Small Business News: Social Entrepreneurship on the Rise

In recognition of Martin Luther King Day, we present a roundup about an important new trend, the rise of social entrepreneurship. Instead of profit, the social entrepreneur seeks social change. But, unlike the social reformer of only a generation ago, the social entrepreneutr goes about accomplishing this change using the tools and precision used in building a for-profit sustainable company. In a sense then, starting one of these new ventures is perhaps less like starting a non-profit organization and more like starting a small business. The product? A better world!

Basics

What is a social entrepreneur? Check John Garger’s definition:“…a change agent who works with missionary zeal to create and sustain social values.” Garger goes on to chart the shape of social entrepreneurship today, from a further definition to a comparison of social and business entrepreneurship, challenges of the social sector and more. Here’s social entrepreneurship 101 in a few digestible paragraphs.Bright Hub

Can social entrepreneurship be taught? One leading university has begun experimenting with teaching about social entrepreneurship in the classroom. Yale has begun instructing business students about the problems faced by social enterprises in the real world. What will be the result of a generation educated in the disciplines, needs and ideas of social entrepreneurship?Beyond Profit

Trends

Business schools embrace the social entrepreneurship ideal. Specifically, beyond simply studying the problems of social entrepreneurs as indicated above, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University announces an $80,000 social entrepreneurship award. The funding will be granted to students proposing a business model addressing social or environmental challenges and will include mentoring opportunities. Stay tuned.Stacy Blackman

The growing trend of social entrepreneurship. Just like traditional entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, as an alternative to addressing social needs and challenges, may be gaining momentum not only in academia but among investors and a new generation of philanthropists less willing to hand out money to large foundations and other organizations. The key to success in social entrepreneurship, experts say, is to treat it like a business.National Public Radio

Success Stories

Some social entrepreneurship goals can be simple. In a world of high tech gadgets and gizmos, one opinion piece argues that one of the greatest social achievements still to left to accomplish is to provide this technology to a huge portion of the global population who still have little or no access to the bare necessities. This is the story of one such simple venture.NYTimes.com

Social entrepreneurship focuses on the underserved niche. Take the Excel Center of Indianapolis targeting the very real problem of high school drop outs. Unlike scores of other programs that focus the majority of their energies on keeping kids in school, however, the Excel Center focuses on a very different task, addressing the issue of too many drop outs by getting adults without high school diplomas back into school.Dowser

Resources

Top social entrepreneurship programs. Like top business schools, social entrepreneurship programs of high repute are springing up around the globe. These programs at top schools are a great place for future social entrepreneurs to start in their quest for creating business models that will bring us a better and more just world. Like more traditional business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs make change on their own by creating a sustainable model that helps achieve their goals.Beyond Profit

Finance

So, what do social entrepreneurs make? Maybe it seems like an inappropriate question in a business model not necessarily created to make a profit, but then again the concept of social entrepreneurship is about creating sustainable operations. That includes having enough money to pay someone to manage the company and therein lies the problem, because some social entrepreneurs are making little or nothing at all.Social Enterprise Network

Crowdsourcing social entrepreneurship. From small business owners to independent filmmakers, it seems everyone with an idea has jumped on board the crowdsourcing bandwagon. In fact, using crowdsourcing is a trend that should make sense to entrepreneurs since many must first approach those who know and believe in them including family and friends to fund their enterprises. What may be more surprising, is that social entrepreneurship did not latch onto this much sooner.Trailblazers for Good

Global

Promoting social entrepreneurship in Asia. Ashoka: Innovators for the Public announced the opening of an office in Japan this month. The new facility signals the U.S.-based organization’s first permanent presence in Asia. Ashoka has been instrumental in aiding social entrepreneurs the world over and the new headquarters demonstrates another step in that mission.The Japan Times

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Small Business News: The Global View

Whether you are large or small, there’s a huge market out there that at one time was much harder to connect with. It spans the surface of the Earth and is made up of people just like you and me. And some of them may want what you have right now. You no longer need to content yourself with a local market alone, a market that might either love or hate what you offer. Today there’s a different way for small businesses to think. And we’ve got the resource to get you there!

Tools

Managed services software helps small business compete globally. Delivering services remotely is a hug part of givcing even the smallest businesses a truly global presence. Where this service includes freemium services to start, the barrier for entry to become a global player becomes even lower. How could the ability to provide these services to customers anywhere in the world affect your business model.MSPMentor

Facebook ads give SMBs global reach. Like Google before it, Facebook has developed an advertising product that gives small businesses an opportunity to reach a global audience. Recent data suggests that, like Google’s highly successful AdSense model, Facebook’s self-serve advertising tool seems to have created the most interest amongst small businesses that might not have had the means to launch a global advertising campaign before.MarketingMag.ca

Healthcare

Opposition continues to mount for U.S. healthcare law. But while efforts to boost competitiveness abroad continues, the fight over an unpopular healthcare legislation at home still roils. The State of Wisconsin has officially joined numerous other states in the fight against a controversial U.S. healthcare reform legislation that business leaders in particular are concerned will detrimentally impact the U.S. economy by forcing some businesses and just about all citizens to purchase healthcare insurance.BizTimes.com

U.S. small business owners oppose reform legislation. Despite all the rhetoric for and against, a survey indicates the majority of small business owners in the U.S. would definitely like to see the controversial new healthcare reform being fought over in the courts repealed. These business leaders apparently do not buy assurances from healthcare reform advocates that the regulations will eventual lower heathcare costs.Business Wire

Policy

What would mandated paid leave for employees do to your business? Another concern for small to medium sized U.S. businesses struggling for a competitive advantage in the global economy is the debate over government mandated paid family leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act already grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to American workers but does not require companies to pay them for the time off…yet. While advocates claim the U.S. needs the mandate, the reality is that smaller businesses probably cannot sustain such a cost and would likely respond with fewer full-time jobs in the future.msmbc.com

Trade

Import-Export bank to boost small business exports. In an effort to meet a goal set by the Obama administration the ration, the Export-Import Bank of the United States has announced plans to make more than 5,000 small businesses into U.S. exporters. Read more about the Global Access for Small Business and determine whether your small business could be a participant.123Print

British small businesses shun investment in developing nations. While U.S. small businesses have shown interest nin doing business with developing economies like India and China, a recently compiled report suggests their UK counterparts would sooner expand and invest in more developed markets like thosein the U.S. The report suggests the aversion may be due to the inherent risk these developing markets represent.The Economic Times

Tech

Social media map of the world! Thanks toShane Gibson who this week tweeted a map of the the world’s most popular media applications…by country! This incredible resource is imperative to anyone serious about using social media to expand the reach of your small business globally. This map, complete with overviews of each social media platform country by country and culture by culture goes WAY beyond  the old standbys of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Thanks Shane!AppAppeal

Building global brand with the social Web. There’s no need to go broke in order to start a global marketing campaign these days either. Arm yourself with knowledge (like the social media app above) and dive in. Create blogs, use free social media platforms. Connect with influencers, find your audience and then bring them to you.Reuters

Planning

A step-by-step for expanding your business globally. So, you want to take your small business global. Whether you have a lot of money or not, talking to or hiring consultants can only take you so far. In this post, Laurel Delaney has included a helpful link that takes you through the planning stages of going global with your venture, large or small. What are your plans for making your small business competitive in a new global economy? What major challenges do you face?The Global Small Business Blog

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Small Business News: Legal Tips for the Small Business Owner

Legal basics are important when building and running your small business. Legal issues related to your business could include resources, tips, legal advice and government policy and may depend on where your business is located. We’ve collected some links relevant for at least most businesses here in the U.S. and perhaps even beyond. Let this be a starting point for thinking about issues related to your small business.

