Mark Cuban: Don't Listen to Your Customers

Great title of an article I must say. If you don't know who Mark Cuban is, he's an entrepreneur that bought the Dallas Mavericks, and pro basketball franchise in the NBA. He's one of the most outspoken owners int he league and a HUGE fan of his team. He acts like most fanatical fans do and seems to be a a guy that goes against what an owner should be. He's entertaining to say the least and an owner any sports fan would love to have.

He's successful enough that when he says something you at least take a minute to read what he has to say. He's much like his NBA Champion Mavericks namesake in how he speaks out. Not John McCain Maverick, but an actual one. HE would jump over your swimming pool fence and into your pool if he felt the need.

Check out his thoughts on why customers ideas are usually the wrong ones.

2012 Franchise 500

Entrepreneur.com has done an annual top 500 for franchises for the past 33 years. Once again at the top of the list for 2012 is Hampton Hotels. Putting on your start up Hats may be in line with one of these top 500.

The franchise 500 list is compiled with this in mind:

"The most important factors include financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system. We also consider the number of years a company has been in business and the length of time it has been franchising, start up costs, litigation, percentage of terminations and whether the company provides financing." complete rankings explanation

Black Friday is Upon Us

Black Friday isn't just for Friday anymore. Retailers seem to be trending to earlier starts to the post-Thanksgiving sales and starting Black Friday Eve.

Among the major big box stores, Toys R Us will kick off its Black Friday sales at 9 p.m. Thursday night, followed by Wal-Mart at 10 p.m. Then, at the stroke of midnight, Target, Best Buy, Macy's and Kohl's all plan to open their doors.

Record numbers are expected this year for the Black Friday festivities, but are you really crazy enough to go out to these stores and forearm shiver old ladies?

The way I see it you can do it all from home now. Black Friday deals are all over the place online. I plan to buy a ton of video games at about half off. What about you? Maybe some buy diamonds online for your lady?

She Works Hard for Her Money

Thanks for the guest post by Esteban Vinson

Work, work, work. All work and no play. Sort of. I love my work so when I work it sort of feels like play. I just branched out and started my own company. Yep, cupcakes are my livelihood now. Who would have thought that some sugar and flour can bring home the bacon? Certainly not my dad when I told him my idea. Now he may not have been totally on board the cupcake train, so to speak, due to the fact that I dropped out of college to start it but he’s slowly coming around. So I’m officially an entrepreneur. A business woman. There has been a huge learning curve, but I’ve done well at making frugal decisions to keep my overhead low. I have kept most of my business through online orders, so I needed to get internet at my bakery. Luckily, my searching led me to satelliteinternetbroadband.com which was a perfect fit for my company. I can get online orders through our company email. I can send pictures of all the varieties of cupcakes that I offer and am thinking about setting up a company webpage.

5 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid For Startups

You know that if you have a public business that needs to connect with its customers to make more money you need to market in the social networking realm. You may not know how to do this though. You may just think that you need to throw up some info now and then and it is enough. To do it well you need to plan it out and understand it. You can't just "wing it" right off the go.

Not only do you need to know what you can do, it is important to know what you can't do. Maybe even much more important. After all, making yourself look bad when all it took was a little bit of research to prevent it is never a good sign. So don't take a yellowbox in the behind and follow along some of the Do's and Don'ts of social networking for your business. Start with some of the mistakes to avoid.

How Do People Still Not Understand? There is NO Privacy on Socail Media Sites

You may hear people rage on about how an employer saw something on their Facebook page and they got reprimanded for it. How about courts allowing those you sue to look at "private" wall postings and bring them into court if they are relevant?

You may say: "Hey that's private! They can't do that!". You may be right in some instances, but the real problem is that people still believe they have any sort of privacy whatsoever when they post things online. Getting upset over it seems more ignorant than it does justified. Before you had Myspace, or Facebook, would you announce on a billboard that your boss was a jerk? Would you talk about company secrets on a billboard? This is literally what you are doing when you post on blogs, Facebook, and anywhere else online that others can see. Just because you have your Facebook set to private means very little. People hear stories about being hacked all the time, but think nothing of bringing private info to a public website? Think idiots!

If you want to tell people you can only sleep on the grouhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnd in a sleeping bag, don't post pictures of yourself in deep sleep on a foam mattress. Lying online when you use your real name is never going to end well. If you have 100 friends I'll guarantee you that 1 of them isn't that stupid, and they aren't going to let you get away with it.

On to being an employee and trying to pull a fast one. Just because you are an attention whore and want people to think you are clever doesn't mean Facebook is the place you should go to prove you are screwing your company with a false injury claim. This doesn't make you clever. It makes you stupid. Take a look at some court rulings that people like you may have to deal with one day when you try to get away with faking injuries.

Power Networking and Referrals, Group Interst More Profitable Than Self-interest Including Clients

Many people think of networking to gain referrals for just themselves. This is kind of a negative attribute to many sales professionals as it is anyways, as a selfish way of doing business. While you may argue that there needs to be that selfish aspect to succeed, you are only part right. The people that tend to be most successful at marketing, and eventually making a ton of money in sales are those that network well with a sort of "Team" aspect in mind.

