We DID Build That....The Truth Behind Why Obama Hates Business And America

There has been much said on Obama's statement "You Didn't Build That". Frankly I find his words very telling as to his character, understanding of business, and his suitability as our President. My reply always has been ..."We DID Build That!".

This video offers even more background on exactly why Obama hates business and America so much ... and just what kind of dangerous person actually occupies the White House (at least until November 2012). Whatch and listen closely ... it's VERY disturbing.

How To Market Your Business With Webinars

If you’ve ever been to a webinars, you’ve seen how useful they can be when it comes to delivering content to an audience. The word “webinar” is an amalgamation of the words “web” and “seminar” — basically a presentation you give to an audience over the web.

With clear instructions and educational webinars, people are more likely to sign up for your information, buy your product and/or stay with your business.

Read more about how you can use webinars to advance your business interests here ....

How To Market Your Business With Webinars

The Biggest Challenge For Small Business Owners

Balance. You have three main tasks and must balance them all.

1. Working ON your business. This would include your marketing, strategizing and deciding what technologies you want to learn vs. what you feel won't help. Your decision to learn LinkedIN would qualify as working ON your business.

2. Working IN your business. This would include arranging your office, sending/receiving e-mail and doing billable work.

3. Maintaining your personal life. I tell people I have a life, a dream wife and kids, and a dog. That helps me show I have a life and also punch out from work occasionally. It's OK to let clients, customers and prospects know you have a life, spouse, kids, hobbies and/or pets. It may even help you build a stronger connection.

You need a good balance. Too much work and no play will create burnout. Too much play and too little work will leave you broke and your customers looking for someone else. Too much time IN the business and too little ON the business will leave you selling services clients can perform in-house or find unnecessary.

How A Small Business Should Approach Internet Marketing

Online marketing can be a very confusing and challenging topic for small business owners. Many don't understand why it's important or why they need any thing other than a website.

A small business should always take the time to learn about their target market. By understanding your target market you can better predict where you will be spending the majority of your time online. Then, once youe have that figured out you always like to start with a blog and a single social media network. You get your small business on a schedule, usually producing one article a week and on the same day each week. The content you produce is always educational, never a selling piece. Then you focus on one network to get more comfortable with social media and in a habit of using the network on a daily basis. Once you start to see the results of your efforts you expand onto another social media site and increase the number of articles produced a week.

This approach works very well as it helps ease your small business into the world of social media. Others have tried the approach of getting onto all of the networks as well and just find that it's too time consuming and overwhelming so they get off line as quickly as they got in.

In short .... networking is the answer. View your network like a wheel. The hub is your core content (web site, blog, books, articles, useful materials). The spokes leading from the hub are the tools you use to network your content that are linked to your hub.

Your contacts are the engines that power the wheel on the spokes of your hub.

Under this operating philosophy there are no limits to connections, members, friends, tweets and news feeds.

The real limiting factor is the quality of the core content. It is the fuel that feeds your engines and powers your wheel.

There is a very detailed guide to Internet marketing that literally spells out everything you should be doing with step by step instructions for the non-marketer. It's called "The NOOB Guide to Online Marketing". It is, by far, the best resource to get you up and running that I have come across. Just go step by step and you should be all set!

The NOOB Guide to Online Marketing

What Is A Micro-Business?

The European Union makes a general distinction between self-employment, micro,
small and medium sized businesses based on the following criteria:

0 Self-employed
2-9 Micro business
10-49 Small business
50-249 Medium-size business

The US make this difference:

Small Business: The Small Business Association (SBA) has extensive descriptions for what constitutes a small business, but in its simplest terms it’s an organization with 500 or fewer employees. Of the 119.9 million non-farm employees out there, 60.2 million belong to a small business.

Microbusiness: The American Association of Microbusiness considers to micro businesses to consist of five or fewer employees. According to the SBA, we had 21.7 million microbusinesss in 2007. This segment accounts for only 3 percent of revenue in the business world, yet they constitute three-fourths of commerce. Microbusinesss in this context means a firm with no hired employees with net earnings of at least $1,000 ($1 for construction firms) that are subject to federal taxes.

The term microenterprise connotes different entities and sectors depending on the country.

Generally speaking, in developed countries, microenterprises comprise the smallest end (by size) of the small business sector, whereas in developing countries, microenterprises comprise the vast majority of the small business sector—a result of the relative lack of formal sector jobs available for the poor. These microentrepreneurs operate microenterprises not by choice, but out of necessity.

