Chat Roundup: Startup Tips that Make the Difference in Success |  |
- Chat Roundup: Startup Tips that Make the Difference in Success
- Still More New Products and Opportunities This Small Business Week
- Do Your Customers Look Forward to Seeing You?
- Rumors Are Confirmed; Instagram Adds Video
- What is the Definition of a Small Business? The Answer May Surprise You
- 7 Ways Savvy Businesses Use Mobile
- How to Get Your Company Back in Good Standing This Summer
| Chat Roundup: Startup Tips that Make the Difference in Success Posted: 21 Jun 2013 02:00 AM PDT
The startup phase is a critical time in the life cycle of any business. A recent chat on Twitter took a closer look at this important stage in recognition of National Small Business Week here in the United States. Small business owners, startup entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners asked questions and, more importantly, shared their advice. We all know that more heads are better than one, right? This great jam session proved it. Here are some excerpts from the chat, below, to give a smattering of what discussed and debated by the small business community. Check out the entire chat, presented by FedEx Office @FedExOffice at hashtag #SmBizEdge. See selected excerpts from the chat “Startup Tips That Make the Difference in Success” below. *** We started our discussion where small businesses often do start…with the business plan.
As important as what to do is what not to do. With the next question, we examined this issue.
Funding is another issue so critical to startups. Here is more from our Twitter chat on the subject.
So how do you control those costs?
Many thanks to @FedExOffice for sponsoring this chat – we appreciate it, FedEx Office!
Twitter Chat Photo via Shutterstock The post Chat Roundup: Startup Tips that Make the Difference in Success appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Still More New Products and Opportunities This Small Business Week Posted: 20 Jun 2013 06:30 PM PDT
Wow! What a lot of new products, information, tips, services and opportunities have been shared this week. To try to cover as many as possible, we’re doing edition two of National Small Business Week announcements. (See the first edition of Small Business Week announcements here). Let’s kick this one off with a statistic we hope you will not follow this year: Fewer business owners taking vacation. It seems like every year we report that fewer business owners plan to take a vacation of at least one week long. Per the American Express OPEN Spring 2013 Small Business Monitor, only 49% plan a one-week vacation. What a shame. 6th Annual Small Business Superhero Contest. Batchbook CRM is holding its 6th annual contest for small businesses. Three small businesses will win makeover prizes consisting of donated products and services by vendors that focus on small businesses. Says Batchbook, "It really does take a superhero to run a small business!" Enter here. New franchise jobs report. The franchise industry is important in the world of small business. A small but steady portion of entrepreneurs choose to buy a franchise for their next business – versus starting one from scratch. ADP is now recognizing the importance of franchising through its brand new Franchise Jobs Report. For the first report, ADP says 19,160 franchise jobs were added in May 2013. The report is based on ADP's actual employment data. New marketplace to shop for app development services. ContactIQ announces a new marketplace. Founder Ashwin Ramasamy likens the new marketplace to Angie's List. But instead of local service providers, Ramasamy says small business owners can find app development shops for their projects. Loans for businesses in low-income areas. The Opportunity Finance Network, a national network of micro-lenders, reminded small businesses and entrepreneurs this week of financing available in low-income communities. Money is available through community development financial institutions, or CDFIs. A lot has changed in 5 years. According to a new survey by Constant Contact, 51% say supporting local businesses is important. So if your business primarily gets its customers locally, that's good news. But … waiting for the other shoe to drop …. 49% say it's harder to keep up with technology; while 40% say there's more direct competition than 5 years ago. Ouch. New cloud and hosting solutions offered. Media Temple announce two new products this week. One is the latest version of DV Managed. The company describes it as a platform offering affordable hosting to small business. Another is CloudTech Premium Support, a technical services platform for its small business users. Vendors and suppliers to small businesses — good news. According to a Q1 study by BizBuySell.com, business purchase and sale transactions are trending 56% above 2012 levels. BizBuySell estimates that could translate into as much as $52 billion pumped into vendors and suppliers that sell products and services to small businesses in 2013. Small business marketing hub launched. Vistaprint launched a new small-business marketing site called Owner Nation. The site offers advice and videos, organized under Branding Basics, Practical Promotion and Insider Inspiration categories. The company also announced a partnership with SCORE. New small business app offers a way to work on the road. Neat, a maker of digital filing systems for mobile, desktop and the cloud is announcing a new app the company says will allow "road warriors" to create expense reports with receipts captured on their mobile devices or stored in the Neat Cloud Digital Filing System.
