Financially inKleined

America Means Business

2012-02-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Isolated as so many of us are behind our computer screens or in our social media bubbles these days, it's interesting to see how in-person networking events are multiplying and changing.

I've noticed, and this is purely anecdotal so take it with a large helping of salt, that when people do get together in person, it has become more special. It's not necessarily a common thing anymore, so what would be routine gatherings are ramped up to become "landmark events" and mega-conferences.

Here's one on entrepreneurship that you may want to make plans to attend, particularly if you're on the East Coast. To take place in New York City on June 13 - 15, 2012, America Means Business will be packed with educational, networking and social events that will "show you how to bring your dream to life."

Here's how the organization describes the event, where registration is free through May 25 and $10 thereafter:

America Means Business will feature dozens of inspirational keynotes, informative panel discussions, “How I Did It” case studies, basic startup education by SCORE, networking opportunities, an exposition, and many other events about how to start and grow a business and everything in between.

Web Chat

2012-02-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

A record number of Americans - and people around the world - started their own businesses in 2011. The number was up so much in the U.S. that the researchers initially thought their data was faulty!

If you're considering a new venture, it's important to get prepared. A very successful entrepreneur I interviewed recently took two full years between dreaming up a dynamite business idea and launching it. As she told me, "You don't plant a seed and harvest it the same day. It takes time to cultivate that seed, and you can't rush it."

Here's a way to get off on the right foot and get some expert advice on what you should be thinking about with business startup. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Janice Washington, an experienced business consultant and former business owner, will be featured Feb. 16 in a web chat on “New Year, New Business: How to Start it Right."

It doesn't cost anything and the hour you spend learning could improve your business skills and help you get training to boost your business ideas. Participants can join the live web chat, and also post questions before the chat takes place, by going online to SBA.gov and clicking on the web chat event under "What’s New." To check out the archives and read written transcripts of past web chats, go here.

Little Orphan Brandie

2012-01-31T18:03:00.000-08:00

Remember Speidel watches and Pine Bros. sore throat drops?

If you grew up in Southern California, did you ever eat Swiss Orange Chip (or my fav Mocha Chip) at a Swensen's ice cream parlour?

My column today is about how entrepreneurs resurrect orphan brands. One tip: Nostalgia is not enough if a product or company went away for good reason!

How-To Social Media

2012-01-30T16:56:00.000-08:00

Two heavy-hitters, American Express and Facebook, are partnering to educate small business owners about how to use social media.

Business Knowledge Share groups on LinkedIn and Facebook will act as forums for small business owners to get advice from representatives at the two companies. The main topics: How to take advantage of various social media platforms.

You can start with some YouTube videos, Why Use Facebook For Business?, How Do I Get My Business Started on Facebook? and How Can I Get the Most Out of Facebook For My Business?

As long as I'm talking Facebook and business, I should also plug the book I edited last year, Facebook Marketing (third edition) by Brian Carter and Justin Levy.

Entrepreneurship for the 1%?

2012-01-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Are the super-rich suited for entrepreneurship?

Maybe - and maybe not - according to the experts I interviewed for today's Smart Answers column.

Keeper Employees

2012-01-25T04:51:00.000-08:00

Since it was posted last fall, this Bloomberg Businessweek article has consistently been one of the most discussed, most emailed articles on our website. That's saying a lot, given how many articles are posted each week and how many are discussed and emailed by our readers.

The topic is provocative, and I suspect the headline makes it irresistible to business owners, "Three Types of People To Fire Immediately."

But what if we backed up a bit, and instead of focusing on firing, we thought about hiring? A happier topic, and one that management consultant Jeff Wissink, of Navint, tackled recently in an article about hiring "keeper" employees. Find a few of his thoughts (abridged by me) after the break:

1. Put in the HR Work – Top executives often have no interest in the hiring process. That’s a problem. New, creative ideas come from new, creative people. It’s up to you to find those people before the competition. Even CEOs should be spending as much time with their HR department as they are with the business and finance departments.

2. Train new hires but don’t limit them – training is an obvious second step after hiring. But there are ways to do this so that new hires aren’t afraid to expand on what you teach them. If a training program is too strict, employees will often get in the habit of only doing things the exact way they were shown.

3. Encourage impact, not attendance - Employees will be happier, and therefore more productive, if they are given the ability to accomplish tasks the way that they see fit. We certainly know that there are still bosses out there who use fear tactics to keep workers productive. These employees bury themselves in work, hoping to gain more face time in front of management. A more enjoyable, flexible workplace will keep top employees around, ensuring quality leadership and eliminating turnover costs. Independence in the workplace also allows employees to take a step back and explore creative solutions.

4. Highlight impact – When employees are making an impact, tell them. Employees today need to see that their work is benefitting the company. Whether they are leading an entire project or simply proofreading another’s work, employees will appreciate a quick note or announcement of thanks.

5. Add to expertise – Most employees strive to hone their skills for more reasons than just pleasing the boss. They want to get better at their job. It’s part of the competitive nature in all of us. If you give them an environment to do that, they will flourish and find the job fulfilling.

Communication Commandments

2012-01-23T01:39:00.000-08:00

Author and communication expert Cliff Michaels has a new book out on entrepreneurial thinking. I think he's onto something when he recognizes that an entrepreneurial mindset is essential to a successful venture.

With entrepreneurship on the uptick these days, and more people persuaded that self-employment is the wave of the future, we could probably all afford to learn about entrepreneurial thinking.

Here are Michaels' dozen communications commandments for entrepreneurs:

#1: Mastering the Art of Listening. We learn far more from what we hear than what we say. Only through listening can we communicate well.

#2: Communicate with Integrity. The impeccable wisdom of Don Miguel Ruiz rings truer than ever, "speak with integrity, say what you mean, avoid speaking against yourself or others, and use the power of your word for truth."

#3: Consider the Facebook and Twitter Effect. We have to know our audience, especially if we are building a personal or company brand. There's an enormous difference between whispering a dirty joke to a friend versus posting a memo for the world to see.

#4: Focus on First Impressions. Smile, find common ground, and use someone's name often. We get one shot at first impressions.

#5: Show Respect and Master Civil Discourse. Speak softly, admit when you're wrong, and try to take the higher ground. It's to your advantage to let the other person go first.

#6: Never Assume. Communication requires listening, learning, and sharing. Don't assume people get you. Don't assume gender, race, or social status tell us anything about someone's experience or intelligence.

#7: Don't Fail to Communicate. Silence can be tragic. Relationships and projects fail when no one shares knowledge and opinions. Speak up or suffer the consequences.

#8: Be Specific. If you want specific results, you need specific communication. The popular acronym for sales, goal setting, and communication excellence is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Oriented.

#9: Manage Expectations. He who promises most will perform least. Under promise and over deliver.

#10: Consider Your Delivery Options. Private or public? Online or offline? Formal or informal? Choose the medium wisely.

#11: Practice Humility and Gratitude. Three simple words will make you the world's most gracious communicator. Please and Thank You.

#12: Grade Yourself Now and Then. What exactly did you communicate? Check the word choice, brand awareness, and social intelligence.

Spammers and Scammers

2012-01-20T14:35:00.000-08:00

Are the bad guys working overtime, or what? Maybe the New Year's resolutions are kicking in for crooks and liars.

At any rate, be careful out there. In the past week, I've been hit with a Twitter phishing attack, a couple of spam emails (fortunately blocked by my virus protection) and a phone call offering me a "free Bahama cruise" if I would take a 30-second survey.

Yarite.

If something's too good to be true, an unfamiliar website asks you to enter your password, or anything strikes you as "not quite right," heed your impulses and get out, quickly. Better to lose out on a freebie than fall for a scheme. And cruises aren't looking quite so attractive these days anyway.

Irate Customers

2012-01-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gotten good and mad at a company you've done business with? Of course you have.

For me, how the company handles my complaint is a make-or-break moment. That's because I am really not a difficult person. Really, I'm not! If anything, I'm too easy to please and too willing to make concessions. Especially compared to many of my (terrifically picky) friends. Just sayin'.

So when I am upset with a product or service, and upset enough to bring it to the provider's attention, something is really wrong.

Companies can be responsive, understanding and remedy the situation. Or they can be snotty, dismissive and utterly unhelpful. The first attitude usually earns them another chance. If they're particularly nice, I'll forgive them completely.

But the latter attitude is a deal-breaker. I will make a point never to do business again with a company that belittles my concerns and makes it clear they don't care enough to remedy them.

Service strategist John Tschohl, http://www.johntschohl.com, author of "Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service," has come up with a list of do's-and-don'ts for defusing irate customer situations.

Do:

Listen carefully and with interest to what the customer is telling you.
Apologize without laying blame, regardless of who is at fault.
Put yourself in the customer’s place, and respond in a way that shows you care about his or her concerns. Use phrases such as, “I understand that must be upsetting,” or “I don’t blame you for being upset; I would feel the same way.”
Ask pertinent questions in a caring, concerned manner, and actively listen to the answers.
Suggest one or more alternatives that would address the customer’s concerns.
Solve the problem quickly and efficiently, or find someone who can.

Don't::

Directly challenge someone who has a complaint and is angry. Even if that customer is wrong, don’t attempt to prove it. Your goal is to solve the problem, not to enter into a debate on the merits of the complaint.
Let the conversation wander or get off the topic. Solve the crisis at hand without looking for, and finding, additional problems.
Participate in fault finding. Shifting blame doesn’t help anyone.
Let your personal feelings get in the way. Stay cool and use courtesy and tact to resolve the situation.

No More Rip-Offs

2012-01-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

Every year, thousands of people get ripped off by scams that seem obvious and easy-to-avoid - at least in hindsight.

Problem is that even the savviest among us can fall prey to silly frauds because we all let our guards down at least once in a while. And distracted, exhausted small business owners are especially prone to falling for cons just because they are so busy trying to make a living.

The Better Business Bureau has established a new Scam Source website where you can check out and report scams. They've also released the Top 10 scams of 2011, with the supreme irony that the year's worst scam was a phishing email that purported to come from the BBB itself:

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people have gotten emails that very much look like an official notice from BBB. The subject line says something like “Complaint Against Your Business,” and the instructions tell the recipient to either click on a link or open an attachment to get the details. If the recipient does either, a malicious virus is launched on their computer…a virus that can steal banking information, passwords and other critical pieces of information needed for cyber-theft.

What can you do to protect yourself? There are a whole host of commonsense precautions you can take, particularly to avoid increasingly prevalent online scams.

One rule that's helped me: I never give money over the phone. To anyone. Period.

If a legitimate charity is soliciting your donation, they will be happy to send you a physical letter with information on their organization. You can then check them out with a rating group like Charity Navigator and make an informed decision about supporting them. If they are scammers, they'll give up (or you can hang up) when you ask them to mail you information about their group.

The Paradox of Power

2012-01-06T00:36:00.000-08:00

I've been writing a lot recently about women in business and how to narrow the persistent gender gap we see both in entrepreneurship and in executive leadership.

Just in time, here's a new research paper, "Women and the Paradox of Power," written by two female researchers, Jane Perdue of Braithwaite Innovation Group and Dr. Anne Perschel of Germane Consulting.

You can download the entire document at their website (click link above) but here's a few of their findings after the jump:

*Perdue and Perschel find that many women relate to power in ways that prevent them from attaining senior level positions, be it lack of confidence; cultural conditioning; or simply not understanding what power is.

*Reshaping a male-dominated business culture, changing the ratio of women to men, and thereby improving bottom line results, requires a very specific set of actions by those currently in leadership positions as well as by women themselves.

*Women must know power and be powerful. Perdue and Perschel found that 61 percent of survey participants hold mistaken views about how to advance their power (and themselves). The authors emphasize that women must study power, understand power, and use their power to change the culture of business.