Microenterprises add value to a country's economy by creating jobs, enhancing income, strengthening purchasing power, lowering costs and adding business convenience.

Because microenterprises typically have little to no access to the commercial banking sector, they often rely on "micro-loans" or microcredit in order to be financed. Microfinance institutions often finance these small loans, particularly in the Third World. Those who found microenterprises are usually referred to as entrepreneurs.

The terms microenterprise and microbusiness have the same meaning, though traditionally when referring to a small business financed by microcredit the term microenterprise is used. Similarly when referring to a small, usually legal business that isn't financed by microcredit, the term microbusiness is used.

Should Obama Continue To Use Warren Buffett As His Symbol To Raise Taxes?

Sure ... it's the best symbol because the President's logic on the taxing issue is flawed.

Mr. Buffett should continue to be the symbol of why he and the President are calling for higher taxes - don't ask someone to do something you're not willing to do yourself. Asking someone to pay higher taxes - yet fighting tooth and nail when you / your company is asked to pay higher taxes - doesn't make sense.

Instead, the folks in Washington should be following the Constitution, getting rid of job crushing regulations, providing certainty in the private sector and tax incentives for work ethic, success, savings, marriage and charitable contributions in the private sector. But do not take my word for it, read up on Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman.

In the end Mr. Buffet made himself and many people very rich by careful investment in business in his country. A lot of tax was paid on that money and what was not paid in tax was re-invested into businesses in his country - creating jobs and more income and more taxes.

It is easy for a politician to point fingers. And often those who are simply envious of a man's success start to sound like jackals as they complain about his success.

Picking on the rich tends to drive money and investment out of the country.

If Obama wanted to make things start happening maybe he should actually start looking at how successful business becomes and stays successful.

No government can give to someone without taking from someone else.

When the well goes dry people will go thirsty.

Strategic Agility For Small Business

Strategic agility is what makes your business a success story.. . being quick on your feet, nimble, responsive, always alert. Change is a constant in the business world, don’t just learn to live with it, learn to make it work for you. Opportunities pop up like images on a fast-moving video game….but do you see them or are you blinded by the old trap of ‘ the past’? To succeed, avoid being blinkered by past, its people, processes and procedures.





What was a robust business model and worked in its day might not now be appropriate for the times we find ourselves in. We must always question. We must always challenge. We must always ask ‘why?’ My business is constantly growing, changing, adapting and modifying. It is nothing like the organisation I started 7 years ago with a loan of £500. It is now a multimillion pound enterprise comprising two global companies. From personal experience I know that if we constantly hang on to the past we leave no room for the new and it is the new that will build our businesses and our lives and the lives of those we employ and those we come into contact with.





It is the New which excites me; the opportunities to work with organisations and people which were not even on my radar 18 months ago. Innovation, innovation, innovation is a key success factor. If we don’t evolve and constantly re-create ourselves, we die.



To succeed look outside; look to the future. Examine the world, your organization and your partnerships, your competitors and your operating environment. Be aware of opportunities, trends and emerging markets. If you don’t see a solution, create one.



Never switch off, keep your business antennae alert…. and yes it does require energy. If you are already thinking you don’t have the energy or the time then that tells me you are one of the blinkered rather than one of the brave.



We all have the energy and the time. But it is a question of choice. It is choice not chance which determines our destiny. I choose what I do with my time and my energy. The activities and people I choose to engage with all help me and my business grow and develop. Have a look at a typical day. Remember this is my choice:



www.steviekidd.co.uk/stevie/a-day-in-the-life-of-stevie-kidd/



The question is where are you expending your energy? Are you hungry enough for success to question the status quo, to look beyond the ‘obvious’ and to overcome the challenges ? Remember:



‘The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

~Randy Pausch



Do you have what it takes to scale the brick walls?



To be Bigger, Better and Bolder you need to position yourself to face what might be a turbulent ride into the future. You cannot do that by facing backwards. If you have not already done so you need to get in training now and start your mental kickboxing programme. Strategic agility will separate the winners from the losers.

An Amazing Deal for Small Business Owners

This is an amazing deal for small business owners that I just had to share. Here is the deal:

For a limited time only Siglat Mobile Apps is offering free iPhone app development for small businesses. 50 businesses who respond to the offer, will receive a FREE marketing iPhone app. Siglat Mobile Applications allows your customers to purchase your product directly from their mobile device.

