MSNBC:

Lyn Toomey, a veteran virtual assistant and founder of Virtual Market Support, leverages her 27-year career in marketing, operations and virtual assistance to support small and midsize businesses.

In the past few years, the Virtual Assistant (VA) industry has increasingly been in the headlines:Good Morning America’sTory Johnson wrote on the flexibility of being a self-employed VA last September. TheToday Showalso featured the profession as a new way to work from home. TheWall Street Journal,US News & World Reportand numerous other publications have made it clear that the virtual assistant business is trendy and growing.

More and more virtual assistants are starting their businesses by ditching their corporate cubicle-wall environments and setting up home based offices.

Successful VAs lead with their strengths to build a successful and growing client base. Some offer executive secretarial services; others are marketing managers, freelance writers, real estate assistants, web designers, author assistants–you name it, someone is doing it, and doing it virtually.

Getting Started
It’s possible to start up with zero dollars if you already have a phone, an updated computer, a printer with scanner and internet access. But if you want to be taken seriously, you’ll need a well-designed website. You can hire a web designer for about $600 to $1,200 for a small site, or you can use an inexpensive yet professional template design from a web host for as little as $6 per month.

Many VAs start with what they have and buy what they need as they acquire clients. Business cards and brochures are must-haves. Expect to pay $40 to $60 for 500 business cards. Brochures can be self-designed, traded out with other VAs or professionally made for around $350. Carry on reading.

Todd Schuyler Free Home Business:

The prime motive of any business is to secure as much benefit as possible. So, it is obvious that when a business person would go for business loans he would also go for loans which offer him low rate loans. Low rate business loans are one such type of loans which are offered with low rate as much as possible.

Low rate business loans are loans for any type of business ventures. You can go for low rate business loans both to invest in your existing business and your new dream business venture. The lenders of low rate business loans also do not have any hesitation to offer low rate loans to any size of business, be it a big one or a small one. The only thing is looked after in low rate business loans is the business layout placed by the borrower. The borrower has to place a business layout for these loans and the better it is the better rate and amount you can grab from the lender of low rate business loans.

Secured low rate business loans are for home owners as you need to pledge your property as collateral. Lenders offer low rate of interest. You can borrow big loan amounts, you will be given loans for a longer period of time and easy approval of loans are the benefits of secured low rate business loans.

With low rate business loans you can take your business to new heights. Nowadays there are a number of lenders, financial institutions and banks in the market that you can get low rate business loans the easiest terms and conditions. The better way to get low rate business loans are online mode because online you can get vast choice f selection. So when you get the right low rate business loans you can go to take it.

You can get low rate business loans just by researching on the net. Here you can find plenty of lenders with interesting loan offers. Again there is a considerable difference in the rate of interest provided by these lenders. This is due to the increasing number of competition in the loan market. You can easily use this opportunity and be able to access the right lender for you with the best offer.

Quick Sprout:

1. You don’t know how to manage money. Fancy offices and high salaries are great ways to blow money. You need to learn when to spend your money and when you should not. For example, if your employees want fancy desks or cubicles, when it will not help them do their job better, tell them no. But if a developer wants two monitors so he or she can be more productive, then buy the second monitor.

2. You don’t have multiple game plans. You can’t rely on one person, one business model, or even one solution. Things you can’t predict happen, so the best thing you can do is have multiple game plans. Single game plans such as relying on marketing to make your website popular is a bad idea. If you hire a bad marketing firm, what are you going to do now?

3. You make too many mistakes. It is natural to make mistakes, but good entrepreneurs make few mistakes. The easiest way you can reduce the amount of mistakes you will make is by learning from others. Find entrepreneurs in similar fields and place them on your board of advisors. By giving them a small amount of equity in your company, you will make fewer mistakes.

4. You aren’t agile enough. You have to be able to adapt quickly. If you aren’t able to adapt to market changes, someone else will.

5. You think you know everything. The reality is, you know very little. So instead of thinking you know everything, find others who are smarter than you.

Other reasons here.

