Small Business Reading Room

Thursday, September 28, 2006

The 10th reason to jump

Are you one of those on again off again entrepreneurs who can't seem to make that leap and start your own business?

You are not alone.

Penelope Trunk offers some career advice for those on-the-fence entrepreneurs with 9 new ideas that may just inspire and lend the boost you need to go out and get started.

I'd like to add my own 2 cents with that 10th new idea that was missing from the list:

10. There will never be a better time to get started then right now.

That's right, I said right now. Think about it. There has to be at least 5 reasons, excuses, nagging insecurities or circumstances you can come up with in a heartbeat to try to justify putting off taking any action for just a little while longer.

But I challenge you to come up with one reason, one real reason to not get started right now with just one little thing. Anything! As long as it will bring you closer to your goal, it is better than doing nothing. How about writing your idea(s) down? How about reserving your domain name? How about just checking to see if it is available? How about unplugging your television for a whole 24 hrs?

I know, some of you may be reading this and thinking "yeah, but..."
Believe me, I get it. Life happens. The way I see it you can either let it happen around you or you can decide to call some of the shots.

Look at it this way, if you keep putting it off until tomorrow then you risk that tomorrow may never get here. Does that sound worth it to you?

Might as well jump.

posted by Unknown at 5:40 PM - permalink 0 comments

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Should You Star in Your Own Advertisements?

I remember the gravely voice of Thomas Carvel coming on the radio while riding in the backseat of the family car. I was four or five years old, and we were visiting my grandmother during the summer. And there was a Carvel icecream store next door to where she lived.

I didn't understand some of the words at first, coming out of the speakers, but I listened harder, cause he was talking about icecream. And he was talking to me. About icecream.

Carvel didn't have a voice for radio, but that didn't stop him. He had the right demeanor and used the right words. "Wednesday is Sundae at Carvel. Every Wednesday, you can get a free sundae for every Sunday that you buy." I'm less than five years old, and I get the pun. And I know that it's Wednesday.

And there's a Carvel next door to Grandma's house.

Laura Ries talks about the characteristics of Perfect Pitch People in a post on the Origin of Brands Blog. The characteristics she lists are:

Authenticity
Likability
Screen Presence
Well-known
Story (as in having a good story)

She uses real examples to explain these characteristics. Dieter Zetsche of DaimlerChrysler comes up short when compared to Dave Thomas of Wendy's or Frank Purdue.

How well does this translate to smaller businesses? For many small businesses, the person in charge is the face of the business.

I always wondered why they had that guy doing those radio advertisements, when he was so hard to understand. But he always convinced me to ask my parents if we could go get icecream.

posted by William Slawski at 11:59 PM - permalink 0 comments

Monday, September 25, 2006

Business Blogging Links

Some articles that we found recently that we thought might be interesting to our visitors:

Wayne Hurlburt writes about Building a creative company: Embrace new ideas
Ecouraging ideas from employees can help your business grow - sometimes in unanticipated ways.

Anthony Cerminaro links to a very good FAQ on Starting a Solo Business and asks some of the tough questions that you should be asking yourself as you start a business.

Jeff Cornwall provides his thoughts on 10 Steps for Growth...And the New Challenges it will Create. These are some great things to consider for companies that have already started and are considering how they will grow.

Barbara Payne discusses a topic that we've talked about more than a little recently - The voice of your corporate blog. Does your company have a blog? How much have you thought about the way it addresses your visitors?

We're always looking for more business related blogs to add to our blogroll. Ones that provide useful information that our visitors can use to help start and grow their businesses. If you have any recommendations, please let us know.

posted by William Slawski at 10:50 AM - permalink 0 comments

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