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Ten Tips for Getting Noticed

Written by txerica on December 8, 2010 — Leave a Comment

Whatever your product or service is, you know it’s great. You know that, if people only paid attention, they’d be lining up to get what you’re offering. But therein lies the rub: how do you get people to pay attention in the first place? In this world of nonstop chatter and sensory overload, standing out from the crowd is tougher than ever. Word of mouth and organic growth are important, but most businesses can’t rely entirely on the traditional WOM marketing techniques. You must work to get noticed in other ways, as well, but how?

Dave Navarro wrote at Small Fuel Marketing about how to get your small business noticed. He offered 35 tips, but we’ve combined some and highlighted others to create the following list of ten. Take these tips, get your business (and yourself) on the map, and watch your success increase!

1. Conquer your fear of public speaking. One great way to become more visible is to speak in front of people. Find meetings, organizations, clubs and groups that are relevant to your offering, then make yourself available to speak to them. Many of these groups are regularly on the lookout for guest speakers for their meetings, and you might fit their bill.

One important thing – Don’t make your speech one big sales pitch. Instead, pick a topic that relates to your offering and to the group, position yourself as an expert (or expert-ish), and give an informative, entertaining talk. You can reference your own offering in subtle ways, and of course, the group will have your business card and other info in hand once you’ve met them. You won’t get paid for these speaking gigs (and you shouldn’t be paying to do them, either), but they can do wonders for your visibility.

If you REALLY can’t conquer your fear of speaking, invite a speaker to your own office instead, and send invitations to people that you would like to connect with. Invite them to come hear the speaker, and then take the opportunity to interact with them when they arrive.

2. Invite a media outlet to interview you. Many media outlets, especially local or very niche-specific ones, crave news about local businesses. Interviews are especially attractive because the interviewers can get in-depth while still making the subject human and accessible (and they’re more fun to read than a big block of non-dialogue text). Again, offer insight into a topic relevant to your product or service; the better you position yourself as someone with the knowledge, the more likely people will turn to you for what they need. Being interviewed will also put your name and business in front of a wide variety of potential customers.

3. Be part of a worthy cause. There are lots of great causes out there, and being a sponsor or regular contributor can put you in the spotlight. You don’t have to be a platinum-level sponsor for a major fundraiser, of course; simply contribute how you can, be it through money or goods/services. Causes are always seeking business sponsors who can help them reach their goals, and the publicity and good PR for you are helpful to your own desire to get noticed. If you can manage to get your brand associated with a cause that people care about, you will have succeeded.

4. Get your blog on. We’ve talked before about why you need a blog to build social capital and get more attention for your offering online. But having a good, high-ranking blog is more than simply writing a post here or there about something helpful or entertaining that relates to your product (although that’s very important, since fresh, quality content is key). Take your blog further by inviting other professionals in your field to write guest posts, and offer to guest-post for others. This sort of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” arrangement means a bigger audience for you and increased recognition for your blog. You can also interview someone for your blog, further driving traffic to your pages; don’t forget, you should comment on other blogs to maintain your participation in the conversation surrounding your niche.

5. Do an ad space swap. Buying advertising space can be pricey, but if you swap ads with another company, it can be free and beneficial. Find a company with an audience you’d like access to (perhaps a company with an offering complementary to yours) and suggest that they place an ad for your company on their page. Put an ad to their company on your own page in return. This can widen your visibility significantly.

Along the same lines, if you’d like to buy ad space but can’t afford it on your own, think about splitting the cost with another company. You can share the space and divide the cost, which could be great for both of you. Your business relationships really can help you be seen!

6. Take Word of Mouth up a notch. Word of mouth matters a lot, and we know that people are more likely to buy from companies that are recommended by their friends. So how do you get people to talk about you? Usually, people talk at one of two times: after a really bad experience, or after a really good one. Try to be the latter! The more outstanding your service is, the more likely customers will refer others to you in glowing terms. Be the standout in your field for how you treat people, and word will definitely get around.

7. Don’t cast too wide a net. Many companies try to do too much and focus on too broad a market. Narrow your niche to get more visibility quickly among a more specific group of potential customers. Once you’ve established your superiority in that niche, you can start to widen your field a bit, drawing in other niches or a broader customer base. Starting small can be the key to getting really and truly set as a success before you branch out.

