Small Business Ideas, Advice and Resources

Digital Marketing Survey
Are you using digital marketing to promote your business? Do you have questions about digital marketing? Take our survey!
 

11 Networking Strategies to Build Professional Practices
Networking works for professionals in all fields, but there's a lot more to it than putting your practice's name in an industry directory. Here are 11 tips to help you succeed at networking.

Should You Hire Family and Friends for Your Small Business?
If you own a small business you will probably be tempted at some point to hire a relative or close friend - whether it's because they are desperately in need of a job or because you really need the help of someone you know and trust. Before you bring your best friend, brother-in-law, or third cousin twice removed on board, consider these pros and cons of hiring family and friends.

Owner Finance: The Best Way to Buy a Business Today
Owner financing--if you can get it--is one of the best ways to borrow money to buy a business, especially with how difficult it has become to get a start-up loan from a bank. Read this article to find out how owner financing works.

Six Summertime Survival Tips For Work-at-Home Moms
The kids are out of school and you hear the pool calling your name... but your home business still needs as much of your attention as ever. Here are six tips work-at-home moms can use to keep their businesses running smoothly over the summer months.

5 Ways to Advertise Your Website for Free
Looking for ways to promote your website on a budget? How about for free? These five website advertising methods will cost you nothing more than a little time.

Bank of America Hiring Small Business Bankers Throughout the US
Small business owners don't typically get a lot of attention from banks, but Bank of America has set out to change that. Recognizing that running a business is a time consuming job, they've hired hundreds of small business bankers whose job is to reach out directly to their small business customers.

How accountants can help small business owners gain insight into their operations
Think an accountant is only valuable to your business at tax time? According to Jennifer Warawa of Sage North America, consulting with an accountant year-round could give your business the edge to thrive, even in a difficult economy.

Are you managing your cash flow, or is it managing you?
After weathering several years of slow sales and a tough economy, most retailers have run out of ways to cut expenses or reduce inventories. To keep cash flow in the positive, you've got to learn to make the most of the income you have available. Here are questions you can ask yourself to be sure you're effectively managing your cash flow rather than letting it manage you.

7 Ways to Get Publicity This Summer
While the marketing and public relations experts are off enjoying their hard-earned vacations, the media are left scrambling for much needed copy. Plan ahead, and give them what they're looking for! Here are seven publicity ideas you can use to tie into summer events in your community.

Ideas for Starting a Business
  • 12 Ways to Start a Business
  • Transforming Your Hobby Into A Career
  • Can't Find a Job? Start a Business Instead
  • 5 Ways to Find the Perfect Business Idea

31 Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business
How can you spread the word about your business without going broke? Where can you advertise effectively for little or no money? Here are 31 proven, low cost ideas to promote your business.

How to Sell Quality for Winning Marketing Results
Quality is most definitely a point your customers consider before buying from you. So how do you convince them that your business provides the best quality service or product out there? Here's how to play the "q-card" in your marketing.

Why Your Business Needs Balance: Men and Women
Is gender uniformity holding your company back? Do you have too many men or too many women controlling decisions and the direction your company moves? If so, the lack of gender diversity could be keeping your company all it should. Here's why.

Create Greater Success with Effective Goal Setting
Whether your big dream is to start your own business, earn more money in your job, or simply have more time to spend with your family, it all starts out with setting a goal. You can improve the odds that you'll achieve your goals by following these steps.

Should You Buy a Tablet, E-Reader, Netbook, or Ultrabook?
The options available in portable computing have exploded in recent years. Find out which mobile device - netbook, tablet, e-reader or ultrabook - will serve your computing needs best.

6 Ways to Start a Business with Bad Credit
It's not easy to find money to start a business if your personal credit history isn't pristine. But it can be done. Here are some ways you may be able to get the money you need to get the business off the ground.

Biggest Performance Appraisal Mistakes
There are five big mistakes that managers often make when giving performance reviews to employees. This article tells you what they are and how to avoid them.

Protect Your Business from Credit Card Fraud
Credit card fraud is a problem most small businesses don't think about - until it hits them.  If you sell online, or by mail, your business is particularly vulnerable to losing money due to fraudulent credit card orders. Here's what you need to know to minimize your risk from credit card fraud losses.

6 Ways to Find Out What Your Customers Think
When you have accurate, balanced and worthwhile information from your customers, you put yourself ahead of your competition in the marketing stakes. Here are 6 ways to get this information.

11 Ways to Beat the Competition
In today’s tough economy, small business owners are faced with the difficult task of doing much more with a lot less. Ed Hess reminds them that even though they might be making cuts to their prices and budgets, now is not the time to start cutting great customer service out of their business plans.

