Customer Injuries
Accidents and ensuing injuries cost businesses billions of dollars a year in medical expenses and attorney fees. It’s up to the business owner to create a safe premises for their customers. Make sure your business has protections in place to prevent slips and falls, one lawsuit that can sink a fledgling business. Business owners should invest in general liability insurance in order to reduce the financial impact of such disasters.

Not Raising Enough Capital Or Distributing Equity
Entrepreneurs often believe they can get their businesses running cheaply and can therefore hold on to large shares of equity without properly distributing it into operations. This creates a volatile business model that does not have a sound infrastructure. Raise the money you need and invest it where needed. Don’t hold out in order to get a larger share later on. And vary your financing to free yourself up, raise start-up capital from multiple sources: bank loans, personal loans, investors, business credit cards, crowd-funding, etc.

Hiring Friends, Not Professionals
This is all too common. Entrepreneurs and small business owners launch their new company tailed by their best friends, thinking that the electric, dynamic ideas that spout out during champagne conversations will be enough to make the business flourish. In reality, ideas aren’t enough. You need trained professionals who you can trust to translate your ideas into actionable items and assets. Only hire people you can trust to strengthen the functional design of your business.

Not Knowing Your Financial Partners
On the other hand, you want your partners to be trustworthy, if not friends. Many entrepreneurial enterprises fail because of disagreements between partners over direction, implementation, and allocation of funds. If you haven’t worked directly with someone before-or don’t even know someone who has-that person may not be a trustworthy partner. Vet your business partners based on more than how much money they can bring to the table.

Not Collecting Accounts Receivable
Some small businesses aren’t aggressive enough collecting money that’s owed to them for fear of seeming desperate or cash-strapped. But what’s worse: being viewed as hasty or going bankrupt? And collecting money shouldn’t even really be viewed as hastiness; this is diligence and professionalism. Any vendor or client who owes you money should be practicing the same ethos of professionalism by settling their accounts with you in a timely manner.

These pitfalls can besiege any entrepreneur, no matter how sure-footed he/she is and no matter how great the original idea was. Proper implementation, competent employees, trustworthy partners, and diligent professionalism both in financial matters and workplace safety are necessary. Without these procedures and safeguards, your business could be at risk of failing.

Some people may find themselves feeling overwhelmed when trying to handle security over a multitude of devices, but fortunately, a new model for security makes it simple and offers a variety of helpful features.

The latest security offerings now deliver protection across multiple devices—including PCs, Macs, Android-based smartphones and tablets.

In fact, Norton now offers a membership plan called Norton One, which provides security across multiple platforms and devices. The extended portfolio is tailored to meet each member’s needs for security, backup and priority service.

This membership includes virus protection assurance, cloud-based management, custom communications and special offers, such as:

Personalized Experience—Each membership is tailored to the member’s individual security needs, allowing for customized communications and a personalized experience.

Priority Support—Members enjoy a high level of service to get the most out if their memberships, including exclusive access to advisers in an estimated two minutes or less and an Instant Call Back option.

Comprehensive Care—In the unlikely event members think they may have a virus, the advisers are there to remove any malware on customers’ devices at no additional charge.

Exclusive Benefits—Members will receive exclusive special offers for Norton products and services. Membership grows with the changing needs of each member’s household and provides the flexibility to add additional devices to their membership or expand their online storage at any time for a prorated fee.

For more information, visit https://one.norton.com.

Most of us grapple with overflowing email inboxes, PC desktops stuffed with random files and servers brimming with old data.

Digital clutter can be particularly challenging in small and midsize businesses because people are often juggling different roles. If you are the CEO, marketing director and customer service representative, it’s difficult to find time.

A cloud service can help get everything in order with online tools to manage email, documents, contacts and multiple calendars – all with almost unlimited storage. Several cloud services also have productivity apps, websites and collaboration tools to improve employee and customer communications.

