Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Inducts 2012 Honorees – Join Us |  |
- Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Inducts 2012 Honorees – Join Us
- Your Facebook Page Updates Can Now Be Seen By All!
- Focus Your Startup Team Before Year’s End
- Starting A Business: Financial And Legal Nuances
- 10 Things You Should Stop Doing On Facebook
- Booming App Industry Lures Entrepreneurs: Not All Are Successful
| Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Inducts 2012 Honorees – Join Us Posted: 20 Nov 2012 07:18 PM PST The Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame is inducting the 2012 group of entrepreneur honorees, including Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx and the world's youngest female billionaire; Subway founder Fred Deluca; Harris Rosen, president and CEO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts; Don Dwyer of The Dwyer Group; and David Anderson, founder of restaurant chain Famous Dave's.
For the first time ever the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame is holding an induction ceremony. Prior to this year, the Hall of Fame recognized inductees online and in its museum but without an induction ceremony. Attend and Network! The inaugural Induction Ceremony takes place December 1, 2012 at The Estate in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m on the 2012 Induction Committee and received this gorgeous formal invitation to the event (right – click to enlarge). This is going to be an exciting event with an opportunity to network with famous entrepreneurs, influential media and other movers and shakers. I plan to be there – come and mingle with us! Confirmed attendees in addition to honorees Blakely and Deluca include:
Also at the event: Steve Mariotti, founder of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, will receive a special social entrepreneurship and philanthropy award. Dave and Catherine Cook will receive a youth award for their social network MeetMe. The Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame was founded by entrepreneur Mitch Schlimer, who notes that the honorees are “all founders and executives of companies that earn over $100 million in annual sales and exemplify the EHOF's core values of philanthropy and innovation.” 2012 Induction Event Details The event takes place December 1, 2012 at the Estate, a historic venue located at 3109 Piedmont Drive in Buckhead, Georgia. Guests will have the chance to mingle with the inductees, entrepreneurs, members of the press, and other VIPs over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the ceremony will begin promptly at 7:30. After the awards presentation, guests are invited to stay for the after party and continue to network with fellow business leaders. Tickets are $250 each and reservations are required. For ticket information contact Brittany at 678-536-3446 or email at: brittany@theehalloffame.com.
The post Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Inducts 2012 Honorees – Join Us appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Your Facebook Page Updates Can Now Be Seen By All! Posted: 20 Nov 2012 01:00 PM PST Many Facebook page owners have expressed their unhappiness about how often their posts show up in the news feed for certain users. And now the site is doing something about it. Facebook recently launched a new pages-only newsfeed, where users can see only the updates from the brand pages they've liked, including businesses, celebrities, and other brands.
The "Pages Feed" link appears on the left hand sidebar of the home page. In the above photo, you can see where users can click over to the Pages Feed, and what the feed itself looks like. Like the traditional news feed, Facebook uses an algorithm to find the most relevant pages and post for each user. So this new feed still won't ensure that all followers of a page will see every post, even if they do regularly check their Pages Feed. Overall, users still have the same controls as with their regular news feeds, like hiding posts and choosing to follow activity on a particular post. Some posts from brand pages will continue to show up on the traditional news feed as well. For businesses that use Facebook Pages, this move could allow posts to be seen by more relevant users, provided they actually visit the Pages Feed. For that to happen, page owners will need to post relevant and noteworthy content in order for people to care enough to click over, but this has always been true for the most part. Facebook has stated that this change was brought about because of requests from both page owners and news feed users, and not because of criticism for how Facebook has handled the way posts from pages appear in the news feed in an effort to encourage brands to buy Promoted Posts or other advertising products. Before the Pages Feed was introduced, many of these posts were seen only by a small percentage of people who follow the page because of the relevancy algorithm Facebook uses. The post Your Facebook Page Updates Can Now Be Seen By All! appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Focus Your Startup Team Before Year’s End Posted: 20 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST Let’s face it — by the time November rolls around, members of even the best startup teams are starting to think about the holidays. Many are preparing for travel or seeing family; more than a few will be looking forward to some hard-earned days off. But for founders, the same time of year signals something very different — an important time to regroup and strategize for the year ahead. And you need your team by your side to do so effectively.