How was your first quarter? 3 questions you need to ask NOW!
The first quarter of 2012 is officially behind us. How'd your business do? Here are three questions you'll want to ask yourself to prepare for the rest of the year.

Key Components of a Business Plan
What are the parts of a business plan? A good business plan has ten key parts. Covering each of these areas is important if you want to attract investors. Learn about the first five of these components of a good business plan here.

8 Steps to Proactively Manage Business Expenses
Real cost savings for your business won't come in the way of cutting out this expense or that expense. To see lasting results, follow these eight steps for managing your business's expenses.

3 Major Mistakes to Avoid at Networking Events
Attending networking events is still a great way to meet potential customers, but how you go about it has changed. In fact, some networking techniques that were popular just a few years ago will get you nowhere at today's networking functions. Here are three networking mistakes to avoid.

Find the Best Marketing Strategies for Your Business
Today's technology provides small businesses with dozens of marketing options that weren't available in the not-too-distant past. Staying on top of them all, let alone learning to use any of them effectively can be a full-time job. Here's how you can figure out which methods are best for your business.

How to Motivate Yourself for Difficult Projects
When you face a major project in your business, getting started can be the hardest part. Discover the four steps that will get you moving.
 

8 Email Mistakes You Don't Want to Make
Do you wonder why people don't respond to your emails as quickly as you'd like? Are coworkers not copying you on office memos or other email you would normally expect to get? Maybe you've unknowingly made one or more of these terribly annoying email mistakes.

9 Common Business Card Blunders
A business card is one of the most important and cost-effective marketing tools a business can have. And yet, too often it's a missed opportunity to make a great impression. Here are the 9 most common mistakes people make on their business cards.

Video App Fills Big Need for Small Business
Looking for business ideas? The best businesses to start are those that fill an existing need. And that's exactly what ViewBix, a video tool that adds interactivity to videos has done. Here's how it helps small businesses.

Are Discounts Hurting Your Business's Profitability?
Having a sale to attract customers is a time-honored marketing strategy, but is it one you should be using in your business? Learn why discounting can erode your profits even as it stimulates sales and find out what you can do to avoid having to discount prices to compete.

How to Avoid Common Work at Home Scams
Working from home is a great way to supply the additional income often needed for one spouse to stay home and raise their children. Sadly, many people are scared away from doing so because of the many scams that are so prevalent today. Here are several tips to help you avoid work-at-home scams.

6 Ways You Might Be Losing Sales on the Internet
Are you satisfied with the amount of traffic you're getting to your website? What about the number of sales or leads? If your website is not helping you bring in business on a regular basis, you could be making one or more of these surprisingly common 6 website mistakes.

Marketing Strategies That Work
You don't have to be a marketing professional to come up with good marketing strategies for your business. You just need to think outside the box. Here's how to do it.

5 Steps to Better Employee Communication
Good communication in your small business is important for your employees' morale and productivity. Here are five steps to improving workplace communication.

Unconventional Ways to Improve Your Business Writing Skills
How well you write for business impacts your credibility, your effectiveness and your productivity as a business owner and manager. These three little known tips can help you improve your business writing skills.

3 Tests to Qualify for a Small Business Loan
When you're trying to get a small business loan, banks and lenders are really only interested in one thing: your ability to repay the loan. If your business's finances can pass these three tests, then you'll probably qualify for the loan.

17 Low Cost Ways to Get Newsletter Subscribers
Online newsletters and ezines are one of the most cost-effective tools you can use to market your business. So how do you grow your list without breaking the bank? Here are 17 tried and true methods of getting new subscribers for your newsletter.

How to Avoid Making Bad Business Decisions
Bad business decisions can cost your company thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, they aren't always easy to spot before the damage has been done. Here are five questions you should ask to help yourself make good business decisions.

Dealing with Difficult Customers
You will eventually have to deal with an unhappy client no matter how good your customer service is. Whether you made a mistake or they're just having a bad day, these five tactics can help you handle difficult customers.

8 Ways to Market Your Home Business
You had high hopes when you started your home business, but customers have been few and far between. How can you keep your home business dreams alive? Here are several suggestions to help.

The 5 Most Important Emails to Send Customers
If you’re not emailing your customers, you’re missing out on one of the least expensive, highest return methods for increasing sales and building customer loyalty. Here are the five customer emails no business can afford to skip.

Reasons Why Businesses Fail
When you're starting a new business, the last thing you want to focus on is failure. But if you address the common reasons for failure up front, you'll be much less likely to fall victim to them yourself. Here are the top 7 reasons why businesses fail and tips for avoiding them.

Follow Us

Share This Page