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Staples Small Business PUSH Contest

Posted on February 6th, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Entrepreneur, Grow a Business, Promote My Business, Small Business, Small Business News

Win a free TV commercial to promote your business with Staples’ Small Business Push Contest.

How it Works
Create a 15-second video that includes your small businesses name, description and location of your business, as well as what makes your business unique.

That’s a lot to pack into a mere 15 seconds, but making the effort to create the best video possible gives you more than a chance to win one of Staples five grand prizes — it also gives you an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of your small business.

Who’s Eligible
According to Staples, the contest is “open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S. and D.C., who are 18 years of age and older as of date of Entry and who are employed at a small business.”

Staples defines a small business as, “a privately owned corporation, partnership, LLC or sole proprietorship; a for-profit business; having less than 50 employees; and must not be a franchise. Certain types of businesses are ineligible.” Please refer to the Entry Guidelines listed on Staples Official Rules page for more details.

How to Enter
Visit Staples’ Contest Page on Facebook. Click “Like” to gain full entry into the contest page and complete the on-screen registration form. Finally, you’ll have to upload a video or record a video via a Webcam (“Video”). Be sure to include your small businesses name, a description and location of your business, as well as what makes your business unique. Videos may be no longer than 15 seconds, and must be no larger than 20 MB. Visit the Official Rules page for a full list of technical requirements regarding your video.

The Deadline
Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 14, 2012.

Public Voting
In addition to being judged by a contest sponsor, Staples has included a public voting component to the contest. “All eligible Videos will be posted to the Gallery during the Contest Period for viewing/voting by the general public. Once posted, Sponsor reserves the right to remove an Entry, in their sole discretion if they find the Entry violates the Official Rules in any manner. Visitors will have the opportunity to visit the Gallery each day and vote for their favorite Entry. Limit one vote per person per day. Voters must be legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S., who are 18 years of age or older.”

Prize Details
There will be five (5) Grand Prize Winners. Each winner can choose from either of the following packages:

1) $50,000.00 worth of broadcast TV advertising in winner’s local TV market, and a $500 copy and print bundle (awarded as a Staples Gift Card).

2) $40,000.00 worth of broadcast TV advertising in winner’s local TV market, a $500 copy & print bundle (awarded as a Staples Gift Card), and $10,000 to help offset taxes (awarded as a check).

For more info on prize details, public voting rules and determination of grand prize winners, please visit the Official Rules page.

Best of luck in the contest and with your small business!

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Win a free TV commercial to promote your business with Staples’ Small Business Push Contest.

Create a 15-second video that includes your small businesses name, a description and location of your business, as well as what makes your business unique. That’s a lot to pack into a mere 15 seconds, but making the effort to create the best video possible gives you more than a chance to win one of Staples five grand prizes — it also gives you an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of your small business.

Who’s Eligible

According to Staples, the contest is “oOpen to legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S. and D.C., who are 18 years of age and older as of date of Entry and who are employed at a small business (as defined below).”

Staples defines a small business as, “a privately owned corporation, partnership, LLC or sole proprietorship; a for-profit business; having less than 50 employees; and must not be a franchise. Certain types of businesses are ineligible.” Please refer to Entry Guidelines listed on Staples Official Rules page for more details.

How to Enter

Visiting Staples’ Contest Page on Facebook. Click “Like” to gain full entry into the contest page and complete the on-screen registration form. Finally, you’ll have to upload a video or record a video via a Webcam (“Video”). Be sure to include your small businesses name, a description and location of your business, as well as what makes your business unique. Videos may be no longer than 15 seconds, and must be no larger than 20 MB. Visit the Official Rules page contains a full list of technical requirements regarding your video.

The Deadline

Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 14, 2012.

Public Voting Period During the Contest Period:

All eligible Videos will be posted to the Gallery during the Contest Period for viewing/voting by the general public. Once posted, Sponsor reserves the right to remove an Entry, in their sole discretion if they find the Entry violates the Official Rules in any manner. Visitors will have the opportunity to visit the Gallery each day and vote for their favorite Entry. Limit one vote per person per day. Voters must be legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S., who are 18 years of age or older.

