The Small Business Blog

JUNE 20, 2010

Try to learn a bit about the industry that your prospective business customer works in so you don’t look out of your depth. It may seem obvious, but periodically asking a customer about how you or your service/product can help make their work-flow easier builds relationships. Number 3 is also especially relevant.

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

That said, I’m a firm believer that a bit of ‘gut feeling’ on the right person goes a long way – I’ve hired many people over the years and sometimes the candidate who is ‘technically’ the best, doesn’t always fit in to the organisation – that’s just something you learn over time though.

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The Small Business Blog

JANUARY 31, 2010

Learn about how your company structure affects pay. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. If possible, get some advice from your accountant regarding the level of pay you plan on taking from the business.

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The Small Business Blog

JULY 13, 2010

It might take time, but you will learn a great deal about how to, and how not to, do things! Networking not only allows you to meet potential clients but you will also learn valuable lessons from people who are more experienced in the business world. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 14, 2010

Learn everything you can about your competition, their products and how they advertise. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. If you have additional tips, please share them in the comments section.

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 16, 2010

If an area such as accounting is your weakness, rather than wasting time learning the skill it may be more cost-effective and time efficient to outsource the service. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment.

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The Small Business Blog

DECEMBER 20, 2009

If you are no longer personally growing and learning in your role it can cause your business to stagnate. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. It is possible that you may have been at the helm for too long.

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

You might be surprised how much you can learn about your people and your business! when I was managing people I learned fast that setting an example got the most response and number 4 helped keep people fired up. If you want them to be engaged, ensure that you’re engaged. Be accessible – today’s workers value face time.

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2009

Not only that, you have someone that is learning the latest and greatest tech practices. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. Thanks for the list! Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

JANUARY 13, 2010

Although he never finished high school, Scudamore loves nothing more than learning. Within his business he has established what he calls a Mentor Board of Advisors, a group of people he turns to for advice and learning. Today they have 95 franchise partners across North America and are in 47 of North America’s top 50 cities.

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The Small Business Blog

MAY 20, 2010

When you begin employing staff you need to quickly learn how to not only manage them, but also how to help them achieve their best. Allow your staff time to come to you with ideas or questions; you’ll learn a lot about your business and might even discover an avenue you’d never thought of taking. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

JULY 20, 2010

As I have mentioned previously , I am looking to help small businesses to hold conversations, engage with each other and learn from what is happening in the big business world. Small business owners need to consider ‘online’ an extension of their market place and learn to communicate well within that environment.

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The Small Business Blog

JANUARY 21, 2008

The fact that there are plenty of highly profitable companies, with for instance bad customer service, does not mean they are not loosing customers. With my focus on micro business, it is imperative to get customer service right since it is often the main differentiator to bigger and/or cheaper competition.

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The Small Business Blog

JULY 27, 2010

For example, if you learn about products that are doing well in other countries then you may be able to adapt them for sale here if no-one else is doing it. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment.

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 27, 2010

I look forward to reading your pitches, and learning more about your small businesses! We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. The WinWeb Facebook page can be found here , you really have got nothing to lose!

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 30, 2010

Only allow yourself a certain amount of time for tasks that can become time consuming, such as reading and responding to email. Another tip I have is to learn to say ‘no’ Too many people especially in this economic downturn are too afraid to say no to tasks or turn down work if they are a freelancer. Outsource and delegate!

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

I came across one company from Canada which took SEO optimisation into their own hands and learned through experience and extensive testing a few proven ways to boost Google’s rankings of your website. Encourage other sites to link to yours – this may be a well known strategy but it can’t be reinforced enough. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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Service Untitled

OCTOBER 26, 2010

Service Untitled The blog about customer service and the customer service experience. More than price, since companies vie for the best prices all the time, is to make truly lasting impressions in order to win customer loyalty. So what comprises quality customer service and how can we do it better?

