Here is a roundup of important small business tips to start out your week on the right track. We’ve tried to collect some of the best resources to get you started but we’d love to hear from readers as well, so if you’ve got some tips or advice to add, please, as always, leave them in the comment section below. Enjoy!
Legal
Legal tips for your small business. From Jeffrey Fabian of Fabian LLC, serving small business and legal professionals, here are a collection of legal issues every small business must look out for. Consulting on legal matters with an attorney can be another important step, but remember that legal issues of all kinds come with the territory in small business, so be prepared. 365 Days of Startups
Ideas for maintaining your professional image. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, your online reputation is becoming more important every day. So what does a Google search say about you? If you don’t know yet, you should find out. Reputation has always been an important commodity in the business world. The Internet has made it more important than ever. Beware! Startup Professionals Musings
Customer Service
Tips for creating a more appealing product or service. You may think you’re giving your customers choices, but, in reality, you’re only handing them indecision. And perhaps an invitation to do nothing? Here’s an alternative. Give them a step-by-step on how to use your product. Tell them what to do and how to do it. And don’t worry if it doesn’t fit every customer’s needs. They’ll create the fit that’s right for them. Chris Brogan
Marketing
How to set yourself apart from competitors. Saying you’re better than your competitors just isn’t good enough (even if it’s true.) The question is what you can offer customers that is different from any one else in the market. Create a service no one else provides in exactly the same way, and you’ll have a marketing strategy that can work in the long run. Duct Tape Marketing
How to use “help marketing” to strengthen your business and brand. You can call this PR instead of marketing if you like, but no matter what you call it, it may be the best thing for your brand and business, if you do it right. Helping others including your customers is really what your business should be about anyway. So don’t be afraid to show your willingness to extend a helping hand. TechLunatic
Startup
How to seek help from business accelerators. Efforts to get new businesses up and running have increased in recent years and business accelerators in various forms are spreading across the country, according to this piece on the trend. Often these organizations offer “more help than funding” but can still be an important resource depending upon the nature of your startup. Bloomberg Businessweek
Taxes
How to prepare for tax compliance expenses in your small business. Ballooning tax regulations are a huge source of expense for small businesses, especially here in the U.S. It’s important for small business owners to consider the expenses related to tax compliance, since this is likely to be an ongoing burden for small business owners into the foreseeable future. WSJ
Last minute tips for last minute tax filers. If you’re doing your small business tax filings on your own, here are some last minute tips you may want to consider ranging from how to file an extension to how long to keep your tax records and more. If you want some last minute advice as the tax deadline closes in, why not take a few minutes and watch the video? BostoneHerald.com
Self-development
A new persription for stress and overwork: relax! Small business owners and entrepreneurs, like everyone else, experience burnout at times and can easily become overwhelmed with work. After all, when the final responsibility for everything falls upon you, there’s no one else to turn to. But experts now suggest that taking those breaks when necessary can be absolutely essential. Here’s more. The Globe And Mail
Tech
Tips for keeping your business technology up and running. Keeping your business technology alive and kicking is not just a luxury in today’s small business world. It is an absolute and vital necessity! So tips on keeping the critical tools you use to operate your business and serve your customers should always be a priority. Here are some tips you won’t want to forget. Jackrabbit.com Blog
From Small Business TrendsSmall Business News: Best Small Biz Tips Today
A 75-year-old woman was recently arrested by the Georgian police after she single-handedly cut off Internet connections in Georgia and neighbouring Armenia.
AFP reports that the pensioner was digging for scrap metal with the intention of stealing it when she stumbled upon a fibre-optic cable which runs through Georgia to Armenia, forcing thousands of Internet users in both countries to lose Internet connection for several hours. Georgian Railway Telecom, the company that owns the cable, said that the latest damage was serious, causing 90 percent of private and corporate Internet users in Armenia to lose access for nearly 12 hours while also hitting Georgian Internet service providers.
“I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable. It has robust protection and such incidents are extremely rare,” Giorgi Ionatamishvili, Georgian Railway Telecom’s marketing head, told AFP.
Apparently, this wasn’t the first time it happened. In 2009, another scavenger damaged a fibre-optic cable while hunting for scrap metal in the impoverished ex-Soviet state, forcing many Georgians’ Internet connections to get interrupted.
The woman has been charged with damaging property and could face up to three years in prison if convicted.
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Chicago Bears tight end Greg Olsen is locked out by a high school
Being locked out by the NFL is one thing, but Chicago Bears tight end Greg Olsen had to deal with another rejection recently when he was kicked off a high school field while trying to work out.
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ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Pat Tillman's Mom Wants General Stanley <b>...</b>
ABC News' Jake Tapper reports: President Obama named retired General Stanley McChrystal to co-chair a White House commission on military families this week, but according to perhaps the most prominent military family of the last decade, ...
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GWU Suicide Tragically Coincides with Obama Speech - FoxNews.com
George Washington University students in Washington, D.C. learned of a tragic coincidence of timing on their campus Wednesday. As President Obama delivered a speech on deficit reduction in the Jack Morton Auditorium, ...