What do I mean by this? It's not just the other remembers of the network you are buttering up to get you more business. That is important and you need to scratch each other's backs, but the clients benefit almost as much, if not more if you have a good network. rc batteries

It's a way of approaching it from a less self-interest standpoint. It's better business to do it this way. If you have a client and want to do the best possible job for them, you offer them resources and choices. If you run a real estate office let's say, you can offer so much more than just what your service is specifically. You can help people find insurance within your network, you can help them find a mortgage broker, a building inspector, etc. This is GOOD business for you to do these things in not just the benefit of referrals from your network. Clients want to be taken care of and shown the way to get things done. The more you offer the better your service is. It's not self-interest doing it this way. It is doing what's best for all involved to benefit you the most as well. At the end of the day you probably end up doing even less work after all is said and done, for much more benefit, and a much better conscience.

For more look at this article that describes how to build a network and what questions you need to ask yourself.

Some handy Appps For Startups

One of the greatest time savers and organizers int he last few years has been the smart phone no doubt. Perks galore, but maybe none more helpful than the addition of time saving Apps to give you all you need to stay a head. If not for productivity, at least there are many to keep you sane and waste a lot of your time like games.

Whether you are selling plus sized lingerie, or computers, there are Apps that can help you keep it all together, or even get a head.

Here is a short list, but it will be added to with comments so make sure you check back regularly.

Top 10 Secrets of Successful Leaders

There must by a million secrets of successful leaders rounded up in top 10 lists over the years. Which means that you probably should document many of them just to make sure you catch them all. Obviously there will be overlap, but I am hesistent to suggest that the Top 10 successful qualities of leaders will be universal over the top 10 lists you will see over the years. Surely times change, but some core values tend to pop up over and over.

Taking some time away from your orlando fishing guides trip that you were looking at you may as well look at the next best 10 qualities of leaders. Taking vacations is #1 of course. :)

Rent-A-Grandma?

You thought all the new ideas have been taken? Well, guys like Todd Pliss show you how your experience in one field can lead to the next great small business idea. Todd Pliss was working as a tutor to child stars like the Jonas Brothers when he started hearing complaints. They weren't about groupies or the paparazzi or bad lighting--they were about child care.

Yeah...easy enough to bank on the rich right? The idea is interesting, however. The complaints that younger sitters and caregivers are unreliable is one of the biggest concerns. He thought who would be more responsible than "grandma"? She won't sit around texting the night away, or inviting boys over will sh? Of course not. That's when he decided to start recruiting women over 50 to to become sitters. Beats looking for Software Engineer Jobs.

After Rent-A-Grandma was profiled on Fox News in March 2011, Pliss received more than 300 calls asking if he was franchising the concept. He decided to give it a shot: In May, he offered franchise territories in 36 states. So far, he has sold units in Dallas and Houston. He hopes to have 15 in operation by year's end and 20 more in 2012. full story

Expanding my purse collection with an oversized clutch for day

Guest post written by Katherine Hinson

The one part of my wardrobe that I would say is definitely lacking is my purse part. I have all kinds of great shoes and dresses. But I've just never been much of a purse buyer. Well I'm looking to change that and know that buying a few cute bags can really expand my outfit combo possibilities! Besides, I have a friend that swears the accessories make or break an outfit and I've come to believe that she's right about that.

Well, I actually asked my friend about what kind of purse I should get for this season and she told me an oversized clutch. While I was online looking around for some examples of what she described, I ran across some info on internet companies. I showed it to my husband and we decided that we would switch over our home internet service to one of those companies.

I eventually found a clutch like she was talking about and instantly fell in love with it. It's light gray with charcoal accents, really just my style. It's also big enough to tuck under my arm easy and for it to stay there, so I'm not so worried about losing it during my everyday adventures.

New Patent Law Reforms

Even if you know very little about patents, I'm sure most people know what they are for, and have thought about getting one for some random idea they have had. Navigating through the patent laws and trying to figure out what is needed for you to actually patent something is another matter entirely. Now new laws for patents are being reworked.

Why exactly would you need a patent anyways? People use them so they don't get their ideas stolen, but who benefits from the new laws? Who gets the hose? Your small inventors are going to get screwed with the new laws if they don't have a ton of cash lying around. I can't explain it as well as these guys so just see what they have to say. Pay particular attention to the "first to file" vs. "first to invent" explanations. You may as well be a gps trucker if you can't afford to file.

Unique Gifts For Men

If you are looking for some Unique Gift Ideas for Men it may be a bit of trouble when you have a man that has everything he wants. That is why you have to look a bit outside of the normal places and check out something different like the link above.

Usually it just takes a bit of browsing to find something you wouldn't have though of on your own. A beer holster for the man who likes to play games out in the backyard and needs the free hands. A poker chip set that most grown men use rather than money and piles of change now. Even a beer brewing kit, or a wine making kit are available and unique. Not only are they practical, but save money as well.

10 Things to Thank Steve Jobs For

If you haven't heard yet, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers, is stepping down as the CEO of the company. While Apple is a company that brings love and scorn from its detractors, nobody can deny that they have developed some of the most innovative and interesting products over the years.

While personally I prefer to still use a Windows computer due to the value and the compatibility. Not to mention it can do more things. That doesn't mean I am not well immersed into the Apple culture anyways. I still own an iPod Touch, as well as owned an iPhone. At some point I will probably own an iPad as well. I think if you looked at what I used daily, my Windows computer and my iPod are the two things other than my TV, my foose custom wheels, and my cell phone I use every single day. In fact I use my iPod to fall to sleep with and play video games on it when I am in the "library".