Simply create a Video or Power Point explaining how your business could use an iphone app!

Siglat Mobile Apps specializes in providing custom Direct Purchase iPhone Apps for small businesses using PayPal's Mobile In-App purchasing API. We currently have two application templates to choose from depending on your product type.

The basic template is a grid display similar to the one used by the Mimosa iPhone app. Mimosa features custom images of your product that the user can touch to get more detailed information before a purchase.

The second template is a display which lists your products by category and allows users to "drill down" until they find the product they need. Your customers are then presented with an image of your item, detailed product information, and the option to purchase.

We recommend using the first template for customers with up to 15 items, and the second template for customers with more than 15 items. Using these templates allows for Rapid-Application Development of your app. The process usually takes less than 1 month – including the wait for App Store acceptance. Specialized applications can also be arranged for businesses with products that require a different purchasing format.

For this promotion Siglat is also waving its normal purchase charge of 30% per item to only to 10% per item! So not only will you get a free app in the App Store, but the purchase fee on what you sell will be decreased for the life of your app. Create your video and act now before this offer expires!

Visit http://siglat.com/.

Siglat Mobile Apps
2351 Sunset Blvd. STE 170
Rocklin CA 95765
Phone: (916) 672-8134

iphoneapp@siglat.com

Key Challenges Faced By Women Entrepreneurs

Women entrepreneurs face all of the same challenges faced by male entrepreneurs, with some additional obstacles. For example:

1. In most cultures, women are the primary caregivers for children. They face additional pressures when they become entrepreneurs - how do they balance business ownership vs. motherhood?

2. As a female entrepreneur, depending on the type of business, they may still face some stereotypes. Women may have to still be better and smarter than their male counterpart in order to get the contract.

These are a few challenges. To all men, please do not think that I am saying that you do not face challenges that are particular to men. These are just some specific challenges that some women many face.

Women-owned businesses are growing and home-based businesses are growing because of stay-at-home Moms! SBA shows that 50% of start-up businesses are women-owned businesses!

In fact .... State of Women-Owned Businesses Report Executive Summary from American Express - March 2011

• As of 2011, it is estimated that there are over 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people.

• Between 1997 and 2011, when the number of businesses in the United States increased by 34%, the number of women-owned firms increased by 50%— a rate 1½ times the national average.

Do You Have a Passion For Your Success?

I've just opened a store in a "new" town -- the town's not new, but I am new to the town. I'm trying to get to know the other merchants, so I took a walk around the main street the other day, talking to some of the business owners. It was an interesting experience. Right away a picture started to emerge: there were those that were serious entrepreneurs and then there were those that were ... no so much shall we say.

One store I visited started out the conversation by telling me how much they hated the downtown and that they had security cameras everywhere due to a "dangerous element". Another store informed me that I had no right to park on the city street -- that was for HER customers. Okay. Where do my customers park I asked. She simply shrugged. Many of the stores are only open part-time: by appointment only, and catch me when you can.

Then, I found several other businesses who "get it". They are open 7 days a week, from early in the morning until well past 5 pm. They give other merchants discounts to keep them coming back to the downtown area instead of going out on the highway to the big box stores. They get to know you, calling you by name when you walk by. They are active in the merchant's association and plan events and activities throughout the year. The Chamber works with these businesses and helps promote their events, their sales, whatever is needed. It's a good group. I hope I can be part of that group.

All too often I see business people that don't really seem to want new, or repeat, business. Seems they just like to have someplace to go or something to do when they get up in the morning. I story about customer service -- bad customer service -- that I often tell happened to me several years ago when I was still in big city world (versus small town country). I went into a sign shop to order vinyl banners for my storefront. I ordered black banners with yellow lettering. I placed the order 3 weeks before my grand opening and was told that they would be ready a week before I needed them. On the assigned day, I went to pick up my order; I was really excited because this was my first storefront. I had been homebased prior to this. When I got there, the banners were yellow, with black lettering. I was devastated. I must have let out an involuntary groan of "oh no!" -- and immediately realized I had to duck as a pair of vinyl cutting shears (with very long, and very sharp blades) went flying past me, the owner of the company screaming that I had no right to question her choices. I had already paid a great deal of money for these (and there was NO return coming my way), so I wound up taking the signs and going. Do you think I went back there again? NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More recently I have been consulting and training small business people on marketing, customer service, creating value in their businesses and growth for their companies. Most people have told me that what they learn has helped them and they are grateful for the services. However, I also have come across a few who say things like, I've been doing this for over 20 years. I don't need anyone to tell me what I should do -- I've done it all already. But when I ask them what they are looking for for their businesses, they reply "More customers." OR "more money". My response then is, but you're doing everything the right way? Guess nobody wants what you have to offer. I"m sure if they've been doing this for 20 years, and making money at it, someone has wanted what they offered. But perhaps they need to look at new ways and new technologies to "grow with the flow". You think maybe?