8. Make a video. Lots of companies try this and fail. They try to be cute, funny, shocking or unique in the hopes that their video will go viral, but in the end, they generally end up falling on their faces. Instead of trying to one-up the “evolution of dance” guy, do what you should be doing with your blog: create content that’s helpful to those in your niche. If your company makes a specific engine part for cars, make a how-to video that illustrates how your part can be installed and used. You can also use video to interview experts, illustrate case studies or otherwise share info with those who really care to see it. Once you’ve made and posted your videos on YouTube, share them on your blog, website and forums. You might not reach viral spread to the tune of 14 million hits, but your videos might become the go-to content for your niche market, raising your visibility still further.

9. Make new friends, but keep the old. Don’t burn bridges in your business. Instead, get to know the influencers in your niche, and make yourself useful to them. Help them solve issues and make new contacts, and they’ll probably return the favor by spreading the word about you. In addition, keep in touch with your older contacts regularly! You never know when someone might be in a position to refer a customer to you, so you want to stay on all the relevant radars.

10. Stay above-board. You might have heard recently about the online businessman who used negative feedback from his angry customers to boost his own page ranking. He abused and threatened clients and, as a result, he saw his position rise, at least temporarily. But now, that guy is in jail, and Google is tweaking their algorithms to try to keep negative content from raising a company’s rank. That guy thought he had the system figured out, but he got his visibility in a bad way, and it came back to bite him.

When you’re working toward getting noticed yourself, don’t break the rules. Avoid spam (in emails, comments or forums), don’t go for link farms to artificially inflate your page rank, and don’t make people angry just to get ahead. Google has ways of punishing those who game the system, banishing them to low rankings and bad reputations. It’s not worth it! Keep your nose clean and get noticed the right way. Good luck!

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Buzz No More: A Dozen Buzzwords that Need to Go Away

Written by txerica on December 6, 2010 — Leave a Comment

"Moving forward, let's interface offline to leverage our cutting-edge assets and reach out to the low-hanging fruit."

Buzzwords are a part of office culture. Most businesses will find themselves mired in the latest lingo at some point. New buzzwords crop up all the time; Entrepreneur.com even has a list of ten buzzwords business owners need to know now. When used correctly, sparingly and in the right context, buzzwords can help to communicate business-specific concepts quickly and effectively. But more often than not, buzzwords end up overused, cliche and widely ignored (or worse, mocked).

When buzzwords become too overused, they lose their luster. What might once have been a clever way to explain a concept becomes a trite talking point, and the employees who use them go from appearing “in the know” to appearing lazy and uninformed. Cartoons like Dilbert make a regular joke of clueless managers parroting buzzwords to fill the space left behind by their complete lack of knowledge on any topic. So before you create your next company presentation, think about the words you’re using – if you want your presentation to be predictable and formulaic (in a “corporate” sort of way), use all the buzzwords you like; some bigwigs still dig them, after all. But if you want your content to seem more interesting and new than the same-old, same-old, avoid these buzzwords and go with your own phrasing instead.

After examining lengthy lists of overused buzzwords on various business websites, I’ve compiled the following list of 12 buzzwords (in no particular order) that should be immediately removed from the workplace lexicon. It’s for our own good.

1. “Low-hanging fruit” – Almost every buzzword site I visited hated this phrase. It’s used in reference to going after goals that are so easy to get, they’re like picking low-hanging fruit from a tree (no ladder required). At this point, there’s probably no one left on earth who doesn’t know what low-hanging fruit means, or why businesses want to go after it. Stop saying it.

2. “Reach out” – People who say this mean that they’re communicating with someone. But the phrase sounds vaguely like charity work; we “reach out” to help those in need, not to set a meeting with Bob in marketing. Unless your arms are extended while at work, you’re not reaching out.

3. “Leverage” – This one makes my skin crawl. It has just the right mix of importance and urgency to make it a favorite of managers, especially those who are a little less than connected on a personal level. Leverage in the past has been physical, using a tool (the lever) to move something to a more advantageous spot (getting that big rock out of the road, for example). Now, the office use of leverage takes that concept and applies it to people, positions and resources, using them to get an advantage over something or someone else. It keeps the “person” out of “personnel,” in my experience. Don’t “leverage” what you have to get what you want; it’s far more straightforward (and honest) to say “use,” or in a friendlier case, “work with.”

4. “Drill down” – Going deeper into an issue or topic doesn’t have to sound like searching for oil in the gulf, but some people really enjoy using this phrase. I personally think it’s because they like the active, slightly dangerous tone to it; drilling is an intense, high-energy, potentially-hazardous activity in most cases, which is far more exciting than the typical research meeting. See also “putting out fires” (unless you’re a fireman) and “working on a battle strategy” (unless you’re in the military).