I've been downloading music since Napster was invented. Not pay NApster, but before they got shut down. Having .mp3s that I would burn to disc to listen to in my car, and anywhere else. Music I likely never would have heard if it weren't for Napster. Apple gave us a way to carry thousands of songs with the iPod and totally changed the way DJ's ran events for good.

Here is an article that thanks Steve Jobs for his time with Apple entitled : 10 Things to Thank Steve Jobs For.

Startup Now, or Finish School?

Many of us have degrees that work for ourselves. That doesn't mean that most of us agree that the degree has much importance to what we do to make money. Having a bit of a business background helps for sure, or if we need some sort of technical expertise it certainly is important to get that education. Many times though you have an idea, and you still have school left. When exactly do you decide if staying with college is worth your time, or should you just jump into your business right away?

It is definitely situational of course. Obviously there are many businesses where having a degree has almost no real value, and waiting is going to cost you. Some businesses are time sensitive. First to market with your new super diet pills, first with an online media idea, etc. all are a factor on if you should wait.

What do you really need to consider when deciding between start up and college? Here is an article that discusses just that.

Entrepreur of 2011

Always a fun award to follow for business owners is the Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The award isn't just about the biggest money maker, or the biggest turnaround, or anything like that. In fact once all the finalists are in, like now, website users can help choose by voting. Anyone can win, be it a seller of best appetite suppressant, or the next social networking idea.

The contest is broken down between the normal entrepreneurs and the college entrepreneurs. As you can imagine some of the college ones are a bit more interesting. After all some of the biggest companies in the world right now were developed from college students in their dorm rooms. Microsoft and Google probably come to mind as college kids making it big.

You can follow the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year Award here and even vote on who is the best. Take a look at some of the interesting new ideas and see if you can figure out what the standards are to win.

U.S. Monetary Authorities Remained Silent During Second Quarter

The latest forex news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced on August 11, 2011 that the U.S. monetary authorities did not intervene in the foreign exchange markets during the April through June quarter. This week has seen major swings in stocks, following a major drop on Monday, a severe rise on Tuesday and sharp drops on Wednesday. The New York Times and other outlets are reporting that the stocks and forex exchange rates have not been this volatile in years.

In its quarterly report to the U.S. Congress, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that the dollar depreciated 2.4 percent against the euro and 3.2 percent against the Japanese yen. Also during the three months that ended June 30, the dollar’s trade-weighted exchange value depreciated 2.0 percent as measured by the Federal Reserve Board’s major currencies index.

The New York Times had this to about the foreign exchange markets. “The financial markets this week have been held hostage to worries about the global economy, Europe’s troubles and the implications of a ratings agency’s unprecedented downgrade of the United States’ credit rating.” The good news is that the main structure is there, which means you can continue trading, whether via forex robots or traditional trades.

Overcoming the Age Gap in Business

AS a guy that was in financial advisory work as young as 22 years old, I know all about having to deal with being a baby face in a world of big money decisions. Looking like a kid fresh out of college was definitely NOT a positive attribute to have in that sort of business when dealing with 50-60 year-old doctors, lawyers, or any other well to do clients, and this is something I could completely understand. Still...I had to make money, and I had to overcome it. It became a confidence issue, and simply just being way more prepared and knowledgeable than I needed to be to gain their trust. Results were also a part, but that wasn't getting me in the door.

How Young Entrepreneurs Can Bridge the Generation Gap goes into some strategies for overcoming this gap. Matthew Toren started young, so he knows all about this kind of "discrimination. The article is how he suggests to overcome it. Doesn't matter if it is a tangible good like Cherokee uniforms, or a service industry.

Having co-owned a series of businesses with my brother since I was 7 years old -- we sold stunt airplanes at a festival with my grandfather -- I've seen my share of that kind of discrimination. full story

Benchmark 10-year Yield Drops Below 3 Percent

Guest Posting by Bobby Quill

Concerns about the European debt crisis were further aggravated when Moody’s Investors Services downplayed Ireland’s credit rating, according to a report on the leading forex news and trading site Forexyard. This information held the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond under 3 percent on July 12.

In related news, CNNMoney.com reported on July 12 that the benchmark 10-year yield dropped under 3 percent for the first time since June 27. The yield ended the session at 2.88 percent. Experienced traders using online sites like Finexo know how to use this information to help them make trades which minimize their risks and improve the strength of their overall assets. The ability to gather information and analysis from leading forex news sites like fx360 provides every trader a competitive advantage.

EZBloomers.com: Changing How We Send Flowers

Flowers have been the gift of choice for decades. No matter if it is for a friend on a birthday, an apology to the wife, a sympathetic funeral gesture, or a get well soon bouquet. The way we send flowers to others has changed drastically over the years as well. Before the flower stores we had to grow our own and deliver them ourselves. Now we can do it online, over the phone, or stop by a florist directly and have them deliver the "surprise".

EZBloomers is looking at changing the way we all get our flowers. EZBloomers.com custom floral arrangements are sent to you at the best price possible, and with the best service possible. Their mission is to make sure that you get more value than any other florist out there and to give you great service that the floral brokers only dream of. Floral brokers may have bigger buildings, but they end up being much less connected to their customers. EZBloomers.com is there to help you get what you need, and not throw a bunch of service charges on top of your bill to make sure that you, and those you send flowers get the best possible experience.

Get Bored Easy With Only One Business?

As entrepreneurs many of us have a lot of ideas. We may have a great idea and start a business, but we always have more ideas. We look at things a little differently I suppose. We see something that others see and don't look at it just as something useful, but we look at it and try to figure out how we can make money off of it. There is always something else we could jump into right?

