Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Access to Capital Chicago
May 22, 2013, Chicago, Illinois

Join us at the Navy Pier to learn how you can raise capital for your small business. Meet 1:1 with loan officers. Attend panels on traditional and alternative lending options, start-ups, crowd-funding, and more.
Discount Code
sbtrends (Get 30% off)

Making Money Online: Ecommerce Done Right with John Lawson
June 25, 2013, New York City

Looking to create independence from this shifting job economy?
Want a stream of income that works for you around the clock?
Have a great idea of what to sell online but don’t know how to get started?
Dreaming of growing your online store from a hobby to a full fledged, profitable business?

Join John Lawson, award winning Social Commerce Strategist, American Express featured businessman, author, and founder of 3rd Power Outlet – an online clothing retail outlet that has exceeded $25 million in sales.
John will be sharing his practical, down-to-earth methods for building your own ecommerce business from the ground up in this two part workshop, packed with resources, tips, and how-to instruction.
Discount Code
SBTRENDS ( $25 off)

WBENC National Conference & Business Fair
June 26, 2013, Minneapolis, MN

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) will convene 3,500 decision makers from the nation’s leading corporations, government entities and women’s business enterprises (WBEs) to generate business together and stimulate economic growth at the 2013 WBENC National Conference & Business Fair in Minneapolis, MN, June 25-27, 2013.

Big Awards for Business
August 14, 2013, Online

The Big Awards started with a mission of recognizing real talent and performance. Real business people, those with experience and knowledge, judge the Big Awards. Request an entry kit today and submit your nomination by August 14, 2013.
Discount Code
SBT50 ($50.00 off)

More Events

• Internet Week New York
  May 20, 2013, New York, NY
• Spark And Hustle Tour – Detroit
  May 20, 2013, Detroit, MI
• Women’s Success Summit
  May 21, 2013, Miami, FL
• NYC May Business Networking Mixer
  May 21, 2013, New York City, New York
• B2B Sales Workshop – The Fundamentals Of Selling
  May 23, 2013, Atlanta, GA
• S.W.O.T. – 3 Quick Steps from Analysis to Implementation
  May 24, 2013, Online
• Zoholics – Zoho User Conference
  May 29, 2013, San Francisco, CA
• Supercharge Your Business Network
  May 29, 2013, Online
• Small Business Summit
  May 31, 2013, Athens, GA
• Strategies for Raising Growth Capital in Volatile Markets
  June 04, 2013, Online
• Build Up Your Business: Growth By Design
  June 05, 2013, New York, NY
• CT Business Expo
  June 06, 2013, Hartford, CT
• 4th Annual MACs Women’s Entrepreneur Summit
  June 08, 2013, New York, NY
• The Inc. Leadership Forum
  June 10, 2013, San Diego, CA
• How Your Personal Credit Score Can Affect You in Business
  June 12, 2013, Pittsburgh, PA
• Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium
  June 13, 2013, Reno, NV
• National Small Business Week
  June 17, 2013, Washington, DC

More Awards and Contests

• CrowdIt Launch Challenge
  June 04, 2013, Online
• eMinutes $2,500 Entrepreneurs Contest
  June 30, 2013, Online
• Huggies MomInspired Grant Program
  July 31, 2013, Online
• 2013 Big Awards for Business
  August 14, 2013, Online

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.

The post Our Latest Hand-Picked List of Events, Contests and Awards appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Since last week, lots of legitimate business accounts have been suspended and then unsuspended on Twitter. Here’s more on what’s been happening and what to do if you find yourself in the same situation.

Legitimate Business Accounts Getting Suspended

It’s been fairly common for pure spam accounts to get suspended.  Most Twitter users applaud spam crackdowns.

But what’s less common is when legitimate small business users get their Twitter accounts suspended.

That happened just this week in the business community, with numerous reports of business users getting suspended.  It even happened to a small account used by a member of the Small Business Trends team. It also happened to another sizable account of one of our best contributors.

Luckily, all of the accounts we know of were reinstated.  No one seems to know why they were suspended in the first place.  Here are some of the reactions to this latest round of suspensions:

@twitter has been acting very crazy lately. I was suspended for 48 hours and several other legit people, unsolicited activity. What’s up?

— Deborah Shane (@DeborahShane) May 11, 2013

My business account is now suspended! @bdifferentie What the hell? @twitter

— Eimear McCormack (@EimearMcCormack) May 10, 2013

Anatomy of a Twitter Suspension in Error

Small Business Trends contributor and branding consultant Deborah Shane discovered her Twitter account suspended at about 9 p.m. on May 7.

