Home Wealth Project
Extensive Research On How To Build Wealth From The Comfort Of Your Own Home.
Are You Ready to Make the Jump into Small Business Ownership?
Feb 5th
There are two types of entrepreneurs: those that jump into a new business headfirst, and those that dip their toes in the water. One’s not better than the other, though the second one is probably more prepared for what lies ahead. In Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership (@MakingtheJump), authors David Nilssen (@DavidNilssen) and Jeff Levy (@JeffLTheESource) guide readers into the water, so to speak. They dissect what it takes to become a business owner into easy-to-digest chapters peppered with real-world examples.
What You’ll Find
I received a review copy of this book from the authors. Although this book was written to be used in a more formal education setting, it doesn’t come off like the college textbooks I had. It’s a pretty small book, not even 200 pages, for the amount of information it offers.
The book is divided into several sections:
- Find the Entrepreneur in You
- Your Business
- Getting Started
- Parting Thoughts
The start of the book gets you thinking about whether you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur. It doesn’t sugarcoat small business ownership; in fact, it forces you to ask yourself hard questions, like whether you’d be willing (or able) to go without a paycheck for up to two years to get your business launched. If this section doesn’t scare you off, the rest of the book will help you determine what type of business you could launch, as well as details on how to get started.
The Authors Know Their Stuff
I don’t like small business books written by people who don’t actually have experience running a business. That’s why it’s nice to know that both Levy and Nilssen have launched multiple companies and helped others with their businesses. Neither has an advanced business degree, which just goes to show you don’t have to be a Harvard MBA to be successful as an entrepreneur.
Throughout the book, both authors offer their own stories and advice to highlight a point. You build trust in them as you read.
Be Honest With Yourself
The hardest thing to really know when considering business ownership is whether you’re cut out for it. Nilssen and Levy ask some thought-provoking questions that give you an idea of how difficult, emotionally and financially, entrepreneurship can be. Ask yourself these questions and you’ll have a sense of whether you could make it as an entrepreneur:
- Are you capable of putting a vision ahead of your short-term needs?
- Do you perform well under pressure?
- Are you a decisive person?
- Will your family be able to support this decision knowing you will likely have to work longer hours and face initial financial insecurity?
What I Liked Best About Making the Jump
Having already taken the path toward entrepreneurship, I can see that the material in this book blows off the fluff and focuses on what anyone needs to know to start a business. I’ve always said you don’t have to have a degree in business to be an entrepreneur, but having the right resources to understand what it takes is key.
This book is divided into bite-sized chapters that are easy to read. I always like to “sit” on a chapter a while and reflect on what I’ve learned. There’s plenty of food for thought in this book.
Who This Book is For
If you’ve been thinking about starting a business but are unsure of the level of commitment required, this book is for you. It leaves no stone unturned, and you’ll walk away with a better idea of whether you’re ready for entrepreneurship. From finding a mentor to determining your business structure, this book has answers to many of the questions newbie entrepreneurs have. While books about social media and technology are out of date practically by the time they’re printed, the lessons taught in Making the Jump will be true in 15 years as much as they are today.
Are You Ready to Make the Jump into Small Business Ownership?
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire
Jan 30th
It might be hard to read those little baskets on the desk, but they’re labeled “Frying Pan” and “Fire.”
I’d love to take more credit for this, but it’s based on an old co-worker’s desk. She had the traditional “In” and “Out” paper bins, but she also had one labeled “OMG!” where I’m assuming she kept items that needed to be dealt with more quickly.
I never asked her about it, but it always amused me when I’d walk by, so I decided to come up with my own take on it, and this cartoon is the result.
Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Constant Contact Moves into Mobile with Acquisition of CardStar
Jan 19th
Today, online marketing tool provider Constant Contact announced its acquisition of mobile loyalty application CardStar. CardStar is the mobile version of the loyalty cards we all carry around in our wallets…only condensed into a single app.
CardStar, which is available as an application for Android, iPhone, Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows phones, currently has more than 2 million users. Consumers can keep track of multiple membership and rewards cards, such as what you would scan at a CVS or Best Buy. Merchants can send geotargeted offers to customers, as well as track consumer behavior with the application, according to CardStar’s site.
As to why Constant Contact decided to get into the mobile loyalty space, CEO Gail Goodman said:
“We have had our eye on two tech trends: mobile and loyalty. What we found with CardStar is the convergence of these two.”
Will We See an Increase in Small Business Loyalty Programs?
In the past, loyalty programs have been most popular with big-box retailers. Small businesses haven’t jumped in to the same degree, maybe due to the fact that loyalty programs have been, in Goodman’s words, too “administratively cumbersome.” Most small businesses don’t have the bandwidth to manage the analytics and track coupon redemption of their individual loyalty programs.
According to Goodman, to date “nobody has brought to market a simple, powerful solution” to small business loyalty programs. With CardStar, Constant Contact aims to make loyalty programs more within reach of small businesses.
Constant Contact’s Strategy
Constant Contact’s announcement today mentioned this as being a milestone in its “evolution from an email marketing company to the leading provider of online marketing tools that help small businesses create and grow customer relationships.” Over the past couple of years, the company has acquired NutshellMail, Bantam Live, and Social CRM, all of which have added to its shift away from solely email-based services. Moving into mobile marketing fits further broadens its offerings.