5. “Cutting edge” – What is cutting edge, exactly? Technology is constantly evolving, and the so-called “edge” is a moving target. Even if you have the best, coolest, most highly-developed technology or process on earth at this moment, someone’s going to come along in about 30 seconds and unseat you. “Cutting edge” doesn’t sound awesome – it sounds like you’re trying to make your offering more important than it is. Stop that.

6. “Space” – For some reason, it’s become trendy for people to say that they work in a given “space,” not in an industry. Instead of someone saying “I make widgets,” they now say, “I’m in the widget-making space.” Ugh. The word brings to mind a dusty, unused corner of my parents’ basement with a solitary widget-making machine there. Unless you create space for people (a closet organization company, perhaps) or you work in outer space itself, leave “space” out of your job description.

7. “Moving forward” – Wow, it’s a good thing you mentioned that we should do this “moving forward,” boss! I was about to hop into my Wayback Machine and get to work on this in the past. Thanks for clearing that up!

8. “Touching base” – This phrase gets lumped together with “go the extra mile,” “game changer,” “hit a home run” and “in the ballpark” on my list of sports metaphors that have no business in the workplace. If you’re touching base with someone, you’re communicating with them (see “reach out” above). You’re not tagging a bag at Fenway. Sports buzzwords may be fun to say and may help the more competitive workers among us feel, well, competitive, but they come across as a bit sad when they get so overused.

9. “Cross-functional” – I was on a few cross-functional teams a couple of years ago. It sounds really smart and effective, but what it ended up being was a group of people from a variety of departments, forced to sit together in a room and try to solve a problem when all of us had different perspectives, different skills and different stakes in the outcome. Oh, and we were all ordered to be there; no volunteers in the bunch. The result? Lots of sitting around looking at each other, trying to figure out what to do, while our “real” jobs piled up on our desks back in our offices. Getting input from multiple teams can be a good thing when trying to deal with an issue that affects everyone, but cross-functional teams usually end up non-functional.

10. “Viral” – This is so overused, it’s nauseating. Viral used to mean something that took off and spread quickly through word of mouth, like Youtube videos that got 14 million views solely on the basis of people emailing the links to each other and saying “You have to see this!” Viral is supposed to mean under the radar, outside of the traditional marketing avenues, mostly missed by news outlets (until those views start climbing up into record numbers) and totally organic in nature. Now, companies seem to want to use the word “viral” for any effort they make that gets any response outside of the directly-paid-for demographic. An example: If a business puts out a video, promotes the heck out of it with advertising dollars, posts it to their website and finally manages to get a handful of people to send it to others or comment on it, this business’s video is NOT viral. It’s just visible. Also, when the Today Show recently created some clever videos (or copied existing ones) for a multi-part story called “Today Goes Viral,” Today was not, in fact, going viral. The piece was promoted so much on the front end that there was no chance of viral growth at all.

11. “Offline” – As in, “let’s meet offline.” It seems to be used in two ways, depending on the circumstances: the first involves meeting in person (instead of via email, IM, text, social networks, etc.), and the second suggests getting together outside of the normal flow of office meetings to communicate. Either way, it’s annoying. Are we so used to communicating via a keyboard (or so driven to appear completely connected in all technological ways) that a face-to-face interaction stands out as an anomaly? Or are our processes so ingrained that stepping outside them for a conversation is vaguely roguish? If you mean “in person,” say “in person.” It’s so much less off-putting to say “Hey Bill, can you come to my office for a sec to talk about this?” instead of “Bill, let’s interface offline so we can touch base.”

12. “It is what it is,” “At the end of the day,” and other completely useless phrases – I’m not sure when throwing extra words into a conversation, especially if they add nothing, became so important. Maybe it starts with Charles Dickens, who was paid by the word. Or maybe it’s just the result of people wanting to have something, ANYTHING, to contribute to a meeting so that they appear useful. But whatever the reason, many of us have taken to spewing entire phrases or sentences that are quite literally a waste of breath. “It is what it is” tries to sound deep and philosophical, but ends up coming across as a pointless statement of the glaringly obvious. “At the end of the day” used to reference the actual quitting time of an office, but now it means some nonspecific future time when the expected or hoped-for outcome will arrive. “Six of one, half-dozen of the other” has that vague sense of cleverness about it (“Hey! Six and half-dozen are an EQUAL AMOUNT!”) but it’s just an annoyingly longer way of saying “They’re the same.” In my experience, these and all the other buzzwords that mean about as much as white noise are good for just one thing: making it clear that the value of the conversation is over.

