Posts Tagged ‘small business’

The Era of the Unintentional Entrepreneur: An Interview with Kevin Reeth of Outright.com (Part 3)

This is the third and final installment of my interview with Kevin Reeth of Outright.com (See Part 1 and Part 2). In this part of the interview, I talk to Kevin about the new organization he’s helped create, Unintentional Entrepreneur, which is currently holding events around the country to help provide newcomers to the world of entrepreneurship with the tools and skills they need to get started… Continue reading

August 24 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, self-employment, small business, solopreneur | 3 comments»

The Era of the Unintentional Entrepreneur: An Interview with Kevin Reeth of Outright.com (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this interview, Kevin Reeth (Co-founder and CEO of Outright.com) and I discussed some of the challenges and benefits of entrepreneurship and the emergence of a new breed of “unintentional entrepreneurs” – people who, because of the economic downturn, find themselves exploring the possibility of going freelance, starting their own business, or hiring out as a consultant. In part 2, we discuss some of the… Continue reading

August 21 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, self-employment, small business, solopreneur | 11 comments»

The Era of the Unintentional Entrepreneur: An Interview with Kevin Reeth of Outright.com (Part 1)

With a background including successful stints with Yahoo, eGroups, and Intuit, Kevin Reeth was well-prepared to strike out on his own as a co-founder and CEO of the web start-up Outright.com, a free online bookkeeping platform for small businesses and self-employed persons. In today’s economic climate, though, more and more people are finding themselves thrown into entrepreneurship without a background like Reeth’s as their companies fold or downsize leaving… Continue reading

August 20 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, self-employment, small business, solopreneur | no comments»

What You Need To Know To Make Sense of Business Bartering

Bartering, trading one good for another, is becoming increasingly popular as the value of the dollar continues to plummet. There are several bartering systems available online (some better than others) and activity on these web sites has increased as the economy has gotten more and more troubled. However, when you move into cashless economies, it's easy to get sucked in. Here are a few things you need to know to… Continue reading

August 4 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: barter, cashless-economy, home-based-business, Management, small business, swap, trade, work-from-home | 11 comments»

How to Be A Good Web Firm Consumer

So you've hired a web firm to design your new web site. Now what? Today I'm completing my Business Web Series and talking about what you can do to be a good consumer of web site developers and designers. Just like most business owners have tales of woe from having their web sites designed, most web developers and designers have stories of their own. Educate yourself, hire the right experts to… Continue reading

July 16 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: entrepreneur, small business, web-design, web-site | 2 comments»

How to Hire A Web Design Firm

How many times have you heard stories of people who hired web firms to design and develop their web sites and either got substandard sites or the developer ran off with their money? Or what about the entrepreneur who "hired" his nephew/friend/daughter to design the site for free, and the results were disasterous and this small business owner didn't feel comfortable offering much constructive criticism on a job done for… Continue reading

July 3 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: entrepreneur, home-based-business, small business, web-design, website | 11 comments»

5 Components Your Business Web Site Needs

Last week I talked about why a strong web site is crucial to your business. Today I'm going to talk about five components your web site needs and why you need them. Bear in mind, however, that these five aren't the only components you need. At the end of the article, I'll mention a couple of other things you may want to include. Now, you can't just slap these components… Continue reading

June 17 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: content, entrepreneur, home-based-business, small business, website | 18 comments»

How to Be More Productive In Your Business

I’m frequently asked about productivity. My clients are often desperate to be more self-disciplined, less “lazy” (their word, not mine), and want to know how to get more work done in less time. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you wear so many hats and have so many things to do, it often seems overwhelming. As a result, some just give up, while other work non-stop, perpetually feeling like… Continue reading

May 19 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: entrepreneur, home-based-business, Lifestyle, Productivity, small business | 5 comments»

How to Head Off Small Business Fear in This Economy

This is a scary time. Everyone you know knows at least one person who has gotten downsized and new jobs are scarce. People are scared to start businesses and they’re scared to invest in their existing businesses right now. Part of it is that in an economy like this, mistakes are even more costly than before. And part of it is that people are just plain scared to lose anything… Continue reading

May 7 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: economy, entrepreneur, fear, frugality, home-based-business, Productivity, recession, small business, thrifty | 5 comments»

What To Do When You Run Out Of Ideas

It’s happened to everyone at one time or another. You’re going along, producing and feeling creative, and then, suddenly, you run out of ideas. You’re stuck. You search high and low for inspiration. You look back on your earlier work, searching through your past ideas, trying to locate your muse, looking for something to trigger a creative explosion. But it’s all for naught. You’re blocked. Regardless of what business you’re in… Continue reading

April 29 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: creativity, entrepreneur, inspiration, small business | 11 comments»

Networking Without Power: Going Old School

Remember the old days of Rolodexes, before mobile phones had every gadget and gizmo now known to man (and woman)? Remember when we didn't have Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to connect with other businesspeople and had to actually, you know, talk to people? The way many of us network today, using online social networking and keeping track of things via Blackberry, iPhone, PDA and other "smart" devices, is superior in many… Continue reading

April 23 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: entrepreneur, networking, professional, small business | 9 comments»

Starting A Business in A Challenging Economic Climate, Part 2 (Limiting Risk)

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about why now is a good time to start a business. But without Part 2, Limiting Your Risk, you may be setting yourself up for problems. Now is a great time to start a business, but part of starting a business in this kind of economy is playing it smart. How You Can Limit Your Risk: When you start a business in challenging… Continue reading

April 16 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: business, entrepreneur, Management, recession, small business, startup | 2 comments»

Starting A Business in A Challenging Economic Climate, Part One (Why Now?)

Starting a business during a recession seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? If the economy isn’t doing well and people aren’t spending money, doesn’t that mean a new business is likely to fail? Actually, the answer may surprise you. Fears about starting a business in this economy are common and understandable. But in this two-part series, I’m going to show you why this economic climate is a fantastic time to start a business… Continue reading

April 10 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: entrepreneur, Management, small business, startup | 9 comments»

How to Find Your Entrepreneurial Passion and Purpose

A few weeks ago, I wrote a few articles about starting a business based on something you love doing and are passionate about. I received several responses from people saying they weren’t sure how to go about figuring out what they were most passionate about or how to find their true purpose. So I’m dedicating this week to these issues. When I work with a new client, the first thing we… Continue reading

March 31 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: business, entrepreneur, life, Lifestyle, motivation, passion, purpose, small business, success | 6 comments»

How To Do What You Have To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Doing It

How often do you get that lazy feeling? You know the one. It’s that heavy feeling that weighs down your entire body so the only things you really feel like doing is watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing your Wii. Or, maybe you just feel like doing something fun instead of working, when you know you really need to get some serious work done. These are serious productivity killers… Continue reading

March 26 2009 | By Susan | Tagged: Add new tag, business, entrepreneur, Lifestyle, motivation, Productivity, small business, success | 17 comments»