Prize Details

There will be five (5) Grand Prize Winners. Each winner can choose from either of the following packages:

1) $50,000.00 worth of broadcast TV advertising in winner’s local TV market, and a $500 copy and print bundle (awarded as a Staples Gift Card)

2) $40,000.00 worth of broadcast TV advertising in winner’s local TV market, a $500 copy & print bundle (awarded as a Staples Gift Card), and $10,000 to help offset taxes, awarded as a check.

For more info on prize details, public voting rules and determination of grand prize winners, please visit the Official Rules page.

Best of luck in the contest and with your small business!

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Delivering Outstanding Customer Service

Posted on February 3rd, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Business Inspiration, Customer Retention, Grow a Business, Small Business, customer service

Outstanding-Customer-Service Customer service is a cornerstone of success.

In many instances, it’s more important than the products or services you offer.

I’d like to share a true customer service story that goes above and beyond the typical expectations of a customer. It happens to be about one of our own BizFilings customer service team members: Adriana.

One of the services BizFilings offers is Registered Agent Service in all 50 states. There are times when a customer will call to cancel their service — typically because they want to take on the responsibility of Registered Agent themselves, or because they are closing their company.

Adriana has a very specific way that she handles this type of interaction.

Of course, she honors the customer’s request and cancels the Registered Agent service. Nothing out of the ordinary yet, right?

But then Adriana does something extra special. She lets her customer know that she’s going to follow up with them once the change of Registered Agent Service occurs.

“Once the paperwork is submitted to the state, it could take weeks before the change is officially accepted. It’s helpful for people when they don’t have to think about it. I just e-mail or call them once the state accepts the change. I really like the fact that we’re encouraged to be helpful with our customers.”

This story exemplifies the philosophy of our customer service team. Our top concerns are making each customer’s experience as easy and pleasant as possible and developing an honest, trusted relationship with them.

We’re Here to Help
Adriana, and the rest of our outstanding customer service team, can be reached between 8am and 7pm CST, at 800-981-7183. Or, you can send us an e-mail anytime. We’re always happy to help.

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Small Businesses Resources, Part 1: The Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC)

Posted on February 1st, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Entrepreneur, Grow a Business, How To Information, Small Business, Small Business News, Start A Business

Small-Business-Resources If you’re an entrepreneur, or small business owner, there’s a very good chance that you can benefit from getting involved with the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC).

They provide excellent resources — both locally and nationally — for networking, funding ideas, free forms, community connections and much more.

In a Nutshell …
“America’s Small Business Development Center Network is the most comprehensive small business assistance network in the United States and its territories. The mission of the network is to help new entrepreneurs realize their dream of business ownership, and assist existing businesses to remain competitive in the complex marketplace of an ever-changing global economy.” — ASBDC

To make full use of the resources the ASBDC provides, it’s a good idea to take a look at both their national website, as well as the local website.

ASBDC National Website
Here, you’ll find an abundance of resources including:

The ASBDC Blog

A gateway to special offers, discounts and opportunities

Free webinars from ASBDC partners

Helpful links for small businesses regarding information, products and services

Business resources for veterans of America’s Armed Forces

Disaster assistance

There’s also an annual conference which, “brings together over 1,400 Small Business Development Center (SBDC) professionals, trainers, consultants, management, and administrative personnel.” The 2012 annual conference is September 11th.

Let’s Talk Local (SBDC)
Each local small business development center (SBDC), offers unique opportunities for entrepreneurs and small business owners based on the needs of each individual state and city.

There are programs in place focusing on topics like startup business solutions, youth entrepreneurship programs and veterans business programs — to name a few. Some local SBDCs offer networking events that bring small businesses together. Of course, attending classes or presentations will also give you the opportunity to meet other business owners — making your professional circle larger and stronger.

Local SBDC websites are chock-full of information, but you can also call to speak to someone the old-fashioned way — by phone. I have spoken to my Wisconsin SBDC, and I can honestly say that the representative I spoke with was extremely knowledgeable, pleasant and happy to answer questions and offer direction to relevant resources.

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you need every edge you can find to build and maintain a successful business. The SBDC is an excellent place to find this.

