Environmental groups estimate that nearly 100 million trees get used for junk mail every year, and 5.6 tons end up landfills. So, how do you make it stop?

Traditionally, business owners would have to call or write the solicitors directly and demand to be removed from their mailing lists. And while that might still be a good strategy if there are a few main offenders, there are now places to turn for help.

Here are some options:

• Third-Party Organizations: The Direct Mailing Association is the largest provider of direct-mail lists. You can request to be taken off their lists at their Web site or by writing and sending them a dollar in the mail.  You can find their mailing address here.
• To stop credit-card and insurance offers you can call 1-888-567-8688 (that’s 888-5OPT-OUT) or visit OptOutPrescreen, a site run by the three major credit bureaus. You can choose either a five-year removal or a permanent removal.
• CatalogChoice:  When it comes to catalog mailings, there may be some you want to keep and others you’d like to toss. CatalogChoice, a project of the Ecology Center in Berkeley , Calif. , lets users set up a free account and then choose which catalogs to opt-out of. (They keep a list of retailers promising to honor opt-out requests within 12 weeks, including WinterSilks and Crate & Barrel.) Catalog also offers extra features, such as switching to an online catalog subscription.
• EcoLogical Mail Coalition: This organization’s Web site lets businesses remove former employees’ names from direct mailing lists. It’s free to businesses, as marketers pick up the tab.
• Pay for Help: Want somebody to just take the whole cumbersome process off your hands? Some companies make a business off removing names from mailing lists — but be aware that most only work with home addresses and junk mail addressed to a person’s name (not a business). Precycle, formerly GreenDimes, promises to stop “most direct mail,” including circulars, advertisements, and credit-card and mortgage offers to home addresses in 90 days. It’s not free: It costs a one-time $36, plus a $7 shipping-and-handling fee. The company sends customers two energy-efficient light bulbs and a reusable bag and plants five trees on their behalf. 41pounds.org charges $41 for five years to help households control their junk mail.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on writing “Return to Sender” on junk mail to do the trick. Somebody else will likely throw it out for you.

* * * * *

About the Author: Kelly Spors is a former small-business reporter and blogger for The Wall Street Journal and has also freelanced for Yahoo! and The New York Times. She is now communications and outreach coordinator for Energy Smart, a Minnesota nonprofit helping businesses save money through energy efficiency. Follow Energy Smart on Twitter @mnenergysmart.

From Small Business Trends

How to Stop Junk Mail to Your Business

Google put together a video to illustrate how real-time search was supposed to work.

In theory, the idea of inserting live feeds in the search results is pretty neat. I’m sure Google anticipated it as a good thing. An exciting thing. However, yesterday Rae Hoffman, my partner at Outspoken Media, underscored just how dangerous putting real-time results directly into the SERPs can be – claiming it opened the door to real-time spam and far more.

I recommend reading Rae’s post to get a full understanding of how Google’s current implementation opens Pandora’s Box to widespread spam and even dangerous behavior that may affect your children. However, I wanted to talk about it from a brand and reputation management perspective.

If you were the type of business that was slow to monitor what people were saying about you, you’re probably just got far worse.

Imagine that tomorrow a customer has a bad experience with you. Frustrated, John Doe heads to Twitter and whips out a slew of libelous statements. Then, a few hours later, someone does a search for your brand trying to locate your street address. They first they see isn’t your Web site or Google Local listing. It’s the live stream of tweets telling the world that you’re a liar and a crook. Maybe it even shows other people joining in and doing the same. It’s throwing the conversation that took place on Twitter and putting right out into center court so that it’s impossible to miss. It’s no longer a blog entry that can be pushed down or a bad review that can be rectified. It’s gossip sitting at the top of your search results.

As a business owner, what do you do to combat that?

You need to learn to listen faster. That means using tools like Twitter Search, Monitter, and Social Mention to monitor the conversation in real-time instead of simply watching it week by week. It also means getting more involved with your community to ward off these types of “attacks”.