While we work in whatever industries we are in we always run a crossed things that we think are either underrepresented, or at least represented so poorly that we think we could make some good money off of them if we do it better. While they are getting calls from collection agencies we are seeing dollar signs at their failure to take advantage. This kind of entrepreneur, or the "serial entrepreneur" is a bit of a different breed. Take a look at 11 Historic Serial Entrepreneurs and see what you might have in common.

STill Have Crappy Jobs to Hire for that the Desperate Don't Even Want?

You would think that hiring for ANY job right now would be a piece of cake wouldn't you? Even at bargain rates of pay there are so many unemployed around the country that it seems as if almost any job you post would get plenty of interest. Apparently, some jobs are so bad that employers actually are having a hard time filling them.

Well...this job might not be the most enticing:

Take entrepreneur Cassie Piasecki, 42, who had to hire preppers at her Southern California nail salon to carry heavy tubs of water, then clean them, along with tools and towels, of dead skin and nail clippings after pedicures.

"It was a gross job," says Piasecki, who has since closed her salon. "I did my hiring two ways. I used Craigslist to put a detailed description of the prepper job. I didn't want to surprise applicants by the job duties or the pay. I wanted them to know exactly what they were getting into. And, the other way was word of mouth. Either a client or a friend of an employee. They would usually relay the job duties to the friend."

I think I'd rather forgo my surge protectors and just stick a metal fork in a wall socket. If you have jobs like this that you can't hire for take a look at some tips on how to get someone to do the job for you.

Cashing in on the Phone App Markets

If you have a smart phone such as the iPhone, or the Android you know exactly what Apps are. You also know that the market is booming, and you also probably look at it like it would be so easy to cash in on. We've all had the thoughts of throwign together a stupid app and seeing it sell a million copies at $0.99 right? I know I have, but I just don't have the expertise, or the time to learn how to get going.

Lisa Bettany found the time to learn about it. You probably don't want to figure it out the same way, however. For her, an ex-Canadian figure skater, she learned after an ice skating injury and being laid up in recovery for a long, long time.

Bettany, 29, not only got back on her feet but took advantage of her seven-year recovery to master photography, start a blog, and, two years ago, partner with an international team of six developers to create Camera+, the top-ranked camera app in Apple's iTunes store. The app, which gives iPhone and iPod Touch users the ability to enhance, edit and share photos via Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter, has been downloaded more than 3 million times since it launched in June 2010. The 99-cent app, designed to turn iPhones into high-quality digital cameras, has generated close to $2 million for Bettany and her partners in less than a year ( I was really curious as to what the actual cut was so this is pretty helpful info.). That's after Apple's 30% cut. Read more

Not sure if I have the next big idea, or useful toy for the app store, but this makes me want to work on it again. I could probably make a hitch bike racks app or something real quick. Good old Apple and their ideas of gold.

Dad Inventors

I know I have definitely talked about Mom inventors on more than one occasion. I haven't ever talked about dad inventors though. We have called mom inventors mompreneurs, so should we also call dad inventors dadpreneurs? Do you even like those words? I'm not sure if I do. :P

Mom and dad inventors are labeled as such because their inventions and subsequent businesses are built on inventions that make their lives easier as parents like finding an incredible s price. Inventing something for themselves that they think was great for their kids they see an opportunity to deliver it to other parents with the hopes that a lot of them will find their inventions useful too.

Here are 3 Dad Inventors and their stories. They offer a few tips on how to get it all rolling as well.

Real World Examples of Successful Facebook MArketing for Small Businesses

Everyone that owns a business knows about Facebook. It is a place that we can leverage a lot of free advertising and marketing. If done correctly, we can get ourselves noticed, or even create a huge boom for whatever it is we are trying to sell. It's even helpful for things like naltrexone acamprosate campral treatment centers, charity events, and much more.

Of course just knowing that it is there and tossing your business on there isn't going to do a whole lot for you. You have to have some sort of marketing strategy, and you need to develop a plan that will translate into business. Sometimes it is helpful to see how others have leveraged the social networking giant. So take a look at 3 real world small businesses that used Facebook to market successfully.

5 Twitter Marketing Ideas

If you have used Twitter enough you probably realize that people are using it quite regularly as a marketing tool. Either completely blatant, and horribly wrong, or you may see some have very unique ideas. WE all know that social networking is a free marketing goldmine. Twitter is no different.

People link to stuff all the time, or make tweets about things that may, or may not be marketing. Celebrities telling you how to get rid of pimples fast is surely a good strategy. What are some unique ones you may not have heard about? Check these out and see if they make a difference.

Entrepreneur's 100 Most Brilliant Companies

There are all kinds of lists for companies. Usually it has to do with income statements and revenues. Like the Forbes lists that show us who is rolling in gold cars and swimming in epiduo pools. This one is a little different. Let's look at their criteria of a "What Makes a Company Brilliant":

"Good ideas are common," the aptly named British humorist Ashleigh Brilliant once said. "What's uncommon are people who'll work hard enough to bring them about."

Thank goodness, then, for the entrepreneurs on our annual list of 100 Brilliant Companies, who have coupled genius and execution to fantastic -- and, in many cases, fantastically lucrative -- ends. We picked 10 areas, some that have been booming for years (mobile tech, seniors) and some that are just now hitting their stride (social shopping, startup-to-startup), and spotlighted some of the most innovative and inspiring companies in each. The brilliance runs the gamut, from a deal site aggregator recognizing a void in a crowded sector to a service that simplifies the notoriously difficult process of creating an app.

