7 End oof the Year Tax Expert Tips

Taxes are a pain for everyone. Having to pay them is the biggest pain, but if you use anything other than just a 1040 and a W2 you probably have to spend a bit of time reading the laws, looking for new tax saving trends, and hopefully stumble a crossed some good tips. Taxes are a war, and you need all the weapons you can find to beat the tax man when you are in business for yourself, or you might just be seeking some new jobs philly.

Here are a few Tax Tips for End Year that might help you out before you get back into party mode on New Year's Eve. Nothing better than last minute tax strategies ;).

13 Best iPhone Business Applications

Since I got an iPod Touch recently, and basically screw off all day instead of work, I figured I would pretend that I actually do work and tell you what some of the best iPhone and iPod Touch business apps are. At least you can make it look like you are trying to streamline your work day with some of these apps instead of just surfing for games that Free People from the clutches of demonic overlords in fantasy land.

Here are the top 13 iPhone Business Apps currently available. Ones that you can actually use, and help you speed up some of your work. So...you can play more games.

Failing and Future Success

Yesterday we briefly mentioned that leaders sometimes had failed many times before they finally figured it all out. Failure is a big part of success for many people. Not everyone can get it right the very first time they go out on their own. Business isn't a sure thing. You can't possibly foresee every challenge that you will face, and many have found that some of these challenges have been very detrimental to the success of that venture.

You can look in any web directory and find businesses in there that have entries still, but have probably failed during the last release of the new listings. Owning a place like a restaurant may sound enticing, but most restaurant owners know how to cook, but have absolutely no idea how to run a business. This is the same for many people that have great skills they can sell, but not the business background to keep it afloat. So...they fail, but it is what they learn in that failure that decides whether they are able to bounce back and be successful on their next effort.

There are a lot of success stories out there, but there are probably a lot more stories of failings. People that have overcome the failures they ahve had to become successful are always worth listening to in my opinion and here are a group of "failures" that made themselves a fortune.

10 Skills of Successful LEaders

Are you a leader, or a follower? Do you even know? Sometimes leadership is just thrust upon you. Other times it is sought. In either case your success or failure has to do with a lot more than just knowing what is supposed to be done.

LEaders ned to have some special characteristics to really be successful and get others to follow them. Maybe a lot of failure in business has to happen before the Minka Aire lights finally go on? For some peopel it is true. Failing isn't always a bad thing, but it might be a sign that you lack the skills to be a true leader as well.

Not to discourage you, but not everyone is cut out to lead and tha tis OK. There are plenty of great ways to make it as a followrer, but today we are worried about some of hthe qualities that are apparent in many leaders. Take a look at 10 Characteristics of Superior Laders and see how you measure up, or if you agree with the list.

Does Your Marketing Suck?

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a business. Doing it wrong can not only cost you a lot of money, but it can make you look bad in the process. MArketing is the way to get people in the door so can can do whatever it is you are trying to do. Be it selling food, sell textbooks online, or make a doctor beome your next financial client.

Learning effective marketing techniques is always beneficial, but learning what you are doing wrong is just as benficial sometimes. It is time to take a look at 10 ways why your marketing strategies stink. If you can figure out why some of them are failing, you can figure out why your next one is going to work.

Top 10 Upcoming Business Trends

Ever wonder why there are so many top 10 lists out there? It's because you have no ability to pass them over withou looking. They are one of the best ways to get people to look at your article. They are a fantastic way to get your articles ranked up at places like Digg.com, show up in a free web directory and the search engines LOVE them. Why? People link to them non-stop. They give them something to write about and help them add content to their own sites.

For us top 10 lists aren't always about marketing, but they are about learning what to look at for future business ideas. This top 10 list of upcoming trends is no different.

Forge Alliances With the Competition?

That doesn't even sound right when it comes to business does it? Most businesses spend all their time trying to out do their competition at every stretch and gain an advantage. At least if they even take the time to study their competition at all. A big mistake that a lot of business owners make is ignoring their competition entirely, sadly. Either because they are only interested in their own little world, or that they just don't ahve any idea of the 4396508 other competitors they have.

HAve you ever thought about forging alliances with your competition? Probably not. There is some strategic vbalue in getting to know, and in some cases befriending some of your competitors. Not only does it help you learn more about your own business, but there may also be situations where you NEED your competitors if things are happening to your industry.

While this article doesn't promote that you send them business, it does give you a good idea of why you would want to reach out to some of your enemies and see where it takes you.

Snoop Dog advises young entrepreneurs

Did you jsut read that right? Snoop Dog, the rap mogul, that made his way talking about how to get high and getting his homies some is talking about how to succeed as an entrepreneur.

It is no surprise that the rapper has some advice in this department. HE is rollin' in dough now and has good advce to avoid the need for anti wrinkle treatment.


He was one of the speakers at the of the second annual Global Entrepreneurship Week. Sitting on the panel was Blake Mycoskie, founder of the eco-friendly footwear company TOMS Shoes; restaurateur Stephen Hanson, founder and president of B.R. Guest Restaurants; chairman of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and president and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, Barry Sternlicht; and rapper Cordazar Calvin Broadus, better known to hip-hop fans as Snoop Dogg. Maria Bartiromo, host of CNBC's Closing Bell, served as the moderator.

Work at Home Sams? Why Not?

I'll bet you have contemplated some sort of make money quick scam that you have seen on TV over the years. From that guy who tells you to "place tiny ads in the newspaper", to the boom in the real estate con artist game. Thinking that you are going to strike it rich and not need cozumel vacation packages, but rathe rmove there doing little to no work is a nice dream. For the people who sell these scams to you. HEre's the story of someone who got burned.

Kathy Ebarb of Stonewall, La., was having a difficult time locating a new position after losing her job last fall. She applied for at least 200 jobs, she says, and became discouraged. At 64, she worried her age was getting in the way.

