Most people live in small cities; life is great there.  And small cities are fantastic places to start a business.  BusinessWeek has compiled a list of the Best Small Cities for Startups (one in each state) and the criteria of “affordability, availability of a talented labor pool, existence of a thriving business community, and quality of life.”  They looked at populations between 20,000 and 200,000 and they interviewed entrepreneurs in each city to get their perspective. (To find a state, scroll down the page to the state shapes and click on the ones you want to see.)
Start-up Stats.  The information …read more

Are you thinking about starting a business? If you have questions and want to learn some tips on how to do it, then you may want to check out a live webinar panel on Wednesday, May 20th at 9am PDT. The panel includes John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing author, Ken Yancey, Jr, CEO of SCORE, Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software, and Rich Sloan, StartUpNation author.
Among the topics they will discuss will be why it’s a good time to start a business, how to pitch for money, and marketing a start-up. Of course, I’ll be interested to hear what …read more

Have you thought about investing in the future of a young entrepreneur? Do you know a young entrepreneur who has a business idea but need an investor to get started? As a business owner, I would definitely encourage that you take the time to invest in the future by investing in a young entrepreneur.
Below are some ways that you can invest in a young entrepreneur:

Create a business plan or marketing strategy to help grow their business
Develop a website strategy so they can meet the needs of potential clients via the Internet
Plan out their staffing or outsourcing needs for future growth
Help …read more

Young entrepreneurs can be a source in making the business environment successful in the future. Becoming a business owner before graduating from high school or college is becoming a norm for many young people. Being able to start-up a business at a young age can bring on early success and a solid financial foundation.
I can remember when I was young that I and my brothers actually created a little candy shack so that we could sell candy, chips and soft drinks to others in the neighborhood. We would buy the products and mark it up a little bit so that …read more

I’m always saying small business owners are optimistic, but one place you should not let your optimism overwhelm your common sense is in planning your startup budget and your cash flow for the first year.  The biggest mistake small business owners make when they take their business plan to a bank is not asking for enough money.  They get over-optimistic in figuring their money needs for start-up and they convince the bank that those needs are realistic, so they get too little money.  Instead, it would be better to (1) Over-estimate expenses and (2) Under-estimate  sales. Here is what I …read more

Jhobbie: Something created when a Boomer turns his/her hobby into a job. The jhobbie brings in some supplementary income and gives the Boomer an excuse to follow his bliss. What hobbies do you have that you can turn into a business? Despite the economy people are starting businesses every day. As a Baby Boomer, you might want to consider becoming an entrepreneur if you can’t find a job in this market.
How do you take a hobby and turn it into a Jhobbie?
1. Do some research on your potential business
2. Identify potential customers
3. If startup cash is limited, Identify ways you …read more

Happy New Year!
The new year has arrived and promises to be exciting here at b5media. Looking back, 2007 was definitely a newsworthy year for businesses and the b5media Business Channel had it covered. Some businesses experienced record profits, some businesses spiraled into bankruptcy and some just kept getting greener.
Here as promised, in one convenient package, are the top business stories of 2007 from across the b5media Business Channel:
If you read Behind the Buzz even a little, you knew that Barbie Girl would make the list of the top posts in 2007. Find out what else did.
Brandcurve offers a …read more