Small Business Bonfire

Image memes may be a passing fad, but they've been hot long enough for marketers to consider taking advantage of their popularity. Not sure what a meme is? Read this: http://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/7-things-marketers-should-know-memes-faq/

How do you make use of a Web phenomenon that features grumpy cats, grotesque cartoon 

characters and random unaware celebrities? Here are a few tips based on my experience.

1. Choose a topic relevant to your audience or business that's general enough to allow room for some creative brainstorming. For instance if you provide consulting services for human resources, choose a topic like "conflict in the workplace." Get some people together who have heard of memes and riff on the topic to come up with…

Over the past two years I have interviewed over forty successful entrepreneurs.  My criteria for an interview subject is that they must have built and sold at least one successful business.  Many of them have been serial entrepreneurs – having created more than one business and learned many lessons along the way.

As I’ve talked to these people it has become apparent that they all share certain traits that ultimately lead to their success.  If you want to succeed at your business (of course you do), you could do worse than focus on developing the traits exhibited by the rich and free.  Work out which ones you have in abundance and work on the ones you don’t.

Take a look at the traits listed below and grade yourself on a score of 1 to 5, where 1 means ‘not at all’ and 5 means ‘totally got it nailed’, against each of the traits. Don’t feel you have to be close to a 5 score to be successful. This is a reality check to identify the areas you will need to work on as you…

Running and growing a small business is pretty fun. Paying taxes for that business is not. Thankfully, accounting software can help make the process a little less painful by tracking your accounts payable and receivable, your payroll, your inventory and all of your banking activity for you. However, with so many different types of software available on the market, it can be difficult to choose which accounting platform is best for your business. To help you make an informed decision, here’s an overview of three of the top financial management software available on the market today.  

QuickBooks Pro

QuickBooks is currently the most popular business management software on the market, and for good reason. The platform is easy to use and features advanced invoicing, billing and expense and payment tracking functions that can be customized to fit any…

Signs.com is kicking off their Business Hours Giveaway today. The giveaway is eligible to the first 5000 business owners that claim a free window decal for store hours. Signs.com works with many small businesses and is trying to give back as well as help small businesses in the tough economic climate that still exists in many parts of the United States.

Full details can be found in the press release found here and on their blog found here.