The Online Business is Arguably a New and Upcoming Better Way of Living

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You and a million other people are more then likely sick and tired of working a nine to five job that doesn’t deliver respectable income. You may even be an entrepreneur and are tired of all the constant headaches that come with operating your own business. If so, you know what it is like to be overworked and underpaid.

Technology endures the lives of the human race to a better way of living everyday, but has yet to deliver a significant way of better living when it comes to the average labor population. Many people are still working sixty hours a week at a dead end job just to make your monthly rent payment on time. Have you ever thought to yourself that with all the technology advancements in our modern day in age, doesn’t there have to be a better way a living?

Welcome to the 21st century where the Internet has exploded into a prestigious business tool that already has generated billions of dollars through business. I specialize in the study of Internet business technology and devote the majority of my time to researching new Internet technology. The Internet now enables you to work at home and generate respectable income without ever having to leave the comfort of your own home. Great, but if its so convenient, why isn’t everybody doing it? The answer is because the human population is unbelievably uneducated when it comes to computers and the Internet especially. That’s where G.B.O.S comes in. G.B.O.S (Greater Business Opportunity Service) is a company that specializes in setting people up with their very own Internet business that will enable them to generate respectable income through the power of the Internet without ever having to leave the comfort of their own home.

G.B.O.S are experts when it comes to Internet businesses. They are of the most reputable home based business services that offer a program that can have you making money through the power of the internet today. Visit their site at http://www.making-money-online-program.com/

Why IT is Integral to Small Business Success

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Information technology lies at the heart of many 21st century organisations and businesses – phone lines are a basic commodity and for almost all sectors of commerce, the internet continues to prove to be a key tool. Technology can also make it easier to run your business cost-effectively. Improving cash-flow is an obvious area that all companies strive to achieve and with the right IT support in place, it is possible to watch your cost-efficiency grow along with the business itself. Flexible working for employees is just one of many ways to benefit your business. Technology makes services such as remote access possible, which means employees can work from home or when they’re on the move. But, when it comes to broadband you might want to consider whether you can manage with a usage allowance or whether you would prefer unlimited downloads. Usage allowances vary depending on which provider you choose and you can match one to your specific needs. Unlimited download usage is ideal if you want to share the connection around the office; therefore, opt for whichever suits you best and remember to account for any potential growth that could occur in the future. What’s more, some providers offer packages which include Wi-Fi minutes, allowing even the most mobile of workers to access their emails when out of the office. Mobile broadband is another useful feature to consider, as this allows employees to access the internet from their laptop wherever there’s mobile coverage – there’s never been so many ways to stay connected. Telephone lines can be combined with broadband in order to cut costs and the packages available range from standard lines to more sophisticated services. Indeed, features such as call waiting and diversion mean you need never miss another call again, whilst you can even access features that allow you to listen to your messages from any phone. Therefore, you can easily keep up to speed with what’s going on even when you’re on the move. And to ensure your IT infrastructure runs effectively, it is important that you have the necessary business IT support available. Of course, the level of support offered will vary between providers, but most should offer round the clock UK based helpdesk support; meaning you have access to IT experts whenever you need them the most. Other support services to look out for include internet and desktop security, which can help keep harmful viruses at bay. But more importantly, remote IT support can eradicate the need to call out an engineer, thus helping to push costs down further. And this can only be a good thing when you are attempting to manage a small business.

How Can Your Business Benefit From The Internet?

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Understanding how your business can benefit from embracing the Internet within its everyday operations can lead to improvements in efficiency and a strong growth in sales, provided you implement the appropriate technology to your advantage. With that in mind, it’s important to get to grips with how your business can leverage the Internet to create a competitive advantage and to give your business the opportunity to grow your market share.
There are a number of advantages to be gained by any business from the growth of the Internet. The Internet opens up whole new avenues in terms of sales and marketing, as well as increasing the efficiency of business communications. Email is great and now we have VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). With VOIP telephone systems, it’s now easier than ever for business owners to benefit from the cost savings and efficiencies when they need to communicate globally.
Another great plus point to embracing the Internet and new online business technologies lies in establishing ecommerce facilities, which can track and process orders and payments from your customers. By integrating this within your business, you can give your customers greater choice when it comes to making payment and better service from order point to final delivery.
Outsourcing can be a great way to improve efficiencies and benefit from diverse skill sets out with the normal competence of you and your employees. Outsourcing might seem initially out of reach, either technically or financially, but getting into the routine of outsourcing certain aspects of your business is a great way to cut costs overall and to benefit from specialization and a higher quality of output across outsourced areas. What’s more, any technical constraints surrounding outsourcing, even abroad, are now put to rest with the help of the Internet, making outsourcing much more possible for the average small business owner.
As a small business owner new to outsourcing, you’d be surprised at the breadth and depth of this industry, particularly the growth experienced over the last few years. You can outsource almost any functionality of your business, from customer services through to software and IT, marketing / sales and especially accounts & finance – almost every element of your business can feasibly be outsourced to some third party provider. The trick is calculating which outsourcing opportunities provide returns through increased efficiencies and save on cost against those that are merely an additional cost centre and a drain on resources.
It’s evident that the Internet has had a significant impact on the way we do business, and for small business owners, the Internet can prove to be a vital source of expansion and growth. Yet still, many managers have not properly exploited the Internet to the benefit of their business. Whether that’s improving efficiency, generating sales, outsourcing work to experts or interacting with third party suppliers more economically, the Internet can bring a whole host of benefits to any business.

