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Business Growth in Charlotte January 30, 2009

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When it comes to business development and the Fortune 500 list, Charlotte is no slouch. Charlotte has 5th largest number of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S boasting 9. This makes Charlotte a power house when it comes to a thriving economy, the NYSE and successful jobs in the city. This article will briefly map out some of the Big guns in the city, how they are helping your community and what to look for in their stock price and growth.

Bank of America
Charlotte has become a corporate banking phenomenon with Bank of America leading the way. Despite the slowing economy, B of A plans to invest more in its businesses which is also great news for local Charlotte owners. Bank of Americas plan looks really promising in their 2008 prospectus. Look for more great things to come out of this company. Even in the tough economical times.

Wachovia
Wachovia is a bank/investment firm that recently downgraded their General Growth Properties to underperform. This is because the economy and housing market is so slow. Wachovia provides hundreds of jobs for the people of Charlotte and for that we thank them.

Lowe’s Hardware
Now Lowe’s isn’t necessarily located in the city, but it should still count since they are on Lake Norman. Lowe’s has been doubling in size every year for the past 3 years. It is amazing to see there growth on the west coast as well. They provide more jobs to Senior Citizens than almost all of the companies out there, and they are an awesome company to have headquarters in Charlotte. Don’t look for them to grow much bigger, as they have also fell victim to economic struggles.

Charlotte has become one of the most attractive destinations in America for doing business. Companies relocating, or starting in Charlotte have brought $6.6 billion dollars to the region and 38,000 new jobs to Charlotte in the past 3 years alone. These are some huge numbers. If it has gone unnoticed, look again. Charlotte has become one of the leading consumer cities and is a beautiful place to live.

Blake helps people with questions about Invisalign Charlotte and what you can expect from clear braces. Blake works for an informational site dedicated to information about Invisalign braces located in Charlotte.

Small Business Achievement - Thinking Through Innovation January 29, 2009

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Innovation drives new business. As a small business owner, you need to constantly and consistently think of new, creative and imaginative ways to market and sell your existing products. The more uses for your products and services you create, the larger your potential target market and potential revenue. Product innovation is a great way to grow your small business.

Let me provide you a great example of product innovation from the baby food industry. A larger and well-respected baby food manufacturer at one point in their history was selling a good deal of baby food in Southern Florida. Generally, new mothers buy baby food and this area of the United States did not fit that demographic. A good number of retirees lived in this part of the country. The company was happy that their product was selling in a new market and they wanted to understand why.

Their original thought was that these older Americans were using the baby food to feed their grandkids during visits from out of state. This assumption was very wrong. These seniors were buying the baby food for themselves. Some of these people had more sensitive stomachs and digestive problems and the baby food was easier for them to eat.

This is a great example of consumer-driven innovation. The company used these findings and created a whole new line of products specifically targeted to seniors with sensitive stomachs. This product line was very successful because the company used innovation to create a new product from an old one.

Think about how to innovate your product line. Taping into the power of innovation provides you a powerful tool to help you grow your small business.

Could you use more tips like this to accelerate the growth of your small business? Achievement thinking is a powerful concept that Mark Mikelat, the founder of Building Aspirations (http://www.BuildingAspirations.com) uses to coach his small business clients to double or even triple the size of their businesses. You can learn more and take advantage of a free strategic analysis at http://www.BuildingAspirations.com/BusinessSuccess.html Also, you can view his books on Amazon.com

Postcard Marketing Your Small Business January 28, 2009

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One of the best marketing strategies a business or organization can use is postcards. Even before the arrival of online postcard printing and mailing services, postcards had a good reputation amongst guerilla marketers because:

With the new web technologies for postcards, it’s super- convenient to just send one or as many as you need without the effort of hand writing, addressing and mailing each one.

What is particularly nice about postcards is that nearly any business or organization can benefit from a structured, targeted postcard marketing strategy. Take a look at some of the ways postcards can be used.

Thank you notes. You can send a quick thank you to anyone for any reason and they will be so surprised and pleased that you took the time. If someone sends you a referral or business lead, gives you some information you needed, mentions you in an article - send them a note that shows you appreciate it!

A follow-up offer or service. Within 30 days after a purchase of a product or completion of a service, send them a discounted offer for a related service or product. Don’t miss the opportunity for an after-sale contact.

