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RE: Protect Your Business

Collabora — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:53:12 GMT

I would like to take this opportunity to remind business owners of the sad fact that your biggest security threat comes from your employees. I have serviced many companies where too many people had administrative rights to servers and desktops, user accounts were not disabled when an employee leaves, allowing use of laptops outside of office with even rudimentary security such as a logon screen, stolen disk drives and files, etc, etc.

All of these things are avoidable by implementing standard best-practices.

Dean
Collabora IT

RE: Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

simplifyinc — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:28:49 GMT

Yes... Indeed an excellent resource for our website visitors...
I will surely add this information on web designing and development to our web site - Simplify Solutions

RE: Paper or Plastic

rouldph — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:11:31 GMT

SBOCTeam

Did a good job in this article, yes its true when you have the opportunity to spend
cash which is always king over credit or credit cards, but sometimes we need credit
for a short time in order to work into our business needs.
Lets say we may need to stock items that we buy in bulk and we don't have the cash
on hand to do this, then credit is needed in place of cash.

I do not like to use credit or credit cards,but cash is not on hand I use my credit card
just for a 30 days and than I pay them off and this keeps me from the interest rates which
will be charge to me. As you well know the credit card company receive their service charge from the point of sale from the vendor side.

I can say the team that posted this article has shown a good outline or guide for a new start up business point of view on how to not make to pitfall trap that some will make while starting a business.

The first thing to always to keep in mine, when and if you must used credit or a credit card make sure to pay them off (ASAP!). And pay off all your over head that you have as fast as you can and do Not buy more then you need only what helps your business make profits
and if you must only pay your self what the business can afford to pay you and yes this can
be hard to do! at times but the reward will be worth it in the end.

RE: Business Plan 2.0

Adducent — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:40:47 GMT

This is excellent advice and even more important in light of economic events over the past year. Businesses of all sizes need to be more nimble in responding to changes that, even at a distance, have impact on their business and target market. Here are few other things to consider that should cause you to revise your plan:

These are some signs that indicate its time to review your plan:

1) As mentioend in the article: Major changes in your industry or market. Changing market factors and behavior are major indicators to be alert to the need to revise not only your written business plan but your business model itself.

2) When something affects your underlying business assumptions (that your business model is predicated on).

3) When you become aware of new competition. Has new competition changed the product or service picture for your market?

4) Internal changes. Changes in ownership should trigger a need to look at your business plan and revise the Management section and also if the new ownership has positive aspects that broaden opportunities for the company.

Keep revisions in perspective. Don't revise just the written plan; its the real-world application of that plan reflected in your management of the business that is important. Changes in your plan may initiate a change in your operations and execution of the plan. Don't make changes in the written plan just because it "sounds good"--you don't want to put something in your plan that you really do not do. Be sure to actually implement what you say in your plan.

Dennis Lowery
Adducent, Inc.

You'll find that reviewing and periodic revision of your business plan gives you a better grasp on your business--and that usually yields a positive impact on your success.

RE: The �10 Spot

The_bull — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:06:20 GMT

This was very helpfull. thank you for this peice. I now can check into this with my retirement company. How would this work though with someone who only makes, lets say $23,000 a year putting 2% into a 401K?

RE: Ten ways to reduce your cost of accepting credit cards

littlelulu — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:30:16 GMT

This ariticle led me down a much needed crash course in current credit/debit card processing! Thanks much!

RE: Reassessing Your Business Plan

AndrewRSA — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:42:44 GMT

Yes! You've hit the nail on the head. Business plans aren't just something you throw together to bring to the loan officer, nor are they something you can just download from the internet. They're an important tool for business planning, so they must be truly tailored to the business in question, and for operating so they must be constantly revisited. So many people think they're merely a formality for raising capital. Many of my clients come to me hoping to just throw one together and then, in the process of building one, have an epiphany through which they discover a better way to do something. Sometimes we discover a flaw in their thinking that sends us back to the drawing board. Better to discover something like that BEFORE it's too late.

Andrew Levinson
Managing Director
Riverside Strategic Advisors LLC

RE: Dealing with Customer Complaints

LGBloom — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:44:32 GMT

Here is a novel approach for BOA to try: How about considering behaving with a tiny shred of decency and ethics? Asking too much from BOA? I thought so.
I have been the victim of BOA. Although I set up a MONTHLY, internal transfer to cover my low credit card balance, I thought even lowlives could not get me. But BOA secretly changed the due date, so even though the monthly payment REGULARLY marched along, and I ended up making a payment a day EARLY due to BOA secret change, I got nailed for a late fee. How does one become late with a regularly scheduled monthly TRANSFER? And then, the next month, when I had a NEGATIVE credit card balance, the cowardly criminals at BOA charged me a FINANCE charge on a NEGATIVE balance! At least muggers have the HONESTY to look you in the eye when they put the gun to your head. Cowardly BOA criminals sit behind a computer and rip the grocery money out of the hands of hard-working citizens.

So, instead of trying to figure out how to calm people down after you treat them so unfairly AND SLIMLY, why don't you consider just DOING THE RIGHT THING?

RE: Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

NewLookTeam — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:21:18 GMT

Excellent article, I use social networking and blogging a lot in my daily business activities.

RE: Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

Play_to_Win — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:03:35 GMT

Right after I post this, I intend to join Rieva�s social networks and visit her site at www.growbizmedia.com. I hope competition is not a "bad" word in her book. My name is Steve Silverii, CEO/CIO of Quicksilver Internet Inc. My firm develops social media apps (both gaming and informational), desktop, and Internet apps for businesses. We still do websites, but our focus is moving towards social media app development. One thing I want to mention is the importance social media apps play in the �Find the Website� game. Search engines index content in social medial applications. The more times a search engine comes across your business name or business hyperlink in a social media application the higher your business search engine �ranking�. This along with the advice from Rieva creates a win-win situation for small business owners who want to level the playing field with the big boys. Be Good.