Online Business Administration Degree May Be The Ticket To Promotion

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A high school degree and associate’s degree can only get you so far in a career. Many people are stuck in the same job for years without the possibility of promotion because they do not have an advanced degree. More and more professionals are going back to school to expand their education not just because they have a goal of obtaining a higher degree, but also because in order to advance in their current position or receive higher pay, a bachelors degree is what they need. This is why an online business administration degree may be the best way to receive that promotion.
Numerous colleges and universities across the nation offer degree programs in business administration. Choosing the right one can be an intimidating and daunting task. For those individuals who are already in the workforce or need to work while going to school, and online business administration degree is the best option. An online degree program offers flexibility and offers students the comfort of completing tasks from the comfort of their own home. Online programs are offered nationwide so it is easy to find a program that will fit best. This is an added bonus for individuals who do not live in a close proximity to a college or university. Online programs offer numerous options to students who might not otherwise be able to purse a degree.
Due to the competition surrounding the job market, it is that much more important for individuals to receive a bachelor’s degree. Obtaining a bachelor’s degree will make individuals more marketable when they go to seek jobs. Employers look for experience and knowledge in the career field. Students can gain this experience and knowledge while obtaining an online business administration degree and participating in internship programs. Filling a resume with experience and skills will put individuals a step above the competition.
The curriculum that goes a long with an online business administration degree is designed to prepare students for a real career in the business field. Students are expected to learn the various areas that are associated with business administration. It is also important for them to develop decision-making skills, build their leadership abilities, stay up on business technology, and understand the basics of finance and accounting. Students completing a business administration program should also be well versed in business ethics and understand the importance of ethics in the business world.
The classes in a business administration program are intended to enforce these skills to students. Classes include the Legal Environment of Business, Principles of Accounting, Organizational Communications, Technology in Business and Management Theory and Leadership. These classes are designed to help students gain the skills necessary to be successful in the business field. An online business administration degree will also include classes such as keyboarding and word processing that are an integral skill needed in business. These skills are not only useful in the business world, but in everyday life as well.
All in all, the market for an online business administration degree is growing. The career field is large due to the fact that students graduating from these programs are versatile and can choose from numerous different careers. Those who are already in a career field will be able to advance faster if they have a bachelor’s degree. It is also known that individuals with a bachelor’s degree are also paid significantly higher than individuals with a high school diploma. So whether students are just coming out of high school or are already in the business workforce, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration will help in career advancement.

Small Business IT - Doing More With Less in 2009 - Part II

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With over a decade of Information Technology experience working with small and medium sized businesses all over the San Francisco Bay Area, Mark H. Jessen’s Small Business Technology articles offer ideas and understanding on how IT helps small business succeed.

Introduction

Part II of this two part article will look at ways you can consolidate your companies IT systems overhead in 2009. There is no doubt that 2009 is going to be a difficult year for business. You can go into the New Year with one of two mindsets; “We’re going to stay the course and hope for the best” or “We will look at this economy as an opportunity to reinvent ourselves into a lean, agile, competitor in our market.” My goal is to have you see 2009 as a time of opportunity to find ways of doing the same, or more, with less. Make 2009 the year you use IT to make your company become a lean, agile, market competitor.

Smaller Servers, Doing More, Using Less – If you haven’t already consider migrating your older standalone chassis servers to low profile rack mounted units and blade server systems can reduce costs in a number of ways. They are both good options for reducing the amount of real estate and power needed in your data center. And both are ideal for running application virtualization software to reduce the number of physical application servers needed. Application virtualization is now a very popular way to consolidate both hardware and management costs in the data center.

Consolidate and Centralize Storage – Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) are two proven ways to make company data management safer and easier. And by making sure all of your work is stored where it will be uniformly and consistently backed up you reduce the risk of lost data. Adding VPN based storage solutions for your mobile users helps keep their work safe and secure too.

Not Your Mothers Appliances – Use dedicated multitasking appliances for consolidating basic network services like Domain Name Service (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, and Intrusion detection systems (IDS). There are currently a number of appliance makers in the market that have products that can handle your basic network functionality from single 1U rack mounted units. The savings include their reduced footprint, lower power consumption, ease of use, and centralized management.

How many applications are you supporting? – Depending on the size of your business, you could easily have dozens. First, audit all the applications and make sure they are still relevant and contributing to the company’s bottom line. Next, look for overlap between complimentary departments like, sales and marketing, where consolidation of similar applications would be mutually beneficial. And use this economy as an opportunity to renegotiate and right-size your commercial software licensing contracts.

