tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85852974121766565112024-02-08T06:32:48.508-08:00Small Business | Home Business For YouIt's About Business at homeClara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-84634234362618569722008-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:21:53.985-07:00Small business gears up for Christmas<div style="text-align: justify;" class="entrybody"> <p><strong>Christmas decorations at Carr Mill Mall beckon customers to start their shopping early this holiday season. Photo by Kyle Curtis </strong></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">With the Christmas season fast approaching, Carrboro re</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">sidents face the sometimes difficult decision of where to shop. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Carrboro <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners have a much more daunting task at hand; convincing residents to spend their money on Main Street rather than at the mall or Wal-Mart. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">This Christmas season will be the twenty-ninth for the Carr Mill Mall. Located in an old cotton mill in downtown Carrboro, Carr Mill doesn’t feel like a normal mall. The floors are still old wooden planks and the wide, arching windows bathe shoppers in comfortable sunlight during the afternoon shopping hours. Boutiques and specialty shops are the mainstays at Carr Mill, along with Elmo’s diner and the Townsend Bertram Outdoor Outfitters.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Everything is not all peaches and cream for <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>es these days in Carrboro, though. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small business</span> owners have faced difficult times in recent years as they struggle to remain competitive with corporations. Typically, a corporation can supply a product at a lower cost to the consumer than a privately owned <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>. Therefore, the privately owned business needs another angle to attract the consumer. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Bill Simmons owns Head over Heels, a hair salon at Carr Mill. He says that he is the only remaining owner still in business from when Carr Mill opened in 1977. Staying in business and remaining fiscally competitive is a real challenge for the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">The picture is not all bleak for these businesses, though. Jayne Coats at Shades of Blue characterized Carrboro as “an activist community dedicated to buying local products and keeping Carrboro dollars in Carrboro.” </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Anna Pepper, owner of The Painted Bird, showed off some local artwork she is selling. Pepper said she tries to keep her customers happy by offering things that are distinct and have been largely produced by local artisans and craftsmen. The Painted Bird sells a variety of items, ranging from women’s clothing to artwork and novelty items. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Pepper and The Painted Bird moved to Carr Mill four years ago from University Square in Chapel Hill. She had been at University Square for 28 years, but grew dissatisfied with some of the changes that had taken place and decided to try her luck in Carrboro at Carr Mill. Pepper said she really likes the new location, especially the sunlight from the large windows. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Having been in business for such a long time, Pepper had some valuable insights into the world of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owner, as well as the customer. She identified three primary customer types. The first is the early shopper that really wants to shop around and make sure he or she is getting the right present. This type of shopper will often take notes on the merchandise and return later to make the purchase. The second type is the after mall-sale shopper. This shopper will arrive on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, burned out from the mall sales of the day before. Finally, the third shopper of the season will be the last minute shopper. This shopper will arrive in the last two weeks before Christmas. The last two weeks before Christmas are the busiest for Carr Mill, and the stores stay open until around 8 or 9 o’clock instead of the normal six. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Pepper is a little bit worried about how this season will go at The Painted Bird. She says that customer service is a big selling point for her store, and that she always tries to staff with “people that like people.” She said that there is a fine line between offering good customer service and getting a little pushy. Pepper says that if you go too far and oversell your product you can alienate the customer and they will leave and never come back, so you have to be careful. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Worrying Pepper in particular about this Christmas season is the high cost of gas. More on gas means less disposable income to spend on gifts, which could really hurt the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> this Christmas. Furthermore, Pepper expressed that online shopping is becoming more popular and was uncertain what role that would play in the future of her business. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;">Everyone knows what is available at the mall. This Christmas season, spend a little time shopping at a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> as well. You may find a great gift that you would otherwise never have found. You will definitely help strengthen the community by keeping Carrboro dollars in Carrboro. Even if it costs a couple extra bucks, it is worth it.</span></p></div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-54863556499571231522008-04-29T12:19:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:20:21.860-07:00Maternity Leave in small businesses<div style="text-align: justify;">In April 2007, changes made in the Employment Rights Act 1996 start taking effect, which improve the entitlements for employees who become pregnant. I’ve been reading a bit about what these entitlements will become.<br /><br />I started by reading up on what expectant mothers are entitled to…<br /><br />Women who become pregnant can take up to 52 weeks maternity leave.<br /><br />The first 26 weeks of maternity leave are called Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML). During OML, women still get all the same rights under their normal contract. For example, they still build up holiday, and are elegible for things like pay raises and pension contributions that they would normally be. After OML, they can come back to the same job.<br /><br />The next 26 weeks of maternity leave are called Additional Maternity Leave (AML). During AML, women still get some of the same rights under their contract, but not all. For example, terms and benefits such as pay raises and holiday pay do not have to be continued during this. After AML, they should be offered their old job back, unless this is not reasonably practical.<br /><br />Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) defines how much women are entitled to earn while on maternity leave. For the first 6 weeks (of OML), SMP is 90% of average earnings. For the next 33 weeks, it is a flat rate of £108.85 per week.<br /><br />It’s worth pointing out that I think maternity leave is a great idea. When my wife took a year off work after our daughter was born, this made a big difference for us, and we are very pleased that she was able to do it. I only had a month off for paternity leave, and wished it could have been longer.<br /><br />That said… from an employer’s perspective, this was all sounding a bit expensive. If you lose a key employee for a whole year (and in a small business, this loss is often felt all the more keenly), this has a significant impact. A temporary replacement needs to be found, which means recruitment - never a lot of fun. And for 39 weeks, you’re paying two people to do the same job. For any small business, this is a worrying prospect. For a small charity, even more so. We started to do some back-of-the-envelope calculations wondering if SYA could afford this… it didn’t look great.<br /><br />A little bit of Googling later and I’d uncovered information intended for employers, with some reassuring news. The DTI guidance (pdf) says that:<br /><br />You should find out about claiming back the SMP you pay. You are entitled to claim back at least 92 percent. Small employers are able to claim back all the SMP plus some compensation.<br /><br />How small is a “small employer”? I found the answer on the HMRC website:<br /><br />companies with an annual liability for National Insurance contributions of £45,000 or less are entitled to claim back 100% of the SMP plus 4.5% additional as compensation for the NI contributions paid on the SMP<br /><br />The problems of losing a key member of staff for a while and having to find an effective temporary replacement remain. But it looks like the system is geared up so that it shouldn’t cause <span style="font-weight: bold;">small businesses</span> a massive financial burden. I should’ve guessed, really.<br /><br />Oh - and if you haven’t guessed where my sudden interest in maternity pay has come from? Here’s a clue - as a trustee of Solent Youth Action, I’m a director of a small company employing seven members of staff. All of them women.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-27355796697044212452008-04-29T12:16:00.002-07:002008-04-29T12:17:15.953-07:00Create Personal Wealth Beyond Your Small Business, Part 1<div style="text-align: justify;">You know the story: Small time entrepreneur starts a business in his garage and almost overnight takes the company public to dominate an industry. O.K. so this is the exception and not the rule. Most small business owners probably have different motivations for starting their businesses, but the majority will probably include building wealth as one of the reasons for doing so. However, most small business owners miss an amazing opportunity to use their businesses to grow their personal wealth outside of their normal business activities.<br /><br />The owner of a small business is usually focused on the day to day activities of keeping his or her business running or growing: Sales, accounting, collections, inventory, etc. Some have aspirations of becoming wealthy, yet most settle into a daily routine that lacks the focus necessary to truly develop wealth.<br /><br />However, even these average business owners can start on a path to true wealth building that still involves their businesses, but creates this wealth because of the business, not through doing business. In fact, the wealth creation can be put on autopilot and converts a normal business expense into a powerful leverage tool. This amazing opportunity is achieved through the purchase of one or more income producing properties utilizing advantageous financing available only to the small business owner.<br /><br />The theory is simple: The purchased business property is used initially to house the business, but it should also offer the business owner the opportunity to earn third-party rental income. As part of an estate plan, the use of the business to acquire and build a portfolio of income producing properties is an overlooked, but effective means of creating significant retirement income that is hedged against inflation.<br /><br />First, a business owner has to decide if it makes more sense to own rather than lease for business use. In a later section, I will cover the “Lease vs. Own” decision, but for now I will focus on the assumption that a business owner wants to follow a real estate acquisition program to supplement his personal wealth. Let me give you some background before going into the actual steps of the strategy.<br /><br />There are three types of third party financing that can be used in the acquisition of real estate for small business use. They are: Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs, conventional real estate financing, and conventional small business financing.<br /><br />The SBA programs for businesses come in two versions: The 7a (http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/sbaloantopics/7a/index.html) and the 504 (http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/sbaloantopics/cdc504/index.html). If you require in-depth knowledge of each of the SBA’s offerings, then click the links above. In summary, here are the programs:<br /><br />THE 7A<br /><br />This is the SBA’s “flagship” loan and is used for almost any business purpose: Inventory, equipment, real estate, etc. It helps qualified <span style="font-weight: bold;">small businesses</span> obtain financing when they might not be eligible for business loans through normal lending channels. It is also the agency’s most flexible business loan program, since financing under this program can be guaranteed for a variety of general business purposes.<br /><br />Loan proceeds can be used for most sound business purposes including working capital, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures, land and building (including purchase, renovation and new construction), leasehold improvements, and debt refinancing (under special conditions). Loan maturity is up to 10 years for working capital and generally up to 25 years for fixed assets.