Can entrepreneurs be trained to save the world?

I recently had the honor of interviewing the Managing Director at one of the top entrepreneurship academic institutions in the world, and it inspired me to take a closer look at one of most controversial topics in entrepreneurial education: “Are entrepreneurs born or trained?”

Janet Strimaitis joined the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson in 2003, and before that she was an entrepreneur herself. Her personal business experience and involvement in detailed global entrepreneurial research programs led her to the following perspective, “Babson believes that entrepreneurship is a method that can be taught”, but she cautions, “Entrepreneurship is not formulaic. It is an interactive process informed by action learning and subsequent modification. It is a rich experience, and the entire field is now recognized in academia as something worth pursuing. It has gained credibility in the top academic institutions.”

The list of successful entrepreneurs in Babson’s “Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs” certainly supports this premise.

In a Bloomberg article by Karen E. Klein, entrepreneurial consultant John J. Rooney, stated "In my experience working with hundreds of entrepreneurs and teaching on the faculty at the University of Southern California's entrepreneur program, it is clear that much of entrepreneurship can be successfully learned. However, it is also clear that people who take positive action and are focused and committed and continue on despite some negative feedback or setbacks have skill sets and personality traits that can be inborn or learned."

In a recent publication sent from the Kauffman Foundation Tim O'Reilly, Founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media said, "I think that self-motivated spirit is what drives entrepreneurs, and we need to have it drive everyone. Because if you do something useful, if you do something for love, some good percentage of those things will actually turn into a business. That's really the heart of entrepreneurship; wanting to make something happen."

These three entrepreneurial experts are really saying the same thing. Entrepreneurs have a very specific spirit. I believe that these quotes reveal two fundamentals I found after looking at hundreds of pages of opinions, studies and books on entrepreneurship training. If you combine the spirit of persistence and resourcefulness with powerful knowledge from exceptional educators the result is - more often than not - exquisitely beautiful innovation and societal problem solving in the form of successful business enterprises.

According to many experts, the best practices and methodologies of entrepreneurship can definitely be learned, but there is a significant advantage to an inherent attitude of resoluteness. The bottom line is that both ingredients matter.

My opinions are nothing new, but they represent something new to a world that is becoming more and more of a global marketplace. Entrepreneurship is a vehicle to raise up struggling economies with the goal of improving the quality of life for people on the planet.

If entrepreneurship is trainable then it has the power to join communities through creative thinking, and that type of impact is worth the study and practice.

When entrepreneurship education from the best-of-the-best at top academic institutions is layered with a spirit to succeed – it really doesn’t matter what the predominant factor is in the entrepreneur’s success. Give the credit to the training AND the courageous perseverance. In my opinion it takes both to get the most exemplary results.

So if both are needed, why worry about which is needed more? The ingenuity used in combining these entrepreneurial tools produces the most vibrant results. I would like to see more of that. More degrees in entrepreneurship. Imagine the possibilities.

I believe entrepreneurs are the next superheroes. In fact we should bring back the “Wonder Twins”. One would be “form of entrepreneurial education”. The other would be “form of never say quit”.

Amy P. Kelly is an entrepreneur that specializes in ways that businesses can support causes that improve communities and lives. She is Vice President of ClearPath where her team helps entrepreneurs achieve their goals. Amy started her first business at nine selling hair barrettes and is currently working on several new ventures while leading The Lemonhead Movement www.lemonheadsrule.com. Some of her projects include: BodyRejoice, The MomVest, Strategies for Life and YipDeals www.yipdeals.com. Amy has a particular affinity for youth entrepreneurship and is a wife and mother of four. Contact her at amypkelly@live.com.

Four Questions to Help Determine if College is Right for You

Trying to decide which college acceptance letter to open first? We have an alternative idea: Tear them all up. Forget about college.

While we certainly think college has a place, the fact is higher ed isn’t for everyone. If you consider college the means to starting your business, answering these questions can shed a new light on your decision.

1. Can you learn your field only in college? If your entrepreneurial dream involves something like opening a cutting-edge surgery center—where you’ll personally be doing some of the cutting—our crystal ball shows college in your future.

If, however, your passion lies in running and not necessarily participating in your business, you can learn more about business doing business than studying it in college. Unfortunately, you may have difficulty entering the workforce without a degree, as many non-degree holders will affirm.

2. Do you already have a product or service you’d like to bring to market? Waiting at least four years before bringing your idea to market could be its death knell. After all, why wait when PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel may give you $100,000 to start your business if you skip college?

If you join academia, keep monitoring your market to ensure no one is encroaching upon your big idea. In the event your idea has reached critical mass before you graduate, there’s no law forbidding you from starting a business while an undergrad. Just look at Mark Zuckerberg.

3. Do you like to learn? People who love learning should go to college, right? Not necessarily. You may enjoy the company of fellow knowledge-seekers—or be shocked at how often they blow off class—but you’ll be paying a hefty price for the same knowledge a library card and Amazon.com account can provide.