Startup Basics

Where to incorporate your business. Forget the question of whether you should incorporate your small business or not. We’re assuming you already know the answer to that. Incorporating certainly provides certain benefits but when it comes to incorporating another important consideration is geography. So the question is, where will you incorporate?Under 30 CEO

Using trademarks for your small business. Does your small business have a trademark or other intellectual property in which you’ve created value and which your customers associate with your product or service. Don’t have this value stolen away or alternately find yourself in a suit defending your right to use your trademark in a dispute with another business. This podcast helps you navigate the minefield of trademark and other intellectual property use by your small business. Give a listen.Chicago Legal Latte

Resources

Some legal resources for your small business online. Online legal info may not be quite the same as calling an attorney for a consultation, but for a lot of your little questions, especially in the early stages, many of the questions you have can be researched online. If you are just getting started and are short of money to start your business,you may want to try some of these options for getting legal information before going on the clock.  SuperMedia Blog

Your obligations regarding customer data. How much customer data do your think your small business collects from customers. Stop and think about it for a minute. What are your responsibilities when handling that data? Do you know? The fact is that many businesses today deal heavily with information. If you haven’t established a procedure for how you deal with your customer’s information, it may be time to start. writword communications

Advice

Corporation or Limited Liability Company? What is the difference between these two kinds of company organizations and what do they mean in regards to personal guarantees? These are the guarantees that an owner may from time to time make to guarantee the debts of a corporation or LLC. But why would a small business owner ever make such an agreement when the purpose of incorporation is to protect personal assets.Chicago Legal Latte

Taxes

The IRS could use some training in customer service. The IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division needs some help learning how to serve the small business and self-employed communities better. The agency is studying how to improve education and service when it comes to the small business and self-employed community. The hope is to narrow the‘tax gap’ of unreported income in this group.Lawyers.com

Policy

U.S. House launches challenge to healthcare reform. Republicans in the U.S. House made good on a campaign pledge to vote on repeal of the Affordable Care Act which is opposed by many small business owners. A recent survey indicates that most small business owners favor the repeal which they believe would increase costs, however, the move is likely to be blocked in the Senate.The Ticket

Small business groups support U.S. Healthcare law’s repeal. Organizations like the Small Business& Entrepreneurship Council are pushing for the healthcare reform legislation repeal calling it bad for small business and job creation too. The law requires most citizens to purchase health insurance and requires many small business who do not already to either purchase healthcare coverage for employees or face a penalty.Fox Business

Liability

Harsh weather can bring small business liability. You may think of winter weather as a problem for commuting to work, but have you ever considered it as a liability to your small business too? It could be, reports business writer Joyce M. Rosenberg. Here are some ways in which bad weather conditions can turn into liability issues very quickly winter arrives. So next time a winter storm is looming think about your liability exposure.LATimes.com

Tips

Know the basics for your small business. Whether it’s legal issues or something else that lies outside your comfort zone, it’s a good idea to know some details about running your business even if you plan to hire legal counsel or other consultants to do some of the work. Columnist and small business advisor Gladys Edmunds tells us an important lesson she learned from her grandmother about knowing how to do a bit of everything…and how it will help you in the long run. USA Today

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Small Business News: The Management Game

Are you playing the management game? Managing your small business is one of the most important things you do as an entreprener, but make no mistake. This isn’t child’s play. Here are some resources to get you thinking.

Research

Let your employees take at nap a work. What if someone showed you a way to increase overall productivity even if, in all other respects, it seems completely nuts. Well, before you start snickering and refuse to read any further, take a look at some of the data and perhaps you’ll realize it’s not such a crazy idea after all.UPrinting

Philosophy

Do your workers have a stake in your company? Watch this inspirational video about business leader and entrepreneur Jack Stack and a revolutionary method of entrepreneurship that not only opens the books for employees to see, but can transform your business and the people who work there for ever. What are you waiting for?Clutch Consulting LLC

Policy

Obama administration finally moving in a better direction? The announcement of a recent appointment is being applauded by some in the business community, but will a new chief of staff in the White House really have impact upon an economic policy that up until now has hardly seemed friendly to business? As we watch a new political management team take shape, what will it mean for small business in the U.S.The Ticket

New head named for the National Economic Council. Mainstream media is getting excited about“Small Business’s New Man in the White House” signaling a shift in the Obama administration’s economic policy. Gene Sterling has been described as the driving force behind a $30 billion small business and job bill aimed at loaning more money to small businesses. But with many small businesses more concerned about sluggish demand due to lower disposable income, we think the jury’s still out on whether the administration even knows where to begin.You’re The Boss

Strategy

Stop worrying about the New Year. Denise Fay would like everyone to stop stressing out about the big changes they need to make in their businesses in the New Year, because the fact is, change ion your business can be made at any time. More importantly, Denise believes you should work to make any changes in your company as stress free as possible. You can change anytime and that’s a better approach.Bloggertone

How creative are you in your business? We all know that business must be practical too. But come on, where do you think all that innovation comes from? Creativity was a huge part of how you created your business. Why shouldn’t it be part of how you run it too? We suspect this isn’t really something entrepreneurs need to learn. Just something they need to give themselves permission to do.Ability, Success, Growth

Personnel

Is there a right way to fight at work? Unless your business is a one man show, it requires other people to operate and make it profitable. These people are, of course, human beings and will not always get along. When they do not, problems will inevitably arise. When managing people to build your business, you must learn to handle both the highs and the lows. Here’s an evaluation of how to handle one of the low parts.  The Harvard Review

Jobs

Small businesses have created 57,000 new jobs. The numbers are for December, when records say small business contributed to plenty of hiring though few wages increased. It shouldn’t surprise anyone who manages a small business, that these companies will wind up the salvation of the economy. Let’s do all we can to support them!accountingweb

Services

Who’s managing your paperwork? Organizing your paperwork and other files can be a major issue when managing your small business and can really damage your productivity. Having someone organize your stuff can really save you time and money. Enter a whole new kind of small business whose function is just that. Do you need someone to manage your small business information.  Los Angeles Times

New online service spots payment risks. Thinking about extending credit to a potential customer in order to keep them on or make that sale. A new online service creates an up-to-the-minute picture of the customer or client’s payment history to let you know whether the risk is justified. Wouldn’t you like to manage the risk of non-payment in your small business? Learn more today.Star Tribune

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Five Things Learned From Twit-Stalking Competitors

In life, I get away with quite a bit thanks to an innocent face and my ability to become doe-eye on command. On the Internet, I get away with even more because I’ve learned how to act unseen and keep an eye on my competitors without them even knowing. And that’s one of the greatest gifts we have through social media – the ability to track our competitors without them feeling our glance. One of my favorite tools tostalkmy competitors is Twitter. What can I learn about my competition strictly by watching and analyzing their Twitter accounts?

Grab a pen. Here are a few of my favorite things.

