Edward W. Scripps built a media empire that includes daily newspapers in 20 markets stretching from Washington to Florida, Scripps Howard News Service, United Media, and the worldwide licensing and syndication home of PEANUTS and DILBERT. He started the business in 1878, borrowing $10,000 to launch a newspaper in Cleveland called “The Penny Press.” It was aimed at an unserved market of urban workers, and quickly became the model for the nation’s first mass medium. He found a successful formula, and started to build the first chain of newspapers under common ownership. Today, the E.W. Scripps Company is “a diversified

A highly effective marketing tool that will dynamically promote your business is direct mail advertising. The success of your direct mail advertising will be highly dependent upon the perceived quality of your business, the design, the message you re conveying, and the special offer. The combination of these factors determines if your direct mail piece will get read or tossed aside. Customer Mailing Lists To get started, you will need to compile and develop a database for your customer mailing list. If you are targeting different customer segments, then you should have a separate database for each targeted market. Also,

With so much competition nowadays, a small business needs to create buzz and excitement to survive. That’s exactly what Vicky Prazdnik and Lori Mozzone did in their startup fashion business Curliegirl (http://www.curliegirl.com/). The duo designs and creates crocheted and knitted hats, bags and scarves, but it was their sexy crocheted cotton thong underwear products that got them lots of attention at the start! As Mozzone says, “The thong has gotten us a lot of attention in the past. In fact, we tried removing them from our website a few times to make room for new items, and without fail someone

One of our visitors recently sent this query through our Consult Your Guides service: Hi, I had recently formed a sole proprietorship which I want to restructure as a Corporation. I have determined that it would be more beneficial for myself and the business if I change the structure to a corporation but I have no idea what I’ll have to do to get that done or where I’ll have to go. Also, we have a contract done as sole proprietorship but I want to change the full structure to a corporation. Please help! Thank You- Dinesh – West Virginia

Determining the type of legal structure for a new business can be daunting for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Corporations and limited liability companies (“LLCs”) are preferred business structures because, unlike sole proprietorships and partnerships, both offer liability protection. This means that the owner of a company cannot be held personally responsible for the company’s debts. The personal assets of an owner are shielded from company liabilities. In researching the various business structures, one inevitably comes across the S corporation. S corps and LLCs are similar in that they are both “pass-through” entities for tax purposes; the income of these

Amilya Antonetti struggled to find a cure for her son’s ailments, and found with it a successful business. Amilya had just given birth to her son, David, but her joy quickly turned to horror when the newborn would constantly cry in pain. The baby experienced shortness of breath and skin rashes. Not knowing what ails the baby, she and her husband consulted various specialists and doctors, to no avail. No one could them what is wrong with David or what triggers all the pain. Her spirit undaunted, she made a careful record of her baby’s life in the hope of

Some marketing techniques are more effective than others. According to the March issue of Direct Magazine, below are the marketing strategies that the business-to-business marketers are helping them reach their targets. If you’re a small or home-business owner, read on to find out if there are any approaches that you can adopt in your business as well. 1. Multiword search engine bidding = Pay per click in the search engines has become an integral part in the advertising arsenal of every business nowadays, not just those in the b2b sector. What the b2b marketers are finding effective, though, is to

A new book entitled ” The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Employees What They Want” by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, Irwin Meltzer and published by Wharton School Publishing puts forward 33 traditional and voguish beliefs about employees that the authors say have little or no basis in reality. These beliefs, covering a variety of areas, are widespread and, when applied to the typical employee and work situation, are wrong. They also often contradict each other, as “common sense” beliefs often do. The 33 myths are: 1. All that most workers care about is their pay and benefits2.

We are aware that small and home-based businesses are very concerned, if not downright petrified, with the thought of competing with Wal-Mart. Well, so do the other big businesses! During the recent Shop.org online retailing conference held in New York, many big retailers acknowledge that competing with Wal-Mart in terms of pricing is tough. Hence, they have to consistently be on their toes and be flexible in responding to changes. According to the Internet Retailer magazine, below are some ways other big businesses are fortifying their ammunition with regards to the increasing competition from the retailing giant Wal-Mart both on