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

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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

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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.

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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

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Since 2001, the Internet research company E-tailing Group conducts a mystery shopping survey to assess online merchants in terms of customer service. They judge the top 100 etailers based on a specific set of customer service criteria that they believe an etailer must possess. Whether you are running a big ecommerce operation or a small etailing business, below are the customer service traits that a top etailer must have: 800 or toll-free number keyword search answer email question within 25 hours, correctly with a specific answer four or five days to receive package six or fewer clicks to checkout real

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Your success in self-employment will depend in large part to your financial savvy. The way you view and handle money can influence the way you run your business — and can even spell the success or failure of your entrepreneurial venture. Knowing how to handle money properly becomes more important in the light of the financial instability of self-employment. An entrepreneur’s income gives the term “ebb and flow” a higher meaning. Particularly during the first year, money may come in fits and starts, where you may have it one minute and gone the next. As your income fluctuates weekly, monthly

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Although podcasting is new, it is well on its way to becoming a mainstream communication medium. Podcasting, simply put, is audio files that are delivered via RSS. Many people believe that podcasting is solely for the distribution of music files, but really, nothing could be further from the truth. This emerging method of audio file distribution has opened an array of marketing and communication opportunities to businesses. Currently, most who are familiar with podcasting are technically savvy, but it is clear that podcasting will be more than a passing fad as many businesses are adopting podcasting and employing it in

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Does starting a business with a small amount of money sound too good to be true? No! There are many home based entrepreneurs who have successfully started their own businesses with little money. We’ve interviewed entrepreneurs who bootstrapped their businesses for as low as $500, yet they are now raking in money from their businesses. The lesson? Do things right! Of course, the ideal scenario is to start a business with enough money to enable you to move more aggressively and expand your business faster. But even if you do not have money, that should not prevent you from starting

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Congratulations! You decided to leave the corporate rat race to start your own business. After a careful analysis of your skills and know-how, you are convinced that you want to be your own boss and have what it takes to succeed. But do you know where and what to start? The first thing to remember is that there is no surefire formula for starting a business. What works well for some may not be the best choice for you. In the same token, the enterprise that you can turn into a financial success may not augur well for others. Your

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If you are thinking of running a direct mail campaign to promote your business and increase your sales, one study that you may want to look into is Vertis’ Customer Focus® 2005: Retail Direct Marketing study. The study offers a number of findings that can help you understand what type of direct mail campaigns can generate action from the recipients of your mailings. Some of the interesting findings of the study include: Interesting packaging is extremely important in getting your direct mail opened. The study found that 63 percent of adults consider the packaging first and foremost. A special offer

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Andrew Fischer of Omaha, Nebraska made waves (and plenty of publicity) by offering his forehead as an advertising space for 30 days on ebay. His auction, wherein he offered a non-permanent logo or brand name be tattooed on his head for 30 days, attracted 113 bids to close at $30,100! And of course, with the sweet smell of success, can copycats be far behind? A cursory check on eBay shows that there are more than two dozens of auctions from people selling their forehead as an advertising space, albeit none of the success of Mr. Fischer. Bids range from $0.99

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