Entrepreneur Magazine a few months ago had a discussion about the difference between an entrepreneur and a small business. It was interesting to read what they had to say: a true entrepreneur has passion for what they are doing and the willingness to see it through (http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/startupbasics/article190986.html). A small business person, however, is someone that perhaps is not a risktaker, or someone who is more prone to consider themselves a worker (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/83764).

I think that for someone to truly succeed, they need to have the characteristics discussed above and be willing to "be in it for the long-haul." I plan on being there -- what about you?

The Coming Brick Wall in Venture Capital & Why This is Good for US Innovation

The author of the below article (see link) argues that the venture capital business itself is going through an even more fundamental change than just the entry of a new category at the earliest stage. That the industry is shrinking back to a mid-90′s level in terms of both dollars and numbers of firms. What do you think of that argument?

Here is a link to the article I am talking about: Brick Wall

A couple of thoughts around that:

1. The economies of starting a company today are different than what they were in the mid-90's. Cost of acquisition is lower and technologies such as cloud computing and methodologies as A/B testing and agile development brought down the cost of development & IT. Given that comparing the total capital available is not necessarily the right metric.

2. Given that economies have change and given that we are starting to see more medium size acquisitions(<$40M) (and sometimes quick talent acquisitions), large funds (north to $150M) are struggling. There are fewer blockbusters and the good deal flow for growth stage rounds is centered about the top 5-6 VC (Accel, Sequoia, DFJ etc.). The rest settle for lower quality deal flow which is expected to impact their ability to achieve target returns and raise another fund.

A $250M VC fund trying to target a 20% IRR in 5 years needs to reach $500M of exits. If they have 20% of each exit then they need to target total exits of $2.5B. If you are invested in Facebook, LinkedIn or GroupOn then you are set. Otherwise it is challenging to meet those returns.

3. Like with any industry, you need to keep an eye on the market and change constantly. The VCs that noticed the change early on (USV, First Round Capital) changed their investment strategy & fund size. The ones that failed to recognize the change, might struggle.

Mark Suster wrote a nice article summarizing these trends: Venture Capital

Using Social Media To Market Your Small Business

Especially for a small (and medium-sized) business enterprise, a good way to promote the business would be through Social Media channels. Apart from this, one needs to be well networked and have friends and contacts who can pass the word through a viral "chain".

Coming to specifics, one needs to develop a comprehensive strategy for harnessing the full capabilities of Social Media. A mere presence on Facebook and getting a large number of "Likes" for the posts doesn't really translate into actual Sales. The idea behind Social Media is primarily to {i} continuously engage with potential customers as well as "converts", {ii} provide them with timely info about services, offers, and latest updates, and {iii} have a response mechanism for queries and questions / complaints from customers and fans.

In addition to a presence on Facebook, suggest you to also explore other channels of Social Media, including Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Facebook, Twitter. Linkedin and Youtube marketing are all very powerful and the capabilities of Social Media can actually be fully tapped when you have an integrated strategy for all these channels.

I would suggest the following Social Media strategies:

1. Create a Facebook Fan Page
2. Create a Twitter account
3. Promote your business on Linkedin
4. Create an Youtube account

Now, for the things you should do:

1. Create a blog on your website and write about your items. Once done, Tweet the URL, share the URL on Facebook and on Linkedin. Encourage people to LIKE your blog post or ReTweet.

2. Make a video about your items, you can try www.animoto.com and create one for free. Once done, upload the video to Youtube and share to friends in FB and Twitter.

3. Have an ongoing promotion to attract new customers and post this on your FB fan page, Linkedin, Twitter and Youtube. You can also create another video about your promotion.

4. Suggest your fan page to all your friends and contacts on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. Don't forget to promote it on Youtube as well.

