Home Wealth Project
Extensive Research On How To Build Wealth From The Comfort Of Your Own Home.
Legitimate Work At Home
Jan 21st
Ken Smith’s Revolutionary Work From Home Program That Has Taken Thousands To Financial Security! Promote Today And Earn 75% Commission On 3.5% Conversion!
Legitimate Work At Home
One Entrepreneur Greets MLK Day with Work
Jan 17th
Today, as we in the U.S. observe Martin Luther King Day (MLK Day for short), one entrepreneur talks about what the day means to him and we share some other ideas to be considered to improve the businesses and lives of all entrepreneurs.
Martin Luther King Day
Why one entrepreneur won’t be taking off Martin Luther King Day. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Nelson Davis has decided his business will be open today. Though he grew up with the Civil Rights Movement, Nelson says King stood for opportunity and dreams. For Nelson, that means operating his business. Making It!
Trends
Progress for black entrepreneurs notable. One business leader says that while progress for black business owners and entrepreneurs has been notable over the past 20 years, he has yet to see the massive success he would like to in the black business community. MLive.com
Macy’s creates incentives for minority small business. In a an effort to attract minority customers to its stores, the huge retailer is reaching out to small minority-owned businesses already serving the market, even creating a mentoring program to help them succeed. Bloomberg Businessweek
News
SBA elevation sends mixed signals. You might think small business leaders would be thrilled with a recent proposal to elevate Karen Mills, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, to a cabinet level position, but Small Business Trends founder Anita Campbell looks at what this really means. Small Business Trends
How To
Looking for vendors? The ones you choose will make a difference and set the tone for your company, but how exactly do you choose the right vendors for your business and be sure of the quality they will provide? Business leaders and experts provide some options. WSJ
Choosing a new office. It’s going to happen sometime, either when your home based business outgrows your kitchen or living room or when your current office no longer suits your needs. Here is an incredibly detailed guide to hunting for your new home base. FeeFighters
Web
Small biz Websites to watch. We are very humbled to be included by Kevin Haines in his “Online Marketing Blogs for Your Small Business: 10 Must Reads” post. Kevin also includes other great titles like Social Media Examiner, ProBlogger, ChrisBrogan.com, Duct Tape Marketing, Copyblogger, ReelSEO, The Thesis Statement, HubSpot and The Sales Lion. Thanks, Kevin! WebMaxed
Building online authority. You’ve probably heard a lot about the importance of search engine listing, but there are some other things that factor into getting to the top of Google. Take a look at some ideas that can get you there. A Website Designer
Other Thoughts
Who’s looking out for your business? No, it won’t make a profit or hit projections on its own, no matter how clever your organization. There are plenty of things to watch in your business when trying to make sure everything goes well. Open Forum
Making yourself better in your business. It’s not your average advice for entrepreneurs. But it’s true that there is more to life than work and that financial success isn’t everything. Here are some other things you should consider. Bloggertone
One Entrepreneur Greets MLK Day with Work
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Put “The Power of Foursquare” to Work in Your Business
Jan 7th
There hasn’t been very much written about Foursquare. When I did a search for the number of books on Foursquare compared to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, I wasn’t surprised to find that Facebook had the most and Foursquare had the least. Twitter came in at number 2 and LinkedIn at number 3.
Like with many other social media channels, I was an early adopter of Foursquare – but I haven’t quite “gotten it” yet. And now with Facebook and Twitter having geo-tagging features, I’m wondering if Foursquare has any value for small business. I mean it’s just one more thing to take up your precious time – right?
Carmine Gallo shows you how to use Foursquare effectively in your business
I received a review copy of The Power of Foursquare: 7 Innovative Ways to Get Your Customers to Check In Wherever They Are from the publisher and was really excited about reading it because I simply hated not having a good grasp of Foursquare and how to use it in business.
The author, Carmine Gallo (@CarmineGallo), who had also written The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs which I’d read and reviewed. He approaches Foursquare with a sense of curiosity rather than expertise. This approach and tone left me feeling like I was in a conversation of discovery, rather than being taught something by an expert.
There is a reason for Gallo’s deft writing style; Gallo is a former anchor and correspondent for CNN and CBS and has served as a communications coach for the world’s most trusted brands. Gallo’s talents in news reporting give Foursquare the feel of an informational and educational news story.
Why you need to read The Power of Foursquare
Before reading this book, I was rather lukewarm on Foursquare. At the time, I just didn’t think that it was a power tool for my business. It seems like the businesses that benefit most from Foursquare are local consumer-based businesses such as retail outlets, realtors and big brands.
The focus of Foursquare is its geo-tagging function and ability to connect you to the people and places that you might find interesting. So if you’re in a business that doesn’t stand to benefit from people gathering in and around your physical location – then you might decide to pass on this book. That would be a mistake.