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| Do Your Customers Look Forward to Seeing You? Posted: 20 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT
As another installment in my series of articles that point out examples of great customer service, I’d like to introduce you to Umpqua Bank. Umpqua Bank is committed to delivering an experience customized for each customer. Umpqua's executive vice president of "cultural enhancement" had a goal that everybody in every store should be able to do every task. Umpqua wanted a teller who can take a mortgage application and a loan officer who is pleased to help with a safety deposit box. Beyond the banking experience, Umpqua believes in customizing experiences by community. The company leaves it to the managers in each community bank to customize their offerings based on their customers' interests—from yoga classes in one "store" location (they don't use the word "branch") to movie nights or a knitting club in another. Each has its own fund to enable it to customize the experience based on the lives of the customers in its community. Umpqua's mission is to become a destination for customers. By offering a warm environment customized by community interests and a banking experience personalized to every customer who walks through their doors, it wants customers to think of the Umpqua Bank in their community as a gathering place. As Umpqua changed its approach from a traditional "banking"-style service to a customized experience, employees had to learn to juggle many duties. It meant more work initially, but now they can't imagine being limited to the individual tasks their jobs were defined as previously. As Umpqua Bank has grown with staff increases, it has retained its focus on the customer and the values that built the bank. And the company has retained its employees. Umpqua's voluntary employee turnover rate is just 8 percent, compared to the banking industry rate of about 40 percent. In 2012, as a testament that this change in focus was not only good for customers but also great for employees, the company made, for the sixth year in a row, Fortune magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For." Ask yourself:
Are you offering great customer service? Do do your customers look forward to seeing you? The post Do Your Customers Look Forward to Seeing You? appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Rumors Are Confirmed; Instagram Adds Video Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:30 PM PDT
Facebook confirmed rumors Thursday by introducing video sharing to its Instagram service. At a press event, Instagram Co-Founder, Kevin Systrom, unveiled the new Instagram video feature to the already popular Facebook and social media app. Instagram VideoThe new Instagram video feature comes just two weeks after Twitter-owned rival Vine introduced its similar video service to Android users. Previously, the popular video app was exclusively available on iOS. The announcement also comes as Vine is making considerable headway with users, surpassing Instagram recently in the sheer number of files shared on Twitter. However, the Instagram video feature is not simply a duplication of what is currently available with Vine. For example, instead of 6 seconds, Instagram videos deliver 15 seconds of video. And unlike Vine, videos play a single time through instead of looping. “You can capture a lot in 15 seconds,” Systrom told onlookers at the press event. “We need to do with video what we did with photos.” Capturing videos with Instagram will be relatively easy. There is no new app to download; the Instagram video feature is now added into the Instagram app. If a user wants to use video instead of photo sharing, they just need to select the video icon, press and release the record button and start capturing video. Each 15-second video can be started and stopped with a press of the record button and clips from the video can be deleted with just a few button pushes, too. The Instagram team also added 13 new filters exclusively for Instagram video, similar to the filters that are used by the 130 million current users of the photo sharing feature. Also, where Vine videos tend to be jumpy like most other video captured on a smartphone or tablet, a “Cinema” feature on Instagram videos stabilizes what you’re sharing. Instagram video users will be able to customize how they share their videos, specifically the thumbnail that appears on Facebook news feeds. A user can select an image from the video they just captured and make it their thumbnail which their friends will click rather than have the thumbnail be preselected. In the more than two years that Instagram has been available to the public, users have shared 16 billion photos, Systrom said. Those photos get about 1 billion “likes” per day on Facebook, which acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The post Rumors Are Confirmed; Instagram Adds Video appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| What is the Definition of a Small Business? The Answer May Surprise You Posted: 20 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT
When you picture a small business, what comes to mind? For most people, the image is likely a solo entrepreneur, or a local company with a handful of employees who are treated like family. Or you might imagine a slightly larger business, with a few district branches and a hundred or so employees. However, as currently defined by the federal government, the definition of a small business is one that has fewer than 500 employees and makes up to $1 million a year in revenue—and there's a new bill that would broaden that definition up to $10 million a year. Definition of a Small BusinessWell, There Is No Single Definition of a Small BusinessOf course, the federal government's definition of a small business matters for tax purposes. But other organizations that have significant impact on America's small business landscape disagree with the parameters defined by the government—and in some cases, disagree with themselves. The Small Business Administration (SBA), for example, holds that a small business has fewer than 500 employees, but there are exceptions—around 1,200 of them. The SBA's table of size standards assigns different definitions of a small business to every industry. A few of these differences include:
Then, there are small business advocacy groups. The majority of members in the National Federation of Independent Business, for example, have 20 or fewer employees. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council loosely groups businesses into three tiers by number of employees: Fewer than 100 is considered small, a midsized business is 100 to 500, and a company with more than 500 is large. However, both of these organizations allow any business to join, regardless of size. Just How Big is Small Business?Using the sole qualification of less than 500 employees as the definition of a small business, over 99 percent of U.S. businesses are small. The exception is the $1 million revenue mark—but if the bill to raise that threshold to $10 million is passed, the federal government's definition of "small business" will encompass nearly 97 percent of all companies in America, at least according to the latest Economic Census data. If the new rules come into play, small business initiatives will be harder to create and apply. Many business owners who truly consider themselves small—as opposed to a company with 500 employees generating $10 million in revenue—may have to compete with these so-called "small" businesses for federal aid and struggle to find the right tax breaks. What is your definition of small business and how would you define it? Small Business Owner Photo via Shutterstock The post What is the Definition of a Small Business? The Answer May Surprise You appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 7 Ways Savvy Businesses Use Mobile Posted: 20 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT Sponsored Post
It's exciting to see small businesses jumping on the mobile revolution. I think it's more noticeable with small businesses, because we've been conditioned to expect "old style" low tech ways of conducting business from smaller vendors. But today that's simply no longer true. Small businesses have the advantage of being nimble. We're able to jump on opportunities and technology solutions that it would take larger businesses more time to implement. In some ways, smaller businesses are leading the way with mobile activity. And so we are seeing some innovative and inexpensive ways of using mobile devices out of the office. If you're looking for ways to develop or extend a competitive advantage, consider using smartphones (and their bigger cousins, tablets) to gain an edge. To get your creative juices flowing, here are 7 ways that small businesses are using smartphones while out of the office: 1. Accepting mobile payments A consultant who has just published a book; a landscaper who gives an estimate for spring cleanup and mulching; and a crafter attending an outdoor crafts fair – what do they have in common? All are using a mobile payment swipe device attached to their smartphones to process credit card payments. Your funds get automatically swept into your bank account. Add the ability to print a receipt right there, and you'll really save time. 2. More responsive service calls It's the classic small business dilemma: your business is growing, and your field service crew is small. If you have to schedule a crew while in the field, do they have access to work orders and other details? Will they have access to driving directions? A good navigation system integrated with your back office systems to make sure crews have the right information, can save money. There's less wasted time, and less phone time verbally explaining job details. 3. Tracking deliveries in the field A local distributor of specialty foods needs to track exactly where shipments stand – verifying they were made, what was delivered, when and where. And have a record of it for the company and for customers. A software solution tied to barcoding that tracks variances and issues an accurate invoice on delivery avoids follow-up calls – all enabled from smartphones — can make sure you get paid faster. 4. Demonstrating before and after pictures Providers of homeowner services have gotten smart about using before and after photographs of home improvement projects. The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" holds new meaning when you are meeting with a provider for an estimate , and you see before and after pictures right there on a smartphone or better yet, a tablet. In the past, service providers had to rely on printing out expensive brochures. It is much easier to make a sale when your prospect can see the quality of your work. 5. Tracking timecards and distance/time How exactly do you track the hours worked by your remote workers, such as construction crews? Construction companies and contractors have adopted wireless apps that track time and attendance, verified by GPS, to make the process efficient. You get better recordkeeping, payroll can be more accurate, and your compliance is easier. Oh, and you save money, too, through eliminating manual work and wasteful errors. 