1. The Basic Account Goods

The first step of competitor stalking is to analyze the basics of their account. Bring up their Twitter profile and take note of:

1. Where does their profile link to? Does it link to their Web site, their Facebook account, a social media landing page?
2. What’s their Follower/Following ratio? Are more people following them or do they follow more people? Are they following so many people that it looks unnatural or does it look like they’re building the account by hand? What kind of following strategy does it look like they’re using?
3. How many tweets do they have?: Are they an active Twitter users are have they only sent out a couple dozen? How many times do they tweet a day? Are their tweets mostly replies to other users or standalone tweets? Are they posting their opinion, news stories, spice-of-life tweets?

Many people will ignore the bio box on a user’s Twitter profile simply because it’s so small, but there’s quite a bit of information to be had there if you take the time to look.

2. What Twitter Tools They Use

With how quickly new social media tools emerge and the different features offered I like to keep track of what tools my competitors are using. Knowing this gives me an idea of what kind of statsthey’retracking, whether or not certain updates or automated, or what plugins they’re using to help users share their content. For example, did you knowChris Broganuses Hootsuite,Scott Strattenuses UberTwitter, andSMB social networking siteBizSugar uses Social Oomph?

Well, now you do. And knowing that will help you understand their strategy a little bit, while also keeping your eyes open to new tools.

3. What Kind Of Conversation They Have

Whether you use a tool like TweetDeck or just have a saved Twitter Search handy, keep an eye on the conversations that your competition is having on Twitter. How are they replying to their customers? Do they reply to everyone who mentions them? Are they around to answers questions in real-time? Is there an opportunity for you to jump in and claim some of their leads? If you notice that your competition is replying to customers infrequently or not hopping into conversations about their brand, then you know they probably haven’t put together a solid social media campaign and they’re just haphazardly using it. However, if it looks like they’re monitoring keywords, jumping on “anyone know…” type searches and being all-stars at Twitter customer service, then it may be a sign that you need to ramp up your own efforts.

4. What Kind of Twitter User They Are

To say there are a lot of Twitter tools available to help you analyze your competitors account would be a huge understatement. Because there are more than“a lot”. And there’s a new one popping up every day. Below are some of the Twitter tools I’m partial to and a look at how I use them.

1. Twitter Grader: Twitter Grader is a free tool that lets you skulk out the power of a user’s Twitter account and compare it with your own. This tool was among the first Twitter tools out of the gate, so it remains one that I’m partial to. You can see the accounts “grade” out of 100, a snapshot of the top followers of that account, and a graph of their user history to see how quickly they built their followers.
2. Twitanalyzer: Twitalyzer is another service aimed at analyzing accounts. They’ll score the account, tell you the Influencer Type* {built off a post I wrote for SmallBizTrends on theFive Types of Influencers On The Web}, the subjects that user typically tweets about, and a look at some of the faces in that person’s network.
3. Klout: Klout is another social media tool that’s getting a lot of attention right now. I like this tool for it’s ability to scout out influence networks and attempt to quantify social metrics like total reach, mentions, Retweets and other things. Over on my company blog Outspoken Media, I’ve shared how we use Klout totrack down influencersand for othersocial media services.

5. Find their Other Social Accounts

If your competitor has a YouTube channel, they’re probably going to share that content on Twitter. If they have a blog, they’re going to drop the URL to direct their customers there. If they have an emails newsletter, they’re going to want to make sure their Twitter followers are aware of that. By keeping an eye on their tweets and wherethey’re linking to, it helps you stay up to date on how they’re using these other channels, as well. We always say how important it is to cross-link social media accounts, right? Follow the trail.

Social media gives you an unparalleled opportunity to connect with users. Italsogives you a unique opportunity to watch your competitors in the wild without them knowing. Are you taking advantage of it?

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Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven’t noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren’t using Twitter, talk to someone who does. Find out why they do and what Twitter has done for their business. With such simplicity and such versatility, there are probably as many uses for Twitter as there are entrepreneurs and small business owners. Find out more about how and why the small business community is using Twitter (and how you probably shouldn’t use it) below:

Marketing Basics

How Ivan Walsh makes money on Twitter and how you can too. Seriously, too much discussion about Twitter (and most other social media, for that matter) is about building relationships. That’s fine, but it doesn’t really begin to scratch the surface of how social media can and is being used to build small business revenue, not just brand. Here’s more.Bloggertone

Selling your tweets? If you were to do so, (and John Jantsch isn’t suggesting you do) how valuable would they be? Whether you decide that selling tweets is beneficial to your business model or not, one thing is for sure. Using the tools available for monetizing your tweets will give you a better idea of the true value you are passing on to your community.Duct Tape Marketing

12 tips for Twitter marketing. The world’s most powerful and famous micro blogging platform is not a silver bullet. Tweeting will not guarantee your success, so before you begin sharing your 140 character messages with the world, be aware that certain strategies lead to success in your Twitter community while others may not.Business2Community

Bast Practices

Why you should NOT pay for Twitter followers. Joel Libava, The Franchise King, bears his soul in this post about the importance of authenticity in the Twitterverse (and by extension through the rest of the social media sphere.) Joel’s story explains why it’s not about the numbers but about the quality of people you pull into your orbit.Franchise Social Media Marketing

Trends

What is a Twitter chat? And how can it help you to market your expertise and brand to the greater Twitter community. Matt Mansfield gives us a tour of this important phenomena which turns the most popular micro blogging tool in the world into a chat room or instant message board for a few hours each day for tweeps who like to meet and discuss a variety of topics important to them. What would you like to chat about on Twitter?Matt About Business

Are you a Twitterholic? Do you sit for hours frittering with Twitter. While the popular social media platform has incredible potential to drive business, revolutionize communications and build traffic and community around your product, service or brand, it also has an incredible potential to suck the life out of you if you just sit around staring at it all day. Here, from John Wheeler, are 10 signs to let you know you’re in trouble.BizNetCentral

Tools

Chrome extensions for Twitter and how to use them. Just like any other tool in your small business tool box, Twitter comes with special attachments to make it work better. This is even more the case with the introduction of the new Twitter upgrade. While special tools to enhance Twitter management like HootSuite had users essentially staying away from the site proper and managing their accounts from afar, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with a whole new generation of Twitter tools.Basic Blog Tips

Feedburner updates enable new features for Twitter. The service that revolutionized the publication of blogs has added real time and social features that will change the way you use Twitter to publicize your content and how you can use FeedBurner to track efforts in the social media sphere. Check out this video overview from Ileane Smith of Basic Blog Tips and follow along.Codex WP

Tips

10 pieces of Twitter and FB advice to make your small business soar. The two most popular social media platforms can easily be used in conjunction and that’s what plenty of folks do. In fact, as Nicole Smith of Blue Fish Social Media suggests, the two platforms make up the“cheapest, fastest& most effective advertising” available for your brand.Business Review Australia

Anti-social behavior in the social Twitterverse? Remember that in social media, being social is everything. And so Web development specialist Jennifer Devitt is kind of scratching her head about Twitterers who ask others to validate their accounts before allowing them to follow. Sure we all understand the desire to make sure the person following you is a real human being. But in the end, what message are you sending to others who want to interact with you?Sydcon Web Development Inc.

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Small Business News: Harnessing Google for You

With all the talk about social media these days, you might think that the key to marketing your business and even driving sales lies entirely with sites like Facebook and Twitter, but, if you market your product or service online, harnessing the power of Google for your small business is still important. By this, of course, we mean search marketing, the general focus of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and, while there are other search engines to consider, SEO expert Aaron Wall reckons Google still makes up about 75 percent of the search market.Here are some things every small business owner planning to market online should know to capture it.

