Use SWOT to Kick-start Your Planning
Regardless of whether you develop a full-blown “business plan,” you certainly want to plan your business. Planning isn’t just about creating a formalized document; it’s about figuring out how you’ll achieve your goals and tracking progress. A planning process–setting objectives, prioritizing, allocating resources and establishing milestones–will help you better manage your business.
Read the full article at Entrepreneur.com …
Does Success Hinge on a Domain Name?
There are now more than 71.1 million registered .com domains—about three times the number of domains registered using .net, .org, .info, .biz, or .us combined. Every possible two- and three-character dot-com domain name was claimed years ago, as was virtually every word in the English dictionary.
Read the full article at BusinessWeek…
Ten Things Every Good Business Plan Must Have
Solid business plans don’t guarantee success. But for entrepreneurs with decent ideas, they surely boost the odds.
A good plan accomplishes three important tasks. First, it aligns the management team toward a common set of goals. Then, once the vision is on paper, it forces the team to take a long, hard look at the feasibility of the business.
Read the full article at Forbes.com …
Freelancers Are Small Businesses Too
Freelancers are actually small businesses. It sounds obvious, but it’s important to think of a freelance businessas a business — fundamentally different from a professional working for a regular employer. Among other things, that means avoiding the most common freelancer mistakes.
Read the article at Small Biz Resource …
Get Smart: A Guide to Smartphones
The smartphone, a cross between a cell phone and a portable digital assistant (PDA) is rapidly becoming an essential piece of business equipment, not just for corporate salary types, but for small business people, too.
Read the full article at SmallBusinessComputing …
Everyone wants to start a business
Once upon a time, small business was seen solely as the domain of idiosyncratic, iconoclastic outsiders, willing to forgo the security of corporate life to venture out on their own. But today entrepreneurs are America’s role models … Almost everyone wants to own a business - from college students, who are signing up for entrepreneurial courses in record numbers; to those over age 65, who are forming more companies every year; to recent immigrants, who in 2005 started 25% more companies per capita than native-born citizens did.
Read the full article at CNNMoney.com …
Think Twice Before Borrowing from Family
The situation is deceptively simple — a would-be small-business owner has difficulty finding enough money to start his company. Perhaps he has bad credit and the bank denies him a loan. Perhaps he’s inexperienced at running a business and unsure where to turn for funds. So, he calls up his father, mother, or a close friend and asks for their support. What could go wrong?
Read the article at BusinessWeek …
Will My New Business Ever Make Money?
How can you tell if your business idea will be profitable? The honest answer is, you can’t. But this uncertainty shouldn’t keep you from researching the financial soundness of your idea. Preparing what’s known as a “break-even analysis,” or “break-even forecast,” as well as several other financial projections, can help you determine whether or not your business will succeed.
Read the full article at Forbes…
Web 2.0 Productivity Tools
The web continues to grow, and Web 2.0 tools are emerging constantly. One of the most difficult challenges for an entrepreneur is choosing which tools are the best for getting the job done. Here are some of the more mainstream Web 2.0 tools you can use to improve your business operations and team productivity.