Here's hoping that reading about all this brilliance will spark some in you.

Ok...fair enough. Interesting concept, and something different. To see the full list of companies and the brilliant ideas click here.

Planner…

I appreciate the guest post, Emerson Moses

I need to get planning on this year’s spring break since it’s only like a month away! I had gotten Clear recently through one of those wireless internet offers online and I’m really glad, since I’ll now have home internet to easily look up travel rates. I would like to avoid having to fly anywhere since the baby’s still so young but who knows, maybe I’ll pack the whole family up and take us to Hawaii! In reality, we’ll probably go to Chicago to visit my parents and maybe even up to Canada for a weekend. I want to take my kids somewhere fun but unfortunately all the affordable places are really cold this time of year, so they’ll just have to manage. I can’t believe the week is almost upon us and I haven’t booked anything yet…I’m not the best planner so my procrastination shouldn’t surprise anyone in my family one little bit! Either way, we’ll be together as a family and we’ll be off school and work so it should be a fun week for sure!

How to Approach Reatialers to Carry Your Products?

IT is hard enough figuring out how to manufacture and implement an idea right? What about after you have figured out the details of the creative process and need someone to partner with to actually sell your stuff? If opening your own shop to sell your good isn't you ideal situation, or if you don't want to do it you are going to have to find someone that will sell it for you.

So how do you go about starting that relationship and getting your brand new products on the shelves without requiring a breakdown service for your stress? See if you can pick up a few tips from a swimsuit maker that is looking for just the right approach to find a boutique they want to sell at, to actually want to sell their products.

More Mompreneurs

I Always love reading about inventors that changed their own lives by inventing something to make their own lives easier. Their idea is so good that it has a market to sell it to others though so they become Mompreneurs and take advantage of their great ideas.

This is a story of 3 moms that took everyday problems they faced with their kids and solved them. Then made a business out of it rather than ending up looking for dual diagnosis treatment centers for drug and alcohol abuse because of the stress.

While there are many moms that invent, these 3 had some pretty cool ideas, but one of them is one of the more fun ones I have seen. Monster Spray! I'm sure that many, many moms have come up with a simple solution to the "monster under the bed", but this mom went a little further. It isn't just a spray of some sort of water that will help they kids get to sleep. She used known scents that were known for calming and made it into her spray from her own tests. She may not be making millions yet, but after jsut 2 years she is getting it test-marketed in Bed Bath & Beyond.

Losing Leads With Your "Contact us" Page

The "Contact Us" page is pretty important. Well let's not fool ourselves here. it is extremely important for websites. I have some sites that I was too lazy to put contact info on so I just never did it. While this is a huge mistake since I know that I have some value there (people actually do find contact info from whoIs and other places) that I could expand on I am overextended and just never got to it. Wasted potential.

Wasted potential in that form is pretty ludicrous. It's just lazy I must admit, but there are a lot of websites that waste this potential even with a contact us page. Not that a traditional contact us page won't work, but there are probably some nice tips that you could implement into expanding how users can contact you that would be extremely helpful to them, and to you. Take a look at Making the Most Value 'Contact Us' and be on your way to more leads to get your jewelry tools out to more people.

Fast Growing Companies and Social Media Marketing

I think we can all agree that social media marketing isn't an if we use it, but how effectively we use it now. Since it is typically free for us to use all these social networking options (outside of time of course) we all try to make the most of it. Sometimes to our detriment if we have no actual plan on how to best utilize these resources.

When we start a company I know that I am always wanting it to take off fast. The faster the better. I want to have that problem where I feel like I am trying to catch up to my growth lipoquick. I have to work harder to get leveled off, but having that growth is something that eventually makes it all worth the effort. Some fast -growing companies are using social networking in way that help drive this growth. Here is how.

Cherry Moon Farms Discount Coupons

Cherry Moon Farms is a a pretty amazing retailer of beautiful gourmet gift baskets. They aren't a place that just has a few gift baskets that you can choose from, but they offer them for all occasions and holidays.

Mother's Day gourmet gift baskets offered right now are astounding. Fruit, nuts, chocolate, and beautiful designs make it a difficult decision just figuring out which one she would love the most. I think I can help you out a little by hooking you up with some cherry moon farms coupon discounts! Go check it out. They have gift baskets for all seasons.

Multimillion-Dollar Domain Name Sales

If you have ever purchased a website domain name you know that sometimes it is kind of difficult to find that one you are looking for. There are so many already owned by others that many times that one perfect domain name you thought was going to be the one for your business ended up not being available. You probably settles on something else, but there are those that certainly did not, and they paid millions for it.

Everyone thinks of buying that big money domain name, but those days are mostly behind us. Some of the highest priced domain names are exactly what you would think they were. Business.com sold for $7.5 million, Porn.com sold for $9.5 Million, and Sex.com sold for a staggering $13 million! You can't buy gold online like that anymore. You probably have to just get really lucky now and find something that becomes huge later on.

Entrepreneur.com wrote an article about all the top selling domain names. The Business.com one that sold for $7.5 million and the business that used it actually sold for $350 Million from RH Donnelly. Take a look at some of the highest.

Giving Employee Feedback

For many managers this is a chore. It's extra work that many find unnecessary when they work with these people and berate them everyday *wink*. Of course feedback is a little more structured than just having a quick "you're doing that wrong" conversation.

