Enter a Contest or Awards Program: Make Your Business Stand Out |  |
- Enter a Contest or Awards Program: Make Your Business Stand Out
- Cisco Sells Linksys to Belkin
- Start at The End to Start Your Best Business Strategy
| Enter a Contest or Awards Program: Make Your Business Stand Out Posted: 02 Feb 2013 03:13 PM PST A contest or award can make your business stand out from competitors. You also can win valuable monetary awards and goods. Check out our hand-picked list just right for small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs. **** Brother CreativeCenter “Back to Business” Contest BizSugar is running a contest where you get to show your creativity. Three winners will receive a prize suite of Brother products including a printer, labelmaker, ink and supplies – valued at approximately $500. To enter just go to the Brother CreativeCenter and use the free tools to design a brochure, business cards, poster, calendar or other item. Then post it at BizSugar.com. Contest sponsored by Brother. Contest details here.
This ten-day, nine-state road trip designed to recognize the important contributions made by startups in the U.S. Heartland while illustrating the connection between great office design and company growth. Companies based in Chicago, IL, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Kansas City, MO, and Dallas, TX can submit to win a $20,000 office makeover. The contest will give five small and emerging businesses – companies with less than 100 employees – in the aforementioned cities a chance to win a $20,000 office makeover.
Infusionsoft is inviting all small businesses headquartered in Northern California to nominate themselves for the 2013 Small Business Innovator of the Year Award. Your small business could win the title of “Small Business Innovator of the Year” and the grand prize, valued at $10,000 in marketing education and promotion for your business. These awards honor the entrepreneurs in our community who exemplify the spirit of innovation.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan is partnering with One Spark to offer up to $1 million in capital investment for entrepreneurs who participate in the event in April. One Spark, an arts-and-innovation festival with the goal of connecting entrepreneurs and capital resources, will hold its inaugural event April 17 to 21 in Downtown Jacksonville.
In this fast-paced competition, entrepreneurs will go head-to-head for the chance to win big. Contestants will have 90 seconds to pitch their business live on stage at Inc. GrowCo, and judges will ask questions and provide feedback about their pitch and business concepts. The all-star panel of seasoned experts will judge the pitches and choose a winner.
Fishbowl and Intuit present a competition where entrepreneurs can enter their cool idea or recently launched product for a chance to win between $5,000 and $20,000 in cash prizes and more. See website for details.
Constant Contact has launched the 2013 Small Business Online Marketing Contest in partnership with the Chicago City Treasurer's Office. The contest is open from now until February 28th, and will award more than $12,000 in cash and prizes to Chicago small businesses for best email marketing and social media marketing campaigns.
The Small Business Book Awards The 5th Annual Small Business Book Awards, presented by Namecheap.com, are open for nominations. These distinguished awards bring recognition from fans, the public, the industry and your peers. Business books may be nominated in the following categories: marketing, technology, management, social media, economics, startups, personal finance, leadership/memoirs, and self-help. New this year is also a category for “Classics” which allows books regardless of year of publishing, to be nominated. For the first time, there is also a category for book resources, which will recognize and honor publishers, publishing platforms, publicists and other resources for authors. Print books and electronic books (ebooks) are welcome.
Morehead State University’s Ashland Small Business Development Center is accepting nominations for the 2013 Northeast Kentucky Small Business Awards. The public is encouraged to nominate outstanding small-business owners and/or advocates in three northeastern Kentucky counties — Boyd, Carter and Greenup.
Crain’s New York is seeking successful businesspeople for its annual Top Entrepreneurs feature to run in May. Companies must be located in New York City, been in business for at least three years, and have revenue of less than $100 million. See website for entry form and eligibility rules.
Known as the Termans after Frederick Terman the widely credited father of Silicon Valley, the awards are the only national "Best Of" for technology products and services across the technology industry. Awarded on the basis of a thorough evaluation by industry experts and technology leaders, the Termans are presented at the Technology and Government Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Dell has launched a $100 million Innovators Credit Fund, with the purpose of helping entrepreneurs "maximize potential for innovation, speed to market and job creation." The credit fund will offer both funding and technology resources with IT support, depending on what each start-up needs. To be eligible, you must have already received some angel funding or venture capital before you can apply. Start-ups can get up to 10% of its current funding or up to $150,000 with limited credit terms. See website for details and application.