We’re only a few days into Google’s real-time search endeavor so it’s my hope that they’re going find a way to perfect the very sloppy system they’ve unleashed to the masses. As it stands, it’s simply dangerous. Dangerous to business owners, to searchers, and even to parents who all just lost control of what’s streaming through their search results.

From Small Business Trends

Google Releases Real-Time Reputation Problem

The Washington Post reports Obama addressed a list of proposals including small-business incentives, easing regulatory restrictions for exporters, and providing tax credits for employers. Obama said many of these proposals would create jobs right away, without requiring big expenditures by the federal government.

While many Democrats have urged direct federal investment in creating jobs, specifically by focusing on public works and infrastructure projects, Obama, dealing with a $1.4 trillion federal deficit, has said he does not have the budget for this approach. At the forum, he said that job growth depends on private business, not government: “Ultimately, true economic recovery is only going to come from the private sector.”

After the forum, attendees split into six groups to discuss job creation solutions. At a session titled “Creating Jobs through the Rebuilding of America’s Infrastructure,” Obama said big infrastructure jobs are not the best way to create jobs fast. He added, what “we’ve been seeing is that what is good long-term may not necessarily work as an immediate, short-term stimulus.”

Democrats in the House and Senate have proposed ideas including more unemployment assistance, a jobs tax credit, state aid, additional infrastructure spending and tax cuts for small businesses and a public jobs program. Democrats in the House hope to pass a package this month.

At the event’s end, Obama was happy with the number of ideas generated, some of which, he said, can be translated “immediately into administration plans and, potentially, legislation.” The president is expected to present details of his administration’s preferred ideas later this week.

Not that we can expect instant results. “I think the president is between a rock and a hard place here,” said Carl Schramm, chief executive of the Kauffman Foundation. “There were a lot of good ideas, but all of them cost money, and that is something the president doesn’t have.”

Friday’s Labor Department unemployment numbers were surprisingly low: The U.S. lost only 11,000 jobs in November, the smallest number since December 2007 (when the recession officially began). Overall unemployment declined to 10 percent in November. Economists had been expecting job losses of 100,000 to 150,000.

* * * * *

About the Author: Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America ’s entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. Follow her on Twitter @Rieva and visit SmallBizDaily to read more of her insights on small business.

From Small Business Trends

President Obama Turns to Main Street, Small Business for Job Creation Ideas

Google’s new mobile initiative is rooted in three main parts:

• Search by Voice: Released last year and gives customers a way to search Google via voice recognition.This week’s big news is that it now supports Japanese.
• Search by Location: Designed to answer the question, “What’s around here, anyway”, Google Maps for Android will focus on helping people find the places and businesses in their immediate vicinity. It will also be able to provide information about whether requested products are in stock, assuming the business is willing to share inventory data.
• Search by Sight: This is perhaps the most interesting component of Google’s announcement. Google Goggles is an image search application developed for the Android phone that allows you to search for an object or business via image, rather than text. Basically, you take a photo of whatever you’re interested in/looking at and Google will attempt to locate it and give you information on what you’re seeing. They’re hoping to use it to provide landmark information, local business info, product search, etc. Obviously it’s still in its infancy, but if you’re currently using an Android phone it’s worth at least playing with.

Outside of the main mobile search announcement, Google also revealed that they’ll be experimenting with QR codes for Favorite Places on Google. The search engine will send out more than 100,000 QR barcode decals for business owners in the US to place on their windows (similar to how you’d see a Zagat sticker). When a prospective customer sees the decal on your window they can use their smart phone to scan the barcode to access business information, customer ratings and any specials you may be running [mobile coupons, anyone?]. It’s another way to encourage natural foot traffic to take that step to out of the cold and come in and check you out.

I found all of Google’s local-based announcements really interesting this week. They’re making obvious moves to make local and mobile search data more sensor-rich and accessible for users. And of course, they’re going to be pushing people into the Google Android devices pretty much anyway they can. Still, it will be neat to see how mobile applications start to shape local search and how businesses owners will be able to take advantage of them. I’m also curious to see how these bar codes may take off and the education process that will be associated with them.

