Small Biz Owners – Do not Use Limited Resources as Excuse to be Unprofessional

May 24, 2013

Small Biz Owners - do not use limited resources as excuse to be unprofessional
There are lot of limitations on small business, many of which are resulting from lack of resources and size. Retail business owners can only carry certain products due to limited budget and order minimums, service businesses can only serve limited number of clients due to lack of resources and they cannot bid on certain jobs due to lack of equipment and manpower. However, you need to be careful about not using limited resources as excuse for presenting yourself in unprofessional manner to your customers.

In professional transactions, business image is as important as the products or services you provide. Granted you don’t need to wear fancy suits in all situations, but they may be required when you are presenting your clients in the courtroom as their lawyer. Similarly, you do not need graphic laden, interactive website for your business to attract customers in all situations. If majority of customers are expecting a certain image and you are not projecting that image it is going to be difficult for your business to succeed.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ,

Do Small Businesses Need Social Media Policies?

April 27, 2013

Social media policies for small business

Most companies now use at least some level of social media to promote their business. Assuming your company uses this method of promotion, it is important to ensure that your online message is professional and consistent.

Large companies create detailed social media policies to make clear to staff exactly how their businesses can and should contribute to these online platforms. This ensures that the company creates the correct impression across all of their online presence – from blog posts to Twitter “tweets.”

Given the high visibility and spontaneous nature of social media, it is fair to say that creating a social media policy is equally important for a smaller business, to ensure that costly mistakes are not made when interacting with customers online.

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Filed Under: Employees, Technology Tagged With: ,

Tax Season Opens Security Risks for Small Businesses

April 24, 2013

Tax Season Opens Security Risks for Small Businesses
According to a nationwide survey conducted by the National Cybersecurity Alliance, 73 percent of small businesses rely on trusted Internet connections and 77 percent report that information security is of the utmost importance. Despite this, over 87 percent of small businesses are unprepared for data breaches that may occur online or through other, traditional methods.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ,

Top 10 Blog Articles from 2012

January 5, 2013


As we herald into 2013 I thought it would be worthwhile to revisit the stories we produced in 2012 and the response we received from the readers. Here are the top 10 articles, in no particular order that got the most attention, discussion, controversy and response.
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Filed Under: Employees, Finance, Management, Marketing, Operations, Sales, Strategy, Technology, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Small Business Owners – Beware of These Social Media Marketing Traps

August 15, 2012


Many small business owners think of social media as panacea for all marketing and sales ills. They believe, often wrongly, that by jumping on the bandwagon of social media they will be able to improve their sales by 25% overnight. They are fooled by misconceptions promoted by the so called social media experts. I regularly get 4-5 emails every week from these experts offering me to help promote my blog and land it on the first page of Google Search for a charge!
While there is truth to the fact that every small business needs to have Internet and social media marketing strategy you have to first understand what it can and cannot do for your business and set the right expectations before jumping in. We do believe that there are selected social media tools that small businesses must use. It’s how you use it that really makes a difference. That is why I talked about social media best practices for small business owners in earlier post. In this post let’s turn the table and discuss the traps you need to watch out for when using social media for marketing purpose.
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Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Technology Tagged With: ,

Should you Outsource Computer Support for your Small Business

August 12, 2012

Sponsored Post (Brought to you by Greeks Mobile)

Technology has become an integral part for all businesses these days. Whether you are operating a multinational corporation or a small mom-and-pop business you cannot build a successful business without integrating computer technology. While technology can be a great boon to grow your business, it can become equally frustrating when something goes wrong with it. Just think about the last time you called customer support of a company and you heard the representative say – “I am sorry, but my computer just crashed. I am afraid I cannot help you.” This type of situation can not only leave you and your customers frustrated, but it can result in lost sales.
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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ,

How to Reduce Real Estate Cost with Virtual Office

August 3, 2012


If the economic downturn of the last few years has taught anything to business owners it is to stay flexible and nimble. This applies to large corporations, but it has been even more critical for small business owners. After all, small businesses are working on a shoestring budget and do not have much room for error. I discussed the actions small business owners can take to become flexible in earlier post. I also showed a framework that can help you reduce costs in a systematic fashion. It involves looking at various costs and eliminate, rent, share and optimize them in that order.
For small business owners one of the biggest costs and impediments to being flexible is the real estate expense – either owned or leased. Lately, some entrepreneurs have come up with novel approach to help you reduce this cost, while still letting you keep the appearance of having full service office. Let’s look at how it works and what you can gain from it.
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Filed Under: Operations, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Does Your Small Business have Local Internet Strategy

July 26, 2012

Sponsored Post (Brought to you by RevLocal)

Here is a quick question for you. Let’s say you are looking for a restaurant to go out for evening dinner with your friends or family. Where would you turn to find out? In the old days your answer would have been Yellow Pages (remember those thick books you used to keep?). Not anymore. These days more and more people are turning to web sites such as Google Places and Bing Local to uncover local businesses. These Online business listings, along with review sites such as Yelp, are becoming the new “Yellow Pages” of the Internet age.
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Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,

SohoOS Provides Free Tools for Small Business Owners

June 30, 2012


Those who are regular readers of this blog know that I am a big supporter of small businesses many of whom feel that they are at a disadvantage when competing with large corporations. I firmly believe that not only can small businesses compete with their larger rivals,but can beat them at their own game. We showed some of the techniques you can use to beat large competitors in earlier post.
In my view large corporations gain advantage against smaller rivals with economies of scale and having better access to capital and business tools. However, the Internet is changing the playing field in favor of small business owners. SohoOS is one promising start-up that aims to level the playing field in the area of business tools. SohoOS shares our vision of helping small business owners effectively compete with and beat their larger rivals who hold unfair advantage.
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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , ,

Create Great Looking Online Retail Store in a Flash with Goodsie

April 22, 2012


Do you want to start an online retail store, but are always afraid of effort and money required to do so? I have come across a cheap and elegant solution that has the potential to help you with it.  The solution comes from a start-up called Goodsie. I checked out their web site and was very impressed with its functionality and ease of use. You do not need to have computer programming knowledge to use this software, which is a great relief to many of us who do not have that skill or don’t want to deal with that hassle.

While online retail stores have been around for some time, small business owners have been at a disadvantage against their larger rivals due to their lack of skills and money required to build and run online retailing. You can use Amazon or eBay, but you are likely to be drowned out amongst thousands of businesses who are jockeying for the top position. That is why I strongly believe in having your own online store with a unique identity that you can control. Goodsie lets you do that easily.
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Filed Under: Sales, Technology Tagged With: , ,