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Sam Lewis is a small business manager and consultant specializing in small to mid-sized businesses.
Small Business Book Reviews

How to Win Friends and Influence People Book Review

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One of the books that has really made a lasting effect on me and how I conduct business is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I’m ashamed to say that I waited until my 30s to finally experience this amazing book. If I had read it earlier I might not have struggled so much in my 20s with business and interpersonal relationships.


That’s why I highly recommend this book for young entrepreneurs and recent college grads who are heading out into the business world.

The Lumber Inspection Story

One of the “moments” that really stood out for me in How to Win Friends and Influence People was the story about how a consultant dealt with an unsatisfied lumber client. The lumber company apparently inspected the lumber and decided that it wasn’t up to par. They complained and demanded their money back.

The consultant went to the lumber yard not ready to fight, but ready to listen. As time went on and the lumber inspector realized that the consultant wasn’t there to fight with him, and was just listening to his concerns, he began to change his mind about the shipment. Eventually he decided that the wood was fine after all. If the consultant would have come there making excuses and fighting with the inspector, it would have gone a lot differently.

At the time that I read this book, I was working at a small company under a manager who I would say was “less than stellar.” The manager was difficult to deal with and I was pretty much biding my time until I could make my escape. Six months after reading this book and implementing a lot of advice in my day to day interactions, I was offered a supervisory position at the business.

Needless to say, I give How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 5 stars and recommend it to any entrepreneur or small business owner. It’s also available as an audiobook at Audible.com .

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Louise Gaillard is a social media manager, prolific writer and author.



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Small Business Trip, Traveling for Small Business

Planning a Small Business Trip on a Budget

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?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????In the course of running your new company there will likely come a time when you need to travel for business. Common reasons for small business travel include conferences, business meetings, training sessions and trade shows. As a young business just starting out, you’re probably going to want to keep your costs down when traveling, so here are a few tips for planning a small business trip on a budget.

Tips for Booking a Flight on a Budget

By many accounts, the cheapest day to fly is on a Wednesday. You may find that the savings is significant enough to make it worthwhile to fly into town a day earlier than you planned for your small business meeting or conference. In fact, flexibility with your dates is probably the number one key to getting a really great deal on a flight. Set your search for airports within a radius outside of your #1 airport of choice, open it up for various dates throughout the month and consider selecting a flight that has a stopover. You can get some work done on your laptop while waiting for the connecting plane.

Tips for Reserving a Hotel on a Budget

When you’re trying to reserve a hotel room on a budget, you have to weigh stars versus cost. Before you start searching, decide what are the minimum number of stars you’re willing to accept for the hotel. Also, decide how far you’re willing to stay outside of the city where you’ll need to conduct business or attend your conference.

Tips for Getting a Good Deal on a Rental Car

When traveling for business, keep in mind what you’re there for – business. You don’t need an expensive and flashy high end car unless you’re an entertainer or need to make a major impression with a client. Stay within the economy to mid-sized range when renting a car for small business travel. Also, check your car insurance, road side assistance plan and business credit card to see if you have discount codes to reduce your costs during the rental.

As time goes on you’ll start to get the hang of booking your small business travel on a budget. Talk to your business credit card company to see if they offer booking services as well, because you might be able to get a better deal and use your membership points or miles balance.

 



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Cheaptickets & Cheap Air for Small Business, Flight Search Tools, Small Business Trip

Tips on Flight Search Tools for Small Business Travel

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When searching for flights for a small business trip, your obvious goal is to get the best deal possible at a time that’s convenient to your schedule. Here are 3 tips for how to use flight search tools optimally to schedule small business travel.

Use the Catch-All Site

Many of the popular online flight search sites get their information from the same source. Check out this site to search your dates to see what your best option to save time searching the various sites. If you’re still not convinced that this one site really offers the same prices as what’s out there on other flight search sites, you could be right, so do a few comparison searches using the same details across other websites to be sure.

Review Flights for the Entire Month

If you have some flexibility in your dates, look at an entire calendar of dates to decide what will be your best option. The tool mentioned in the last section gives you the option to look at a “calendar of lowest fares” and select your desired length of stay. Spend some time checking out the various trips and fares throughout the month, which will vary depending on certain days of the week and holidays.

Get a Package Deal

travel dealsIf you plan to fly anywhere and stay for more than a day, chances are you’re going to need a hotel room, right? You can often get a better deal on your flight and hotel by finding a package deal that bundles both into one. You can also find packages that include your rental car as well. Break down the cost of a flight and hotel individually first, then compare it to the package to see what’s your best bet.

When you’re traveling for business, keeping your costs reasonable is a top priority. Use these tips to ensure that you’re getting the best deal possible for your small business trip.

 



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Sales & Selling Advice, Selling Tips for Your Small Business, The Sales Process

Tips for Sales Success: What Makes Someone Pull Out His Wallet?

