Success: Get Expert Advice

Herm Rowland Reveals His Secrets to Sweet Success

If you subscribe to SCORE ExpertANSWERS, then you saw that Herm Rowland of Jelly Belly Candy Co. is this month’s featured expert.  Herm helped grow his grandfather’s candy business from a small, family operation to an industry giant.

Why do you believe in the value of mentoring?
I would recommend a SCORE volunteer for someone who is ready to listen and take advice from a person who has run a small business similar to yours in tough times. A SCORE volunteer helped our business, and he helped me personally. He did costing and developed an internal financial spreadsheet to show us where we were financially. He also helped us plan an expansion and secure a loan, and showed how we could increase sales through innovative ideas. He was the greatest!

Find out how SCORE helped Jelly Belly succeed.
Get more of Rowland’s keys to success.
Sign up for SCORE ExpertANSWERS.

Jacalyn Barnes, SCORE
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Participate: Impact Women-owned Biz

Support Women Entrepreneurship Research

The Center for Women’s Business Research, the National Women’s Business Council and Walmart are sponsoring a research study and your participation is crucial to its success. Just five minutes of your time will help support the growth of businesses like yours.

This study will measure the economic impact of women-owned firms in the United States. This is the first time that this type of analysis has been undertaken for women-owned businesses nationwide. The results are anticipated to have a profound effect on women business owners as well as policy makers, corporate executives and organizations which support women-owned businesses. The more responses the Center receives, the greater impact the research will have! 

The deadline for participation is Friday, June 19.  Help shape the future!
Participate in the study.

SCORE Association
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Contest: Startup Nation’s Home-Based 100

What’s It All About?

The third, annual Startup Nation Home-Based 100 ranks outstanding home-based businesses across the US in ten categories. This year’s categories are:

• Best Financial Performers
• Most Innovative
• Boomers Back in Business
• Greenest
• Yummiest
• Wackiest
• Savviest in Social Media
• Recession Busters
• Most Slacker Friendly
• Most Glamorous

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The judges’ decision-making process will be influenced by the following factors:

• How well your business fits the category.
• The quality and completeness of the description about your business and the case you make for it. Your passion, achievements, creativity, integrity and/or humor may be instrumental factors.
• The popularity of your entry based on number of popular votes received.

Contest: Inc. 500|5000 – Deadline Extended

Inc. Magazine’s 500|5000 Award: Private Companies Take Center Stage
Has your company grown since 2005?  If so, it may be one of the fastest-growing companies in America. Apply now to receive national recognition for your company and for the SCORE business community.

Inc. is continuing to accept applications for the 2009 Inc. 500|5000 list from their Inc. partner networks through May 22^nd – Apply today!

 One of the most prestigious honors in American business, the Inc. 500|5000 award ranks the 5,000 fastest-growing companies based on revenue growth over a three-year period, from 2005 to 2008.  If you make the list, Inc. will share your company’s story and success with the world.  The award will also recognize the top companies in many metro areas, regions, and industries, as well as the top minority- and woman-owned companies.

Click here to apply.  Questions?  Call Inc. at 1/800-248-0308.

Jacalyn Barnes, SCORE
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Marketing: Create a Successful Biz Blog

Before you launch a business blog, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

• Why do you want to start a blog?
  Is it to drive traffic back to your Web site? Increase buzz around a new product or service? Create brand recognition? To be viewed as an expert in your field? Remember, a blog is a tool to facilitate a set of business objectives. Pinpointing your main goals will make your blog more effective.
• How often can you guarantee that your blog will be updated?
  The quickest way to loose credibility in the blogsphere is to update infrequently or inconsistently. It’s better to start out with a few set days and times (ex. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00 am) and then slowly increase your publication schedule. The more frequently you publish, the higher your search engine rankings.
• Who will contribute to your blog?
  Is it only you? Or your team? Maybe, guest columnists? If it’s more than just you, make sure to have a set schedule so that everyone knows what is expected of them. There are numerous ways to be creative if you don’t have a lot of bloggers, but again, the key is consistency.
• What blogging platform will you use?
  Will you self-host? Do you want to customize the CSS? Do you want to map the blog to your business’ domain? Are there any special features or widgets you want to be able to add to the blog? All of these questions are important to help you find the best blog provider for your needs.

 

Now that you’ve answered these questions and have gotten your blog up and running, it’s time to focus on content.

Grow: Creating Global Business Documents

Last Monday, we discussed tips for creating a global business card. Adding to that c0nversation, I wanted to provide tips for creating business documents, such as annual reports, white papers and proposals that were relevant in a global market. Here are five quick tips to keep in mind when creating business documents for an international audience.

Use a professional. Creating an effective global business document is a complex process. Don’t leave your business image in the hands of an amateur.

Consider your business goals. Evaluating your present and future needs from the onset can reduce costs, time and frustrations.

Develop a standard operating procedure for document creation. This will help to create consistency amongst documents and facilitate future business growth.

Remember that less is more. Try to find one firm that can translate, localize and print high quality documents. Working with fewer vendors can save you valuable time and money.

Think as a foreign reader. Write simply, avoid culturally specific terms and create reference lists or glossaries when necessary.

Be mindful of formatting. When translating, text can expand or contract up to 50% depending on the target language. Create documents that can accommodate the size of the translated text.

Grow: Take Your Business Global

With the Internet and globalization, it’s now easier than ever to reach customers worldwide. Take advantage of the opportunities to grow your business. The first step is creating a business card that accurately reflects your brand. Here are five tips to creating a global business card.

