Archive for April, 2009

17th Annual Small Business Week Celebration

April 20th, 2009 admin
You Don’t Want to Miss…
 
The 17th Annual Small Business Week Celebration
Presented by: the SBDC at UNF & WorkSource
With Support From: American Enterprise Bank and the
Jacksonville Business Journal
 
Date:         April 30, 2009 
Time:         11:30 am -1:30 pm
Location:    UNF University Center
 
Join the SBDC at UNF and WorkSource as the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) honors North Florida’s small business leaders and champions at the 17th Annual Small Business Week Awards.  The U.S. SBA will also recognize North Florida’s top five SBA Lenders with awards for significant participation in the 7(a) and 504 Loan programs for fiscal year 2008.
 
Tom SzakyKeynote speaker, Tom Szaky, author of Revolution in a Bottle, has been featured in countless news stories about his amazing company.  Szaky’s company, dubbed the “Coolest Little Start-Up in America” by Inc. Magazine, has been featured in Time Magazine, on 20/20, and on the Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, and Szaky’s only 26 years old! 
 
The cost of the luncheon is $35 per person.  Corporate tables of eight are available for the luncheon for $350.  To register, visit www.sbdc.unf.edu or call (904) 620-2476.  The deadline to register is April 24.
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Congress is Back: Time to Worry and Get Active

April 20th, 2009 admin

Congress is back today. Therefore, it’s time to worry again. It’s also time to get active.

The Associated Press reports that “hammering out” budget details, pushing changes in health care, energy legislation, and regulations pointed at credit card companies are high on the congressional agenda.

Is there any good news in this mix? Unfortunately, no.

Hammering out budget details largely means figuring out how to spend even more taxpayer dollars. Health care changes are focused on more government interference, which will drive up costs and wind up rationing care. Energy legislation is pointed in the direction of imposing a costly cap-and-trade scheme on emissions and mandating the use of renewables that are not cost effective, thereby driving up energy costs. And more regulations on credit card companies means reduced access to credit.

The only possible good news in this mix would develop if enough individuals and business owners make clear to their elected representatives that this is the wrong policy path, that this is not what small businesses and the economy need.

Getting active with SBE Council is a great way to stay on top of the issues, and make sure that your representatives hear the right message.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

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Putting The “Service” Back In “Customer Service” – Sean Cohen

April 20th, 2009 admin

The future of customer service is here. Technology has made seeking out support faster and easier than ever. But, has your digital age company sacrificed true service in the name of automation?

Today, finding customer support is as simple as writing an e-mail or picking up the phone. But, even though you’re not face-to-face with your customers, you still leave a lasting impression. Do you come across as caring and competent, or menacing and mechanical?

Offering stand-out service on the Internet isn’t as hard as it is rare. Take these simple steps towards old-style service in the digital age:

1. Give Each Customer a Personal Response
2. Be Clear, But Sincere
3. Offer Live Customer Support
4. Make Sure Your Support Reps Have All the Answers

Give Each Customer a Personal Response

When a customer sits down to e-mail your company, it’s because he needs help. He chooses e-mail because it’s quick, but his request still warrants a satisfying and personal response!

Companies eager to save time and money often take automation too far in their customer support. Each customer has a unique question, and deserves a unique answer.

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Does my article title entice the reader to ask a question?

April 20th, 2009 admin

E.g. “Why?,” “How?,” “Who?,” “Where?,” “When?,” etc.
1. After reading your article title, a question should   appear in the reader’s mind.  Your article body is   where you deliver the answer to that question.
2. This is a powerful concept because you have just  engaged the mind of your reader, moving them from a  passive to an active state. In the active state, your
reader is more likely to find value in your content and  thus visit your website.
3. Never underestimate the power of “How To” article  titles. There is clearly a huge demand for articles that  answer common problems in an easy-to-read “How To”  format.
4. Don’t be afraid to offer your readers more questions  they should ask themselves when evaluating the topic  of your article. Questions become highly relevant  answers to your readers because your questions act  like a personal coaching session.
5. Avoid the shocking question that forces you to stretch  the truth to answer the question in your article body.  Instead, be creative and interesting with your article  title question.
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Small Business Resource …. Online Tool For Offline Networking

April 17th, 2009 admin

MeetingWave.com is a free patented online tool for networking offline for business, professional or social purposes. Although still in beta, their members are posting invites to meet new clients, make new contacts or find new jobs, among other things.

MeetingWave allows its members to set up networking meetings that are open to people they have never met using the following simple steps:

Step 1: Members can post Invites that describe the type of people the member wishes to meet or the purpose of the proposed meeting.

Step 2: MeetingWave would then notify the member by email each time someone accepts their Invite. The member can then approve or decline each acceptance of their Invite — and can do so for any reason.

Step 3: MeetingWave then notifies the individuals who accepted whether he or she may attend the member’s meeting. Only “approved” people may attend and the meeting is only confirmed when there is at least one approved acceptance.

Thus, the member posting the Invite ultimately controls whether the meeting will happen and who may attend …. providing a flexible, versatile tool for offline networking.

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Women of Personality

April 15th, 2009 admin

“Women of Personality” — an ebook that compiles the stories of “20 Inspiring Women and Their Stories of Success” – is now available online. Women featured in the ebook recount the role personality has played in building their successful careers and businesses.

The goal of the ebook, sponsored and developed by The Personality Project, is to inspire future female entrepreneurs and business women of all ages to reach higher and achieve even more.

“Women of Personality” is a quick read, as each participant’s story is no longer than three or four paragraphs. You will be inspired, but also compelled to think about your own personality and how it is shaping your career achievements.

