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

Without a doubt, one of the hottest things in social media networking these days is Twitter.  The social media and micro-blogging platform was listed as the fastest growing social media application by Neilson’s Media Service in October 2008 as its popularity grew by 343% last year.�
The site also received tremendous press last year with [...]

What is an NDA? An NDA is a Non-Disclosure Agreement, also known as a Confidentiality Agreement. It is a contract between individuals and/or companies who are considering doing business together and need to share information about each other’s businesses in order to work together. The NDA creates a protective shield of confidentiality [...]

As the old saying goes, “Time is Money.”  Big retailers such as Gap, Limited Brands, Office Depot, Toys R Us, and the Meijer grocery chain are all jumping on this bandwagon as they try to squeeze as much profit as possible out of the upcoming weak holiday shopping season. (Read more here from the WSJ, [...]

This has become my new mantra and quite honestly, I wish I would have seen the light a little earlier.  However, as a small business owner swamped with trying to make sales, market the business, oversee the day-to-day operations, and oh yeah- create the product, I just never saw where “having lunch” had a worthy [...]

The Marketing to Moms Coalition just released their Moms Annual Media Survey 2008.  The group surveyed 1,033 Moms all with children under 18 living at home via an online questionnaire.  Moms currently spend an estimated $2.1 trillion dollars in the U.S. marketplace.  Needless to say, knowing how to reach this key demographic can give your [...]

Among the constant influx of bad news I came across an article from Forbes singing the praises of emerging designers.  While this article talks mainly about fashion designers, I believe it can translate to other industries as well.  The bottom line is that retailers are looking for new ideas to excite and motivate their customers [...]

I’ve been receiving several exclusive offers specifically to help small business owners. And since the economy is tough right now, I thought I’d share these free offers with you, my fellow StartupNation entrepreneurs:
- Got an innovative, recession-busting marketing strategy that is helping your small business boost sales?
If so, you may want to enter PrintingForLess.com’s “Economic [...]

With the non-stop news reports of Wallstreet’s record losses, the rising unemployment rate, and the dismal forecasts for holiday spending, it’s easy to become paralyzed with fear of the unknown.  While there may be several factors effecting the economy and markets today that are out of our control, there are plenty of things that we [...]

Once you land an account with a large retailer you’ll soon be setting sail into a sea of acronyms and numbers that could make any sane person’s head spin.  Fear not!  Let me take you step-by-step through the process of developing your UPCs, registering your barcodes with the retailer, and becoming EDI compliant.  Let’s get [...]

Landing a large account can be an exhilarating experience for a young company and you can’t help but daydream about the possibility of “overnight success”.  Just around the corner… redemption for all those long hours spent fine-tuning your product, reciting your elevator pitch in the mirror, and packing orders until 2am.  While getting an initial [...]