Her daughter had a comfortable work-at-home position. Ebarb thought this type of situation would be a good way to make money on the side during her job hunt. She searched online business opportunities and e-mailed companies for more information.

Ebarb received a call back from a prospect she described as "an extremely good talker." She said he offered her the opportunity to earn money from a website.

How To Choose WHAT Employee Benefits You Should Have

The most difficult part about employee benefits isn't finding which institution to run the benefits plans, but more likely figuring out just what types of employee benefits to eeven offer. Not all companies are the same, but most companies do want to have some benefits to give their employees something that makes them want to stay. I don't care how much you love your job, if Company A pays you slightly more, but doesn't offer benefits for your family, Company B that does is probably a better opion for taking care of your personal needs.

Small businesses are in a bit of a predicament most of the time in that they don't believe they can even afford to offer any benefits. While benefits aren't always cost-effective, they too an find something to offer many times while not shopping for them like it is Black Friday.

Here is a good article ont he Basics of Benefits that gives some good ideas on how to decide, what to do, and how to do it when it comes to offering employee benefits.

SMall Business and Financing With Credit Cards

We all know that small businesses aren't always stacked with operating cash. Supplies, parts, listings in web directories, and things you just run out of need to be bought quickly, and something needs to be in place to make sure that you can get it. With SBA loans becoming more stringent, and less of hem being available it is no shock that many small businesses have to rely on credit cards for their fast capital.

According to Inc.com a recent survey said that nearly 60% of small business owners have use credit cards as a source of capital in the last year. So how do you go about using them, and still stay out of trouble? While you can imagine that using them are much like at the personal level there might be more options for a business owener. Take a look at the Play Your Credit Cards Right article that discusses it.

5 Rules For Selling To the Rich

In sales the whale is the dream client for anyone. A whale is the biggest being in the sea, and for sales pros they are the biggest and best clients. Many people have absolutely no idea how to interact, or even sell to the rich. Why? Well most of them aren't exceedingly rich, or successful, so they don't know how to relate, or what a very successful person has to deal with on a day to day basis. So figuring out some proper actions just to make yourself look like you know what you are doing is a big deal. I'm not talking about having a bunch of modern furniture in a big time office, but how you set up and conduct yourself when you meet with them.

Here are 5 basic rules to selling to the rich that you shoould know, and follow like your sale depends on it. It really does depend on it.

The Big Business of Halloween

Ever think to yourself when you pass one of those costume mega stores: "How the heck do they make any money if they are always open?" The funny thing, is if you are a bit like me, I actually don't really even pay attention to these stores except around Halloween so I didn't realize tha many of the mega-Halloween stores aren't actually open all year. Many have in recent years taken to opening a store on a 2-3 month lease. Starting in September, virtually disappearing a few days after Halloween.

These stores have figured out how to use the season to the most profitable, while keeping the costs of running the business a minimalistic approach by jsut being there when people actually need what they are selling.

Joe Purifico, CEO and co-owner of Halloween Adventure, a Philadelphia-based chain of 150 seasonal costume superstores and 15 permanent shops explains how it all works for him.

Not only is it a good Q&A about that aspect of Halloween, he explains why Halloween costumes have become such a big business as well. Many clubs have giveaways for best costume as a business gifts to draw in business. Adults tend to spend up to 3 times what their kids do on their costumes to go to parties.

If you look at the bottom of his Q&A there are some big numbers on all the Tricks and Treats of Halloween. Most notably the 2008 total of $5.77 billion spent on Halloween that includes costumes, candy, and Witch's Brew (booze).

Business Without the Brick and Mortar: Mobilizing Business

We live in an age where technology has advanced enough that many businesses can be run with out even haing a premises. Why have a phone system, secretary, and an office when a mobile phone itself can do most of that work for much less money?

Some just don't have the technical side to pull this off. Most of our parents were raised in a world with out the benefits of the computers we have now. They had trouble jsut setting the clock on the VCR (remeber those things?), and forget aabout setting up a DVR, or TiVO to record 2 programs at once while you watch something else. They just don't "get it" when it comes to tech.

Some do, but aren't eager to move on. Take Doug Sohn for instance, in the article discussing the gadgets to go mobile for business. He still work 50 hours a week in his shop, when he could cut that time down dramtically with the use of our new age tech.

The article lists 13 devices to help you and your business get mobile. From phones, to auto accessories, to software. Not only saving you time, but all the while making your business more productive. What are you waiting for?

13 year-old Business Mogul

So you think it is hard to make a million dollars? If you asked 13-year old Maddie Bradshaw how hard it is she would probably just laugh. It's kids stuff.

Maddie Bradshaw had an idea to decorate he Jr. High locker. She took a plain bottlecap, sketched a black and white abstract portrait of Albert Einstein inside it, and put a magnet on the back. Simple enough eh? Her friends all wanted some too so she started making them for all of them. She decided that making them into jewelry would be a great idea too.

Then one day she decided to see if a local toy store wa sinterested in sellign the caps. They took 50, and 2 hours later they were sold out. They called her and asked if they could sell them at their other stores throughout Texas and the middle school mogul was born.

Now, Bradshaw's designs can be found in hundreds of stores throughout the United States, Canada, and the Bahamas. Snap Caps can be worn on necklaces, in hairpins, or as bracelets. "All my designs are interchangeable," says Bradshaw, whose company now sells 50,000 necklaces and caps every month.

Just a great story, and it all came from a tiny little idea to decorate her own locker. Jsut so simple and does something that eludes most of us giving us dark eye circles as we stay awake allnight searching for our Snap Cap explosion. Love stories like this.

Free Beer with every haircut

Talk about an awesome promotion. A free beer with every haircut certainly beats anyone trying to help you get hooked up with natural fat burner doesn't it?

