Posts Tagged ‘small business’

Many small businesses don’t have an IT department or anyone experienced enough to handle even basic IT tasks like backup, system restoration, patching or updates. In most cases, they rely on a local business partner (typically an IT consultant or local IT support company) to handle these tasks.

Unfortunately, many small business IT solutions on the market today exacerbate the situation. Their complexity…

  • requires the need for ever more powerful hardware
  • results in frequent system crashes and downtime for upgrades
  • compounds security problems
  • necessitates frequent system restorations
  • increases the investment in resource to upgrade systems and fix problems

Whats needed is a new generation of ’small business servers’ that deliver all of the essential IT & technology services for smaller businesses but without the usual costs or hassle.

Challenges in supporting micro and small business customers

To stay in business small businesses need help with basic IT chores, which are becoming more mission critical than ever as they grow more time consuming to deliver.

Just look at business continuity and disaster recovery in small businesses. A study by found that only one third of small businesses surveyed said they were prepared for a disaster within the next 12 months.

In other words two thirds of all small businesses are not prepared for a disaster or protected. The reason, in most cases, is that small businesses don’t have the IT skills of solutions to perform common tasks like backing up critical data or developing a way to restore systems that crash or become damaged when a pipe breaks or there is a fire, flood or other disaster.

Small businesses also need help just backing up and restoring files when someone accidentally deletes them. Such deletions in small businesses are quite common.

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It was almost 50 years ago that the philosopher Thomas Kuhn coined the term paradigm shift – the moment when our worldview fundamentally changes because of a new idea. The idea does not have to be world-changing, like Einstein’s relativity, Newton’s gravity, or Galileo’s concept that the Earth revolves around the Sun. We have witnessed several ideas in the last half century that have made huge changes: Airline transportation, the personal computer, the Internet, cell phones and the list goes on.

For the Internet company, even the smallest ideas can be big.

Consider these twelve situations:

Number One:

Old idea: Failures are normal and should be expected. Learn from them.

New idea: Learn from your successes, in addition to your failures.

Failures will occur and learning from them is the mark of a successful entrepreneur. Successes are obviously more profitable and much more likely if you begin with the attitude that “Failure is not an option.”

Number Two:

Old idea: Planning is everything.

New idea: Planning is critical, but is almost useless without empirical results.

A compelling, thorough and professional Business Planis mandatory, but by itself the plan is sterile and unconvincing. Nothing short of a ringing cash register will convince investors. Don’t insult their intelligence by parading a plan in front of them that remains hypothetical.

Number Three:

Old idea: Shoot for major accomplishments.

New idea: Small, fast, victories are more important.

Even a small accomplishment, if it happens rapidly and reliably, is more convincing than the major accomplishment that remains on the horizon.

Number Four:

Old idea: Big is good; bigger is better.

New idea: Being small is often a valid destination, not merely a milestone along the way.

Don’t become an Aircraft Carrier, unable to change course quickly when necessary. Stay small and maneuverable. The ability to change course is one advantage of remaining small. So is the impetus for making small decisions instead of large ones.

Number Five:

Old Idea: Profits are paramount.

New idea: Do something that matters.

Profits are crucial, but the longevity and stature of the company, not to mention your personal satisfaction, requires that you do something that matters. Do something meaningful, remarkable and unforgettable.

Number Six:

Old idea: The brilliant idea is everything.

New idea: Execution is more important.

Even the most revolutionary idea, without effective and efficient execution, is a hobby not a business.

Number Seven:

Old idea: Be cautious, decisions are difficult.

New idea: When you stand for something, decisions are easy.

A company with a soul and a mission of some import is easier to manage.

Number Eight:

Old Idea: It takes money to make money.

New idea: Be frugal, even if you can afford not to be.

Watch your expenses as carefully as you generate your revenue. If an expense is not fundamentally necessary, it is fundamentally foolish, at least for a startup. When analyzing costs it should always be a zero-sum game.

Number Nine:

Old Idea: Having an exit strategy is key.

New idea: Having a commitment strategy is primary.

Throughoutour entire culture over the last few decades, having a way out has become more important than making a commitment and sticking to it. Planning your exit is appropriate only after your level of commitment has created success.

