniappe?
2. What comes after success?
3. You’ve got a bird in your hand. Now what?

The professors evaluated the studies based on six key areas where diversity gives a business an edge:

• recruitment
• creativity
• problem-solving
• flexibility
• cost savings (due to lower employee turnover)
• marketing

Defining “diversity” to include:

• ethnicity
• age
• gender
• educational background
• professional experience

The study found that overall, the more organizations embraced diversity in their culture, the more successful they became.

But in order for diversity to bring these benefits, it has to be more than superficial, the researchers caution.  Scott says:

“[Some] organizations …. [show] pictures of diverse workers on their website[s] and say they have a commitment to diversity, but they’re not really going beyond what people may see as simply window dressing.  Talk the diversity talk, but walk the talk.”

Small businesses have some natural disadvantages as well as advantages when it comes to diversity. The disadvantages: As a small company, your business may have a tendency to be somewhat homogenous. After all, small business owners often hire people they know or learn about through their connections, which can lead to hiring lots of clones of yourself. Second, as a small company, simply by your size your business is limited in how diverse it can be. If you only have 10 employees, you don’t have as many options to fill in the positions with diverse workers as a huge multinational corporation.

But small businesses have some important advantages, too. For one, as Scott points out, diversity needs to be authentic in order to bring business benefits. And small companies, due to their size, are more likely to be authentic in their behaviors. While big conglomerates can pay lip service to diversity while embracing a very different reality, at a small company, it’s much harder to “fake it.” In addition, the small size of your business means your team naturally interacts more closely, sharing opinions and ideas freely.

Is your business as diverse as it could be?

Diversity isn’t just about the outside – it’s about the inside as well. Even if your business is racially, culturally or gender diverse, are you creating a workplace where employees feel free to express different opinions? The more varied the experiences and outlooks your employees bring to the job, the more creative your workplace is going to be – and that can only benefit your business, financially and otherwise.

Business Diversity Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

One Simple Secret to a More Successful Business

“The termination of an insurance policy because a renewal premium is not paid by the end of the grace period.”

The term “Lapse in Coverage” might send a shiver down the spine of many small business owners and well it should.  Most small business owners fight tooth and nail, scraping together dollars, explaining away their late payments, and in some cases signing waivers of subrogation and statements of no loss just to avoid a lapse in insurance.

A lapse in insurance coverage can happen for a couple different reasons.  Examples include:

• Unintentionally (or intentionally) not paying your bill (a.k.a. Cancel for non-payment).
• Your business may not meet the inspection requirements of new insurance carrier.
• You may not get your renewal paperwork back to the carrier by the due date.
• You may be saddled with a huge audit bill and not be afforded coverage until your audit adjusted premiums are paid off.

There are also cases where a small business may purposefully cancel coverage for a set amount of time in order to save cash flow during periods of inactivity.  A good example is an exterior contractor closing up shop for the winter.

And for all intensive purposes canceling your insurance or not paying your bill or being too busy to get your paperwork in the insurance carrier in time might be completely legitimate and honest and to some extent the right thing to do.

What I want to make you aware of today are the repercussions of an insurance lapse because no matter what your reasons for incurring a lapse in insurance there are penalties that you are most likely not aware of.

3 Reasons an Insurance Lapse is Bad for Business:

A lapse of more 30 days can lead to the loss of a “Continuous Coverage” discount given by most carriers.

• Most insurance carriers both personal and commercial lines give a discount for maintaining constant coverage.  This includes when switching from one carrier to another. Continuous coverage shows stability within a business which is something insurance carriers reward.

A lapse in coverage can result in the loss of long-tail Products / Completed Operations Coverage.

• If you are with an insurance carrier for say five years, the Products / Completed Operations portion of your liability policy covers you for work done throughout those five years.  So if you are sued for something you did four years ago even if it’s not an ongoing project your liability carrier will respond.  If you have a lapse you lose that long-tail coverage.

A lapse will cause your business to lose goodwill with insurance underwriters.

• This is especially painful for small business owners who must deal with commercial insurance underwriters.  In most instances, commercial insurance is written on a case by case basis.  Insurance agents, such as myself, must sell (in a matter of speaking) the underwriter on why that particular business is a good fit that particular insurance carrier.  If your small business has a lapse or a couple lapses over a period of time the number of underwriters who want to write the policy will be less.  Which means your premiums will most likely be higher.

Obviously all three of these scenarios assume that you have insurance, then have a lapse, and then get insurance back.

The repercussions of having an insurance lapse and not getting new coverage is that you don’t have any insurance.  Which means no defense costs, no general liability, no property coverage, no nothing.  We won’t get into that nightmare today.

The Rub

What I’m trying to get at here is that a lapse in your insurance is Bad. Far too often I see insurance consumers, especially small businesses, have a relatively cavalier attitude towards their insurance.  Insurance is not an expense is it a necessity to the small business. Without insurance your business is exposed to an infinite number of catastrophic loses and that is bad for business.

Insurance Lapse Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 Reasons an Insurance Lapse is Bad for Business

5 Exercises in Perceptive Listening

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Listening is a skill that all marketers must develop. Or, perhaps more accurately, redevelop.

Most people are born with the ability to hear and, over time, interpret what’s being said. Somewhere along the line we get so consciously competent at hearing that we no longer feel the need to listen.

I believe that one of the master skills of any marketer, manager, or educator is the ability to listen perceptively to what our prospects, customers, staff and community members are saying. And I further believe this is something we all have to work at.

So, what is perceptive listening?

People that teach this sort of thing might say there are many forms of listening.

Passive listening – the kind we do when we are listening to a seminar but we’re really scrolling through Pinterest.

Selective listening – the kind that I might practice when I’m discussing something with someone and mostly I’m thinking about what I’m going say next.

Active listening – the kind where we are discussing something with someone and reacting only to the words being said.

Perceptive listening – the kind where I hear and interpret the words, but I also consider what the person is thinking and perhaps how they are acting as they say the words.

Perceptive listening is by far the most complex because it requires you to be totally focused, completely mindful and, well, perceptive of what’s really going on.

Perceptive listening is also something the party being listened to can feel. We’ve all grown pretty numb to act of conversing with people while they divide their attention between our words and their iPhone.

Perceptive listening is how you tell when a prospect says they’re not ready to buy, but what they are really saying is they don’t understand the benefits.

Perceptive listening is how you mentor an employee. It’s how you draw out what they are truly passionate about. It’s how you help them self manage and lead.

I believe you can even use perceptive listening to monitor the things you say to yourself. When you are mindful enough to stop and witness your own thoughts and perceive how they truly make you feel, your actions will be much more perceptive.

Effective listening can be learned and takes practice. It’s a habit of sorts, just like multi tasking is a habit.

Below are five exercises that I challenge you to undertake in an effort to first experience your level of perceptive listening and bring this art front and center in everything you do.

Listening to a client

Make a list of five clients you respect and would like to understand better. Set a time to sit down with them and ask them these three questions. Make certain that you give their answers your full attention and pay close attention to how they answer, including their body language.

1. What’s the one thing you love about what we do?
2. If you referred us to a friend what would you say?
3. What’s the biggest challenge you have in your business right now?

Listening to a staff member

You know the drill now, but this time choose a member of your staff that you would like to develop further and start with these questions.

1. What’s the one thing you love most about coming to work here?
2. If you referred us to a friend what would you say?
3. What’s the biggest challenge you have in meeting your objectives right now?

Listening to yourself

This might be the toughest act yet, but sit down and ponder these questions posed to yourself and pay attention to how you feel about the answers. You aren’t really looking for right or wrong answers I don’t think, you’re merely checking for cracks in the alignment.

1. What’s the one thing you love most about what you do?
2. Why do you really do what you do?
3. If you could do anything you wanted, would this be it?

Listening in space

Put on a piece of instrumental music. (If you’re looking for a suggestion you can’t go wrong with a Bach cello concerto.) Close your eyes and try to focus on the rests and spaces between the notes only. Listen keenly for what musicians refer to as grace notes, the little half played notes that flick inside a pause or come in between a beat.

This is a completely different way to listen to music and I think it can help tune your sensitivity to the art of listening to the complete story.

You can’t have art or music without this negative space and I think the same is true when it comes to perceptive listening.

Listening in space 2

Another exercise I love to do is to sit somewhere in a room and close my eyes. Once I kind of empty my thoughts I start actively listening for the sounds right around me – the water running in the pipes, the printer, a stereo playing.

Next I try to move my listening out farther to focus on the street sounds – the cars passing by, the construction work across the street, people coming and going.

Finally, I try to move my listening out as far as I can. Through this targeted listening I can perceive an airplane overhead and a train slowly rumbling through another part of town.

Some of the exercises above might seem like odd ways to get better at marketing, but marketing is mostly about listening to and understanding what’s really going on all around you.

 
If you’re just starting your search for that perfect franchise business opportunity, you may not be aware of some of the issues that Quiznos, (a submarine sandwich franchise chain) has been facing. I’m here to school you on some of them. That way, you can learn from their mistakes, and quite frankly, lots of mistakes that the franchisees made before they wrote their checks.

Quiznos has had, “issues” for a long time. Franchise industry insiders have been aware of them for years. Here are some of the major reasons that Quiznos is in trouble, according to my friend, Carol Tice, who wrote a post for the CBS News website;

“Number one, franchisees are compelled to buy everything from sliced turkey to toilet paper from Quiznos at above-market rates. Second, Quiznos store owners continue to complain that the company opens stores too close together, cannibalizing sales at existing locations and driving down their profits.” Read the rest at CBS News

There’s another reason; false expectations from franchisees.

It’s unrealistic to think that you can plunk down$150,000, open one food franchise, and become rich. (There are some exceptions. Look for the Golden Arches.) I’m not suggesting that every Quiznos franchise owner thought that, but I’d wager that lots of them did. It’s that, “American Dream” thing.

I’ve written about the problems that Quiznos franchisees have been facing for years. Things have gotten so bad, Quiznos may actually go out of business.

I Feel Bad For Them

The people that have been affected the most by consistent ball-dropping by the Quiznos executive team are the ones who are suffering. Franchisees that are now, “former franchisees,” have lost a lot of money. Some have probably lost their homes. That’s not what’s supposed to happen when you become a franchise owner, trust me.

If you’re starting to get serious about being your own boss, there are at least 5 things that you can learn from former franchisees of Quiznos.

They are;

1. Don’t buy a specific franchise just because it’s been named a “top franchise”

2. Don’t buy a franchise without talking to current and past franchisees of the franchise you’re interested in

3. Do hire a franchise attorney

4. Make sure that you have enough fall-back money

5. Go to The Street.com to find out what #5 is

Finally, work with a franchise industry insider to help you figure things out.

On your mark, get set, go!

The alarm clock buzzes. You do your morning ritual, and it’s time to get back to work… but hold on just a minute…

Are you starting off where you left off in 2011, or do you have new and specific, public relations (PR) and search engine optimization (SEO) goals you are working towards?

If you woke up excited to get back to work, you are probably starting some new projects to help increase awareness and sales with PR and SEO.

However, if you started your day just doing “busy” work, (answering e-mails, following up on calls, checking social-media posts, etc. Yawn!), it’s time to add some Zing to your day!

To help you get over the after-holiday doldrums and add some excitement (and results) to your PR and SEO work, here are some questions to think about:

• Are you reaching out to customers?

If you haven’t sent a newsletter, blog notice, coupon, e-mail, or other, valuable communication to your customers lately, what can you send them that they will find interesting and useful now, and in the months to come?

• How old is the copy on your Website?

Add some new, SEO blog posts, articles, videos, case studies, and more to your site on a weekly basis (at least). This way, you’ll provide current and potential customers with fresh information and increase interactions to help build long-term relationships.

• What news can you share?

When was the last time you distributed an SEO press release to build buzz? If it has been more than a month, it’s time to post some news.

What is happening with your customers? Did you have a successful charity event? Do you have new products and services, white papers or other information you can share that will help others?

Even if you don’t think you have any news, there are good stories hiding in your company. It’s up to you to talk to your sales team, customers and partners to find out how they have benefited from your products and services.

Enjoy Some PR and SEO Zing Now!

If you are bored with your work and want to see better results, get creative! Think of ways you can provide more value to your customers and then promote the successes they have using your products and services.

Set new goals involving fresh and exciting SEO copywriting and PR activities, and you’ll have more fun. More important, you’ll start enjoying your work and see better results too!

Do you need help increasing results with SEO and PR? Please write to me here or check out my free information at www.rembrandtwrites.com.

ShareThis

Like you need a resume to apply for a job, and a completed application to gain admittance to a university, business plans are required to apply for business financing.

And like resumes and college applications, business plans are viewed as a necessary evil by most entrepreneurs.

Yet, this shouldn’t be the case. Because unlike completing your resume or college application, the process of completing your business plan has been proven to improve your success — not only in gaining funding, but when executing on your business.

With regards to getting you funding, here’s why business plans are so critical. To begin, funding sources are used to reviewing written company materials before investing. In the public markets, they review annual reports and other financial filings to determine the health and prospects of a company and whether or not they should invest.

And the same holds true when assessing private companies like yours. You need to present a business plan that paints the right picture of your business: one that gets investors and lenders excited to work with you.

Importantly, you should look at your business plan much like a public company’s annual report. If you look at an annual report, you’ll quickly notice that it’s much more of a marketing document than a research report. Annual reports include nice pictures and graphics, they highlight the company’s top accomplishments, and they paint a pretty picture of future prospects.

That’s not to say that your business plan shouldn’t be more sober, and include information about worthy competitors. It should. But it shouldn’t be a massive data-dump; but rather should paint a positive picture regarding how and why your company will be successful in the future.

3 keys to a business plan in regards to funding:

1. Detail the market need or pain: all great companies solve a real customer need or pain. You must detail what this need is, how big it is, and whether it is growing or shrinking.

2. Detail both your direct and indirect competition. If there is a real customer need or pain, customers must be trying to solve it already. In your plan, you must detail how they are solving the need currently. For example, when eBay first launched, it realized that the need for selling personal products was being met by yard or garage sales (indirect competition). This proved that there was a market need or pain.
Importantly, don’t badmouth your competition. If they’re still in business, your competitors must be doing something right. So, explain both what your competition’s strengths and weaknesses are, and how you will exploit weaknesses.

3. Create a credible financial model. Creating a financial model that shows that your company will take off like a rocket ship will do more harm than good. Investors and lenders know how a company might grow after they fund them. They know that growth takes time, even in a best case scenario.

In developing your financial model, you should really think through the timing of your growth. How long will it take to hire and train the right employees? How long will it take to repeatedly get your marketing message in front of customers until they buy? Etc. These things generally take longer than you initially think. And during this time, you are often incurring expenses and generating less revenues than projected. Which often results in companies running out of money.

So, be careful to consider slower growth scenarios so you don’t run out of cash.

The right business plan will get investors and lenders excited to write you a check that allows you to dramatically grow your company. And the right plan will keep you and your team motivated and on track to achieve your long-term objectives. So, don’t treat your plan as a necessary evil. Rather, treat it as an investment that can give you a significant ROI.

“Preferred lender” distinction by SBA makes 1st Capital Bank an elite lender of US Small Business Administration. It helps the bank streamlines the process for businesses to receive funding. Its credibility has improved over years. This is definitely an outcome of the bank’s hard-work and good management skills that has earned it this prestigious recognition.

1st Capital Bank attained the ‘Preferred Lending Program’ (PLP) position with SBA due to the bank’s demonstrated inclination in awarding loans to small business enterprises. SBA is working to designate other banks and private lenders with the ‘Preferred Lender’ designation.

Have a local event, training or meet up you want to spread the word about? Here are six ways to use the Internet to your advantage.

1. Talk Early To Generate Buzz

One of the most effective ways to promote an offline event on the Web is to start early and build that first touch of buzz. Maybe it’s a blog post announcing a conference you’ll be speaking at or it’s some early photos as you prepare for your company birthday party or photos of a product you currently have in development. By using social media outlets like your blog, Facebook, Tumblr, etc, to tease people about what’s coming down the pipeline you build awareness for what’s happening offline and create that initial excitement. It’s that first spark of interest that’s going to make someone want to tune in or show up in person to see what the commotion is all about.

2. Make It A Facebook Event

If it’s an offline event, why not make it a Facebook event? Small business owners can create Facebook events around product releases, community events, things happening in-store, and anything else. By doing so you give people a place to gather and talk about what’s going on. You’re able to share information with your audience, take advantage of targeted Facebook advertising, and it can be used to incent others to promote your event in their own networks. After the event, you can also send a call-to-action encouraging users to upload media (photos, videos) from the event that you can host on your Facebook page.

3. Blog About It

In the weeks leading up to your event make sure you dedicate some time to blogging about it. Announce the event, talk about what you’re doing to prepare, host some giveaways or special offers that will be taking place at the event, etc. Blogging about what you’re doing can help get the word out and it also gives people in your community something they can share to encourage their friends to come out, as well.

4. Turn it Into a #hashtag

A hashtag is a symbol used to group or mark related information on Twitter. Hashtags are often created by topic (#business) or by event (#blogworld) to help people find the information they’re after or to associate themselves with something that’s happening on a larger scale. For example, Affiliate Summit is an affiliate marketing conference that just took place in Las Vegas earlier this week. Attendees of the conference used the hashtag #asw12 to talk about what they learned, get information from sessions they weren’t at, or just to meet up at the networking events. Trying to get people talking about an event you’re creating or are part of? Assign it a hashtag and encourage people to use it when talking about the event. Twitter is a great way to connect with people online about your offline event, both before, after and during!

5. Allow People To Register Online

Just because the event is taking place offline doesn’t mean you can’t let people sign up and tell everyone they’re coming via online channels. Use a site like Eventbrite to create an online registration page that you can share, promote, and drive traffic to. Creating this page will also allow others to see who ELSE is attending and give you some social proof to drum up registrations.

6. Use Video

Video is another great way to spark buzz about your event. You can create a video of yourself talking about what’s coming up, film the preparations or even encourage attendees to upload videos talking about why they’re so excited about your event. This gives people something to share and produces a different type of content you can put on your site and show off to visitors.

There’s no shortage of ways small business owners can use the Web to promote offline events. And the earlier you start, the more time you’ll have to

From Small Business Trends

How to Promote Offline Events On The Web

Getting Started

Are you ready to start a small business? There are many reasons people consider starting a business and many things to consider along the way. To keep yourself from freaking out, here are some simple questions to ask yourself to determine if you’re really ready. The Small Business Playbook

Looking for a new home. Once you have your business started, it’s time to find a place where you can set up shop. Though some entrepreneurs, especially one person firms, may decide to start with a home office, for those who  need a bigger space, here are some ideas. Open Forum

Building Blocks

Creating a great office culture. FYI, there is no perfect or ideal office culture, no matter what the gurus might say. But there is a right and wrong office culture for your company and for those in your employ. Get Busy Media

Gaining some entrepreneurial inspiration. If you need a place to recharge your batteries after the exhausting task of getting your small business off the ground, there are great sources of inspiration out there. BizSugar Blog

Resources & Tips

Places to look for helpful programs. No matter what business venture you might be starting, there are always opportunities. Some of these include government and other programs that help small businesses just like yours in a variety of ways. Grow Smart Biz

Most important members of your team. When considering putting together your startup company, your team should be your first concern. But who do you need on your team in the beginning and is there a most important person with whom to start? BizCompare

Marketing 101

Is your small business social media ready? It’s becoming a more and more relevant question by the day. No matter what your product or service, have you thought about how it will translate to a social media presence? Think through a strategy sooner rather than later to be sure you have a plan in place.  Small Business Trends

Every business starts as an unknown. Perhaps the scariest thing about launching that new venture is that you will be working to start something new with no brand recognition at all among the customers you’ll be trying to impress. WSJ

Final Thoughts

A global startup success story. A $10 million startup may not sound like a small business to you, but there’s another reason you should be interested in BlueSprig’s story. Now almost any business can coordinate resources located half a world apart. How are you making use of this in your business? Bloomberg Businessweek

How to make your business stand out. At the end of the day, this is the most important consideration for any new business. Without distinguishing yourself from the competition, your chances of succeeding are limited. Think of these options instead. 23 Kazoos

From Small Business Trends

Are You Ready to Start a Small Business?

A Brief History of Google Places

I’m not sure what’s “brief” about it, but David Mihm has put together a great reference page that covers important news and milestone’s about Google’s local efforts going back to 2004 and continuing up to the present day. If I was still doing the SEMMY Awards, pretty sure that one would win for 2012.

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Google Places History, From 2004 to Today

When Google+ emerged last summer, people’s reactions were to be expected.  The early adopters were all over it. But for most people who were already suffering from social media fatigue — their response was “oh no…not another site for me to maintain!”

And many people simply opted out, not wanting to use/try yet another social networking site.  All along, I have been saying that it  simply could not be ignored. (like here)

Let’s look at time line for those of you who aren’t familiar with how this played out.

• Summer 2011 — Google+ launches
• 16 days later — Google+  reaches 10 million users (Facebook took 852 days, Twitter took 780)
• November 2011 — Google+ launches business pages
• January 2012 — Google+ has just added three new features to its search giant (see below)
• Do you think they don’t have the next move already planned?

This newest set of features makes personalization of Google search a given.  Specifically, how/who you are connected to on Google+ will impact your search results. Again — more ammo for the argument that businesses simply cannot ignore how this is changing the world of search. Here is a quick overview of the three new features. (email readers, click here to view video)

Personal Results

These results enable you to find information only pertaining to you and your connections. They show photos and updates from Google+ that include what you’ve shared and what has been shared with you there.

You will be the only one who can access this exact data.

Profiles in Search

These results, also shown in autocomplete and regular search results, will display Google+ profiles of people you know or others you may be interested in following when you search for people’s names.

Once searched, you’ll also have the choice (if you’re signed in and you use it) to add Google+ users to your Circles from directly within the search results.

People and Pages

These results show you profiles or Google+ business pages on the right-hand side of the results page when you search a specific topic or key word/s.

I don’t think I have to paint the picture for you.   Who do you think is going to get a higher search ranking — a business with or without Google+ content?

And take my word on it — this is just the beginning.  You simply cannot ignore Google+.  (Go build your Google+ business page here)

Related articles

• Google Just Made A Huge Change To Its Search Results (GOOG) (businessinsider.com)
• Google starts to integrate Google+ with search results (digitaltrends.com)
• They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil (readwriteweb.com)

Related posts:

1. Why every business needs a Google account
2. Why Facebook matters to every business
3. What can Google teach us about marketing?

And because of this allergy, I certainly don’t want to become the thing that I hate – the pushy sales person. But when you’re a business owner, sales is a part of the game or you could eventually find yourself out of business. I mean you do have to make money at what you do or it’s really a hobby.

So how do you sell your goods and services effectively without being pushy? 

It’s all about exposure, relationships and systems.  At the core (these are the steps that will get you started) you want to:

1. Expose what you have and why it matters to as many people as you can.
2. Build relationships with the ones that follow you home.
3. Establish a system ahead of time for how they will interact with you, find out about your goods or services and buy them from you (when they’re ready) and as easily as possible.

But there’s more to exposure than just opening a store and telling your friends. You have to get out there.

What is the best way to build a profitable, ongoing relationship with your potential clients? 

Consistent and engaging messages across multiple platforms.

In other words, you need a brand message. And if you hate the word brand, then think of it like this – you need something that you consistently represent and stand for. So that when people encounter you or information about you in social media, on your website, in videos, in magazines, in newspapers, they also encounter a consistent message.

Just keep this mind, there has to be a system behind your marketing and a system behind your sales. 

Nine times out of ten, the strategy work required in understanding and setting this up will take a little more time than you imagined on the front end, but will save you a lot of time and frustration on the back end.

You will have to decide what marketing platforms you will use first, because you can’t do everything at once. And you’ll need to choose your team.

You will have to determine exactly what you have for sale. And when you’re selling services you have to turn them into items that feel as concrete as walking into the grocery store and picking up a loaf of bread. People need to know what they’re getting in order to feel comfortable shopping with you.

At the core, you need to care about what they need and want, understand what they need and want and provide it in a platform that they need and want. When you do that, it’s easier for people to shop with you.

Pushy Salesman Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Promote Your Business Without Being Pushy

We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, this question:

“What are some major red flags that startup management teams look for when hiring new employees?”

Here’s what the YEC community had to say about hiring for your startup:

1. Gut Check Test

“A candidate may meet all of the requirements on paper. They might present well in person. But, most importantly, do they pass your gut check test? Don’t let your urgency to hire cloud your vision. Including several stages of interviews during the hiring process will help you to get to know the candidate better to be able to determine if they will truly be a good fit.” ~ Abbie Davies, My First Yoga

2. Watch Out for Slow Responders

“In the early days of a startup, there is little redundancy. This means if an emergency hits you need all hands to help, regardless of what time it is. It’s hard to tell in an interview if someone will be there when servers go down at 3 a.m., but a great test is seeing how quickly candidates respond to your communications. If they really want to join your team, they’ll be all over them.” ~ Jason Evanish, Greenhorn Connect

3. Is it Just a ‘Job’ to Them?

“Some people looking to be hired just want a job and are not there to really contribute to your mission. Get to the root of why they want to work with your business and if there is a passion there. If there’s no passion you know all you need to about bringing that person onto your team. You need a solid group who like the idea, want to help it grow and also learn more along the way.” ~ Ashley Bodi, Business Beware

4. Did You Do Your Homework?

“I interview prospective employees on the phone first. One of the questions I ask is what they know about my company. Repeating sound bytes from my job posting will not cut it. If someone has learned nothing about my company before applying, I know that they are not the kind of person I want working with me. I need employees who make things happen–not ones who wait for things to happen to them.” ~ Vanessa Nornberg, Metal Mafia

5. A Lack of Personal Projects

“Whenever I’m considering a new hire, I go looking for any side projects that individual has worked on — blogs, open source projects and so on. Those sorts of projects tells me that a potential employee can work on her own without me staring over her shoulder. It also says that a person is a self-starter, which is a great indicator that she will do well in a startup situation.” ~ Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

6. ‘I Don’t Like Being Micromanaged’

“This is an immediate red flag when brought up in an interview. Employees who generally use this line are those who don’t want to be managed by goals/results, and instead, wish to run with their own agendas or what “feels right” to them.” ~ Warren Jolly, Affiliate Media Inc.

7. Unclear Goals

“Always ask prospective employees about their goals. Not only will it tell you interesting things about their personality, you’ll also be able to determine whether this person will be a good fit for the company in the long run. If they don’t have any goals or their goals are unclear, proceed with caution. They may be taking the job for a paycheck instead of working with directed focus.” ~ Lisa Nicole Bell, Inspired Life Media Group

8. Concern With Hours

“It’s not that we all need to work 120 hour weeks. It’s not that you have to be in on Sunday. It’s not that you need to give up your girlfriend or gardening. It’s that there are no hours; a startup is a mission and a mission doesn’t have a daily start and end time. If something breaks at midnight, we fix it. If the sun begs an afternoon run, take that run. This isn’t a job. This is a lifestyle.” ~ Derek Shanahan, Foodtree

9. I Love the Startup World!

“Do they really? Why, what have they done, who do they know and how are they trying to get involved in the startup scene? Do they have a clue how different the role can be at a startup compared to a big company? Many people who “love” the startup world actually want a big corporate job but they heard tech startups were cool.” ~ Jared O’Toole, Under30Ceo.com

10. Is This Employee Too Entrepreneurial Minded?

“If you are hiring an employee, you’ll want to find someone who is on board for the long term. Startup management teams often can sniff out when a candidate is too entrepreneurial and has no intention of staying with your team for longer than a few months. Listen to your gut and if this person is the type who simply wants to work for themselves, don’t hire them.” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30CEO.com

11. Honesty and Integrity

“Skills and knowledge can be taught where as honesty and integrity are inherent to the personality of the applicant. Search for honesty and integrity first and then select the most skilled from that list. Not having honesty and integrity will cause problems and cost real dollars down the line.” ~ Lucas Sommer, Audimated

Red Flag Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

11 Red Flags Startups Should Avoid When Hiring

Do you know which side you fall on?

If you’re not sure, don’t worry, you’re not alone. To help you figure it out, below is a short checklist with questions to determine whether your small business is social media-ready or if you still have some work to do before sending out that first company tweet.

1. Do you have a clear reason for being in social media?: One of the biggest business mistakes you can make is to do something just because you think you’re supposed to. And by now, you’ve probably heard a lot about social media and the positive effect it’s had on other people’s businesses. But that doesn’t mean you should give it a shot. Not necessarily.

Before you spend time in social media, ask yourself:

• What are you hoping to get from your participation?
• What business goals will you be able to achieve through social media?
• How will social media aid lead generation?

If you don’t know, then you should spend time figuring it out, not entering the space. Because if increased engagement in social media isn’t going to help your business, then it’s a waste of your time. And if you don’t know what your end goal is, you won’t know if you’re any closer to reaching it.

2. Do you know which social media sites are for you?: You know what you’re looking to get from social media and still think it’s a great fit. Fantastic. But what does that mean in terms of where you should be spending your time? What social media sites are best for your specific purpose? Once you know what your goal is for your participation, identify the best social network for your business, the site that is most geared toward helping you accomplish your goals. You may also want to check your analytics to see which social media sites are already sending you traffic, if you’re not sure. Because while social media is great, not every site is going to speak to your audience, not even the hottest site of the moment. You want to hone in on the site(s) that will.

3. Do you have the resources to continue the investment?: Okay, you know “why”, you know “where” and now it’s time to ask yourself “how long”. How long are you willing to commit resources to being a part of social media? Can you pay someone to blog, tweet and Facebook for you? If not, can you commit to doing it yourself on top of all your other activities? If you’re not and you’re thinking this is something you can do for a few weeks before backing out of it, stop now. Social media is an ongoing process. If you’re not going to stick with it, don’t waste time starting it.

4. Have you carved out a social pipeline?: What are you going to do with the information gleaned from social media? If someone approaches you about a customer service issue or makes a recommendation for a new product or feature, do you have a process for how you’ll quickly get that information to the right person on your team so it can be used? Before you enter social media, create that workflow or pipeline for how you’ll disseminate social media information internally. It will help ensure that you’re getting the most value possible from your social media investment.

5. Is there a social media plan on record?: When jumping in the water, make sure you grab the life vest known as your social media policy! Your social media policy is an internal document that helps a business to navigate the social media waters. It breaks down rules for engagement, how to handle common occurrences, what you’ll do when negative mentions appear, how to start conversations, how to use the different networks, etc. It’s vital to the success of any campaign and I wouldn’t recommend any business enter social media without it.

6. Can you measure it?: Remember, social media is a tool, it’s not a destination. You want to measure your use of social media just like you would measure anything else you’re doing as part of your marketing efforts. Based on your initial goal for social media the metrics you use to judge success may differ from others, and that’s okay. You may choose to track Facebook Likes, ReTweets, change in sentiment, number of mentions, engagement, etc. What’s important is that you’ve decided which metrics are important to your business and that you’re using social media tools to help measure them.

Just because you keep hearing about social media doesn’t mean you’re ready to jump in.

From Small Business Trends

6 Ways To Tell If Your Social Media-Ready

People who know me know that I love my family and my horses more than anything in life and that my passion for change keeps me going in business.

But what keeps me going day to day is Diet Mountain Dew.

So, how happy do you think I am when my friend and sartorial master, Peter E. Roberti, President of Retail Sales at Adrian Jules Custom Clothiers, has a Diet Dew waiting for me whenever I come in the store?

How Mood Creates Great Customer Service

That is how the company competes: by making shopping an “experience — the experience of getting something custom made just for you. We’ve created an environment in our retail showroom through the use of proper lighting, color, and decor that is inviting. We also offer gourmet candies, beverage service, and complimentary shoeshines to customers while they browse our finest selection of fabrics and the latest styles in men’s fashions.

“Everything we do is centered on providing friendly personal service combined with prompt, dependable delivery of the finest custom-tailored garment available. It is never about price but rather making sure that our clients are taken care of so that buying a custom wardrobe is a pleasant and rewarding experience.”

How Mood Builds Company Morale

When he was president of another advertising agency, John Favalo, now a Managing Partner at Eric Mower and Associates, recalls how he took my “cleaning” approach to cutting costs and thus getting out of an economic downturn:

“We needed to do something drastic to cut our costs and build morale, while our rainmakers danced, we scoured the offices looking for waste of any kind, right down to pencils, pens, scratch pads, copy paper. We found lots of money sitting in drawers. Finally, we cancelled all our office service contracts and split up cleaning, washing windows and such among department leaders. One of my jobs was mopping the restroom floor. Soon everybody was helping. Any surpluses of any kind were pumped back into value delivery to clients or helping our rainmakers. We didn’t just claw out of the recession, we slingshot out. And, in the process, set high water marks for teamwork.”

And if your office is clean then make sure the change you want to drive is also reflected in your internal materials — not just the ones you show your customers.

Eben Swett, President and CEO of GISI Marketing Group, did this after he led a group that bought out the other shareholders by creating a document called “Values We Live By” that everyone, top-to-bottom, would follow. Nice.

About the Author

For the past 5 years, On Deck has become the leading provider of technology that facilities small business loans to Main Street businesses. We’re putting technology to use in new ways to streamline and replace outdated lending processes, ranging from origination and underwriting to fraud mitigation and loan servicing, all while maintaining impressively low loss rates. Today we announced that we’re making our technologies available for use in 3rd party applications through the On Deck API.

Why build an API?

The small business financing industry is extremely nuanced. Banks, accountants, small business advisors, online software applications, technical assistance non-profits, micro lenders, and more all contribute to the small business lending ecosystem. We want any participant in the ecosystem to be able to take advantage of the On Deck feature(s) most applicable to that business or organization.

Initial features of our API include the ability to provide a pre-qualification to your small business users on the web and the ability to facilitate a loan application for a client without leaving your CRM system. We’re looking forward to exposing a lot more functionality to 3rd parties over the next year.  Feel free to drop us a line with any feature ideas or to request developer information for your company (api@ondeckcapital.com).

Tips & Trends

Microbusinesses trending in 2012. These new markets are ripe for conquest though, of course, they may not be right for every entrepreneur. Do you see your niche on the list? Small Business Trends

Small biz tips for a new year. We hope you enjoy these 12 tips, amongst the best we’ve seen for creating a successful business in 2012. Can you add some points to this list? We’d like to see them. USA Today

Doing Business

Does your small business need a logo? Yep! It may sound a bit minor compared to all the other things you need to think about, but just consider the power a logo can create for your brand. What will your logo look like? Blogtrepreneur

Are customers getting tired of feedback? Getting feedback from your customers is important for any small business, but what if you customers aren’t interested in taking part? It may be a growing problems as survey fatigue sets in. WSJ

Self-development

The year of the dragon is upon us. What can this significant event teach us about being an entrepreneur and running a small business? Here are some “tips from the Far East” that could change your business. Bloggertone

Working from home. It’s a significant new trend that’s common among small business people and the general public alike. But, guess what! There’s a lot more to this lifestyle than just lounging around in your pajamas. Fast Company

Best Practices

Stop sweating the bad economy. There’s no need to give in to the slow economy when it comes to growing your small business. There are ways to expand and boost your revenues even in the worst of times. Read more details on how it can be done. My VenturePad

How vulnerable is your small business? If you lost all of your online data tomorrow, would your company be able to survive? If this question freaks you out, your business is probably vulnerable. It’s a danger in particular for companies that conduct most of their business on the Web. What can your company do? Duct Tape Marketing

Boosting Productivity

Tracking your goals. How are you tracking your small business goals? Knowing where you are and where you’re headed is extremely important for any entrepreneur. Here are some online tools you may want to consider. Lifehacker

Working better every day. As an entrepreneur, you know there’s a need to compete mainly against yourself. Pushing past your own limits is the key and knowing how to do better today than you did yesterday is very important. So how do you do the best work of your life? In Over Your Head

From Small Business Trends

Microbusinesses and Other Trends

The franchising community continues to spawn successful new concepts and to help build powerful industries.  When franchising works as advertised it continues to create exciting wealth opportunities for franchisors and franchisees.  At the same time, the incidence of franchise failures continues at an alarming rate, and profitability issues often plague perceived ‘blue chip’ opportunities (as well as start-ups and fly-by-nights) such as Quiznos, Cold Stone, and UPS Stores. 