The cloud can also help people work better as a virtual team. Jennifer Cattaui, owner of the children’s clothing and furniture store Babesta, recently moved her small company to the cloud to give it the flexibility needed to expand roles and responsibilities for employees as the business continues to grow.

“We chose the Microsoft Office 365 cloud service because we want professional productivity tools at a reasonable price, and we need to keep using the applications our employees trust and are familiar with, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft SharePoint,” says Cattaui. “It is sophisticated business productivity software that you’d expect to see in a large corporate setting, but made available for small businesses like mine as a subscription service.”

Babesta retail associates can now access files and projects practically anywhere, anytime and on virtually any device. While some employees manage the company’s online store and work from home, other employees such as the retail designers move between stores during the day. The cloud helps everyone accomplish more and stay in touch.

“We use a security-enhanced, password-protected portal to share large files inside and outside Babesta, which is great because that means we have a single location where people can work together on important documents,” Cattaui says. “That’s a big benefit, because there’s no more clutter and time wasted trying to figure out who has the latest reports on outstanding orders, store events and customer deliveries, and where all that stuff is stored.”

Office 365 also gives Babesta employees a virtual living room to visit when they log on to the company’s Microsoft SharePoint Online workspace. The space is filled with product and industry information, delivery calendars, staff calendars, staff kudos, and links to important blogs, Facebook and Twitter feeds.

“I no longer have to worry about the burden of maintaining my server and business systems,” Cattaui says. “Our employees work better together, business is growing and we’re able to spend more time with our customers – all the result of taking our business to the cloud.”

A mentor is someone who has been been down the same path you’re taking. A mentor is experienced, successful and willing to provide advice and guidance–for no real personal gain.

But how do you find a mentor? Here are some steps for finding and working with a mentor for your new small business venture.

Government-Sponsored Mentor Organizations

You might be surprised, but the government offers a great deal of free resources and services to support small business owners, both online and locally.

The following are some organizations you can reach out to:

• SCORE: Provides free and confidential counseling, mentoring and advice to small business owners nationwide via its network of more than 12,400 retired business executives, leaders and volunteers. SCORE is sponsored by SBA and has volunteers share their expertise through in-person and online counseling.
• Small Business Development Centers: Provides management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.
• Women’s Business Centers: Provides business training, counseling and other resources to help women start and grow successful businesses.
• Minority Business Development Centers: Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Minority Business Development Agency was created specifically to foster the establishment and growth of minority-owned businesses in America, with more than 40 centers nationwide.

Trade Associations

Many trade associations operate mentor/protégé programs that provide guidance to help you build your business. These mentoring programs are often conducted through a combination of formal one-on-one mentoring sessions and group networking and discussion opportunities with fellow protégés. Business owners might be connected with several different mentors over a period of several months to gain a more holistic experience.

Most industries are represented by trade associations, as are genders, ethnic groups and business types. If you need help finding a trade association, consult any internet search engine.

Mentoring for Government Contractors

If your business plans to sell anything to the federal government, you know that it can be tough to get started. The good news is that the General Services Administration (GSA) offers a Mentor/Protégé Program that is specifically designed to encourage prime contractors to help small businesses be more successful in government contracting and enhance their ability to perform successfully on government contracts and subcontracts.

Look to Your Network

Who do you know? Is there a previous boss who was very inspiring to you or a friend who is a business owner? Ask that person to be your mentor or share his or her successes and struggles. You have nothing to lose. Just be prepared to share with them why you chose them in particular, your goals and what you are looking for from them.

One of the best ways to find a mentor who knows your industry, your community and comes with a great referral is to use your network.

Working with a Mentor

If you decide to work with a mentoring organization, ensure there is a formal mentor/protégé structure in place.

If you are working with an individual you will need to work together to establish a mutually beneficial structured relationship.