As always, if you want to make yourself eligible for a Favorite Places QR decal or ensure that Google’s bringing up your business when customers do a search for location, you must claim and completely fill out your Google Local Business Listing. But you already knew that part was coming, didn’t you?

From Small Business Trends

Google Releases New Mobile Search Features

The following books were chosen by the Editors of Small Business Trends, along with expert input from a 27-member Advisory Panel (see the Advisory Panelists listed at the end of this article).  The combined input was impassioned and invaluable, and the decisions all the more difficult due to the quality of this year’s business book releases.

Without further delay, here are the Editor’s Choice winners, listed in alphabetical order:

Anatomy of Buzz Revisited – Emmanuel Rosen revisits his best seller and updates how buzz works with today’s new tools. Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: Learn what gives a story and an idea “legs” and how to actually build buzz into your marketing strategy.
• Key Take-Away: Build a community of experts and then let them speak freely about the advantages and disadvantages of your product or service.  It builds buzz and trust.

Escape from Cubicle Nation – Pamela Slim writes a guide for aspiring entrepreneurs still stuck in corporate jobs or who recently left.  Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: It’s a roadmap for getting yourself out of that corporate cubicle and into your own startup.
• Key Take-Away: If you think that corporate life is killing you, it probably is.  Staying where you are will not make you successful – you have to make a change to be successful.

Greening Your Small Business – Learn how making your business green isn’t just trendy, but cost-effective.  Jennifer Kaplan explores how and why to weave green practices into your business.

• Why Read This Book: Today’s consumer sees eco-friendliness and “green” as a reason to buy from you.
• Key Take-Away: There are literally hundreds MORE green tips out there than “recycle.”  Switching to Internet apps is just one unexpected example.

Me 2.0 – No matter your status in the world of work — employed, unemployed, business owner, consultant or freelancer — your personal brand will determine your ultimate success. Written by Dan Schawbel, Publisher of Personal Branding Magazine. Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: Get lots of ideas, resources and tips on how to uncover and determine your personal brand and then how to leverage that brand for new opportunities.
• Key Take-Away: Register your name as a domain name or URL.  Choose a niche and become known as the expert in it.  Create a title for yourself that references your niche.

The New Community Rules – Social media users will get useful and applicable how-to tips to market their business online, including how to use various social media websites and tools.  Written by Tamar Weinberg, social media consultant.  Check out our review.

• Why Read This Book: You’ll learn about uncommon social media sites like Diigo, Mento, Kirtsy and Tip’d.
• Key Take-Away: Use Mahalo to do some quick market research such as setting a price for a product or service.

Outrageous Advertising – Direct Marketing guru Bill Glazer outlines hundreds of direct marketing and advertising campaigns that will build your customer community and grow your sales.  Our review is here.

• Why Read This Book: This is an encyclopedia of ideas and advertising how-to’s.  If you’ve ever wanted to use direct marketing but weren’t sure how to put it together, this will tell you how.
• Key Take-Away: Make a list of non-traditional holidays and create special offerings and programs for them.  You will stand out from the crowd and customers will remember you.

Talk Less, Say More — In a world of over-communication, this book will teach you to connect with your audience, get your message across and get things done. By Connie Dieken, former TV anchor and multiple Emmy winner.

• Why Read This Book: There are tips tricks and techniques in this book that will turn you into a persuasive powerhouse.  Our book review here.
• Key Take-Away: Talk in triplets.  To help people remember a longer list, break your information down into groups of three’s.

Super Freakonomics – Two curious economists (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner) look at reams of data and show us the world; not for how we believe it to be or how our stated values wish it were, but how it actually is based on our behaviors and choices.

• Why Read This Book: It’s a fun and engaging read.  In a tough economy, you might as well explore how we humans think and make choices until it gets better.
• Key Take-Away: If a solution to a problem doesn’t bite us on the nose, we think that there isn’t a solution.  Keep asking questions, look at the data that’s already there and open yourself up to unconventional insights.

Trust Agents– If social media is still a mystery to you, then let Chris Brogan and Julien Smith show you the ropes on how to build your brand and your profits using social media.

