A lot is going on in the world of startups, business owners and entrepreneurs. Here are some great articles you should read from the week of November 4, 2012.
CEO Blog Nation
- Getting the Debt-Stress Out of Your New Entrepreneurial Business (via Rescue a CEO): Guest post from JoAnneh Nagler on how to take the debt out of starting a business.
- 6 Different Ways to Promote Your Business (via Rescue a CEO): One of the best ways that you can connect with your target market is to use the different ways that people use to communicate with each other like regular mail, the telephone, SMS services, and other important methods.
- What Was Your Biggest Hurdle When Starting Your Business? [ANSWERS] (via Rescue a CEO): Entrepreneurs and business owners tell what their biggest hurdle was when they started their business.
- How You Can Get a Phone App for Your Business(via Rescue a CEO): Millions of people are currently using the mobile devices to surf the web almost exclusively, meaning that your online business may be missing out on a large customer base that is only growing. You can get into this market by offering your customers a mobile app or application.
- Why Did You Start Your Business? Week of November 4th (via Hearpreneur): Entrepreneurs and business owners explain why they started their business.
- November is Native American Heritage Month (via Rescue a CEO): Celebration of entrepreneurs and business owners with Native American heritage.
- Monday Morning Motivation-Will Smith (via Hearpreneur): To start this week off well, here is some motivation to help small business owners and entrepreneurs. Don’t get off that “treadmill”. Keep going.:
- [TheVOICE] DMV Roundup: Food Trucks, Georgetown, Hottest Startup & Mobile App (via DMV CEO): Roundup of entrepreneurship stories in Washington, D.C., Maryland & Virginia.
Around the Web
- 27 LinkedIn Tips: LinkedIn Best Practices for Entrepreneurs (via Forbes): From our perspective in the inside sales industry, we have found LinkedIn has become one of the leading tools inside sales reps use to connect to and meet qualified prospects.
- Take a Break [INFOGRAPHIC] (via Ari Meisel): If you think working overtime, skipping your lunch hour and staying chained to your desk will make you more productive, you need to cut yourself some slack and take a break.
- Romney-Ryan T-Shirts, Unsold And Unloved, Likely Will Find New Homes In Other Countries (via Huffington Post): And now, as President Barack Obama gets back to governing, and besieged voters in swing states reconnect their phones and television sets, businesses stuck with Romney-Ryan T-shirts and merchandise have to decide what to do with their unpopular surpluses.
- Use the Magazine Approach for Your Platform – The Impact Equation (via Chris Brogan): Here’s a recipe for using the magazine approach to improve your platform.
- Top 5 Challenges Faced By Women In Business…and The Solutions! (via She Takes on the World): As business prototypes have changed with the advent and growth of the internet, so have the unique issues encountered by women in business. Here are five of these challenges and solutions to overcome and achieve success.
- How to Build a Wildly Successful Business [VIDEO] (via Mike Michalowicz): Using strategies Michalowicz learned from colossal pumpkin farmers, entrepreneurs can grow a colossal business. It all starts with selecting the right seed.
- Chart: Here's How Many Kickstarter Projects Are Successfully Funded (via Business Insider): More and more people are posting projects on Kickstarter, hoping to get their business ideas funded by peers.
- How to Make Big Ideas Happen (via The Skool of Life): What I realized was that I had planted the seed for a much bigger idea: surf and business retreats held in different locations around the world (something I’ve been talking about on twitter, and in a few other places).
- Social Commerce Is Commerce With A Social Layer (via A VC): There are services that allow for transacting and payment inside of large social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. They bring commerce to social platforms. This entire category of services is called Social Commerce. I have not been particularly bullish on these services because I think social commerce is most naturally e-commerce with a well implemented social layer built natively into the commerce platform.
- How A 17-Year-Old In India Bootstrapped To $7M In Revenue (via On Startups): I will share the unconventional problems that came our way and the lessons we learnt.
