Home Wealth Project
Extensive Research On How To Build Wealth From The Comfort Of Your Own Home.
Fillperfect Form Filler – Never Fill Out An Application Again!
Dec 10th
Fillperfect Form Filler Is An Add-on For Internet Explorer Designed Specifically For Job Hunters. With Fillperfect Form Filler You Can Instantly And Accurately Complete All Types Of Forms. Now You Can Stop Filling Out Applications The Old Fashioned Way.
Fillperfect Form Filler – Never Fill Out An Application Again!
What Will It Take to Get You to Start Hiring Again?
Sep 14th
Sure there’s lot of political talk about job creation, but let’s ignore what the politicians have to say. Instead, I want to look at what it would really take for small businesses, long touted as the “engine of job growth,” to start hiring again.
Actually small businesses do want to hire. In fact, 40.7 percent of those surveyed in an ongoing study of privately owned businesses conducted by the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp are planning to do so in the next six months, compared to 38.1% who have no plans to hire and 21.2% who are uncertain.
But access to capital is a huge stumbling block for the companies in the survey, all of which had annual sales under $5 million. Asked what policies were most likely to encourage them to hire in 2012, “increased access to capital” was cited by (34.8 percent), with tax incentives ranking second (23.2 percent) and regulatory reform third (18.3 percent).
Where would small businesses like to get capital? Bank loans were the preferred financing source for the majority (70.7 percent). Angel capital, the second most desirable funding option on the list, fell far short, cited by just 35.7 percent of survey respondents. Private equity (28.1 percent) and venture capital (27.2 percent) were close behind.
However, of those small businesses that had actually approached banks for loans in the past 12 months, only 44.5% obtained a loan. Whether or not they were successful, the study showed that the average business owner contacted 2.2 banks and spent 16 to 24 hours of time on the loan process.
In announcing the results, John Paglia, lead researcher of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and associate professor of finance at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, suggests that small businesses may be losing their incentive to pursue bank loans.
“Many businesses are now questioning whether contacting banks for credit is worth the time invested. Taking 16-24 hours away from ‘minding the store’ to pursue a loan can be extremely detrimental to any small business, especially when the odds are not in their favor,” Paglia says.
Personally, I realize that 16 to 24 hours is a substantial time investment, but if the result could potentially be a capital infusion that saves your business or helps it grow exponentially, I’d consider that a small price to pay. I’d also note that getting capital from VCs, private investors or angels is likely to take substantially longer than 16 to 24 hours.
But I also see Paglia’s point. Small businesses are losing faith. They doubt going through the normal channels will get them anywhere. And if small businesses can’t count on finding capital, they won’t have the confidence (or money) to hire.
Any entrepreneur who had to lay off staff in the Great Recession most certainly doesn’t want to do it again. As business owners, letting go of a team member hurts, so hiring isn’t a decision we make lightly.
What Will It Take to Get You to Start Hiring Again?
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Happy New Year Again: Let’s Just Start Over!
Jul 3rd
In an effort to inspire people for the New Year, Brendon Burchard, Author of the The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice, says “Stagnation equals suffering. Your mental perspective about how this year will turn out impacts how this year will turn out.”
The year is half over. How has yours turned out so far? If you’re less than thrilled, it’s still not too late to make a difference by changing your focus. I say we go for it, but what do we focus on?
In “2011: The Year of…” on American Express OPEN Forum, Laurel Delaney lays out seven trends to pay attention to this year, including cloud computing and mobile entrepreneurship. Laurel says, “You’ve heard of small business, big business and global small business. Welcome to the era of ME: Mobile Entrepreneurs.” Check out this and the other trends that she mentioned and see how they play into your small business as you decide what you’re going to focus on for the rest of this year.
For me, it’s the year of websites and emails. It’s not my only focus, but I have learned (the hard way) that I can’t do everything at once—and win.