Sources: Divine Caroline, Monster+hotjobs, Thompson Writing, CBS MoneyWatch

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Disaster Planning: Be Ready for the Worst

Written by txerica on December 2, 2010 — Leave a Comment

As much as we wish things would run smoothly all the time, disaster sometimes strikes. We don’t just mean the major disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, either; something as simple as a widespread power outage, plumbing leak, vendor problem or computer crash can qualify as a disaster when it comes to business. These issues can be every business owner’s worst nightmare, interrupting the flow of work and causing lost revenue, lost opportunity and even lost customers.

What can you do to deal with potential disaster? First, you should do your best to prevent possible problems, and second, you should have a plan in place for dealing with what might happen. The more prepared you are, the less business you’ll lose if the unthinkable occurs. The Wall Street Journal offers some tips for small business disaster preparedness; below, we’ve added extensively to their list in order to create some guidelines for being ready for what we hope will never happen to you.

Preventing Disaster

If you don’t do the work up front to prevent problems before they occur, you’re inviting trouble. Start by securing your space. Make sure all wiring and plumbing are up to code, and keep a sharp eye out for leaks and other issues.

Go over your insurance policies. What’s covered, and what’s not? Be sure you know exactly what your insurance will do for you in a given crisis, and keep those premiums up-to-date.

Use a fireproof, waterproof lockbox or file cabinet for storage and preservation of sensitive or vital documents.

Back up all your data. ALL of it. And keep those backups in a safe location. That way, if something crashes, you can restore it fairly quickly and painlessly.

Get a battery backup power source so that, even if the electricity goes out, your computers won’t crash; you’ll be buying yourself time for a proper shutdown if the power doesn’t come right back on.

Don’t leave laptops, phones or other electronic equipment in your car (or any other highly visible place) – Why invite theft or heat damage?

Keep the phone numbers handy for your electric company, water company, phone company, Internet provider, server hosting company, security company, and anyone else you might need to call quickly during an emergency. No one wants to spend those first frantic minutes desperately looking through old bills to find contact numbers for services!

Be sure that any passwords, PINs and other secure pieces of information are kept out of sight, not on a Post-It note under the keyboard or, God forbid, stuck to the monitor.

Use caution with your company’s financial information – Just as you take care to avoid identity theft or unauthorized access to your own bank accounts, you must be careful that your company’s credit card and bank info.

Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date, and be sure your wireless network is secured.

Have some alternatives in mind for your current vendors. If you rely on a handful of vendors for your supplies, what will you do if something happens to remove one of them from the picture? A contingency plan for alternate vendors can keep you from losing productivity should something happen to your current suppliers.

Establish relationships with those who might be needed if something goes wrong – Have a plumber and/or electrician you trust, media contacts that can be called on to help with public relations or getting information out should you need it, etc. Having a circle of support before anything actually happens is one of the best ways to plan for the worst. And of course, make yourself available to those in your circle, as well, if THEY need something during a crisis.

Make sure the doorways of your workplace are kept clear and accessible.

Don’t ignore the news – If there’s a report of a hurricane, blizzard, tornado or other natural disaster coming your way, get yourself and your staff to safety. No business is worth your life.

If you rely on vehicles for doing business, keep up with oil changes, gas fill-ups, tires and other regular maintenance.

Have a nighttime security system if you leave expensive equipment behind in your workplace each night.

If you pretty much run the company on your own, think of what might occur should you be taken out of commission through sickness, accident or a family emergency. Can someone else take care of business in your stead for a while? Can you manage things from off-site while you deal with your crisis? Many businesses completely stop down when the boss is physically unable to be there, so think of how you might handle that situation BEFORE it happens.

Dealing with a Crisis

Even if you do everything you can to prevent problems, trouble can still sometimes find you. When that happens, be sure to have a plan in place so that you’re not caught entirely off-guard. Planning can mean saving valuable time in resolving the crisis and avoiding additional issues.

Your plan should include who to call first, depending on the disaster at hand. It should also include the roles that each employee is asked to play in the event of a problem. Short-term, medium-term and long-term possibilities should be discussed beforehand so that, no matter how long the crisis takes, you’ll be ready.

Above all, try not to panic. Problems will happen, but if you keep a clear head, prepare as best you can and stick to your disaster plan, you should be able to deal with whatever happens as quickly and easily as possible.