Small business owners have to learn something new every day. If you have the ambition and self-discipline to learn on your own, you may have the right stuff to start your business now.

4. Do you have capital available? For argument’s sake, let’s say you have $10,000 available for your future. That money could, realistically, cover one year of in-state tuition and fees at a public university, roughly 25 percent of your four-year cost minus room and board.

Or, that $10,000 could finance your business while you work another job to make ends meet (unless you’re profitable from the get go). Considering that seed money will be gone if you attend college, you have a fairly convincing case to start your business now. Of course, there’s no guarantee.

If your business fails, you’ve lost the money. Then again, you might drop out after one year of college. In either scenario, the 10 grand is gone. You have to ask yourself which is more valuable: a year spent trying to create a successful business, or the learning and experience gained from one of year of college.

There are plenty of other considerations as you decide contemplate college, but as the saying goes, “Experience is the best teacher.”

About Business Owner’s Toolkit
With an emphasis on problem-solving dating back to 1995, Business Owner’s Toolkit™ (www.toolkit.com) offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. The site also offers a monthly newsletter, up-to-date news topics, and Ask Alice!, a column that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.

How to Make an Unhappy Fan a Happier Customer

Here at Constant Contact, we’re lucky to have many people who call themselves fans — both the Facebook kind and the offline kind.

But like any business or organization, we sometimes have, ahem, “opportunities for improvement.” At those times, we’re happy to hear feedback, even if it’s not the positive kind.

That’s because when your customers, clients, members, or supporters are unhappy, for whatever reason, it’s one of the best opportunities to show just how committed you are to keeping them happy. And, dealing with an unhappy customer successfully can often turn that detractor into an advocate.

What are the best ways to deal with negative feedback on your Facebook Page? Here are five tips:

1. Know what people are saying. You can’t respond if you don’t know what’s being said. Free tools such as NutshellMail and HootSuite can help you stay on top of what people are posting and saying on your Page.

2. Respond quickly and publicly. If you see a complaint posted on your Facebook Page, don’t ignore it — or worse, delete it. Instead, respond as quickly as possible with a polite message that says “Sorry you’re having a problem,” or “Sorry the experience/meal/product/service wasn’t to your liking,” and a quick offer to help make things better. This shows others you’re listening and that you want to improve the situation.

3. Be real and forthcoming with information. We’ve all heard stories of businesses or organizations who’ve used lame, inauthentic excuses to explain why something went wrong. Most often, your fans just want the truth. Honesty is always the best policy and transparency goes a long way. That’s one reason we at Constant Contact have a Performance Status page on our website that we can share to keep customers informed.

4. Don’t fight fire with fire. Whether or not you agree with the feedback received, don’t get defensive or start a debate with the person — especially if the feedback is irrational or insulting. One of the worst things you can do is broadcast a “he said, she said” discussion for all to see. Remember: Posts on a Facebook Page last longer than you may realize. Some things are just going to be a personal opinion and you can’t change that. Focus on what you can change: the customer experience.

5. Take the conversation offline. If you can, offer to get in touch with your dissatisfied customer offline, either through email, phone, or by asking the customer to come in to your place of business to talk with you in person. Obviously, you don’t want to ask the person to broadcast his or her personal info on your Facebook Page, but it’s better to deal with these kinds of issues outside of social media.

One final tip: Just because the situation has been dealt with, don’t delete the original comment. No one wants negative feedback on their Facebook Page, but leaving documentation of how you handled it can be very helpful. After all, when one of your Facebook fans is unhappy, showing that you’re listening and committed to rectifying the situation can go a long way toward keeping all of your customers happy.

Looking for more examples of ways you can better manage your online reputation and deal with negative comments on your Facebook page? Check out Constant Contact’s blog http://blogs.constantcontact.com/.

Gina Watkins is a leading expert on e-marketing for small business – and has a real passion for helping businesses to succeed. Her ongoing series of dynamic lectures are filled with real-world examples, humor and results-driven wisdom garnered from more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience. In addition to owning her own business, she is an award-winning direct marketer, has been featured on WUSA Channel 9's Mind Over Money show, Dr. Gayle Carson’s Women In Business radio show, Morgan State’s Briefcase Radio program, and in numerous other media. In her role as Constant Contact Regional Development Director, she’s presented to more than ten thousand seminar attendees about the keys to success with easy, affordable, highly effective technology tools that grow trusted business relationships.

Three Keys to Consider Before Exporting

Exporting may sound like territory only reserved for large companies with equally large budgets (or, for you Seinfeld fans, one of Art Vandelay’s occupations). The truth is that armed the right knowledge and business strategy, your business can export successfully—and with less competition than you might imagine.

Roughly one percent of American small businesses export, and nearly 60 percent of them ship goods to only one country. With such a large market relatively untapped by small businesses, the world is your oyster.

If you’ve always been wondering where you can find practical information on exporting, we’ve identified three areas to consider before making a splash in international waters.

1. You’re not afraid of paperwork. Many entrepreneurs dismiss exporting because they’ve heard countless horror stories about the paperwork involved with international shipping, customs offices and payments.