Gift certificates or coupons. Show your best customers that you appreciate them by sending a gift certificate that they can use any time in the next year. Even better, leave a space on it for them to fill out a friend or colleagues name and give it to someone else to introduce them to your business.

Announce a new project or completed work. Postcards are perfect for photographers, web designers, architects, graphic artists, or anyone else who wants to keep their clients in the loop on what they are working on, with something visual and tangible.

Secret sales and pre-sales for preferred customers. Treat your existing and favorite clients to a sale that no one else knows about - or give them an advanced peak at your new product line.

Introduce products or services. Postcards are an economical way to inform people about your product or services, or announce new ones.

Announce a new web site. Create an announcement of your new web presence and invite everyone you know to come check it out.

Remember special days. Send your contacts a holiday greeting or thank you note for Thanksgiving. If you keep track of special dates in your customer’s lives like birthdays or anniversaries, you can send them a colorful postcard letting them know you are thinking of them.

Reminders. Businesses that rely on repeat business can take advantage of postcards to send reminders and its not just for dentists any more! Why not remind your past customers of upcoming birthdays or anniversaries, or special holidays like secretaries’ day or thanksgiving, at just the right time? Or perhaps your database tells you when they have likely run out of whatever they bought so you can send them a reminder that its time to visit you again.

Just staying in touch. People like to be remembered and postcards are an economical and easy way to say “thinking of you.”

Recognition. Send out a postcard to let people know your good news about accomplishments and awards or reviews you have received.

Invitations to an event. Postcards can be used to announce seminars you are speaking at, open houses, book signings, and any variety of special events.

Think about all the ways you can use postcards, and then explore the many ways that you can automate the process of sending them out quickly and cheaply. This is one of those marketing strategies which looks much more costly than it really is, and will return more than you put into it. The best part is, practically any small business can benefit.

© 2003 Eileen P. Parzek, SOHO It Goes!

About The Author

Eileen ‘Turtle’ Parzek is a veteran marketing designer and online communications consultant who has been working from home and virtually since 1995. You can subscribe to her free monthly newsletter called Increase Your Reach: Infuse Your Marketing with Technology at http://www.soho-it-goes.com

NOTE: You’re welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to ezine@soho-it-goes.com

Passport to Wealth Business Review January 27, 2009

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Passport to Wealth is a fairly new company in the home business arena. Passport to Wealth offers a home business opportunity by selling or marketing their products through the direct selling industry.

The Passport to Wealth product line is compiled of many software titles on internet marketing. The Passport to Wealth opportunity consists of marketing these programs for $997. According to the passporttowealth.com website, there are several different titles of software that come with the business.

The Passport to Wealth business opportunity contains a 2-Up compensation plan with a payout of $997 for every sale made by the qualified affiliate. The issue with the Passport compensation plan is the requirement of two sales (hence 2-Up). To get started with Passport to Wealth, a new person must pay $997 to become an Passport business associate and then give up almost $2000 ($997 x 2) from their first two qualifying sales to their qualified sponsor. This means they must give up almost $3000 before they can earn any wealth from the program. Another issue with the Passport to Wealth 2-Up program is that if you bring in someone who makes a sale or two per day, you only get their first 2 sales and then you no longer get paid on their efforts. They then breakaway from the sponsor and actually end up becoming the competition. This doesn’t give the qualified PassporttoWealth sponsoring associate much motivation to help the new associate since they will ultimately become competition.

In conclusion, Passport to Wealth seems to have a decent product line, but the comp plan leaves more to be desired. Some people do well with 2-Up programs, but most struggle. If you are an experienced internet marketer and don’t mind having to pass up your first 2 qualifying sales, then the Passport to Wealth business opportunity might be the right fit for you.

Brian McCoy is a top internet marketer and works with other industry leading marketers from around the world. To learn more, click here to get his Top Marketer’s Newsletter.

Stop the Spin - Business Ethics Are Ethics as Lies Are Lies January 26, 2009

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Business ethics are always in the news from research specific to work ethics to headlines about the criminal leadership behavior of C-Level executives. Yet, government leaders many of whom raise the loudest voices about the lying behavior of C-Level executives by demanding one hearing after another have a different attitude when one or several of their own lies.

