The Ultimate Mentor Resource

Discover and connect with thousands of FREE business mentors on BUZGate.org, serving career, small and medium-sized business interests and needs.

Will’s Wisdom

Encouraging and inspirational words from Will Smith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLN2k0b3g70

Tax Savings and Other Biz Tips for 2010

Start the New Year smart by taking advantage of tax incentives and other business tips.

Recovery Act Tax Incentives

Re-visit potential tax savings for your business relative to hiring practices, capital equipment expenditures, operating losses, cancelled debt, COBRA premiums and energy incentives.

Social Media & Other Marketing Tips

Get caught up on no-cost, low-cost marketing strategies that can support business development, particularly how to take best advantage of social media.

What Recovery Act Incentives Serve Your Needs?

Quickly browse some of the ARRA incentives for small businesses in areas of education, communication, innovation, funding, investment and more.

Network, Network, Network

Take full advantage of free and low-cost government and public programs in your area that offer support in all aspects of small business start-up and growth, such as funding, marketing, import/export, training and advocacy.

Learn, Learn, Learn

In addition to networking, maintaining an awareness of productivity-enhancing technologies, goods and services is becoming just as important to the success and competitiveness of your business.

Stress and Overload…

…seem to go together for most smaller businesses. However, here at the Knowledge Institute we are hearing from our small business visitors at www.BUZGate.org that the problem seems to be getting worse. This is not surprising with the strain and uncertainty of the economy, compounded by the fact that rapid change has become a fact of life for us all as well. The dilemma: too much to do, and the difficulty of managing your time to at least get the most important things done.

The traditional answer is to develop a business plan that would provide the thoughtful guidance to support effective decision-making. While the answer is indeed to have a plan, often that is part of the stress – either trying to find the time to develop the plan, or in having a plan with sufficient flexibility to accommodate rapid change. Additionally, many factors come out of nowhere to demand our time – think of your email alone!

In our own small company, we have a team meeting at the beginning of each week to prioritize those things that simply must get done, and then we check-in each morning to make sure that we are on track. If you don’t have a partner to work with in this manner, develop a weekly schedule that will allow you to prioritize what needs to get done, then each day, record what did get done. This process will show you on a daily basis where your time is going, and how something that you prioritized as being urgent is being allowed to slip.

For an example of the time planning schedule we use and advocate to our small business audience, go to http://www.buzgate.org/8.0/pdf/time_plan.pdf.

Best regards, Dr. Bill

Leverage Resources – Maximize Success

While the economy remains challenging, there are many innovative options available to you as a small business today that were not available a short time ago.

For example, a business incubator is program that support start-up businesses by offering a range of free and subsidized support resources including low-cost office space, business counseling, administrative services and access to technology. There are nearly 800 business incubators located across the United States.

For existing businesses, there is a similar high value option through providers of virtual offices. For example, through a global organization called Regus, you can:

• Focus on what you do best and outsource the rest
• Project a professional image with;
  • A prestigious location/address
  • Impeccable office facilities
  • State-of-the art technology
• Control Costs
  • Outsource administrative services as needed
  • Benefit from professional call handling services
  • Have mail processed efficiently and cost-effectively
• Grow Wisely
  • Rent office space by the day only when you need it
  • Rent a fully furnished office full time as you grow
• Network, Network, Network
  • Interact with other professional entrepreneurs
  • Improve your visibility
  • Connect with local free and low-cost business assistance programs

Data shows that entrepreneurs who take advantage of the myriad features and benefits that a business incubator environment offers, improve their chances of long-term success by over 85%.

We hope you find this information helpful and value being able to support your entrepreneurial efforts. Thank you.