Unfortunately, the naysayers are right. Exporting can be difficult, especially during your foray into the new venture. But remember that old saying that nothing good comes easy.

You’ll need to familiarize yourself with a dozen or more export documents covering everything from invoicing to bills of lading through licenses and a plethora of certificates. The SBA, Department of Commerce and other federal agencies provide samples and explanations of the most common exporting documents at export.gov—a great resource as you research the ins and outs of exporting.

2. The market research indicates you’ve (probably) struck gold. Obtaining reliable market research showing where your product will be a hit is priceless to entrepreneurs, particularly when you’re trying to penetrate foreign markets.

Because you’re considering areas that aren’t easily within your reach, you’ll want to start by reading secondary market research (information from reports and similar published sources). You can access more than 100,000 secondary market research articles through the U.S. Commercial Service’s Market Research Library.

Once you’ve identified markets that seem like viable options, it’s time to start primary market research (information from experts, customers and others in the target market). If you’re itching to travel, now’s the time to book your flight to the most promising market. But if you’d rather not fly thousands of miles to discover the market is a bust, get in touch with the local embassy’s exporting contact. The International U.S. Commercial Services Offices offer important contact points as you dive into the market.

3. Your business can adapt to international marketing. What helps sell your product in the States might be a colossal dud in other parts of the world. Different cultures respond to different forms of marketing.

Through export.gov’s International Sales and Marketing section, you can capitalize on resources covering the export marketing gamut, including:

· information and counseling

· strategy and planning

· advertising and promotional events

· market entry and expansion

If your business seems ready for exporting, entering the market will demand significant time in both strategy development and tactical execution. But with the potential for a new revenue stream that isn’t tied to the vagaries of America’s and your local economy, exporting could be a game-changer.

About Business Owner’s Toolkit
With an emphasis on problem-solving dating back to 1995, Business Owner’s Toolkit™ (www.toolkit.com) offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. The site also offers a monthly newsletter, up-to-date news topics, and Ask Alice!, a column that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.

Mobile Technology Helps Small Businesses Break Down Boundaries

By 2015, it is expected that there will be a mobile device for every person on the planet and most people will use mobile devices to access the internet. However, just having a mobile device does not mean you or your business are truly mobile or that you are getting the most out of your device(s).

Have you ever needed a file that was back at the office on your desktop? Couldn’t find a client’s phone number to return their call? Have a big project come up at the same time you have a family vacation planned? With a business strategy that includes mobile technologies, situations like these can be handled seamlessly regardless of location or timing.

Before developing a mobile strategy, assess your company’s current mobility needs. Here are a few questions to consider:

· Do you have the capability to access email, files, etc. while away from the office?

· What are your internal and remote technology capabilities?

· How easily can employees communicate and collaborate with one another both inside and outside of the office environment?

· How secure are your internal and remote systems?

While using the right hardware, such as smartphones and laptops, can have a significant impact on your small business’s efficiency and mobility, also consider how you plan to employ the cloud for software and services via the internet for maximized productivity.

Small businesses are considered to be the driving force of cloud adoption due to the secure accessibility of data and services as well as the cost savings compared to traditional infrastructure solutions. My last post focused on how cloud computing can help small and midsized businesses (SMBs) with productivity. You can also click here for the guide “Running Your Business in the Cloud” to help develop a small business mobile strategy.

Once your business has remotely accessible information and services, determine which mobile devices for small business will be the best fit. Think about what the needs are today, including:

· Any regulations the business needs to adhere to (such as HIPPA or Sarbanes-Oxley)

· Pain points you/your team is dealing with that a mobile application could help alleviate; and

· What your needs may be in the future

With a list of requirements, you can determine which mobile devices will best support your business and team.

Smartphones offer similar benefits to a laptop or tablet, while still offering the full capability to work securely with the same email, calendars, documents and programs you use on a desktop.

Mobile technologies allow you to transcend perceived barriers due to company size and empower you and your team to choose how, where and when you work.

For more tips and information on how technology can support you and your business, follow me on Twitter (@Cindy_Bates) or follow Microsoft SMB on Twitter (@MicrosoftSMB) and Facebook (Microsoft SMB).

Grow Your Email List, No Computer Required

Has this ever happened to you? 

Someone comes in to your place of business, or attends an event you’re hosting, or makes a donation, or engages with you offline in some way, and then he or she leaves and you have no way of staying in touch. Same goes for all the people who may hear an advertisement for your business or organization on the radio, or see a print ad in the local newspaper.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could add people like this to your email list quickly and easily, and could put the power of joining the list literally right in the hands of your customers, clients, members, or supporters?

Well, it’s possible, and they don’t even need a computer. All these people need are their mobile phones.

That’s right: These days, with mobile technologies making things easier and more portable, people can sign up to join your email list in seconds, and all you have to do is some quick setup.

