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

On a recent appearance on The Big Idea with Donny, I was one of three people on a panel. It was our role to help people fed into the show via satellite and phone.
It’s a huge challenge to be in the hot seat and be ready to fire away with valuable advice. But it’s thrilling, [...]

Sounds a little unbelievable, but yeah- I did. I won’t name names, but I can tell you that this big box retailer has everything for ‘US Moms. It all started exactly a year ago at a tradeshow in Vegas. Their buyer walked by my booth, smiled, and took off in a flash. I was writing [...]

Many people ask me for pricing advice when first launching a new product.  I can only speak from experience from being in the fashion/ accessory market.Â
Wholesale mark up for the fashion/ accessory business is usually in the range of : “your cost + 40-50 %”
Then retail prices would be: “wholesale cost + 40-60%”, [...]

I made a public promise on this week’s telechat with Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. The promise was to use the techniques that Dan recommends at a very high-powered sales presentation that I was to give yesterday to a big potential partner.
Well, I did [...]

I’ve received some great feedback and questions from readers after my initial post.  Several of them gave specific information about their business successes and dilemmas.  In the true sense of community, I wanted to share those responses and my suggestions for getting over those hurdles.  I am creating a “Beyond the Launch” series that will be generated solely [...]

As I indicated in Part 1 of this series of blog entries, Suzy Batiz, founder of Poo-Pourri, shared her advice, further proving what a true shining star she is, right here, living and working among us in the StartupNation community. What a role model!
Below Suzy provides more of her advice.
In Suzy Batiz’s Words:
COVER YOUR BASES/PROTECT YOURSELF
Only once [...]

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 [...]

In a recent post about the Four Ps of Marketing, I discussed how you can use your email marketing campaigns to effectively promote your company’s products. If your product fulfills a need or want, has either niche or mass-market appeal, has a high perceived value and can be sold easily, your business has a higher [...]

Overwhelmingly, online consumers prefer green products over similar products that aren’t green. (Sounds like a toothpaste commercial, but it’s true!)
A brand new study shows that 83% of consumers will choose the greener of two products that are similar. Pretty compelling.
The study can be found be visiting this link at Doubleclick Performics.
Further, surprisingly in this tough [...]

If you’re in retail, ’tis the season for milking the moment for all it’s worth. This is retail make-it-or-break-it time.
Wondering if you’d like to contribute ideas here for holiday selling tactics that make the most of the last days of 2007, a time when people have saved money for purchases and are now ready to [...]