http://sagesmallbiz.com small business resources, articles, and freebies Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:50:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sad Truth #1: Your Friends and Family Will Say They Support You. They Will Be Lying. Unless your friends and family are a bunch of self-made entrepreneurs themselves, they won’t really get why you’re doing what you’re doing. Sure, they’ll say they’re proud of you and they may provide warm words ... http://sagesmallbiz.com/5-sad-truths-and-silver-linings-about-going-into-business-for-yourself I didn't even know Tupperware was still around. But apparently that doesn't matter, because as you can see from the video below, 'Aunt Barbara' is making a killing at it! All because she figured out the perfect gimmick that would give her an edge. Take a look: While I'm not suggesting that ... http://sagesmallbiz.com/whats-your-business-edge-a-lesson-from-aunt-barbara “Ok, before we get started. Let’s go over some ground rules.” The atmosphere in the room just dropped a couple of notches on the congenial barometer. I can almost hear each and every one of the people seated at the U-shaped table in front of me thinking the same thing. Uh-oh. Ground ... http://sagesmallbiz.com/5-ground-rules-for-creating-your-vision-of-the-future Fact: In early 1999, there were an estimated 23 weblogs, or blogs, on the Internet* Fact: In 2008, Technorati (the world’s leading blog search engine) claimed to be tracking over 100 million blogs (and those are just English-language blogs!). In less than 10 years, blogs have become an integral part of the ... http://sagesmallbiz.com/the-independent-consultants-quick-and-dirty-guide-to-starting-a-blog Since the new year started, I’ve been reading articles and predictions on the top business trends for 2010. Invariably (and unsurprisingly), the use of social media for marketing, branding, and customer service has been at the top of every list. In just a few years, social media has gone from a ... http://sagesmallbiz.com/social-media-ate-my-homework-and-8-other-lame-reasons-you%e2%80%99re-not-using-it-for-your-business Congratulations! You've made it all the way to step 30 of 30 Steps to Build a Better Business.  The last thing that you need to do at the end of any action you've taken to improve your business, is to plan what you're going to do next. Maybe you've gotten the basics ... http://sagesmallbiz.com/step-30-plan-your-next-steps