SEO Basics

Why organic traffic is still the most valuable. The first thing you ought to know about marketing online is that not all traffic to your Website is created equal. According to Aaron Wall, who is, of course, in the SEO marketing game, the difference between paid traffic and organic traffic is simple. It comes down to a question of value. Read Aaron’s full explanation of why he believes SEO traffic for your online business is the most valuable traffic online.SEO Book

Why search engines are still important, even in a Facebook world. Google may not be as important as it used to be, but that’s not to say you can leave Search Engine Optimization out when marketing your online business. In fact, the four key concerns web developer Jon-Mikel Bailey often shares with clients about building their Web presence and the traffic that should follow are about equally divided. Can you add anythingto his analysis?Wood Street Inc.

Techniques

Do you believe in paid search? Organic traffic, that is visitors who arrive at your site due merely to the relevant search terms and generally the ease with which your site can be crawled and indexed via search engines like Google, may still be the best traffic in online marketing. But if you doubt the value of paid traffic, usually through pay per click ads and the like, a simple experiment could change your mind.Search Engine Guide

Blogging: Still the best search marketing strategy. Creating a blog has long been considered one of the simplest and best ways to engage in simple search marketing for your online business. Creating a blog for your brand or adding a blog to your Website will improve your Search Engine Optimization. Alastair Kay explains six reasons why.SiteStream

Online Presence

Creating a credible Website. With all the key wording, site navigation improvements and other Search Engine Optimization tips and tricks that go into creating an easy to index Website, the majority of these techniques won’t be any good at all if when visitors arrive they find a site that is less than credible or provides information that cannot be trusted created by people we don’t know and cannot contact.Search Engine Guide

Resources

What small businesses told Google. In a recent“Google Wishes initiative,” small business owners and entrepreneurs shared dreams and aspirations for 2011. Google has long been in the business of encouraging entrepreneurship as a major part of its mission to create tools that enhance online business efforts. Here, Anita Campbell gives an overview of what the initiative found and a link to more. Small Business Trends

Google Apps become more accountable. Besides the Web search for which Google is unquestionably best known, the company also offers a variety of other technology tools for small business including its Google Apps with both business and education versions. Up until now, these tools have functioned to an already high 99.9 percent uptime standard. But Google announced today increased accountability by beginning to log every moment of downtime and count maintenance time against its guarantee.Yahoo! News

PPC

The other side of the Google AdWords equation. As explained earlier, paid traffic including Google AdSense may make money in the short run, but what does the pricing structure of pay per click ads say about their long term sustainability for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs marketing online? Read this post about what Google’s AdSense business model says about the likely increasing cost of the service for those on the buying end.Konnessi

Opinion

The state of SEO: A blogger’s perspective. Ana Hoffman gives her thoughts on Search Engine Optimization from the perspective of a small business blog owner. Far from big operators, a substantial number of online entrepreneurs have launched blogs not as a way of promoting a business but as businesses in themselves. Ana talks from her own personal experience, growth and knowledge as a small business blogger and what lessons learned could mean to you.Traffic Generation Cafe

Other Tools

Are you using Google Trends? This Google tool allows you to search for trends in your industry throughout the year and even determine how to plan offline marketing including mailing campaigns based on these trends. The tool can also measure changes based on unexpected events by tracking how these events impact overall online search in your market.Sprike

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How to be a Fierce Competitor - Review

You have to love a book that does not beat around the bush. In an age of ever-escalating time management anxiety, sometimes you need a brief reminder of your business values and ethos. To learn about some business processes, a longer text is needed.  But for quick refreshers, you need a snack-size book that reminds you of key values (go ahead and picture those recent Snickers commercials with Betty White, Abe Vigoda, Aretha Franklin and Liza Minnelli).

Marketing strategy consultant Jeffery Fox offers a Snickers-level business reminder: a guide to competition and business success calledHow to Be a Fierce Competitor: What Winning Companies and Great Managers Do In Tough Times. Fox has written a few short books like this before, notablyHow to Become CEOandHow to Become a Rainmaker.  He gets straight to the point, and many of his zingers can be helpful to small business owners on the go and under, well, fierce competition. I bought a copy after I started flipping through a few of the pages in a bookstore; I have read How to Become CEOand wanted to see what new comments he had to share.

Tips to help you be the best competitor

The book does not give rambled musings about what you should do in business. Instead, the pages are an amalgamation of ideas, told crisply and distinctively.  Check out these few comments:

“Leaders respond and act. They may be wrong, but they don’t dither, dawdle, delay….Data deep dives are good, necessary, professional, but when you come up for air, that’s it. Decide.”

“In tough times the tough don’t start selling, they ratchet up their selling. Fierce competitors put more people out in the field selling. They make it possible for salespeople to make more money, not less.  They invest scarce dollars to visit and meet more customers. They don’t‘save’ money by quarantining their salespeople, by cutting advertising, by reducing customer service reps.”

“There are endless ways to let customers know you care.  Leave weekend voicemails, bring homemade cookies, make charitable donations in their names, let them be the first to know company big news before they read it in the paper.”

An interesting personal favorite is the tip“Stay Off Magazine Covers.” Here’s why:

“Profiles give competitors clues as to strategy, spending, capital budgets, and upcoming products….This information is fodder for analysts on the teams fighting to get your customers, your meal tickets, and your lunch.”

A fierce complement to many strategy books

The advice inFierce Competitoris very straightforward-no-chaser, likeRework, but the book’s pocket-sized journal structure is meant for general reminders that can add extra perspective to the reasoning behind more detailed works.

Some authors, like Stanley Bing, make the most of the journal structure with a witty tone that permeates from title to text.  Fox has his own style that accentuates  each raised point, with many of the comments focused on eliminating waste to manage growth and to operate for the best interests of your business.  In one instance he provides tips for eliminating a seemingly strategic client that in reality overwhelms your back-end processes.  He suggests you examine the cost to support that  “strategic” client, then:

“Give your competitors a present. Let them have the strategic account. Let the strategic account drain their resources while you redeploy to profitable current and future customers.”

For insight that feeds your mind, these thoughts are great, but keep the Snickers analogy in mind. Still, like the candy, this book will satisfy.  Fox leaves out bloated jargon, not good business sense.

Now, reading only one book does not make you a vital competitor.  You still need to dig into specific details, which is where this book helps most. How to Be a Fierce Competitorcan complement sales strategy, such asHow to Sell When No One Is BuyingandCompetitive Selling. General-topic entrepreneurship books such asKachingandTipping The Odds for the Entrepreneuralso work well as complements to this book. Finally, it also can make behavioral topics like that covered inClutchcome alive.

EnjoyHow to Be a Fierce Competitorand be entertained as well as reminded of your business sensibilities.

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On-Demand Computing e-Book: Soaring With the Cloud

My VenturePad is working hard to bring knowledge, training and quality conversations about cloud computing to the forefront.  In September, My VenturePad held the virtual summit OnDemand: Soaring with the Cloud, and now they have released an e-book of the same name.

Why Cloud Computing?

The cloud empowers small business by leveling the playing field.  It gives smaller companies a chance to make big waves by providing access to affordable, cutting-edge tools and solutions. Because cloud computing is scalable, you pay only for what you need, when you need it.  The living examples of cloud computing are numerous, including:

• Phone systems
• Web hosting
• Private social networking for your staff
• Company e-mail systems and conferencing

The cloud lets you buy more as you grow more.  Instead of building a phone system or having your own servers (been there, painfully done that) for your website or local area network, you can connect to a tried- and-true system of tools. This allows you to expand your company or launch it faster.  Using the cloud means somebody else services the hardware when there is problem; you just make a call.