Related Links:
SCORE
SBA.gov
Startup America

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Turning Your New Year's Resolutions into Reality

Posted on January 19th, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Goals, Grow a Business, How To Information, Leadership, Small Business

Did you make any business or personal
New Year’s resolutions this year?

If so, bear with me while I ask a redundant question:

Do you want your resolutions to become reality?

Of course you do.

But in order to do so, you’ve got to transform your resolutions into actual goals.

To follow are four major steps that will help you create detailed, attainable goals — upping the odds for manifesting your New Year’s resolutions into reality.

1. Discover your goals. If you’ve already determined your New Year’s resolutions, you’ve already accomplished this first step. If not, take out a piece of paper (or open a Word doc) and click here for details on discovering goals.

2. Clearly define your goals. I like to say that vagueness will leave us directionless, but a goal that is brimming with details gives us a “high-definition” view of what our future looks like. Take a moment to think of your small business as a trip you’re planning. A clearly-defined goal is like the address (destination) you enter into your GPS. Without the destination, your GPS can not plan a step-by-step route to get you where you want to go. More on defining goals.

3. Setting your goals. Speaking of step-by-step, the next part of the process is creating a step-by-step plan of action. It’s imperative that each step is manageable, or what I like to refer to as “bite-sized.” Here’s how Zig Ziglar and Napoleon Hill, two of my mentors, describe the process of developing your step-by-step plan of action:

Identify EXACTLY what you desire
Spell out exactly why you’d like to reach these goals
List the obstacles you need to overcome in order to get there
Identify the people, groups and organizations you need to work with to get there
Identify what you need to know (learn) in order to reach these goals
Develop a plan of action
Set a date on it. When do you expect to get there?
Write it all down!
More on setting your goals

4. Overcoming obstacles. Let’s face it, we’re not working in a controlled environment here. It’s very likely that obstacles will present themselves as we strive to attain our goals. Here are some practical ways to manage obstacles when they arise:

Learn to respond instead of reacting
Seek our positive input from people, books, seminars …
Have a flexible plan that has room for revisions as needed
Develop your long-term vision so that you don’t lose sight of your goals when obstacles arise.
Avoid them all together by being aware of potential problems before they arise
More on overcoming obstacles

As you can see, there’s a considerable amount of work involved in the process. But this is your business and your life we’re talking about. At years end, I’m sure you’ll want to look back and see success, not frustration because your resolutions never manifested into anything but a big idea.

Take the time to turn your New Year’s Resolutions into attainable goals. You’ll be glad you did.

Good luck!

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Don't Judge Your Small Business Based on the State of the Economy

Posted on January 13th, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Entrepreneur, Grow a Business, Leadership, Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News

Small-Business-State-of-the-Economy If you’re an entrepreneur, or a small business owner, it might be tempting to run your business based on the state of the economy.

When the economy is bad, there can be a tendency to want to play it safe in the decisions a small business owner makes. This is true across the board — from products, to marketing, to the types of people that are hired.

Playing it safe, especially in a poor economic climate, may seem like the best way to help your small business survive. The problem is that safe thinking leads to products and services that are merely acceptable. But when customers are being more careful than ever with how they spend their money — they’re looking for something that’s exceptional, not acceptable.

Survival mode rarely leads to innovation or growth. Instead it leads to mediocrity, because fear of making a mistake leads to ultra-conservative decisions.

I’m not saying to throw caution to the wind, but settling for acceptable when you’re capable of exceptional is never a good idea. Nor is it the most fun, profitable or fulfilling choice.

There’s no doubt that there’s a higher volume of work and effort involved with reaching exceptional. But the results are worth it — for your customers, your employees, your bottom line and the future of your company.

It’s time to move your small business out of survival, and into exceptional.

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Creating a Vision Board: A Tool for New Year's Resolutions

Posted on January 5th, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Entrepreneur, Goals, Grow a Business, How To Information, Leadership, Small Business

VisionBoard Every January, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. Most of the time, these are either verbal or written resolutions. But there’s another powerful way to set your goals for the upcoming year — a vision board.

What is a Vision Board?

More than a simple craft project, vision boarding is a tool that helps us craft the life and business we want.