Once a crisis has passed, be sure to apologize to customers who were inconvenienced in the case of a power or server outage, website problem, payment processing issue or personal crisis on your part, and do what you can to make the situation right for them. Most people respond favorably if a business comes through a crisis with the customers in mind. You can’t avoid ALL troubles, but how you and your company deal with them is how you’ll be judged. Good luck!

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Finding a Mentor – Five Tips

Written by txerica on November 30, 2010 — 2 Comments

Starting a new business (or striking out on your own) can be a daunting prospect. Most people diving into entrepreneurship for the first time could use some guidance, advice and answers about what they just plain don’t know when it comes to running a new business. While building a solid team of individuals with specific skills is important to getting your company going on solid footing (and important to potential investors who want to see more than just a person with a dream standing before them), having a great mentor is also vital. A mentor can put their experience and expertise in your corner to help you find the best path to your own success. Plus, it’s always good to have someone “in the know” to talk to! SCORE.org has a list of five tips for finding a mentor; here’s the list so you can get started right away:

1. What do you want from your mentor? A mentor will want to know how best to help you, and that means knowing your reason for asking them for help. Perhaps you need financial management advice, or marketing know-how. Maybe all you need is someone to keep you on track and thinking positive. Whatever your reason for wanting a mentor, be clear about it (to yourself AND to the potential mentor) so that they know what they’re in for.

2. Be ready with your info. A mentor will want to know all the relevant aspects of your business. Tell him or her what you’re trying to do, what your business goals are (short-term and long-term), etc. Paint a clear picture of what your business is and what you want it to be. Then you can start asking your own questions for advice and guidance.

3. Consider having more than one mentor. Just as you don’t know everything about running a business, most mentors won’t have all the answers all the time, either. Talk to multiple people and build a network of experts you can turn to if needed. The person you ask for help with marketing might be a very different person from the person you ask for help with tech issues, and that’s great.

4. No matter what your business is, keep an eye on your cashflow. For a start-up or growing company, keeping the cash flow at a reasonable level is vital for staying afloat. So when you’re choosing a mentor at these stages, try to look for someone who can help you plan for slowdowns, look into credit and make long-term predictions based on current sales. Your company will sink if the cashflow fails, so be sure to get the advice and guidance you need to prevent that!

5. Stick to experts in your industry. You wouldn’t ask someone with a pharmaceutical background to help you with the details of launching a chocolate shop. Find mentors who are specific to your field. That way, when industry-specific questions come up, your mentor will be of the most help to you.

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Writing Contests – Five Tips for Competition Writing

Written by txerica on November 16, 2010 — Leave a Comment

If you’re a writer struggling to get published, you might consider entering a writing contest. Writing contests can seem like a great way to get some accolades (and cash) for writing, but not all writing contests are created equal. Some are from reputable, known publishers or companies that are legitimately searching for great unknown writers, but other contests exist simply to collect entry fees and publish useless vanity books of content without regard to quality. So how can you figure out which contests are worthwhile?

1. Find your genre – What sort of writing do you do? There are contests for poetry, short stories, screenplays, you name it. There are also contests for more narrow categories, such as science fiction short stories, history/military themes and mystery thrillers. Decide what sort of writing you enjoy best and focus on finding contests that fit your style. If your style is too narrow (if, say, you prefer to write only haikus about 19th-century haberdashers), you might want to broaden your efforts a bit.

2. To fee or not to fee – Many contests include entry fees for participation. Some sites will tell you to avoid all such contests, but in reality, there are often good reasons for the fees. Sometimes, fees help to reduce the sheer number of entries received (removing the “I just feel like entering a contest today” crowd and leaving the serious writers in the running), and other times, the fees help to pay for the staff readers and judges who must pore over the hundreds of written submissions that must be evaluated for the contest. The key to contest entry fees is this: what is reasonable? If a fee is under $20 for a reputable contest (see point 3 below), it’s probably fine. But if the fee is higher, and if it’s billed more as a lottery ticket than a legit contest entry (“send us your $100 entry fee for a chance at the $20,000 grand prize!”), steer clear.

