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Time is Golden - Especially for Small Businesses Entrepreneurs

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 16:00:00 GMT

As a small business owner, you likely wear multiple hats, do the jobs of a dozen other people and long for a few more hours in the workday. In fact, a survey of small business owners by Mavenlink, which provides cloud-based scheduling and project management software, shows that entrepreneurs consider time the number one business asset above their computers, websites, mobile phones and even their offices or storefronts.

Time is Golden - Especially for Small Businesses Entrepreneurs

6/20/20150 Comments

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It appears that time is more valuable than ever. Compared to five years ago, 72 percent of small business owners report working both longer hours and on more weekends, and 40 percent say they take less vacation time than in years prior. Those tidbit go hand-in-hand with the fact that one in four small businesses believes that just one extra hour spent working is worth more than $500.

To help manage your time, make use of tech resources like project management software and services that can automate certain tasks, like social media posting, recurring billing for ongoing services and email marketing. Learn to let go a little and delegate tasks that can be handled by employees or interns. And, make taking care of yourself a priority. Even a short break can help you clear your mind, improve your focus, generate new ideas and go back to the office or shop energized and primed for success.

How do you best manage your time as a small business owner or manager? Share your tips with others on the Baker County Chamber of Commerce Facebook Fan Page or tweet them to @bakercounty_coc. And if you need help efficiently and effectively building your business, consider a chamber membership. Call 904-259-6433 to talk with a membership specialist today.

Infographic by Mavenlink.

Three Top Tips for Marketing Your Small Business on a Shoestring Budget

Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:00:00 GMT

Effective marketing is critical to the success of any business - especially small businesses. Yet, many new entrepreneurs are so focused on simply getting their businesses off the ground and operational that a marketing budget proves an afterthought.

If you're struggling to market your small business with a limited budget, Baker County Chamber of Commerce offers these helpful tips:...

Engage in social media: In today's tech-savvy world, it's a given that businesses must not only use social media, but bring their A-game to any social media strategy. But this goes further than carefully planning timing of posts. It also commands the right types of posts and timely follow up. Minimize the sales pitchy posts and take a more personal, interactive approach. Says Michael Krigsman, founder and Co-Host of CXOTalk, a weekly video program featuring innovative business leaders: ""For small companies, social media offers tremendous opportunity to engage a community of potential customers at low cost. The key is identifying topics that matter to your audience and then finding ways to pull them in. Ask questions, solicit opinions, and recognize great comments are all important. Use social media to communicate and engage, rather than to sell."
Help a reporter out: Newspaper, magazine, radio and TV reporters are constantly looking for not only unique story ideas but for sources knowledgeable on all sorts of subjects. Let them know you're at their disposal by signing up for Help A Reporter Out, an online service used by thousands of news and media agencies to find subject matter experts willing to be interviewed for stories. Visit helpareporter.com and sign up for emailed alerts from reporters who may be seeking someone with your particular knowledge. It's a cost-effective way to establish yourself as a go-to expert and publicize your business.
Engage in your community: If your potential clients haven’t yet come to you, go to them. Organize meetups and events in the community that afford you the opportunity to show off your expertise and your business's offerings. Do you own a coffee shop? Arrange to have a coffee bar at the next community festival. Are you a restauranteur? Host a cooking workshop for members of a local civic club. Have a dress shop? Host a fashion show starring local celebrities.

How do you market your small business on a tight budget? Share your ideas with others on the Baker County Chamber of Commerce Facebook Fan Page or tweet them to @bakercounty_coc . And if you need help building and marketing your offerings, consider a chamber membership. Call 904-259-6433 to talk with a membership specialist today.

Securing Your Small Business Domain

Mon, 18 May 2015 16:00:00 GMT

Planning to start a new business? No doubt you'll want to build a website. With 644 million active websites on the Internet as of the latest research, and more added every day, you'll want to secure your desired website domain name stat.

Protecting your business's name and brand goes much farther than simply securing a single .com domain. To adequately protect your brand, you'll need to purchase and maintain multiple variations of your domain. Failure to do so allows room for someone else - perhaps an unscrupulous competitor - to sweep in and buy them, potentially hijacking your business brand. Baker County Chamber of Commerce recommends these tips for a solid domain strategy.

Buy all common extensions: Purchasing a .com domain isn't enough. You'll also want to purchase all of the most common extensions including .net, .org, .us., .info and .biz.
Buy common misspellings, phonetic equivalents and obvious variations: If your company is called Cool Shoes, your domain purchases should include variations such as coolshoes, koolshoes, kewlshoes, coolshooz, etc. The same goes for a business name that includes a number or a word that sounds like a number, ie. loveforshoes, love4shoes and lovefourshoes.
Buy both plural and singular variations: If you purchase bigboat.com, you can bet someone will sweep behind and purchase bigboats.com if you don’t do it first.
Buy hyphenated variations: Yes, that means big-boat and big-boats, too.

Understand that failing to fully protect your primary domain and all of its variations ultimately could cost you more than a strong online presence. A competitor for the same name and brand could effectively argue for trademark rights. To avoid a costly mistake, make sure you secure your name and brand across the Internet and at the Trademark Office.