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Author: Ross Maldonado

SCORE Workshop: Making Business Plans Easy

Join the SBA Houston District at a workshop hosted by SCORE Houston.  This workshop is for entrepreneurs and small business owners alike. This Business Plan workshop will walk you through the steps needed for most business plans.  It will help remove the confusion and fear and allow you to get started on your business plan today by providing sample questions to answer about your business. The workshop will give you valuable and powerful tools to help guide you.  Of special importance is the uniquely crafted Business Idea Feasibility Test.  Other tools will guide you through marketing techniques including the confusing world of digital marketing (e.g., Search & Social Marketing). Be prepared...

Summer’s Almost Over. Did You Take Time Off Yet?

Labor Day is fast approaching, and that means summer is almost over. Have you taken a break from your small business yet? Getting away from it all for a vacation is challenging for many Americans, but especially for small business owners who often lack the staff to delegate to you while they're away. Just 57 percent of small business owners in a recent survey by OnDeck Capital say they are vacationing this year, and only 32 percent say they generally make vacation a priority. But taking a vacation—even a short one—can make a huge difference in your productivity, motivation and energy levels after your return. And it might be...

The Power of Referrals

Whether you own an accounting firm that caters to other business owners, a cupcake bakery or a residential landscaping business, getting referrals from satisfied customers is one of the best ways to attract new customers. What tactics do most small business owners use to get referrals, and which ones actually work best? A new study, The State of Business Customer Referral Programs, polled both B2B and B2C business owners to find out. Here’s what you should know. Most popular referral methods The referral methods that business owners use most are: Lead forms - 77 percent Email - 73 percent Verbal - 54 percent Social media - 50 percent Shareable URLs...

Five Things You Can Do to Get Your Product on HSN

Five Things You Can Do to Get Your Product on HSN Every month, HSN receives more than 700 product submissions from entrepreneurs across America, vying to share their stories and get their products in front of HSN’s 90 million households. In an effort to elevate small businesses and entrepreneurs, HSN introduced its American Dreams initiative – a program designed to find and support innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs, and give them the HSN platform to share their product and their story. Here the team highlights a few best practices to get your product on the leading entertainment and lifestyle retailer. 1. Share your story An entrepreneur who shares the experiences on how they came...

What Online Marketing Tactics Generate the Best B2B Leads?

What Online Marketing Tactics Generate the Best B2B Leads? The days of B2B businesses generating leads via sales letters and cold calls are long gone. Today, savvy B2B marketers use online marketing to attract qualified leads. But which digital marketing tactics work the best for this purpose? Here’s what a recent survey of B2B marketers in the 2017 State of B2B Digital Marketing has to say. Social media, email and search are the most popular lead generation tactics… Some digital lead generation tactics are almost universally employed. For example, 95 percent of B2B marketers surveyed use social media to generate leads, 93 percent use email marketing and 91 percent use organic...

How the SBA Helps Start and Grow Small Businesses

Join the SBA Houston District Office to learn more about the programs and resources available to help small businesses build and succeed.  This webinar will highlight free business counseling services, federal contracting programs, and access to capital. YOU WILL LEARN: ·  How small businesses benefit from SBA programs ·  Free business counseling through SCORE, Small Business Development Center (SBDC), & Women’s Business Center (WBC) ·  Avenues for growing your business through federal contracting programs PRESENTERS: ·  Valerie Maher, SBA Houston District Office, Lead Economic Development Specialist WHEN:  Wednesday June 28th, 2017 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (CDT) COST:   FREE but registration is required. This is an ONLINE Webinar Only! SBA offers a variety of...

The Power of a One-Page Plan of Action

One of the biggest challenges the staffs of our business coaching clients tell us is how dizzy they are when their founder/owner changes too many things too frequently. As one of our client’s staff members put it at a recent workshop I spoke at, “It feels like just when I start getting some momentum on a key initiative he [the owner] changes things on me.  I find this very frustrating and unproductive.” How about you?  Are you someone who chases after bright, shiny objects?  Or do you doggedly stay focused on one strategy and pursue it with single-minded determination? The reality is that you need both flexibility and...

Why Running Payroll is More Than Writing Checks

You’ve got a business, and you’ve got employees. All you have to do is write a check and pay them, right? (Insert the sound of almost any vehicle screeching to a stop here.) Well, not so fast. In order to be compliant, meaning that you’re following all the applicable rules and regulations, you’ll need: Accurate employee information First off, you need an Form W-4 from every employee and Form W-9 from every contractor in order to get the their relevant tax and identification information. You must verify that each employee is legally able to work in the United States by completing Form I-9. You should verify that...

Business Entrepreneur Networking

Business Entrepreneur Networking event was at full capacity. Twenty- five entrepreneurs RSVP'd on meetup.com to attend the event and network with other business owners.    Every other week, Office In America Co. and Agency 258: Marian LaSalle, and Russ Johns, hosts an event covering special topics entrepreneurs can learn more about. Our speaker this week was Attorney Nixon Daughtrey of the Daughtrey Law Firm. The topic was "What would happen to your business if you weren’t there for a week, a month, a year, or if you never returned?" Nixon will explain ways that small businesses can protect themselves from accidents, divorce, or the loss of key personnel. When the...

School’s Out for Summer…But Not Your Small Business

Whether you’re more excited about firing up the grill, relaxing on the beach or being more active, the warm summer months can provide challenges for your small business — especially if you’re based at home. It doesn’t take much for a seasonal change to derail your focus. Maybe your kids are home from school, or a seasonal slump has left you feeling distracted. Sometimes a little extra sunshine is a distraction enough. But the arrival of the lazy, hazy days of summer doesn’t mean you can forget about your small business goals. Here’s how to stay focused when you’re working at home this summer. 1. Determine your distractions If...