Plan for success. If you intend on expanding internationally, strategic planning now can save you a lot of time and money later.

Use a native speaker or certified translator. Words and meanings vary by country so make sure you have a knowledgeable professional assisting you. Online translators are never the way to go.

Localize your card. Make sure the size, colors, fonts and text are culturally appropriate for the countries where you will be conducting business.

Be flexible and patient. You may have to modify your original concept slightly in order to accurately convey the message of your business.

Research how to exchange your card. Learn the cultural context of the business card in your target country and any special procedures that govern its exchange to avoid a deal-breaking faux pas.

Jacalyn Barnes, SCORE
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Grow: New & Creative Ideas in Business

The biggest challenge in business is coming up with new ideas, products and services. Creativity is very difficult if you always continue to do the same things for many years and are afraid to change because you may make a mistake.

The more we do things the same, the harder they are to change. Try folding your arms. Now fold them the other way. It’s not easy, is it?

Once you have a set way of thinking, it is sometimes hard to think differently.

In business it is essential to always think about ways to improve your product or service and think about how it can be better. That is the challenge!

• What is missing?
• What can be added?
• How can it be better?
• How can it improve and make the customer happier and more loyal?

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Think of new ways to enhance your products or services. The customer will tell you how to improve your products or services. An unhappy customer will complain and a solution to the complaint must found or you lose the customer. You always need client, customer and consumer feedback. How can the business improve the products or services so that the customers you want to reach are happy and want to continue to do business with you.

Be creative and think of new product lines and new markets and stay competitive.

• What problems need to be solved?
• With each problem there is an opportunity for a business.

State the problem. Add something, change it, make something bigger, make something smaller, eliminate something, or substitute something. It is essential to know your products and know your customers.

Analyze great ideas and look at why they succeeded, what did it do for people? Why do people buy it? How much will they pay for it? How long was it popular? When you have a new idea you must know “who will buy it?” and “how much the customer will pay for it”? Always try to increase sales with new items and bring in more customers or old customers looking for the next new thing that you have to offer.

The more ways you can sell a product the better. All sales must be tracked and as soon as sales begin to fall the next new item has to be ready to be introduced. This is one of the many challenges in business and those who do this best continue to be successful for years and years. Expanding your market, increasing your business and always knowing that you have to make a profit are the key to business success.

Julie Brander, New Haven SCORE
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Online Networking: Why Twitter Works

Twitter
If you’re looking for the social media tool with the greatest potential, Twitter is it. The downside is that it requires time and effort. A “tweet” is essentially a 140 character status update. How can this help your business? If your updates are informative, useful or witty, then people will “follow” you. The more followers you have, the greater your influence. Can you imagine being able to reach several thousand people every few hours? The key is to provide information that people can use. Focus on your target audience and go after them with tailored messages. Relevant news, cool trends or recent events in your industry are always good. To get people engaged, ask industry-related questions such as “What’s the best blogging platform and why?”

Use Twitter’s search tool or Twellow.com to find people to follow. Then leave responses to other’s tweets. Don’t forget to post a few of your own tweets. To be successful, you need to post several times a day. In order to help manage the time commitment involved, use an automation tool such as Tweetlater.com. Come up with about 25 updates and schedule them to post every few hours for the next week. Soon, you’ll notice your followers increasing exponentially.

Resources:
Use Twitter as a Twool by Guy Kawasaki
Twitter for Entrepreneurs
Twitter for Small Business: Getting Started
Twitter to Go: How One Local Coffee Shop Used Twitter to Double Their Clientele

Jacalyn Barnes, SCORE
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Online Networking: Facebook 101

Facebook
Facebook is a social networking site that gained popularity among college students and soon became one of the most used in the world. With 175 million active users, it’s definitely the place to be. Unlike LinkedIn and Xing, however, Facebook is a “social” networking, not “professional” networking site. This distinction is important for understanding how users behave and engage. People join LinkedIn to build professional contacts, find a job and network with industry leaders. People join Facebook to catch up with their college roommates, keep in touch with their family and stay involved in the lives of their friends. See the difference? So how does a business use Facebook effectively? To survive on Facebook, you must be invested in building relationships. Engage with the community and as always, provide useful information and resources.

There are four ways to use Facebook for business and the method you choose will depend on your type of business, as well as your time commitment. First, create a business page. This option allows members to become “fans” of your company. By doing so, your image is added to their profile thereby increasing your exposure and adding to brand recognition. You can also incorporate your small business blog feed into your profile, which auto-updates every time you publish a new post. Further customize your page with videos, photos and event listings. (Verizon, Nike Women and Red Bull are a good examples of highly customized pages.) The second way to use Facebook is by creating a group. For a group to be successful, you have to be committed to actively seek out and engage your members. Find issues your target audience is passionate about and build a group around it. Again, you can customize your group page much the same way you would do with your business page. The third method for using Facebook is specifically for non-profits. Using the Facebook Causes application, your organization can “recruit” members and solicit donations. Actually obtaining funds, however, requires proactively searching for members who are excited about your cause. The fourth use of Facebook for entrepreneurs is the only non-free tool, customized Facebook Ads. Upload an image, write the copy, choose when it displays and Facebook will make sure your message gets viewed by your target audience.

Resources:
Facebook for Small Business and Entrepreneurs
Top 10 Business Applications for Facebook
12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally
Facebook for Business: Opportunties and Limitations

Jacalyn Barnes, SCORE
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