5. Constantly update your site with blog posts or helpful tips to share to your fans and friends. Provide a link back to your site at all times.

6. You can submit a press release to free press release sites to tell others what your store is about.

7.Give something out for free - may be an instructional ebook, a recipe, a free screensaver, etc. and tell people about it.

8. Constantly establish new connections through social media platforms to establish credibility.

9. Keep on making new friends and expand your network as well.

10. Update your site weekly and your social media sites daily.

11. Equally important, have a response mechanism ready in place to handle all inquiries / questions / complaints in a timely manner.

Successful Strategy For Marketing A Small Business

Simply Put .... develop a marketing plan. Here are some tips:

TASTE, TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGY

What does your research indicate is the trend in your field? Will it stay the way you are currently offering supplies and services or will it change? This item covers the developments you expect for the next few years. Evan a 'perfect' business can become obsolete overnight due to future developments. Specify a 5 year forecast of your field in your area.

SALES REVENUE FORECAST

Have you developed these targets? This section shows your estimates of future sales revenue for your business. Your strategic plan, needs to spell out the specific actions you will take to achieve your forecast sales revenues.

DIFFERENTIATE YOUR BUSINESS FROM THE COMPETITION

How does your business differ from the competition's strong and weak points. Again, remember to carefully look at your business from the customer's perspective. If you're not sure how your pricing policies compare to the competition, here are some guidelines. Most people associate high prices with high quality and extra service, while they associate low prices with low or average quality and minimum service. Make sure you provide extra quality and service if your prices are higher than your competition or make sure that your prices are lower if your quality is average and your service is minimum.

DECIDE HOW TO REACH CUSTOMERS

Once you describe your target customer, it's easier to create a list of possible ways to reach that person. One of your jobs as a businessperson is to decide which of all the possible methods of communication will give you the most exposure for the least cost in money or time.

EVALUATE THE RISKS FACING YOUR BUSINESS

COMPETITION: Most businesses have competition. How will your business differ in significant and positive ways from your competition? If your competition is strong, don't minimize that fact, but figure out ways you will adjust to or use that strength. For example, if you plan to open a restaurant next to an extremely popular one, part of your strategy might be to cater to the overflow. Another might be to open on days or evenings when the other restaurant is closed.

PIONEERING: If you anticipate no direct competition, your business probably involves selling a new product or service, or one that is new to your area. How will you avoid going broke trying to develop a market?

CYCLES AND TRENDS: Many businesses have cycles of growth and decline often based on outside factors such as taste, trends or technology. What is your forecast of the cycles and trends in your business? For example, if your forecast tells you that the new electronic product you plan to manufacture may decline in three years when the market is saturated, can you earn enough money in the meantime to make the venture worthwhile?

SLOW TIMES: Every business experiences ups and downs. Is your business small and simple enough, or capitalized adequately enough, to ride out slow times? Or do you have some other strategy, such as staying open long hours in the busy season and closing during times of the year when business is ?

OWNERS EXPERTISE: Nobody knows everything. How do you plan to compensate for the knowledge you're short on?

Write your risk analysis by first thinking of the main dangers your business faces. This shouldn't be hard, as you have probably been concerned about them for some time. Some of these may be on the list set out above; others will be unique to your business. Once you have identified the principal risks facing your business, write out a plan to counter each. But don't bog yourself down worrying about all sorts of unlikely disaster.

Which Social Media Site Is Best For Small Business?

The answer is ... it depends! What is your objective for using a social media site? Who are your customers and which social media sites do they use?

There is no "best" site - each site has different features and benefits which work differently according to the sector you are in, what kind of customers you have and your specific objectives for using social media.

Furthermore it depends upon your employees. If someone tells you Facebook is the best, yet your staff hate it, no amount of encouragement from you will get them to use it to benefit your business.

So you need to find out more about your customers and how they use social media, more about the preferences of your staff and focus in on some clear objectives for using social media.

Simply being told a particular site is the best will not take into account the specific and individual circumstances at your company I'm afraid.

How Do You Work ON Your Small Business?

It's often said that one of the keys to business success is to work ON your business, not just IN it. This makes sense as a concept, but in your experience, what does it mean in terms of specific, tangible and achievable actions?

In my simplistic view or interpretation of it is working IN the business is doing the day to day operational functions to keep the business turning over.