Bizcommunity.com:

New product researcher
Staff: One to start.
Fee: R300 to R450 per hour, R7 000 to R10 000 per project, or a percentage of sales.
Premises: Small office or home office.
Qualifications: Technical experience, market knowledge, research and interviewing skills.
Equipment: Scanner, copier, computer, internet access, fax and phone.

Whenever a company comes up with a new idea, a viability study is done. Big corporations often have employees managing this task, but smaller companies cannot afford a full-time person to attend to this and need to hire outside assistance. With market competition increasing, each company that generates new ideas wants to know whether their product is viable. Your job is not only to find out how the product will do in the marketplace, but also to see what the competitors are up to, as well as the cost, trends and consumer needs.

Errand service
Staff: Start with one messenger and yourself and build from there.
Fee: Flat rate per errand depending on distance and time.
Premises: Home based.
Qualifications: Organisational skills, time management and energy.
Equipment: Cell phone, reliable car or bakkie and GPS (or a good old fashioned map book).

There are just not enough hours in the day to do what you want to. Paying the bills, grocery shopping, getting the kids and renewing the car license become a stress factor that leaves most people too busy to do these things as they cannot leave work to attend to them.

An errand service takes care of all these concerns during the day when everyone else is at work. The private market is also not the only avenue to pursue, as many offices would have to hire a driver to do the job. An errand company will do the work at a fraction of the cost.

If you have a bakkie there is also the opportunity to get delivery work at auctions where people buy goods but do not have the transport to take it to its destination.

Online internet researcher
Staff: One person to start.
Fee: R100 to R400 per search.
Premises: Home or small office.
Qualifications: Knowledge of the internet, marketing and business background.
Equipment: Computer, fax, internet access and phone.

Internet access is expanding in South Africa and leisure time is decreasing. People are doing more online shopping, especially around Christmas when the shops are too crowded. Companies need to know which products are popular and what their competitors offer. This service can be rendered with a little networking knowledge and an internet connection. Trends change extremely quickly. For instance, last year the top-selling product on the internet was car satellite navigation systems. This may not be the case for long, and the internet researcher can provide breaking industry news to companies.

Small business consulting
Staff: One person to start.
Fee: From R100 per hour depending on experience level.
Premises: Home or small office.
Qualifications: Background in the field that you want to consult in, some experience is also beneficial
Equipment: Computer, fax, internet access, phone and specialty equipment if necessary.

Gain experience by offering your services to small businesses who are not able to afford the rates of established companies. While as a recent graduate you cannot offer a track record or experience you can off-set that with affordable rates and offering innovative solutions that work. You have to know everything about the company that you consult with as well as their products if you have to help them find solutions.

Marketing Web:

A special edition of Trendwatching.com’s Trend Briefing lists 41 new business ideas, aimed to stimulate the imagination of entrepreneurial types.

We’ve picked some of those that caught our eye, and could be popular in South Africa.

Crowd Clout
One trend that Trendwatching.com has reported on is the rising power of crowds. It gives the example of a new, San Francisco-based site called Carrotmob which used the clout of crowds (thus the trend is known as crowd clout) to reward companies that do good. The group wants to create a broad network of consumers and form partnerships with larger advocacy groups.

Mobilising these consumers, Carrotmob will approach companies in a particular industry with suggestions, and invite them to make the changes they have identified. It will then choose one company in that industry to implement the suggestions. If it does so, Carrotmob’s members will reward the company with “an unprecedented kind of shopping spree” to boost short-term company profits, as well as proclaim the company the most responsible in its industry.

Carrotmob’s first campaign took place in March when Carrotmob members physically turned up at San Francisco’s K&D Market. All receipts were collected to keep track of the total gross revenue that the mob brought to the store. As agreed on prior to the event, K&D Market took 22% of that amount and spent it on upgrades to make their store more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. At least 300 people turned up, spending US$9,276.50 (including a Yahoo! donation of US$1,000).

It would be great to see South African consumers get involved in these kind of initiatives and take back the power from major retailers.