Cloud computing, however, does bring its challenges (as all change does), including potential security issues, vendor stability concerns and integration into the way we already do business. But a little strategy, trusted advice and referrals can help us protect ourselves, find vendors with quality resources and customer service, and develop workable plans for integrating the cloud into the fabric of our businesses.

Where To Learn More

For more information on cloud computing, register for the On-Demand e-Book and Virtual Summit.  You will gain access to the e-book as well as the sessions from the summit. Both tackle the issues of security, vendor stability and integration, as well as the following questions:

• How does software-as-a-service (SaaS) hold up?
• How do you select the right version for your business and integrate it with your existing systems?
• Can cloud and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) help me gain and keep a competitive advantage?
• What’s the ROI?
• Is the cloud a sustainable business initiative or not?

My VenturePad calls the summit“a rare opportunity to learn from both tech experts and business leaders who have already committed to this technology breakthrough.”  Dive in and see what On Demand: Soaring With the Cloud can do for you. There is a diverse host of panelists, including former top editor ofFast CompanyJohn Byrne, as well as Netflix founder Reed Hastings.

At the least, if you are yet not ready for the cloud’s expansion, you can start strategizing for future progress.

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Padding Your Resume

Drawing dogs and cats in the business world opens up opportunities for jokes you don’t get when everyone has opposable thumbs.

Take the above cartoon:Whatmight a dog have on his resume? And how might he try to pad it?

And getting to draw a dog sitting in a chair with a briefcase is entirely too much fun to resist.

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9 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Apps for Small Business

Customer relationship management has always felt like the wrong term to me. You don’t“manage” customers. You don’t“manage” your relationship with a customer. You might nurture it. You might encourage it. You would strive to strengthen it. Butmanage? No.

However, I understand what a company is aiming for when they say it, and the term has stuck for a long time, so I will get off my soapbox and share nine powerful CRM tools you’ll want to consider for managing your small business.  Each of these tools has a customer database at its core; that’s a given.  How they approach that customer data is what each section explores.

CRM Apps With an E-Mail Focus

Infusionsoftis one of the market leaders when it comes to CRM, e-mail marketing and marketing Automation.  One of their strengths and what makes them different is that, instead of a one-time automatic response, they encourage you to create a robust“follow-up sequence” based on customer behavior—this is the automation engine at work.  For example, if a customer responds to a specific campaign, then phones in a question, you can trigger your Infusionsoft system to automatically respond appropriately— which goes beyond e-mail and includes faxing, voicemails, even letters.  If you’re a small business owner struggling who needs more than a simple e-mail campaign, take a closer look at the Infusionsoft approach.

InTouch CRMpromises to make your life with customers easy.   To prove their philosophy, if you only want to store your customer contact information, you can do it for free with InTouch.  If you want to be able to use the powerful customer database and communicate via e-mail or SMS with your customers, then you’ll have to subscribe to a paid plan. I signed up for the free trial and was impressed with the simple dashboards and how quick it was to set up sample templates (you have to pay to start e-mailing) and campaigns for both e-mail and SMS.  Naturally, you can see all your customer data at a glance.

CRM Apps With a Social and Collaborative Focus

According to Gartner, social CRM application spending will grow at a faster rate than traditional CRM spending in the coming years.  Gartner employs the following definition for social CRM:“Social CRM applications encourage many-to-many participation among internal users, as well as customers, partners, affiliates, fans, constituents, donors, members and other external parties, to support sales, customer service and marketing processes. Social CRM works within each of these domains, for example, to provide a social enterprise feedback mechanism in the service domain, or social monitoring or product development in the marketing domain.”

That’s a long definition, but in a nutshell, I liked what Batchblue had to say about social CRM:“Find and join the conversations so you know what’s important to your customers.”  That is the essence of adding“social” to the CRM database.  Tag your customer data so you know what a conversation was about, when it happened and where in the social universe it took place.

Batchbookis a combination of Facebook, Google and contact database rolled up nicely in one.  You can view blog posts, photos, tweets and more alongside contact history, so if part of your customer experience involves knowing what’s going on in your customer’s life, this is a tool worth trying out. Lots of great reporting and integration with many other small business apps like Mailchimp, Shoeboxed and more.

Kickappshas an impressive platform approach to customer relationships and social media.  They explain that they are a“Social Graph Engine” which is generally defined as a look at a person’s online identity, activity, relationship to other people and content.  Kickapps allows you to use that data to inform your marketing and sales functions.  They have a great customer example pagehere. You can use this tool to build a website and a community.

Rapportiveis for the Google Gmail user. If you use Gmail, you’ll love Rapportive.  Right within your inbox, on the right side (replaces where the ads usually run, yay), you’ll see contact information for the person whose message you are reading.  Rapportive scours the social landscape and provides links and details from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and numerous other sites to give you a fast glance at just who it is you’re corresponding with.  It will also tell you location information, if they are nearby and using such services, of course.

Gistreminds you that your contacts are everywhere.  In e-mail, on social networks, on your mobile phone and many other sources. Gist combines them all into one place to give you a full view of your network,making it easy to find anyone, anytime.  It works with Gmail, with Outlook, with the iPhone and Android phones, with Salesforce.com and even Lotus Notes, to create a powerful listening post.

CRM Apps With a Sales Focus

Smartsheet Sales Pipelineis for the many users who want a powerful database, but with a user-friendly interface like a spreadsheet.  If that’s you, then take a close look at Smartsheet.  Think of this as a spreadsheet on steroids– interactive and collaborative. Stop e-mailing spreadsheets around. Great reporting functions as well as Gantt charts and ways to enhance your sales results presentation.

SalesForce.comis one of the best-known online CRM tools; it was built with sales in mind. SalesForce is one of the companies that defined the software-as-a-service (SaaS) space.  Sales teams can see and access prospect and customer contact information via the Web and mobile devices. Hundreds of applications bolt onto the Salesforce system, and thousands of small business owners use it. The company just purchased Jigsaw to help you find more sales prospects.

Sugar CRMoffers several different CRM tools, all of which are open source. While Sugar CRM is not free, it’s extremely adaptable, allowing you to easily create custom modules as well as add external data.

There are many CRM applications in the market today. Tell us which ones you’re using and how in the comments.

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How To Kill Your Next Social Media Promotion

One common way small business owner’s work to build up their social media profiles is through online promotions. They may hold a Twitter contest or a Facebook giveaway in the hopes that it will help them catch a user’s eye and provide incentive to get them engaging with the brand. However, that doesn’t mean they’re always successful or they go about it in the right way. Far too often SMB owners fall victim to innocent (and very preventable) marketing mistakes that cause them to lose potential customers without even realizing it.

Below are some tip for running a social media promotion if you WANT people to completely ignore it.