Open to door to Open-Source – Now is the perfect time to look for less costly open-source options. More and more companies are looking seriously at Linux on the desktop. OpenOffice, MySQL, and SugarCRM for example are reliable options and all have strong support communities. Almost any type of business can benefit from open source software opportunities. New, as well as budget strained, small businesses should look seriously at the early start cost savings advantages available

Think Global, Outsource Local – What opportunities can you find right in your own backyard when you consider local or regional outsourcing to reduce some of your application development and support costs. Within a five mile radius of you, there are probably a dozen application developers hungry for your business right now. Use contractors to rapidly develop applications that you can get up and running quickly will help keep you ahead of the field. The sooner your ideas can come to fruition the sooner your business benefits. The agile company that can find new ways to quickly meet its customer’s needs wins.

Summary

Earlier in December 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced that the U.S. economy had been officially in a recession since December of 2007. Now the question is when can we expect this recession to end? Best estimates are that by April of 2009, we may be at the low point of the curve, leading economists to estimate that this economic contraction could last as long as 35 to 40 months which means conservatively 2010, and possibly 2011.

This means small business IT management will need to be prepared to meet the challenges of this recession with a list of cost saving measures that will keep your company lean, agile, flexible, and competitive.

So make 2009 the year of seeking out the advantages and opportunities of doing more with less.

Why Start a Home Based Business?

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Average people are attracted to the many benefits a home business can provide, including, but not limited to very low start-up costs, flexible hours and massive use of the internet. The use of technology, the Internet, etc., allows home-based businesses to work in concert with other entities without the need for daily face-to-face interaction.

The home-based business sector is growing in importance and diversity, and offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and at-home professionals in every demographic and ethnic group. Today, 1 out of every 12 households in America run a home business. So…. Here are some common reasons:

1) Cost. Many opportunities require very little start-up capital (under $100) to start your business. Compare this to a brick-and-mortar storefront which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

2) Set your own hours. Want to work in your pajamas? Go ahead….nobody’s watching.

3) You’re the boss! You decide what income you want, not your boss. You can work part-time and expand into full-time as it pays enough to quit your job. Building an Internet business allows you to adapt it to your lifestyle instead of the other way around.

4) You will love what you do. It has been said that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.

5) Ease of promoting your business. Technology and the internet have made marketing a breeze for the average home business owner. The Internet now allows anyone to reach potential customers around the globe with virtually the click of a button.

6) Residual Income. Building an Internet business means once you reach a certain level, you can walk away for days but still your Website works for you. You can automate repetitive tasks to the computer so you still earn money through advertising, selling products and others while you sleep.

7) Family. Aren’t they the most important? Use your business to build it to the point that you can back off and spend time with those you love. Your JOB will not ever allow that.

Take charge of your life……not the other way around. There a many opportunities out there. Find them and study them. Then make the decision to do something about it.

How To Avoid Working 24 Hours a Day At Your Home Business

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We all know how important it is to work hard to get your home business up and running and off the ground. We also know that when your home business is located right in your home, it is all too easy to get a few extra hours of work in after you eat dinner, or to get up early to work a little bit more in the morning.
However, the fact remains that most of the people who are working at home businesses have decided to do this so that they can control what hours they work, and so that they can have more time to themselves to do the things that they have always wanted to do. If you find yourself working too much, and you know that you are in danger of working longer hours than you did at your old job, here are some ways to avoid becoming a 24 hour a day worker again.
Hours
First and foremost, no matter what your business is, you need to have working hours. This is for your benefit. If you have an online site or an online store, you are going to be open 24 hours a day, but this doesn’t mean that you have to be at your computer for the entire day. You need to set hours for yourself, and these hours will have to include time to process whatever has come in while you aren’t working. There is a danger in sitting at your computer all day to take orders in the hopes of keeping up with them, because you will find that you never leave.
If you find that you have too much work, and not enough time, this means that you are taking on too much. You have to be sure that you are only working as much as you can handle to work, or that you are delegating tasks to make sure you aren’t having to work all day and all night. This is something that a lot of people fail to do, and it can be something that is very dangerous, because giving out tasks is the best way to make sure all of your work gets done. If you find yourself with too much, you’ll end up working more than you want to be working, so be sure to find help, or hire some if you need it.
Something else that you can be sure to do is to give yourself a break now and then. Remember that you don’t have to take every project that comes your way, and remember that you can be allowed a sick day when you are sick. These things are important, and are also vital to keeping your sanity as well as your business.
Technology
Is there an automated way to delegate parts of your daily home business tasks? If there is, you might want to take the initial investment of time to find out how they work and how you can use technology to free up more time for yourself instead of working on your home business. You can even use the extra time to expand your business or look for new ways to make it profitable.
If your home business is based online there are many companies who you can use to outsource some of your responsibilities. Obviously these options aren’t free so if your budget doesn’t allow for it at the current time, keep a reminder of the source so that you can use it when more funds become available.