- The Most Important Takeaway from the Election – Moxie Matters (via Alexia Vernon): Let’s be clear, if you want to influence, if you want to lead, you need moxie. And moxie is not simply the confidence and competence to open your mouth, take up space, and be heard. Moxie is also being able to meet people where they are with your communication, establish your credibility through genuine connection, and co-create and articulate a plan the integrates the voices of those who feel powerful with those who feel powerless.
- 5 Tips for Using Pinterest to Promote Your Business (via Ali Brown): Millions of retailers now use Pinterest to promote their goods. And for small business owners like you and me, it can prove to be a valuable, fun way to build brand awareness for your business via visually driven content.
- How Can We Support Women in Tech (via the YEC): 7 Founders explain how women can be supported in technology.
- How to Get Useful Feedback on Your Projects: Avoid Like/Dislike (via Ben Casnocha): If you know there’s still work to do — on your draft essay, on your public speaking skills, on your product – ask people for one or two specific ideas on how they’d improve it. Focus their mind exclusively on practical, specific changes that they think would lead to improvement.
- The 5 Best Things About Franchise Ownership (via The Executive Suite): There are lots of great reasons to write about franchise ownership.
- Instagram for Business (via Bigfin): So how can your go about using Instagram for business? The key is to use images to tell a story—about your products, your brand, your employees. Think like your consumer.
- Entrepreneurial Studies Increasing at HBCUs (via Black Enterprise): Entrepreneurial programs are gaining traction at HBCUs across the country.
- 5 Reasons Entreprenuers Should Buy An iPad Mini (via Black Enterprise): There is no doubt that holiday shoppers will buy the high-tech stocking stuffer for friends and family, but should you integrate the iPad Mini into your business? Here are 5 reasons entrepreneurs should add the iPad Mini to their list of must-have digital tools.
- Does Being a Great Place to Work Really Boost Productivity? (via Blogtrepreneur): Sometimes managers take the view that employees are getting a wage, so they should be happy to have a job and should work their hardest at all times. Business leaders know, however, that this simply isn’t the case. Making sure your staff are motivated and happy is one of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur, and here are a few simple steps to ensure they are.
- How Can I Use Social Media to Help My Real Estate Business? (via Blogtrepreneur): Marketing yourself and the homes you are selling is important to the success of your business; therefore, getting real returns on every hour you put in is important.
- 5 Easy Ways to Chase Your Audience Away on Twitter (via Blueye Creative): 5 actions on Twitter which can cause you to lose your audience.
- It's Always Darkest before Dawn (via Brian Solis): When asked to share his best advice for budding entrepreneurs, Ressi reminded us to stay true to the mission and customer value, “It truly is always darkest before the dawn in entrepreneurship. Don’t throw in the towel even when it seems the worst…it’s part of the journey of success.”
- Time to Check Your Site (via Startup Nation): The busy, fall season is here, and it’s time to focus on your priorities for the rest of the year. Here’s a quick list of questions to ask.
- 5 Excellent Books for People in Business Careers (via Business Pundit): The more you learn new information and strategies about being a great business person, the faster you can help advance your career. Business books can help you grow as a person and professionally, while motivating you to work smarter instead of harder.
- Biggest Business Regrets (via Carol Roth): As entrepreneurs and business owners, we’ve all had experiences or made decisions that we regret. But, we can definitely learn from those mistakes and regrets.
- The Balance Between Comfort and Innovation (via Carol Roth): As you grow your business, think about what tweaks you can make to innovate and update what you do without moving away from the core comfort that your customers have come to depend upon.
- Don’t Let Stress Take the Fun Out of Business Ownership (via CorpNet): Some stress is normal for entrepreneurs, of course, but if it’s taking over your business and personal life, it’s time to take measures to fix it. These tips will help ease the stress in your day-to-day work life.
- Is Your Business Ready for 2013? (via CorpNet): As the year winds down, it’s a fantastic time to make sure your business is ready for the new year. This means taking a look at your business and marketing plan, as well as making sure your legal ducks are all in a row.
Image courtesy of FrameAngel / FreeDigitalPhotos.net