Simple Website Tweaks
In my opinion, certain old school concepts will always have a place in business. Don’t get me wrong, I know that we need technology and innovation, so I don’t support being a dinosaur in life or business. But some of the things that we learned back in the day can go a long way—today.
I heard this as a child: Charity starts at home and spreads abroad. Well, to me your home online is your website, not your Facebook fan page, Twitter account, Google Places website or some co-branded product like Blogspot or Tumblr. You may choose to have those accounts because they do serve their purpose, but ultimately, you need an online home. And like any home that’s cared for, you’re always working to enhance it. In ”7 Website Improvements That Will Increase Sales Now,” on American Express OPEN Forum, Ivana Taylor gives some great ideas for improving the effectiveness of your digital home.
She says, “If your website still looks like an online brochure, then you are missing out on the most effective lead generation tool that you have.” Then Ivana gives us seven simple actions to take. In fact, I double dog dare you (another childhood phrase) to implement or update your site using one of her suggestions today—not tomorrow, but today before midnight. I am working on #3 on her list. Plus, I have commited to tweaking something on my website every week.
Why?
Because (potential) clients find and judge me through my website (the same could be happening to you). For a lot of small business owners it’s the modern-day business office or front desk. So make it inviting and informative.
Email Still Matters
In “What’s the Future of E-mail?” Anita Campbell highlights findings from Score’s 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review. Anita says, “Total Web email usage declined 8 percent in 2010.” In some cases, it declined even more, depending on the age group—among 25-34 year olds, email usages suffered an 18 percent decline, while among teens it dropped 59 percent. Despite this drop, Anita says, “Email isn’t going away, but it is evolving.”
My personal take on this mirrors another old-school phrase, this time from jazz legend Billie Holiday: God bless the child that’s got it’s own. I believe in having your own connections with your people (your customers) including their email addresses and their mailing addresses (because sometimes there is a need for good, old-fashioned snail mail).
The communication tactics we use in email may have to shift into something more personal, but there is still a place for this kind of connection with your (potential) customers. As Anita puts it, “Unless you market solely to teens, I don’t think you have to worry about email going the way of the dinosaur anytime soon. But you do need to be aware of changing marketing trends and make sure your business keeps pace.”
You may not focus on what I focus on for the rest of the year, but in spite of your schedule, choose something and begin to tweak your strategy in that area. It is amazing what a few focused and consistent hours can do.
Happy New Year Again: Let’s Just Start Over!
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Let’s Make It New Again: Small Business and Innovation
May 15th
A quick flip through the recent covers of Fast Company magazine is a simple indicator of how innovation is top of mind for cutting-edge businesses. In fact, one of the feature articles, The United States of Innovation by Jeff Chu and Margaret Downing, highlights creative and effective businesses from every city, with Houston as the City of the Year—I take pleasure in it being in the South—but back to business.
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, to innovate is “to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas or products.” Stated at its core, the Latin root for innovate means “to renew.”
I believe most small business owners have some knowledge of renewal, as well as a desire to implement creative and effective change. But sometimes we need a little push. Innovation doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be fresh and effective. In three interesting articles, Anita Campbell and two of our Small Business Trends experts have provided different ways of figuring out how to make your business new again.
Clouds & Innovation
In “The Lost Art of Studying the Clouds,” John Mariotti challenges the small business owner to slow down. He’s asking for five minutes of your time. He doesn’t want it for himself. He wants you to use it like you did when you were a child. In a world of virtual computing, John asks that you remember “the kind of clouds that form in the sky to show us an infinite number of patterns limited only by our eyesight and our vision.”
He suggests that creative ideas to change your business could be in the clouds. John believes that this exercise in creativity “uses the visualization skills that are so essential to innovation.” Check out the challenge at the end of his article and, like John, you just may find some of your greatest ideas while “watching the clouds drift by.”
Age & Innovation
“As business owners, we’re not seeking innovation for innovation’s sake. We’re seeking innovative ideas that have commercial potential – that can be applied in practical ways to create new products, develop new services or enable us to run our businesses better.” ~ Anita Campbell in “Are You Too Old to Be Innovative?”