How to Start a New Business Without a Bank Loan or Credit

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Entrepreneurs have seen bank credit and bank loans dry up. Without these traditional tools for starting a business available most entrepreneurs think that they can not start a business but the truth is that you do not need a banks credit or loan if you understand what you can do to kick start your business.

The most important part of doing this is understanding what you are going to need in order to launch your business. You will need customers and sales. If you had 10,000 people visit your business and only 10 percent bought from your site you would be able to create a profit margin for your business and begin your entrepreneurial journey.

The question is where do you find these new customers without spending money on marketing, advertising, lists or leads? What would you be willing to do to get your competitors customer list? What if your competitor gave you his list with his blessing to use it? You are saying,

Personalized Business Gifts - Special Gifts For Colleagues

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Business companies usually give business gifts to advertise and promote what they have. However, those gifts may also be given to people other than customers and clients. Business gifts can be presented during any type of business affairs, such as trade shows, conferences, recognition day, anniversaries, holidays etc. There are so many business gifts to choose from, you can find simple gifts to elegant ones. However, just choose accordingly.
If you want to thank a colleague who has been a good friend and helped you all throughout your career, you can give something that can let him feel appreciated. This is where gifts come into action. Of course, you have already seen a wide assortment of business gifts, and you also seen most them owned by many business people. So, the real challenge here is to find a business gift that stands out. You might probably think that finding such unique gift is difficult, but surprisingly, it is not!
Personalized business gifts can make a one of a kind gift for your dearest colleague. You can find different kinds of personalized business gifts, from personalized fabrics, leathers, to metal items. Here are some hot choices you may consider:
Personalized Black Leather Business Card Case. Business card holder and cases are very important accessories of a business man. In today’s business world, these people should have business cards, and so a card case holder can help these cards stay neat and clean in a briefcase or purse. This stainless steel and leather business card holder can be customized with your colleague’s initials engraved on the front plate. Engraving is complimentary for this Personalized Black Leather Business Card.
Engravable Black Leather Business Journal. In business, technology may reign supreme, but there’s still room for the elegance of actual writing! Give this personalized black leather journal to a friend who has brilliant ideas and let him preserve the musings of the moment, and his ever-presented to-do lists. This sophisticated gift can make a perfect solution to scratch paper – a handsome leather bound journal as a business gift for your colleague. This leather journal encourages organized peace in a hectic work day, time to gather thoughts and plan strategy. Exquisitely embossed with a name or initials, this personalized journal becomes a memorable gift of your appreciation.
Personalized Business Pen Set with Leather Pouch. Help your colleague to commemorate his career milestone by giving a pair of fine pens – a classic style of gift that he will surely treasure from his friend! Your colleague will appreciate the thoughtful gesture of a personalized gift, especially because these exquisite writing instruments are so versatile and practical. Properly presented in an eye-catching leather case, this pen set is a wonderful way to express your appreciation for a job well done.
You can find those sophisticated business gifts online. Other unique, personalized gifts you may consider are personalized bags, magnetic money clip, personalized photo albums, monogrammed desk accessories…etc. Making your gift personalize is one way to show how special the person to you. Make it always a choice to personalize your gift, be it for colleagues, friends or relatives.

Makes SEO Such a Good Channel for Small Business Marketing

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Your small business probably uses multiple marketing “channels” already, whether you think of them as channels or not. Print advertising, email campaigns, pay-per-click marketing, direct mail, banner ads – all of these are different types of marketing channels that you may already be using to promote your products and services. But although most small businesses know that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important for their web sites, not many use SEO as one of their strategic marketing channels.

So why consider using SEO as a key marketing strategy? Because like it or not, search engines (especially Google) are going to remain the most predominant method of driving traffic to web sites in the foreseeable future.      for more detail go to:www.greatseosecrets.com.Period. So if you want to capture some of that traffic, SEO should probably be included – or even prioritized – as a strategic marketing channel in your marketing plans.

Here’s what :

1. Tremendous ROI – Often, it doesn’t take a huge investment to improve your search engine results. Adding a few simple strategies each month can add up to great results over time. But if you’re looking for faster results, a complete optimization of your web site will produce the greatest results in the shortest amount of time. And compared with the returns that an optimized site can produce, investing in SEO (either time or money or both) is a great value for your business.

2. Higher Brand Visibility –        for more detail go to:www.offline-promotion.com.When your business and/or brand show up in the top search results, you gain web visibility every time someone searches for your terms. The sheer repetition of seeing your business consistently listed at the top creates not only visibility, but also credibility and brand recognition. I’m sure you’ve heard that consumers need to see or hear a message at least three times before they pay attention to it, so the more they see your business in the search results, the better for you and your business.

3. Accurate Tracking and Measuring – With all the web analytics tools available today, it’s fairly easy to capture data that can help you determine what’s working on your site and what’s not, enabling you to make adjustments and constantly improve your results. If you’re not tracking what happens with your web site each month, how can you know if it’s truly helping your business?