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I have been in sales for about 12 years as of this posting (if you listen to the classic wisdom of Zig Ziglar, we’ve all actually been in sales since the day we were born). I have met and talked to thousands of people in face-to-face sales scenarios and over the phone while selling my products and services. I’ve learned a few things during that time about people and what makes someone start pulling out his wallet to buy what you’re selling.

Look Prospects in their Eyes

Most people trust a sales person who can look them straight in the eye. They say that the eyes are the gateway to the soul — looking someone directly in the eyes says that you have nothing to hide. It makes them more comfortable with buying from you. So if you have kind, trusting eyes don’t point them down at the table, a paper or in the air when you’re talking — use them to your advantage. Connect with your prospect by flashing a genuine smile and looking her straight in her eyes.

Confidence

This point kind of goes along with the last point about looking people in their eyes. If you want people to be inspired to buy from you, you have to exude confidence in everything that you do. You have to be direct and certain. If you’re not confident about yourself and the product that you’re selling, why should anyone buy it from you?

Telling a Story (Preferably Yours)

I can’t stress this point enough – if you really want someone to pull out his wallet and buy from you, you should have a story prepared to tell. I’m not saying that you should tell stories about your childhood and how Santa Claus didn’t get you what you wanted for Christmas. I’m talking about the story of what inspired you to start your small business and also stories (testimonials) about how your product or service has helped you and other people.

The Package Deal – Best Offer

All some people need to make the final decision to buy is to hear a special offer at the end of your pitch. When they’re right on the cusp of deciding whether to buy or not, thinking and scanning the product, offer them a package deal. For instance, if you’re selling an item for $10, you might offer 2 of the item for $15 — one for the buyer and one for his friend. Of course, you have to analyze your costs to determine if this would be a profitable sale. People feel good when they know they’ve gotten a good deal.

Use these tips for sales success the next time you find yourself in a face-to-face sales scenario selling your products or services. They could be the difference between “maybe next time” and “ok, I’ll take it!”



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Online Marketing Strategies, Social Media Sites for Small Business

Social Media Tips for an Online Store

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It’s estimated that e-retail (buying from online stores) will increase by 62% by 2016. Social media sites, like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, will likely play a significant role in making that happen. Keep reading for some social media tips for an online store.

A Deal Is Always a Big Deal

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????People on social media are always looking for a great deal. Think about it — when you’re checking out your social media account, you’re not really looking to buy something in particular, but if you see a really good deal advertised you’ll probably be more inclined to check it out. Offer a special promotion code or coupon that’s active for a limited time each week to draw traffic into your online store.

Get Snap Happy

The social media experience on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest is better when you have plenty of cool stuff to look at. People get tired of just reading words on a page all of the time – give them visuals. For example, instead of telling your followers that you just got in a new shipment of great shoes, post a picture of them. The great thing about Twitter is that the picture will float down the timeline of your followers while they’re browsing, so it’s bound to get a look and possibly a click to your web store.

Give It Away, Give It Away Now!

If you really want to kick things up a notch and gain plenty of new interested followers, schedule special giveaways to people that interact with you (or random followers). Measure the cost of strategically giving away a few key items from your online catalog against the promotional benefits of attracting attention to your online store. Go all out at first, giving away really great items so that other social media users will see what’s going on, get jealous and want to jump on board!

Try out one or more of these social media tips for an online store to grab the attention of your followers and get them to click to your site.

 



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Small Business Marketing Plan

Your Small Business Marketing Plan: Tips for Success

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Your marketing plan could very well be the “make or break” element of your entire business plan. After all is said and done, your business is established and products are available for sale, you’ll still be doing marketing, sales and promotions. So when you’re writing your small business marketing plan, keep these tips for success and longevity in mind.

Stay Focused on the Main Purpose

When you’re writing a marketing plan, it’s important that you stay focused on the main goal of why you’re writing it in the first place. The point is to create an actionable plan that will guide the decisions you make while marketing and promoting your products or services. Some people get too caught up in technicalities that distract them from this main purpose. Your marketing plan doesn’t have to be written to an exact standard to “sound good” — write your plan in plain language that you can understand and follow.

Work from an Outline

If the idea of writing a small business marketing plan seems like a major feat, make it easier by simply creating an outline. You’ll find that as you follow the outline you’ll add more and more details until you finally have a full plan of action. Here is a simple outline to follow:

–          Your Overall Marketing Vision

–          The Marketing Team (and Responsibilities)

–          Target Customer Profile(s)

–          Product Details

–          Promotional Plan

–          Pricing Plan

–          Distribution Plan

–          Marketing Budget

Study and Test Your Target Audience

Some new small business owners make ill-advised assumptions about who would want to buy their product or service, but later learn that they’re targeting the wrong people. If you stay too fixated on one target audience, you could be missing out on a lot of income. Conduct marketing research to test your theories about your target audience, such as surveys, polls, small focus groups and handing out product samples in exchange for a review. Keep your mind open to other target customers that might scramble to buy your product or service.