1. Make sure no one knows about it: Even though you may be running the contest to build brand awareness and get users engaging with you, don’t worry about actually promoting it. You wouldn’t want to create a graphic to put on your Web site, tweet about the contest daily, Facebook it, mention it in store, and definitely don’t put it in your email newsletter. Your perfect customers will naturally find you all on their own. You just come up with your great idea and then lock it in the basement. Your customers will use their magic to find it.
2. Be unsure about it yourself: When launching that promotion, don’t worry about having a specific marketing goal in mind or setting up metrics to track what you’re doing. You wouldn’t want to waste valuable tweeting time by outlining why it is you’re running the promotion, what you hope to attain from it, and how it’s going to help the brand meet its larger goals. That stuff will just naturally fall into place. Again, like magic.
3. Don’t do any research about prior promotions: Sure you could enter {contest} into Facebook or Twitter and see immediate examples of what people are doing, what’s working, and what’s dead in the water, but don’t worry about all that. I’m sure you won’t repeat other people’s mistakes or that you don’t need any help. You’re smarter than everyone else who came before you.
4. Pick a really uninteresting prize/angle: Most social media promotions include giving your customers some sort of prize or reward for their participation. For example, you may offer a discount for the customer who creates the best video montage about your company or offer a free product to the winner of your trivia contest. When coming up with prizes, make sure you pick something completely uninteresting and, if you can, really self-serving (like a free copy of your book, perhaps). Using interesting, exciting prizes will attract the wrong kind of person and may get you too much attention. Stick to boring stuff.
5. Make it impossible to enter: Before someone is allowed to take part in your promotion, you should require that they give you their full name, address, phone number, email address, social security number, shoe size, and at least offer legal rights to your first child. They should also need a Master’s Degree to understand your content guidelines. Don’t worry, this won’t at all discourage people from entering or make them wary about what exactly you’re going to do with all this information. Also, don’t worry abouttellingthem what you’ll do with the info. It’s really none of their business.
6. Don’t highlight entrants: During the time that your promotion is running, don’t bother highlighting your latest entrants or let anyone else know what’s going on or the excitement that’s taking place. By highlighting any new submissions or interesting work, you might accidentally attract more people to what you’re doing and give yourself more work in judging. Meh, people.
7. Don’t use analytics. At all: Your brand will probably see a spike in mentions, retweets, traffic and other measurable data points during the time that your promotion is going on. This is natural since lots of people will be talking about the contest and hopefully passing it around to their friends. Don’t bother actually tracking any of this data or looking for where the spikes are coming from. It’s not like you’ll learn anything useful in there.

Above are some of my favorite ways to absolutely kill a social media promotion or contest dead in the water. Of course, it you want to be successful, I’d consider reversing everything listed above.

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Foursquare Reaches Out to Attract SMBs

Well, hello there. Foursquare would like to remind small business owner that Yelp is not the only geo-location game in town. They’re still here. To help remind users, Foursquare has revamped its Business page to provide a step-by-step instruction guide detailing how business owners, brands, and even venues can use Foursquare to build awareness and attract customers. If you haven’t yet seem it, allow me to introduce you tothe newFoursquare Business page. It will help break down everything you need to know about using Foursquare for biz and attracting customers.

The new Facebook for Business page does a good job differentiating about the two types of business owners who may use the service– Venue Owners and Brands – and offers different tips and recommendations for each.

As a Foursquare-using brand, the site will hold your hand to help you create a page, add tips, attract followers, learn about special badge criteria and offer information about how you can qualify for a Foursquare partner badge. As a venue, Foursquare will explain the different types of Foursquare Specials (Mayor, frequency, count, custom, regulars), how to discover specials, how to promote them, how to get venue stats and how to go about claiming your listing.

What I like about this new and improved page is that Foursquare really does a good job making something that could be complicated very simple and intuitive. And I think a lot of small business owners will appreciate that, especially those who have stayed away from geo-location services. There’s a lot of opportunity here to connect with users, but that doesn’t matter if SMBs aren’t sure how to use the platform. With this new guide, Foursquare does a good job here breaking down that wall and making sure they do.

It’s also worth noting that online-only retailers can also take advantage of the opportunities presented by Foursquare. You don’t need a physical location in order to get in, which is also made clearer here than previously. The guide also lets us know that we can expect a new tool to help businessowners create a brand Page of their own, however, it’s not done just yet. In the meantime, anxious SMBs can build one manually by downloadingthis formand following the instructions.

While it doesn’t always get the same attention that Twitter and Facebook do, as a SMB owner you want to be aware of the opportunities presented by Foursquare even if you’re not ready yet to get involved. Last year John Jantsch of Duct Take Marketing wrote a killer post on the7 reasons why small business owners should take a look at Foursquareand there are a lot of great truths to be found there. If you haven’t read it, I’d encourage you to.

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The Profitability of American Corporations

These days everyone (myself included) has been talking about what happened to American business during the Great Recession and the tepid recovery that has followed. But what did the performance of American business look like in the years before the Great Recession? Were profits growing or shrinking? And what was the source of that growth or decline in income?

TheIRS Statistics of Incomeprovides some interesting data to show what has happened to the profitability of American corporations between 1999 and 2007 (right before the recession hit). Despite including the mild recession of 2001 and the dot com bust, these years were good ones for corporate America. The net income of the average American corporation increased by more than one third (34.1 percent) in real terms, reaching $252,396 (in 1999 dollars).

That sizeable increase begs the question: Why? The data suggest that one reason was by keeping costs in check. The average American corporation’s revenues increased only slightly in real terms between 1999 and 2007, but costs increased even less. As a result, the IRS data show that profit margins improved over the eight year period, with net income as a percentage of revenues at the average firm increasing from 5.7 percent to 7.6 percent between 1999 and 2007.

American companies were also worth significantly more in 2007 than they were in 1999. The net worth of the average American corporation increased 27.2 percent in real terms from 1999 to 2007.

Moreover, the net worth of American businesses increased relative to their sales. The net worth of the average corporation increased from 81 percent of one year’s revenues to 100 percent of one year revenues.

Of course, profitability and net worth didn’t increase in every industry. For example, the net income at the average utility shrank from $5,539,064 in 1999 to $4,573,696 in 2007 when measured in real terms.

The table below shows the net income per firm in 1999 dollars in both 1999 and 2007, as well as the percentage change between the two years for the 18 major sectors of the economy. Some of the numbers are a bit surprising, such as those for the average construction businesses, which made 1.7 percent less in real terms in 2007 than it did in 1999, despite the housing boom.

Click to see larger version of above chart

In addition, the negative news about U.S. manufacturing not withstanding, net income at the average manufacturing business increased by nearly two-thirds in real terms between 1999 and 2007.

In short, in many industries, American corporations increased their net income substantially between 1999 and 2007, in part because they got better at holding costs in check. Maybe that pattern holds clues for how American business will behave during the current economic recovery. Rather than expanding hiring and building new operations, the average corporation may try to rebuild its profits by minimizing costs.

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New List of Webinars and Conferences for Growing Companies

The next few weeks are particularly chock full of opportunities to get out there, learn, network, and start 2011 on the right foot.

This bi-weekly list of small business events, conferences and webinars is brought to you as a community service bySmall Business TrendsandSmallbiztechnology.com.

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Three-Night Small Business Revival– Grow any Business Idea in 16 Weeks
January 18-20, 2011, Orlando, FL and via teleconference

This three day seminar will teach attendees how to expand any for profit or nonprofit idea in less time and with less effort. You will learn the 11 principles of turning your concepts into cash, and join a group of committed individuals who can offer the support and encouragement you need to reach your business goals.