“A vision board is a tool used to help clarify, concentrate and maintain focus on a specific life goal. Literally, a vision board is any sort of board on which you display images that represent whatever you want to be, do or have in your life.” — makeavisionboard.com

What’s great about vision board, which is essentially a collage, is that it’s something you can place in a prominent spot in your home or office (or both) and easily refer to it on a daily basis.

Being Mindful is the Key

If we’re mindful when we’re creating our boards, and mindful each day when we review them, we’re filling our heads with positive input that’s both relevant and specific to us. Muhammad Ali once said, “what you are thinking about, you are becoming.” He was right.

What we’re thinking about will affect what we talk about. What we talk about affects the actions we take each day — which ultimately shapes our reality. The more we align our thoughts with our goals, the more likely it is for us to act on them and ultimately accomplish them.

What You’ll Need to Make a Vision Board

Every person making a board will need a poster-sized piece of foam core or oak tag. What’s nice about foam core is that it lays flat and is more durable than oak tag, but either will suffice.
A collection of images from magazines, photo albums, the internet, books — or anything else — that represents what you would like to attain. Whether it’s good health, or a healthy bank account balance, the images you choose should be meaningful, and clear, to you.
You’ll also need scissors, glue or glue stick, markers, tape, or other scrap booking supplies you might like to use.
Most importantly, you’ll need to take some time to think about exactly what you want your business and life to look like. Without a crystal-clear vision of what you want to manifest, your vision board won’t have much value or impact.

Happy New Year, and good luck with your vision boards.

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A New Year, Without New Ideas, is Still the Same Old Thing

Posted on December 30th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Goals, Grow a Business, How To Information, Leadership, Small Business, Small Business News

BrickWall Have you ever heard the quote, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten?”

When trying to find a definitive source for this quote, many names are mentioned — from Abraham Lincoln to Tony Robbins. No matter who is responsible for first uttering these words, one thing’s for sure: they’re true.

The new year is a perfect opportunity to take stock of what we’ve accomplished in the past twelve months. It’s also a good time to look forward and define what we’d like our next year to look like.

But beyond retrospect and goal setting, there’s an important question we need to ask ourselves:

What can we do different?

If something’s working well, great. But if it’s not, what can we do differently to change the outcome from negative to positive?

Are You Banging Your Head Against the Wall?
It’s very easy for humans to get stuck in certain habits. And when we’re busy, it can be incredibly hard to stop for a moment to make sure we’re approaching a problem or project in the most effective way.

I’d argue that taking the time to stop, think, make changes (as necessary) and then proceed is actually a big time saver. Do you really want to have to do something all over again when you don’t have to? Front loading your time investment with the best strategy possible is good business, and it puts you in a better position to succeed.

If you feel you’re banging your head against the wall about a specific aspect of your small business (or your life), here’s what you need to do:

Stop banging your head against the wall
Try something different

Trying something different means change, which often scares people. But, in the words of world-famous speaker Brian Tracy, “what if it works?” What do you have to gain if you succeed?

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The Evolution of New Year's Resolutions

Posted on December 29th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Entrepreneur, Goals, Grow a Business, How To Information, Small Business

TheEvolutionOfNewYearsResolutions Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Be it on a personal or professional level, it’s an excellent opportunity to take stock of where you are in life vs. where you want to be.

But a New Year’s resolution, without a well-defined plan of action to back it up, is like owning a brand-new car without a key. It may look nice, but it’s not going anywhere.

The Evolution of the Resolution
What I’m really talking about here is creating clearly defined goals. If we take our resolution, which is typically a big idea without any specifics, and fill in the blanks on HOW we’re going to accomplish it, we give ourselves a road map to follow — which ultimately leads to completing the goal.

Before you fill in the details of your road map, ask yourself the following question:

What do you love to do the most?

The reasoning behind this is simple, yet powerful. If my goal is to double my profits in the coming year, I have a much better chance of accomplishing my goal if I’m engaged in activities that I enjoy. Of course, these activities need to propel me toward my ultimate goal, but as I define what I need to do in order to accomplish my goal, choosing things I’m excited about will keep me in the game.