First, I do not understand why we as self-leaders in business, education and government have a problem with the word lie. Instead, many are taken to be politically correct and talk about “mis-speaking, mis-representation of the truth, mis-calculation” the list of spin seems to grow every year.

Why can we not be forthcoming and identify a lie as exactly as a lie? Then identify someone who lies as a liar? Why are so many so fearful of calling a lie exactly what it is a lie? Most people know what a lie is that being the opposite of the truth. And why do we still view these individuals who speak lies as leaders who display great leadership skills?

Back in the late 1980’s, my local school superintendent used the phrase a “mis-representation of the truth” to explain a lie. This was before all the political ramifications specific to the tenures of the latest two Presidents of the United States and those currently running for President. Bottom line - he was attempting to cover up a lie.

Webster defines a lie “to make a statement or statements that one knows to be false especially with the intent to deceive.” The second definition states “to give a false impression.”

Regardless if it is a C-Level executive leader or an elected government official, everyone should be held to the same standards or business ethics that these individuals demands of others. Too often, many have the attitudes of “wink and nod” and “do as I say and not as I do.”

If we want to build a business workplace environment that consistently demonstrates high business ethics, then we need to accept the definition for what a lie is as well. We cannot as the old expression goes “have our cake and eat it too.”

Edmund Burke understood how lies transform themselves into mis-representations of the truth when he said: “All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men (and women) to do nothing.”

Now is the time for good people to stop being fearful of political correctness and call lies exactly what they are lies. And to call people who speak lies, liars. Until we take those actions, evil (and a lie is evil) will continue to prevail. And this spin results an under performing workplace culture where productivity to profitability suffers.

Is your leadership contributing to poor work ethics? Take this FREE leadership audit to help you identify your leadership skills.

Are you looking for some additional business coaching training services to develop a high performance organization and culture? Why not visit business coaching training gym that is designed to help you build a better business.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith with locations near Chicago & Indianapolis helps organizations through business coaching training services to return to the purpose of business that being building ravings fans while increasing productivity and profitability. Her clients double results in 30 to 90 days. Call 219.759.5601 to schedule a free business coaching consultation.

If You Don’t Start Your Business Soon You’ll Hate Yourself Later! January 22, 2009

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Many people have dreams of starting their own small business but get discouraged when they start focusing on their lack of start up capital.

While traditional banks in the United States often will not underwrite loans for under $35,000 to a new business owner with little capital of his or her own to invest in the small business start up, there are many other sources of funds you can tap to get your business off the ground.

Microloans are one such source. These are loans made by micro-lenders typically under $35,000. Some micro-finance organizations write business loans for as little as $500 US, an amount large banks would not waste their time processing. Many of these organizations consider non-traditional forms of credit rather than depend solely on your credit report.

Business plan competitions are another source of funding. Many of these competitions are offered by business schools. You do not need to be attending the particular university but someone on your team has to be a current student or alumni. Private companies sometimes sponsor these contests where the prize is start up funding. Recent examples that come to mind include the Visa Breakthrough Challenge. American Express has also sponsored similar competitions in the past.

Finally, business are another option to consider. Contrary to infomercials broadcast late at night claiming that there are thousands of dollars in grant money just waiting to be claimed by us to start businesses, the Small Business Administration’s website clearly states that the US government does not provide grants to individuals. Don’t despair however, many private organizations and local/state governments offer some types of grant assistance to prospective business owners. Contact your state’s Small Business Administration’s local office or website to see what’s available.

Get busy researching the options available to you and apply,apply, apply. If you are determined to get your business off the ground, do not let lack of funds stop you. Applying for the types of funding listed in this article, helps you focus your ideas clearly and forces you to prepare some type of business plan. Though this requires careful research, organization and planning, you can locate various sources to help fund your startup. Visit my blog for other great ideas and funding sources.

micro-lenders

Visa Breakthrough Challenge

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In Business, Giving is Receiving January 21, 2009

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Small businesses often find themselves competing with much larger foes. They are usually at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to the ability to advertise their services or products against those of their more powerful competitors.

In this environment, small business owners must find creative ways to increase their customer base and, in turn, their share of the market. They must think in unconventional terms in order to compete with the conventionally-minded monsters against whom they are battling.