• Ditch Cinderella: Over 60 percent of the participants preferred passive approaches to gaining power, opting to be granted access, rather than actively taking it.

• Show up. Stand Up. Voice Up: 52 percent of the barriers to power that participants identified are personal and internal, e.g., “what I need is a constant drip-feed of confidence.”

•Unstick Thinking: 38 percent of participants opted for being well-liked rather than powerful. Perdue and Perschel contend this need not be a choice.

The researchers also list a series of actions that corporations must take to make gender balance real. Take a look at the whole report; it's fascinating.

Overcoming Obstacles in 2012

2012-01-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

What are the top obstacles to small business growth in 2012?

Check out this week's Smart Answers column and get some advice on how to overcome them.

Undetected Bias Uncovered

2012-01-03T01:56:00.000-08:00

Why are there so few female tech entrepreneurs?

I've explored several possibilites over the years, but this was a new one on me. Check out some fascinating new research from my colleague, Scott Shane.

Sell to China

2011-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

Now's the time for service providers and small companies to look into doing business with China, according to long-time export consultant James Chan.

There's both great opportunity and great risk, but nearly unlimited potential, Chan says in my column today. I'll be discussing it on the Bloomberg Small Business radio report next Tuesday.

2012

2011-12-29T01:46:00.000-08:00

I'd given up years ago on New Year's Resolutions. I could never think of any inspiring goals, and that made me feel guilty. When I decided to give up guilt a (blessed) decade ago, I also gave up resolutions.

But this year, a couple of 'em popped into my head spontaneously. One is to put what little extra cash I have each month into a trip fund, so I can take a real vacation every year (or maybe every other) and finally get cracking on my lifelong ambition to be a well-traveled individual. The other is to research an ancestor whom I've always been curious about and determine whether there's enough material in his life story for a novel or non-fiction book.

I really like both resolutions, so I'm going to actually put them on my "task list" and try to follow through.

Well, service strategist John Tschohl, founder of The Service Quality Institute and author of seven books, recommends that small businesses make 2012 resolutions as well. Here's a look at his top five:

Price – Competition is fierce these day and people want the best prices. Make sure your price is competitive because with new shopping apps, customers can find the lowest prices with very little research.

Quality – This is another area where small businesses can really win big because big chains are focused on quantity instead of quality. When a customer has a problem, small businesses are more knowledgeable, have specialists in many cases, and can truly provide an unparalleled level of quality to the customer.

Service – This is where so many companies go wrong, and it’s where small businesses can really prosper. Get to know your customers on a first name basis, know their wants and preferences, and take care of the little things that the big chains can’t. Many small businesses don’t have the lowest prices, but they dominate in service.

Empowerment – All employees need to feel empowered to make a decision on the spot in favor of the customer. Employees want to be empowered but fear repercussions from management. Give your employees a limit, perhaps $25 or $50 that they can spend on a customer to fix a problem. For what a lifelong customer is going to spend, this should be a no brainer.

Speed - This goes hand in hand with empowerment. Think of speed as the jelly to empowerment’s peanut butter; they form a perfect combination. Customers want problems solved by yesterday, so act quickly.

Fathers and Daughters

2011-12-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

I interviewed a researcher who has written a new book on father-daughter business succession around the world.

I thought it was very interesting. Check it out and see what you think!

Top Ten 2011

2011-12-26T05:37:00.000-08:00

This is the time of year when we get inundated with Top 10 lists for movies, TV shows, albums, you-name-it.

One that's a little different stood out. Check out this Top Ten Emotional Intelligence moments of 2011 and you'll find Justin Timberlake, Anthony Weiner and two - count 'em two! - appearances from Anderson Cooper, who's apparently become our national emoter-in-chief.

Just for fun, this list of comments on Top 10 lists cracked me up.

A True Meritocracy?

2011-12-23T05:12:00.000-08:00

Women still participate less in the global economy, are less likely to start businesses and run established businesses and are less confident about their ability to be entrepreneurs, according to this Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study I reported on last week.

The facts, much as we dislike them, are in. The statistics speak for themselves, no matter what culture or country is studied - though there are degrees better and worse in terms of women's outlook.

But what's the cause? Let's start with the fact that in the U.S., women have not had the vote even for a century. That's right; my great-grandmother never cast a vote and my grandmother could not vote for most of her young adulthood. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So, societal factors. Gender differences. Parenting differences. It's complicated because every factor plays some role, major or minor.

Last week at a TEDx conference, long-time entrepreneur and economics professor Vivek Wadhwa detailed his findings on how women and certain racial minorities have fared in the so-called "pure meritocracy" of Silicon Valley. He also talked about the reception he got from the powers-that-be when he challenged their most cherished assumptions. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

A fantastic talk and well worth watching.

Sources of Information

2011-12-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

Where do your potential customers get information about where they should go to shop and dine out?

The Pew Research Center asked that question and the answers they found are online in this report:

The internet is the source that people most rely on for material about the local business scene and search engines are particularly valued. Newspapers and word of mouth also rank high as sources.

I'm glad to see that newspapers - both the printed copies and newspaper websites - are still making it up near the top of the list.

Word of mouth is another important source of information. Social media, for all we hear about it, is way down near the bottom.

Takeaways? Read the report, it's interesting and you'll likely draw some conclusions that apply specifically to your 2012 marketing plan. For my part, I'd say you'd better have a strong, search-engine-optimized presence for your business online.

But that's not news anymore.

I'd also venture that while social media will continue to grow in influence, it's not as big a factor as most of us would think, given how much buzz it engenders. In an interview with one of my favorite consultants this week, he mentions how many clients want to abandon all their traditional advertising for Facebook - and how he counsels against it in many cases.

I remember, more than a decade ago, interviewing some forward-thinking techies about entertainment media They assured me that by the early '00s, we'd all be downloading movies and television to our computers directly and traditional media would be on its way out.

About two months later, the Netflix concept - sending physical DVDs by the old-fashioned postal service model - really caught on. It's only within the past year that streaming has truly become accessible to the masses.

So just keep that in mind: Whenever you hear something's hopelessly old-fashioned and "on its way out," including newspapers, figure you've got at least a decade or more before that really comes true.

Communications Blunders

2011-12-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

Every time I talk to self-employed women and women business owners, the same stumbling blocks to success seem to crop up.

"I get shy" about promoting myself, one amazingly talented and successful woman said recently. This is an accomplished writer who is not someone you would ever identify as "shy." But when it comes to self-promotion, it's difficult even for many confident, extroverted women to do it.

Yeah, it's difficult for some men, too. But I think they are less apt, as a group, to fall into this trap. What do you think?

Here are some additional blunders that women seem to make, as identified by Roshini Rajkumar, a communications consultant and author of, "Communicate That!"

Apologizing for perceived short-falls: Stop apologizing because it makes you sound weak. Instead, come up with a suggestion.
Bad posture: This includes rolled shoulders and shifty feet. If you stand up straight you will appear more confident and people will take you more seriously.
Lack of voice projections and weak vocal behavior. Having a weak voice, including nasal or ultra-feminine tones, gives others the impression you are not capable. If you adapt a stronger voice you will have a better chance of not being second guessed.
Lack of pride in accomplishments: Take pride in what you’ve done, and others will see how you can be beneficial to the team as well.
Less is more: Be very intentional about what you say and how you say it. Don’t be too wordy.
Ill fitted clothing: Clothes that don’t fit is unprofessional. Get your clothes tailored to fit you perfectly -- the extra money makes a huge difference.

I don't know about bad posture, but I've certainly seen otherwise-professional women in ill-fitting or inappropriate clothing at business events. Either they're wearing baggy, shapeless outfits, they're too casual or they're in clothes that probably fit nicely - a couple of sizes ago.

Not a good look, either way.

And the apologizing, preemptively and totally unnecessarily, really is a pet peeve of mine. I just hate to see women starting off a conversation with "sorry" when it is not expected or needed.

What about you? Are there blunders that bother you, or others that you've noticed - among men or women - when it comes to communication?

My Favorite Mistake*

2011-12-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

One of my best Smart Answers columns in recent years was a Q&A with the author of a book about business failure.

When you think about it, most business books fall into either the "inspirational" or the "how-to" categories.

The tone is relentlessly optimistic, laying out one five-point plan after another for how entrepreneurs can duplicate the success of Amazon, Google or Wal-Mart, all within a couple of years and funded by chump change.

But maybe a more useful program for success would simply involve studying failure. It turns out that few people ask why companies go under, or systematically study failure. There's just not much market - or much "ca-ching" - associated with that topic.

There is a new entry in the thin ranks of "mistake literature," however. It's "Brilliant Mistakes: Finding Success on the Far Side of Failure," by Paul Schoemaker (Wharton Digital Press). And as part of the book launch, the publisher is holding a contest to pick the best "mistakes that jumpstarted success."

Take a look and submit a mistake. The deadline is Feb. 1, 2012.

*apologies to Sheryl

Free Shipping Day

2011-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

Online shopping is way up this year, according to retail stats.

If you plan on ordering online for your holiday gifts, think about doing it this Friday, Dec. 16. That's Free Shipping Day, an Internet phenomenon that I documented in a podcast when it started four years ago.

Basically, participating merchants offer free shipping and guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve if you order with them online Friday. More than 2,000 retailers, including many small businesses, have signed up so far.

Me? I'm making my list and taking it to my local bookstore, my local stationery store and an artisan marketplace this year. These are small businesses that I want to see survive and thrive. I figure this way, I can help them out and not have to pay shipping costs at all.

Up For Debate

2011-12-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

The dreadful hoax that passes for "debating the issues" is the main reason I swore off cable television news this year.

You know what I'm talking about: The opposing lineups of usual-suspect pundits relegated to tiny on-screen boxes on either side of the screen. The host posing some nutty question, and one "expert" after another attempting to boil a complicated policy discussion down into a 15-second sound bite.

Almost inevitably, the thing devolves and a shouting match ensues. The issues don't get anywhere near a full airing. Then, the host announces s/he has to "leave it there" and move onto another pressing agenda item, usually the celebrity scandal du jour.

Well, the debate format has not deteriorated completely, as I learned this year when I belatedly found Intelligence Squared US, a British export that started in New York City in 2006. The format, a series of live, Oxford-style debates, pits top thinkers on really important issues. Because there are rules and sufficient time allotted to real discussion, the debates are interesting and enjoyable.

I find the debates a tonic to the ridiculous nonsense on TV. It's especially valuable to have both leading conservatives and liberals participating. Too often, we have one side or the other preaching to their own base and there's no airing of ideas across the ideological divide.

The lineup for 2012 has just been announced. While it would be a lot of fun to attend one in person, for those of us who can't, there are a number of ways to watch them online or on PBS or hear them on NPR or on a podcast. Check them out and let me know what you think.

Tax Essentials

2011-12-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season to be jolly. And 'tis the season for small business owners to think about that gripping topic: Tax planning.

I wrote about some year-end tax planning tasks last month.

If you're looking for additional help, check into the live web chat hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration this Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern time. Chat participants will get "valuable information on how to prepare now with useful tax savings tips and a set of red flags on mistakes to avoid."

You can submit questions now at the SBA website and log in Thursday to watch CPA Edward S. Karl, of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, answer others' questions about tax deductions and credits business owners can use.

Babbling Fish

2011-12-10T06:59:00.001-08:00

Another one of those weird, unintentionally hilarious auto-translations of a column popped up in my Google Alerts today.

According to Movimento degli Africani, I am the "Intelligent Answers" columnist. I suppose the wording could have been a lot worse!

Here's just a snippet:

Once tiny organization proprietors understand what the quantities mean, they are able to strategy more knowledgeably and steer clear of getting blindsided, says Hettinger. Edited excerpts of his current conversation with Intelligent Answers columnist Karen E. Klein comply with.

