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EVERY Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET!

Conference Call Number: 1-218-548-0955 Passcode: 410619#
Every Wednesday 9 PM ET! 6 PM PT

Who is Gene Culver?

What would you like to talk about?

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Here are a few example ideas I came up with that you can use a shared Google Calendar to help promote your web site or business.

• If you are a speaker, publish a speaking schedule. You are probably already doing that through Google Calendar already. Maybe you are publishing the calendar to your website. If you are, people can also subscribe to the calendar via Google Calendars or iCal. Promote and publish those links too.
• Is your site or blog all about soccer? Create a calendar around the different soccer matches either around the world or the locality that your readers are most interested in. Let them know how they can subscribe to that calendar.
• Maybe your visitors are mostly business people or marketers. How about creating a calendar that shows when quarterly taxes are due, a reminder when to start their holiday marketing planning and when to start promoting? Enter the dates and weeks of holidays and observances they can use for promotions.
• Similarly, if your visitors are moms, how about a calendar with suggestions of places to visit, things to do, seasonal reminders or shopping and menu plans.
• If you are a coach. Create a calendar around a program let’s say, a 60 day organizing program that users can subscribe to and they be reminded or things they need to do each day or each week to help them move along.

Use your imagination. Think of the calendar as a free reminder tool for your visitors. Remember that you can enter a link in Google Calendar entries. This can encourage subscribed users to click through to visit your site, an offer or simply lead people to read old but timely posts.

Don’t think it would work? This is the third year I am creating a calendar for bloggers of the many blogging opportunities throughout the year. It is very popular and I get people asking when it will be updated each year. Great tool to keep you in front of your audience at all times through the year as well. You can get a PDF copy of this calendar as an example for your own project. This year, I will be creating both PDF and a online ‘live’ version using Google Calendar.

Image courtesy of yalcin Eren

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

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The program is my 42 Day Launch Incubator.  I created the curriculum last year, led my first group to great success and then made the whole thing available as a self study course.  The group coaching option is only available two or three times a year and I would love to have you join me for this session.

I know that there are literally hundreds of you reading this who have been thinking hard about creating an info product.  I don’t normally put a lot of pressure on you – but I want to apply some right now – fall is a great time to create a new product.

Maybe you want to create something like…

• A Beginner’s Guide to a Frugal Holiday Season
• Ten Simple Steps to Total Computer Security
• Sixteen Homeschool Science Projects Under $10 Each
• Top Blogging Secrets: How The Pros Get More Readers
• Five Videos You Should Star In This Fall And How It Will Help You Promote Your ________.
• Common Social Media Blunders And How To Come Back From Them
• Web Time Wasters: Tips for Getting More Done Online
• Turning a Wipeout into a Win!
• Top Guest Blogging Strategies For Traffic & Profits

Whatever it is that you’ve been thinking about sharing with others, I can help you chunk up the process and get it done at last.

Come check it out.

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I’ve got a line up of really interesting moms who are all doing something to earn an income online.  You’ll get to meet them and you’ll have access to a bundle of really terrific freebies.

Welcome the the WAH World

All the details are here: Totally Free Tuesday

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A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser.

So, in other words, it is a web site builder. What’s so special about that?

The web site building feature is not the interesting part. The interesting part is the fact that anyone can create, edit, add on and correct the information on the page anytime, anywhere using just a simple web browser. It’s kind of like Bob writing a proposal which he then sends out to Nancy and Jack for them to look over. They scribble their notes or cross out lines of text and send it back to Bob. Many people working on one document. The only difference is, the document is web based and everyone who has access to it can view it – instead of being passed around.

Yet how does something like this fit into a small, solo entrepreneur business like most of us have? The best answer – a wiki would make a fantastic knowledge repository. Here’s why.

We solo entrepreneurs carry an awful lot in our heads. I used to think this was great but these days, I don’t want to remember. I want to offload because my memory is not always accurate or reliable , it helps a lot to unload what’s in our heads onto writing. Writing (or in this case typing) things down makes us more relaxed since we know the information is filed away safely and not forgotten. When you have less to remember, you’ll also function better. Kind of like our computer memory. The more you load it, the slower it becomes until it finishes processing everything.

Writing things down is also great when you outsource your tasks. Now, you don’t have to spend so much time training someone. We still have to invest a little bit of training to get someone new up to speed but if you have tasks and procedures documented, your personal time commitment is reduced. You can tell them to study/read the document and ask you questions if unclear. Great time saver.

Again, where does the wiki fit in? I think a wiki is perfect for internal documentation like this especially when you outsource your tasks because then, the burden of keeping accurate documents is distributed. Sure you can just as easily write up documentation on your word processor and send it out but if your VA makes a suggestion that you decide to implement or if there’s a change in policy or a simple edit for clarity, you still have to edit the document.

Using a wiki, your VA can edit the document without having to wait on you or have files sent to each other. This can reduce email volume plus, any edits become live immediately. The result, your team always has access to the latest information.

How do you set up a wiki? You have the option of installing the scripts on your own web site. This is probably better if you’re not comfortable storing information on a third party site and aren’t afraid of a little geek speak. You could check these out:

• MediaWiki
• DokuWiki
• WikkaWiki

Or you can have completely hosted wikis like:

• Pbwiki
• Wetpaint

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

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My favorite is Genbook. This is a pretty complete system. They offer a free basic account where you can take advantage of most of their features. You can start scheduling appointments online in a matter of minutes. I love the ability to assign staff to certain services. It is super simple to use but not lacking in customization. Just tons of features for free. Premium accounts start at $39.99 a month and you also get the ability to take payments before scheduling the appointment. Perfect for any offline service who doesn’t have an e-commerce component yet.

