All About Small Business » entrepreneur Archives – Blog Title

Don’t limit yourself

mrvegriff — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:56:38 +0000

Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. – Mary Kay Ash

Six Character Traits of Business Success

mrvegriff — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:57:26 +0000

Think you have got what it takes?

Every small business differs some what, but for the most part they have the same core needs according to Guardian Life Business Research Institute.

In a recent study Guardian Life discovered that there were certain traits that stood out of the most successful business ventures. Greater than 1,100 different companies with between 2-99 employees took part in the study.

Uniquely, the Guardian didn’t just ask bosses what were the things that they did — it asked them what they felt mattered most for starting a prosperous business. Therefore the results revealed passion more than practice. Overall, the analysis found six key traits that defined the character with the successful business owners.

Think you’ve got the required traits?

1. Collaborative  – It could seem like a prosperous small company owner will be the type to micro-manage everything. Nevertheless the Guardian study found that the knowing how to collaborate was the only most critical trait for someone running a business with under 100 employees. The very best bosses knew the way to delegate tasks to others, forge strong relationships with associates that will create opportunities that motivated everyone working.

2. Curious  – The be noticeable managers in this study were constantly scouring the internet to find way they might improve their business, retain their employees and innovate many. In case you are the type who can’t stop asking questions or wondering what the competitors are up to, then you have got business within your blood.

3. Future Focused –  Keeping an on what’s coming is a vital trait for any successful small company owner. Subjects in the study who planned out their cash flow and succession plans far beforehand did better than their short sighted peers.

4. Self-Fulfilled –  Great small enterprises would be the type of people who prefer finding yourself in power over their particular destiny within the security of your corporate position. These long rangers value the freedom to create their own choices over affluence and structure.

5. Tech-Savvy  – The better business proprietor put an increased value on maintaining the latest in tech. They determined how best to track their packages and kept company email in high gear. First and foremost we were holding convinced that technology helped make their business more effective.

6. Action Oriented –  Lastly, the most notable performers on this study were highly motivated setting themselves apart from the competition. Adversity motivated these to work harder, plus they were less likely compared to average boss to bother with the condition of the economy.

If you liked this article, please do share it in your own newsletter, post it on your site, publish it on your blog, or add it to your autoresponder. Just make sure you leave it intact and do not alter it in any way. All links must remain in the article. And, you must include the following copyright notice and paragraph with subscription link at the end of the article:

Small Business Internet Marketing & Branding Expert Virgil Griffin is on a mission to help other savvy entrepreneurs unchain themselves from their business. Discover how to market and grow your business with less effort, help more people, make more money, AND still have a life.

You can find loads more articles available to republish at www.AllAboutSmallBusiness.info

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GBN Web Development Inc: How I started with no money

mrvegriff — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:56:49 +0000

This is how I started GBN Web Development Inc.

Recently I posted the following quote on my facebook page:

“Becoming wealthy is not a matter of how much you earn, who your parents are,
or what you do.. it is a matter of managing your money properly.“

And a friend replied:

“It’s pretty difficult to manage your money in a way that leads to wealth…
when you need every last dollar just to survive.”

This statement bothered me because I believe if you have the desire, you can find the means. So this is part of the history of GBN Web Development.
Things did not change for me until I changed myself. I audited my time and money to discover where I allocated it. I stop spending my free time around people that wasted my time and money. This cost me some friends, but my true friends supported and encouraged me. I made new friends and associates that thought as I did.

Put down the remote and pick up a book.

I cut back on TV and read more. I use to be a big football fan. this was a time to fellowship with friends, drink beer, play Madden and X Box. But when I audited my time, I realized that the NFL, college football, ESPN, ABC, NBC, Play Station, Sony nor CBS ever paid me a damn penny. Why should I give so much of my self to them?

Fellow-shipping has a cost.

While fellow-shipping with my friends was fun. Most of them had careers that was acceptable to them. So they could afford to relax. They knew that their 9-5 was waiting on them and they would get their check every other Friday. Well this was not the route I wanted to go. I knew a 9-5 had no chance of providing me the lifestyle and comfort level I wanted. I choose to be a entrepreneur. So if I didn’t work, I didn’t eat.

But the real kicker was at the end of the night, when I got home from fellow-shipping. To many times I would have spent $30 – $60 and had nothing to show for it. I had to buy food, gas, beer etc. After doing this 4 – 6 times a month, I realized that time and money could be better spent.

Web Development was my plan B.

