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This policy is valid as of December 2014

Accuracy of Information Disclaimer

Information is evolving faster than we ever thought possible. Although, I try to keep my site as up to date as possible there can be a slip up here or there or something that just has not had that opportunity to be addressed yet. It is possible that things may become out of date or no longer relevant. Websites change names, ownership or go out of business completely. Offices move and so do the people who run them. Should you find information that is not accurate at the time you are reading it feel free to do me a solid and give me a heads up on my Contact page.

Blog Content Disclaimer

 This website and blog herein accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. But, only does so for brands I know, like , and trust . Most of the time I (Nicole Bienfang) am a user of the goods or service myself and seek out opportunities to affiliate or get promotion codes to benefit my readers.This site features multiple blogs some of which are  collaborative efforts written by various individuals often leaders in their industry.  Affiliating with various companies that provide amazing and or low cost products and services is my way of keeping the overhead of this site low as well as giving my clients and readers the most bang for the buck when it comes to the products and services I myself provide. Furthermore it provides more opportunities for me to offer my services to low income or otherwise needy individuals and families.

Question:

Hi Nicole,

I'm looking at starting an online shop selling tobacco pipes and accessories. I recently purchased a questionnaire-driven business plan from MasterPlans.com. Some of the questions are pretty straightforward, others confuse me and I don't know where to start. Seeing as I'm still pre-funding (until I get the business plan done) funds are very limited so hiring a CPA at this point isn't practical. A lot of the business plan questions have to do with 3 and 5 year financial outlooks, projected revenue, customer demographics, etc. My main question is how do I go about doing the research to come up with these numbers? When responding to questions about growth objectives, how do I come up with realistic growth rates, in terms of sales? Also, the questionnaire asks about business loans and my expected short-term interest rate. Do I just look at small business loans for the amount that I'll be requesting and find the average interest rate? Thank you!
Answer:

Your future does not have to be a repeat of your past. Share in the comments below a story where you shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't and what you learned from the experience.

Points taken from Lindsay Dicks' article Building Your Business Blog Empire

1. Expert Status. Today, the first thing someone
does when making the decision to do
business with a company is check them out
online. A well-updated blog with valuable
content is a great way to showcase your expert
status to your prospects and show that
you are well informed.

2. Real-time Discussion. Blogs are instantaneous
and allow you to share information
directly (and quickly) with your clients
and prospects. They also provide a way for
your clients and prospects to engage with
you by leaving questions and comments on
your posts.

3. Boosting Traffic with Backlinks. You don’t
have to limit your blogging to just your own
blog. Being a contributing blogger to traffic
sites can be a great way to create quality
backlinks and increase traffic.
4. Good SEO. One of the keys to SEO (search
engine optimization) is to make sure your
website is constantly being updated with current,
relevant content. Blogs make it easy for
businesses to add fresh content to their websites
on a regular basis.

5. Low Cost Marketing. Blogs are a very
cheap way to keep your customers informed
with new products/services you are offering.
They are also a wonderful way to continue
building your relationship with your customers
and prospects.

6. Keeps You Ahead of Your Competition. In
today’s competitive industry, a blog can help
to distinguish you from your competition. By
showing your personality and keeping up-todate
information about your company and
your industry, a blog can give you that little
extra boost to rise above your competition.

See the full article here:

Celebrity Branding Agency.com PDF

Question:

Hello, I am looking for a grant that will pay to repair a brick street
Thanks! 

Back in the day, marketing was a pretty shiny brochure and print ads in the local or nationwide paper hoping and praying for sales soon to follow. Here we are near the end of 2011 and oh how those times have changed! There are so many ways to market now: “viral videos”, social media networks and the like were not even on a single person’s tongue 20 years ago.  The births of these new technologies are being left to bear the pointed finger deemed murderers to news in print and even glossy magazines.  For all that has changed there are a few things that have remained the same, namely that marketing in whatever form is right for your business is meant to sell your widget off the shelves, and preferably like hotcakes. The minimum expectation is brand awareness. Even if it is the tiniest of space in one’s mind the marketer is able to capture, every seed has the opportunity to grow and eventually plant roots. As a small business, you'd better go viral with your marketing strategy or just go home!

