I am confident that if you have heard of Twitter, you might have wondered: “What is the big deal anyway?” As many of my entrepreneurial followers know, I am a big fan of Web 2.0 and beyond for growing your business. Social networking has become a powerful way for solopreneurs to connect on a global business level. Twitter is a part ...

Education or value-based marketing is an important tool to attracting new customers to your business. Blogging is an excellent tool for sharing that knowledge with potential customers. Therefore, having your own blog or blog posting, commenting on others Blogs is a smart marketing strategy, as long as you implement these tactics. These tips will get you started increasing your education-based marketing ...

Women are starting businesses at a rate three times that of men, but there are still inroads to be made in typically male-dominated fields such as publishing, biotechnology and gaming, to name a few. h4. *Biotechnology* Mireille Gingras is founder, CEO and president of HUYA Bioscience International, a company that focuses on drug development. She offers the following five tips for ...

Take a look at the top 2 reasons businesses fail: inadequate capital and excessive cost overruns. Don’t let your business fail because of these two things. Since most of us don’t have lots of capital available to us to start our operation, we must use what we have wisely. Here are 10 ways to use that capital wisely and manage your ...

Prospective clients often ask this question: "I have an idea and I want to start a business, but where do I go from here?" Depending on their background, their proposed industry and what they have accomplished at the time the question is asked, my answer varies. However, one component of my answer never changes: I always advise clients to do some ...

Thinking about starting a home business or side business? My tongue-in-cheek checklist might let you know if you are ready for it—or go through a "real" assessment to determine whether or not you are ready to start a business" (warning—it’s pretty conservative, so don’t let it discourage you from continuing to prepare yourself for entrepreneurship). So let’s say you’ve made the ...

Did you know that forty percent—40 percent—of young people want to be their own boss someday? That’s a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. Millions, in fact. Truth is, only a fraction of those people ever really start a business. Some get comfortable in a lifestyle that they can’t afford to give up. Others realize just how hard it is to be an ...

Growing your business online makes smart business sense these days. Learning how to do it right the first time is critical. There are many people out there who claim to be "Social Media Experts." And they charge some pretty nice fees to "coach" people to improve their online marketability. I also think there are many people out there trying to be ...

Perceptions are how we view everything. It is the way we see, believe and feel the world around us. You know what you know because you experienced it in one form or another. Some of the ways we develop perceptions come from our environment, experiences and relationships. The media offers a myriad of beliefs and images to convince us their way ...

Wow. As I thought about the past eight years and what it’s been like being an entrepreneur, I was struck by how many mistakes I’ve made. I was also struck by how great those mistakes have been for my business. If it were not for all those mistakes, my business would never have grown. I would never have written a book, ...

Whether starting your own business is something you've always dreamed of or it's one option after an unexpected layoff, there are several points to consider before striking out on your own: A New Business Is Like a New Baby If you're a parent, you know how your baby changed your life in ways you never anticipated. You may have envisioned parenthood ...

Understanding the different levels of marketing and building a strategy for marketing are critical for your success as an entrepreneur. Marketing plans will have costs and profits, and each type of marketing has different levels of return on investment (ROI). I run two chapters of eWomenNetwork, the #1 resource for connecting women and their businesses worldwide. We teach women about marketing ...

So, what’s the deal with the power of persuasion? Is it just a good business skill or is it manipulation? Let’s talk about manipulation first. A typical sales pitch involves the motive to manipulate. It will look like a set up, and the one being set up will feel like a caged animal. The seller begins zeroing in on the potential ...

I get at least one email a week asking if I would consider becoming a mentor. As a full time internet marketing mom, I’m doing what thousands of others wish to do so the requests aren’t surprising — it’s just not easy to know how to respond. I don’t like saying no to a genuine request, but mentoring is time consuming. ...

Presidents were once lowly employees too... Think Presidents have it easy with all of their Cabinet and appointed staff to do things for them? Well, life wasn’t always so sweet. They had to work their way up the career ladder to the White House too! Here are some examples of jobs they had before the Oval Office and tips that ...

I have researched and found three very effective tools to help you market your business more effectively. The first tool is the advice of successful entrepreneurs and public relations specialists. When telling people what you do or what your business is all about, say the name of your business and one sentence describing it. _Example:_ "Excelle, networking for career minded women." ...

Bad news. Money, power, and size no longer matter—at least, if you are a brand trying to score with a hot young thing. We girls were just checking out a list of the best global brands, and we wondered what rock those who made the selections have been living under. Then we realized that, as Millennials, we may inhabit the same ...

Since speaking at Small Business Marketing Unleashed, I’ve been thinking a lot about the both the best use and the abuse of social media. After listening to my extremely talented peers speak on the subject, it occurred to me that I sometimes take for granted that people know the best practices of using web 2.0 to build their businesses. I’ve seen ...

Running a company during a recession can pose major challenges to their owners. But it also offers them an opportunity to revamp their businesses and find new avenues for success. Here are six strategies for small-business owners who are struggling to survive in a weak economy: *Exercise your bargaining power* Recessions can take a toll on a company’s cash flow. If ...

So you’re starting a small business. You figured out what you wanted to sell or do and went out and got it all set up, had your DBA framed and on the wall, and now all you need is for someone to buy your product or use your service. Right? How are you going to go about getting your public to ...