The Me-factor
Trendwatching.com has come up with the term MECONOMY to refer to popularity of all things “Me, myself and I”

One self-centred trend it focuses on is 5starbaby.com which offers personalised birth announcements fashioned after movie posters. Each movie poster is tailor-made for the new arrival, complete with the critical stats about the baby’s birth and the names of loved ones as “supporting cast.” Parents are listed as “producers,” the doctor is named as “director” and the hospital is listed as the “filmed in” setting, for example.

And another one for proud parents: Japanese Yosimiya sells bags of rice printed with a newborn’s photo, name and date of birth. The bags are shaped to resemble a swaddled baby. But the key feature is that the bags contain the baby’s exact weight in rice. Holding the bag will therefore feel like holding the baby. Read more.

Post-Bulletin:

Most business experts conform to a theory of “thirds.” Of all new business startups, one-third eventually turn a profit, one-third break even, and one-third don’t make it.

According to a study by the U.S. Small Business Association, that theory is more or less correct. Only two-thirds of all small business startups survive the first two years and less than half make it to four years. With small businesses representing 99.7 percent of all U.S. firms, they generated 60 percent to 80 percent of new jobs in the last decade, and employ half of the private sector jobs.

Being a small business owner is exciting and challenging. The issues that need to be taken into consideration and well-thought out are endless. Items for consideration include financing business and personal, market identification and opportunity analysis, staffing, operations, financial and time management.

Without careful consideration, an entrepreneur that has invested significant time and funding to start a business has a higher likelihood of failure.

Fortunately for Rochester area entrepreneurs, there’s help just around the metaphorical corner.

Business Assistance in Rochester… continue reading.

CNNMoney.com:

It was too weird to be true. In late 2006, a series of videos appeared on YouTube about a Willow Springs, Ill., resident named Kyle Bone who’d created a successful product called “the anti-shirt” - a shirt that exposed the area of one’s torso that a normal tee shirt would cover and revealed the area that would otherwise be exposed. In short, said Bone, it cured the age-old problem of “farmer’s tan.”

Viewers who investigated Bone’s site found a link to another site, www.ideawins.com, where they could enter an American Idol-like search for the best small business idea in America. And, oh, they would also download a free copy of Microsoft Office Accounting.

As you’ve probably guessed, Bone doesn’t actually exist. He was invented by StrawberryFrog, a ten-year-old ad agency based in New York City. StrawberryFrog is one of those small, self-styled renegade shops like Mother, Brooklyn Brothers, and Our Man in Havana that big companies call when they are having trouble moving products and don’t feel they are getting results from their large agencies.

Thanks to StrawberryFrog, more than two million people have downloaded the free version of the accounting software. (The company won’t disclose how many users have upgraded to the paid version, but it claims the number was substantial.) Meanwhile, the agency’s campaign was short-listed for a prestigious Lion award in June at the 2008 Cannes International Advertising Festival. “StrawberryFrog hasn’t been around that long,” says Jane Bedford, founder of The Bedford Group, a consulting firm that helps large corporations select ad agencies. “But they are very well known for their creative work and their digital skills.” Full article.

Article Directory Online:

At all times, people look up these entrepreneurs with all admiration. That is why the idea of becoming an entrepreneur has triggered more and more individuals. To them, such thing is very pleasant and delicious. Do you also dream of becoming one home business entrepreneur? Honestly, becoming a home business entrepreneur can give you so many advantages. Apart from being your own boss, you get full control of everything. Now isn’t that such an advantage on your part?

Take things realistically. A home business entrepreneur is not a piece of cake that can be baked overnight. One has to get a good start before he becomes a home business entrepreneur himself. So how do you mold yourself to become a home business entrepreneur?

As a starting point, learn to evaluate yourself in terms of your strengths and weaknesses. If your traits prove that you can become a potential home business entrepreneur then you are lucky enough. The next thing with which you must dwell on is the line of business that you must take. If you’ve gauged all these concerns, start things off with the other considerations.