To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar. If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Small Business Event and Contests Form (it’s free). This list of awards and competitions is brought to you by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com. Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.
The post Enter a Contest or Awards Program: Make Your Business Stand Out appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Posted: 02 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST
For Linksys customers, this acquisition shouldn't mean any major changes, at least not right away. Belkin has said that it intends to keep the brand and all of its products in tact, and will also honor any existing warranties and support for products. Belkin's hope is that this acquisition will give it access to a larger user base help the company better meet the needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Belkin stated in a blog post that it intends to develop a strategic relationship with Cisco to work together on certain initiatives such as retail distribution, marketing and products for the service provider market. Once the acquisition is completed, Belkin will account for about 30 percent of the retail home and small business networking market in the U.S. The privately held company is based in Playa Vista, California. Cisco confirmed the acquisition in its own blog post and said that the acquisition will "create a win-win relationship in the market." The sale of Linksys marks Cisco's exit from the consumer market to focus more on supplying information technology to businesses. The company shuttered its Flip video camera business in 2011 and has reportedly been searching for a buyer for the Linksys brand for the past few months. Belkin's current office products aimed at businesses include wired and wireless networking, infrastructure solutions, and accessories for tablets and smartphones. Linksys' line of office products includes routers, adapters, switches and cameras. Linksys, which was founded in 1988 and is based in Irvine, California, focused mainly on home and small business networking products. Cisco initially acquired Linksys for $500 million back in 2003. The deal between Cisco and Belkin is expected to close within the next few months. The post Cisco Sells Linksys to Belkin appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Start at The End to Start Your Best Business Strategy Posted: 02 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST
Lavinsky is co-founder of Growthink, a consultancy that helps entrepreneurs and business owners identify and develop new strategies for growth. A serial entrepreneur, Dave has made a solid career at reengineering business plans and fund raising strategies. And reengineering is what this book is about. I discovered the book while reviewing a site post about reengineering a business. His concept – to think about your last day in business, be it a sale, an IPO, or having children inherit the company – intrigued me. So many business owners dream of the beginning and seldom consider a business exit. Lavinsky wastes no time getting to the core thoughts in each chapter. Some with intriguing names like How to Out Market Your Market Worksheets to download to their site, meant to provide new layered viewpoints to tactics as you read along. For example, Lavinsky encourages a planning list broken into 7 day, 60 day, and next year tasks. The first chapter notes that the end of your business encourages a vision from the customer perspective and a vision from a business perspective. He gives some notable examples. He starts with a great note for those who try to attain investment while starting a business:
This reminds me of those entrepreneurs seeking Kickstarter-based help as well as those with Wall Street dreams that their business model needs to be viable. The material is lighter compared to strategy books such as Data Driven Marketing. But Lavinsky does make points that reinforce good business building ideas and techniques without always saying it. His quote noted a business model without using the actual phrase “business model.” Now, you can make an argument that the value of the quote is relative to whether the reader read other books. True enough. But this is a workbook and good business people are always reading to refine their outlook. So as a workbook guide, it does deliver well to compliment other strategic books like Islands of Profit In a Sea of Red Ink. Other chapters of note include:
I appreciated the metrics mention in the book. You may have to adjust the suggestions to fit your own business and may have to dig a bit deeper to learn how to manage those metrics later on (i.e. maintaining a dashboard). But Lavinsky's inclusion through the chapters drives home the point that metrics can connect your idea to how well it’s executed. Give this book a try if you are truly dedicated to your business beyond the profit and loss sheet. The book’s material will work for startups and can be a refresher for those whose business has come along, but not far enough. When it comes to working reviews for small business, Start At The End is indeed the perfect place to start. The post Start at The End to Start Your Best Business Strategy appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Ends March 4, 2013
Nominations open through March 3, 2013
Consumer and business networking provider Belkin recently acquired Cisco's Home Networking Business Unit, which includes the Linksys brand. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition includes all products, technology, and employees, in addition to the brand itself.
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