The following are some tips to remember about mentoring:

• Be organized, prepared and consistent. No one wants to waste their time. Time is precious.
• Plan your mentoring sessions in advance. These could be as simple as having a one-on-one consultation or lunch meeting once a month to discuss where you are against your business goals, how best to tackle business obstacles, getting advice on business processes or regulatory requirements that you don’t understand, and so on.
• Casual one-on-one sessions are good, but also have more structured sessions that address different aspects of starting, running, managing and growing your business. See 20 Questions for Starting Your Business, 5 Steps to Registering Your Business, and Forecasting for Growth for some ideas.

Green: it’s everywhere. It’s taught in the first grade. It’s at the center of many corporate manufacturing and marketing policies. And whether you believe in climate change or still have doubts, consumers are now demanding GREEN.

Adopting environmentally friendly and energy efficient business practices provides numerous benefits to new and existing small business owners looking to control costs, attract customers and become socially responsible. Non-toxic, recycled, organic, energy efficient, reused, eco-friendly, farm-to-table: these terms, and others, all help define the fast-growing green market.

So what can you do as a small business? Remember, that regardless of what options you choose, each one of them should and must be connected to your marketing strategy and company messaging. If you adopt energy efficiency practices, let your customers know; if you are committed to local agriculture, let them know, and if your product contains recycled by-products, let them know. Four out of five consumers say they are still buying environmentally friendly products and services today – which sometimes cost more – even in the midst of a recovering economy.

Save energy now. The prudent use of energy is one of the easiest and most cost-effective steps you can take to cut costs and increase profitability right now, today. Given the potentially high returns and minimal risk, implementing energy efficiency practices is at the core of most business environmental management strategies. Take these steps to get started:

• Conduct an energy audit to quickly identify areas where you can save energy costs.
• Purchase ENERGY STAR® appliances and office equipment.
• Provide energy saving tips to your employees
• Look for green power and renewable energy sources

Be green-minded. You can own a restaurant, a dry cleaners, a movie house, a construction company, a card-board manufacturer—the type of business does not matter. You can go green with little or very large investments. A local restaurant may advertise farm-to-table food choices, the dry cleaners offers a local bio-degradable detergent option, the manufacturer of pipes invests in a zero-pollution state-of- the art waste recycling facility, the hand cart guy sells fresh squeezed organic lemonade.

You can decide that your entire operation goes green, or take a more incremental and affordable approach.

Build green. If you are opening a business in a new or remodeled building, make sure you build green by installing energy efficient heating and air conditioning systems, appliances, equipment and lighting. And consider LEED certification. According to the US Green Building Council, LEED is redefining the way we think about the places where we live, work and learn. As an internationally recognized mark of excellence, it provides small businesses a framework for implementing measurable green building design, construction, and maintenance solutions.

Think alternative energy. Some major alternative energy growth areas include solar, wind, hydrogen, bio-fuel, fuel cells and energy conservation technologies. Researching, building, installing and applying these technologies create business opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Green power products can include electricity generated exclusively from renewable resources or, more frequently, electricity produced from a combination of fossil and renewable resources. If interested in installing renewable energy equipment in your facility, incentives may be available in your state to “buy down” the cost.

Of course, not every small business can install renewable energy technology at their facility. Fortunately you can buy green power for your facility directly from many utilities at a slightly higher cost than regular electricity. If your utility does not offer green power options you can still participate by purchasing renewable energy certificates.

And remember: let your customers know!

Consider government. The federal government’s enormous buying power stimulates market demand for green products and services. President Obama recently committed the Department of Defense to invest in alternative energy investments and practices—including solar farms at military bases. This mirrors EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program that helps agencies across the federal government comply with green purchasing requirements.

The U.S. Small Business Administration and its private sector partners are holding key business forums, and are encouraging small business owners and entrepreneurs to sign up, register and spread the word to other small businesses interested in attending.

