Author Archives: Barbara Eldridge

Investing in Your Business

| November 3, 2005

The question is always asked, how much should be spent on marketing and advertising. Some businesses start on a shoestring and grow rapidly. Others take hundreds even thousands of dollars and go at a snails pace. While I have never heard a hard and fast answer to how much you should spend, you need a strategy that will produce results for you.

The key here is not how much you spend, but that you consistently reinvest money in your business. Determine how much you can afford, is it $100 or 10% of your gross, or maybe for a new product … Read More

Value From Your Web Site

| October 2, 2005

If you are using a Web Site to drive traffic to your business (not just to the web site), is it delivering the return you want on your investment of time and money? There is a great deal of talk about different strategies to use to get people to your site, but once they are there what happens? Are you making a lot of money from it? Are your clients and friends sending others to check out the site? Are you getting new subscribers to your eZine. Are you getting the calls or emails wanting to know more? Can you … Read More

Financing Growth

| August 3, 2005

Over the past month I have walked several clients in to see the Loan Officer of a local bank to discuss how to plan the growth of their businesses. As business owners it is important to look ahead for not only the needs of the busy last quarter of the year, but also to your plans and projections for the coming year. Most small business owners are under the misconception that bank loans require a full business plan, with projections and a lot of other paperwork and documents. Don’t get me wrong, those things are needed for large loans and … Read More

Get Customers to Talk for You

| July 2, 2005

When was the last time you asked a customer/client for a referral? So many times I hear that as a business owner it is uncomfortable asking for a referral. Yet last week I listened to three rookie insurance/financial advisors talk about how they began their businesses and what were the important keys that have made them successful. Asking for a referral was right up on top. Your current customers can be your best influences on prospective clients. So what can you do to break through the “discomfort” of asking for the name of someone they know that could use your … Read More

What is “Privacy”?

| May 13, 2005

Barbara’s Notes:
As small business owners it is important that we understand and follow the letter of the law with regard to the information we collect about our customers. Darity Wesley is the “privacy guru” for the real estate industry, but her information affects all of us both personally and professionally. Privacy Solutions offers on line privacy statement options for your web site that will keep you within the law, check it out if you don’t already have one, (www.privacygurus.com). The following article is reprinted with permission.

What is “Privacy”?
By Darity Wesley

“I also thought that privacy was something

… Read More

Speaking Your Brand

| April 3, 2005

Customers make the heart of your business beat with their desire to choose products, services and experiences that meet their needs, fit their values, engage their emotions and respond to their desires. Your role is to transform prospects into customers and customers into fiercely loyal advocates. As your own marketer you have to be heard over the marketing noise that is everywhere, (TV, newspapers, on every street corner, now even at the movies). You then have to overcome the skepticism of the more sophisticated consumer.

Many of you have taken one of our “Personal Branding” workshops to learn more about … Read More

A Business By Any Other Name May Not Sell As Sweet

| March 16, 2005

By Debra C. Scheufler, Esq.

One of the most important and emotional decisions that entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses face is choosing a new business name. A name will identify the business for its life, so it should be something that the owners are satisfied with. It should also help to create the image and the mission statement that the company wants to project, and it should be easy for the public to remember. Think of names of popular, successful companies: Coca-Cola, Vogue, Micro-Soft, and Caterpillar. Say any one of these names and a particular image comes to mind. This phenomenon … Read More

Plan Your Year with Positive Expectancy

| January 2, 2005

Happy New Year!!!!

Mind Masters started the year with our 15th Annual Planning Workshop, with a great group of entrepreneurs in attendance. There were sponsor tables with products and services for everyone, new materials, handouts and special ribbons. Larny J. Mack of Larny J. Mack Photography was the first Mind Masters member to receive The Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Although he struggled through the first part of the year, he found purpose in his work and the year turned out to be his best ever, his client list reads like who’s who in the building and manufacturing industry, not … Read More

End the Year on the Up Side

| December 5, 2004

It’s that time of year again. No, not the holly, jolly holiday time but the end of the year tax planning time! So what can you do to keep more of your hard earned dollars in your pocket and out of the IRS’s greedy hands? These ten tax tips might be a starting point. Always remember – be equal parts honest and aggressive, and you will be treating the IRS AND yourself ethically! (Be aware, these tips may not be appropriate for everyone – always get the advice of your tax professional for your individual situation.)

1. Hire your kids… Read More

A Driving Force

| November 3, 2004

Last month we addressed the need to prepare for and anticipate growth for your business in the New Year. The planning process is time consuming, but necessary. In the many years I have spent working with growing business owners on the goals that help them determine their success, I have seen how important it is for them to share those goals and plans with people whose experience and expectations can contribute to that success.

Napoleon Hill in his classic work Think and Grow Rich stresses the absolute necessity of having a definite plan for the accomplishment of one’s goals. But … Read More