Don’t Forget These Small Business Events, Contests and Awards |  |
- Don’t Forget These Small Business Events, Contests and Awards
- Everybody Seems To Be Into 3D Printers, Even Amazon
- Grumpy Cat is Heading to Hollywood
- “Be The Red Jacket” to Be the Best Salesperson
| Don’t Forget These Small Business Events, Contests and Awards Posted: 22 Jun 2013 04:15 PM PDT Welcome to our latest curated list of events, contests and awards for small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and growing companies. To see a full list or to submit your own event, contest or award listing, visit the Small Business Events Calendar. Featured Events, Contests and Awards
The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) will convene 3,500 decision makers from the nation’s leading corporations, government entities and women’s business enterprises (WBEs) to generate business together and stimulate economic growth at the 2013 WBENC National Conference & Business Fair in Minneapolis, MN, June 25-27, 2013.
The Big Awards started with a mission of recognizing real talent and performance. Real business people, those with experience and knowledge, judge the Big Awards. Request an entry kit today and submit your nomination by August 14, 2013.
INBOUND is a 4 day marketing experience that brings together thousands of marketers from around the globe for an annual event held in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. More Events
More Contests and Awards
This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology. The post Don’t Forget These Small Business Events, Contests and Awards appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Everybody Seems To Be Into 3D Printers, Even Amazon Posted: 22 Jun 2013 12:00 PM PDT
3D printing is on fire as a trend in small business. It seems everybody is talking about 3D printers and suddenly more places are opening up online where you can purchase these extraordinary devices. Even online retailing giant Amazon — which sells nearly anything else you can think of — has jumped on the 3D printer bandwagon. The retailer recently opened up a new Amazon 3D printer store, making the machines easier and more convenient to purchase. Small businesses can use 3D printers for everything from creating prototypes for new products, to industrial design models, and even small scale manufacturing of jewelry or similar items, as we noted last month. You create a digital file of an item you want to produce, and then “print it” on-premise. Printing involves layering plastic or another material until it builds up and turns into your item. Usually the items are made out of plastic, but you can find 3D printers that use metal and even chocolate or cheese to make items. We took a peek at the Amazon 3D store recently. There are about 35 listings for 3D printers currently. The 3D printers are expensive. The lowest priced machine available is nearly $1,100 but it received just 2 out of 5 stars in its one review. The best one available at the most competitive price would be the Flashforge 3D printer at $1,199. Along with printers, Amazon also has collected in one spot on its sites a variety of items you might need or want for 3-printing, including plastic filament (the material you make items out of), 3-D printing books, CAD design software, and parts and accessories for 3D printers. A recent TechCrunch article reports the new Amazon store will feature printers from companies like Afinia and Flashforge. But the store also allows owners of 3D printers by Makerbot, a popular brand, to sell their used machines. So if that 3D printing experiment doesn’t work out, well, you can always try to sell it. There are other places to get the printers too. Staples began selling them in May, for example. And other brands are available for sale from manufacturer websites. Companies like Shapeways provide 3D printing services for those who don’t want to own a machines. An open source 3D printer platform offers another option. But availability of these machines from the world’s biggest online retailer places them more in the mainstream. Image: Amazon The post Everybody Seems To Be Into 3D Printers, Even Amazon appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Grumpy Cat is Heading to Hollywood Posted: 22 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT
The movie is going to be a live-action family comedy movie with Grumpy Cat able to voice her dissatisfaction out loud. Broken Road Productions, the studio behind films such as "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Jack and Jill," will be responsible for bringing Grumpy Cat to the big screen. Grumpy Cat's agent secured the one-picture Grumpy Cat movie deal, terms of which were not disclosed. While the venue may be different, being in front of the camera isn't brand new territory for Grumpy Cat. The cat has already been the star of nearly 20 videos on her official YouTube channel. The channel has over 126,000 subscribers and some of the videos have over a million views. Even before the Grumpy Cat movie deal, Grumpy Cat's owners, Tabatha and Bryan Bundesen, had already built a successful brand around the sour-faced cat, even though they've said she's actually very sweet and friendly. To date, Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tardar Sauce (spelled with a “d”), has nearly a million Facebook fans, over 92,000 Twitter followers, and over 66,000 Instagram followers. She's made a number of public appearances to greet fans at events like South by Southwest. She’s even the subject of a new book, "Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book," scheduled to be released in July 2013. Grumpy Cat first gained recognition from a post on Reddit.com in September 2012. Since then, the owners have created a website, sold Grumpy Cat merchandise, and even hired a manager who specializes in representing cats made famous on the Internet. They also have filed for U.S. trademark protection to ensure they retain the intellectual property rights to images of their Grumpy Cat. The post Grumpy Cat is Heading to Hollywood appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| “Be The Red Jacket” to Be the Best Salesperson Posted: 22 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT
When it comes to business, that kind of identity, though with a different hue, can mean success. At least that’s what it means to Leanne Hoagland-Smith (@coachlee), author of “be The Red Jacket in a sea of grey suits“. Leanne is no stranger to many businesses, particularly in northwest Indiana and Chicago. She is owner of Advanced Systems, a business strategy consultancy, and hosts a friendly business group, the South Shore Business Club, from the Purdue Technical Center. An accomplished networker, she is a stand out sales expert – listed by Openview Labs as among the 2013 Top Sales Influencers. I met Leanne at a networking event a few months ago. When I learned about her sales book, I thought her terrific manner would potentially translate to text. An Overview of How Sales Really Gets Done And translate it did. Terrific is definitely an apt description for how this book unlocks the small personality and psychological blocks that hinder execution. Hoagland-Smith opens with how you can be your own worst obstacle for gaining sales:
Her recommendations to get past the emotional sales roadblocks can easily translate into how you establish your sales practices. Take this example of setting a value statement:
One nice aspect of the writing is that the imagery of the jacket and what it represents supports the presented ideas. Check out how Hoagland-Smith explains how the aforementioned value comment fits into one's sales objectives:
The chapters include examples from Hoagland-Smith's experience – the CSI-style role-playing she does with her clients is a must-review. They also include “Sales Coaching Tips,” concise details that are smart but do not require heavy theory to appreciate their value. What Does This Book Compare To? Selling In a Skirt is a comparable book with respect to brevity. But Jacket has meatier details than lengthier sales books such as How To Sell When No One Is Buying. The material will appeal to beginning salespersons as well as those who are beyond their freshman year of sales school, so to speak. Interview with Leanne Hoagland-Smith Jacket has been available for a while, so I asked Leanne for her latest reflections on the sales professional field: Q: You mentioned how striking a balance between a personal and professional life increases sales. From your view since the book’s publication, what has been surprising as sales professionals seek to gain a life-work balance? A: What is surprising is this still remains true. Clients come to me to increase sales and yet they find that path begins with clarity around their own personal lives. In some cases, there is also required clarity around their leadership and overall business growth. However, to achieve business growth or professional growth starts inside of each individual because success and failure both start and end in the same place – between one's ears. Q: In the book you mention how your coach David Herdlinger introduced you to the concept of weasel words – weak words in which their usage gives us "permission to fail." As sales cycles increasingly include digital marketing, with its demand for transparent, to-the-point content, have sales professionals become better at removing weasel language? A: My sense is by developing emotional intelligence and being very intentional, one's clarity respective to one's role awareness including talents is a great place to start. What I know to be true is that well over 95% of my clients initially lack clarity about their top 3 talents and almost that same percentage knew their lowest 3 talents. Q: You mentioned that a red jacket must have separate pockets for marketing, sales and productivity. Do you think that the adoption of smart devices has confused some sales professionals in using them effectively for each "pocket?" A: I believe there is confusion and this confusion starts with the belief that technology is the cure all for marketing and sales. People still buy from people. It is essential to pick up the phone, to physically meet people face to face when possible. Technology can have us confusing motion with progress and activity with results. Conclusion Because so many sales books are released, many salespeople find themselves confused by what to read and what to put aside. My two cents is to not put this book aside. Be The Red Jacket in a Sea of Grey Suits offers simplicity in strengthening one’s sales technique. You will better clarify who you are in your industry and how you can make a difference with your customers. The post “Be The Red Jacket” to Be the Best Salesperson appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Grumpy Cat is headed from the computer screen to the big screen. Yes, the popular Internet meme is slated to star in an upcoming Grumpy Cat movie.
Every year golf enthusiasts fix their gaze onto their televisions (or these days, online) for The Masters tournament. Each year they watch another professional golfer receive the coveted Green Jacket in the heart of August, Georgia. When you think “green jacket,” sports insiders know it refers to the Masters and the Augusta National Golf Club.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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