8 Key Things to Highly Successful Thinking!
Stacy Karacostas – Practical Marketing Expert and author, “The Small Business Website Bible”
What are successful entrepreneurs doing differently than those who are not experiencing the growth or revenue they want? Based on my experience and observations, here is a list of 8 quick and easy things successful small business owners are doing that you can do too!
1) Forget about the state of the economy! If you sell products or services that are truly helpful or useful there will always be people willing to buy.
2) Offer something new! If people aren’t buying what you’re currently selling, but they used to, that’s a sign that something needs to change.
3) Stop guessing! Find out what your prospective clients and customers want, and then give it to them. You can do this by surveying your people in person, by using a short written evaluation, or via email.
4) Embrace technology! The World Wide Web is no longer the Wild West, but there is still plenty of room to make your mark. And all the social networking tools make it super cheap to market your business effectively!
5) Provide value! The days of the pushy salesperson are going…going…gone. Nowadays people don’t have extra cash burning a hole in their pocket. Focus less on selling your products and services and more on how you can be a helpful problem solver!
6) Embrace mixed media marketing! Silver bullets don’t exist when it comes to marketing. Instead of focusing on one form of media, create a strategy that uses as many tactics as you can to reach your people!
7) Keep learning! Times and technology are changing fast. It’s up to you to stay on top of what’s new and what’s working now. But you can’t do that if you’re always buried in your business.
Stop doing it all yourself! This one is a biggie! The people I know who have successful growing businesses and fulfilling lives have figured this out. Face it, you don’t have time to become skilled at doing everything it takes to market, grow, and run your business. Eventually you’ll hit a wall, business growth will stop, and you’ll be exhausted and burned out.
Practical Marketing Expert Stacy Karacostas specializes in taking the stress, struggle and confusion out of growing your small business. She’s the author of “Putting Your Business on the Road to Success”, “The Small Business Website Bible” and more than 200 articles on marketing, copywriting, sales and success. For more information, visit Success-Stream.com.
Is this the golden age of small business? Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine thinks so. We lead off with an Open Forum interview of Anderson by marketing guru Seth Godin. It may feel strange to think of the tail end of the Great Recession as small business’s Golden Age, but listen to Chris and see if you agree. This is the small business news roundup from Small Business Trends for April 28, 2010.
Small Is Big
There’s never been a better time. A boom for business may never have looked stranger, but here is Anderson’s bold argument that we are entering a Golden Age. Open Forum Innovation
Small business, like life, has its ups and downs. One small business guru shares his own personal battle as an example of the right attitude toward failures in business and life. Barry J. Moltz
Selling your small town business. The sixth part in this rural business series talks about the challenge of finding a buyer in a small rural market. Small Biz Survival
How to make your small business profitable. Some important variables any business can change to create a brand new profit formula. Zane Safrit
Startup
How much is your business worth? And how do you decide how much to give away to investors when seeking money to startup or grow. WSJ
Got a date with an angel? Here are some important pointers for gaining funding from an angel investor. WSJ
Does your small business qualify for government contracts? Washington has set-asides for a variety of small businesses in special classifications. Learn more in this video. Open Forum Innovation
Finance
Challenges for the self-employed or small business owner. Simple financing can be one of the greatest difficulties small businesses and entrepreneurs face. The Yonatan Maisel Blog
Marketers
As if we needed more data on this. A new report suggests as much as 91 percent of businesses use social media for marketing. Webbiquity
Turning up the lead generation. How is generating an ongoing pipeline of leads like mixing a great piece of music in a recording studio? It all comes down to tweaking the right dials. B2B Lead Generation Blog
Fiona White knows social media is important for marketing. But she’s beginning to really worry about the time she’s been spending on Facebook. Bloggertone
Tech
A new app can help record business mileage. Read this review of the new iPhone application TripAlly for more on the tool that is making recording mileage by hand history. National Association for the Self-Employed
Networking
A how-to for business networking. If this is something you don’t already do well or something you feel you could use some help with read this post. Bloomberg Business
Tweeting to your network. The microblogging platform presents some excellent opportunities for a lot more than marketing. Here’s how to use Twitter for your networking needs. Cindy King
Policy
Free seminar May 12 on legislation and your business. Learn more about how such issues as healthcare, cap and trade and labor regulations affect your business and your profits. National Federation of Independent Business
From Small Business Trends
Small Business News: The Golden Age?
Business incorporation has become synonymous with responsible business ownership. Yet, so many misconceptions and rumors exist about the benefits of business incorporation. So it’s no wonder that even the savviest entrepreneurs are at a loss as to whether incorporation is right for them, what it will cost, and where to start.
Business incorporation (which, by the way, is an umbrella term for a number of business structure options) may be right for some business owners, but it isn’t for all. So it’s worth doing some stepping back and ascertaining whether incorporation is right for you.
Here are some points to consider:
What is Business Incorporation?
As mentioned above, business incorporation is a loose umbrella term that covers a variety of options for legally structuring your business. These options include becoming a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, S-corporation, non-profit 501(c)(3), cooperative, and so on.