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 2, 2008

Now you can learn what went wrong and understand your business better, it will force you to rethink and face facts. You will be amazed what you can learn about the financial dynamic in your small business within one hour, that is often all it takes to get started. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

JUNE 29, 2010

The only issue that comes up is that just like with traditional hardware and software… there is always a learning curve and employee’s often run into tech problems that they either try to solve themselves… or ask their neighbor to help out with. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 2, 2009

You learn to enjoy that and understand that they are doing that because they are hurting – after all we are destroying their business model, which made them all very much money. I think that when the reputation of our industry is at stake we need to work together. If Sage will do that remains to be seen? Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 20, 2008

What have I learned yesterday? Quality, customer service and a niche market, what could possibly go wrong. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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Service Untitled

MARCH 16, 2009

Service Untitled The blog about customer service and the customer service experience. Customer service statisticians have found that solving an issue during the first contact (as opposed to over the course of two, three, or more contacts) saves time, money, and increases customer satisfaction in the long run.

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 15, 2007

Cash-flow – compare your cash-flow fore-cast with the actual numbers on a regular basis and learn from it, it’s not about being spot on, but about knowing what happened so you can control it. Mark-up – make sure you review your mark-up on a regular basis to protect your margins. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 2, 2010

Jp14 Said on March 5th, 2010 at 10:36 pm Another common thing is to keep learning. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. You really can’t ditch them until later on. Not an excuse not to succeed.

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The Small Business Blog

JANUARY 13, 2008

But saying that, we are still learning and growing. I have learned a lot just from the info posted here! We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 16, 2008

If you consider the skills potential of parents, if each parent would only contribute one hour on average per week to their learned professions. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. -AC lynnscott Said on August 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 pm Hi Stfan. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 1, 2008

Although this is a competitive market, if you are talented and customer focused enough then you can become successful. Skills needed: You will need to be very good at graphic design and it will help if you know how to print T-shirts already, although you could learn. Sponsors Advertise Here? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 3, 2010

Life is about never giving up so if you must fail, fail fast, learn from it and move on… Lars Hilse Said on August 7th, 2010 at 2:52 am Yes and no… Yes, because there are some old school business people out there who believe that 9-5 is mandatory for success. Beware though as the pursuit of money itself can also put you in chains!

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

Mel @ Make Rain Said on July 31st, 2009 at 10:55 am Wow this is great to know going to have a look at it as I am busy learning how to use pastel, maybe this is something that will come in handy and maybe a little easier to use. Thanks for the super informative post. I found it very interesting and insightful. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 16, 2007

At the same time business failure is far less an issue, as the risk associated with these ventures is very small, with the right mental attitude of the entrepreneur towards failure, the learning effect of a failure can be enormous. Emerging economies like China, India and some others are learning from the U.S. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

Thank you very much for your comment – if you try any of my tips and learn something new come back and tell us about it! We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. Sponsors Advertise Here?

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 28, 2007

By discussing these issues everybody in the company knows what is going on, “em-powering&# them to understand my vision and decisions, while at the same time giving me the opportunity to learn where my vision for my business has not made it to my staff. So I can work on my communication skills to do a better job in future.

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2007

I decided that I should first ensure that I have a product to sell and then move on to phase 2 which was to ensure that I had customers who would buy my product. I sent about 70 emails to different wine farms around SA and received about 5 positive replies. As the business would grow, so I would increase the range I offered.

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 11, 2007

Clever Marketing by Kitchen Table Business by Stefan Töpfer on Oct 11, 2007 Shirley Jaffrey wrote me an email today, telling me her story how she started her business on a kitchen table and is now supplying the stars. My product recipe also won the BUAV first ever Gold Bunny Award in 2006 for not being tested on animals.

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 7, 2007

You guessed it, as soon as I had done that my new computer started having problems, no calendar or address book data anymore,then my email started going and so on – I rebooted and that was that – I could no longer log in. I ordered my new computer – delivery 3-4 weeks – got my confirmation email within a minute.

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