Small Biz Survival

4 tips for going into business

2009-11-09T04:19:00.000-06:00

Jeanne Cole, a regular contributor here, put together some basics for small business, for the Small Business 101 workshop held in Alva. Here are her 4 top tips.

1. Do a business plan for the right reason.
Most people only write a business plan when they want money. But the top reason to write a business plan is for your own benefit. Lots of people say, "I've got it all in my head." Please get it worked out and do a couple of pages of narrative. Figure out how much money you want to make and how long you expect to stay in the business.

2. Develop your entrepreneurial attitude.
Work on willingness to take risk and perserverance.

3. Evaluate your business idea carefully.
How can you tell if an idea will make money? By doing the planning, doing the financial projections. The business plan guide from the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center includes financial projection forms.

4. Get out and gather some business intelligence.
Local sales tax goods reports can give you an idea of the current local market in many areas. Want to know the real experience of others? Call competitors and other entrepreneurs. And don't forget the personal resources, the service providers who support small businesses in your area.

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The Management Expert helps with people problems

2009-11-08T21:11:00.000-06:00

Just as soon as your small business includes more than just you, there will be people problems. To help you with those problems, our friend Phil Gerbyshak has put up a new resource, The Management Expert.

Phil has pulled together a huge collection of over 500 of his management articles. His goal is to help new managers be better managers.

Phil was one of the contributors to the Great Big Small Business Show that Chris Brogan and I produced back in 2006, and he is a very smart thinker. I highly recommend all new managers in small business spend some time with The Management Expert.

Photo of Chris Brogan, Phil Gerbyshak and Becky McCray courtesy of Phil Gerbyshak.

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Join the Brag Basket

2009-11-06T04:38:00.001-06:00

Every week, I open a Brag Basket, so you can introduce yourself or share some good news. So speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great.

It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

This particular basket is open from Nov. 6-Nov. 8, 2009. (I put dates so you won't accidentally leave a comment on an old basket.)

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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3 Speaking tips for wired audiences

2009-11-05T22:09:00.000-06:00

More audiences today are wired, with laptops or smart phones. They are taking notes, Tweeting, and much more. This changes the dynamic of speaking, so here are three tips I picked up at BlogWorld Expo this year.

1. Using a visual can make people stop taking notes and listen to you. This one came from @armano during his presentation on creating visuals. He was right, too.

2. Put a copy of your presentation online ahead of time. If the projector or video fails, all those with laptops in the audience can pull it up and flip through it with you. This one was suggested by @digitalandy when the computer controlling the projector failed in a session. Seems so obvious, but how often do we do it?

3. Before you make a gesture to help explain a concept, say, "I want you to watch as I do this..." I heard @shama say this in her presentation to get people to look up from their screens. It worked, too.

What have you learned about speaking with increasingly connected audiences?

Photo by Becky McCray

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6 big Facebook tips for small business

2009-11-03T21:24:00.000-06:00

Facebook can be a powerful tool for small business, and our friend Shama Kabani of Click to Client shared some outstanding tips in her presentation at BlogWorld Expo.

Tip 1: Create a fan Page, not a personal Profile, for your business.

Fan pages are the best way for small businesses to interact with customer and potential customers on Facebook, Shama said. If you don't have a Facebook account yet, create one in your own name. Then go create your Facebook Page.

Tip 2. Build your page with your purpose in mind.
Start with the little box that appears under your photo. Put something meaningful about your business in there, because that is the first place most people look on your fan Page, Shama said. Then fill in all the other basic information about your business, and put up a friendly welcome message.

Before we had fan pages, lots of businesses and associations created profiles of their business, just like their business was a person. Unfortunately, this is against Facebook's terms of service, and it is enough cause to have your profile deleted. Now Facebook is cracking down on these profiles. So that leads us to...

Tip 3. If you have a Profile for an organization, start converting to a fan Page right now.
Slowly ramp down the activity on your old Profile, as you continue to direct people over to the new Page. Shama pointed out that you can use the Notes feature, and tag the people you want to notify about the new Page.

As you start collecting Fans of your Page, you want to convert them. Shama pointed out that there are two types of conversion:

Convert them into consumers of your information.
Convert them into clients who pay.

Facebook is better at making people consumers of your info. Then over time, they can become your clients. Since people are becoming consumers of our information, how do we know what type of information people will want to consume and share on Facebook? Ah! Now we've come to Shama's killer secret about using Facebook for small business...