Whatever business structure you choose needn’t be set in stone, and can be changed as your business matures. For example, many small business owners start out as sole proprietorships or partnerships with formal incorporation taking place at a later date.
Of the many business entities that owners consider, LLCs and Subchapter S Corporations (S-Corps) are two of the most popular. Read “Should My Company be an LLC, an S-Corp or Both?” to determine which features are most important to you and your company.
The Benefits of Incorporation
Here are some of the benefits you can realize if you decide to incorporate your business:
- Personal Liability Protection – An incorporated company affords protection from any personal liability for your business debts and obligations. For example, if someone sues your company they can only go after your company’s assets, not your own (although there are exceptions – see below**under “The Disadvantages of Incorporation”).
- Tax Benefits – If you incorporate you may gain tax benefits, although only under certain circumstances. This is one area to discuss with an accountant, as the marginal tax rates for corporations with taxable incomes in some cases can be higher than those for an individual in the same scale. Read more about the tax implications of incorporating from the government here.
- Corporate Identity – Incorporating can give a greater sense of credibility to your business.
- Raising Capital – You can raise capital more easily through the sale of stock and securities if your business is incorporated.
- Unlimited Life – Your corporation can have an indefinite life and outlive you. Do note that LLCs have a limited duration. Get more information on business structure differences from the SBA.
The Disadvantages of Incorporation
Some of the disadvantages of incorporation, particularly for the small business owner, include:
- Paperwork - Depending on the structure you choose, you may need to file two tax returns (one for you, one for your business) and keep good records.
- Cost - The fees associated with initial incorporation and ongoing maintenance can put a strain on start-ups. However, LLCs (a hybrid-type of legal structure that provides the limited liability features of a corporation and the tax efficiencies and operational flexibility of a partnership ) can be a more economic alternative to incorporation.
- **Liability may not be as limited as you think – The limited liability advantages of incorporation can be challenged by personal guarantees and credit agreements. For example, when a corporation has insufficient assets to secure a loan, banks often insist on personal guarantees from the business owner. This can result in personal liability for repayments if your corporation can’t meet its obligations.
Is Incorporation Right for My Business?
At the end of the day, choosing the right business structure for your small business comes down to several factors such as your risk of liability, your tax obligations, business objectives, and so on.
Because the needs of every business are different, and the law varies from state-to-state, it’s worth an hour or two with a knowledgeable attorney to investigate all of the issues that will affect your decision.
Getting Started with the Process of Incorporation
All business incorporations must be filed with your state government. Whether you choose to pursue this through an attorney or choose an online legal service is up to you. But try to get referrals and recommendations from other businesses that have been through the process.
If you operate in multiple states, read “Which State is best for My Small Business?” to determine which state is the friendliest to corporations and incorporate in that state.
Additional Resources
Business.gov Incorporation Guide – This Web guide draws information from across government to provide small business owners with vital information and resources about what incorporation is and how it can work for your business.
Related Articles
From Small Business Trends
Forming a Business Structure – Is Incorporation Right for You?
Brace yourself: Facebook is trying to take over the world. Or, if not the world, at least the entire Internet. With Facebook partnering up with popular sites like Yelp, many SMB owners may feel as if their load got lighter. I mean, why waste time worrying about your building your blog or your own site when you can grow your Facebook presence instead? If Facebook’s opening up the doors so that people can take you with them, you don’t have to worry about anything else anymore, right?
Wrong!
It doesn’t matter how hot Facebook or any of the other social media sites are looking right now. You still need to be focused on using your blog to create your own authority and brand. Want to know why?
Here are ten reasons.
- You Don’t Own Facebook: Today, Facebook stands as a great marketing channel for small business owners looking to extend relationships or bridge social capital via Payvment . Sounds great today, but remember that a few years ago MySpace and Friendster were the hot social networks of the moment. You don’t see too many marketers making these sites part of their social strategies today. Why? Because users move on. Because these networks can be bought and sold. They shift focus. They stop lending themselves to social marketing. While it’s never smart to put all your eggs in one basket, it’s especially unwise to do it when you don’t even own the basket. Make sure you’re diversifying your marketing and using the channels you most control.
- Not Everyone Is Happy With Facebook: Google engineers are deleting their accounts (with obvious motive), users are angered by the new invasive approach, and Facebook has even caught the eye of four US Senators now asking them to take a step back. With regulators being asked to step in and force changes upon Facebook, no one knows what’s going to still be around tomorrow.
- Blogging Builds Your House, Not Theirs: The content you create and post to your blog acts to build your site and your authority. That’s where your focus should be – on building a community on the site that you own. Facebook and the other social media sites help you build satellite communities, which are great, but the goal is always to direct people back to your site to get them to convert. Continually posting great content builds your network and your brand. You don’t want to build a house for someone else (say, Facebook), while yours in jeopardy of falling down.
- Creates A Site Reservoir For Common Questions: By blogging about common product or service questions, it gives you a permanent place on your site to direct people for information. That means less phone calls into your customer service center and less frustration from customers who now have a place to go to get help to common concerns. Putting that content on your site means it becomes part of your archives, no one else’s.