Starting Fresh-Assessing Risk& Threats to your Business in 2011
January 18, 2011, Webinar

Information on gauging your business’s potential vulnerabilities to natural and man-made disasters will be presented in this lastest in a series of free webinars hosted by the SBA and Agility Recovery Solutions. During the hour-long webinar, Agility CEO Bob Boyd and business continuity planner Mark Norton will discuss the basics of risk assessment, the importance of identifying critical small business functions, and employee preparedness.

SBIC& SBIR: What would you like to know? Come ask the SBA
January 18, 2011, Webinar

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has a number of programs dedicated to assisting new technology companies. In 1958, Congress created the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to help small U.S. businesses meet their requirements for growth and operating capital not available through banks or other private capital sources. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program funds research and development projects that propose a sound approach to the investigation of an important education or assistive technology, science or engineering question under topics identified each year in the solicitation. This webinar presentation will address such questions as:
- How can technology entrepreneurs get funding from SBIC?
- How to deal with financial institutions when there are no real assets as collateral for a loan (particularly when there is intellectual property or customer commitments to a product)?
- Is there a path that an entrepreneur can take at the SBA when he or she is getting no traction at a financial institution?

Smart Marketing for Small Business Webinar
January 18, 2011, Webinar

The Smart Marketing for Small Business webinar is based on the experience and expertise of Leslie Wolff, CEO, Smart Marketing Group. His five decades in all facets of the sales, marketing and management spectrum has created an approach and focus on providing practical, pragmatic (not theoretical) creative tactics that can be used immediately.

Give Me 5: Ready for Prime Time Training: Make your Capability Statement Stand Out
January 19, 2011, Online

Learn how to hone your own Capability Statement into one that gets noticed by agency contracting personnel. A selected WIPP Member will take part in a consultation with Give Me 5 Instructor Gloria Larkin for a critical review of their company’s Capability Statement. During the webinar, you will review the Capability Statement before and after – demonstrating the process of reviewing and editing so that you can apply the process to your own company.

Rev Up Your Nonprofit, Small Business Revenue with E-marketing
January 20, 2011, Webinar

In this free webinar, you’ll determine where your customers want to find you and how to get to them. You’ll learn to focus your marketing plan so it hits the market: Your most likely customers or donors. What’s more, you’ll be able to prove your return on investment. You’ll learn to measure your marketing mix so you know what’s working and what isn’t. And, most important, how to fix it when it’s not.

In this class, you’ll learn how to tailor online marketing to the specific needs of your business or nonprofit. You’ll learn how to figure out which media will work best for your purpose, whether that purpose is attracting new customers or advocating for a cause.

Minority& Women Owned Business Workshop
January 20, 2011, Brooklyn, NY

Grow your business with the city, state and other agencies. Become certified as a Minority-and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (EBE) Locally-based Business Enterprise (LBE). Companies that become certified obtain greater access to contracting opportunities with government and private corporations. Attend one of our certification workshops and learn how to become certified!

Entrepreneur Magazine’s Growth 2011 Conference
January 20, 2011, Atlanta

* Nearly a dozen hands-on seminars to help your business soar to your highest vision
* Growth strategies from top business authors, radicals and visionaries
* Meet and tweet with host Amy Cosper, editor in chief ofEntrepreneur
* Networking throughout the day to build partnerships and connections
* Business growth perspectives from theEntrepreneur of 2010winners

Women in Denim Conference
January 21-22, 2011, Storm Lake, IA

For women in agriculture from Iowa and the surrounding states, the event offers opportunities for fun, networking, learning and inspiration led by entertaining and knowledgeable speakers. Workshop sessions cover topics such as grain and livestock marketing, starting a small business, entertaining and cooking, digital photography, farm financials, new technology in agronomy, staying healthy, Iowa travel gems, sewing and gardening.

Vertical Response 2011 Take Action User Seminar Series
Multiple Cities and Dates

January 21, 2011– San Francisco
March 23, 2011– Boston
March 25, 2011– New York City
June 23, 2011– Chicago
September 30, 2011– Denver

The Vertical Response 2011 Take Action User Seminar is designed to educate you about e-mail marketing in the age of social media. Complement your attendance with a one-on-one e-mail consultation and get the chance to take what you learn and immediately put it into action!

NFIB Virginia Small Business Day at the Capitol
January 25, 2011, Richmond, VA

This event is an opportunity to learn what key state lawmakers are planning to achieve during the 2011 legislative session. NFIB can schedule meetings for you with your legislators.

Join NFIB at 7 a.m. for breakfast at the Richmond Marriott and continue on to the capitol to lobby the issues important to the business community. Confirmed to speak at the breakfast are Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. NFIB has invited Governor Bob McDonnell and all 140 legislators. This is a great opportunity for you to network with other businesses and meet directly with lawmakers.

Governor’s Business Growth Conference
January 26, 2011, Mt. Pleasant, TX

The Texas State Governor’s Office, Texas Workforce Commission, and Northeast/Texarkana Small Business Development Center at Northeast Texas Community College will present an all-day conference for business owners to provide information and resources to grow their businesses. The Governor’s Conference on Business Growth Strategies at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center is one of 20 governor-hosted forums around the State of Texas devoted to strengthening the small business community.

The $20 fee includes the Governor’s Business Awards Luncheon, resource exhibits, sessions on technology, grants, government procurement, international trade, financial solutions, business growth strategies and conference materials. Keynote speakers during the event include Texas Secretary of State Esperanza Andrade and Monica Cornetti, acclaimed author and expert on empowering women in the workplace.

Small Business Seminar: The Entrepreneurial Equation
January 27, 2011, Brooklyn, NY

Presented by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Seminar Committee. Learn how you can put banking, retirement and insurance tools to work to build and protect your business. Breakfast served.

Getting a Financial Makeover with Bonnie Nagayama
January 27, 2011, Webinar

QuickBooks is a great cornerstone for building a business, but how do you leverage that data into something that provides quick& easy actionable items to really take your business to the next level?  Join Bonnie J Nagayama, CPA, CEO of 4luvofbiz to learn how to do just that.  Topics include: (1) Take what you know about reports& use that as a spring board to unlimited grouping& subtotals, improved filters, enhanced memorization, granular security, without Excel or report writing tools. (2) Quickly determine who your most profitable customers are so you can make choices about how you will work or maybe even not work with in the future. (3) Review your company’s financial health in 5 minutes.

Blogging Success Summit 2011
February 1-22, 2011, Online

Blogging Success Summit 2011 is a live online conference designed to help you master blogging, empowering you to quickly attract and connect with customers (and prospects) via your very own platform— a blog.

Join 23 blogging pros, including Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra, Scott Monty (head of social media, Ford), Darren Rowse (co-author, ProBlogger), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Debbie Weil (author,The Corporate Blogging Book), Douglas Karr (co-author,Corporate Blogging for Dummies); experts from McDonald’s, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Sony, and Procter& Gamble; plus Joe Pulizzi (co-author,Get Content Get Customers), Mari Smith (co-author,Facebook Marketing), Jay Baer (co-author,The Now Revolution), Chris Garrett (co-author, ProBlogger), Dave Garland (author,Smarter, Faster, Cheaper), Mike Volpe (VP of marketing, HubSpot), Rick Calvert (CEO, BlogWorld) and Michael Stelzner (Social Media Examiner)—and more.

Tory Johnson’s 2011 Spark& Hustle National Tour
Multiple Dates& Cities Feb-July 2011

Whether you’re just getting your feet wet with this“business thing,” barely keeping your head above water, or finally ready to swim with the sharks, Spark& Hustle is the place to learn (exactly) how to transform your fledgling (or floundering) business into a wildly profitable venture.

