Category: Entrepreneurs

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Entrepreneurs

Privacy Tips for Small Businesses

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You may be a small business, but chances are you collect some form of PII. Even small businesses are accountable for the safety of user PII, and thereby must take adequate measures to protect it. Lead Microsoft.com editor Monte Enbysk gathered TRUSTe’s insight to help develop 6 privacy tips for small businesses:
1. Take inventory of the personal information you collect and store.
2. Analyze how safely you use and store this data.
3. Make sure you’re complying with industry or federal laws.
4. Post a privacy policy that is clear and comprehensive.
5. Have your policy reviewed by an attorney or by a privacy seal program.
6. If you have employees, make sure their personal information is protected too.
According to Enbysk , you should seek the expert opinion of a privacy service like TRUSTe who can help ensure the accuracy and validity of your privacy statement. Not only may a third-party privacy authority ensure your privacy statement and practices are up to par, but a seal from TRUSTe can benefit your brand.
“The Web privacy seal is one of TRUSTe’s most popular products,” says TRUSTe’s VP of Communications, Carolyn Hodge. A privacy seal may be most beneficial to small e-tailers with little or no name recognition outside their hometown or region.
About TRUSTe
TRUSTe Privacy Seals help consumers click with confidence by guiding them to trustworthy Web sites. More than 2,400 Web sites rely on TRUSTe industry best practices to help them make the right decisions about privacy and protecting confidential user information. Half of the top fifty Web sites are certified including Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, Disney, eBay, Intuit, and Facebook. Independent research shows that when a TRUSTe web seal is present, visitors are more likely to share personal information, register at higher rates and spend more money. To learn more about internet privacy services for SMBs, visit http://www.truste.com/privacy_seals_and_services/small_medium_business_privacy/index.html

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Entrepreneurs

Business – How Vampires Can Help Your Business

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I recently finished watching Season 1 of True Blood. While I can see why it’s not for everyone, I myself enjoy a good vampire romp, especially when it’s populated by such a nice selection of hot-looking actors (who have no issues showing off their equally hot bodies).

Anyway, it got me thinking about all the vampire stories out there. Vampire legends have been around for centuries and in nearly every society. Vampire movies, shows, books, etc. continually pop up on a frequent basis.
So why all the fuss? What is it about vampires that just won’t die (pun intended)?

Well, I’ve come up with 2 theories:

1. There REALLY are real-life, blood sucking, undead vampires roaming about.

2. There REALLY are vampires roaming about, but they’re HUMAN vampires, sucking the energy, money, health, time and more out of other people. And these vampire stories are actually a combination of cautionary tales (evil vampires we need to kill) and a way to transform and tame our “inner vampire” to something loving and human (the vampire love stories).

For my part, I’ll put my money on number 2. Which leads me to how this can help your business.

Vampires are everywhere. I don’t think it was a coincidence I finish watching True Blood and discover one of my friends and clients was scammed. Con artists and scammers are just another sort of human vampire — typically they’re charming and attractive in some way to their victims (for instance, they’re offering something attractive) then suck them dry of money, energy, time or more.

The thing about vampires is they’re hard to spot. (Vampires look human and in many cases they’re beautiful.) This is why a lot of times you’ll let a vampire in, not knowing it’s a vampire until after you’ve been bit.

Here are some signs of common vampires that can be sucking the life right out of your business:

1. Are there tasks you do in your business that drain you? Typically these are tasks you don’t like doing and you’re probably not much good at them either. Yep, you’re looking at a vampire. The good news is these vampires are selective in who they bite. (Or maybe these would fall into those vampire love stories — one person’s dream vampire love is another person’s worst nightmare.)

Solution — do a bit of vampire matchmaking and outsource, find the people who love those tasks and let them take over.

2. Are there people who drain you? Maybe they’re a vendor or a client you really have trouble working with. They suck up a lot of your time and energy (and maybe even money) and you’re always exhausted after your encounters.

Well, this could be 1 of 2 things — either you have a real human vampire on your hands who makes a habit of sucking the life force out of everyone they meet, or this is like a task vampire. They don’t do it to everyone, in fact they probably don’t even want to be a vampire, but some people bring out the worst in them.

Solution — it’s the same, these people are toxic to you for whatever reason and it really doesn’t matter if they’re toxic to everyone or just to you, you still need to remove them from your life.

From time to time it’s always a good idea to scan your business and your life for any vampires, and if you find any, to send them on their way. Remember, vampires are seductive, so unless you’re looking for them you just might miss them.

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Entrepreneurs

How to Create the “VIP Experience” for Your Clients with a Welcome Packet

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When you start working with a new one-on-one or high-end client you want to set the scene for your relationship together and make them feel that they really have made the right choice in deciding to work with you – even though YOU know that they have!