Shane reviewed the Twitter rules and quickly determined she had not intentionally (or to her knowledge — unintentionally) violated any of the rules.  She filled out and submitted the “file a report” form that appeared when she tried to log into her account.

In the online form, she politely asked why her account had been suspended. She stated that she had not violated any Twitter rules. She explained that her Twitter account was vital for operation of her business and asked how to get reinstated.

Though she couldn’t use her Twitter account, of course, Shane immediately started leveraging her other networks, including LinkedIn, to try to communicate with someone at Twitter. ”What I find very troubling is the complete lack of any human communication whatsoever. It’s all automated,” said Shane.

Others she had communicated with had had similar experiences and told her the service would likely be reinstated within about 48 hours.

Sure enough, by the early evening of May 9, about 48 hours after her account had been suspended, Shane found she had been reinstated. She has concluded the suspension was an error based on information provided to her in an automated email from the company.

Algo Tripped?

Twitter has a long list of violations in its rules that will get accounts suspended and put you in Twitter jail.  Let’s take a look at some of these.

One grounds for suspension is “aggressive following.” A Twitter best practices page defines this behavior as “indiscriminately following hundreds of accounts just to garner attention. However, following a few users if their accounts seem interesting is normal and is not considered aggressive.”

Call us crazy, but we thought the whole point of Twitter was following others!  All kidding aside, it appears that following too many other accounts too quickly, is what will get you in trouble.

Another behavior Twitter discourages is “follow churn.”  Twitter defines this as “repeatedly following and un-following large numbers of other users.” We’re not sure why people would do this. It may be a misguided attempt to get around Twitter follow limits (Twitter limits how many you can follow in proportion to how many follow you). So you follow people, and as soon as they follow you back, then you unfollow them so you can follow others. Of course, this kind of behavior is risky, not to mention rude. You could get banned.

Having your Twitter account compromised or hacked can also lead to suspension.  In these cases, suspension is a good thing.  It protects everyone from malware and other issues.  Suspension in this case is less painful than your reputation getting smeared when all your followers get spammed with offensive stuff from your account.

Political pundits using Twitter sometimes push things to the limit with behavior that can lead to suspension. This post on RedState discusses examples of intentionally trying to get other users kicked off Twitter, in order to silence political foes.  However, most business users don’t engage in that kind of deliberate targeting behavior.

Small business users understand the value of Twitter. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs spend considerable time and money building a Twitter following.  They don’t want to risk suspensions from deliberate behaviors.

True, there are aggressive online marketers who push the envelope.  But most Main Street small businesses don’t want to take such risks.

So back to the question.  What caused the recent round of Twitter suspensions of non-spam business accounts?

Over the years it’s been reported that Twitter has automated algorithms to detect violations of its rules.  It’s quite possible that an algorithm was somehow tripped in error snagging all these business accounts.  Or it could simply have been a systems glitch of some kind.  (We contacted Twitter for an explanation but received no response.)

More Rules: Why a Twitter Account Can Be Suspended

The Twitter Rules page gives a list of limitations on how to use Twitter. Ignoring these could get you into trouble. They include:

• Impersonation — You can’t intentionally try to deceive other users into believing you’re another person.
• Trademark — You can’t claim a user name that another business or user has legal right to use.
• Private information — You can’t share other people’s sensitive information like credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers on the site.
• Violence and Threats — You can’t use Twitter to threaten others.
• Copyright — Twitter has a procedure for handling claims of infringement as a result of something posted to your Twitter account.
• Unlawful use — You can’t use Twitter in a way that would either break the law or cause it to be broken.
• Misuse of Twitter Badges — You can’t use these on your site unless Twitter has given them to you.

There is also a list of activities Twitter considers spamming.  The list is extensive.

You might be surprised by what Twitter says it will take into account as evidence of  ”spam.”   Most business users are.

Take a few minutes to study this list.  Note that the rules do not say that each of the items is by itself spam — just that they are “factors” Twitter will take into account in determining whether the account is spam.

We imagine that Twitter looks at an account in its entirety to determine spamming.  Otherwise, a lot of business accounts (even from mega-brands) would be considered spam for such behaviors as primarily tweeting out links rather than personal updates.  Yes, that’s on the spam list.

Try to look objectively at your own account. If you or your staff members are intentionally engaging in multiple behaviors on the Twitter spam list — you are living on borrowed time.  Make changes before you get suspended.

How to Deal with a Twitter Suspension

First, don’t panic! Being suspended from Twitter can be scary, especially if Twitter is part of your marketing and customer service outreach.