NAVSEA Small Business Conference
February 1, 2011, Miami

Small business owners are invited to attend the NAVSEA Small Business Conference, sponsored by the Program Executive Offices (PEOs) for Aircraft Carriers, Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS), Littoral and Mine Warfare (LMW), Ships, and Submarines. This conference will provide a forum for small business owners to connect with senior Navy and industry leaders to learn, collaborate and explore ways in which they can offer their products and services in support of Navy warfare programs.

For more information regarding this exciting event, please contact the Small Business Conference Planning Team at (703) 941-0600, or by e-mail at mandi.jackson@sbconference.org.

BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media
February 2, 2011, Austin, TX

Toyota, REI, Texas Instruments, Kellogg Company and more will share case studies in corporate social media at BlogWell Austin: How Big Brands Use Social Media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon, for just $250. Get practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, keeping lawyers and regulators happy, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans. Presented by GasPedal and SocialMedia.org.

Digital Marketing Forum 2011
February 2-4, 2011, Austin, TX

Digital Marketing Forum Austin will feature:

• Keynote sessions from provocative thinkers—get inspired by new perspectives on digital marketing
• Case studies from leading brand-side marketers—see what’s working NOW and apply those best practices to your own campaigns
• Actionable advice and how-to’s—leave the event and start immediately improving your e-mail, search, social media, and digital marketing results
• Day-long, pre-conference workshops—choose in-depth training on social media measurement or content marketing/development
• Plenty of networking opportunities—learn from other marketers in our unique Peer-to-Peer sessions, and mingle with speakers, thought leaders, and digital marketing enthusiasts during the conference

Social Media Week
February 7-11, 2011, New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Sao Paulo, London, Hong Kong, Istanbul

Social Media Week is a global platform that connects people, content, and conversation around emerging trends in social and mobile media.

Delivered primarily through a network of internationally hosted biannual conferences and online through social and mobile media, Social Media Week brings hundreds of thousands of people together every year through learning experiences that aim to advance our understanding of social media’s role in society.

Strategic& Financial Planning Seminar
February 24, 2011, Doylestown, PA

This two part seminar for business owners will help you make informed business decisions about where to spend your money and time. The event is organized by Network Now, a business networking group for women.

Part 1– Strategic Planning. A strategic plan is the road map for your business. You will learn how strategic planning can help you increase your profitability and be guided on how you can easily develop a solid plan for your company.
Part 2– Financial Planning. Your financial plan should support your strategic plan. You will learn how to create a budget, keep track of your income and expenses, and measure your results to your forecast.

How to Conduct Market Research for Business Plans, Launching New Ventures
February 28, 2011, New York City

Fordham Marketing Professor Hooman Estelami, in this interactive seminar, discusses techniques for conducting market research for evaluating new products, new markets and competitive landscapes. This seminar will help you address the questions: Is your new product/service idea a good one? Is there a market for the product? How big is the market? How do I learn about the competition? How do I make forecasts?

Disney Institute’s Business Owner& Management Conferences: Quality Service and Brand Loyalty
February 28-March 2, 2011, Lake Buena Vista, FL

Presented in partnership with Disney Institute and Northpoint Services.“Benchmark your Business to Disney’s” and discover the strategies and practices that contribute to Disney’s world-renowned success at this conference that includes an exclusive “Business Excellence: Behind-The-Scenes” tour.

Sixth Annual Small Business Summit 2011
March 8, 2011, New York City& Online

Produced by Prime Strategies and SmallBizTechnology.com, this event is an informative, inspiring and productive day. Headline speakers include Chris McCann of 1-800-Flowers and Jim Fowler of Jigsaw, which was acquired by Salesforce.com in early 2010.

At this year’s Summit you will network with your peers, gain insight from business leaders who have built successful businesses– including 1-800-Flowers, Jigsaw, 888 Red Light, ColderICE and more– see demos by the hottest technology companies for small businesses, and hear the success story of this year’s Small Business Strategy Award winner.

Geek Girl Boot Camp
March 19, 2011, Cape Cod, MA

At this full-day technology“unconference” for women, workshops include PC and Mac, Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), Location (Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp) Photoshop, QuickBooks, Blogging, Podcasting, WordPress, Google Tools, Dreamweaver, Video, Inbound Marketing, digital photography and more. The workshopsare designed for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. There are Discussion Groups and an all-day Help Desk. The Mission of Geek Girl Camp is to educate and empower every girl and woman at every age level, on every skill level, at every income level on computer technology with fun and provide a legacy by giving back and paying it forward.

GROWCO Grow Your Company Conference
April 6-8, 2011, Las Vegas, NV

Inc. created GROWCO, a three-day conference, for business leaders who want brass tacks advice to achieve the next level of growth. GROWCO speakers include founders and CEOs of fast-growing companies, icons in the business community, and authors of definitive business tomes. Learn how to develop a vision, manage a team, create a brand, get the most for your marketing dollar, connect with customers, close deals, and find capital

12th Annual U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Conference& Expo
May 10-12, 2011, Kansas City, MO

This event will feature plenaries, educational workshops, an Exhibit Hall with over 200 exhibitors/sponsors, as well as business matchmaking sessions. Over 1,600 attendees will represent all levels of federal, state and local government agencies, the small business community, large/prime contractors, minority educational institutions and many more!

The largest civilian contracting agency within the federal government, DOE spent over $25 billion in contracts in FY 2010. The 12th Annual DOE Small Business Conference& Expo is a great opportunity for small business owners, large companies and universities alike to network and partner.

The Art of Angel Investing: What Investors Look for, and Look Out for, When Investing in Startups
May 24, 2011, New York City

This event is a must-attend for anyone interested in learning more about pitching business ideas, venture capital/angel investing and starting their own business. And for those who are Fordham Students or Alumni, come cheer on your peers in the final round of the Fordham Business Plan Competition!

140 Characters Conference
June 15-16, 2011, New York City

This event is expected to be the largest worldwide gathering of people interested in the effects of the real-time Internet on both business and“we” the people. It seems like everyone is talking about Facebook and Twitter but so what? Why do they really matter?

#140conf exposes you to the power the Internet has to disrupt businesses, change lives and create serendipity. You will leave with a fresh outlook on how the real-time Web can be used in your business or personal life to actually do something meaningful.

FAA Small Business Opportunities Training Conference and Trade Show
June 28-July 1, 2011, Oklahoma City, OK

The FAA will host its Annual National Small Business Procurement Opportunities Training Conference and Trade Show on June 28– July 1, 2010. The conference provides a forum for small businesses (including service-disabled and veteran-owned small businesses and 8(a) certified firms) to participate in technical and procurement opportunities workshops. Sessions will link small businesses with program managers, address business issues and concerns, and provide information that will benefit small businesses seeking to do business with the agency.

NAWBO Women’s Business Conference 2011
August 31– September 1, 2011, San Diego, CA

The NAWBO Women’s Business Conference is the only event of its kind focused on connecting women entrepreneurs to real business opportunities that deliver bottom-line results. The conference brings together businesses of all sizes from various industries to provide women entrepreneurs with both personal and professional tools and resources to take their business to the next level of success.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit ourSmall Business Events Calendar.

If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through ourEvents& Contests Submission Form(We do not charge a fee to be included in this listing— it is completely free to list your event.) Only events of interest to small business people, freelancers and entrepreneurs will be considered and included.

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