Lou’s tips are basic and yet critically important to producing a professional-looking video on a shoestring. I liked his first tip about video backgrounds — in video and in still photography our focus is on the image at hand and we forget to check out the background. Consequently, we could end up with a picture that appears to have a flag pole growing out of the top of our head, or as Lou cautions — a close-up of our taste in art (not necessarily everyone’s favorite).

But I wanted more. I wanted to know HOW to create a video. I discovered that Lou has created a Guide at Work.com about Guide to Producing a Video Blog.

In his how-to Guide he gets into more detail about the fundamentals of creating and uploading video to your blog; offering sites and tools that will make the process easier.

Along with offering training and how-tos for video, he offers the following suggestions for the use of a video blog (vlog):

- Provide in-house training videos for staff or new hires.
- Share footage of company events or milestones.
- Create virtual tours for real estate or travel sites.
- Produce executive biographies or video “press releases.”
- Send out video postcards via e-mail or include in your e-newsletter

Then I found an article by Hal Landen that offers 10 tips for producing a business video. His tips are more for those creating a polished professional product, rather than the do-it-yourself video uploaded to YouTube. But his comments about creating a script and identifying your target audience are right-on.

Since the audience is the only reason to make a marketing video, it’s quite important to define the target audience including their concerns and aspirations. Then list a few main benefits — show how your client’s company can solve problems, save money, or improve the lives of this target audience. Every element in the video must build on these benefits rather than merely describing the features of a product or service.

And what about the online home of millions of videos, YouTube? A video by Tim Carter covers how to make a video — from writing the script, to using props to occupy your hands, to head movements. to your energy level.

Finally, if you are looking for specific how-to information about cameras, lighting, editing and even what color clothing to wear in videos, check out Jim Kukral’s Online Video Toolkit. It requires free registration, but you get access to a microsite with 10 different videos covering technical aspects of creating your own video to put online.

Have you created video for the web? If so, do you have any favorite resources to share?

The post Ever Wondered How to Create Online Videos? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The quiz is a fun way to see if you have common traits and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.

It is by Jon Gillespie-Brown, who also is the author of the associated blog and book entitled So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur.  He has promised that book sale proceeds would benefit the Grameen Foundation, a micro-loan organization that helps entrepreneurs in poverty-stricken countries.

I have participated in the Grameen micro-loan program and am inspired by the magnitude of accomplishments one person can do with $800 or $900. “It takes a village” is never more true than what these women can do with a few hundred dollars to feed not only their own children but also others within their village. Grameen’s mission is to combine the power of microfinance, technology and innovative solutions to defeat global poverty.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Jon and learn what had inspired him to create the quiz, write the book and also why he was giving the profits away.  

Q: What inspired you to write the book in the first place?

Jon Gillespie-Brown:  I was approached to write the book after my experiences as a mentor for the London Business School. I was prepared to take a chunk of time out of my busy life because I believe it is important to give something back to “the universe” on a regular basis. All my mentoring is free and I have mentored over 100 people now and the book is simply an extension of this cycle of “what goes around comes around.”

Q:  Tell us why you chose to write about becoming an entrepreneur.

Jon Gillespie-Brown:  I wanted to write something that did not already exist today and also to provide a backbone for those I mentor, as many were considering being an entrepreneur but had no real process to decide how. I formalized seven years of mentoring into the book with forms and quizzes to help people through the process.

What I have found repeatedly is that people start a business or have an idea without considering their personal lives in the process. They would separate these two thought processes and never try and align them — it’s human nature to get excited about a new idea. However, if you don’t align your business with your personal life vision, somewhere down the line you will wish you had chosen an idea to serve you rather than the other way around.

Business is very tough, without the passion and the drive (due to the lack of planning) many people give up – hence the increased risk of failure!

Q:  What is the most important thing you hope readers will learn?

Jon Gillespie-Brown:  The most important thing they will learn is to align your personal life vision with that of your business so that your business delivers on your dreams and not the other way around!

Q:  Tell us about your interest in the Grameen Foundation.

Jon Gillespie-Brown:  My wife and I already support many charities and we wanted to support something deep and meaningful with an entrepreneurial spin — we looked at many opportunities but settled on the Grameen Foundation. We were very impressed with their track record and also the vast number of people they help.

Thanks, Jon for your time and for providing a book for those considering the entrepreneurial path.  Take the quiz to see if you have what it takes.