But it’s important to keep your cool.  Don’t rant and rave at Twitter, or get abusive. Remain polite and businesslike.

We know you feel outraged. You may even feel betrayed if you’ve spent a lot of time touting the benefits of Twitter for business.  But letting emotions rule will not help.  Follow these steps:

Step 1 — Carefully review all of Twitter’s guidelines again to be sure you have not violated the rules, even accidentally.

Step 2 — Fill out the form provided when you attempt to log in, to contest the account suspension. Be sure to explain that you have followed all guidelines as far as you know, and ask for a way to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

Step 3 – Monitor the email inbox associated with your Twitter account, too. You may get one or more automated responses from Twitter that you MUST respond to, or they will consider your appeal closed.

Step 4 — Give it time. Many members have reported reinstatement can take up to 48 hours.  But some accounts have been reinstated in just a few hours’ time. If you discover and report the suspension outside of regular business hours, expect it to take longer.

Tip:  Don’t freak out if your Twitter account returns with zero followers at first!  This appears to be normal in most cases, especially if the suspension was an error.  You probably will not have to beg everyone to follow you again. Give it a few hours and your Twitters followers will all likely be back.  It happened that way in all the erroneous Twitter suspensions we learned about from business owners.

Remember, you’re not alone.  Other business users have been in your shoes and survived.

Have you had your Twitter account suspended? Have any advice to share? Please post it in the comments below.

Twitter, Twitter bird, Jail Photos via Shutterstock

The post Twitter Suspension? First Step: Don’t Panic appeared first on Small Business Trends.

If you have, you’ll never forget the feeling of having every eye in the room on you, people practically breathing along with you. I think that’s what they mean when they say having them “eating out of your hand.” Now, have you ever completely lost control of the room? As you look around, eyes are glazed over, people sneaking peeks at their smart phones and mobile devices or just typing on their computers (and you know they aren’t taking copious notes). Even worse, executives throwing twenty questions at you and you having that sick, squirmy feeling inside?

If you’ve spent any time at all in the world of business, you’ve probably had both of these experiences and wondered how in the world the same person could create two completely opposite experiences. One answer is to simply say that it’s a function of the audience, and in some ways it is. But like most things in this world, the experience we create for our listeners is really in our own hands.

What I didn’t realize, until I read “Own the Room: Discover your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence,” is that we can control the outcome of any conversation and any presentation. WE are in control.

What authors Amy Jen Su (@AmyJenSu) and Muriel Maignan Wilkins (@MaignanWilkins) clearly point out in their new book is that you can power up your career and leadership cred by simply mastering your “Signature Voice” that is uniquely your own and can be adapted to any situation. This signature voice comes from aligning your beliefs, your communication skills and your physical energy with the needs of your audience.

For example, there are what I’d call “doing” conversations and “leading” conversations. And you have to be very clear about which conversation you are having. If you are the team or project leader giving an update to the management team – a “Leading” conversation is required because you are speaking up to a leadership audience. Their information needs are different AND they are looking at YOU as the leader in the situation. Hence, they expect you to communicate as a leader would.

The Authors Speak From Personal Experience

I heard about the book from a publicist and requested a review copy based purely on the title. I mean, if there is a process out there where I can get people eating out of my hands, I want to know about it.

The authors, Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins, are the owners and managing partners of Asis Associates, an executive training and coaching firm. Both are sought after speakers on the topic of leadership presence and communications. Both have had personal experience in this area. Amy was told that she needed to toughen up. She was perceived as being too young and passive to be considered as “leadership material.” On the other hand, Muriel was told that she had to turn her bold personality down a notch.

Amy and Muriel took their personal experiences and work to transform their communication style and turned it into a process and a book that you can use to learn how to leverage your strengths and gain the high-powered presence you need to reach your full potential as a leader.

How to Become an A-C-E in Your Field

The authors have developed a powerful model to help you become a power communicator.  It’s called A-C-E:

A – Assumptions you make and the mindset you bring to your interactions with others.

C – Communication Strategies – Techniques and tools you use to engage influence and inspire.

E – Energy and Expression – How you physically show up; how your nonverbal cues impact others.

You will learn from the examples of well-known people like:

• Christine Day, CEO of Lulemon Athletica, whose authenticity helped her grow her company’s market share to become the largest yoga outfitter in the world.
• Al Gore, who was known for his robotic style who then transformed his presence to one of warmth, poise and passion for the environment.
• Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP at the time of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, who was skewered for his insensitivity when he failed to adapt his communication style to the crisis.

But the book also includes those unsung leaders in organizations like yours who are all dealing with the same communication challenges.