• Why Read This Book: Social Media is here to stay.  This book will help you build your brand through social media and cut your learning curve. Read reviews here.
• Key Take-Away: Building trust is key to building a loyal community

Upstarts – This book by Donna Fenn covers 150 entrepreneurs from Gen Y. Some started their businesses as teens.  Read our review of Upstarts.

• Why Read This Book: Get inspired and energized by the vignettes that make you the fly on the wall of how Gen Y’s started businesses and overcame challenges.
• Key Take-Away: Adapt a Gen Y solution or idea to a current challenge and see what happens.

Viral Loop – Adam Penenberg tells the story behind the most successful viral marketing companies and campaigns.  Then he breaks out specific strategies that you can use to grow your own business using a viral strategy. Our review here.

• Why Read This Book: Technology and social media have made understanding viral marketing strategies a requirement.  This book has history, strategy and infrastructure all in one place.
• Key Take-Away: Pick your favorite viral campaign and find creative ways to integrate it into your own company; use a feature in your e-mail and add an affiliate link to your signature.

You are What You Choose – We don’t make purchasing decisions just based on demographics, but on basic hard-wired motivators such as time, risk, altruism, getting information, meToo status and stickiness or loyalty — say authors Scott de Marchi and James T. Hamilton.  Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: Once you understand these six motivators, you can literally craft sales and marketing messages to target these internal and emotional motivators.
• Key Take-Away: Political values and believes have almost no impact on buyer behavior.  In fact Democrats and Republicans make almost identical purchasing decisions.

Expert Advisory Panel

A big thank you goes out to our Expert Advisory panel.  Your time and expert input added real value.

The Advisory Panel includes authors, small business experts, publishers, bloggers, executives and other professionals:

Kare Anderson, Author and Emmy Winner, Say it Better

Mark Anderson, professional cartoonist at www.andertoons.com

Dawn Rivers Baker, publisher of The MicroEnterprise Journal

Shashi Bellamkonda, Network Solutions

Tim Berry, business planning expert

Andy Birol, Author of “The 5 Catalysts of 7 Figure Growth,”  www.profitablegrowth.com

Dane Carlson, publisher of Business Opportunities

Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger

Jason Cohen, software entrepreneur

Laurel Delaney, global business expert, Borderbuster newsletter

Yvonne DiVita, Professional Blogger and Social Media Enthusiast, The Lipsticking Society

Melinda Emerson ‘SmallBizLady’, Author, “Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months” (Feb. 2010)

Margie Zable Fisher, president of Zable Fisher Public Relations

Wayne Hurlbert, publisher of Blog Business World

John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing

Steve King, Small Biz Labs

Jim F. Kukral, Author of upcoming book “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money”

Brian Lenhart, @BrianLenhart

Rieva Lesonsky, CEO, www.smallbizdaily.com

Joel Libava, Author of “The Essential Steps To Researching A Franchise Opportunity”

Martin Lindeskog, International Business Coordinator, www.Martin.Lindeskog.name

TJ McCue, founder of Sales Rescue Team

Susan Oakes, www.m4bmarketing.com

Denise O’Berry, author “Small Business Cash Flow”

Ramon Ray, publisher of SmallBizTechnology.com

Matthew Ringer, publisher of SmallBizBee.com

Zane Safrit, www.zanesafrit.com

How the Winners Were Chosen

To be eligible for these Awards, books had to appeal to small business personnel, entrepreneurs, freelancers or the self-employed. Also, books had to be newly published (or revised) during 2009 (no older books).

Books were chosen based on originality; quality of writing; and usefulness of the book for the widest range of small business people, entrepreneurs and the self-employed.  Votes were cast in a blind ballot, conducted via QuestionPro.

Reader’s Choice Awards

If you’d like to see which books readers chose as their favorites for 2009, please see our separate list of Reader’s Choice Business Book Awards.

