Jumpstart Your Business

Here, in descending order of importance, are the top 7 reasons why your blog may be so popular.

#7 You are very good at PR and know how to get the word out on your blog.

Many entrepreneurs feel that they can run their business by “flying by the seat of their pants”, so to speak. While that can be done and is exciting, almost 90% of startups never see a second year, and many small businesses tend to run sluggishly all because their owners never invested in a business plan. Well here are 7 good reasons why you should:

1. Help you figure out clearly where your business is headed and what critical steps you need to take.

1. Describe the marketplace or environment both from a business and
social perspective.

2. Establish a set of goals for the company that allow you to:
. Take advantage of the marketplace
. Deliver products/services to meet present and future market needs
. Effectively communicate product and market positioning to
customers, business partners as well as your own personnel
. Reposition the company to fit the changing marketplace

A Saudi student renting a room at my girl friend’s was really happy because he had finally worked up the courage to go to the supermarket alone and had returned with a couple of bargains including “fat free” milk. He was really proud of this accomplishment because he likes his milk with all of the cream (unprocessed fat) in it and thought he had found that and more since he got the “fat for free”.

This story started me thinking of all of the things that are sold “fat free” like certain cuts of beef, yogurt, cottage cheese, hamburger meat, and a miriad of other products and wondered whether these misconceptions in labeling are taking advantage of all of us.

Every small business, whether established for a while or just starting up, should have a small business network. This should be at a minimum an informal group of friends or acquaintances who are there to provide both moral and subject matter support or the group can be more formal in the shape of an Advisory Board to give you advice and counsel whether for a fee or better yet pro bono.

Here are some questions to ask yourself about how you and your business is perceived by your customers:

Do we appear helpful?
Do we appear to respect the customer’s time

This post is excerpted from a business article by Lindell Associates

If it’s not customer focused then it’s you focused, channel focused or technology focused - other focused. Customers don’t care about those things. They are focused on their needs.

Here are the 5 Cs that lending institutions look at when determining whether to give you a loan to start or grow your business:

We decided to take on a fresh look and feel for 2008. Jumpstart Your Business is going to also be