The post Are You Entrepreneur Material? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

All About Spelling owner Marie Rippel was suffering from the same issues other entrepreneurs experience: not enough hours in the day.

All About Spelling is an online resource for teachers and homeschooling parents.  It offers tools, testing and inventive solutions to help students improve their spelling skills. Marie and her husband Greg, started their business in December 2006.  Each month, through search engine optimization, word of mouth and other resources, they have watched their business grow.

Like many new businesses, they managed the details manually: responding to email requests, newsletter sign-ups, requests for product, and specific questions from teachers seeking a solution to help their students.

“We were working crazy hours, trying to respond to the needs of our customers,” said Marie.   “We were missing out on opportunities because the lack of systems meant that some prospects simply slipped through the cracks.”

Then earlier this year Infusionsoft, which makes CRM and online marketing software, sponsored a contest.  Businesses were asked to submit a 60-second video about how they might use the automation to grow their business. The winner was promised something unusual:  that they would experience double digit sales growth in just three months by using the software.

All About Spelling entered the contest and won.  It’s been about ninety days — and the result?

“We have doubled our sales,” said Marie.

Some of the changes All About Spelling made to their business illustrate ways we may be able to automate and improve our own businesses:

• Produced automated e-mail response templates for the most common requests which saves time
• Created weekly tips to automatically email members
• Produced a free report, which offers readers 20 tips for improved spelling
• Included the ability to classify prospects as teachers or home schooling parents so that audience-appropriate materials are sent in response to inquiries
• More easily meet the needs of their customers and prospects because automation frees them up to handle unique requests
• Launched an affiliate program which pays customers for spreading the word about All About Spelling

“We have a new employee starting next month that will help with customer service. We couldn’t do that in the past because all of our systems, information and instructions were in our head or on little pieces of paper all over the office. The automation allows us to grow our staff,” said Marie.

Congratulations to All About Spelling for winning the contest and the growth they’ve experienced to date.  According to Marie, the first step was when she downloaded a report by Infusionsoft’s CEO, Clate Mask (a guest expert here), called The Edge of Success.

[Note: Infusionsoft is a sponsor of the Small Business Trends radio show.]

The post Doubling Sales Through Automation appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Not the case with Josh Chandler. He’s 17, lives in the U.K. and has been blogging for four months. His specialty? Tech Solutions. He’s a technology journalist and Web 2.0 podcaster.

I just spent the last hour reading his blog and taking notes. I thought I was pretty “with it” when I dipped my toe into Twitter, but Josh bringing new resources, platforms and solutions to light that I’d never heard of — all with the energy and enthusiasm of youth.

Josh talks about Friendfeed and invites further blog discussion to occur over at Friendfeed – a platform that allows quick back and forth conversation. In one post he asks the question, which is better and why: Twitter or Friendfeed.

I like that he not only brings new resources to light but also takes the time to view them from all angles. Good stuff.

Perhaps the most interesting point I learned is that at 17 he is helping to promote a U.K. startup contest, being offered by Vator.tv.

They are looking for start-ups in the technology and Web 2.0 arena with operations in the U.K. to submit a video pitch of their idea. Josh is one of the judges, and the winner gets a chance to pitch their idea in front of venture capitalist Frank Boehnke, General Partner at Wellington Partners, an international venture capital company, as well as press coverage.

So if you are a startup with U.K. operations potentially looking for venture capital funding, you have until August 31, 2008 to submit your video pitch. Complete U.K. Startup Challenge information can be found here.

The post Teen Participates in U.K. Startup Contest appeared first on Small Business Trends.

That quote got me to thinking about the 21st Century version of a small business team.

Usually we think of a work team as involving employees.

However, today’s small business teams are likely to consist of a business owner working together with a group of freelancers and independent contractors, instead of employees. (After all, in the U.S. 20.4 million of us are solo businesses.)

The people in such a team are working at a distance, from their own offices. They may be across town, across the country or across the globe. This makes communication challenging.

They may work together on certain activities, but typically each is pulled in different directions on any given day. Remember that each freelancer or contractor has his or her own business and other customers to contend with.

And when you are paying someone by the hour or paying a retainer for a set menu of duties each week or month, the business owner may hesitate to include the contractors in conference calls, email distributions, or meetings out of respect for the contractor’s time. After all, time is money for most freelancers and independents. We small business people understand that.

How do you develop this kind of “virtual small business team”?

I searched websites, article directories and blogs. I can find information on hiring freelancers or subcontractors. What I find very little written about is how to make freelancers and contractors feel part of the team — or about communicating and working cohesively together when you are a group of contractors.