One very effective way to bring in more customers is through promotional giveaways. While it seems counter-intuitive to “give away” your service or product when it seems that every single dollar of revenue must be poured back into the business, giveaway can actually generate much more than they cost.

An advantage that small businesses have over large corporations is their proximity to their customers. Most small businesses target customers in their immediate area. this means that promotional giveaways can be easily distributed to a large number of potential customers almost overnight. Small business owners will usually begin seeing profits generated by their giveaways in a very short period of time, making the cost of the promotions themselves much easier to tolerate.

There are a wide variety of ways in which businesses can distribute a giveaway. A service-based business can offer their service for free to customers for a certain amount of time. This free offer can be advertised by giving coupons to other business owners to give to their employees and customers. Or, the small business owner can send postcards out o local customers that include the offer right on them. Postcard printing is relatively cheap, and can be done very quickly and effectively. The business owner can have a number of postcards printed, and then take them to the post office for distribution to a certain zip code or street.

In the same way, postcard marketing plays a major role when doing a promotion in this way. Just as small business owners should send their “free offer” postcards to customers in a specific area, they should also target a specific audience within that area. A pay day loan company, for instance, would not want to target high-end businesses where customers tend to be wealthy and self-employed. Instead, they would target traditionally “blue-collared” neighborhoods where people generally have only one or two sources of income.

In addition to postcard printing as a promotional giveaway, there are other options as well. Business owners can print a small magazine-type publication (if they have the necessary resources) and distribute it for free to generate sales and name recognition. They can also use more traditional ways to advertise their giveaways, such as newspaper or radio ads.

There are many ways to let customers know about promotional giveaways, but the point is that small businesses can greatly benefit from them. They will spend a certain amount to giveaway their product, of course, but the resulting increase in profit is usually well worth the initial expense. Promotional giveaways are effective for small businesses because they can be directed right at the company’s intended customers, and can generate a remarkably fast turnaround in profits.

Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Postcard Marketing, Postcard Printing

Different Variations of Business Financing January 20, 2009

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One of the major parts of a business plan, especially during startup, is financing. There are several different variations of business financing you can use to get up and running.

There are very few business ventures that are not in need of extra capital during the startup stages or during the early part of the business operation. The need for a business loan does not vanish even after a successful start up as expansion or changing conditions might make extra capital a necessity at any time. There are several different types of business loans available and knowledge of them is essential to the acquisition of needed capital.

The most common and best known type of business loan is called a secured loan. This type of loan makes use of some type of collateral. In most cases, the value of the collateral exceeds the actual cash value of the loan making the loan totally secure. In other cases, the total value of the collateral can be less than the loan balance assuming that the personal credit history of the borrower is adequate.

The non-secured loan does not have collateral to back it up, or very little collateral. It depends almost entirely on the credit worthiness of the applicant. Non-secured loans are much more difficult to negotiate and in most cases the amounts will be less. However, when these are possible, they have the advantage of keeping the collateral free from the liens that would otherwise exist in a secured loan.

Government loans are available for business purposes as well. These loans are very common in business start ups and can come from State government as well as the Federal Government. Many government loan programs are geared toward small business owners, women, or minorities. The Small Business Administration is a well known sponsor of loans for the small businessman. Although these loans are secured by the government, personal credit still plays an important part in the approval process.

Banks and other lending institutions are common sources of the different types of business loans. The most important thing is a sound business plan. The loan companies view themselves as partners in your enterprise and they are going to want to understand your plans. Well organized business plans are a must for favorable business loan consideration. The Government loans are often looking for a business venture that will not only be profitable for its owner, but will benefit the community served.

Aazdak Alisimo writes about how to apply for a business loan for HowtoApplyforaBusinessLoan.com.

Business Bankruptcy January 18, 2009

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The economy has set records for the number of home foreclosures and late payments for mortgages and such. More people than ever are finding their credit scores drop and paying their monthly bills is a challenge. Personal bankruptcies are increasing. Small business owners are struggling along with the economy. When the economy slows down, so do the customers. Suddenly, the ability for businesses to make a profit is slimmer.

Some owners are turning to business bankruptcy as something that just needs to happen. Most often, it isn’t that the business owner wants to file for bankruptcy, they feel that they have no other options. The creditors are knocking at the doors and wanting their money. The owners start to avoid taking phone calls because the amount of profit that they’re seeing simply isn’t enough to pay for the bills any more. There just isn’t as much of a profit to be made.