I took that time and discovered a plan B income that I enjoyed (web development) that had a very low over-head. I accidentally got it to web designing by building a couple sites for myself and then a couple friends and family. Then the light bulb went off. I can charge people to do this for them with my free time. When I first started it took me 6 weeks to complete a site. Now I design about 5 web sites a month plus web maintenance services.

When I realized that I wanted to be a web developer, I started to self educated my self through research and trial and error. know it can be expensive to by every book you like. But a new associate suggested that I go to Borders or Barnes & Nobles and read books and magazines about web development there and take notes. This was a great tip.

Education can be FREE.

I also discovered a FREE COLLEGE. Its called YOUTUBE UNIVERSITY. There are so many videos on millions of subjects and if your subject is not there. I suggest you put it there and reap the rewards. And lets not forget GOOGLE. I still too this day use GOOGLE as my primary web development resource.

I also studied people whom were successfully doing what I wanted to do. These are the people that I now spend my free time with so that I am always positioning myself to learn from those who have already accomplished.

I set a goal

Also, I decided what I wanted to be doing in 10 years and I work toward that. I wholesomely believe that everyone should have a dream or a goal. If a arrow has no target, it will never hit the bulls eye. Having a purpose to your hours, will focus your days, that will mold your weeks, that will shape your month, that will steer your year, that will ultimately accomplish your goal. By the way my 10 year goal is to have a web development company that provides invaluable services and information to small business entrepreneurs like myself.

To help me accomplish my goals I wrote a working business plan. This is not hard to do. A traditional business plan is used to obtain finacal backing for the most part. But a working business plan is for your eyes only. It is simpliy a list of where you are at and where you want to be in three years. I did this by just writing an out line. I listed it 1 -20, by each number I listed a major goal. After I wrote my list, I re-wrote it in the proper order to accomplish each goal. When I re-wrote it, under each number I listed a. b. c. d. By each letter I listed the minor goals/steps necessary to accomplish the main goal.

Example:

1. Start my Company (week 1)

a. Select name
b. Research target market
c. Decide niche
d. Write mission statement

2. Get online (week 2)

a. Choose domain registration company
b. Purchase domain name – $12.00 per year
c. Choose hosting company
d. Purchase hosting – $7.00 per month

3. Design web site (week 3-4)

a. Research competition
b. Choose theme
c. layout menu
d. Write content

4. Market my services (week 5)

a. Design and print business cards – $12.00
b. Design and print fliers – $20.00
c. Contact friends and family
d. Place free ads

5. etc.etc.

I hope this information helps you make the decision to change your life.

This is how I started GBN Web Development Inc.

PS. Do you have a similar story? I would like to interview you. Click Here.

Virgil Griffin
708-381-0426

I stop spending my free time around people that wasted my time and money. This cost me some friends, but my true friends supported and encouraged me. I made new friends and associates that thought as I did.

How To Start A Small Risk Free Business?

Amit Kumar — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:51:56 +0000

Starting a new small business is a challenge. There are immense opportunities and things to do. Infact if you put your efforts in the right direction you will definitely succeed. There is a big risk involved in everything you do. The only thing that can benefit you is a combination of good planning and effective decision making. Positive attitude with a focussed approach will benefit you and help you to succeed.

It is a fact that many small businesses fail. It seems hard to believe because we still see so many of them around. It may be a good idea to read some books, do some research, and even try to talk with some current, successful business owners. What did they do? How did they make it? What hardships and hurdles did they have to overcome? This can be a great source of information as well as a source of encouragement and motivation.

Getting answers to questions on how to do advertisements or promotional activities to boost your business will definitely build your understanding on managing your business well. Getting the know how on how a successful entrepreneur started his initial marketing will help you to when you should do the same for your business. Getting idea on their team structure will help in analyzing the man power cost involved in the process.

One needs to understand that even situations or businesses are different but still there are certain key points that we can record from a famous entrepreneur and include in our business functioning. It is definitely helpful as it cuts our time which might have gone in researching or reading. One to one conversations with successful entrepreneurs will definitely add to our business acumen.

Don’t just consider starting a business means opening a shop and stuffing it with products or services. It isn’t just a start but a long term relationship building. Once you’re business is running successfully you need to think about the fund management, maintenance of accounts, advertisement, manpower etc. A substantial time and money will be invested in your endeavor. You must need to analyze your future and manage your business accordingly to overcome any obstacles etc.