From Small Business Trends

Editor’s Choice Awards: 2009 Best Small Business Books

The following books are the top 10 small business books for 2009 as voted by the readers of Small Business Trends and other entrepreneurs and small business managers.  These are from a field of 47 new books nominated initially. Write-ins were allowed.  (Note our separate Editor’s Choice Edition.)

This is the second year in a row for the Awards.  But this year we made them bigger and better.  First, we got more input from readers on the initial list of nominees. Second, we implemented a formal voting process for the final choices.

To be eligible, books had to appeal to small business personnel, entrepreneurs, freelancers or the self-employed. Also, books had to be newly published (or revised) during 2009 (no older books).

Nearly 4,000 votes were cast, with almost 200 write-ins. Thank you very much for helping choose!

Enough talk….  Here is the list of 2009 Best Small Business Books – Reader’s Choice Awards (in alphabetical order):

Awesomely Simple: Essential Business Strategies for Turning Ideas Into Action - This book helps you cut through the clutter as a business owner. There is an endless stream of things to distract you – the trick is to identify what REALLY drives success.  Author John Spence focuses on 6 strategies: Vivid Vision, Best People, A Performance-Oriented Culture, Robust Communication, A Sense of Urgency, and Extreme Customer Focus.   Read reviews.

BAM: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World – “BAM” debunks 20 myths about customer service — from “The customer is always right” to “Companies achieve customer service by under-promising and over-delivering.”  This book by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead features a  “customer value calculation” and a list of customer satisfaction questions, among other resources.  Read our review of BAM.

Career Renegade - Jonathan Fields, a Wall Street attorney turned entrepreneur, offers motivational and practical advice to pursue your passions.   If you’ve ever felt drained and devalued through employment, the book helps you translate your passion into a viable, profitable business.   The personal case studies are inspiring and prove you CAN do it.  Our review:  Are You a Career Renegade?

The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing - This book by Eric Groves offers best practices for email marketing. As the title suggests, the focus is on Constant Contact, an email marketing provider for small businesses. But don’t let that fool you.  No matter which email provider you use, you’ll be able to apply practical advice.  Examples include: how to build an email list and how to create compelling content. Read reviews on Amazon.

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion– This book by online marketing phenomenon Gary Vaynerchuk focuses on how to build an online business and how to use social media and online marketing to grow a business.  The book draws on his own experiences expanding his family’s  liquor store using techniques such as a video blog. The author’s personality infuses this book.  Read reviews.

Escape from Cubicle Nation - Written by Pamela Slim, this is the ultimate road map for getting yourself out of that corporate cubicle and into your own startup.  There is so much to consider when making this leap. The author provides practical advice for those dreaming of becoming CEO of their own business. In addition to the practical aspects of starting a business, it also guides you through the emotional landmines of making the leap to entrepreneurship.  Read our review.

Immigrant, Inc.: Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy – This book challenges you to “think like an immigrant.”  It says that immigrants are twice as likely to launch a business. Immigrants are behind half of the high-tech startups in Silicon Valley.  One reviewer writes:  “Richard Herman and Robert Smith argue convincingly that without the fresh energy, skills and work ethic of immigrants, our ecomony would go stale.”  Read Amazon reviews.

The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web - If you read just one book this season about social media, make sure it’s Tamar Weinberg’s “The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web.”  This book shows how to use social media to market your business.  Covers a large number of sites, from Twitter to lesser-known ones like Kirtsy.  Read our review of The New Community Rules.

The Sassy Ladies Toolkit for Startup Businesses – This book is part reference guide, part  workbook, taking you step-by-step through starting your business.  It includes practical business advice for startups, with inspiring stories about women entrepreneurs, and a dash of humor so you don’t take yourself too seriously.  By 3 women entrepreneurs:  Michelle Girasole, Wendy Hanson and Miriam Perry.  Read reviews on Amazon.

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust – Written by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, the term “Trust Agents” refers to digitally savvy people who are adept at using the Web to humanize a business through developing relationships.   These trust agents wield great power over business reputations, the authors say.  This book shows you how to develop relationships with trust agents, and how to become one.  Read reviews here.