You won’t just learn from their stories, you’ll have the opportunity to experience the process for yourself by using their diagnostic tool to assess your current and ongoing presence and how others perceive you.

“Own the Room” is a Much-Needed Book

While there are many books on how to give powerful presentations, “Own the Room” is about how to have appropriate communications while not losing yourself in the process. One observation I had as I read through many of the examples is that the style was a little more “corporate-speak” than I’m used to in the world of small business. But don’t let that stop you from taking the authors’ message to heart.

This is a book that is as applicable to small business owners who sell to more corporate clients as well as to employees who are looking to move into leadership positions.

The post How to “Own the Room” in Any Presentation appeared first on Small Business Trends.

This week’s top small business news stories looked at the latest mobile technology, 3D printing, the future of the password, the latest in the battle over Obamacare and much more. The Small Business Trends editorial team doesn’t just bring you the headlines. These stories explain how the news of the week affects you.

Mobile

Nokia introduces a new Lumia 925 Windows phone. The phone will have a metal case and upgrades to its camera technology. Observers see the Windows 8 operating system as a benefit to business users. Many business users are already using Windows on their other business technology. So the overall look and feel of the the phone’s operating system will be very similar to the Windows 8 running on their computers.

Microsoft is now among the top 5 tablet sellers. The company’s new Surface devices sold 900,000 units making up 1.8 percent of the market for the first quarter of 2013. Most of those sales came from the Surface Pro, which runs Windows 8 and is targeted at business users. Though this puts Microsoft in 5th place, that’s not too shabby for a company that wasn’t even in the tablet business a year ago.

Tech

The future may hold a lot fewer passwords. An organization called the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance, founded in July 2012 by tech firms like PayPal, Lenovo, Agnito, Infineon, Nok Nok Labs and Validity, is trying to bring about that change. The need for fewer passwords is about more than convenience. Too many passwords encourage users to get sloppy, reusing codes on multiple accounts because they are easier to remember.

Google+ introduces an elegant new look. The company announced dozens of new features and upgrades to its social media platform. Changes to the platform announced Thursday include a look more reminiscent of Pinterest, a multi-column layout, related hashtags, improvements to the Hangout feature and improved features for photo uploading and sharing. And there is even more. Read Small Business Trends Founder and CEO Anita Campbell’s quick take of the highlights.

Most of the top blogs are on WordPress. And the number could be increasing. A new study of the top 100 blogs on the Web says 52 percent use the popular platform. Pingdom conducted the study. The company found that another 4 of the top ranking blogs are using WordPress this year as compared to 2012. And WordPress reports that 65 million sites worldwide use the software. WordPress has become much more than blogging software. It’s now a CMS system for small business websites. Do you use WordPress for your business blog or website?

What is 3D Printing? The process uses a computer generated design to create three-dimensional objects out of plastic, ceramic or metal … even out of chocolate or cheese! It’s like having a small-scale manufacturing device right in your office or home. Sound like something out of science fiction? It’s not. Check out our one page explainer where we give you an overview.

Trends

61% of U.S. voters think rich entrepreneurs are good for the economy. And 49% think it’s “very fair” for successful businessmen to grow rich from their efforts. If you had any doubts that U.S. voters believe in the concept of entrepreneurship, this survey by Rasmussen Reports should put them to rest. The report sampled 1,000 likely voters nationwide, surveyed by phone between May 1 and 2, 2013.

Small business owners remain pessimistic. That’s not because they’re negative as a group, says Scott Shane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University. That’s because despite some expansion in the economy since 2009, Professor Shane says, conditions still aren’t that positive for small businesses. Read this posts for some of the harsh realities.

Millennials are changing the employment world. Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media, leads us through a study of this workforce from oDesk. Among the preferences of this group are desires to work whenever and wherever they like, focus on projects that interest them, and travel while working. If you employ some of this generational group at your company be prepared. Try to satisfy their desire for freedom while tapping into their entrepreneurial spirit.

Small businesses are borrowing less again. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index has fallen three consecutive months, ending in March. The index measures the overall volume of lending to small U.S. companies. The drop is in contrast to a report from the U.S. Small Business Administration that showed small business lending had increased for the first time in 10 quarters in the last part of 2012.

Policy

Lawsuit against the IRS centers on Obamacare. It’s nothing new for small businesses to be complaining about the IRS and Obamacare. But recently this complaining took on legal overtones. Six small business owners have banded together to sue the federal agency. They say the agency exceeded its authority when it took it upon itself to make a rule granting subsidies to employees in states that have declined to create state healthcare exchanges. That action in turn will trigger penalties for small businesses under the new Affordable Care Act, they claim.