Of course the barbver is obviously on to something. The free beer does wonders for the amount of money he has to pay his stylists. They can make you look as bad as possible and you won't even care! You are gonna be drunk! Seriously though take a look at this promo:

http://www.inc.com/ss/free-beer-with-every-haircut

Employer Vs. Employee Health Care Debate

Health Care is arguably the biggest current issue in America right now. It is certainly dominating the headlines in regards to current policy. The debate for universal health care, and socialized medicine is for anothe rtime though. Most people rarely look at helath care from the perspective of employer vs. employee and the responsibilities of each side, or more importantly the deamnds that each side put on the other.

Tha tsi why I always am interested when I see a sort of health care debate pop up in anarticle fromt his persepective. An employee and an HR exec sparring over the cost of health care coverage.

It is an interesting read from both sides of the aisle. Detailing some of the major concrerns of an average employee, and then the compnay line about the cost that they endure. The example is taken in a case where they actually switch coverages at the compnay and the employee feels that they were slighted, which I'm sure is very common in today's environment. Causing patients to seek deals on things like new weight loss pills instead of going to the doctor for the same problems.

Best Lemonade Stand Winners 2009

This is one of my favorite contests for business that I see every year. It is done by Inc.com and is held for kids to enter their Lemonade Stands, and their unique ideas for how they ran their stands.

Every year they take submissions from hundreds of kids a crossed the country about their stories on how they run their stands. They have several categories which include such things as "Best Story" which is typically for those that go above and beyond to give to a charity.

You can see a video of a couple winners here as well as a more in depth story about the contest overall with all the winners. None of the Lemonade stands had a product bad enough to be an appetite suppressant I am guessing...lol

Top 50 Entrepreneurial Schools

Going to business school should be easy to do. You shoudl be able to slip it in between another job since you have to be a smart business mind don't you to know that you don't wnat to be putting yourself in a ton of debt while you study business right? If you wnat to open a business you have even more incentive to keep the money coming in while you learn some fundamentals that will help you succeed without having a huge loan to pay off. I'd rather lose weight taking weight loss pills than by stressing abuout expenses I should have.

Of course that isn't alway an option, but what is an option is to find a great school that fits your needs as an entrepreneur. Remember that a big name doesn't really matter when you are learnign the tricks of the trade here. Why? Well YOU own the business. Who do you need to impress with an Ivey League degree? Nobody. You need information, not credentials from a college to give you a leg up in the small business world.


Here are the top 50 Business Colleges and Schools. Broken down into several categories based on availability for you to go, ranks in programs, etc.

Print Advertising and Getting Bargains

It should come as no surprise to anyone that print media is struggling. Newspapers are coming off last year's historic revenue declines of over 14%, while magazines are down almost 8%. So what does this mean for you? Well...of the bat it means that advertising with such mediums is going to come at a discount due to their lack of income. Is it really all that beneficioal to advertise using these mediums anymore, however? All advertising is good advertising, and unless you think the newspaper is completely irrelevant in today's world you have at least some incentive to look at it as a for of advertising.

While the sales numbers are down, I can assure you that if you are advertising the right products to the peaople that do read the newspaper you are going to be just fine. People do still get, AND read the paper regardless of how much they also read online. It's just habitual, and many like to read it while they eat, use the restroom ;), and while they travel. It's not going away anytime soon. No Chicken Little here.

Obviously you want to knwo how to get better deals while you advertise your According to does apidexin work? ads in magazines and newspapers though. Let's look at an article by advertising writer Carol Tice called Print Ads: A Bargain for Buyers for some more help.

Be a "Control Freak" If You Want Your Business to Succeed

While the author of this article calls it a little bit controversial in his views, and I agree in some instances, the advice is rather solid in my opinion.

Using a variation n the President Clinton campaign slogan of "It's the economy stupid", he says "It's NOT the Economy Stupid". What he means by this is that small business owners were probably making big mistakes well before the downturn, and that sis more likely the reason the are feeling it so hard now.

There are the business owners that live their business, ones that live it, but know how to disconnect, and then the ones that think the business can run itself while trusting others to do it for them no matter what it is. The ones that let go of a lot of control are the ones being addressed in the article.

The author tries to explain the importance of your employees not having the type of control you have if you are their boss. It also talks about how being known as a control freak is what you WANT as a business owner. HE subscribes to the philosophy that "nice guys never win" in regards to running your business and that "There is no "I" in team should" be "There is no $ in team - just mediocrity and excuses".

HE lists 5 points that you need to act on immediately. From paid for performance, to micro-management. Especially in a place where maybe you are employing people who sell. Be it a line of lamb motor, insurance, or anything, performance should be rewarded, and lack of it penalized. No free ride. It isn't like there aren't dozens of other people you could hire right now right?

Business Marketing and Communication by "Brand Obama"

The general consensus by most is that President Obama ran one of, if not the most spectacular presidential campaign in modern history. His use of the media, and the internet gave him a huge leg up on his competition. With that in mind there have been several attempts at replicating just what made him so successful in this endeavor, as well as his transparency as the president.

The article Lessons From "Brand Obama" tries to pinpoint some of the more useful strategies used by the president in your own businesses.

While I always contend that most of marketing is rather common sense, it isn't to everyone. It still helps those to see ideas that may help them come up with some of their own strategies as well. The old become the ceramic tile expert for those writing articles about ceramic tile is mentioned, but the ongoing communication with the media, as well as those interested in your business through transparency may be helpful as well.

Managing the Small Business Life Cycle

There are so many aspects and cycles to running a small business that you may feel like you need to hit a drug rehab center by the time you have figured it all out. Every step along the way has different needs from the start up all the way to selling your business.