Working ON the business working on the direction of the business, strategic initiatives, business planning, forecasting etc. Basically providing a goal and reason for working IN the business.

To me, working IN my business is about working with clients and working ON my business is about doing things to attract clients - e.g. marketing, product development and ensure long term business viability.

I understand that in order to grow, we need to work ON the business but for small biz particularly, working IN the business often means generating income and working ON the business means expenditure (time and or dollars).

Although every company is different some similar hurdles come up time and time again.

1) In your business what comes first, strategy or people? A bit of a chicken and egg situation but many business owners fall into the trap of pushing their own agenda / self indulgence rather than listening to their clients feedback and empowering their employees to find solutions to problems.

2) When was the last time you stepped away from your business for a few days and took an objective helicopter view? an interesting question when posed to business owners the provides the ability to understand the dangers and opportunities they face.

In small businesses (ie owner-managed) it is important that the owner(s) have clarity about what drives them as individuals as well as the goals they set in the business.

In specific, tangible terms this means regularly checking you are leading the company in a way which will work for you, long and short term. Everyone will have their own way of doing this - eg: working with a coach/mentor, time away from the office to plan (much underestimated and under utilized), training refresher courses, feedback from others.

The other thing that really helps is consistency of follow-up. Life has a habit of throwing new things at you so doing this regularly - and expecting things to change, - is really important.

3) It is surprising how many small companies do not set an end goal and work towards it. It great having a business plan but a business plan drives the behavior of working IN the business especially if times are tough. A driving goal will always drive the behaviour of finding time to work ON the business and achieve the goal.

4) And finally, Time is a big issue, the amount of times I hear "I don’t have time to work ON the business" is staggering. Even setting aside 1 day a month to brainstorm, develop strategy and implement tactical plans will go a long way to working ON the business rather than IN it.

What Is Your "30 Second" Elevator Pitch?

Personally .... I believe there's no single "elevator pitch" that works for all people. Each situation is different and therefore what you "say" should of course be different and be based on the circumstances at the time.

Mike Klassen of Klassen Communications does an excellent job of explaining the point like this .....

"These days, I tend to ask questions, then tailor what I say based on what I'm hearing.

Since there are a few different ways I can help people, I found in the past that I might be spending too much time (even in a quick elevator pitch) talking about something that wasn't as relevant as it could have been had I spent more time asking questions up-front before going into the pitch.

As a rookie networker at the time, I was rushing to try to squeeze that pitch in before the window of opportunity closed and was potentially wasting.

People generally like to talk about themselves and their own situations, so it's pretty easy to get a good feel with where they're at even in a short bit of time, then address their needs more appropriately based on what they've said.

When I'm doing that, the other person is more-often-than-not very happy to extend the conversation because you're able to talk more specifically about their needs. (Back to the idea of people enjoying talking about themselves.)

So while I can sum up what I do in a sentence or two, or 30-seconds, what I'll say is different depending on the answers to the quick questions I'm throwing out."

What Is Mojo For Small Business?

Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith says "Mojo is: that positive spirit--towards what we are doing--now--that starts from the inside--and radiates to the outside. Mojo is at its peak when we are experiencing both happiness and meaning in what we are doing and communicating this experience to the world around us."

In my experience, most small business owners do possess a significant amount of mojo... it's why they started their business in the first place - they love what they do and want to spend their time doing it. I think the biggest challenge for the business owner is to RETAIN the mojo, even in the day-in, day-out stress of running their business. That's where delegating undesirable tasks, daily planning and narrow focus can really help.

In my opinion MOJO is not something that you directly work for, and therefore spending time trying to create it is counter productive. The first, and arguably most important action you can take to have more MOJO is to do the self work you need to in order to find your passion and align it with your business and the team you hire. It’s about knowing and living your personal values, purpose, mission and vision. You can’t directly create MOJO. What you can do is position yourself in an environment where you can more easily have MOJO. You can also practice the necessary skills so that you are prepared to maximize your time with MOJO when it comes forth.

A New Way to Market Your Small Business

One of the most difficult challenges small businesses face is making their brand known. Fortunately, technology has created a multitude of ways for small businesses to launch an appealing marketing campaign. Social Media cannot be ignored, and it certainly does not look like it will be going away anytime soon. Businesses do well to take full advantage of the marketing opportunities that can be found through sites like Facebook and Twitter. Owners should also keep their eyes open to a new way to market their small business. The launch of Siglat Mobile Apps is a crucial stepping stone for companies wanting to solidify their brand identity. This is small business news worth spreading: the face of small business marketing is changing.