Special note to all 47 nominees: congratulations to all who were nominated.  Your book had to get significant attention just to make the nominations list.  It was not a slam-dunk to be placed on the voting ballot.  The vote tally came in surprisingly close.  Roughly a dozen books missed the top 10 by a small margin.  You have much to be proud of.

Compare to last year’s winners:  2008 Reader’s Choice Business Book Awards.

Many thanks to QuestionPro, which provided the voting tool for the awards.

From Small Business Trends

Best Small Business Books 2009 – Reader’s Choice Awards

Blogs for awareness

Why is there no link to the Web site for the shelter I mentioned above? Because there isn’t a Web site. And along with no site there is no blog. If you’re a nonprofit or simply a SMB with very limited resources, having a blog is one of your best tools to communicate with the people who are most apt to have an interest in what you’re up to. Very often your success as a nonprofit depends on your ability to tug on people and to inspire them with your story or challenge. This is something blogs are perfectly suited to do. They can help you tell your story, to reach out to new customers or donors, to keep people up-to-date on your on goings, to offer resources, and especially to build a community. Blogs are your number one social media tool to build awareness. Don’t discount them.

Video campaigns for storytelling

Using video as a small business owner is really powerful stuff. Using it for a non-profit is even more powerful. Again, it goes back to your ability to tell a story and to convey a need far more effectively using video’s sight and sound over just text. If you’re a non-profit organization you’ll want to take advantage of YouTube’s Nonprofit Program to get your video in front of the people most likely to pass on your message. Once it’s there, you should also use a site like TubeMogul to get your video to appear on multiple video sharing sites with just one upload. The site also offers some rich analytics to help you see who’s viewing your video and how you can best increase your reach and make the content easier to share. People have become pretty good at ignoring text. Sight and sound is a different story. Grab them and they’re yours.

Rock the widgets for donations

Widgets are embeddable objects that make it easier for people to interact with your content. Whereas many smaller organizations don’t have the resources to push content around – widgets spread themselves. Sites like Network for Good or ChipIn make it easy for SMBs or nonprofits to create widgets asking people to get involved and help the cause. You can post them to your own site, but they’re even more powerful when your community takes the widget and posts it on theirs. As the Web becomes more social, it’s becoming increasingly important to let your community interact and spread your content the way THEY want to. Widgets are a big part of that. Organizations like Kiva have been using them for years. You can even brand them for maximum exposure and to help get a piece of your site out on the larger Web.

Bring online donors offline to increase manpower

One area where I think a lot of SMB owners and nonprofits miss out is in failing to bring their online connections offline. Just because you meet someone online doesn’t mean they’re trapped in the box. It’s a fact eHarmony has been banking on for years. People like making new connections, especially if its people they feel they already “know” from their online world. Once you’ve done the work to build your online community and get them engaged, take them offline by holding tweetups, throwing networking events, forming partnerships with similar-minded organizations, or taking advantage of the extra manpower during events and phone campaigns. By bringing your online connections off it helps make them more a part of what you’re doing and invested in your organization.

Running a nonprofit is all about building as much awareness while stretching that dollar as far as it can go. Luckily, social media is about the very same thing. Make sure you’re using the many social tools available to you to help you spread your message.

From Small Business Trends

How To Rock Social Media As A Non-Profit

Gary Schoeniger and Mike Sutyak have been interviewing entrepreneurs throughout the United States to identify the elements of that mindset. Their goal is to create an online educational program that helps aspiring entrepreneurs develop the knowledge they’ll need to be successful in business.

It’s not enough to hang a shingle outside your door, or create a dynamic website. You have to embrace the mindset that so many successful entrepreneurs have.

Gary and Mike have already created the first foundational course and it is being offered through the Kauffman Foundation’s Entrepreneurship.org website. This course, Mindset: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial IQ, takes the student through the discovery process. With interviews and basics, the course is a unique mix of specific information and overview. They’ve really captured the ‘magic sauce’ of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Mike and Gary believe that the widespread growth of online learning has made possible a unique and scalable approach to entrepreneurship education. Multi-media online delivery now enables today’s most successful entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience in a powerful, engaging and cost-effective format.

