Placematters.us

Estimating Expenses for Your Start-up

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:24:37 +0000

While searching around looking for tools to control and estimate my expenses I came across this interesting podcast from SCORE. In addition to talking about estimating expenses some of the other podcasts (which I haven’t watched yet) include Planning in an Economic Downturn, Marketing in a Weak Economy, and ways to be more productive as a small business owner.

Marketing Research

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:40:12 +0000

Over at Inc.com they have put together a list of resources and ideas on conducting market research. Before starting a new business or a new product line or service line you need to conduct market research. This is usually an expensive process but doesn’t need to be as the folks at Inc.com point out.

Business Owners Toolkit

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:19:05 +0000

Business Owners Toolkit offers thousands of pages of free cost-cutting tips, real-life case studies, step-by-step checklists, startup advice, and various business templates to us small business owners and entrepreneurs. They also post up-to-date news topics that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.

Entrepreneurship.org

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:09:08 +0000

The Kauffman Foundation teamed with the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) to form a new public-private partnership focused on leveraging best practices in entrepreneurial leadership to advance economic growth around the world.

The goal of this partnership is to assist entrepreneurs organize and operate a business venture, create wealth, and employ people.

As a fellow entrepreneur it is worth your time to check out their website for the services they offer.

The news rules of marketing

admin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:31:37 +0000

Another post about David Scott… If you want to learn more about “new media” then check out this book. I read it in my MBA Marketing class and have applied some of its recommendations. New Rules of PR & Marketing

Learn about Viral Marketing

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:30:27 +0000

A professor in one of my MBA Marketing classes turned me on to David Meerman Scott. Check out his free ebook about viral marketing. What business wouldn’t like a (positive) story about them to go viral?!?

Free eBook by David Meerman Scott

sba.gov

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:19:33 +0000

This site is about helping fellow entrepenuers be more successful with their small business.

A great resource is the Small Business Administration at www.sba.gov. The services they offer include:

Financial Assistance
Contract Opportunities
Disaster Assistance
Online Training
Counseling & Assistance
Help with Laws/Regulations
Help with Compliance

The SBA can be a great resource, especially to those of us starting a business who don’t have much capital!!

Skype! (Don’t be scared)

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:16:43 +0000

As a business owner who watches the bottom line very closely I LOVE my skype! Don’t be scared! Give it a try.

Skype to save money

Find remote workers for your business

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:06:44 +0000

I’ve used services like oDesk before to quickly obtain relatively cheap, remote workers. With oDesk you can actually see your remote workers PC monitors (screenshots) in near real-time.

oDesk Service

Track your customer’s location (and much more)

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:02:13 +0000

Zoho CRM is a free Customer Relationship Management tool that can assist your business in better understanding its customers.

Zoho CRM