Here’s what I mean:

1. They can join via text message. Using a service like Constant Contact’s Text-to-Join , your customers can join your email list simply by sending a quick text message. All you do is pick a keyword, and then tell people to text that keyword to a number that we’ll give you. You can promote this at events, in your radio advertisements, or any other time you come across someone who is not already on your list. (For more detailed information, check out this quick tutorial.)

2. They can scan a QR code. QR codes are everywhere these days, and you can even use them to grow your list now with Constant Contact’s Scan-to-Join feature. Scan-to-Join allows you to create a simple barcode that, when scanned by a smart phone, takes your customers, clients, members, and supporters to a mobile friendly Join My Mailing List page, where they can add themselves to your lists. You can put this code on flyers, business cards, print advertisements, or other printed materials. (For some great tips on using Scan-to-Join, download this quick handout.)

Remember: Asking people if they’re on your mailing list also gives you the chance to ask if they’re connected to you on social media. Mobile apps make it very easy for people to start following their favorite businesses, organizations, or people on Twitter, and to “Like” a Facebook Page too.

Growing your mailing list is something you should always be doing. By letting your customers, clients, members, and supporters join with their mobile phones, they can sign up anywhere, at any time.

Are you using mobile technologies to grow your email list? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/constantcontact.

Gina Watkins is a leading expert on e-marketing for small business – and has a real passion for helping businesses to succeed. Her ongoing series of dynamic lectures are filled with real-world examples, humor and results-driven wisdom garnered from more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience. In addition to owning her own business, she is an award-winning direct marketer, has been featured on WUSA Channel 9's Mind Over Money show, Dr. Gayle Carson’s Women In Business radio show, Morgan State’s Briefcase Radio program, and in numerous other media. In her role as Constant Contact Regional Development Director, she’s presented to more than ten thousand seminar attendees about the keys to success with easy, affordable, highly effective technology tools that grow trusted business relationships.

How to Choose a Domain Name

A domain name represents an easy-to-remember mnemonic address designed to help a person easily reach one of millions of servers on the Internet.  Typically, a company has one of two goals when choosing a domain name: branding or memorability.

If a company has been around for some time, their name becomes branded to what they do and where they are.  People associate their service with the brand.  By choosing a domain including that brand, a company strengthens their brand exponentially.   Good examples include carinos.com, tonyromas.com, and redlobster.com.

Sometimes, a company's name is not the best choice for a domain name, primarily because of potential spelling confusion.  In those cases, I recommend a domain name based on memorability and spelling ease to those clients.

For example, one of my clients is “Faulkner's Pest Service.”  While faulknerspestservice.com is available for registration, I recommended my client choose another domain.  My suggestion was based on my own usability belief that most people on the Internet operate with a seventh grade educational spelling ability.  The word, “Faulkner” is easily misspelled and would, no doubt, cause numerous problems for my client's customers and potential customers in reaching his site.

Instead, I recommended he go with something more memorable.  After research and brainstorming we decided texasbugkillers.com was the best choice – easy to spell, easy to remember.

Authoritative versus Redirecting Domains
Every website has an authoritative domain name, the actual address the site is known for.  However, it is possible, and in some cases, useful to assign other domain names to the same website.

For example, my authoritative website address is ericspellmann.com.  However, as you can probably guess, the double “n's” at the end of my name create typing fiascos when people attempt to find me online.  To limit the confusion, I registered ericspellman.com (with one “n”) and forwarded it to the same website.

In other words, my website is reachable by both addresses, but the authoritative address is ericspellmann.com.  Typically, the authoritative address is the domain that remains in the address bar of a user's browser.  Most forwarded domains switch once they reach their authoritative site.

Some companies choose domain aliases to highlight products.  As an example, Microsoft owns windows.com, microsoftoffice.com, and hundreds of other product-based domains.  The reasoning is simple:  many people, when unsure of the actual address for a site will “guess” by typing it into their browser as an address.

Competitor Name Confusion
Sometimes, my clients choose a domain name without thinking of the ramifications.  For instance, a client will complain that the “.com” version of their preferred domain name has already been taken by their competitor.  They ask me to register the “.net” or “.org” version of the same name.

I strongly attempt to dissuade my clients from this action.  My own experience shows that you can tell someone over and over your “.net” address and they will still type the “.com” version. At that point, the worst possible situation can happen to a business owner: His customer will mistype the address and end up at the competitor's site instead!

Most businesses try to avoid this confusion.  The only businesses that welcome it are those that stand to benefit in some way.  For example, the guys that registered whitehouse.com for their porn site knew the likely confusion with the high-traffic whitehouse.gov address would generate huge amounts of traffic.

I welcome your comments below!

Visit Spellman & Associates

Eric Spellmann continues to be one of the highest rated speakers at our national ASBDC conferences.  His unique view that small business websites should “do” something pushes against the standard “online pamphlet” view of most web design companies.  He believes your customer’s websites should be driving qualified leads and sales on a weekly basis.  Eric speaks at a number of other national and state conferences nationwide, but enjoys running one of the most successful web design companies in the country.  He truly believes in the SBDC mission as it helped him start his own company many years ago.  To contact him, visit his website at EricSpellmann.com.