Tip 4. The number one reason people get on Facebook is to showcase their own identity.
If you want to reach people, then tap into this reason. What does your brand say about your customers? How does it look on their profile when they fan you or share your content? Do they like that connotation?

For example, if you live in Alva, Oklahoma, how does it look if you become a fan of Allen's Liquor Store? How is that different that being a fan of the Candy Bouquet? It's all in how your fans you want other people to see them, and how you play a part in that.

Tip 5. Facebook is the ultimate tool for sharing success stories. You were wondering how you were going to fill all that blank space on your Page, weren't you? Well, talk with your customers about how you've helped them. Get permission to share their stories, and start posting them to help others.

Tip 6. Facebook Connect is the new superpower.
This is where you integrate your Facebook efforts with your regular website. It's kind of like a badge or widget to put on your site to share your Facebook Page activity. But it also gives you statistics about your website visitors, and it adds social interaction to your site. Check out more details at Facebook Connect. It really is just what Shama called it: the new superpower.

Thanks to Shama Kabani of Click to Client for sharing such useful information in her presentation.

Photo of Shama Kabani by Becky McCray

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Tips for setting business hours

2009-11-01T13:20:00.000-06:00

Every so often, we feature common small business mistakes, so you can learn from them.

Lots of small business make a mistake in setting and keeping their business hours.

Here's an example from a retail business, open only 11 hours per week. But hey, they do say you can call and they'll come open up. This may be more common in small towns, where we're more informal. It's still a mistake. How many potential customers are you turning away?

Two years ago, I wrote about a couple of other local business, one with inconsistent hours that were always changing and one that wasn't always open when it said it would be.

The tips on setting business hours that I offered in 2007 are just as good today.

Think about your target customers when you set your hours. Ask them when they want you to be open.
Set an incredibly easy to understand schedule.
Publicize your business hours in all the media you use.
Be open when you say you will. Open on time, and don't close early.

I know, emergencies will occur, but do your best!

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Is it worth paying for help with free tools

2009-10-31T10:59:00.001-05:00

Many times, it is worth paying for help with what seem like free tools like social media, websites, or even photography.

Look at it this way. If you want to build a house, you probably already have a hammer and all the tools you need. You can find some lumber pretty cheap. There are even books full of house plans and instructions.

Or you can hire a professional home builder. Or only subcontract out the parts you need. It depends on what kind of results you want, how much time you can invest, and your personal skill level.

Photo by Becky McCray.

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Introduce yourself in the Brag Basket

2009-10-30T05:41:00.001-05:00

Every week, I open a Brag Basket, so you can introduce yourself or share some good news. So speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great.

It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

This particular basket is open from Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2009. (I put dates so you won't accidentally leave a comment on an old basket.)

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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Can you make it big from a small town?

2009-10-28T16:25:00.006-05:00

Is it really possible to live and work where you want? Or do you have to be located where the action is?

We talk about this a lot here, and Jesse offered an interesting opinion in the comments on Barbara Winter's guest post, Becoming and Entrepreneurial Villager:

Its true the new technology enhanced economy allows each of us to have more autonomy over our personal and professional live and where we choose to live. But I still think that in order to make it big (not just tread water) you have to go where the people are.

I mean it says a lot that you [Barbara] are located in Las Vegas! Anyway, its great to see someone writing about small town business. As more of these markets become aware of the resources available on the internet your name and popularity are only going to skyrocket!

Congrats

Jesse
[emphasis added]

I picked a few folks for my photo montage who I think are small town successes.

Michelle Riggen-Ransom co-founded BatchBlue from Rhode Island.
Aliza Sherman is a national expert on women and technology. She is currently based in tiny Tok, Alaska.
Britt Raybould is defining her own level of success from Idaho.
Hugh MacLeod invented the idea of the Small Town Global Microbrand and is now a best selling author. He has lived many places in the world, but chose to return to Alpine, Texas.
Jack Schultz of Effingham, Illinois, wrote the book on small economic development and is a premier consultant on economic development.
Des Walsh chose long ago to move out of the big city to Australia's Gold Coast, where he is still in demand as a speaker and authority on home-based business, government, and technology.
I haven't yet met Jason Kintzler, founder and CEO of Pitch Engine, so I don't have a photo of him. He's another small town person running a global technology company. He happens to be happily based in Wyoming.

What do you think? Can you make it big from a small town? Are the folks I mentioned just treading water? Do you have any examples you'd like to point out?