Functioning as an “online textbook”, the ELI Entrepreneurship Program(s) are designed as a “blended” application that combines face-to-face classroom instruction with multi-media online content to create a powerful, effective and scalable approach to entrepreneurship education, giving learners and teachers an environment to learn and teach more effectively. The programs can also be offered as an individual self-directed online learning program.

Now, more than ever, entrepreneurship has become vital to creating sustainable economic growth, both at home and abroad and policymakers have begun to declare entrepreneurship education a leading imperative. The first program offered by the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative, launched in 2008, was developed exclusively for The Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and is currently being distributed throughout Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Their Mindset program is now being promoted through The Kauffman Foundation’s Entrepreneurship.org.

The vast majority of students (traditional and non-traditional) do not have access to the entrepreneurship education, training and resources that will adequately prepare them to start and grow a successful business.

The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative (ELI) mission is to develop and market a new class of multi-media online education programs that enable participants to learn from the firsthand experience of today’s most successful entrepreneurs in an engaging format that is both cost effective and highly profitable.

The goal is to educate and encourage entrepreneurship at all levels. The ELI Entrepreneurship Programs offer a revolutionary application that provides  the flexibility to combine face-to-face classroom instruction with the firsthand knowledge of successful entrepreneurs to create a powerful, effective and scalable approach to entrepreneurship education. The ELI programs offer learners and teachers an environment to learn and teach more effectively.

In addition to a variety of introductory, intermediate and advanced online learning programs, ELI will offer additional resources such as teacher training, individual and group coaching and mentoring programs.

Understanding the value of hearing it straight from the entrepreneur, Gary and Mike have created an entrepreneur video blog where people can find interviews of entrepreneurs. These hour long interviews have been distilled down to some golden nuggets of information and insight.

Gary Schoeniger and Mike Sutyak have captured the value of entrepreneurship as well as the importance of an education.

* * * * *

About the Author: Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach and the president of Seize This Day Coaching. Diane is a Contributing Editor on COSE Mindspring, a resource website for small business owners, as well as a member of the Sales Experts Panel at Top Sales Experts.

From Small Business Trends

Is it Magic or Mindset?

Why read blogs? I’m guessing it’s because you’re constantly out of your comfort zone: Making decisions about things you’ve never had to think about, weren’t trained for, didn’t learn in school, and might very well decide the fate of the entire company. Or maybe this decision doesn’t matter at all, but who could know?

And sometimes, you just need to hear someone else say “Yeah, I went through that too, it’s normal.”

Blogs are good, but blogs aren’t enough — they’re unidirectional. Even with comments, it’s not the same thing as asking a question and getting varying, intelligent responses. Wouldn’t that be nice.

So now there’s a new community called Answers OnStartups where entrepreneurs, VCs, and Angels are gathering to share their collective intelligence. And it’s not essays — it’s Q&A.

Already some famous bloggers are actively participating. Here’s a selection (I linked to their Answers OnStartups user account so you can see that they are, in fact, active):

• Joel Spolsky (FogCreek, Joel on Software)
• Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot, OnStartups)
• Neil Davidson (RedGate, Business of Software)
• Bob Walsh (47 Hats)
• Rand Fishkin (SEOMoz)
• Alex Papadimoulis (DailyWTF, Inedo)
• Me (Smart Bear blog and company)

The site has been up for about a month, and already 650 questions have been answered by 1,300 users.

More important than statistics, though, is the benefit of having important questions asked and answered. For example, recently new startup founder Adrian Robson asked which is better:

1. Launch website now, even though it’s not really ready, or
2. Wait for v1.0 and have a big launch.

What do you think? (Leave an answer on the site or in the comments below!)

Here’s a summary of the discussion so far:

1. You need to launch early to give SEO time to build up. Publish interesting content in the meantime instead of pretending there’s an application.
2. If you launch too early with a crappy product, people might not come back when it’s better.
3. If you hype it up, and potential customers find it’s not ready, they don’t come back.
4. Use surveys to discover what potential customers really want in a minimum viable product so your v1.0 is something people actually want to use.
5. At least collect email addresses for “notify when ready.” Build your newsletter.
6. If you think you’ll immediately be swamped with traffic, think again.