Yet — shouldn’t contractors and freelancers be part of the team?

I looked around for advice on how to build a traditional team. Perhaps these resources offer some clues:

Reward teamwork behaviors — Perhaps we should be offering bonuses for team results. Tonya Vinas recommends rewarding teamwork behaviors with money, in Small Business Team Building:

If building a team around results — units produced, cost reductions, meeting deadlines — include a monetary reward tied to the results. Money is a great motivator. Offer bonuses, compensation or other rewards for a great team performance.

Have clear goals – Do we as business owners have a clearly defined mission and set of goals for the team? Susan Heathfield writes in 12 C’s to a successful team:

Has the team taken its assigned area of responsibility and designed its own mission, vision and strategies to accomplish the mission. Has the team defined and communicated its goals; its anticipated outcomes and contributions; its timelines; and how it will measure both the outcomes of its work and the process the team followed to accomplish their task? Does the leadership team or other coordinating group support what the team has designed?

Treat it as a self-directed team – Since everyone is an independent contractor in the team, shouldn’t we be considering this a “self-directed team”? Jeanne Dininni points out that this is a different style of work performance from a traditional team, in her Guide to Self-Directed Work Teams:

Prepare your staff for self-directed team membership with some training of their own. Training your managers isn’t enough. You’ll also need to see that the team members, themselves, are thoroughly trained, developed and prepped for the exciting, though serious, responsibilities ahead. Effective training will equip them to be productive members of the team.

Also helpful is an article by David Chaudron, PhD entitled Nailing Jelly to a Tree: approaches to self-directed work teams. Just the title itself should let you know Dr. Chaudron’s feelings on the success rate of self-directed teams. However, I think he is just saying that if you just state “Pow — you are now a self directed team” and then walk away, that you can’t expect the participants to be successful. It sounds like a fine line.

For those of us trying to build a team with freelancers and independent contractors, how do you do that? Share your practical tips for building a sense a teamwork among a loosely-tied group of contractors.

The post Building a Team with Contractors and Freelancers appeared first on Small Business Trends.

What do you do when those words spring from the lips of an employee you’ve relied upon?

Your first reaction may be to think “don’t let the door hit you ….”

Or — you may be inclined to shout “I’ll double whatever they are offering you!”

Instead, stop and ask yourself “what led to this moment?”

Employees don’t generally quit without a great inner debate. At what point did this person begin looking to leave and what can you learn from them to benefit the rest of your staff?

Here is a brief collection of resources to help you with this question:

Judy Rakowsky has prepared a Guide to Exit Interviews in which she states:

Conducting an exit interview is worthwhile when your company takes seriously the information it garners from an employee who is leaving the job voluntarily. It not only offers your organization a chance to gain constructive lessons, but it is a tool for transferring knowledge that is walking out the door with the employee.

A key statement: “when your company takes seriously the information ….” Don’t bother asking if you don’t plan on keeping an open mind to what you are about to hear.

Judy also talks about the value of conducting regular surveys throughout the life of an employee’s career. Asking for feedback on a consistent basis creates an atmosphere for sharing. If employees come to trust that you value their opinion, they will be more forthcoming.

Susan Heathfield expands on that idea in her article: How to Perform Exit Interviews. She even provides sample exit interview questions. However, a valuable point Susan makes in her article is not to wait until they are already out the door to gather information that can help improve your company:

The best time for an employee to discuss concerns, dissatisfactions and suggestions with his employer is while he is a committed employee, not on his way out the door. Make sure your organization provides multiple opportunities to gather and learn from employee feedback, including surveys, department meetings, comment or suggestion forms, and more.

How about the responsibility of the ex-employee? How should he or she approach an exit interview? Wayne Hurlbert of Blog Business World answers this question in a classic post he wrote entitled Leaving a Job: Exit Interview Advice. Wayne likens the exit interview as the “most important interview of a person’s career.” He recommends the following (with a bit of dry humor thrown in the last sentence):

Once in the discussion room, answer the questions in a positive way. Don’t ever bad mouth the company or other employee at any level. As with a hiring interview, criticism of previous employers is a sure way to not get hired, the same dynamic is at work in the exit interview. In this case, however, you are talking directly to that former employer. This advice counts double if you were fired from your job, and any missteps could be very costly to your future. If questions are asked about specific employees, think of something positive to say. Everyone has some good qualities; even if they might be very well hidden.