Many employees dread the evaluation meeting. Many places it is just a joke, and more of an anxious meeting where you more or less just hear some random things that you aren't excellent at, but at the same time you get almost no feedback. Knowing you aren't doing something perfect doesn't help much if there is no extra effort to break it down. May as well just be reading the label off of progesterone supplements since many of these meetings tend to feel almost scripted and the same for everyone.

How do you make feedback a priority, and make the employee feel like this is being used constructively rather than as a "warning" session? Here is a list of 5 Productive Feedback Steps.

What's the Deal With Franchise Territories?

One of the factors of looking into a franchise is not just the popularity of the franchise itself, but how they go about assigning territories. Not all franchises can throw a Starbucks up on every corner of a town in NYC and expect to get a ton of business.

You probalby won't have much competition in a small town selling OxyElite Pro to the public, but in a bigger town you might.

Here is an article discussing how to look at this topic. Many, but not all, franchises grant an "exclusive territory" to their franchisees as part of the rights given under the franchise agreement contract.

Business Owners Say the Economy is Getting Worse

Yes, the economy seems to have been in a horrid state forever now. I can remember back in 2000 when the stock market went into a nosedive and we haven't even been back there since. It just doesn't look like it is getting any better now than it was then. Business owners are sayign it might even be getting worse.

How? Well first of all if you watch the news at all you know we are fighting in about a dozen wars worldwide so it isn't like the government is going to be having much to work with anytime soon. Probably feels like we are going to get a best colon cleanser every time they talk about taxes.

According to this article things are getting worse, not better.

Warning Sign That Your Workers Are Stressed

It's hard enough to keep your workers motivated. I mean it is a job after all and they don't typically have the same dreams, nor do they have the same consequences of failure as you have being the owner. Over-stressed workers are bad for morale, and could be bad for business.

Do you want to get rid of them all, or do you want to deal with it and move forward with help? Besides spying on them with high quality compact digital cameras you probably have to take some action and observe a little.

First and foremost you have to see the warning signs of problem employees. Then you figure out what to do about it. Here are 7 that should give you some help.

19 Years Old, and Taking on Google

Well...let's jsut say that he is working on a project that will expand the use of search on the internet, but he isn't exactly taking on Google. Daniel Gross, as he has almost $5 million in funding backing his search engine, Greplin. It is designed to search for things that Google doesn't look for. The social slice of the Web, plus everything that an individual has password-protected hovering in the cloud, has been largely off-limits to traditional search engines.

You aren't going to find honda generators for sale, but you might find a blueprint for them with Greplin. Daniel Gross, along with co-founder Robby Walker, 27, created Greplin, a user-authorized search that can access Facebook, Twitter, Google Documents, Salesforce, and more. The site launched in late February. Here is an interview with him and how it all came about.

Inc.com Looks Up Some of Their Past College Startup Alums

Inc.com and some of the other large business owner websites have some pretty neat contests every year. Entrepreneur has the "Build the Best Lemonade Stand" for kids that is always a fun contest to watch. Inc.com has the College Start-up feature that they do quite a bit that has some pretty cool ideas in it as well.

Now they are looking back at a few past alums that were featured to see "Where are they now?". Nope, they aren't all living in the Outer Banks on a permanent vacation yet. They actually plan to keep working, and some have made it a living.

9 of the past alums are featured in this article. Pretty fun read. From SAT prep website makers ready to sell out for a nice paycheck to the founder of CollegeFitness.com who has upped his annual sales to a healthy $3.5 million with just 15 employees

BAsic Employee Benefits, and What You Should Look at as an Owner

Employee benefits are a tricky business. On one side they help draw in better and more experienced employees on various health care job site, or specialized sites for certain positions. That is if that is the kind of employee you need. It also helps you KEEP your most trustworthy and valuable employees by serving as a reward that acts almost as a raise without them seeing it in their paycheck, but many times more beneficial On the other hand they can become quite expensive, and a severe headache for all the red tape involved.

Deciding to offer employee benefits is a start to a long process of deciding what kind of benefits to offer, as well as exactly how much you are willing to foot the bill as the owner. Here is a good primer to get you started in thinking about what is needed, what is good policy, and what is required to get rolling.

Getting Your Products In Movies?

Ever wonder how small business products end up in the movies? Then all of a sudden they are huge, and everyone knows about them? Wine, fat burner, or cool toys find their way in all the time.

Kathy Joseph, the owner of Fiddlehead Cellars, a 100-acre vineyard and winery nestled in California's Santa Rita Hills, in Santa Barbara County found a way to get in and take advantage.

Her wine has been featured in not one, but two major films over the last decade. I bet you thought to yourself immediately that one was the film Sideways right from a few years back? You would be right, and I thought exactly the same when I saw the story, but they hid it from me at first. Her wine was in the Oscar-nominated film The Kids Are Alright starring Annette Benning and Juliane Moore just this past year as well.

It made its movie debut in the 2004 Academy Award winner Sideways. The film's director, Alexander Payne, had visited her vineyard and decided to write her sauvignon blanc into the script, Joseph says.

The placement in The Kids Are Alright, which has been nominated for four Oscars this year, came about when the same property manager who worked on Sideways was hired to work on The Kids Are All Right and, according to Joseph, wanted to bring Fiddlehead back to the big screen.

So how do they do it? Take a look at this article that explains the most common methods to get yourself onto the silver screen.

