March 5th, 2010 by john
Opportunities abound for small businesses to cut their tax bills. The key is understanding what’s deductible for your business. A good tax preparer can guide you, but it is your responsibility to save receipts throughout the year.”Organization and good record keeping are the keys to lower tax preparation fees and painless IRS audits,” says Sam Fawaz, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with Y.D. Financial Services in Franklin, Tenn.
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March 5th, 2010 by admin
There was a time when starting a business required foresight, a business plan and some capital. Today, an entrepreneur can sketch an idea on the back of a napkin in the morning and have the business up and running by the afternoon.
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March 5th, 2010 by admin
Shez Zamrudeen has loved fashion since she was a little girl.That’s why it was a no-brainer for her to get into the fashion industry and turn her passion into a career.”It was my biggest passion in life to be a part of the fashion industry,” says Zamrudeen. “I live my life around fashion; I’m always the girl thinking and planning weeks ahead about my outfit for an event.” Content Continues Below At heart, Zamrudeen has always known she’s an entrepreneur. She wanted to open her own business when she was 21 years old, but she didn’t have the knowledge to do so
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March 3rd, 2010 by admin
If you think you need online forms to collect contact information from your website visitors, think again.
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March 2nd, 2010 by john
It is important to appeal to consumers’ emotions when crafting marketing messages. Think about how you feel when you hear marketing messages and how those feelings affect your own buying decisions. Just like you’re moved to action by an emotional response to marketing messages, so are all consumers.
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February 25th, 2010 by john
Having recently had another birthday click over on the odometer, coupled with the new year–and the new decade–time is on my mind. Actually, time’s never far from my mind in my work-cave because I have strategically placed more than a dozen clocks around the room and can’t look in any direction without seeing one.As I describe in my book, No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs , I organize everything with predetermined start and end times; if someone has a phone appointment with me, they know in advance when it will end, not just when it will start–and the call does end as scheduled, even if in midsentence.
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February 25th, 2010 by john
Everyone feels warm and fuzzy around Valentine’s Day. That includes entrepreneurs, many of whom use the opportunity to put a heartfelt spin on their e-mail marketing communications.You probably received e-mails earlier this month from businesses and organizations running promotions tied to Valentine’s Day. Others might simply have sent a colorful, light-hearted greeting as a way to tell their customers and members they care.So what happens now, after the chocolates have been eaten and the roses have withered away
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February 23rd, 2010 by admin
Complacency, lack of qualified prospects and fear of rejection and discomfort are just a few of the reasons salespeople are reluctant to make new sales calls.One of the main reasons call reluctance sets in is because we might have experienced months, or even years, of success without making new calls–and now our prospecting skills have diminished.I see this all the time. Maybe the industry you’re selling in has gone through tough times or more aggressive competitors started taking away your account base. Whatever the reason, a dry pipeline sounds a clear a wake-up call–it’s time to prospect for new business.
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February 22nd, 2010 by john
The truism “people don’t care what you know until they know that you care” is profoundly true. If you try move a conversation straight from “how ’bout them Saints” into your pitch, you’re dead. First, you have to do some serious listening.And I don’t mean listening to identify needs
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February 21st, 2010 by admin
Frankly, for today’s small-business owner, the risk-reward ratio sucks. Historically the United States prospered as a laissez-faire, business-friendly country, where entrepreneurs were relatively unencumbered by federal, state and local statutes. Now the complexity and risk of running a small business is rising exponentially thanks to increased regulation (which means more paperwork).
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