Wayne even suggests that an exit interview conducted professionally could lead to being rehired in the future.

The end of a job is a difficult and challenging time for both the employee and employer. How this final moment is conducted speaks volumes of both parties.

Do you use exit interviews to gain information to improve your management practices? In the past as an employee, how have exit interviews been used and how did it make you feel? And have you ever had to bite your tongue in an exit interview?

The post What To Do After Hearing: I Quit! appeared first on Small Business Trends.

On the first morning after the heavy rain storm when my connection wouldn’t, well, you know, connect, I didn’t think anything of it. I had a meeting out of town, packed my computer and my notes and headed to the car.

On day 3 of no connection, I called the cable company. Via my phone I toured many departments, visited India and back — and still no connection.

“We’ll have to send someone out, Ms. Brown. How is next Saturday between 2-4pm?” Seeing as Saturday is three days hence, it wasn’t my first choice but the show must go on.

I packed up and headed to the local library for their wireless. Connected. Ah, that sense of no longer being marooned. I retrieved email, wrote a blog post, did some research and responded to my email.

Gads – my email wouldn’t send!

I packed up and headed to the local coffee shop for their wireless connection. Comfortable seats, a connection that works both ways — receiving AND sending. Yet there was something not so right about taking without giving, so I bought a coffee. $4.25 later (because you can’t go into a coffee shop and just buy ordinary coffee — shouldn’t you experience something different?) I send my email. Then I smell the scones. Another $2.00 later I’ve gotten caught up and yet – no I haven’t because more email has come through and another blog comment to respond to and a request for a proposal and an hour turns into many hours and it’s dinner time.

I pack up to feed my family only to realize that I have a project due to a customer by morning and they are expecting it by email. Which I don’t have in my home office at the moment. So after dinner it’s back to the coffee house again.

This frustrating dance continues for three more days, packing up my office, starting at the free library, ending up at the coffee shop, wasting gas and drinking and eating into my profits.

Finally Saturday arrives. I have dropped my computer off at the “doctors” to make sure it isn’t my hardware and in the process of swinging by to pick it up — I miss the cable guy by seven minutes. SEVEN MINUTES.

I place an urgent call — he’ll be right back, Ms. Brown. I sit for five hours and 52 minutes until 8pm— the end of their shift. I call again — oh he’ll be out tomorrow for sure. Sometime between 8am and 8pm.

No work this weekend while I wait for the cable guy.

Sunday shines brightly and the Internet is once again connected in my home, thanks to the Sunday-working cable genius. I download email, check Bloglines for my RSS feeds … and BAM! The connection is gone again.

I turn to my son in total frustration.

“I have commitments I am unable to keep because of the Internet. What happened to us that we’ve become so totally dependent on the Internet?”

He says “Wow, that would make a great blog post. Too bad you can’t connect to the Internet to write it.”

Smart aleck. Remind me why I had kids.

Three more days I travel from hot spot to hot spot looking for connections to continue to run my business.

The final day finds me here in my car at 10pm outside the Caribou coffee shop answering email and praying the connection will reach my car in this empty parking lot. Eureka! Connection without cost. Can’t survive much more of this insanity.

They come tomorrow to lay new cable outdoors. Fingers crossed.

However, if it doesn’t work at least I now know I can conduct business from the parking lot outside the local coffee house. Now, if only my van had a bathroom ….

P.S., This was my life last month. The cable guy restored my cable the next day … and in the process, took out the neighbor’s cable television.

Has this happened to you? Here are two resources you might want to check out:

John Henshell offers some advice for those experiencing computer issues — what do to before you call the repair guy, in his guide to solving business computer problems.

Nathan Janos tells us how to connect to our computer from anywhere in his article of the same name.

And be sure to share your painful, silly stories in the comments below, about how you’ve had to adapt when computer issues have hit your business. We’ll laugh with you.

The post Running My Business from the Caribou Coffee Parking Lot at 10 PM appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Today I ran across Noobpreneur’s intriguing comparison of entrepreneurs and religious leaders — both led by faith.

Having worked with Pearle Vision franchise owners for years before opening my own business, my hesitation in stepping out on my own was always that fear of the unknown. I admired the entrepreneurial spirit, the risk-taker element, and yes, the apparent attitude of faith in themselves that they would be successful.

This past Sunday while staying on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institute I had the pleasure of hearing the renowned pastor, educator and speaker Rev. Peter Gomes. The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes is an American Baptist minister and since 1970 he has served in The Memorial Church, Harvard University.

