Do you want to be an Entreprenuer? Be one at your day job.

Most people who dream of starting their own enterprise have worked for other companies before starting their own business. The key to success is to be persistent and not abandon your dream. You can start being an Entrepreneur at your day job.

Check out this article for three tips that can help you to achieve this.

Company Culture. Take a Survey.

Are you looking to build a good culture in your company? Your company’s culture and employee engagement can really connect to the success of your financial performance. Having a great and healthy culture within your company can not only help you, but also motivate your employees to perform their best.

This article provides a survey that you and your employees can take to see if everyone is on the same page. The survey will also allow you to compare your company’s culture to other successful companies’ culture rankings. Take advantage of this survey, it can only help!

Are you an Entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but if you have the right skill this may be the perfect career for you.

There are some hints on your behavior and mindset that may be signs that you have what it takes to be an Entrepreneur.

Are you ready to improve and make things better? Are you ready to have your own business? Working for someone else isn't your thing?  

Check out this article and learn some of these traits.

Change the way you look at your business. Be Positive!

As a business owner, you are constantly faced with difficult decisions or issues with your company. Sometimes when we are faced with tough decisions, we tend to be our own worst critics.

Instead of always putting a negative spin on reality, try a more positive approach.

 

This article will discusses varies issues that companies face and ways to approach “The Reality” in a more positive way.

Have You Signed Up to Hear Patrick Henry Yet? DON'T MISS THIS!

DATE: Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012

TIME: 9 am - Noon (Doors open at 8:30am and you must pre-register)  

PLACE: Whitton Auditorium in Winthrop University’s Carroll Hall, Rock Hill, SC. (on campus on Ebenezer Road off Cherry Road). Parking will be available across from Carroll Hall.    

And ..... it’s FREE!! Courtesy of the Whitton Best Practices Series at Winthrop University and the SC Small Business Development Center at Winthrop.  

Register here!

Patrick Henry

Nationally Recognized Speaker  

 "takes training to a whole new level with his original music and humor" 

 "A dynamic and energetic audience captivator with real world solutions and proven results"  

In three hours you will learn how to change the future of your business by changing the way you sell, changing the way you approach potential customers, and the way you promote yourself and brand your organization.  

The objective of the Whitton Best Practices Series, sponsored by Elaine Whitton Davis and developed in conjunction with Winthrop faculty, is to provide free or low cost access to current, state-of-the-art knowledge relevant to small business practice.  

For more information or to reserve your space please contact Page Bowden, Director of External Relations for the College of Business Administration, at bowdenp@winthrop.edu or 803.323.2504  

How to Generate Leads on Your Website

Your employees are key to your business.

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.- unknown

Finance tips for your small business

Small business owners, are you having trouble keeping your finances in order? The accounting for a business can cause many headaches that you probably weren’t expecting when starting your business.

This is a great article that offers tips to help you gain a better understanding and handle your business finances.

Always be prepared.

As a small business owner, maintaining an adequate supply of cash reserves is one of the key things to help your business stay afloat in the event of a disaster or unexpected event.

In this article, one entrepreneur shares what he experienced when an unexpected event threatened his business and he did not have any cash reserve to stay afloat. Find out what he did, click here.

Interesting and Inspiring article, take a look.

In this article, Gurbash Chahal talks about how starting a business can be tough, but also worth the experience.

He also gives some tips to overcome those uncertainties that may prevent or delay you starting your business.


Click here to read Gurbash Chahal's article.

You have your business set up, now you need office space..here is what you need to know

Are you looking into office or retail leases and finding it hard to negotiate a favorable lease agreement for your company? It can be very difficult for start-ups to negotiate with landlords because they normally have very little leverage.

However, you will learn in this article that there are ways to negotiate the best terms possible for the new lease if you plan accordingly. Click here to read more.

October is for Women's Small Business Month

October is National Women’s Small Business Month. To celebrate, SBA officials have hosted a series of weekly web chats aimed at helping aspiring and established women business owners learn more about starting or expanding small businesses.

The last web chat will be held on Thursday, October 25, at 2 p.m. and will focus on Business Opportunities for Young Women.

To find out more and submit your questions, click here.

Do you have a business Idea?

Are you looking to launch a business or just having trouble figuring out your target market? Having an idea about who your target market is and also understanding that you may not gain success with just those customers can help you to reshape your focus.

 

Use this article as a springboard, to obtain pointers on how to identify your potential target market as well as visit your local SBDC for assistance. Give us a call or stop by to talk to one of our consultants.

 

We are here to help.

Apps for Entrepreneurs

Do you have a smart phone and are always wondering what apps you should get? With the use of a smartphone, technology has made it easier to be more and more productive while on the go.