Entrepreneurship

Co-Founder of TranscribeMe, explains where great ideas come from. “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  In this interview, Alexei Dunayev describes how his and his co-founder’s efforts to transcribe audio content for their wives, a PhD. researcher and an attorney, made them both realize there must be a better way.

Lady Gaga turns out to be a smart marketer. Book reviewer extraordinaire Pierre Debois reviews Jackie Huba’s new book about Lady Gaga. Huba illustrates that Lady Gaga is a terrific startup marketer in addition to being a terrific music artist.

Image: 3D print from 3D Systems

The post Top Small Business News This Week: May 17 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Still thinking of Groupon as a company that sends out daily deal emails all the while incurring the ire of small businesses that lose money on one-time customers? Well, think again.  That’s the old story.

Groupon has a much more compelling small business story to tell in 2013.  It’s a very positive story, in fact.  One part of that story is how Groupon is repositioning itself as a provider of technology systems to help local businesses become more profitable and increase sales.

Since last year, Groupon has offered a POS system for small businesses. Just this week the company expanded its point of sale (POS) systems to include a new, free POS system called “Breadcrumb POS.”

It’s a downloadable app that you use with an iPad.  It functions as a simple POS system that can be used by any small local business that handles sales using a cash register, such as retail stores and coffee shops.

The Breadcrumb POS system can be used seamlessly with Groupon’s electronic credit card payments processing system. The payments system consists of a credit card swipe device to attach to your iPad. You can process credit card payments at rates that Groupon says are very competitive.

Groupon’s Strategic Shift: Small Business Systems

Groupon has had some tough times on Wall Street over the past year. The company, just four years old, is already  reinventing itself.  Part of the reinvention is on the consumer side with how deals are positioned and made available to consumers. For instance, deals are now heavily focused on mobile, which accounts for 45% of North American deal volume.

But there’s also a reinvention on the small business merchant side.  And that’s where the Breadcrumb POS system fits in, along with payment processing and associated technologies.

In last week’s earnings call with Wall Street analysts, co-CEO Eric Lefkofsky emphasized the company’s mission when it comes to small businesses:

“One of our proudest achievements [is] the economic boost we’ve provided to local merchants. Not only have we funneled billions of dollars into our local merchant community but based on surveys of nearly 2 million Groupon customers in North America, over 80% of the customers we send to merchants are either new or have not been to that merchant in the prior 3 months. Groupon can be a powerful force of new customer acquisition and financial returns for small businesses.

We began making investments about a year ago into what we call the operating system for local commerce. It’s a bundle of technology around payment systems, point of sale systems, loyalty and reward systems.”

He points out that Groupon has to be valuable to both consumers and small business merchants:

“And because we are for many many merchants – hundreds of thousands of merchants – their largest source of new customers, we also at times can be a pain point, in that we’re sending all these new customers. We want to help merchants manage that process. And we want to help them determine how best to target these customers so that they come back on a repeated basis. So we realized we needed tools inside the merchant’s shop to help them do that, and hence the investments we’ve made.”

Groupon Offers 2 Versions of Breadcrumb POS System

The Breadcrumb point of sale system was an acquisition Groupon made in 2012. Seth Harris, the founder of Breadcrumb, is from the hospitality industry.  He was frustrated with the POS systems in restaurants and bars he ran in New York, calling them “old, clunky, difficult to use, hard to set up and expensive.”

So he founded Breadcrumb in January of 2011.  The following year he was approached by Groupon.  ”My initial reaction was why would these guys want to get into the POS business?” he said.  But he became impressed with the Groupon vision for local businesses.

The product announced just a few days ago, named Breadcrumb POS, is a “lite” version of the original Breadcrumb PRO system.

Breadcrumb PRO

The PRO system is designed primarily for restaurants and bars. It has a floor plan layout for your restaurant.  It includes hospitality-related reports.  It also offers the ability for servers to modify menu items to accommodate special orders, such as ordering a burger well-done or with no fries.

According to Harris, whose title is now VP of Breadcrumb, it’s more than just a POS system. “It’s designed to help you know your customers better.  For example, with the PRO product there is an integrated delivery system.  If you do deliveries, you can put customer information in the delivery system.  When customers come back in, you can find their information again.  You can even do telephone integration so that when they call, the customers can be greeted by phone,” he notes.

Breadcrumb PRO integrates with several hospitality industry systems.  You can also download reports as CSV files and then upload them to QuickBooks or another program.  Breadcrumb PRO does require payment of a monthly fee, with several pricing levels.