How to Provide the Electronic Payment Options Your Customers Want

In an economy where consumers prefer debit cards and credit cards over checks and cash, accepting only non-electronic payments just doesn’t cut it anymore.

To reach the greatest number of customers, you must accept electronic payments. We’ve consolidated the myriad options into the most popular choices among small business owners, whether you own a storefront, home business or fully online shop.

Before You Begin

All credit card companies charge a per-sale fee, usually between 2.5 percent and 5.5 percent. No matter what technology you use, you will pay for the privilege of accepting credit cards.

To compensate for the lost revenue, most businesses raise prices accordingly. A price adjustment that small is, in most customers’ minds, a drop in the bucket. You probably won’t hear a word about it.

Merchant Accounts

For many decades, the only way to accept plastic involved opening a merchant account through a bank or lending institution. And, for many small businesses, merchant accounts remain the best route.

The bank creates an account to accept all your credit card transactions and provides you with the credit card swiper. They’ll collect the credit card fees. Merchant accounts are a great option if:

· You experience high-volume sales at your registers

· You want a personal relationship with your vendor

· You’re worried new technology may be outdated by the time you install it

Computer-Attached Credit Card Swipers

With products like the USB Swiper and Barcodes Inc., you can plug in a credit card swiper directly into your Mac or PC. Many of these companies also provide online payment options.

If you’re not interested in finding a bank to create a merchant account and prefer working from your computer, this option might be right up your alley.

Smartphone-Attached Credit Card Swipers

Your smartphone could be the answer to accepting credit cards. If you go this route, you’ll need to make sure the swiper and app will work with your phone.

Some of the most popular apps and swipers include Square Card Reader, Intuit GoPayment Mobile Credit Card Processing and Verifone’s PAYware Mobile. Although a multitude of mobile payment options are available.

If you have a storefront or online business that doesn’t conduct large sales volumes, you might want to turn your smartphone into a “swipephone.”

Online-Only Payments

Instead of using a credit card swiper or your smartphone to type in credit card numbers from online sales (something most consumers won’t be thrilled with), you can integrate an online payment service into your website.

PayPal has been the most popular choice for small businesses for years. If you haven’t built your website yet, you might want to investigate products like AccountEdge’s Enstore or Volusion that streamline creating ecommerce websites with online payment already included.

No matter what you decide, make sure you vet the electronic payments option thoroughly so you understand all fees, processes and technology involved. If there’s one thing that’s more of a hassle than purchasing and installing a credit card system, it’s returning and uninstalling a credit card system.

About Business Owner’s Toolkit
With an emphasis on problem-solving dating back to 1995, Business Owner’s Toolkit™ (www.toolkit.com) offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. The site also offers a monthly newsletter, up-to-date news topics, and Ask Alice!, a column that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.

The Happiness Business

Whether you like it or not, you’re in the happiness business. No matter what product or service you sell, your customer is looking for happiness, and counting on you to provide it.

People are always seeking happiness. In our seeking, we often mistake short-term pleasure for happiness, and end up unhappy, but it’s still happiness we seek. And if we make enough mistakes along the way, eventually we’ll find true happiness.

So for every customer, you’re a stop along the happiness journey. If you stay keenly aware of this fact in all aspects of your business, you will succeed.

We experience many types and levels of happiness, from the most basic to the sublime. From satisfaction of physical needs to glorious moments of joy, and countless levels in between. In the seeking, at this moment, each of us is looking for something slightly (or greatly) different.

Marketing happiness is difficult in its simplicity. It’s also critical.

Do:

· Listen to your customers. Understand as fully as possible what type and level of happiness your product and service provide.

· Tailor your message to precisely communicate customer happiness in that way.

· Take your message directly to the segment of your market that seeks the type and level of happiness your company can provide.

Don’t:

· Assume everybody needs your product.

· Assume what makes one person happy makes everybody happy.

· Assume that your product makes everybody happy in the same way.

· Blanket the market with features.

People move quickly along the happiness journey. It’s very possible, and optimal, that you can meet a single customer at several stops along the way, developing a “happiness relationship” that can have tremendous value beyond what the customer may have originally perceived.

In our own business, we meet the very basic need for security and survival (as perceived by the client) in the form of cash flow funding, the life blood of business. In this way, our business addresses the need for “basic happiness.” But in the process, we work together to locate additional business opportunities and grow the client’s business. This results in self-esteem, the sense of achievement, success, etc., which makes the client happy in a slightly deeper and less frantic sense. Along the way, we hope to build a relationship, a friendship, which leads to an even higher “form” of happiness. Ideally, we all share in that happiness which provides a very positive level of motivation and inspiration.

Much of our operational focus is on meeting that basic need. We know that if we can’t turn around cash flow in a hurry, we won’t ever get the chance to explore that next level of happiness. We know that all of our clients value cash flow for their “happiness,” so we make sure we can deliver it on their terms.

When you begin to assess your business from the happiness perspective, you’ll start to see aspects, positive and negative, about your business, from the eyes (and maybe even hearts) of your customers. You’ll begin to make changes, not only to your marketing message, but to your production, your administration, and even how you answer the phone. 

