The New Cottage Business

Do you have the courage to take action? Finding the courage is what makes the difference between those who do something and those who don’t. It’s easy to make that complicated. But it’s all really very simple: and, surprisingly, it isn’t about what you believe, but about what you don’t believe. If you don’t Full Article

Why are cottage industry businesses the hottest trendsetters today? Several factors make this statement true: 1. Volume. In part because of the current economy and high unemployment, small business is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. market. (That is also true for many other countries that allow free enterprise.) Within that segment, 52% Full Article

How do we create new business models? What I mean is, how can a cottage business take advantage of it’s small footprint and become a trendsetter? Sometimes it’s better to follow others, while other times, following others can mean a missed opportunity to be truly entrepreneurial and make a bigger splash.   I want that to be a Full Article

Infographics (tables, graphs, charts) are just one way to visually involve your customers or readers. Because many of us are strong visual thinkers, an uncomplicated infographic can engage the reader when text may become tedious. I like to think of every business document as a story, or as a chapter in the bigger story of who you are Full Article

Let me get right to the point: I know you have a story that somehow led you to start a business, and that story began a long time ago, before you ever knew for sure that you’d grow up. If you figure out that story, I’d like to hear it sometime. Some business owners look at me Full Article

Bootstrapping is not only about finding money, but about letting opportunity help shape our direction. People who aren’t usually risk-takers have a hard time because to self-fund a business, one has to suspend prejudgement and go with the flow. Part I of this series discusses how to begin the process of planning for your financial Full Article

Bootstrapping is the art (and it is an art) of finding creative ways to finance your startup without going to the bank for a loan. It’s about leveraging what you already have and finding sometimes crazy but realistic ways to get cash. With the economy as it is and the big spike in home-based startups, Full Article

We all know that the internet can be a slippery place. None of the old barriers  exist that used to protect us from the bad guys. Now they can approach us anytime we enter the playing field, and sometimes we don’t even know they’re there. On the internet as well as in the marketplace generally, distrust has become a Full Article

When it comes to telling our stories, whether it’s with the intention of building community or building a prospect list, there’s a fine line between coming across as authentic and having a poorly hidden agenda. I don’t mean an agenda to make money; we all need to live, and communicating with others is how we do that. I mean Full Article

Today I was on the phone with a friend who, like me, has been somewhat reluctant to learn about social networking sites. He talked about how some internet retailers are claiming that soon we’ll all be making buying decisions based on what our friends vote for online, and said that he sure wasn’t going to “hang around waiting Full Article

Co-working situations seem to be popping up everywhere. Most major cities seem to have them; some larger metros have a number of them. If you visit co-working facility websites, you’ll see an amazing diversity of environments. Portland, Oregon, for instance, has two, called “NedSpaces.” One is downtown and the other is in Full Article

I’m seeing a lot about pre-sales these days. Like most people, I’m intrigued with the idea that there’s free money out there somewhere… but I’ve yet to find it. I’ve tried to fund businesses through savings and credit cards, both of which just depleted my bank account. The most success I had came from funding by Full Article

Are you using your natural abilities in a marketable way? Some natural abilities are already marketable on their own. For instance, voice and negotiation ability form the basis of careers that exist. But what about the ability to market yourself as, say, a skilled creative thinker? Some people excel in that ability and this natural Full Article