The free forums include a town hall with SBA Administrator Karen Mills on why small businesses are good for the long-term health of any economy; a social media forum on best practices for putting new media tools to work for small businesses; and an exporting forum on how SBA can help businesses find customers abroad. The schedule also includes sessions on federal contracting, selling to large companies, and business matchmaking with major corporations and government agencies.

The town hall and forum events will be webcast live to allow business owners across the country to participate if they cannot attend in person. While registration is required to attend forums and sessions in person (onsite registration will be provided), the live online webcast will be available free at www.NationalSmallBusinessWeek.com. To register to attend, find more information on the live webcast, or for a detailed schedule of events and speakers, visit the National Small Business Week website.

All events will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Conference Center, 1330 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. The scheduled forums include:

Town Hall Meeting – Small Businesses Creating an Economy Built to Last

Exporting Forum – Taking Your Business Global

Social Media Forum – Join the Conversation (hosts will take your questions in person and on Twitter using the hashtag #SBW2012)

Federal Contracting Educational Sessions – Small businesses will learn how to market themselves to the federal government and go after government contracting opportunities

How Small Businesses can win Big with Large Companies – Small businesses will learn how to work with large companies to sell their products.

Sponsor: Office Depot
May 21, 2012 – Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Conference Center

10:00 am – 11:15 am
Town Hall with SBA Administrator Karen Mills

Sponsor: AT&T
11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Exporting Forum

May 22, 2012 – Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Conference Center

10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Business Matchmaking

Sponsor: Salesgenie
Federal Contracting Educational Sessions:

10:00 am – 11:15 am
Government Contracting 101: Small Business Contracting Programs

10:00 am – 11:15 am & 11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Insights into Federal Contracting Opportunities with Federal Agency Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBUs)

11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Improving your Business through Sub-contracting Opportunities

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Social Media Forum

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Business Matchmaking

Small Business Week 2012 sponsors and cosponsors include: AARP, Association of Small Business Development Companies, AT&T, Dun & Bradstreet, InterContinental Hotels Group, International Franchise Association, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, National Association of Development Companies, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, National Association for the Self-Employed, National Small Business Association, Neustar, Northrop Grumman, Office Depot, Paychex, Inc., Prudential, Raytheon, Sage North America, Salesgenie, SCORE, Small Business Investor Alliance, T- Mobile, VISA, Wall Street Journal and Women Impacting Public Policy.

According to a recent Deloitte study, the aerospace and defense industry supports more than three and a half million American workers. The report details the industry’s sales of $324 billion in 2010 and position as the No. 1 contributor to the country’s positive trade balance, at a net $42 billion.

“The data speaks for itself: America’s aerospace and defense industry is a sector that punches far above its weight,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey.

A separate study conducted by Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University projects that more than 1 million American jobs could be lost as a result of defense budget cuts. Both studies are available at http://www.secondtonone.org.

For anyone who relies on a computer—be it for work or entertainment—few things can be more frustrating than waiting on a machine that has become slow and unresponsive.

If your computer is sluggish and not as snappy as it was when it was new, it may be the result of too little memory. The good news is that in most cases this is an easy fix. Here are some tips on how to know when your computer could use a memory upgrade and what you can do about it.

Your computer’s memory may need an upgrade when:

• You experience poor performance in everyday tasks such as viewing digital photos, watching videos or working on a document or presentation.

• When restarting, the boot-up time seems to take forever.

• Response time suffers when multiple programs or windows are open at the same time.

What is RAM?
At its most basic, random access memory, or RAM, is used by a computer to run its programs. Any time you open your e-mail, surf the Web, watch a video, type a paper, play a game or just plain turn on your computer, the system is using its internal memory.

Should You Install Additional Memory Yourself or Use an Expert?
While the physical act of installing memory is fairly simple, the process of finding the correct type of memory upgrade for your computer can sometimes be confusing and complex for the average computer owner.

Fortunately, Crucial.com, an online retailer specializing in memory and storage, offers free, easy-to-use online tools designed to help you quickly find the right memory upgrade to restore your computer’s lost performance.