Perhaps the greatest challenge for the franchising community is a serious lack of franchise systems that are able to attract truly quality franchisee prospects. I attribute this situation directly to a lack of franchise offerings that have been engineered to attract sophisticated quality prospects.

Happily, we are beginning to see a growing number of effective franchisee associations and a nascent community of franchisors who embrace collaborative franchise cultures—franchise systems that have embraced independent owners associations, negotiated agreements and shared vestment for the common good of the franchisor and the franchisees.  

Unfortunately, there are many more autocratic franchise systems that enforce one sided franchise agreements that disrespect franchisee rights and interests, or that otherwise disdain meaningful collaboration and sharing of the fruits of the franchise system’s fortunes.  Not surprisingly, such systems are finding it increasingly difficult to attract ‘A’ list prospects. 

The question should not be whether there is something wrong or right with franchising, but how to identify and promote that which is excellent, and eschew that which fails to deliver a quality investment.  The goal of the AAFD has been to define our vision of Total Quality Franchising practices, and to offer accreditation to companies that meet the AAFD Fair Franchising Standards.  

For the first time, franchise investors can identify a score of franchise systems that have passed rigorous review and received approval from their franchisee populations.  Unfortunately there are hundreds of franchise systems that continue to pose a significant risk to investors—in part because the business model may either be flawed or subject to a fickle marketplace, and in part because the franchise agreement affords the franchisee few rights to protect the franchisee’s interests with things go wrong. 

Or said another way, we now have a process, a tool, to evaluate what is right and wrong in franchising, and how to reward what works and avoid what does not.  Over the course of this year, I (and other agents of the AAFD) will be profiling some of the most significant issues facing franchise owners and the franchise community as a whole.  Our purpose is to show existing and prospective franchise owners a better way.

What do you think their immediate impression is? If it’s personally, you might not care too much – after all, to each their own, right? But what if you’re a business offering a service – does that change your train of thought? Does the view of the same new face now hold more sway?

Even more so, what if your service is one that defines people’s first impressions of your customer – would you place even more emphasis on every single interaction you have, to make sure the impression left is the right one?

First Impressions

I have certain alerts set up via Google (as well as other social monitoring platforms), to alert me to words and phrases that could point to articles or blog posts relevant to me or my business needs. One of these alerts came in recently, so I thought I’d check it out.

It led me to this Facebook Page (note: image was taken prior to the brand pages makeover, but the “content” remains the same).

I’ve blocked out the name of the company (and forgive the blotchy red strokes – art was never my strong point), but you can still see the details of their service.

What stands out for me is that, as part of their service, they offer Facebook and Twitter page design. Since a branded Facebook page can really help you differentiate yourself from everyone else, it’s a service that’s becoming more popular. Yet the company’s own Facebook page is pretty lacklustre, with just the standard options.

Where’s the dedicated landing page, or more interactive tabs and features that some of the best Facebook pages have?

So, not a great start – but it was better than their main point of call…

Second Chances

It may have been that the Facebook page was a work in progress. I wasn’t so sure about this, since administrators of Facebook pages have the option to keep the page private until ready for launch.

But, give the benefit of the doubt – so I thought I’d check out the company’s website instead. Where I found this.

Probably not the best landing page in the world for a company that offers web design and development as part of their core services.

Couple this with the Facebook page – while you can have works in progress, you can also have landing areas that show this information, as opposed to a “parked here free of charge”-type message. For a company who wants to help you design the face of your business, the combination of the non-existent website and standard Facebook page doesn’t bode well.

Second Chances – Learning Points

Now I don’t want to be too down on this company, since it could be a fledgling business from some young entrepreneurs looking to realize their goal of owning their own business.

Yet at the same time, they’re not doing themselves any favours either by launching into the public too soon. So what could they have done differently?

• Have a dedicated landing page. This relates to both the Facebook page and the website (in its current form). Having a pre-launch landing page on a website looks a lot more professional than a web host message. The same goes for having a dedicated Facebook landing page as opposed to the standard Wall – especially for a Facebook page design company.
• Keep everything under wraps. While you might be excited to launch a product or business, unveiling it too soon can do more damage than good. Instead, keep everything private with maybe the odd teaser, and make sure you’re 100% ready for the public gaze. Because they’ll be ready for you, finished or not.
• Beware of search engines. The reason I received the alert that took me to this company’s Facebook page is simple – their information box is full of keywords relevant to my industry. Tying into keeping everything under wraps, don’t stuff keywords into something that’s public but not ready – it’ll just bring you eyeballs you may not want. Hold off until launch instead.

While first impressions count, you can get past a less-than-great one with an awesome second impression – but you need that second impression to be solid. This company’s website would have been their chance for a second impression – and they blew it.

Now. It could be that this company is one of the best in the world at web and Facebook page design, among other social media skills.

But given their first and second chance to impress, would you hire them to paint the face of your business?

First Impressions Count, But Second Impressions Are What Really Matter originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

The 38 year-old woman went for lunch every day at the Irvine, CA franchise. Her family became suspicious when she never returned home with any change.

Local police staked out the restaurant and arrested Luis Maximo Lucero Ballinas on charges of theft against a dependent adult. Ballinas was not ringing up the sales and put the money in his pocket.

Hopefully the cashier will get a jail sentence longer than his name.

Story in Orange County Register.

Of course, you’re essentially paying your utility to generate more of its electricity from renewables – You aren’t necessarily getting that clean electricity piped into your business. But it can be a great way to support the expansion of renewable energy without the big investment costs of producing it yourself. It can also be a good way to show your commitment to clean energy to your customers and help your business achieve green certifications, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”).

Xcel Energy, (full disclosure, my electric provider) offers its Windsource program to business and residential customers in Minnesota, Colorado and other states. For an additional monthly charge ranging from under $1 to more than $10, businesses can pay to have part or all of their electricity usage generated through wind power. (Xcel has more than 60 wind turbines devoted to the program.) PSEG, a New Jersey utility, says that customers who participate in its CleanPower Choice program, which sources electricity from a variety of renewables, “can avoid over 10,000 lbs. of CO2 emissions per year, which is equivalent to planting 1.35 acres of trees!”

Customers of FirstEnergy Corp., which has utilities in several northeastern states, can choose among electric suppliers that are licensed with the state’s public utility commission to sell electricity in their area. So a business can select a supplier that sources most or all of its electricity from renewables.

A useful tool for finding utility green power programs is available on the EPA’s web site, as well as the EPA’s Guide to Purchasing Green Power.

Do some research before you spend extra money on your utility’s green power program. It’s good to know how your money is being spent (and your customers might care, too). There are other ways to  support green energy production, such as buying renewable energy certificates (RECs) through a company like NativeEnergy. It’s a similar concept to utility-based programs, but you get more choice over which clean energy projects to support.

Renewable Energy Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Want Clean Energy: Try Your Utility

In a study released by Millennial Branding and Identified.com, more than 50 million Facebook data points were studied, and what this data revealed might surprise you. While the study focused on Generation Y’s use of Facebook, I think it speaks to what many of us are doing on the social site as well.

Every field you fill out on your Facebook profile reveals something about yourself. Where you work, your job title, how long you held past positions…all is fair game for a potential employer or client who is searching you on the Internet.

Millennial Branding’s study shows that, for Gen Y at least, the average time worked at a job is just over two years. While shorter job stints are a characteristic of Gen Y, it’s not something likely to impress a potential employer.

Tread Lightly With the Overshares

In addition to the professional information you’re sharing (or not sharing: 64% of those studied didn’t even list their current employer on their Facebook profiles), personal updates can also create a wedge between you and your professional life. The average person on Facebook has about 16 co-worker “friends” on their profiles, yet often still share personal details of their lives.

But what about that rant about your boss that a co-worker sees and tells her about? Or the update on you playing hooky from work? No matter what you’re sharing, it’s important to remember your audience.  With the employment situation being what it is, there’s no sense in putting yourself in a precarious position by sharing the wrong sentiment on your Facebook page and putting your job in jeopardy. There are examples of people being fired over what they posted on Facebook, and companies are paying more attention to social media updates.

Walking the Line

It’s true, we’re becoming a sharing society. And while it’s fine to share details of your life with business contacts, be aware of their potential impact. Focus on comments that won’t put your career at risk. My tip? Only post things you wouldn’t be ashamed of your mother reading. It’s fine to let co-workers and business contacts see the personal side of your life, but share with filters. Or use Facebook’s feature that lets you target who sees an update.

Dan Schawbel, Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, offers these tips when sharing on Facebook:

• Don’t reveal anything on Facebook that you don’t want to be the topic of office gossip the next morning.
• Turn on your privacy settings and put your co-workers into a separate group that you can only send certain information to.
• Have set rules ahead of time as to who you add and who you don’t.
• Be mindful of your status updates and think twice before you post.
• Clean up your online image and make it a bit more professional.

Read the full Gen Y and Facebook study and tell us, do you share details of your personal life with business contacts? Do you ever share too much?

From Small Business Trends

What Does Your Facebook Profile Reveal About You?

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.

1. Use energy efficient lighbulbs in your workplace and take advantage of natural light wherever possible.

2. Recycle any waste that is generated by your business. Try to also reduce your waste output wherever it is possible by cutting down on needless waste like paper cups.

3. Encourage teleworking within your business if it is possible to do so. There is little benefit to meeting face-to-face with your staff that cannot be achieved through video conferencing and phone calls.

4. Try switching to more environmentally marketing techniques. Ditch those pointless paper flyers for email marketing and social media campaigns.

5. Make a concerted effort to make your workplace more energy efficient. Ensure workstations are at the very least placed into power-saving sleep mode at the end of the day and try to unplug other office items like printers, copiers and appliances.

What Is Shared Culture

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

I wish I could give you a crisp definition of what the word culture, with regard to business, really means. It’s a tricky word that finds its way into most discussions regarding the workplace these days.

Like so many things, it’s hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.

The thing is, every business has a culture. It may be strong or weak, positive or negative, or just plain hard to spot, but it’s like a form of internal brand in a way. It’s the collective impression, habits, language, style, communication and practices of the organization.

Some elements of culture are intentional, some are accidental. Some are rooted deeply in the ethos of an original employee group, some are created out of a lack of any real direction or clarity.

My belief is that a healthy culture is a shared culture, one created through shared stories, beliefs, purpose, plans, language, outcomes and ownership.

These aren’t little things; these aren’t things that you get right during an annual retreat. These are things molded over time with trust and passion and caring. These are things that evolve.

I don’t have all the answers, no one does, but I assure you this is the question that needs answering – How can I build a culture of shared commitment?

The following elements make up the foundation of a system of shared commitment.

Shared stories

The first step is to begin to develop, archive, curate and tell stories that illustrate what your business stands for.

Stories that tell why you do what you do, who you it for, why you’re passionate about it, and where the business is headed.

Throughout time great leaders have used stories to inspire commitment and attract community.

The central elements of a strong culture are the stories that employees tell themselves and each other. The why you would want to work here story, the orientation story, the here’s how we deal with challenges story, the here’s where we are headed story.
These illustrations are like oral traditions that allow culture to sustain, thrive and grow and it’s the job of the leader of the business to make story building an intentional act.

Shared beliefs

People want to work for more than a paycheck. Sure, they want to be paid fairly and in some cases the element of salary will be an important aspect of their decision to come to work for an organization, but perhaps more importantly, people want to work on something they believe in and they want to do that work with people that share their passion and beliefs.

This isn’t the same thing as saying, everyone in your organization has to maintain the same beliefs. However, by creating a set of core beliefs that everyone in the organization lives by and supports, you create a set of filters for how decisions are made, how people treat each other, how they treat customers, what’s expected, how to manage and even how to write a sales letter.

Shared purpose

For some time on this blog I’ve talked about the idea of connecting your passion with why you do what you do, or what some might call purpose.

In order to bring purpose fully into the organization you must determine a way to bring it to life and reinforce in every decision the organization makes.

This may take the form of an employee development program, foundation support, benefit package or community program. The key is to bring purpose to life by example. Your actions, or how you treat your staff, will speak far louder about purpose than any page in an employee manual. In order to create a shared purpose the staff must be your first customer.

Shared plans

The strongest, most productive cultures come to life when people know what to do and how to do it – In places where they are trusted to do go work and use their creativity to solve problems.

If you are to grow your organization to the point where it can serve you ultimate higher purpose, you’ll need to develop a system that enables people to manage themselves.

Now, that may sound a little foreign or perhaps even scary to anyone who’s worked in a typical hierarchical business structure, but it’s central to a fully alive culture.

The key lies in systematic planning thinking, clear accountability and consistent communication.

Shared leadership

While stories are an important way to attract and inspire people to join you on your journey, they can only take you as far as the leaders you develop around you.

After payroll is made and your business is generating sufficient cash flow I really believe that the leader’s primary role should shift to developing leaders internally.

In fact, as the owner of a business you’ll never succeed in reaching beyond where you are today until you are no longer the person that brings in the most work.

Teaching others to land the big fish, to tell stories, to create shared beliefs, to inspire and attract commitment means you have to invest time and resources in this very thing in a very intentional way.

This element of the shared culture comes by teaching your people what an ideal customer looks like, what a customer is desperately in need of, and how to communicate your core difference in a meaningful way.

It comes by teaching what everything costs, how profit is made, how every decision impacts a customer in some way. It grows by sending them to school, supporting their growth in other areas and demonstrating this is an organization that cares for the whole person.

Shared outcomes

One of the strongest ways to foster commitment is to get people to commit to a stake in the outcome of their work.

The only way I know to do this is to establish benchmarks, goals and indicators and then report and communicate progress religiously.

You must create reporting mechanisms that truly measure the most important components of your business. This will include key financial elements, but must strive to go far beyond into measuring success around shared beliefs and culture.

Shared ownership

The ultimate measure of commitment is achieved when people that work for your organization come to understand that they play a crucial role in creating the kind of company they want to work for – that the company is actually their most important product. (Of course the owner has to realize that first.)

This won’t happen until you help your people free themselves from the typical job descriptions and organizational charts so they can begin to manage themselves. It won’t happen unless they are excited about the journey they are on. It won’t happen until they fully understand how a dollar spent on a new desk equates to profit margin.

It won’t happen until they start thinking like an owner (and I mean in the good way) when it comes to meeting a customer’s needs. It won’t happen until everyone realizes they can help develop new business, build the community, create innovation, fix problems, right wrongs and make decisions that impact the organization on their own.

At first, [not provided] represented a small percentage of overall traffic to most of the sites for which I have analytics access. And then it grew. And grew. And grew.

Today, [not provided] represents about 25% of the daily referrers to this blog. But it also represents double-digit daily referrers to non-marketing/tech sites that I follow.

And maybe the most head-shaking thing of all is that, in just 2.5 months, [not provided] managed to become a Top 10 referrer for most of the sites that I monitor. Here’s a look at three.

Small Business Search Marketing

My impression is that this blog attracts a mix of marketing consultants/agencies and small business owners. In both cases, it’s probably safe to assume that many readers are Google users and also frequently logged-in to their Google accounts. The [not provided] keyword referrals bear witness to that.

Not surprisingly at all, [not provided] occupies the No. 1 spot among all keyword referrals for 2011 to this blog. That’s among almost 69,000 different keywords that sent 168,000 total natural search visits.

But lest you think that [not provided] only affected marketing/tech blogs and websites, consider this next case.

@U2

@U2 is my long-running hobby site about the rock band U2. It’s been in existence since 1995 and for at least the past 12 years has never ranked lower than third on a search for the band’s name. (It was #1 until the official site launched in 2000, and stayed #2 until the Wikipedia page overtook a couple years ago.)

@U2 had more than 1.4 million unique visitors in 2011 from all corners of the globe. It’s a very diverse site and certainly not limited to the tech crowd like my own blog is. Visitors range from teens to senior citizens (yes, we have readers in their 70s).

In 2011, natural search sent 1,763,917 visits to @U2 on 237,929 total keywords. But in just 2.5 months, [not provided] cracked the top 10 overall keywords sending traffic to the site.

Related: On the @U2 forum, which has its own subdomain (forum.atu2.com), [not provided] was No. 7 on the 2011 keyword referrer list. We also have a blog on its own domain (atu2blog.com), and [not provided] was the No. 4 “most popular keyword” during 2011.

In other words, this is not just a problem for tech/marketing sites.

Dr. Cynthia Bailey, California Dermatologist

As many of you know, one of my clients is Dr. Cynthia Bailey, a dermatologist in California. Dr. Bailey’s target audience is also not the tech/marketing crowd. Her site offers high-quality skincare products and solutions to a very mainstream audience; it skews female, but us guys have skincare needs, too!

And, much like my mainstream U2 site, [not provided] cracked Dr. Bailey’s list of the 10 most popular keywords; in her case, it was No. 2 on the list in only 2.5 months.

The Problem With [Not Provided]

In each case above, with three very different target audiences, [not provided] made up a substantial percentage of the overall search traffic to these sites — and the numbers would be higher if I only compared it to overall Google traffic.

There are ways to use analytics data to help get a general idea of who these [not provided] visitors are. Google’s own Avinash Kaushik has some ideas and examples in this excellent article.

(I should mention that next month’s SMX West conference has a panel dedicated to discussing ways to cope with this issue: Life In A [Not Provided] World.)

But you know what? I don’t use analytics for general ideas and guesswork; I use analytics for specific answers. And Google has taken away a lot of those answers.

For a number of reasons (many of which Danny Sullivan explained yesterday on Search Engine Land), the [not provided] keyword referrer is nothing short of a pain in the arse for anyone who does serious work on the web.

For me, a blogger who relies on analytics to understand what content visitors are looking for, [not provided] is more than 7,500 visits that are a mystery to me — and remember, that’s in only 2.5 months! I shudder to think what the full 2012 statistics will look like.

For someone like Dr. Bailey, [not provided] directly impacts the bottom line. She not only relies on keyword referrals to help decide what to write about on her blog, but also to understand which keywords drive online sales of skincare products. And in just 2.5 months, [not provided] was No. 2 among all keywords that directly led to online sales.

This isn’t the end of the world for Dr. Bailey, nor for me, but it’s a serious hurdle to accomplishing our website’s goals. (And it’s a slap in the face to think that Google’s paid advertisers aren’t facing the same hurdle, but that’s another post for another day.)

I’m curious: In your analytics, where did [not provided] wind up ranking among all 2011 keyword referrals? How has it impacted your website(s)?

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Google’s [Not Provided]: Assessing 2.5 Months of Analytics Damage

The Mississippi District Office has set a record in 2011 by guaranteeing 749 loans to small businesses. But in-spite all that, Butts insists that SBA’s job is not just restricted to lending. Among other top accomplishments is hosting the ‘White House Small Business Roundtables’ that is designed to bring together diverse group of entrepreneurs for discussing challenges and other issues.

The discussed issues are presented to the White House for consideration. Invariably a difference can be seen listening to entrepreneurs who are doing business everyday. ‘Butts’ truly believes that to educate entrepreneurs on SBA resources is fundamental responsibility in 2012.

There is also the ‘SBA Direct’ for entrepreneurs in 2012. This is a free SBA application for smart-phones and it allows people to just type in their ZIP code and have information about all SBA resource within 25 miles, just on one’s finger-tips.

In 2012, Butts has taken the responsibility to make sure that all business owners are utilizing resources made available to them by the SBA.

Click below to Play

Click here to download the mp3
Click here to download the whitepaper
Click here to subscribe on iTunes.
Click here for the RSS feed (non iTunes)
Click here for the show archive

In this episode of the Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast, we discuss:

• Dan gets a karate trophy
• Friends, Family, Fools
• Large SBA
• Peer-to-Peer
• Crowdfunding
• On Deck
• Superior
• Equipment Financing
• AR and PO Financing
• Credit
• Corporate Turnaround
• Acquisition Loan
• Merchant Cash Advance

Click below to Play

If you can’t listen, here’s the transcription done by Shad Atkinson:

Voice: Fueling your business success, this is the entrepreneur addiction podcast, breaking the small business loan news you need if you obsess about your company. Heard exclusively on Lendio.com. And now here are our your hosts: Brock Blake, Dan Bischoff and Patrick Wiscombe.

Patrick: This podcast is sponsored by Lendio.com, the online source you need to find the right business financing to grow your company. So check them out: Lendio.com, to get your business growing right now. It’s the entrepreneur addiction podcast episode number eighteen. Can you believe we’ve done eighteen of these, Dan?

Dan: Eighteen weeks ago what were we doing? I can’t really remember.

Patrick: Um, nineteen weeks ago we weren’t podcasting.

Dan: That’s right.

Patrick: (laughter) My name is Patrick Wiscombe. That is the voice of Dan Bischoff the director of communication at Lendio.com. It’s always good to see.

Dan: Yeah, great to be here again.

Patrick: And we’ve also got the CEO of Lendio, Brock Blake. He joins us for the podcast. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve talked to you.

Brock: Yeah, how are you doing, fellas?

Patrick: Alright. Guys, we’ve got a terrific show. For the past few weeks we’ve been talking with entrepreneur authors. Willie Jolley was terrific. In fact they’ve all been really, really, really good.

Dan: They have been.

Patrick: Thanks to all of the authors that have come to our Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast. This week we’re going to get back to what Lendio does. That’s small business financing. Since we’re coming up on the twenty-twelve, we’re going to talk about the twelve best ways to get business financing in twenty-twelve. This is an white-paper you put together, Dan.

Dan: Yeah, we haven’t released it yet, but we’re going to be putting it our for a free download. You can go deeper into this if you’re looking into financing, so it should be a good resource. We’re going to kind of cover some of that today.

Patrick: You’ll be able to pick up this white-paper when, at Lendio.com/blog. Is that where you’re going to put it? Yeah, by the time this podcast comes out it should be on our site. You can probably see it if you’re looking at the blog, so hopefully that will be the case.

Brock: Patrick, I’ve got to jump in here. I’ve got to give props to Dan. Dan, is a machine.

Dan: Thanks, man.

Brock: First of all we’re going to through these twelve best ways to securing financing in 2012, but something pretty exciting happened this week. There’s an organization called SEO.com that does some unique case studies on companies that do a great job with content marketing, with their blog, with their podcast, with those thing to kind of get the word out of who the company is and what they’re trying to do. This week they did a full feature webinar on the work that Dan has been doing, and I’ll tell you what, we’re lucky to have that guy.

Dan: Hey, I appreciate it.

Patrick: Yeah, congratulations.

Dan: It’s a good webinar too if you actually watch it. They have some good advice about setting up a blog and those types of things.

Patrick: For the past few weeks, I think that Dan has single handedly turned Lendio into a media company with the amount of content that he’s generated. I’m genuinely impressed with what he’s done.

Brock: That’s true. He won’t tell you this, but he was just named employee of the month over at Lendio. He’s got a big ol’ fat trophy on his desk.

Dan: I’ve got a karate trophy on my desk. That’s kind of a tongue twister: karate trophy.

Patrick: Also, related to that, you’ve also switched business locations.

Brock: We have switched business locations. We’re still in the same city in the same state, but about a mile away in a brand new office. We’re very excited about it. It’s works really well with our team and our employees, and so it’s fun to take a step in that direction with the office space.

Patrick: Congratulations on building such a great company, Brock.

Brock: Thank you.

Patrick: Alright, guys, let’s get into this. Let’s talk about the twelve best ways to get business financing in twenty-twelve. Let’s start with number one. We’ll do this in reverse order. Number one, Brock, is friends, families and fools. Why do you say that?

Brock: It’s the term call the Three F’s, and we’ve talked a little bit on a previous podcast about friends, family and fools. The Three F’s is kind of tongue in cheek. Sometimes they throw the Three D’s in there as well, which is doctors, dentists and dummies. But the reality is that there’s millions of small businesses that have started and grown off the backs of friends and families. Sometimes it’s your only option. Sometimes it’s your best option. Sometimes it’s your only option. An interesting thing about friends and families, a lot of individuals who are trying to get something off the ground, and they’ve got a parent or a sibling or an aunt or an uncle or a grandparent or a close friend that really wants to see this individual’s idea get off the ground, and so they figure out a way to help finance the deal. As we talked a couple weeks ago, I think there’s a couple of keys to success when you’re working with friends or family. Again, I mentioned it before, but one, make sure that your friend or family member knows whether that financing is a loan, if it’s a gift, or if they’re buying ownership. Make it very clear what the terms of the financing are. Then document it well. The more structure you can add… you know, sometimes you can think, “Well, this is a friend or family member they can trust me. I trust them. Just give me some money and we’ll be well on our way.” But what happens is when you take that approach, you’re setting yourself up to really damage a friend or family, the relationship with the friend or family member. So I highly recommend documenting it really well. What are the terms. What’s the rate. What’s the time frame on it. What are the expectations. And if you do that, and you set the expectation with your friend or family member, there’s always a risk, in business financing there’s always a risk that you may not be able to pay that loan back or you may not be able to give them a return or whatever. Make sure they understand that risk. If you do those things, it can be a fantastic option for you.

Patrick: Number two which is large SBA, up to five million dollars. Now, in order to qualify, at least according to the guidelines I have in front of me, you have to have two plus years in the business. You have to have a whole bunch of stuff. Gives us a little background on a five million dollar loan.

Brock: Yeah, so this is a SBA backed loan. The loan comes from a financial institution, a bank or credit union. They’re going to look for very certain qualifications, and I’ll just list a few of those. One is that they have to be in business usually two years. Now there’s sometimes there’s exceptions, but it’s rare. They need to be able to come to the table with some sort of collateral, whether that be real estate that you own free and clear. You’ve got cash in the bank. You’ve got some sort of asset where you have equity in the asset. So collateral is a main part of it. You need come in being well documented. I mean, that’s a large loan. And so if you come well documented with your financial history, the ownership of the business, a solid business plan, a very clear financial forecast of not only what you’ve done historically financially but what is the forecast of the next six, twelve, twenty-four months, and hopefully in that forecast you’ll be able to show how you’ll be able to repay that loan over time. That includes revenue profits and everything else. Usually with this type of loan it’s tied to real estate, and the interest rates are somewhere between five and nine percent, let’s say. Maybe more closer to six to eight percent.

Patrick: Is that high considering where interests rates are. Or am I mixing business interest rates with consumer interest rates?

Brock: Yeah, you’re probably mixing business with consumer. For a business loan it’s a really, really good interest rate. If you get down into the five range, it’s ridiculous. It’s very good. There’s not too many options where you’re going to get, for a business, lower than that. Because it’s SBA backed, they have the ability to reduce their interest rate quite a bit. So it’s a good option for a lot of people, but it’s not an overnight loan. It takes you usually, because there’s a lot of documentation—the lender’s usually going to review over all the documentation, they’re going to make sure they do their due diligence, it’s got to meet their underwriting criteria—so that’s usually going to take probably thirty days on the very short end of the stick and maybe as long as six months. I doubt it’s entirely six months. I mean, I would say on about average thirty to sixty days to finish until get the thing closed.

Patrick: We’ve talked about friends, families, and fools and making sure that it’s well documented. Large SBA loans up to five million. Now let’s go over peer to peer loans. What is a peer to peer loan. I know we’ve talked about it briefly, but let’s refresh everybody’s memory.

Brock: Yeah, so peer to peer loans are a very good option for individuals who are looking for loans less than thirty-five thousand dollars. So you need five, ten, twenty-five grand to get the business off the ground or get it started, peer to peer loans are a great option. Essentially what this loan is, is that it’s based on your personal credit and your personal income. So if you’ve got maybe a six-forty credit and above, you have consistent income coming in, then this is a great option for you. At Lendio, we work with several different organizations that have peer to peer lending platforms. You post a profile or submit an application, and based on your income and based on your credit score, the interest rate will vary. So the higher the credit, the lower the interest rate. The more consistent income, the lower the interest rate. You can fund very quickly. We have business owners, you know last month alone we had a million dollars of loans approved through this peer to peer channel, where you’ve got individuals coming in and in seventy two hours getting approved for a loan and going on their way to start or grow their business.

Patrick: So these are companies that are coming through Lendio.com, and your partners got them funded basically within seventy-two hours?

Brock: Yeah, it’s a really good option if you’re trying to move quickly and you’ve got those two things in your back pocket: good credit and good income. You can move very quickly like I said to get up to thirty-five thousand dollars. Again, at Lendio our job is to break down all these loan options for you the business owner and tell you which option is the best for you, and that’s free. So you come in. We look at all this data, and we say, “Okay, Mr. Business Owner, your best fit is peer to peer loan, and we recommend going to this lender for it.” Your chances of getting approved for that loan increase dramatically because we take all the guess work out of it. That’s why last month we had over a million dollars in loans just from peer to peer loans, and you’re thinking, “A million dollars, that’s…” And the loans are all less than twenty-five grand, closer to around fifteen grand on average. “That’s a lot of loans.”

Patrick: Yeah, it is.

Brock: A lot of business have been helped. It’s a good option for a lot of individuals.

Patrick: Alright, peer to peer loans is what we just went over. Now, Dave Lavinsky was on the podcast from Growthink.

Dan: Two times ago.

Patrick: Was that two weeks ago?

Dan: Yeah.

Patrick: Did you listen to that podcast? He was talking about crowdfunding which is where we’re going next. That’s why I bring that up. Have you heard that podcast from him on crowdfunding?

Brock: You know, I haven’t. I know Dave really well, but that’s one of the podcasts I haven’t been able to hear. I’m sure he dove into a lot of detail on crowdfunding, on how it works and the options for business owners.

Patrick: Yeah, he did a terrific job. Let’s get to crowdfunding right now. Give us your take on why crowd funding is a great source for small business financing.

Brock: Well, the interesting thing about crowdfunding is it’s… we’ve put it in here as one of our top twelve options for 2012 because really it hasn’t been an option until 2012.

Patrick: (laughter) That’s what he said too.

Brock: (laughter) There’s been so many regulations that have prohibited business owners from getting financing through this channel that I think we’re really, really excited about crowdfunding. Crowdfunding at it’s core is essentially like peer to peer loans, where you’ve got a lot of individuals contributing some money to a business. The difference between peer to peer loans and crowdfunding is peer to peer is a loan, as I’ve mentioned. Crowdfunding is a lot of individuals buying little pieces of equity of your business. You’re actually selling ownership to the crowd. It is likely a good option for business owners that are… I think it’s going to be difficult to raise more than a hundred or a couple hundred thousand dollars through crowdfunding, but if you’ve got a good business idea, and it’s something that appeals really well to other individuals, you want to leverage you network through friends and family members and each of them pitch in a thousand bucks, and you raise a hundred thousand bucks, what that does is spread risk across a hundred people. Each them only putting in a thousand bucks, they only each get a little bit of ownership, but it spreads risk and they still get some upside in your business. It’s going through the House. I don’t know if it’s back in the Senate, but it’s expected to be passed through the House and the Senate in Q1 of 2012.

Patrick: Didn’t he say a couple of weeks ago that it did pass the House, and they were just waiting for the Senate.

Dan: Yeah, it did pass the House and they were just waiting for the Senate. One thing that too that we talked about. There’s a reward-based crowdfunding. People get, say it’s a cup cake shop, he gave the example of say, naming… give fifty bucks to help fund it they’ll name a cupcake after that person. There’s equity based crowdfunding but there’s rewards-based crowdfunding. There’s a couple different options for people.

Patrick: Yeah, that was the reason I title the podcast “Fluffy on the Outside, Creamy on the Inside” because of the cupcake example. (laughter)

Brock: (laughter) That is a good example. You know, I didn’t cover that a lot. There is the equity based, but actually crowdfunding in the rewards based is alive and well today. I think there’s a half dozen sites: KickStarter and a few others that use that model, and I think they’re doing pretty well.

Patrick: Dan, you’ve got the next one.

Dan: Yeah, let’s move on to the next one. One of our partners is kind of an interesting way to get financing. They kind of take the credit out of business credit a little bit, or it doesn’t matter as much with OnDeck Captial. Brock, explain a little bit about what OnDeck does and how that partner of ours can help business owners.

Brock: Yeah, OnDeck is a fantastic partner of ours. In fact, three of our team members were at dinner last night with one of their management team members. OnDeck is an innovative type of loan program that has come out over the last few years, and there focus is to lend to main street business owners. Now if you think about main street business owners, you think about restaurants. You think about dry cleaning places. You think about gas stations and auto repair and that kind of stuff. And those are the exact kind of businesses that OnDeck really focuses on. They want to lend to those businesses. Now the key to getting an OnDeck loan is really the performance of the business. Most of those businesses have pretty steady, consistent revenue. You’re a restaurant owner and you probably have fairly consistent revenue coming in the door month over month, and most of that revenue comes in the form of credit card. So when they go to underwrite your loan, what they’re going to look at, they’re going to look at the consistency of your revenue, the consistency of credit card transaction, the consistency of your bank account balance. Do you have a steady amount of, an average amount of income in your bank account? And the way they like to describe it is they’re really looking at the health of your business. It’s not so dependent on your personal credit score. There’s a lot of businesses owners who have good solid businesses when their personal credit has been damaged, so OnDeck is a great option. They’ll go up to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I believe, on the high end. Also the interesting thing about OnDeck is the way that you actually repay the loan. What they do is they do an AC transaction, where they’ll take just a little bit of the repayment out each day. So let’s say it’s a year long loan, they separate it out into daily payments, so it’s a very, very small payment each day so you can be…

Patrick: So it’s based on the receipts basically?

Brock: It’s not entirely based on the receipts, though there is some aspect into that. They just want to make it so that you can repay consistently. You can plan on it. It’s a small payment each day, and you know, it’s really been a good option for a lot of business owners. We send them a tremendous amount of business as well, and for those types of businesses or individuals that are main street, it’s a great fit.

Patrick: You know, I really like ACH type debits for one reason. Like you said, you make the payment on a daily basis and the percentage is… I won’t say the percentage is smaller. I guess it depends on what the terms are or what the interest rate is or whatever your discount rate is.

Dan: Should we explain what ACH is?

Patrick: Yeah, isn’t ACH just something that reaches into your bank account and automatically debits your account?

Brock: Yep.

Patrick: Okay, that’s what I thought it was. I have a credit card processing account, and anytime a transaction comes through, they take the agreed upon percentage, and they automatically take that out of whatever the price was.

Dan: Yeah, that mitigates the risk a little bit, right, so they can be able to offer these loans to people with lower credit by doing that. Would that be right?

Brock: Yep. And the other thing I ought to mention is the interest rates aren’t going to be the same interest rates you’re going to get on a SBA loan or anything like that. The interest rates are going to be higher, and the interest rate varies based off the underwriting criteria, high or lower. But it’s really a loan for businesses that can’t get an SBA or other type of loan because their credit’s been damaged. It’s a good loan for others as well, but if you were to fit it in to the loan spectrum, that’s kind of right where I’d fit it in: For those who traditional financing isn’t an option for them.

Patrick: Alright, so OnDeck is one of your partners, and that is one of your top twelve best ways to get business financing in 2012. Another one of your partners, if I’m not mistaken, is superior. They have a lending program. Let’s talk about that.

Brock: Yeah, so Superior Financial Group is a great organization, good friends of ours as well. But let me mention that Superior Financial is not the only one who does this type of loan. The loan program is the community express loan program. It’s an SBA backed loan. It’s a loan that is great for startups. If you’re looking for 0 to twenty-five thousand dollars, and if you have decent credit… It doesn’t have to be great, but it needs to be higher than 650. And again the higher it goes the more likely it is that you’re going to get approved. But again you don’t have to have two years in business like with other loan programs. So Superior is the number one, when it comes to the community express loan, the number one community express lender in the United States. We send them thousands, literally, of business owners on an annual basis. They approve a very high percentage of the loans, and it’s a great option. It’s pretty good interest rates. The interest rates are typical SBA interest rates, so you’re looking at six to nine percent like we talked about before. And it’s a great organization, Superior. We just have a great relationship with them. So for the business owner out there that’s a startup that needs ten, fifteen, twenty grand to get off the ground, has decent credit, this is a great option for them.

