It’s almost end of the year, and now is the time to take stock of what happened to your business this year. It is also the time to look for possible opportunities or positive changes that your business can take advantage of next year. Part of this process is understanding what is happening in your industry. If you are doing business online, Morgan Stanley’s presentation at the recently concluded Web 2.0 conference entitled “State of the Internet” looks at the direction where the Web is going. Here are some of the trends of the Internet that small and home-based businesses

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If you are promoting your business through advertising, you may want to consider buying remnant or surplus advertising. Remnant advertising is the unsold ad space, which often goes to public service or gone forever. Media companies, from radio, newspaper, magazine even TV, do not always sell their advertising space — so they sell these spaces often at steep discounts. And tapping these remnant ad spaces can be an effective and inexpensive strategy for your business. For newspaper and magazine advertising, you can check the remnant spaces available at MediaBids http://www.mediabids.com . Looking through the available ad spaces, Business 2.0’s half

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Institutions such as schools, universities, hospitals, government offices and libraries represent a $4.1 trillion market, according to a November 2006 Direct magazine article “Predictable But Not Easy” by Larry Riggs. That’s a big market that small businesses can target! However, the article points out that it is not so easy to reach this market. For one, these institutions are governed by a different set of accounting principles. Here are the tips from the author on how to reach this market: Understand that these organizations need to spend their entire budget within the fiscal year, but timing is everything Target school

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Why are the successful people, well, successful? How do they attain the pinnacle of success? The book “There’s Always Room at the Top: 8 Secrets of the Super Successful” by Alan S. Becker looks at the super successful — the CEOs, governors, diplomats, authors, politicians — and examines what made them stand out from the rest. He found these 8 attitudes that can propel you to success: The two simple but necessary steps to success are: Set a goal and Do it. Know Your Limitations. Go With Your Gut. Never Quit. Keep Your Eye on the Doughnut. There is Always

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If you are looking to reach finance and investment-minded consumers, you may want to join SmartMoney’s Small Business Challege. All you have to do is to submit your business plan. If adjudged the winner, you can win a prize package consisting of $200,000 worth of SmartMoney and SmartMoney.com advertising and a Sony VAIO computer. The contest will begin accepting entries on November 13 and will run until January 31, 2007. Learn about the Small Business Challenge contest

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It’s holiday time once again! From Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah — it’s that time of the year to celebrate. Before you get carried away with the celebrations (and food!), you need to start thinking about your taxes. Tax time is not one of my favorite things. But like many things in life, it is something that you have to do whether you like it or not. In my view, as long as I owe the government tax dollars, then it means business is good. But I also do not want to pay Uncle Sam without knowing what the

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The National Retail Federation has released a survey conducted by BIGResearch “Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey” that shows consumer behavior and shopping trends for the 2006 holidays. The survey, which polled 7,623 consumers, looked at where people plan to shop and how they intend to use the Internet for this year’s holiday shopping. Holiday shoppers are expected to spend $791.10 each this year, and a growing number is going to use the Internet for their shopping. According to the study, respondents will use the Internet for an average of one-fourth (28.9%) of their shopping. Here are some interesting data

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We don’t want to start a business by thinking about its failure. As Ayn Rand said in her book The Fountain Head, “you don’t start by giving up.” But are there factors that can improve your chance for success? SBA has a study entitled “Redefining Busines Success: Distinguishing Between Failure and Success” by Brian Headd that looked at the characteristics that result in better chances of survival. The study also looked at the factors that were characteristics of closure. The study showed that 66 percent of new employers survive two years or more, 50 percent survive 4 years or more,

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An interesting question was posed today at Yahoo Answers. Given the failure rate of new businesses, can going through the franchise route improve your chances for success? I answered the question by exploring the advantages of franchises: 1 – Franchises are already established businesses. Franchises have already proven that the business concepts work and that their business ideas are valid, hence the franchisors are replicating the business through franchising. They already know that there is a demand for their products Sole proprietors, on the other hand, have to determine their business idea is viable, and whether there is a demand

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Many are faced with the problem of wanting to start a business but have no money compounded by poor credit. I won’t say that you can’t start a business, because you can. You can start your business with no money — but it will not be easy. If you’re willing to work hard, and be creative and willing to learn, you can surely do it. With poor credit, getting a low-cost loan from the Small Business Administration will not be an option. In SBA’s document “CREDIT FACTORS A POTENTIAL BORROWER SHOULD KNOW” http://www.sba.gov/financing/preparation/qualify.html you can qualify for an SBA loan

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The independent agency network ICOM recently completed a study on the fastest growing ways of reaching customers. While Internet is the king, they found that the “the forms that are growing the fastest aren’t the same in different parts of the world.” Blogs, e-mails and group sites were the fastest growing forms of marketing in Europe, North America and Asia. But viral marketing is equally strong in North America, outdoor and product placement in Asia, and SMS and guerrilla marketing topped the list in Latin America. The results are based on data from 58 respondents in 25 countries from 34

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One of the major fears of starting a business is the risk involved. What would happen if you invest your money in a business, while potentially profitable, offers no certainty of success? What if the business fails? Business is risk. There’s not one business that can provide a business owner with 100% success guarantee. If you are hesitant or scared to start a business because of its perceived risk, I suggest you evaluate the level of risk of the business and determine whether you want to take on that risk. In the risk management field, this is called “risk appetite.”

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