Small Business Trends

Last week a group of students interviewed me, as part of a class project, looking for secrets and keys to success. They were asking me because after 22 years of bootstrapping, my wife Vange and I own a business that has 45 employees now, multimillion dollar sales, market leadership in its segment, no outside investors, and no debt. And a second generation is running it now.

Frankly, during that interview I felt bad for not having better answers. Like the classic cobbler’s children example, I analyze lots of other businesses, but not so much my own.  As I stumbled through my answers, most of what I was saying sounded trite and self serving, like “giving value to customers” and “treating employees fairly,” things that everybody always…

Creative entrepreneurs have existed throughout history. Creativity is timeless.

Creativity does not have to cost much — it can take the place of big expenditures. In fact, creativity can be a powerful asset if you learn to use it and not hold back.

Case in point: recently I attended the Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference. As is typical at such conferences, each attendee received a bag with promotional materials from sponsors. In the bag I saw this:

It’s exactly what it looks like: a real U.S. dollar bill with a Post-It Note attached. The note says: “Are you looking for help marketing a small business online? Give me 10 minutes and I will trade you $1 for $10!”

Now, I’ve been to a lot of conferences over the years.…

Unfortunately, not all business opportunities were created equal. Some business opportunities are better than others and you may be better suited for one, more than the rest.

How do you decide which business opportunity is right for you? Ask yourself these questions about each business you review:

1. Does the seller give you enough information about the business? How many business opportunities have been sold, and how many are in operation? Can you contact some of them? Does a Google search for the business return anything other than webpages selling the bizop, like negative reviews, or other people running the business? Do you have enough information to fully evaluate the business opportunity before you purchase it? Does it sound too good to be true?

2. Are you passionate about…

Once again, it’s time to hear from you about what’s on your mind about your business.

Most of us who are small business owners and entrepreneurs tend to reach a point where something gets in the way of growth. At some point, we stall or slow down. I’d like to know: what’s holding you back from being more successful in your business? What’s preventing you from growing to become a bigger or more successful business, and achieving your dreams?

Let’s cut to the chase — please take the poll:

Last week, friend and colleague John Jantsch wrote “What’s money got to do with it?”. In his article, he examined how deep-seated attitudes about money can hold us back. As he pointed out, “Many a wonderfully creative, self-promoting, innovative, passionate and seemingly successful entrepreneur has stumbled mightily when it comes to … making money ….”

I’d like to take a page out of John’s book and look at how a law of nature can shape our attitudes toward technology and get in the way of growing our businesses and becoming wildly profitable — the way we know we were meant to be.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “yeah, but I love technology. I get a thrill every time I get a shiny new laptop or the latest…

If you read this site through a feedreader, you may have missed visiting our Small Business Success Center. That would be a shame, because you’d miss some great resources.

Down the right side of all pages in the Small Biz Success Center you will find a collection of neat stuff from Windows Vista (our sponsor of that section).

The resources include:

• Case studies – Read about small businesses that are using Windows Vista. These case studies are some of the most detailed I’ve seen — giving tips and pointers about what Vista can do. For instance, check out the case study about Everything Digital, an IT consulting company. It talks about using Vista gadgets, including something intriguing for quickly creating screenshots on your computer, called the Snipping Tool.
• FAQs – There’s a…

Which tool or technology has benefited your business in a way you never expected? And how difficult would it be to operate without that tool today?

Once again, I asked several entrepreneurs and business people to answer our question of the week. As usual, the answers give a lot to think about. We learn that technology has the power to free us from drudgery and avoid frustration; make us more efficient; expand our marketing reach; go after new business opportunities; even cut through writer’s block and save money.

Let’s read what my panel has to say, and which technologies have benefited their businesses:

“Desktop search program,” says Ed Bott, Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise:

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who file stuff meticulously in…