Patrick: Dan, you’ve got the next one.

Dan: Yeah, the equipment financing. Sounds very exciting, right? Why is equipment financing in here, Brock?

Brock: Equipment financing is really a good option for a lot of individuals because a lot of businesses have a, they have a equipment. They have trucks. They have computers. They have heavy machinery. You know, landscapers need to buy all kinds of tractors or other things like that. Or construction. Or dry cleaning equipment. There’s just a lot of different types of assets or equipment that businesses need to grow their business, and most people think, “Well, I need to go buy this new truck, and so I just need to either get an auto loan… Or this is a specialized type of truck. I just need to go get a normal, specialized type of SBA loan.” And that’s not the case. There are so many lenders out there that focus very specifically on equipment financing, and they’re very good at it. They have a very good idea of the value, the equity value of various pieces of equipment. So you need to have, just sort of for qualifications for these types of loans, you need to be able to have pretty decent credit, again I would say 660 or 680 and above. Usually they’re going to want to have a down payment. So if you’re going to buy a piece of equipment, they usually want you to put down ten percent down payment. The interest rate is going to vary depending on your credit, your down payment amount, and the type of equipment. But it can be as low as seven or eight percent, and it can really be as high as twenty to twenty-five percent. It varies a lot depending on the type of equipment. You know, you can move fairly quickly with these. Some move faster than others. It can be as short as a couple of weeks and as long as a few months depending on how much paperwork they need. I think it’s a good option for a lot of business owners who meet that profile, who have equipment or other large items that they need for their business.

Patrick: Alright, so equipment financing. You’re listening to the Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast. This is episode number eighteen heard on Lendio.com/blog. You’ve been listening to Brock Blake, who is the CEO of Lendio. Dan Bischoff is also in studio here with me, here at Lendio. He’s the director of communications, and we’re talking about the twelve best ways to get business financing here in 2012. Guys, we’re going down this list pretty quick. Brock, we’re down to number eight here, which is accounts receivable and purchase order financing. Give us some of the details of why someone would consider this type of a loan option.

Brock: Yeah, so this is a good option for individuals who have one or two of those assets. Account receivables financing: if you’ve got a business where you go out, you close a deal, you get an agreement signed, but the payment terms are spread out over thirty, sixty, ninety, sometimes a hundred and twenty days, that is an asset that you can finance. We have lenders that will look at that agreement and say… Sometimes, I was talking to a business just yesterday. They closed a two and a half million deal, but that payment doesn’t come in until, I think it was, six to nine months. So when you start working on fulfilling that contract, two and a half million dollars, and that cash doesn’t come in, that’s a difficult spot to be in.

Patrick: Yeah, that hurts.

Brock: Yeah, so this is a great option for those types of businesses. They will look at that agreement, and then they will basically forward you that money now. Let’s say they give you 85% of that contract size now in exchange for the payment of when you get it. Or they’ll give you 90% or whatever. The terms vary. So there’s the option for the accounts receivable. The other option is purchase order. So you’re a business and you are selling a product or service. Let’s say you sell something to Walmart or you sell something to the government, the federal or state government or other things like that. And you’ve got a purchase order in hand, and you need to be able to finance the inventory. You need to be able to, you know, it’s a million dollar purchase order. They’ve signed it. They’re going to pay on it. But you need to go and pay for the inventory or whatever it might be. Again, that’s an asset that you leverage to an institution to help you finance that loan.

Patrick: Have you done that personally, Brock?

Brock: No. That’s actually one of the… We’ve obtained a lot of different financing over the course of my career, but that’s one that we haven’t actually leveraged up until now.

Patrick: That’s kind of an interesting option.

Brock: Yeah.

Patrick: Alright. Dan, you have the next one. Yeah, this might not be the typical source of finance that people have when they think of it, but it’s business credit. That’s a really good option for many businesses, and Brock in another radio show, he said, “Many businesses across the US have been built on the back of business credit.” And, Brock, tell us why this is on the list.

Brock: You know, personally, I think sometimes business credit cards or credit cards in general get a bad rap. Sometimes they should. They’re usually higher interest rate loans. But the reality is that so many businesses, as you’ve said, so many businesses couldn’t have started, couldn’t have survived, couldn’t have succeeded if they didn’t have that line of credit that comes in the form of a business credit card. Really, that’s what it is. It’s a business line of credit that is revolving, that allows you… let’s say you’ve got a ten thousand dollar business credit card. You can use that and pay it down and use it and pay it down over and over and over again. I just think that it’s a great option. Sometimes it’s you’re only option. There’s some concerns that come with it. You need to make sure that you understand that what you’re getting yourself into. Sometimes the interest rates are higher. But if you can be disciplined and stay on top of it and pay it off and other things like that, I personally, I guess I’m speaking from experience: there were times in our business when that was the only option. We had two business credit cards, one for seven thousand and one for twelve thousand, and we used those in order to finance our business to a certain extent. And we’d pay them down, and then we’d find another situation where we needed to use it again. So I personally think it’s a good option. It’s a nice emergency type of fund if you need it. It really is a line of credit, and if you can stay on top of it, then it’s just like a loan from anywhere else.

Dan: The next one you have on here is one of those that you really don’t think about when you think about financing. We have another partner called Corporate Turnaround, and they do something differently that could help businesses out quite a bit. Brock, talk about what Corporate Turnaround does.

Brock: Yeah, I think this is an interesting option for businesses as well. You know, what we’re trying to do with this podcast and with this white-paper at Lendio is we’re trying to say, “What are all the scenarios that a business owner could be in, and let’s try to find an option for that individual. Let’s not just think about that ten percent of businesses that may be the ideal business because ninety percent of businesses aren’t the ideal, and we always go through different phases.” This option, this Corporate Turnaround, is essentially for the business who already has loans. Those loans, they could be small; they could be large. But you’re in a tight spot where that loan has a high interest rate. You’re having a difficult time paying on the payment. You feel like it’s staking up against you, and you’re looking for a way to reduce the payment on that loan. So this organization does debt restructuring, debt consolidation, and their entire goal is: “Let’s work with the business owner. Let’s look at all of there loan programs that they have outstanding, currently. And let’s figure out how do we reduce that payment.”

Dan: Now, wait a second here. Before stop and think, “Wait, debt restructuring?” That raises some red flags for people, but we don’t want people to run away right now because this could be a good thing and often times better than adding on another loan with more interest rates.

Brock: Right. Sometimes people try to pay of a loan with another loan, and what you’re doing is just staking interest rates on top of each other. So what there trying to do is they’re trying to say, “Let’s work…” They’re very, very good. They’ve very experienced with businesses where they’ll look at a loan and say, “You know, your interest rate on this loan is fifteen percent.” And you’re looking at this other loan, and your interest rate on that is eighteen percent. And all of that, you’ve got 300 thousand dollars worth of loans at an average of seventeen percent. You’ve got this huge payment every month. You’re just, you’re just swimming. You know, there’s so many businesses like that, so okay, “How do we reduce those interest rates? How can you and I work together to work your financial situation in a way that, let’s try to reduce those interest rates to ten percent or twelve percent. Or let’s consolidate those loans into one loan where the one loan is less than the combined two.” They’re so good at it. They’re so very experienced, and they only way they make their money is if they do a good job and actually save you money. Then they get paid out of the savings.

Patrick: Now do they come in an run the business, Brock.

Brock: Oh, no.

Patrick: Then this is just the financing piece?

Brock: It’s just the financing piece. It’s just, you know, “Let’s help you get out of your bind and manage your cash more efficiently than the way you’re doing it right now. Let’s help you reduce those payments, reduce those interest rates, and if we’re successful than you pay us. If we’re not, then you don’t.”

Patrick: It seems like a pretty reasonable model.

Brock: Yeah, they’re a good organization, and again, these options, there’s various options for different people and different situations. So this is a really good option for those individuals. And you know what, the reality is, in business, that’s probably going to happen at least once throughout your career, where you feel like, “I can’t get out from under this.” It’s, it’s a great option for those people in those situations.

Dan: Might be the life raft.

Brock: Yeah. Exactly.

Patrick: Yeah. Alright, let’s move on to number eleven. We’re talking about the top twelve ways to get business financing in 2012. Brock Blake is CEO of Lendio, and Dan Bischoff also with Lendio. Hey, I’ve got a question, just an observation, just purely, “You have no idea that I’m going to say this.” I think this is where the brilliance of Lendio comes in here because Lendio allows you to get financing in all these different areas. I don’t see that out on the market. Or am I just missing the boat? It’s seem like you’ve just become, “Come to us because we’re going to help you regardless of whatever type of financing you need.” Is that an accurate observation?

Brock: Yeah. I appreciate you saying that because that’s the reality. That’s what we do. We just made it free, and everybody was like, “Ah! Nothing’s for free!” Well, the reality is that it is. We get paid through our partners, and we are doing everything we can to make that easier on the business owner because, let’s face it, business owners today, they’re running their business. They’re worrying about cash flow. They’re worrying about sales. They’re worrying about employees. They’re worrying about all these things. They don’t have time to keep up with all the financing options that are out there. They don’t have time to think about interest rates. They don’t have time to think about underwriting guidelines. They don’t have time to think about lenders and who’s going to finance them and who’s not. So we’re saying, you don’t worry about that. You run your business. Let us worry about that. Let’s make this easier on you, and we’ll just put you in touch with the right financing options. And if we do a good job, the lender will pay us for that.

Patrick: So basically Lendio gets paid when the business loan gets closed, basically?

Brock: Yeah. We match them up to the right lender. The lender then pays us for that qualified client.

Patrick: The more that I hear about this, and I know that I’m involved with the podcast and have been for four and a half months, but being an impartial observer rather than just being the host of the podcast, some listeners listening to this, I’m going, “Man, there’s some real need for this. I think that’s the message that has to get out there that business owners really do have options as apposed to the traditional, “Let’s go into the bank on the corner, and let’s hope for the best.” Anyway, it’s just an observation. Alright, number eleven: acquisition.

Brock: Okay, so, acquisition loan. This is for the business that is trying to go out and buy another business or an individual who is trying to buy another business. So there’s specific loan programs where it’s acquisition loans. So the basic premise for the qualifications you need for this type of loan is, one, they’re really going to look for industry experience. If you’re going to buy a restaurant, have you had restaurant experience? If you’re going to buy a franchise, have you had experience running a franchise? That gives them a lot of comfort that you’re going to be able to succeed with that. So that’s one. They’re going to want to be able to have a down payment. Sometimes that down payment can be financed by the other business you’re looking to acquire. So let’s say you wanted to buy a business for a million dollars, the higher the down payment, the better, but usually it’s going to require a minimum of ten percent. So you’ve got to put down a hundred thousand dollars. They’ll finance the rest. However, let’s say you’re going to buy that business for a million dollars, and you’ve got the other business willing to finance, let’s say some of that million dollar purchase, I think it needs to be around twenty percent. And they will consider that as a down payment. So you can get eight hundred thousand from the financial institution. Two hundred thousand is actually coming in the form of a seller financed note. So you’re paying two hundred back to the seller. You’re paying eight hundred back to the financial institution. They’re going to look a lot at your personal credit, and they’re going to look a lot at your balance sheet. Do you have the ability to finance this or cover some of the payments? They’re going to look also a lot at the cash flow of the business you’re trying to buy. So they want to see, if you’re going to buy a business and a month over month they’re having profits, and there’s enough profits in order to be able to pay off the loan over time. It maybe sound a little bit more complicated than some of the others. It is because you’re looking to buy another business.

Patrick: Okay, that was acquisition. Dan, you’ve got number twelve.

Dan: The last one. You ready for it?

Patrick: Yeah.

Dan: You want a drum roll. (drum roll sound from Patrick) There you go. Merchant cash advance. Let’s talk about it. This one’s also not so much based on credit but also on consistent monthly credit card volume. Brock, go and roll with this one.

Brock: Roll with this one? You don’t want to take the last one with all its glory?

Patrick: (laughter)

Dan: No. With all it’s glory, man.

Brock: So merchant cash advance loan is similar to the OnDeck loan we talked about. However, merchant cash advance is strictly focused on businesses that take credit card financing. So they’re going to do their underwriting based on your merchant credit card transactions that happen every month. So let’s say your restaurant or a business, let’s say it’s an online business. We’ve already talked about restaurants, so let’s say it’s an online business. All of your business comes through credit card transactions. You average on a monthly basis a hundred thousand dollars worth of credit card transactions. They will lend you money based on that history. Let’s say you’ve got six months of credit card transactions, on average about a hundred grand. It’s pretty consistent. It’s an asset they can use and give you a loan based on those transactions.

Dan: Based on what your future earnings will be, right?

Brock: Right. Yep. The nice thing about this is that your personal credit can be very low. I mean, we’re talking down into the 500 hundred range. You don’t have to be in business that long. You know, a lot of these others you have to be in businesses a minimum a year or a lot of time two years. This one you really only have to be in business three months, enough months that they can see some transactions. However, the interest rates are going to be quite a bit higher than some of the others, probably double. You’re probably looking fifteen to twenty-two percent interest rates because really this is a loan for those who don’t have any other options. They can’t get it because they don’t have those other options right now. So it can be as low as a couple thousand dollars. It can be as high as a half a million dollars. It’s an interesting option for businesses that receive business credit cards.

Patrick: Alright. So for credit card transactions they’re forecasting and looking at what you’ve done and forecasting ahead. Do they get involved with the business at all, or do they just plainly look at receipts.

Brock: Nope. Hardly any of these organizations get involved with the business.

Patrick: So the day to day stays with the business owner.

Brock: Yep.

Patrick: Okay. Alright. Guys, twelve best ways to get business financing in 2012. Dan?

Dan: I think one to maybe end this is… you know, we’ve got twelve of these that we’ve talked about, and there are more, but how do we decide, when is it okay for a business to except a high interest rate for something. And how does a business owner decide what’s right for them?

Brock: Simple answer: Use Lendio.

Patrick: (laughter) There you go.

Brock: I don’t want to come across as a big self promotion, but it just makes your life so much easier. You know, I’ll tell you a quick story. I had a friend of mine, he sent me an email. He asked me that exact question. He said, “Brock, I’ve got a friend who’s got a business, and they’re doing pretty well. They’re doing about a million dollars a year. He needs fifty to hundred thousand. What do I do?” And he wanted me to come back and give him all these instructions on how to do it and where and how to distinguish between this loan and that loan. And I just said, “I promise you…” You know, I just leaned back and said, “Just send him to Lendio.com and tell him to sign up, and we’ll take care of everything from there.”

Patrick: Well, because everything’s done on the back end. That’s what all the programing is all about.

Brock: We’ve built that technology to do it. And so he sends me an email and says, “Okay, I’ll do it.” He sent me another email, “Alright, I just signed up. Here are my four options.” And he told me which loan programs he had, and said, “Great. Well, pursue them and let me know how they go.” So he pursued the loan programs, but I said, “Keep me posted on how it goes for you, but I was really anxious.” Well, I literally just got an email this morning, and he sent me an email with the term sheet he’d just received, saying, “Thanks, Brock. It was as easy as you told me. I was just approved for forty-five thousand dollars.” He wanted fifty to hundred, but he was approved for forty-five through one of the lenders, and he was like, “This is exactly what I needed. It was easy. Nothing out of pocket. And I’m on my way with forty-five thousand dollars.”

Patrick: Wow.

Brock: And I’m anxious to do a video. Hopefully we can get a video testimonial out of the client, but at the end of the day that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to say, “Business Owner, you have a lot on your plate, let us take that off your plate and make it easy for you.”

Patrick: You’ve created this company for that very specific reason. This has got to be just a little bit gratifying to just go, “Wow. We really did execute on what the overall vision was.”

Brock: Right.

Patrick: Alright. So you can read and listen to the podcast on Lendio.com. We’ve been talking about the twelve best ways to get business financing in 2012. This white-paper will be live on Lendio.com. Is it going to be in the blog section, or are you going to stick it in a different place.

Dan: Yeah, it’ll be in a couple different places. We should have a link to it from this podcast, and it should be easy to find.

Patrick: And be sure to download it.

Dan: And if it’s not, send me an email.

Patrick: (laughter) So alright, we’ll wrap it up there. So for Brock Blake the CEO of Lendio. It’s always good to chat with you because we don’t always get to chat with you every week.

Brock: Yeah, it’s great to catch up with you too and ,Patrick, if we don’t catch up before the Christmas holiday, I hope you have a great holiday season with your family.

Patrick: Thank you, Brock. Merry Christmas to you.

Brock: And I wish the same for all the business owners out there. This is a fun time of year.

Patrick: Dan Bischoff, director of communications at Lendio.com. Way to go on the employee of the month, and on a personal note, you’ve really done a terrific job turning Lendio into a media company for content.

Dan: Patrick was also the employee of the month this month, by the way. He’s got his own parking spot outside here on his radio station.

Brock: Nice.

Patrick: “It’s the employee of the month!” No, I do appreciate that. Alright, so for Brock Black, Dan Bischoff, I’m Patrick Wiscombe. Be sure to pick up the podcast on Lendio.com/blog. You can also find an entire transcript of the podcast on Lendio.com/blog. So for Brock, Dan, I’m Patrick Wiscombe. Thanks for listening to the Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast. We’ll talk to you next week.

Voice: Making business loans simple, this has been the entrepreneur addiction podcast, helping you secure the capital you need, with your host Brock Blake, Dan Bischoff, and Patrick Wiscombe. Heard exclusively at Lendio.com.

However, the index indicates that small business employment still has not returned to pre-recession levels. Intuit’s estimates are that 700,000 fewer people worked at small businesses in December 2011 than did so in December 2007. Assuming we add the same number of small business jobs in 2012 as were added in 2011, we will first return to pre-recession levels of small business employment five years after the economic downturn began.

Moreover, employee compensation at small businesses remains below where it was in December 2007 when measured in inflation-adjusted terms. In the last month before the recession hit, the average employee earned $25.90 per hour in 2011 dollars. In December 2011, average employee hourly compensation was only $24.53.

While the trend in the small business employment market is positive, neither hiring nor compensation have returned to pre-recession levels four years after the Great Recession began.

Source: Intuit Small Business Employment Index

From Small Business Trends

Small Businesses Are Hiring Again, But…

Trends

Working smarter in 2012. In social media as in so many other areas of business and life, the only constant may be change. How are you changing your strategy in 2012 to meet the challenges of the social media sphere? How are you working to promote your brand? Channelship

Best practices for social media. It may not occur to many small business users and other social media marketers to think in terms of responsibility when it comes to the content they create, but this is no academic discussion. Instead, it’s about being effective. Chris Brogan

ROI

Tweeting to boost your bottom line. Small business owners who think that Twitter is only a networking tool ought to listen to Kenny Lao of Rickshaw Dumpling. See this video about how Kenny is boosting his brand’s earnings 140 characters at a time. Entrepreneur

Measuring ROI, let me count the ways. The social media tools you use to sell your products and services are much more than the latest flavor of the week. In fact, those who use them know all about their effectiveness. Webbiquity

Research

Who is your audience? Perhaps the most compelling question for businesses using social media today, isn’t so much what they’re saying or how they are saying it, but to whom they are communicating. Here’some food for thought on that topic. WSJ

What social media is telling you. So many times we focus on what we are trying to say with social media when the real point may be what we can learn from it. Can social media also be a market research tool for your business? Corporate Executive Board

Networking

The more things change, the more they stay the same. How much has social networking really changed in 125 years? Maybe not much when you come right down to it. Whether you’re using an online social network or interacting face to face, here are some oldies but goodies you might consider. Unready and Willing

Bookshelf

The Power of Foursquare. All the buzz that continues to be created around Facebook and Twitter has drawn attention away from some other success stories, most notably the one addressed in this new book. Small Business Trends

Tips

Do you want Facebook traffic? It’s not as hard as you might think to market your Facebook page to tons of loyal fans. Here are some steps toward improving traffic on your Facebook site using nothing but the power of search. Fans Bridge

Bloggers, bloggers everywhere? Creating a multi-author blog can be an effective strategy for establishing a Web presence these days. Many bloggers are looking for ways to introduce themselves to larger audiences. Here’s how you to get your multi-author blog started. Social Media Examiner

From Small Business Trends

Smarter Social Media in 2012

The recent introduction of Google+ for business into this mix has many of us wondering if there is a good business reason to add yet another platform to their already full social media plates.

Before you toss in the towel and decide not to jump on this particular bandwagon, consider the reasons outlined below that highlight why a Google+ page for your business may be the best social media investment you make in 2012.

1. It Helps You Hit Your Target

Since the internet became something available for everyday people to use, businesses and advertisers have looked for ways to target content, communications, and relevant messages to specific audiences.  The dream of being able to customize customer communications like offering a coupon for diapers to a new mom while highlighting snow blower sales only to homeowners in New England has had limited success.

The introduction of social media and the use of targeted ad spaces like those available on Facebook and LinkedIn offered a new way to target paid advertising, but until Google+ came along, the ability to easily target content to specific audiences has been out of reach for most small businesses.    Being able to assign followers to Circles and use those Circles to provide tailored messages to specific users are the most powerful differences Google+ offers to business owners.

2. It Gives New Meaning to +1

For many people, +1 is something you would find on a formal invitation indicating that you are free to invite another person to the event.  The Google +1 button is like being able to invite everyone you know to visit your world by allowing you to tag content you like, share content with specific Google+  Circles, and offer recommendations that show up in Google search results.

Although the +1 button has been compared to both the Facebook “Like” and “Share” functions, it is more like a combination of the two that is linked to everything Google you already use.   Add the ability to share +1’s with only specific groups through the use of Google+ Circles and you can begin to see why Google+ for business will be a must have in 2012.

3. It is Simple to Use.

One of the things that differentiated Google when it was the new search engine on the block was the simplicity of its interface.  The winning combination of functionality and white space is the trademark of all things Google and Google+ is no exception.   By creating a screen that is uncluttered and limited in how much information it presents, Google+ simplifies the social media experience.  .

4. It is Completely Integrated with Google.

If you only need one reason to invest in Google+ for your business in 2012, this is the one.  Unlike the other social media platforms, Google+ comes completely integrated with all things Google.  This means that the tools you may already be using in your business like Google Analytics, Google Places, Google Maps, etc. are already “in-house”.  And don’t forget Google Search, which has surpassed the 1 billion unique users per month mark, and the power of Google+ for business speaks for itself.  From using circles to let followers self-select which content they want to receive to leveraging Google+ Hangouts as sales funnels, Google+ can bring value to your business right out of the gate and they are just getting started.

If you’re using Google+ for your business, I’d love to hear your experience.  Let me know, and feel free to share your Google + page here.

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free ebook called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available onAmazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

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Meanwhile, Bank of America officials denied that their action pertaining to small businesses is widespread.  Instead, they claim that it impacts “a very, very, very small percentage” of its small business customers, according to bank spokesperson Jefferson George, as quoted in a Huffington Post article.  And they still have 3.5 million non-mortgage loans to small businesses on the books.

While Bank of America said it notified the borrowers who were affected by the call on their lines of credit far in advance, some borrowers who were interviewed said they received no such notification. Those Bank of America small-business customers claimed they were caught by surprise, and unable to pay off the loans or find replacements as quickly as Bank of America was demanding.

But I wondered, is this shades of 2009 all over again, where we can expect to hear tales of small business lending woe everywhere we turn?  Are we going to see an across-the-board pullback by lending institutions even deeper than we’ve experienced in the past few years? Or is this an issue specific to Bank of America?   Let’s take a look at some additional information.

MultiFunding’s Small Business Bank Report Card shows that  small business loans held by banks were reduced by $4.84 billion in Q3 of 2011. The loans that Bank of America called in equaled 8.5% of that alone.

While Bank of America had the largest reduction of small business debt in Q3, loans are still available, experts say, but it all depends on where you look for financing.

Says Ami Kassar, founder and CEO of MultiFunding, smaller community banks are still very much viable options for small business owners looking for financing.  ”There are plenty of community banks  aggressively building their small business loan portfolios across the country,” he notes.

Others also emphasize sources other than big banks for small-business loans.  Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, reports that his company is not seeing an across-the-board pullback on lending.  He notes, ”Biz2Credit is seeing an increased confidence among small business owners and an increased interest among small to mid size banks along with alternative lenders to lend more aggressively to businesses.”

In other words, Bank of America’s action doesn’t mean credit is completely drying up.  But credit is still tighter than other times historically.  You may have to be more creative than ever in where you look for funding.  Look to your local community banks.  Look to mid-size regional banks.  Examine alternative small-business financing options as pointed out in an article here on Small Business Trends last month. In addition to traditional banks, consider approaching:

• Credit unions
• Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
• Accounts Receivable (AR) financers
• Microlenders

Money Questions Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Bank of America Severing Some Small Business Credit Lines: Sign of Things to Come?

Co-branded domain names

To me your website is your online home, and the better you take care of it, then the better it takes care of you. But what about those beautiful, well-laid-out, but co-branded websites? Does having a domain name like mysite.blogspot.com or yoursite.weebly.com matter?

I think it does. I recently met a small business owner who does a great job at creating local buzz through live events, postcards and relationship marketing. But when I was ready to tell others about her and send them to her website, it was co-branded. A Google search of the exact event name produced five other co-branded sites, and none of them was hers.

It’s easier to say yoursite.com than yoursite.blogspot.com. And when you’re trying to spread the word, easy matters. Plus yoursite.com can easily outrank yoursite.weebly.com (with a few tweaks). Besides, why build up weebly’s or blogspots’ brand? They have an awesome following of their own. Drop the co-branding and market your name instead.

In “Why You Need Multiple Domain Names,” Ivana Taylor says to “look at owning domain names like owning digital real estate.” If that’s the case, then using  yoursite.blogspot.com is like renting: It’s easier to move in, but no matter how much you pay, you will never own it.

Content and the pages users land on 

Another key element to your website is the landing pages.

According to Copyblogger.com:

“A landing page is any page on a website where traffic is sent specifically to prompt a certain action or result.”

The goal is a targeted page with no distractions. So usually a landing page has no sidebar and includes a simple header. This page is designed to solve a specific problem for the reader and get a specific response from him or her.

For a list of cool tools to create landing pages in a flash check out Ivana’s article at American Express OPEN Forum.

To learn more about what a landing page is and how to make the most of it, check out how landing pages turn traffic into money at Copyblogger.com. You will see a landing page in action and find a tutorial that will help.

Creative thoughts and ways to keep them flowing

Ideas are the jewels of business. Once you have an idea you have to chisel it into something that catches the light and does exactly what you want it to do.

The “chiseling” is what business is all about. It’s the process. If you can keep your head and trust your heart, then you can create something beautiful.  But what about those diamonds? How do you keep the ideas flowing?

The creative process is intriguing. Anita Campbell highlights 3 websites that will get your business creativity flowing. Check them out.

I have to say I became caught up in the ideas on these websites and found myself lost on a tangent that helped me solve a business dilemma I had been contemplating for weeks. Go figure.

Your business and your marketing are driven by ideas, so create space for them to flow.

Domain Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Website Marketing: Domain Names and Landing Pages

The perfect gracious host may be Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan).  At least that’s the premise of his terrific book, Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything.  This book is the first one to provide a primer for Google’s new platform.  It’s a needed tonic. Reportedly driven by Android sales according to Business Insider, Google+ now has 62 million users.

Chris Brogan is no stranger to social media advocates. Brogan co-authored the New York Times bestseller Trust Agents and wrote Social Media 101, which was reviewed here on Small Business Trends. He has a Top 5 Advertising Age Power150 blog, Chris Brogan, and is a featured Entrepreneur magazine columnist.  I learned about this book while checking out publisher Que’s book list and requested a review copy.

Agreement of material and writer enhances instruction to grow Google+

The book’s structure is an interesting mix of product timing and author experience that works as the “baby-bear’s porridge” of information many small businesses seek – not too large, not necessarily shallow.  Google+ is less than a year old, but Brogan’s writing style can make social media newcomers feel the access to the material.

Brogan’s established perspective contributes value to Google+ for Business, avoiding a huge problem I have seen in a few Facebook guides. Many books, regardless of being phone-book thick or car-owner’s-manual thin, are so bloated with Facebook features descriptions that tactical or strategic recommendations are flat-out overlooked.  Add Facebook changes into the mix, and it can become a second job to infuse new material into your business plans.

However, Brogan’s choice to cover a nascent Google+ with his insights makes one awesome, just-right porridge.  The usages for Google+ is explained with enough flexibility to fit within your organizational structure.

The first three chapters documents why Google+ is essential, while Chapter Four lays out first steps. This is where you’d want to start if you generally understand Google+ already.

The three chapters dedicated to Google+ features are:

• Chapter 5 – circles, the grouping convention in Google+
• Chapter 6 – streaming posts
• Chapter 12 – business Pages

Most of the other chapters provide corporate examples and solid organizational tips.  Chapter 7 may be the most broadly applicable, as it focuses on content.  But Brogan wisely differs from the “content is king” mantra by covering ideas by business type.  He is spot on when he suggest to online store owners to “post profiles and interviews with the owners” as well as to tell writers, photographers, and artists to “start a Hangout.”

Insights made for Hangouts and Circles

Brogan ensures that his revealed experience and tips are tailored to the Google+ environment so that you appreciate the reasons for the recommendation.  Take for example how he notes a key difference with Twitter against managing a Google+ circle.

“On Google+, different than Twitter, I decided not to follow everyone back who adds me. The reason is that the more people I add, the harder it is to manage the stream of information I choose to consume.  You’ll come to your own opinions, and you’ll likely change them a few times.”

This is pretty basic but works well if the reader is starting to differentiate social media platforms.  Brogan goes on to note some cool circle label ideas for a beginner – Local, Thinkers, Competitors, Vendors, Personal Passion, and so forth. And while content suggestions may sound straightforward, they do play into the benefits of the Hangout and Circles features. Brogan get an A for the homework he has done for Google+ for Business.

Brogan has written in past posts how businesses should “Make Your Buyer The Hero”, but in Google+, the suggestion is expressed immediately to the point.

“If you write about your products and how great you are, only you can benefit from that. If you create interesting posts with concepts and ideas for your community to take so that they can improve their own experience in life, you have something.”

The suggestions sound like they are only geared for newbies, but Google+ for Business can compliment deeper works such as Social Media Metrics and Digital Impact, as well as community building topics covered in Empowered and The Social Organization.  Its tone can draw small business owners and corporate managers that still remain on the social media sidelines.

Brogan does share some steps for upcoming Google+ changes – most are from Brogan’s view, but he wisely limits suggestions just enough to not render the book dated for the future.  Just like the Facebook guides, you may want to follow online sources for further updates (after this book’s publication, Google added a second admin capability to match up to that in Facebook Pages). But rest assured, the material will not grow stale as your Google+  abilities grows.

Your Google+ is a “Minus” if You Skip This Book

Google+ for Business is the right manual at the right time.  It captures enough of the basics, but also offers great insights so you can make effective use of the new platform.  In Digital Impact, authors Vipin Mayar and Geoff Ramsey reveal that social media users budget new platforms into their time online instead of replacing one with another.  Well, if you plan to squeeze more Google+ into your social time, Chris Brogan is an excellent host that you would want to make you feel at home.

Or in this case, in Circle.

From Small Business Trends

“Google+ For Business” Adds Great Tips For Small Businesses

Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2012 Growth Conference
January 11, 2012, Long Beach, CA

Coming soon to the Long Beach Convention Center — a full-day of seminars and opportunities to help you achieve your biggest branding, sales and profit goals. Plus, a chance to hear first-hand and learn from the experiences of the Entrepreneur of 2011 winners in a special awards luncheon.

Creating a Sellable Service Business
January 16-17, 2012, Las Vegas

Do you have a service business and want to know how to position it to be A) Sellable and B) Sellable for the maximum amount of money possible?

John Warrillow, who sold his own consulting and services business, and author of the book “Built to Sell,” is offering this intimate, hands-on workshop on building a sellable business. During this workshop, you’ll get the opportunity to put your business under the microscope with Warrillow and a small group of other successful business owners. Together, you’ll uncover the steps to make your business more attractive to potential buyers – whether you’re looking to sell your business in the near future, or want to start ramping up the value of your business in order to sell it down the line.

Most service businesses never sell. They are started by someone with a specific skill. When the time comes to get out, you’re left with nothing. This workshop aims to change that!

This workshop requires a significant commitment – and so it is only for those serious about changing their future. Register now.

Women Entrepreneurs Festival
January 17-18, 2012, New York City

The Women Entrepreneurs Festival takes place January 17-18 in New York City! The goal of the Women Entrepreneurs Festival v.2 is to sow the seeds for a broader community of women entrepreneurs, and to expose women who have not yet taken the entrepreneurial plunge to the women who’ve already taken it. Sponsored by the Tisch School of the Arts’ ITP program, the fest’s stunning lineup of speakers is here. And the one and only Arianna Huffington will be giving the keynote address. The festival is limited to 250 participants.

Time Management for Busy Business Owners
January 18, 2012, Online

Manage your time well and you take back both your personal and professional life. With so many hats to wear, small business owners and entrepreneurs can get buried in by their “to do” lists.

In this online, interactive seminar, you’ll learn to
assess your time management skills, distinguish between what’s important and what’s urgent, apply tools to determine priorities and more.

The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution
January 18, 2012, Online

In today’s rough political and economic climate, businesses need to reexamine relationships with customers and employees to create more positive, engaging experiences as part of everyday business. Join this webinar to hear Brian Solis, author of The End of Business As Usual, reveal how to deliver customer experiences that will increase not only engagement but ultimately loyalty and advocacy. Attend this webinar to learn how to:

Translate listening into learning and insights
Document the impact of disruptive technology on your business
Meet the needs of customers in emerging channels
Foster advocacy by delivering the right value to consumers

The Art of the Cold Call // BUSINESS 153
January 23, 2012, New York City

So your startup doesn’t have any money for a fancy ad campaign or a seasoned sales exec. You can barely keep the lights on as it is. But you know that your product is amazing, and if only your clients knew about you, you would be raking in the dollars. For a struggling start up like yours, there is only one way to make that happen. Pick up the phone. Cold calling is a deeply psychological exercise. We’ll start with a brainstorm. Why is cold calling so hard? What do you feel when you get that call? When you make one? We’ll tackle these issues so that you can build up your confidence and deliver a flawless call.

Introduction to Developing Entrepreneurial Ideas
Four Session Series: January 23 & 30, February 6 & 13, New York City

Do you have an idea but you are not sure if you can make a business out of it, or have an idea but need to refine it? Or need help in creating, reviewing or evaluating an idea? This class will focus over four sessions on the idea generation process and generating creative new ideas and turning entrepreneurial ideas into businesses. Often people think they need just one great business idea and this idea will cover them in a “flash of genius.” While this can be true, often good business ideas get developed, molded, and improved over time. We will discuss both products and services ideas and focus on how to transform an idea or invention into an economically viable innovation and business.

Tax Tips and IRS Examination Advice for Small Business Owners
January 25, 2012, Wheaton, MD

If you are a small business and want to learn tips about taxes and the IRS examination, this class is for you! This class will be taught by small business accountants and attorneys. In this workshop attendees will learn 1) tax tips, 2) how to prepare for tax season, 3) red flags for being selected for examination, 4) the elements of an examination, 5) how an examination proceeds, and 6) potential outcomes. One 2.5 hour session.

Small Biz Success Summit 2012
February 1 – 23, 2012 – Online

Presented by Social Media Examiner, this mega-event is designed to help you grow your small business using social media. There’s no travel! You simply attend this online event from the comfort of your home or office. It consists of multiple online webinars and Q&A sessions spread out from February 1 to 23, 2012. Attend all the sessions or as many as you wish – recordings and transcripts also available.

You will hear from 28 of the world’s top small-biz social media experts, including: John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), David Siteman Garland (founder, “The Rise to the Top” and author, Smarter, Faster, Cheaper), Joe Pulizzi (founder, Content Marketing Institute and co-author, Get Content, Get Customers), Brian Clark (founder, Copyblogger Media), Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing), Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses) and Lewis Howes (co-author, LinkedWorking). Register.

