The folks at WillItFly.com alerted me of the new wireless functionality of their website where you can afind out instantly if you’re up tothe latest standard for important business tasks. I’ve never visited the site before so I checked it out. The site does a good job in letting an entrepreneur understand the thought process that should go through in various aspects of running a business — from finding a business to knowing how to launch a viral marketing campaign. A user is presented with a list (ok, make that a LOOOONG list) of questions that needs to be answered.

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Many home-based businesses often start very small, but some end up growing big enough to be attractive to private investors. If you are thinking of looking for investors to infuse the much-needed capital your business needs, you may first want to read Inc. Magazine’s article “8 Private Equity Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them” (March 2007 issue, pp. 111-115). The article warns that it is important to remember that “not all investors care about your interests — and some will do whatever it takes to close the deal.” Here are the common pitfalls you need to watch out for: You

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Catalog Success magazine offers interesting tips on how your ecommerce business can use customer testimonials and reviews, which if used properly can be powerful conversion tools: Given that the hardest part is starting out, encourage customers to leave reviews by promoting them through contests until they become self perpetuating. Feature your customer reviews in your promotions, such as email campaigns and other promotional activities Build a separate domain for customer reviews and take advantage of double exposure by linking it to your product pages Allow customer in their reviews to include and post pictures Don’t censor negative reviews as it

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Simply sending a press release will seldom, if at all, give you any press. Sure, you can use press releases to increase your link (if the press release distribution service you use actually give you a live link), but just using a distribution service is not a guarantee that it will be talked about by the media. If you want more bang for your buck in terms of getting more results from your press releases, it is important to do your research. You need to make a targeted pitch. Media such as newspaper editors receive a lot of press releases

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I am currently reading a very interesting book entitled “The Specialty Shop: How to Create Your Own Unique and Profitable Retail Business” by Dorothy Finell. The book is an ideal read for those dreaming of starting their own retail shop as the author talks about a wide variety of topics from pre-planning and finance, to merchandise selection and display, promotion and customer service. One good approach of the book is that it provides interviews with successful small retailers – those who have done the whole specialty retailing business successfully. The owners of the Juel jewelry boutique in Sydney, Australia and

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Someone asked me today whether it is advisable for someone who wants to start a business to enroll first in a short business course before embarking on the process of entrepreneurship. It is always best to come into the business very well prepared. Depending on your time, resources, and learning preferences, there are a number of ways you can learn about how to start a business — even without sitting through a classroom. There are plenty of books and websites on the topic, and you can talk to entrepreneurs who are actually doing it and learn from their experiences. If

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I wrote about an interesting success story over at WomenHomeBusiness.com about Nancy Jarecki who created very unconventional (and hardly talked about) beauty products. Apparently, many women want to be true blondes (or true red heads or true brunettes) by matching their hair colors up on their heads and “down there”. Nancy created a special hair coloring kit specifically for the hair down there — and her products are selling briskly. She is about to reach million dollar in sales this year! Who knew that there will be a great demand for color kits for the hair down there? Read this

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If web conferencing has become an integral part of your business, save money and cut costs by using ConferenceCalls.com. The company is offering free and unlimited Web conference hours from February 15th through March 15th with 100 free audio minutes I don’t do web conferencing but I checked out the site. They have features such as pre-meeting and presentation set-up, smart scrolling, application and desktop sharing and other popular Web conferencing features. If you are looking for ways to save on expensive travel costs and lost time due to delays, check out the site and make use of their free

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Related Articles on Starting an Event and Meeting Planning Business: How to Start an Event and Meeting Planning Business Starting a Career in Event and Meeting Planning How to Start an Event Management Business Startup Costs and Pricing an Event and Meeting Planning Business Market Segments of the Event and Meeting Planning Business Marketing an Event and Meeting Planning Business 10 Ways to Market Your Event Planning Business How to Succeed in the Event and Meeting Planning Business   If you are thinking of starting an event planning business, here are some free articles that can give you more information

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Small businesses like us have inherent disadvantages compared to the big boys. This is particularly evident on the Web. True that we can create Web sites that don’t look that it is a one-person based operation but a million dollar operation. However, the big boys still outgun us in terms of marketing resources, technological capability and scope of inventory. In order for our web retail businesses to thrive and succeed amidst the competition, here are two important things we need to consider and harness: 1. Ability to attract TARGETED traffic = you don’t want any kind of traffic, but you

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WomenHomeBusiness.com just published an interview I did with Betsy Fein, President of the Maryland-based Clutterbusters http://www.clutterbusters.net, one of the leading professional home organizing businesses. Betsy’s story is very interesting. She started her home organizing business after she was laid off from her job with only $5,000 as startup capital. She got her first clients from the ads she placed in local newspapers and magazines. Like many new entrepreneurs, Betsy experienced a lot of problems learning the ropes of business — from not knowing how to tell clients that she is increasing her fees to miscalculating the number of hours needed

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