Other services in this area include

• Acuity who also offer a free account have have two other levels at $10 and $19 a month.
• Schedulicity at $29/month for one user and $49/month for 2-20 users.
• Appointment-plus who has three plans beginning at $39/month.

Prefer to do it yourself? Whenever there are fully hosted software, you will usually find standalone software that you can pay for a one time fee, get it installed on your own web site and managed yourself. Here are a few I came across.

• Schedule Organizer
• hitAppoint
• A Plus Appointment

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

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Great examples of this is how opensource software have formed communities where everyone tries to help each other out. Technically, this is not something brand new, but the tools can be. Traditionally, forums have been the tool of choice. But these days, you have great tools like Get Satisfaction and UserVoice.

These are very well built tools that allow users to post their questions, let other users to chirp in to say “me too” or answer questions. As a business, you can set up your company and use it like your official help desk. It is kind of like a merge between a forum, a personal Yahoo Answers system and a help desk.

The pros:

• You don’t have to maintain the software
• You get the ability to tap into the knowledge of the masses – since there’s already a user base there, if they are familiar with your product, others can answer your customer support issues for you, alleviating your work burden
• You get to use a pretty cool and well built piece of software that would cost you to build or set up on your own and you get started quickly
• You get to establish a professional support system where you can manage requests and provide support in an orderly and organized method
• You get to see what the people actually think and feel, granted, you already see this using your own system but user sentiment and feedback is better captured by these systems which means you can get a better overview or what people are actually saying.

The cons:

• If you’re using the free option, you do not get to moderate any posts made by others. This is good and bad. Good in the sense that it encourages transparency but bad in a sense because even if you upgrade and get moderation turned on, you have to provide a reason. To me, it’s like having a ‘boss’ over your shoulder – not exactly my preference.
• It can get pricey. Get Satisfaction starts at $99/month. UserVoice does have a much more affordable starting point at $19/month but if your system is pretty busy, you may find yourself hitting the limit pretty quickly.
• You can lose your branding. Branding options only come with paid accounts and for that, refer to con #2. Your customers are directed to a site where they can quickly get distracted with other things. On your own system, you can better control what you present.

What’s the verdict?

I’m not entirely sure. I think it is great if you don’t already have a system in place but want to setup something where you can organize and respond to people effectively. But if you already have a system, then you fragment your support by also setting up on these sites. While I love the idea of crowdsourcing, it is very enticing to me, including the transparency, I’m not sure I like having someone looking over my shoulder when it comes to support issues.

Also, crowdsourcing works a lot better if you actually do have a big following and user base. For smaller companies with limited exposure and user base, at the end of the day, you or your staff will still end up providing the bulk of the support. I’ve decided not to take advantage at this time.

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

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I did an interview with, James, one of the founders of MenWithPens.ca. This organization epitomizes the lifestyle that Sparkplugging.com is focused on. Their four employees, one of whom is a woman despite the name, operate from four different locations in two different countries thousands of miles apart. We talked about what they do, remote work advice, free content, and what a new entrepreneur should focus on. Read on and when you are done please go check out their site at MenWithPens.ca

Would you say that you focus more on one particular topic between wordpress customization, web design, and copywriting or is it more evenly divided?

We began our venture with content writing services, but it wasn’t long before we’d expanded that to offer website content (our specialty) and copywriting. Design came along shortly after, but with WordPress gaining ground as a way to offer people affordable sites they can control easily, the move to include it into our service offerings seemed natural.

Now our business offers just about anything anyone needs for online business, from rockin’ copy to slick design to technology that makes everything a breeze. I really enjoy having a full-service business, too, because we can definitely help more people get ahead and achieve their goals.

How long have you been at this?

Harry and I began the business three years ago in 2006. Charlie came onto the team last year and Taylor was our most recent addition this year. But we’ve each been working in our respective industries for some time, and between us, we probably count 50 years of experience or so.

I noticed that you have a woman on your team. Is there any chance that you would rebrand the site to something like 3 Men and Babe?

Ah, the eternal question (and the answer to your question is no, unfortunately.)

While we expected the business to stay smallish, the potential for growth quickly became apparent. We wouldn’t rebrand, as our brand has a strong reputation for great work, top-notch service, and expert skills, all with a relaxed, friendly and casual attitude. We just make sure we work with a team that supports our brand image, mission and philosophy, whether they be women or men.

You are also all pretty dispersed geographically, was that a conscious decision from the beginning or did it just happen out of necessity?

Our geographical locations were born out of necessity, but also conveyed that almost anything can be done from a distance and fully online. Our business model shows other entrepreneurs and freelancers that the sky is the limit.

I admit I’ve tried to get the team to move to Canada, but they seem to think it’s too cold up here…

What advice could you give to others working virtually that could ease any potential problems they might encounter. How can they learn from your mistakes?

Learning from other people’s experiences is one of the best ways to learn. We built our business the hard way, with knocks and obstacles, overcoming each one. We like to share those learning and life experiences at our blog, so that other people don’t have to go through what we did and get the fast track to success.

There are two pieces of advice I’ll share with your readers:

1) Use systems to streamline how you work for the most efficient process you can create

2) Believe in yourself. There are going to be all sorts of bumps while building a virtual business, and the self-confidence that you can get through it is crucial to success.

Some would say that giving away all that content (i.e. knowledge) is foolish but what do you think?

Good question. I recently blogged my thoughts on free content and how it affects business.

Many people have appreciated the post’s message and have found that it’s turned their business model upside down – in a good way.