Looking around at the cycles of creating, running, and selling a small business I was interested in finding a one-stop place to help people read and understand what the most logical way is to go about each stage of a business. The Small Business Planner on the sba.gov website is actually quite a bit better than I had expected.

The planner has in depth information about formation plans such as writing a business plan, finding financing, and even talks a bit about naming and registering your business. If you are already running a business the planner goes into detail on many aspects of operations that may be helpful as well. Managing employees, legal concerns, getting insurance, and forecasting sales.

5 Questions to Ask Your Web Developer

Most people that run a business know their business, and probably all other aspects of business generally. Obviously you can't be an expert in everything. If you make humidifier filters for instance, how likely are you going to know anything about developing a website? Probably not very.

If you want to make sure your site works for your business you need to make sure that the site can do what you want. You also want to make sure that making changes aren't going to be a major ahssle either. Take a loook at 5 questions to ask your web developer.

Traits of the Entrepreneur

What does it take to become a successful entrepreneur? What traits do you need to have to actually be successful? While there is no "default" list to say whether you will, or won't succeed in your business venture be it the world's best diet pills, or the invention of the better dog pooper scooper, there are some traits that are common in those that are.

A new entrepreneurship study conducted by Ace Hardware reveals that many small business owners think that, when it comes to the secret of their success, hard work trumps a background in business or finance.

The assessment tool, with is completed by over 300,000 people each year, also assigns a high value to responses about whether a potential business founder considers themselves a self-starter and whether they have experience in or knowledge of the industry they're entering.

America's Weirdest Businesses

While most seem relatively harmless, one seems rather creepy. The first business listed as the Weirdest Business is called Afterlife Telegrams of New Athens, Illinois. This is a service for contacting the dead. Terminally ill patients memorize messages and deliver them when opportunity permits. Talk about ridiculous. I suppose I'm just mad that I didn't think of it first and had the stones to actually con people this way. Oh well, at least I won't have to feel that gut wrenching guilt every time I walk into the room of a terminally ill patient and try to keep a straight face as I give them a "message to carry to the other side". Unreal.

There are 30 odd business listed on the Weird List. Some don't seem all that odd, or interesting to me at all, but I guess they needed to fill some space, or something. While nobody has any sort of crazy drive-thru blackhead treatments on the list, there is a dump listed that is a drive-thru strip joint. That drive home could get a little mess...ehem...

Want Some Respect From Your Employees?

It is rare that employees show any love to their almighty employer. At least they don't behind their backs. It is also not very common that they deserve the respect either. With the economy the way it is, and many employers beig able to find highly qualified employees at lower costs than the ones they already have, many employees are probably not real excited about their prospects and need to dip into their stash of anti-wrinkle cream to keep from growing old at a chatostrophic rate.

IT is time to take some action and not forget about the basics in these economic conditions. The stress may be high, but slacking off and hiding in a corner doesn't help your business, or anyone else.

Here are 5 Tips to gain respect from your team and boost your bottom line. Like I said...employees are pretty scared right now, and if you value them you may want to take a look.

Top 106 Best Franchises

Starting a franchise has a lot of benefits. Most notably the trustworthy name that comes with most of them. On top of that they have the greater benefit of already having done a lot of the ground work for the running of the business. Many have great support, and have franchise specific systems in place that makes your research for software, licenses, and everything else as easy as getting your new owner packet. It definitely gives you a how to lose fat approach to researching a start up.

While there are many advantages to running your own, unknown business, those advantages can be outweighed by the advantages fof just opening a franchise that is already established. OF course the advantages of having your own brand, and in essence no 2nd big brother (#1 being the IRS) to look over your shoulder is certainly preferrable to many business owners.

Franchises are not all created equal, however. Finding the right franchise is of the utmost importance if you are looking to go this route. What better way to find that right fit then by looking at those considered to be the best? This list of the 106 Best Franchises will give you agood idea of which ones are most successful, as well as some of the trends. They are broken up by industry as well so have at it.

Google Chrome Operating System Good For Small Business?

Until I read this article I wasn't even aware that Google Chrome was an operating system. I havecertainly heard of, and actually used, the Google Chrome web browser while it is in Beta stage, but they ahve expanded their brand to an OS.

Upon arriving in the second half of 2010, Chrome OS will initially be targeted at netbooks, and is expected to introduce several innovations. Case in point: Unlike previous operating systems, whose origins all predate the web, Chrome, which is completely free to all and runs on top of a Linux kernel, is putting online functionality first. Google’s argument is essentially that the web isn’t simply part of how we interface with computers today, but rather the nexus of the entire experience. As such, users will be able to quickly boot their desktop or notebook systems, go online and seamlessly integrate with an array of cloud computing applications.

So...the debates and the anti-microsoft crowds have a little bit more ammo now it appears. Another free OS that they can compare to not only Windows, but maybe even Linnux, which hardly any of us have the knowledge to use without having to find cross country moving companies to get someone to teach you :).

These applications, accessible via any web browser and capable of providing access to similar functions as traditional word processing, spreadsheet and database packages, have several advantages over typical software suites. For one, they’re accessible nearly anywhere. So long as you have a web browser handy, you can call up all your data on demand, making it possible to bring the office everywhere you go.

Google is one step closer to owning the world it appears. We thought Microsoft had our number, but Google has come from search engine to corporate superpower. The debate may go from who has th best PC packages to who has the most control over our computing experience. While I like many things Google does, the more aspects of my PC world they begin to dominate the more concerned I get about it.

Be a Good Negotiator

Being able to talk your way into a better deal always has its benefits. What tips can you use to help you get a better deal, or talk you way into a cheaper pair of Naot shoes?

Well...Norm Brodsky, of Inc.com discusses the tricks of the trade in winning a negotiation. #1 thing to do in a negotiation, just like it is the #1 rule of sales is to listen.

