Sunday, December 16, 2012

Continue Your Education in 2013 By Attending a Small Biz Event

Continue Your Education in 2013 By Attending a Small Biz Event

Link to Small Business Trends

Continue Your Education in 2013 By Attending a Small Biz Event

Posted: 15 Dec 2012 12:00 PM PST

We have our final list of 2012 containing events for you to attend in January 2013.  The Holidays may be right around the corner, but that’s no reason not to plan to continue your education and networking in 2013.  Attend one of these small business events – network and learn!

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Online marketing webinars

Various dates in January 2013

Check out the upcoming online marketing seminars from MarketingProfs, schedule on various dates in January 2013, including:

How to Effectively Engage Your Customers on Facebook, January 10 with Ekaterina Walter

How To Become a Trusted Brand and Industry Leader, January 17 with John Morgan

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New Media Expo
January 6-8, 2013, Las Vegas

NMX, formerly Blog World & New Media Expo, is the first and only industry-wide conference, tradeshow and media event dedicated to providing valuable content for Bloggers, Podcasters and Web TV producers. Pre-register now and receive Super Early Bird rates.

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Entrepreneur Magazine Growth Conference 
January 10, 2013, Dallas, TX

Entrepreneur Magazines 5th annual Growth Conference features keynote speakers, educational seminars, and the Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, along with the Entrepreneur of 2012 award winners.

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Affiliate Summit West 2013
January 13-15, 2013, Las Vegas

This three day conference includes an exhibit hall with affiliate merchants, vendors, and networks, as well as multiple tracks of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from affiliate marketing experts.

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To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit the Small Business Events Calendar.

If you are putting on a small business event or contest, and want to get the word out, please submit it through our Events & Contests Submission Form (it’s free). Only events of interest to small business people, freelancers and entrepreneurs will be included.

Brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

The post Continue Your Education in 2013 By Attending a Small Biz Event appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Out Of Compliance: Reinstate Your Company

Posted: 15 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST

out of complianceNo one starts a business with the expectation that it will fall into bad standing. However, things can happen. For example, in the flurry of building a business, a small business owner may forget to send in their annual report to the state – or they may not even realize that an annual report is required in the first place.

No matter how you find yourself in the situation, know that you can get your business back into good standing. And it may not be as hard as you'd think. Here's what you need to know to get back into good standing, or keep your business out of trouble in the first place.

How Does a Company Get Into Bad Standing?

When a corporation or LLC fails to meet all the requirements of the state where it's incorporated (or the state where it has a foreign qualification), it can fall into bad standing. Here are some common examples:

  • It fails to file its annual report or pay its annual fees on time (and perhaps for several years in a row)
  • The Registered Agent resigns from representing the company (perhaps because the company fails to pay the Registered Agent fees)
  • It fails to pay its state franchise taxes (business taxes)

What Does It Mean If Your Company Is In Bad Standing? 

Companies that are in bad standing may be administratively dissolved, placed in non-compliant status, or revoked by the state where they incorporated. In this case, the benefits of corporation or LLC formation (such as limited liability protection) are lost.

How To Reinstate Your Company? 

The specifics depend on your state, but generally speaking, you will need to file a reinstatement on behalf of the corporation or LLC in order to return to active compliant status. You may also have to file some additional documentation and pay fees to the state, depending on the reason why your company fell out of good standing in the first place. Here are the basic steps:

  • Identify why your company fell out if compliance (this can typically be accomplished by contacting the secretary of state office)
  • Submit reinstatement forms to the secretary of state office
  • Pay all outstanding fees due to the state (this can include overdue state franchise taxes)

When you reinstate your business, your corporation or LLC keeps the original filing date of formation. Reinstating your business means you can regain all the benefits of corporate/LLC status, including limited liability protection to safeguard your personal assets.

By reinstating your business, you can keep running your business without worrying about an uncertain legal status.

Ignoring A “Bad Standing” Isn’t A Good Option

If your company lost its good standing because you never paid your annual fees or franchise taxes, it may be tempting to just start over with a brand new business. However, keep in mind that while you may not be actively operating your original business, the state is still keeping tabs on it.

Any unpaid fees, taxes, and penalties will continue to accrue each year – until ultimately the state may place a levy on your personal bank account (since when a business has five shareholders or less, the owner often needs to act as a personal guarantor).

The moral of the story? If you discover your business is out of compliance or in bad standing, take the appropriate steps to correct the situation…and the sooner, the better.

In no time, your business will be back in good standing and you can move full steam ahead.

Full Steam Ahead Photo via Shutterstock

The post Out Of Compliance: Reinstate Your Company appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Pioneers of Digital Inspires Professionals Beyond Digital Success

Posted: 15 Dec 2012 06:00 AM PST

pioneers of digitalThe new book by Paul Springer and Mel Carson (@digipioneers), Pioneers of Digital, Success Stories from Leaders in Advertising, Marketing, Search and Social Media, may seem too early of book to write.

Business benefits from cloud platforms are just dawning, right?

Well, the book's scope and timing are more than on track.  While a nod is given to the earliest of computer innovators such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Pioneers of Digital showcases 20 digital professional luminaries whose choices and outcomes are changing the face of how small business is getting done.  I picked the book up while perusing NetGalley online, attracted by its promise of remarkable profiles.  It was a promise well kept.

Springer and Carson have combined experiences that compliment the men and women they selected to honor. Springer, author of Ads To Icons, is head of Research & Postgrad Development for the Faculty of Design Media & Management at Buckinghamshire New University in the UK. Mel Carson was a key figure at Microsoft Advertising as a Digital Marketing Evangelist and is currently writing and speaking about online advertising.

Although a few people noted may be familiar to those who spend countless hours at a Web browser, many are unknowns representing regions as varied as the industries the authors selected.  The result from reading the book is a broad perspective that shows how organizations can best apply technology to strategic advantage.

For example, Thomas Gensemer represented a cause–centered online funding campaigns, instrumental in raising $600 million for President Barrack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He learned from fail-fast experiences, like the quote below, about Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Lessons that made Obama's online fundraising tactics a political game changer:

"Despite not winning elections with (Howard) Dean and (General) Clark’s Presidential campaigns, they provided valuable lessons.   One lesson included keeping all correspondences up to date. After one campaign, Gensemer discovered a mailbox filled with unread e-mails that were responses to a feedback link…From this Gensemer learned not to create opportunities for people to engage if you can't service them…."

Analytic practitioners should love that perspective, as well as the treatment given to Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0.  Other standouts include  June Cohen, who lead the team that grew the well-known TED videos. And Vanessa Fox, an ex-Googler who was influential in the Web development solution, Webmaster Tools.

Many of these leaders come from startup environments that can seems more akin to Silicon Valley than to Main street. But the profiles are well organized so that reading does not require drudgery.  Each segment starts with a brief bio and ends with three "sound bytes" – takeways and insights from the featured pioneers.  Sandwiched between bios 'n' bytes are career descriptions as well written as a good novel and as intriguing as watching your favorite band on a VH1 Behind The Music episode (though without video or music, but that is a nit pick).

I adored reading Vanessa Fox's story, an intriguing mix of math and linguistics that spurred her early reputation for computer user interface.  Her viewpoint of linking online with offline activity showed promise in 1995, way before a user interface was in vogue:

"By combining her love of writing with her new found technical know how, she was able to start improving user experiences by helping make connections which today might seem so obvious, but in 1995 didn't exist because most programmers simply didn't think that way. A traditional offline staple like printing collateral to take to an event was elevated to a whole new level by digitalm, "Some of us started thinking there was so much more we can do. We could host conference brochures online just in case we run out at an expo.  We could make it so you could link between different ones and maybe you wouldn't need to print them at all."

Another worthwhile story is Gurbaksh Chahal, a multi-millionaire before the age of 30 through creating Web agencies ClickAgents and BlueLithium.  His profile highlights the importance of good business practices over being enchanted over the newest tech:

"I remember March 2009 when the Dow hit 6600, people thought it would go to 5000. Fast forward to now…and you have a birth of companies trying to do what the original dotcom companies did in the first boom…but they have no idea how to even generate revenue let along profit…It’s incentivizing the wrong type of entrepreneur and creating the wrong type of business. It's basically trying to go ahead and flip to the greater tool, and that is not a real business."

From these kinds of profiles, readers will gain an overall gimpse into similarities and differences that matter in entrepreneurship.  Many of these profile pioneers were hands-on and self-learners – not so much self-made as much as a personal realization that the learning never stops. That perspective is understandably integral to digital-related industries, but Pioneers of Digital makes the mantra a living one in the professional lives shared.

Readers interested in social media or seeking interesting business people for professional inspiration will be more that satisfied.  Pioneers of Digital has an approach that reminds me of Jewels, a book on African American women and their professional lives.  But for fun tech history reading, combine this book with Bricklin on Technology, a homage to tech from the "Godfather of spreadsheets," Visicalc founder Dan Bricklin.

Ultimately read Pioneers of Digital to know what it takes to truly stand out in your field.

The post Pioneers of Digital Inspires Professionals Beyond Digital Success appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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