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.

1. Entrepreneurship 101: Is Entrepreneurship Right For You? by Daniel Sweet of Free Resume And Career Toolbox Blog. It’s an unfortunate truth that not everyone is capable of entrepreneurial success. It takes a certain kind of personality. Daniel has a new series of articles that may help you determine if entrepreneurship suits you. This one is the index, along with an introduction.
2. Get More Done with Activity Logs by Dr. Robert Karlsberg of The Road to CEO blog. Having trouble with your productivity? Dr. Karlsberg discusses how keeping activity logs can benefit you, and offers a PDF download of a sample log sheet.
3. 10 Reasons Why I Love Google by Jimson Lee of Speed Endurance. Bootstrappers and startups are always strapped for cash. And software can be very expensive. So how can you not love free software. Jimson lists ten web-based applications or services that Google offers for free. (I might be wrong, but I thought Google Apps Premier edition is only free for 30 days.)
4. Not So Smart After All by Mike Buckley of Mine Your Own Business. Mike offers an amusing story of why it’s important for businesses to maintain integrity.
5. 3 Huge Steps On How To Leap From The Security Of A Job To A Home Business by Cade Krueger of Small Business Opportunity. Not everyone finds it easy to go from a salaried job to a starting a business, and sometimes running it from home is more fearsome. Cade offers a substantial explanation of three steps that you can take to make the leap.
6. Planning Out a Short Term Project by Matt of Realigned Living. As the title suggests, Matt points out that planning isn’t just for big/ long-term projects.
7. There are Times When Features are Better Than Benefits by Jim Logan of Jim Logan. We typically market to consumers in terms of the benefits of a product or service. Jim suggests that sometimes it’s better to talk about features.
8. If At First You Don’t Succeed by Adnan of Entrepreneur Buzz. Despite the title, Adnan’s article is about being cautious about sharks when you start an online business. Although, if you don’t succeed the first time around… Well, you know.
9. 13 Things a Successful Entrepreneur Must Know & Take Action On by Edith Yeung of Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act. Edith discusses thirteen building blocks that entrepreneurs of any industry should take note of.
10. Advertising Jingles and Commercials - Radio & TV by Matt Hanson of Matt’s Creative Advertising Blog. Matt offers five rules to consider if you are planning on using running ad jingles on radio and TV.
11. How to Write a Headline and Grab Your Prospect by the Eyeballs! by Chris Tackett of Direct Marketing News. If your company needs to do direct marketing to gain customers, read Chris’ very detailed copywriting guidelines.
12. You Can Make More Working Less by Eric Hudin of Everyday Marketing Ideas. Eric offers up the radical idea that you can earn more by working less, provided you learn to be more efficient in your tasks.
13. 5 Distractions To The Nesting Entrepreneur by Ant of The Beef Jerky Blog. Ant cautions “nesting” entrepreneurs of five distractions that they may face. These are entrepreneurs that are still dipping a toe into the idea of going into business and haven’t fully committed.
14. How to Influence Others by Terry Dean of Integrity Business Blog. Terry offers six tips for positively influencing other people as part of your general business proceedings.

Notes
Here are some reasons for an article’s exclusion.

• Resubmitting the same article to a carnival. I keep all unpublished entries that meet the requirements and publish them when I can. If an article does not meet requirements, it gets deleted in my list. Not honoring this rule means permanent exclusion from this carnival as my time is limited and I don’t want to have to read it all over again.
• I’ve become fairly tolerant of the occasional typo or bad grammar, but if an article consistently shows poor grammar or spelling, it will not be included.
• Submitting articles where 90% of the content are quotations from someone else’s article.
• Articles you took from elsewhere, that someone else wrote and had published elsewhere.
• Articles about home-based businesses are okay, home-based jobs are not. There’s a distinction: having your own business, which this carnival is focused on.
• Not relevant or promoting services or an affiliate product.

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.

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.

T-shirt Advertising

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!

Windshield Wiper Flyers

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.

Video Sharing

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.

With Suppliers

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.

With Landlords

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.

This is a roundup of some blog carnivals that Logo Design Works blog posts were recently accepted into.

1. 4th Arsenal of Goals & Plans Carnival published 11 Pros and cons of promoting your business online.
2. Make Money Blogging 101 - Jul 16/07 published Blog carnivals: an inexpensive way to promote your busines website.
3. Carnival of the Capitalists, Jul 16/07 published Blog carnivals: an inexpensive way to promote your busines website.
4. Carnival of Small Business Issues #11 published 11 Pros and cons of promoting your business online.

Keep in mind that this blog  also currently hosts the Carnival of Small Business and Startups. The rules (and the link to the submission form) are here. The first edition has been posted.

The big advantage of our small businesses is our ability to give more personalized customer service. In our business they are not just numbers but important customers. We know their first names and we share some personal stories with them.

The problem now is almost all small businesses are doing the same thing. We need to find a more potent marketing strategy to win more customers and improve our business performance.

Duct Tape Marketing recommends we surprise our clients once in a while. It is time to take one step higher by moving from customer satisfaction to customer delight.