I couldn’t believe the variety of businesses that use Foursquare! The list ranges from NASA (yup – the astronauts checked in from outer space) to a Manhattan matchmaker. The success strategies they used to engage customers was inspiring.
If you’re a business owner who has been curious about Foursquare but hasn’t yet discovered how you can use it to get and keep customers, then this is the book for you.
This book is a collection of over 50 case studies of both businesses and big brands and how they used Foursquare to engage their customers and transform their business. He’s interviewed hundreds of people; business owners, Foursquare experts as well as the owners and executives inside of Foursquare.
The result is a mix of Foursquare 101 education coupled with practical examples and case studies that you can lift from the pages of this book and apply inside your business. One of my favorite examples is that of Joe Sorge, owner of AJ Bombers restaurant.
Joe had sold the restaurant and then taken it back because it was doing poorly. He locked himself up in an office for six months, focused on using social media to revive the dying restaurant. He started with Twitter and saw success. But it was Foursquare that took his business to the next level and put his restaurant on the Food Channel!
What I appreciate about this example and many others is that the companies that were featured weren’t brilliant. They weren’t even lucky. They were focused on a target market, clear about their objectives and then opportunistic and flexible about how they would achieve them.
Inside the book
The book consists of sixteen chapters that toggle between teaching you about Foursquare, it’s features, functions and strategies and then showing you how a variety of businesses have used Foursquare to transform their business.
At the end of each chapter there is an “Unlock the Power” section where you get the summary strategies and tactics that you can implement inside your own business.
Who should read The Power of Foursquare
Retailers, local merchants or brand managers are the ideal audience for this book. There are ample examples and strategies to bring some interesting engagement and zip to your marketing plan.
As a person who doesn’t fall firmly into these categories, reading this book showed me how important it is to fully explore new social media tools and applications and look for creative ways to use them.
Even professionals whose business depends on a personal brand can use Foursquare. It’s more of a stretch and requires some creativity, but after reading this book, you will certainly have the ability to create a Foursquare strategy.
Despite users are checking in at the rate of 23 times per second, Foursquare isn’t as big in small towns as it is in bigger cities. But there is no reason why it shouldn’t be. What I’m saying is that Foursquare is a proven way to get and keep customers and it isn’t as overcrowded as Twitter and Facebook.
Pick up a copy of The Power of Foursquare and find all kinds of new ways to pick up new and loyal customers. You can also get a free chapter on the website for The Power of Foursquare.
Put “The Power of Foursquare” to Work in Your Business
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
The reason productivity improvements don’t work (as well as they could)
Dec 30th
GTD, 18 minute plans, organized folders… none of them work as well as you’d like.
The reason is simple: you don’t want to get more done.
You’re afraid. Getting more done would mean exposing yourself to considerable risk, to crossing bridges, to putting things into the world. Which means failure.
The leap the lizard brain takes when confronting the opportunity is a simple formula: GTD=Failure.
Until you quiet the resistance and commit to actually shipping things that matter, all the productivity tips in the world aren’t going to make a real difference. And, it turns out, once you do make the commitment, the productivity tips aren’t that needed.
You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work
Dec 12th
Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Jon Gordon (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)
There’s a potent lyric in one of my favorite John Prine songs, Angel From Montgomery, that goes like this – “How the hell can a person, go to work in the morning, come home in evening, got nothing to say.”
Well, anyone that’s owned a business can tell you, some days can do that to you – particularly those days when you lose sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing.
My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jon Gordan, author of The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work
In The Seed we meet Josh, an up and comer in his company, who has lost his passion at work. Challenged by his boss to take two weeks and decide if he really wants to work there, Josh takes off for the country, where he meets a wise farmer who gives him a seed and a promise: find the right place to plant the seed, and his purpose will be revealed.
Gordan effectively uses the fable format to help us find our own sources of wisdom and insight.
I think many business owners, and really anyone toiling away in a job anywhere, crave this idea of purpose and meaning, but far too few stop to reflect on the things that make them truly happy and fulfilled.
If you let it, your work can suck the life right out of you. Connecting with some higher purpose that drives and sustains through the good patches and the rough patches is the most powerful tool you can employ.
You can listen to the show by subscribing the feed in iTunes or a variety of other free services such as Google Listen (Use this RSS feed) or you can buy the Duct Tape Marketing iPhone app. (iTunes link – Cost is $2.99) or
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
How To Get The Law Of Attraction To Work – Even If ‘the Secret’ Didn’t
Nov 30th
So Many People That Watched ‘the Secret’ Are Still Not Enjoying The Success They Desire From The Law Of Attraction. This Unique Guide And Software Package Reveals Why. The Most Important Guide To Cosmic Ordering And The Loa You’ll Ever Read…
How To Get The Law Of Attraction To Work – Even If ‘the Secret’ Didn’t
The Paradox: Doing (or Not Doing) the Work to Live Your Dream
Nov 7th
A paradox is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. If something is a paradox, then it’s a puzzle, a mystery, an enigma, an inconsistency. Which makes me think: What happens to us, and our businesses, when we try to live with a paradox? What happens when we contradict ourselves? When our actions are inconsistent with our plans? When what we say and what we choose to do just don’t line up?