4. New Leads and Sales Generation – Since users turn to search engines almost 80% of the time to find information, there is virtually an inexhaustible supply of new prospects and potential customers searching for the types of products and services you provide. SEO can help your web site show up when people are most likely to visit – while they are in the process of actively searching for your information!

5. Pre-Qualified Traffic – By optimizing your web site, you can attract the types of visitors that are important to your business by using highly targeted keywords and phrases that directly relate. For instance, a law firm with a non-optimized site would likely attract all types of clients, even though the practice may specialize only in family law. By optimizing for “family law,” the site is much more likely to attract pre-qualified clients who are already looking specifically for this type of service.

As a small business, it’s important that you take advantage of the marketing channels that make the most sense for you. And by considering SEO as a strategic marketing channel, you open up your business to a whole new world driven by the web and its mighty search engines (and yes, I mean Google). This new channel may help you discover some new and untapped benefits that will help your business grow and thrive well into the future.

 http://www.keyword-swipe.com

http://www.sitemap-makers.com

Lauren Hobson, President of Five Sparrows, has more than 15 years of experience in small business technology writing, marketing, and web site design and development. Five Sparrows provides high-quality, professional website and marketing services to small businesses and non-profits at affordable prices, giving clients access to customized services that meet both their needs and their

Internet Home Business Idea - Finally Make Your Dreams Come True

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Are you living a life of your dreams? If not, make sure you start your internet business today.
The purpose of this article is to give you 3 reasons that will motivate you to start your own cash-pumping internet business and make your dreams come true.
Reason 1 – Work from the comfort of your home.
Have you ever imagined working from the comfort of your home with your internet home business idea and making a killer income in dollars.
The kind of income that can give you financial freedom.
Yes this is quite possible and you can do this automatically once your internet home business idea is live on the net.
It starts pumping in cash like an out of control ATM machine. All you have to do is put in consistent efforts for the first few months and then let it churn out money on autopilot.
Work from the comfort of your home, apply simple steps to setup your internet home business idea and watch your profits explode.
You will now learn why it is quick and easy to get started with your internet home business idea.
Reason 2 – Quick and easy to get started.
You can start your own internet business quickly and easily in the shortest possible time and spending just few hundred dollars.
All you need is website hosting, domain name, a quality product, a powerful website with killer copy and some automation tools like ad tracking system, autoresponders and payment processing system to get you into business.
If you know the right places to hunt online you can get started with all this within one hundred dollars and in less than 2 days.
And the best part is that you can use these tools again and again to put up unlimited cash-pumping internet businesses.
Technology has provided a real quick way for a normal person to get started on the net and make their dreams come true.
You will now discover how flexible your internet business can be once you are all setup.
Reason 3 – Work whenever you want.
You will finally not have a 9-5 schedule to work. You can wake up whenever you want, work at your own pace and according to your own timings.
Take party anytime you wish, work late nights or early in the morning or just play with your kids and hang around with your friends.
Sounds too good to be true. But this is quite possible if you get started today with your own internet home business idea.
You can finally live the life of your dreams and make money on autopilot. But don’t get me wrong. This is not a get rich quick business.
You have to work, put in efforts to make your internet business a real success and once things are setup and automated you can have fun.
But you have to make sure that you work hard to setup and test your internet business and later on have fun once it starts pumping out cash.
Here I want to explain you that all this is possible only if you get started today, put in efforts to make your internet business a real success and then live the life of your dreams.
The most important step is to take action.

Business English Training; Keys To Success

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Of course where the market appears, so do the companies set up to capitalise. Deciding on a language training provider can be daunting, and the unregulated nature of the training industry in most countries can mean huge variation in the quality of the training, and therefore huge variation in the return on investment for the companies’ management. So, what is it that makes some training effective, while other programmes are a waste of time? How can companies minimize the risk of investing in lame-duck language training?The first piece of advice is to make informed decisions on language training providers based on information from reliable sources. Websites, brochures, marketing emails and fliers can hold a great deal of information, but the most reliable source is a person who has attended or been involved in training elsewhere. One must be careful though, as the

28 Essential Sites to Help you Invest in yourself and your Online Business

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Copyright (c) 2008 Donna Gunter

I’ll admit it — I’m an information junkie. I love to learn new things, so it’s a good thing that I’m in small business marketing where new ideas and new trends emerge every day. Continuing to enhance your own professional/personal development, or investing in yourself, is a primary responsibility that owners of small service businesses often forget to do when they’ve got lots of business. Taking the time to read just one more article or go to just one more teleseminar or professional conference when you’ve got your plate full with clients is probably not on your top 10 list of preferred activities. However, remember that your clients are looking to you for cutting-edge information to best help them with their problems. Without this continued learning, you may find yourself quickly left behind.