10 LAws Of Social Network Marketing

Facebook is by far the easiest, and maybe the best way to build an online presence for a small business. Most small businesses now don't even need a website to take advantage of the internet, and give themselves presence due to the massive amount of social networking sites and all the tools the search engines offer. Of course many still do try to throw a website together and it is literally a waste of their time for most small businesses.

Unless you are actively selling products online, and this is your business such as weight loss supplements like adapexin-p, you are an online retailer, etc. most brick and mortar businesses have no need to pay someone for a website. Facebook is considered by the search engines as literally about the same value as your own website. Your website would rank just above it, but the social network pages would still rank higher than everything else when it came to your business. Some people find that their social pages show up higher since they are better equipped with keywords that customers search than their actual websites.

Take for instance if you are a doctor. Doctors most of them time know little to nothing about making a website. They know even less about internet marketing. They have a nice sized marketing budget, and they also have a big bullseye on their backs for web designers. They get taken for thousands to build websites, and the internet marketing that goes along with it. Local doctors have it easy with their keywords. Their competition is so low on the search engines that they have nobody to beat most of the time unless you are in a big city. Paying someone a ton of money for this presence is absurd for the majority of mid-sized to smaller city businesses.

If you get the time read a bit about search engine optimization, and really think about what your customers are going to be searching for to find you. "Traverse City foot doctor"? Yes this is the kind of thing they would search for if you ran out of that city and are a foot doctor. You can blow your competition away if you have even remedial understanding of what search engines use to place your sites and the terms that point to them.

Here's an article to help yo understand it a bit more after you get some basics down.

Too Many "Unlikes" and "Unsubscribes" Lately? Find Out Why

Even typing out those words seems ludicrous, but it is part of the marketplace now. Facebook "Likes", and "Subscribers" to Twitter, blogs, and any other form of contact with customers are important aspects of many businesses to keep them hooked on your products be it new pre workout supplements, beauty products, or new gadgets.

As you may have guessed, people actually analyze why this happens. What you might be able to do about it in the future, or how to avoid it altogether. ExactTarget, an Indianapolis-based interactive marketing services provider, has released "The Social Break-up," a report exploring why consumers terminate their relationship with businesses and brands through these three major social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and email marketing.

Feeling the blues of a breakup? Check out their report and move on to your next one.

Mobile Coupons For Your Business?

Coupons are a proven strategy to get customers into the door. Many times getting them to come back for more, but most importantly, they tend to make you a little bit of profit regardless of whether you are giving the customer a discount. They will likely purchase something else since they are there anyways.

What about the new, and increasing popularity of paperless coupons? Is your business set up to accept such a coupon? Many customers now are able to use coupons straight from a mobile device at the point of purchase, and if you aren't able to accept them, you obviously aren't getting part of this market. Anyone at a mall checking out hgh reviews and then seeing more than one shop that sells health supplies may see a coupon for one place, but not yours. Figure out some easy steps to set your store up for mobile coupons.

Keeping Your Day Job While You Start a Business

Starting a business leaves you pretty broke when you come out of the gate usually. Very few circumstances will have you financially healthy early on in the dream. You might have some cash tossed your way to work with, but most of us don't have that luxury. So...we may be forced to work our day job while we build our own business up enough to survive on.

What are some ways that you can do both and still function without having to sleep for 10 minutes at a time while you are driving? Technology like the apple iphone, laptops, and many others are a great start, but how else can you do it? Here are some tips.

Building Business With Facebook Deals and Facebook Ad Benchmarking

Facebook is now a necessary part of almost every business out there. Not only does most of the internet world use Facebook, but it is designed in such a way that allows you to promote your business easily, update your customers efficiently, and communicate directly with your customers in a more laid back setting. Good for any kind of business from ecommerce web hosting which can actually get a lot of clients from their pages, or restaurants that can show new food items and specials to their loyal customers for almost no cost.

Traditional advertising on Facebook, however is an option that many have used successfully, but it seems that not many know what the value is of that advertising. That is why I found this article interesting in that it discusses the cost of advertising on Facebook, as well as how much it is increasing year to year. It suggests getting into it now rather than waiting for the price to go up even more and it links to some stats on who the most likely conversions are.

Facebook Deals is another form of business building with the platform. Facebook Deals is a simple concept that enables businesses like yours a means of offering bargains and discounts that can potentially bring traffic to your business, create buzz, and foster customer loyalty. Like the theater punch card, Facebook Deals entices loyalty from your customers by offering them a tangible discount -- and you don't have to deface a raggedy ticket to make it work. See more

Annual Super Bowl Ads LEssons

The Super Bowl. The championship game of the National Football League is one of the biggest events of the year, if not the biggest in all of sports (Apologies to the World Cup. Not in America.). Not only is the game huge, everything surrounding it is a circus as well.

Obviously, one of the most talked about things the Monday morning after the game besides the game itself are the Super Bowl ads. Many people actually watch the game for these ads alone. They certainly area huge platform for any business and can make a company a household name overnight. You want people to know about your brake rotors? The Super Bowl is probably the biggest stage of any.

What is there to learn from this whole fiasco? What is it that these commercials do so well, or so poorly that you should take notice? Whether it's a new jingle, laugh-out-loud humor or shock value, some of the most powerful brands invest millions of dollars each winter to get their marketing messages in front of consumers during the most important NFL game of the year -- the Super Bowl. Hands down, the big football championship is by far the most-watched single-telecast in the U.S. each year. more

Cutting Costly Clients Without Costing You With a Load Of Grief

Hopefully, at some point, your business will grow where you have bigger fish to work with. Some clients that drain your profits, but were once needed may need to be purged. Whether clients are not worth the hassle to the bottom line, or you find that you have a few problem clients that like to abuse your policies, it may be time to cut them loose.

