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Archive for the entrepreneur coaching

What i enjoy least about owning my own business?

February 15th, 2010 by admin No Comments

I am looking to create a top list of what entrepreneurs enjoy least about owning their own business. 

Top list will be compiled and posted on this blog and in my weekly news column.

Thank you for your response.

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Top 10 Secrets for Small Business Success

January 24th, 2010 by admin No Comments

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.

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Entreprneneur Advice- Video Optimziation

December 20th, 2009 by admin No Comments

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.

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Small Business Consulting Advice Keyword Meta Tags and Google

December 16th, 2009 by admin No Comments

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.

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Small Business Consulting- New FTC Internet Marketing Guidelines in Effect

December 8th, 2009 by admin 1 Comment

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

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technorati claim

December 4th, 2009 by admin No Comments

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Small Business Consulting 101- Responding to Flaming Emails

November 19th, 2009 by admin No Comments

 

 

This blog post is courtesy of my friend and colleague Pam Cournoyer.

 

Email ettiquette is a hot topic in my small business consulting and entrepreneur development practice and I appreciate Pamela lending her advice and counsel on this important topic.

 

If you ever received email that insulted you, caused a sinking feeling in your gut, or a horrible sense of personal violation, then you have been the victim of a flaming email. Undeserved, unwarranted and hurtful words can put a real damper on your day.  The longer you are in business and the more customers you serve, the more likely it is this will occur.

 

I’ve included four real-life examples of business emails and posts’, and followed them with suggestions of HOW to respond to similar inflammatory attacks.  Our goal here is to maintain your brand, your professionalism and your reputation.  At the end of this article there are points to keep in mind if you are tempted to initiate or reply with a flaming email.

 

#1 Lawsuit Threat. “I realize that I am public enemy number one, since I chose not to expose you or me to the inevitable lawsuit that would come because you decided to _____ in the first place.”

This is meant to stir you up.  Writing a defense will not help – no matter how good the reason.  Disregard the “public enemy #1,” it is added for effect, disregard the “inevitable law suit,” it’s a mute point.  Disregard the accusation of “because you decided to.”  Now, how much actual content is left?  There is no response to this statement.

If you must respond to a flaming email, look at the UNDERLYING issues – these are only symptoms of something much deeper that may or may not have anything to do with you.  Once you decipher what the cause of the accusation is, professionally deal with those facts and let the rest go.

 

#2 All I Get Is Silence. “To date…. I have not received any word from _____ about _______. All I need is a definitive answer. All I get is silence. She won’t take my calls. She won’t answer my e-mails and neither will you.”

Do not get pulled into the drama.  A timely and professional response to the original concern is the UNDERLYING problem (stated in the first sentence). Apologize for the slight in customer service and give the customer what they need.

 

#3 Age and Grammar Discrimination. “I have been reading your reports, paticularly in South East Asia and I have to say they are incredibly poor. You are from an English speaking country (the U.S.A) presumably you are in your early twenties, so why is your English at the level of a mentally challenged five year old child. I cannot understand any of your ideas. If you want to set up a website with informative material please make sure you can actually write at all.”

This blog post response shows a serious lack of professionalism, maturity and proper grammar. Quite often people who write flaming emails are coming from their survival brain where logic and clear thought are not present. Disregard it there is no need to defend anything. Keep in mind; those who violate common courtesy will trip themselves up without you ever responding.

 

#4 Swearing and Misspelling. “Its not because people couldnt reset there passwords that they dont visit your board its because it is crap. Dont email me again, and remove me from your system file thank you.”

Do you suppose the “thank you” at the end of the statement is meant to excuse the sender from their preceding rude comments? Note the incorrect usage of the word “there,” and the misspelling of the word “couldn’t,” “dont,” and “Dont” and the improper sentence structure. Poor grammar and anger usually mix – it makes the user appear ignorant.  Again, the allegations need NO response.  The UNDERLYING problem here is resetting the passwords – correct this as a courtesy to the rest of your users.

 

The moderator’s flaming response before thinking to Communicate with CLASS:

“I’m afraid I won’t do that, mainly due to your rudeness.  What gives you the idea that you can speak for all 540 members regarding whether or not they have been unable to reset their passwords, or that they think the site is crap?”

While the moderator may have a point, they are continuing the argument, and encouraging a nastier reply. Fix the passwords, and set up a posting policy like:  “The use of flaming terminology will be grounds for removal from the site.”

 

CLASS key s that might improve your responses when you are inflamed by email:

Back away from your keyboard when:

  • The message is emotionally charged
  • What is being communicated is complicated
  • A conversation is more efficient
  • Privacy is an issue
  • You are thinking in profanity
  • You want to type in ALL CAPS
  • You think excessive exclamation points or question marks will get your point across better

 

Because people cannot read your body language, voice tone or emotions when sending email, how you craft your response is very important.  Every keystroke talks about you, it reveals your character, your professionalism; it personally brands you.  Keep in mind the fact that one careless response could easily be forwarded to people you never intended.

 

Even a few incidents of conflict escalation for most people can create enormous problems.  As the number of workplace relationships managed by email increases, the volume of flaming email escalation can grow exponentially.  If you are experiencing these problems in your workplace or between yourself and another, contact us for assistance in getting this under control.

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NEW YORK ENTREPRENEUR WEEK

November 14th, 2009 by admin No Comments

November 16-20, 2009

NYEW is a 501c3 non-profit organization. All funds are tax deductible.

Entrepreneurs are the catalysts for conquering today’s economic challenges.

Join us at this ground breaking event designed to catapult entrepreneurs to greater

success. Make solid connections across diverse industries. Connect with enterprising

young idea-stage innovators to multi-million dollar revenue generators. We will come

together for one week only. This event will drive economies and change

societies. After all, if we don’t do it, who will?

Entrepreneurs Must Attend:

All Entrepreneurs = those who consider themselves movement makers, change

agents, people helpers or problem solvers. If you aren’t described above, stay home.

What You’ll Get:

The greatest opportunity to move your business forward, faster than ever before.

By uniting all of New York State’s most important entrepreneurial groups, you’ll

reach and learn from New York’s best and brightest entrepreneurs who are relentless,

driven and dedicated to changing their business, their economy and the world.

Now is the time to come together.

 

 

 i-am-speaking-at-nyew

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Entrepreneur Educations-How To Be Your Own Boss – Kiplinger.com

September 28th, 2009 by admin No Comments

Sound entrepreneur coaching and small business advice in a great article from Kiplinger.com

 

Before you strike out on your own, make a game plan and get your finances in order.  read the entire article at

How To Be Your Own Boss – Kiplinger.com.

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/

 

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Entrepreneurship: The New Mid-Life Crisis – BusinessWeek

September 20th, 2009 by admin No Comments

An entrepreneurial boom is on its way, but don’t expect it to be led by 20-somethings. Instead, America’s best economic recovery plan is in the hands of those aged 50 and up, according to a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation. The study found that over the past 10 years, most company founders were between the ages of 55 and 64. This goes against the stereotype of the college drop-out entrepreneur á la Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.  Read the entire article at:

Entrepreneurship: The New Mid-Life Crisis – BusinessWeek.

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