3. Who is running the contest? – The source of a contest matters. There are hundreds of contests out there, most with cash prizes, but many are a waste of time. If the contest is run by a respectable publisher, a known publication or a literary journal, you can probably rest easy that it’s a legit contest. These sources are looking to “discover” new writers who might not otherwise have been published, and their contests are designed for that purpose. Contests from sources you don’t recognize, however, can be red flags. Avoid contests that make a bigger deal about the prize money than the prestige, skip the ones that don’t make the fine print clear, and don’t waste your time on contests from companies, local groups, internet “contest mills” or publications you’ve never heard of (and that don’t turn up many results in a Google search). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site has some GREAT tips for figuring out which contests are worthwhile and which are to be avoided; click here for their advice.

While you might think that entering any contest you can find is a good way to cover all the bases, consider this: would you care if Publication XYZ applauded your work? If you’ve done your research and haven’t heard of a particular publisher or company, you probably won’t care what they think of you (and no one else will, either). They’re not likely to help you get an agent or a publishing contract, and they’re not going to be your big break.

4. Check the deadline – Good contests tend to have deadlines well in advance of when the contest is announced. Be sure to give yourself enough time to create a good submission! Don’t wait until the last minute – remember, entry fees are nonrefundable, so if you’re willing to put in the effort for a contest and send money to boot, keep an eye on the calendar and make the time for writing, rewriting, editing, etc. before the submission date arrives.

5. Keep your day job – Just as playing blackjack all day long isn’t a reasonable way to earn a living for most people, entering writing contests is not going to be easy money or a way to get out of the rat race (at least not until you get that big book deal you’ve been working toward). Contests are something you should do while you’re working on your writing career in other, more traditional ways, like sending queries to agents, attending events and doing research. Be sure you keep a list of the contests you’ve entered so you can remind yourself which ones you’ve already done, but don’t dwell on your entries or expect big prize money to come rolling in. Just enjoy the process and use it as practice; if you DO win, that’s icing on the leatherbound cake!

Sources: BlogHer, SFWA

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TechStars Could Help Your Tech Startup Take Off

Written by txerica on November 12, 2010 — Leave a Comment

If you’ve got a great idea for a tech/web start-up but need help getting it off the ground, TechStars is a resource you need to check out.

TechStars is a seed stage investment fund founded in 2006 to help entrepreneurs get started on their dreams. Based in Colorado, TechStars has annual programs in Boulder, NYC, Seattle, and Boston. Any tech entrepreneur is welcome to apply, and those who are accepted receive up to $18,000 in seed funding ($6,000 per founder for up to three founders) and a three-month mentoring program. Participants get free server hosting, workspace, legal services, and access to angel investors and VCs, all of which can help the fledging business really take off.

What does TechStars get in return for offering this wealth of support? Simple: a flat 6 percent of the start-up. And since 70% of companies launched through TechStars in the past few years have become financially self-sustaining or have received outside funding, that 6 percent usually means owning a chunk of success.

Of course, with so much to be gained through TechStars, there’s a lot of competition for the programs. Their website notes that they get hundreds of applicants each year, but they choose only ten or so companies annually for each of their four program cities. The program rotates between the cities: New York plays host to TechStars in the winter, but Boston gets the program in the spring. Boulder is the summer program location, and Seattle hosts the fall participants.

TechStars describes itself as “big on mentorship,” with a laid-back style of working hard in a friendly atmosphere. Their website is peppered with testimonials from business owners praising what TechStars does, less for the funding than for the wealth of advice, support, connections and experience brought to the table by the program mentors during the 3-month “summer camp for entrepreneurs.” In short, TechStars has a whole lot of help ready for you if you’re one of the lucky few they select for your really great tech or web idea.

Get started by applying on the TechStars website. Who knows? You might end up attending one of their programs and seeing your own tech company dream come to life. Good luck!

Sources: TechStars, Wikipedia, TechCrunch

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Job Hunting? Facebook Might Be Able to Help

Written by txerica on November 10, 2010 — 1 Comment

Looking for a job? Maybe you’re a victim of the down economy, or maybe you just don’t like the job you’ve got. Maybe you need a permanent gig to focus on while your REAL passion stays on the backburner (until you’ve saved enough money to make a go of it, at least). I’m sure you’ve used job search sites like Monster, CareerBuilder or Indeed, and I’m sure you’ve poked around Craigslist.org for available positions in your field. But have you thought about using Facebook to aid in your job search?