I wouldn't say the translation software did a very good job with the headline. It changed "Building a Business vs. Making a Living" into "Developing a Enterprise vs. Creating a Residing."

Ouch. I think I'll stick with my own editor, who does a great job writing headlines - in English.

How AdWords Works

2011-12-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

How exactly does Google make money on its AdWords and who determines which ads go where and what they cost?

The answer is pretty complicated, as illustrated in this infographic from WordStream.

"Millions of web advertisers really don't understand this," WordStream founder Larry Kim says. Um, yeah, no wonder they don't understand it! Whew ...

Don't Blow It

2011-12-04T01:00:00.000-08:00

Retail sales are up this holiday so far and that's a good thing for the economy.

But what's good on a macro level is not always good on a micro level. If you are someone who finds herself in serious debt come the first of the year due to holiday overspending (or seriously overweight due to holiday overeating!), here are some moderation tips from personal finance author Dani Johnson, author of "First Steps to Wealth."

Cut down on your activity level: Stop feeling obligated to attend every party. If you normally commit to 15 holiday events between work and family, cut it down and only attend half -- the most important ones. Give yourself permission to be in control and remember it is okay to say “no.”
Stop buying gifts nobody needs: Make a pact with your friends and family to give back instead. Pool a percentage of the money you were going to spend on gifts and give a “secret blessing” to somebody who is truly need. Bringing food to a family in need will cost much less than buying gifts.
Set attainable New Year's resolutions: Make sure you are aiming high but being realistic. Use the time off to organize your finances and plan for the year ahead. Knowing where you stand financially dramatically decreases stress.
Give yourself the gift that keeps on giving: I am not talking about a flat screen TV. Pay off your debt! You will feel better about yourself and set the stage for a great year ahead.

Compete to Win

2011-12-02T04:27:00.000-08:00

Another exhibit in the ongoing discussion about women in business.

This one asks "Are women competitive enough?" and points out that women are plenty competitive - with each other! - over men, clothes, etc.

Some interesting discussion follows in the comments.

Meanwhile, here's an illuminating infographic from The Economist on women in the labor force internationally. It was brought to my attention by SwayMaker on Twitter - thanks SM!

Sin or Survival?

2011-12-01T03:38:00.000-08:00

What's the best business idea? One that appeals to our "sinful nature" or solves our worst problems?

An intriguing question from one of my readers: I answer it in this week's column.

Don't Mess With Success

2011-11-30T15:35:00.001-08:00

Today was one of those days that underscores the foolishness of trying to "time the market." A day I'm glad I didn't miss out on!

Shop Local

2011-11-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

Since today is Small Business Saturday, I hope you will do some shopping at a small business in your neighborhood, village, town or city today!

The concept was created last year in grassroots fashion and has spread, with a number of important business sponsors this year and the U.S. Small Business Administration also on board. According to their data, small businesses have generated two out of every three net new jobs in the U.S. over the past 15 years and they employ over half of all private sector employees.

For more information on how to support Small Business Saturday in your area, check out the SBA site, the Facebook page (which had 2.6 million "likes" as of yesterday) or use #SmallBizSat on Twitter.com.

Happy shopping!

Startup Help

2011-11-18T05:26:00.000-08:00

Thinking about starting your own venture in 2012? Take advantage of some excellent, free business startup resources online.

The National Association for the Self-Employed has put together a small business startup kit on its website. Topics covered include: how to think like a business owner; how to handle your tax responsibilities; choosing the proper business structure for your company; how to fund and market your business.

The Startup America Partnership, an Obama Administration initiative that has brought together some of the brightest U.S. entrepreneurs, has a dynamite website packed full of great resources and information.

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't plug our fantastic small business channel at Bloomberg Businessweek.com. If we haven't already written about your business problem or issue, email me and I'll try and address your question in an upcoming column.

Ways To Help

2011-11-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

A new study reports that 7 in 10 Americans say they will cut back on charitable donations this holiday season.

The good news is that there are ways to give without getting hit directly in the wallet.

First, shop small and shop local. Studies show that every dollar you spend with local merchants gives back exponentially to your community.

If you're shopping online, use GoodShop.com, a site that funnels a percentage of every purchase you make back to your favorite charity. The site also donates about a penny to your designated charity every time you do an Internet search. GoodDining.com, an affiliated program, does the same for your restaurant purchases.

Both American Express and CitiCard allow you to donate unused reward points to a charity of your choice.

If you work for a large corporation, they may have a Volunteer Time Matching program that donates funds to match the volunteer hours you put in at your local food bank or community charitable organization. I volunteer at Foothill Unity Center every year, setting up several of their big events, and I wish I had a way to get matching funds for them.

Collect old cell phones and other electronics and donate them to a group such as Gazelle.com. You can use such a donation to raise money for a community group or have cash generated from your donation go directly to a charity you designate.

For even more good ideas, check out this slide show from Bankrate.com.

Close the Gap

2011-11-16T12:11:00.001-08:00

"Until women are as ambitious as men, they are not going to close the achievement gap."

Read more from this interview with Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg. I think she is finally someone who's willing to tell it like it is for women entrepreneurs and executives.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

2011-11-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

This is Global Entrepreneurship Week and 123 countries are reportedly participating this year.

The idea, launched by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship, is to focus efforts on helping "current and aspiring entrepreneurs gain the knowledge, skills and networks necessary to grow sustainable enterprises."

This year, there are 1,400 organizations signed up to host 3,500 events in the U.S.

If you want to find out what's going on in your area, check out this list of state-wide activities.

America's Vetrepreneurs

2011-11-11T14:49:00.001-08:00

Most Americans are grateful to our military for the sacrifices they make to protect us. The majority of service members report that they get "thank-you's" when they're out in public and strangers buy them coffee or pick up their tabs in restaurants.

But once they leave the service and shed their uniforms, veterans are not easy to identify. Turns out while we hear a lot about disabled veterans, homeless veterans and jobless veterans, many veterans are becoming entrepreneurs.

I write about some "vetrepreneurs" and some efforts to support them in today's Smart Answers column. Check it out.

Visionary Interview

2011-11-10T11:07:00.001-08:00

I had the chance to talk to serial entrepreneur Bob Young (of Red Hat and Lulu) for a Bloomberg Entrepreneurs profile.

What a fascinating guy. He has a way of looking at the world - and at himself - that is both refreshing and charming, and all too rare among very successful people.

We talked about the future of print media, and he was pragmatic. "The people who started making car parts are not the same people who made carriages and buggy whips," he told me. "The people who started monetizing the auto industry are the ones who grew up immersed in it."

In other words, it's not traditional media that will succeed on the Internet. It's people who can bring innovation like my kids, who grew up online and don't know any different. It's a sobering view, but I think it makes a lot of sense.

He has great admiration for print and gave me half a dozen reasons why physical books are superior to e-books, though he said that overall electronics are far superior to print. Young believes that half the jobs in print media will disappear over the next decade or two.

He ended on this sobering thought: 'If you can't move your job in publishing from paper to electrons in the next 10 or 20 years, you have a 50 percent chance of being out of work." Check out the whole article - and Bob's trademark red socks, they're a hoot.

Fighting Age Discrimination

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

I know more than a couple people of a certain age who are discouraged about finding new or better jobs.

"There are so many 20-somethings out there looking for work!" they exclaim, with the implication being that not only are the youngsters better-versed in technology, they're also willing to work on the cheap.

"But you bring so much experience and authority to your field," I reply, knowing deep down that some employers don't want either quality in their employees. (Makes them too difficult to boss around and exploit, I'm afraid.)

Anyway, the difficulty is out there, so I thought I would share some tips for avoiding age discrimination, from career coach and author Ford R. Myers. Take a look after the jump.

1. Maintain a high level of energy and project real vitality. This allows you to take on challenging projects, keep up with the fast pace of business, and get things done efficiently. So make sure you exercise to stay fit, show-up early, move fast throughout the day, and work hard.

2. Leverage technology skills. Employers are much more likely to hire mature workers who can demonstrate strong computer skills and possess a comfort level with technology.

3. Pay extra attention to your personal image. First impressions count. Make a deliberate, consistent effort to present yourself in the best light. Now is the ideal time to take stock of your appearance, and adjust your "look" to be more current and stylish.

4. Pursue a temporary, part-time, or contract position. Volunteer, provide pro bono work, take on a consulting contract, or complete an internship or apprenticeship.
"You can't change your chronological age, so don't waste mental energy thinking about it. Older workers who understand that their maturity and expertise are assets are more likely to land the job they want in the long run," adds Myers.

Copyright (C) 2011, Career Potential, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it includes the following attribution: Reprinted by permission of Ford R. Myers, a nationally-known Career Coach and author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring." Download your free bonuses now athttp://www.careerbookbonuses.com.

What's Your Story?

2011-11-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

Got a great story to tell about your business?

Put together a short video or essay and submit it to the My Startup Story Contest sponsored by Hiscox Small Business Insurance.

You could win $10,000. And even if you don't win, it's a great exercise and a way to practice your "elevator pitch." And you can check out the startup stories of some terrific entrepreneurs on the company's Facebook page.

New Resource

2011-11-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

You may or may not be familiar with the SBDC (Small Business Development Centers). As a long-time source, entrepreneur and author Bob Reiss says, they've "never won any marketing awards."

Nevertheless, the SBDC network has more than 1,000 U.S. offices and their sole purpose is to help entrepreneurs start and grow small businesses. Their services are free or low-cost and I have no doubt they are also underused.

Now, they have a revamped website that you should visit sometime. A link to Bob's blog is there under "inspiration."

Happy Holidays

2011-11-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

A new survey of micro-retailers has found nearly half more optimistic about holiday sales this year than last. And with consumer spending up 0.6% last month, they may be right.

The poll of 1,000 retailers by Manta.com, a online small business community, also showed that 75% of respondents will use social media to promote their holiday specials. Some said they feel that the message about the benefits of shopping locally are getting through to their customers.

Unfortunately, says the survey, "... retailers’ optimism for the holidays isn’t translating into jobs. An overwhelming majority (86 percent) doesn’t plan to hire additional holiday staff; half say it’s because they don’t need the help and one-third because they can’t afford it."

Planning, American Style

2011-11-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

My story on immigrant financial planners and the clients they serve hit the Interwebs today.

Check it out. I love the headline they gave it.

What's Luck Got To Do?

2011-11-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Readers frequently ask me about the role of luck in starting a business. And I've always been curious about it, too.

Certainly persistence, planning, education and a positive attitude are crucial to small business success. But there are also a host of factors that can't be controlled: timing, big picture economics, competitors, trends and plain old luck.

So how big a role does good (or bad) fortune really play in success? The New York Times business section had an author who has written a book on this very topic opine on it in Sunday's paper.

He analyzed extremely successful businesses to try and isolate the role luck played and came up with a ROL (return on luck) factor that takes some of the uncertainty out of it. Fascinating stuff - give it a read.

Bugs!

2011-10-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Due to a particularly unforgettable - and harrowing - episode of This American Life, I have a developed what is likely an irrational fear of bed bugs. Or perhaps it's a healthy fear, I'm not quite sure.

Either way, I never travel now without inspecting hotel room mattresses and dumping the contents of my suitcases into the washer (and more importantly a hot dryer) upon my return.

Seems I'm not the only one obsessed. Entrepreneurs are catching onto this phenomenon, not to mention cashing in on it, according to a report I received recently from the North American Bed Bug Summit.

This Chicago event attracted more than 700, double last year's attendance, and the number of vendors exhibiting also more than doubled, to 75. Because there is no "silver bullet" to rid the afflicted of bed bugs, inventors and marketers see a wide-open field in which to sell their solutions, at least until Big Pesticide weighs in.

As the summit organizers put it, "Because bedbugs are lucrative, entrepreneurs are hopeful their product will be a hit among customers." Because hey, when you've got bed bugs, you'll buy anything that claims it can help - or so I imagine.