Most people don't listen to each other. It may seem like that isn't the case to most people, but it is completely true. In fact most people want t TALK as much as possible instead of letting their opponent ramble on and proceed to show you all of their cards. Read more in depth about this here.

Employer Health Care Costs Nearly Doubled Since 2000

With all the talk about the new health care plan possibilities from the government, we still ahven't really helped anyone with health care costs in general. Even those that have insurance are feeling the pain.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today released a report about the rising cost of health care. Among its conclusions: "Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000."

The increase in health care costs increased almost triple the rate of wage growth. Something that has been rather stagnant just form my limited observations over the last decade. Jobs I had 10 years ago are paying exactly the same todaty as they were back then. Flatlined.

They cost employers' $12,680 for the average family plan -- nearly the same as a minimum wage salary for one year, according to the HHS. Kind of hard to balance the books on your lcd monitor with that type of cost increase.

The HHS report stated that family deductibles increased 30 percent in two years for average preferred provider (PPO) plans; for families covered by "small firms" the increase was 64 percent, from $1,439 to $2,367.

"It doesn't matter if you have insurance or not," states HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, "when Americans go to the hospital or the doctor's office, they are paying more and getting less."

Save Your Tech Marketing Money

Following the theme of my last cheap publicity tips article, and saving money in your small business let's talk a little bit about how to stretch your actual technology dollar with equipment, services, and tools.

Take a look at some of the tech essentials for small business, and see what is available for much less cost than you would ahve thought.

I'm a tech geek myself, and know how easy it is to blow your budget up by just going after the "best" tech when you have a pile of cash set aside to furnish your office. While it may be a good idea to get cheap diet pills since they are virtually all the same, we may feel that if we aren't going after what are considered the "best" tech toys, we might be hurting our business performance. That, and we just can't say no to cool stuff a lot of times.

Problem is, that we simply can't afford the "best" when we are starting out, and we shouldn't be lookign for the best anyways unless it is absolutely crucial to business.

Computers are a perfect example. I see so many people go out and buy muscle machines for the office when they can get by with a cheap $500 desktop that will do everythiing they need it for. Remember that unless you are using it to do some insane graphical work, is there really any need to have a top of the line graphics card in a sdata entry computer? Of course not. You don't need something that can play the most advanced graphical video games in the office do you? Nope. Besides if you have a better video game computer at work than you do at home you probalby are going to be wasting time at work screwing around.

Expenses you can control to some degree. Tech is certainly one of those aspects you can control. IF it does what you need and probalby more for $500, then in a business sense there is absolutely no reason to spend $1500 for it. None if it doesn't have some need in the future, but you really need to think about that before buying it. Odds are it doesn't and $1000 more unspent could be worth so much more when the unexpected comes up.

Cheap Publicity Tips

Advertising is expensive. Publicity doesn't have to be.

With the vast amount of media resources available to us in today's technolgy environment there are many ways to reduce marketing and advertising costs. It doesn't take a lot of money to do some really great marketing concepts,b ut it does take a little bit of creativity.

This article talks of several inexpensive ways to get noticed by paying little more than time, and a bit of smooth talking.

Several of the ideas are quite easy to do, and a lot of what it requires is your ability to network. From becoming a source quote in an article to starting your own free TV show, the possibilities are endless. Imagine discussing a new diet pill in the local paper when you in fact sell diet pills yourself. Maybe you can even get some recognition for your own business in this way.

While they do mention becoming source material for articles, and generally talk of "becoming a star" by creating your own television show for free, there is something I have toyed with and found very successful myself that I never see mentioned. Using the local media more than just aquote source.

While in a large city it isn't as easy to get yourself to become a local celebrity, in a smaller city where you run your business it is quite possible to become the expert for whatever it is you are trying to sell.

Suppose you develop a website that offers coupon codes for various online stores. While this is generally a valuable service, the search engines are overrun with such websites. You obviously have a lot of competition trying to win over the world wide web, but you likely have NO competition locally. In fact, you do have zero competition when it comes to businesses in your locality.

So what am I getting at? First of all, the local newspaper is your best friend. Local reporters have little to othing to write about most of the time other than local crime. Every now and then they publish something informative, or a feel good story, but if you haven't noticed local businesses get profiled fairly often, and reporters love to do these types of articles.

Taking advantage of this love for the local businessman, you can get featured in an article syourself. You just have to have a good "story", or provide a good service for the community. In this case the economy is terrible. Offering ways for people to save money on purchases, or even meals is an incredibly useful service for citizens.

Don't forget about local businesses as well though. Not everyone likes to shop online. They will go online to print out a coupon for a local restaurant though. So in reality you are getting people to go to businesses they may have never even heard of by having them come to your site. Local businesses.

If you liv ein a small town you know that most of them hav every little if any real local support online, or are even allt hat good at marketing. You be the middleman and the press man. You drive them business by setting up deals with the local businesses, and you get them FREE advertising as you only charge based on either an affiliate program, or by some sort of coupon clip rate. You might even be able to charge for premium positioning.

Also, if you ahve any web design knowledge you can even open the door for yourself to start building websites for the businesses youa re helping. It may not be the world wide web takeover you dream of, but you certainly aren't going to ahve any competition, and you certainly aren't going to go broke if you do this right. Costs are minimal. Rewards are great, and you become a trusted partner for many local businesses.

Jsut an extra quip about going local I have used, although this does cost money. Depending on what you sell, the local sports radio, and other talk stations are brilliant for advertising this sort of thing. Theya re even amazing simply for any affiliate program you run, and radio fees are very affordable. Dominate your world, before you dominate the whole wide world and you may find you are doing better than you ever expected.

Business Plan SMuisness Plan: Attracting Venture Capitalists

It is a common idea that having a great business plan will indeed be the major factor in procuring venture capitalist funds. A recent studt from the University of Maryland's business school says otherwise.