Whether you’re a coach, VA, or other service professional when you work one-on-one with your high-end clients you need to develop the “VIP experience” so that your clients feel that they are more than “just another client”. This goes beyond the professional, courteous, customer service that is part of your business but extends into the “experience” of your business – it’s about how you make your clients feel and the experience they get as a result of working with you.

One of ways in which you can do that is to develop a Welcome Packet that you give to your client as soon as you’ve agreed to work together. A Welcome Packet is a document – it can either be printed and mailed or digital and emailed – that you send out to your new clients when they sign up to work with you, and cements the relationship you are about to have with them.

Each business owner’s Welcome Packet is going to be different, depending on their business and what they want their clients to know, but what I’d like to share with you today are some key elements for including in your Welcome Packet. You don’t have to include all of these in your own, simply use this as a guide for developing your own unique Welcome Packet:

1. Welcome Note from You: when your client opens their Welcome Packet make the first thing they see a welcome note from you. Introduce your business and tell them how you help clients – I know they may already know this from your initial conversation with them, but it helps to reinforce their decision.

2. Personal Note: include some personal tidbits about yourself, your background, and your story, i.e. how you came to be a solo service professional. If you can, add an informal picture so your clients get to see the person, not just the business owner. This will help to cement the relationship going forward as they’ll feel they’re getting to know you already.

3. Enrollment Form/Project Booking Form: depending on your profession you may have an enrollment form if you’re signing up a client to one of your coaching programs, or a project booking form if you’re a VA. On this form have space for your client to fill in all their details and a place for them to sign so that they can fax this back to you – and include all the details about your program/service that you’ve already discussed. This confirms the arrangement you’ve both made, and both parties know exactly what they’re signing up for.

4. Terms & Conditions: okay, this isn’t exactly exciting reading material but it’s very, very important. It sets out specifically what your terms and conditions are, i.e. payment policies, payment methods, confidentiality etc. etc. Now this part will very much be unique to your business, and if you’ve had something formal drawn up by an attorney make sure you include that here too.

5. Credit Card Authorization Form: you want to get paid, right? Be sure to include this form on a separate page so that your client can fax back their credit card details to you. And I *highly recommend* that you tell your client to fax or mail this form to you, and not email it. Why? Because this is confidential information and standard email is not secure – think in terms of a postcard being sent through the mail; anyone can read it!

6. Policies & Communications: this part is important because it sets the boundaries for your business. It lets your clients know, amongst other things, how and when they can communicate with you i.e. you can state that phone calls must be scheduled in advance or you’ll only take calls between certain hours – you don’t want clients calling you at eight o’clock on a Sunday evening, do you? And if you’re a VA it might include some information about how you schedule work priorities, handle urgent requests etc.

7. Additional Services/Programs: this can also be a good way to let your clients know about other services, products, and programs that you offer – just a one page sheet is enough to give them a taste of how else you can help them.
Oh… and one other point about creating your Welcome Packet – make sure it’s professionally laid out and presented – it all goes towards creating the “VIP experience” for your clients.

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Business Ideas Business Trends Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Sales & Marketing

Hot New Entrepreneurial Enterprises To Consider

Sometimes, smaller is better–just ask the small business entrepreneurs also called micropreneurs flourishing in today’s marketplace. A growing set of entrepreneurs are building successful businesses by serving a niche market. Micropreneurs aren’t trying to become the next Bill Gates or Larry Ellison. They’re thriving small-scale on the strength of a loyal customer base and utilizing social business networking and utility tools to help with sales lead generation.
Micro-Enterprises Rely on E-Commerce Solutions

Micropreneurs are rewriting the rules of small business–and they’re relying on the internet to make their business model work. A New York Times feature on startups explains: “the Internet has given people an extraordinary tool not only to market their ideas but also to find business partners and suppliers, and to do all kinds of functions on the cheap: keeping the books, interacting with customers, even turning a small idea into a big idea.”Thanks to a range of online small business resources, today’s micropreneurs have the resources to build their venture on a shoestring budget.
With minimal upfront investment, you can:
1. Create an Internet storefront for retail sales. E-commerce solutions can create a Web site with point-of-sale (POS) capability. Online POS systems enables secure credit card processing on your site, allowing you to keep the doors open 24/7.
2. Reach your niche market. Online sales lead generation and marketing tools excel at targeting interested consumers and businesses.
3. Communicate with your customers via online business networking tools, a blog, or social networking tools. Social media sites offer powerful resources for finding your needle in the haystack, also known as your niche customers and partners. They can also help you keep in touch; today’s customer service agents use online media such as twitter, facebook, tradeseam and email correspondence to connect with the public.
4. Need niche supplies or equipment to launch your niche business? Tradeseam connects entrepreneurs and suppliers of all stripes. You’ll find business resources including manufacturing companies, international suppliers, and everything under the sun online.
5. Web-based technology offers a range of resources for small business owners. Time-tracking software and online accounting programs are just two examples of today’s affordable, productivity-enhancing business tools.
6.The Internet offers the reach and low startup costs to support a niche business.
7. For many micropreneurs, the Eureka moment–the business idea–derives directly from a personal passion.
The following entrepreneurs built a following–and a profitable business–catering to like-minded individuals.