<br /><br />THE 504<br /><br />The second option provided by the SBA is the “504” program. This program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing to <span style="font-weight: bold;">small businesses</span> to acquire real estate or machinery or equipment for expansion or modernization. A 504 project is a “two loan” program that includes a first lien provided from a private-sector lender and a second lien secured from a Certified Development Corporation (CDC). This second lien is funded by a 100 percent SBA-guaranteed debenture. These two loans usually combine to provide as much as 90% of the cost of the real estate purchased by a small business owner, the other 10 percent equity coming from the borrower. The program helps <span style="font-weight: bold;">small businesses</span> expand while preserving working capital.<br /><br />For a recent press release from the SBA concerning the popularity and use of the two programs, go here:<br /><br />http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_news_07-71.pdf<br /><br />In the next article, I will cover other financing alternatives for small business owners and then begin to develop the Wealth Building Proposition for Small Business Owners.<br /><br />WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: ‘ “The Investment Property Insider” is published by Craig S. Higdon, a veteran commercial mortgage broker. He publishes the weekly e-zine and blog, www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com, for commercial real estate investors, developers, and industry professionals. Visit the blog and get this free report: “The 7 Biggest Loan Mistakes Real Estate Investors Make And How To Avoid Them.” ’<br /><br />Craig S. Higdon, “The Investment Property Insider”<br /><br />www.ExcelsionMortgage.com, www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com<br /><br />Craig Higdon has over 14 years experience in financing commercial loans, small business loans, construction loans, and land loans. He owns Excelsion Mortgage, a commercial mortgage brokerage offering real estate investors a wide range of resources to help them in their investment activities.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-79621791552166278882008-04-29T12:16:00.001-07:002008-04-29T12:16:36.742-07:00Trade policy blasted as anti-small business<div style="text-align: justify;">LEAD convenor of the Fair Trade Alliance Wigberto Tañada deplored the state of agriculture, Philippine trade regime and Philippine business in general, calling it “haphazard, aimless, going into the altar of annihilation.”<br /><br />Tañada who was not able to attend the two-day conference-workshop on “Transforming Philippine Agriculture through Balanced Rural Development Policies,” sent his speech instead and was read by Melisa Serrano of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations.<br /><br />As read by Serrano, Tañada berated the country’s global and liberal trade policy as ‘haphazard and aimless’ and proven to be anti-<span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> and ineffective.<br /><br />“The opening of the economy (liberalized economy) did not automatically bring in more investments, create more jobs and modernize industry and agriculture through technology transfer,” Tañada said.<br /><br />He added that the country plunged itself into global competition but did not thought of “strengthening first the capacities of our industry and agriculture and give them the proper enabling environment to grow competitively.”<br /><br />Other than the country’s un-preparedness, Tañada cited the ‘prostituting’ of national integrity by citing the Philippines as a party to Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which allowed importation of second-hand vehicles, adding, “JPEPA will make our country a dumping site of their toxic wastes and allow Japanese factory ships to compete with our small fisherfolk.”<br /><br />Tañada also cited the RP-China Deal which will compromise 1.3 million hectares of Filipino lands to the Chinese, of which he said could have transformed and modernize Filipino farmers by teaching them land productivity through capacity-building measures and strengthening of government support services.<br /><br />He stressed, “This is a clear violation of the Philippine Constitution.”<br /><br />Also, he further explained that with an ‘aimless’ trade policy, he used figures of the Federation of Philippine Industries which estimated P175 billion worth of smuggling volume owing to uncontrolled lowering of the country’s tariff system.<br /><br />Tañada is not against the coming in of foreign investments, he stressed, however, that, “We want them to support our development needs or in a business partnership that is mutually beneficial. Further we want them to invest in sustainable ventures such factories and transferring modern technologies.”<br /><br />He explained that small domestic investments must also be given equal footing in terms of fiscal incentives.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-40732866560621052932008-04-29T12:14:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:23:01.488-07:00Defining Your Internet Brand as a Small Business Owner<div style="text-align: justify;">Branding is the the ability for a company to be associated with marketing images, such as logos, labels, taglines, key messages, etc.<br /><br />Personal Branding, however, is the ability for a person and/or their careers, professions, etc. to be packaged into a “brand”. Successfully “branding” yourself personally or as a business entity allows one to become more noticed, attracted and hired; often referred to one’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP).<br /><br />Internet branding, most often associated with “corporate Internet branding” is when a company takes their brand (logos, labels, tag-lines, images, key messages, etc.) and utilizes the Internet to deepen their customer relationships. By creating a real-time consumer/user-generated community, a company can interact directly with their customers. This helps establish a more personal experience for their customers thereby creating greater loyalty, respect and trust as a thought-leader in their specific industry. The more approachable and personable a company is by servicing your customer’s needs and desires, the higher a return on their marketing investment. Assuring the best online experience includes but is not limited to a company’s ability to have a website/blog that download quickly, the ability to offer excellent real-time customer service, having easy navigation (site map) and a clean design; while promoting your USP and offering protection of customer’s privacy.<br /><br />Therefore, Internet Branding for a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span> Owner is the ability to take one’s Personal Brand online and strategically create a user-generated community around you (the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owner) and your company.<br /><br />Key words = You (the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owner) and Your company.<br /><br />Having a Strong Personal/<span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span> Owner Internet Brand translates to your ability to be recognized and noticed widely throughout the Internet. Therefore, Internet Branding includes but is not limited to your ability to capitalize on link-popularity, Google PageRank, having high search engine, alexa and/or technorati (blog) rankings, so your internet branding/marketing efforts attract your most ideal customer.<br /><br />Internet Branding simply means any and all the internet marketing techniques you utilize to harness the power of your Personal Brand, while creating a following (readers, subscribers, customers) who are actively involved in the growth, development and success of you and your business.<br /><br />Since many of the Internet branding techniques are easy to use, implement and are highly-economical, I feel <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners are well-positioned to develop their Internet Brand comparable to any other company/corporation coming online for the very first time.<br /><br />You are one single <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owner, and you have the ability to create an online user-friendly experience that your own customers may not even know they are contributing to your user-generated community because they are simply having fun and ease to communicate directly with you and your Internet brand.<br />For example, when a customer comments on your blog, their sole interest may be in sharing their own thoughts based on your well-informed and articulate article prompted them to start a dialogue with you. Meanwhile, their comments, recommendations, suggestions can be used for your market research and product development purposes.<br />Another example may be when one of your friends in any of the social bookmarking sites you are a member of, may simply “bookmark” your webpage/blogpost simply because she/her felt its worth sharing with other friends. By sharing your article/blogpost, they in turn are creating a “viral campaign” that brings traffic to you, your excellent article, and your business as a whole.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-71645752542157639502008-04-29T12:07:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:08:15.122-07:00What grocery chains can teach small business owners about consumer marketing<div style="text-align: justify;">We <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners really could learn a thing or two from the Krogers, Wegmans and Whole Foods of the world. Grocery stores truly epitomize a classic consumer marketing case study:<br />Quick, high-volume turnover<br />Wide range of consumer demographics<br />Seemingly infinite product placement scenarios<br />Tens of thousands of products, including global brands and private labels<br /><br />There are plenty more… but for now, let’s leave it at that and focus on the end user. After all, those people out there buying groceries don’t just eat and shop — they move on to consume other goods and services, including the ones offered by your company.<br /><br />How do the big grocery chains engage their customers? You probably have the evidence right in your wallet: those “club cards” that give you all kinds of savings at no apparent cost to you. A few dollars of savings is enough incentive for you to run your card through the scanner–and the rich demographic profile now associated with this collection of consumer products in your shopping cart is worth more than a few bucks to them.<br />Thanks to collaborative filtering, that data can be used to make predictions about what you’ll buy next time, with several possible conclusions, including:<br />Help close the sale with some more savings<br />Optimize allocation of inventory on store shelves<br />Test the consumer’s reactions to an upcoming product launch<br />Steer the consumer’s attention to similar products which are overstocked<br />Convert shoppers into loyal repeat customers who just love the savings!<br /><br />This is, once again, the Long Tail at work. The grocery chain, having invested in very cheap technologies to collect this consumer data and continually refine its store visitors’ profiles at a tiny incremental cost, now has a broad set of insights with which to bump up its store’s margins.<br /><br />Anyone can predict that ice cream will sell well in August. But really, how many store managers would instinctively know which of their top sixteen savory snack brands to position on the front end of Aisle 2 during September?<br /><br />An entrepreneur can arrive at the same kind of insights, by leveraging local search on the Internet.<br /><br />Set yourself up in all the local channels, using both organic search and paid search placement. Install analytics software to follow the range of keywords driving traffic and sales. If clicks aren’t enough, there are also call tracking technologies out there which can do the exact same thing through the telephone.<br /><br />Enough marketing principles; time for some fun. Here’s a glimpse of the shopping experience of the near future, brought to you by the Apple iPhone — particularly the Maps application delivered by Google. Watch as Steve Jobs demonstrates the future of consumer behavior in about 90 seconds:</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-76144245839940693512008-04-29T12:06:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:07:31.268-07:00Sales Copywriting, Sales Talk-What a Difference a Phrase Makes to the Bottom Line<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Small business</span> owners beware-your sales copywriting and sales talk, the written or spoken words you use to describe your products and services, can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Yet most of us never think of carefully planning precisely what words or phrases we need to use every time we introduce our business to others in print or in person. We often fail to consider what words will compel someone to take action.<br /><br />Big companies hire experts to take care of sales copywriting for them. Some of them succeed impressively; others still don’t hit the mark. But as a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> we need to master the skills of writing sales copy and the 30 second verbal sound byte. We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages to the point where we tune out a majority of them. Knowing how to make your message stand out above the crowd is essential if you want to see significant business growth take place.