Here's a list of 10 mobile apps that can help you save time and get things done when you are out of the office.

Slow and steady wins the race

We really are beginning to see signs of improvement in job creation, even though not at the rates that would make everyone happy. But information like this gives us good reason to feel that we're on the right track and that when it all resolves, we will have been stronger than ever for having fought the odds with quiet resolve.


Click here to read this article and to see which are the top 5 cities with higher job creation.    

What If I Get A Bad Review on Social Media?

Most small business owners go out of their way to serve their customers and have happy, loyal customers as a result.  But there are some people who'll never be happy regardless of what you to do to accommodate their needs.  Appeasing them can be a chore.  We all know that word-of-mouth helps our businesses grow, so it also follows that bad word-of-mouth spreading quickly through social media can have a very negative effect.

For this reason, several of our clients have been hesitant to get involved with social media or even have a blog lest they become the target of a disgruntled, difficult customer.  Having seen how some people can blast a business mercilessly, even when not warranted, they aren't sure they're up for the hassle.  Well, that's really not the best way to handle that issue.  After all, following that logic, you might never unlock the front door of store in the morning for fear of  someone coming in who'll go out and spread unwarranted negative remarks about you or your store. Assuming you know that you've done everything you can to insure customer satisfaction, there's really nothing you can do to someone who just refuses to be satisfied.

That being said, just go forward and develop your social media presence ... create and keep your blog updated with all the news about sales dates, new products, interesting relevant information, etc.  Participate in this amazing means of being found and joining in . . . and reap the benefit of having new people discover your business and become your customers/clients.  Do your best for your customers.  Stand by your products, treat customers well, treat them fairly, and smile sincerely when waiting on them (even over the telephone -- you CAN hear a person smile) ..... it's hard to be angry with someone who's smiling while trying to resolve a problem. Most people will respond in kind. 

In the event a cantankerous customer decides to grill you over the flames of your own blog or Facebook page, be calm.  You'll have other good customers who'll come to your defense if you're truly serving your clientele well.  And there are ways to let the rest of the world see how well you DO treat people, who maybe don't even deserve it.  I could sit down here and go over all the many ways to handle a social media heckler, but I don't have to .... our friends at the SBA posted an article that I think says it very well.  Click here to learn 7 Tips for Dealing with Criticism of Your Business 



Marketing tips..We can help.

Visit our marketing helps page on our website to get some basic and timeless marketing tips, and also watch a video on marketing a service business vs a product-based business.

Click here to go directly to our website.

Are you a manager? Do your employees trust you?

An effective manager is one who gains the respect of others through performance and by building relationships among their employees based on credibility, trust and respect. However, this is not an easy task to achieve. Learn 5 things that effective managers do to earn thrust quickly. Click here to read this interesting article.

For Women Entrepreneurs...Take a look.

Women Entrepreneurs need to recognize the value of their time. “You can have it all as long as you don’t do it all”. This is a great video to help the woman-owned business to continue their development and surpass their own limitations.

How to market a service business. Great video.

We believe this is a great video that answers the question, “How to market service businesses”. In this video, you will learn some key strategies to understanding your customers’ core frustrations, and how to become the solution for those frustrations.

Employees may be your greatest asset, take care of them.

Employees are essential for the success and continuation of a business.

Having a motivated workforce will not only guarantee better results, but having the full engagement of employees will contribute to achieving the goals of the organization.

Check this article to learn ways to maintain your employees motivation.

How to make customers LOVE you.

Generating sales from repeat clients is not as hard as it may seem. Based upon conversations with Jeffrey Gitomer, author of the “The Sales Bible” and Dr. Earl Taylor, master trainer at Dale Carnegie, here are the seven rules for getting your customers to love working with you.

Are you looking for potential investors?

Are you thinking about fundraising and pitching your business for the first time? Know that your potential investors are looking to measure your ability to make progress in your business.

Entrepreneurs, you have to take the initiative, get started with a plan for potential investors. This is a great way to show them you can get the job done. Click here to learn more.

Motivate your employees.

There are different things that motivate one to achieve a great performance. Whereas for some people, it may be the work they do, for others it may be the environment of the workplace, or the shared goals or values of the organization.

Regardless of the reason that motivates you to give the best of yourself, you should take a look at these 9 things that will help to motivate you and your employees to perform at their best.

Quote for Tuesday

“Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.” George Van Valkenburg

Is it smart to do business on a handshake in 2012?

The days of doing business through a handshake are probably over, for the most part. There so many things that can distort an oral agreement; but having a written agreement can confirm how everything will work for both parties. Entrepreneurs, this is a good video to watch as you go out and accept business partners. Source: Nina Kaufman. Entrepreneur.com