We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out how to motivate and energize team members as 2013 fast approaches:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. What Are You Waiting For? “Most organizations make the mistake of doing planning for the next year in December. Well, by then, your team has already begun clocking out. They are thinking about holiday shopping, time off, food, and football. So early November is a GREAT time to get planning for 2013 — and if they know what is coming up, it might just help them stay focused on sales instead of pumpkin pie!” ~ Raoul Davis, Ascendant Group 2. Get (Away) Together “End of the year is a great time for your team to get away together to spend some time working on the business instead of in it. Having your core team together in a non-office environment can encourage creativity while looking back and celebrating all the small wins you’ve accomplished this year. It is also a great time to re-sync on the company’s vision and goals while strategizing for next year.” ~ W. Michael Hsu, DeepSky 3. Look Back to Look Forward “Create a summary of all the progress your company made since the beginning of the year to this point. Remind your team that the day-to-day developments can sometimes obscure the larger gains the company has made, and show them exactly how their hard work has paid off. Encourage them to take time to recharge and remember all the good work they did this year, and how that effort can be replicated.” ~ Zach Cutler, Cutler Group 4. Get Active “We do bi-weekly fitness, health, and happiness activities with the team– but as we gear up to the end of the year, we plan to do them bigger and better, whether it’s a day-long hike or an epic kayak adventure.” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist 5. Set Goals — and Rewards! — Together “Goal-setting is always a fun year-end exercise. After we finish goal-setting, we dedicate time to brainstorming potential rewards for accomplishing goals – they should be team-oriented, something everyone will enjoy, and a blend of both attainable and slightly over-the-top to keep everyone reaching.” ~ Abby Ross, Blueye Creative 6. Maintain Open Lines of Communication “I think it is important at any time of the year to keep open lines of communication and touch base to make sure the team is all pushing in the same direction and can understand what every person is struggling with. We’ve had some great insight when the team comes together and someone expresses a problem they’ve been facing…that includes sales, Web development and content.” ~ Patrick Curtis, WallStreetOasis.com 7. Share Profits “Profit-sharing is a great boost. As an example using easy math, let’s say you expect to make $100 in 2013. Tell your team that 10 percent of any profits over $100 in 2013 will be divided among the team as bonuses.” ~ Nicolas Gremion, Foboko.com 8. Monthly Incentives “It can be easy for people to lose focus in the last couple months of the year, especially around the holidays – so give them a reason to keep making stuff happen. This can be anything from a sales contest to a little bit of extra time off. Put yourself in your employee’s shoes. What would continue to make you excited to come in to work, even with all of the end of the year distractions?” ~ Sean Ogle, Location 180, LLC 9. Hand Out Innovation Vacations “Give them a day off to take an innovation vacation. Tell them to relax and really think about where they are heading; provide them with a day where they think more strategically. “ ~ John Hall, Digital Talent Agents 10. Restate Your Mission and Vision “It’s not enough for the founders to have a clear mission and vision for the future. Repetition within the company and to your prospects and customers is key. By continually reminding your team about how they are helping customers and where the company is going in the next 1-5 years, they’ll be more likely to bring fresh ideas to the table. “ ~ Phil Frost, Main Street ROI 11. It’s Time To Celebrate “Focus on the celebrations from the past year, rather than dwell on the failures. If we can build momentum from success, we can stay positive and motivated to expand those success stories. Focus on the positive and avoid dwelling on any negative.” ~ Jordan Guernsey, Molding Box Business Holidays Photo via Shutterstock The post Focus Your Startup Team Before Year’s End appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Starting A Business: Financial And Legal Nuances Posted: 20 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST Starting a business can seem like a long and drawn-out process – but don’t worry, you’re getting closer to being ready to launch. Now that you’ve got office space, a team of advisers and some great-looking marketing material, you’re ready to complete a few final housekeeping items to keep your business “legal” and in compliance, while also helping you manage your money and pay your taxes.
Financial And Legal Nuances of Starting A BusinessHere are a few financial and legal items to keep in mind as you prepare for the last steps of starting a business: Open a Business Bank Account One of the easiest ways to keep track of your business expenses (and keep them separate from your personal finances) when starting a business is to open a business bank account. Corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) are required to maintain separate bank accounts, and this practice is also highly recommended for sole proprietors. For corporations and LLCs, failure to maintain separate business bank accounts can lead to a "piercing of the corporate veil" and a loss of protection from personal liability. Even if you don't have a corporate entity when starting a business, if you're a sole proprietor, keeping a separate business bank account is important to help you track revenues, expenses and profitability of your business. It also lends credibility. Remember, banks will require at least a DBA ("Doing Business As") filing before they let you open a bank account under the name of your business (if the business name is different from the owner's name). Let CorpNet™ help you file a DBA quickly, easily and at an affordable price. Read more about our DBA filing service so you can get started with a business bank account. Get Financing If you’re starting a business by "bootstrapping it," that means you start with a small or nonexistent budget, paying for everything as you go. But if you want to grow faster, or if you need money quickly to invest in bringing your product to market, you probably need to get financing for your business. For a small business, this can mean obtaining a