Are you willing to take risks? Are you up for challenges? You may have all the brains but you may not have the guts to fight off the challenges that may come your way. Then your venture can turn useless. As a home business entrepreneur, you must be a self starter.

Starting from scratch is one of the best ways to stabilize your reputation. It is always good to look back at how difficult things had started for you and after some time, you have occupied the topmost part. Such feeling is rewarding on your part.

If you closely intend to become one home business entrepreneur, then stick to your detailed plans. Learn to organize your own time. You don’t have to run slowly. Just maintain a fast pace so that no one will outrun you. More here.

SmallFuel Marketing Blog:

Small businesses are on the rise, and many economists wholeheartedly agree that opportunities are rife. The time is right. You can start a business, even if is just a small one.

Barriers to entry are dropping quickly and so are the startup costs. Poor economics, the rising costs of living and soaring gas prices aren’t discouraging people from launching a startup either. Quite the contrary.

Minority groups have fewer obstacles, and more people can make their dream a reality, online or offline. Consumers are looking for a more personal connection for their purchasing needs, and they’re leaning towards B2B and one-man shops.

All people need is an idea, a product or service, the will and a way to reach consumers – it’s that easy. A business is born.

Even more so, small business owners now have the power to blend offline and online marketing to reach customers, promote products or services and increase sales to create a successful venture.

But are people tapping into that potential? Are small businesses making the most of the low-cost marketing opportunities available?

Are they being effective in their efforts, using every tool and resource possible to boost potential success?

The answer is, unfortunately, no.

The 5 Basic Markteing Essentials… read on.

American Chronicle:

It can be fun, yet challenging starting a home based business online. For most, this will be the first time they aren’t working at a company with a boss watching their every move. If you are tired of an overbearing boss, the idea of starting your own business from the comfort of your home can be very tempting.

However, making the transition from full-time job to starting your own home based business online will take action on your part. Before you make the leap, you will want to establish a plan of action. It is like having a map before setting out on an adventure, but it will make a big difference if you have one when setting out and you can alter it as you go along.

You need to consider a few things before starting your own home based business online. Do you have enough space for a home office (even a small desk with drawers or shelves)? Are you a self starter, dedicated, and committed to making your business work no matter what? What benefits you will gain from starting your own business? Will you be free from distractions at home? If not, how will you handle them? Do you have a budget? What are your goals?

Lack of planning is one of the main reasons why home based business owners fail so answering questions like these are vital to your success.

Other things to consider when starting your own business is to understand that as with any business, it will take hard work and dedication at the beginning, at least until you establish a plan and get everything set up.

Bear in mind that starting a home based business online requires you to work from home where specific policies and procedures or a help desk are not readily available so you will need to do lots of research to ensure that you keep up to date on the latest information, and you will be required to do your own research.

More here.

Times Online:

Overtime is overdue an overhaul, according to our top Best Companies, who are keen to buck the worrying trend of working extra hours. Did you work overtime last week and is it a regular occurrence? Do you find yourself constantly going into work early and getting home too late to have dinner with your partner, see the kids or make it to social engagements?

Best Companies research shows that too many people are working far longer than is good for their health or their company’s productivity. Analysis of the overtime put in by employees of all organisations entering the competition over the past four years shows that, although there has been a fall in the number of people working up to 10 more hours than they are contracted to (a third of people do this), there has been a rise in the numbers of staff doing well over that.

The statistics show that more than one in 10 workers are putting in between 10 and 20 hours of overtime a week, while just over 2% of staff do between 20 and 30 hours over their contracted weekly hours. And the numbers putting in more than 30 hours extra has increased to 0.5%.

“Half a per cent may not sound like much but, across all workers in the UK, it would equate to 150,000 people,” says Dr Pete Bradon, head of research at Best Companies Ltd. “This data is very worrying when you consider the effects of overtime on people’s lives.”