So stay focused, be confident, remain strong, and have belief – in yourself and in your business. Offering good, quality products and services with customer satisfaction as your top goal should give you the confidence to make it. If you know you’re selling and offering good stuff, others will soon realize this as well, and you can be confident in your investment. So get going and open those doors to a bright future – a future that is full of profits, sales, revenue, and success!

Looking to find out the best about Successful Entrepreneur Stories, then visit Amit’s site to find the best advice on Small Business Startup.

categories: successful entrepreneurs,small business,entrepreneur

How To Start A Small Business Free Of Any Risks Involved?

Amit Kumar — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:53:27 +0000

It is a challenge and a big deal for starting a new business. There are countless opportunities and many more to explore. Channelising your efforts is necessary for your success. Risk is involved in your path however, with detailed planning and smart decision making you can minimize your risks and grow stronger. After all good decision making combined with positive thinking will definitely help you to be successful.

Many small Businesses fail. You can’t believe this as there are many coming up every day and we see them around. For being successful one must read literature, books, do research and try to collect information from people who are successful. Try to get a mentor for yourself to shorten your learning curve. Analyze what they did and how did they make it so big. What were the obstacles that they overcame and how? This will definitely help you to get motivation and encouragement for future.

Get some tips and guidelines on advertising, marketing, and managing a business. Did they distribute promotional items right off the bat? Or did they wait to feel out the market and their potential for sales before investing in things like that? Do they manage their own business or did they hire someone to run the day to day activities and tasks? These are important questions to ask and to know the answers to.

I understand that each and every business case is different however we can see some key points that every famous entrepreneur can share with us to help us along our way. It is simply more effective that reading a book. This kind of information sharing is way beyond any kind of research.

Looking to find out the best about Successful Entrepreneur Stories, then visit Amit’s site to find the best advice on Small Business Startup.

categories: successful entrepreneurs,small business,entrepreneur

Shoot for the Moon and boost your business

Felecia Howard — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:10:32 +0000

A standard definition of “shoot the moon” is to aim high. It essentially means set higher than normal goals for yourself, and try your best. Don’t aim at easy-to-reach goals. Go for something that shows the best of your ability. A couple of months ago, I talked with a client and my recommendation was to dream big – bigger than what might even be considered possible. My reasoning is that by stretching a vision, a person automatically stretches possibility. You might not hit the moon, but when you hit the stars, you likely will hit a goal much bigger than you would have through making a ‘reasonable’ goal.

Shooting for the moon is one of the most effective strategies I have used to grow my business. It has enabled me to increase my annual income, not by 5 or 10 percent, but by 300%. Since implementing this strategy, it has enabled me to reach more customers, service my current customers better and expand my services more than I could have ever imagined.

When I first started my web development company I took very thought out traditional steps. But when I started thinking outside the box and kicked thing into overdrive, I was amazed at the results. No one has ever achieved extraordinary success without shooting for the moon. Every single successful business person that I have interviewed has attributed a part of their success to dreaming the impossible.

Many well intentioned experts have told us that we should only set reasonable and timely achievable goals. They are afraid that if we set goals that are to lofty, we won’t achieve them, which may cause us to give upon those goals and abandon the goal setting process altogether. Setting goals that are reasonable and achievable will severely limit your ability to achieve extraordinary results. I must admit that by using conventional goal-setting methods of setting achievable, reachable goals will significantly improve your results. However, if you use the shooting for the moon approach of dreaming bigger than you can possibly achieve, the changes and improvements will be far greater.

If your only hope for your business is to experience a moderate to good results, then setting reasonable and easily achievable goals will help you do just that. However, that is all you will achieve. But if you want to achieve the impossible like Edison, Ford, Richard Branson and Bill Gates, then you must train yourself to shoot for the moon.

When President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the Moon within a decade and return him safely to Earth, learned eyebrows were raised because the technology needed did not exist at the time. However, the decision to set a firm goal spurred the scientific community into action. Inspired by their President’s vision, scientists who had considered it impossible changed their mentality from, “It can’t be done” to “How can we make this happen?

Similarly, when you set yourself a goal it is not necessary to have all the know-how and resources at your disposal. All that is required is enthusiasm and persistence, then the essential ingredients somehow show up to make it possible.

We’ve had wise and brilliant people telling us for centuries that we are only limited by our own imaginations. External circumstances can affect us, sure, but we only truly fail when we accept that we have failed.