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Video calls were a mainstay of classic sci-fi films, and even today there’s something almost magical about seeing your friends and family on the screen of a portable device. Video calling has been around for some time, but it’s only really in the past year or so that its got more attention among regular users. That’s thanks in no small part to Apple and FaceTime, as found on the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and other gadgets from the company’s range. Read on as we give FaceTime the full SlashGear 101 treatment!
So Apple invented video calling, right?
No, not at all, though they did do a lot to make it easier to use – just as long as you have the right hardware. Video calling is actually a part of the 3G standard, which – if the carrier and whatever phone you’re using supports it, which isn’t the case in the US – has been available since around 2003. Unfortunately a combination of high pricing, poor understanding by users, mediocre quality and patchy reliability meant this form of video calling has never really taken off.
Apple’s FaceTime takes advantage of the company’s tight control over the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and MacBook software, which has allowed it to polish the video calling experience to the point where everyday use is possible. Now FaceTime is available to anybody at the touch of an on-screen button.
Do I need an Apple phone to use FaceTime?
Not necessarily a phone, but definitely something with the Apple logo. FaceTime was first supported on the iPhone 4, which was Apple’s first mobile device with a front-facing camera (i.e. one that looks at the user, rather than out the back of the handset). The latest iPod touch and iPad 2 both have front-facing cameras and FaceTime support as well, and Apple has released a FaceTime app for its Mac and MacBook computers so they can join in the fun as well. FaceTime comes free on the mobile devices and the very latest Macs, and is a $0.99 download from the Mac App Store for earlier Mac owners.
Okay, so how do I use it?
It’s pretty simple, just as Apple was aiming for. On the iPhone you make a voice call in the normal way and then tap the FaceTime button on-screen to switch to video. On the iPod touch and iPad 2, you start a video call in the FaceTime app. You’ll need an Apple account in order to make and receive calls, since that’s used as the “phone number” for devices other than the iPhone 4.
Currently, FaceTime video calls can only be made when you have a WiFi connection, not when you’re using the mobile network for data. That’s a limitation Apple has put in place itself, though the company has said it is working on removing it in the future.
I’m not into Apple, can I video call with something else?
You certainly can, though the process gets a bit trickier. Various apps are available for Android and other mobile phone platforms which promise video calls, sometimes over not only WiFi but the 3G mobile networks too. That means you can make video calls when away from your home network or a WiFi hotspot, as long as your signal is strong enough.
Skype, Fring and Qik are all among the companies offering video calling apps, though their effectiveness often varies on a phone-by-phone basis. Not all phones have front-facing cameras, either, though they’re becoming more common on the latest handsets. A future SlashGear 1010 feature will look at the best video calling apps if FaceTime isn’t your thing.
Apple has said it plans to open up FaceTime to other manufacturers, so that non-Apple phones can make and receive calls too, but so far there’s no sign of that actually happening.
More information at Apple’s FaceTime page.
We’ve been hearing all kinds of Chatter that the next version of Final Cut Pro will debut in Vegas at NAB next week. Thing is, we hear this every year and Apple hasn’t really done a NAB properly in awhile. That’s OK, we’ll take that we can get.
Rumors are flying that Apple will be using the Vegas Supermeet to announce the next version of Final Cut Pro. Supposedly, Apple will be taking over the entire event for their announcement, cancelling all other sponsors, including AJA, Avid, Canon, BlackMagic, Autodesk and others, who were set to give presentations.
Philip Bloom just confirmed with me that Canon has canceled his appearance at the Supermeet. Canon was told last night that Apple has demanded ALL “lecturn” or stage time exclusively. Some sponsors who were not using presenters may continue to sponsor the Vegas event, but none of them will be presenting on the stage. I can’t imagine any news that would warrant this kind of “take-over” other than to announce and demonstrate the next full version of Final Cut Pro and possibly an entirely newly designed FCS4.
(UPDATE: Avid confirmed that Supermeet (Michael Horton) told them last night that their sponsorship had been cancelled. According to Avid, “Apple doesn’t want anyone to have stage time but them.”)
Who’s up for Vegas?
We heard the first concrete details about Apple’s all new Final Cut Pro coming during Spring this year, and recently some new information has come to light. Final Cut Studio expert Larry Jordan was one of the people at Apple’s meeting, demonstrating the upcoming upgrade to the professional film-making software.
Jordan can’t say much about the upgrade, due to an NDA with Apple, but he did say it is a “jaw-dropper.” Besides the “jaw-dropper” part, the thing we are taking most from his blog post is the fact that Apple allowed him to write it up. It appears that Apple already considers the software public knowledge. Afterall, Apple CEO Steve Jobs did tell a 9to5mac reader to buckle up for it.