I'm glad that entrepreneurs have a new market, but I hope someone invents that silver bullet (or silver cross, or garlic necklace) soon. My mother used to tuck me in every night with, "Sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite." I'm sure she never realized that one day her catchphrase might be taken literally.

Small Business Saturday

2011-10-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving (yes, it's coming up sooner than you realize!) has been declared Small Business Saturday.

More than 100 advocacy, public and private organizations, including American Express OPEN and Clear Channel Radio, will be encouraging Americans to get their holiday shopping started at a small business on Nov. 26, 2011.

I know I'll participate. Will you?

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

2011-10-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

What's the small retailers' secret weapon this holiday season? Greeting customers by name and making personal recommendations for them.

This according to American Express OPEN's latest consumer survey on small business. The survey showed that nearly three-quarters of consumers shop at small businesses in their community because they do not want them to go away.

So, here's the thing: They like you - they really, really like you! That's if you like them first. So, love your customers. Treat them like friends. Hire smiling sales clerks (hint: dimples really, really help) who are as genuine as they are smart.

Check out the other key findings from the survey, including who spends more money at small businesses, men or women; and how your customers find you depending on where you're located.

Guest Post

2011-10-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Note: Patricia Sigmon is founder and president of LPS Consulting, a 30-year-old technology firm that specializes in creating technology solutions for small to midsize businesses, with profit generation and return on investment as the focus. A successful entrepreneur, Patricia is author of "Six Steps to Creating Profit: A Guide for Small and Mid-sized Service-Based Businesses" (Wiley)

Five Reasons Your Business Should Join the "Cloud Crowd"

By Patricia Sigmon

The phrase cloud technology may be part of business lexicon, but how many small and medium-sized businesses are really taking full advantage of the cloud's time- and money-saving advantages?

If you engage in social networking such as LinkedIn, or use an email system such as Gmail, you're already in the cloud. But there's so much more to cloud technology. Here's a taste of how you can use the cloud to benefit your business, and why your business should join the "cloud crowd."

1) Protect your business, fast and cheap.

A classic way people use the cloud is for backups. No one wants to pay a tech company for three days of labor to restore an accounting system to the last backup; the last backup could be corrupt and not even usable. Outside backup services are cheap and reliable. Most small businesses pay about $10/month to back up the data that could destroy a business if lost or unrecoverable. Stop wasting maintenance dollars and in-house support dollars; off-site cloud-based data backup services will alert you of any data problem, will continue even if you "run out of backup space," and will save your business enormous dollars in the event of a disaster--a power outage, sabotage, a natural disaster, and other unthinkables.

2) Your email is your lifeline--treat it so.

Stop relying on in-house servers, free email systems, and multiple email systems. There is nothing more stupid than using a free, fading-away email system. Email is more than messaging. It's your business history; it's also your legal records. Track it and don't get caught short. For very little per month, you can have a reliable, large-scale email system interface with your pdas and your Outlook with a pure cloud solution. That's three times the safety for each email you send and receive--on your pda, your pc, or on the web--accessible from anywhere, even if your Outlook crashes. Have automated archivals and stop wasting time looking for lost emails. People have learned the hard way--don’t get caught without your email.

3) Share your sales information across the country and the globe.

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems for small businesses are available for as low as $30 per month. Pure cloud-based sales systems allow traveling employees, traveling salespersons, customers, and vendors to all share information in the most cost-effective manner possible. CRM in the cloud means no paperwork, no excuses. Who did so-and-so call last week? What appointments has salesman Y secured? CRM is what the cloud was made for.

4) Invoice your customers quickly and easily.

Let your service providers enter their "time sheets," let your producers enter their "sold products," and let cloud-based invoice systems quickly, promptly, and easily invoice your clients, collect your funds, and update your accounting system. No more in-house servers, in-house technicians, in-house wasted support dollars. The cloud enables invoicing to be automatic. It creates alerts, it reads and validates employees' entries, and it is fast and on time, regardless of holidays or broken networks.

5) Reach prospects and clients easier than ever.

From your sales database, your client database, and lists of strangers and peers, all of your contacts can quickly and easily utilize cloud-based marketing systems to send out newsletters, WebEx invitations, track registrants for events, send thank-yous and reminders, and interface easily with your email systems. The marketing department resides in the cloud when you subscribe to the most modern systems the cloud has to offer. Just provide a list and an invitation or newsletter--the cloud-based systems are savvy, sophisticated, and more thorough than a team of in-house clerical people. Responses are received and automatically booked.

A final word: Many cloud newbies navigate toward free cloud solutions--free email, free storage, and so on. My advice is get value, get responsible, and get reputable. Free is just that--free; so if your business's livelihood relies on it, look for cloud applications that are reputable and inexpensive, rather than free.

AdWords Grader

2011-10-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

How well are your Google Ad campaigns really working? Check out the AdWords Grader from Wordstream and find out.

Larry Kim, founder and CTO of WordStream, which puts out the AdWords Grader, says it is important to check metrics on your AdWords buys because:

· Advertising on google requires skills. You pick keywords that are relevant to your business, write ads, create landing pages, set keyword bids, analyze results, etc. It’s quite hard! Advertisers compete against each other. There are winners and losers.

· Millions of SMB advertisers are struggling with adwords, so they end up blowing billions of marketing dollars on lousy keywords, crummy ads, poor landing pages, etc.

· This thing helps educate advertisers on where they’re problem areas are. It’s like a “report card” or “credit score” for Google AdWords advertisers. It’s simple, easy, free.

· It compares your results to the results of other advertisers so that they can figure out “How am I doing?” relative to others with similar monthly ad spend.

Hiring Diversity

2011-10-20T16:19:00.001-07:00

Why hiring disabled employees is not only an ethical act, or a patriotic one, but a bottom-line benefit for small business.

What Business Structure Is Right?

2011-10-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's an infographic that you may find helpful, from Business.com.

2011-10-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

At CUNY Grad School of Journalism learning about digital efficiency for business reporters and editors. Pretty cool stuff!

SABEW Conference starts this evening.

Women For the Nobel Win

2011-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased and happy to see three peace activist women get the Nobel! Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is one of my heroes. And if you want to be inspired, put "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" on your Netflix list. It's the story of the brave Liberian women who crossed religious barriers to insist that their men stop fighting each other.

Chatty Cathy

2011-10-07T05:52:00.000-07:00

The more things change, the more you stay the same. I don't know about you, but I am totally turning into my mother.

Last weekend I found myself chatting with cashiers at clothing stores and the girl making my chai latte at Starbucks. Then I stopped myself and wondered, "What in the world am I doing?"

Mom had a habit of telling strangers all our private family business. The clerk at the store, the person behind her in line buying groceries, the cute gas station attendant (this was in the days when guys in uniforms actually pumped gas for you): They all got an update on what we were doing and thinking, whether they wanted one or not.

It might have been fine in Portland, Oregon when my mom was growing up during the Great Depression, but this was 1970s L.A. and I assure you, it was weird.

The low point occurred the day after I had foolishly given in to the idea of letting my aunt cut and perm my oh-so-sleek, long, straight hair, parted-in-the-middle just like the cool older girls at school. It was one of my worst-ever decisions, but what can I say? Mom and Aunt Helen, a hair dresser, caught me in a weak moment and finally wore me down.

The result was a tortured few hours bent over the kitchen sink, nose plugged against the stink of a home-permanent kit. At the end, there was the horrifying realization that I had not only survived, but I looked like a cross between Shirley Temple and Phyllis Diller.

Surely my education had come to premature close; I could never show my face to the outside world again.

Still, you can only lie on your bed crying for so many hours. The next day found me slumped down in the backseat of the car, hoping no one would recognize the monster I'd become.

Cue mom chatting with the cute gas station guy: "That's my daughter, she's hiding back there because we gave her a permanent yesterday and she doesn't like it, but I think it looks just ador..."

"MOM! PLEEEEASE!"

My shame was utterly complete. Not only would I never aspire to cool again, but my mother was determined that the whole world would know it.

Now that I've become a Chatty Cathy, I can only thank goodness that this compulsion is kicking in later in life, after my kids have left home. At least I'm only at risk of embarrassing myself.

Smart Girls

2011-10-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

Last week, I reported on a paper showing that women entrepreneurs start fewer companies than men, and their startups tend to be weaker financially.

That's the bad news. The good news is that there are a bunch of smart, determined women working to change that state of affairs.

One of them is called Smart Girls Way, a Seattle organization that describes its mission as: "A social venture dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs to create significant economic breakthroughs."

The aforementioned paper lamented the lack of female entrepreneurial role models for young women. Smart Girls is trying to change that with something called the 100 x 100 Project:

Each weekday for the next 20 weeks, the 100 x 100 Project will feature a different video interview with a woman entrepreneur who shares her experiences and advice firsthand.

Sounds like a great first step to me. Check out some of the stories and see if you can find some inspiration!

Customer Service

2011-10-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Personal, friendly, go-the-extra-mile customer service is the secret weapon of successful small businesses. But you'd never know it by visiting stores populated by surly, unconcerned staff, whose standard response to inquiries seems to be "the shrug," combined with "the mystified look."

"Huh? Why can't you just leave me alone, dude!?"

So it was a pleasant surprise to get timely, helpful and friendly service last weekend at a new camera and photo shop I ventured into to have some old photos copied.

The staffer noticed me walk in and approached me immediately with a smile. She helped me scan my photos, cropping and improving the quality for me, and then apologized that it would take her 10 minutes to get the prints done.

No problem! The finished products were beautiful, done in no time and cost less than $10. The staffer also pointed out the store's holiday specials (bring in a shoebox of old prints and get them transferred onto a CD for $39.99) in a manner that was informative, but low-pressure.

I'll definitely be going back and may even take them up on their special offer. What a great holiday gift for that relative who is tough to buy for!

Every small business owner should have employees so engaged and positive. "A company's frontline associates can be an organization's best competitive advantage and the 'secret' to securing repeat business," says Richard Shapiro, author of the forthcoming book, "The Welcomer Edge: Unlocking the Secrets to Repeat Business" (Feb 2012).

Take a look at Shapiro's Top 10 Tips for repeat business after the jump...

1. Make sure that every one of your frontline associates is capable of making a good first impression. First opinions are formed within the first 10 seconds. You never have a second opportunity to make a warm and welcoming first impression.

2. Show appreciation to your customers. Thanking customers in a meaningful and thoughtful manner on every customer/frontline encounter shows customers you care and appreciate their business.

3. Review your letters and email communications to ensure that they sound welcoming, personalized and make your customers feel important and appreciated.

4. Create a culture whereby your associates are treated as family and neighbors and they will, in turn, treat your customers the same way. Customers notice and appreciate when a company appreciates their associates.

5. Answer questions from customers by not only responding to their direct inquiry, but by providing them with additional useful information. Customers often enjoy learning more about a potential purchase than what's written on a tag or in a brochure.

6. Understand that the underlying ingredient of customer service is helping people. Make sure that every frontline associate has a history of helping people. It will almost guarantee a great customer service experience.

7. Say hello and smile. In this era of technology, people are more stressed than ever. Getting a big, warm hello can go a long way in giving a customer the feeling of "Hey, this company is really happy to see me."

8. Leverage the return counter in a retail store environment to make customers feel comfortable about returning an item and offering special attention to help them find what they need. Customers don't like making returns. Make the return process an enjoyable and non-defensive process. Customers will really appreciate it!

9. Listen to customer comments such as "This is the first time I used your site", "I just moved into the neighborhood", "I just happened to stop by," etc. and take those opportunities to engage the customer to build a relationship and lifetime of loyalty.