<br /><br />Over and over I see <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners make the same mistakes, causing potential customers to pass them over or ignore their message, when just a few tweaks in wording could have captured that person’s attention. As competition has heated up in every industry, and as the Internet has made marketing innovation essential, staying cutting edge with your message has become enormously important. The Internet has exposed us to creative marketing minds from all over the world. We are no longer only competing with the ads in our local publications. Our message gets measured against global standards, even if our business is primarily locally based, and many <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>es are coming up short and experiencing disappointing results.<br /><br />Here are a few glaring sales coywriting mistakes that can cost you plenty and some ways you can correct them:<br /><br />Web content-many websites read like a 1980’s sales brochure. “We” this and “we” that, all about what we can do for you. This is boring and uninteresting and it doesn’t engage the reader by letting her know up front that you get her pain or problem clearly.<br /><br />� Re-write content, particularly on your home page, using bullet points and short paragraphs that immediately capture the visitor’s attention by listing the problems you solve and the benefits you offer. Then include text links to your different service and product pages. Writing web content is an art that can strongly impact how you rank with the search engines and how many visitors you convert to prospects or clients.<br /><br />Web product/services pages-Take a look at the pages on your website that introduce your products and services. Are they simply a listing of what you offer?<br /><br />� Instead, most of the copy should be dedicated to defining in detail your customer’s precise problem, pain or want, then giving them a wish list of solutions, a good reason for solving their problem immediately, and finally explaining how your product or service will do just that. On the web, a guarantee of some sort is a very wise idea, since you may attract buyers who don’t know you or your company personally.<br /><br />In-person networking intro-How many times have you gone to a networking event and asked someone about their business and they say something like, “I’m a financial planner”, or “I’m a personal trainer”. Boring!<br /><br />� Write and rehearse a simple, sincere 2 or 3 sentence introduction that talks about the problems your customers face and what happens after they’ve worked with you.<br /><br />For example, the personal trainer could say something like: “I work with stressed business owners who are having trouble finding time to exercise, but who want to be healthy and in shape. I go to their offices to give them a customized 30-minute workout and they love the convenience and how they feel afterward.” If you’re a stressed business owner who is feeling guilty because you haven’t been exercising, your ears might perk up when you hear that introduction.<br /><br />To get specific ideas on how to write sales copy that works, search the web for sales copywriting you find intriguing, or look at websites you know sell lots of products or services and have tons of traffic. An example of a product page on my website that uses this approach for my group coaching program, Go Global Web Tactics can be found here:<br /><br />http://www.go-global-web-tactics.com<br /><br />�Little by little, spend some time re-writing your web copy and re-thinking your live introduction. Simple re-writing of a single key phrase can have an impact. You will definitely see better conversion rates as you begin to use more customer focused sales copywriting and sales talk.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-91500704363325639512008-04-29T12:05:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:06:10.399-07:00How to Update WordPress at Yahoo Small Business Hosting<div style="text-align: justify;">You may have noticed that we’ve had some problems with the blog again. It turns out that it is rather complicated to upgrade WordPress if you are hosted at Yahoo Small Business.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The first time I tried to upgrade, I could no longer access the blog at all. All that came up was a blank screen in the browser. I couldn’t find a solution. Yahoo couldn’t help me. I gave up. I backed up the database with MyPhpAdmin, and recreated the blog from scratch. (To do this, backup all your images and customized files, etc, then create an sql backup of your database using MyPhpAdmin to export. You can dump your old database on the new installation – of the old version – by running the export as an SQL query. I got server 500 errors, but eventually one of them worked.)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">After quite a bit of research and experimentation, the blog is now updated. Since Customer Care is unfamiliar with the host issues, and corporate HQ is unresponsive to contact from clients, I have recommended feature requests via email from Yahoo Small Business: a one-click update feature (or auto-updates) so that their version of WordPress is reasonably up-to-date, and a feature request/status page. In the meantime the addition of instructions to their online help files would be helpful.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">WordPress has upgrading instructions here, with common installation problems here.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you are on Yahoo Small Business, though, here’s what you’ve probably got to do (thanks to the resources at the WordPress codex and users’ forum – which were buried a bit, but there – and some very helpful advice from Ray that got me going on the right track).<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I’ve documented everything, and I hope that this is a helpful post for other Yahoo-hosted bloggers.<br /></div><br />First, update your plug-ins (Akismet will update by itself in the upgrade).<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Use the WordPress backup plugin to do a backup of your WordPress directory. Download it for safekeeping. You can also use your friendly ftp program to download the entire WordPress directory onto your hard drive, too. (Better safe…)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Use MyPHPAdmin to export a back up your WordPress SQL database. Make several versions if you are unfamiliar with this. Make sure that use the right character set for export. Make one in the most recent sql, and any other format you might require – so that you have some options later if things look off.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Go to the WordPress dashboard and disable all your plugins. This will save you a lot of headaches. Just trust me (and the people at WordPress).<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now it gets complicated. From your WordPress backup on the hard drive, open the current wp-config.php file in the main directory. Delete the line “Define(’WP_CACHE’, true); //Added by WP-Cache Manager” and then save the file. Also save a copy of it under another name, like wp-configorig.php. You’ll need this file later.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Edit wp-config.php file in the main Wordpress directory that you downloaded and change DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD with your yroot user and yroot password and save the file. That’s the username and password you set up to administrate your databases. Yahoo describes these here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/webhosting/mysql/mysql-09.HTML. Ftp the new wp-config file.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Now run upgrade.php by browsing to http://YOURSITE.com/YOURBLOG/wp-admin/upgrade.php. It should succeed, in theory.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Before you go any further, look at your blog and make sure it’s there. Is it? If you get a blank page, then you’ve put the wrong yroot user and password in the config file. Make sure it’s right and try again.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If none of this is working for you, you’ll have to download the latest version of WordPress, ftp it up, and then run upgrade again.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">You may have to play with the permissions settings in MyPhpAdmin. Make sure that you have any needed permissions. Customer Care can help you with this part if you run into trouble.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Assuming that your blog is up, check to make sure that your category links and other links are displaying. If you see an error like [Unknown column ‘link_count’ in ‘where clause’], you’ve got to detour at this point (Try a web search on the exact phrase of that error to get a sense of how many blogs are affected). If you’re upgrading from the version at Yahoo, there has been a major change in the way categories are indexed. I haven’t been able to find the perfect fix for this if the upgrade doesn’t do it, but there are two suggestions. The first didn’t work for me in MyPhpAdmin on Yahoo – perhaps because of yet more permissions issues, or maybe an older version of MySql – but you could try it because it’s probably the better fix:<br /></div>Run this SQL query:<br />ALTER TABLE --database--.wp_categories ADD COLUMN link_count BIGINT(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER category_count,<br /><br />ADD COLUMN posts_private TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER link_count,<br /><br />ADD COLUMN links_private TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER posts_private;<br /><br /><br />The second suggestion did work on Yahoo, but I hope it doesn’t mess anything up:<br />First, save your home copy of wp-admin/upgrade-functions.php under another name, like you did with the wp-config file. Then, edit the original file and delete where it says<br />// We are up-to-date. Nothing to do.<br />if ( $wp_db_version == $wp_current_db_version )<br />return;<br />Ftp it up and run upgrade.php again. Then upload the original version to restore it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, go get the wp-configorigin.php you saved earlier. Rename it back to wp-config.php and ftp it up.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In your blog template, replace the current call for your blogroll with < ?php wp_list_bookmarks('title_after=&title_before='); ?>. Some of the older tags have been depreciated.<br /><br /></div>Enable your plug-ins one by one to make sure they are compatible. If something breaks the blog, use ftp or the online file management at Yahoo to delete the applicable folder from the wp-content/plugins.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Another problem solved: The bottom navigation on the index page disappeared. Some think that it has to do with plugins as well. I’m not running a “sticky post” plugin, which seems to be the primary problem for others. There is also a thought that there might be an incompatibility between the upgraded Akismet plugin and the Yahoo hosting. Aha! I fixed it by removing a call to the FAlbum plugin on the Index page.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-61811140597685839472008-04-29T12:04:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:05:03.348-07:00Interactive, Fun, & Practical “Smart Technology for Smarter Business” Seminars in Bahrain & Morocco<div style="text-align: justify;">The Smart Technology for a Smarter Business Program is a highly practical training curriculum that enables <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners and managers to build smarter businesses with technology. Unlike traditional training experiences that focus on either technology or business, the program targets the integration of both. Multi-faceted, innovative, and experiential, the program addresses 19 different business topics, in 5 different languages, and includes case scenarios, virtual entrepreneurs, technology demos and activities, facilitated discussions, and computer-based simulations. It introduces up-to-date technologies in the marketplace that are accessible worldwide.<br /><br />Micro- and <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners worldwide share many of the same benefits and challenges, and this proved to be the case in Bahrain and Morocco – two countries where Smarter Seminar Workshops were recently conducted. In these workshops, participants noted that as <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners, they enjoyed the flexibility of their schedules and the exhilaration of pursuing one’s own dreams. They also face similar issues. For example, participants noted the difficulty of having to deal with multiple business challenges at once (finances, unskilled employees, competition, market expansion, etc.) while having fewer people to rely on compared to managers in larger companies. Therefore, they expressed the need to become more self-sufficient and organized and the desire to become more technologically savvy.