Anonymous quote: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

Create A Marketing Plan That Gets Results

Felecia Howard — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:36:53 +0000

Every business is different. Service businesses aren’t marketed the same way as product businesses are. Online businesses aren’t always marketed the way offline businesses are.

How you market will depend on the type of business you are running, but some factors are common.

Marketing is not the same thing as advertising. In advertising, you are getting your name and your product name out there for people to see and eventually buy. With marketing, you are creating a plan of the different types of advertising you are using to promote your business.

There are many ways that you can promote your business. For example:

*Classified advertising in newspapers, magazines, ezines and
on other web sites *Public Relations (i.e. press releases and articles If online, search engines, banner advertising, and other sites)
*Television and Radio commercials
*Creating your own Newsletter
*Writing Articles
*Joint Venture Proposals

The choices are endless. What you want to do first is choose the methods that you think will work best for your business.

The important thing to remember here is that you once you have created a marketing plan, you have to constantly reevaluate it to see if it is working. If you are spending money on advertising, and you aren’t making any sales, then it’s time to try testing new ads, change the publications or sites you are advertising in, or write new ads.

GBN Web Development, Inc. launches great new website

Felecia Howard — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:52:46 +0000

GBN Web Development, Inc., is a fast growing web development, and website branding company, that is eager to launch its redesigned website “gbn-online.com” with advance marketing service. This new website has been designed and crafted to serve the new era internet demands and ever-increasing development services.

GBN serves an extensive portfolio of clients, which have soared high within a short span of time without any major hassles. The company also offers graphic design services, including logo design and branding. Along with these services, the company offers a large selection of internet marketing services, including search engine marketing and branding services. The Internet is the most preferred place to get information on any business or topic. Any organization or company, small or large, requires an online presence to serve its customers in better way.

The Internet is now the new way to market your business. More and more people are turning to advertising giants such as Google and yahoo to find information about local and global business and services. Today, order to be successful, a business has to be where people are searching. If you have no online presence (a website) and you can’t be found in the major search engines, then it will be tough for your business to survive. To be able to survive this cutthroat competition, your business should have a strong marketing plan.

GBN is essentially a “one stop shopping” to help businesses to grow during this downturn economy. We help businesses project a positive image that will help it get noticed in today’s complicated marketplace, giving businesses a decisive edge to succeed. GBN with its innovative technology reviews a website’s online presence from the ground up. It aims to provide the best services through its extensive experience and knowledge. With its creative marketing strategies, it makes a business effective and will examine processes and make recommendations to maximize a client’s profitability.

Through its online services, GBN provides a full range of related services including website design, Ecommerce web development, hosting, graphic design, online marketing, search engine optimization. By using the power of global outsourcing, GBN can provide top quality products and services at reduced prices.

GBN Web Development

My Best Blogging Tips

Felecia Howard — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:58:36 +0000

My best blogging tips
1. Choose keyword for your blog: Choosing the right keywords when your Website is new can be tricky as well as time consuming. Your keywords are the fundamental building blocks of your online success. After making your blog now its time to choose some best keyword within your niche. For example my blog niche is small business and my keywords are small business marketing, small business development, internet marketing. SEO keyword suggestion tool is one best free keyword suggestion tool that I use for choosing my keyword.

2. Use keyword: You have selected your keywords. Now its time to put your keyword on appropriate place. The repetition of certain words and phrases can help search engines understand the subject of your blog post, and increase that post’s rank in search for those terms. You have to be conscious of this repetition, these keywords and key phrases, in blog post titles, initial paragraph, category and tag assignment, image tags, and subheadings in your copy, as well as the title tags for the blog itself. Use the most important keywords in your blog post title. Never overload your content with keyword, just put your keyword on appropriate place. Try to make keyword density 3-4% within your content.

3. Internal linking: It is one most important SEO factor. If you noticed on my blog I hyperlinked my main keyword “small business marketing” to my blog home page. Furthermore internal linking to other post is also important. Many blogs contain links to specific posts in the sidebar. Linking to those that are the most popular is a good way to increase your page views and also to improve your internal link strength. Also link to your other related post from within your new post your by using anchor text.

