The Secret and The Answer

I have once watched a documentary film entitled The Secret at my friend’s place before and it’s all about the Law of Attraction. When I dropped by over Ivana’s post at Small Business Trends, I’ve read her review about the book — The Answer and you might as well wanted to grab a copy, for this has really something important to do for your small business goals.

It’s Two Books in One

The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom and Live an Extraordinary Life is really two books in one.  I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

There was the “Law of Attraction” book; these chapters and elements explain and discuss the quantum mechanics involved in how our brain works, how our thoughts work and how we are influenced by them. So, if you’re not really into the “Law of Attraction,” you’ll either love this because it will make it more understandable to you, or you’ll find these explanations tedious.

The other book I saw in this was the actual “Applied” exercises and tasks that take you from just reading about the Law of Attraction, to actually putting it to use in building a business and a brand that can succeed regardless of what the economy is doing.

Get Rid from the Roots of Spammers

I believe it’s time to take the action in getting rid from the roots of spammers. Just like this good news which I read over at Small Business Trends.

Worldwide spam is down 66% since this past Tuesday, November 11, 2008, after two ISPs said “enough!” and pulled the plug on a California hosting company.

The story was reported by the Washington Post:

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide dropped drastically today after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations allegedly engaged in spam activity was taken offline, according to security firms that monitor spam distribution online.

You can read more about this news from Anita Campbell’s post — Spam Reduced 66% Worldwide After One Company Shuttered.

Yes! It’s Common Sense.

Over at a Californian Business Website, I found this sensible article written by KAREN BLOTNICKY pointing out Common Sense as the key to Success!

And yes, I realized that this has something to do important in goal setting. Sometimes, business owners especially most tend to be too idealistic on things, setting their goals towards achieving a certain milestone in the business without even thinking that these goals might have slipped over a common and valuable of sense. Which in my opinion, needs our attention.

Goal for Today: Focusing on Revenue

I found this helpful article written by Mark Larosa from American Express forum which I think we should give importance on it and focus in this very important business goal — our Revenue.

The collapse of the market will bring the focus back to where it should be… revenue.  And that is good news for salespeople.  Why?  Because companies have drifted away from being sales driven, sales focused revenue machines into ones that focus on building features that generate and create buzz.

Sales and revenue are going to come front and center once again, and the customers and prospects that pay will once again drive product design and direction – not exclusively the product managers and marketing team.

The above is quoted from Mark’s article. You can check out more how we can actually bring our focus in our revenue in American Express Forum.

Source of Fund for Growing your Business

Everyone of us is really hopeful on growing our business. But what if we lack funds to do it? Well, it’s time to get to know the sources of fund that will help us with growing  our business.

Over SmallBizNumbers‘ blog, I read on his article about getting to know Angel Investors. Angel investor is one of the four possible sources of business funding that the author mentioned.

The four sources of our business financing are:

1. Angel Investors
2. Venture Capitalists
3. Personal funds, credit cards, family and friends
4. Business loans

I’m glad to have found this resource. Now, I’m leaving it as our assignment to research and choose which of the four possible sources will suit best for financing our business.

Tips to Bring Focus

One very important skill that we should set our goals in is — Staying Focused. Gladly, I found again a valuable article written by Zane Safrit which gives us extensive details of tips on how to stay focus in our lives — in business!

There are 19 Tips To Bring Focus which Zane personally confessed that:

Confession: Some of these I do very regularly, some pretty often. Some are on lists of others and after I read those others’ lists, I realized I was doing them, too. (Pretty cool.)  These aren’t exclusive to me. They’re just what I realized work for me, when I do them.

And my favorite tip that I think I should set a goal to accomplish it is:

3. Go to bed early. Seriously. It’s a marathon we’re running here, people. A rested mind and body are a clear and energetic and positive and consistent pair of tools to work with. All other tools effectiveness depends on these two working together. They work better, and better together, when rested.

I honestly, don’t go to bed early and as a matter of fact, my brain is even more active during those wee hours. Anyway, I understand Zane’s concern on this and I believe I must strive to accomplish this tip too.

Check out the other 18 tips on Zane’s article over Small Business Trends.

To Keep Your Business Growing, Look Ahead!

I found this inspiring article from Chron.Com written by Ron Consolino. He is a management counselor for SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, a volunteer, nonprofit association and a partner of the U.S. Small Business Association.

A key to successfully piloting a small business now and in the years ahead will be embracing new ways of thinking. What works today may not work tomorrow, because the environment is always changing.

You need the attitude that whatever is done today can always be done better.

Anticipating trends can be extremely valuable in keeping you current on everything from sales strategies and customer desires to technology tools and the general economy.

As your business grows, change will be inevitable and small-business owners should constantly look ahead and seek out ways to shake things up. The more you test the winds of change, the better your chances of success down the road.

Truisms like “stick to what your business does best” are outmoded. If you want your business to survive, consider that past business traditions and processes might only hold you back.

Not all customers are created equal. Some are more valuable and loyal than others, and those are the ones you should lavish the most attention on with special savings and service offers.

Just as your customers put pressure on you, you should challenge your suppliers to find ways to reduce their prices, improve their delivery times, or evolve their materials or services to better meet your changing requirements.

Advances in technology will continue to radically change how small companies do business. You will need to keep up. Small-business owners who know how to acquire and manage information will achieve the most success. Capturing and analyzing data about customer needs, wants, behavior and how they use your product or service is becoming increasingly critical.

To get ideas about new products, services or markets, talk to your customers and suppliers, attend trade association meetings, and read trade journals and other materials. Anticipating trends is not easy but is essential in remaining successful over the long term.

3G: A Goal to Go Global

Who business owner wouldn’t want their business to go global? Well, if not for you, definitely a ‘Yes’ for me. This is why I’ve been searching for some helpful information about my small business goal of being global.  First, our goal is how we should do it, so here’s the post about – How to take your Small Business Global.

And bonus from above’s search, I found this also from the same Globalpreneur blog the tips in building global bonds with your customers.

1. Your customers are your business
2. Keep in touch with your customers
3. Satisfy your customer
4. Deliver on your promises
5. Go beyond expectations
6. Involve your customer
7. Become your customer’s partner
8. Exchange information with your customer
9. Arrange introductions for your customer
10. Build interdependency with your customer