Welcome to the second edition of the Small Business and Startups. As many entries as possible have been including, based on my time to read through each. If your entry is not here, it may appear in the next edition, unless it is either not relevant to the Carnival theme, promotes your services, or promotes specific affiliate products.
If you did make it in to this edition, please give a link back as soon as you can. Preference for subsequent entries is given to new bloggers (those not already selected in an edition) and those who have linked back to editions they’ve been in. If you submit regularly, and get in but don’t link back, then your own readers don’t benefit with opportunity of being introduced to other blogs – which is part of the reason for a blog carnival: networking.
Where provided, summaries of articles have been published here, though in future editions, I will try to provide my own summaries, when time permits. Enjoy.
Notes
Here are some reasons for an article’s exclusion.
To summarize, this carnival targets existing small businesses and startups, or entrepreneurs on the verge. What advice can you give them – business and technical – to help them towards success? There’s a wide spectrum of topics, including branding, identity, marketing, hiring, online efforts, success, productivity and more.
If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please.
If you haven’t heard of Yahoo! Pipes, you’re missing out on an incredibly powerful, multi-purpose Web 2.0 service that you should seriously consider for your blogging research and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) toolbox. Here are just seven reasons to do that.
Yahoo! Pipes is still in beta mode, so on occasion there’s quirky behavior, unresponsive servers, and changing modules. And yet, it is arguably one of the most powerful Web 2.0 services to date. It’s free, although you do need to be signed up for a Yahoo! Mail account.
Watch this blog for custom Pipes, as well as the occasional video screencast tutorial explaining how to to build a Pipe.
We, entrepreneurs, are mostly involved in running the day to day operations. As we continue to grow the business we will need more employees to meet our business targets.
The problem with some entrepreneurs is they resist delegating responsibilities, do not allow employees to make any decision without consultation, fail to listen to sentiments, and somewhat focused on the details of the projects. If you are doing this then you are guilty of micromanagement.
This lack of trust in your employees wastes time and energy, and often leads to business failure. One of the remedies to avoid being a control-freak entrepreneur is to be result-oriented.
Instead of worrying about how your employees will do the tasks, focus on the endpoints or final outcome. If they constantly meet your expectations and their commitments, get off their back and let them handle the tasks at hand.
Take time to discuss with your employees the things that must be done immediately and solicit their thoughts on the matter. You must come up with a definite timetable to accomplish all tasks and must make your employees liable to their commitments.
Additionally, allowing employees to handle situations boosts self-esteem and commitment to the company.
Via Lifehack
Advertising is such a dreaded word for many starting entrepreneurs. After all, tapping television, radio, and newspapers require heavy spending. The reality is you need advertise your products one way or the other. You need to get noticed otherwise you will compromise the entire business. Good thing there are some creative and cost-effective alternatives for entrepreneurs like us.
Placing your company or brand logo on t-shirts and giving it to your regular customers will help increase brand awareness. Use bright colors to easily catch attention. Asking your employees to use these t-shirts on their way to office is a good alternative of this approach. Better yet, make this your official employee uniform!
Some people might find it annoying but putting flyers under windshield wipers easily attracts customers to try your products. However, this is not applicable to all products, so be very careful when using this approach.
Sharing business tips or how-to video clips to top video sharing Websites like YouTube, Dailymotion, and Metacafe has become very popular these days. You just need to have a simple video camera, a bit of software (much of it free), and an Internet connection.
Before you think of using these approaches, visit Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog to know the 12 types of ads you can use to your campaign.
Entrepreneurship is a series of negotiations among different parties like suppliers, employees, venture capital firms, tenants, and customers. It requires that you know when to change your negotiating style. Sometimes you need to be tough but there are times when you need to compromise.
You are already familiar with general negotiating tactics like low-balling and silent treatment. It is now appropriate to learn different tactics for different parties.
As a startup company you do not have enough leverage or advantage to demand lower prices because your starting volume is very low. It may appear you do not have any choice than to agree with the price set and simply ask for small discounts.
The first thing you need to do is to make these suppliers believe in the promising future of your business. To do this, you must have a powerful presentation backed by realistic financial projections. If you manage to impress your suppliers, they will start to lower their defenses and be more flexible with their terms.
Suppliers love to hear “long-term partnership” and I’m sure you do also. Make your promise credible by signing long-term contracts. To make it more appealing you can buy supplies for the next two years. The catch is you demand to spread payments and ask for longer payment terms.
If you need to get rent a commercial office space, The Texas Property Lawyer lists some issues that should be negotiated, many of which are applicable regardless of the state you operate in.