I am compiling a list of the top 50 reasons why entrepreneurs love what they do.  

Results will be published in my weekly column at the end of Febraury and posted on my blog so feel free to leave your name, company name, and web URL for inclusion in the post. 

Please keep repsonses to 2-3 sentences. 

Thank you for sharing!

Just wanted to share some great insights from the CEO of SCORE

- Service Corps of Retired Executives- sponsored by the SBA

A great article from the CEO of SCORE- Service Corps of Retired Executives- sponsored by the SBA

SCORE Offers Top 10 Secrets for Small Business Success in 2010

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Make 2010 a small business year for growth and profits with success secrets from SCORE. The experts at SCORE are dedicated to supporting America’s engine for economic growth — small business. SCORE provides mentoring, coaching, training and resources. Every day, SCORE mentors are helping small businesses succeed. Learn more at www.score.org.

SCORE CEO Ken Yancey says, “When it comes to getting ahead in business, it’s all about making the rights moves at the right times. At SCORE, we share secrets for success, based on having helped more than 8.5 million entrepreneurs. This year, we’ve come up with our top 10 list to make 2010 a profitable year for America’s small businesses.”

SCORE’s Top 10 Secrets for Small Business Success in 2010

1. Grow your customer base. Understand your customer demographics and why they buy your products and services. Win clients over with new and diversified products. Offer multiple price points and create packages or customizable plans, which give your customers greater freedom and flexibility.
2. Expand low budget marketing. Promote your business for free on Twitter, and set up a Facebook fan page. Start a blog and comment on other blogs. Take this opportunity to communicate with customers about your business. Go viral.
3. Surround yourself with experts. Get feedback from advisors you trust. Entrepreneurs count on SCORE for free and confidential business mentoring. Use a mentor to test ideas, map a sales plan and focus on success. Ask SCORE for advice and meet with a SCORE mentor.
4. Add ecommerce through a web site. Your business needs a web site to stay competitive. Secure all variations on your company’s domain name. Use online forms to encourage interaction. Add a shopping cart to sell your products, not just promote the brand.
5. Free up time to sharpen your focus. Organize for success. Set a time each week to handle routine tasks. Use a PDA to keep track of phone numbers, dates, appointments and meetings. Take short breaks to refresh and recharge.
6. Create experience events to draw in customers. Host special events like demonstrations, trunk shows and classes. Offer rebate programs to encourage repeat purchases. Rearrange merchandise to make it appear fresh and provide a fresh customer experience.
7. Network to build buzz and referrals. Join groups that represent your clients. If you don’t have the money to join an association, offer to donate your services. Take advantage of social gatherings, committee appointments, membership meetings and networking events. Each meeting is an opportunity for referrals.
8. Track your cash flow. The one thing all businesses need is cash. Ensure that you collect receivables within 30 days. Monitor invoices. Pay early when you get a discount. Always keep an eye on your cash. Prepare cash flow reports so you understand your cash needs.
9. Plan for financing success. Even if you’re in business, you should have a business plan ready to submit to potential lenders. Know how additional funding will help you grow your business, and demonstrate your ability to re-pay the loan.
10. Consider an LLC. As a sole proprietor, you are personally liable for the debts and liabilities of your business. A corporation or limited liability corporation (LLC) protects your personal assets and property. You can register your business as a separate legal entity.

SCORE has 364 offices nationwide with experts who offer free and confidential advice to small business owners. SCORE mentors have experience in finance, accounting, management, marketing, sales prospecting, strategic planning and more.

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 8.5 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through mentoring and workshops. More than 12,400 volunteer business counselors in 364 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses.

For more information about starting or operating a small business, call               1-800/634-0245         1-800/634-0245 for the SCORE chapter nearest you. Visit SCORE on the Web at www.score.org and www.score.org/women.

Small Business Consulting  and Entrepreneur Development resource of the week by Will Corrente and Operation Entrepreneur

Smart and savy entrepreneurs know that learning how to leverage the web and its expansive marketing capabilities holds the key not only to a company’s exposure online but driving off line traffic as well.  In the early days of the web written content was king, then came pictures, then audio and video.  Now social media has changed the way entrepreneurs need to position themselves and reach their target audience online.  This article offers advice on maximizing 2 of the web’s greatest players in assisting you in driving traffic and building organic strength.  Facebook and Google!

If you’re creating videos, hosting them on your website, and aim to optimize those videos for competitive search engine placement you’ll want to pay attention to this one.

Google today announced support for Facebook Share and Yahoo! SearchMonkey RDFa for videos.

Video Optimziation: Google Supports FB Share and RDFa - Website Magazine - Website Magazine.

More great small business consulting and entrepreneur coaching advise from Will Corrente and Operation Entrepreneur: check out this helpful article on how Google has changed its use of meta tags for SEO.

 Keyword Meta Tags and Google - Website Magazine - Website Magazine.

Digital business cards are a great way to improve your efficiency, web reach, entrepreneur development and personal development.

Here is a great article on new electronic business cards and digital means of business card exchange.  I am experimenting with one of them, the business card2 service.  I liked what they had to say regarding SEO, ease of sharing on the web and that there is no software download required.  I am intrigued by the dub.com product, since I have become an avid blackberry user, but one drawback is that both users must have the dub application to exchange information.   That being the case, we will need to wait to see who becomes the dominant player in the market or if blackberry with eventually coome with a preloaded setting for electronic (beaming) exchange.

Eight digital alternatives to paper business cards - CNN.com.

Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

Read the entire article at http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

The West Palm Beach Library Foundation is proud to present a series of seminars entitled “Live A Power FULL  Life” featuring local entrepreneur and West Palm Beach resident, Will Corrente. 

Will Corrente is a life long entrepreneur. Over the past 20 years, Will has owned and operated several businesses in the business to business and business to consumer market segments. While still in college, Will started his first 2 businesses: the first a lawn care and landscaping maintenance company, and the second, a residential and commercial cleaning service.   read the entire story at

http://www.wpblibraryfound.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.details&ArticleId=6&returnTo=main

This article points out a valuable lesson about business controls.  Financial controls such as; check writing, deposits, bank account numbers,  etc should never be placed in the hands of new employees without some sort of oversight or system of checks and balances in place. 

Using a management system like my Power Squared System, helps entrepreneur business owners develop the systems to manage thier businesses effectively and create plans and processes to ensure that the events that transpired in this article do not happen to them.

Lessons I learned from my embezzling bookkeeper - Oct. 5, 2009.

Will Corrente – Fear is nothing more than a lack of faith in yourself to overcome the obstacle, circumstance, or challenge in your path. It is that flicker of doubt in your mind that grows into a flame, that you do not have the ability to “do it”. Whatever, “IT” is. In 2002, I faced a couple of my “IT’s”; the fear of the unknown and the fear of going it alone in a new and unfamiliar place.  Read the whole story at…

GetInTheHotSpot.com – Self Development Blog – Articles & Inspiration So You Can Live Your Dream » Overcoming Fear – Turning Fearful Into Fierce.

Will Corrente - “Helping People Get Where They Want To Go”

CEO Corrente consulting International Inc and Operation Entrepreneur

Specializing in small business consulting, entrepreneur coaching, and entrepreneur development. 

Entrepreneur, Consultant, Speaker and, Author

Download your free special report at http://www.operationentrepreneur.com/7secrets/