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Do you send holiday cards from your business?

2009-10-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

[Please welcome back our friend, frequent guest poster, and smart copywriter Denise McGill, with a timely reminder. -Becky]

By Denise McGill

If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to order those holiday business cards to let clients know they are appreciated! It’s no news that the economy is performing at below par right now, so it’s more important than ever to acknowledge client/customer loyalty. It’s also a great way to strengthen and maintain your client base for the coming new year.

By mailing a holiday greeting card you

build client rapport.
acknowledge and thank clients for their continuing business.
keep your business or service foremost in a client’s minds.

Good rapport with customers clients can’t be stressed enough. In fact, it should be a priority. It goes along the lines of providing the best customer service possible and that includes an acknowledgment of gratitude. Good rapport keeps the lines of communication open between yourself and your client.

While you are at it, drop a fresh business card, small calendar or other small promotional item in the holiday greeting for clients to keep on hand through the coming year.

Wishes for a profitable new year!

About Denise:
Denise McGill is a freelance copywriter specializing in catalog product description, copy makeovers, web content, landing pages, promotional materials, articles and more. Visit her website at http://mcgillcopywriting.com for more information on giving your business the competitive edge.

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Starting small at Eyes Lips Face

2009-10-25T20:17:00.002-05:00

Ted Rubin, Chief Marketing Officer for Eyes Lips Face, took time out at BlogWorld Expo to tell us how ELF started small, and has grown.

When Ted says how many "skews" they have, he's referring to SKU's, or Stock Keeping Units. In essence, it's how many products they make. (Bonus points to you retail-savvy folks who already knew that.)

Are you daring to dream big with your small business?

Subscribers: please stop by the site to view the video.

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Becoming an Entrepreneurial Villager

2009-10-24T20:36:00.000-05:00

[Barbara Winter is one of the few folks talking about small town business. Her special focus is on being joyfully jobless. I'm thrilled she offered up this guest post. - Becky ]

Not long ago, I found myself seated next to a small town enthusiast on a flight to Dallas.
This man was a former pilot who had left flying when he was diagnosed with a serious illness. He had recently become a flight training instructor, but he was most excited about the little bed and breakfast inn he and his wife owned in a small town in northern Pennsylvania. It was their second such venture and he regaled me with stories about his life as an innkeeper.

This former pilot was also a former city dweller who had reinvented himself as a small town entrepreneur. He’s not alone in discovering new opportunities in off the beaten path places. What may not be so obvious is why so many new entrepreneurs are deciding that a small town is the perfect place to create their own version of World Headquarters.

For thousands of years, anyone running a business was at the mercy of geography. If you lived near a river or the ocean, you had opportunities not available to your landlocked neighbors. Being an entrepreneur usually meant plunking yourself down in a convenient spot and dealing with whomever happened to pass your way.

That’s all changing. Where business once meant marketing goods and services to those in close proximity, it now is more about reaching out to those who share values, concerns and ideas—no matter where they are located.

As a result, we’re seeing people who’ve built international consulting businesses from their cabins on the Western Slopes of Colorado or run an art gallery via the Internet from their home on Vancouver Island or sold their copywriting services from their houseboat.

If you’re dreaming about becoming an entrepreneurial villager yourself, you could either create a local business that serves your community or you could serve a clientele unlimited by geography. Either kind of business is possible in the new world of cottage industries since today’s cottage is apt to be an electronic one.

While it’s not my intention to suggest that these are the only possibilities (far from it),here are a few ideas for profit centers that are especially suited to village life.

At your service. My old favorite, the service business, gets high points for small town enterprise. Even the tiniest communities can support a wide range of services. While some service businesses require special skills or training (i.e. furnace repair, barbering), more and more service businesses exist to save people time or money.

A great way to generate ideas for a service business is by asking yourself the question, “Who’s got a problem I know how to solve?”

Put your computer to work. Nothing in our lifetime has had a bigger impact on business than the personal computer. Graphic designers, marketing pros,copywriters and virtual assistants can build their businesses locally and beyond.

Since many writers can live wherever they want, freelancers, as well as novelists, often choose to plant themselves in small communities. With the Internet putting research sources within reach of everyone, freelancing from almost anywhere has gotten even easier.

Today many consultants and life coaches work with clients via Skype, the popular alternative to landlines.