Of the top 10 firms whose staff work the least overtime across the Best Companies lists of small, mid-sized and big businesses, several involve employees working in people-focused jobs. When someone feels overworked, their sunny disposition is often the first thing to go. In a job where a lot rests on a smile, overtime has an effect on customer satisfaction. Continue reading.

Gather.com:
For work from home business owners, one of the main problems they face is appearing professional in the eyes of customers and suppliers. While work from home business ventures are no less merit-worthy than those based out of offices, there is a certain stigma attached that work from home business owners must shake if they are to run a serious and profitable enterprise, and this can often be easier said than done, particularly if you are doing business in a market that’s full of larger, more ‘professional’ rivals. However, by embracing your work from home status and understanding how you can avoid appearing unprofessional to others, you should be able to grow your work from home business to a comfortable level.

The first problem encountered by most work from home business ventures if overcoming a residential address. Some mailing addresses are obviously residential, no matter how you try to cloak them, which obviously appears unprofessional to large clients and certainly has an impact on the way you can do business. Of course, you may be lucky and live on a notable commercial street or within a business district of your local town which might allow your address to come across as more business-like. If this isn’t the case, a good, low cost way around this is to opt for a mailbox service. These are usually provided by special mail handling companies that have prime locations to collect mail for this specific purpose. The mailboxes usually cost around £30 per month for prime addresses, and you can also usually have mail forwarded directly to your home address. This is also beneficial in giving your business the appearance of being national, by having addresses in major cities which all forward to your home address. Read more.

Fresh New Small Business Ideas:

You’ve probably met several people who are stressed out, burnt out, and just longing for a place where they can relax. This scenario opens lucrative business opportunities like a massage therapy business. Massage therapy also aids in the process of fast recovery from injuries and illnesses. In this kind of business, you should like working with people, enjoy caring for them, possess the ability of empathizing with the distressed.

* Know the requirements. Find out the requirements of a massage therapist in your area before making any sort of investment. This will also provide the necessary information on your field of specialization.

* Choose your field of specialization. Research on what appropriate kind of massage appeals to you. Getting in touch with local therapists/schools usually helps.

* Undergo fundamental training. A training course teaching the dynamics of Swedish massage, Deep Tissue Massage and Trigger Point Therapy should be opted for. Moreover, an in-depth knowledge on Myofascial Release or Reiki is considered an advantage in the field. Apart from learning these different massages, it is also recommended to specialize in a field like Pregnancy Massage, Medical Massage, or Animal Massage. Attending massage training courses will cost you around $150 to $350.

* Invest on high quality therapy materials. It is always better to go for renowned proven brands unless you personally prepare the oils, balms and potions.

Return on investments depend largely on the demand of your neighborhood at the initial stage. Four to five massaging sessions a day can fetch anything between $50 and $100, making the monthly turnover anything between $1500 and $3000.

East Valley Tribune:

“Going Green” is a hot topic and one of the most popular places in town to talk about how to do it is Green Drinks.
Green Drinks is a social gathering for “people interested in the planet,” according to event organizers at a.k.a. Green, a building and resource center in Scottsdale that focuses on environmentally friendly products and sustainability.

It actually began about three years ago, but attracted mostly people in the homebuilding industry who were interested in business networking.

“It grew a bit, but then interest seemed to wane,” said Mick Dalrymple, owner of a.k.a Green. “When it started taking off again, we were seeing people from all kinds of industries with all different backgrounds.”

The first Tuesday of every month the store coordinates this event to help “green” professionals network, share ideas and support each other in their businesses and organizations.

The event has been growing exponentially since it started, Dalrymple said, but seems to be gaining momentum as more businesses owners and individuals take an interest in eco-friendly practices. At the upcoming event they are expecting around 200 people, he said.

“We are actually running into the problem of finding locations to hold it that we don’t overwhelm,” he said. The event moves each month to make it convenient for people.

Beyond business networking, people are using Green Drinks for social networking, too. There have been some love connections, organizers said, and people make friends and meet people who live in their part of the Valley who share a common interest. Full article.