Siglat Mobile Apps is a unique line of mobile marketing apps that allows small businesses to market their products directly to one of the fastest growing demographics on the planet, the more than 4.6 billion mobile subscribers. If it’s hard to imagine getting that kind of exposure for your business, just think back to how marketing campaigns worked before the internet became a normal part of our everyday lives. Who would’ve thought that so many customers could be reached at one time by only using 140 characters or less? Web sites and internet exposure have brought new life to entrepreneurship.

Mobile applications are expected to grow higher and higher in demand. The thirst for new applications is seemingly unquenchable. Businesses are already expected to have a website, but soon their customers will be searching for a company app as well. With Siglat Mobile Apps, a small business can be on the front end of technology. The first of many mobile applications specifically designed to allow small business owners to market their products directly is Mimosa, an iPhone app available on the iPod touch, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone4.

With unique mobile marketing applications, small businesses like Mimosa Creations can offer direct product purchasing to their customers through PayPal from a mobile device. Feel free to download the free Mimosa app to see how this new small business marketing tool can work for your company.

Siglat Mobile Apps has tested and proven development patterns. They can build a customized application for a business or product in a matter of weeks. Can you imagine giving more than 4.6 billion mobile subscribers the opportunity to purchase your products directly from their mobile device? For more information about how your small business can tap into the mobile device advertising market, visit www.siglat.com. Isn’t it about time your company launched their own app?

5 Dangers Faced By Small Business .... And What To Do About Them

No one said starting a business was a walk in the park. The truth is just the opposite. Be realistic and persistent and you can be among those few who do make it. To arm yourself for the fight below is listed the risks most common to all SMB's .... together with suggestions on how to deal with them.

1. COMPETITION .... Most businesses have competition. How will your business differ in significant and positive ways from your competition? If your competition is strong, don't minimize that fact, but figure out ways you will adjust to or use that strength. For example, if you plan to open a restaurant next to an extremely popular one, part of your strategy might be to cater to the overflow. Another might be to open on days or evenings when the other restaurant is closed.

2. PIONEERING .... If you anticipate no direct competition, your business probably involves selling a new product or service, or one that is new to your area. How will you avoid going broke trying to develop a market?

3.CYCLES AND TRENDS .... Many businesses have cycles of growth and decline often based on outside factors such as taste, trends or technology. What is your forecast of the cycles and trends in your business? For example, if your forecast tells you that the new electronic product you plan to manufacture may decline in three years when the market is saturated, can you earn enough money in the meantime to make the venture worthwhile?

4. SLOW TIMES .... Every business experiences ups and downs. Is your business small and simple enough, or capitalized adequately enough, to ride out slow times? Or do you have some other strategy, such as staying open long hours in the busy season and closing during times of the year when business is ?

5. OWNERS EXPERTISE .... Nobody knows everything. How do you plan to compensate for the knowledge you're short on?

Write your risk analysis by first thinking of the main dangers your business faces. This shouldn't be hard, as you have probably been concerned about them for some time. Some of these may be on the list set out above; others will be unique to your business. Once you have identified the principal risks facing your business, write out a plan to counter each. But don't bog yourself down worrying about all sorts of unlikely disasters.

Sources Of Federal Government Help For Small Businesses

This isn't meant to be an all inclusive listing .... but will get you off to a decent start at least. For links to some of the mentioned sources, click on the associated button listed at the left under Support Services.

There are several programs in the various branches of government, including small business loans, contracting, and of course direct non-dilutive investment via SBIR and STTR grant programs.

The Small Business Administration manages many of these programs.

For example, agencies within DOD have a wealth of information and support for small businesses seeking government contracts.

The NIH and other granting agencies have legislated budget set-asides specifically for their SBIR programs and, although not part of the budget set-aside, the STTR programs also facilitate start-ups.

Another legislative example is the Bayh-Dole Act, that allows non-profits such as universities to own intellectual property (IP) generated off of government research grants. While not specifically in support of start-ups, the B-D Act helps new company formation out of univerisities and other non-profit reseaerch institutes based on grant-funded IP. The fees for filing patents with the USPTO are lower for small entitites than large companies too.

The list goes on.....