6 Common Mistakes People Make When Starting a Business

Excerpt, "There are a seemingly endless number of ways to spend money, and it's impossible to be wise about all of them. But a few common costly mistakes can sink a bootstrapped business. Here are six pitfalls to look out for, along with expert advice on how to avoid them..."

Continue reading here https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232240?newsletter=true

5 Secrets for Making Your Logo Stand Out

Your logo is the face of your company. It will often be the first thing people see and the main thing they remember...whole point: You invest time in crafting the perfect logo so it will stick in people's minds.

Read article and watch video here
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227017

5 Ways to Build Customer Retention Into Your Growth Model

by Karl Stark and Bill Stewart

As you build your business, think about how to ensure that your customers stay with you as you grow.

Read article here
http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/5-ways-to-build-customer-retention-into-your-growth-model.html?cid=em01017week36b&nav=su

How to Choose a Company Name

Businessmen need to know the importance of having a good name for the company. It can make or break a business. The name should own what the business is all about. If not, their target audience won’t be able to notice the business and you might end up having less clients in the process.

Read article here -
http://incometherapy.com/how-to-choose-a-company-name

How to Make a Business Plan

Opening a new business can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have any experience in the world of business. There are so many things to consider, from identifying the perfect product or service to sell to finding the right financing.

With so many moving parts, getting started can seem rather challenging. A business plan is always a first good step. It will help you lay out your plans, anticipate how you will manage your business and help you get the right financing. In other words, it can really help your company succeed.

Read information here
http://blog.usa.gov/post/44295127971/how-to-make-a-business-plan

14 Legal Tips for Starting Up

Young Entrepreneur Council

Starting a company means lots of surprises, but a lawsuit shouldn't be one. Successful young entrepreneurs explain what they wish they knew about the law when starting up.

Read their tips here
http://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/unexpected-legal-issues-while-starting-up.html?cid=em01012week36

How to Use Facebook for Home Business Success

By Sue Papadoulis

Can you really make money from Facebook? Yes, you can! It's a two-sided process though. On one hand you need the technical information to set up professional pages and give people the opportunity to access you and your products. But most importantly, you need to be willing to create an emotional connection with potential customers.

Here's how I created a presence on Facebook that has led to thousands of dollars in product sales, valuable joint venture opportunities, invitations to speak on teleseminars, invitations to co-author two books, and the creation of a supportive and overwhelmingly positive community of like-minded people who love what I do:

1. Un-friend your high school mates or anyone who won't relate to the 'new you' in business. Like most people when I first joined Facebook it was all about connecting with long lost school friends. In fact it was the ONLY reason I joined, because I was about to attend my high school reunion and the organisers set up a special page for the event. Once I decided to use Facebook for business, I was shocked by the reaction of some friends who actually poked fun at my posts and left inappropriate comments, simply because I wasn't being the person they knew in high school. So, I deliberately un-friended high school mates and anyone else that wasn't a business contact. In fact, I don't have too many social friends on Facebook now because we connect in person, via email or the phone.

2. Post about your business life: In order to encourage people to engage you need to give them a reason to return to your pages, which means there's plenty of activity by posting at least a few times a day. Rather than posting about your personal life, write about what's happening in your business - successes and challenges.

3. Don't be fearful of revealing yourself: Everyone faces challenges and difficult times - opening yourself up to reveal your own fears, doubts and issues can help you create closer relationships (of course this is true in any social setting). Let your personality shine through - warts and all.

4. Answer questions and leave comments: The more active you are on group pages relating to your industry the more likely you are to be seen as an expert in your field. Answer questions from others if you can help, and leave positive comments.

5. Connect with key influencers: Each industry has a handful of people who are 'key influencers' - those who are the stars and who many others look up to. Associate yourself with these people. Friend them, like their group pages, comment on their posts and answer the questions of others in their circle.

6. Don't write anything you wouldn't want to be seen on the front page of a newspaper, or have your mother read: You can create great working relationships with people all over the world, but never forget that everything you post is public and could easily get into the hands of people it wasn't intended for. You must always maintain your professionalism.

Follow these steps and you'll be well on your way to having an effective Facebook presence that makes you money.

And the technical side? I recently bought the re-sale rights for a fantastic video training course on how to make money from Facebook fan (or 'like') pages. It gives you all the technical information you need to set up a professional Facebook fan page, drive traffic to your page and sell products. Find out more here.

© 2010 Home Biz Chicks

WANT TO USE THIS REPORT IN YOUR E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Online entrepreneur Sue Papadoulis empowers and inspires others, to live the life of their dreams by starting and growing successful home businesses. She is the founder of Home Biz Chicks, which provides step-by-step advice on getting started, marketing, PR, finances, best mindset, and juggling work vs. home. Access Sue's special video (valued at $279) How to Generate Free Publicity for Your Business free at http://www.diyprkit.com. Get Sue's $79 audio CD Secrets to Home Biz Success free at http://www.homebizchickscd.com.

How to Find Willing Investors

by Darren Dahl

Most entrepreneurs who dream big simply don't have access to the kind of money it takes to realize their aspirations. Enter the professional investor community. But, in order to get investors to open up their checkbooks, you'll need to convince them that your idea is worthy and also be willing to subject yourself to increased scrutiny and give up a percentage of your company.

Read article here
http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/how-to-find-willing-investors.html?partner=newsletter_Startup

7 Tips to Take Your Business Online

Taking your business online is a great way to reach out to customers, and deliver your services even at locations where you thought you couldn't. Here are 7 tips on how you should create an e-commerce site for your small business.