So for your own happiness as business owners, don’t forget: whether you like it or not, you’re in the happiness business.

Tom Smith is Vice President, Marketing for Riviera Finance, a nationwide commercial finance company and sponsor of the ASBDC. Prior to Riviera, he worked as an independent financial consultant and held various positions in finance and marketing for Xerox Corporation. He is married with two sons, and resides in the Tampa Bay area. Tom holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

With offices nationwide, Riviera Finance (file:///C:/Users/april/Downloads/www.rivierafinance.com) provides early-stage accounts receivable financing to small companies in need of cash flow. Riviera's non-recourse factoring program includes full protection against bad debt, and complete receivables management services. Since 1969, Riviera Finance has funded over 20,000 small companies.

Tech Tools with Ramon's Taste of Tech

The Keys to Hiring Veterans

The upcoming surge of job-seeking veterans presents a great opportunity for small business owners nationwide—one you might not see again in your lifetime. Hiring a veteran means you’ll have an employee with a unique skillset, offering experience in:

· learning new skills and concepts with minimal training

· administering and using a variety of hi-tech systems

· leading staff at different skill levels

· remaining calm and productive under intense pressure

And that’s really just scratching the surface. To attract and retain veterans to your business, we’ve identified the two pillars for making your business a magnet for military hires:

1. Develop a veteran-specific differentiation for your business

2. Capitalize on the Veterans Hiring Toolkit

Focusing on these building blocks for your veterans recruiting efforts will give you an edge over your peers—and help you compete with the big boys.

Differentiating Your Business

You can compete for veterans by showing the advantages of working for your business, and small business in general, from their perspective. The key is differentiating how your business, and not a large-scale competitor, can help unemployed veterans:

· achieve higher levels of success in their desired fields, and

· enjoy more freedom in your work environment than they’d be afforded elsewhere.

You can probably answer these questions for any candidate. But as you target veterans, you can impress them with:

· your knowledge of the skills and training they’ve already acquired, and

· how they can use and build upon that knowledge at your company.

By researching military careers, you’ll learn what aspects of your open jobs align with certain veterans’ experience. Yes, this will take some work on your part, but the benefit of being able to present yourself and your company as experts in what veterans have learned and gone through—and having the research to back it up—outweighs the cost of your research.

Once you’ve finished differentiating your veterans-friendly business, include the message in all steps of your recruiting: from the ad, to the phone interview, and all the way to the hire offer.

Following the Veterans Hiring Toolkit

The U.S. Department of Labor has released a Veterans Hiring Toolkit that provides useful and actionable steps to create a business that addresses veterans’ wants and needs, including ways to accommodate wounded veterans and military spouses.

The Toolkit breaks down the most important aspects of hiring veterans into six steps:

1. Designing a strategy for your veterans hiring program

2. Creating a welcome and educated workplace for veterans

3. Actively recruiting veterans, wounded warriors and military spouses

4. Hiring qualified veterans and learning how to accommodate wounded warriors

5. Promoting an inclusive workplace to retain veteran employees

6. Providing access to helpful tools and resources

The website provides detailed instructions for each of the six points mentioned above.

With a small investment of your time, you can help those who’ve served their country work in an environment that understands, appreciates and challenges them daily.

About Business Owner’s Toolkit
With an emphasis on problem-solving dating back to 1995, Business Owner’s Toolkit™ (www.toolkit.com) offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. The site also offers a monthly newsletter, up-to-date news topics, and Ask Alice!, a column that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.

The newest, oldest and above all most important tools for your business.

As we set out to build our businesses we are inundated with the latest “must have” tools.  Tools to increase our productivity, to help us with our marketing, to help us find new customers and keep the old ones.  Tools to build a web site, to launch a product or even to help us track our financials.

But…those aren’t the kind of tools I am talking about.  Here’s some you might not have thought of, that are free to use, but can cost you terribly in the long run if you don’t use them.

Honesty.  Intellectual honesty.  Being honest with yourself about your products, your marketing, and your growth.  About being honest in your representations with your clients, your brand and your employees.

Loyalty.  Loyalty is such a magic quality.  It can carry you through dark days, and build a bond with your suppliers, vendors, clients and employees that can’t be broken.  Remember, you can’t demand loyalty, but it often comes back to you when you give it.

Courage.  Courage to do the right thing, even when no one is watching.  Courage to admit a problem with your product to your best client.  Courage to tell your employees the truth and ask their help in solving a problem.  

Faith.  A belief in yourself.  A belief in your employees.  In your company, in your product.   And most importantly, in your customers.  If you don’t believe in them, your relationship will never work.

Perseverance.  Winston Churchill had it right when he said “Never never never never give up!”  Sometimes we win by simply not giving up.  Ever.

Enthusiasm.  Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.  Emerson had it right.  Enthusiasm is infectious, contagious and most of all fun.  And don’t we all work better when we’re having fun?