How do you get rid of them without causing your company a lot of heartache and bad karma? You certainly want to make this as painless as possible for both you, and the client. LAst thing you need is to stress yourself out so much you are packing an array of the best acne products in your briefcase to fix the sweat. While it can't always be a happy divorce, here are some tips for purging your least valuable clients and customers so you can focus on the ones that make you the most money.

How Can Charity Boost Business?

Most companies spend at least some part of the revenues on charitable endeavors. AT least if they don't they have thought about it. Certainly there is an argument that helping the community can indeed hlep your bottom line even if it costs you a little bit at the same time. Good will goes a long ways for a lot of businesses. That is unless you are a tobacco, or a gasoline company most likely, or running some sort of acai berry diet scam.

Serving charitable causes in your community is not only good for your spirit, it can also become a deciding factor when customers choose where to spend their dollars. With consumers demanding higher levels of social responsibility from businesses, it's never been more important to focus your corporate giving into a cause-marketing campaign that motivates your target customer base. And when you create an ongoing strategy for giving, everyone wins -- the charitable cause you support, your customers and, ultimately, your business.

But the first step is to find the right cause-marketing strategy. Here are four ways you can share your corporate altruism with your customers.

Mompreneurs Is a Word

I think it is pretty self explanatory what a Mompreneur is. Well maybe not. You may just think it is a mom that happens to be an entrepreneur. Partially true, but it describes one that is in the business of "Mommy" and making it a successful venture financially. They don't spend their time worrying about a weight loss diet. Well...maybe some do.

Moms start businesses for a variety of reasons. Some want the flexibility of spending more time with their kids. Others uncover a need -- often inspired by motherhood -- that no one else is filling. Whatever the incentive, the growth of women-owned businesses has soared in recent years. In fact, women entrepreneurs are expected to create up to 5.5 million new jobs nationwide by 2018, according to the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute. Here, a look at nine successful mompreneurs and their homegrown inspirations.

Return Policies and Your Business

As consumers we've seen many, many variations of return policies. From "no questions asked" to "if you open it you own it for good". Small businesses are hit a little bit harder with a lot of returns compared to big corporate accounts, so they need to be a little more careful on how they manage them.

While not every week is Black Friday with your business shipping and selling more than every other week, the problems you see are the same at any time of year. The same mistakes are made by many, but these 3 guys want to share their most common mistakes and what they did about them.

Some Small Business Tax Changes For 2011

As with any client I've ever had when discussing taxes I always need to preface the conversation when they ask about stuff they can "look back" on and write off and say that after this time you have to think a head. There is no reason a small business owner isn't up to date with upcoming tax changes that could help them, or at least their tax man better be and let them know about it in January instead of waiting until next January. Sure they may be jerks and want to look like they pulled a genius idea out of their butt, but they aren't doing you many favors. It doesn't do you much good to plan backwards does it? Of course not. PLAN A HEAD. I don't care if you run a vending machine business, or a lemonade stand.

Even as you prepare your 2010 taxes, consider also looking ahead to make investments in equipment or other fixed assets before Dec. 31, 2011. The Small Business Jobs Act enacted in September doubles the Section 179 expense limitation to $500,000 for fully writing off fixed assets the year they were acquired. This specific tax break is applicable to 2010 and 2011 tax returns. Eligible investments include office furniture and equipment, machinery and computer software. Another provision from the same law allows 100 percent writeoffs of up to $250,000 of qualified real property such as leasehold improvements and some restaurant and retail improvements. more

Oh Captain My Captain: Motivating Your Team

You may have a lot of stars at your office, but are they really motivated to do their best job? What helps motivate your workers? Are there some things that all employers can work on to give their employees more motivation? Of course there are. Give them a bunch of samsung lcd tvs and a PS3 to play games with instead of work? Nah...

In a recent study by TowersWatson, an international HR consulting firm, fewer than 21 percent of employees surveyed described themselves as "highly engaged," down from 31 percent in 2009. 8 percent admitted to being fully disengaged.

Having only one-fifth of your employees highly engaged is not the hallmark of a "Winning Business." Other studies show that employee engagement derives from three important factors:

-Alignment of the employee with the goals and vision of the company.
-Faith of the employee in the competence of management and their commitment to realize the goals and vision.
-Trust in their direct supervisor that he or she will support his or her people and help them to succeed.

14 ways to motivate them all

There Are Niches Everywhere

Do you think there is anything else left in the matchmaking industry to try and make money off of? At least something where you don't have to beat the competition to death, or at least just try and share a piece of a piece of the pie with every other low rent website out there matching people up?

Apparently someone found a niche and is doing it up right. I'm not exactly saying this was brilliant, as I'm shocked that someone actually could make this work, or was the first to really bring it all together.

It took two years of Internet dating for Jasbina Ahluwalia to find a husband--yes, online--but she found a business idea, too: A matchmaking service for South Asians in the U.S. that combines the personal elements of Indian matchmaking with online technology and social networking. Everything but a side business of document management. Sparks flew.

Just goes to show that the right person coming a crossed the right business, at the right time can be extremely profitable. You still ahve to get it right, but there are niches everywhere if you keep your eyes peeled.