Using football to help your business

American football that is. Football has become America's sport over the last couple decades and it is no surprise that everyone from digital cameras makers to car manufacturers are getting in on it to help promote their businesses. Why shouldn't you too?

Bratwurst wafting from the grills at the back ends of trucks crammed in a stadium parking lot. Fathers tossing the pigskin to their sons in backyards across America. Even the spectacle of Larry King prattling on about O.J. Simpson every night. They're signs that football season is truly here. more

Small Businesses to Spend $70 Billion Online by 2012

The internet is becoming an important part of many small businesses. Whether you want to get some relatively cheap advertising for products like a fire table, books, or digital cameras, you can usually find a way to do it cheaper online. So it is no surprise that over the course of the next 5 years online spending is going to increase substantially. Not only are the advertising budgets going to go up, but many other reasons for using the internet for your small business is becoming important.

As the number of small businesses continues to grow over the next five years, they will be spending more money online, new research shows.

In a new report, "U.S. Online Small Business Market Category Forecast, 2007 to 2012," New York-based JupiterResearch projects that total online spending by small businesses will exceed $70 billion by 2012, up from $47 billion in 2006. more

Getting Clients to Pay in Advance

Whether your business works with manufacturing cabinet hardware, or you just plain run a service business there may be a need to get paid before you actually deliver on the deal. How exactly do you get customers to pay you before you actually perform the deed you promise when you collect the cash? I ran a crossed an interesting article that helps explain just how to do this and some tips to make sure that you can get your customers to help you out...in advance.

For a small company, getting paid on time can mean the difference between having cash for an expansion and borrowing to pay the bills. But if you're a minor vendor, you may be last on your customers' payment priority list. One solution: getting clients to pay in advance. That's easier said than done, of course, because your customers like holding on to their cash as much as you like seeing them part with it. Nevertheless, clients will prepay if given the right incentives. Following are three stories of business owners who got sick of waiting around for payment and decided to do something about it. full story

Entrepreneur of the Year

All the ballots are being sent to the Mailboxes as we speak and soon we will know who Inc.coms Entrepreneur of the year is going to be. Check this site here to see who is nominated and what they are all about. There are links at the bottom of every nominee so you can shift to the next one after reading about the one thta is currently linked in this post. Fun read to see what kind of things are being mentioned.

Spying on Employee E-Mail?

This is a very controversial subject, and frankly I am completely against the idea that any company can monitor employee e-mails. Computer time usage and the sites they go to? Sure. Scannign employee e-mails? Not so much. Someone out there buying bunk beds online during work? I guess you could make an argument, but I see us losing enough of our rights in this country lately that my jerk reaction into any sort of spying, anywhere is to revolt.

The law regarding employers' rights to employee e-mails and computer usage is evolving as fast as the technology. Federal law prohibits the unauthorized interception of, retrieval of or access to certain wire or electronic communications, including stored communications such as e-mail. Violators are subject to various civil and criminal penalties. However, once the communications are downloaded to a company computer, they may be subject to control by an employer. more..

2007 Inc. 500

In the garden of life there are many lists, but the Inc. 500 is one of the better ones. It is a list of the top Entrepreneurial economies for the past year.

T
he word solutions is probably overexposed: It appears in the names of 33 of this year's Inc. 500 companies. But what the heck; it elegantly encapsulates the secret to the success of most of these businesses. Customers come to the market with a problem. Our honorees send them home without one. Quantitatively, these companies are obviously exceptional, with 2006 aggregate revenue of $16 billion, median revenue of $10.5 million, and median three-year growth of 939 percent. Qualitatively, they tell us much about the way we live now. full story

Speed Networking and Beyond

I'm sure you all know that networking is one of the biggest, if not the biggest skill of importance in running a business. No more so than it is online. Whether you are selling things like christmas gift ideas, or you just have a website that needs to get traffic for ads, you have to rely on networking to get the exposure you need. "It isn't what you know, but who you know" is so true I can't even stress it enough.

Here is an article about Speed Networking and helping you lauunch yourself into a new network of people tha twant to talk to you.

College Business Plans that Made the Grade

It is usually a laughable experience when you look at some college business plans that are out there. Students that aren't really in the right field, or are just taking classes to cover some of the required elective requirements don't tend to take it seriously and spend the majority of the time just laying around on their home furniture. Unlike these students, the ones featured in this article have made big impacts with their business plans and actually turned it into something worth mentioning. Take a look at College Business Plans that Made the Grade in this story that will be a great read.

Where No Man Should Go: Profile of S.A. Robotics

This is an interesting look into S.A. Robotics. S.A. Robotics (#2,129, 2007 Inc. 5,000) based in Loveland, Colo., manufactures robotic arms with new advanced materials such as carbon fiber. Sure they have a need for power supply repair many times with this operation. Anyways, they create these arms to help in cleaning up hazordous environments. The article goes in depth about this unique venture and is a very good read if you have a few minutes to check it out here.

Court Orders Evaluation of Employee Drug-Testing Policies

No more lounging around on your Century furniture when it comes to drug testing policy. A recent development may help small-businesses have a bigger say in how they are regulated in regards to their drug testing policies.

A recent court ruling on employee drug testing policies will help small businesses have a bigger say in the federal regulatory process, according to advocacy and trade groups.

A U.S. Court of Appeal last month ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to re-evaluate the extra costs of a proposed drug-testing program, which would have required all aircraft-repair subcontractors at every tier -- from machine shops to dry cleaners -- to test their employees. full story