<br /><br />Each workshop held was one day-long in duration and was delivered three times in consecutive days to a total of 50 to 60 participants in each country. The goals of the workshops were:<br />To introduce <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners to more advanced software tools that can help their businesses<br />To facilitate networking and knowledge sharing among participants<br /><br />The workshops addressed three of the curriculum’s nineteen business topics: expense tracking, project management, marketing, and customer relationship management. The participants, who had varied levels of PC experience, were engaged in group discussion, exploration, and hands-on simulation-based activities. They learned how to use MS Excel, budget tracking pivot tables, customer relationship management techniques, and participated in hands-on business case scenarios. The participants were equipped to instantly put technology to use in their businesses.<br /><br />The most exciting topic of the day in both Bahrain and Morocco was that of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Attendees worked through a simulation of CRM software and learned the advantages it offers in client relations and the sales process. Attendees expressed their realization for more efficiency and organization in both areas. A few days after the workshop, one Bahraini participant in Bahrain said “I told my company we need CRM software and we are going to research it immediately!”<br /><br />The workshop was highly commended by the participants, especially for its interactivity, enjoyment, length, practicality, and relevance to their businesses. Attendees also appreciated the many networking opportunities that the workshops provided. In addition, participants in Bahrain pointed to the role-play marketing session as another highlight of the workshop. In both countries, attendees expressed their desire to research training and purchasing options for the technologies presented in the workshop and their eagerness to apply their new skills to improve their businesses.<br /><br />These Smarter Seminars Workshops are a part of the larger export and trade training programs provided by IESC. The Smart Technology for a Smarter Business Program was developed by the Making Cents Consortium which includes IESC Geekcorps, Making Cents International, and MediaSpark. The Program is sponsored by HP.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-83261432658688307932008-04-29T11:50:00.002-07:002008-04-29T11:57:05.084-07:00A great tool to help speed growth<div style="text-align: justify;">If you’ve never heard of the company before, you should head over to www.37signals.com and check them out.<br /><br />37 Signals designs web applications that are very simple and elegant yet powerfully effective. The one that really has me excited about using at my current business and sharing with our clients is Campfire. Campfire is a web based group chat tool that makes collaborating on an idea very efficient.<br /><br />We just opened a second office of our <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> IT support company, and it’s about 2000 miles away from our first office. The first thing you notice when you do this is that you have to really make an effort to keep communication flowing and keep a sense of being “one team”, which is critical to our service model. Campfire makes this a lot easier to do.<br /><br />The benefits of using it in our situation are huge:<br />Less time in meetings<br />Fewer meetings<br />Better communication on initiatives that require participation from people in both offices<br /><br />Because of all of the above, ideas get shared and discussed faster, and therefore get executed on faster. All of this leads to a faster operating rhythm and faster growth!</div> <span class="post-author vcard"> </span>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-9631060499631724472008-04-29T11:50:00.001-07:002008-04-29T11:50:40.577-07:00Small Business Getting Heard (Egypt, part 2)<div style="text-align: justify;">How do you get the attention of politicians? Egypt’s small business federation simply whisked them away during their lunch break…<br /><br />Traditionally, small businesses across Egypt received little attention from the government. Although market reforms began in the 1990s, commercial laws affecting small business remained antiquated or were geared toward big business. The prime minister saw no need for legislation fostering small business growth, and parliament never consulted small business owners about their needs.<br /><br />When the Federation of Economic Development Associations (FEDA) decided it was time it got heard, it rented two buses and parked them outside the Parliament. As members of parliament exited their first session of the day, they were greeted by FEDA representatives who invited them to learn about small business needs over lunch. The 65 politicians who agreed to board the bus were taken to a hotel where they learned about the importance of small business to the economy, not to mention the power of 32,000 business owners’ votes.<br /><br />FEDA explained gaps in existing law and offered solutions. Then, 25 members of parliament stayed after lunch to hear more, and this group of concerned politicians went on to sponsor new legislation for small and medium enterprises. It was unprecedented for a draft law to be introduced this way without going through the executive, yet the SME law was passed in 2004. 60% of FEDA’s recommendations were incorporated in this law and the new prime minister asked FEDA to help implement the law in cooperation with the Fund for Social Development.<br /><br />Today, FEDA is tackling the 1954 unified law on industry. CIPE and FEDA are bringing together officials and people from commerce and industry all around the country to workshops on revising the law. Businesspeople are airing their views and officials are coming to listen.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-70672953085829100052008-04-29T11:48:00.002-07:002008-04-29T11:49:47.457-07:00WordPress For Small Business - A “Revolutionary” New Theme<div style="text-align: justify;">It’s no secret that businesses can benefit from blogging. Regularly updated content keeps the reader interested in what’s going on, gives them a sense of accessibility to the business, and can mean return visitors and potentially clients. But one of the challenges to blogging for your business is the choices you have to make when stepping out. What platform should I use? Should I go with a free theme, or have a custom theme developed?<br /><br />I like WordPress. I really like WordPress. And strangely enough, there are countless small to medium business owners who are still unaware that WordPress can not only fill their blogging needs, but also serve as a fantastic platform for updating their website as well. The technical phrase for it is a “Content Management System” or CMS. Using WordPress as a CMS isn’t terribly difficult, especially since WordPress was one of the first blogging platforms to use a “page” system where static content could be published.<br /><br />Brian Gardner, one of my good friends in the business and designer of the very site on which this article has been published, recently released what he calls the “Revolution Theme” for WordPress. Brian was kind enough to explain to me in a chat session what Revolution was all about, and send me a sample copy to crack open and have a look at.<br /><br />Believe me, this is not your typical free WordPress theme. It’s called “premium” for a reason. There are tons of options available for the intermediate designer looking to have a more functional CMS ready theme, and Brian has done a good job of releasing regular tutorials on the theme’s site. Not only that, the theme has all those typical (and classic) Brian Gardner touches.<br />A Look Under The Hood<br /><br />The theme files are laid out normally, just like any other theme … but upon a closer look, you’ll see some files that you don’t normally find in a typical theme (free or paid). For instance, Brian has done a good job of offering multiple layouts for different types of pages. For instance, he’s included templates for a feature page, a news page, and a normal “single” page. Each template has a different layout. And it’s pretty easy to change between layouts too. When you’re authoring a page, just choose a “page template” in the right sidebar. Brian seems to have done his best to make the process simple.<br /><br />The code itself is good. Every coder has his own system, and I may not have chosen the same tags Brian did, but aside from some semantic issues, the code is readable and structured very well. Even if you’re not too comfortable with code, the way the trees are presented makes it easy to know what to edit and what to leave alone. The template files themselves could have used more commenting, though … preferably PHP comments so they don’t show up in the page source.<br />The Good<br /><br />A <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> can definitely take advantage of Brian’s hard work. The theme can be customized easily by anyone familiar with web code (no WordPress experience necessary). That’s a plus in my book.<br /><br />The flexibility of the theme layouts makes it desirable for anyone wanting to have a blog and a website integrated into one, or anyone wanting to use a free CMS (WordPress). All you need is a little design savvy and some elbow grease and you’ll be up and running in no time.<br /><br />The stylesheet (CSS) is well commented. You can’t get lost there :-)<br /><br />WordPress theme developers could use this package as a means to quickly develop sites for clients. Brian’s already done most of the work, so it can be a great springboard to an easy design. Plus, the $60 USD price tag is a small price to pay for a quality base for a theme to be used to extend WordPress as a CMS.<br /><br />No plugins necessary. That’s definitely a good thing.<br />The Bad<br /><br />The price isn’t for everyone. Contrary to the name, there’s nothing so “revolutionary” about the theme that you couldn’t duplicate yourself if you’re a decent WP designer. Those “do-it-yourself-ers” out there will balk at the price, for sure.<br /><br />I would have liked to see a better use of WordPress pages to populate the different content areas of the theme. Brian opted to hard-code them instead. I think this takes away from the idea of using WordPress as a CMS, because to update some content requires editing code. He definitely chose the easier route for his initial release. Maybe a later version will eliminate source editing.<br /><br />This theme isn’t for the novice, regardless of how easy it may seem to modify. Whenever there is code involved, beginners aren’t going to have a good time. Like it or not, if you don’t know anything about structured markup or CSS, then you’ll want to pay someone to handle the modifications for you.<br /><br />There are no “theme options”. I don’t really care about this, to be honest with you, but I’m afraid that people are spoiled. I personally refuse to do it, but for some reason, “theme options” are important to people. They want to be able to change the position of their sidebar by selecting “right” or “left” from a drop-down menu. I personally don’t think this is what Brian was going for (the complete novice dependent on the GUI), but the criticism will come eventually from someone. I figured I’d mention it too.<br /><br />All in all, it is typical great work for Brian. But beyond that, Revolution is a great attempt to pull WordPress up from an exclusively blogger-driven platform, into a more functional, mature Content Management platform. Revolution is certainly a step in that direction.<br /><br />Why aren’t there more themes like this one out there? I love to see when people (theme and plugin authors) stretching the limitations of WordPress and creeping into uncharted territories. Before we know it, WordPress could be the most feature-rich web publishing system out there. All it needs is users and developers like Brian who are willing to stick their neck out there and try something that hasn’t been successfully tried before.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-74901600521457619702008-04-29T11:48:00.001-07:002008-04-29T11:48:49.807-07:00Personal accountability key to small business growth<div style="text-align: justify;">I’m a member of EO - if you are a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owner, you should be too. It is a great organization with fantastic resources, including their member’s magazine, Octane. In their recent addition I came across a great article by an EO member and the founder of The Accountability Company.<br /><br />The premise behind the company is using tools and techniques to help people and companies achieve their goals by teaching personal accountability. What a great idea! <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small business</span>es don’t get started and can’t grow unless people are accountable.<br /><br />According to Ellie Byrd, the Founder and President, there are “Three C’s of Accountability”. Here is a summary from her website:<br />How Does it Work?<br /><br />Through years of research, Ellie Byrd, founder of The Accountability Company, discovered the keys to instilling accountability in individuals and organizations. She developed a systematic approach to achieving accountability through a simple, easy-to-follow process. At the core of the process are three foundational elements, called The Three C’s of Accountability.<br /><br />#1 – Clarity. Goals must be crystal clear in order to achieve them. We can’t hit a target unless we can see the bull’s eye. We don’t engage in competitive sports without knowing the rules of the game. And we wouldn’t leave on vacation without knowing where we are going. Clarity is key.