Create a destination business. On a road trip several years ago, we visited a quilt shop in Goshen, Indiana, that had collectors coming from all over the world to buy their stunning creations.

Although many small towns have seen the demise of local businesses such as hardware and clothing stores, creative shopkeepers are bringing commercial spaces to life again with art galleries, antique shops, inns and unique restaurants that bring in out-of-town customers. If it’s special, people will come.

Market products to the world. You don’t have to look very far to see that mail order has long flourished in tiny towns. Thousands of people will never set foot in Dodgeville, Wisconsin (population 4,975), but they’ll buy something from the Lands’ End catalog which is headquartered there. Like other forms of doing business, mail order has benefited from technology.

A woman I know living outside a small town in southern Wisconsin creates jewelry and handknit purses which she sells to celebrities and customers throughout the world via Etsy.com, as well as her own Website.

A quick survey of smaller mail order operations shows that many such businesses favor small town locales. You can order maple syrup directly from Vermont, Christmas trees from Michigan and software from New Hampshire. And if your town is served by FedEx or UPS, mail order marketing gets even easier.

For many people, an ideal life would be living in a place they love, with people they love, doing work that they love. Being an entrepreneurial villager could make that happen. As Jack Lessinger says, “Build something, help something, save something. The possibilities are endless.”

***************

Barbara J. Winter is a speaker, writer and entrepreneur who started her first business while living in tiny Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She is the author of Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love and publisher of Winning Ways newsletter, the longest-running self-employment publication of its kind in the country. She currently resides in the not-small-town of Las Vegas, Nevada.

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You know I love the Brag Basket

2009-10-23T04:12:00.000-05:00

Admit it; you love the Brag Basket as much as I do. So speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great.

It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

This particular basket is open from Oct. 23-25, 2009. (I put dates so you won't accidentally leave a comment on an old basket.)

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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Kansas MarketPlace rural entrepreneurship event Nov 9 and 10

2009-10-22T11:50:00.001-05:00

[Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and rural businesses need to be at the first Kansas MarketPlace in November. Joy Marshall shared this info on the event. Mark your calendar, and spread the word! -Becky]

You have an incredible opportunity to learn new skills, network with successful entrepreneurs, and discover new ideas for small businesses and communities at the Kansas MarketPlace.

This new two-day event is coming to the Ramada Hays Convention Center in Hays, Kansas, on November 9 and 10, 2009. If you are interested in entrepreneurship, family farms and ranches, and rural communities, you'll want to be there for sure.

Hurry! Register for the Kansas MarketPlace now, in time for Early Bird registration. http://www.cfra.org/marketplace/registration-kansas

Six educational tracks will focus on the topics you need to know -- financing, marketing, business development, community development, agriculture and technology. The program is filled with a variety of enticing sessions -- see them all here: http://www.cfra.org/marketplace/agenda-kansas

Top-notch speakers will share the knowledge and enthusiasm entrepreneurs need for success. Andrew McCrea, an energetic farmer, rancher, and Oscar-winning radio broadcaster from northwest Missouri, will present at the Monday session. Don Landoll, an entrepreneur, businessman, and owner and founder of Landoll Corporation in Marysville, Kansas, will keynote Tuesday morning.

You'll be able to network with others in the Exhibit Hall, with up to 37 booths filled with successful entrepreneurs, service providers and conference sponsors. You'll be able to meet with these folks, ask questions, gather information and make connections all day long.

Register today and take advantage of Early Bird prices! Early Bird Registration expires on Oct. 28.

http://www.cfra.org/marketplace/registration-kansas

Kansas MarketPlace is presented by the Center for Rural Affairs and the Kansas Department of Commerce Rural Development Division. It is modeled after two similar highly successful events held annually in North Dakota and Nebraska and credited with bringing new jobs and employment there.

Help rural Kansas and build on your entrepreneurial dreams at the Kansas Marketplace in November!

See you there,
Joy Marshall, MarketPlace Planner
Center for Rural Affairs

Photo courtesy of CFRA, of a 2008 MarketPlace

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Is crowdSpring a good thing for rural designers

2009-10-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

crowdSPRING is a marketplace for creative services. A customer puts out a project and sets the job price. Designers can choose to create a proposed solution, and the customer picks the winner.

It has attracted controversy, with professional designers saying that spec work hurts their industry. That is, a designer has to create a fully finished design, and may or may not be selected and paid. Andrew Hyde, one of my long-time Twitter friends and fellow test driver of the 2010 Mustang at BlogWorld this year, explained in 2008 why he thinks Spec Work Is Evil. And early in Small Biz Survival history, one of my good friends chided me in the comments for linking to a spec work company.