In the real world they suggest that venture capitalists look much more at their relationship with the business owner than any sort of business plan to start writing checks. We aren't saying that you should try to wne and dine them with Vegas vacations, but that you need to ge tut there and meet people. The #1 rule of business anyways.

Jon Chait, partner at Dace Ventures in Waltham, Massachusetts, agrees with those observations. "We discourage a lot of effort on business plans for early-stage companies, because their plans evolve at least 50 percent from their initial goal in the course of a year," he says. Obtaining a warm introduction is important not because investors do not read unsolicited plans—in fact, Chait reads dozens of them—but because it shows entrepreneurs' ability to build partnerships. "It's part of the skill set," he says. "By blindly submitting something, you're not taking the opportunity to show off that strength."

Although a formal business plan is not of much use to venture capitalists, the same is not necessarily true of other sources of capital. Azi Gera, one of the University of Maryland study's authors, stresses that a well-written business plan remains critical for funding such as bank or government loans. "VCs can evaluate the soft processes of an entrepreneur better through other means," he says. "A banker doesn't have that ability."

Help Getting Stimulus Money For Your Business?

Being a business owner in America is tough when you aren't a big corporation. You don't get the kind of mega billion dollar hand outs that they are all getting right now. In fact unless you deal with something popular like Green shopping you probably think you can't get your hands on any of that $787 billion in the economic stimulus pot. Think again.

That's where organizations like National Strategies, Inc., Onvia and Business Matchmaking come in.

Read this article to find out how they can help, as well as whether or not you can actually try to stake a claim on the stimulus money out there.

How to Deal with 10 Sticky Work Situations

Weird things seem to happen in the wokplace that you can't always explain. Seeing people do things that have no explanation is commonplace. Things like people looking at inappropriate websites, office dating, or brtowsing for a diet pill that works instead of working are things that happen quite often. How do you deal with such things?

Some of the most common oddities are listed in this article, as well as how to deal with them. Some highlights are Sharing to much personal info (TMI) with co-workers, employee gets a DUI, planning a wedding at work and annoying co-workers.

7 Ways To Work With Your Spouse and Live to Tell About It

Workign with your spouse could be great. It could also end your marriage. No matter how well you both get a long things can get hectic running a business together and emotions will sometimes take over for common sense. Same as they do at home, but this time it is both your livlivhoods.

HEre are some tips to make the workplace with the spouse as happy as at the home :).

1. Stick to Your Role- If your spouse is an expert at something and you really have no idea how to do it leave them alone. If they are good at cad drawing and you can't even make a fancy doodle, then you probably don't have any reason to be giving them pointers on how to do it now are you?

If your spouse is trained in a specific area of expertise, don't try to do his or her job. They're in that position for a reason. "When we got into arguments, it's almost always because one of us would come over to the other person's side of the business," Ken Wright, co-founder of Dinner A' Fare, says. "It's about the other person's responsibilities and trusting that the other person was going to complete those tasks."

6 more tips

Employee Salary Transperacy

IT should come as no surprise to you that most employers want to keep your fellow employee's salries a secret from you. Many times when you are hired they tell you not to discuss how much you make with the other people you work with. They don't want to deal with complaints about some people making more than others when certain employees feel they are underpaid. Doesn't matter if your beef is legitimate, or not employers try to keep the peace by hiding the truth Overdramatic? Maybe a little, but to the point with a lot of truth.

It is hard to go to work everyday and be one of those guys that is a fat burner, someone who goes above and beyond to work hard while they are there. Then watch as another employee doing the same job puts in half the effort. Some people are just built to work hard and will keep doing it. Others that find out they make less may even become disgruntled and slack off like everyone else. Ever try that? It's like getting a technical foul in basketball. The first guy never gets caught, but the second guy always does. So when they see the big difference in your effort most of the time they take it out on you even if you are just following the crowd. It rarely pays off.

So what kind of transperancy do you think employers should have in regards to employee salry? How do you think employees should be paid? Based on the job title, or based on their work?

That is a debate that can rage for hours, but 1 employer I read about is all for high transperancy. The short of it is that this company believes that everyone who does a job gets paid the same amount. If one gets a raise they all do for that job description. So essentially everyone knows how much everyone is paid.

IS this a good way to go about salaries? Certainly it helps transparency, but is it really a great motivator? Read their full disclosure on how employees get paid at Fog Creek Software to form your own opinion of their practices.

Stimulus Package Hurts Small Business Owners

When Congress approved the Obama administration's economic stimulus package in February, a little-known provision aimed at easing the pain of healthcare costs for laid-off workers triggered a financial affliction for business owners.

Instead of planning weekend getaways with the money they save from laying off workers in stimes of low production, they are instead finding out that they are on the hook for more than they thought they were.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act reduces the amount laid-off workers have to pay in order to extend optional healthcare coverage under federally mandated COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) rules. Instead of writing monthly checks for 102 percent (the extra 2 percent for administrative costs) of the healthcare premium they enjoyed on-the-job, they now have to front only 35 percent. The caveat: The remaining 65 percent must be paid, up-front, by employers, which can then withhold the amount of the payments from their next federal payroll-tax contributions.

65 Websites for Business Owners

The internet is a virtual library for small business information. Sometimes it is hard to find the things that are worth reading just by a quick search on Google, but today we have found a great list of websites that all business owners should have in their bookmarks.

Whether you are selling the best weight loss pill, or the best beer ever made, there are plenty of things that can help you win in your market. Information that others have discovered, and now share is indespensible to that goal. Click here for a list of 65 Business Websites that will help you along yout journey to the top of your market.

4 Great Start Up Resources

In the beginning it is hard enough just to bring all the ideas together to get rolling. Having some helpful resources to make it easier is obviously a must. Doesn't matter if you are opening a chicken franchise, or a pawn shop, there are people that understand business out there willing to help.