<br /><br />#2 – Commitment. We must be 100% determined to achieve the goal. If we’re interested in doing something, we do it when it’s convenient. But when we’re committed to doing something, we do it when it’s not convenient. It’s the passion that makes people persist after repeated failure. It’s the motivation that enables people with average ability to successfully compete with those who have greater ability. Commitment is a key element in achieving our full potential.<br /><br />#3 – Consistency. We must have a structured process that supports our efforts toward achievement. The process involves prioritizing, tracking and monitoring our progress. The more defined the process, the easier our path to success.<br /><br />The Accountability Company offers a wide range of training tools and process tools that support and reinforce the culture of accountability within your team or organization. It begins with personal responsibility and extends through the peer team. In an organization, it leads to a culture change whereby people support each other and are unified toward achieving common goals. It’s a process not an event. It’s about changing our thoughts and behaviors to support success. It’s within us already.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-70057603091494544252008-04-29T11:47:00.001-07:002008-04-29T11:47:58.483-07:00Small Business Disaster Recovery Planning<div style="text-align: justify;">When I see the horrific scenes from the Gulf Coast and after I get past the sad personal stories and the amount of human suffering, I think of all the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small businesses</span> that are lost and will never recover.<br />Most <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owners have their lives deeply intertwined with their business. Usually all of their personal assets are tied to those businesses.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Small business</span> owners usually do not take the time or have the time or resources to do any planning for disaster. Think about your business…is your data backed up?…in a remote location?…do you have insurance coverage for natural disasters?…do you have a contingency plan at all?<br /><br />Below is a link to a free handbook published by a the nonprofit Institute for Business and Home Safety. If you have a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> you need to think about how you, your family and your business would or could survive a natural disaster such as the one we are watching unfold on the Gulf Coast.<br /><br />“Open for Businesss includes an assessment tool that helps the business determine its susceptibility to disaster wherever it has facilities and minimize its risks.<br /><br />The toolkit also includes materials to help organize the business’ critical information and review its essential operations, both of which lead to developing a continuity plan.”<br /><br />If you are a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> you should really take a moment to download this and work on putting basic plans in place to save your business…just in case.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-28304956916730786752008-04-29T11:46:00.000-07:002008-04-29T11:47:00.867-07:00How To Stay Motivated By Finding A Business Partner<div style="text-align: justify;">SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY (Do-doot-do-doot)<br /><br />This is America, and in America children are taught that they can be anything they want to be if they just WORK HARD. (I was also taught that I would have to “Put my mind to it.”) Too often the promise is lost on the beaches of adulthood swept away by wave after wave cynicism, setbacks, until they reach the purgatory of settling. The inhabitants of that purgatory live by another pseudo-promise, good enough is good enough. But, every once and a while, a flicker of the original accord reaches the surface and people wonder, “What if?”<br /><br />As a guy who is “in finance” I get random calls from people I haven’t spoken to in years, or even people I’ve never met. (”I work with Charlie and he is friends with Kate from the coffee shop…”) People who have never expressed the slightest interest in starting their own business suddenly approach me with all sorts of questions about starting and running a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>. For the moment that flicker is alive and they don’t want it to go out. Ninety percent of the time that spark comes from the same place, an encounter with a successful business owner. The entrepreneur reminds us of that childhood compact with America, and it looks so much better than purgatory.<br /><br />Go, Go, Go! … Go, Go! … Go! … No go.<br /><br />You can spot the potentially successful entrepreneur if you look closely. They don’t necessarily have a BIG IDEA that will make them rich. They don’t even care if it makes them rich. They talk loud and animated. They wave their hands in gestures and they go on and on. They can’t finish. Every time they seem ready to wrap it up, their eyes light back up and their mouth pops open and they say “Oh, and another thing that will…”<br /><br />In the heady times of plunging ahead with a new venture, it seems that nothing can slow you down. You work your regular 8 to 5 job and then come home and work until 11pm on the new business. You type, draw, design, plan, whatever the steps are. Then, it gets a little harder, and a little harder, and a little harder. If you could just focus on the promise, on the dream, on the goal, you could keep going, but sometimes it just isn’t there and you see the short-term a little more clearly than the long-term.<br /><br />If this sounds a little bit familiar it should. Whether you’ve tried to lose weight, or just get into better shape, this same thing has happened to you before. At first you went to the gym like clockwork. Then you missed one time, then two. Pretty soon, you are sitting around the table eating Buffalo wings and saying “I haven’t been to the gym in forever.” The solution is so simple (and so effective) you’ll eventually read it in every book, magazine, or website you look at. You need a workout buddy.<br /><br />The workout buddy is nothing special. She doesn’t have to be more fit than you. She doesn’t have to be more experienced or more successful. She doesn’t even have to be more dedicated. She just has to be there. It’s easy to rationalize your way out of a night at the gym. You worked really hard that day. You need to get the dry cleaning. Someone has to make dinner. But, then you remember, your workout buddy is waiting for you at the gym. Sure, you could call her on your cell phone, but that isn’t very cool. She’s probably already on her way there right now. And so you go.<br /><br />The funny part is the same thing could be happening with her. She doesn’t want to go. It’s been a rough day, and someone needs to walk the dog, but her workout buddy will be waiting for her, and she just couldn’t do that.<br /><br />Your Business Buddy<br /><br />The same solution is a great help to the budding entrepreneur. Connect with someone else who is running their own business. It doesn’t matter if they are “ahead” or “behind” you. Schedule a regular time to get together. Meet at a local Starbucks, order some coffee and swap networking tips, or bring your laptops and edit each others documents, or bounce ideas off of each other. You’ll find that your buddy will motivate you. It’s Tuesday and you meet with your Business Buddy tomorrow. You haven’t really done anything for your business. That will be awkward. So, you jam in ten business calls, update your web page, and send out thirty prospecting cards. Do that every week and success is coming.<br /><br />The other great thing about your Business Buddy is having a comrade in arms. Just like your Workout Buddy can commiserate over a tough day, so can your Business Buddy. Better yet, your Workout Buddy can celebrate with you in a way no one else can. Ever try and brag about getting to 40 minutes of cardio all 4 days last week to someone who isn’t working out? They usually aren’t very impressed. It can make it seem like no one understands you. Your Business Buddy does the same thing. Your Business Buddy will give you a high-five and say “Way to go,” when you tell him about making 60 prospecting calls on Tuesday. Your Basketball Pool Buddy will say, “Did you get any new clients?” Total downer.<br /><br />Finding a Business Buddy<br /><br />Finding a business buddy is easier than you think. In order for your business to be successful, chances are you are going to have to do some networking. Whether you do it online or in person, networking helps you build contacts that will be essential for the success of your business. One of the toughest parts about networking is not coming across to a stranger like you just want something from them. No problem. Ask the successful guy you always have a good laugh with from Rotary if he would be willing to meet you for breakfast (or online) once a month just to go over ideas and notes. Then do it. Don’t hit him up for business or ask for his client list or referrals. Sooner or later, he’ll respect you as a hard working entrepreneur just like himself. Pretty soon he’ll be bouncing ideas off of you. After all, he could probably use a Business Buddy too. And, when that trusted client of his needs someone for an important project he’ll think of you. Now you have two things every entrepreneur needs: A Business Buddy, and someone to network with.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-10699362499728842172008-04-29T11:45:00.000-07:002008-04-29T11:46:07.785-07:00Small Business Success<div style="text-align: justify;">Seth Godin writes about three things you need for <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> success:<br />The ability to abandon a plan<br />The confidence to do the right thing<br />The belief in other people<br /><br />I would have to add two more to the list:<br />Vision<br />The ability to dream<br /><br />Vision in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span><br /><br />From my experience, in order to succeed in business, you have to have some sort of vision. It doesn’t matter whether you are the stock room clerk or the president of a company, as long as you can make an impact on your surroundings you will effect the company in some way.<br /><br />All the time you hear stories about the part time cook who ended up the head chef, or the bagger at the grocery store who turned into the district manager. I can guarantee one thing - they wouldn’t have got there if they didn’t have some sort of vision!<br /><br />The Power of Dreams<br /><br />Dreaming is another thing that I think <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> successes stem from. I am a firm believer in self-fulfilling prophecy. Self fulfilling prophecy is when you think something will happen, so it ends up happening.<br /><br />Self fulfilling prophecy is a whole blog post in itself, but i will get into it a bit. Let’s say I want a Corvette. That Corvette is going to cost me $800 a month, but my budget only allows for $300 a month. If I believe that I will be sitting behind the wheel of the sports car in six months, then I will make all the decisions possible to get there. I might forgo eating lunch out everyday, or I could cut out my subscriptions to HBO and World of Warcraft. In essence, I will do everything I can to get that Corvette.<br /><br />So when a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> person dreams of doing $600,000 in revenue out of their little boutique shop, they will make the choices necessary to get there. Through marketing, inventory, employees… Their dreams slowly become a reality.<br /><br />Dreams and Visions<br /><br />There really isn’t much difference between dreams and vision. In fact, we might be able list them together. But I wanted to make the point that you might have all the business sense in the world, but if you don’t dream or think big thoughts, you won’t be going anywhere - fast.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-23124014201845859152008-04-29T11:44:00.000-07:002008-04-29T11:45:16.666-07:00Small Business Server 2008: no ISA Server, no built-in tape backup<div style="text-align: justify;">I have caught up a little with what is coming in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span> Server 2008, code-named Cougar. Short version: Microsoft is focusing on ease of use but omitting some of the features that made previous versions attractive. This will be an upgrade headache if you used those features.<br /><br />The new version is 64-bit only and includes Exchange Server 2007, Sharepoint Services 3.0 and WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) 3.0 as standard. Go Premium to get SQL Server 2008 and a license for a second server (which can be 32-bit).<br /><br />Program Manager Sean Daniel says in an interview (video) that the install is easier than before, and that wizards are scenario-based rather than task-based. I think this means that more decisions are taken for you. However, two changes have caused some consternation.<br /><br />The first is that tape backup is no longer built in. The new backup system only supports external USB or FireWire drives. I’m not sure about backup over the network; it would be silly to omit this, but who knows? It is based on differential backup, which means you can backup in 10 minutes and do it every hour if you like.