Anita highlights the idea put forth by consultant Greg Farley that age is a benefit to innovation. She says, “People who don’t have a lot of experience in your business, so the argument goes, are more likely to think in unusual ways.” She mentions that in order “to bridge the gap between those out-of-the-box, innovative ideas and the practical reality of putting product in the box, you need people with experience and knowledge of your industry and your business. And those are likely to be older people.”
While Anita doesn’t wholeheartedly agree with Farley on every point, for me her post highlights the fact that there is a place for age in trendsetting and impacting creative culture.
I like the way this is going. Could it be true – that I can have my head in the clouds and can age in style? And all of it is potentially good for business? Hmmm. Let’s not stop there.
Authentic Innovation
Ivana Taylor in “Are Authentic Business Owners Happier?” challenges us to “Be yourself when you’re marketing, because the alternative is just too expensive.” While she doesn’t highlight the word innovation in this article, it does feel like the best kind of creativity there is: the one that comes from being you.
Ivana says that “being human and authentic has proven to be an insanely effective strategy for building a successful business.” And then she lays out an Authenticity Challenge for 2011. She believes that you can “structure your business in a way that is 100 percent in line with who you are as a person, your values, your beliefs, and those little things that light you up and make you the lovable, amazing person that you are.” I’m taking her up on it.
Let’s Make It New Again: Small Business and Innovation
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Small Business News: Change Again?
Nov 3rd
In case we haven’t made it clear in the past, we LOVE to get response on these small business news roundups. 
Yep, that’s even if you disagree with something you find here. Our aim is not just to share small business news and information along to you so that you can use it in your small business ventures, but to have you share it with others so that the community and the conversation grows. We hope to be a resource but also an advocate for the small business community and that means hearing from you. So come on. Share what you think. We’d really like to know. Now on to some of our toip stories:
News
Projected Republican victory in U.S. House good for small business? It’s certainly good news from the perspective of small business advocacy groups like the National Federation of Independent Business and we here at Small Business Trends are hoping it will mean a reverse in a trend toward what many saw as a disturbing shift toward ever great regulation of how we operate our businesses. But what do you think. Will a new House (and maybe a new Senate) be better for small business in the U.S.? Yahoo! News
Will the U.S. Health Care package be repealed? At the center of some U.S. small business advocats’ displeasure with the current White House administration and the current Congress is a health care package aimed at requiring some businesses to provide healthcare coverage to their employees whether they wish to or not, or else face a hefty fine. While supporters of the law point to the fact that many of the smallest businesses will be exempt, critics also worry about the overall impact on the economy. Yahoo! News
Policy
Small businesses most concerned about customer spending. Columnist Brian Wingfield gives us a snap shot of what most U.S. small business owners, regardless of political affiliation, seem most concerned about as the polls close on Election Day. And it isn’t taxes or healthcare. Or is it? Both factors probably will have an impact on consumer spending moving forward, so lawmakers new and old should keep this in mind. Forbes
Small business advocates hoping for change. Small business and large business advocates alike are hoping a more conservative Congress will also be a more business friendly one. But as one business group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, proclaimed victory over high government spending the threat of increased taxes and more regulation, some business supporters are unsure yet what all this means for small businesses. WSJ
Free Ebook
Get the SugarTone ebook for small business. The book catalogues content created in the SugarTone contest sponsored by Hewlett-Packard in August and September on BizSugar.com and Bloggertone. We’ve got too many people to thank in this little selection for helping so the event come go off so well. Meanwhile, check out the ebook drawn from the content submitted in the contest. We hope you’re inspirerd. BizSugar Blog
Tips
Improve your writing to improve your business. Whether you realize it or not, being able to write well can be a critical skill for an entrepreneur. Especially in the new digital landscape where information businesses are the key, being able to write as a small business owner to address prospects and cstomers via a blog, social media or even e-mails is critical. SmartBloggerz
Self-development
How entrepreneurship is like sneezing. With insight and some interesting stick figure drawing, business consultant Mike Davenport makes a strange comparison here. But trust us, once you read the entire post it will makea bit more sense. If you think entrepreneurship or small business operation or ownership is something that will eventually go away if you stifle it, think again. It’s time to give in to the impulse. 360 Days of Startups
Small Business News: Change Again?