Small Biz Big Things
February 7, 2012, San Francisco

Small Biz Big Things is all about YOU, YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR challenges. In this interactive forum you’ll hear from business growth experts who have built (or are building) successful companies and can share their lessons learned, success stories, growth challenges and victories with you.

Speakers include Scott Hintz, co-founder of Tripit, Jim Fowler, who built Jigsaw and sold it to Salesforce.com, and Tamara Mendelsohn, VP of Marketing for Eventbrite.

Come network, have a great lunch and learn from experts who can help you GROW YOUR BUSINESS.

Small Farms Conference
February 25, 2012, Corvallis, OR

The event includes workshops ranging from harvesting rainwater and marketing meat products to grafting vegetables and selling produce to schools and hospitals. Speakers include farmers, OSU faculty, farmer’s market representatives and experts from the state Department of Agriculture.

Other topics include farm financing, land-use legislation and business plan development.

Inc. GrowCo
March 5-7, 2012, New Orleans

Come to GROWCO and master the strategies, tactics, and real-world solutions your company needs to thrive. Packed with actionable insights, GROWCO can be a life-changing event. You’ll learn from mega-successful entrepreneurs whose companies have created millions of dollars of wealth and tens of thousands of jobs…and a lot more.

Seventh Annual Small Business Summit 2012
March 6, 2012, New York City

The Small Business Summit is New York’s premier event for small business owners looking to network with other decision-makers, attend cutting edge seminars and shop around for products & services available to help their small businesses succeed. You’ll network with 500+ attendees, hear from small business experts in exciting presentations and panel discussions, and have a great lunch. The winner of the Small Business Strategy Award will be announced live, plus great raffles and giveaways.

The Super Early Bird Registration Rate of $99 (a $100 savings) has been extended through January 9th.

Social Tech ’12
March 29-30, 2012, Seattle

Social media marketing is no longer an option for B2B—it’s an absolute necessity. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with over 25 of the leading experts who will teach you how to use social media marketing to generate more inbound leads, grow brand awareness, drive conversions, and increase revenue. You’ll meet with industry insiders as well as other B2B marketers to discuss best practices, winning techniques, current roadblocks, and find out what works for your business!

Infusioncon 2012
April 2-4, Phoenix, AZ

Get ready to learn, network and set new ideas in motion! Join hundreds of small businesses from all around the world at InfusionCon 2012, Infusionsoft’s annual user conference, and experience three days of idea sharing and inspiration in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona on April 2-4.

America’s Small Business Summit 2012
May 21-23, 2012, Washington, DC

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s annual event — America’s Small Business Summit — unites small business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs from across the country to learn, network, and discuss common legislative and management concerns. Past speakers include former President George W. Bush, General Stanley McChrystal, Small Business Editor of the WSJ Colleen DeBaise, and many more. Attendees help influence our nation’s economic and political agenda by advocating for pro-business policies through the Rally on the Hill portion of the program. The event will take place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., on May 21-23, 2012. For more information and important dates, check the Summit website, www.uschambersummit.com.

8th Annual Kentucky Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference
June 1, 2012, Louisville, KY

The Annual Kentucky Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference (8th KIEC) will bring together distinguished speakers, tech-based economic development practitioners, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, students and postdoctoral fellows.

The conference will focus on growing local initiatives powered by science and engineering talent.

2012 Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium
June 11-14, 2012, Reno, NV

Designed by Veteran small business owners for Veteran small business owners, VETS2012 brings government agencies, industry leaders and Veteran entrepreneurs together in a small, intimate forum to discuss the questions you need answered.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit the Small Business Events Calendar.

If you are putting on a small business event or contest, and want to get the word out, please submit it through our Events & Contests Submission Form (it’s free). Only events of interest to small business people, freelancers and entrepreneurs will be included.

Brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

From Small Business Trends

Awesome List of Events for Small Businesses

Weekend Favs January Seven

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr.

Good stuff I found this week:
Hubspot’s Marketing Grader – Hubspot has gotten very good at creating these free grader tools and this one goes deep into your Web site and gives you a view of how well your site holds up in key marketing metrics.

MOG – new free streaming music like Pandora or Spotify, but I’m finding better library for the kind of music I listen to (particularly old jazz) and better sound quality.

Strutta – Tool that makes it very easy to launch promotions and contests on Facebook or your own site. I’ve participated in several contests using this tool and the interface is great.

Like with many other social media channels, I was an early adopter of Foursquare – but I haven’t quite “gotten it” yet.  And now with Facebook and Twitter having geo-tagging features, I’m wondering if Foursquare has any value for small business.  I mean it’s just one more thing to take up your precious  time – right?

Carmine Gallo shows you how to use Foursquare effectively in your business

I received a review copy of  The Power of Foursquare: 7 Innovative Ways to Get Your Customers to Check In Wherever They Are from the publisher and was really excited about reading it because I simply hated not having a good grasp of Foursquare and how to use it in business.

The author, Carmine Gallo (@CarmineGallo), who had also written The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs which I’d read and reviewed.  He approaches Foursquare with a sense of curiosity rather than expertise.  This approach and tone left me feeling like I was in a conversation of discovery, rather than being taught something by an expert.

There is a reason for Gallo’s deft writing style; Gallo is a former anchor and correspondent for CNN and CBS and has served as a communications coach for the world’s most trusted brands.  Gallo’s talents in news reporting give Foursquare the feel of an informational and educational news story.

Why you need to read The Power of Foursquare

Before reading this book, I was rather lukewarm on Foursquare.  At the time, I just didn’t think that it was a power tool for my business.  It seems like the businesses that benefit most from Foursquare are local consumer-based businesses such as retail outlets, realtors and big brands.

The focus of Foursquare is its geo-tagging function and ability to connect you to the people and places that you might find interesting. So if you’re in a business that doesn’t stand to benefit from people gathering in and around your physical location – then you might decide to pass on this book.  That would be a mistake.

I couldn’t believe the variety of businesses that use Foursquare!  The list ranges from NASA (yup – the astronauts checked in from outer space) to a Manhattan matchmaker.  The success strategies they used to engage customers was inspiring.

If you’re a business owner who has been curious about Foursquare but hasn’t yet discovered how you can use it to get and keep customers, then this is the book for you.

This book is a collection of over 50 case studies of both businesses and big brands and how they used Foursquare to engage their customers and transform their business.  He’s interviewed hundreds of people; business owners, Foursquare experts as well as the owners and executives inside of Foursquare.

The result is a mix of Foursquare 101 education coupled with practical examples and case studies that you can lift from the pages of this book and apply inside your business.  One of my favorite examples is that of Joe Sorge, owner of AJ Bombers restaurant.

Joe had sold the restaurant and then taken it back because it was doing poorly.  He locked himself up in an office for six months, focused on using social media to revive the dying restaurant.  He started with Twitter and saw success.  But it was Foursquare that took his business to the next level and put his restaurant on the Food Channel!

What I appreciate about this example and many others is that the companies that were featured weren’t brilliant.  They weren’t even lucky.  They were focused on a target market, clear about their objectives and then opportunistic and flexible about how they would achieve them.

Inside the book

The book consists of sixteen chapters that toggle between teaching you about Foursquare, it’s features, functions and strategies and then showing you how a variety of businesses have used Foursquare to transform their business.

At the end of each chapter there is an “Unlock the Power” section where you get the summary strategies and tactics that you can implement inside your own business.

Who should read The Power of Foursquare

Retailers, local merchants or brand managers are the ideal audience for this book.  There are ample examples and strategies to bring some interesting engagement and zip to your marketing plan.

As a person who doesn’t fall firmly into these categories, reading this book showed me how important it is to fully explore new social media tools and applications and look for creative ways to use them.

Even professionals whose business depends on a personal brand can use Foursquare.  It’s more of a stretch and requires some creativity, but after reading this book, you will certainly have the ability to create a Foursquare strategy.

Despite users are checking in at the rate of 23 times per second, Foursquare isn’t as big in small towns as it is in bigger cities.  But there is no reason why it shouldn’t be.  What I’m saying is that Foursquare is a proven way to get and keep customers and it isn’t as overcrowded as Twitter and Facebook.

Pick up a copy of The Power of Foursquare and find all kinds of new ways to pick up new and loyal customers.  You can also get a free chapter on the website for The Power of Foursquare. 

From Small Business Trends

Put “The Power of Foursquare” to Work in Your Business

Disaster Loan Outreach center is where SBA customer service representatives are present to answer to questions, help individuals complete loan applications and explain the application process.

Disaster loans up-to $200,000 are available to homeowners for repairing damaged and destroyed real estate. Renters and homeowners are eligible to find $40,000 in grant for reparation of damaged or destroyed personal property. Businesses irrespective of their size can borrow up-to $2 million. Private and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply. With such disaster grants, it is possible to repair or replace destroyed real estate, inventory, machinery, equipment and other business assets.

Additional funds also go to homeowners and businesses from SBA. This fund helps to procure the cost of recovery, make improvements, prevent and minimize the same type of damage occurring in future too. SBA also offers ‘Economic Injury Disaster Loans’ (EIDLs) to entrepreneurs so as to facilitate them meet the working capital needs that arise due to the occurrence of a disaster. The EIDL assistance is provided even if businesses haven’t suffered property damages.

So are you ready to make 2012 the year that you put your finances in order? Then read on, because we have some tips for you!

1. Know What You Spend - Check your receipts and understand what you spend! Then set limits for yourself. Whether you have monthly spending guidelines or a spreadsheet solution, this is the place to start.

2. Understand Your Debt - Does your budget include payments on your credit card balances? If so, find out the interest rate on each of your cards, and sort your cards from highest-rate to lowest-rate.

3. Plan the Payoff - Use your budget to identify extra cash that you can use to pay down your credit card balances faster, starting with your highest-rate cards first. How much extra can you pay each month above your minimum?

4. Don’t Get Distracted - Just as important, remember that there will be weeks when you have unexpected expenses. That’s OK! That’s why you’re making a resolution for the whole year - take a second to breathe, and then get back on track as quickly as you can.

Of course, we would be remiss not to mention that getting a loan through Prosper can be a great way to pay down your higher-rate balances more quickly (and to simplify with a single monthly payment). We encourage you to check your rate if you haven’t already.

Meanwhile, the NFIB reports two consecutive months of improved (if still pretty low) Small Business Optimism Indices, the National Association of Home Builders notes a positive trend in multifamily housing construction that bodes well for the near future, and the National Retail Federation tracked better-than-expected consumer spending during the holiday shopping season (see below).

It is during times like this that the world seems wide open to the would-be business owner who is paying attention and has the kind of vision that can see next year’s opportunities embedded in this year’s chaos. The trick is to find the opportunities that are not going to turn into bandwagons for everybody to jump onto by February.

So, in case you’re having trouble kick-starting your own version of vision, here are a few of the kinds of ideas you probably won’t find in everybody’s tweets and headlines and blog posts to get your creative juices flowing:

Indie Skill Builder (Coach) and other labor-market related consulting gigs: If you caught the brief exchange between myself and Emergent’s Steve King in last month’s Research Roundup, you’ll know that we’re probably in the midst of a labor market shift that is will leave us with a 50-50 split between the traditionally employed and the “contingent workforce” — composed of temps, part timers and freelancers/independent contractors.

But being a freelancer requires a certain very specific skill set that is quite different from the skill set needed by the traditional employee. Enter a new set of business coaches to fill that gap, particularly for those unfortunate college grads who are not finding employment in the traditional zone. Plenty of work, with this shift taking at least a decade to get where it’s going.

Inventive Inventions and Innovations: While everybody speculates on the future of Facebook and plays with the ever-expanding features of their smart phones, there’s a certain kind of anticipation in the wind. Everybody — particularly venture capital investors — is waiting for the Next Big Thing and hoping fervently that they are able to recognize it when they see it. Of course, inventions of the sort that we’re talking here — stuff like Velcro, Spandex and Teflon — require certain technical skills but if you have those, you’re golden.

Are you thinking I’m kidding with my examples? I’m not. Take a look around your house and see how many examples you find of one, two or all three substances in the things you own. The investors of those homely substances have made a bucket of money in a decidedly low-tech way. (While you’re at it, consider the investor of the humble Post-It note.) This is not an “easy” opportunity; inventions and patents and all that jazz can be a legal minefield full of corporate greed and intrigue. But, for the creative and intrepid, the rewards can be fantastic.

Manufacturing Consultancies (logistics, technology updates, etc.): I would not have expected to see myself writing this under any circumstances but it looks like the manufacturing sector has been showing signs of life for some time now. But, with economic growth continuing to be sluggish, manufacturing plants are going to have to achieve new heights of efficiency if they want to thrive during lean times.

Any service sector firm that can help with that effort — whether they know logistics or work flows or technologies or anything else along these lines — should be able to make a strong case for their services. A bit of salesmanship is going to be needed here — your services won’t just sell themselves in this economy — but the times might allow for the development of a nicely-sized client list that can keep you busy and paying the bills in 2012.

Wholesale Traders: Another surprise in the numbers comes in the form of personal consumption expenditures. The year-end consumer spending season turned out to be better than anticipated — at least by the National Retail Federation, which upped its estimated increase in holiday retail sales from 2.8% to 3.8% just ten days before Christmas Day.

With consumers in a better mood these days while private inventory investment posts discouraging numbers, the writing for a slow and steady release in pent-up demand seems likely to be on the wall. But, in the consumer world, microbusinesses stand to do better in the wholesale end of things rather than having to compete with the Walmarts of the world in the retail space.

High End Personal Services: Occupy Wall Street might lament the Gordon Geckos of the world and the progressives among us might sound alarm bells about income inequality but, in the meantime, it all translates into much largess for the microbusiness owner who can come up with a suite of personal services for them-that’s-got (in the words of the immortal Billie Holiday). The nice thing about this for said microbusiness owner is that it would in this case be a fairly simple matter to design a business around something you genuinely like to do.

If you are a pet masseuse or a people groomer or have the skill to make anything else look or feel good, then you can find ways to market those services to the kind of clients with enough money to pamper themselves, their pets, their palates, their cars, their crabgrass and their contours even in times like these.

There’s enough here to start your creative juices flowing and your enterprising eye looking for your very own niche. Meanwhile, here’s hoping you have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Micro Business Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Top 5 Microbusiness Opportunities for 2012

What Would Happen to Your Business If You Lost All of Your Online Data

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

I know you’re backing up your hard drive and network data, right? You use Dropbox, Carbonite, MOZY, AmazonS3, or JustCloud. Or maybe you’re a Mac Time Machine junky. Either way, here’s hoping beyond hope you’re doing this regularly.

Of course, now that so many of us are moving stuff to the cloud, we’ve got an increasingly perplexing new issue.

How do we back up all that stuff that sits on someone else’s sever?

Do you remember a while back when a whole bunch of Gmail users woke up and found their email files wiped out? We can argue whether or not that’s a good thing, but I’m guessing there were some really important emails that went missing.

Okay, how about this one – you fire up your WordPress blog and discover that your low cost host has decided to go out of business and take your SQL database (otherwise know as you blog posts) with them. (I suppose this could happen to your really expensive web host too, but you get the idea.)

And one last illustration to strike a little more fear. You fire up Basecamp in hopes of finding that critical contract your client signed and uploaded only to find a blank project folder. (Basecamp is an awesome product and I’m sure this would never happen, but what if it did?)

See, we’ve come to depend on all these tools, services and stuff that we routinely and perhaps a bit naively imagine will always work, sync and be safe.

I believe we all need to start looking into some redundancy in our backing up. You could make a case for having an external drive and Dropbox or Dropbox and Mozy for your regular backups, but the real gap may be in backing up all those services.

Here are couple services that are designed to help you do just that.

Backupify – allows you to create regular backups of all your social media updates, email, calendars, Google docs, and photo sharing sites. They even have a plan that’s made for Google Apps for Domains users.

CloudHQ – If you’re already a Basecamp, Dropbox and Google Docs user you’re going to this CloudHQ was built just for you. This service syncs and backs up all your Basecamp data, backs up most of your cloud data to Dropbox and really enhances collaboration using Google docs with Basecamp syncing.

BackupBuddy – It’s just a really good practice to routinely backup your WordPress blog. BackupBuddy is a plugin that can be set to make automatic backups to S3 or even Dropbox. I use Rackspace for hosting and they have a cloud backup tool as well.

I know this just one more thing to worry about, but once you set it up and automate it, it’s actually one less thing to worry about!

Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about Foresee?

Larry Freed: We started ForeSee back in 2001 and found out that we are not really good about timing our first data customer, which was the week after 9/11, but very early on it really helped us as a company established what was really important to our company, which was to make sure that we are providing a great value to our clients, and also to a great extent that is what our business is all about, it is about helping companies measure customer satisfaction and overall customer experience.

Small Business Trends: You recently released the “ForeSee-E Retail Satisfaction Index for the US Holiday Season.” What is the Satisfaction Index?

Larry Freed: What this Index showed and what we really looked at was the largest 40 online retailers. Then we surveyed the customer experience using ForeSee, and it is also the same technology that drives the American customer satisfaction Index.  It is an approach for measurement of customer satisfaction that has been vetted out by many people before us, and really showing it to be the number one accurate measurement of customer satisfaction.

We have been doing this study since 2005 during the holiday season, and we have seen a pretty interesting trend. The score this year was 79 on a scale of 0 to 100 looking across those 40 retailers and that is a good score. That is actually the highest score we have seen in this Index, and keeping it in perspective that customer expectations rise over time. In other words, the experience that we expect when we visit an online retailer today is a lot greater than the experience that we expected two years ago.

The fact that we have seen scores rise over time, in spite of those rising expectations, it is actually a good sign.

Satisfaction is not simple to measure.  It is very complicated to measure.  But when we think about the simple definition of satisfaction, it is really a combination about what you get and what you expect. The rising expectations, traditionally will have a downward pressure on satisfaction.  We expect more every year on the Internet. In the case here, we find that the retailers generally have done a very good job in stepping up to those rising expectations and have actually seen the score go up over time.

Small Business Trends:  I see in the report you say a one point change in revenues generated on the Web.

Larry Freed: Right. It is really to look at what impact improving satisfaction is going to have financially. It is going to have that impact, because it is going to cause existing customers to come back and buy more. It is going to cause them to recommend you to others, and it is much easier to keep your customers satisfied and keep them coming back than to have to replace them every time they are back in the purchase cycle.

Small Business Trends: You break customer satisfaction down into four elements: merchandise; functionality; content and price. Where do those four rank in terms of how you make up that customer satisfaction score?

Larry Freed: When we look at that data, we look at each individual company.  Within those four quadrants, or four categories, we want to see how they are doing in each of those areas. How are they doing in terms of merchandise?  How are they are doing in terms of price? Content has to do with the information about the product. The functionality has to do with the capabilities that they have.

So by looking at those individual elements, we get a better understanding of how companies are doing individually within those areas.  Not only to know how well they are doing, but also to understand what impact improving those areas will have on improving satisfaction and also the consumers’ behaviors.

Price is the lowest scoring element of the four. Yet what is the impact going to have on satisfaction? What we mean by that is, if we improve price, we will not understand what impact or lift it is going to have on improving satisfaction if the resulting future behaviors are likely to purchase and then to recommend and return.  While satisfaction had the lowest price it also had the lowest impact.  Which meant we were going to get a lower return on our investment from lowering the price than we would from, as an example, improving the content or functionality of merchandise.

Merchandise was looked at across the aggregate of these 40 and was actually our highest priority element. In other words, it had the highest impact if we were going to improve the merchandise. In this case, we are talking about the appeal that the merchandise has to the consumer.  The variety that the product offered and the availability of the products and what they were looking for. That is going to have the biggest impact and so we were able to not only qualify how well somebody is doing each of these areas, but understand where to allocate your resources.

Small Business Trends: Lets talk about some of the results, Amazon and Netflix.

Larry Freed: Amazon has been one of the leaders in terms of E-Commerce from very early days of their existence. We started this measurement in 2005 and this is the first year that Amazon and Netflix have not been one and two. They traded spots a couple of times, but they have always been the top two. Amazon has continued to do well; their scores have been 88%, the highest score in retailer in our study.

Netflix had a little bit of a different story. They dropped to a 79% from an 86% last year, which was an eight percent drop and they are kind of in the middle of the pack now. Not a total surprise if you have been watching the news and seeing what is going on. Netflix has had some big challenges with their customer base in changing the programs. They were talking about spinning out different companies so they can have one doing streaming and one doing the delivery of the rentals.  Customers did not like that. Netflix did not listen to the customers.  They tried to address that and apologize a bit.  But it is going to take a while for them to earn back the trust and confidence of their customer base.

Small Business Trends: Who were some of the other companies to fall on the list?

Larry Freed:  GAP was down five points to 73% to and Overstock was down four points to a 72%.  That put both companies at the bottom of our list. Now, keeping it in perspective, they are still two of the 40 largest online retailers and what the satisfaction score is telling us is that their future prospects are probably not as good as their past history has shown.  And unless they can turn that around and do a better job of satisfying their customers, they are going to have some challenges.

For each of the companies, the driving triggers of what is going to make and break their satisfaction is going to be different. These two companies are ending up with pretty poor satisfaction scores in comparison to where they were last year.

Small Business Trends: If you could offer advice to smaller retailers and online retailers, what is the lesson that they could learn and take way?

Larry Freed: Make sure that you listen to your customers and make sure that you understand the importance of satisfying them. It is not just about this one transaction, it is about the future transaction that is going to come.  If they have a great experience they are going to come back and buy more. If they have a bad experience they are going to be gone forever and your cost of acquisition will start to have a big impact on your business in a negative way.

The second thing is that while consumers were not thrilled with the prices, they also said it is not the area that is going to most incent them to buy more and be loyal.  They would rather see improvements in the merchandise and the information about the products and the functionality of the website improved.  Those are going to have a big return on investment and are going to have more of an impact on changing their behavior.  This is the first time we have seen that behavior since 2007.

The third thing is that when focusing on your customers, you have got to decide really what is going to be the key strategies for your business and make sure that those are lining up with those customer expectations. Part of your marketing and advertising needs to reinforce those expectations that you are going to deliver on. If you advertise yourself as the lowest provider and you are not, you are going to dissatisfy customers. If you advertise free shipping but there are all of these conditions you have got to meet in order to get free shipping, then you are not going to satisfy them. The key is to live up to the expectations that you are setting up with your customers.

Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more about the study and about what you guys do?

Larry Freed: They can come to our website which is www.ForeSee.com, and we would love to be able to talk to those people more and they explain how this can help them.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

From Small Business Trends

Larry Freed of ForeSee: A Hard Lesson in Satisfaction

As I wrap up Week #1 of this fabulous brand new year, I thought I would check in with all of you….

Have you set your Main Goal(s) for 2012?

More important, How do you plan to hold yourself accountable to your Goal(s)?

That is the kicker with goals.  You can make as many goals as you want, but Accountability is what makes goals actually count.  A Goal is only as good as the plan for holding yourself accountable to it.

I have found a number of ways to infuse accountability into your plans and goals:

Incorporate a Mastermind Group. A Mastermind Group is a small group of other professionals that meets together (in person or virtually) and helps promote one another’s success.  If you are not in one, think about forming one!  Look at it as a circle of Business Best Friends.

Hang a Written Mantra or Vision Board. A mantra is your very own words or goals that you want to keep repeating to yourself.  If you are more visual, create a picture, drawing, or roadmap to hold you to your goals.  Tape this vision high above your workspace to keep you motivated.

Set Alarms in your calendar. Program your computer or phone to ding on particular days, times, etc when you WANT to remind yourself of checking your progress on goals.  This is useful when you get stuck daydreaming about the possibilities because it makes you get back to reality.

Engage a Business or Life Coach. If you find yourself really struggling with holding yourself accountable, hire someone to help you.  This will cost you some money, but if you match up with the right coach, he/she will certainly help you monitor progress.

……Still looking for some accountability inspiration?

Check out what some other amazing Entrepreneurs are doing in 2012!

Nicole Fende is a credentialed actuary with experience as a Chief Financial Officer, Investment Banker, and successful entrepreneur. Nicole (a.k.a. The Numbers Whisperer™) helps her clients learn how to effectively and enjoyably run the financial side of their business.

Main goal: Killer launch and sales of my first book, How to be a Finance Rock Star.

Plan for Accountability: As an entrepreneur, my bank account balance keeps me accountable.

David Shirey has been training, inspiring, and leading sales teams and workforces to incredible new heights for two decades, and now is the author of the new book, Rare Confidence.

Main goal: Spread the message to as many people as possible that the secret to attacking your dreams is CONFIDENCE!

Plan for Accountability: Doing the right thing is not a some of the time thing; it’s an all the time thing!

Heather Allard is a mother of three kids and the founder of The Mogul Mom, a free daily email for moms who run a business, raise a family and rock both.

Main goal: To grow The Mogul Mom’s free daily email for mom entrepreneurs to 25,000 subscribers.

Plan for Accountability: Through a small group of peers who know my goals and hold me to ‘em. I hold myself accountable by sharing my goals and actions taken with a couple of mentors who’ve accomplished what I’m trying to accomplish.

Haralee Weintraub is CEO of Haralee Sleepwear, ‘Cool Garments for Hot Women.’

Main Goal: Have 2 National exposures on our company.

Accountability: Target the avenues where I think this goal can be achieved, and work on it every week.

Now, let’s hear your Goal and Plan for Accountability!

Looking forward to sharing your Goals and Accountability in 2012, Rachel

http://backngroovemom.com

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This step is taken in accordance to a legislation introduced on Dec 20th. It allows the D.C chief financial officer to raise the funds deposited in local banks. This would necessitate the funded banks to loan money to small businesses by at-least 200 percent of the incremental funds deposited.

The present system of putting money into the Nation’s big banks such as ‘Bank of America’ does no good as they do not lend to small businesses. This new step would make funds available to local banks and they would then lend the money under the D.C based program to small businesses.

The maximum small business loan amount can range from $3 million to $5 million for enterprises involved in commercial real estate business. It is, however, necessary for a participating bank to have at-least five branches in a district.

Enjoy the 30th edition of Eyeball Worthy Links of the Week:

1. Small Signs That Small Business Lending Is Up — Wall Street Journal — “There are signs that more banks may be loosening the purse strings for small firms, as business conditions improve and as borrowers become more willing and able to take on debt. Small-business lending hit a four-year high in November, according to the latest Thomson Reuters/PayNet lending index, for instance …”

2. 25 Eye-Popping Internet Marketing Statistics for 2012 — HubSpot — “2012 is officially here, and what better way to kick off the New Year than with some data porn? In its recent US Digital Media Usage report, eMarketer estimates how digital media usage will grow in 2012 in terms of the internet, mobile, social, video, and ecommerce…”

3. Warm weather drives vacationers onto Main Street — Park Record — I used to work as the business editor for Park City’s newspaper. Much of that beat was about the business on Main Street during the ski season when people would come in droves from all over the country. With one of the driest winters in history so far, I did a double take when I saw this headline. The lack of snow is actually boosting business.

4. Why The Movie Industry Can’t Innovate and the Result is SOPA — Steve Blank — “This year the movie industry made $30 billion (1/3 in the U.S.) from box-office revenue. But the total movie industry revenue was $87 billion. Where did the other $57 billion come from?”

5. The Year of More — Six Pixels of Separation — “It sounds a little incredulous to say this when we’re in a world that is struggling for stability. While there is not enough food, jobs, healthcare and not enough room for the nearly seven billion of us (and growing), it’s clear that with all of the challenges we face, the human race pushes on. With that comes innovations, new opportunities and an ever-demanding public desire for the latest and greatest…”

6. Direct response and the coarsening of culture — Seth Godin’s Blog — “Direct response advertising to strangers is demanding. You pay for your click or you pay for your stamp and then you get a shot at making a sale. No sale, no revenue, no revenue, no more stamps.”

7. This Is Lockheed Martin’s New Amazing Fighter—But Do We Really Need It? — Gizmodo — “Last December, Lockheed Martin assembled the last F-22 Raptor ever. It’s the USAF’s one and only fifth generation fighter. It has never seen combat. It spent part of its life grounded. Now they want to sell you a new one …”

Now it’s your turn. What did you see this week that is worthy of everyone’s eyeballs?

Well it’s a new year, and I can’t think of a better way to start off than with a fresh sales graph cartoon!

I love coming up with different ways to play with a line or bar graph, and then sort of reverse engineering it to see what sort of a business or product it might fit. For example, with this cartoon I was playing with the idea that when the line hit the side of the graph that it might bounce back the other way.

So, after a few minutes of playing with some different choices (tennis balls, pogo sticks, etc…), those little rubber super bouncy balls came to mind and all of a sudden that line made perfect sense.

Any other company would look at this and run for the hills. But for the good people at Super Bouncy Ball, this is just what they’re looking for.

From Small Business Trends

Business As Usual

Business Basics

Will you build or buy your business? Small Business Trends founder Anita Campbell shares this post on the decision very entrepreneur faces when considering whether to build or start frm scratch. UPrinting.com

10 tax tips from the IRS. Before long, tax season will be upon us again here in the U.S. Fortunately, this post looks at some of the main questions…and answers to your tax challenges. Small Biz Survival

Marketing & Branding

What a policital campaign could learn from marketing. Here’s what savvy marketers, small business owners and entrepreneurs could teach contenders in the U.S. Presidential race. WebInkNow

New brand realities in 2012. Make no mistake, building sa brand has changed alot in the last few years. The good news is that in some ways it’s easier and cheaper to do than ever. Fast Company

Strategy

Why most of your customers will soon be elsewhere. Projections suggest that just as developing nations took many manufacturing jobs they will soon be the destination for many products and services from the developed world. The Economist

The art of giving. Whether you realize it or not, charity too can be good for business. Here are some steps that will get you started in the business of giving back and help reap the rewards that come from generosity. Small Business Trends

Competition & Recruitment

Crushing the competition. Think Sun Tzu’s The Art of War or just a good Hollywood cuustume drama with swords drawn and shields at the ready. There is competition in every business. Get your head in the game. OnStartups

So your startup needs some programmers. Not a surprise. You donb’t need to be a Web based comany or dot come startup to require the services of a top notch code monkey. Here’s how to find them. Chris Dixon

Finance

Looking for financing? This guide will give you insight into meeting with lenders for your small business. Securing financial backing may be a requirement now or sometime in the future. Business Plan Local

Contests

Our small business contest winner awarded. Congradulations to the winner of our Business Gift Giving No-No’s Contest on our sister site BizSugar.com. Thanks also to all those who participated. BizSugar Blog

From Small Business Trends

Will You Build or Buy Your Business?

That question probably comes in at number #2 or number#3 on your Top 10 list of things that you really want to know when you’re looking at franchises. And, rightly so.

Now, I have a question for you;

Which way would you like me to answer the money question up above? 

 A. Like someone who’s trying really hard to sell you a franchise would?

Or

B. Like you’ve come to expect from me?

I’ll wait for your answer. Tapping. Tapping.. (I’m tapping my pencil…in anticipation of your answer.)

Really? You want the truth? You don’t want me to spin my answer?

Terrific. Here goes;

When you actually do open your franchise up, you’ll certainly have money coming in. But, it can’t go into your pocket right away. It needs to go back into the business. You’ll have expenses to cover…things like rent, inventory, payroll, advertising, and utilities. And don’t forget your loan payment.

Your goal needs to be breaking even. That’s the point in which your revenue pays your business expenses. Only then can you start thinking about drawing a salary.

If you’re in this for the long haul, (this being franchise business ownership) you should be fine with that answer.

If you’re looking to replace a salary after only a few months in business…it probably won’t happen.

Read what I wrote about Your Salary as a Franchise Owner over at SBA.gov

 
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For many of us, long term vision can be a scary concept. This is understandable, because it usually means that we’re having to put faith in something we’re doing now not showing a return until much later.

This could be our businesses; our blogs; or our budding relationship with a new lover.

It’s scary, because while we believe in our hearts that everything will work out, often we get impatient for results that we can see now.

We want our business to be profitable right away; we want our blogs to have hundreds of comments, subscribers and social shares; and we want that new love to be the one, and to fall in love with us so we can start living our lives together.

The problem is, very rarely is something a home run out of the gate. Instead, it takes time to truly get to where the real gold is.

It takes time to build a brand. It takes time to build an audience. It takes time to earn trust.

And it takes bravery to allow the luxury of that time. Something that’s hard to do in this instant result economy, where you’re considered a failure if you don’t have Number X within Timeframe Y.

But here’s the thing – today’s big successes all failed to start with, in one way or another. Household names now were nothing but hopes and dreams at one point, and they didn’t suffer because of non-instant success.

Instead, they succeeded because they saw the bigger picture, and believed the path to get there was worth the tough times they might endure. And they were right.

You can be too. You just have to embrace the concept.

image: Steinar Johnsen

The Scary Concept of Long Term Vision originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

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What’s your domain name and what are your keywords? If you don’t choose keywords relevant to your product or service, then your people (your customers and prospects) can’t find you.

It’s all about the keywords. When people search for your subject, the way they discover you is by the words that are in your domain name, article titles, article descriptions and the body of your content.

Your website should have a theme that connects to your product or service, and your keywords should relate to that theme. You can use Google Keyword Search to find out how many people search for the phrases that you come up with. This way you can choose relevant words and phrases that people are actually looking for. It’s not enough to rank on the front page of Google; you have to rank for the language that your people are using.

What does working with you feel like?

Don’t just tell your potential clients; show them through testimonials and case studies so that they can hear what other people say about you.

Show them through your website design and in-store or website experience. If you say you believe in simplicity but your design is overcrowded and your first point of contact is scattered and confused, it tells your prospects something. Are you sending out the message that you want them to hear?

Who are you and who cares?

Identify your target market and then do the research—by asking questions and listening to the answers—to understand them. Once you know who your audience is, then you can tell them who you are in a language that matters to them.

The better you know your audience, the easier it is to write a relevant and personable bio or product page. And if you choose to hire a copywriter, then you’re in a better position to edit what your writing team crafts for you. Remember, you have to actively participate in the message creation surrounding your business.

How do they get started with you?

If your prospects want what you have, make it easy for them to say “yes,” pay and get started. Don’t just drop your new client after you get the money. Make the next steps as clear and simple as possible. After all, you want a long-term relationship, not just a one-time purchase, so take care of your client.

For example, if they order from you, then ship the item as quickly as possible. And if you cannot (because it’s custom-made after each order is placed), then include automatic communication that lets them know that you have not forgotten about them.

You can share the creation journey with them. Is it still in the design phase? Is it being hand drawn or carved? Is it being prepared to ship? Is it en route? Let them know, because good communication makes every situation a little better.

When do they start?

You have to give your prospect a reason to care right now; otherwise they’ll put it off indefinitely. Is there a special bonus for purchasing right now? Is there a benefit that you can highlight that they can not and will not live, without once they know about it?

Business is about communication. Connect, and stay connected.

Questions Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

5 Questions and 5 Reasons Your Customers Want the Answers

I came to wonder about that via a somewhat winding path, so follow along with me if you would, please.

A couple nights ago, I was installing a new self-hosted WordPress blog. One of the many settings you’re asked to configure involves search engine (and web) spiders and whether you want them to be able to access your site. That’s a fair enough question, but it seemed really odd to me that, in 2012, WordPress is pairing these two sites when asking about spiders:

Technorati??? Really? It’s been years since I’ve heard anyone talk about wanting their blog to be visible at Technorati. (It’s kinda like blogging’s version of the yellow pages that way, isn’t it?)

And then I started thinking how, back in the day, you’d add your blog to Technorati, and BlogCatalog.com, and Blogged.com … and several other blog directories. I remember that Lee Odden’s gang at Top Rank had a great list of blog directories, which — as I just discovered — is still being kept up-to-date. (Nice work, Lee!)

So obviously blog directories are still around. Maybe the bigger question is this: Does anyone care anymore? In other words, if you’re launching a new blog in 2012, would you devote time to submitting it to any blog directories like Technorati or the others?