loan from the Small Business Administration program, securing a line of credit through your bank, or seeking equity investment from angel investors or even friends and family. When starting a business, trade credit may also be a source of financing. It is important for the business to maintain a good credit rating just as it is for an individual so that the business can maintain access to capital at attractive terms, even during a credit crunch. Stay in Corporate Compliance Forming your business as a legal entity is just the first step to stay in compliance with laws and regulations when starting a business. Once you've formed your business, maintaining corporate compliance is essential if you are to continue enjoying the benefits of having created a separate entity, including limited liability and protection of your personal assets. For more details on how to keep up with your ongoing compliance responsibilities after starting a business, read CorpNet CEO Nellie Akalp's article on Small Business Trends about what's next after you incorporate your business. Keeping your personal assets protected is one of the most important benefits of incorporating or forming an LLC. Making sure you comply with the various regulations applicable to your entity and business will help prevent creditors from "piercing the corporate veil" and holding you personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business. Check out CorpNet's™ Corporate Compliance Services for more information on how CorpNet™ can help you manage your business filings and stay in compliance. Stay in Legal Compliance Make sure you know and understand the rules and regulations that affect your business and industry. As mentioned above, hiring an attorney with experience in your industry will help you stay aware of your obligations and steer clear of trouble. Don't assume you can "figure it out on your own." Often the cheapest and most cost-effective legal advice is the kind you get before you urgently need it. This is just another example of an area where scrimping in the beginning can cost you a lot more later on. Set up a Recordkeeping and Bookkeeping System When starting a business, from the time you collect your first customer's payment, keeping accurate and detailed records and balancing your business's books is essential to maintaining a profitable and compliant operation. Whether you hire someone to help or decide to do it yourself, you need to create and maintain a proper recordkeeping, bookkeeping and financial management system. While your needs may be simple in this area at the beginning, make sure your system is scalable so that it can accommodate your business as it grows. You don't want to find yourself having to start over in this area when you become more and more successful. Every business owner needs to have a strong foundation of financial planning, tax preparation, and legal compliance to make sure your business is done “by the books” and avoid any problems or complications with regulators or the IRS. Taking a few hours before starting a business to get a business bank account, set up a consistent bookkeeping system, and make sure you know about your regulatory compliance obligations can help you save thousands of dollars worth of added costs and hassles in the future. So are you ready to find out which business structure is right for you? No worries! Take our quiz to help you figure it out: Take the quiz.
Legal Photo via Shutterstock The post Starting A Business: Financial And Legal Nuances appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 10 Things You Should Stop Doing On Facebook Posted: 20 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST You're on Facebook to communicate with your customers and increase social interaction. But are you unknowingly falling victim to some of the most common Facebook blunders business owners make and actually sending customers away? Below are 10 Facebook mistakes to avoid while marketing your business.
1. Using a personal profile instead of a business page: We've all seen it. You're eating at a new restaurant, enjoying it, and you want to go to Facebook to like the page and make it “Facebook official”. Only, when you finally get there you realize the business has set up a personal profile instead of a business page, leaving you unable to Like it or interact with it at all. Ouch. Nothing screams "I have no idea what I'm doing" like assigning your business to the wrong category. As a business owner it's important you create an official Business page for your brand, not a personal profile. This allows you to take advantage of much richer functionality like fan likes, checks ins, deals, full analytics, and better advertising options. It also ensures that Facebook can't take your page away from you for assigning it to the wrong category. That can happen. If you're currently using a personal profile instead of a business page, go migrate it. 2. Not filling out your profile completely: Facebook gives you a place on the Web to advertise your business and help your customers learn more about you. To aid in this goal, you need to completely fill out your business page so that users can find you and they see that you are invested in this community. When completing your profile take time to include your hours, phone number, your site URL, and all other relevant company information so that a user can find the information they're looking for. Don't make them hunt for it. Because they won't. 3. Using Facebook as a broadcast medium: Using Facebook to blast out your latest press release or post a link to your latest blog with absolutely no conversation? Yeah, you're using Facebook wrong. While all social platforms are intended to be social, Facebook is perhaps the most social of them all. In order to see any benefit, brands must put a focus on creating conversation and giving users a reason to want to engage with their brand. In fact, too many posts where users don't engage and Facebook will simply stop showing your updates in their News Feed altogether. That's how seriously Facebook takes user engagement. You want to take it equally as seriously. 4. Ignoring comments: Knowing that Facebook is all about engagement, it's a bad idea to ignore fan comments on your wall or messages users may choose to send you privately. Of course, it's not because of Facebook's algorithms that you shouldn't ignore your customers, it's because they're you're customers! Your business is built on people. By fostering those relationships, you show customers that you care about their needs and, in the end, build a better business. 