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Google Place Search Changes the Local Game Again
Nov 1st
Google Place Search Changes the Local Game Again
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Last week Google reshuffled/revealed its local search strategy by introducing something called Place Search.
Place search eliminates the local search 7 box and blends local and organic results in a way that clearly demonstrates how important local search is to them – and consequently to your local small business.
Google has been steadily improving its ability to predict your location and offer up local results even without the use of a city name or location in your query. (It’s very interesting to experiment with this function one letter at a time in Instant Search.)
Google Place Search – note the map has moved too
One thing that’s certain from this new look is that you must claim, optimize, amplify, and participate on your Google Places Page. If you thought this was a nice thing you would get around to someday, stop right now and go get this in the works. It will be very hard for a business to rank well for local search lacking a dynamic Google Places Page.
Once you claim your Places page you must go to work on the elements that will give your page a competitive advantage
1) Add images, video and product/service descriptions to your page. Add custom fields to get more relevant content. Spend time getting the right Places categories.
2) Get listed in other second tier directories – here’s the easiest way
3) Get involved in the ratings game – on Google, Yelp, CitySearch, InsiderPages – reviews on your Google Places page and from other major review sites are a key ingredient for higher local ranking and have become an expectation from shoppers.
Ratings and reviews are an important ranking factor
4) Start routinely using the Places Posting feature to add fresh content
5) Add coupons and try out the Google Tags
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Won’t get fooled again
Oct 30th
I know you say your media returns results better than anyone else’s. I’ve heard that before.
I know you say that this stock is a sure thing, even better than gold. I’ve heard that before.
I know you say you’ll work full time on business development even though it’s hard work and there are distractions everywhere. I’ve heard that before.
I know you say that your promotional strategy for this movie is huge and we should run more ads and promote it more as a result. We’ve heard that before too.
The reason that people don’t believe you isn’t that you’re a liar. The reason we don’t believe you is that the guy before you (and the woman before him) were unduly optimistic hypesters and we got burned. We believed, we leaned into it and we got stuck.
If you catch yourself making a promise that’s been made before, stop. Don’t spend a lot of time and effort building credibility with this sort of promising, because it doesn’t pay off.
Make different promises, or even better, do, don’t say.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
Why Airlines are Profitable Again
Oct 5th
Scouring today’s business headlines, I came across headlines like British Airways Logs Biggest Gain Since Lehmann Collapse and US Airways Sees Profit for Year.
It’s not like Americans have more disposable income for travel, so what gives?
Fees, for one. Like banks before them, airlines have become learned in the art of pilfering crumbs from your payment, one small upcharge at a time. If you’ve ever tried to get a “$9 fare” on Spirit or Allegiant, you’ve witnessed the masters at work. If you’re someone with a bag to check who happens to need in-flight food and leg room, prepare to sprinkle an extra $75 on top of that rock-bottom fare. Delta’s baggage fee collections alone went up 116% this year, according to this government report.
The clincher? Airlines don’t have to pay federal taxes on most of the fees they charge. They’re making a killing on what are essentially mandatory under-the-table tips.
If you’ve noticed longer lines for your flight, that’s also part of the airlines’ strategy. They’re offering fewer flights, suppressing flight supply. The same number of people want to travel, so airlines both fill flights and are able to charge more per flight. According to this Reuters report on US Airways:
The airline said passenger revenue per available seat mile, an important measure, rose about 12 percent in the month of September from a year earlier, including feeder aircraft. Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled on planes, rose to 81.8 percent in the month from 78.8 percent a year before.