10. The final piece of advice for guaranteeing repeat business, generating positive social media posts, and making customers feel the company cares, all starts with the first hello in person or over the phone, or the first click of the mouse. A company's frontline associates are the "voice of the company". When you find frontline associates who can make every customer feel welcomed and important, make sure you continually thank those special folks and reward them appropriately.

Millennial Blues

2011-09-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

I recently mentioned the phenomenon of adult children moving back home - so called "ricochet kids."

The PNC Financial Independence Survey (enter "financial independence survey" in the search box to get a link to the full results) shows why the kids are ricocheting. Millennials, also known as 20-somethings, are struggling to get their careers on track. Only 23 percent say they are financially independent and only one-third have an established position in their chosen career.

In fact, 40 percent rely on two or more sources of income, including multiple part-time jobs or help from their parents.

Nearly half rate themselves as "behind expectations" when it comes to personal finances.

Perhaps most upsetting, just 14 percent of late-20-somethings say they are optimistic about their financial futures.

Not happy news, especially for those of us whose kids fall into this age group.

WikiUp

2011-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a kind of cool idea, based on the Wiki model of crowdsourcing: WikiOrgCharts.

The web platform allows users "to pool their business contacts and collaboratively map the relationships that exist within a company," according to the company's founder and CEO Farhan Memon.

How do small businesses benefit? They can register their companies on the site for free, but more importantly, "WikiOrgs could become something of a Wikipedia for small businesses looking to find the right C-level executives, VPs of Biz Dev, and other decision-makers at appropriate levels for pitching B2B services, new products, new retail items for in-store distribution and much more," says spokesman Mark Lindsey.

One unique offering at the site is the 1.2 million list of U.S Civil Service employees, claimed to be the first of its kind. For small companies looking to find procurement contacts, that could be invaluable.

Check it out!

The Importance of Things

2011-09-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

As Alzheimer's disease increasingly claimed my mother's memory and cognition, her things grew ever more important.

As her life shrank itself down into smaller and smaller proportions, the little trinkets she kept with her transformed themselves from tchotchkes to treasures. Whenever I visited one of her last apartments, she would pick up the items she had displayed and tell me the stories that went with them: Where she bought this one, what that one meant, how long she'd had it.

These were tiny trinkets, most of them, and I'm not sure whether she was inventing their histories or not. But as she went from a home to a condo to an apartment and then to assisted living and finally a nursing home, what struck me was how poignant it was to winnow her life down from truckloads to suitcases and finally an overnight bag - for a trip from which she would not return.

One of my favorite journalists, Dan Barry, wrote about the mundane relics of 9/11 on the anniversary a couple of weeks ago. His column echoed the sentiments of many who were interviewed about surviving that awful day: They couldn't bring themselves to throw out the tattered shoes, crumpled train ticket or ash-covered jacket they had worn on that September morning.

We're often told that it is the big ideas, like love and loyalty and courage, that matter in this life. So why do we attach ourselves so thoroughly to our objects: Could it be an antidote to lives that are oh-so-transient and temporary?

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye writes often about this concept of objects. Here's her take on it.

Update Your Resume

2011-09-22T03:34:00.000-07:00

So September is "International Update Your Resume Month." Who knew?

Not surprisingly, this observance originated from a resume company, Career Directors International in Melbourne, Fla.

But okay, let's go with it. Everyone should have a valid resume on file in case disaster strikes or opportunity presents itself, right?

After the jump, I'll list some tips from author and career coach Ford R. Myers for making your resume stand out from the crowd:

1. BE BRIEF: Less is Always MoreMyers specifically points out that of the main sections of a resume - Career Summary, Professional Experience, Education, etc. - the Summary section is where brevity counts the most.

The 'Summary' is a brief statement of who you are, where you're 'coming from,' and what skills and expertise you have to contribute to an organization. To grab the reader's attention, you'll need five or six targeted lines oriented toward the benefits and contributions you offer as a professional," states Myers.

2. BE SPECIFIC: Although individuals should be as specific as possible throughout the entire resume, this tip should be exercised most in the "Professional Experience" section.

"The 'Professional Experience' section is where your past jobs, roles, responsibilities, and accomplishments are listed. It's also where most employers and recruiters focus 90% of their attention. The information you present here, and how you present it, can decide the fate of your candidacy within about 10 seconds of scanning time. Resumes that get noticed focus on specific results. Whenever possible, quantify your results, including retention rates, sales, profit, performance and effectiveness by using percentages, dollars and hard numbers," explains Myers.

3. BE ACTIVE: Myers urges resume writers to use strong action words at the beginning of every sentence. "Words such as 'direct,' 'launch,' 'initiate,' 'devise' and 'lead' have a lot more impact than a passive phrase like 'was responsible for,'" states Myers.

4. BE SELECTIVE: Focus on information that is truly relevant to your career goal and edit out the rest. "There is no need to focus on volunteer work or temporary positions if they are not relevant to the career you're looking for, or if they're in your distant past," says Myers.

5. BE HONEST: Myers warns job seekers to never lie on a resume. "If you lie you will always lose in the long run," he says.

"If you find that your resume isn't getting the results you want, change it! Your resume is a 'living document' that will be edited and updated through the course of your job search and your entire career," adds Myers.

Get 'Em While They're Young?

2011-09-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

Research from the University of Arizona shows that high school and college students who are exposed to cumulative financial education show an increase in financial knowledge, which in turn drives increasingly responsible financial behavior as they become young adults.

As part of a study called Arizona Pathways for Life Success in University Students, or APLUS, researchers surveyed more than 1,500 students and drop-outs four years after they entered the University of Arizona in the fall of 2007.

Results show that parents, more than any other factor, exert the most influence over their children when it comes to developing positive financial attitudes and behaviors – 1.5 times more than continuing financial education and more than twice as much as what young people hear from their friends.

I'm more and more coming down on the "nature" side of the nature/nurture debate, and the importance of parents (read "genes") here is interesting to me.

My mother and her whole side of the family were terrible with money, a failing that seems to go back generations, according to my genealogy research.

My father, on the other hand, came from a long line of thrifty (I won't say cheap) Eastern European Jews. "Money goes through my fingers like cement," he used to say, only half-joking.

I was raised primarily by my mother and didn't get a particularly responsible example of personal finances from her, to say the least. However, since I started working at age 15, I've been a natural saver and cautious about spending.

My siblings split, with one similar to Dad and one following in Mom's footsteps (he does have great taste and gorgeous things, I'll give him that!).

So yes, I'm a big proponent of financial education. In fact, my Smart Answers column this week is on a nonprofit that teaches kids about finances and entrepreneurship. But I think at least some - if not most - of the way we handle money is hard-wired and pretty tough to change, no matter how much teaching we do.

500 Entrepreneurs

2011-09-15T02:12:00.000-07:00

My long-time source, attorney Jeff Unger, has started a new program for first-time entrepreneurs.

Jeff's firm, Ungerlaw, wants to help 500 entrepreneurs launch their businesses for free - and they'll even pick up the filing fees if the business meets their criteria (for one thing they have to be located in California or New York, where Jeff practices law).

Ungerlaw is looking for first-time entrepreneurs who have:

1. Passion: "We’re looking for enthusiastic first-time entrepreneurs."

2. A Serious Plan: "We’ll need an organized business plan and a bio from the founder."

3. Skin In The Game: "Our entrepreneurs should have sufficient resources to make the business successful; and we need a commitment that the entrepreneur will pay his or her taxes, engage a CPA, and maintain the company properly."

In return, Ungerlaw asks the entrepreneurs that participate to keep them posted on their progress, their challenges and their successes.

I have no skin in this game, but I figured I'd point it out to my readers in case they want to check it out. Let me know if you participate and what you think of Jeff's program.

Government Contracting

2011-09-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

The federal government is by far the biggest purchaser of goods and services in the United States. That means that government contracting can be unbelievably lucrative for small businesses - if they know about it and can navigate around the red tape involved in government contracting.

I spoke to the Office of Naval Research for my column last week. They are one of the rare government agencies that actually fund R&D, mostly for new military weapons systems and battlefield applications.

But every kind of small business that's willing to try can probably sell something to the government. In 2010, small businesses received $98 billion in government contracts - and yet the government's "set-asides" for small business are never completely fulfilled.

This means that money that could go to small companies gets left on the table every year - or shunted over to much larger companies.

That's why it's important for small business to learn how to do business with the government. And it's not all about federal contracting - local and state governments also put out contracts and many of them prefer to do some portion of their business with smaller companies.

American Express OPEN does a yeoman's job getting the word out to small businesses about government contracting opportunities. They host free events around the country in which CEOs of small companies can meet government procurement officers and see what's available and how to bid on government contracts.

They have a couple upcoming events I should let you know about:

Here in Los Angeles, their event is being held next Wednesday, Sept. 21, at the Westin Bonaventure hotel downtown from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can register in advance or even walk-in and see what's going on.

Another event will be held in October in Dallas. These are first-rate opportunities that any entrepreneur looking for new contracts would be crazy to miss.

Shop Local

2011-09-13T02:00:00.000-07:00

It's back to school season: Some students are well into their fall semesters, others (like my UCI junior) have another week or so of freedom.

I always waited a week or two to do the back-to-school shopping trip because teachers inevitably had long lists of supply needs that we parents didn't know about until the handouts went home.

At any rate, if you're still in the market for back-to-school goods, I urge you to shop local. Last year, back-to-school spending was projected to reach $22.8 billion for K-12th graders alone, according to Independent We Stand, an independent retail support group. Had shoppers spent this money at locally owned, independent retailers, $15.5 billion would have been returned to their local economies, the organization calculates. And of course, that means better schools, better roads, more support for police, fire and rescue departments and stronger local economies.

This back to school season, why not patronize your local retailers? You probably know quite a few, but if you don't, you can search the Independent We Stand's business database to find independent office suppliers, clothing retailers and electronics stores in your neighborhood.

Happy shopping!

Ricochet Kids

2011-09-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Accordung to the National Endowment for Financial Education, 40 percent of non-student U.S. adults ages 18 to 39 live at home with their parents or have in the recent past. In this down economy, "ricochet kids" have become commonplace.

And while we all want to do whatever we can for our children, especially in these tough financial times, there are conseqences:

A recent NEFE poll found that among parents with adult children living at home:

30 percent have given up privacy
26 percent have taken on debt
13 percent have delayed plans for a major life event, such as getting married, taking a vacation or buying a home
7 percent have delayed retirement

The NEFE lists these tips for responding to a request from an adult child who wants to move back home:

Understand where your child is coming from. Ask your child why he or she thinks living at home will help him or her toward specific financial goals. Discuss how long he or she plans to live with you, and whether he or she can contribute financially.

Assess your current financial situation If moving your adult child back home means cutting into retirement savings or delaying other financial goals, reconsider how you might help. Offer to watch grandchildren or pets while your child interviews for jobs or works extra shifts. Introduce your son or daughter to professional connections that could lead to job prospects.

Establish ground rules for living under the same roof. Before your child moves in, decide on a move-out date and set guidelines for maintaining privacy and mutual respect. You might consider drawing up a contract, which will show your child you’re serious.

Require your child to contribute, financially or otherwise. Consider charging a small amount of rent or at least having your child help around the house.

Help your child toward financial independence. Discuss steps your child will take toward getting out on his or her own. Make them specific, and attach deadlines.

Regularly discuss your child’s progress. Celebrate your child’s accomplishments but hold him or her to his or her end of the deal, whether that includes job-seeking goals, responsibilities around the house or a move-out date.

My Interview with Tim Berry

2011-08-26T16:47:00.001-07:00

Is up on my brand-new YouTube channel!

You can also see my earlier interview with John Suh, of LegalZoom, and soon I'll be adding footage from a talk I gave to a small business workshop.

Thanks to the marvelous Paula Johnson, my web guru, for sprucing up my online presence.