Has it been effective for you as a business generation tool or more as a brand-building tool?

Both. While our blog isn’t our main source of business, it has allowed us to establish our expertise, share with others and build the Men with Pens brand. We let our personality show through on the blog, and we consider it our home. Our readers are more than welcome to come hang out in the comment section, too, and I think they get a good taste of our brand each day.

What would you say is your brand, if you had to describe it in 2 – 3 sentences?

Our brand is all about giving our clients sexy, elite design and content that lets them get ahead in life – while experiencing great service on a platter. If I had to sum it up even further in a few words, I’d say our brand is “casual, confident success”.

Where would you tell a new entrepreneur to focus: his blog, lead generation or brand building?

Definitely lead generation. It isn’t a business if it isn’t getting sales. The brand should really be built and established before a blog or business even gets started. It’s part of the foundation. Once a blog or business is launched, the brand permeates everything and the main business focus becomes converting consumers to clients.

While it has never been easier to start a blog, the competition for eyeballs has never been greater. Do you think a great looking blog with great content is enough today?

That’s never enough. You can have the best-looking blog and the best content in the world… but if you aren’t giving people what they want, then you won’t reach success. What you put out there doesn’t count. Giving people what they want is everything.

So before you open a blog, before you start putting work into your business, figure out what need you’re responding to. Do people want what you’re going to offer? Can you do it better than the competition? Or differently? What’s going to make people want what you have – and what can you give them that they want?

Then get a design that gets their attention and copy that hooks them in, keeps them reading and compels them to take action. The combination of all these creates success.

Christopher Johnston is 37-year old husband, father, christian, iPhone owner, and new Mac user. A recovering former financial advisor, passionate about the new green economy and how it will help my hometown, New Orleans, recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Follow Christopher on Twitter: @chrisjohnston

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My first pick is a set of FAQs for new freelance writers. This post covers everything from whether you need a degree to how to find writing gigs. It has a great list of resources to check out and offers some reassurance for beginners wondering if they’ll be able to make a living with freelancing.

My second choice is about acting professional when you’re getting started freelancing. It’s so important to start strong and establish yourself as someone to be taken seriously. No matter what type of services you’re providing, following the advice in this post is a must.

The third post I recommend is about solopreneurs and freedom. So many entrepreneurs start out thinking that being their own boss will mean more time for themselves – and then fall into one of the freedom-limiting traps mentioned in the post. Take a look and see if one of these traps is holding you back. It might give you some ideas about how to grow your business without sacrificing even more of your valuable time.

Follow Traci on Twitter: @TraciLove

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For beginning online marketers it’s an introduction to the necessary tactics to get the online exposure you’re seeking.  Brandon and Shayne are experienced marketers and those with a strong marketing background will recognize their expertise in the fundamentals of marketing at work here.

As a business owner these concepts are incredibly important to at least be familiar with.  Many business owners make the mistake of pawning their web marketing efforts off on their web guy.  Online Marketing Inside Out helps you understand that web marketing is not an IT function, but a fundamental marketing decision.  The book provides a way to get an overview and start a plan.

For experienced online marketers the book reads like a checklist of important things to remember.  It’s a technical manual that covers the bare bones and allows you to be creative and fill in the rest.  The only thing that I was hoping for was an entire chapter dedicated to viral marketing.  The authors touch on the subject and give some general advice, but choose to approach viral marketing from the standpoint of how content can sometimes go viral.

I highly recommend Online Marketing Inside Out as a reference point for people who want to get started with their online marketing efforts and for experienced marketers who might need a solid checklist to compare their existing campaigns against.

Sparkplugging received a review copy of this resource.

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Deadline has been extended through April 24th!

Intuit Small Business United Contest Entry

Financial software maker Intuit recently reached out to us to let us know about a completely cool new program they have launched to help small biz owners get through the economic mess we are in. Personally, I’m hoping they thought I would be a shoe-in for the grand prize. But honestly, this is such a great program I really wanted to share it with everyone, as I think all of our businesses could use a little ’stimulation’ right about now!

Intuit recently unveiled its own version of a ’stimulus package’: one that gives America’s small businesses the chance to redeem about $1,000 in products and services from the company. In addition, Intuit is giving away more than $300,000 in small business grants, as well as $50,0000 in donations to nonprofit organizations committed to the health of small businesses including The Latino Coalition, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, and Women Impacting Public Policy.

Instead of waiting for the government to give entrepreneurs a bailout, the company put their own plan in place, calling it “Small Business United.” Some of the products Intuit is offering include QuickBooks Simple Start, Intuit Online Payroll, and a really cool Web site building service called Intuit Websites. You can check out all the specifics at www.smallbusinessunited.com.

On top of the free products the company is offering small business stimulus grants of up to $25,000. To apply for a grant, small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs may submit and share their success stories and advice to an online forum. They provided us stats that said that nine out of 10 small business owners surveyed said they rely on peers for support and advice. Fifty-one percent of small business owners said they feel a special bond or connection with other small business owners, while 53 percent believe they can learn from their peers mistakes and successes. (To which I say, DUH, because that’s how Sparkplugging started and why we continue to grow!!)

To enter, just go to Small Business United to share your experiences and survival tips. Judges will select 50 finalists to receive $5,000 and a Pure Digital Flip Video^TM camcorder. These finalists are eligible to supplement their story with a video that will be posted on the site for public viewing and voting. This group will be narrowed down to four first prize winners, who will each receive $10,000 plus $2,500 worth of Intuit products. The grand prize winner will receive $25,000 and $2,500 worth of Intuit products and services. Entries are due by March 23 and finalists will be selected by April 1 April 24. Winners will be announced in May.