If you want your new company to succeed, it’s so important that you spend some time developing your small business marketing plan. Pin your plan on your computer for quick reference and add to it every day until it’s just right.

 Louise Gaillard is a social media manager, prolific writer and author.



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Guerrilla Marketing for Small Business

Guerrilla Marketing Ideas for a New Small Business

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Guerrilla marketing is the art of finding non-traditional and creative ways to let the world know about your products and services. The ultimate goal is to promote the brand or to inspire instant sales. For a guerrilla marketing plan to be successful, you have to be bold, confident, determined and willing to take a few risks. Here are a few guerrilla marketing ideas for a new small business owner to try.

Table Time

Some municipalities and cities allow people to set up a table on the street and distribute literature. This may be protected as free speech. If your city allows this, set up a table in a high traffic location with brochures, samples, business cards and other visuals to promote your company on the fly. Talk to people that you meet on the street and give them something to walk away with to place a future order (provide an 800 number on your company cards). Now if you want to sell your things on the street, that’s a different story. You may need to get a permit or sales tax certificate from your town or state first.

Public Transportation “Drops”

If you live in a major metropolis where most of the population uses public transportation, you might grab some attention by leaving promotional items in the seats, like business cards, small flyers or even a small product sample. When someone sits in the seat they’re likely to pick it up and check it out or take it with them. I’ve actually tried this out once, and then sat nearby to watch what happened. The person picked the promotional item up, read it and took it with her.


Done excessively, some people may think of this as “littering,” so you have to do it in moderation. Consider the rules and regulations before trying this guerrilla promotional idea to avoid issues, but keep in mind that plenty of people leave their newspapers and magazines behind when riding public transportation for the benefit of other riders. Also, if your item is interesting enough, someone is probably going to take it with them.

Personalized Giveaways

If your goal is to increase exposure to your brand (company name, phone number, website or other information) put it on a personalized item that people are likely to use every day and then give it away! Items that people use and look at often include pens, tumbler cups and refrigerator magnets.

Hire someone to distribute your customized, branded gifts on the street and around town. You might be surprised at how fast they go. When they see your logo, 800 phone number or website address every day, it will be hard to forget.

They say it’s good to think outside the box. Employing a well-crafted guerrilla marketing plan can help give your new small business a boost.

 



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Understanding SEO for Small Business Websites

3 Simple SEO Tips for Small Businesses

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When you put your small business website online you’ll quickly learn that SEO (search engine optimization) is key to your site’s overall success. Search engine optimization is the process of publishing your site so that search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing will index it and find your posts for the best possible ranking. Here are a few simple SEO tips for small businesses that might help you get better results. The effectiveness of these tips may vary depending on the latest Google update (as of this posting it is called “Hummingbird” — who knows, it could be Elephant, Tiger, Bear or Kangaroo in the future) but they are still good practice, no matter the algorithm.

Use Long Tail Keyword Phrases

Sites that have been around for 3, 5, 10 years or more are likely going to occupy the top spots of popular one and 2-word keyword phrases that get a lot of traffic. If you want to get more traffic to your business website, start using long-tailed keywords in your posts and pages. For instance, instead of optimizing a post for the search term “cat advice” you might use “long-haired Persian kitten advice” instead. Get specific and use those phrases in your posts. Sometimes all you need to do is add a couple of adjectives to make it a good long-tail keyword phrase. Use keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword planner (available to AdWords accounts) to learn about long tail keyword ideas that get a good amount of monthly traffic.

Title, First Paragraph, Last Paragraph

Keyword stuffed articles don’t work as well as they did in the past (repeating the keyword phrase over and over again). However, it’s still valuable to use keyword phrases in your article. Try posting the phrase once in the title, once in the first paragraph and once in the last paragraph as a rule of thumb.

Focus on Quality over Quantity

There was a time when website publishers thought that quantity was the most important thing. The strategy was this: just throw up as many keyword-rich articles possible, even if they barely made sense, and get a good ranking. Back then, that strategy worked, but now it’s probably the worst idea you could possibly implement if you want your small business website to succeed and get ranked.

Focus on publishing high quality content over publishing a high quantity of content. Search engines are looking for sites that provide searchers with the answers that they’re looking for in a well-written, easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format. The general rule of thumb is to write your website content (especially blog posts) in language that an 8th grade student would clearly understand.

Provide Value

The best advice I can give you about SEO optimizing your website for success is to provide your web visitors with value. When you do get a click, your visitor should leave feeling as if he’s learned something new — preferably he won’t leave until he buys your product or service!



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.