She's the best.

Powerful Women

2011-08-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

My friend and business source Glenn Llopis writes about the Four Skills That Give Women a Sustainable Advantage Over Men.

Glenn is a visionary. I hope that he's right, and that more women will recognize their skills and use them to advantage in business and life.

Just for some examples and inspiration, check out this gallery of powerful women.

Women Entrepreneurs

2011-08-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

Women business owners are positive about their long-term business growth, says a new survey from PNC Financial Services Group, but nearly half of them favor intuition over analysis.

And twice as many cite "passion" - rather than financial success - as their reason for staying in business.

Passion is essential for small business success: The work is too hard and the hours are too long for anyone who is lackadaisical about entrepreneurship.

But while passion is a good element, I don't like to see 45 percent of women CEOs point to their passion for the company, while only 22 percent cite financial success as a primary motivator.

I learned one thing about entrepreneurship early on: Companies primarily exist to make money. (Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that men aren't so ambivalent about this point?)

Yes, you can have a double bottom-line. And I'm all for doing well by doing good.

But the key is this: Your company has to get to the point where it can do good. And that means it has to be healthy - able to pay its bills and its employees, turn a profit, and earn a solid ROI for you as owner. Once it gets to that point, the sky's the limit as to where your passion can take you.

Running a business as a hobby - for the passion, not the profit - will never allow you to get to that point. Women are smart enough to know that. I wonder if there's a reluctance to admit it? Here's the deal: There's no shame in being concerned about the bottom line.

Some more results from the survey:

. An overwhelming number of women, 8 out of 10, have said that economic volatility will not deter them from their professional ventures.

· Social Business: Only half (51 percent) of respondents use interactive online channels to promote their businesses. Of those who are using social networks, 40 percent use Facebook, 27 percent use LinkedIn and 13 percent use Twitter.

· Head v. Gut: When making business decisions, women are split between analysis and intuition. Fifty-five percent say they opt to analyze the situation, with 45 percent going with their intuition.

· Advice at home: When looking for professional advice, women owners consult their spouses most often (49 percent). Professional advisors (40 percent) and peers (30 percent) are also seen as valuable sources of information.

· Who you know: Nearly seven out of 10 (68 percent) are affiliated with at least one industry group or business organization. Chambers of commerce and national industry groups are the most popular.

Ask What You Can Do

2011-08-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

The new Sunday Review section of the New York Times (which I like very much) adds an interesting feature: Readers respond to a provocative letter to the editor.

This past weekend, the "Sunday Dialogue" was sparked by an executive recruiter. He offered several ideas for ending the financial crisis:

... creating jobs by investing in infrastructure, and for reducing the deficit by increasing the age for Medicare beneficiaries, using means-testing for Social Security recipients, reforming the tax code to close loopholes and make it fairer, ending subsidies for giant corporations, bringing all of our troops home from Afghanistan by Christmas and eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the super-rich.

Oft-discussed solutions, none of which seems very do-able considering the gridlock in Washington. What intrigued me, though, was this response from Rebecca Zicarelli of Maine:

With all the daunting problems we face, the questions being asked are: What can President Obama do? What can the Fed do? What can Congress do? We’re so focused on government, we forget the private sector, as Mr. Lowenstein did in his letter.

The private sector seems to be waiting for some far-off day when government gets out of the way. It’s time for the private sector to stop sitting on the piles of cash we hear about and use it to create new demand, to create growth. Stop overworking your existing employees. Hire new employees.

I keep hearing that “government’s the problem.” Well, if you run a company and you’ve got the ability to hire but you’re not hiring, you’re the problem.

We need to talk about what you can do for your country.

I've been waiting for someone to start talking about the responsibility of the private sector and the encouragement of consumer confidence. I wish the idea had been raised by someone in a leadership role, no offense to Rebecca (who writes a darned good letter).

I'm frankly surprised it hasn't been.

During 11 years of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave 30 evening radio speeches dubbed the Fireside Chats (you can listen to the first one at the link and hear him tell people that banks are safer than stashing money under their mattresses.)

The chats were short, plain-spoken and aimed directly at regular folks. They earned FDR a great deal of trust and affection with the public, at a time of great panic and fear, and influenced positive public response (such as halting a run on the banks).

It seems to me we need similar calls to calm and to patriotism right now. The constant drumbeat of doom and gloom (delivered almost gleefully in some corners of the media) has been extraordinarily - and measurably - destructive to our economy.

"Confidence and courage are the essentials of success," Roosevelt says. I think we need a similar message today. And I think Rebecca's echo of JFK is right on: Someone needs to talk about what we all can do for our country.

Top 10 List

2011-08-16T03:31:00.000-07:00

What are the Top 10 challenges for a small business in its first five years?

Answers from a variety of experts in my Smart Answers column.

Plan A, B, C

2011-08-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

How clueless is clueless? Even a small amount of research on entrepreneurship should yield two conclusions: It's risky and extremely time-consuming.

Yet the professionals-turned-small business owners profiled in this weekend's New York Times Style section seem surprised at how hard it is to succeed in business.

Honestly? I understand, especially in retail, that it would be more hectic than even a well-prepared individual had anticipated. But the subjects of the piece apparently wanted to downshift, take it easy, smell the roses and lead "healthier" lifestyles.

Becoming independently wealthy is probably a good way to achieve those goals. Starting up a business? Not so much.

The weird thing is that I and many, many other small business journalists, experts, advisors and CEOs have been warning about the pitfalls of entrepreneurship for years. Do it if you must, we say, but make sure you go in with a very realistic understanding of what it will take. And if you're not ready for the risk, keep your day job.

I don't know whether that word isn't getting out there, or whether it is but people don't believe it, or whether people bulldoze headfirst into business ownership without reading the instruction manual. Probably a combination of all three.

The good news: By the end of the piece, we learn that most of the business owners are happy they made the switch. I just think the transition might have been easier if they'd read the fine print.

Get Real, Granny

2011-08-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports that Baby Boomers are rejecting the terms "grandmother" and "grandfather":

“My wife and I were somewhat serious about being called Irene and John,” Mr. Dawson said. “We like our names and that it’s real. Grandpa, Grandma, Granny, Nanna, Gramps, etc., give off a vision of being old."

Now, I don't expect to be a grandmother any time soon, so maybe I shouldn't talk. But this trend annoys me no end. The allergy to aging smacks, to me, of the worst stereotypes about Boomers: vanity, exceptionalism and self-absorption.

Who me? Get older and become a grandpa? Never!

I can't quite detect the harm in cultural honorifics that convey respect, tradition and great affection. And can you imagine a toddler rushing up to hug ... Irene and John?

Those who think they're never going to get old should read "Never Say Die: The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age," by one of my favorite authors, Susan Jacoby.

When I turned 50 last year, several people offered condolences. I didn't need them. I have several friends who never made it to 50, and a few who never made it to 40 - or even 30.

I was grateful to hit the half-century mark because, when you think about it, what's the alternative?

My parents met and married late in life and by the time I had children, my father was gone and my mother was declining. My husband and I watched enviously as we saw young-ish grandparents spending time with their grandchildren. Not only did our children not get those wonderful relationships, we didn't get the parenting breaks we desperately needed.

Few words, besides Mama and Dada, are more comforting and homey than Nana or Gramma, Gramps or Papa. Other people can stick with Irene or John. I'm looking forward to the day a toddler runs up to hug me and hollers "Grammy!"

Triumph of Low-Tech

2011-08-12T03:31:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to interview LegalZoom CEO John Suh last month. (Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and you can watch our interview in full.)

This was my first time live on the Internet and there were some technology glitches. (I attend lectures at CalTech, and even the world's top geniuses grapple with technology bugs, so I'm in good company.)

But it was a low-tech trick and long years of experience that saved me from disaster. Here's what happened:

We tested the iPad I was to use to take questions from a live audience online. But we tested it about 90 minutes early. By the time we were live, the iPad had been thrown offline by a Wi-Fi security program that none of us knew about, nor anticipated.

I didn't know what was wrong with this cute little gadget, but I knew I wasn't getting any questions from the audience. And half the program was supposed to be questions from the audience!

Fortunately, I knew from experience to prepare about three times as many questions as I could use. Also fortunately, I insisted on keeping my trusty yellow legal pad in front of me. iPad, schmiPad - I need to scribble during interviews.

Thank goodness I had it there: As I was trying to decide on my next question and listen and interact with John as he talked, I managed to scrawl a "Help!" note and pass it to the tech team. As I tap-danced away, getting deep into my "extra" questions for John, the fantastic tech guys spirited away the iPad and fixed it.

People who watched the session live had no idea anything untoward was happening. I was sweating bullets underneath what looked like a calm exterior. John just soldiered on with terrific insights and innovative thinking.

Despite the near-disaster, it was a lot of fun to do the interview. I'll be doing another one next week, with the equally fascinating Tim Berry of Palo Alto Software.

You can be sure my pen and paper will be within arm's reach.

My Interview with John Suh of Legal Zoom

2011-08-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

CredibilityLive Event Upcoming

2011-08-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! I'll be interviewing Tim Berry, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Palo Alto Software, for another CredibilityLive event next Thursday. Info/register online.

It's free, fun and informative.

Do Social Media, But Safely

2011-08-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

Everybody is on the bandwagon about social media. As usual, I'm skeptical.

Yes, you need to have a Facebook page for your business or brand. And a LinkedIn page for your career, and Twitter for exposure and fun.

But social media is also the latest Trojan horse for malware, viruses and scammers, who hide their malicious packages in fake social media invites and weird "look at this YouTube video" emails.

Here are some best practices from Don DeBolt, director of Threat Research (what a title!) at Total Defense:

1. Share wisely
Most users, especially younger ones, don’t put much thought into the repercussions of sharing too much information, even though they should. Last year, a woman posted on Facebook that she was leaving town for a week. While out, her house was burglarized by a Facebook ‘friend’. Now that’s a real hack!

2. Don’t forget to log out
Most online users opt-in to automatically log-in to at least one Web site. Many are logged in to e-mail, Facebook and Twitter accounts all the time, at the same time, in multiple locations. It’s easy for someone to get a hold of your personal information in any one of these online locations at any time, if you simply forget to log-out.

3. Don’t click on funky links
If social networking had a constitution, this would be the first amendment. It’s clear as glass that it’s a bad idea to click on a link without prior information, that doesn’t appear to be appropriate based on the URL, that previews questionable content, etc., but a recent report found that 73% of users are still clicking on malicious links in news feeds.

4. Update your AV, ASAP
This is no sales pitch. It’s pretty simple. The only way to stay as protected as possible is to update your AV software. With new bugs hitting the Web by the minute, it’s important that you have the latest technology to protect yourself from possible hacks.

I have seen some funny-slash-embarrassing repercussions for people who forget about tip number two, above. Have you?

Reality Makeover Show

2011-08-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

Just passing this along: An L.A. production company, A. Smith & Co. Productions, is looking for local small businesses to participate in a makeover reality show.

If you're interested, email Helpmybiztvshow@gmail.com. Include your name, location, phone number and a brief description about your company, along with a picture of you and your biz.

You get an expert "makeover" of your company if you are chosen to participate.

I can't vouch for them personally, so caveat emptor on this one!

To Cold Call - Or Not

2011-08-08T14:52:00.001-07:00

Quick heads up on my recent contribution to the Future Simple blog.

Should you use cold-calling as part of your sales strategy? Maybe.

It's nearly always better to have a personal contact or solid sales lead. But for some companies, in some circumstances, cold-calling is almost inevitable.

The good news: There are ways to make it less painful and more productive. Check out the blog for some advice and let me know whether it helped.

'Lope Springs Eternal

2011-08-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have had a fruit-and-vegetable garden since my father showed me his tomato plants when I was about six. I don't know what made a bigger impression: The fact that he was producing something I thought only came from the grocery store, or the fat, ugly horn worms that he picked off and tossed over the fence.