Breadcrumb POS

This free version of the POS system is simpler because, as Harris says, a small ice cream shop may not need a layout plan for tables nor special menu options.  It is “even easier to set up and use” than the PRO version, he notes.

Breadcrumb POS offers simpler reports than the PRO version.  There is no ability currently to download CSV files, however.

With either system, you can buy your own iPads.  Breadcrumb works with any version of the iPad, including the iPad Mini.  According to Harris, it is not meant for an iPhone, as he hasn’t seen demand by small businesses  for using it on such a small screen.

Or you can buy iPads through Breadcrumb. They also sell cash drawers, stands and printers.

Breadcrumb Payments Processing for Credit Cards

You do not need to process credit card payments through the Breadcrumb payments system, but the point of sale system is set up to handle them and work together.  Currently the processing fees are 1.8 percent plus $0.15 per transaction (MasterCard, Visa and Discover) with no monthly fees.  Harris says that Groupon has pledged to meet any better credit card processing rate a business owner gets elsewhere.

The swipe device that you plug into the iPad, costs $15.  You get next-day deposits into your bank account.

“Ultimately,” he says, “Breadcrumb’s mission is to bring together merchants and customers by making it better and easier to buy things.”

Image: Breadcrumb

The post Groupon Expands Breadcrumb POS, Shifts its Small Business Strategy appeared first on Small Business Trends.

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about your personal background?

Alexei Dunayev: I’m a technologist at heart. I’m a software engineer by training. I did an MBA at Stanford and I knew a few of the tricks about what does it takes to have a really successful global technology campaign.

I managed to combine those passions, by starting TranscribeMe.

Small Business Trends: Why did you get in to transcription?

Alexei Dunayev: Myself and my co-founder were actually transcribing a whole bunch of audio content for our wives. My wife is a PhD researcher and my co-founder is married to a lawyer. They were both generating an insane amount of audio recordings. Very quickly we realized that doing transcripts manually is something that does achieve high quality, but takes forever.

When we set out to build TranscribeMe, we invented a hybrid model that combines speech recognition technology with real humans – whom we crowdsource. And so, when we get audio, the first thing we do is run it through speech recognition software that gives us a baseline level of accuracy. Then we slice it into very small micro-tasks. These can be audio segments of anywhere from 10 seconds through to a minute or so in length.

Those go to real people that then correct what the computer’s type. We put it all back together and send it to the to the client. That’s really the magic of the service that we’ve created and it makes it both fast and highly accurate.

Small Business Trends: How do you go about getting the transcribers on board?

Alexei Dunayev: There is a lot of distrust in the community of freelancers. When the first few people went on the forum and said, “Hey, we actually just received money from TranscribeMe – what they promised us. They pay on time and the work was really enjoyable.” We then got a torrent of applications for transcribers and we now have over 5,000 people on our platform.

We didn’t spend a dime on recruiting any of them. It just grew through word of mouth.

Small Business Trends: I assume you’re able to rate each transcriber and the ones that do better get the better opportunities?

Alexei Dunayev: We try to tailor the audio to the transcriber. For example, right now a transcriber processes audio in English and in Spanish. So when we know the language of the audio that is being submitted, we look at the qualifications of the transcribers on our system and we route the audio to the best person who is able to process it. If an audio comes in from a technical conference, we make sure that it gets processed by people with the technical background able to deliver the accuracy on it.

Further, if you record audio using our Smartphone app and you mention to that you’re in Atlanta, we will then try to find transcribers that are geographically close to you, so they would have a good understanding of things like local places and names. We really try to tailor the audio to play to the strength of the transcribers so that you get that perfect quality output.

Small Business Trends: By playing to the strengths of the transcribers, you’re really playing customer happiness aren’t you?

Alexei Dunayev: That’s exactly right. We found customers that work with us really choose to because they care about quality. These are people who run conferences and record business meetings. These are people who really care about one hundred percent quality – people like doctors, lawyers and we work a lot of people in the education space. It’s something that our customers aren’t willing to sacrifice.

The biggest issue with speech recognition systems is, say you have an audio recording that has a hundred words in it and you run it through a computer. You are going to get back approximately a hundred words and you are not going to know which ones are correct and which ones aren’t. It is not like you can tailor the system to say, “Well, only give me the correct words and I’ll fill in the gaps.”

You basically get the same length text, but a whole bunch of text in it is misheard or typed incorrectly. That’s really when you need people to get to what we call the last mile. Using computers in the first place also gives us a lower cost. You don’t have to pay for the cost of having a full-time transcriber working in an office doing the job. That lets us compete and provide a really great service to our customers at a fraction of the cost they would have to pay otherwise.