Here’s some other recent questions with excellent discussions:

• Is it better to have a co-founder or not?
• Do single-founder companies ever get funded?
• How do I pick a platform for a Web 2.0 startup?
• How much should I expect to pay for design work?
• How do I “mingle” with angel investors?
• Should an investor deck be glossy or direct? Is minimal better?

But maybe the best part of Answers OnStartups is that you get to meet a bunch of really smart, successful, thoughtful entrepreneurs who aren’t the ones you’ve read about 100 times. And you get to talk to them about business, about the specific topics that are burning a hole in your head right now.

It’s not just useful, it’s fun.  I hope to meet you there!

* * * * *

About the Author: Jason Cohen is the founder of Smart Bear Software and mentor at Austin-based startup launcher Capital Factory. He blogs at A Smart Bear about startups and marketing with a geeky twist.

From Small Business Trends

New Q&A Site for Entrepreneurs: Answers OnStartups

The Business Devotional

This is an unusual business book.  As the title suggests, it gives the impression of being a prayer book of sorts — a “devotional” .

But instead of being about God and religious worship, it is all about business.  It is a collection of 365 readings intended to be read one each day, every day of the year.  (To understand more about the devotional format, read “What is a devotional?“)

Even the physical aspects of the book give the impression of a devotional.  It’s a sturdy cloth hardback of 370 pages, in sober navy blue.  It has an attached red-satin ribbon to use as a bookmark (when was the last time you got a book with one of those?).  That way, you can pick up where you left off easily.  The paper is thick, to stand up to daily use.  This is no cheap paperback that will be falling apart in six months.

Normally, we do not review books here unless we’ve read them cover to cover. But in this case I decided to make an exception, because this is a book with content you will want to take in short bites.  You will want to savor each day’s reading slowly … to internalize what you learn.

What This Book is About

Now, you’ve probably seen desk calendars that offer a business tip each day.  You may be thinking this is something like that.  But it’s not.  In those calendars you get super-short tips or a one- or two-sentence quote by someone famous.  The Business Devotional offers a lot more to think about.  It gives a one-page reading per day.  Yes, there’s a short quote by a famous person.  But then it goes on to use some point about that person’s life to teach you a business lesson.  And the lessons have the ring of being real-life — covering situations you likely would encounter in your work day.

The famous people quoted include the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Zig Ziglar, Oprah Winfrey, Ayn Rand — even Queen Elizabeth I (the one from the 1600s — and yes the advice was relevant to today).

The topics covered are not random.  There is a theme for each day of the week:

• Monday – Motivation
• Tuesday – Team-Building
• Wednesday – Career
• Thursday – Sales
• Friday – Leadership
• Saturday – Entrepreneur
• Sunday – Managing People

Who This Book is Best For

This book can be for anyone in business, in any role.  It is relevant whether you run a small business or work as an employee in a large corporation.

The appeal of this book has less to do with where you work, your role or the size of the company — and much more to do with your personality type.  You see, this is a book for thinkers.  If you consider yourself something of a contemplative person — perhaps a deep thinker  — you will love this book.

Also, if you are given to self-development I suggest this book will appeal to you.  For instance, if you go in a book store and head directly for the self-improvement section, you are going to love this book.

You can find the book on Amazon.  With the holidays coming up it would make a great gift for someone you know.

Like a Free Copy?

I was surprised to receive in the mail not one, but two review copies of The Business Devotional.  So I will be happy to send one reader the extra copy.  If you’d like to win the extra book, enter a comment below completing this thought:  “The one thing I want to improve about my business in 2010 is ….”

I’ll hold a random drawing on December 11, 2009 to pick one person from the comment section, and mail the winner  the book.  Open to U.S. readers and those outside the United States also.

From Small Business Trends

The Business Devotional: An Unusual Business Book