Here are some resources that I read regularly and highly recommend to keep me in the loop to better serve my clients and enhance my own business:

Technology:

–PC World, PCWorld.com (I subscribe to the print version of this magazine)

–Steve Bass’s Home Office newsletter (email newsletter) from PC World, http://www.pcworld.com/newsletters/index.html

–Lynette Chandler’s Tech Based Marketing Blog, http://techbasedmarketing.com/blog/

–Sandra De Freitas’ Tech Coach for Coaches (email newsletter), TechCoachforCoaches.com

Marketing:

–Joan Stewart’s Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week (email newsletter and blog), PublicityHound.com

–Straight-Shooter Marketing by Alexandria Brown (email newsletter), EzineQueen.com

–Marcia Yudkin’s Marketing Minute (email newsletter), Yudkin.com

–Robert Middleton’s More Clients (email newsletter), ActionPlanMarketing.com

–John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing (email newsletter and blog), DuctTapeMarketing.com

–Ralph Wilson’s Web Marketing Today (email newsletter), WilsonWeb.com

–Cathy Stucker’s Bright Ideas (email newsletter), IdeaLady.com

–David Frey’s Marketing Best Practices (video newsletter), MarketingBestPractices.com

–Fabienne Fredrickson’s Client Attraction (email newsletter), ClientAttraction.com

–The Blog Squad’s Savvy eBiz Tips (email newsletter and blog), BlogSquad.biz

–Kendall Summerhawk’s Weekly Marketing Wisdom (email newsletter), KendallSummerhawk.com

Personal Development/Inspiration:

–Barbara Winter’s Joyfully Jobless News and Winning Ways (email and print newsletters), BarbaraWinter.com

–Valerie Young’s Changing Course (email newsletter),ChangingCourse.com

–Cheryl Richardson’s Life Makeover (email newsletter), CherylRichardson.com

–Notes from the Universe (daily emails), http://www.tut.com/nftu.htm

–Rebecca Hanson’s Museletter (email newsletter and blog), LawofAttractionTrainingCenter.com

Writing/Self-Publishing:

–Dan Poynter’s Publishing Poynters (email newsletter), ParaPub.com

–Penny Sansevieri’s Book Marketing Expert Newsletter (email newsletter), AMarketingExpert.com

–John Kremer’s Book Marketing Tip of the Week (email newsletter), BookMarket.com

–Gail Richard’s Author Smart (email newsletter), AuthorSmart.com

Speaking:

–Speaker Net News (email newsletter), SpeakerNetNews.com

Getting Organized/Feng Shui:

–Vicky White’s Design Your Life (email newsletter), LifeDesignStrategies.com

–Beth Schneider’s Process Prodigy (email newsletter), ProcessProdigy.com

General Business Management:

–Joan Friedlander’s Business Your Way (email newsletter), LifeWorkPartners.com

This list is just the tip of the iceberg for me. New sources come to light every day. Set aside at least 3 hours per week for your own self-education. Your clients will thank you and your business will grow!

If you are thinking of buying or selling your business in the New Year, how is your Technology Plan?

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Email, websites, online bill paying, Amazon.com, FaceBook, Twitter, WI-FI, online banking; how did we survive prior to the internet?  The virtual world is all around us and guess what; it’s only going to get more immersed in our everyday life as we look to watching TV and movies on our computer and connect our appliances to computer networks at home.

How does this affect our business?  There is no question that data including audio and video are exploding online and helping sell more goods and services.  Hand held devices such as iPhone’s and Blackberry’s are growing in popularity, devices that track the GPS to give us driving directions are here to stay.  We therefore, if we own and operate a business, need to ensure we use technology how it was designed and this is as a tool to help us be more productive.

To make technology work for us in our business we need a plan.  There is no point adding a new device to the existing technology in the business if it won’t work.  You can buy the latest piece of Windows compatible software and try to install and run it on a MAC but if the MAC doesn’t operate the Windows software you are done.  Similarly, if your computers are running Windows 2000 server software and the hardware breaks and needs replacing, you have to make sure the replacement hardware will work in the old server and the software.

So what goes into a Technology Plan?  A good starting point is a breakdown by make and model number of each of the pieces of hardware in the business.  You need this data for tax purposes anyway and it is necessary.  This information should include any devices that are specifically used and taken out of the office by any employee.  If that employee leaves, you obviously want the item returned for their replacement in good working order and condition, all the data on it.  Your technology plan should also include how often the data is to be backed up, where copies of purchase receipts and warranties are to be stored in case the machine breaks down and needs to be replaced or is stolen and a replacement machine needs to be bought and replaced urgently.

A technology plan also needs to clearly outline for all employees how they can and cannot use the business technology.  If the use of Social Network Marketing sites like FaceBook, LinkedIn or Twitter are not allowed, then that needs to be communicated.  It could be this ban applies to some positions but allowed for others.  For example, it may not be a good use of time for the accounting, technology and operational employees to use these media but it may be encouraged or indeed part of the sales and marketing plan to use these technologies.  Technology is not simple and straight forward.  It does require discussion, the creation of policies but also review of these policies.

Another important component to technology which is sometimes overlooked is the need for training.  Businesses in the technology are constantly competing to maintain and increase market share.  One of their most important strategies is to deploy new and better hardware and software than their competitor.  This constant change of products means employees that use these new and upgraded products, to remain efficient, need to be trained and kept up to date.