Mashable featured a story recently about how job seekers can put Facebook to work for them. This does not mean posting a daily update of “still looking for a job! Anyone got a position for me?” Instead, the Mashable article focuses on how you can turn Facebook networking into some prime opportunities for career growth. Here are their tips for using Facebook to find a new job…

1. See that news feed? Read it. You’ve connected with dozens, perhaps hundreds of people on Facebook, right? Old friends, old college buddies, even old work acquaintances are probably part of your friend list. Sometimes, those people will post to their news feed about job openings they know about, and when they do, you need to be ready to jump on the opportunity. Since you will have already connected with most of your Facebook friends on a personal or professional level (and probably in person at least once), you’ll be in a unique position to stand out from the crowd of applicants. If one of your Facebook friends posts an update about a job, and you think it’s a job you’d like to do, reach out to them and express your interest! Put your network to use for some actual networking.

2. Join Facebook groups about what you want to be doing. There’s a Facebook group for just about every interest (and if one doesn’t exist, you can create it). So search for groups that reflect your expertise and what you want to do for a living, and sign yourself up. This will give you access to updates that focus specifically on your field and also allow you to connect with others who share your interest. You could find job postings in these groups, and you could also post about your own skills and offer your services for gigs that become available. Facebook groups let you stay connected to the people and events that pertain to your job interests without having to know all of the users as “friends.”

3. If there’s a company you want to work for, “Like” them on Facebook. Let’s say there’s a particular corporation you’d love to become a part of. But maybe they don’t have any openings at the moment, or you’re not considered qualified based on your resume alone. All is not lost; go find the company’s Facebook page, “like” the company, and you’ll be able to keep track of news and updates from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. You’ll also be able to post to their wall, which can help you become visible to those on the “inside.” The Mashable article mentions one woman in particular who wanted to be part of a travel company in order to become a destination wedding planner, but her lack of travel experience set her back. She “liked” the company on Facebook and followed all their updates, so when the company posted about needing travel advisors, she asked on their wall whether they ever hired destination wedding planners. Someone from the company’s marketing department contacted her shortly thereafter, offering to pass her resume along, and today, she’s a contractor for the travel company. Connecting with the company on Facebook opened doors that would not have been opened to her otherwise, and the same could happen for you if there’s a particular company you’d like to work for.

4. Look for contests. Some companies post contests on Facebook in order to attract new interns or staff members. The Mashable article talks about a company that offered an internship to the person who got the most “likes” to their page. The winner was a guy who spread the word around his social networks, asking friends and acquaintances to take a minute and “like” his page so that he could get his dream internship. Today, he’s still working for the company, and he says that he gained valuable marketing experience and respect for the power of social media by having to market himself to his online circle. Other companies hold similar contests on occasion, so keep an eye out for a chance to win your own internship or job via a Facebook contest.

5. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Many companies use their Facebook pages as a way to interact not only with customers and potential customers, but also as a way to interact with potential employees. They don’t want dry resumes and stuffy interviews; they want people who participate in the dialogue, weigh in with their own opinions and aren’t afraid to put themselves out there. Being able to connect with job candidates on a Facebook page creates a sort of informational interview and assessment, a means for the real go-getters to rise to the top and show off what they know about marketing, programming, or whatever the field might be. It also lets the company maintain a list of people they consider to be pre-qualified for positions that might open up later, so if they need someone in a hurry, they can go to the Facebook page and invite applications from those with whom they already interact (and whom they already trust). Take initiative and be ready to start a dialogue or be a part of what’s being talked about on a company’s Facebook page, and you’ll put yourself on their radar for future job opportunities.

Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends, but it’s also a great way to pursue job possibilities that have never existed before. In your job hunt, be sure to include Facebook to ensure you’re covering all your bases and taking advantage of every possible tool at your disposal!

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Choosing a Business Credit Card

Written by txerica on November 3, 2010 — Leave a Comment

The Wall Street Journal has a great collection of resources for small business owners, offering advice for everything from finding angel investors to crafting a disaster plan. Here, we’d like to share some of their advice for choosing a credit card that’s right for your business. Use these tips to help get your business off on the right financial footing.

First, why get a business credit card? There are a few reasons: one, start-ups can often get a credit card set up much faster and easier than the time it takes to get a line of credit from a bank, and two, having a business credit card helps to create credit in the name of the business. In addition to all that, the options available for small business owners seeking to get credit cards have become more numerous, giving you a selection of possibilities when choosing your own business credit card.

How do you get started in choosing a card for your business? Before you choose, figure out your own needs. What are your spending habits going to be like with this card? Will you be paying off the balance every month, or carrying a balance over time? Check the annual percentage rate if you intend to carry a balance; some cards will give you rates as low as 0% at the beginning if you have good credit, and others feature fixed rates, which might be a good idea if you’re concerned about the rate going up over time.

