Infographic Data Reveals Fearless Women Business Owners

Infographic Data Reveals Fearless Women Business Owners
Kickstarter iPhone App Updates You On Crowdfunded Projects
Do You Think Oblivious CEOs Perform Better?
Keyboard Shortcuts That Increase Your Productivity [Infographic]
The Marketplace Fairness Act: What You Need to Know

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST

As depicted in this women owned businesses infographic, women small business owners are feeling decidedly optimistic about 2013, with 81 percent feeling upbeat about their businesses' prospects for the coming year, reports a study by Web.com Group Inc. and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

Not only are women entrepreneurs feeling good about their own prospects, a whopping three-fourths are positive about America's economic outlook, says The 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Survey.

[Click image for full size infographic]

So What Has Women Business Owners Worried?

Not a whole lot.

Although the majority (57 percent) are concerned about the state of the economy, other issues such as taxes, health insurance and hiring are much less on their minds. Less than half (40 percent) are concerned about health insurance costs, with 71 percent saying that the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," won't affect their businesses at all.

Just 36 percent are concerned about taxes or finding good employees.

Instead, women business owners are charging full steam ahead, with 93 percent planning to invest more or the same in hiring this year as they did in 2012. As they move forward in their businesses, women entrepreneurs aren't hurting for money. Some 78 percent say they didn't look for financing last year, mostly because they didn't need it.

Instead, they're financing growth using credit cards (45 percent) or earnings from their businesses (40 percent).

A Positive, Take Charge Attitude

You see it reflected in how women business owners are looking for customers. They're embracing modern tactics such as social media and search engine optimization with open arms. Nearly half believe that traditional channels like print advertising are becoming less and less important.

In addition, 73 percent plan to spend more on marketing this year than they did in 2012 – more indication of their upbeat attitude.

Not only are women business owners feeling optimistic about their futures, they're also feeling positive about women-owned business in general. Some 85 percent believe that more women will start businesses in 2013 than ever before.

As to why they're launching businesses, it's not out of fear or the inability to get a good job. Instead, most women say they started their businesses because they wanted to follow their vision (28 percent) or had a great business idea (21 percent).

No Fear

So often, surveys about women-owned businesses paint a picture of caution and hesitation, with women business owners second-guessing themselves or holding back out of worry and fear.

I'm happy to see a survey that reflects the attitude of most of the women business owners I know – embracing the future and making the most of it.

The post Infographic Data Reveals Fearless Women Business Owners appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Kickstarter iPhone App Updates You On Crowdfunded Projects

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST

The prevalence of crowd-funded projects has grown considerably in the past year, as has mobile technology and the need for more and more brands to offer their own mobile apps. Now, those two ideas have been merged by the formation of a long-awaited app.

The popular crowd-funding platform Kickstarter launched its first ever iPhone app this week to help mobile consumers find and support worthy startups and projects, as well as help creative entrepreneurs access and post updates about their project's success.

kickstarter iphone app

The mobile app works a lot like the web version. Users can browse through the extensive list of projects, support and follow relevant projects, watch and upload videos, and receive updates from project creators. And creators have the option to receive updates about pledges and keep their supporters updated on any news or other relevant information.

The photos above show how users can browse through different categories, such as Staff Picks, to find those relevant to their interests. It also shows a project page, which includes how much money has been pledged so far, as well as messages and other activity.

While you basically have access to the same features using the web version of Kickstarter, the ability to stay updated about your project's progress from any location could prove to be a valuable feature, as well as the ability to post photos and videos from your mobile device.

Previously, a few unofficial apps such as Kickstarter Projects and Kickstarter Mobile were available to help users browse projects, but this is the first official offering from the company itself. And since the company hasn’t yet released an Android app, some of these third-party apps will likely still get a lot of use.

Kickstarter first launched in April 2009 and has helped fund more than 35,000 creative projects. Entrepreneurs trying to launch everything from tech gadgets to music and film ventures have used the platform to get the necessary funding to help their projects get off the ground. In 2012, Kickstarter successfully funded 18,109 projects with $319,786,629 pledged by 2,241,475 people.

The post Kickstarter iPhone App Updates You On Crowdfunded Projects appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Do You Think Oblivious CEOs Perform Better?

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST

under Do you think an oblivious CEO, one who doesn't know many of the details about his or her business, can perform better than a CEO who is more hands-on and informed?

Well, if you're a fan of the television show Undercover Boss, you might (possibly correctly) believe the oblivious CEO performs better.

If you've never seen the show: The CEO of the company spends a day doing front line work. And the key is that nobody knows that they are the CEO. (The image here is from the Undercover Boss Boston Market episode.)

It's very interesting to watch the CEO do the "dirty work" and learn about the daily functions at the front lines. Many viewers are surprised, even outraged, to see how little a few of the CEOs know about the core functions of their businesses. Now, while it can be beneficial for the leader of the company to have an understanding of basic business functions, there is a good reason many do not.

Corporate CEOs stay very busy developing the vision of the business and building the right strategies and relationships to realize that vision. They are very rarely involved with the actual production or sale of the product or service provided by the company.

They are captains at the helm of their business.

They can do this because they have a team that runs the business. The best leaders have faith in everyone that has been selected to complete other tasks.

While I can't say that you should be oblivious to what goes on in the front lines of your business, I can tell you that if you are too involved in the front lines, you will never grow your business effectively. The key is to build your business, not just run it.

Here are three steps to do just this:

Step #1: Build The Systems

Many business owners start out as a jack of all trades. They launch the business, carry out the marketing, make the sales, provide customer service, develop the product or provide the service and operate all the back office functions such as invoicing and accounting.