Small Business Trends: You can cut this up into seconds?

Alexei Dunayev: Our proprietary technology actually came out of the PhD research of one of our founders and it really lets us slice audio very finely so that we can carry out accuracy. We try to slice it usually into sentences and those sentences are essentially the smallest atoms of information that are required to do the transcription.

What we found is, by slicing audio into very small chucks of say 10 seconds-30 seconds, we’re able to maintain the confidentiality. No single transcriber actually has access to the entire audio and that’s a big deal.

Small Business Trends: It is really an interesting approach to a business need that’s been around forever, being able to use the latest and greatest technology to create a new business model.

Alexei Dunayev: It really came out of personal pain-points. There was nothing else that’s out there that could do what we wanted – that could really reach that quality, speed, confidentiality and cost.

Small Business Trends: In the end, do costumers get a chance to rate or rank the transcriptions?

Alexei Dunayev: Right now that is done by the costumer service team and we do reach out to our costumers to see how they feel, how they like their transcript. We have a very significant emphasis on quality mechanisms inside the process that make sure the quality level is perfect. But in the next release that is coming out in June, there is going to be a feature for direct feedback from the customers all the way through to every transcriber that has worked.

Small Business Trends: How quickly have your customers and prospects adapted to this approach?

Alexei Dunayev: We’re finding that a whole bunch of folks joining TranscribeMe have not even used transcription services before and it’s because we make it easy. We have a super user- friendly iPhone app. There’s also an Android app and you can use those apps for free to record meetings and record interviews. The recordings are then stored in the cloud so you’re never going to lose them. If you want to then get it transcribed, that’s just a click away.

So, we try to make the user experience fast, straightforward and as simple as can be.

Small Business Trends: Where can people find TranscribeMe?

Alexei Dunayev: You can jump to our website at Transcribeme.com or on Twitter, @TranscribeMe.

This interview on transcription is part of the One on One interview series with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above.

The post Alexei Dunayev of TranscribeMe: Necessity is the Mother of Invention appeared first on Small Business Trends.

For a long time I deisgned my own websites. I could never code them, but I always felt like I could design one. I’d spent hours in Photoshop pushing pixels, choosing colors, finding fonts (and apparently alliterating), only to find myself irritable and frustrated.

A few years ago, I finally gave in and started working with a really good designer who’s instincts I now trust (even if I still like to tinker a bit). One of the things I learned about was white space and the idea of letting things breathe a little bit instead of cramming as much as possible into a space.

That being said, if your sales graph’s white space is getting bigger – maybe you’ve got bigger problems.

The post The Plus Side to Low Sales: More White Space appeared first on Small Business Trends.

You may sometimes wonder whether Americans hate the rich.  With all the TV air time given to tax increases vs tax cuts for the wealthy that politicians love to argue over, it would not be surprising to get that impression.

Entrepreneurs take their money and reinvest it into their companies, benefiting the whole economy.  They have often made their wealth creating jobs and prosperity (example: entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, pictured above).

But one may wonder – does the average American understand this vital role?  Does the average American think rich —  including the very rich, as in billionaire rich — entrepreneurs are actually good for the economy?

Fortunately, it now appears that most Americans do “get it” as far as the relationship between jobs, a steadily growing economy and entrepreneurship. Sixty-one percent of likely U.S. voters believe letting entrepreneurs get rich is good for the economy, said a recent national phone survey by Rasmussen Reports. Only 13 percent of those surveyed say they believe entrepreneurs getting rich is not good for the economy and actually hurts it.

Ten percent of those surveyed believe entrepreneurs becoming wealthy from their investments and efforts has no impact on the economy one way or the other. Another 18 percent of those surveyed say they are unsure what effect entrepreneurs or small business owners’ earnings have on the economy.

The report also found 49 percent of those surveyed felt it is “very fair” for successful businessmen to grow rich from their efforts.

The survey looked at 1,000 likely voters nationwide surveyed by phone between May 1 and 2, 2013. Among questions asked were, ”How fair is it that people who build very successful companies become very rich?” And, “Does letting people who build successful companies and become rich help the economy, hurt the economy, or have no impact on the economy?”

Image: still from Facebook media video

The post 61% of U.S. Voters Think Rich Entrepreneurs are Good for the Economy appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Do you have a mentor, accountability partner, confidant and evangelist on your business team?

“Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we’ve put it in an impossible situation.” ~ Margaret Mead

We can not afford to have a lone wolf, go it alone, isolationist mentality in our life or business. That is not a survivalist formula. We live in a hyper connected, engagement, interactivity, real time world. The World Wide Web, social media and smartphones have connected us all far and wide, 24/7.

Having an extended support system of key people that we can seek out and rely on to help us through moments and cycles of fast paced change is a valuable asset to have.

I think back to several turning points in my life and can clearly remember how important my support system was and is.  The 4 years my mother took ill and then passed, the months leading up to leaving a 20+ year career in Broadcast radio sales, launching my current endeavor, challenging economic times and 2012 which was a turning point year for me.

My support system guided me through all of  those moments, times and cycles helping me to find the humor, wisdom and grace in the challenge and the solution.

I have always welcomed and sought out great people as mirrors, sounding boards and sources of feedback from my family, friends and colleagues. We are built as social creatures and need to have community and connections to survive. The importance, value and benefits of a support system and role players in life and business are well documented in history.

Below are 4 essential role players to have on your business team that can make a huge difference in your sanity and the outcome of things.

4 Essential Players You Want On Your Business Team

Mentors

Having people who educate, inspire and pass on what they know and have learned is an old tradition.

“Seek out mentors who offer you career guidance, advice and assistance from a real world point-of-view”, says Chrissy Scivicque in “How To Start a Mentorship Relationship.” She suggests choosing someone you respect, is willing and available and that you like personally.

The key is defining the relationship from the beginning and making it an open dialogue.

Accountability Partners or Group

Accountability is our ability and willingness to give an honest account to someone else of our actions and motives. Who do you trust to keep you on track, honest, true to your word and that you allow to call you out when you don’t fulfill your promises?

This can be uncomfortable but very beneficial.

Confidants

We all need those inner circles of trusted people we can have honest conversations with about what’s really going on, that we may not have with anyone else, including family.

Airing out fears, reservations, dilemma’s and self confidence issues can be empowering. Confidants can be found through friends and family, self help groups, counselors or meeting new people through shared activities.

Evangelists

Welcoming people who are your ambassadors, cheerleaders and evangelists is such an esteem builder. These are people who truly believe in us and like us with no agenda, who are simply our fans. Here are some things that an ambassador or evangelist does for us in business.

Not only welcome them but let them consistently support and cheer you through and on.

Build a championship team of people who can help you grow, accepts you exactly the way you are and has your best interest at heart. These role players are the true secrets to success and happiness. It begins with “me” and continues with “we.”

Who are the key role players on your business team that are on your side and make a difference?

The post 4 Essential Role Players You Want On Your Team appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Google announced dozens of changes and upgrades to Google+, its social network, today.

Google+, launched in 2011, is is a relative newcomer to the social media game. And Google has been known for launching things and then either not investing in them further or shutting them down.

Not so with Google+.

Google has shown remarkable commitment to improving Google+.  And this latest Google+ upgrade is one more example. Here at Small Business Trends we are still investigating the changes.  But at first blush they seem like positive improvements that small business owners will love — visually and functionally.

Here are some of the changes rolled out today:

• More “Pinteresty” look:  Content updates now appear as boxes.  If you share an image or video, they take up a lot of space in each box, making such visual content more prominent. See image above.
• Multi-column layout:  Depending on the screen resolution and type of device you’re using, you may see a one column, two column or three column layout.  It’s what is known as “responsive design” and considered a best practice in our world of mobile and other sized devices.
• Left menu slides out, top navigation bar “sticks”:  The menus and navigation are there for you as and when needed. They don’t disappear as you scroll down the page and they don’t take up precious screen space.  The gigantic cover (header) images that quite a few users do not care for, go up out of the way.
• Related hashtags:  Related hashtags are a new feature that you can use to tag your content so that readers can find related topics.  And here’s an interesting bit:  Google will actually tag your content with hashtags for you.  You can remove the Google-placed hashtags if you wish and just use your own.
• Hangouts get improvements:  Google’s videoconferencing app, Google Hangouts, got substantial upgrades. Google  launched a standalone version of Hangouts that works across Android, iOS and your computer. It makes hangouts more functional for making quick video calls. See the video below for more about these changes.
• Photos get more storage, smarter features:  Google+ will “with your permission… automatically back up your mobile pics as you snap them.”  Resized images get free unlimited storage. Google+ will help you highlight the best images, by de-emphasizing blurry images and duplicates.  There’s also Auto enhance, which can “improve brightness, contrast, saturation, structure, noise, focus… and dozens of other factors automatically.”

The post Google+ Upgrade Rolls Out: Beautiful New Look appeared first on Small Business Trends.