Carnival of Small Business Issues

Carnival of Small Business Issues - Edition 10

Welcome to the 10th edition of the Carnival of Small Business Issues.

Our Prime Minister has announced plans for the construction of eight patrol ships at a cost of $1.3 billion during his visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia. If my Canadian history serves me right, there was a similar promise made by a former prime minister that never materialized. I do not claim to understand ships - but a little birdie told me these promised “patrol boats” will not work in protecting the sovereignty if need be - they are just that: patrol boats not fighting machines.

So while we wait and see what eventually gets deployed, let me present you with some of the best articles in the world of small business.

I urge you to please link back and support the Carnival. Submit your post for next week’s carnival.

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Finance

• Kristine McKinley is a CPA and Certified Financial Planner. She is the author of Tax Tips for WAHMs, that helps work at home moms minimize their income taxes (that got your attention, didn’t it?). How can Hiring Your Kids Help You Save on Income Taxes is one such article. “Since your son’s (daughter’s) earnings are less than the standard deduction, s/he does not owe income taxes on his/her earnings.”

• “Have fraud, will travel” is how Tracy Coenen describes her work. Tracy is a CAP and a Certified Fraud Examiner with “top-notch investigative intuition and exceptional technical expertise.” Sequence Inc fraudfiles is a blog she authors. She looks at “The enormous cost of complying with Sarbanes-Oxeley Section 404“

• “The purpose of this article is to familiarize business owners with a kind of financing that is unfamiliar to many people, Factoring. I will explain, in a simple yet comprehensive way, how to improve your company’s cash flow. ” Cash Flow - Life Blood for Every Business by Thomas Humes.

Comment: An excellent reminder on how to convert your single most important asset into cash. But who are the players in this market and how to find them?

Operations

• The goal of Capforge.com is to provide a complete range of startup help and information anyone starting a business might require. The blog is authored by Matt Remuzzi. “A lot of people will tell that entrepreneurs are risk takers. That isn’t actually true” Intrigued? “Understanding Risk and How it Actually Relates to You Starting a Business” While you are here you might also want to check out “How Being Stupid Can Pay Big Dividends (for Free) in Small Business Marketing if you have found yourself wondering just what the heck a business brochure was talking about or a company website about blurb that you can’t make heads or tails of.”

Comment: All the very best Matt in your endeavors. I just got off reading your “experience” page and hence this comment - and perhaps unrelated to the articles. I just loved the blender videos. It’s different.

• Um, a question. Who does not know Steve Pavlina? Chances are as soon as you began blogging, you would have read up his posts - especially “‘30 days to success” and “giving up television”. By the way, it has been over four years since we had a television at my place. My wife and I have not missed it at all. Back to his post though. Did you ever walk up to your professor and tell him/her that you weren’t going to turn in your project that was worth 10 hours of your time? Making Time for the Important asks you to explore the cost-benefits of performing the important tasks over the urgent tasks. “If you feel like you’re just spinning your wheels and not really getting anywhere in life, you’re probably getting sucked in by the urgent and delaying the important.”

Marketing

• The mission of Mason Hipp at SmallFuel Marketing is to help small businesses everywhere get bigger. “We help the little guys because it’s the little guys who are doing the really great things.” “How to Gain a Big Advantage by Being Small” - “If you see that your customers are missing a service then you can start offering it …”

Comment: It is a great service you are providing Mason. What small businesses lack in terms of resources, they make up for with their flexibility. Davids can bring down Goliaths.

• Bill Sheridan is an executive coach who draws on his experience as an educator, radio personality, salesman, sales manager and training director. He is the guest author at The Freestyle Entrepreneur. In Respecting your competition Bill says there is no need to go overboard and praise the competition … acknowledge that they are a worthy adversary …”

Comment: Another awesome article - reminding small business owners and sales people, in particular, on the effectiveness of being polite about your competition.

• Terry Dean’s blog is called “Integrity Business Blog“. That name tells a lot about how Terry won’t compromise on this values. Terry is dedicated to coaching entrepreneurs on how to earn more, work less and enjoy life. He lists 25 Ways to Increase Conversion rates on your website.

Comment: When I was wondering which point to highlight, I realized that every one of the points had to be there to increase conversion rates. They all work in tandem - just like in an orchestra where all musicians play in sync, so does all the elements of your website need to be in sync.

• Matthew Paulson is the author of FinanceIsPersonal.com. “Business cards won’t directly save or make you any money, but they will set up brand-recognition for your business and set you up for longer term success…” Check out Business Cards: When They Make Sense, and When they Don’t.
• Yvonne Russell blogs at Growing Your Writing Business - For Freelance Writers Who Mean Business. In her post Price vs Value - How Much Should Writers Charge? she explores the difference between price and value. “It may seem to be playing with semantics to say that price is not the same as value … “

Comment: The barber story is awesome, Yvonne. I got a couple of situations for you. What would you pay for a bottled water - say in a city? Say $1. Now consider yourself to be in the middle of Sahara and running out of water in say 2 days with 3 days of journey still ahead. Now what would you pay for the same bottle of water? $20 - $30 - $50 …? Say you have enough stock of water to last you for the entire trip. Now how much would you pay? And finally, how much will you pay, if you have run out of water?

• Isabella Mori is a writer and therapist. It’s all about having meaningful conversations. Alphablogs was created seeing a need in Vancouver for blog writing, research and administration. If you are keen on adding Powerpoint presentations on your blog, here is a live example of how it works: Slideshows on your blog.

Comment: So where does one get this tool, Isabella? Is this a plugin or a widget from Slideshare?

Miscellaneous

• When you feel like quitting by Michelle Cramer provides us with “tips on how to stay motivated when you are fed up and feel like throwing in the towel.” Michelle is the author of the Small Business Buzz (GreatFx Business Cards). “If you had the guts to walk out onto that ledge and dive into the unknown by starting your own business, chances are you knew then what you feel so strongly now …”

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I trust you have enjoyed reading the article. Catch the next edition of the Carnival on July 17.

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