Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

Many self-employed individuals need to purchase their own health insurance policies, long before strategizing about their startup’s approach. When you are newly self-employed and looking to purchase, here are some quick tips:
-Always compare multiple policies and prices. Don’t just look at insurance companies that “your parents recommend.” The market is incredibly competitive, so you [...]

Sounds like a dream come true has occurred among us. Through the winning combo of tenacity, a great idea, having access to the right information and support network here at StartupNation, Suzy Batiz made over $1 million in first-year revenue selling her novel toilet scent spray product line called, “PooPourri.” Yes, you read that correctly.
You [...]

Tips for using the “power of the press” to increase sales, awareness and credibility.

If you’re new to Seattle and looking for that list of three things you have to experience, here they are: the mountains, the sea…and Tilth. The experience is everything everyone has told you and more – just the sort of cozy dining you wish were in every neighborhood, the kind of quality you wish every [...]

Hi gang,
Large eBay sellers are spending a lot of time these days developing other sales channels, and I am certainly no exception. Multichannel commerce is the way to go for an online seller.
Our latest effort, http://inflatablemadnessdvd.com has been very rewarding to create, and now the challenge is to get some bidness out of [...]

There as a lot of hoopla about how the Federal stimulus package would encourage spending by consumers, but it’s also designed to positively impact small businesses as well.�
www.sba.gov/stimulus is a new site set up to help you understand just how.
Included at the site are:

A fact sheet that provides a clear explanation of the small business tax benefits.
A deprecation calculator [...]

More than half of small business employers spent up to 10 percent more on health insurance in 2007 than in 2006, and nearly 10 percent of employers surveyed say they’ll either drop or consider dropping coverage this year, according to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations.
Employer-sponsored health insurance coverage rose 6.1 percent in 2007, [...]

Email marketing services like iContact have a powerful method of improving the open and response rates for your email newsletters: message personalization. People generally respond more favorably to marketing when you make them feel unique. On the other hand, they tend to respond differently to things when they perceive themselves as part of a larger [...]

I’ve talked to a lot of business owners recently who are seeing requests for information, incoming calls and in-store visits decline due to the economy.
As an entrepreneur, you’ve probably noticed this too. And it can be easy to fall into an emotional trap of negativity and disappointment.
If you are feeling this way, try to change your [...]

Here’s a link to the webcast of my 8 Secrets to Startup Success.
Throughout April and into early May, I was on a seminar tour with the folks at Microsoft Office Live Small Business. The tour, Vision to Venture (aimed at women entrepreneurs), was a huge success. Hundreds of people showed up in St. Louis, San [...]