<br /><br />Microsoft says this is because external drives are cheaper than tapes, and that most SBS users have moved to hard drive backup in any case. This is true unless you have a lot of tapes. However, tape advocates point out that tapes are more robust in transit and safer for archiving. Personally I’ve had problems with the cheapest bus-powered external drives, mainly because of the power being inadequate, but I’d hope that up-to-date hardware fixes this. If you still love tape, the solution is to buy a third-party tape backup system.<br /><br />The other big omission is ISA Server, Microsoft’s firewall and proxy server. This is a bigger deal. ISA is a complex but sophisticated product that requires two network cards to be installed. If you can work out how to administer it, it provides extra security in conjunction with an external firewall, and numerous features for publishing internal servers and services. Why has it been dropped? Daniel makes a curious comment in this Q&A:<br /><br />I am as disappointed as you with this. Certain circumstances with the changes in Longhorn server left us without firewall solution in our standard product. We attempted to move ISA into the standard product, but legal issues prevented this. There was nothing we could do.<br /><br />Legal issues? This is a Microsoft product bundled with a Microsoft product. I wonder if he means internal politics?<br /><br />In particular, note that there is a new multi-server bundle called Windows Essential Business Server 2008, which does include ISA.<br /><br />So what do you do if you have a full-works, dual-NIC SBS 2003 box and want to upgrade? There’s no in-place upgrade, because this is 32-bit to 64-bit; and the disappearance of ISA means you have to rethink your network architecture, or upgrade to the aforementioned EBS.<br /><br />Two things disappoint me here. One is that Microsoft is pushing <span style="font-weight: bold;">small businesses</span> towards multiple servers, in SBS Premium or EBS. Although this has administrative advantages, it’s not very green, it’s losing the essence of what SBS was about, and seems out of tune with the more general industry move towards fewer servers and virtualization.<br /><br />The second disappointment is that Microsoft seems to be pretty much ignoring the cloud. I may be wrong: the blurb says “Integration with Microsoft Office Live Services <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span>”, though I’m not sure what this amounts to. Personally I reckon the cloud is the future for the niche that SBS fills. I’d design SBS Next as a local cache for cloud services.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-30478166763375963582008-04-29T11:43:00.000-07:002008-04-29T11:44:22.805-07:00Create Personal Wealth Beyond Your Small Business, Part 3<div style="text-align: justify;">The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span> Real Estate Wealth Building Strategy<br /><br />Thus far I have been talking about the advantageous financing that a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> person can access to acquire real estate for business use. Before doing so, you have to be sure that it makes sense to own your business location, rather than lease it. Let’s look at the reasons for buying business-occupied real estate versus leasing.<br /><br />Reason 1: Control<br />When you own the location for your business you have a greater degree of control over what you can do with the space. In lease situations, you always have a landlord who is concerned with the condition and state of the property who may attempt to limit your use.<br /><br />Reason 2: Diversification<br />The business real estate is a separate asset from the business itself. In purchasing the building, you have automatically diversified your asset base. Now a portion of your net worth is in commercial real estate and on a different growth path than your business.<br /><br />Reason 3: Equity Creation<br />When you make those monthly lease payments you are doing your landlord a great favor by either helping him pay down his loan or increase his net worth. Either way, that money is put to better use if YOU are the one whose loan is being paid down, building your equity in the property.<br /><br />Reason 4: Payment Assistance<br />Wouldn’t it be nice to be the owner AND a landlord at the same time? If at all possible, try to purchase a building with additional space for other tenants. You can use their cash flow to help you acquire a larger property, pay down your loan faster, increase your personal cash flow, or a combination of the three.<br /><br />Reason 5: Estate Planning<br />Since the building is a separate asset, there are different approaches to managing its position in your portfolio. Common strategies include putting the building in personal or trust name and leasing the space to your business. Also, keeping the building in a separate ownership name gives you some further protection in the event things don’t go as planned with the business.<br /><br />The Wealth Building Strategy<br /><br />From these reasons it should be fairly straightforward to derive the <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> owner’s real estate wealth building strategy. First, look for a property in which to locate your business. The property should meet your business’ immediate and medium term growth needs.<br /><br />Second, attempt to find properties that can accommodate or have existing tenants for payment assistance. Obviously, this step should not conflict with the first one. However, a little patience in finding a multi-tenant property that you can use for your business will pay off significantly down the road.<br /><br />Third, acquire the property with advantageous financing that maintains working capital at acceptable levels and allows for accelerated pay down of the loan principal for equity build-up. In other words, assuming it makes sense, get high leverage or LTV financing that keeps cash in the business. At the same time, make sure that the loan you obtain allows for extra “pre-payments” without penalty so that you can accelerate equity growth in the property and increase future cash flow.<br /><br />Fourth, position the property to meet your estate goals. How you take ownership will have a significant effect on your estate planning. You should get both your tax and estate planning advisors involved before you close the purchase escrow.<br /><br />Fifth, implement and accelerated repayment strategy to maximize equity creation. As mentioned in the third step, this is where the smart investor uses his excess cash flow to reduce overall interest expense on the property and increase equity. Properly “reversing” the amortization principal used by lenders reaps massive gains in wealth over relatively short periods of time. I will cover this topic in the next article.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-83918880933798525832008-04-29T11:42:00.000-07:002008-04-29T11:43:22.959-07:00Small Business Tax Info<div style="text-align: justify;">Ownership of a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> can contribute you an extra benefit during income tax return, if you have good knowledge of <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax info. This provides detailed information about <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax credits and tax reduction. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small business</span> owners are likely to be scrutinized threefold more by the Internal Revenue Service than a non-owner. So, it is of great significance to have proper information, and make sure that your claim is genuine and you qualify for credit and deductions.<br /><br />Here we will deal with some crucial aspects of tax deduction. What to claim for safe deduction? According to <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax info one is entitled for <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax reduction on items that are sensible and essential to carry out one’s business. This comprises office supplies, home office, equipment and furniture, gas/fuel of vehicle or standard mileage fixed by Internal Revenue Service, travel, entertainment expenditure and dinner. It also includes mortgage interest, real estate tax, security systems, insurance, depreciation costs and utilities and services such as internet, phone and garbage collection. Liability insurance costs and health insurance cost can be shown as deductions.<br /><br />These are some of the most important items based on recent and accurate information related to small tax deductions, for more detailed information refer to <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax info. Since <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>persons are independent minded and wants to perform things themselves, one can search for online <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax formulation program, it may be helpful. Such a program gives minute information how to utilize <span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span> Loans Unsecured to save taxes. Even recommends various clues for merchant cash advances and use them for tax deduction.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Small Business</span> Tax Info helps you to know about the deserving credit breaks and how to meet Internal Revenue Service’s much needed qualification for tax deduction, before you file the return. Being owner of a <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> can be awarding and provides you a credit break at the time of tax deduction.<br /><br />Remember, tax laws are assembled in such a way as to assist you with startup business and over come Bad Credit <span style="font-weight: bold;">small Business</span> Loans . Tax laws are prepared in favor of entrepreneurs, and if we take help of <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> tax info to deal with our tax return we are sure to get maximum tax deduction, whatever deserved. So leave no stone unturned, mean to say take the benefit of all such deductions of which you are entitled, from home office, business supplies, business phone to meals and entertainment.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-35818792433317568842008-04-29T11:39:00.000-07:002008-04-29T11:42:19.876-07:00Small Business Web Hosting<div style="text-align: justify;">If you have been following along with our Starting an Online Business series you will have some of the information already on hand to help you determine the type of web hosting your online business will require. Get your target audience research out, you will need it.<br /><br />You don’t need to sign up for web hosting until you have your website created but you will need an idea of web hosting costs for your website budget.<br /><br />So what exactly is web hosting?<br /><br />“A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Webhosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.”<br /><br />Web hosting service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<br /><br />So basically, you are renting space from a web hosting provider to store your website and make it available to internet users.<br /><br />There are various types of web hosting available. Which one is best suited for your online business will be determined by your target audience research.<br />Types of Web Hosting<br /><br />The type of website you are planning and the features required for the website will dictate the type of <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> web hosting to secure. There are various types of web hosting to choose from:<br />Shared or Virtual Hosting<br /><br />The type of web hosting is the most common and would meet the needs of a small to medium sized online business.<br />Virtual Private Server or Virtual Dedicated Server<br /><br />Suited for those who wish to have the stability of a dedicated server but no do not need a full fledged dedicated server.<br />Dedicated Server<br /><br />Suited for large, high traffic websites that require a more complex setup for web applications.<br />Managed Web Hosting<br /><br />A dedicated web server with the added benefit of management services provided by the web hosting provider.<br />Co-Location Web Hosting<br /><br />You own the web server and have it located at a data center. A very large or active website would use this type of web hosting.<br />Reseller Web Hosting<br /><br />A reseller web hosting package would be suited for someone who has a network of websites or is interested in offering web hosting to others. Web Designers often have this type of web hosting to be able to offer web hosting to their clients.<br />Free Web Hosting<br /><br />Free web hosting isn’t really free. The price you pay is that your website visitors are subjected to advertising.<br /><br />The web hosting requirements for larger, more complex websites is quite involved. You will have to consult with your web designer/web developer what is exactly required if you are using a complex, custom application for the website.<br /><br />Next, we will expand on the more common <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> web hosting that the average <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> would require when starting out.