Deliberately decreasing flight supply works wonders on the ol’ bottom line. Speaking of artificial supply, fuel prices have also stayed moderate, keeping gas costs for airplanes manageable.
There are also more tasteful business reasons for the increase in profit. Keeping an entire fleet to one model, the way Southwest does with Boeing 737s, means that pilots and crew only need to be trained for that airplane. It “also lowers inventory, record keeping and maintenance costs, and it minimizes the number of technical manuals, tools and spare parts. Also, fleet management is greatly simplified,” according to Boeing, which proudly makes the point on its website. Focusing on more profitable routes, outsourcing flights to fellow network carriers, and even good customer service are proven paths to profitability for airlines.
It’s too bad that airlines, after 2001′s $15 billion airline bailout, are also resorting to more shady measures to boost their bottom lines.
View full post on Business Pundit
Duct Tape On the Road Again
Sep 14th
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Every now and then people ask me when I’m coming to their town! So, here are three dates where I will be speaking at public events and I hope you can make one or all!
New York Times Small Business Summit – Thursday September 23rd at the Hilton New York
as part of OPENForum Roundtables – you can join a table and discuss small business marketing pretty much all day!
Register here
Teaching Your Business to Market Itself – October 5th from 4 to 7 PM at Stonehill College in Easton MA.
This is a workshop focused on creating a referral system based on my best selling book – The Referral Engine
Register here
Conquer and Grow will be held on October 7th and 8th, 2010 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
The line-up of small business experts including Michael Gerber, Bill Glazer, Mark Victor Hansen, John Jantsch, Rich Schefren, Pam Slim, Rich Sloan and many more!
Register here
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View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Venture Capitalists are Favoring the Biomedical Sector (Again)
Aug 30th
Over the past few years, venture capitalists have made a lot of investments in the biomedical sector. A recent blog post by CB Insights explained that biomedical deals have grown dramatically since 1998, reflecting a 13-year trend towards investment in that sector.
A RETURN TO HISTORICAL PATTERNS
While venture capital investments are more concentrated in the biomedical sector today than they were in the late 1990s, focusing on the rising trend since that time fails to put investors’ interest in historical perspective. As the figure below shows, 2000 was the low point for venture capital focus on biomedical ventures because it was the height of the dot-com bubble.
Looked at over a longer time horizon, venture capital investment in the biomedical sector simply appears to have rebounded from an abnormally low level.
When measured in terms of the share of dollars rather than deals, the numbers are similar. As the figure below shows, the percentage of dollars invested by venture capitalists in biomedical ventures was high in the early 1990s, fell during the dot-com boom, and has been returning to historical levels. (We are closer to the peak biomedical share when measured in dollars rather than in deals because biomedical deals tend to be large.)
THE SOURCE OF BIOMEDICAL SECTOR DEAL GROWTH
What types of deals are driving the biomedical sector’s return to its historical share of venture capital? CB Insights argues that “the strength in healthcare investment has been driven largely by venture capital investment in medical devices and equipment.” I’m not so sure.
True, medical device deals have grown a lot since the end of the dot-com boom. But since 2000 they have grown more slowly than biotechnology deals, as the figure below shows. This subsector’s share of venture capital deals is now at its highest level since 1980, hitting 14.2 percent of all investments in 2009. The real laggard has been health care services, which has accounted for a declining share of venture capital deals since 1996.
As the figure below shows, the patterns are similar when measured in terms of share of dollars rather than share of deals. Since 2000, biotech has had the highest growth on this measure of any biomedical subsector, hitting a record share of dollars invested last year.
In short, the story of investment by venture capitalists in the biomedical sector seems different from what has been told elsewhere. The share of venture capital investment in this sector is returning to pre dot-com era levels from an abnormally low point. While medical devices are part of that resurgence, the growth is also being driven by biotechnology, with only health care services being left out of the picture.
Venture Capitalists are Favoring the Biomedical Sector (Again)
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
