Having A Personal Emergency Plan For Your Business

emergency.jpgWe all know that when things just start to go smoothly, it usually doesn’t last very  long.   Personal emergencies with yourself or family members can pop up out of nowhere.   Given the choice, of course you have to tend to the crisis first.   But where does that leave your business?   Who will take over where you leave off?   What happens if you can’t attend to your small business for days on end?

Bonnie Price, a contributor to WomenEntrepreneur.com, suggests keeping an up to date binder with all of your small business’ critical information.   Bonnie provides a helpful list, of information your binder should contain, in  her article “Keep Your Business Humming Amid A Personal Crisis“.  …

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Build Your Brand On A Budget

So, you have a small business and you’re trying to build your brand from the ground up.   What  steps can you take to  establish your own well known brand with limited funds?   SEOBook.com has published a list of 11 ideas and resources for building your brand.  

The article mentions  reputation as  one of the ways to  strenghthen your brand.   Reputation is one of those things that can  make or break your business.   At the beginning of your journey, it  is so important to keep an untarnished reputation in order to grow your company.   It’s impossible to ask consumers to  put faith in your unfamiliar brand when you have a less than perfect  track record.…

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StartupNation’s 2008 Home-Based 100 Competition Is Underway

istock_000002517308xsmall1.jpgStartupNation has just announced their second annual Home-Based 100 Competition  sponsored by Microsoft Office Live Small Business.   The top 100 home-based entrepreneurs will be ranked in 10 very unique  categories.   The categories are: best financial performers, most innovative, boomers back in business, greenest, yummiest, wackiest, grungiest, recession busters, most slacker friendly, and most glamorous.   Entries will be taken until midnight Pacific time on September 30, 2008.   The top 100 winners will be announced mid-November.

If you would just like to browse thru the current nominees and place your votes, you can do so here.   There are a lot of interesting small businesses to vote for.  …

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Would Your Parent Make an Ideal Employee?

An interesting topic was brought up in a recent Business Week article, “Should You Hire Your Parents?“.   Different experiences from each side of the debate are stated in the article.    I don’t know about you, but I think hiring your parents could create tension within the family unit.  

Obviously keeping the roles defined between the parent and the  son or daughter is most important.   Daniel Negari, one of the entrepreneurs interviewed for the article, states  that he only refers to his mother at work by her name.   He never uses the term  “mom” or “mother” while in the office environment.  …

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Better Leadership Thru Communication

I haven’t had much experience with different employers or managers but I have had enough interaction to realize it is a difficult responsibility.  Every manager has their own opinions about how to interact with their employees.  Whether their actions, or lack thereof, have positive or negative effects on their employees is a matter of opinion.   Unfortunately, most leaders don’t communicate with their employees enough to know how effective their leadership skills really are.  

Without proper communication, how do you know if you are getting the best performance possible from your employees?  Do they completely understand what is expected of them?    Errors and misunderstandings are avoidable.  …

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Google Chrome Browser Coming To A Computer Near You

chromologo.jpgGoogle has announced that the launch of their new  web browser is just around the corner!   Google Chrome will be released later today in over 100 countries, according to Google’s Official Blog.   This new web browser is said to be  fast and handles today’s web applications much better.    

The Google Chrome browser will have a homepage of nine shortcut thumbnails with your most recent search history and tabs.   The tabs themselves are multi-threaded with no communication or interference from other tabs or other applications.   Each application opens in it’s own window.  

Another great feature  will be obvious when you open a new tab.  …

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Finding Small Business Success From Unusual Ideas

baggage.jpgI often come across successful small businesses and wonder how on earth they came up with their ideas.   Some of these small businesses start from the most unusual  circumstances.   Take this article,  written by Justin Petruccelli on Entrepreneur.com, for instance, “They’ve Got Baggage“.   This article is written about  Doyle Evans who  in  1970 started selling contents of unclaimed baggage in Scottsboro, Alabama.   The business quickly grew into a 40,000 square foot building which currently  attracts more than a million tourists to the small town yearly.

Is any business idea too crazy?    I think this success story reminds us that even an idea that seems unlikely, is possible.  …

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Are You Looking For Free Small Business Management Tools?

We are happy to announce the opening of our “Free Tools” section of the Small Business CEO website. Together we have gathered a group of helpful websites that offer free management tools and resources for your small business. Feel free to peruse the selection of freebies available.

There are lots of free ebooks, eguides, templates, business forms, checklists, worksheets, free pdf files, podcasts and white papers to choose from. Our goal is to provide you, our readers, with the most informative tools and resources available to assist you in being strong, effective managers and leaders.…

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Proposed Federal Legislation Provides Paid Sick Time In 12 States

paid-sick-time.jpgAccording to the Fox Business article posted this week, “12 States Push Laws to Require Paid Sick Time“, some 46 million U.S. workers lack paid sick time.   Lawmakers in 12 states are trying to change those statistics.   States such as California, West Virginia, Minnesota and Connecticut have proposed legislation that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave.

On one hand, I can see how this will become another hurdle for a small business to overcome.   “How will  I afford to offer the paid sick time?”   “Will my employees abuse the system?”   “How will  my staff cover  the workload  when  employees are  absent?”  …

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Never A Dull Moment For Women Entrepreneurs and Mompreneurs

We all know that being an entrepreneur, whether male or female, has it’s many ups and downs with countless daily obstacles to overcome.   I know I may ruffle some feathers here, but as a female myself, I think we encounter  more challenges than men.   I am merely speaking from my own personal experience and observations so please don’t hurt me too badly.

You may ask, “What would make you think that?”   Well let me explain; most women entrepreneurs are not only responsible for the success of their small businesses but the majority of household duties fall on their shoulders as well.  …

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