What’s the difference?

Customer satisfaction is fulfilling the needs of your customers. On the other hand, customer delight is all about anticipating their needs and offering solutions even before they ask for it.

This can be small things like Duct Tape’s example: when they hire you to remodel their kitchen - get their windows cleaned. Do not be satisfied by doing what the customer needs or wants. Instead, give something more!

If you can do this, expect more loyal and passionate customers who are very willing to give you free word-of-mouth advertising!

Starting today, your marketing campaign must revolve on customer delight always! More discussions on this subject will follow here soon.

There are different approaches when it comes to managing your employees. Depending on circumstances or problems encountered, you can be project-oriented or people-oriented. Hopefully gone are those days when business owners or managers rule by force and intimidation. This is the time to be adaptable to different situations and more sensitive to your employees’ needs.

There are two proven management techniques very applicable to entrepreneurs:

The Team Player

This method requires strong project management skills because you will empower your employees to call the shots and make big decisions. Your role is to motivate them and monitor their overall direction. Listening to your people and allowing them to make suggestions will make them feel valued.

The Director

Some situations call for immediate solution and this is the time to let your employees know you are the “boss”. Get your hands dirty by directing employees what to do and time needed to finish it. You must be clear, concise, and specific to avoid any misunderstanding. This is effective when your employees are afraid to make commitments and reluctant to take control of the situation. By showing that you know the way, you will win their trust.

These methods are very handy once you use it on appropriate situations. Failure to understand the entire issue will lead to disappointing results.

Some of us do not know yet the range of management responsibilities of entrepreneurs. Visit Wally Bock’s Three Star Leadership Blog to learn about what supervisors do everyday. Although this is based on a corporate setting, the duties mentioned are similar to what you must do in your business.

As entrepreneurs it is unavoidable that we must make several business proposals or presentations to different kinds of people. It can be some guys from lending institutions, venture capital firms, angel investors, suppliers, and your regular customers. Not to mention the annual presentation you have to give to your employees regarding the state of your business.

More importantly, you must learn to tailor fit your presentations to each group you are dealing with. In fact, Instigator Blog cites that poor formatting and packaging is one of top ten reasons why proposals fail.

In case you are having a hard time fine tuning your presentations, just follow these rules from the experts:

A veteran of hearing numerous elevator pitches and business presentations, he is advocating that each presentation must have only 10 slides presented in 20 minutes with font size of at least 30.

The Art of Unexpectedness

Presentation Zen says make your presentation stickier by using unexpectedness as your tool.

You can get people’s interest by violating their expectations. Surprise people. Surprise will get their interest. But to sustain their interest you have to stimulate their curiosity. The best way to do that is to pose questions or open up holes in people’s knowledge and then fill those holes, say the authors. Make the audience aware that they have a gap in their knowledge and then fill that gap with the answers to the puzzle (or guide them to the answers).

It’s funny how easy we are easily carried away by one seemingly good business idea. There are moments when we lose our objectivity because we are so passionate about this concept playing in our mind.

Admittedly, some breakthrough innovations were powered by passion combined with courage to venture in unknown territories. However, we need to wake up from our dreams and start facing reality.

Is my business idea viable?

These are the angles you must consider:

Product Benefits

Identify all the benefits your product can give to your intended customers. Once you have a list, compare it with existing brands in the market and start eliminating similar benefits. This will reveal if your product has some strong advantages or simply a me-too product.

Market Dynamics

If you are familiar with the industry this will not be much of your concern. In case you are new in this playing field you must thoroughly research current business practices and future directions of the market.

It also involves identifying direct and indirect competitors in your chosen category or industry. Typewriter is a classic example of business failure due to poor reaction to market dynamics and indirect competition from computers.

For a time, Kodak’s slow reaction to shift to new digital technology nearly ruined the business.

A formal and more rigid approach of this process is called SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis. A comprehensive post about this tool can be viewed at Internet Marketing for SMEs.

If you are looking for ways to build brand awareness, it is time you join selected trade shows. These are exhibitions where companies set up a booth to present their new products or services. Tradeshows are commonly sponsored by established associations in your industry.

Additionally, this is also a good opportunity to spy on your competitors and identify new business opportunities. Before joining any trade show, there some things you need to consider:

Consistency

You booth must be coherent with your company or brand image from logo, taglines, name, and overall design.

Visual Effects

Simplicity is the key. Ideally your graphics must be readable in less than 5 seconds. Use bold colors, striking graphics, and unique shape to easily grab the attention of your audience. Focus on a short, single, and very provocative message to convey. Trade show attendees are bombarded with different messages and you must cut through the clutter to be remembered.

Giveaways

Giveaway items must always have your logo and be small yet very hard to throw away. Since all your competitors will probably have some giveaways as well, attendees will have a very hard time if you offer something big for them. They might even throw items away or give them to other people. A flash memory stick is a very good example of a good giveaway.

Picking Prospects

Marketing Idea Blog shares some practical tips on how to pick prospects out of a crowd.