Either way, that afternoon put me on the path to lifelong gardener. I've had mixed results, but managed over the years to produce bushels of tomatoes, squash of all kinds, peppers, beans, cucumbers, corn, eggplant, lettuce, kale, chard and others.

I also had a holy grail: Melons.

Oh, I tried, believe me I tried. Watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupes. They died out fast, never germinated, started off swell and then petered out.

One year, my cantaloupe vines actually set fruit. I was elated. Then, just as the baby melons started to swell up, the plant shriveled and died within days. Heartbroken, I pulled up the gnarled roots and took them to the expert Japanese-American gardeners at my local nursery. The discouraging diagnosis: Nematodes.

Another year, my watermelon plants seemed to thrive. The baby melons set, the fruit grew. It looked like I'd finally achieved the impossible: Beautiful, green stripers sat in the garden patch ... and they sat ... and they sat. The vine gradually died back, the fall rolled around and when there was nothing else to do, I picked them. Inside, the fruit was yellow tinged with pink. The melons had never ripened.

That was pretty much the end of it. I'd given up. Until this year:

There are about half a dozen more in various stages of ripening on the vine. The irony is that I didn't do a thing. I didn't even plant this cantaloupe, it showed up as a volunteer, probably originating from a melon I tossed into my compost pile sometime last winter.

What I love about gardening: Nature constantly surprises. Life will out. Things want to grow and produce and thrive. I post this not to brag, but to encourage. Even when you think you're beaten, and your plants have died and your career is over, a small shoot will push its head out of the soil.

With a little TLC, you may even wind up with a cantaloupe.

DIY Bookkeeping

2011-08-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

Dun & Bradstreet statistics say that nine out of ten business failures in the United States are caused by a lack of general business management skills and planning.

Keeping track of a business’s financial health is a huge step toward having a successful business.

So begins the pitch for Lily E. Chambers new book, "How To Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping."

Lily is absolutely right. I wrote about the need for small business financial literacy recently in my Bloomberg BusinessWeek column.

But what if you can't afford to outsource your financials or hire an in-house financial person? That's where Lily's book comes in, teaching you how you can do your own bookkeeping in QuickBooks. It is available at Amazon.com or on Lily's website, Virtual Office Goddess.

Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Expensive Words

2011-08-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

What are the most expensive keyword categories online? That's a question Larry Kim, the founder of WordStream, asked in order to determine where Google makes their ad revenues.

His findings are contained in this infographic. Probably about what I would have expected, although a couple of strange ones cropped up there: cord blood? really?

So, how do small businesses compete on Google AdWords if they are operating in one of the most expensive keyword categories?

Here are Larry's suggestions:

1) Be Picky: One of the neat things in Google AdWords is they let you be very specific in choosing what keywords to show your ads for. Think about your what makes your products or services unique – and figure out exactly what is your keyword niche is, then bid on those specific 3+ word keyword phrases that are more specific to your business.

2) Be Relevant: Once you’ve identified your keyword list, break it up into smaller, more targeted lists, so that you can run different, more specific ads that call out your key differentiators for the different types of keyword searches that you’ve picked.

3) Landing Pages: The average conversion rate (the ratio of clicks to your site vs. number of leads generated) for a typical small businesses is around 2%, yet I often see companies with 20-30% conversion rates. Experimenting with different offers is super-important, for example, free estimates, free consultations, $50 off, download a free resource guide (etc.).

Thesaurus Generator?

2011-07-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

A source of mine, customer service guru Micah Solomon, alerted me to something funny last week.

A column in which I interviewed him popped up on an obscure website without any link backs or explanation as to where it came from.

That's not all too uncommon in this age of Internet ripoffs. What was notable about this web version of my column is that it read ike it went through a meatgrinder. Or, rather, a weird thesaurus.

So my words, "good friend" became "fine companion." Micah's book, "Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit," became "Incomparable Service, Incomparable Profit."

My tagline stayed in place, but instead of, "Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues," it now read:

Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers business enterprising and little-business issues.

I kind of like it! I ran a WhoIs search on the offending site and found a Russian address. I sent a "Hey! Cut it out!" email to the address listed for the site admin, but I doubt it will do much.

Anybody else had this happen?

Home-Based Businesses

2011-07-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

This Thursday, at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern, the U.S. Small Business Administration will hold a web chat on growing a home-based business.

Here's the pitch:

WASHINGTON – What do Apple Computer, Hershey's, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and the Ford Motor Company have in common? These well-known corporations all started out as home-based businesses. In fact, more than half of all U.S. businesses are based out of an owner's home. Starting a home-based business has many rewards as well as challenges. Join chat host Boyd Wright to learn what it takes to grow a successful home-based business.

Web chat participants can post questions online in advance and on July 28, join the live web chat by going online to SBA.gov, and click on the web chat event under What’s New.

An Exciting Opportunity

2011-07-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

This Thursday, I'll be hosting a web chat with John Suh, CEO of LegalZoom.

You can see the broadcast at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern. It's part of the CredibilityLIVE series, hosted by Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp.

I'll be asking John, a serial entrepreneur, about recruiting talented people, where to look for the next big idea, and the keys to building a successful business.

Check it out!

Old Boys' Club

2011-07-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

What do they have in common? Brooksley Born, Sheila Bair, Christina Romer, Elizabeth Warren.

Strong women economists, outside of the old boys' club, responsible first to the American people - including small business owners and those of us who are self-employed.

And all of them sidelined, shut up, insulted and discounted.

There's a disturbing and discouraging pattern here. We need to recognize it and call it out.

(h/t to Desiree, who recommended the excellent Born documentary)

Call It the Soupy Sales Special

2011-07-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

In light of the "humble pie" served up to Rupert Murdoch in London yesterday, Businessweek.com does a round up of the high and mighty being felled by baked goods throughout recent history.

It seems that the pie-in-the-face treatment is a favorite of animal rights groups.

But no one mastered the art quite like Soupy Sales.

Why the Disconnect?

2011-07-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

New job creation is lagging woefully behind, our legislators can't seem to compromise for the public good and the middle class is experiencing record wage stagnation - if they're lucky enough to still be employed at all.

Pretty dismal stuff, right?

Then you get a report like this one, from ThomasNet's Industry Market Barometer:

From upgrading facilities to buying technology, industrial companies are confidently investing in their businesses to build upon a period of sustained growth, according to the results of ThomasNet’s newest Industry Market Barometer™ (IMB).

Nearly half (45 percent) of the companies responding report growth over the last six months of 2010, and 88 percent of those are confident in their future expansion. The survey reveals a set of specific strategies that fueled this growth, from customer retention efforts to movement into new markets and product development. Bolstered by the results of these strategies, respondents are investing more in their companies and recruiting talent in anticipation of increased customer demand.

What in the world is happening to create such a huge disconnect between our economic sectors?

I certainly can't explain it, but it might have something to do with this Tale of Two Recoveries from the New York Times.

Even as the stock market and industrial production have recovered strongly over the past few years, jobs and personal income are way down.

Thomas Friedman addresses one of the causes in his New York Times column:

Look at the news these days from the most dynamic sector of the U.S. economy — Silicon Valley. Facebook is now valued near $100 billion, Twitter at $8 billion, Groupon at $30 billion, Zynga at $20 billion and LinkedIn at $8 billion. These are the fastest-growing Internet/social networking companies in the world, and here’s what’s scary: You could easily fit all their employees together into the 20,000 seats in Madison Square Garden, and still have room for grandma. They just don’t employ a lot of people, relative to their valuations, and while they’re all hiring today, they are largely looking for talented engineers.

What does this mean? Basically, we must all adopt entrepreneurial mindsets, and plan our careers accordingly. Here's how Friedman concludes, quoting an upcoming book by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Garrett Hoffman:

It also means using your network to pull in information and intelligence about where the growth opportunities are — and then investing in yourself to build skills that will allow you to take advantage of those opportunities. Hoffman adds: “You can’t just say, ‘I have a college degree, I have a right to a job, now someone else should figure out how to hire and train me.’ ” You have to know which industries are working and what is happening inside them and then “find a way to add value in a way no one else can. For entrepreneurs it’s differentiate or die — that now goes for all of us.”

Ars Gratis ... Huh?

2011-07-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

All too often, there's a disconnect between the artistes of this world and the bottom-liners.

We don't always think of business consultants as artsy-fartsy types, but indeed the best among them have strong visionary and creative stripes. They must solve problems by looking into a company's future and devising solutions that are sometimes a bit "out there."

So what happens when they run up against the coin-rattlers, who can't see beyond next quarter's projections? They must finesse the situation, frame their statements and think about "art, for money's sake."

So says my long-time source Ray Coen, food and restaurant consultant extraordinaire, on his blog this week. Check it out - it's a terrific read.

New Web Series

2011-07-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

When you talk about veterans, they don't get much more veteran-y than William Dunkelberg.

Bill is a professor of Economics at the School of Business and Management, Temple University, and served as dean from 1987-94. He was director of the Center for the Advancement and Study of Entrepreneurship from 1991-94.

He's also been the chief economist at the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) since 1971. Yes, you read that right: '71!

Expansion, recovery, recession, inflation, stagflation: If it's happened in the U.S. economy in the past 40 years, Bill has had a front row seat.

So when I hear that he is taking to the Inter-webs, I think I'd best alert folks to tune him in. "Your Bottom Line With Bill Dunkelberg” is a new web series geared at simple, clear, demystifying information on what drives the economy and how small business owners fit in.

Check it out.

A Woman in DC

2011-07-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Why was outgoing FDIC chair Sheila Bair routinely ignored and frozen out of the old boys' club in DC?

That's the question Joe Nocera asks in this excellent NY Times magazine cover story.

Bair anticipated the subprime mortgage crisis, tried to increase regulations on the industry and opposed big-bank bailouts, instead favoring initiatives designed to help homeowners, not bond owners.

Was she venerated for her foresight and celebrated for her savvy strategy?

Well, not exactly.

Actually, she was vilified for being "difficult" and informed about decisions already made by her male government counterparts. As she leaves her post, she speculates - was she marginalized for being a woman in a man's world, or patronized because she is not an Ivy Leaguer in a power-hungry society?

Read the article and see what you think.

Social Media Tips

2011-07-12T16:22:00.001-07:00

Here are some tips on how you can get Facebook working for your small business, courtesy of Schedulicity, an online appointment scheduling company.

While the vast majority of people use Facebook for personal purposes, it is important to create a business page for professional purposes. Some things to consider:

1. Don’t wait to begin using social media. Professionals should create their personal brand from the moment they consider starting a business. Having a solid online presence will allow you to to:

· Gain access to an audience that will read and comment on your social media content

· Begin collecting and storing hundreds of email addresses for email marketing purposes

· Listen to what’s happening professionally in communities

· Monitor competitor and industry pages to stay abreast of current trends

2. Be cautious when choosing the name of a professional Facebook page. Once a page has more than 30 fans, the name cannot be changed. Use an adaptable name, like ‘stylist,’ ‘hair pro,’ ‘financial services professional,’ etc. Avoid any names that are transitory in nature.

3. Keep your personal page and business page very separate. A professional Facebook business page will tell a prospective client that you’re a pro and can act like one.

4. Spotlight others on your Facebook business page. Give credit to employees and clients. Consider it good karma! These people will in turn ‘like’ your page and share glowing reviews – a powerful resource when attracting new clients.

5. Let potential and/or new employers know you’re socially connected. Many businesses, big and small, know that they need a social media presence but they’re unsure how to get started. By already having that experience, you will have an advantage not only for your professional skills, but your social media skills, as well. Being an integral part of any business’ social media presence will ensure a lasting place within that business and a successful career.