Times Online:

James Caan is the newest dragon on the BBC television show Dragons’ Den. He is chief executive of the private-equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw and has been building and selling businesses since 1985 in various sectors.

Today in Britain it is pretty cool to be an entrepreneur. Programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den regularly attract more than 5m viewers. The number of men and women opting to run their own businesses is increasing, and the rewards of following your own vision can be seen in the lifestyles of those who become extremely wealthy through their own endeavours - which in turn inspires the next apparently limitless generation of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Not everyone is programmed to be an entrepreneur, however, and there is certainly more to it than a strong desire to make money.

Whatever your starting point, no businessman or woman is an island capable of building a successful company alone.

Turning your dream into reality inevitably means creating a strong team, engaging them with your vision for the business and developing an environment that fosters the concept of ‘intrepreneurship’ - encouraging a creative approach to problem solving within a company and retaining valuable intellectual property.

Continue reading.

Entrepreneur.com:

1. Take the high road on pricing. Many startups think they need to undercut their competitors to bring people in the door. That’s a recipe for failure. If your only appeal is a low price, there will be no reason for customers to come back to you if they find a source that’s even cheaper. And you won’t make the profits you need to stay in business.

To develop your pricing, look at your costs and break-even point. Then look at your competitors’ pricing levels, particularly the business that’s been around the longest. Don’t be afraid to be the highest in the market or to increase your prices if they’re too low, but offer better a product and/or value to justify your rates.

2. Push high-margin products and services. Different brands, SKUs or service offerings have different profit-making potential. Knowing the margin difference between Product A and Product B is critical for shaping your profit plan. One tire retailer I know significantly boosted his bottom line by pushing a lesser-known tire brand that had a bigger margin than the one with a household name. The dollar value of those sales was smaller, but he put more money in his pocket.

3. Dump the discounts. I once coached a men’s clothing store that regularly ran a 20 percent off promotion on men’s suits. If someone bought a $500 suit, the store lost $100 in profit. I counseled instead to give away a $100 shirt that cost $50. Customers perceived it as the same dollar value, but the store retained more money (and margin).

The same concept can be used in any industry. For a computer store, the giveaway might be an hour or two of a technician’s time. For a beauty salon, it might be an eyebrow waxing. Offers like these help draw customers or close sales without taking such a big bite of the profits.

4. Cross-sell/upsell high-profit items. In last month’s column, I talked about a hardware store that created a checklist of add-on items like brushes and drop cloths for customers who bought paint. Those items helped increase the profitability of paint sales because they had higher margins. In another case, I worked with a TV store that drove profits to a new level by improving the way it sold service warranties. This skyrocketed from one in 10 customers to one in four, becoming a key profit center.

5. Put your product mix on a diet. Imagine you’re a jewelry store with 25 percent of your inventory tied up in stock that sells once or twice a year. By getting rid of those slow-moving items, you can put the money into merchandise with the highest turnover. The same principle applies to service businesses. If you’re a day spa with body wraps that attract only a handful of clients per week, put more resources into facials or other services that will keep your appointment book filled.

TheBlogOfThomasJ:

1. Growing Industry - First of all, most everyone recommends a business in the health and wellness or anti-aging industry, because this is where large demand is growing, and it is something that you can share with passion, concern, and emotion. It is hard to do that if you are recommending gardening tools or car brakes…unless you could share how the brakes saved your life in a near accident.

2. Direct Selling Association (DSA) members - A reputable and honest network marketing business should be listed with the DSA and the Better Business Bureau (BBB)

3. Product That Works! - Many companies simply have rah-rah training seminars that try to get people excited about the money. Look for a company that focuses on their product.

4. Professional Validation - If the product is backed by third party organizations, certifications, doctors, universities, and/or third-party research groups, then you know you have a product that sells itself.

5. At least 5 years of Debt-Free Success - While “getting your foot in the door early” can be your key to success, if the business has already been established for a few years, then you know that they are a solid company. Most unsuccessful companies fail in their first 3 years.

