Monthly Archives: October 2012

Build A One Page Business Plan That Pops!

Finance & Accounting, Innovation & Creativity, Management & Human Relations, Marketing & Branding, Sales & Business Development, Start Ups, Strategy, ,

A one-page business plan can be great if you are using the business plan more of an action plan for yourself, your partner, and your company. It makes it easy to update, keeps the attention of the reader, and is to the point.

Another way to use a one-page business plan is to use it to generate interest from customers, potential partners/employees, suppliers, and initial interest from financial companies.

The video is a quick overview of the main components of the one-pager & then how to make the one-pager a little bit different (add POP!)

Learn To Protect Your Intellectual Property

Established & Growing Businesses, Innovation & Creativity, Regulations & Legal, Start Ups, Technology & Online, , , , ,

A small business’ total offering that they provide to customers includes 3 critical pieces:

1. Product: A product can be anything that is tangible. Examples include nail polish, food, or a backpack.
2. Service: A service is an activity that is done for you. Examples include getting your nails done, being served at a restaurant, or having a porter carry your bags to your room at a hotel.
3. Intellectual Property: Intellectual property is the knowledge and information that your business has that allows you to deliver the product or service differently than the competition. Examples include getting a back massage while your nails dry, the recipes of the food you eat at a restaurant, and the design of a bag or backpack.

The main ways to protect intellectual property including copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial design, and trade secrets is covered in the video by a leading law firm, Miller Thomson.

Build Your Financials In Minutes

Established & Growing Businesses, Finance & Accounting, Sales & Business Development, Start Ups, ,

Financials are the guiding light for a small business. But most if you are a small business owner who dreads financial planning, you are not alone.

Paul Smith, a commercial banker of over 20 years who now helps entrepreneurs attract funding, walks through the overview of how to get through your financial projections needed for a business or for your regular strategic planning.

Get Customers To Pay & Collect When They Don’t

Established & Growing Businesses, Finance & Accounting, Management & Human Relations, Operations & Efficiency, Regulations & Legal, ,

Getting cash in the door can help a small business significantly. Not having the cash means that you could be paying interest to someone else. Not having the cash means you might not be able to have as much inventory available to sell or start a marketing campaign when you wanted. So getting cash in the door earlier rather than later can help.

Secondly, what happens if the cash never shows up for a service rendered? We spoke to a paralegal, Allison MacSporran, to get her take on how to avoid this scenario.

Get Business With LinkedIn (Really!)

Established & Growing Businesses, Marketing & Branding, Sales & Business Development, Start Ups, Technology & Online, ,

LinkedIn is toted as one of the best social media tools out there to get incremental business. But the question quickly arise – “How does it work?”

We went right to Allan Pollett (he is the guy who shows up when you Google ‘SEO guru’). In under an hour, and with only about 5 minutes of work necessary, he was able to teach social media newbies how to navigate the LinkedIn scene.

Top Free & Close To Free Marketing Tools That Work!

Established & Growing Businesses, Marketing & Branding, Sales & Business Development, Start Ups, Technology & Online, ,

One of the most difficult parts of starting a business is ramping up the sales & marketing in the first few months.  The reality is, that marketing is necessary to grow & increase visibility.  Visibility is critical as people only buy from businesses they know about.

Once marketing starts working, you have money for more marketing.  So the challenge is always at the beginning, when a marketing budget is hard to come by.

This video highlights the top 20 (and then a few more) ways to having a low cost marketing budget.