Number Ten:

Old idea: By-products are waste.

New idea: By-products are opportunities.

A famous business author tells the story of his envelope company that could never make a profit. One day, a shrewd acquaintance suggested that he should sell the paper waste from making envelopes, instead of paying to have the waste disposed of. Grasping that opportunity made the company instantly profitable from that day forward.

Number Eleven:

Old idea: Have unbridled enthusiasm for your product.

New idea: View your product rationally and dispassionately.

The most common mistake made by the entrepreneur is to believe that his product is extraordinary. It seldom is. Don’t confuse enthusiasm with worth. Be rational and dispassionate, and listen to your less enthusiastic advisers. Accept your product’s shortcomings, whatever they are, and either improve them, work harder or change products.

Number Twelve:

Old Idea: Hire experts.

New idea: Cultivate an environment of thinkers.

Don’t hire “rock-stars” from your industry – they are expensive, self-indulgent and unmotivated. Find motivated people who need something more to do. Remember that how long someone has done something, is less important than how well. Hire and nurture thinkers. Clear writing and engaging conversation is more indicative of the qualities you want than a good resume. Be a starter. Surround yourself with doers, not delegators. When you want to say, “Let’s think about it,” say “Let’s decide” instead. Launch now.

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Not only is it good to know good topics for social networking, but with small business marketing you need to know how to create a good post. The best posts will be informative and they will pull the reader in. they will also be grammatically correct, as there is no reason to let quality slip just because this isn’t a sales letter. Also, make posts for your demographic. If you sell to college kids, include some college humor; if you sell to mothers, your posts should be sensitive to their needs and their children.

Another thing to think about is over posting. In this realm of small business marketing, most people think that quantity is the name of the game. It’s not. Quality, that should be your guiding principle. If you over post, people will stop following your account and you may receive other penalties as well. Now, onto the 10 best post topics.

1) Tips and How

This gives you a chance to educate the customer, which can increase sales numbers. Not only that, but people love learning things, so this will increase your readership.

2) Company Achievements and Awards

Has your company recently received an award for outstanding customer satisfaction, or great sales numbers? This is a great way to jump ahead of the competition and thank your customers for making you the best company.

3) Industry Related News

Is something going on with your company or a topic that relates to your company? Sharing this can intrigue and inform your followers.

4) Blog Posts

Most companies have a blog, but they are worried about telling people about their blog with their social networking account. Add a link to your latest blog post, so all of your followers can easily stay in touch with your business.

While in deep meditation today, one word popped into my mind: saffron. I thought it rather strange. Why should I think of this word in particular? It wasn’t as if I had used it in my cooking lately. In fact it has been years since I last used saffron. Could it possibly be a message from Mother Nature, a Secret Pearl to share with the world? Eager to find out more, I decided to search for as much information as possible about this magical ingredient.

Since ancient times, saffron has been used for a variety of reasons. Sumerians used it in their remedies and magical potions while ancient Persians wove threads of saffron into textiles; offered it to their gods; used it in dyes, perfumes, medicines and body washes. They used it as a drugging agent and aphrodisiac and even brewed it in tea as a curative for bouts of melancholy. In Tamil saffron was used to cure a headache and to reduce pains, while 252 medical treatments for various disorders using saffron, have been recorded in Chinese medical texts. Cleopatra used saffron in her bath to make lovemaking more pleasurable while Egyptian healers used it as a treatment for many medical conditions including cough, colic and scabies.

Even though modern medicine has also discovered the healing properties of saffron, it is more commonly known for its use in adding colour and flavour to foods.

Saffron is not cheap; in fact it is the world’s most expensive spice. It is derived from a flower, saffron crocus, which bears three red stigmas. It takes between 20 000 to 70 000 threads of stigmas to make one pound of dry saffron. This equates to 50 000 to 75 000 flowers. No wonder the price for a pound of saffron costs between US$500 – US$5000.

I was thinking how amazing it was that such a small part of a plant could have such a huge impact on humanity, but then   that we, as humans, could do the same.

Just like the saffron crocus, each one of us has something of worth to share. We may think that what we have to offer is insignificant or not good enough, but collectively we can make just as big an impact on humanity as saffron does.