6. Publicly Owned - Not just any company can be put on the stock exchange. If it is legitimate and big enough, it may qualify. Huge potential and power with the added public finances = rock solid company.

7. Not another “Me Too” Product? - If the product is unique and patented, and not just another copy-cat product, you are set.

8. Great Training available - This goes without saying.

9. A Product Motivated Mentor - Hey, who cares how many dollars per month your mentor is making if he or she isn’t excited about the product itself?

10. News - While this may not be necessary, but if the company or product is making it into the news at all, then there is even more potential for massive growth. If they are using infomercials to get word out about their product, then stay away from them.

Earthtimes:

Ohio’s supportive businessenvironment and variety of business development programs create an ideal location for small business growth and expansion, according to the Ohio Business Development Coalition, the nonprofit organization that markets the state for capital investment.

The recent creation of an entrepreneurship and small business division of the Ohio Department of Development further proves the state’s commitment to creating more opportunities for success while allowing executives the opportunity to pursue both their professional and personal aspirations.

The Entrepreneurship and Small Business Division manages a variety of programs and initiatives that assist entrepreneurs and business owners in growing and finding success in Ohio. The Division also hosts the Small Business Development Centers of Ohio program, which provides consulting and training assistance to small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity and improved management.

The Centers are supported through a partnership among the Ohio Department of Development, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and several of Ohio’s chambers of commerce, colleges and universities, and economic development agencies. In 2007, the network of 39 small business development centers across the state served more than 8,500 clients. Carry on reading.

Search Engine Land:

According to comScore, U.S. Internet users watched 11.5 billion online videos in March, 2008. The average viewer watched nearly three hours of video online. These statistics make video an attractive means for advertisers to reach their audience, and in turn, a potential windfall for online video hosts such as YouTube and Google. So far, however, online video sites are finding that users want to be entertained with online video and not necessarily watch commercials. So how do small business advertisers effectively tap into the online video craze and relay their messages to target audiences? Well, that opportunity is here but is not always easy to figure out.

Here are some things that advertisers will want to consider as they ponder their first - or next - online video advertising campaign.

Understand how consumers use commercially-oriented videos in their search and buy process. Consumers watch non-commercial videos on YouTube for entertainment. Unless your video is funny, informative, or entertaining in some way, it’s unlikely that people will simply want to watch it. However, when consumers need a product or service, they are active and more willing to view content like video to help in their buying process. Consumers typically will watch online videos when they are trying to finalize a vendor selection or purchase decision. That is why local search and IYP sites may offer the best opportunity to get in front of the right audience that has the “right” mindset.

Know who to target and where to reach them. Is the audience local or national? If national, advertisers will obviously want to take a broad-based approach and focus on some of the larger search sites. For many small businesses, however, local targeting is more important. If this is true, the advertiser will need to find ways of getting their video to display where the local audience will see it, including local media sites, newspapers, and local search sites, such as Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) sites.

Decide on the appropriate type of video and determine the cost… Continued.

Globe and Mail:

Pete is a friend of mine who is, in a word, paranoid. He’s always willing to share things that you should be concerned about.

In the past, I’ve learned that you can be electrocuted while talking on the telephone during a thunderstorm, 200,000 serious injuries happen in the bathroom each year, and excessive blinking could be an early sign of blepharospasm - a rare muscle disorder that can cause eyelids to shut permanently.

Now, Pete is a business owner. I’ve told him that if he should worry about anything, it’s not his eyelids, but his business succession planning, about which he’s done little.

The survey
A 2005 survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses revealed that two-thirds of owners of small and medium-sized enterprises plan to exit their businesses over the next 10 years. Sadly, only about 10 per cent of business owners have any type of succession plan in place.

Two of the biggest challenges business owners face when thinking about their succession planning are income taxes (How can the tax burden on the transfer of the business be reduced?) and financing (How will the successor find the money to make the purchase, particularly a concern if the buyer is a family member or employee of the business?).

The fact is, many business owners may be getting ready to retire, but they may not pocket the full value of the business if they’re not prepared.

The options… read on.