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People ask me about why I am so dang passionate about helping people start a business or become self-employed. While I find it fascinating, rewarding, challenging, and intellectually stimulating, the biggest reason is because of my past: I have eaten at the Salvation Army, lived out of my truck for 6 months, and when I started my first business, I was a single mom living in my parent’s basement.

In other words, I have intimate knowledge of what many families are facing today. And I don’t want anyone to have to go down the road that I went down. Technology has made it possible for nearly anyone to get the knowledge they need to start a full time business or a side business. And a huge portion of our economy is driven by tiny “personal businesses” that earn less than $50K a year. In fact, 78% of small businesses fall into this category. But that $50K is the difference between having a home or losing your home.

Of course, there are plenty of entrepreneurs going after (and receiving) venture capital, SBA loans, and have their graduate degrees from fancy universities that gives them a huge leg-up as they start their own businesses.

My focus has always been on the other kind of “entrepreneur” out there:

The laid-off professional who has no choice but to create work, otherwise their family doesn’t eat

The stay at home dad or mom who is finding that their skills are out of date, but his/her family cannot live on one salary anymore

The high school dropout that is smarter than most of us with a degree, yet doesn’t think they can go anywhere because they don’t have the right education

The single mom on food stamps, who longs to make a better life for herself and her kids, but can barely make rent even with two jobs

These people may or may not be born and bred entrepreneurs – but they all have one thing in common – they face a life of low wages, even poverty, unless they can find a way to break out of their current situations. And in this economy, they aren’t just the people on the ‘other side of the tracks’. These people probably live next door to you.

These are the people that need free resources the most. My personal passion is driven to find a way to get business and startup resources to the people that have one choice = entrepreneurship -or- poverty & homelessness in America.

Sparkplugging is not the only one helping them out.

All of the blogs below have dedicated themselves to providing high-quality small and home business advice and educational resources for FREE.

Business Startup and Home Business Blogs (No MLM BS or Scammy Crap Here!)

• SmallBizTrends
• Freelance Switch
• Essential Keystrokes
• IttyBiz
• Freelance Folder
• 2 Minute Commute
• InventorSpot
• One Person Business Blog
• AnyWired
• Duct Tape Marketing
• Search Engine Guide
• How to Change the World
• Entrepremusings
• Escape from Cubicle Nation
• AtHomeMomBlog
• IndieBusiness
• Kristie T’s Home Business Blog
• Thinking Home Business
• SmallBizSurvival
• Home Office Warrior
• Erica.biz
• Instigator Blog
• Successful-Blog
• eCommerce Diva
• WAHM Talk Radio
• Internet Marketing Sweetie
• Get it in Writing
• The Wealth Spa
• O Coaching
• Startup Spark
• Changing Course
• Chief Home Officer
• Enterprise Nation
• TaxGirl
• BusinessPundit
• Inspired Business Growth

Bloggers aren’t the only ones helping out with free resources :: Check Out These
Big Businesses & Government Agencies Embracing Web 2.0

• Business.gov & the Small Business Administration
• SCORE
• Visa Business Network on Facebook
• AOL Small Business
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business
• Free Quicken Online
• Office Depot Business Resource Center
• HP Small & Medium Business
• Dell 360
• StartupNation

Let me help you get you started. Here are some of the most popular articles on my blog for people new to starting a business:

Top 10 Internet Home Business Ideas You Can Start and Run in Your Underwear

10 More Work at Home Internet Business Ideas You Can Do in Your Fuzzy Bunny Slippers

Ask eMom :: What is the Best Way to Start a Home Business Online?

8 Ways to Get Venture Capital Attention from Guy Kawasaki

How to Leave Your Job & Take the Freelance Plunge in 6 Months

10 Free Resources to Start or Grow a Home Based Business

I hope I didn’t leave any blogs out – if I did, please leave it in a comment and I will add it to the post. Any omissions are purely because after researching this post for 4 hours, I had other things I had to do.

Photo credit Michael Fitzpatrick

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Tracy Johnson for Business.gov

We know business is done on the state and local level.  That’s why the Business Gateway program has been working with state and local governments in addition to Federal agencies to provide a complete resource center for your business on Business.gov.  Each month, the site promotes a “feature city” on the homepage and further provides an in depth look at doing business in that city.  State and local governments have additional and specific regulations and licenses than the Federal government, and if you are looking to open a new business or expand to a new city, knowing the local regulatory landscape is invaluable.  The current feature city on Business.gov is Montpelier, VT.

Past featured cities include:

Danbury, CT
Phoenix, AZ
Portland, OR
Madison, WI
Atlanta, GA
Richmond, VA

Coming Soon:

Reno, NC
San Diego, CA
Baton Rouge, LA
Wilmington, NC

In addition to these cities, Business.gov has over 900 pages of state and local content available through the state and local info portal.  Simply click through to your state or the state in which you wish to do business for more info.

By far, the coolest feature (according to users) on the site is the Permit Me tool.  This is the easiest way to literally get a checklist of the licenses and permits you need to do business in a particular city, state, or zip code.  Simply type in your location and select your business type and a list of Federal, state, and local regulations will be provided in priority order.

Is your business type not on the list?  Would you like your city featured in a coming month?  Tell us about it by leaving a comment or visiting www.business.gov/contact-us.

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Tracy Johnson for Business.gov

You may have seen our post last week on market research performed by the government that you can leverage (for free) to build your business plans, monitor the market, and stay on top of the trends.  In that post, we focused on business data available on the market, the economy, and general information about your type of business and your location.  Now, let’s dig a little deeper.