If you plan to pay off your business credit card each month, you might consider looking into a card with more rewards or a longer grace period, since the interest rate won’t be an issue for you. Paying your entire balance each month doesn’t give you a lot of flexibility in your spending, of course, but the trade-off for your financial discipline is that you don’t end up facing down a growing balance and increasing interest charges.

I mentioned rewards in the last paragraph, and credit cards today have a variety of rewards programs for customers. You could get a card that gives cash back for purchases (anywhere from 1%-5%, depending on the card and the types of purchases you make). If you travel a lot, you could look into a card with airline miles as rewards. Still other cards use point systems that accrue towards larger rewards, and some come with discount and benefit programs attached, like special discounts for hotels or retail shops. The key for any rewards program is to ALWAYS read the fine print so that you know exactly how you’re earning the rewards and where they can be used once earned.

Should you get a card with an annual fee? The knee-jerk response is no, but sometimes, cards with annual fees have other benefits. Some annual-fee cards have longer grace periods to pay off balances each month, and others have lower interest rates than the no-fee cards. It’s worth looking into a card with an annual fee if you intend to carry a balance or if you think you could benefit from the longer grace period, provided that the annual fee is reasonable to your budget, of course.

One last thing to consider: what happens if you miss a payment, make a late payment or otherwise drop the ball on your credit card? You need to know what the penalties are for whatever card you choose in the event of a problem. In some cases, card issuers will jack up interest rates (up to 30%), remove rewards, add fees and even drop your personal credit score if you miss a payment on your business card. Be sure you know what you’re getting into before you sign on the dotted line.

In the end, it’s up to you to determine your business’s needs when it comes to a credit card. There are several sites that allow you to compare various cards in order to determine what’s best for you: CreditCards.com, CardRatings.com and Bankrate.com are the ones listed in the Wall Street Journal article. You can even apply for the card of your choice online, once you’ve made up your mind.

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Breaking Up With Clients – When and How

Written by txerica on November 1, 2010 — Leave a Comment

In this economy, many people and companies are just happy to have clients for their small businesses. But sometimes, a client is so much trouble and creates so many headaches that it’s just not worth working with them anymore. So how can you tell when it’s time to “break up” with a client, and how do you go about it? This article from Womenentrepreneur.com gives some tips and advice for dealing with just this kind of situation. Here’s our nutshell version to help you figure out right away whether you should stay the course or cut and run when it comes to the clients that give you trouble…

How to know when to go

1. If a client doesn’t pay you, or if they routinely pay late or in partial amounts, they’re not worth your time. This is your business, not a charity you’re operating.

Feel like this guy? Dump the client.

2. If your sanity is at stake, cut ties. Everyone has known a client who calls at all hours, demands extensive last-minute changes, switches courses midstream without notice (perhaps more than once), micromanages your every move, expects miracles or simply does not run his or her own business well enough to work smoothly with yours. Don’t let a problem client rob you of sleep or sanity; the stress isn’t worth it. Remember, we’re talking about extreme examples here (some of which you might encounter later at Clients from Hell).

3. If you’re the victim of abuse, get out of that situation. If the client calls you names, bashes your company, makes threats, flings profanity or otherwise treats you in a less-than-professional manner, don’t do business with them. This includes circumstances in which you might not have been expected to see the abuse (for example, if the client accidentally sent you a text message or email meant for someone else, but which contained abuse of you or your company).

How to break up

Once you’ve made the decision to cut ties with a client, how do you go about it? The Womenentrepreneur.com article suggests keeping your break-up brief and using language like “our two companies are no longer a good fit.” Losing the “fit” can be for a variety of reasons (financial, personality, etc.), but the good thing about the word “fit” is that it doesn’t assign blame. It just defines a situation that no longer works.

As for brevity, it’s vital that you don’t go into apologies, lengthy explanations or other long-winded messages. Be appreciative of the work your client has given you in the past, but make it clear that you won’t be around to work with them any further. You might even consider recommending one of your competitors to your client so that they can more easily fill the gap you leave behind; clients usually appreciate the suggestion, and if you give them plenty of notice, they shouldn’t suffer much with the downtime needed to replace you.

No matter your reasons for breaking up with a client or your means of doing it, be sure you stick to your guns and keep your courage high. Ending a relationship, even a professional one, can be tough. But sometimes, it’s a necessary move to preserve your income, your sanity and your ability to do your job for other clients. After all, not every client is a good “fit.”

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