A Hypothetical Example
Let’s say I enjoy analyzing metrics, developing products and working face-to-face with my customers. But I do not like working in online social media, blogs or developing my company’s marketing strategies.

I’m better off focusing on what I love to do and delegating the work I don’t like (albeit absolutely necessary to my success) to someone who is proficient at it and enjoys it. Trying to “save money” and do it myself could deter me from reaching my double-profit goal — causing me to lose money.

Why? Since I don’t like social media or marketing (hypothetically), the work I accomplish won’t be the best it can be. How could it, if I’m not excited about it? There’s no way we can do a consistently great job working on something we dislike. Remaining engaged is near impossible, and eventually most people simply stop doing the task.

Plus, being the lone guy or gal — trying to do it all ourselves — is a surefire way to introduce frustration and failure into our days. We can not do it alone. Building a team we can depend on is a must for long-term success.

Discovering What You Love
Whether it’s choosing which type of business to start, what type of products to sell, or which projects to work on — the most important factor is determining what’s most enjoyable to you.

How to determine what’s most enjoyable to you …

First, write down what you love to do more than anything else in life. This does not have to be business oriented. If more than one thing comes to mind, write them all down. See if there’s an overall connection. Ultimately, you’ll have to pick only one thing — and only one thing — at least for now.

This may prove difficult, but once you have only one choice you’ll have a lazer-like focus to help propel you forward (as opposed to being in conflict with yourself regarding what to work on).

Next, make a list of all the things you can do with your small business that’s directly associated with what you love to do the most. Even if it doesn’t seem realistic right now, write it down anyway.

By the time you’re done, you should have at least thirty different ideas/ways to bring what you love into your business. This exercise may uncover some pretty unique opportunities on how to reach your goal. In some cases, it may transform your goal, or your entire business into something you’re much more excited about.

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Is the U.S. Postal Service on its Way to Extinction? How About Your Business?

Posted on December 16th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Business Plans, Grow a Business, How To Information, Small Business, Small Business Trends

IstheUSPostalServiceonitsWaytoExtinction What do Virgin Megastores, Tower Records, Borders Books and video arcades have in common?

They’re either extinct, or near extinction.

Why? Because they failed to evolve, and became irrelevant.

Is the U.S. Postal Service Next?

The world has changed. Major businesses that were successful for decades are now gone.

In most cases, the writing was on the wall for years, in plain view — if you were paying attention. iTunes and Amazon.com didn’t start off as juggernauts. But they did start an evolution on how we bought music and books (as well as many other things).

Companies like Virgin, Tower Records and Borders Books were unable to implement a large enough transformation to keep themselves profitable and relevant. So they became dinosaurs.

The post office, although still extremely relevant, is no longer profitable.

According to the Washington Post, the Postal Service is billions of dollars in debt. For 2012, there are plans for 3.1 billion dollars in cuts — including the elimination of 250 processing centers, as well as the laying off 30,000 workers.

What does this have to do with your business?
Like your business, the Postal Service makes choices that either improves or deteriorates the strength of their company.

The problem with the Postal Service is that they’ve been adhering to a business model that no longer functions. No amount of downsizing or cuts will fix that. Only a reinvention of how they do business can turn them around.

Whether it’s adding to their core services, or setting a new trend — instead of reacting to one that’s destroying them — the Postal Service is in a position of opportunity to transform. The problem is, they’re not looking to transform, they’re looking to survive — which might ultimately be their demise.

Whether your company is doing well, or struggling, it’s a good idea (actually it’s vital) that you take stock of your products and services on a regular basis, and compare them to the changes that are occurring in the market. The companies that forecast what their market will look like 5-10 years from now can start making changes today that will help them continue to thrive. As you move forward, you can always make additional changes to make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

Sure, change is scary. But doing nothing and hoping that an evolving world won’t pass you by is even scarier. Plus it takes you out of the driver’s seat of your own business and life.

Change will come, whether you’re ready for it or not. You can either evolve with it, or become a dinosaur. And we all know what happened to the dinosaurs …

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Archive for the ‘Grow a Business’ Category

Staples Small Business PUSH Contest