So you have surveyed the market and are closely monitoring the economic landscape for your business type.  Now, you need to consider your customers.  Who are they?  Where are they? And how can you better target them to match up your goods and services with their needs?  The following demographic resources provided by the government can help you answer those questions.

There are three agencies that are the go-to agencies for free demographic info: The Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, and the Social Security Administration.

General Demographics

The U.S. Census Bureau provides information on population, housing, economics, and geographic data.  You can search information on groups by age, gender, education, disability, income, origin, race, ethnicity, etc. You can also obtain information specific to the state in which you do business.  The same type of inquiries can be made on this narrower level.

Identifying Consumer Behaviors

The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data on specific demographic categories of the United States labor force.  Some of the categories available to search are consumer spending and injuries or illnesses.  You can even search data on the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and even socializing!  This type of information can be incredibly helpful when trying to target to certain customer groups and understanding their behavior and lifestyle.

Earning Information

The Social Security Administration provides Fact Sheets by demographic groups listing income information for each group.  This information, when combined with the demographics above can help your business further target your ideal customer base.

Ready for the Big Leagues: Doing Your Own Research

The SBA has compiled a market research guide for small business owners to give an overview of the why market research is helpful, what kind of market research you may need, and points small business owners to additional resources for performing both primary and secondary research.

Similarly, the Missouri Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has produced a research workbook applicable for small business owners of any state, not just Missouri.  This workbook walks you through the necessary data you will need to compile a comprehensive business plan.  Good luck!

Tracy Johnson is a Senior Manager with ENC Marketing & Communications. She has the pleasure juggling a variety of clients from both the Information Technology and U.S. Government worlds. She brings a fresh perspective to problem solving for clients often integrating interactive marketing solutions with traditional communication methods. One of her top current clients is the Business Gateway Initiative, where she and the BG team provide marketing and outreach services for Business.gov.

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Little did I realize that my request actually netted me another talented writer, her business partner Tamara Berry. And little did I know how lucky I was that they said yes!

I <3 Lorna & Tamara from Freelance Parent.

The First Year of Freelancing

Want to know what their first year of freelancing has been like? Here’s 365 freelancing days in less than 8 really enjoyable minutes. –>

I saw some really wonderful people mentioned in here – Harrison & James from Men with Pens, Naomi Dunford, Laura Spencer, Melissa Donovan, Genesis Davies, and Kristen King.

Congratulations on your first year in business, Lorna & Tamara – I hope we get lots more of those together – it’s been an honor to work with you!

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Tracy Johnson for Business.gov

Any successful business owner will tell you marketing your small business begins with research.  The experts can direct you to the best methods for performing research and provide you with successful strategies for market research, but a lot of the statistics and demographic information you desire can be obtained, for free, from the government.

The government collects oodles of data that is public information.  The data can be immensely useful when pulling together your marketing plan and can help you cite accurate statistics without spending a ton of money on a custom market research engagement.  These tools certainly are not a substitute for quality market research such as surveys and focus groups, but rather provide helpful data to frame that research.  For a lot of start-ups; however, the research budget is minimal.  If that is the case for your business, these stats can be leveraged to build the framework of your marketing plan.

General government Statistics

Fed Stats gathers data across over 100 agencies, states, counties, congressional districts, and cities to provide a comprehensive purview by location or by topic.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.  The abstract is prepared by the Census Bureau, but collects data from many Federal agencies.

The Census Bureau also releases reports for business owners called the Statistics of U.S. Businesses including detailed analysis of companies, establishments, employment, and annual payroll.

Another great resource for statistics specific to small businesses is the Small Business Administration’s Office of Economic Research.  Reports from this office include:

Entrepreneurship: The Foundation for Economic Renewal in the Gulf Coast Region [PDF file] – The proceedings from the 2006 New Orleans conference include; presentation summaries, powerpoint presentations, and conference participants.

The Impact of Regulatory Costs of Small Firms (Update) – Analyzes the cost of regulations on small and large firms. This study updates two earlier reports from 1995 and 2001.

Small Business Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – [HTML file] – Provides answers to basic questions about small business. [PDF file] – [Text file]

Research Resources – designed as a portal to direct faculty, students, and researchers to small business data and research.

The Small Business Economy: 2007 [Research Summary] – This is an annual reference source on small business’ performance in the economy. To obtain a printed copy, see the U.S.Government Online Bookstore . (Text synopsis version) (historical versions (1996-2001) (2002-2006).

You can also subscribe to the Department of Commerce’s Stat USA subscription for updated information on federal business, trade, and economics.

Additional Resources

www.business.gov/market-research

Read Part 2 of this Series: Free Market Research, Part II :: Demographics

Tracy Johnson is a Senior Manager with ENC Marketing & Communications. She has the pleasure juggling a variety of clients from both the Information Technology and U.S. Government worlds. She brings a fresh perspective to problem solving for clients often integrating interactive marketing solutions with traditional communication methods. One of her top current clients is the Business Gateway Initiative, where she and the BG team provide marketing and outreach services for Business.gov.

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Truth is, only a fraction of those people ever really start a business. Some get comfortable in a lifestyle that they can’t afford to give up. Others realize just how hard it is to be an entrepreneur and never try. Sometimes life just happens and makes entrepreneurship unattainable.

Of the few that actually try to start a business, many fail. The ones that succeed, though, have a few things in common. You may not need to have all 15 of these abilities to succeed in business. But be willing to learn them or hire someone who can cover your butt if you want to get out of the rat race and be your own boss someday.