Business bankruptcy can be as difficult or as simple as you make it. Of course, the best way to achieve business bankruptcy is to hire a lawyer. Keep in mind, if you’re going to be including your credit cards on your list of debts to discharge, you may not be able to pay with a credit card. It is possible that the chosen attorney will require a retainer or a fee upfront. Depending on where your business is and what state you live in, it may cost a small business owner around $2,000 to file for business bankruptcy.

Sure, you could save yourself that money and do all of the filing on your own. If you have the intelligence and experience to file for business bankruptcy, perhaps you can on your own behalf. However, it is always a wise idea to hire an attorney to finish all the details. If you don’t know the ins and outs of bankruptcy laws, hiring an attorney may save you a lot of grief in the long run. If the tiniest of details isn’t taken care of, it may just pop up someday in the future and come back to haunt you. Have an attorney take care of as many details as possible.

Make sure you check around for lawyer fees though. While court fees and paperwork may all cost the same, a lawyer’s time and own fees could end up fluctuating quite intensely. While you don’t want some attorney who isn’t organized and could end up messing everything up for you, you certainly don’t want to spend too much money on at attorney. After all, you’re considering business bankruptcy because you simply don’t have enough of money - not to accrue more debt to carry into the future.

Though choosing business bankruptcy can be a very emotional and difficult decision, it isn’t the end of the world. Know that times are tough and a lot of people are in your shoes and experiencing your same stresses. No regrets - move forward and learn from your experiences.

Sid Nelson is a Agent for one of the largest merchant card loan companies in the world. Discover how to acquire a no credit check business loan based solely on your business’s future credit card receivables. Please go now to http://MerchantCardLoans.com for more information on how receive funding in 5 to 7 days without tax statements or fixed payments.

How To Generate Unique Business Ideas That Make Money? January 17, 2009

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Every money making opportunity that you see boils down to one common thing: idea. As you know the best ideas pay. The most creative ideas pay.

The best thing about ideas is it’s free and everybody has the capability to think of ideas.

In order to be creative and innovative about ideas, you have to have knowledge. Knowledge is important. You need to know thousands of things to be creative.

Below are steps that you can take to come up with profitable innovative ideas:

1) Read and study as many things as possible about your industry or product. You need to investigate specific information of what you are going to sell. For example, if you want to be involved in real estate, you study everything about the subject matter in details. If you want to start a business, you have to know what’s going on in your industry, what sells and at what price, etc.

2) Improve general knowledge. Don’t limit yourself to only learn about things in your own industry. Learn as many topics as possible from other industries. It can be any topic. This enables you to think out of your own industry.

3) Mix and match ideas from cross industry. Once you investigate and research enough, your mind is the
storehouse of all the ideas you have studied. And this is the main source to your creative ideas. All the knowledge you have learned so far is the raw materials to produce new ideas.

4) Thinking of raw idea. After you have done your study, think hard about the solutions you want to your problem. Then stop and relax. Get a cup of coffee or go for a movie. Do something relaxing and let your subconscious mind work for you. The idea or solution will come to you at a much unexpected moment. For me, ideas always come to me before I sleep. My mind will be bombarded with ideas that I can’t stop.

5) Refine your raw idea until it’s up to your satisfaction. You can always do your own research on the raw idea by asking questions to target market to test the feasibility of the idea and how to improve the idea further.

Basically new idea is a combination of old ideas. You need to have enough old ideas to come up with new ideas. That’s why constant reading and observation are important.

Sometimes when someone has launched a new product, you would say, “Hey! I thought about that before. That’s my idea.” You might have had thought about the idea but you didn’t capitalize on it. Someone has done it before you.

It’s always good that you have an ideas book. Whenever you think of a good idea, write it down. You can always work on it or improve it later. Bring along the ideas book wherever you go. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It can be a normal pocket-sized spiral notebook.

With the method outlined above, I hope that you will be the next person who makes fortunes with unprecedented ideas that people can never think of.

Abel Cheng is publisher of Abel Cheng’s Business Diary, a free publication that provides unorthodox home and small business success tips, tools and resources. Get instant access to his publication at http://www.abelcheng.com/diary.html