As small businesses tie in their social media, email and mobile marketing strategies together, we’re seeing more companies offering more all-inclusive services. Constant Contact seems to be following the same strategy. ”We think small businesses shouldn’t rely on any one channel as a way to stay connected to customers. They need to use every tool available,”said Goodman.
Goodman says that Constant Contact has focused on helping small businesses create and grow their customer relationships, and that CardStar is another tool to help them do so.
CardStar is available as a free mobile download for consumers. Constant Contact will eventually wrap up CardStar into its offerings to clients through its site.
Constant Contact Moves into Mobile with Acquisition of CardStar
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Turn Words Into Traffic.
Jan 14th
Simple Traffic Machine Creates Instant Avalanche Of Free Traffic To Your Website Or Affiliate Links!
Turn Words Into Traffic.
Turning Marketing Strategy Into Action
Jan 13th
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.
Cubmundo via Flickr
I wrote recently about how to find your point of differentiation by seeking clarity and you may find that post a perfect compliment to what I am going to share today.
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.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Turn Your Computer Skills Into Cash
Dec 10th
Discover How To Turn Your Computer Skill Into A Constant Stream Of Cash. This Step-by-step Guide Reveals My Trade Secrets For Starting A High-earning Computer Consultancy.
Turn Your Computer Skills Into Cash
Turn Your PC Into A Super Media Machine In 2 Minutes
Dec 8th
Unlimited Media Downloads On Your Pc. High Conversions. Over $4 Million Of Commissions Paid In 2008.
Turn Your PC Into A Super Media Machine In 2 Minutes
Breaking Into Tv
Oct 26th
This Course Will Teach You How I Went From Press Release To Cnn In 48 Hours. This 45 Minute, 12 Segment Video Series Includes Everything You Need To Promote Your Product Or Expertise To The Media And Get Forwarded Up Through The Ranks.
Breaking Into Tv
Turn your card hobby into a business
Oct 17th
How to make money with card making
Turn your card hobby into a business
How to Turn Your Business Into a Commitment Factory
Oct 11th
How to Turn Your Business Into a Commitment Factory
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
You’re passionate, you care, you get it, you think about your business day and night, but let’s face it, you’ve got a big vision for that business and you probably can’t realize that vision all by yourself.
Your passion and commitment are essential, but it’s your ability to build passion and commitment for that vision in others that is going to be the key to growth.
You need committed and connected staff members. You need committed and loyal customers. You need to create a commitment factory.
Now I understand that the idea of the traditional factory, the kind that once manufactured goods and became a symbol of the industrial age, comes with some negative connotation.
A commitment factory, however, is my idea for the new model of business. A business that manufactures ideas, brilliance, passion and commitment in a community that chooses to join what might be more apply described as a cause.
Generating commitment is the new currency of American business and the most important task of a leader of a business defined in this manner is to guide passion and purpose in a way that encourages staff and customers alike to find, nurture and grow commitment around the things big and small that make a business something worth joining.
A loyal, committed, paying customer is the ultimate expression of a commitment factory.
Below are a handful practices to consider in the creation of a commitment factory.
Get the right people
Hire for fit is a common bit of advice, but fit means many things. What you need are people who want to excel at the exact work you need them to do. You need people who ask why you want them to do something instead of just how.
You’ll eventually need people that foster purpose, people that invent projects and people that operate process – these are rarely the same people.
Tell the story over and over
One of the acts involved in getting the right people is telling a story about why you do what you do in a way that attracts the people you need.
When you connect why with how in the form of a story you allow people to find their place in the story and that’s where commitment starts.
Protect the standards
People need to understand how to tell the story in a simple and consistent manner and the symbols, words and phrases that position the story in the mind of the customer need to be fostered and protected.
Little things like color and typography use need to be defined and reinforced. How you speak about your customers sets the tone for how they will be treated by all. How you treat your staff is precisely how they will treat your customers.
These are standards that you need to create, enforce and leave no room for deviation
Make meetings about action
Meetings are where people go to get the life sapped out of them, but it certainly doesn’t have to be that way. Most people make meetings about trying to decide what to do when they should be about taking action on what’s been decided.
If you run your meetings that way, then they will be full of life. Then you can install real brainstorming sessions as a way to spark big ideas, refine innovation and plug gaps in processes.
Teach and share the metrics
In order to get everyone on the same page they need to be looking at the same page. Your factory needs to know what’s important to measure, the key indicators of success, and you need to teach everyone in the business what those key metrics are and what they mean.
This may mean teaching basic accounting measurements to everyone, holding all hands quarterly marketing message training and connecting little things, like customer support high fives, to big things like profit.
Creating a system of bonuses tied to key metrics, such as finding ways to reduce costs or convert and retain customers, is how you turn attention on the right things into a game worth playing.
Invest in the best tools
People perform better with the right tools. Combine the best tools with a clear understanding of how to win and you’ve got a potent combination.
Invest in the best technology you can afford. Invest in chairs, fitness equipment, water, coffee, apps and music – things some would suggest you could live without, things that help your people stoke their passion and commitment for the work they need to do.
Building a business, even a small, virtual business is more about building a spirit of commitment around a single minded purpose than it is about building walls and doors and windows – it’s the model for the new factory and it’s the future of business that works.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