6. Traveling light: have smartphone and tablet, will travel For knowledge workers who fly on business, lugging around pounds of gear such as a large laptop, a variety of cords and charging devices, a briefcase and more, is literally a pain. The whole package can approach 10 pounds. That 10 pounds of gear may not sound like a lot, but it can feel like a hundred by the time you get to your destination. And for security purposes you don't want to check items like that. Savvy business people have learned to travel light, with a smartphone alone or combined with a lightweight tablet for short trips. It takes mobility to a whole new level, and it keeps employees happy and productive. 7. Using smartphones for processing orders and work flow Some of the most savvy small businesses have integrated smartphones into their work flow. For instance, one painting contractor told me he closes 20% more business by generating professional looking estimates and invoices on the spot at the customer's home, after taking measurements and showing paint samples. It's all because he has forms available on a tablet that can be configured, finalized and printed on a mobile printer. In other words, he increased his business by being innovative with technology. These are just some examples of small businesses using technology for an edge. How do you use smartphones and tablets? Smartphone Photo via Shutterstock The post 7 Ways Savvy Businesses Use Mobile appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| How to Get Your Company Back in Good Standing This Summer Posted: 20 Jun 2013 05:00 AM PDT
When a company fails to meet its legal obligations with the state, it can fall into bad standing. While no one plans for it happen to their business, companies can slip out of good standing, be placed in non-compliant status, administratively dissolved, or even revoked by the state where they formed. In addition, when a business is in bad standing, the business owner's limited liability protection is lost, rendering their personal assets vulnerable to meet any debts or other obligations of the business. No matter how you got yourself into bad standing, it is possible to get back into good standing. And in many cases, it's not nearly as hard as you'd think. If you have a business in bad standing, read on to learn how to bring it back to good standing this summer. And if you're not in bad standing, the following can help you understand how to stay compliant in the first place. Get Back in Good Standing This SummerWhen Bad Standing Happens to Good CompaniesA corporation or LLC will fall into bad standing when it fails to meet the requirements of the state where it formed or where it has a foreign qualification. For example, a business may fail to file its annual report and pay its annual fees on time (in some cases, you would need to fail to file for several years in a row before going into 'bad standing'). Another common culprit is when the Registered Agent resigns from representing the company (which often happens when the company forgets to pay the Registered Agent fees) and the company fails to set up a new agent of record. Additionally, if you fail to file your state franchise taxes, your business can fall out of good standing. If you're not sure how your business stands with the state, simply check with your state's secretary of state office. Reinstating a CompanyThe specific steps for reinstatement vary from state to state. Yet the general steps are typically: 1. Determine why your company fell out of compliance (if you don't already know this, you can check with the secretary of state office). 2. Submit a reinstatement form on behalf of the corporation or LLC to the secretary of state. 3. Pay any outstanding fees or fines (including overdue state franchise taxes). In some cases, you may need to file some additional documentation…it all depends on why you fell out of compliance in the first place. When you reinstate your business, your corporation or LLC keeps the original filing date of formation. Why You Can't Just Ignore the ProblemIf your company fell out of good standing, it may be tempting to just start clean with a brand new business. However, while you may be starting fresh, the state is still keeping tabs on the original business. All unpaid fees, taxes and penalties will continue to accrue each year – even if you're no longer operating the business. Ultimately, the state may be able to place a levy on your personal bank account. For this reason, if your business is out of compliance or in bad standing, you need to take action to get it back in good standing. Reinstating your business means you can regain all the benefits of corporate/LLC status, including limited liability protection to safeguard your personal assets. Most importantly, you can keep running your business without worrying about an uncertain legal status. Good Standing Business Photo via Shutterstock The post How to Get Your Company Back in Good Standing This Summer appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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