It was a pleasure to be a part of the book, and readers have an opportunity to nominate a woman for “Women of Personality,” edition two!

Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council)

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Who We Are As Americans … And Small Businesses

April 15th, 2009 admin

Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) had this to say recently on “who we are”. I hope every American AND most importantly to Cafe followers … every small business …. take this to heart, We are what makes America … America.

To sum it up ….. “We don’t need our government to back our warranties or run our companies.”

====================

I see it in the hundreds of emails I get a week. ‘I worry about our future’, they say. Some are talking about their immediate future – their jobs, their mortgages, their businesses. Others are talking about the future of America. Some are specific, some are general.

But you don’t have to read my email box to see it. It is everywhere: weariness and worry. You can see it in the deflated shoulders of the man exhausted from weeks of job-searching, the empty eyes of a woman awake too many nights wondering how to make the mortgage payment, the creased brow of a father preparing to tell his daughter to defer the college acceptance letter.

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Do you write articles on more than 1 topic ?

April 15th, 2009 admin

You may have a main area of expertise, and then multiple sub-topic or different topics that you write articles about (some to pay the bills and others to feed their creative spirit). To avoid personal author brand erosion and solidify your expertise in front of the target niche that you write about, you must come up with a strategy to separate your various article topics.
A solution is to create multiple versions of your name or pen-names that you write under so that each one is locked in on a particular area of expertise.
Here’s a fictitious name I picked out of the air to illustrate an example as to how many separate author names could be created out of a single persons name:

* Suzanne Jo Parker
* Suzanne J. Parker
* Suzanne J.P. * Suzanne Jo P. * Suzanne P. * Suzi P. * SJ Parker
* S. Parker

You get the idea. Each of these author names is STILL the same person, yet you can choose to lock each variation of the name to a separate topic to write your articles about. When using this strategy, a person reading your article may attempt to read others that you’ve written, but they will only see your other articles about the same topic. There will be no author brand erosion.

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Success Story: Kathryn Murphy, Comfort Keepers

April 14th, 2009 admin

After 24 years in the Navy as a registered nurse, Kathryn Murphy retired as a Commander and was selected to serve as Director of Health Services for the Mayo Health Plan, an HMO owned by the Mayo Foundation. After five years in corporate America, Kathryn was ready to write the next chapter of her life – not really knowing how the story would unfold.


She attended a series of workshops put on by the Small Business Development Center at UNF (SBDC) with a friend who was considering starting a business which sparked her entrepreneurial spirit. Kathryn knew she wanted to start a business that put her nursing and management skills to good use helping seniors and those who could not help themselves. She just needed help defining the concept. 

As Kathryn was looking for the right opportunity, she met with a consultant who, after a series of interviews and questionnaires, suggested she considered buying a Comfort Keepers franchise.

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Incoming Searches that might interest you:

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SBE Council “Business Tax Index” Ranks State Tax Systems

April 14th, 2009 admin

Today, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published the “Business Tax Index 2009: Best to Worst State Tax Systems for Entrepreneurship and Small Business,” which ranks the 50 states and District of Columbia according to the costs of their tax systems for entrepreneurship and small business. According to the nation’s leading organization advocating for entrepreneurs, elected officials in the states need to pay careful attention to their state’s competitive position regarding taxes, particularly given the dismal state of the nation’s economy.

Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for SBE Council and author of the report, said: “Taxes have been piling up on small business owners, and the cumulative burden is particularly painful in a down economy like we are suffering right now. Unfortunately, state and local officials continue to increase a variety of levies without a firm grasp of the burdens they impose on small businesses and their state’s overall competitiveness.”

According to Keating, taxes matter. They matter to consumers, entrepreneurs, investors and businesses. And they matter when it comes to economic growth and job creation.

SBE Council’s “Business Tax Index 2009” pulls together 16 different tax measures, and combines those into one tax score that allows the 50 states and District of Columbia to be compared.

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Article Title Training

April 14th, 2009 admin

Your article title is more than just an accurate description about what the reader will find in your article body; it’s a promise you make to build a trust relationship with your readership.
Ask yourself: “What does my article title promise to give to my reader?”

1. Your article title should promise to deliver your expert  information on a specific topic. It should build interest  or motivation.
2. Within 2-5 seconds of anyone reading your article,   they should be able to clearly see the answer to the   promise you made in your article title.
3. Do not bait or trick your reader into being forced to   visit your website to see the answer to the promise   you made in your article title. This is a credibility   and trust violation.
4. If you have a very short article title, be certain that   your article body includes the most socially acceptable   or expected solution or information that any   reasonable person would expect from a short title. Better yet, don’t use very short article titles. Instead,   make them longer and more descriptive.

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Workshop: What Every Business Owner Should Know and Have in Their Financial Toolkit

April 13th, 2009 admin

If you recently started a business or are toying with the idea, you owe it to yourself to check this event out.

Financial Literacy for Smarties:
What Every New Business Owner Should Know & Have in their Financial Toolkit

What’s In Your Financial Toolkit? Do you have one? If not you need one!

When: Friday, April 17, 2009 (11:30 am – 1:00 pm)

Cost: $15.00. Lunch is included!

Feeling overwhelmed by the financial side of owning a business? This workshop will give you the basic financial tools to gain a better understanding of financial literacy. These skills can go a long way in the success of your business!

Discussion will include:
Bookkeeping and Accounting for small businesses
Small business scorecards-the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow
How to determine Break Even and Profit Margins
For more information or to register call (904) 265-4700.

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