Be a Salesperson

Never underestimate how important it is to be able to sell. It’s at the top of the list on purpose. Even if you never have to sell to clients (unlikely), you will have to sell your ideas to investors, sell your company vision to prospective employees, and sell consumers or customers on your brand. Selling is absolutely critical to your success, so if you have an aversion to it, you’d better get over that fast.

Delay Gratification

No business is successful on day one. Almost no businesses are successful after year one. If you think entrepreneurship is the ticket to instant riches, you need a reality check. Not only will you have to work hard for a long-term goal, you will probably have to work hard in the face of what seems like certain failure at times.

Discipline

Discipline isn’t just about working hard, but you do have to do that. Discipline is also about managing your entrepreneurial tendencies. Many natural born entrepreneurs are blessed with a mind that is an idea-generating machine. The good news is that some of those ideas are gold mines. The bad news is that if you continually pursue new ideas, old ideas never get developed to fruition. And I’ve watched one multimillionaire in particular run his business into bankruptcy because every week he was working on something new.

Take Risks

Just leaving the rat race is a huge risk in an of itself. No wonder so few people do it. And if you have a spouse or significant other, realize that they are risking with you – whether they like it or not. Everyone has a need for some level of certainty, so if you can’t find it in your business, plan on finding it elsewhere – maybe for several years at a time.

Build Rapport

Note that this is not called ‘Making Friends’ – important, yes, but not the same thing. Building rapport means building respect, a reputation, and hopefully key alliances along the way. Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy you’d call your BFF. But he does have the ability to get people to listen and trust him. You will need to build relationships as an entrepreneur, no business is an island.

Be a Leader

While you may be a natural born follower, as a business owner, you will have to be able to lead. That means trusting an inner compass to guide you when there are no outside indications as to what step to take next. It means having people rely on you. And it even means forgoing the ‘road less traveled’ for bushwhacking your own path.

Be Uncomfortable

Nobody thinks that running a business is easy. But generally people underestimate just how hard it can be. There can be times as a business owner that for months on end you will be in a state of stress, worry, anxiety, and discomfort. Being an entrepreneur means being able to live and function in this state for extended periods of time, and being able to find a way to shut it off so that it doesn’t consume your personal life as well as your career.

Inspire

To be an entrepreneur you need to be inspired. You will likely have to inspire others such as employees and your first customers – who will have to believe in you with no track record. But most of all you will continue to have to inspire yourself, because sometimes your vision is the only thing that can lead you out of one phase of your business and into the next.

Focus

Related to discipline is focus – the ability to tune out ‘noise’ that can distract you from your goal. That noise could be people who doubt you, busywork, doing too much “social” networking, or perhaps worst of all, the noise inside of your own head of self-doubt, fear, or unrealistic expectations of yourself. Personally, I’ve only heard about these things, I can’t say I know this from experience.

Understand Numbers

I am extremely number-challenged. I’m the biggest of big-picture thinkers. So there are times when I am working on a project that I think is going terribly – only to finally force myself to build a spreadsheet or break out the analytics and find that I’m actually doing better than I had thought. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true, when I think that I’m kicking ass only to find that the actual return on investment of time, dollars, etc. isn’t where I thought it would be. Truth be told, this is one of the number one reasons people go out of business – they don’t pay enough attention to the cold, hard numbers.

Analysis

Related to being able to understand the numbers is the ability to look at the numbers in a variety of ways. Sometimes what looks like a dip in traffic/sales/whatever might also be a roadmap to a previously undiscovered opportunity. There are benefits to being a stats-a-holic, which can often times be a key source of consumer insights that larger companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for.

Ask for Help

Quite honestly, I don’t know one entrepreneur that embraces asking for help. We seem to have a natural aversion to it, in fact. It doesn’t make it any less important – in fact, it makes it more important, because it usually means that when an entrepreneur finally does ask for help, they probably needed the help something like 2 months ago. If you have a natural knack for asking for help, good grief, I hope you aren’t reading this, because you should already be working for yourself!

Know Thyself

Every entrepreneur has strengths and weaknesses. A good entrepreneur plays to his or her strengths. A great entrepreneur plays to their strengths AND builds a business that can compensate for their weaknesses. That means knowing what you aren’t good at, admitting it, and structuring your workflow so that you don’t get in your own way.

Balance Ego with Humility

You have to have high self-confidence to make it in business. I’d go so far to say that a little bit of a big ego can actually be an asset – it helps to get people talking about you and can help to increase your visibility. But there is a very fine line between a healthy ego and being an egotistical maniac. But bring too much humility to the game, and it comes off as self-doubt. Walking the line between the two will never please everyone, either – sorry, it just comes with the territory.

Persistence

Most of all, to get out of the rat race, you need persistence. You need to fall on your face and get back up. You need to make big mistakes and learn from them. Sometimes you even need to fail – it may be the only way to succeed. To quote some of my wonderful peers, “Your recovery strategy is what’s important; avoiding mistakes is not.”

Photo credit Arkitekt.

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So we embarked on a full blown rebrand of our site.And oh, if I knew then what I know now…

Lesson #1 – Creating a great brand name is no cake walk

If I could convey to you just how difficult it is to create a great name, I think you just might never do it. This part was excruciating.

We had a few choices:

• Name our site with good keywords in the URL, but be left with a name that would be common and get lost in the crowd
• Name our site with a made up word and have to build our brand from scratch
• Name our site with a metaphor that would convey some meaning while remaining original and catchy

It was my preference to find a name for that last bullet point – but trying to come up with a metaphor for web 2.0 resources for entrepreneurs and self-employed business owners that work at home was a challenge to say the least. But ultimately “thanks” to lesson #2, it was really our only choice.