The Crucial® Memory Advisor tool enables you to choose your computer make and model from a simple drop-down menu to immediately see detailed information regarding the types of memory supported by the computer and recommended memory upgrade options.

If you are unsure of your computer’s make and model, the System Scanner tool automatically scans the computer’s system to determine the current memory situation and then recommends compatible upgrades for your specific system.

Crucial.com offers hundreds of thousands of types of computer memory upgrades for PCs and Mac computers, both new and old. The company also guarantees that the memory you buy through the Memory Advisor tool will be 100 percent compatible with your system.

To find your memory upgrade options, visit http://www.crucial.com.

We’ve all heard of the big name “gurus” that pontificate exploiting search engine vulnerabilities, “gaming the system” in social media, and similar tactics — and you won’t find anything even remotely similar in this book. In fact, as Scott so astutely points out, by the time most of these gurus get around to sharing (and selling) you on these types of methods, there is often little profit left to be extracted from the tactics they’re sharing.

It is refreshing to read an internet marketing book that isn’t full of pie-in-the-sky hype. Scott has created, sold, built and consulted on successful businesses throughout his career. He is well-known for his commitment to his customers, and his genuine interest in seeing them succeed.

Scott’s books are based on his personal experience and success online: He has built multi-million dollar e-businesses ranging from small web site startups, to web sites for celebrities like Bill O’Reilly and Larry King, to the online division of a Fortune 500 corporation.

I’ve followed Scott for several years now, and I know the kind of value he provides — Click Millionaires is certainly no exception. Within the pages of this book, Scott introduces us to eleven successful business owners who have become part of the “Click Millionaire Revolution,” and developed lifestyle businesses. In addition to sharing their stories, Scott outlines actionable tips and strategies to enable readers to follow their examples.

From the Publisher:

“Scott Fox teaches weary corporate warriors and aspiring entrepreneurs how to trade the 9-5 job they hate for an online business they love. The book explains how to combine outsourcing, software, and automated online marketing to build recurring revenues, all while working less and making fewer of the lifestyle compromises that corporate “success” requires.”

Among the Items Covered:

• Identify your top lifestyle design goals, unique expertise, and passionate interests.
• Design what you know best or most like to do into a new online business that satisfies your personal cravings, whether for flexibility, creativity, comfort, travel, or family time.
• Find your niche and get established as an expert online, even without formal credentials.
• Use web tools, like automation software, subscription billing, and audience content creation, to help you grow your e-business without investing more money, time, and toil.

Scott encourages readers to see that even small steps can make a big impact on one’s overall lifestyle — increasing their time with family, enabling them to pursue activities they are passionate about, and to measure success in terms of happiness. You won’t find any “get rich quick” schemes within the pages of this book; instead, you’ll find the unvarnished truth about existing tools and business models that are available to those motivated enough to put them into practice.

In the early pages of the book, Scott suggests the reader begin to keep a notebook or journal, where they can keep a record of their ideas, as well as create plans to take those ideas to fruition. He provides helpful lists of exercises throughout; completing these exercises can provide the valuable introspection and niche research that so many business owners gloss over, much to their own detriment.

Scott’s book, supported by his active online community, introduces readers to a group of like-minded business owners and leaders that are available to network and learn from. Knowing this, readers can close the cover on the book knowing that they can find support, as well as answers to any questions they may have.

Scott is the host of the popular ClickMillionaires.com e-commerce and online marketing social network where he offers personalized lifestyle business coaching to help his readers and clients make more money online. His work and book have been covered by press outlets including the New York Times, Boston Globe, LA Business Journal, Toronto’s Globe & Mail, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Orange County Register, AOL Small Business, Smart Money and SUCCESS magazines, as well as many radio programs and blogs worldwide.

To learn more about Scott, or to subscribe to his free email newsletter, visit him at http://ScottFox.com, or http://clickmillionaires.com.