To make sure the technology plan is kept relevant and up to date, consider having one primary and one secondary person responsible.  Both people need to live and breathe technology.  Their responsibility is to  keep the technology plan current, but also escalate problems and just as importantly, relevant new ideas that will help the business.  As the owner of the business, if you delegate managing the technology to another employee, make sure you understand the difficulties they face staying on top of it all.  Technology is supposed to serve us and the business.  Because of its constant changes and oftentimes being deployed before it is truly ready for the market it can be a bear.

Measuring the performance of the business is the role of the Performance Plan.  Part 10 of this article series looks at the need to score and then tweak so the business knows its success meeting annual financial goals.

Washington State Government Small Business Grants

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The SBA called as the small business administration in United States accepts the requests for funding of grants from the governors belonging to the states in U.S and its territories mainly for supporting the programs for ground breaking and technology driven under the SBA’s Federal and the state technology known as Fast partnership program from 10th May 2010.Significant role is played by the partners who are developed through this program to bring good potential. Strong foundation is laid by these small organizations for the prosperity of the economy.FAST organization provides more than 2 million US dollars towards funding. It works out to approximately 1,00,000 US dollars for each applicant towards technical assistance and outreach for the technology based and science based small business.The emphasis particularly placed by this program is to help the economically and socially disadvantaged organizations in the Small business innovation research called SBIR and STTR or otherwise known as small business technology transfer programs. The eligible candidates or applicants for this FAST grants includes the local and state economic development agencies, colleges, universities and small business development centers. The proposal may be submitted by each state through its governor and should be limited to one.The FAST program is mainly started to help the cutting edge of the American proprietors to continue to drive their innovative and creative jobs in a good manner. The applicants for this program are encouraged and the support is given in the areas like

Technology Sales Lead ? Necessity Breakthrough

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It is no secret that generating sales leads is an integral part of any business, but Technology Sales Lead is of equal importance?

Company profits can significantly grow with the aid of a dynamic sales team. Generating Technology Sales Lead is a real time job. It is about quantity-the more leads the more sales to close.

Prior to the internet age, sales personnel used to file business sales leads carefully and individually easily. Most Technology Sales Lead was confined to only one person and sharing them with others is often not done. Sales persons use to record their contacts in notebooks, planners, address books and even index cards. This old and conventional set up of tracking Technology Sales Lead is not in a way pro active in terms of promoting productivity.

Necessity spells great breakthrough . As technology progresses, with the advent of numerous ways of using the internet, Technology Sales Lead creation can be easily accessible and available to many. Competition is much stiffer. The clamor for better way of tracking sales leads was needed and automation was inevitable.

High dependence on basic contact information for Technology Sales Lead had to change with time. Technology Sales Lead for companies can lean towards more on personal aspect and strategies can be target focused.

There are numerous software available in the market today that offer a lot of different ways on how to make Technology Sales Lead easier. Information access and sharing is possible. Field personnel’s mobility can now be addressed soon. Reports generation and group prospecting can be available in real time an real sense. Given the availability of information to key company personnel as basis for marketing efforts, achieving the desired marketing output is more achievable.

Technology Sales Lead could be more rewarding if sales people are armed with relevant information. Knowing customer’s preferences and buying history will enable sales people to offer products or services tailor made to their clients’ needs easily. Selling with personal touch can close sales and promote repeat orders now.

Companies  dealing in Technology Sales Lead with vigorous ad campaign efforts for their products and services will ultimately yield business sales leads. These are then filtered and grouped according to set parameters somehow. Without an automated way of doing this, valuable prospects may be unnecessarily filtered out and forever lost by this; and with it, possible company profits.

On the question whether to automate tracking sales leads or not, the answer is very clear.

No matter what the size of your business, Technology Sales Lead  remains an integral part in forming your revenues. Learn how to do proper lead management with myprospecthill. Visit http://www.myprospecthill.com/

Large Budgets Give U.S. Businesses Growth Opportunities

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From the stealth bomber to the creation of the Internet, DARPA, is responsible for the technologies that keep our great nation secure and has been a key force in creating new industries that have fueled our economic growth.

DARPA stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense.  Their main purpose is to develop new technologies for use by the military.  Amongst these programs is their Energy Program, which looks at providing alternative power and energy to our troops and reduce their reliance on petroleum and their logistical burdens.  Portable power such as fuel cells or hybrid fuel cells is the goal within the agency, which will reduce the amount of weight during high endurance activities.

DARPA participates within the Small Business Innovation Research fund (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer fund (STTR), which provide small businesses with $2.2 billion in government grants.  They also participate within the Small Business Program providing prime contracting and subcontracting.  With an annual budget of $3.2 billion, opportunities for small businesses are abundant.

DARPA’s Small Business division will provide small businesses with a workshop on how to engage in business opportunities with DARPA.

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Any Computer Consultant Can Start a Small Business of His or Her Own

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There has never been a better time than now for a talented Computer Consultant to start a small business of his or her own. Operating as an Independent Computer Consultant can provide a level of job security, growth opportunities and income potential that simply aren’t very easy to come by in any other available IT Jobs.

