Small business Archives - Diane Hamilton

What It Takes To Grow A Successful Business And Keep Your Spot On Top With Alec Stern

Growing a business is not a walk in the park. But Alec Stern, also known as “America’s Startup Success Expert” and Co-Founder of Constant Contact, has made his way to the top and speaks with Dr. Diane Hamilton on growing successful businesses and scaling companies among various industries throughout the years. He shares his insights on the different ways business owners can propel their way to success, pointing out the importance of what you do with your idea and how you can use it to your advantage. If you’re ready to make your business work and grow, learn Alec’s secrets and make your way to the top.

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Famous Entrepreneurs Provide Inspiration

There are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs who failed before they became successful. Some of them even explain that failure has taught them their most valuable lessons. While this may be true, many prospective entrepreneurs fear failure. One way to avoid problems is to learn from those who have experienced negative issues and still managed to succeed.

Entrepreneur.com recently published the article 10 Inspirational Leaders Who Turned Around Their Companies. In this article, author Stephanie Vozza explained, “From Apple’s Steve Jobs’ demanding personality to Marvel’s Isaac Perlmutter’s frugal methods, these sometimes-controversial CEOs weren’t always popular with employees, but they earned the respect of shareholders.”

For some unusual entrepreneurial examples, check out the VentureVillage article The Top Ten Startup Founder Blogs Every Entrepreneur Should Follow. These entrepreneurs offer a different perspective and update their blogs on a regular basis.

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Have You Been Retargeted?

If you have ever shopped online for an item and then later noticed an ad for that exact item on another page, you have been retargeted. It may cause some problems for people who are trying to surprise others with something special. Consider the scenario of the man who has searched for engagement rings. If his future fiancé should suddenly have ads for rings show up all over their shared computer screen, the jig may be up!

To see what it is like to be retargeted, try going to the site: GreatCall. Once you are on that site, you will notice they sell a phone service. You might then decide to go to a site like Dictionary.com. Once you get to the dictionary site, you might notice that suddenly there is an ad for GreatCall.

Now take a look at the top right corner of that ad. There is a little sideways triangle that you can click that explains AdSense. “The AdChoices symbol appears on web pages and ads to let you know when information about your interests or demographics may have been collected or used to show you ads – what’s known as interest-based advertising. You can opt out of interest-based ads, as well interest-based advertising from other participating companies by visiting the aboutads.info choices page.” Click on the following link to find out how to manage your ad preferences.

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Top Business and Career Trends for 2013

Potential entrepreneurs often look for the next big idea. With changing technology, it is important to have foresight. It is not always necessary to be the first company to offer a product or idea. Facebook is an excellent example of this. Sometimes an idea can be improved upon or tweaked.

Once an entrepreneur comes up with an idea, they must create a feasibility study. After creating a viable plan, there are some unique ways entrepreneurs may obtain financing. Crowdfunding and microlending are just one of the latest trends. Check out the Top 7 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Obtain Funding.

Some experts have tried to predict the next big areas for innovation. There are even sites like Trendhunter that offer trend reports to help with predictions. For those interested in getting ahead of the game, check out some of the top articles on business and career trends for 2013:

The last article is an interesting one, because sometimes people look at trends as positive things. That may not always be true. An important point was made in that article. Bringing value to customers should be a primary goal.

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Top 7 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Obtain Funding

The good news is that entrepreneurs have more options for funding than in the past. According to Entrepreneur.com, access to capital is improving for small businesses. This may be a frightening time to begin an entrepreneurial venture. However, there are an increasing number of available financing options. The following list contains some of the most prevalent in the current market.

Banks – The number of people going to banks for loans is increasing. “According to a report this week on banks with more than $10 billion in assets, the overall volume of loan applications increased by 5.6 percent in September over August, reports Biz2Credit, an online credit marketplace in New York City that connects small and midsize businesses with lenders.”
SBA Loans – Entrepreneurs have also traditionally gone with loans from the Small Business Association. “In 2011… it backed $30.5 billion in 61,689 loans to small business.”
Angel Investors – “Angels invested $9.2 billion in 27,280 startups in the first two quarters of 2012, a 3.1 percent increase in dollars and a 3.7 percent increase in number of entrepreneurial ventures over the same time in 2011, according to a report this week from the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.”
Venture Capitalists – “In 2012, venture capital firms have raised $16.2 billion, representing a 31 percent increase from the $12.4 billion raised in the first nine months of 2011, according to a report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association released this week.”
Crowdfunding – There have been some unusual ways that entrepreneurs have managed to raise funds. Crowdfunding has been growing in popularity. Entrepreneurs can raise funds through networking on the internet. Supports fund other people’s ideas or interests.
Microlending – One of the top microlending sites is Kiva.org. Kiva is “a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.”
Pledging – Kickstarter is a unique site allows entrepreneurs to keep ownership and control over their work while tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to help finance their creative ideas. The idea must reach its funding goal or no money changes hands. Entrepreneurs that receive their anticipated funds, can test concepts without risk.

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