Most of these resources provide counseling to get started. Some of them are even free such as SCORE, which is a A nonprofit that provides free online and in-person mentoring via a national counseling force of 11,800 working and retired business owners and executives in nearly 400 chapters.

These resources will giveyou the opportunity to gain legal advice, one-on-one couseling, funding reserch, and many other important helping hands.

How to Raise $1 Million In One Year

If you think you can get a loan from a bank righ tnow then by all mean have at it. Good luck as well, BTW.

A much more interesting idea I saw today was that you can earn up to $1 Million in Las Vegas by doing something that has nothing to do with the black jack table, or any other casino venture.

Available to any business in the world, the Nevada state registered offering (NSRO) allows companies to legally register and distribute company stock shares to Nevada residents and qualified visitors. Small businesses are allowed to offer 1 million shares at $1 per share over a year's time, making it possible to raise up to $1 million in just a few months.

Sound slike a dream come true eh? Well Steve Trussell is still excited by his chances to raise up to $1 million this year to fund his growth plan. HE headed to Vegas and is hoping to find a way to raise money with out having to get a loan from a bank who are holding out money like an appetite suppressant makes you hold out on food.

"It's less expensive than doing bank financing," says Ed Apenbrink, who retired last year as Nevada's director of securities registration and licensing. "It's more of a sure thing in the sense that banks don't seem to be lending these days."

"Nevada is a business-friendly state; it's the new Delaware for corporations," Trussell says. "The business climate there makes it a good place to incorporate and raise money." Trussell is still in the fundraising stage of the offering and hopes to raise between $900,000 and $1 million in Nevada this year by self-distributing his stock.

But not every NSRO company is looking for big bucks: While in office, Apenbrink saw numerous offerings for companies planning to raise as little as $10,000 or $20,000.

"A business owner might have a contract to hang drywall in several hundred houses in one subdivision, and he might want to raise $30,000 to buy equipment," he says. "There's no stated minimum, but there is a practical minimum. Sometimes companies just can't do it if they're only raising a small amount because of the costs of compliance."

Those costs include legal fees and accounting fees, but no more than 20 percent of funds raised can go to sales and upfront costs.

VERY interesting.

Networking and Your Reputation

One of the easiest, and best ways to get a quick Sale is through a referral. Building up a relationship with someone else who does a compatible service is always a good idea to build up your network. Estate lawyers and financial advisors, accountants and mortgage brokers, etc. are all compatible, but not competing services in most instances.

These networking examples are ones that require a lot of trust as all of these services deal with your clients' personal finances, hopes, and dreams. Mistakes by these professionals can not only cost these peopele their futures, but can cost you your reputation because you referred your clients to them for something you couldn't do yourself.

Networking isn't just about finding someone that does something you could refer people back and forth with. Well...at least it isn't if you want to be in business for a long time, and build long-term relationships that are profitable for all invovlved. Ivan Misner discusses the value of networking, but at the same time how having a bad networking contact can do more harm to your business than anything else.

3 Things Start Ups Should Avoid

It's hard enough to start a business. Getting as much help from those that have been there and have seen what has failed should be a priority. 3 Dead Zones in start ups are a good place to start.

Let's look at a couple of them. Undercapitalization. No kidding? Well...there is a lot more to this than what the article suggests. Just having more money on hand isn't always the solution. One of the biggest problems I notice for start ups is that when they get their hands on the big money to get rolling they do a lot of dumb things with it. They don't thinka bout little purchases that are simply a waste and figure they are treating themselves to something good for the business when in reality they should be shopping around.

Minimizing the expenses of a start up is by far the biggest deal IMO when it comes to using your funding. There are so many ways to lower costs that it isn't even funny. Look at the market today for property. You may be able to lease a spcae for $2000 a month. Maybe. There are probably 100 other spaces that are just as good to run your business out of for SALE that will cost you less than that. Property value is cheap right now. BUY a place. The costs will probably be much less than what yuou would think. We did it wiht our office and found a building that the owner just wanted to get rid of. It even had extra space that we could rent out to someone else, and that alone covered our mortgage every month! We were buying a building on a 15 year mortgage and renting out space in it for more than the cost of the mortgage.

Sure you have to worry about insurance quote, property taxes, etc. with the ownership, but trust me there are deals out there better than renting. People take advantage of you for renting because they know people think "It is supposed to cost that much". Don't fall for it.

Be creative. Don't just do it because it is easy. Think this through a lot. Expenses can easily be controlled if you LOOK FOR WAYS TO DO IT.

The Price of Experience vs. Straight Product Pricing

Business school will tell you quite a few things about costs and pricing. Almost everything you tend to learn in business school is based on some sort of manufacturing idea of a product that only accounts for things such as labor, cost of goods sold, and what you need to charge for the product to be profitable. Of course there is much more to it, but most business owners rarely get that far because they have skipped the entire added benefit of seriosus marketing study.

A sort of manifesto about who you sell t rather than what you sell called Price Isn't Tied to Your Product discusses this very thing. It describes the idea that you aren't selling just products anymore like you could 50 years ago. There are jsut way to many variations of the same kind of products.

Shoes, baby bedding, and most notably coffee, which he uses as an example to describe how paying a lot more for a cup of coffee at Starbucks has nothing to do with how good it is. It's the experience and the people who are willing to buy it.

Small Business Profitability Report and Calculator

The economy sucks. We all get it, and are sick of hearing about it. That doesn't mean you go hide under a rock though when it comes to your small business. You are doing your best to cut costs with the best you know how. While it is important to find the top rated car insurance companies for your company cars it is just as important to find the cheap ones to cutt costs as well. Same with everything you are doing now and most likely do anyways when the economy doesn't suck.