Specialty Food Carts
El Dorado tacos? Chow Fun to go? More and more specialty food carts are cruising urban neighborhoods, with offbeat menus to serve the random craving. Restaurant consultant Clark Wolf notes: “Mobile food is one of the hottest things going all over the country. Brooklyn has its ribs truck, Manhattan has its dessert trucks, and now Los Angeles has the cupcake patrol.”
Specialty food carts rely on social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook to broadcast their coordinates. The strategy seems to work. L.A.’s Kogi taco truck draws between 300 and 800 by tweeting its location in advance, “setting off a taco-minded flash mob.”
Pedicab
A physically fit duo in Spokane, Washington has pedaled to success with a pedicab service. Cheaper and more eco-friendly than a cab, the bike-based taxi is finding no shortage of riders around the downtown area. To get the wheels rolling in your own leg-powered cab service, you’ll need pedicabs, licenses, insurance, and a local marketing campaign. Once you’ve gained a loyal ridership, you can establish a call center or online-based dispatch service linking riders to your mobile phone.
Guerilla Marketing Agency
Seattle businesses looking to make a unique statement can count on Wexley School for Girls to get the job done. The agency uses off-the-wall guerilla marketing stunts to build publicity for clients. For example, they created a buzz around Copper Mountain ski resort by staging a National Snow Day with improv ski-patrol actors and fake snow. The stunts aren’t for everyone; “either you get what Wexley is selling–a very particular sensibility and approach toward marketing–or you don’t,” comments an admirer. But the agency isn’t looking for mass appeal: “Wexley is biting off little pieces, looking to take on a particular niche of a business.”
Build your own businesses staging publicity events for businesses. Start with an eye-catching Website Design and online marketing campaign to get the word out. As the costs of running a business come down, micro-enterprises are flourishing. These small businesses focus on a loyal niche, taking advantage of online business networks to communicate with customers, source, distribute, and to manage the venture.
In today’s Internet-driven economy, it’s no longer necessary to chase the next big thing. A great small idea can take you even further.
NirmalKumarPhoto.jpgNiki is an entrepreneur, business consultant and advisor to several small business entrepreneurs in the San Francisco bay area. She writes extensively on the small business blog and is a frequent contributor to several small business resource and networking sites that offer tools and resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners, including Tradeseam, Dell, Women On Business and Small Business Community.

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Business Trends Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Human Resource Legal Operations Planning & Management

What Every Small Business Owner Should Know About Background Checks

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Your employees are your business’ most expensive asset. According to one estimate, up to a third of a person’s salary is devoted strictly to hiring costs. The cost of hiring the wrong employee is even more- reportedly up to twice an employee’s annual salary. Making smart hiring decisions can be tough- you want an employee that has the requisite skills, qualifications, and certifications, but you also want someone that’s the “right fit” for your business. While it’s relatively easy to verify whether or not an employee graduated from a particular institution or has a driver’s license in a certain state using a background check, the “good fit” question can be a little bit more complicated.
Social Media Searches in Hiring
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act defines a “consumer report” as “…any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer’s credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living….” You’re not the only one thinking that that description is a little vague. A social media search, especially when conducted by a third party as part of a background check, can constitute a “consumer report” for legal purposes. A social media search also typically reveals all kinds of information that is “off limits” for consideration during the hiring process- for example, a person’s race, age, marital status, etc. You can’t consider these characteristics or a host of additional factors- for example, whether the person is pregnant, disabled, or belongs to a certain religious group. Even if you come across this information when you’re not specifically looking for it (as with a social media search), it’s impossible to unring the bell. What’s worse, information may not even be accurate- you may end up discounting a great prospect because of information they weren’t even aware was posted.
Disclosure and Consent
The best policy (if you want to avoid liability) is one of full disclosure- tell the prospective employee that you will perform an online search. The FRCA requires notice to prospective employees whenever you prepare a consumer report (as defined above)-whether you prepare it yourself or use an employment background check service. Outsourcing employment screenings can be a great idea for businesses that aren’t sure about the regulations, procedures, and policies that they need to comply with to perform a legal background search. Though legal opinions vary with respect to social media searches in hiring, it’s better to err on the side of caution- and FRCA compliance.
About the Author
MerrinMuxlowPhoto.jpgMerrin Muxlow is a writer, yoga instructor, and law student based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for Resource Nation, a company that provides resources for business owners, and is a frequent contributor to several sites and programs that offer tools for entrepreneurs, including Dell and BizEquity.