Lesson #2 – Finding a great brand name that has an available domain name is next to impossible

OMFG. Last time I had to buy an important domain name it was in 2006. The domain squatting industry has exploded in that time frame. We had some really great ideas. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Was. Taken. I kid you not. I spent literally about 120 hours on creating domain names and seeing if they were available.

I did find some indispensable tools to help with this process:

• Thesaurus.com – I think I paid their electric bill for the month of March with the amount of page views I generated on that site
• Dot-O-Mator – Give it some sample words, and it will make up cool web 2.0 names for you, like NewNamezio or NewNameify
• MakeWords – Not quite so cool but still extremely handy, plus it comes with built in ‘themes’ like banking, parenting, even communication verbs that will suggest words to combine with your sample word
• WordLab – A forum of people who like to make up names just for fun – and free! The drawback is that their great ideas aren’t always available as domain names. Some of their suggestions for me were JustBegun and BackyardGenius.
• BustAName – Another helpful domain suggestion tool based on your sample words. I used this one quite a bit. (Thanks Hieronymous for the reminder!)
• PickyDomains – Honestly some of my best suggestions came from this paid service. They only charge $50, and only if you pick a domain through them. I can’t recommend them more highly. An added bonus is that they only suggest available domains.
• GoDaddy has a Firefox (script, extension, add on? dunno) that will add an available domain name search to the list of search engines you can use right in the title bar. I used this a LOT – but can’t seem to find a link direct you where to get if for yourself. I got it by going to the GoDaddy site and a pop-up appeared asking me if I wanted to install it.

Lesson #3 – Don’t rush

We had some very close ‘final’ names we were working with. Unboxify. WorkLifeRemix. HomeOfficeGeneration. Bizsational. We even got to the point of having a logo ready to go for WorkLifeRemix. Then I happened upon the LifeRemix blog network, and we had to start all over again.

Thank god I didn’t run with it without sitting on it for a bit. I hadn’t heard of LifeRemix until then, but it would have been a branding disaster. Not only do they cover similar content, but we would have wasted all of our hard work on a new name that wouldn’t have distinguished us from the rest of the blogosphere.

When we came across the name Sparkplugging, we were also considering Sparkplugify and Sparkpluggers. Extensive research turned up the fact that nobody was even coming close to using a name like this. I really wanted to go with Sparkpluggers, but it turned out that Sparkplugger.com was already taken, and I couldn’t risk the inevitable brand confusion it would cause. Thankfully the previous owners of Sparkplugging didn’t need the name and sold it to me for a very fair price.

Lesson #4 – Keep your advisory committee small

When I first started out getting feedback from readers, I found that it was a train-wreck waiting to happen. No matter what one reader said, another completely disagreed. There was NO WAY to please everyone, so I had to pull back and decide what was right for me and my company.

So I turned to my authors for feedback and advice. Now these people are true web site marketing and branding experts. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to help me with this. But with 16 authors, there were still too many chiefs. So I found a handful of authors that disagreed the most – true opposite ends of the spectrum. And I ran my ideas past them. Not surprisingly, Sparkplugging & Sparkpluggers was the only one that everyone agreed on – and I knew that if I could please myself and this diverse bunch, I had a hit.

Lesson #5 – Hire competent technical help

This wasn’t a lesson so much as it was my rock-solid foundation for success. Steve Johnson from SawtoothID went so above and beyond the call of duty I still feel like I owe him.

Once we got our name selected, we had to do a series of fairly complicated redirects to ensure that every page on the old site was redirected to its exact new home on our new site. For some blogs it was a no-brainer. But my permalink structure was different than that of the rest of the network, which required special treatment that also affected the rest of the redirects. And some pages that used to be on my blog were going to find a new home at the root of the site (About, Contact, etc.), and I had to create a series of one-to-one page redirects that we had to create by hand.

Lesson #6 – Brace for a HUGE loss in search engine traffic

I knew it was coming – and I really thought I prepared myself adequately. But within 6 days of changing our domain name, even though every single page was redirected accurately, we lost 90% of our traffic from the search engines. And although I won’t tell you just how much that was, suffice it to say that I didn’t sleep for a couple of weeks. It was a LOT of lost traffic and revenue especially because our primary revenue model is based on page views.

Lesson #7 – Brace for a HUGE loss in StumbleUpon traffic

I was prepared for the Google loss. I was absolutely unprepared for the StumbleUpon loss, which was our second largest referrer only to Google. To lose our top two referrers in one fell swoop was a big effing deal, and one that we haven’t fully recovered from.

StumbleUpon sends URLs traffic over time, not in one fell swoop like Digg. You could get a post that hits it big with SU, and then 5 months later, that post can experience a resurgence. It turns out that when SU detects that the old URL has been redirected, it doesn’t just continue to send traffic to the new URL. It basically pulls your URL out of their queue permanently. So we had nearly two years of posts that were receiving residual StumbleUpon traffic that is now gone.

Ouch.

Lesson #8 – Don’t make major changes to your site at the same time as you change your URL

When we launched under the new name, we changed our template, changed our navigational structure, changed the names of several of our existing blogs, AND more than doubled the amount of blogs on our network. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have done all of that at the same time.

In hindsight, the biggest thing I would have done differently would be to either wait to add the new blogs after the new domain was more established or have launched the new blogs under the old name and dealt with rebranding a new blog (more likely the latter). The last time I added blogs to our site, they were immediately indexed by Google and benefitted greatly from the trust of our old domain. While the new blogs on our network are still doing fairly well in the search engines, it has taken longer for them to get established and are still behind the milestones we established the first time around.