Viral marketing is definitely not a sterile sounding name and it’s not meant to be. Just like snot that flies (when a gross person chooses not to cover their nose and mouth when they sneeze) this form of marketing is meant to spread and spread fast infiltrating the people’s psych it touches. Seth Godin an expert in this field has studied this idea and given it voice through his popular thumbed through books and scrolled through articles on the web. Where before marketers just wanted YOU to buy, the new focus  is YOU and YOUR 10 CLOSEST FRIENDS in one of your many networks.

So, don’t just make marketing  or advertising that is "sticky" make it infectious something so fantastic it is not even seen as being “sold to”, it is just funny, brilliant, shocking or worth knowing.  However, beware you are not as good as you say you are. You are only as good as your last raving fan says you are. Just like a person your brand needs an identity and it can’t be some teen-aged going through the “finding out who I am and who my friends are phase” you have to know what that brand is and base everything you do around it. The more visual the better, people will eat you up  if you speak to them and THEIR needs not YOUR bottom line.

 Connect with people and their life and the more your brand will seem like a person that they know, like, and trust. The more relatable the brand is the better and the less likely the consumer will feel like they are dealing with some stranger who is trying to use them to get something. 

David Klein knew from the age of 6 he was going to be in the candy business. His aunt, grandma, and grandpa owned a liquor store. He would do various work around the place like organizing the returned empty bottles as well as go on inventory runs with his aunt to Smart & Final to get candy. What kid wouldn't gain an interest in such a yummy subject? 

His early enthusiasm for candy lead to the dissection and research of the candy business. Making candy wrappers the epicenter of his studies he began to learn the companies that made each candy bar. In junior high his fantastic memory on the subject lead to a parlor trick he still has at his disposal. 

   When the teacher needed to leave the class be it for a bathroom break, or a coffee refill in the teacher's lounge she would ask “Dave you wanna come up and entertain the class?” Then began a pastime the class loved to participate in, trying to stump him on his candy know-how. No matter how hard the quizzing there was not a question asked that he could not answer, he was never stumped. His prowess on the subject sure didn't stop the class from trying anyway. He could recite history of candy companies better than most baseball enthusiasts could rattle off batting scores. He had made it a point to learn everything he could about the industry and sucked it all up like a sponge. I decided to have an interview with Mr. Klein and discover his sage advice on business and being a struggling yet passionate entrepreneur because I, much like him will devour any information on the subject within my reach. These are the lessons I've learned from David's long, challenging and sometimes painful journey in the candy industry.

During our interview I asked David how long he sticks with an idea and gives it a chance before he gives up on it all together. 

His response was “ I don't ever think I've said I am going to give up just so much time before I give up on an idea.”and it is with that mentality that he is able to press on and form new and innovative ideas and products. It's obvious a new business owner has to be creative when starting small with limited resources, but this holds true even when they are big and successful too. Read on to find out how David turned his passion for candy into a passion filled career.

I got my hot little hands on a copy of The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz, before its release date. In a day's amount of time I devoured every page. There was no overuse of needless jargon or a holier then thou pompous tone. It's written by an author who is entertaining to read, and has no lack of self-deprecation or humility to make his point known, a refreshing change given this book category don't you agree? 

Since I am an avid reader a lot of points made, resonated with me and reminded me of various authors and thought leaders in the industry.Throughout the book I kept thinking about Ken Blanchard and his book Raving Fans, and Mike Klinger's stance on what he calls the Empathy Driven Economy. I especially appreciated  a section in the book where Mike talked about using the power of crowd-sourcing. I see this trend being a driving force in our future and how people do business and I'm thankful for his inclusion of the subject in his book. Some other gems to be had in the pages are:

-How to discover the leeches that are sucking your company dry of it's resources, money and talent.

  -How to escape the “do it all” model of doing business, and just do what matters.

 -And the reason why you can't make everyone happy and why that's ok.