I’d love to get your thoughts on this!

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

WordPress, Technorati and … Where’d All The Blog Directories Go?

3 Things to Do Right Away if Your SEO Isn’t Working:

1. Stop!

If you are spending money on pay-per-click (PPC) ads, place them on pause. Why continue to spend money on a program that isn’t working?

Although it may not seem like a priority, stop what you are doing and schedule some time to review your entire SEO program as soon as possible.

2. Look!

Your optimization specialist should be able to give you statistics on your PPC account and a complete report about the words being used on your site. If not, go into your Google Analytics and review the data.

· Are people clicking on your keywords?

· Do you have the appropriate, keyword tagging on each page of your site?

· How long are people spending on your site?

· If you have a PPC campaign going, do the keywords in your campaign match the keywords on your landing page?

· Are people reading your landing page and clicking on the “buy” button?

If you do not have a specific, landing page for each of your PPC campaigns, you are probably missing out on sales. People who click on your PPC ad want to get more information about the topic mentioned on the ad. Once they arrive on your site, it’s important to provide compelling copy specific to your ad that makes them want to take a single action (buy a product, register for your newsletter, download a white paper, etc.).

And if you see that some of your keywords are more popular than others, update your site copy and PPC ads with those words. Write new pages and test different variations to see what works and what doesn’t.

3. Listen!

Once you’ve updated the copy on your site and your PPC ads, review your site statistics and any comments you receive from customers. Listen to what they have to say.

With all of the activities it takes to run a business, it can be easy to lose focus on what’s important – your customers’ needs.

Listen to their feedback, and if you are not receiving any, ask them via phone or an online survey, in-person, or whatever is most convenient for them. This is valuable data you can use to give your customers what they really want, update your optimization program and beat the competition.

SEO Safety – Avoid the Danger of Losing Time, Money and Effort Now!

When you cross the street, it can be dangerous if you don’t stop, look both ways and listen for oncoming traffic. In the same way, if you don’t take the time to review what’s going with your SEO activities and pay attention to your customers, you can lose an extensive amount of time and money.

With this in mind, set aside time to focus on your search engine optimization efforts each week or month. Monitor what is working, stop what’s not working and make changes for better results. Then, you’ll be able to provide your customers with more value, increase clicks and boost sales without wasting time, money or effort.

Do you need some help with your search engine optimization activities and PR? Please contact me at www.rembrandtwrites.com for more information.

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The problem with New Year’s Resolutions is that people are not always realistic when they set them. You cannot expect to run in the New York City Marathon if you have never even attempted a 5K race. When people do not establish realistic goals, they inevitably set themselves up for failure and frustration. Any trainer will tell you that it is important to set achievable goals and build off initial successes.

The same principles apply when setting business goals. A 20 percent increase in revenue is rarely possible without creating a viable plan for achieving that type of growth, and it usually comes repeatedly in smaller increments.

January is always a good time to stop and reevaluate your business’s successes and disappointments during the previous twelve months.

• How many new customers did we get?
• Was our marketing successful? What could we have done better?
• Did we have cash on hand to weather the slow periods?
• Are we poised for growth next year?

Now is the time to set your goals for growth in 2012. My advice is to make new month’s resolutions instead of New Year’s resolutions. Establish short-term goals and see if you can reach those targets. It is much more effective to build incremental growth. Instead of saying ‘I want to increase my business by 10% this year, shoot for a one percent increase each month. There is no need to be intimidated by your own numbers. Run a monthly P&L statement to take the pulse of your business.

If you have expansion plans, make sure you are properly funded to achieve them. The old adage, “‘It takes money to make money” still applies in 2012. Can you service an increase in business without increasing your manufacturing and storage facilities or expanding office space and hiring new employees? You have to invest in new employees before they prove profitable. In order to increase staff, you have to be able to pay them even before the generate revenue.

The news has been brighter of late for small businesses seeking credit. There are an increasing number of options — credit unions, non-profit lenders, government programs — for budding entrepreneurs. Even the big banks seem to be loosening the spigots. If you are looking to borrow money in order to grow your business in 2012, keep these things in mind.

Increase Your Credit Scores
Anyone who has applied for a business loan in the past year will tell you that lenders are now more diligent in their background checks. If you are looking for financing, it is important to know that lenders make decisions on small business loans based on a combination of your personal and business credit history. So if you have personal credit card debt, pay it down. Likewise, if you are sitting on invoices that are 90 or 120 days past due, pay them as soon as possible to get those blemishes off your books.

Improve Your Record Keeping
Having accurate financial records is not only a good practice, it is a requirement if you want expansion funding. Sales revenues, tax statements and other proof of the soundness of your business are crucial to securing capital. Financial institutions base their decisions on such data. Keeping accurate records also helps you to better forecast the firm’s position in the future.

Pay Your Estimated Quarterly Taxes on Time and Do Not Procrastinate on Annual Returns
Getting hit with a large bill on April 15th causes unnecessary strain on a business and cuts into your cash on hand for daily operations. If you have been paying your quarterly estimated taxes all along, you are less likely of having to scramble to pay the IRS when your 2011 filings are due. So make a resolution to pay the proper amount of taxes on a quarterly basis so that you avoid a big bill at the end of the year.

Cut Your Cost of Capital
You may be paying too much for your current working capital. Lenders may be charging lower interest rates now than they were when you borrowed money previously. You can either refinance with your current bank or shop around to find someone who will give you a lower rate. Biz2Credit has helped a number of companies such as Iselin, NJ-based Silicon Alley Group, lower their cost of capital, which ultimately frees money up for business expansion and new job creation.

Take the time now to assess your business and plan for the year ahead. But do not wait until next December — when it will be too late to make changes for 2012 — to do it again. Review your financial statements monthly and try to forecast the future revenues and expenses. This will help you to achieve your monthly resolutions to grow your business incrementally all year long.

Business Goal Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Business Planning: Make New Month’s Resolutions, Instead of New Year’s Resolutions

The new implementation date is April 30, 2012.  If the rule is not struck down, most private sector employers will be required to post the 11-by-17-inch notice on that date. The notice is available from the NLRB through its website, www.nlrb.gov.

Unfortunately I can’t give you more hours in the day, but I can give you some tips to help you save time.

1. Don’t rely on your memory

One of the best ways to increase your stress level is to fill your mind with tasks and project deadlines. Why not fill a to-do list with the same information? Whether you need to take care of a routine task or a small detail on a large project, include the task on your list. When you rely on your memory, you run the risk of letting smaller tasks fall through the cracks.

2. Keep the number of tasks on your list realistic

There are only so many tasks you can handle each day or week. Keep in mind that the longer the list, the more frustrated you’ll get. Ultimately you’ll be less motivated to work on any of the tasks on your list.

3. Don’t be afraid to delegate

Realize that you can’t do everything, and instead delegate as many tasks as possible. Consider hiring an intern, a virtual assistant or a part-time employee to handle routine tasks, so that you can take care of tasks that require your expertise.

4. Know the difference between urgent and important

Important means that you need to take care of something, while urgent means that you have to take care of something immediately. Knowing the difference between the two will make setting priorities easier.

5. Throughout the day, evaluate your priorities

Face it…you can’t do everything. As you get a new task, add it to your list and figure out its priority.

6. Protect your time

Do you know that if you waste one hour each day, at the end of the year (subtracting two weeks for vacation), you’ll have wasted over 31, eight-hour days. Depressing, isn’t it? Take control over your time by saying no to tasks and projects that are simply time-wasters and won’t help you grow your business.

7. Follow the rule “do it or delete it”

Before you automatically transfer a task to your next day’s list, figure out why you haven’t started the task or whether you still need to work on it. If you continue to move the same tasks forward, decide whether or not the tasks still have a high priority. You’ll probably be able to dump low priority tasks altogether.

8. Make projects manageable

List the projects you need to handle on a project list and then break them down into individual tasks. Then transfer a few tasks from your project list to your to-do list on the day you need to handle them.

9. Limit the number of times you check e-mail every day

If you kept track of how much time you wasted on e-mail, you’d be surprised. I tested my own e-mail habits for one week and couldn’t believe how often I checked for messages.

10. Develop false deadlines

This is where it’s OK to lie to yourself. If you have a deadline at the end of the month, record the deadline four days earlier. Not everyone is an adrenaline junkie who enjoys waiting until the last minute to finish a project. Save the adrenaline high for amusement parks and driving with your teenager. (Trust me on this.)

One extra tip: make time for yourself in 2012. You deserve it.

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How to Sell Anything Using Social Media

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

One of my predictions for 2012 is that more people will come to understand that you can indeed do business using social networks and, frankly, I’m already seeing it.

There are couple reasons this.

First off, people are getting more comfortable with social media and social behavior and the “social media is a pure engagement temple mentality” of some early adopters has faded.

More importantly, however, is that smart marketers are testing, tweaking and trying lots of things and figuring out how to build know, like and trust – the path to selling anything, anywhere – on social networks.

In my own experimenting I can tell you that generating and converting leads using social media takes a more patient approach, but once you find the right path, it’s actually a better way to sell in any environment.

The reason I see many people’s social media marketing efforts fail is that they are still simply broadcasting sales messages. This approach still works to some degree in an advertising setting because people often stumble upon your ads with a buying intent. It still works to some degree in email marketing efforts because people have asked to get your messages and you can easily earn the right to sell in that relationship.

However, most people don’t participate in social networks to shop so any sales message can feel sort of harsh and in the snack sized, feverish world of tweets, shares and likes any and all messages are very easy to ignore.

If you want to sell using social media, here’s one path:

Test your message

Using 140 characters or less to basically write an ad that makes people want to retweet and click isn’t something most people can muster in real time – and yet, that’s what most try to do.

I’ve had tremendous success using Google AdWords to test very compact messages. Once I find a message that draws clicks there, I know I’ve got a winner that will get action in the form of a tweet or share.

This somewhat scientific approach is one of the most overlooked aspects of marketing in social media and it’s the primary reason people that contend you can’t sell there say so.

Target your message

Here’s another proven technique that seems lost on many marketers. Just because there are 800 million people on Facebook doesn’t mean you need to appeal to all of them.

The quickest way to get the right kind of attention is to announce “hey you 437 people that need to get better at X” I’m talking to you.

If you want to learn more about the impact of using data to form your social media messages look no further than the work Dan Zarrella is doing.

Prove your worth

It’s nearly impossible to get someone ready to buy simply by crafting a mouth-watering tweet. There’s just not enough information to develop trust.

You must make your initial relationship building all about valuable content. Give something away that you know your targeted prospect wants and needs. Move the free line to the point where your free stuff is better than most other people’s paid stuff and watch how enamored people get.

Here again, there’s nothing new about this. For years, smart marketers made tiny little inexpensive classified ads in the back of magazines like Popular Mechanics pay off nicely using this exact approach.

Engage

Now, here’s a step that just might be unique to social media and online marketing in general and it’s a very powerful one.

In the process of giving away all that great information ask your prospects to tell you things, share things, rate things and help you make the world a better place for all who inhabit it.

Seriously, create feedback forms and make that part of the deal for why you are giving away such great stuff. Socialize your content and make it easy to email, tweet and like. Send a series of emails during your content sharing phase that reinforces the important takeaways from the content and offers more engagement like email support or live Q and A sessions.

Ask for the order

Once you’ve done all this work and logically and authentically led a prospect to the place where they do indeed have some level of trust, it’s time to tell them where this journey is ultimately headed.

Paint the picture you know exists in their “current reality”, remind them of the incredible glimpse you’ve shared and then illustrate what the picture could look like.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming they will connect the dots – show them how to get the value you know you have to offer and be extremely clear about it. One of the benefits of this approach is that, if you do it right and they still don’t buy, you’ll earn the right to ask why and they’ll gladly help you understand how to get it right.

There’s nothing that magical about this approach really. Marketers have been using some form of these elements for years, but it’s the total package, including patience and hard work, that makes it pay off in the world of social media.

Last month, I featured some green business trends, such as eco-packaging and nonprofits helping businesses with sustainability, which might offer some inspiration. But here are four steps to getting your green business initiatives off to a strong start:

1. Write an annual sustainability plan. Writing down plans, like hashing out a budget, helps you define your goals and better determine how you’ll achieve them. It’s also demonstrates to your customers your commitment to reducing your environmental footprint. It doesn’t have to be 100 pages, or even 10 pages. But it forces you to think in detail about your green goals and can help motivate you to get started. Review the plan at least once or twice throughout the year to see whether you’re on track to fulfilling it. Read more about sustainability planning.

2. Prioritize your goals. As they say, don’t bite off more than you can chew. You realistically may only have time to concentrate on one main goal for the year on top of everything else you do. Decide what that goal should  be – whether it’s installing  energy-efficient lighting, moving to a paperless system or conserving water. Whatever that goal is, break it into sma steps in your sustainability plan to make it more attainable and make sure you’ll realistically have the time and money set aside to achieving it.

3.  Utilize free help. A growing number of nonprofits, Web sites and even smartphone apps have cropped up to help businesses achieve their green initiatives. Don’t turn away free help – embrace it. Consider joining a local business networking group devoted to green practices. Also check into services offered from your city or gas and electric utility, if you haven’t already. Many offer free energy audits and other environmental-related services.

4.  Offer your customers a role.  Your sustainability efforts are a natural place to involve your customers and can even engender more loyalty. Make this the year that you take your green initiatives to the next level by better engaging your customers– whether it’s through recycling or donating a small share of your profits to a good cause. Little measures can go a long way to building a better  reputation as an eco-friendly firm.

Did you include sustainability in your business plans for 2012? What’s your top green resolution?

Sustainability Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

4 Ways to Boost Your Green Business Efforts in 2012

If an enterprise has an excellent relationship with a bank, factor, or asset-based lender — especially when more cash is needed on a short-notice basis — PO financing most likely will not be a necessary tool for business financing. If the business is missing out on an opportunity to earn profit on a transaction because of a lender’s failure to follow through, purchase order financing maybe the only option.

Related Post: What the Heck is Purchase Order Financing?

Many times, this especially rings true for small businesses with questionable financial statements, weak credit scores, a problematic history, perhaps, even a bankruptcy.

The typical small business owner looks for PO financing when there are no alternatives left, as a last resort to preserve a deal with income-earning potential. Often, the purchase order finance firm gets called upon under critical, emergency pressures.

Related Post: How Invoices Can Get You Funding

Why is a purchase order financing firm able to assist when bankers and other lenders have rejected the business?

Because the purchase order financier is NOT loaning money to the business.

It is merely buying the merchandise of the purchase order issued by a credit-worthy company acquiring goods for resale. When the purchase order gets issued, the financier and his client (typically a manufacturer, a supplier, a distributor, a vendor, a reseller, an importer), make a contract with the source that will be producing the goods. The purchase order financier guarantees payment to the source through a “letter of credit” and/or payment, direct to the client’s supplier upon the goods being shipped and arriving properly at their destination.

Related Podcast: Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast #4 — ‘Hot and Steamy’ Alternative Financing

When the goods get confirmed according to the terms of the purchase order—the purchase order financing firm gets “taken out” either by a third party such as, a receivable lender, a private equity firm, or some source of cash or back-end letter of credit.

PO Financing Details

Generally, PO financing deals run from 30-120 days, for amounts in the range of $50,000-$5,000,000. If a business stood to make a minimum 30% on a deal — the business owner may have to incur between 3-4.5% per month for a finished good transaction, and 5-6% per month for WIP transaction negotiated.

In essence, without laying out any real money for the deal, the business owner has been enabled with this cash flow and an opportunity to earn profits without any use of their funds. The purchase order finance firm has earned fees for putting its funds at a risk — which no bank or other lender would accept.

Another feature is that purchase order financiers generally have abundant knowledge and technical information on how these transactions work, where to go, etc. And they are accustomed to seeing the financing process consummated under distress emergency issues.

Look for a purchase order finance firm that is recommended by one of the two peer review industry associations in this sector: the Commercial Finance Association (www.cfa.com), or the International Factoring Association (www.ifa.org). Generally their endorsement means the firm has been properly vetted, operating with ethics and standards.

For many business owners, it is wise to test drive the purchase order finance process by actually experiencing a deal, even if other financing is available. This way the business owner becomes prepared with a backup facility and a relationship, if their first-choice lender encounters a problem.

Find Out if you’re a good match P.O. Financing
Create a Free Lendio Account

Tips & Trends

How to set yourself apart. Sometimes being different can be a habit with the best small businesses and entrepreneurs. And that can even extend to the name you give your conference room. eVenues Blog

Telling your business story. An important part of distinguishing yourself from the competition is the ability to quickly and concisely tell your story. Make what sets you apart the focus. Entrepreneur

Operations

Boosting creativity in your company. There are a variety of ways to increase creativity in your small to medium sized business, a sure way of setting your company apart. Check out the unusual lengths to which one business went to develop a creative environment. WSJ

Getting your customers involved. From going green to other projects aimed at making a difference, customers are often more eager than most businesses realize to take part. Customers will also be more supportive of initiatives that let your company’s values shine through. Small Business Trends

Strategy

How to gain social intelligence. Penelope uses a trip to LegoLand as springboard for a discussion on the importance of social intelligence. You may not agree with all the conclusions drawn here, but thinking about these insights could make you a better entrepreneur. Penelope Trunk Blog

A product that stands apart. Figuring out what kind of product or service will appeal to your customers is the major challenge of entrepreneurship. In Web products, for example, performance generally beats features. What is most important to the customers you serve? Instigator Blog

Entrepreneurship

The inherent value of leadership. Entrepreneurs are leaders, whether they like to think of themselves this way or not. And, in case you’re uncomfortable with the label, here’s one post on why leadership still works. Darren Barefoot

A new look at how you do business. “Businesses aren’t built on popularity,” blogger Tommy Walker reminds us. Whether you use blogging or some other kind of marketing, business is really about solving a problem for your customer. Remarkablogger

Final Thoughts

Make it easy for your customers. Fred Wilson maintains getting customers to pay is not so hard, if you make it easy for them to consume your products and services. How can you make things simpler for your customers? A VC

The next big thing! The world may keep on changing, but that’s great news for entrepreneurs. Why? Because it means a world of infinite possibilities where the next new thing is just around the corner. Will your business create it? Blog Maverick

From Small Business Trends

How Different is Your Small Business?

1. First, review the FDD and determine if they are using franchise brokers to sell. If so, you can knock off about 11-20k from the franchise price by asking for the broker's rebate.

2. Now, you have a budget and money. Use it to hire a professional franchise attorney who will negotiate the terms in the agreement that make sense for your situation. (And yes, franchisors will offer addendums or side agreements - the California has a database is full of such side deals. If you accept at face value that franchisors "won't do x", then franchising is going to be a one sided deal for you.)

3. Any terms that go directly to the franchisor's business model, such as royalty rate and advertising spend are not on the table, except if you are going to be an area developer.

4. Get rid of the personal liability condition - it is a millstone which will force you to continue funding a mistake. The franchisor is not guaranteeing anything, why should you? Never sign an agreement with an unlimited personal guarantee.

5. Enumerate exactly the oral/written representations you are relying upon when signing the contract and carve out an exemption from the too general integration clause.

6. You probably want a discussion about the choice of laws/forum selection clause.

7. On item 7/8 in the FDD, you want written representations which clarify some of your concerns. Specific to your individual situation.

8. Get rid of the cross default clause, and the obey all laws clause. These clauses transfer too much bargaining power, via threats, to the franchisor. They are also completely unnecessary. 

9. Get rid of the right of first refusal, which will drive down the value of selling.

10. Carefully review the liquidated damages clause, if there is one.

11. Avoid any franchises which limit your use of social media for local marketing; these franchisors are already signalling that they are going to waste your money.

Those are the general areas, and there may be more important specific clauses of concern to you depending on your own business model. It is impossible to give good guidance on the territory issue, for example, with seeing the exact clause and knowing of your own local marketing ideas.

You have the maximum bargaining power at the beginning of the relationship - just before you say "yes".

If you don't have professional training in negotiation, hire an attorney who does have specialized skill in this area. Expect to pay between 7-10k to get an agreement which protects your rights. 

Do not waste your time trying to talk with other franchisees, if there is an independent franchisee trade association. Talk with them directly about how the franchise agreement has changed, for better or worse.

What additions would you make?

Small business loans are meant to bridge the barrier between money and dreams. New York small business loans are innovative money lending services that are being offered by several lenders to provide financial capital required to start a new business plan. Dreams and plans can be realized with the help of funds from loan grants. But loans need to be borrowed in time as delays just would dwindle the chances of success. Embracing the New York Small business loans can really help entrepreneurs to realize dreams and reach goals.

Small business loans can also help businesses expand and develop. More staff can be recruited, office space can be booked, and virtually the company can be magnified. The amount received as loans can also be used for advertisements and promotions as this is going to aid in the stability of the business.

This article was submitted by Rohit Arora, co-founder of Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with financing options and advice to grow their business. Send all questions to
info@biz2credit.com

The deadline to submit a pitch to speak on any open session is this Saturday, January 7th.

On the conference website, there’s basic info about speaking at SMX shows, and here’s the speaker pitch form to get your name in the running.

My Sessions

As I said, I’ll be coordinating four sessions even though I’m not attending SMX West this year. Another moderator will step in and run each session in my absence. But I’ll be overseeing and selecting speakers for these sessions:

Day One (February 28)

Hardcore Local SEO Tactics

We did this session at SMX Advanced last year, where it was a HUGE hit — so we repeated it at SMX East, too. We’re keeping the session name for SMX West, but my goal is to not repeat the same content that we’ve already done twice. I’ve let the speakers from Advanced and East know that I’d love for them to pitch again for SMX West, but that I’ll be looking for new content this time around.

Solving Problems & Seeing Success In Google Places

This is another local search/SEO session, but this one is more focused on Google Places and the various issues that come up when using it. I’m looking for pitches about things like

• dealing with merged listings
• bulk upload tactics and tips
• reporting problems and getting help from Google
• other strategies and tactics specific to Google Places, especially as they relate to overcoming the many issues that local business owners and marketers fight through with Google Places

Day Three (March 1)

SEO Essentials For Migrating Websites

This is a very specific and tactical-based session to help webmasters/companies that are facing the prospects of moving to a new domain, a new CMS platform, a new web hosting company, etc. I’ll be looking for a variety of SEO tactics that can help the audience learn how not to lose the SEO trust/equity that they’ve built up on their existing domain/CMS/etc.

Life In A [Not Provided] World

The title here refers to Google’s recent decision to not share keyword referrer data from searchers that are logged-in to their Google account. But rather than pitches that are rants against Google’s decision, I’m looking for speakers to help the SMX attendees learn how to deal with Google’s change. There are already two confirmed speakers on this session, but I should have room for at least one more.

So, there ya go!

If you have some tactics, strategies and/or case studies to share with the SMX audience, please consider submitting a pitch before Saturday on any of these sessions!

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

SMX West 2012: Speaking Pitch Form Closes This Week (Here’s What I’m Looking For)

There are many ways you can make giving part of your business. Here are some tips for developing a program that works for you. 

1. Determine what causes you want to help. This could be a cause that’s personally meaningful to you, but ideally, it’s also one that relates to your business in some way. For instance, maybe breast cancer research is important to you because of a family member’s illness, but if your business sells pet products, it might make more sense to contribute to an organization that helps abandoned or abused animals. By the same token, if your business primarily serves local customers, it makes sense to choose a local charity; if your client base is national, you may want to choose a national organization. The more clearly your cause relates to your business’s mission, the easier it will be to get employees and customers involved.
2. Involve employees. Your business will be able to make a greater contribution if you involve your entire staff in giving back. But if you want your employees to truly “buy in” to the mission of giving back, it’s important to give them a voice in choosing the charity or charities you’ll work with. Solicit ideas from your team and see what organizations get them—and you—excited about contributing.
3. Investigate the organization. I know you’re eager to get started, but don’t skip this step. Unfortunately, there are shady organizations out there looking to scam people. Even if you know an organization is legitimate, it’s important to find out how much of your contributions will actually go to helping people and how much will go to administrative, marketing and other overhead costs. Visit CharityNavigator to get the scoop on charities and organizations you’re considering.
4. Decide how you will help. There are many ways to contribute to charity–writing a check, volunteering at an organization, sponsoring its events, donating products. You can choose to have a percentage of profits from your sales of a particular product or service, or sales on a particular day, go to that organization. (It’s a good idea to talk to your accountant beforehand to make sure the tax ramifications of your contributions are handled properly.) Again, ask your employees how they want to be involved. If they love the idea of volunteering, then you can put your efforts there. If they’re too time-stressed or have too many outside commitments for volunteering to work, then a financial contribution probably makes more sense.
5. Get your customers involved. Let customers know about the charity you’re contributing to. Spotlight your charitable activities on your website, social media and in other marketing materials. Depending on how you choose to contribute, you can get customers involved, too—whether by encouraging them to volunteer with your team on a certain day, letting them know about events you’re sponsoring, or alerting them about the products and services whose sales help out the cause. Customers will feel good about your business when they know you’re helping causes they care about—and they’ll spread the word to other potential prospects as well.

Giving back doesn’t have to be complicated. My company is small, so we keep it simple: My partners and I have each chosen a cause that is close to our heart, and we set aside a certain dollar amount to donate regularly each month. It doesn’t matter how you do it—what matters is that you do it.

What causes do you care about? How does your business contribute to them—and to the community?

Giving Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

5 Steps to Giving Back: Charitable Giving and Your Business

The bottom line is that it’s hard enough if you’re a small business owner in need of capital (or might be in need of capital in the future) so if you’re a husband-wife team, a family-owned business, or a partnership of any kind then these are the 3 key tips you’ll need to plan for (or respond to) if you want to have the best possible chance of getting your funding.

#1 – Think about the loan you will need in 2-3 years NOW! This is advise that comes from the perspective of being able to borrow money more efficiently after you get the business going.  There are many credit mistakes that I’ve seen husbands and wives and partners make over the years.  Some of the mistakes are minor and others can be more costly and limit your borrowing capabilities as you grow your business.  Borrowing money for your business is like anything else.  You can do it the right way or you can do it the wrong way.  You need to think about whether you want to “co-sign” for your mortgage(s), car loans, and credit cards.

You may both need to be part of the mortgage for qualification purposes but that is rarely necessary for car loans and credit cards.  When there is only one PG (personal guarantor) on your credit cards then you get the best of both worlds.  From a credit perspective, all your accounts are considered “trades” or “trade lines.”  So your credit profile is really just a compilation of all the individual trade lines therein.  If you could choose which trade lines you wanted on your credit report then imagine what that could do.  If your spouses credit cards are old and have low balances then you’ll want to be an authorized user on those credit cards.

On the other hand, if the credit cards are less then 2 years old or have high balances in relation to their credit limits (high utilization) then you do not want to be an authorized user on those accounts because that trade line would hurt your credit.

#2 – If you or your spouse/partner have “less than perfect” credit then fix it NOW! I realize that a lot of people get frustrated with credit scores and how credit works.  It’s actually not as confusing as you may think it is but instead of focusing on what may not make sense, let’s focus on how to work within the current banking system and how to have success with your loan requests given the current credit & lending terrain.  If you or your partner don’t have the credit profile and score that will help you get approved for financing then it’s simple.  Fix it.

There’s only 2 ways to improve your credit profile.  You can either add some good stuff or remove the bad stuff.  The problem is that most credit repair companies are…ahem…not good.  Find a quality individual or company and hire them to improve your credit.  The National Association of Responsible Credit Repair Advisors (NARCRA) is a good resource to find a credit professional.  You can improve, repair, or fix your credit if it’s not good but it’s unlikely you can do it yourself.

Technically, there’s nothing a credit repair agency can do that you can’t do yourself…but you could also represent yourself in court instead of hiring a lawyer.  Would you do that?

#3 – Strategically determine how you share the ownership % of your business! 50/50 Ownership or 80/20 – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen businesses who needed $50,000 – $200,000 to take their business to the next growth level but there’s one “minor” problem.  One owner has good credit and the other owner has poor credit…so the bank said no to their loan request.  When determining the ownership % of your business it’s a wise idea to keep in mind that most banks – for most loan requests – require that anyone with 20% or more ownership in the business be included in the credit and underwriting portion of the loan request.

In other words, their credit gets checked and if they have bad credit then you don’t get approved for your loan.  If you have bad credit and your spouse has good credit then it would be wise to consider making your spouse the majority owner.  You’ll probably want the spouse with the good credit to be the 85% or 90% owner since that puts you in the clear with most ownership requirements from most lenders.  This all sounds easy if you’re starting a new business but what if you’re an established business and you’ve already established the ownership at 50/50?

Just make a change.  It’s a simple addendum or revision to the articles.  Just ask your business consultant, corporate formation consultant, or attorney and they can help you if you don’t know how to make this change yourself.

As a husband/wife team there are some great ways to properly separate and utilize your credit profiles so you can maximize your credit scores and position yourselves in the best possible way to get your financing.  As always, consult with your business consultant, lawyer, and accountant but remember that they work for you.  Most people resist ideas and strategies that they are unfamiliar with and there’s a good chance that if these advisors haven’t presented these concepts to you then they probably are unfamiliar with them.

Marriage Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Credit and Financing “Insider” Tips for Husband and Wife Teams

Does a Franchise Make Sense as a Business Option

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Joel Libava (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

Franchises have been with us now for more than half a century and in that time the model has produced fabulous business ownership and fabulous business flops.

The promise of a franchise is alluring – proven system, proven processes, successful model, help with marketing and operations.

Of course there’s a price for the promise – less control, limited profit, territorial restrictions.

Buying into a franchise makes complete sense for some, but it’s not for everyone.

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visit with Joel Libava, you may know him as The Franchise King, author of Become a Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What you Do

Libava’s history is perfectly suited to be the one to give you the straight scoop on the franchise industry. He spent a number of years working in a franchise and now consults with scores of would be franchise owners to help them find the right fit.

His advice has a lot to do with knowing yourself – “if you’re someone that needs to be in total control and do it your way, a franchise might not be right for you,” he offered during our interview.

There are a number of books out there on the industry, but none with such a great amount of straight forward advice and realism.

Joel’s publisher asked me to review the book for a possible cover quote, which I gladly offered and still contend: “The decision to become a franchise owner is a big one—you would be crazy to even consider making it without Joel Libava’s years of experience in your corner.”

Ready?

1. Share content with the right audience

As a marketer and blogger, one of the coolest things about Google+ to me is how easy it makes segmenting your audience through the use of Google+ circles. Circles are how you’re able to “organize” the people that you choose to invite into your network. You can create as many circles as you deem necessary, label them whatever you’d like [Customers, Vendors, Friends, Bloggers You Read, etc], and add users to as many as make sense for your purposes. Then, when you post an update, you can decide which audience segment(s) you want to see it and which you don’t. What this gives you is a breathtakingly easy way to bucket your audience and share content based on those buckets. Now you can account for different time zones by posting the same content at different times without appearing redundant or post questions to only a certain bucket of your audience – perhaps those who have bought from you vs those who have not.

2. Host a hangout

We’ve talked a lot about Twitter Chats and Facebook contests, but Google+ goes one important step further with its Hangout feature. What Hangouts allows you to do is have a video chat with up to nine of your friends, colleagues or customers. As a small business owner, Hangouts can be used to talk to remote employees, hold business calls, answer customer support questions face-to-face, have events or even record presentations that you can use later. It’s a powerful feature that allows everyone to connect, regardless of where they’re located.

3. Create saved keyword searches

Of course, at it’s core, Google is still a search engine. And it stays true to that by allowing users to search Google+ based on keyword, brand terms or anything else they may be interested in. By doing a search for [Outspoken Media], I’m able to easily find everyone who has been talking about Outspoken Media or who has shared blog content.

I’m then able to save the search so that I can quickly reference it and look for new updates. As a small business owner, you may want to create save searches for brand terms, industry keywords, hot topics or anything else you want to keep an eye on.

4. See how your content spreads

We create content to share with our audience with the hope that they’ll like it enough to share it with theirs. So any tool we can use to visualize how our content is being shared, who is doing the sharing, and who it is being shared to is really valuable. Lucky for SMBs, Google+ makes it pretty easy to help us see just that. By clicking to the right of any Google+ post (yours or someone else’s), you’ll see a link to view ripples.

Once you select that link, Google will populate a graph so that you can watch, in real motion, how your content was shared, what was said by whom, and what circles it became part of.

This is a really neat and functional feature.

5. Create a business page

Want another way to share content with your audience and keep them up to date on what’s top of mind for your business? Well, you can now create a Google+ business page. Use it to post relevant blog posts, to promote your own content, to poll your audience, to share company photos, to post (appropriate) videos from your holiday party, etc. Below you’ll see the Google+ page for Pepsi.

The soda giant is using it to host conversations with fans, to share photos, and build out a new presence. As we’re starting to see these brand pages rank in the search engines, creating a presence is only going to become more important in helping customers to find you.

Above are five ways for small business owners to find value in Google+. How have you used it for your business? Or, if you’re avoiding it, what’s causing you to hold back?

From Small Business Trends

5 Reasons Google+ Is Worth It For SMBs

Tips & Trends

Founding a company comes with many challenges. Though the work may change as your company grows, it never really goes away, says Lisa Pice, CEO of Carol’s Daughter, a beauty company she founded 18 years ago. Inc.com

Here are obstacles you’ll face this year. Whether you realize it or not, some experts say 2012 could be a good one for many entrepreneurs. The trick will be to overcome some of the obstacles that may remain in your path. Bloomberg Businessweek

Marketing Basics

Are you in love with marketing? Certainly any small business owner must have a good familiarity with the subject, but for this Australia-based blogger, entrepreneur, author and Web branding expert, marketing isn’t just a necessity. It’s a passion. BizSugar Blog

The relationship between marketing and SEO. Which comes first, good SEO or good marketing? Or are they so closely related in online marketing as to be inseparable? Here’s a look at these two closely related tools of the online entrepreneur. Capture Commerce

Marketing mistakes that should be set right. No matter what kind of business you operate, spreading the word about your products and services is obviously important. Here are some things you must consider. Small Business Trends

Management

Avoiding cash flow problems. Cash flow is critically important to your business and while managing this aspect of your company may be a bit less glamorous, it is critical to keeping your venture healthy for the long haul. Angel Business Advisors

Another key challenge: inventory. If you own or operate a business with a considerable amount of inventory, managing that inventory can be another significant challenge. It can also have significant impact on your cash flow and profits. CFO Wise

Entrepreneurship

Five key questions you’ll want to answer. Before you even start your business, some important decisions must be made. Looking at some of the key questions you’ll face will help you clarify the challenges you face before your business even gets rolling. Youngentrepreneur

Protecting your personal brand. More than your company’s brand, your personal brand as an entrepreneur can help you make connections and open doors and, while social media has made the maintenance of this brand easier, it has also created problems. Personal Branding Blog

Great first impressions. Of course, one way to mitigate challenges your business can face from the start is to make great first impression. A first impression will set the bar for all future interaction with customers, clients or partners and can be critical in avoiding trouble before it starts. Carol Roth

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Founders Face Many Challenges

The US is now entering a new phase of business cycle. Businesses are betting on future with increased investment spending. The survey further shows that the economy gained in momentum in final three months of 2011. Paynet tracks U.S small businesses and provides risk management tools to help commercial lending industry of US.

The survey collected data that suggests that the US economy’s momentum improved during the final three months of 2011. This is going to better help it handle debt crisis in Europe and fight back budget policy in Washington.

Economic growth has accelerated from 1.8 percent in third quarter to 3 percent annual pace in fourth quarter. The surge in borrowing is an indication that there will be growth in the next quarter. There is underlying strength in US economy as the PayNet lending index has some leading correlation with GDP and indicates preceding changes of economy in advance by two to five months. The survey also revealed that small businesses have started to manage their debts wisely as loan delinquencies continue to drop.

The article says Bank of America is “demanding that these customers pay off their credit line balances all at once instead of making monthly payments. If they can’t pay in full, they are being offered new repayment plans for as long as five years, but with far higher interest rates than their original credit lines had,”

Business credit is the backbone for many companies, and this move could crush a number of businesses. The story profiles Babak Zahabizadeh, who was told that his $96,000 debt must be repaid by Jan. 25, or pay it back at a higher interest that is nearly 10 times his current interest-only payment.