So I was wary when Ross Kimbarovsky of crowdSPRING approached me at SXSW. He and I talked a bit. Ross told me that over 36,000 designers work on cS, including quite a few based in rural areas. Of course, I'm always interested in rural small business, so I asked for the story of one of their rural designers.

crowdSPRING put me in contact with Rachel Stene, from Sparta, Wisconsin. Rachel is a freelance graphic artist by trade, specifically motion graphics. When her husband lost his job, she had to add something to her animation work to make up for the lost income. She started looking into crowdSPRING.

I discovered cS 4 or 5 months ago, and trepidly entered my first contest. I was totally ignored by the buyer. Then I entered another one, and got a 2 star rating. I gave up. For a week. I totally suck at couple more contests, and decide spec work IS evil. I'm out for good. For another week. I'm back. What is it with this place? I decide to just have fun with this. I'm experimenting, I tell myself. Relax. One morning while eating a donut, browsing the job list, I find a project to enter. I kick out a logo in 10 minutes between breaking up fights between my kids, and I win a $200 contest! I start to talk about cS to everyone I know, and even those I don't know. I can't stop talking about it. My husband threatens an intervention. I'm hooked. Never mind that I had higher paying animation work awaiting my attention. I was trying to remember how to use Illustrator. Word is I'm CRAZY for wasting my time on "evil" spec work, but I can't shake the feeling that something HUGE is going on here. This community of creatives and buyers which has no boundaries. I love that I can decide when to work, how much to work. I don't have to call my clients and apologize for my kids puking last night and promise I'll have something done after nap time. Plus, I find I really like designing logos. And print. And illustration. I still love animation too, but now I get to have other experiences and it's all working together to make me a better all around designer. I'm not burned out now. I can't wait to start my day and jump into a project. I'm learning so much! It's making me a better animator too.

Rachel told me she feels working with cS makes up for her remote location.

Pairing up with websites like crowdSpring make it possible for me to do business with people from all over the world, from next door Minnesota to Ireland to Tanzania without spending a dime. I don't have to spend money or time promoting myself or finding clients, or invoicing them. For me this is the best way to work. I can focus just on my design, and I'm not held back by being in a rural area with no local clients or connections. I can also afford to work on lower paying jobs because money goes farther in my town than in a large city. I can get a lot of groceries at the local farmers market for $200.

I'm expecting a robust discussion on this topic. I'd love to hear your feelings on this subject.

Photo by Becky McCray

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Managing Your Social Media Marketing Time

2009-10-19T15:44:00.000-05:00

Do you sit down to spend 30 minutes checking your social networks, and then look up 3 hours later? Do you get sucked into Mr. Computer, like Sheila Scarborough says? Barry Moltz asked how to manage social media time at the Small Business, Big Impact panel at BlogWorld Expo. Here's the best answer I came up with.

Use a checklist.

Once you have created your simplified marketing plan, you will have a list of the services and networks you plan to use and how you plan to use them. With that information, make up a simple checklist of the networks you need to check, and any daily goals you have set.

Daily goals could include updating your Facebook and LinkedIn status, responding to all comments on your blog, tweeting five interesting links (not counting any links to your own stuff) on Twitter, and engaging a few friends in conversation. I made that list up, and you should customize your own list. Chris Brogan has his own list of social media tasks you could do daily.

Run off several copies of your checklist. Then when you sit down to do your daily networking, use it.

I hope this will help you feel more focused in your efforts, and give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of your work session.

How would you improve this idea?

Photo by Becky McCray

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Investor lessons for small town businesses

2009-10-18T01:32:00.001-05:00

Bob Jacoby is a business startup investor in Texas. He offers some advice to entrepreneurs: Make your idea work on the small scale first, then you can grow from there.

[Subscribers, you may need to click through to the site to see the video.]

Interviewed by Becky McCray at NASVF - the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds, Oklahoma City, September 2009

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Social media? Yeah, we're looking into it

2009-10-17T01:23:00.002-05:00

Three studies in a row hit me with the reality that social media is far from mainstream.