4. Fresh content: Blog readers want frequent fresh content, so it is important to post on your blog regularly. Without it, your blog will not survive. Remember that “content is king”, with out valuable content you can not able to get traffic on your blog. Here are 4 ways to keep the content on your blog fresh. Guest Posts – in every 100 or so readers there is bound to be 1 that has the knowledge, expertise, motivation and skill to contribute posts to your blog. Update Previous Posts and Topics – expanded upon, updated, improved or rewrite old post a with fresh insight. Hire someone – If you do not have the time or just don’t want to update your blog yourself then you can always hire someone. Frequent Forums – Some of the best ideas for new and fresh content I’ve had come from questions asked on some of the forums I frequent. If you keep an eye on a few forums within your niche, there will be questions popping up that you know the answer to, but haven’t realised that there is a knowledge gap within your readership.

5. Build backlinks for your blog: This work is extremely hard and time consuming. For getting rank your blog you have to get lots of quality link to your blog. There are some link building strategies that you have to follow. Backlinks are very important for your websites. They are like votes cast by one respectable website to another, and they will greatly increase the site’s traffic. When one gets many backlinks, one’s site’s ranking in search engine results will skyrocket.

Today there are so many DoFollow blogs, and by commenting on these blogs, with your backlink, you can get full value on that link.

What are “Do Follow” blogs? “Do follow” is the opposite of “No-Follow”. WordPress blogs, by default, but there are plug-ins that go against the norm and turn the No-Follow tag off, enabling do-follow of out going comment links. I have looked at a couple of plugins, and have decided the DoFollow plugin works best for me. Once you join the Do-Follow movement, let everyone know your blog is do follow by adding your blog to the do-follow blog list. Be sure to also use Akismet for WordPress. it is a free plug-in that helps keep a lot of the spam out, but some of them still get through. Dofollow blog commenting gives dofollow backlinks that passes page rank (PR) value to your preferred URL. The higher page’s page rank, the better your chances to get good PR in next update.

There is no reason you shouldn’t me able to increase your blog traffic by following the simple steps above.

Summary:

Choose the right keywords
put the keyword phrase in title
put the keyword phrase repeated in text
use the keyword phrase in a hyperlink to your site
write keyword phrase in bold and/or italic
use the keyword phrase in tags
ensure keyword phrase is found in alt tag of an image
reserve the best keywords in blog title and description
Write good, unique content.
When commenting on dofollow blogs, add quality comments.
Vary your link text when commenting on dofollow blogs.
Don’t always link to your main blog post. Link to specific posts within your blog to get some deep links to individual posts.
Comment on 3 dofollow blogs every day, or so. That would give you 30 dofollow backlinks in one month, you could have 360 backlinks in a year.
Comment on different dofollow blogs. Commenting on the same dofollow blogs over and over will not do you as much good as commenting on different blogs on different domains.

Your Turn to Comment!

It wouldn’t be much of a post about blog commenting if I didn’t encourage you guys to comment now would it? So, if you are a blogger, do you comment on other blogs? Do you have a strategy for it or do you just wing it? Does this strategy sound too clinical? If you didn’t have a strategy before, does this post inspire you to have one now?

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Blog 2 Success E-book *new Product* How To Create A Blog, How To Monetize And How To Promote It Also With Video Tutorial And Great Tips To Make A Great Money Making Blog, Cheaper Then The Other E-books Out There And Will See Alot More. Click Here!

Smart Smiles Dental

Felecia Howard — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:29:11 +0000

Company: Smart Smiles Dental, P.C
Web/blog: WWW.Smartsmilesdental.com
Name: Dr. Lena J. Casimir
Tele: 312-922-3411
Email: DrCasimir@smartsmilesdental.com
Service: General Dentistry and dental cosmetic services
In business since : 2006

Please tell us a bit about your business. When did you begin and how do you do what you do?
We treat the entire family with gentle comprehensive dental care. Our goal is to provide our patients with the best possible care.

Give a brief background/bio on you?
In practice for 6 years. Graduate of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. Native of Chicago, IL.

What is your main product or service? Dental

Who is your target market? Adults, childen, and Families

What is your company slogan? Smart Smiles dental is where your smartest smile awaits you!

What is the top three problems you will solve for your customers?
Oral hygiene issues such as gum disease, cavities, and tooth pain.

What prompted you to start your own business?
Wanted to have creative control over how I provide patient treatment.

Is this your first time operating your own business?: Yes
In your words, what makes your business unique? We offer personal one on one care specific to each patient.

What challenges have you faced in launching your business? Networking and marketing

How would you describe the products you offer? Dental services

Do you have plans to expand beyond your current product or service? No

What advice would you give to other small business owners today? What nuggets of wisdom can you share with others who are trying to maintain their business in these tough times? Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Will you give us another interview in one year so that we can follow up on your progress? yes