Inc.com put together a Profibility Report based on industry averages for you to compare yourself to others in the same industry. How are you doing in these tough times compared to the average for your industry? Check out the Profibility Report and Calculator to get some data based on yuour industry to see how healthy your business is right now.

Get Your Business on Reality TV?

We all know that reality TV is probably about the furthest you can get from real life, but one thing we can all agree on is that reality TV is big business. It is also big time exposure for a business. Whehter you are running an online lower shop, discount furniture sirte, or anything else it certainly can;t hurt your traffic any could it?

Stephanie Drachkovitch, co-founder and executive vice president of Studio City, Calif.-based 44 Blue Productions, a supplier of reality, documentary, lifestyle and action-adventure programming for U.S. broadcast and cable outlets. Drachkovitch is also the creator and executive producer of Peter Perfect, a business makeover reality TV show. She shares some tips about getting your business in the spotlight. Reality TV style.

College Kids Make You Look Bad For Not Having a Business

It's no surprise that more an more college students are starting their own businesses while in school. The ability in America to start a business is incredible. With the invention of the internet it is even more obtainable for almost anyone. College kids have their fingers ont he pulse of people their age, and these people like to be entertained, and people this age like to spend money on just about anything.

One thing many need, and I include myself in this, is people to bounce ideas off of. Other people to help build a business and come up with the ways to get it done. College is by far the easiest place to find like-minded individuals, and give you the screw around time to get something going while you are still on Daddy's dime :). There are such a diverse group of people on college campuses that you have to be trying not to find someone who has similar ideas to you. College is a networking dream.

So what kinds of businesses are some college students putting out right now that get them things like $1 Million in start up money? Anything from social gaming ideas to t-shirt companies to energy drinks to performance parts. Take a look at 9 Cool College Start-ups and see how simple ideas and following through are paying off for college kids who do things they just have fun doing.

Business Budget Trimming Secrets

You can't get enough advice about trimming unwanted weight like using NO2 Black, or more importantly for our purposes, business costs. Whether youa re extremely profitable, or not, there is a lot to be said for maximizing the things you can control in business. Costs are typically something that you can control, albeit not always something you should try to cut. That isn't to say there aren't ways to still cut things and not hurt the business.

A great way to look into cost cutting is to take some tips from successful businesses who were able to find some ways to trim their costs when the market was cutting their profits. Obviously not all tips apply to a particualr business, but they do give you something to think on. It may shape an idea in your head on how you can change something and save money as well. Here arte 7 Smart Ways to Trim Your Company's Budget.

Innovations From a Bad Economy

Some of the best and maybe even most important innovations have come in times of fledgling economies. While we are certainly in that state right now in the United States, let's take a looka t some of the innovations that popped up during past economic downturns.

I'm sure most understand that companies such as Campbell's actually do well when the economy stinks. They are after all selling can goods. Food that is typically less expensive, and can be bought in bulk when on sale because it can be preserved. While you might think they hwould have made some advancement in can tech they actually were distributing new products during tough economic times such as the introduction of the soup standard Chicken Noodle, and the cooking standard Cream of Mushroom in 1934 amidst the Great Depression.

A look at the last one hundred years if you are keeping time on your Breil watches, of poor economy innovations can be seen here.

Tailgating is Big Business

Something I have never considered as a business idea was to take advantage of tailgating for sporting events. Certainly I have attended my fair share of tailgating parties at sporting events around the country, but alas I was usually either too "geared up" for the game, or just too cold to think straight like at LAmbeau Field in Green Bay in December (burrrrr).

Fans flowing out to watch college football, or even the biggest sporting event in the United States, the Super Bowl, probalby have a lot of the tailgating standards that a fanatical tailgater has. Just who makes them, and what the standards are, has never been something I put much thought into until I saw this article today.

It shows an array of tailgating supplies that any serious tailgater should have. From grills to canopies. Also, shares who sells it all, and how they have transformed the tailgating experience and made it like having a portable house with you.

New Year Cars to Pay Attention to

If you have been out there spending your days doing an IT job search then you probably haven't had any time to check out what the cars are you are supposed to be looking at.

Instead of just listing what's hot, I thought this article about what kind of mindset the dealerships have would help you buy a new car that fits you. Check it out.

5 Ways to Kill a Marketing Plan

There is nothing worse than thinking you have a spot on marketing campaign, and then finding out that it is a flop after you get it rolling. Surely you knew before you went in to do the research first right? Many don't do any and just think about it as a great plan, but don't know that you have to at least do some testing to see if the money is going to pay off.

On top of not doing research people do wome crazy things that probably end up getting them sued by a Seattle injury lawyer because they are not bright. Being creative is great, but being too creative that it doesn't even apply to your target market is silly. Taking the shotgun approach is a waste of time and resources.

This is a great list of 5 marketing pointers to study.

4 Steps to Making $10 Million a Year from Home

Yup...it's that easy. Follow these steps and you are going to be making $10 Million a year :).

Plenty of Fish founder, Markus Frind runs a company that makes $10 million a year out of his house. He and others share 4 secrets that have helped them fill their pockets with cash.

Whether you are runinng a Fenphedra business, clothing shop, or whatever else out of your house, these tips may help you beat the competition ;)

Take a looka t the article on Inc.com for all the details to become the next armchair millionaire.

2009 Business Trends to Watch

Anotehr new year, and another new set of trends to keep an eye on. Well..some are continuations of last year with the way the economy went to hell i a hand basket. So what trends can help you this year, or make it worth your while to take a couple Vegas vacations to do a bit of gambling?

The topics that are being used include green "environment", economy, health millenials, baby boomers, the web, and some other non-categorized trends. All these are looking at certain business ideas that should be booing in the next year.

For example, in the green category one of the trends is simply "water". Take a look at what trends they have to say about it. All other categories are links above the graphics.