Most small businesses are not using social media. Small businesses are using websites and email marketing more than social media, but most aren't even using those tools. (Citibank survey)
Most tourism pros are not using it either. Considering how many consumers are doing trip planning and research online, this is particularly striking. (Southeast Tourism survey)
Most economic developers are also holding out. They rate social media of low importance now, but recognize it will be seriously important over the next three years. Few say they don't know enough; most say they are looking into it. (IEDC survey)

Why are so many smart people not putting social media to work for them? The phrase "looking into it" struck me.

Why would people use that particular phrase? I think it's because they have heard at least a little about social media now. Many have sat through workshops or conference sessions on it. But that is far from enough information to implement social media.

So that simple "Social Media" workshop they took, left them with one or more of these issues:

They don't know how they might use social media.
They are not sure where to start.
They just don't have the time, or just don't make the time to use it.
They are stuck in routines, and it's hard to change habits to include new activities.

Let me know how well those fit with what you see and hear in the real world.

Working with Sheila Scarborough to create Tourism Currents, we came up with a pretty plausible way to help move these folks into action.

Smart people need focused information and examples from organizations they can relate to; then they can move into action.

We built a set of lessons, with examples and activities based on what tourism professionals actually do in their work. We approached it with a specific order, designed to talk them through the the stages from not knowing much all the way through putting it into practice.

If you are trying to help a small organization to take action, start with this: focused information and examples from organizations they can relate to.

Photo by Becky McCray of an illustration by Sheila Scarborough.

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Questioning our impact in the Brag Basket

2009-10-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Saturday, I'll be speaking on "Small Business, Big Impact" with a cast of all-stars at BlogWorld Expo. So I have a special question for you:

How has Small Biz Survival made a difference in your small business?

Feel free to answer that question, or just give any kind of regular brag. Add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great.

It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

This particular basket is open from Oct. 16-18, 2009. (I put dates so you won't accidentally leave a comment on an old basket.)

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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Where do you go for small business information

2009-10-15T01:11:00.000-05:00

Besides here, where do you go for small business information? I'm wondering because a publisher friend asked me. So I'm asking you.

When you want to answer a question about how to do something, or how to improve your small business, do you use...

other small business blogs
other small business resource sites (like the Inc. site, or the SBA site)
newspapers
small business magazines
books
radio programs
some other source I didn't think of?

I'd really like to hear your answers. Thanks!

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Review of Toshiba Satellite Pro

2009-10-15T00:03:00.049-05:00

The Toshiba Satellite Pro S300 is a desktop replacement size laptop. Toshiba loaned me one to take a look at for a review from a small business perspective.

Bottom line: I like it.

The first thing for me, is that it's big. Normally, I'm a tiny laptop person. And this baby ain't tiny. But it's big in a way that makes sense. I can appreciate how this would be a great alternative to a desktop for a small business.

I like:

The screen. Bright, lovely. Makes me want to show it off to other people. And it is big enough to share a slide show with another person.
The lid latch. Does exactly what it should: keeps it shut until you open it.
The keyboard. A pleasure to type on. With a little Caps Lock light right on the key. Easy to read key labels. The satin-y feel of the surfaces. (I really, really liked the keyboard.)
The two-prong plug. Nice for travel or for home offices.

I don't like a few things:

The case flexes oddly when you pick it up wrong. I wonder if it will affect durability. Not a huge concern, but it feels a bit odd when you grab it from the wrist rest area.
The warm breeze out of the left side. I'm warm enough, thanks.
The USB ports are too far forward. If you plug in a USB mouse, the cord is now in the way of using the mouse near the laptop.
Trial ware. Especially for small business. I'd rather get nothing, than to get a trial copy of Microsoft Office.

One thing worth noting:

Runs XP. I'm used to Vista now, so I found this... unusual. For small business, I don't think Vista is the same kind of issue as it is for big businesses. I don't see this as good or bad, just noted.

So, for a large laptop, I liked it, more than I thought I would. And I'm going to miss typing on that keyboard....

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4 reasons you need new small biz ideas

2009-10-14T01:41:00.001-05:00

If you already have a business or already have an idea for your next business, you might think you don't care about other small business ideas. I can think of four reasons that you ought to be looking for new business ideas.

Improvement.
Every business, every day, can stand to improve. Be on the look out for ideas that let you do what you do now, only better.
Innovation.
Now we're talking about making something new. Take the best elements of ideas you hear, and use them to create an innovative new way of doing business.
Expansion.
Let's add on. Use a business idea to complement your existing business, expanding in a new way.
Change the Game.
A new business idea can change everything in your business, take you to a whole new area, or completely shift your paradigm.