If this is your starting point, do it intelligently. Document your processes. Write down the steps it takes to complete each task. Then go a step further by carefully documenting the skills and aptitudes it takes to do the task well.

By doing this, you are creating the details that can be used as a job description and help you select the best candidate when it is time to hire staff or outsource a set of functions.

Use this information to sketch your organizational chart and prioritize your staffing needs. What functions can be delegated that are currently taking most of your time?

Step #2: Hire People Who Know More Than You

Whether you are hiring internally or outsourcing to a contractor, find experts in the requisite fields. Look for loyalty and beware of arrogance. A candidate that tries to impress you by speaking over your head is wasting your time. A true contributor will take the time to explain even the most complex processes to you in a way you can understand and use to make a decision.

Let's take your IT staff as an example. If you never know what your software developer is saying, how do you know he or she is carrying out your vision? How do you know if they are being productive?

Remember, cultural fit can be more important than skill. You can teach skills, but if a person isn't aligned to your vision, they will never be successful in your organization. An otherwise qualified candidate who is very uptight and needs structure to thrive may fail miserably in an environment where free thinking and spontaneous innovation is encouraged.

Once you have your team in place. Develop them. A confident business team is a successful business team. Keep their skills sharp, and teach them ways to continuously improve their productivity. The sharper your team, the more you will trust them. That frees you to focus on growing the business while leaving them in charge of daily operations.

They key is to stay connected enough to develop them and keep them accountable.

Step #3: Inspect What You Expect

Even with a highly reliable and trustworthy team, it is important to keep an eye on your KPI's. KPIs or Key Performance Indicators are metrics that you track that give you a comprehensive feel for the health of your business. Think of yourself as the captain of the ship — you have instruments and reports that tell you the speed, direction, fuel consumption, etc. — everything you need to know to ensure you are on course to your target destination.

Carefully consider your operations and then establish metrics and thresholds that will give you warning if something is going wrong. Have checks and balances, dotted lines, and redundant procedures to ensure proper inventory control, money handling, deposits, payroll, etc.

For example, if gas mileage expenses have been running $1,000 per week, and one week the report shows a total of $3,286, this is an anomaly that needs to be investigated. By having a report that shows trends and thresholds, this is easily detected.

In summary, in building a great business, you cannot know every detail about it. Rather, you need to create systems, hire the right people, and track the business' KPIs. When you do this, you no longer work for your business; rather, it works for you.

And that's how it should be.

The post Do You Think Oblivious CEOs Perform Better? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Keyboard Shortcuts That Increase Your Productivity [Infographic]

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST

The term "life hack" refers to a set of skills, shortcuts and novelty methods employed to increase an individual’s level of productivity. One of the most basic and easy-to-use life hacks is utilizing your most useful keyboard shortcuts. You can greatly increase productivity, more than you might have guessed with just your keyboard. It’s already a medical fact that using the mouse less often can reduce painful strain on muscles, joints and nerves.

I already know some of the most used keyboard shortcuts. For example, I’m constantly using “Ctrl + C” and “Ctrl + V” to cut and paste. But, there are so many more of these kinds of shortcuts. MashGeek has put together a nifty keyboard shortcuts infographic that features many of the time-saving keyboard facts and shortcuts which will help increase your productivity as well as keep computer-related injuries to a minimum.

[Click image for full size version]

The post Keyboard Shortcuts That Increase Your Productivity [Infographic] appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The Marketplace Fairness Act: What You Need to Know

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 03:00 AM PST

The proposed Marketplace Fairness Act requiring online sellers, no matter where they are located, to collect local tax on retail sales is gathering strong support in Congress and among retailers.

The law affects not just big companies like Amazon but small businesses including affiliate marketers for Amazon and other online retailers, says Geno Prussakov of the Affiliate Marketing Blog.

What the Marketplace Fairness Act Says

According to attorney Robert W. Wood, an expert on taxation, the proposed legislation offers a simplified means for the 45 states and 7,600 local sales tax systems nationwide to compel online or catalog retailers called “remote sellers” to pay local tax.

A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Quill vs. North Dakota held that states can require remote retailers to collect sales tax from customers only if the retailer has a presence in the state.

However, brick and mortar retailers who consider the lack of sales tax on many online sales an unfair competitive advantage continued to lobby for change.

The Amazon Tax

Nine states further complicated the issue recently by passing so-called “affiliate nexus taxes” also sometimes called the “Amazon tax.” These states include Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, with other states reportedly considering similar measures.

The tax requires any remote retailers with annual sales in the state exceeding $10,000 a year to collect tax if the sales were referred by an affiliate living in the same state.

In many cases, remote retailers have chosen to simply terminate relationships with affiliates in nexus law states, a measure so-far affecting about 75,000 small businesses, Prussakov estimates.

What Others Think

From the perspective of affiliate marketers like Prussakov, the new law, if passed, will be a good thing since it requires remote retailers to collect sales tax, where appropriate, at the time of the transaction just as local retailers do.

Amazon is also apparently now behind the law, which requires states to first simplify their own tax codes to make compliance easier for remote retailers.

Prussakov says the law essentially takes affiliate businesses out of the equation by making it irrelevant where sales referrals originate. However, others are concerned the law will still adversely affect small businesses that do retail online.

Despite another caveat in the bill exempting businesses with less than $1 million in annual remote sales from compliance, Ebay, the online auction company that works with small online sellers, is still concerned that small businesses will be hurt, reports Chris Morran of Consumerist.

The post The Marketplace Fairness Act: What You Need to Know appeared first on Small Business Trends.