“I was like, ‘Dude, you’re calling a guy who’s barely surviving!’” Zahabizadeh told the LA Times. “My final word was that I can double my payment — but not triple or quadruple it. I told them if they apply too much pressure they’re going to push me into bankruptcy.”

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, didn’t provide the exact numbers of those being affected, except to say “that it was not in the hundreds of thousands.”

This news comes after Bank of America was recently scrutinized for rolling out a $5 monthly debit card fee. Customers cried foul and Occupy protesters pounced. People took to social media to air grievances. Credit unions enticed people to move their money out of institutions such as Bank of America and into their non-profit unions.

Bank of America backed out of the $5 fee. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens with this move to sever credit, which may have much more serious affects on businesses nationwide.

Your Turn

What do you think of Bank of America’s move? Do you have a credit line? What would happen to your business if your something similar happened to you? Do you have credit through Bank of America? If so, have you been told to repay your debts in full?

Pro tip: Don’t buy Facebook followers.

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Here’s Why Not to Buy Facebook Followers

YouSendIt lets you send and share files quickly and securely. They even have a way for you to sign documents. Of course, like most web services today you can also use your smartphone or iPad or, even a prehistoric desktop version with a regular application you download. It works with Yahoo! Mail, but I didn’t see it for Google’s Gmail.

In their free “Lite” version, you get 2 gigabytes of storage and can send files up to 50 megabytes in size. Or you can upgrade to the pro plan for $49.99/year (or $9.99/month) which lets you store 5 gigabytes of storage and send files up to 2 gigabytes. The service also allows you to drop files into a shared environment where you can grant permissions to co-workers or employees.

What I Liked

• Probably one of the most powerful features is the ability to sign digital documents. For example, if you receive a contract via email as a Microsoft Word file attachment, you can sign it without printing it out. Once you upload that document to a cloud folder at your YouSendIt account, you can access it from anywhere. To access the digital signing capability, you can use a touch-enabled device like an iPad or Android-powered device or even your regular mouse.

When you open the document within YouSendIt via an iPad, the application opens up a signature block where you use your finger or stylus to sign your name. The signature becomes like an image that you can drag and drop anywhere in the document, in this case, right into the area where a signature is required. If you have occasionally struggled with finding a fax machine so that you can return a signed copy of a document, this one feature alone is worth the subscription fee.

• Mobile apps make it super easy to use when traveling.

• You don’t need to sign up to try it out. Right on the home page, you can input an email address, subject line, and attach a file. Click send and it asks you to enter a password of your choosing and instantly sets up a free account.

Learn more about YouSendIt.

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Online File Sharing: Review of YouSendIt

Combine that with the fact that we live in Iowa, the caucus is upon us and she’s a registered Independent and you can only imagine the flood of mail and calls she’s received leading up to the caucus.

You know what all the candidates are thinking…. fresh meat!

So I was a little surprised and appalled at what front runner Mitt Romney sent her late last week.

The front of Mitt’s postcard to my daughter.  Understated would be a nice way to describe it.

The back of the postcard sent to my daughter. No real message or reason for her to lend him her support.

Now….I’m all for plenty of white space but come on.  Is this really the best that Mitt and his team could do?  Why bother spending the money at all if this is the effort you put out?

The marketing message is pretty clear here.  Don’t just spend money or send stuff out to be doing it.  Have a vision/goals and make sure your copy and design support those goals.

Shame on you Mitt.  You claim to be the candidate that will run this country like a business.  Well no business I know would waste their money on this kind of a direct mail campaign!

Related articles

• Obama wins Coffee Bean Caucus; Bachmann takes second (iowacaucus.com)
• Des Moines Register Poll Shows Mitt Romney In Lead Ahead Of Iowa Caucus (huffingtonpost.com)
• No holiday break for candidates as Iowa caucuses near (news.blogs.cnn.com)
• Will the Iowa Caucuses Get Determined By CNN’s Flawed Poll? (news.firedoglake.com)

Related posts:

1. Wear your support for Iowa
2. MySpace becomes first primary of the presidental election
3. Hillary Clinton called me!

Small businesses are great at customer service and realize that their next customer will come from a current customer – Word of Mouth. In the digital world word of mouth is “word of mouse” a powerful tool to gain new customers. A new era of marketing is unfolding and digital marketing helps you in your objective to influence behavior to change positively towards you.  The audience who need your product and services are increasingly searching for them online. It is interesting to see how the communication tools are coming together.

We hope you are convinced that even your brick and mortar business needs to be on the web. Guess what - “92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Web” according to a May 2011 Pew Internet Survey (PDF).

Without further adieu, here are some 2012 resolutions you should include in your business list.  Five “C” online resolutions for small business:

Content

• Not having a website for your business is not an option anymore. A website or a blog all count as establishing your web presence.
• Resolve to update it constantly. Once a day, week or even a month as long as you are consistent.
• Show your thought leadership through content. Publish your thoughts on your industry, peers, products, good news about your community.
• Education through content – provide tips to your customers, answer the most asked questions on your website or blog.
• Fresh and updated content is a good way to ensure search engines are indexing your site often and your chances of appearing in search results will be better.

Communications

• Email  Marketing is still a top performing marketing channel for businesses. Embrace it and use it to flourish.
• It is important for you to get email branded with your business name showing consistency and credibility.
• Communicate with your customers to solve their problems with your product rather than selling your product.
• If you are sending an email newsletter you should try to use software like Constant Contact, Exact Target, MailChimp or other professional tools. Many of these tools make it easy for you and also guide you to succeed in email marketing.
• Establish communications with customers using popular social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. Before you decide on setting up your social profiles, asking your customers where they would like to connect with you is a good idea.
• Food trucks use this medium very well to let customers know their location.
• Last minute availability of appointments at doctors, saloons.
• Your website should have the components of a Web 2.0 site – ability for your web visitors to comment, share your content and bookmark it.
• Your blog, social media tools are all communication tools and working together with email make great marketing tools.

Community

• Every business should nurture their customer communities by providing them with tools to spread word of mouth.
• Customer appreciation days
• Special offers for regular customers
• Formal or informal meetings with customer advisory boards
• Asking customers for ideas to improve products or suggest new product features
• Provide easy ways to give you feedback or review your business
• Face to face networking is important
• Attend local events
• Business networking and educational events
• Set aside time and budget to attend and learn ways to increase your business
• Sponsoring local community events – get involved in local community events, PTA organizations, schools , scout groups.

Cutting edge Technology

• While investing in technology evaluate the benefit to your organization and avoid any impulse buys.
• Upgrade your Internet speeds if you feel it will increase the speed of your customer transactions.
• Get a new smartphone if you are away from your computer a lot and your business depends on emails and orders from customers through the web.
• Invest in a tablet if you would like to carry an electronic portfolio to show customers.
• Attend trade shows or subscribe to trade magazines to see what new technology can help make your business more efficient.
• Consider having an advisory board of people you know who can advise you on new technology.

Conversion: All your resolutions should lead to your objective of growing your business.

• Make sure you spend your time on activities that help your business grow.
• Social tools can be distracting.  Consider them as communication tools and allot enough time to nurture your communities there.
• While only talking about sales in a social context is sometimes in poor taste, look for opportunities where you answer peoples questions and offer to help.
• Definitely use analytics programs to see where your traffic is coming from and which keywords they are using to find your business online.
• If you are a brick and mortar business like a restaurant, try to ask your customers where they found you.

Remember you don’t have to do all these tasks yourself. Weigh the time you would spend with the cost of hiring people to tell your story and concentrate on what you do best – working on your business. What did you add to your New Year business resolution?

New Year Resolutions List Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

5 Website Resolutions to Put on Your List for 2012

Getting an Education Through Content Creation

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Many business owners, and certainly most marketers, have succumbed to the need to consistently product high quality, education based content as the foundation of their marketing efforts.

Without looking too hard you can see that many successful organizations lean very heavily on their content to generate and convert leads. In fact, the wildly successful online marketing service Hubspot appears to do little more than produce, aggregate, syndicate and promote useful content as a way to expose potential customers to their way of doing business. (Granted they do a lot of it.)

With content production comes work, however, and that’s the part that even marketers that realize how important good content is struggle with.

I’ve written many posts about tools that make content production easier and even where I find inspiration for things to write about, but there’s one bit of leverage that I’ve not shared that may help kick your content production into high gear.

What if you looked at content production as a way to get yourself educated?

See, I’ve found that one of the surest ways to get something done is to increase the payoff for doing it. (It’s sort of why after months of not being able to get our taxes organized we magically get it all done one day in early April – the payoff, or perhaps threat of fines, makes it a high priority.)

So, what if instead of always writing about the things you know, you chose to include writing about the things you need to or should know.

For example, as a business owner I need to know more about cash flow, balance sheets, profit and labor productivity. Not so much so that I would advise others on these things, but certainly enough that I can understand them, teach them to my staff, use this data to run my business and, in some cases, teach my CPA how to actually be an adviser.

So what do I do? I ask around and find what some are calling the best book on these matters. (Here’s the one I landed on: Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits!: 4 Keys to Unlock Your Business Potential) I read the book. (That part most people do) Then I find the author, interview him, create a podcast, and write about the very subjects I needed to know more about – an act which deepens my learning.

This is such a powerful way to learn what I need to learn, get advice from leading experts, and produce high quality content all at the same time.

You likely couldn’t make this your only content strategy, but you can certainly create a list of 8-10 topics that you need to know more about and go to work on finding someone that would be happy to teach you while you create content.

We’ll start slow.

1. Claim everything: Your brand is your identity in business. If you haven’t already taken the steps to protect it and claim your username throughout the Web, start the year off by doing just that. Knowem is a fantastic service that allows you to easily search and claim more than 550 popular social networking sites at little cost. Even if you don’t plan on using all 500 (or even five) of these sites, protecting your username will ensure that you’re able to use them in the future should you change your mind AND that no one else can hijack your brand’s identity and speak to your customers. It’s your first step to social media success.

2. Pick two social media sites and focus on them: Just because Knowem allows you to claim more than 500 social media profiles, doesn’t mean you have to use all of them. Instead, focus on 2-3 social media sites, sites where you know your audience is and that may already be delivering traffic, and really invest in devoting time there. For example, maybe you’ve found that you get a lot of traffic from Yelp. Why not invest more in that site by optimizing your Yelp profile, using their analytics, and taking advantage of their specials? Instead of worrying about being everywhere, focus on developing a strong presence where it counts for your business. Once you get the hang of those first two sites, you can spread your wings to some of the others.

3. Build ears: Before you really engage, work on building your ears. Listening in social media will help you identify the people you want to be talking to, the conversations worth your time, and may just prevent you from royally putting your foot in your mouth. If you need help, iGoogle can help you build a free social media dashboard or check out a service like Trackur which has cost-effective plans to help SMBs stay in the loop.

4. Agree to schedule social media into your day: If 2012 is the year you’re finally going to get serious about social media, then you really need to get serious about it. And you do that by scheduling social media into your day the same way you schedule all of your other tasks. Because that’s the only way it’s going to get done. Find a way to dedicate 30 minutes a day into updating Twitter, responding to people on Facebook or commenting on industry blogs. If you don’t schedule it, you won’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

5. Increase your online reviews: When I broke down my 5 Internet Marketing Trends for SMBs to Watch in 2012, I talked about online reviews as becoming an increasingly important social signal for the search engines. The engines are looking at reviews to help bring accountability back to the Web and, frankly, so are users. Creating a full-on online review strategy may sound intimidating, but all it really means is is encouraging your customers to talk about their experiences on the sites you want them to do the talking on. That’s nothing to be shy over. Use your Web site, your emails, your newsletter, you advertisements, and your face-to-face interactions to help them do that.

6. Blog more: Hey, I know. Sometimes it can be hard to find the time or the motivation to blog. We’ve already helped spark some blogging inspiration, now it’s time for you to dedicate the time to doing it. Even if you’re just blogging a couple times a week, it’s going to help you build a community, have something to always share with your audience, and help you in search. If you’ve been putting it off or not blogging as often as you should, 2012 is the year to fix that.

7. Read other blogs: A great way to always have something to say and blog about it is to keep up with what others are saying. Use Twitter or Google Blog Search to help you identify authoritative (or at least interesting) blogs in your space that you can use as conversation starters and as a way to stay up to date on what’s happening in your corner of the world.

8. Attend a tweetup: Do something crazy this year and leave your office. Go find out where people who do what you do are meeting and join them. Talk to them. Share with them. Online interaction can only go so far before you have to take it offline.

9. Find ways to reward fans with social media exclusives: It’s not enough to simply BE in social media. You have find ways to reward fans and give them “the why” for why it is they should like you, follow you, talk to you. Fifty-eight percent of users expect exclusive content or discounts for “liking” a brand on Facebook. That’s pretty significant. So if you’re not using your social media presence to reward customers for their interaction with you, you’re letting them down.

10. Promote your social media accounts: Have you read the nine previous resolutions? There’s some work involved there. And if you’re going to be putting in the blood, sweat and tears needed to create a powerful social presence, then you darn well better be promoting these accounts at every turn. That means making them visible on your Web site, putting their logos on your customer receipts, highlighting them in your email newsletters and on business cards, and linking to them wherever you can. Don’t hide your social media. Flaunt it.

Above are ten social media resolutions I think all SMBs would be smart to make this year. What’s your biggest social media goal for 2012? How are you making it happen?

From Small Business Trends

10 Social Media Resolutions for 2012

The SBA during the period of Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 11, 2011 made 429 loans that totaled to $166,943. This is an increase in loans compared to $103,026 million lent in 2010. In 2012, the number of loans is expected to further increase as new funding sources are slated to be made available for Small Businesses in this New Year.

The fact remains that if one is perfect borrower and has a clean record then it is possible to secure loans. State entrepreneurs can start and grow their business with loan support if they are able to present themselves as trustworthy entrepreneurs to the lenders.

Small Businesses that are struggling due to weak economy are the ones that really need help. The help comes in the form of small business loans. Sometimes they can’t find loans in-spite of having a good credit history. In Nevada, there are no Venture Capital firms to fund companies in $1.5 million or higher loans. This is the reason why private lenders need to play a more proactive role in funding small businesses of Nevada.

Trends & Tips

Customers will be key in 2012. Of course, customers have always been important to small business. However, today the customer has gained new power thanks to social media and other tools. This could be a tremendous benefit to your business handled correctly. Free From Broke

How to increase online trust. Small businesses increasingly must have an online presence. That presence, like your offline business, must inspire trust with your customers. Here are six tips to help you do so with your small business Website. FindMyBlogWay

New Frontiers

For new entrepreneurs opportunities abound. No matter what projections might say, there are likely to be more opportunities than ever for small business. So what does the future hold for your small business and what opportunities will you make work for you? Seth Godin’s Blog

Five tips for testing your marketing. Marketing may be one part art but it can be a science as well. There’s no need to leave your marketing strategy completely to chance. Testing your marketing is easier than ever. Here’s one approach that may work for you. Inc.com

Operations

Small biz tax tips for 2012. No sooner does the new year begin, but we face another small business tax season looming ahead. Here are some tips that every small business should consider when planning for that annual reality. Entrepreneur

Changes at Google+. Up until recently the new Google social network has maintained a fidelity for use of only a person’s real name, making small business branding difficult. But all that is changing with a new approach now allowing business identities and Pseudonyms. DIY Marketers

Bookshelf

The End of Business as Usual. This review by Ivana Taylor of the new book by Brian Solis looks at how social media and much of the rest of your small business strategy will be changing soon. Small Business Trends

Tech

Cloud options multiply for small business. You don’t need to be a big business to take advantage of the tools available in the cloud. Here’s an overview of one solution that is designed to fit small business needs. Smallbiz Technology

Final Thoughts

What NOT to do in 2012. As important as those things you may want to start doing in your small business may be the things you no longer want to do. Here are some things you ma consider adding to the list. Fortune Marketing Company

PR opportunities you should consider. It may not be the first thing on your agenda in the new year, but maybe it should be. PR opportunities for your business abound. Here is a list to get you thinking about how to change your strategy. Understanding Marketing

From Small Business Trends

Customers Are Key in Small Business Future

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.

1. Don’t be afraid to seek out a mentor to help and guide you. Starting a business is a daunting prospect for many of us.

2. You will need to conduct extensive research – but try not to spend forever doing it. Every day you spend researching is another day in which you do not own a business or earn any money.

3. Make sure you know exactly what you are looking to achieve from business ownership. It is all very well having a business dream, but there is a lot of groundwork that has be laid in order to make it a reality.

4. Try to keep track of your progress by setting goals and marking important milestones (e.g. 1 month of trading, 100th sale). This helps to remind you of how far you have come.

5. Don’t delay in turning your ideas into reality. You shouldn’t just assume something will work, get it implemented right away and start receiving feedback from customers.

Then it occurred to me that I’d already written an article like that about four years ago when I was still doing corporate work and was just a columnist for Search Engine Land. It’s still worth reading, despite its old age. So rather than rewrite the whole thing, I’ll just link:

A Small Business Year-End Web Site Checklist

I cover things like “Review your email routing,” “Review and test your contact forms” and “Review your domain record.” Those are important things that often get overlooked but should be checked at least once a year.

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

A Year-End (or Year-Beginning) Checklist for Small Business Websites

When you answer these questions, there’s a new set waiting to surface. And that’s OK. It’s the questions that drive the business–and how you answer them can make you stand out.

After reading Visual Marketing, the new book co-authored by Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends, and speaking with Kelle Boyd, an artist who turned herself into a successful small business owner, I am inspired to pay closer attention to my company’s image.

When you’re solving problems for clients, creating products for customers, managing your staff and contractors or just trying to navigate all your mail, phone calls and email messages, it’s easy to miss some basic decisions when it comes to your visual marketing.

Decisions like:

• your visual message can and should reinforce your mission and your story,
• you can afford help sooner than you think,
• you’re not good at design and you need help sooner than you think,

These can’t be ignored and don’t have to be.

After talking with Anita and Kelle, it occurred to me that there are three marketing things that many small business owners do wrong that we could easily do right—on any budget.

#1. The Confused Vision. It’s Time to Get Clear.

Anita, along with her co-author David Langton, provides 99 proven ways for small businesses to market themselves with images and design. And as I read their book, Visual Marketing, I was inspired. I now have a list of ideas that I’m implementing one at a time.

But even the best ideas have little value if the vision is muddy.

Surface Designer Kelle Boyd says you have to “know what the feel and heart of your brand is” before you get started. If you don’t know who are you, what you stand for and whom your product serves, then anyone can redirect your business for their benefit.

The beautiful thing is vision doesn’t cost money, so any small business can afford it. Just decide to get to the heart of the business—take the time.

#2. The “I-Can’t-Afford-It” Excuse. It’s Time to Get Help.

Not everyone is an artist or designer. In fact, most of the small business owners I know just don’t have the “eye” or the skill to lay out their own visual designs.

When they do it themselves, they often end up with print items that look second-rate. And their rationale is, “I can’t afford to pay someone to do it for me.” But your visual message is directly related to the public’s perception of your product, and that impacts your bottom line.

You can’t afford to wait.

In a recent interview, Anita suggests that you spend your money on a quality logo. This advice makes sense because a good logo gives you a color scheme and an image that you can use on all your marketing pieces.

If you cannot afford to work with a design firm, Kelle suggests that you hire a college student who is studying and practicing design. That way, you save money, and the student builds his or her portfolio.

#3. The Inconsistent Message. It’s Time to Say What You Mean to Say, Every Single Time.

Establishing a clear vision and figuring out a way to deliver a consistent message can take time at first. And that’s OK.

I know that Apple wants me to “Think Different.”  Many U.S. citizens know that Burger King wants you to “Have It Your Way.”  And the blog readers at AnnKelle.com on some core level know that she wants “to see you smile.”

When you know the vision—spoken or unspoken—then it’s easier to establish a consistent message that your audience will respond to.

These three actions cost more time than money. But they can help you build a brand—a message, a marketing image (whatever language you choose)—that resonates with your people.

Decide to match your visual message with your core vision, and then run with it.

Oops Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 Marketing Things We Do Wrong That We Could Easily Do Right

Much of this change is being fueled by the growing influence of social media, which allows a company to make its green efforts more transparent and creates a two-way conversation. Telling people you’re environmentally friendly isn’t good enough anymore; you have to have to discuss it with them and engage.

Retailer Old Navy, for instance, collected used flip-flops this past spring in a partnership with Terracycle so they could be recycled into playground equipment donated to schools and community groups. Best Buy recently dropped its $10 electronics recycling fee, Reuters reports, to encourage customers to recycle more old computers and monitors through its stores.

For many small businesses, turning customers into participants may be as simple as asking them to schlep reusable shopping bags to the store or to sign up for electronic delivery of newsletters or billing statements. But the most effective campaigns often take it a step further and get a little more creative: They come up with a unique initiative that inspires customers to want to do more to help the planet and feel really good about it.

One particularly interesting campaign I found: Swing Salon, a New York City hair salon, donated customers’ hair clippings to Matter of Trust, a San Francisco nonprofit that used the hair scraps to create mats that soaked up oil from the Gulf oil spill in order to protect wildlife.

These kinds of initiatives — even if they require little or no extra effort on the customers’ part — can be particularly effective and create more loyal customers in an age when consumers are seeking more authenticity and socially responsible behavior from the businesses they patronize.

In his book We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World, branding consultant Simon Mainwaring cites a 2009 Edelman survey finding that 83 percent of consumers would change their consumption habits if it could help make the world a better place to live – and 61 percent  have chosen to buy a brand that supports a good cause even if it wasn’t the cheapest one. Sixty-six percent of respondents believed corporations need to do more than give money to a good cause – they also need to incorporate causes into their business.

Mainwaring writes:

“Many consumers, especially those of the Millennial generation, are no longer willing to tolerate corporations and brands that neglect purpose or prevaricate about their efforts to be responsible citizens.”

Eco Grocery Bag Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Green Business Trend: Giving Customers a Bigger Role

“Interactive marketing is becoming a larger part of the marketing mix, and Forrester estimates that by 2016, online advertising spend will be equivalent to television spend today. Marketers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing by 2016.”

According to StrongMail’s annual marketing trends survey, conducted by Zoomerang, the majority (68%) of business executives worldwide said they plan to integrate their social media marketing efforts with email in 2012.

I remember back in 2007-8, when I first launched my business, I was running several workshops dedicated to email marketing and integrating it with social media, especially Facebook. I had a cross section of attendees from lawyers, consultants, non-profits, MLN’s and blog hobbyists.  They thought it was a good idea, but most looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Fast forward to 2012, the cycle has moved to a different place with regard to adoption and the effective usage of it now.

The benefits of professional email marketing have been very strong and clear from the beginning. It was the very first platform I used to build my business database. It has experienced quite a resurgence, as we all can attest to the massive email marketing we get daily, many of which we did not subscribe to. (Ugh, it’s spam people.)

Benefits of Permission
When someone voluntarily signs up to become a part of your email marketing database, they are committing to you as a professional and are giving you “permission” to send them timely, helpful and relevant resources and information. This is the greatest way to grow and build trust . It is also a very targeted and effective way to ‘ask people  for their business’. There is great power and responsibility in permission based marketing, as long as you are using it appropriately and respecting your community.

Here are 5 ways to grow and build trust using email marketing:

1) Create a monthly Newsletter with specific themes and content that is thoughtful and highly targeted to what your followers need and want from you. Get to know who is on your list and why they joined it in the first place.

2) Be consistent with sending your message and campaign out monthly and find the best frequency and timing. Do not over kill your list with too many daily emails. More and more people are tuning out and unsubscribing  to those that over email, regardless of how popular they are.

3) Offer content especially for this community that other people do not have access too that are NOT on the list. Let your community know how exclusive they are to you and how much you want to serve their specific needs.

4) Integrate your email marketing campaign into all your other platforms. Unify the message across your social media, blog, websites, podcasting, video and mobile. Make sure your visual logo, look and feel are consistent over all your platforms.

5) “Serving is the New Selling’ should be your approach and mantra. Giving lots of FREE WHY, then SELLING the HOW is a perfect formula. We are in it to make money right? Yes, but earning the business by building strong relationships and using the trust to sell your products and services is why they choose you and ensures more longevity in customer retention.

Make a commitment to one of the professional email marketing systems like Constant Contact, which has been mine since 2007, or several other great choices like IConnect, Aweber and Mail Chimp.

Email marketing has been one of the top platforms that I will continue to use. My list grew over 30% last year nationally and internationally. It has allowed me a more personal, direct and exclusive way to communicate to and with “my tribe” and serve them.

Email Marketing Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

The Power of Permission in Using Email Marketing

The Single Greatest Factor of Success in Business

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

There are so many important ideas and concepts in business. Things like strategy, purpose, and passion are integral to success, but none of it really matters without one ingredient – and that’s clarity.

Clarity is that strong and unwavering sense that our daily choices are grounded in an authentic sense of purpose. Clarity is how we create a sketch of something worth asking others to complete. Clarity forces us to form the right questions.

Without clarity everything we do is either an attempt to gain it or a stab at the hope that we are moving in the right direction.

Almost every business I’ve ever worked with, including my own, struggles with this idea. But, until we are really clear and inspired by why we do what we do, whom we do it for and how to do it with complete and utter honesty – little else matters.

Clarity does not emerge by simply switching on some beacon in hopes of throwing a clear and guiding light. No, it comes when we discover a rusted but sturdy lamp in the basement of an old house. Then, only through careful tinkering and polishing this lamp begins to cast a flicker of light.

And, as we continue to polish and tinker, something truly brilliant begins to evolve.

With clarity comes control. With clarity comes grace. With clarity comes joy.

Finding and keeping clarity takes work. It takes an unbending willingness to see things for what they really are. To filter decisions based on what might be best for others. To understand how to create the products and services our customers really need.

Clarity is both a feeling and a direction. It can be experienced and seen. It is at the same time perfect simplicity and obvious complexity. Clarity inspires us and those around us.

But what is it exactly?

• Clarity is turning purpose to profit
• Clarity is leading with stories
• Clarity is using $50 instead of $49.99
• Clarity is asking what to leave out
• Clarity is meeting the whole person
• Clarity is amplifying without hype
• Clarity is doing more with less
• Clarity is embracing the truth
• Clarity is anticipating needs
• Clarity is measuring one perfect thing
• Clarity is forming decisions out of beliefs
• Clarity is a potent brand promise

Clarity is the most important idea in any business.

It’s an important question. The share of small businesses and the fraction of small business income hit by tax increases are usually very different numbers.

The figure below presents data from the U.S. Treasury, on the share of businesses and business income belonging to companies at different annual income levels. The data show that less than one percent of businesses generate between $5 million and $10 million in annual earnings. However, these businesses account for 20 percent of small business income.

This means, of course, that concentrating tax increases only on the highest earning businesses affects relatively few companies. However, it impacts a lot of business income. For instance, numbers from the U.S. Treasury show that a tax increase on businesses earning more than $1 million per year would affect less than 7 percent of small companies but would hit 81 percent of small business income.

Cumulative Share of Small Business Income and Number of Small Businesses by Business’s Total Income:

From Small Business Trends

Less than a Tenth or More than Four Fifths?

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Since we were babies crying for milk, we’ve been trying to influence others to get what we need. For business owners, entrepreneurs, CEOs, managers, and employees, and nearly every person walking the planet, the skill of influence is critical for success.

In this podcast, we have a conversation with Harrison Monarth about his third book, “360 Degrees of Influence: Get Everyone to Follow Your Lead On Your Way to the Top,” about how to influence people for the mutual good to achieve success in life and business.

Monarth is a New York Times Bestselling author, and regularly advises Fortune 500 companies and prepares CEOs, executives, political candidates for high-stakes presentations. His client list includes IBM, Merrill Lynch, US Bank, PepsiCo, Intel, Cisco Systems, DHL, Prudential, American Heart Association and many others.

So grab your headphones, turn up the volume, and enjoy the conversation.

In this episode of the Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast, we discuss:

• Influence is a superpower
• Compared to “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
• How empathy influences
• How to influence with the digital world and social media
• Born to influence
• Don’t just stand there and cry
• Good manipulation?
• Mutual Good
• Influence is constant
• A gentle suggestion
• X-Ray veggies
• Your influence starts with you
• What can businesses do to influence public perception?
• Lessons from Al Pacino
• Paying attention to the little things
• Social intelligence and emotional intelligence
• The Devil’s Advocate

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Voice: Fueling your business success, this is the entrepreneur addiction podcast, breaking the small business loan news you need if you obsess about your company. Heard exclusively on Lendio.com. And now here are our your hosts: Brock Blake, Dan Bischoff and Patrick Wiscombe.

Patrick: This podcast is sponsored by Lendio.com, the online source you need to find the right business financing to grow your company. So check them out: Lendio.com, to get your business growing right now. It’s the entrepreneur addiction podcast episode number nineteen. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you, as always, for tuning us in and taking us along wherever and however you’re accessing the podcast. Coming up on today’s addition of the Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast we’re going to be talking with Harrison Monarth the author of 360 Degrees of Influence. Dan Bischoff director of communications at Lendio.com. Mr. News himself, Dan Bischoff. Let’s get right into this. Are you Colorado, Harrison?

Harrison: New York City.

Patrick: What are you doing in New York? I thought I dialed a Colorado phone number?

Harrison: My mobile phone number is actually a Colorado phone number. We have an office in Denver, Colorado and in New York, and I lived in Colorado for a while actually. That’s why I’m still using that number.

Patrick: Where do you live in New York City? Is it New York City?

Harrison: Yeah, I’m in Manhattan actually.

Patrick: I used to live in Manhattan, on 83rd and Amston.

Harrison: Is that right?

Patrick: Yeah.

Harrison: I’m on 82nd and York.

Patrick: That’s the east side, if memory serves. It’s been a while sense I’ve been there.

Harrison: Sure, sure. East side. Yeah.

Patrick: Okay. I guess the first question we have: What was the idea behind this book?

Harrison: First of all, 360 Degrees of Influence, the title, it means having influence in virtually ever direction. When the idea for the book was forming in my mind, I wanted to give readers information that doesn’t just help them get their way in a few distinct scenarios, but actually to help professionals, entrepreneurs, business people, executives at every level, I wanted them to become more influential in the way that they think, act, and seeing leverage everywhere, in every meaningful interaction. So I want people to understand that every instance of communication, every interpersonal exchange, every situation where we’re looking to make some progress, where we have some interest in a particular outcome, has an opportunity for influence within it. While my audience is business people and professionals and executives, people in every walk of life can benefit tremendously from the ideas and advice in 360 Degrees of Influence.

Dan: In the intro there of your book you talk about giving a comparison of being a superpower or a superhero. Talk to us a little bit about that, of why influence is in a way a superpower that we’d want, that a business owner would want, and why we would want that.

Harrison: Thinking about what influence is really, there’s obviously a number of definitions. Influence is having an impact on people’s thinking or behavior and having an impact on ones’ environment in a way that moves you towards your goals. It ultimately, whether you’re interested in more responsibility, a bigger position and more money and more friends, it doesn’t matter what it is one wants or needs, you get there with influence. You get there with having more influence. That’s why I likened it to a superpower because with influence ‘you can never have enough of it’ is my philosophy. You’re a business owner, an entrepreneur, a banker, the president of the United States, you can always have more influence to get your goals met. It’s so critical that people work on their ability to influence others. We’ll talk a little more about the ethics of it, but it’s a crucial skill. I recommend that anyone work on improving it.

Dan: I’ve read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, and it seems like yours is kind of along those lines, maybe a ‘how to’ scientific approach. How does it compare to that book, that classic book.

Harrison: How to Win Friends and Influence People has been around for a long time. It’s been around since the 1930′s. Dale Carnegie wrote it, and there’s a lot of things in there that still hold true about basic human behavior. It’s about empathy. It’s about relating to others. My book has a lot of the latest research in it and talks about situations we face everyday. We’ve learned more about people. We understand more in the last few decades. We’ve learned how people relate, the biases of people, our belief systems, so we have more awareness and information at our fingertips that we can use in making friends and influencing people.

Dan: Earlier you said, you talked about empathy a little bit, and you talk about an empathic accuracy in your book a little bit, towards the beginning. Explain that a little bit.

Harrison: Sure. Empathic accuracy is the ability to understand what others are thinking and feeling. Social researchers call it that. In order to influence others, it’s a critical skill because it allows us to read and reach people on a deeper level and successfully pitch our case. Mastering the art of empathy depends on successfully interpreting verbal, local non verbal cues that link to the thoughts and feelings of people at a given moment or a span of time. Our body language, content, tone, vocal tonality, the volume of your voice, how people interact with one another, it all helps us assign meaning to what we hear, what we see, and what we perceive. Empathy is putting ourselves into another persons being, so to speak, into their body and their mind. The more I can understand someone else, the better I can influence them.

Patrick: So in terms of influencing, how does a business person or a business owner, how can they become more empathetic.

Harrison: It’s interchangeably. ?It’s impact? that your empathetic. You can use either one, yeah.

Dan: You talk about verbal cues and non-verbal cues and tone of voice and things, and some of those today in the digital world is not there so much anymore, right? It’s social media and things that’s the way we communicate with other people. How can we use that with social media?

Harrison: You’re absolutely correctly. Obviously via social media I don’t have the interpersonal signals like tone of voice, eye contact, proximity. However, I don’t think it has changed, our connections with people. We do have these touch points. If I call into your companies customer service line, that exchange between the customer service representative and me is crucial. The attitude I hear in the person’s voice. How long I have to wait. How helpful they are. How quickly they answer my questions. How open they are to helping. All those things, they’re shaping my perception of your company, and they’re shaping the influence you’ll have on whether I’ll do business with you. So there’s still plenty of touch points. Now the other part of your question: so much is done now via social media. What it is does, what social media has done, is it’s given us actually a wealth of information, much more than we’ve ever had before, about people preferences, about their motivations, about their feelings about our service and our product. People are online. They share their ideas. They share their opinions about something, from reviews to forums to message boards, you name it, to dial log on Facebook, or any of the other social media sites, LinkedIn. People are sharing, and astute companies they’re actually listening. They listen. They read. They pay attention. They join the conversation. They join the dialogue. And the more you do that, the more you can actually tailor your offerings to the preferences of your customers and people, and catch problems before they actually become… or catch discontent, I should say, before it becomes a problem.

Patrick: So is your book more about person to person relationships, or can we cross over into social media, or is it both?

Harrison: Oh, it’s both. Absolutely. And that’s why 360 Degrees of Influence, it is absolutely, it is influence in every direction. Yes. I give examples of people in the social media, in the social media run, making mistakes by Tweeting or posting messages on social media sites that come around to bite them and harm their influence and hurt their influence with others.

Patrick: Is influence a lost art? Or is it something you’re kind of born with, you just get it?

Harrison: It’s a good question. We’re definitely born with sort of the innate power to influence. In the book I talk about how, you know, babies for instance. We can’t tell anyone that we’re hungry or we’re thirsty or we’re cold or we’re uncomfortable or, you know, we’re in pain. What it is is we cry, we scream, we scream our heads off, you know, until we get red in the face.

Dan: And that works.

Patrick: (laughter)

Harrison: That works very well. (laughter)

Patrick: So that’s what it was, okay.

Harrison: Naturally parents, of course, as parents you respond. You have the built in mechanism to respond to that, to nurture, to figure out, “Okay, I need help. Something’s wrong.” So it is certainly something you’re born with. However, we all know someone who is much better at influencing others than others. It’s a skill that you can hone when you understand how others make decisions, how other people behave, how other people think and feel, and the more you know about… I always say, leaders and business owners, professionals, their second business should really be that of psychology and understanding other people in order to help themselves.

Patrick: You know, that’s a great point. I’ve always thought about psychology in business, human behavior 101 basically.

Harrison: Absolutely. It’s so critical. I mean, if I understand other people and how they think and how they feel, and it actually starts with you, understanding yourself, but yeah, it absolutely can give you an edge. Some people do it naturally. They have a certain inclination, but others, we all know people that don’t have any… that just don’t seem to get along with people. I have clients… I’m an executive coach so I work with a lot of clients who are very accomplished as far as their credentials and their business-savvy or their, I should say, their special skill, the expert skill. Yet, they turn people off. They don’t get along with people. They don’t know how to manage other people’s emotions and their feelings, and so, yeah, they get marginalized.

Dan: Yeah, talking about babies crying to get your attention, and you talk about why we’re born to influence, do we lose that a little bit? I mean, maybe some people don’t. Some people still cry and get the raise they wanted or something. But do we lose that as we grow up? Do we lose that ability that we’re born with?

Harrison: Well, it works. That kind of stuff… again, this is kind of a natural instinct, right? We cry and we get what we want because, well, we’ve got parents, the attachment to parent to child and the other way around. Do we lose it? We certainly… it becomes more nuanced, right, if I’m asking for a raise, or I’m trying to get the help of my peers or a team, or if I’m trying to get on the radar of my boss for instance. These are all moments and opportunities for influence, but now you can’t just stand there and cry.

Patrick: (laughter) “I want a raise!”

Harrison: (laughter) Somebody give him some attention.

Patrick: You know, I used to make fun of the psychology majors. Maybe I’ll reverse my position on that, thinking, “Why in the world would you want a degree in psychology?” And I guess I’ll answer my own question going, “Well, because psychology can really play into business.” Is manipulation a good word for reading people? And I don’t mean that in a negative context. With psychology, can you manipulate your customers in a way that you want them to behave?

Harrison: It’s a great question actually, Patrick, because manipulation, I always say… actually, manipulation always has very negative connotations. However, to me it’s a very neutral word because when you go into a chiropractor, let’s say, they manipulate your muscular skeletal system, right? They manipulate your spine, let’s say. They rearrange it. Like if I invite you into my home, and if I bake fresh cookies before you come in, well, in a sense I’m trying to manipulate you, and I’m deliberately using the example of the cookies because I had to have a CAT scan done from a sports injury once. And I walked into this clinic, this small clinic with all these super modern and high tech machines, and the first thing that hits me is this intense smell of fresh baked cookies. So I’m thinking, “Wow.” And immediately you go from very clinic environment to, “Wow, this is comforting. This is welcoming.” So they do that intentionally. Why? To manipulate you. To make you feel more at home and comfortable. So it’s influence, sure. Manipulation is influence, and influence is manipulation. But kind of depends on your own moral compass of how you see it. Are you just out for you own good? Are you just trying to get an advantage for yourself, or are you making sure that you’re also benefiting the other party that you’re trying to influence? So if you offer value while at the same time trying meet your goals… For example, as a business owner, I’m trying to get somewhere. I’m trying to make a profit. I’m trying to stay in business. I’m trying to get more customers. So, yes, I am influencing my target market, but if I do it with just my own profit in mind, I’m going to lose customers quickly, and I’m going to be out of business very soon.

Patrick: So you have to take into account the other person, or whatever your end goal is, and manipulate… I guess I hate the word manipulate.

Harrison: It’s just because it’s had so many negative connotations. It really doesn’t make sense to use it, but when you look it up, manipulate means to arrange, to position, you know.

Dan: Yeah. It’s that section in your book about mutual good, what you’re talking about here. Even with us, it’s good for us to have you on and you to get in front of our audience. It’s a mutual, good for both of us, right?

Harrison. Absolutely, absolutely. That’s why I say, that mutual good that you mention: if my attempts to influence only benefit me, in the end you’ll feel manipulated, and rightfully so. To avoid that perception, you should help others meet their goals as much as possible, as part of that successful interaction.

Patrick: We are talking with Harrison Monarth the author of 360 Degrees of Influence: get everyone to follow your lead on your way to the top. That’s the book. I guess we should probably plug the book here for a second. Where do we pick this up and how long has it been out?

Harrison: Great. The book just came out a couple of weeks ago. It is available at all major booksellers, certainly major books, and Barnes&Noble.com, Amazon.com, all the major sellers.

Dan: One thing that kind of scared me as I was reading through it is about how we’re being influenced everywhere we are, and we don’t even know about it. Talk about some of the ways we’re being influenced right as we speak, and we don’t even know.

Harrison: Right, right. This also kind of relates to I have a chapter, the very first chapter: Influence is Constant. I’ll give you an example. Living here in New York City, I use cabs a lot. I have sort of an aversion too… I think I’m claustrophobic, so I don’t like subways too much. So I get into cabs. Here in New York City the cabs have screens in the backs of the passenger seats, so when you get to your destination, the screen, the receipt or the invoice shows up on the screen and suggests how much to tip the driver when you get to the destination. There are big colorful buttons that give the option of paying two dollars, three dollars, or four dollars if the fare is under fifteen bucks. If the fare is over fifteen dollars, than the button displays percentages: from twenty percent to twenty-five to thirty percent. Big buttons. All you have to do is click and choose twenty, twenty-five, or thirty percent, and so they’re counting on people laziness or inability to calculate and self-select a fair tip. New York cabbies have reported that tips have shot way up. Why? Because people are moved towards these buttons. They are influenced towards these buttons, which are titled toward generosity.

Patrick: (laughter) So a gentle suggestion, basically?

Harrison: Yeah. Of course, a gentle suggestion. It’s a shortcut. It’s a decision making shortcut. I don’t have to think. Well, so what you do is… I hit ‘other’ because I don’t think every cab ride is always worth thirty percent extra. I click other, and then I enter my own tip. It’s a dollar, let’s say. Schools for instance. Schools are positioning, and healthily so… there’s a lot of influencing attempts, which again, there’s the ideal scenario where it helps someone. When you’re trying to influence, it helps you, it helps someone else. Schools are positioning healthier food choices: fruits, vegetables, making them more appealing than the more popular foods. Kids love fried foods, you know. Everybody loves fried foods, but they put the choices of fruits and vegetables, they position it differently with improved lighting, positioning, naming. They call them xray veggies. Carrots are called xray veggies. All of sudden that sounds cool, so “I’ll have some of that.”

Patrick: You can put Phineas and Ferb in front of something, and it will instantly sell better.

Harrison: You know, absolutely. My own grandfather, I used to hate eating meat. I grew up in Germany and used to hate eating meat as a six year old. I was five/six year old. So my grandfather would point at the cow on my plate and say, “Oh, really. This is lion. This is tiger. This is wolf.” Then I would eat meat like you wouldn’t believe it just because… well, that was straight out lying.

Patrick: But it was helpful manipulation.

Harrison: It was helpful. Yeah, exactly. It certainly served them, and maybe I got my protein that way.

Dan: Let’s kind of go how to do this a little bit. In one part of your book you say, “It all starts with you.” Let’s go through some of the steps of how, some suggestions of how we can start influencing our audience today. The first one starts with “How it starts with you.” Talk about that. Why does it start with me or Patrick?

Harrison: Yeah, sure. How does the influence start with you?

Dan: Right.

Harrison: Your influence, the perception of your influence I should say, depends on how you’re viewed by others. When you, again, using the example of a highly paid specialist, let’s say. We see people out there… Tiger Woods has a lot of influence. He has a specialty skill. He’s a golfer. He’s a great golfer, and he had a lot of influence in making a lot of money with advertisers. Well, because he’s made serious mistakes in his social life, that hurt his image. His personal life obviously impacted how people saw him and how people valued that image, from advertisers to people on the street. They thought he was morally deficient. He was a cheater, and he just wasn’t a role model as they first thought he was. Your own conduct, your personal brand, your ability to influence people with your social intelligence, your ability to get along with people, to manage people’s impressions, that’s you. If you don’t have that, if you are inconsistent, in displaying your values and your leadership, then you won’t have much influence. People won’t have a lot of respect for you. They don’t know what they’re getting, so they’re fearful of hiring you. It starts with you by understanding, “How do I come across? Who am I? What are my values? How do other people perceive me?” Even people who don’t self-destruct spectacularly like Tiger Woods, they may undermine themselves and their careers by not paying attention to their own behavior. That client, for example, who was a brilliant medical professional, an anesthesiologist, very credentialed, he was asked by the chief of the hospital to leave, to resign because he didn’t fit into that culture. He would make people cry, nurses cry. He just wouldn’t have any influence over the people he’d work with, and they didn’t want to work with him. So you can turn off your coworkers and not have any real idea that you’re doing it. I tell people, “We need to work on your emotional intelligence, your social intelligence to learn these things, to understand how you come across, and understand what it is that makes you tick.” Then focus outward and say, “Okay, let’s see how I affect people.”

Patrick: Can you ever reverse people’s perception of you, once you’ve been pegged as whatever it is?

Harrison. Sure. That’s a tough one. In fact, Jeffery Pfeffer a business professor at Stanford, who endorsed my book, he’s written a book called Power. The subtitle, I think is why we have it. Anyway the title is Power. His philosophy is basically, once your reputation is, or once you have a certain reputation that you’ve lost power, move on. Start somewhere else. Go somewhere else. You know, I can understand that. I can see how he feels that way. But to your question, not everybody can do that. You can’t just… you’ve made a mistake. People look at you in a certain way. Maybe you’ve made a fool of yourself in front of the whole group by making a bad decision. Not everyone can just pick up and move on because they’ve made a mistake. Can you reverse it? Yes, but it will take time. You can absolutely, you can prove, you can put things in perspective and show that that was a one time slip up perhaps, depending on what it was. I think aggressions of unethical nature are a little harder to overcome but, you know, if you made a mistake, if it was a misstep, an honest mistake, then you can absolutely come back and work harder at it, gain people’s trust again. Show consistency in your new behavior but, yeah, it takes time.

Dan: I think this relates a little about chapter ten, about what business owners can do to influence the public’s impression of their organization. What are some of the steps that businesses can do, rather than just the individual, what can businesses do to ‘start with you’ as a business and influence people, their audience?

Harrison: Yeah, what can businesses do to influence public perception. If books hadn’t already been written about that in one way or another… I mean, it’s a topic I’m really passionate about. I come in contact with a lot of businesses: restaurants, hotels, venders of any kind. And it’s just mind boggling to me how little businesses owners seem to pay attention how they come across, how they’re businesses are communicating with the outside world. There’s a great example. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie, it’s either Oceans Eleven, Twelve, or Thirteen.

Patrick: I love all the Ocean movies.

Harrison: All of them. In one of them, Al Pacino was a casino owner. I think he played sort of a version of Steve Wynn. Al Pacino was this big boss.

Patrick: That was number thirteen by the way.

Harrison. Was it?

Patrick: Yeah it was.

Harrison: Okay. So Al Pacino walks through the hotel lobby in his hotel and, you know, his handlers and entourage are around him. Everybody’s fanning him, and all of sudden this waiter trips and spills something on him, Al Pacino. And of course the waiter is horrified: “Sorry. Really, I beg your pardon.” And all this and that. And Al Pacino goes, “Oh, no, no. Don’t blame yourself. I should’ve fired you two weeks ago.”

Patrick: (laughter)

Harrison: I think often, when I get bad service or when I see bad behavior, you know, I don’t blame the person behind the counter. I really don’t. I blame the manager or whoever hired them or whoever trained them, the business owner who doesn’t pay attention to what the employees are doing, what their staff is doing, who obviously doesn’t coach them, train them, and condition them and help them provide better service. I never blame the person. I blame the business owner. So what can they do, Dan just asked. What can you do to influence the public’s impression? It’s paying attention, observing, watching, “How do we do business? How can we make life easier from visiting our website to getting help over the telephone to how do we answer the phone, to what are the steps to resolving issues?” There’s so many different ways that we can influence the public’s perception, and it’s a lack of focus. A lot of people are focused on a number of other things, but they miss that. I walk into a restaurant for instance and I think, “How can that be?” Half of the seats have crumbs on them and rings. I mean, somebody’s got to see that. Somebody’s got to figure out, when I come in there… not ‘I’, but when people go into a restaurant, they want to sit down at a clean space, you know. It’s the more obvious things that are more often overlooked.

Patrick: You know, that always grosses me out. You go into a restaurant, crumbs still on the table. You’ve still got drink rings. I’m like, “Can someone bring a rag out here please.”

Dan: Yeah, maybe it’s hiring them at minimum wage. Maybe that’s what does it.

Patrick: Do you think that wages can influence or manipulate people to do a better job, or do they see a bigger paycheck and go, “Well, I won’t do that.”?

Harrison: I’ll tell you what. My personal opinion is no. There are a lot of studies that have been done that people are not just intrinsically motivated. People are motivated by praise, by being taken seriously, by being valued as a member of the team. And so, that would be a horrible excuse to say, “Oh, well. They’re only getting minimum wage, so you can’t expect them to pay attention.” No. Than don’t hire them. You train them. You train them to pay attention to those things, and I’ll tell you what, people value being trained, being paid attention to, being taken seriously. They want to be professionals. Whether you work at a McDonald’s or a small diner or a big bank, if your employers and your managers and your trainers pay attention to you and help you do a great job, I would argue that you are a happier employee. You’re more satisfied in your job. Not just diners or restaurants. You walk into a bank and people think… You know, people are in their own world. Say they’re counting behind the counter. They’re counting money or they’re finishing a transaction while the line is there waiting. Rather than shooting out a smile and saying, “I’ll be right with you.” So they focus on that, and then they look up with a stern face and say, “Next.” You know, we’re not robots.

Patrick: So, it’s the little things?

Harrison: Absolutely. It is the little things. The big things, they’re off more on the radar. But the little things, the human interactions that make me want to go back to a place, I’m telling you, that’s what makes a business hum in my opinion.

Dan: I think those are good points, probably for, we talked a little bit about being the employee and influencing to get a raise, but also the CEO needs to be the good influencer to help those minimum wage workers capture the vision and that kind of thing and do a good job.

Harrison: I think, Dan, people, particularly businesses online, I mean, I guarantee you Jeff Bezos from Amazon or the CEO of Zappos. You better believe that, they probably go through the same process that every customer goes through, just to see “How easy is it to order from us? How quickly can we get problems resolved? How easy is it to ship stuff back?” And CEO’s of big companies, they should do the same thing. They should go in, eat at their own place, watch people, have mystery shoppers. I mean, if you don’t know what’s going on in the front lines, you may be thinking, “Big picture,” but at the same time, customer loyalty is eroding right there where it counts. People that you don’t pay attention to, the minimum wage workers or people at the front lines, they’re the most important. They’re some of the most important people in your company.

Patrick: You live in New York City. Great place to live. Is there a great restaurant right where you live, just because of the things that you talk about in your book?

Harrison: Yeah. Absolutely. In fact, I gave a restaurant, my favorite, it’s a diner. It’s a diner right around the corner from me. I go there, not because the food is superior, I think the food is probably quite average as a diner… They make good eggs. I like to eat breakfast anytime of the day. They make good eggs. They make decent things. But you know, food can only be so good. You kind of top out at really good.

Patrick: (laughter) “Hey, that was really good.”

Harrison: That was really good. There’s nothing else I can say about it. But it’s the service. They welcome you. They smile. The managers go out of their way. They shake your hand, and not just with somebody like me. I see them interacting with other people. They have a quick chat, a friendly chat, and you see the same faces there all the time. It’s just remarkable because it’s like a place away from home. So yeah, I seek that place out because of the way I feel when I go in there. It’s clean. It’s simple. But it’s like with other restaurants. To me it’s that service, that personal touch, the way they take an order, the way the understand, they call you by your first name, what you like, guessing, predicting what you’ll order. It’s one of those things, like anything, it’s a relationship, and when that relationship is solid, and when both parties fulfill their end of the bargain, it just becomes a great thing. You can do that, again, whether it’s a restaurant or a bank or at the post office. It’s just a… I think what surprised me the most is how a community there is even in a place like New York City.

Patrick: That expression, “Man, it really is a small world.”

Harrison: When everybody sort of takes care of one another, people provide good service, they recognize you rather than just treating you like another, you know, as another customer, I guess, or a number, it has such an impact. It has a tremendous impact.

Patrick: So the take away from this whole thing, really, is business owners, CEOs, those who are in a position of influence, managers, whoever it is, you really need to take a look at you business to see how you can make the experience better.

Harrison: Yes. Absolutely.

Patrick: To manipulate. To influence people to do what you want them to do. Again, there’s that word manipulate.

Dan: No. I think the mutual good is probably…

Patrick: Yeah, there you go. The mutual good. There we go.

Dan: Each chapter seems to have a multitude of different principles that I thought were fascinating, and I want to talk about a couple that you think are important. Of the top of my head, I’m thinking, “Emotional intelligence. Social intelligence. Group think. Irrational escalation. Subconscious bias. Etc…” Talk about, as we’re running out of time a little bit here, talk about one or two of those that you think are important for the listeners.

Harrison: Sure. Sure. Just for quick, social intelligence and emotional intelligence, those are leadership qualities that if you have them, if you’re not just an expert or a specialist in your field, you have cognitive intelligence, but if you have emotional intelligence, that’s consistently shown to be a hallmark of great leaders: the ability to manage your own emotions, to sense emotions in others, to manage their emotions, that’s very powerful. That’s a big leadership asset. Things that you just mentioned like group think and irrational escalation. These are things that we need to be aware of. These are biases that people have. For instance, say you have a team that you’re managing, and there’s a decision to be made. Well, it’s very easy for people to fall in line one another when one or two strong people in the group say, “You know what? I think this is a great decision. I think we should do this.” We’re naturally looking for shortcuts. So when two people we sort of look up to say, or one person that say, “Let’s do this.” It’s easy to say, “Yeah. Okay. That sounds like a good idea.” There’s not a natural descent, so what happens often is everybody falls in line, and you don’t get other perspectives. So what can you do to actually counteract that? Managers or executives should then appoint either a devil’s advocate or be the devil’s advocate or appoint a dissenter, somebody’s who says, “Look, have we thought about this? Have we thought about that?” Somebody’s who role it actually is to say…

Dan: I’d love to be that guy, to have that title: the devil’s advocate.

Patrick: (laughter) And we have a title.

Harrison: Be the actual person who does that. Then you’ll start to see… you know, because a lot a of people are afraid to speak up because, “Wow. The majority opinion is this. Why would I ruffle feathers now?” To actually do that, to counteract that. Irrational escalation its a… you may have heard of the sunk cost effect. People have invested so much time and so much money or effort into a certain course of action, there’s a tremendous sense of loss now if they pull out. So what do we do? We throw good money after bad and keep digging the hole deeper. At least we don’t have to admit we made a mistake. Eventually we either run out of money or we’re forced to abandon the project. So how can you counteract that? The challenge is that. You basically just pull the plug and say, “Okay. No more. We’ve seen that it doesn’t behoove us. It’s not a good thing. We went down the wrong path. Stop now. Cut our losses and start fresh.” That’s difficult to do. These are all biases that are unnatural, and as we talked earlier, having this understanding of psychology and human behavior and understanding our biases, of which there are hundreds and hundreds of biases: different decision making biases; social biases. Once we understand them and how people make decisions, we can actually influence those decisions and help people make better decisions and influence more effectively. And we become more effective influencers and leaders by understanding those biases.

Patrick: Alright, we’ll go ahead and wrap it up there. We’ve been speaking with Harrison Monarth the author of 360 Degrees of Influence: get everyone to follow your lead on your way to the top. He also has a couple other books out there: The Confident Speaker, which you can find at TheConfidentSpeaker.com; and Executive Presence Book Dot Com. That is the book right?

Harrison: Yep. Yep.

Patrick: And then, of course, you can got to his website, which is GuruMaker.com. Harrison it’s been a pleasure to meet you and to just talk about your book. I’m always fascinated with people who study business and, in this particular case, your sphere of influence, for lack of a better way to phrase that. Thank you for being part of the podcast today.

Harrison: Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate it, and thank you, Dan. It was very nice speaking with both of you.

Dan: Likewise.

Patrick: We’ll go ahead and wrap it up there. So for Harrison Monarth, be sure to pick up his book at all the major bookstores. Again, the author of 360 Degrees of Influence. And Dan Bischoff, the director of corporate communications, a very influential man at Lendio. So for Harrison, Dan, I’m Patrick. Thanks for listening to the Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast. We’ll talk to you next week. See ya.

Voice: Making business loans simple, this has been the entrepreneur addiction podcast, helping you secure the capital you need, with your host Brock Blake, Dan Bischoff, and Patrick Wiscombe. Heard exclusively at Lendio.com.

The Federal Government’s Small Business Loan Programs are deemed to be the partner of businesses that are in an expansion phase, wants to do renovation work or are just in a start-up mode. The small business loan programs serve as aids to enterprises that wish to make it big in their professional career and want to survive the recession.

Federal funds are made available to government as well as private institutions. These funds can be utilized by organizations to

1) Pay Property rents

2) Procure Raw Materials

3) Meet Advertisement Expenditures

4) Buy an Office Space

5) Expansion of Business

6) Hiring Additional Staff

Borrowers are not discriminated under the government backed Small Business Loan programs. An entrepreneur can apply for extended lines of credit irrespective of race, gender or time of being in business. Women, Native Americans and fresh graduates can file applications for loans and can find approval if they meet the basic norms.

SBA is offering loans to entrepreneurs through various Government, non-profit and private financial institutions. SBA’s service is not just restricted to loans but it is also educating entrepreneurs. For this very reason it is offering education grants and business training to young and old enterprise owners.

Resolutions

12 resolutions to change your business. Here are 12 resolutions that Barry Molt claims will have a transforming impact upon your business. From how you hire and fire to how you use social media, how will your business be changed today? Open Forum

A new approach in 2012. Maybe those big sweeping resolutions are too hard to achieve and too overwhelming. Take this approach instead. Commit yourself to “a new resolution every day” and find success making the changes you seek. Get Busy Media

News & Trends

Some small businesses are optimistic. How about you? 2012 could be a year of cautious growth for small businesses. There is sign of some improvement, but experts warn challenges remain. How optimistic are you for the performance of your small business this year? WSJ

Is it time to sell to China? One opportunity still open even to small businesses is the market in China. There are challenges certainly to overcome, but one expert says the opportunities in the market could be almost limitless. Bloomberg Businessweek

Best Practices

Having accountability. One of the most important keys to success in small business is how you handle mistakes. Understanding the importance of being accountable to clients when things go badly is a test for any business. Entrepreneurs Unpluggd

Starting a new business this year? Be sure to write a business plan first. While you will hear many debates these days on the importance of this step, one entrepreneur lays out a compelling case. EpicLaunch

Bookshelf

Up Your Sales In A Down Market. Concerns about the economy aside, your small businesses success depends on your ability to sell your product. Small Business Trends founder Anita Campbell reviews a book whose title says it all. Small Business Trends

Entrepreneurship

What kind of entrepreneur are you? The new year can be a great time to take stock, but Travis Campbell takes a somewhat different approach beginning with a look at the small business owner’s career as a marketer. Where do you fit in? MarketingProfessor

More Info & Tips

Top 2012 predictions. This infographic centers on predictions specifically about small business in the new year but may be a great way to look ahead at trends of which your small business needs to be aware. Matt About Business

Small businesses are about building relationships. Here are some lessons you may want to take to heart. Read the case study and see how relationships can impact the future in your small business. Step By Step Marketing

From Small Business Trends

Make Your Business Better in 2012

I have a very specific strategy when it comes to setting resolutions, both personal and professional. It’s a well-kept secret that I’m going to share. Ready for it?

Make Them Realistic

That’s it. Honestly. People get upset when they set unrealistic resolutions (I want to become a millionaire overnight! I want to lose 30 pounds without exercising!), and they blame it on the resolutions themselves. But resolutions (call them goals, if you like) are only the tools to organize your thoughts toward what you want to happen.

Make Them Auantifiable

Last year, I set a resolution to attend at least two local business events a quarter. That’s easily quantified, and easy enough to measure. There’s no vagueness in what I wanted, and I can only blame myself if I didn’t meet this goal. If your goals are about the number of new clients you want in 2012, or how much you want revenue to increase, assign a number to it. Go on. Don’t be afraid. Make it a number that’s reasonable to achieve, but still just a bit out of reach so that you have to stretch to achieve it.

Don’t Sit Around

Resolutions don’t just come true by themselves. You’ve got to create action items to achieve them. For instance, if I want to increase sales by 30 percent in 2012, what can I do to make sure that happens? Action items might look like this:

• Increase marketing spend on social media, blogging and advertising by 30 percent.
• Send marketing staff to a minimum of one trade show each quarter.
• Guest blog on two new blogs each month.

Your list of action items will look different than mine. Just ask yourself: How can we achieve this resolution? Who’s involved? And make sure you assign the task to the person who will help get it done.

Don’t Expect Miracles

Every year, I list “hire a full time employee” on my resolutions for my company. So far, it hasn’t happened. But that doesn’t mean I can’t keep trying. This year, I added four freelancers–who, in all honesty, probably equal one full-time staffer. So I’m getting there. I’m not afraid to shoot for the moon, but when I fall short of my resolution, I dust myself off and start on next year’s list.

Here are a few of the resolutions I’m making for 2012:

• Find four more small business blogging clients.
• Delegate 20 percent more of my work to my writers.
• (Really) stop working at 3 p.m. each day.

Do me a favor. Share at least one of your business’s resolutions for 2012 below in the comments. Let’s commit together to making them become realities!

Resolutions Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

The Art of Setting Business Resolutions for the New Year

As a business owner, I’ve learned that success in marketing is all about timing. The optimal time for a business to sell a product or service to a customer is right when they need it! Wouldn’t it be great, however, if we knew when that perfect time was for everyone?  Unfortunately we don’t. So here’s the rub, how can you get in front of a potential customer just at the exact time when they are ready to buy?  That’s where email marketing comes in.

In a special report made available by AWeber, one of the world’s leading email marketing platforms,  MarketingSherpa offers valuable insight into how small businesses are using email marketing effectively and how they can improve.  Their findings are based on a survey the company conducted across 2700 email marketers and shows some distinct trends in the use of email marketing across small businesses.

So, what are small businesses looking to accomplish with their email marketing campaigns?  The number one objective, ranked at the top by 80% of the respondents, was list growth and subscriber retention.  Simply stated businesses want to build better relationships with more prospects.

This isn’t surprising because business is simply about the law of large numbers; the more prospects you have in your pipeline, the more sales you have.   However, the findings show that our collective attitude about list building seems to be undergoing a rather significant shift leaving small business owners wondering which is more desirable - quantity or quality.

The quick answer is that a shorter list of high quality subscribers beats a giant list of random opt-ins any day of the week.  So, what can you do to make the most of your email marketing activities?  Follow the 5 B’s below and build the right kind of buzz for your business.

1. Be Customized

Businesses go to a lot of work to attract subscribers and get potential customers to opt-in to their offerings.  Don’t waste that effort by treating every one of those prospects as if they are the same.  Erase the concept of one-size-fits-all from your email marketing mindset.  In order to replicate that real-time relationship, your subscribers need to feel like you are talking directly to them and only to them.  Amazon and Pandora are two companies that do that well in email marketing, segmenting subscribers by interests and emailing them relevant offers and information.  What’s the practical application?  Don’t just have one email newsletter, have several, customized to meet your prospects’ (and customers’) needs.

2. Be Choosy

Just like the customers you are hoping to attract don’t want to feel like they are just anyone, you don’t want them to see your company as just any company.  Choose the right content and spark a conversation.  Conversations lead to conversion.  Choose wisely.  Practical application: strive to add value, give people want they want, don’t spam.  (How do you know what they value?  Just ask!)

3. Be Strategic

The most successful email marketers set goals and develop strategic plans for achieving those goals.  Understanding how your email marketing strategy fits into your marketing strategy will also help you stay on track.  Practical Application: Know what you want to accomplish.

4. Be Tactical

Once you know what you want to accomplish, (i.e., establish my company as the leader in my industry) email marketing success is also all about the tactics.  Knowing which tactics inspire prospects to opt-in and remain engaged is one of the foundations of using email marketing successfully.  Practical Application: Know which tactics your audience responds to and which ones turn them off.

5. Be Clear

There is a lot to be said for clarity, especially in communications.  When you are asking a subscriber to opt-in to your offer, make sure they know what they are getting, how often they will receive it, when they will receive it, and why they want it.  Practical Application: Don’t assume anything.  Make sure your email communications answer your subscribers’ questions.

If you’re looking to increase your pipeline in 2012, email marketing is still one of the best tools in your marketing tool box.  Use it well and you will reap the benefits. For more information about successful email marketing, check out AWeber.com. (Disclosure:  AWeber is one of the email platforms I use in my business.)

If you use email marketing in your business, please leave a comment below and let us know what tips you have for small business owners.

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free ebook called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

ShareThis

Also, if you’ve entered and won a contest or award listed here, let us know so we can share your news.

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Trusted Business – Earn a Green Shield
Ongoing

Be one of the first 50 to earn a “Green Shield” at TrustedBusiness.com, and you will win an autographed copy of the new book “Visual Marketing”, co-authored by Small Business Trends‘ CEO, Anita Campbell.

To earn a Green Shield you have to get at least 100 trust points for your business. Good while supplies last. More information here.

LegalZoom Free Commerical Contest
Enter through December 31, 2011

Contest participants are asked to create a 25-second commercial featuring their business, and upload the video to the LegalZoom Facebook page, where the contest winner will be selected through a voting system.

LegalZoom will purchase a minimum of $20,000 of airtime for the winning commercial to be broadcast to a national audience. That translates to a minimum of 50 free spots for the winning business owner.

2012 DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award
Enter by January 6, 2012

Nominate an outstanding business from your community or submit your own application for the 2012 DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Sam’s Club.

All award winners will be honored during America’s Small Business Summit on May 22 in Washington, DC. Blue Ribbon Award® winners will receive one complimentary registration to attend the Summit, courtesy of Sam’s Club. Nominations are due January 6, and applications are due January 13. The winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize, courtesy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

MacMall Medical Office Makeover Contest
Enter by January 16, 2012

The Medical Office Makeover Contest features a prize for larger offices with 11 or more employees valued at nearly $17,000, and a prize for offices with 1-10 employees valued at over $6,000. The highly sought after products featured in the contest include Ergotron carts; HP workstations, monitors and digital signs; Fujitsu scanners; Wasp time and attendance tracking; Nuance medical dictation, and other high-value hardware and software from Xerox, Plantronics, Fellowes, ioSafe, Meraki, and Dymo.

Vision 33 Small Business Makeover Contest
Enter by January 31, 2012

This holiday season, one lucky small business will win the SAP Business One Starter Package, 40 hours of professional services and maintenance from Vision33 for a year! There is no charge, no expectations and no purchase necessary to enter the Small Business Makeover Contest – all you have to do is fill out an online form and tell why you think your business deserves to win.

Tibbetts Awards 2012
Enter by January 31, 2012

The U.S. Small Business Administration is seeking nominations for its Tibbetts Awards, recognizing small-business research and innovation. The awards recognize companies that have taken part in the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Three awards will be given, one for companies that have participated in the SBIR/STTR programs, one for individuals who advocate on behalf of the programs, and a third “Hall of Fame” award recognizing companies that have a track record of success in research, innovation and product commercialization within the SBIR or STTR program.

PA Tech Awards 2012
Enter by February 1, 2012

Nominations for winners in eight categories will be accepted on the event’s new website in a unique, open format. Every submitted nomination in every category can be viewed immediately by visitors to the site and shared to social media channels, delivering increased global visibility for all nominees. The annual gala on March 30, 2012 celebrates and honors the brightest technology leaders and innovators from across the state.

The Amazing Entrepreneur
Enter by February 29, 2012

The 2nd Annual Amazing Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition is an initiative by Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development and The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to foster new business development in Gwinnett County, GA. The contest is open to individuals who own or manage a small business, which has been in operation less than 36 months, in Gwinnett County.

The Grand Prize winner will receive $2500 cash to be used solely for the business entering the contest, a trip to Sage Software’s Customer Conference in Nashville, TN (airfare, hotel stay, conference fees), one-year membership to Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, one-year participation in the Chamber’s Gwinnett Business Institute program ($180 value), a consultation with an attorney from Arnall Golden Gregory ($2500 value), and research assistance from Chamber’s economic development department

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar.
If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Small Business Event and Contests Form (it’s free).

Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.

From Small Business Trends

Start The New Year By Applying for Contests and Awards

The great thing about blogging is that you get to meet so many smart people. While a post might start the conversation, the comments take it in a whole new direction altogether, and makes a post better for it.

As well as blog comments offering the opportunity to read the views of these smart people, they also allow us to check out more of their writing, thanks to plugins like CommentLuv.

I’ve discovered some really great bloggers through comments left on this blog, and I’d like to share 12 of them with you today.

Each one of them brings a tremendous voice and point-of-view, as well as something to learn from every time. And you can’t ask for more than that.

So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are 12 bloggers you really should read and subscribe to in 2012.

1. Judy Dunn

One of the original For Bloggers By Bloggers core authors, Judy has long been one of my favourite bloggers from the first post of hers I read. Her Cats Eye Writer blog is one of the best around, period, for writing advice, style, life lessons weaved into blogging and more. If you want to be a better writer, read Judy Dunn.

2. Craig McBreen

Craig came into my radar last year, and he’s been there ever since. A fairly new blogger, Craig writes about social media and business, but from a more human angle. His writing style is very warm and incredibly smooth, and flows from one sentence to the other. If you want a business-type blog without the boring corporate fluff, check Craig McBreen out.

3. Jayme Soulati

Never one to pull punches or walk in territories others would be afraid to, Jayme Soulati writes an excellent PR-led blog over at Soulati-’TUDE. Although there are many reasons to love her blog, her no-nonsense approach to showing what’s wrong in PR and how to improve it make it an essential read for anyone with an interest in public relations.

4. Robert Dempsey

One of my favourite marketing blogs, because like Jayme above there are no punches pulled, Robert Dempsey’s blog is one of those blogs that has you hooked once you read a post. Knowledgeable; genuine; fearless – if you want a great marketing blog that really tells it like it is, Robert Dempsey is your guy.

5. Stuart Mills

There are many blogs that write about life and how to remain positive when the shit hits the fan. Many come across as false, though, and just out for eyeballs. Stuart’s Unlock The Door blog isn’t one of them. A tremendous blog that shines with humanity and real emotion, this is one of the best blogs out there to show you how to really live life, personally and professionally.

6. Bill Dorman

The self-penned “Invisible Blogger” because no-one used to read his blog (man, how that’s changed!), Bill Dorman is another blogger who effortlessly seems to bridge the gap between business, life, human emotions and storytelling. That’s not an easy trick to pull off – but Bill does it with ease. Read his blog and you’ll see how for yourself.

7. Ken Mueller

Ken Mueller is simply awesome – that’s all you need to know. More? Okay – Ken’s blog is one of the very best at providing solid business and social media views with humour and deprecation. This is a guy that’s not afraid to get the lady clothes on for a video to prove a point – and that’s just one of many reasons why you should read his blog. ‘Nuff said.

8. Samantha Collier

A fellow Canadian, Samantha Collier writes about social media for law firms on her blog. In an industry that has to be extra-careful at what can and can’t be said online, Samantha’s blog is a great educational resource, as well as a helping hand for law practitioners when it comes to the social media space. A great read.

9. Howie Goldfarb

I’m not quite sure whether Howie is an alien or human being, or something in-between. One thing I’m certain of, though, is that he’s one of the most-informed people I know when it comes to talking about advertising and social media, amongst other things. While his blog needs a visual makeover (my eyes, Howie!!!), it’s no slouch when it comes to solid information and overviews. Read it and learn.

10. Brankica Underwood

One of my perennial favourite bloggers, Brankica writes about Internet marketing, SEO, blogging and more over at Live Your Love. Her voice is one of the most vociferous out there when sharing opinion (and that’s a great thing to have), and she also continuously recommends awesome products for anyone looking to create a business online. Required reading.

11. Marya

I found Marya’s blog completely by accident. She suggested a guest post for For Bloggers By Bloggers and I checked out her stuff, and was blown away by the quality of educational content. Much like Judy that started this list, Marya writes excellent blogging and writing tips, and has a great community of commentators over at her Writing Happiness blog.