<br />Shared or Virtual Web Hosting<br /><br />Shared web hosting or virtual web hosting is where your website is on a web server that you share with a number of other websites. You all share the available resources, operating system and applications on the web server. The website owners on a shared or virtual web server cannot control the actual web server but with quality web hosting, you can control your webspace through an interface called a control panel.<br /><br />This type of web hosting is good for small to medium sized websites and if you just need email hosting. It is usually the cheapest option for professional web hosting.<br /><br />The web hosting provider is responsible for maintaining the web server, keeping it running and upgrading any hardware and software provided on the web server.<br /><br />Keep in mind, you will be sharing the web server resources so if there is a very active or resource hogging website on the web server, your website may suffer. Also, check that all the types of features your website requires are either already available or can be added.<br />Reseller Web Hosting<br /><br />Reseller web hosting is where a block of web hosting is purchased from a web host provider. A Web Design firm may have this type of web hosting so they can offer web hosting to their clients. Someone who is in the business of selling web hosting would also have this type of web hosting account.<br /><br />As a website owner, it may be beneficial to your <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> to sign up for this type of web hosting. Not because you will be selling web hosting to others, but because if you have multiple websites and/or blogs you can host them in one location.<br />Free Web Hosting<br /><br />We have already covered the cons of free web hosting in our business domain name article.<br /><br />If you have a personal website for family or friends and what to try out your HTML skills, then free web hosting would be ok but not really an option if you are serious about building a successful online business.<br />Web Hosting Checklist<br /><br />When evaluating web hosting plans, have a checklist of the web hosting requirements you need to look for. You should already have this list started (if not complete) when you did your target audience research.<br /><br />Some things you might not have thought of yet or don’t quite understand are webspace and bandwidth.<br />Webspace<br /><br />Webspace is the amount of storage your website will require on the web server. If you have a basic website then you won’t need much space. On the other hand, if you have lots of pictures or are developing a online catalogue of your wares complete with pictures then more space will be required. Pictures take up alot of space on the web server. A database driven online catalogue (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a shopping cart) or blog will require more space. Check the web hosting package description for the number of allowable databases within the account.<br />Bandwidth<br /><br />Bandwidth is the measure of traffic, both into and out of, your website. Having a very active website, a chatroom, a forum or items available for download all add to your bandwidth calculation. A website heavy on pictures will also use a lot of bandwidth.<br /><br />Note: Be wary of web hosts that offer unlimited webspace and/or bandwidth. There isn’t any such thing as unlimited. Take a look at the fine print, it’s unlimited up to a point.<br /><br />There are few other things to keep in mind when selecting web hosting.<br />Pricing<br /><br />Don’t go for the cheapest price! The old saying: “You get what you pay for” is so true when selecting web hosting. Base your web hosting selection on the package/plan that best suits your needs now and has room for expansion, not on price.<br />Support, Uptime and Backup<br /><br />Does the web host provider offer:<br />Telephone support? Is it available 24/7?<br />A online trouble ticket/help desk system for your questions and concerns<br />Forums and/or live chat for customer support. What kind of questions and problems have been posted to the forums by customers? Can you see any major problems posted?<br />Email support<br /><br />What kind of uptime is posted on the website? Uptime is the amount of time the web server is guaranteed to be running at full functionality. A posted rate of 99.9% would be much better for your online business, anything less will cost you money.<br /><br />Will you receive a refund if the web host provider does not provide the services as listed in their term of services?<br /><br />Are the web servers automatically backed up nightly? Note: Have a backup of your website that you have done yourself just in case the web server is not backed up, even if they are supposed to be backed up nightly.<br /><br />Does the web hosting plan have all the features you require?<br /><br />Taking your time and doing plenty of research before selecting a web hosting plan can be important to the future of your online <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span>. Hasty decisions can in the end cost your <span style="font-weight: bold;">small business</span> money through wasted time, having to move your web hosting to a better web host and not being able to provide the website features your target audience expects to be available.<br /><br />Remember, being control of every aspect of your online business is the way to go. It may seem very complicated having different service providers for each part of your online business (domain registrar, web designer, web hosting) but in the end, this can be important if there are any problems in the future.</div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-34190741697076549472008-04-07T12:36:00.002-07:002008-04-07T13:02:42.095-07:00How to Determine the Quality of a Diamond<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When it comes to diamonds, size doesn't always matter. You may have one that is the size of a hen's egg, that's not worth as much as one that's the size of a dime. This is all due to the four Cs of diamonds: cut, clarity, color and carat weight. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">-Cut: Most people interpret "cut" to mean the shape of the diamond, when in fact you can have many round diamonds that have been cut with different numbers of facets. Diamonds are actually cut (the mechanical act, not the appearance) into a number of traditional shapes that include round, square, oblong, "emerald" (octagonal), oval, marquise (pointed oval), and pear (half oval, half marquise). </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">-Color: Diamonds are most often referred to as "white", when in fact, the term that is meant, would be "colorless". Diamonds however, are rarely if ever, totally without color. In fact, many diamonds have trace amounts of yellow, brown, green and other colors. What are called "colored" diamonds, are generally those that have been enhanced by heat or other treatments. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">-Clarity: This is literally the definition of how "clean" a diamond is, or how it is affected by inclusions. The highest quality diamonds have nothing inside them that will in any way interfere with the passage of light. Inclusions like pockets of gas, minute particles, or even liquids, l can cause cloudiness, or a duller appearance. Not all inclusions are visible to the eye, or even the standard power microscope used by gemologists. Thus, you may see ratings of clarity that state a diamond is: clean (no inclusions), or eye clean (no inclusions visible to the naked eye). </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">-Carats: This is not actually a measure of quality, but taken with the other Cs, constitutes part of the framework for determining a diamond's value. Carat is simply a weight measurement. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span></div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-591480059682139952008-04-07T12:36:00.001-07:002008-04-07T13:02:42.096-07:0010 Dynamic Traits of Over-Achievers<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Are you a successful over-achiever? Considerable research has been done about the characteristics that typify the successful business owner. Most experts who have studied the subject tend to agree that the most important single factor is an overpowering need to achieve. In other words, a person's attitude seems to be the main determinant of success in business, more so than education, intelligence, physical attributes, or having a pleasing personality. The key characteristics that have been found to be part of the makeup of all successful over-achievers are: </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1. Powerful need to achieve -- which should not be confused with a mere need to exercise power or be liked or admired; the way in which different entrepreneurs "keep score" in assessing their level of achievement varies, and may range from accumulating great wealth to creating a better mouse trap; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">2. Perseverance -- the characteristic trait of following through on commitments and not abandoning objectives when difficulties are encountered; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">3. Positive mental attitude -- the self-confidence in one's abilities that allows a person to remain optimistic in new, unfamiliar and unexpectedly difficult situations; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">4. Objectivity -- an ability to accurately assess the risks associated with a particular course of action, including a realistic understanding of one's own capabilities and limitations. This includes being willing and able to abandon an ill-advised project without having ones' ego get in the way. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">5. Foresight -- the ability to anticipate developments and be proactive, rather than constantly having to react to problems after they arise; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">6. Well-developed personal relations skills -- being cheerful and cooperative and able to easily get along with people, but often without being close to employees and associates; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">7. Strong communication skills -- the ability to communicate well in written form and in making effective oral presentations, either one-on-one or before groups; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">8. Resourcefulness -- an ability to solve one-of-a-kind problems in unique or creative ways, including the ability to handle problems for which you might not have had previous training or experience to call upon; </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">9. Technical knowledge -- broad and well-rounded technical knowledge and understanding, especially with regard to the nuts-and-bolts physical processes of producing goods and services </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">10. A respectful attitude towards money -- a tendency not to look upon it as an end in itself, but to view it as a means of making things happen and accomplishing business goals, or as a type of objective feedback from the outside world, which lets the entrepreneur know if is on the right track with the business. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">So, there you have it...10 successful business traits. If you see yourself in this list, then we will be seeing you at the top! </span></strong></span></div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-73766740174848932682008-04-07T12:35:00.000-07:002008-04-07T13:03:52.393-07:00Why Six Sigma Will Work In Service Environments<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;">Although Six Sigma has its roots in manufacturing, it works just as effectively in service industries. It's no secret that service environments, such as financial organizations, healthcare providers, retail companies, and hospitality organizations have a harder time applying Six Sigma principles. However, the core principles of Six Sigma allow it to cost-effectively translate manufacturing-oriented Six Sigma tools into the service delivery process. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;">Service organizations have different root causes of problems and a unique set of processes and metrics. Thus, the tools and methodology required to achieve the improvements of Six Sigma are significantly different. While problems in the manufacturing setting may lie within a process, the issue in a service environment often is the process itself. Service industries are full of waste--and ripe for the benefits of Six Sigma. It is easy to apply relatively simple statistical and lean tools that will reduce costs and achieve greater speed with less waste in service processes. There are numerous case studies that demonstrate how Six Sigma can be used in service organizations just as effectively as in manufacturing and with even faster results. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;">In a service organization, the critical factors in quality and efficiency are the flow of information and the interaction between people, especially interactions with customers. Transforming the process of these flows will yield quality results. At the heart of every service business are the opinions, behaviors and decisions made by people. Analyzing and modifying human performance in service environments is as complex as any manufacturing situation. Six Sigma achieves documented bottom-line strategic business results by initiating an organization-wide culture shift. Until a process focus, rather than a task focus, is developed, the scope and endurance of improvements will be limited. Analyzing and modifying human performance in these environments is complex, but Six Sigma provides the tools and methodology required to achieve significant long-term improvements. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;">Service managers trained in Six Sigma become skilled at advanced process analysis and problem solving techniques relevant to the “real world” of service environments. They learn to identify and eliminate poor decision-making processes, standardize practices, reduce cycle times and manage the risk of the extensive changes required for breakthrough process improvement in people-oriented transactional processes. Successful Six Sigma services projects will lead to improved customer satisfaction, increased profit margins, reduced costs, and lower turnover. Six Sigma tools can be used in many service environments, even service areas within a non-service industry. Areas such as procurement, call centers, surgical suites, government offices, R&D, and many more will all receive benefits from implementing Six Sigma process improvement. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;">Six Sigma will help a service environment become a customer-centered organization, gain control over process complexity, and improve response time on signature services. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size:11;"> </span></strong></span></div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-50081406105854143312008-04-07T12:34:00.000-07:002008-04-07T13:03:52.393-07:00Use An MRD To Control Your Outsourcing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Is your software development process as unpredictable as the weather? Is your software casting a shadow causing six more weeks of programming? Are you using a marketing requirements document (MRD) or magic to predict your software release schedule? </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Early in my career, I worked in a lab for a company that sold microwave devices. I was responsible for the HP computer system that ran the software used to design the circuits. One day a tech support guy from HP came by. He asked what we did in the lab. When I told him "designing microwave circuits", he said, "Oh, I hear they use a lot of FM". </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I paused and tried to remember if Frequency Modulation was really used in these circuits. Before I could respond, the guy from HP continued, "Yeah, it takes a lot of F-----g Magic to make those circuits work!" </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">He was right. A major issue with microwave circuits in those days was creating them with a high-yield manufacturing process. Too often there was much tuning and tweaking of individual devices with toothpicks and tweezers to make shipment dates. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Since then I have worked on a few software projects where some amount of "FM" was required to get the software released. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">How about your software projects? Do they drift along never seeming to finish? Do they require the heroic efforts of a few individuals to make your shipment dates? </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Outsourcing can solve the issues of delayed software releases by imposing more process on your software development - more process than is typically used in an organization where everyone is working in close proximity. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Outsourcing vendors need to have a well-defined process and excellent communication to be successful. Software development is all that they do. Outsourcing not only gives you the benefit of having your software developed for less cost, but also a process that provides improved predictability, results and success. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But many remain fearful of outsourcing. The number one concern is losing control of the software development process. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">One client expressed it this way. "I can't just tell the programmers what to do on a day-to-day basis. It would be like hiring a contractor to build a house and telling him to put a window over there and a door over here. You have to understand what impact that will have on the plumbing and electrical and the building of the rest of the house." </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">He is right. You need to have some idea of the architecture and the plan for construction. Working together with a few programmers in the same room can sometimes let you make some shortcuts and share the plan by informal word of mouth. “Just put a pop-up window over here.” </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Except for small and simple projects, this informal communication does not work. You need some description of the requirements for the software. You need to find a way to efficiently communicate the requirements of your software so you can move beyond the "idea" stage with the vision for your software. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The first step in creating a software product is to write a Marketing Requirements Document or MRD. It contains a brief description of all the features, functions and benefits your product must have to be successful in the marketplace. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Some companies make a distinction between an MRD and a PRD - a Product Requirements Document. The PRD has more details on what the software should do. For example, you need both an MRD and PRD when you are creating several services and products. The MRD describes the product strategy, market positioning and sales channels required to deliver the products with specific sets of functionality to the market. The PRD on the other hand focuses on the detailed requirements of the software itself. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The MRD or PRD should include basic architecture and the critical user interface for your software: </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Software architecture </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Hardware platform selection </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Functional specification </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* User interface design </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">*Multiple “use cases” describing how users will interact with your software </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Story board demo (optional) </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Major release milestone schedule </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Quality Assurance testing </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Technical Documentation requirements </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Detailed schedule (up to completion of first major milestone) </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">* Cost estimate for cost-efficient and time-effective outsourcing development </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Your marketing requirements document or MRD describes the functionality of your software product and how it will be sold and distributed. It is also a device to control your software development process, especially if you outsource. Otherwise you run the risk of delays, poor quality and just not knowing what you are doing. </span></strong></span></div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8585297412176656511.post-87945458817017796812008-04-07T12:32:00.000-07:002008-04-07T13:00:33.412-07:00The Right Projector Screen Can Save You Money<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">At LCDProjectorCenter.com we concentrate very much on lcd projectors, so why am I writing about projector screens? Quite simple really. Buying your lcd projector in isolation from the screen without considering how they work together is likely to cost you more and give you less than perfect results. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">How can picking the right projector screen save you money? </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">One of the biggest challenges when choosing an lcd projector is getting the right brightness for the room you are going to be using it in. For home use you can usually darken the room. This means you can buy a cheap lcd projector, often saving many hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But often darkening the room significantly is neither possible nor desirable. Buying a higher specification projector will give you a brighter image, but it's probably cheaper to buy a high gain projector screen. The quality lcd projector may cost you a thousand dollars more than a dimmer model, whilst quality projector screens that enhance the image brightness and clarity are only a few hundred dollars more. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Projector Brightness and Screen Gain </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The brightness of an lcd projector is given in ansi lumen. Typical values for home theater and business presentation use are 500 to 3000. The higher the number, the brighter the picture will be. At the low end a darkened room is essential, whilst at the very top end acceptable results are possible with higher light levels. The current generation of home use projectors are typically in the 1000-1500 range. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The gain of a projector screen is the increase in brightness of the image produced compared to a flat matt white screen. This is given as a simple number, eg 1, 1.5, 2 etc. A gain of 1 means the image is the same brightness as on a flat matt white surface, whereas 2 means the image is twice as bright. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">As an example, if you decide you need about 1500 lumen to get an acceptable quality picture, you could buy a projector with that rating and worry about the screen later. Or you could buy a cheaper 1000 lumen model and match it to a projector screen with a gain of 1.5. This would give you an effective image brightness of 1500 lumen at a reduced cost. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Very High Gain Projector Screens </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Typical cheap projector screens have gains of between 1 and 1.2. Gains of 1.5 to 1.8 are achieved with high quality perlescent finishes at about double the cost. If money is no object and you need the maximum gain possible then you need a chromatically matched projector screen. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Gains of up to 4 can now be achieved with matched projectors and screens. An lcd projector only transmits 3 narrow wavelengths of light in Red, Green and Blue. A matched projector screen is covered with material that reflects only these wavelengths. Almost all of the ambient light is absorbed or scattered, so the projected image appears very much brighter. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The Downside of High Projector Screen Gain </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Whilst projector screen gain might help you use a cheap lcd projector in brighter rooms than it could cope with on its own, there are 3 trade-offs. These are the viewing angle, color shifting and uneven brightness. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">High gain projector screens limit the viewing angle. For a screen with a gain of 1 the picture appears high quality out to about 50 degrees from the projector. But at a gain of 1.5 that viewing angle is reduced to about 35 degrees. Over 2 and the viewing angle is down to around 25 degrees, making it much more difficult to layout your room. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Color shifting happens due to the surface properties of the higher gain screens. A true white screen will render colors accurately. By trying to manipulate the way light reflects, a high gain screen can cause a shift in some of the colors. This is rarely a reason not to buy, unless you really do need the colors to be spot on. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The biggest impact a high gain projector screen has on image quality is the change is brightness from the center of the screen to the edge. There can be up to 30% difference at gains over 2. This is usually not too much of a problem, but it does become far more noticable the higher the viewing angle. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Conclusion </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A little research and a bit of leg work could help you make great savings. Treat the projector screen as an integral part of your system and buy it together with your projector. Visit stores and insist on demonstrations with a variety of lcd projector and screen combinations. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Choosing a good quality, moderate gain (1.4-1.6) projector screen can decrease the cost and increase the performance of your system. A cheap lcd projector can produce a bright, clear image at higher than expected light levels. So whilst your projector screen may cost more, overall you save. </span></strong></span></div>Clara Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877316041588642980noreply@blogger.com0