Lesson #9 – If you find your name doesn’t fit, change it sooner rather than later

Honestly, I knew 5 months in that the name eMoms at Home wasn’t working. At that time I already had too many non-moms reading my blog, and too many people saying they had dismissed my site because they thought it was ‘just for moms’. I do wish that I had just bitten the bullet and changed it back then, though I will say that I didn’t know all that was in store for the future of this site at that time. But rebuilding a brand and traffic on a five month old site is nothing compared to doing so on a 2 year old site with a network of 7 (now 15) blogs.

Lesson #10 – Don’t dwell on your mistakes or regrets

While I’ve pointed out the challenges I have had with our rebrand, I honestly wouldn’t do anything differently, except I would have changed when I did what I did. While we still aren’t back to the levels of traffic we were at before (which is also partly a seasonal thing), I do know in my heart that our old name was a dead-end road. And under our new name, we will ultimately grow larger than we ever would have been able to before. (Plus I love it even more now than I did when we chose it)!

I get stressed about numbers, but that’s the life of an entrepreneur – it just comes with the territory. The experience has created a stronger brand, a stronger company, and I am a stronger person for having gone through it. The reason I put this information out there is so that other people going through a rebrand or a domain change can learn from what our network has been through.

Edit :: Looks like my friends over at UpTake are losing some sleep right now. They delayed their redirect process until after their new brand was a little more established. Hopefully they will be back on the “UpTake” soon. Yeah, I just said that. I went there.

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I have to say I had (have!) the most supportive and awesome parents on the planet – they never once judged me for what I had done, embraced me and my daughter in stride, and took care of us until I could get back on my feet again.

My father especially has always believed in me – even when I messed up. As long as I have been alive, he has always worked for himself. Maybe that spirit of entrepreneurship rubbed off on me, or perhaps I was just in sheer desperation for a better life for my new family. So when I told him that I wanted to start a crafting business in his home, he immediately got to work helping me to put together a plan. If it ever occurred to him that I was flying by the seat of my pants and had NO business experience, he never showed it.

In 1995 there wasn’t much internet to speak of. The SBA did have a website back then, and I spent hours there learning what I could. I signed up for a local community college course on business basics, and learned about marketing, taxes, & legal issues. And that was pretty much all the training I could get on the budget I had to work with.

So to be honest, where I learned the most about business was truly on-the-job training. I found markets and stores to carry my products, bartered custom designs for dental work, wrote press releases, and even got on the front page of our local paper (woo hoo!). About a year later, I finally understood what it took to run my business and actually make money at it. But I realized that in order to get the experience & knowledge I really needed, I was going to go have to work for someone else.

Yes, my first business failed. Pretty badly. But if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The lessons I learned in that first business have been a rock-solid foundation of knowledge that I still rely on today.

But there has always been a part of me that wished I could go back in time and find a way to teach myself then what I know now. Not so much because that business was so important, more because I can still identify with being that lonely, scared single mom with nowhere to go for the help I so desperately needed.

Quite honestly, that experience has been one of the biggest driving forces behind the creation and growth of Sparkplugging. I remember speaking at SOBCon 2007, and talking about why SEO was so important to me. Sure the traffic was great, but I said the real reason that I wanted people to find me was because I wanted to reach every other single mom living in her parents’ basement wondering how the heck she could create a better life for herself.

(OMG I am absolutely bawling my eyes out while I am writing this!)

Fast forward to last year, I had an idea to start an online university. One that taught things like blogging, eBay selling, freelancing skills, even crafting business classes. A university that was affordable for everyone that had access to a computer and could trim just a few bucks out of their grocery budget every month. And a university that taught people how to start businesses that took micro-amounts of money to get started.

In short, a university built for single moms living in their parents’ basements.

It took me a long time to figure out how to do it. At first it seemed like an insurmountable task. I just didn’t have the resources to do all of that work while running my own business. But thanks to my coach Marla for pushing me to get outside of my own self-imposed limits, I found a way to build it – with the help of the team of experts that were already behind me 100%.

So it is with great emotional, professional and spiritual pleasure that I announce the opening of SparkplugU today.

On an emotional level, I am thrilled and excited to bring my dream to life.

On a professional level I am proud to have put together such a fantastic, quality resource for my community.

But on a spiritual level I feel like I am finally doing what I was put on this earth to do – getting real business help to those who need it the most.

I guess the good part of it for all of you, is that while SparkplugU was inspired by my past, you don’t have to be a single mom to benefit from what we have put together. We’ve launched with six classes that I know first hand that many of you have wanted to learn more about:

Diversify Your Income Workshop with Wendy Piersall & Marla Tabaka

Podcasting Bootcamp – Strategy Through Implementation with Kelly McCausey

Fearless Financials – Getting Past Stuck with Starla Sireno

Introduction to Starting a Blog Network with Wendy Piersall & Easton Ellsworth

Write Press Releases to Grow Your Business with Susan Payton

Organize Your Home Office for Maximum Productivity Workshop with Brandie Kajino

And this is just the beginning! I have so much planned for SparkplugU that my ideas keep me awake at night as I get excited all over again about what kind of impact we can make.

I truly feel blessed to have this opportunity to work on this with the Sparkplugging team and to work with you as SparkplugU grows. I feel humbled and honored that my authors have come together to help bring this idea to life, and even moreso I am grateful to all of you readers for your encouragement, support, links, Stumbles, tweets, calls, laughs and friendship.

Sparkplugging & SparkplugU wouldn’t be what it is today without you.

Thank you.

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