Read tips here
http://blog.morebusiness.com/2012/03/online-shopping-7-tips-to-take-your-business-online

How to Stop Your Business From Sinking Like the Titanic

by Carol Tice

As a business owner, you want to avoid capsizing. So here are five lessons you can learn from the Titanic's fate:

Read article here
http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/223339?cm_mmc=Newsletters-_-BOTW-_-042012-_-HowtoStopYourBusinessFromSinkingLiketheTitanic

The New Rules of Building Customer Loyalty

"...Experts say there are some rules to follow to make your customers feel like kings from the very first moment they encounter your product or service. Do it right, and you'll not only score a lifelong customer, but also an advocate for your brand—and that's a lot more valuable."

Read article here
http://www.inc.com/guides/201105/new-rules-of-building-customer-loyalty.html?partner=newsletter_Success

Entrepreneurs' Best Money-Saving Secrets

by Charlotte Jensen

Even before belt-tightening became de rigueur, entrepreneurs were building businesses while quietly finding ways to cut costs. So who better to ask in a recession for their smartest, savviest cost-cutting tips? Here are 17 creative, easy and unexpected ways entrepreneurs are slashing hundreds -- and sometimes even thousands -- of dollars from their budgets.

Read tips here
http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2009/12/03/entrepreneurs-best-money-saving-secrets/?icid=main%7chtmlws-sb-n%7cdl2%7clink5%7chttp%253A%252F%252Fsmallbusiness.aol.com%252Farticle%252F_a%252Fentrepreneurs-best-money-saving-secrets%252F20091201205509990001

6 Business Lessons for Under 30 Entrepreneurs

by Melinda Emerson

"...Here are the 6 business lessons I shared with the Under 30 entrepreneurs, most of which can be found in my book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months."

Read Q & A article here
http://succeedasyourownboss.com/07/2011/6-business-lessons-for-under-30-entrepreneurs

Myths and Misconceptions About Starting an Online Business

by Annette Lucas

Are you trying to start an online business? Are you overwhelmed with the many online business programs available...Learning to read 'between the lines' will better prepare you for what's really involved. Here are some common phrases used to promote online businesses and what they really mean.

Continue reading article here
http://www.homewiththekids.com/home-business/myths.php

Seven Ways to Make Your Customers Love You

by Brad Sugars

With so much emphasis placed on finding customers today, business owners often lose sight of keeping the ones they have. Here are a few surefire ways to stem those losses.

Read article here
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219712

HOW TO: Start Up a Small Business

How to Guides on starting a new business.

Main Topics:
Going Broke
Laying the Startup Groundwork
Planning for a Successful Start
Raising the Capital
Establishing Your Image
Finding Customers

View thru all these guides here
http://www.entrepreneur.com/howto/startyourbiz.html

Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur – 5 Part Series

Sponsored by Chris Makell, Radiance Marketing

Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur – Part 1
If you’re an entrepreneur, the title of this post didn’t surprise you and likely intrigued you. Good. My intent for this series, “Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur” is to help you to go from overwhelmed, frustrated and painfully close to burned out.
http://radiancemarketing.com/2011/struggling-part-1

Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur – Part 2
Struggling entrepreneurs who want to play small is why I’ve created the Think Big…Play Bigger™ Business Growth Model. It is a way of moving forward in your business from where you are to where you want to be. You can learn more about the model on my website.
http://radiancemarketing.com/2011/struggling-part-2

Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur – Part 3
Before I tell you how to go from overwhelmed and struggling to successful as an entrepreneur so that you can Think Big…Play Bigger™ in your life and business. We have to talk about something that was a big ah-ha for me and a lot of my clients.
http://radiancemarketing.com/2011/struggling-to-successful-entrepreneur-part-3

Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur – Part 4
So how do we become the strategic successful entrepreneur who thinks big…plays bigger? What are the 3 keys nearly every entrepreneur underestimates? You begin by focusing on fundamentally growing your business. Not with tactics but with a strategy. It sounds simplistic, I know.
http://radiancemarketing.com/2011/struggling-to-successful-part4

Struggling to Successful Entrepreneur – Part 5
So focusing on my strengths is the first key, what the next one you need to be strategic and successful? I want you to ask yourself, “What is it that I want my business to do?” Very few of us think about the “what” of our businesses. What do you want your business to do?
http://radiancemarketing.com/2011/struggling-to-successful-part5

What It Takes to Succeed As an Entrepreneur

by Michelle Juergen

Venture Capital Investor Brad Feld on What It Takes to Succeed As an Entrepreneur
and dives into the trenches of entrepreneurship to learn what makes some businesses successful.

Read article here
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219337

5 Steps to Taking Customer Service Social

posted by Lauren Vargas

"...Customer service is no longer an area to triage customer complaints. It’s about anticipating customer needs at the right time and place. Organizations must relearn how to interact with their community, shed some of the heavily automated barriers, and get back to the basics of customer service."

Read post here
http://mashable.com/2010/05/28/customer-service-social/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

What Makes Up a Successful Entrepreneur?

Posted by Stephen Fisher

Over the last few months I have been participating in a survey of successful entreprenurs and Professor Vivek Wadwa of Harvard Law School has been gathering data for a bunch of research reports on “What Makes Up a Successful Entrepreneur”. It has gotten some great coverage and this slideshow in BusinessWeek: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur is a great example. It has some awesome charts so if you are a data junkie with a weakness for pretty graphs, you are gonna love this slide show.

Read his article here
http://growsmartbusiness.com/2009/12/what-makes-up-a-successful-entrepreneur/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sbsi+%28The+Small+Business+Success+Index+%28SBSI%29%29&utm_content=Netvibes