Thanks to Charlie Sanchez
Related articles
- Next Final Cut Pro is a “jawdropper,” Apple considers it public knowledge, and will it drop at NAB? (9to5mac.com)
- Apple says last Xserve orders shipping in April, here’s what’s next for XSAN (9to5mac.com)
- Nasdaq to cut Apple’s weighting in rebalancing (9to5mac.com)
- Feeling the heat, HP and Dell execs lash out at Apple, pray iPad will fail (9to5mac.com)
- Certain MacBook Pro models ‘unavailable’ for reservation at many Apple Stores (9to5mac.com)
- Apple asks Toyota to remove the Scion theme from Cydia (9to5mac.com)
- New Final Cut Pro hits Spring ’11 and it’s the “biggest overhaul yet” (9to5mac.com)
- iOS 5 pushed to the fall: major revamp, cloud-based, WWDC preview? (9to5mac.com)
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In recent weeks we’ve shared articles on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. Now it’s time to look at how all these tools are changing the way you do business. By the way, we’d like to learn what kind of social media your business is using and why. Be sure to leave a comment below.
Strategy
How to be a social media leader. How to be a social media leader or authority. It’s a question surely on the mind of plenty of small business owners working to learn the vocabulary of the new online media. In the end, it may be easier than it looks. Check these simple tips. Small Business CEO
How to set up a small realization that business blog. Whether practitioners of small business social media nowadays would describe a format as “old school” as blogging as being a part of the social media is uncertain. We certainly consider it to be. In many ways blogging is the cornerstone of a strong online social presence and establishing a blog as the hub of your social media campaign requires learning some basics on establishing a small business blog. Dazzlin Donna
Marketing
How to use social media to build context. Gary Vaynerchuck is arguably one of the most innovative pioneers of the social media marketing approach, but in this interview he argues using the means open to small businesses today isn’t necessarily about the tools, it’s about the context. Find out why. The Rise to the Top
How to grow your social media fan base. Whether it’s Facebook or another comparable site, social media is about being social. To understand why this is harder than it might at first seem, check out this post on growing a social media fan base for your business. Like other online marketing, social media is about content. This post talks about how to use content and other tools to boost your number of fans. Premium SEO Solutions
Operations
How to create Twitter and other social media content. So, we know that using social media and frequently updating with content are the key to an effective social media marketing campaign. But what in the world can you say. As it turns out talking endlessly and pitching endlessly about your business on social media is NOT the answer. Follow this guide to participating effectively in social media WITHOUT being labeled a spammer. What’s your approach? Blog Godown
How bloggers have become much more influential than celebrities. When it comes to influencing purchasing decisions, people are more likely to listen to a blogger than a rock star. That’s according to a recent study suggesting the increased influence social media is having on purchasing decisions. If you haven’t yet considered social media and particularly blogging as part of your marketing campaign, you may want to read more. Fox News
Research
Why social media may not be your best traffic driving tool. A recent study suggests that as a strategy for driving traffic to your Website, social media may not be the best choice. Then again, the study goes on, for brand awareness its effectiveness may be somewhat higher. In the end, it’s important to remember that the tools you use must make sense to your business, says blogger Cynthia Boris. Don’t look to social media as a magic bullet. It’s a useful tool, nothing more. Marketing Pilgrim
How to create a successful social media strategy. Businesses seeking to take advantage of all aspects of the social media need to apply careful planing to their approach. The possibilities for crowdsourcing, studying of online customer conversation and other factors makes innovation easier as well. But with all these possibilities, where should your business begin? A well defined social media strategy is a good first step. 1 to 1 media
How to listen to social media and gain insight about your brand. Someone is talking about your business out there. But what are they saying and is it something you should even be worried about? Monitoring social media for positive and negative comments about your business can be a great strategy for constant innovation. Here’s more about how it works and how you can get involved. InformationWeek
Final Thoughts
Trying to figure out social media. One of the main issues for small businesses today, surprisingly, is not just deciding to implement social media but trying to figure out all of the possible implications. Social media is, after all, more than just a tool. It is a movement as well. The existence of social media is a hard reality and offers opportunities to small business of all kinds. But there are challenges too. Here are some important thoughts. Business 2 Community
If the players win the fans lose. I see it as if the players win, the price continues to climb out of control, making ever seeing a game life at the stadium impossible to justify with the economy the way it is. Although I don't believe the owners care about lowering prices to allow the medium income family, but at least the need to raise prices isn't there. Direct TV has climbed to over $300 to watch your favorite teams. So, why they argue about the 9 billion we give them a year, we have to set back and wait to see how there going to pay for all this by emptying our pockets, while we thank them for agreeing on the terms.
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/nfl/2011/03/theres-nothing-normal-about-these-nfl-labor-talks#ixzz1JWifUR00
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Wii 2 to be revealed at E3 – report <b>News</b> - Wii - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Wii 2 to be revealed at E3 – report.
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ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Pat Tillman's Mom Wants General Stanley <b>...</b>
ABC News' Jake Tapper reports: President Obama named retired General Stanley McChrystal to co-chair a White House commission on military families this week, but according to perhaps the most prominent military family of the last decade, ...
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