When a small business is looking for a an efficient way to maintain their computer systems, they have several options to choose from. They can have a technically proficient employee pull double-duty as their in-house support technician. They can employ a dedicated in-house IT administrator. Or they can outsource their support needs to an IT Support Provider, a Managed Service Provider or to an Independent Computer Consultant. In today’s market, the Independent Computer Consultant represents the best available support model for serving the needs of the small business client. And I firmly believe that any computer professional with the skill set to maintain a small business network should strongly consider starting a small business of his or her own. In the early days of Computer Consulting, (and still to this day for many consultants) the break/fix, hourly rate support model was the standard way of doing business.

Wait for the computer to break, call the computer guy to come out and fix it, he sends an invoice… repeat. It’s obvious how this design puts the needs of the computer consultant directly at odds with the needs of the customer.

The customer typically sees the computer consultant as an undesired expense. If the consultant is required to make an office visit to the client’s site, it’s probably because a system has failed, which is costing the client money – both in lost productivity and for the service fees. Under the hourly support model, it’s natural for the customer to want to see the consultant as little as possible. This unfortunately works directly against the needs of the computer consultant, who’s simply trying to bill enough hours each day to meet expenses. If the hourly support model is a lose-win proposition (the more pain the customer experiences, the more money the consultant makes), how can we create a business model where everybody wins? For us to do this, let’s take a look at what each party wants.The Computer Consultant Wants:

The Customer Wants:

When looking at the list of what the customer wants, it’s clear to see what the consultant needs to provide:System Monitoring

Small Business Federal Grants

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It’s important to know that the U.S. Federal Government, as a rule, does not award federal grants to private for-profit small businesses. Unless you are a 501C3 non-profit agency that is organized for charitable purposes and tax exempt under the IRS tax code, your small business is not eligible for federal grants.That’s the bad news. The good news is there are federal resources available for qualified small businesses to apply for.The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal agency created in 1953 to help Americans start, build and grow businesses. The SBA serves people in the United States, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Although the SBA does not award grants to start or expand small businesses, they do have a wide range of loan programs available. You can access the Small Business Administration website at sba.gov. You can also find SBA programs in Federal Programs – Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA does have an exception to the “no federal grants” rule for small businesses, but it is targeted to innovation research and high technology companies. The Small Business Innovation Research Program is a highly competitive program that funds the startup and commercial development stages of an innovative technology, product or service. The Small Business Technology Transfer Program is another competitive program that funds awards to small businesses which partner with nonprofit research institutions for the commercialization of technology products.Below is just a portion of the SBA programs that may be able to help American small businesses.  The Small Business Administration is primarily a guarantor of loans, meaning that the federal government does not loan money directly to small businesses; they guarantee the loans made by lending institutions to qualified small businesses, making it easier for small businesses to qualify for loans they might not otherwise be eligible for. 1. 504 Certified Development Loans: Provides long-term fixed-rate financing to small businesses to acquire real estate, machinery or equipment for expansion or modernization. These loans are usually delivered through a Certified Development Company (CDC) with liens placed on the collateral and a contribution of 10% equity from the borrower. 2.    7(A) Export Loan Guarantees: This program aids and assists small-business to increase their ability to compete in international markets by enhancing their ability to export; facilitating technology transfers; enhancing their ability to complete effectively and efficiently against imports; increasing the access of small businesses to long-term capital for the purchase of new plant and equipment used in the production of goods and services involved in international trade. Loan proceeds can be used to construct, expand, or convert facilities; to purchase building equipment or materials; inventory and for export working capital. 3. 7(A) Loan Guarantees: Loan proceeds can be used for working capital, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures, land and building (including purchase, renovation and new construction), leasehold improvements, and debt refinancing under special conditions. Loan maturity is usually up to 10 years for working capital and 25 years for fixed assets. This loan targets start-up and existing small businesses. 4. Microloan Program: These loans target women, low-income, and minority entrepreneurs, business owners, and other individuals possessing the capability to operate successful business concerns and to assist small business concerns in those areas suffering from a lack of credit due to economic downturns. Provides short-term loans up to $35,000 for working capital, inventory, supplies, furniture, fixtures, machinery or equipment.

Tag-org Launches New Products at Gitex Technology Week 2008

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TAG-ITI will be presenting its broad range of services at GITEX 2008DUBAI—– September 8, 2008 ——– The Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) is getting ready to launch new products at the GITEX Technology Week 2008 which takes place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), October 19-23, 2008.GITEX provides an excellent opportunity to learn from, and exchange views with, some of the leading experts within the ICT industry. Some of the new products to be launched include:

Also, TAG-ITI, TAG-Org’s ICT consultancy arm, which has seen strong growth over the past year and has successfully been awarded many projects across the Middle East, will be presenting its range of services at GITEX. Some of these include: – ERP consultancy- ICT and security auditing- ICT vendor selection – Business technology solutions – Web solution services TAG-ITI will offer the opportunity to