So even though you thought you were all finished with the small business idea search, you'd be smart to keep some new ideas feeding into your head.

Where do you get new ideas?

Photo by Becky McCray, of an innovative Alva business.

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Making your tourism efforts mesh

2009-10-13T04:16:00.001-05:00

Tourism Tuesday: our series recognizing the importance of travel and tourism to small town business. The discussion in the comments section is always the best part.

What do gears do? They mesh together to transmit force. By meshing gears of different sizes, you can multiply the results. You can also bring too many gears together, and lock up the whole system.

Whether you are local business owner, a chamber of commerce person, or a convention and visitors bureau rep, you aren't alone in promoting tourism in your area. Look around. Your city is probably also doing promotion. Your regional tourism group is out there. How about your state tourism association? How about all the other businesses in your area who depend on tourism?

The reason I want you to look around is to see where you could mesh your efforts with someone else's.

I do some website work for my regional tourism association, Red Carpet Country. They offer a cool program to share the cost of promoting your event or attraction, as long as you promote other events or attractions in the area at the same time.

Sponsorship may be the most familiar form of meshing efforts. I believe in the ability of your event to bring in customers, so I'll pay to have my name associated with it.

Who can you cooperate with? Is there another tourism based business in the area that is a natural partner? Can you add a link to the local restaurants from your bed and breakfast website? Could you create a night-out package with the local theater, a restaurant, and a dance?

Picture all the players in local tourism as gears, meshing together. How could you draw in new players, or connect people and businesses in new ways?

In the comments, I'd love to hear about your own local efforts at meshing. What has worked, and what hasn't?

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Finding your focus in small business

2009-10-12T05:12:00.001-05:00

Are you the kind of person who has lots of small business ideas? How do you corral your thinking so you can focus on one opportunity at a time? Should you? What direction should you go?

Yes, build one business at a time. Create the systems that enable you to delegate most of it. Then you can move into the next.

That sounds great, doesn't it? I don't think anyone ever actually does that.

Here's a more usual situation, from Thistle Cove Farm, from our comment section:

I'm in the throes of decision regarding how far to take TCF Studio...family health concerns have forced me to re-evaluate my commitments off the farm and I've stopped volunteer work off the farm. Instead, I make and bake things on the farm and then deliver or mail to folks in need. Another decision is whether or not to step up the magazine and book writing schedule. IOW, make a serious commitment as opposed to a sometimes commitment.
I read the excellent article on "guru or expert" and thought the advice worthwhile. I've taught at University level and that information is waiting to be put into a book.
I'm nattering on but think what I'm really trying to say is...I need to focus. I need to figure out what it is I want to accomplish. Once I figure out my primary focus, then I can decide what needs to become secondary or even what to put on the back burner.
My trouble is just about everything interests me and I like to dabble and think this is something all small business owners/farmers have in common.
How do others choose their focus?

When the topic came up, Stargardener added:

I have an ongoing dance contest between "serious commitment" and "sometimes commitment" myself. And it has been my experience (working with small business owners) that this is something we definitely have in common.
Ideas and pursuits bubble-up within us on a regular basis! Daily! I refer to these as Idea Volcanoes and keep track of my own via creative journaling and collage-making.

Personally, I have put myself on the "not one more thing" status, claiming I won't add one more thing to my commitments. Of course, I'm not really sticking to that, but I am being much more selective. Right now, I have to stop and think about how many businesses I have. And even then, it depends how you draw the line between the different businesses.

Here's why I do it: diversification. If one business is down, I hope to be able to offset it with an increase in another. In a small town, you may not have enough market to make your entire living from a single business. But that can also be an excuse for not focusing on an opportunity that deserves more dedicated effort.

How about you? What suggestions do you have for getting or maintaining business focus?

Photo by Becky McCray

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Small business survival interview on User Friendly Thinking Radio

2009-10-11T17:54:00.002-05:00

Bringing together small business, small towns, social media, free, tourism, memorable experiences, failure, and rural advantages, my interview on User Friendly Thinking Radio covered it all.

UFT Radio is sponsored by web content management software company, Bizzuka. When you listen, you'll hear marketing director Paul Chaney do the introduction and CEO John Munsell step up for the interview. They asked some interesting questions about a wide range of small town topics.

One of my favorite discussions centered around how Wal-Mart affected small town retail and what the next wave might be.

Listen to the whole interview at BlogTalk Radio

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