6. Engage your audience; make it sticky. Create an 'interest list’ with all the different topics that may interest your target audience. Topics a business may want to consider are:

· Talk about a tradeshow event you'll be attending (before, during and after)

· Share lots of real-time photos on your FB business page

· Review something (products you carry, shows you watch, your new boots, anything that might interest your target audience

· Share business tips of the day or the week (Look for the by using the term 'business tips' on search.twitter.com)

· Think two months down the road and prepare specials based on upcoming holidays

· Showcase your community (i.e. let a local artist hang art in your business and take lots of photos)

Free Shipping

2011-07-11T10:33:00.001-07:00

Everyone hates shipping costs. In fact, a recent survey showed that 43% of online shoppers abandon their orders at checkout due to high shipping costs.

Here are some ways you can offer free shipping, brought to you by (who else), Freeshipping.org.

1. Total Free Shipping
Finding a store offering free shipping on every order is like hitting the shopping jackpot. These offers are typically limited to merchants who sell products like jewelry and shoes because they're able to reach the needed profit margins.

2. Free Shipping With Membership
Members-only clubs are becoming increasingly prevelant. Shoppers pay an annual fee to join the club and get free shipping on all of their orders. In some cases, a store credit card provides the same benefits. This can really pay off for customers who make frequent purchases at the same retailer.

3. Minimum Order Shipping
This is the most popular kind of free shipping offer. When shoppers spend a certain amount, the entire order ships for free. In many cases, the magic number isn't far beyond the cost of a typical order.

4. Select Item Shipping
Some merchants offer free shipping only on certain items. This method is regularly used by stores selling bulky products like furniture that are difficult and expensive to ship.

5. Site-to-Store Shipping
Living near a large retail chain can be a big benefit for shoppers. More and more merchants have started offering free shipping on orders shipped to physical store locations. While this method reduces convenience, customers find the extra effort worth it to avoid paying high shipping prices.

6. Return Shipping
Many retailers who sell shoes and clothes will provide free return shipping. Shoppers are then spared the expense of sending back items that don't fit properly. This kind of offer can really draw in customers, with 90 percent saying free shipping offers entice them to spend more.

7. Flat Rate Shipping
With flat rate shipping merchants will ship all orders -- no matter how big or small -- for one set cost. Though it's not exactly free, customers can shop without worrying about huge shipping expenses appearing at checkout.

Hug Challenge

2011-07-08T04:33:00.000-07:00

My long-time (former) colleague at Businessweek.com, Michelle Nichols the Savvy Seller, has been pouring her heart and soul into a "hug your kids today" campaign since her son, Mark, died suddenly at 8 1/2 years old from brain cancer in 1998.

She's written a book for working parents, won awards and taken her concept global.

Now she's created the 30-Day Hug Challenge and she needs help spreading the word. Take a look, hug a kid (find a friend or a relative if you don't have one of your own) and send some feedback to Michelle. She's a dear woman determined to make the world a better place.

It really would be a better place if we had more Michelles around.

How Do You Rate - For Funding?

2011-07-07T02:24:00.000-07:00

You've heard of Match.com.

Now there's Boefly.com, an online matching service that connects small business borrowers with lenders, using a compatibility tool similar to the online dating sites.

Boefly has recently put out a "fundability wizard" that gives you a ballpark idea of how "fundable" your business idea or company truly is.

An interesting innovation - one of many tools the Internet is offering up to help small business owners. The problem, of course, is that so few small business loans are actually being made these days.

There's still a chronic shortage of credit, and as a source of mine told me recently, it's a seller's market. So banks can require all sorts of extras from small companies looking to get funding, and they have little recourse but to comply or scuttle their applications.

I'll be writing more about that problem in the column shortly. Stay tuned.

Garden Blogging

2011-07-06T01:20:00.000-07:00

The tassels are on the corn ...

The bloom is on the tomatoes ...

The melons are setting ...

Summertime in the garden!

Cash Flow Goofs

2011-07-05T04:07:00.000-07:00

Cash is king in a small business. Understanding and accurately forecasting your cash flow is probably the single best predictor that your company is thriving.

Here are some of the most common errors businesses make when forecasting cash flow, courtesy of Sageworks:

1. Under-Committing. Don't delegate cash flow forecasting to junior-level employees who might lack the understanding of company finances, or overloaded senior staff who lack enough time to dedicate to the area.

2. Over-Optimism. One of the main dangers of cash flow forecasting is overestimating sales. On the flip side, organizations tend to underestimate the occurrence and impact of negative events, making it difficult to recognize and plan accordingly for potential worst-case scenarios. You should always draft best-case and worst-case forecasts and put them to the test to better prepare for potential positive and negative impacts on cash.

3. Not Updating. It is very important to regularly compare your actual cash flow with your prediction so you can make necessary adjustments. It is unrealistic to expect a perfect cash flow projection at first; however, if you review your actual results with regularity, little significant variance will occur.

4. Lack of Communication. Avoid operating within a vacuum and include all members and areas in your organization when creating a cash flow forecast. Developing these communication channels is key to creating an exhaustive cash flow projection. Staff and members of the management team should review the tentative projection and ensure that their initiatives are accounted for.

5. Late Loans. If you think you are going to need a loan, it is better to get one early. A strong cash flow projection will show a loan officer that your business is a good credit risk and a good candidate for a short term loan or line of credit. People tend to overestimate the availability of loans, grants, credit and equity, and this can have a devastating impact on your business later on.

A Picture Is Worth

2011-07-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

I'm a word person, not particularly a graphics person.

But I have to admit that I find the infographics that have been cropping up really help explain tough concepts and lay out complexities with a punch. They don't replace good reporting, which is based on words, but they put the results into a format that can have a big impact.

Here's one that shows - in graphic detail - how difficult it is for small companies to get the cash or credit they need to run their companies.

Park Places

2011-06-29T09:56:00.001-07:00

I have written the guest post at Pasadena Daily Photo today. Take a look.

Is This Where It All Ends?

2011-06-29T03:22:00.000-07:00

Off and on (mostly on) for the past 15 years or so, I've written about small business for the Los Angeles Times. At one point in the heady '90s, I had three regular columns going at once.

This week, I learned that my weekly Q&A column has been cancelled, the victim of "reduced revenues" and editorial budgets strained to the breaking by events in Japan and the Middle East over the past year. My editors, who were kind and apologetic, explained that the freelance budget at the paper has been basically squashed entirely. Of course, they didn't mention bankruptcies, terrible decisions by shifting owners and corporations that demand Wall Street-level returns from an industry that should rightly be seen as a public service. But, they didn't need to: We all know about that.

We also know that newspapers are dying. It's just that the death rattle has become increasingly pronounced as the months have flown by in 2011.

Our local San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Pasadena Star-News is now owned by hedge fund managers whose priority is the bottom line - period. As a result, reporters and editors have undergone a painful series of layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs at the papers.

The L.A. Times, one of the nation's best examples of daily journalism back in the day, has not fared any better. I remember having lunch in the Los Angeles Times cafeteria back when I was a downtown reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News (friends got me in the door) and always being wowed by the thrilling glimpse of a big-time news operation.

When I went back last year for a holiday party, I was shocked: rows and rows of empty, debris-strewn desks piled up around the edges of cavernous news rooms where a tiny group of layoff-survivors still worked at desks huddled together in the center. Carpets were literally threadbare, walls badly in need of paint. Many offices and departments, formerly filled with busy writers and editors, were simply shuttered, the rooms dark.

And this is at the newspaper that won the Pulitzer Prize last year for public service.

This article, by former New York Times correspondent Christopher Hedges, lays out the dire situation of journalism in all its sad, stark reality.

The whole piece is worth a read, but here's how he concludes:

The death of journalism, the loss of reporters on the airwaves and in print who believed the plight of the ordinary citizen should be reported, means that it will be harder for ordinary voices and dissenters to reach the wider public. The preoccupation with news as entertainment and the loss of sustained reporting will effectively marginalize and silence those who seek to be heard or to defy established power. Protests, unlike in the 1960s, will have a difficult time garnering the daily national coverage that characterized the reporting on the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement and in the end threatened the power elite. Acts of protest, no longer covered or barely covered, will leap up like disconnected wildfires, more easily snuffed out or ignored. It will be hard if not impossible for resistance leaders to have their voices amplified across the nation, to build a national movement for change. The failings of newspapers were huge, but in the years ahead, as the last battle for democracy means dissent, civil disobedience and protest, we will miss them.

Invoicing Pitfalls

2011-06-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

One of the major problems that small business owners face is the monthly cash crunch. A big contributor to this dilemma is uncollected invoices, late-payers and clients who must be hounded like crazy to issue a check.

The folks behind Tradeshift are ambitious enough to believe they can change the way we do business by allowing organizations to exchange invoices for free.

Here are their tips on how to create and submit an invoice that will help avoid the pitfalls that lead to delayed payment, or worse, no payment:

1. No backup system. It’s kind of a no-brainer, but if one computer crashes, all your records are gone. Make sure to back your invoices up on multiple computers – or better yet, store it in the cloud. These are some of the most important documents of your business, after all.
2. Having one gatekeeper. Don’t give full ownership of this responsibility to just one person – you never know when you’ll need access to the information, and gatekeepers can cause bottlenecks – the last thing you want when you’re trying to get paid.
3. “The invoice is in the mail…” Unless you’re hand-delivering paper invoices, you can’t confirm receipt unless you’ve paid for FedEx. And snail mail means snail payment…the worst kind. Go online to get paid faster.
4. Forgetting to invoice altogether. Admit it – it happens. And that’s money lost. Make sure you have a system in place to help you remember to send out your invoices along with any reminders when they are overdue.
5. Incorrect currency conversions. Working with international businesses? A miscalculated currency conversion causes delays at best, and underpayment at worst. Make sure you’re using a system that allows for the most updated conversion rates.
6. Misfiring an invoice. Ever sent the wrong invoice to the wrong vendor? That can get hairy when you’re sharing confidential pricing matters – and might even hurt negotiations if one vendor sees how much (or little) you’re paying others. Automate your system to avoid the awkward.
7. Doubling up. Generating duplicate invoice numbers is one of the most common mistakes made. Without a system to prevent dupes, small business owners risk wasting time and money trying to undo the confusion this can create.

Financially inKleined

America Means Business

Web Chat

Little Orphan Brandie

How-To Social Media

Entrepreneurship for the 1%?

Keeper Employees

Communication Commandments

Spammers and Scammers

Irate Customers

No More Rip-Offs

The Paradox of Power

Overcoming Obstacles in 2012

Undetected Bias Uncovered

Sell to China

2012

Fathers and Daughters

Top Ten 2011

A True Meritocracy?

Sources of Information

Communications Blunders

My Favorite Mistake*

Free Shipping Day

Up For Debate

Tax Essentials

Babbling Fish

How AdWords Works

Don't Blow It

Compete to Win

Sin or Survival?

Don't Mess With Success

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Startup Help

Ways To Help

Close the Gap

Global Entrepreneurship Week

America's Vetrepreneurs

Visionary Interview

Fighting Age Discrimination

What's Your Story?

New Resource

Happy Holidays

Planning, American Style

What's Luck Got To Do?

Bugs!

Small Business Saturday

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Guest Post

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Hiring Diversity

What Business Structure Is Right?

Women For the Nobel Win

Chatty Cathy

Smart Girls

Customer Service

Millennial Blues

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The Importance of Things

Update Your Resume

Get 'Em While They're Young?

500 Entrepreneurs

Government Contracting

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My Interview with Tim Berry

Powerful Women

Women Entrepreneurs

Ask What You Can Do

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Get Real, Granny

Triumph of Low-Tech

My Interview with John Suh of Legal Zoom

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Do Social Media, But Safely

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To Cold Call - Or Not

'Lope Springs Eternal

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