So how do you do all of this?  How do you create this kind of environment in your office?  In my opinion…you can’t create it.  I think it’s like motivation.  I personally don’t think I can motivate anyone, I think the best I can do is create an atmosphere under which motivation can occur naturally.  And I think that’s how it is with these tools as well…the most you can do is walk the walk.  By maintaining a core set of ethical principles…yes that’s what we are talking about here…ethics…you’ll build the right Company…the right way.

Peter Justen is the Founder of FivePlus, a cloud based financial dashboard for small businesses (www.fiveplus.co) He is considered a subject matter expert in small business, and has been interviewed by leading publications including Forbes.com, WSJ, INC, Entrepreneur, PC Magazine, PC World, and FOX News Radio. Peter was profiled by Smart CEO Magazine as one of the “20 Leaders We Admire in Washington, D.C.”, and was singled out by the Government of Finland in their study on innovation as a “Shining example of US Innovation”.  

A Quick Guide to Foreign Trade Regulations

Who is the U.S. Principle Party in Interest (USPPI)? What is a shipment and when you must file in the Automated Export System (AES)? For more information, please visit our website: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. We honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly. We are guided on this mission by our strong and capable workforce, our readiness to innovate, and our abiding commitment to our customers.

Procurement Corner: Lasting Impressions….Are Business Cards Passé?

Thinking back over the several decades when I managed Procurement organizations on government contracts for one of the aerospace & defense giants, I recollect the vast number of times I either exchanged business cards or merely received them from businesses hoping to do business with “me” (us). Occasionally, I would share them with my purchasing staff however, and in all honesty, the majority of the time I eventually just “filed” them, usually in a (infrequently used) rolodex or bottom of a drawer. Unfortunately, this scenario is not unusual today.

So what’s the point of swapping them in the first place? In theory, the objective of “the exchange” is to share critical business and contact information. From a supplier’s perspective, create lasting impressions to receive future orders as needs arise. From a procurement perspective, having viable sources readily available to meet technical demands and achieve mandated small business procurement goals. Did you know that government buyers and contractors still have procurement small business goals today? Yes, indeed!

So, how does a supplier seeking new or additional business actually convey all this “critical” information in such a tiny space on a 3 ½” x 2” business card? And how does one get the information in front of the right person(s)? Better yet, who is/are the right person(s)? Is there a viable alternative or supplement to business cards to help achieve success?

Revisiting the basics, we all know the intention is creating lasting impressions – “value-added”, gaining a competitive “edge”, “getting your foot in the door” or some combination of these targeting the bottomline. Typical business cards offer (in very small font) information like company name/address, point-of-contact, title, phone numbers, email, logo and, maybe even a catchy little phrase (i.e., “Specialty Drilling since 1978”). Little more. So what additional information would make a buyer more efficient and help sway him/her into contracting with your company? What knowledge would reduce the buyer’s “researching” time and make the process faster while reaching those small business goals? I often suggest to my clients a one-page (8 ½” x 11”) “Capability Statement” (CS). Provide only information needed, well thought out and in an easy-to-read format which, when “scanned”, will quickly convey all the buyer needs to know but not, information “overload”. More is not better!

 Simple suggestions/minimum information (from my procurement/government perspective) include:

· Company name, address and logo (optional)

· Contact info/website

· Brief but concise (2 -3 sentences, max) capability statement (what your company offers/what’s special), bolding your business size/status

· Bulletized list: What sets your company above the competition

· Brand names/products or services you offer; special equipment

· North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes

· DUNS #, CAGE Code, GSA Contract number (if any), etc.

· List Key Customers

So, are business cards passé? Probably not. Is there a more effective way of communicating your critical information? I suggest there is! To be continued on future ASBDC blogs – Suggestions for CS formatting, specific content and, addressing the “how to find that right person(s)”.

Note: This technique/tool works equally well for both government & commercial entities.

Don’t “Get Filed”…..Don’t be Passé!.....Make an Impression! 

Scott Sealing is a Procurement Consultant with the UH SBDC (TX) and an ASBDC member. He also works closely with the UH PTAC (TX) and is an APTAC member.  He specializes in counseling small businesses through the rigorous process of registering with government agencies, and then researching and bidding on government contracts.  He also provides SBIR/STTR proposal development support.  Scott has over 28 years of procurement and logistics experience working for A&D prime contractors on federal contracts.   He supported NASA contracts in NM, TX, FL, AL CA and, DoD contracts in NM and CA.  Scott is a certified Supply Chain Management (SCM) Professional (SCOR) and is certified in the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt curriculum.  He has authored white papers on SCM and conducted domestic & international presentations for government, industry, and academia on procurement and supporting government contracts and, on the effective application of SCM tools & techniques.

Entrepreneurship and Wounded Warriors

In the current economy where unemployment rates are already elevated for people in their twenties, the rate for Veterans sits at approximately 5% higher than the population as a whole. At the same time the SBA reports that veterans are more likely to start a business than the general population. Some reasons for this include the discipline and risk-taking they might have experienced in the field- when you’ve risked your life, taking a risk to start a business is put into an easier perspective. When you’ve been trained to get back up and keep going in the field, and to work precisely and closely with others, well, those are extremely useful entrepreneurial traits.