5. Leaving spam on your wall: Of course, not all comments are created equal. Don't create your presence and then walk away. Monitor it! If you see Facebook users throwing garbage on your lawn, remove it. Delete spam comments. Don't allow people to harass one another. And make sure everyone is playing by the rules. This page is associated with your brand. You have a responsibility to take care of it. 6. Using hashtags: Hashtags are for Twitter. Using them on Facebook makes you look like you're not sure what platform you're using. 7. Liking your own posts: We know you liked your post. You posted it. You don't have to hit the like button. It makes your customers wonder if you have any friends. 8. Ignoring Facebook Insights: One of the perks about creating a Business page is the free analytics information. Facebook Insights provides business owners with important page data like how many users are seeing your page, whether or not they're interacting with it, who is talking about your page, where they're located, etc. You can even export the data to use it for your own benchmarking. As a business owner, you want to be looking at and using this information to better understand your audience, what they like, and how you can better reach them. 9. Using a bad avatar: Your avatar represents your brand on Facebook. Use something that will be clear, recognizable, and grab a user's attention when it scrolls by in their News feed. This may mean redesigning your logo or creating a logo that is social media-friendly (meaning it works as a square). Don't use an avatar that is text-heavy or which doesn't scale well. Remember, most users won't visit your brand page after they've Like it. Instead, they'll rely on their News Feed to get your updates and information about your brand. Make sure your avatar is one they'll recognize. 10. Not customizing your cover photo: Your Facebook cover photo gives you a valuable opportunity to showcase what you do in your top header. Select the photo you use wisely and have a little fun with it. Above are ten common mistakes brands make on Facebook. But this certainly isn't a complete list. What Facebook mistake do you see most often? The post 10 Things You Should Stop Doing On Facebook appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Booming App Industry Lures Entrepreneurs: Not All Are Successful Posted: 20 Nov 2012 02:30 AM PST There are many kinds of businesses out there, and despite the glamor of some industries, none guarantee success. Take the multi-million dollar app industry, attracting so many entrepreneurs. While there are big success stories in a business that can literally be run from a spare guest room or kitchen table, many of these entrepreneurs are also struggling to make a living. No matter what your business model, some basic principles apply when successfully marketing a product or service. Check out the entrepreneurs creating apps for iPads and iPhones, then move on for some tips on how to make your business successful, no matter what the budget. How to Get StartedApply yourself. You may be surprised by statistics from the growing app industry to which many entrepreneurs are flocking. Wild success stories of fortunes being made creating the next best selling mobile tool make the market seem appealing. App software engineers now outnumber farmers, and are closing in on lawyers in terms of sheer numbers. But for every story of millions made there are many who can barely make ends meet. No matter what industry you enter as an entrepreneur, you must have the resources and strategy to become a success. Don’t be fooled by stories of easy riches. The New York Times Four tips for success. If you’re still determined to break into the app industry despite the challenges spelled out in the previous post, consider some simple advice first. Here are four tips to heed specifically geared toward launching a successful mobile startup. These tips will help you lead your company from great idea to great profitability and keep you on course in the process. Rahul Varshneya Plan for SuccessAlways have new growth models. No matter what industry you enter, growth is always a challenge. This is especially the case if you focus on selling only one product or service, as many startups do. Fortunately, there are other growth models your startup can use to supplement this basic “organic” growth. Take a look at some of the examples shared by startup expert Martin Zwilling. Your market may allow additional growth models to help expand your business more quickly. Startup Professionals Musings Be creative when marketing. One thing many small businesses don’t have when they start out is a big marketing budget. This can especially be true in the app industry where some companies may have started quite small with a single entrepreneur or a couple of partners. This is where creativity comes in. There are lots of ways to spread the word about a new product or service, and depending on the audience you are trying to target, not much expense. UPrinting Have a plan. As obvious as this may seem, adopting a marketing strategy can be a huge advantage for your business as you try to get attention for your products and services. Experimental marketing to find your ideal audience is all very well, but it helps to have a battle plan going in, writes marketing expert Susan Oakes in a recent post. This strategy will give your marketing efforts direction and help you make the tough decisions rather than stumble around in the dark. M4B Marketing Grow Your BusinessHire for growth. After all, what else would you be hiring for? Business consultant Mark Zarr has some thoughts about why any business should hire, and the number one reason is always pretty much the same. Hire to grow your business, not just to manage the status quo or to clean up the mess a previous employee made. Hiring more staff will be a cost, so it’s reasonable to consider the payoff before moving forward, and that payoff should be a bigger, more successful business. Common Sense Development Ignore the myths. Some basic marketing and sales myths can put you at a disadvantage when competing against other businesses for customers, says business consultant Michael Trow. When marketing or selling any product or service, you’ll want to focus on bringing in customers and cash flow effectively almost from the beginning. Ignoring the myths and misinformation that revolve around the marketing and sales process will be a huge help, especially if marketing and sales don’t happen to be your forte. Small Business Centr The post Booming App Industry Lures Entrepreneurs: Not All Are Successful appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment