small business

Small businesses, home-based businesses, and self-employed individuals have been turning to internet telephone service (also called broadband phone or VOIP) in droves. What is the attraction? As a self-employed, telecommuting, small-business-owning freelance writer, I can provide some insight. I switched my business to internet phones early in 2005. Despite a few hiccups, I'm not going back to landlines. Internet phone service has too many advantages, which I'll describe for you. I also have ...
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If you're looking for love. Get a dog. If it's tricks you want. Get a pony. Or is it the other way around? Sorry. I'm back. I was distracted by something I thought. Where was I? Oh yeah. This isn't about your animals. You're expecting something about your small business success. I can focus on that... The One Big Trick to Your Small Business Success? Short and Sweet. Do whatever you must to Pay your business bills until your Home Grown Internet Biz is a Success. That is The One Big ...
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Entrepreneurs know that starting and running a successful business is hard work. They also know that growing a small business is like a marathon - long, time-consuming and grueling. However, what many entrepreneurs don't expect is that the experience can be like a hurdling event. These hurdles often appear as endless administrative forms, tax reports, and compliance with ever-changing workplace regulations. As the race continues, the obstacles get taller, especially in administering benefits ...
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What do you think of when you hear the word corporation? You probably think of large companies such as Microsoft, Dell Computers, and Exxon. These are huge companies worth billions of dollars. Do you know how they got that way? Well, I'm going to tell you. The answer is through the power of corporations. These companies did not start out as billion dollar conglomorates. They started small and used their corporate entity to shelter their money and create more assets. Yes, you can do the ...
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This is a great year if you are self-employed or work for a small business. A number of new money-saving strategies are available to cut income taxes, medical costs, insurance costs and investment fees. PPO BENEFITS EXPANDED - All U.S. short term medical plans now offer the option of utilizing a nationwide Preferred Provider Network (PPO) for discounts and claim processing. The PPO network is PHCS, recently listed as the highest rated private PPO plan by Consumer Reports Magazine (Oct. 2001). ...
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STARTING A SMALL BUSINESS IS JUST LIKE RUNNING THE PEACHTREE'ONLY TOUGHER I started jogging several years ago. It was a New Year's resolution. Like most of my New Year's resolutions, I was confident at the time that the euphoria of the holiday season would end soon and so would my brief encounter with running. Unfortunately, that was not the case this time. Six months into the year, I was still running several times a week and had even extended my endurance to about two miles a run. It was at ...
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I was floored! I couldn't believe what they were saying! But there they sat -- three of the biggest film stars of our age -- telling the world they had issues with confidence. I was watching an interview where Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore were talking with Oprah Winfrey. Their conversation gave me a lot to think about in regard to small business success. It started with Meryl making a comment about a movie she'd starred in. Her joke was about the fact that she actually ...
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Do you spend every waking minute in your business? Do you find it difficult to take time out for you? Are you constantly working in a mess? Unfortunately there are far too many business owners working too long and too hard. They tend to be involved in every aspect of their business from being the bookkeeper, marketer, human resources manager, mediator, customer liaison officer and cleaner. The smaller the business the harder it is for the owner to delegate these functions because they dislike ...
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Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Net word count is 670 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2003. Why Small Business Must Turn to PR If small business had no important outside audiences, it wouldn't exist. But since they do have external 'publics,' it's doubly unfortunate when those same small business owners seem unconcerned about the very ...
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Top 10 Lessons for Small Business Success As learned from my Twin 2 year olds Small business success is very similar to learning to walk, talk and spell. The basics have to be understood before moving on to the next step. I am blessed to have twin 2 year old girls in my life and am amazed constantly how much I learn from them on a daily basis. As I watch them run around and explore, I find myself realizing just how much my observations apply to being successful and happy in life and in ...
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Q: One of my key employees is giving me trouble. He has started showing up late for work and has developed a bad attitude in general. The rest of my employees are complaining since they are having to take up his slack. I've tried talking to him, but he doesn't seem to listen. To make matters worse, he has become one of my best friends since I hired him five years ago, so firing him is out of the question. What can I do? -- Allen B. A: One reason I am so qualified to dispense sage business ...
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Normally in this column I dispense highly-intelligent small business advice in response to thought-provoking questions submitted by future and fellow entrepreneurs. This week, however, I have a couple of questions for myself, one of which makes me wonder how truly intelligent I really am. Q: Dear Me, I recently took my teenage daughter shopping at the mall. The experience raised two questions. (1) What business lessons might be learned from such a foray into teen commerce; and (2) What the heck ...
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What image do you and your people portray to your prospects and clients? Here's a situation that happened to me recently and hopefully you'll glean useful small business ideas that will make you money instead of costing you money. January is always a good time to grab bargains so when I noticed that two well-known blind companies were advertising 35% off their blinds, I decided to give them a call' and it was an interesting experience. Company A This person turned up on time which in itself is ...
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Coaching your Small Business to Success No matter how large or small a business you operate, hiring an executive coach is no longer a luxury ' it's a necessity in today's highly competitive business environment. No matter what your management and personality style, there's an executive or business coach for you. Let's face it, most business owners' stick to the tried-and-true methods. We've all discovered, by trial and often costly error, what works best for our companies. However, a business ...
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Who Said Small Business Was Fun and Freedom Learn from Nature - How to Win Fun and Freedom You're working all hours and have no friends or hobbies. Your family think you're a distant relative. You complain about not being able to find time to make improvements to your business. You dash from one crisis to the next. Embarrassing and costly mistakes are being made by your staff. Cost and time lost to rework creeps higher. You even begin to revel as an expert fire fighter or trouble-shooter. ...
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Small business success is very similar to learning to walk, talk and spell. The basics have to be understood before moving on to the next step. I am blessed to have twin 3 year old girls in my life and am amazed constantly how much I learn from them on a daily basis. As I watch them run around and explore, I find myself realizing just how much my observations apply to being successful and happy in life and in business. So take heart in the following tips ' they may come from little people but ...
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For simplicity's sake, this article will assume that the buyer will be acquiring a single business with possibly more than one location (for example a small Laundromat business with two locations). In addition, we will not be covering valuation techniques for businesses where more than one product line or service will be acquired. For the purpose of this discussion, we will assume the simplest of all cases. For example if a buyer is acquiring a retail business, that business will be assumed ...
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The fact is, every time you log onto the Internet, send an email message, open an attachment, or insert a floppy disk, you risk infecting your computer system. Computer viruses are out there just waiting to wreak havoc on your data, documents, programs, or whole computer system. If you need proof, look no further than "Melissa" and "I love you," two email viruses that paralyzed computer systems around the world as recently as 1999 and 2000. Another virus named "Nimda" infected approximately ...
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When I'm in Omaha on business, I stay with an old friend, Richard. This is how our day begins. 'I'm going for doughnuts,' he says. 'What would you like?' Much as I hate to begin my day with doughnuts, I also love to begin my day with doughnuts ' and it can't hurt once every six months or so. 'Where are you going I ask? Krispy Kreme? Dunkin' Doughnuts?' Richard tenses up. 'Corporate doughnuts?' he glowers. 'No way. I go to 5 AM Doughnuts.' Richard is a small businessman and one of his ...
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Small business has powerful advantages over big business when it comes to marketing. You can get these advantages working for you now. The typical approach to marketing by big business is use the resource they have most of - money. They tend to throw large dollars at expensive advertising campaigns. If your small business is to survive and grow you must learn quickly to avoid the temptation to act like big sister or big brother. Never go head to head with the mega corporations. You should ...
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Entrepreneurs who start a small business have high hopes of big success. Yet few small businesses survive beyond five years. Actually, there are just four broad requirements that can almost guarantee your small business success: - A few personal traits essential for small business success - A big enough market that a small business can tap - Planning and organizing - Monitoring and controlling PERSONAL TRAITS ESSENTIAL FOR SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS People with very different personalities have ...
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/p> On June 8, 2004, the world witnessed what no one living today had ever seen... VENUS - the planet of Love, Beauty and Human Unity - transitting across the face of the Sun. Acording to one line of thought (and a beautiful line at that) during this transit of Venus which lasted for about six hours, the radiations from the Sun blended with those from Venus and streamed towards the Earth, and as the 'blot' (beautiful line of thought) says, carried with them energies to weave love and unity into ...
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One of the greatest pitfalls in e-commerce is Field of Dreams thinking, the notion that all one has to do is 'build it (a web site) and they will come.' 'I can't think of anything further from the truth,' Ron Scott, a Riverside, California web designer, says. 'Even if we develop an attractive, content rich web site, that is no guarantee that our client will generate enough sales, let alone traffic, to justify the expense. 'There has to be a market for a company's products and/or services in ...
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The biggest crime in small businesses today goes unnoticed by most outsiders. It is not reported in the media. There are no police reports filed and companies do not even mention it on their websites. People don't talk about it on the street and employees often overlook it. Even though this crime is rampant among small businesses, it's presence is so subtle that many business owners fail to recognize when it is happening! Unfortunately, this crime is the same one that is most likely to kill a ...
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The Game Plan ' the Difference Between Small Business Success and Failure It is an American dream to own a business. But sadly, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, only 1 in 5 businesses is still in business 5 years after it opens. A business needs a great business plan, but it doesn't give management enough information to have a successful, profitable business. You dramatically increase your chance of success with a game plan. According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey, over half ...
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So you want to start a business but you don't have a lot of money? Start your business online, and it won't be a problem. There are some pretty terrific resources you can use. Some of them you have to pay for, but they are inexpensive and can get you started quickly and easily. 1. A domain and web hosting. If you want others to see you as a professional and take you seriously, then you need to invest in your own domain and web hosting. Purchased separately, the cost can add up very quickly. ...
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Small Business Tax Tips Product Review ' Wayne M Davies' Tax Reduction Toolkit Product Review ' Introduction Product Review ' What I liked Product Review ' What I didn't like Product Review ' Best Features Summary Table of Contents ' Seven Sections ' 29 Tax Tips Final Comments and Pricing (under $40) Suggested Books & Reference URLs Preview the 'Tax Reduction Toolkit' at: http://www.yousaveontaxes.com/toolkit.html?hop=msbjcoc ___________________________________________________________ Product ...
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Hiring Help for Small Business Owners © 2005Peggie Arvidson-Dailey As a successful small business owner,you're accustomed to long hours; non-existent holidays and weekends spent working. When was the last time you went to your dentist? When was the last time you had an uninterrupted night out with your partner? Whether your goal for 2005 is to find more time for family or personal enrichment --like attending classes and conferences -- you'll want to consider bringing on some help. The ...
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If you want to start a business in 2005, and start making money almost immediately, the sites listed below are some of the best I have found. I've chosen each site because it is absolutely outstanding in providing the tools you need to get started, as well as taking you through the steps you need to get started immediately. My1stBusiness.com - http://www.my1stbusiness.com - This site is owned by Ben Botes, who is currently working on a doctoral degree in business. Ben will take you through ...
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As a teenager I worked for my father's small business. At 18 I worked for a small video rental business owned by two partners; there were 4 employees. At 23 I worked for an auto body shop, the owner was from Greece; there were 8 employees. At 25 I became CEO of my family's small business; we have 15 employees. Today, I own a 3-employee automotive repair shop; an online business; a promotional licensing business and I still consult for my family's business. Today working in large firms with ...
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