- Additional Search Engine Rankings: Keeping focus on your blog means that you can write content specifically intended to gain rankings for keywords you’re not strongly targeted on your main site. It also means that your content and brand will continue to show up for targeted searches and that you’ll gain authority and visibility through those rankings. You may be able to get your Facebook profile to rank for your company name, but through your blog you can get specific pieces of content to rank for high conversion searches.
- Credibility: Blogging breeds thought leadership when your become known as the “Go To” source for a specific topic. Constantly sharing thoughts, insight, and information helps you show your own expertise on a particular subject… expertise that is then associated with your blog and Web site. Posting information to Facebook segregates what you’re putting out to a walled garden and makes it harder for people to find it and associate it with your company. On Facebook, you only build credibility with the people who already know about you.
- Build Links: When you say something smart on your blog, people are going to link to your site and talk about you. The links then help to increase the overall authority of your site, earn you higher rankings and help other people find out about your site or blog. When you say something smart on Facebook, people are going to Like the status update. And then move on. Not quite the same effect.
- Centralized Content: Blogs allow you to utilized multiple types of content in one place. You can use images, video, audio, and graphics at whim without having to worry about whether or not Facebook will allow you to properly upload the content. This helps to present customers with a much more unified experiences and allows you to control your own marketing messages. You don’t get that level of control using a third-party site like Facebook or Twitter.
- Gives you something to link to: By creating content on your blog, it gives you something to link people to when you’re engaging on outside social networks. If you’re producing all your content on Twitter, then your Twitter accounts in the only tool in your bag. By strengthening your own site, you have a content-rich place to send people looking for information, either about your or the services that you offer.
- Better Conversion Tracking: While Facebook does allow some ability to track what people are doing and interacting with on your back, your blog gives you the greatest ability to track action and conversion potential. You’re ability to track people through your site, the types of content they most interact with, whether or not they’re clicking through to interior pages, etc. The more you know how someone is interacting with your site, the better you can customize their experience. Remember, the goal behind social media isn’t to be in social media. The goal is to increase conversions.
Though it can be attractive as a SMB owner to let social sites like Facebook or Twitter become your dominant Web presence, it comes with a high cost. The less time you spend building content and authority for your site, the more you make yourself dependent on tools that may one day fall away. And if Facebook or Twitter went away tomorrow – would you have enough seeds planted to attract your audience? Use sites like Facebook to build your audience and promote your brand, but your blog should still be the cornerstone of your social activity.
From Small Business Trends
10 Reasons Not To Ignore Your Blog For Facebook
How has marketing changed for small business over the years? Well, the Web and technology in general have opened previously unavailable opportunities, but this has also created new issues for small business owners and entrepreneurs of every size. In today’s small business roundup for April 27, 2010, we look at the realities of new marketing and how it will affect your business as well as other important information and tips.
Marketing
Why you can’t afford to be cynical about your marketing. In an age of increasing transparency, being less than honest about your communications with customers and the public can cost you. SEO Book
Is spam the new norm? Why every business owner should know the difference between spamming and marketing. And why a commitment against unwelcome marketing is important. Seth Godin’s Blog
Using testimonials. Here are 24 important rules to follow when using testimonials as a marketing tool for your product service or organization. Understanding Marketing
How to use content for marketing. The key to article and content marketing is to provide useful and helpful information and use a good strategy. eVision
Tech
How to avoid the dangers of PowerPoint. Can the popular presentation tool used by so many business people present problems when used incorrectly? (Remember, it won’t fix a poor presentation.) smallbiztechnology.com
New tool makes e-mail sign up easy. Here’s an overview of a new product that allows retailers, restaurants and other brick and mortar businesses to build a customer data base quickly and easily. Understanding Marketing
Five reasons to say yes. If you aren’t blogging for your business, where have you been? Here are some more really good reasons to get started now. Winning Workplaces
Operations
Small business government contracting. The most important tips for small businesses interested in contracting with the government also happen to be good tips for any small business anywhere. Open Forum Innovation
How would you define small business success? Success is probably relative depending upon the outlook of the individual and there are probably as many answers as small business owners. But here is one. CFO Wise
Sales
Is proliferation of products always wasteful? What if your customer wants two-dozen varieties of Wheat Thin crackers? Open Forum Innovation
Has your business overcome initial customer reluctance? If so, Guy Kawasaki would like to hear from you. So drop by his Website or drop him an e-mail and you may wind up the subject of a future post! How To Change The World
Self-development
How to find your expertise. Sometimes success in business has to do with figuring out what you know more about than anyone else. Youngentrepreneur
Want to be a better communicator? The ability to make yourself understood can be crucial in business and life. Here are some simple steps to get you started. Corporate Coach Group
Franchises
The 100 best franchises today. Joel Libava shares a valuable online resource to some of the top opportunities for small business entrepreneurs. The Franchise King
The Book Shelf
How pricing can grow your business. Ivana Taylor reviews 1% Windfall by Rafi Mohammed. Small Business Trends
From Small Business Trends
Small Business News: The New Marketing