His sermon was calling “Acting Extravagantly.” He referred to a New Testament story where a woman poured expensive oils over the head of Jesus. It is a well-known biblical story that teaches us, among other things, about acting with boldness and fervency and passion, instead of being timid or going half way or holding back.

However, as I listened to his message of the benefits of acting with extravagance I thought about small business owners and our desire to stand out in the crowd. We have smaller budgets, little or no support staff, fewer resources at our disposal, and as expenses such as gas and healthcare increase, our disposable income available for making a difference dwindles daily.

Yet it is with an act of faith and perhaps a little extravagance that we can in fact make a bigger splash than the big guys. I am reminded of Brent Leary’s article the other day about David Meerman Scott giving away a 20-page document for free which led to $1 million in revenues. Was it an extravagant act to give away valuable information expecting nothing in return? Certainly it was an act of faith.

When you think “entrepreneur” and “extravagant” Donald Trump certainly comes to mind. I found an article listing Trump’s success factors: ferocity, passion, idealism, perception and instinct.

Under the comments for idealism author Evan Carmichael talks about Trump’s extravagance:

The Trump Organization has become synonymous with luxury, lavishness, class and extravagance. It didn’t get that way by following its competitors. It got that way because Trump was not afraid to think big, to do what hadn’t been done before and in a way that many couldn’t even imagine. His ability to blur the line between fantasy and reality helped push Trump’s company into a league above the rest.

In what way have you seen entrepreneurs have enough faith in themselves to act boldly, with extravagance? What were the results?

The post Entrepreneurs: Have Faith, Act Extravagantly appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Kelly Anderson of the blog Start-Up Princess recently compiled a list of recommended blogs for small business entrepreneurs. Many of them (not all) are by women. All are worth checking out.

If you are not already a regular reader of these blogs, be sure not to miss:

• Wendy Piersall’s Sparkplug CEO (formerly eMoms at Home) for her home based business perspective.
• The blog Entrepreneurs-Journey, written by Yaro Starak. He focuses on providing business advice for the online entrepreneur. Kelly highlighted the post he wrote on earning $9,000 a month from a board game. Creating thinking.
• Michele Miller’s Wonderbranding, a site focused on marketing to women.
• Newspaper Girl by Janet Meiners who unravels the mystery around affiliate and Internet marketing.
• Mom 4 Life, written by Heather Ledeboer, focuses on the many roles women/moms play in today’s world.

In addition to reviewing Kelly’s entire list of blogs, take some time to scout around the Start-up Princess site. She has a long listing of interviews conducted with entrepreneurs that are worth reading. Check out the interview of Jory Des Jardins, the co-founder of BlogHer, the annual blogging conference for women bloggers that’s grown phenomenally popular.

You’ll find tips and advice, too. One article in particular really resonated with me: Creating a Sticky Note business plan. For those who are visual thinkers the process is perfect. When you think of a business plan most visualize a formal bank document — instead, this exercise allows for free thinking and moving ideas around.

Start up Princess even provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs (Princesses) to meet up with mentors (Fairy Godmothers) and share business and life balance tips for success. It’s more a community than a straight blog.

The post More Entrepreneur Blogs, Especially for Women appeared first on Small Business Trends.

His article leads with a common misconception about entrepreneurs: family members think that just because we are in business for ourselves we must be loaded. He writes:

“For entrepreneurs it can be even worse. People assume that just because you own the company that you are rich and that they are entitled. You can easily become their personal bank … or their welfare system.”

Smith shares 7 tips for how to handle this delicate situation when you are asked for money, all of them good ones. His point number 3 really hit struck a nerve with me: “Separate emotion from fact.”

The same principle could apply to family members who ask for jobs from entrepreneurs.

When I worked on the franchise side of Pearle Vision I encountered situations where owners hired family members to work in their stores. It was with a sense of duty that my franchisees would take on family members — giving them a job and in too many cases beginning the downward slide of their profitability.

It was difficult — almost impossible — to separate the emotion of being related to the fact that perhaps they weren’t the best employee for the business. In one horrific experience two members of the same family went into business together — 50/50. When the situation went south, the ugly battles began.

Smith’s tips for dealing with this highly charged situation of family and money resonate when it comes to family members in your business. As difficult as it sounds — you have to separate the emotion from the fact and truly assess what is best for your business.

In the case of going into business together with a family member: make sure someone owns 51%. You!

The post Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Hiring Family appeared first on Small Business Trends.