12. Dan Perez

I always give Dan stick for being a miserable sod – but deep down (okay, on the surface too!) he’s one of the most genuine guys you’ll meet. Dan writes about a lot of topics – social media, people, business, non-profit and more – as well as makes great videos to share them. But despite the multi-topic approach, Dan Perez’s blog is one of the most cohesive and educational/inspiring ones around.

So there you have it – 12 bloggers that you really should add to your reading list in 2012, if you’re not already reading them. Like I say, each one offers something unique to them, and makes blog reading and commenting a delightful lesson.

I hope you check them out – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with any of them.

Happy New Year, all!

image: Kikolani

12 Bloggers You Really Should Read in 2012 originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

These aren’t the ones with the most comments, page views or whatever; they’re my personal picks as the best across several categories. And to keep it interesting, I’ve limited myself to three articles per category … and then I allowed myself to break that rule in the Local Search category. I’m hoping to do a more stats-oriented recap soon, but for now here are my personal picks for the best of Small Business Search Marketing in 2011.

Blogging

• It’s Official: Static, Brochure-Ware Websites Are Dead
• A Simple Sample Editorial Calendar to Keep Your Blogging on Schedule
• Series: 5 Ways To Find New Blog Content

Local Search

• No, Local SEO Isn’t Dead … But It Is a Wee Bit Harder
• Google, Yelp and Why Review Counts are Meaningless
• Google Places Turns 1: What’s Working, What’s Not
• Complete Guide to Bing’s New Local Business Portal

SEO

• SEO’s Three Stages of Keyword Success
• Two Simple Website Metrics for Small Businesses to Monitor
• Keyword Research: Did You Dive Deep Enough?

Small Business Marketing

• Are You Lying to Your Customers?
• Creative Small Business Marketing, Episode 7
• In 2011, Online Success Is As Simple As This

Social Media

• Photos Draw Most Facebook Interactions, Links Draw the Least
• B&H Photo Shows How To Convert Customers Into Fans & Followers
• Why Fans Stop Liking & Following You on Facebook & Twitter

The articles above are listed in reverse chronological order in each category, in case you’re wondering.

Thanks to all who’ve read my articles in 2011! I don’t take your time and attention for granted. There are a lot of great websites and blogs you can read, and it means a ton to me that you visit/subscribe/follow or whatever it is you do to keep in touch with me.

Best wishes for a great 2012!

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Small Business Search Marketing: My Best Articles of 2011

Up Your Sales in a Down Market: 20 Strategies from Top Performing Salespeople to Win Over Cautious Customers is by Ron Volper, a business development consultant to the Fortune 500.

Whoa!  Wait a minute!  You’re thinking, “Did she say Fortune 500?  What could a Fortune 500 consultant say that would be relevant to my business with 12 employees?”

A lot, surprisingly.  I received a review copy of this book in the mail, and I almost set it aside when I saw the cover blurb about the author’s experience with large corporations.  After all, we focus here on books for small business owners and entrepreneurs.  We tend to avoid books that target a large corporate audience — that world is so different from the way small businesses operate.

Luckily, I took a few minutes to thumb through the book.

The first section I saw was a 2-page question and answer session between a patient and a  doctor diagnosing the patient’s ailment.  The author used this analogy to illustrate how salespeople must ask a lot of questions before presenting a solution to meet the customer’s needs and trying to close a sale.  Now… that same point about asking questions has been made in countless sales books before.  But somehow, seeing the point presented as a doctor making a diagnosis drove it home. Instantly the point clicked.  Next time you are in a sales situation, think of yourself as a doctor trying to make a diagnosis.  It’s not precisely like that  – for instance, in sales you have to ask more open-ended questions.  But still, the point about asking questions is memorable and it sticks, all because of the way the author presented the information.

What I Liked Best

This book is filled with practical bits.  For instance, you’ll find a concise 10-page chapter on how to give a sales presentation.  It covers everything from the best font size for PowerPoint slides, to the need to practice your presentation in advance, to using body language effectively.  Another gem of a chapter discusses the sales proposal.  It tells you when (and when not) to write and deliver a sales proposal.  But the best part of this chapter is the detailed outline of what should be in your sales proposal, along with the most common mistakes to avoid for each section.  Example: did you know that one of the most common mistakes on a proposal cover page is misspelling the customer’s name?

One of the things I especially liked about this book is the way each chapter begins with a hard-hitting sales statistic.  The opening statistic makes a point about what you should remember from each chapter.  Here are some examples:

• “Top performing salespeople ask four times as many questions as their less-successful colleagues.”
• “If you call prospects cold there is only a 2 percent chance you will speak to them, if you have a referral your odds jump to 20 percent, but if you have an introduction they jump up to 60 percent.”
• “Top salespeople write out and practice their sales presentations three times more often than less successful salespeople.”
• “Seventy percent of salespeople said they failed to close business because of price, whereas only 45 percent of their customers said price was their main objection.”

Who This Book is For

About 70% of this book is relevant to small businesses with small sales teams, and even to sole proprietors.  For instance, if you are a business owner who doubles as your company’s primary sales person, you can learn a lot from this book, particularly if you personally do not have a sales background. The information is practical, not theoretical.  It doesn’t use corporate-speak,  but instead uses everyday language.

That said, the primary audience for this book is sales managers and salespeople in large corporations who want to be top performers. Small businesses, you will get benefit — just don’t be surprised if you find certain chapters less useful than others:  the chapter on sales contests and motivations; and the chapter on realigning sales territories, to name just two that are more relevant to large corporations.

Up Your Sales is not about retail or eCommerce sales.  Also, if you sell small-ticket items or services, the selling techniques here will be less relevant, mainly because the economics won’t let you devote the time and effort to each sale the way this book describes.  Mostly this book helps those whose minimum sale is north of $1,000.

What I Would Have Liked to See

I feel this book has value for small businesses.  However, it isn’t up to date on the ways that small businesses today must sell if they want to survive.  For instance, most small business must make heavy use of email, phone meetings, online meetings and other long-distance selling techniques.  Many small businesses don’t have the time or money to send salespeople long distances to make in-person sales calls.  The techniques in this book are definitely geared toward the in-person sales call or meeting.

Also, the book is very light on using networking, word of mouth, and social media as part of your sales prospecting.  The section on social media consists of  a half page that mentions using LinkedIn and Facebook to recruit salespeople to hire.  But savvy small businesses and entrepreneurs today are using social media to fill their sales funnel or as key marketing components.  Word of mouth referrals and networking are huge in the world of small business.  Yet those are not really covered in this book in the ways that small businesses use these techniques.

But as long as you understand these limitations, Up Your Sales has value, particularly if your company sells products or services to large corporations.  This book does an excellent job telling you how to be more effective at selling to large companies.

From Small Business Trends

Up Your Sales in a Down Market Is a Crash Course in Selling

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Happy New Year 2012!

Local Search

• Robert Cole/Tnooz: So where can the industry turn to for a dose of Fake Review Optimisation? Many places
• Mike Blumenthal: The Untold Story of 2011: Google’s Significant Investments in a Google Places Support Structure
• Mike Blumenthal: Google Places: Onsite “Review Stations” AOK with Google

SEO

• Mitch Monsen/WhiteFireSEO: Search and Social Media
• Ken McGaffin/Marketing Profs: Eight Ways to Segment Link Prospects
• Marcus Sheridan/The Sales Lion: How to Build Links to Your Website Without Selling Your Soul to the Devil
• Dan Shure/Evolving SEO: 6 Related Search Operator Tips & Google Doc Tool
• Gianluca Fiorelli/SEOmoz: Wake Up SEOs, the New Google is Here

PPC

• PPC Hero: Expert Advice and Best Practices for AdWords Dummies

Blogging

• Blog Tyrant: 13 Vital Blogging Tasks for When You Can’t Be Bothered Writing
• Rich Brooks/Flyte: How to Build Your Blog Subscriber Base

Social Media

• Karl Ribas: Social Media Tips for Small Businesses
• Linda Bustos/Get Elastic: 17 Styles of Twitter Updates for Online Retailers
• Jens Berget/Sly Marketing: Social Proof Makes You Do Crazy Things
• Eric Harr/Socialnomics: Myth: To Be Heard, Talk. Truth: To Be Heard, Listen.
• Olivier Blanchard/The Brand Builder: Explaining “social media ROI” AGAIN. And again. And… again.

Analytics

• PPC Hero: Ultimate Guide to Google’s Multi-Channel Funnels
• Justin Cutroni/Analytics Talk: Building a Mobile Ecommerce Dashboard in Google Analytics
• Avinash Kaushik/Occam’s Razor: Best Web Metrics / KPIs for a Small, Medium or Large Sized Business
• Cyrus Shepard: 7 Best SEO Tips for (not provided) Keywords

Online Marketing/General

• Amanda Milligan/Blueglass: The Content Marketer’s Guide to Web Content
• Matt Edward/Springboard SEO: The Seven Deadly Sins of Copywriting
• Michele Linn/CMI: Must-See Content Marketing Examples From 2011

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

December ’11: Best Search/Marketing Posts

Weekend Favs December Thirty One

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr.

Good stuff I found this week:
The Crowdsourced Facebook Marketing Book – cool concept for putting together ebook from Social Fresh – dozens of blog posts organized around a marketing outline for Facebook.

SENDtoREADER – nice little tool that makes it very easy for your to clip web pages or RSS feeds and send them to your Kindle.

Marketing Charts – Awesome charts and data for marketing in Excel and Powerpoint format – great for presentations and blog post illustrations.

One of the best prognosticators out there (although he may not take to being called that) is Brian Solis (@briansolis).  In 2010 he wrote the book Engage, which leads you through the specific steps you need to take to conceptualize, implement, manage and measure a social media program.

I had the privilege of interviewing Brian Solis for an article I wrote for Personal Branding Magazine.  In some ways, he reminded me of Matthew Broderick’s character Ferris Bueller; fun, smart and super-savvy about the ways of the social media environment and how to play it.  Solis knows how to navigate, pull the technological strings and use these tools to business advantage.

But wait, there’s more

And new for 2012, Solis has released The End of Business as Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution.  This book takes you to the next level, taking social media away from the context of tool and into the context of strategy.  Let me put it another way:  We don’t write about telephones or microwaves or stoves as revolutionary tools for communication or cooking.  We’ve integrated these items into our lives.  Business as Usual does the same thing for us in terms of social media.  Solis is taking the tools and technologies we’ve been enamored with and pushing us into accepting them as tangible, real and unimportant as tools, but vitally important in terms of what we do with them.

The End of Business as Usual is a bellwether

If you like Groundswell, then you will love this. This is a business book, a social media book and a trend book all in one.  It’s 20 chapters and 300 pages of lesson after lesson, insight after insight, and terrific charts and graphics that give you a perspective on what Solis is talking about.

There are so many facts and figures in this book relating to what’s going on in social media that you could probably tweet out a stat every day and have enough to last you a couple of years.  I’m not sure if I’m exaggerating, but I think I’m pretty close.

Here are just a few chapter names that will give you some idea of what to expect:

Chapter 3: The medium is no longer the message. This is the core message of the book. People are spending more time on social networks, TV shows are live tweeted, news comes from Twitter online video networks – in other words, social is as integrated into our lives as phones and appliances.

Chapter 4:  Attention deficit crises and information scarcity: This chapter addresses one of the key reasons I admire Brian Solis: “If you don’t have anything interesting or productive to say – then don’t say it.”  While Solis is a social media expert and evangelist, I respect his integrity in terms of using social media as a valuable communication channel rather than a vehicle for pabulum.

Chapter 7: Your audience is now an audience of audiences with audiences: This chapter has terrific visuals and charts to show you exactly how communication and information functions in the social media world.  This chapter is worth reading and rereading.

Chapter 11: The rise of connected commerce: You’ve already heard the phrase “blurring the line between personal and business. This chapter gives you the background on how and why this is happening.  Mobile devices, constant connection and communication will force business to look and feel more personal.

Chapter 14: Reinventing the brand and sales cycle for a new genre of connecter commerce: The message in this chapter is to plug into decision making. We’ve never had better access to data about our customers’ behavior.  Businesses will have to become masters at managing their brand promises.

Who should read this book?

To say that anyone who intends to be in business over the next three to five years should read this book is an understatement.  Business owners will see data and research that will help them create a context for the world that they and their customers are participating in.

Sales and marketing professionals will get insights and be able to develop much more powerful marketing strategies that get to the heart of what’s important to their customers.

Social media practitioners will have evidence and resources to share with their clients that will show exactly why the strategies they are proposing will work.

At the risk of sounding over the top, The End of Business as Usual is a book you absolutely, positively must read to succeed in 2012 and beyond.

From Small Business Trends

Read The End of Business as Usual for Social Media Insights, Research and Trends

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.

1. Look at your competitors and see how their product offering has changed over the course of the year and examine what they’ve done right and wrong.

2. Try to get the year off to the best possible start by innovating. Look at your existing product offering and consider how you could make it more popular or reach a new audience.

3. Remember to focus on finding solutions rather than stressing over problems. You should be aware of what went wrong in 2011, now think of ways to do things better with a fresh start.

4. This one is important: don’t repeat your mistakes from this year all over again! Running a business should be a learning experience and failing in the same way each time shows that you are not learning at all.

5. Finally, look back at 2011 and evaluate what has worked and your business did right. Do more of it in 2012!

What you wear should enhance what you have instead of playing up your weakness. In fashion, the goal is to wear what looks good on you. I’m saying clarity and balance looks good, so wear it well and wear it often. But how?

In “What Not to Do: The Most Important Decision You’ll Make,” John Mariotti says,  “Refocus your time, talent and money on the important things, the big things, that will make a difference.” Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but here are two things worth your time—profiling your profitable passions and your ideal customers.

The goal is to understand your passion and your customers.

Profile your profitable passions

What do you want to do and can it pay for your lifestyle?

Ivana Taylor shows you how to find your passion and turn it into a profitable business. But it takes effort. You not only need to discover what you are interested in, but you must also find the market who would buy the product or service and the language that would get their attention, using tools like Google, eBay and Amazon.

And after you find the right niche, then it’s time to put more effort into clearly identifying your clients.

Profile your ideal customers

Who do you serve, what do you they want, where are they now and how do you reach them?

The last three questions become much easier to answer when you figure out the first one.

Ivana says:

“When you narrow your message…to a group who values what you are selling, then the rest of your marketing system becomes obvious and easy to implement.”

I spent a lot of time confused and it didn’t look good (or feel good) on me either. To profile my target client I used 3 of the 8 creative ways to profile ideal customers that Ivana mentions—complaints, Web traffic and character descriptions.

Understanding what my clients complain about and the types of people visiting my site based on my Alexa.com profile made it easier to create a character sketch of my target audience. And when you understand what your target audience looks like, then you can figure out where they shop, what they read, where they go to have fun, etc. All that knowledge creates opportunities to meet, market and serve them.

Now that’s a good use of time. Get clear and then get busy.

Confusion Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Confusion Doesn’t Look Good On You: Profile Your Way To Clarity

It will be a rocking good start to 2012. The UK Enterprise Rockers movement is inviting journalists to kick off 2012 by covering the launch of our #MicroBizMatters campaign. The Enterprise Rockers, all micro business owners, have chosen Scarborough to host the media launch event at noon on January 9th.

Scarborough is a former winner of both the most enterprising place in Britain and the most enterprising town in Europe. Oh and the two founders of the Enterprise Rockers, the wonderful Tina Boden and me, live there.

The aim of the Enterprise Rockers movement is to make life better and fairer for all Micro Business Owners. The #MicroBizMatters campaign will improve awareness of the importance of the UK’s 4.5 million micro businesses, including start-ups, to jobs, the economy and communities.

Although the UK is the first to launch the Rockers there is already interest being shown in many countries to take up our movement, including the US.

Positive Messages Will Tackle Discrimination

The campaign also seeks to make people more aware of the discrimination by Government, Banks and Big Businesses against micro business owners and what the benefits to Britain would be if they gave them a fairer chance to survive and thrive. The campaign also positively recognises large organisations that the Rockers agree are micro enterprise friendly such as Apple, the Co-op, British Library and ACAS.

Founder Tina Boden, who owns a fine food company, explained, ‘We’re not a political, lobbying or a fee paying membership organisation. Micro business owners freely get involved in the Rockers to do as much or as little as they like. We agree everything by majority decision.

We believe that by thousands of us supporting each other, trading with each other and carrying the same messages in villages, towns and online all over the UK that we can harness the power of plenty to make life better and fairer for micro business owners.

Our #MicroBizMatters campaign will make people aware why it is important that Britain is more micro enterprise friendly. This in turn will improve the future prospects for micro-business owners including start-ups.’

Why this way works?

For me, it is really important that everything we do is really positive. As micro enterprise owners we are and have to be positive people and we’re used to just getting on with ‘doing the biz’ so we’re certainly not moaners and we’re not looking for hand outs.

We’ve made very little progress in the last twenty years consulting with Government Ministers and their officials to try and get a better deal on skills and support for start-ups and enterprise owners. So the Enterprise Rockers movement is a welcome change of direction.

As one in seven of the adult workforce in the UK are running their own micro businesses there can’t be many of the population that don’t know, and more importantly, would like to help a micro business owner to earn an honest living.

Politicians are only interested in what the public think around election time but by the next UK election we’re pretty sure that we’ll have enough public opinion on our side so that they, for the first time, will need to state what they are going to do for micro business owners (0-9 employees).

Fact: Micro-Business Matters

Influencing public opinion and in turn government is a small part of what we’ll achieve. After all, we’ll never be as important to Ministers as Big Business and the Banks but we can hopefully stop 95% of government funding and support going to bigger business so that the 95% of all UK businesses that are micros get a fairer deal and an even break.

We’re growing. We already provide most of the new jobs, innovation and best help to communities and we contribute a third of all private sector jobs and a fifth of UK turnover. The thousands of Enterprise Rockers actively involved on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and ready to champion our #MicroBizMatters campaign will make life better and fairer for us all.

The #MicroBizMatters campaign already has 750 signatures on its ‘Tell Us What You’re Doing for Micro Enterprises Not for’ SMEs’ government e-petition. This already puts it at Number 14 out of over 600 e-petitions to the government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

Whilst the Rockers are not campaigning, through #MicroBizMatters for government funding they are requesting that government reduces its funding and support to Bigger Business. For example for every £50 million of government support 4.5 million micro businesses get 6000 big businesses get £1 billion.

Time to join our band?

The launch of #MicroBizMatters takes place in the Penthouse, the Sands, North Bay, Scarborough at 12 noon on Monday, 9th January. If you know a journalist then ask them to either register here http://enterpriserockersofficiallaunch.eventbrite.co.uk/?ref=enivtefor&utm_source=eb_email&utm_media=email&utm_compaign=invitefor&utm_term=readmore&invite=MTU1Nzk2OS90b255QGVudHJlcHJlbmV1cnN1ay5jb20vMA== or they can arrange to interview the founders of the Enterprise Rockers by e-mailing tony@entrepreneursuk.com with their requirements.

There’s also no better time for you to get involved with the Enterprise Rockers. It’s free and you can join our Enterprise Rockers discussion groups and MicroBizMatters discussion groups on Facebook and Linked In or follow us on Twitter @EnterpriseRocks or check out our website http://enterpriserockers.co.uk and sign our Government e-petition at http://t.co/QK36cLlU

Thanks lots – enjoy 2012 the year of the Enterprise Rockers.

I noticed an interesting tweet.  It read something like ‘Retweet someone who you never interact with on Twitter because cliques are not cool.’ Almost instantly, I realized that this message would be a part of my overall business manifesto for 2012.  A resolution of sorts.

In the coming year, reaching out on a leap of faith and growing my network is a priority.

At the beginning of last year, I was fairly new in my business mission so I was engaged in CRAZY networking efforts.  I was continually putting myself out there to meet a multitude of new and different people.  It was an effort and required a lot of work.  Somewhere during the year, I became comfortable with my group of people and/or burned out, so I was not networking as much.

At this point, a clique naturally formed.  When I needed some vital information or advice or opinion, I turned to this group.  Although, I admire all of these people tremendously, it does me NO good to always turn to the same people.  Growing, changing, and evolving business requires constant introduction of fresh information and people.

Therefore, in 2012 I urge you (and ME) to up the ante and grow our sphere of influence.  I am going back to a grassroots approach to networking.

To help both of us as we approach 2012, here are

4 Leap of Faith Networking Tips:

1 - See your business through a different avenue.  Attend one event/month that you normally would NEVER attend.  For example, if you are an interior designer and you typically attend design related events, try an outing for life coaches - I bet you this is an awesome area to partner.  Life coaches help others make life changes, and with those changes may come changes in their clients’ interior design.  The referral possibilities are endless.

2 - Host an out of your realm event. Plan an event, a quick lunch or dinner with a speaker that is not YOU, but rather someone that would provide insight/discussion for others.  Choose a topic with widepsread importance, and make an awesome first impression on new people. This is a spectacular way to get people to remember YOU as the one who put this all together.

3 - Play the name game. Get your eyes off that name tag.  Rather than walk up to someone and immediately focus on their name tag to say hello, INTRODUCE yourself.  It goes something like this, ‘HI, I am Rachel, and you are?’  Hearing someone say their name makes it much easier to put it in your memory bank.

4 - Invest in the future with genuine follow-up. Do not just add this new contact to your mailing list and forget about them!  Make time to engage with them in some way (Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, Coffee) over the coming weeks, and form something solid for the year(s) to come.

I wish all of you a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2012 full of Amazing Ideas and Powerful Networking.

Join me on my blog, http://backngroovemom.com for next year’s adventures.  Rachel

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It’s a story we saw developing since the credit crunch tightened the spigots on funding for small businesses. When the big banks said no, small banks and non-bank lenders increasingly said yes. Over the course of 2011, big banks rejected loan applications about 90 percent of the time. Smaller banks approved nearly half of small business funding requests, while alternative lenders granted approvals more often than not.

Many people ask me, “Who are the alternative lenders?” They are comprised of credit unions, CDFIs, micro lenders and accounts receivable financers.

Credit Unions
A credit union is a cooperative, not-for-profit financial institution owned and controlled by its members. Credit unions are established and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift and providing credit at competitive rates and other financial services to their membership. They are locally focused and lend at reasonable rates, which accounts for their tremendous growth in small business lending in 2011.

Credit unions are becoming more aggressive in soliciting deposits and are seeking to double the 12.5 percent cap on small business lending set by the government. The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) provides a list of its members online.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI)
Community Development Financial Institutions are financing entities that have a primary mission of community development. Established by the Reigle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994, CDFIs are certified by the Treasury Department, which provides funds to them through a variety of programs. Biz2Credit has helped numerous small business owners in New York to get funding from the New York Business Development Corporation (NYBDC).

The organization helps provide term loans to small businesses that sometimes are unable to meet the requirements for traditional financing. In many cases the financing incorporates multiple participations, SBA guarantees, flexible amortization and long-term payouts.

NYBDC also manages the Empire State Certified Development Corporation (“The 504 Company”), which is licensed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide SBA 504 Loans that are designed to stimulate economic development and spur job creation for eligible New York State businesses.

Micro Lenders
Micro lenders provide small loans designed to spur entrepreneurship in economically disadvantaged areas. Often they are granted to women and minority entrepreneurs and to companies that have been established in economic empowerment zones. Often the startup businesses in these neighborhoods are created by individuals who lack collateral or a long credit history and therefore are unable to meet even the most minimal qualifications of traditional creditors.

ACCION USA is a microfinance organization that lends with the mission of empowering business owners with access to working capital and financial education. ACCION offers business loans up to $50,000 and financial education throughout the U.S. and specializes in working with small business owners who cannot borrow from the bank due to business type, a short length of time in business, or an insufficient credit history.

Accounts Receivable (AR) Lenders
Accounts Receivable (AR) financers — often known as “factors” — purchase a company’s accounts receivable, at a discount, to provide them with working capital when they need it. With factoring, financing is provided to the seller of the accounts in the form of a cash “advance,” often 70-85% of the purchase price of the accounts. The balance of the purchase price is paid upon collection, often as a percentage of credit card transactions. Interest rates generally are higher with factoring.

However, the lender is assuming a higher level of risk, which justifies the return. Many times, small business owners who have little or no credit history or who need a lot of money quickly turn to AR financers. In the past few months, my company has connected a number of entrepreneurs with lenders such as Cash Advance Network (CAN), the largest lender in this category.

In November, so-called alternative lenders approved 62 percent of small business funding requests in November, a rise from the 61.8 percent during October, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, an analysis of 1,000 loan applications.

Among alternative lenders, credit unions granted 57 percent of small business funding requests, up from 56.6 percent in October. Meanwhile, loan approvals by small banks were 47 percent in November and approvals by large banks reached 10 percent in November — for the first time since April.

Overall, I believe optimism is returning in the credit marketplace. We have seen a steady increase in loan applications, a good sign for the economy. We can all hope that this momentum in the fourth quarter of 2011 bodes well for the coming year.

Money Story Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Story of the Year: The Rise of Alternative Lending

Three awards are instituted. One is for companies that participate in SBIR/STTR programs, the other is for individuals who support the programs and third is a ‘Hall of Fame’ award recognizing companies that have shown innovation and success within the SBIR or STTR programs.

Roland Tibbetts has been instrumental in developing SBIR and so the ‘Tibbetts Awards’ has been named after him. SBIR also helps small businesses commercialize their profits and not just help them do innovative research and development work. Currently SBIR and STTR programs account for $2.5 billion per year in federal R& D funds from several federal agencies.

Companies will be awarded based on their performance. Awardees receiving the “Hall of Fame’ and other awards are eligible to find numerous SBIR grants. ‘Tibbetts Awards’ are based on several factors that include business achievement, demonstration of good collaboration and technological innovation.

The winners can later apply for loans and extended lines of credit on the Biz2credit platform. The small businesses having gained recognition from winning the ‘Tibbetts Awards’ can easily secure loan grants of various SBA programs and grow further in business.

Sometimes, small business owners need inspiration. Successful ones are great listeners. They’re also people who are smart enough to implement some of the things they see, hear, and read-things that they know they should do to grow their businesses.

As The New Year approaches, slate-cleaning will be one of things taking place in almost every small business across America. The folks at BusinessNewsDaily.com approached me to deliver one New Year’s resolution that I feel all small business owners need to write on their thoroughly cleaned slates.

Here it is;
“Get with someone on how to do correct social media marketing. Don’t just set up a Facebook Page, a Twitter Account and a Google+ Business Page and hope things turn out well.”

And here are 9 more from some of the country’s best business writers….

Over the past month, I’ve been posing what I hope have been some head scratching, thought provoking questions to help you get ready for 2012.

If you can answer these five questions — I think you’re going to have a solid foundation for your marketing efforts moving forward.

In case you missed one, here are the five questions (with links to the whole post):

1. What do you really sell?
2. Who is your ideal customer?
3. What’s the lifetime value of your customer?
4. What’s your marketing foundation?
5. What’s your legacy sentence?

So — have the questions changed your plans or focus?  Narrowed things a bit?  Or were these all a slam dunk?

Happy New Year and here’s to a very prosperous, joyful 2012 to you and yours!

Stock photo courtesy of www.BigStockPhoto.com

Related posts:

1. Marketing insights question: What’s your legacy sentence?
2. Marketing Insights Question: Calculating the lifetime value of your customer
3. Marketing Insights Question: How are you building your marketing foundation?

The Five Most Engaging Podcasts of the Year

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

I’ve been recording podcast interviews since some time in 2005 and it’s one of my favorite things to do. The show has opened some pretty cool doors and allowed me to meet some very cool people.

This year I met the likes of Harvey MacKay, Stephen Pressfield, Eric Reis, Derek Sivers, Kevin Kelly and Hugh MacLeod through my podcast and reconnected with old friends such as Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott, Peter Shankman and Scott Ginsberg.

The following five episodes make up what you my readers called my most engaging shows of the year.

1) Anything You Want

This week’s guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby and author of Anything You Want 40 Lessons (When you buy any version of the book you can grab 200 musical downloads as a gift from Derek too!)

2) The New New New Rules of Marketing and PR

My good friend David Meerman Scott stopped by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast recently to talk about the release of the 3rd Edition of his mega best selling book The New Rules of Marketing and PR. This book changed the way many people think about marketing and has remained on many a “must read” list since it was first released.

3) 5 Google Plus Tips and Chris Brogan

For this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I grabbed a few minutes with Chris Brogan. Chris is the founder of Human Business Works, writes and speaks on all things related to social media and is a documented Google Plus fanboy.

4) 5 Types of Content That Every Business Must Employ

The creation and distribution of content has become such a significant aspect of effective marketing that it requires a high place in the strategy conversation in most every business.

Some might go as far as to suggest content marketing has become the most effective way to build a business.

5) Understanding the Most Fundamental Shift in Marketing

When I want to make marketing extremely easy to understand, I sit small business owners down in front of the above graphic and have them fill in some process, touchpoint, campaign, product of service in each of the seven blanks. The idea behind this graphic I call the Marketing Hourglass is that marketing is no longer a hunt and close business, it’s a be found, build trust, nurture, wow and refer business.

Flowcharts are fun. You’ve got all your little boxes and arrows and symbols and colors…fun!

This cartoon started out as a take on an overly complex flowchart that had symbols and lines here, there and everywhere, and it was okay, but it was when I put in one simple little box at the very top above it all that this cartoon finally made sense, and the caption came quickly after.

From Small Business Trends

Restructuring Over the Downturn

Enjoy the 29th edition of Eyeball Worthy Links of the Week:

1. D.C. eyes move to local banks, small business lending — Washington Business Journal — “D.C. Council members are proposing to shift some city assets from the nation’s largest financial institutions to local banks that agree to lend that money, at double the amount, to District-based small businesses.” This article hits Bank of America specifically, telling them to basically make small business loans or lose deposits.

2. Why Berlin is poised to be Europe’s new tech hub — GIGAOM — “After the visual opulence of Paris, Berlin feels almost dowdy. Drab and dark, the city hardly comes across as one of the great capitals of the world …”

3. 13 Ways To Think About And Crush Your Competition — OnStartups.com – “A few weeks ago, there was an article that came out called “Google Currents, Onswipe’s Nightmare?”. I’m also preparing for our first board meeting with newly elected independents and one of the points we are talking about happens to be competition. As you start to grow competition becomes a healthy thing to think about. Here’s how I think about competition as a cofounder and CEO of a growing venture backed startup …”

4. Banks boost lending as economy slowly warms up — USAToday — “After three years of Scrooge-like underwriting following 2008′s financial crisis, banks have turned on the spigot, boosting lending at annual rates as high as 8.2% since July, according to Federal Reserve statistics.”

5. Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not? — Both Sides of the Table — “There are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability. I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, ‘They’re not even profitable!’ I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many ‘normals’) repeating the same mantra …”

6. Eight Ways To Go Viral — TechCrunch — “What do Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Dropbox and Skype have in common? Except for being ridiculously successful, they all enjoyed a strong viral effect that helped accelerate their growth …”

7. How Iceland survived the fire — Martin Wolf’s Exchange — Iceland was the first country devastated by the financial crisis. It’s biggest banks collapsed. But, Iceland has risen from those ashes and performed extremely well over the last 3 years. This article explains how.

Now it’s your turn. What did you see this week that is worthy of everyone’s eyeballs?

Tips & Inspiration

20 content marketing ideas. Content marketing is a huge part of online business, but some entrepreneurs may be somewhat intimidated by the idea. If you fall into this category, here are some great ideas to get you started. Small Business Trends

Learning marketing tricks from other businesses. OK, this might not sound like such a revolutionary idea, but, hey, have you ever tried getting some ideas from a business that has little or nothing to do with yours? Maybe you should! Copyblogger

Being Remarkable

The hundred things that make your business special. What makes a Mexican restaurant in Utah so unique it’s worth blogging about? It could be hundreds of little things that make your small business unique. Do you know what they are? Seth Godin’s Blog

Where none have gone before. Sometimes making an impression in your business is as simple as doing something no other business has done before…at least successfully. Check this startup’s stab at unique service. What accomplishment would set your business apart? WSJ

Strategy & Tools

How quality and price impact your market. This round table discussion with entrepreneurs about balancing the right quality with the right price is a great look at how marketing is a part of everything you do. You’re the Boss

There’s a new social media marketing tool in town. While it’s important to choose your battles when it comes to online marketing, new platforms can offer intriguing new possibilities. Here’s a review of one more to explore. E-Marketing Associates

Getting Feedback

Why Twitter’s still a top tool. While you can explore the new and exotic to market your small business, it may also be a good idea not to ignore the old standbys. Here’s a look at why Twitter’s still the best promotional tool for your business. BusinessInfoGuide.com

Marketing to your early adopters. By now, most businesses are aware of the value of early adopters, those people who will try almost anything new, when marketing a new product or service. But there are some things you may want to keep in mind when marketing to this pioneering group. Startup Professionals Musings

More Marketing Ideas

Does your business tell a story? Telling a story may make your product or service more attractive to customers. Here are some simple considerations when it comes to using storytelling in your company’s marketing efforts. Channelship

Tips for better e-mail marketing. E-mail marketing remains a powerful tool and an important method of keeping information about your business in front of potential customers. Here’s another look at doing it right. Sales Tip a Day

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Marketing Ideas for Us All

This review is about one of the first email marketing companies on the Web: AWeber Communications. As far back (in Web years) as I can remember, AWeber has been the simple-to-use autoresponder service. If a person emailed you, you could set a sophisticated auto-reply via the service and keep the sales conversation going (or do whatever nurturing you wanted to do). They then branched out to let you send email newsletters and have sign-up forms on your website. Soon after, there were advanced analytics to analyze performance and better tools for segmenting your subscribers.

What I really like

• Unlimited emails. You are charged by subscribers, not email messages. It is a healthy approach compared to many in the industry that charge by the message (or tiers of messages).

• They’ve changed the signup forms. It used to be you could only create an ultra-simple form, but now there are many templates and styles to choose from. You can add checkboxes and radio buttons, just to name two of the flexible options.

• You can set when and how autoresponder messages are sent. You can track who opened a message and who didn’t. You can track if they clicked a link. The key is that it’s all easy to use and set up. Not all email systems are as easy to use or set up. I’m sure you’re not surprised by that statement if you’ve played around in email marketing at all.

Now, most email marketing platforms will let you do this stuff. But AWeber keeps the interface and steps to a minimum so you can get on with running your business. Marketing is important, but many of us do not have a dedicated marketing person or unlimited hours to get our messages out there.

What I think could be improved

Their pricing language is confusing to me.  It is $19/mo for up to 500 subscribers. If you go to 501 subscribers, it is $10 more per month (on top of the $19). Now, I eventually figured it out, but it would have been easier to just say, “501 subscribers is $29/mo.”

Again, email marketing platforms have all evolved and have many advanced features, but AWeber has done a great job over the years of focusing on what the customer, often a small business owner, needs and wants in a customer messaging system. They are fairly prolific with sharing advice and ideas for improving your email marketing, and if you do some searching you’ll find that they have been around a long time. In Internet years, that says a lot, and their blog is worth studying no matter which platform you use.

Learn more about email marketing with AWeber.

From Small Business Trends

Review: AWeber Email Marketing Service for Small Business

Small business owners are the kings and queens of creating something out of nothing, of learning every skill that they have to learn in order to move their businesses forward.  Cash-strapped individuals with great ideas have been known to be highly innovative—but that doesn’t have tp mean doing it all by yourself.

When is it time to grow the team?  Here’s a simple reality check.

What are you doing?

If you are designing your own graphics when your skill set lies in writing or negotiations or product design, then you may need to re-evaluate your efforts. If you are writing your own marketing copy when you excel at graphic design or customer service, then you may need to add a writer to the team to maximize your time and effort.

How are you doing it?

If you’re creating lowbrow solutions that make your company look like a hobby instead of a business, then you may need to upgrade the team. Just as a weak product is bad for business, weak visuals and weak content hurt your bottom line because they fail to attract the right clients.