Impossible Dreams
What you say you want vs. what you are actually willing to do
In “What’s Your Impossible Dream?,” John Mariotti encourages small business owners to “dream big. Think about what you’d really love to be doing and consider how you can get from where you are to where you want to be.” He says to plan ahead so that you are prepared when the opportunity presents itself.
I agree with him, but what happens when what we say you want doesn’t match up to what we actually do? Yes, we do the work to maintain the business, to keep the current customers happy, and to bring in enough new clients to keep the “machine” churning. But are we consistently doing that things that prepare us for that big dream we’ve harbored in the back of our minds for years?
Marketing and Sales
What gets their attention vs. what turns them into customers
Sales and marketing are crucial elements to moving your business to the next level. Ivana Taylor, in “How to Stop Worrying and Start Selling,” suggests that we turn a deaf ear to the negative talk about the economy and get busy working on the things that we can change. Ivana believes that we should put more of our “focus on building a sales and marketing system…instead of putting…attention on political and economic factors that are impossible to control.”
In her three-step process, the first thing you do is set a baseline to understand what you currently do for sales and marketing. In this initial step you will discover two things:
- The actions you take that get the attention of potential clients
- The actions you take that turn potential clients into paying customers
Your website gets their attention, but it’s your sales call that closes the deal. Your email marketing keeps you top of mind, but it’s your live demonstrations that makes them a client. Are you following the full process?
So many small business owners have a desire for “set-it-and-forget-it” marketing and sales. However, the truth is, you have to the see the process all the way through in order to turn “potentials” into customers.
Constant Change
Maintaining the status quo vs. updating your business
“Entrepreneurs are natural possibilities thinkers,” says Diane Helbig in “Why Minding Your Market Is Essential to Your Business.” But at the same time, Helbig reminds us, you need to “keep your finger on the pulse of your industry and the buying habits of your clients.” You don’t want to be left behind. It’s our job to remain engaged in our industry and to adjust with the changes. But what it takes to maintain the status quo in your business and what it takes to update the company and grab hold of “possibilities” may not be the same things.
How we deal with these paradoxes determines our success level. We can’t afford the cost of inconsistency in our business, planning and marketing. We can’t live with senseless actions that don’t produce the results that we want. The contradictions can cost too much.
The Paradox: Doing (or Not Doing) the Work to Live Your Dream
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
When “minimal viable product” doesn’t work
Nov 5th
One of my favorite ideas in the new wave of programming is the notion of minimal viable product. The thought is that you should spec and build the smallest kernel of your core idea, put it in the world and see how people react to it, then improve from there.
For drill bits and other tools, this makes perfect sense. Put it out there, get it used, improve it. The definition of “minimal” is obvious.
Often, for software we use in public, this definition leads to failure. Why? Two reasons:
1. Marketing plays by different rules than engineering. Many products depend on community, on adoption within a tribe, on buzz–these products aren’t viable when they first launch, precisely because they haven’t been adopted. “Being used by my peers,” is a key element of what makes something like a fax machine a viable product, and of course, your new tool isn’t.
With enough patience and push and consistent enthusiasm, these products have a shot at crossing the threshhold. But if the mindset is “see what works and do it more,” you’ll often discover yourself giving up long before that happens.
2. There’s a burst of energy and attention and effort that accompanies a launch, even a minimally viable one. If there’s a delay in pick up from the community, though (see #1) it’s easy to move on to the next thing, the next launch, the next hoopla, as opposed to doing the insanely hard work of sticking with that thing you already launched.
Inherent in the process of minimal viable product, then, is a trusting, large permission base that will eagerly listen to you, try your new work and let you know what they think. And you don’t have the option of building that audience once the product is ready–that’s too late.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
Work From Home. Give Yourself The Financial Freedom You Deserve.
Nov 4th
Perform Work For Companies Who Need To Spread The Word About Their Business And Get Additional Exposure For Their Products.
Work From Home. Give Yourself The Financial Freedom You Deserve.
Do More With Less And Simplify Life – Work From Home
Oct 23rd
Discover How To Do More With Less And Simplify Life. A Suite Of Great Products To Promote Around Being More Productive And Profitable In Business, And Successful In Life. (affiliate Site: Http://workfromhomemastermind.com/aff.html
Do More With Less And Simplify Life – Work From Home