Because of the internet, the options for creating business and services create opportunities exist that weren’t imagined by veterans of previous eras. Even severely impacted people who might have needed in the past to be supported to live, are now often likely to need support to start something.

A welter of loans and grant programs for people with disabilities can be researched through the SBA and the Defense Department. But first it helps to know what one is doing and have a sense of the desired destination.

The Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities is a primary resource, supported by at least eight business schools at such institutions as UCLA, Syracuse University, Texas A&M, Florida State, Purdue, UConn and LSU.

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities

http://whitman.syr.edu/ebv/

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) offers cutting edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their service to our country.

In the current era, technical sophistication counts for a lot in starting and maintaining a business. If a veteran doesn’t yet have the basic knowledge, hardware and software to take advantage of virtual resources, here is an essential head start:

Wounded Warrior Path to Strength (America's Adopt a Soldier)

www.americasadoptasoldier.org

WWPTS is a partnership developed over a four year period with Dell, Microsoft, Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. Through the maturity of this program we are able to provided Hardware Capital (Dell Laptop-with MS Office 2007 and Windows 7), Knowledge Capital (Four Days of MS Office 2007 classes from certified Microsoft Instructions) and Social Capital (Active broadband-Verizon).These are critical tools for our Soldiers to continue their training and education stay connected with family, social and professional networks/organizations.

The economic impact of each succeeding wave veterans starting new businesses has remade the American economy since World War II. The veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are poised to create even more fundamental growth with the unprecedented tools and support at their disposal.

“We couldn't have imagined that the online launch of the Funding Roadmap TM would coincide with the most profound economic crisis of our lifetime, but here we are, and as a world full of investors and lenders look to reboot, we’re here to provide an innovative, networked business planning and due diligence reporting system for funding professionals and entrepreneurs alike. It also includes a video pitching platform, a document repository and deal flow marketplace so entrepreneurs will have an online medium to brilliantly communicate all the essential data – along with their personal passion and commitment.”

Ruth. E. Hedges is the creator and CEO of Fundingroadmap.com. and Startups Across America. She has been featured in the New York Times, on ABC’s Home Show, and the Financial News Network did a two-part series on her for their show entitled ‘American Entrepreneur’.

For more information please visit http://fundingroadmap.com and http://www.startupsacrossamerica.com/SAA/

The Importance of Including Google+ In Your Social Media Strategy

Yes, there’s yet another social network, and this time what you post directly correlates to the search results Google returns.

In early 2012, Google expanded the focus of its search results from great content, links, keywords and site architecture to include three new areas:

1. Personal results, such as Google+ photos and posts created by or shared specifically with the search user.

2. Profiles in search, meaning Google will display relevant people based on the search term.

3. People and Pages, including people profiles and Google+ pages Google thinks match the search query.

When Google users see fun pictures, people and profiles listed above your search results, you’ll probably notice a significant decrease in hits to your website.

To ensure your business isn’t left out of the mix, you’ll need to create a Google+ Business Page and post to it with some frequency.

Six Quick Steps to Launching Your Google+ Business Page

Visit Google+ for Business to start. To make the process a little easier on you, we’ve created this simple guide that sticks to the basics of Google+ Business Pages.

1. Choose the correct category. You’ll be presented with five category choices. Making sure you select the correct category now saves a lot of headaches down the line.

2. Enter your phone number, or add it to Google. If Google can’t match your business phone number with your business, you can easily add your business to Google’s directory in this step.

3. Change the profile photo. Personal pictures are for personal pages. Of course, every rule has its exceptions, and a personal picture is fine if you’re a professional like an insurance agent, financial planner, doctor, etc.

4. Spread the word from your personal Google+ account. You can promote your new Google+ Business page from your personal Google+ account. If you haven’t created a personal account, it’s a good idea considering customers love to hear from small business owners.

5. Post on your brand new Google+ Business Page. Congratulations, you’ve completed your Google+ page! Like Facebook, it’s essentially an info page until you start making posts and engaging with other users.

6. Link your business website. Click the “Get the badge >>” link to add a badge to your website that links directly to your Google+ page.

Keeping Google+ in Perspective

Google+ may feel like the new toy you can’t stop playing with, but realize its role in the grand scheme of things. Facebook reaches about 800 million users, and Twitter lays claim to more than 300 million tweeters. At this time, Google+ only reaches 62 million users. Google+ will have to fit into—not dominate— your overall social media plan, even though it plays a role in your Google search results.

But make no mistake: As Google controls what’s displayed in search results, using Google+ is critical. Until, of course, Google changes everything yet again.

About Business Owner’s Toolkit
With an emphasis on problem-solving dating back to 1995, Business Owner’s Toolkit™ (www.toolkit.com) offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. The site also offers a monthly newsletter, up-to-date news topics, and Ask Alice!, a column that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.