Facebook recently launched a new location-based feature. This means that you can let others know where you are, what you are doing and even what you think of the place you’re visiting. This is okay for your business as Facebook continues to show us opportunities to connect with more companies via the Internet. Your customers are most likely already on Facebook and by adding this feature you become more accessible to them, which in the end, can mean a better return for you and your business.

This is an article written by David Griner from the associatedcontent.com, who stated, “Facebook has 133 million users in the U.S. and 500 million worldwide. When you compare that to Foursquare’s 2 million user base, I think it’s safe to say that checking in just became a phenomenally bigger deal. Before you start setting up an official Place for your business, try it out as a user first. As I mentioned before, you’ll need an iPhone with the free, official Facebook app. Don’t have an iPhone? Borrow one from a friend next time you’re out and about.

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Here is a video post by ABC, featuring USA Today contributor and small business expert Steve Strauss about why starting a small business in this tough economy can deem successful by following 5 simple tips.

Tip 1: Be A Business Person: Learn business and start writing a business plan

Tips 2: Look For Vacuums And Waves: There are 27 million businesses and 99 percent account for small businesses. Your business needs something new and different, the vacuum, and something old and successful, the wave. The vacuum is doing something different, thinking outside of the box. Wave is old that deems successful for other businesses such as a twitter page for your business.

Tip 3: Have A GREAT Online Presence: Set up a Website that makes you look professional and big no matter how small your business is because it can generate more business and profit

Tip 4: Use Available Technology: Buy software that can help contribute to your business and have a professional business space for client meeting

Tip 5: Don’t Lead: Find successful business models in your industry

Small Business Expert Steve Strauss Gives Tips On How to Start Your Own Business Now

]]> http://andywilloughby.com/small-business-expert-steve-strauss-tips-start-business/feed/ 0 http://andywilloughby.com/entrepreneur-andy-willoughbys-3-step-plan-members-review-home-business-success/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=entrepreneur-andy-willoughbys-3-step-plan-members-review-home-business-success http://andywilloughby.com/entrepreneur-andy-willoughbys-3-step-plan-members-review-home-business-success/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:03:24 +0000 blogupdate http://andywilloughby.com/?p=345

Posted By: Andy Willoughby

Despite what some people may think about network marketing, Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby’s 3 Step Plan has assisted many people start and manage home businesses.  Willoughby’s members assess how the 3 Step Plan has offered them the financial freedom and flexible hours they have always desired.

Review the 3 Step Plan: http://www.3stepplan.com

Denise and Rob Carver, members of the 3 Step Plan reviewed the system.  “Andy Willoughby’s 3 Step Plan has changed our lives.  My husband’s income was our sole income for the past 20 years. But everything changed in 2007 when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was unable to work. With Andy Willoughby’s 3 Step Plan, we took control of our own finances. The 3 Step Plan is so simple and truly made for anyone to use.  We started this almost three years ago and haven’t looked back,” said Denise Carver.

For Patty Messer, a retired school teacher, octogenarian parent and mother to an adult special needs daughter, the 3 Step Plan has allowed her to manage her own schedule and finances. “Retirement means a fixed income, but the cost of living continues to rise. I am not able to work outside the house with specific hours. The 3 Step Plan gives me the freedom and flexibility to be able to work from home while taking care of my family. I am very grateful to Andy Willoughby for providing a method of advertising that is both rewarding and successful,” Messer said.

David Gillispie added that the plan is reliable, easy to use and informational. “Andy Willoughby’s 3 Step Plan has been advertised for several years, people recognize that it is a stable system.  This system provides very useful training, support and tools that proved to be successful in building my home business,” Gillispie said.

Willoughby is grateful to those who are successfully utilizing his 3 Step Plan. “I created this business system to give people the opportunity to have financial freedom, and at the same time, to not have their lives consumed by work,” said Willoughby.

Learn more about Andy Willoughby’s 3 Step Plan: http://www.3stepplan.com or http://andywilloughby.com.

What is a good way to start becoming an entrepreneur?

“One of the best and simplest ways today in today’s society is through network marketing because you can start very inexpensively. Just like for instance the 3 Step Plan, the marketing system that I operate. The 3 Step Plan is a way that a person can invest $35 to actually start their business and the rest is all sweat equity.”

Watch Video…

1. Set clear, attainable goals. Your employees need to know exactly what you expect them to accomplish in a clearly defined time line.

2. You as the boss need to lead by example. If your employees see you commit to a project and accomplish whatever goals you set for that project, it sets a precedent of how things are to be done.

3. Involve your employees in the process of generating ideas. This makes them feel more involved and gives them more ownership of the project.

Click here to read the entire article

“Well the reason I think so many people are living in debt is just the challenge of what the society has set forth. I mean, today’s society has been promoted to live the “American Dream.” So people are searching for this dream, and debt is easy. There’s two ways to avoid being in debt. You either have to spend less money or make more money. I think the easiest way to actually be able to increase your income is to become an entrepreneur and develop your own business. Seventy-four percent of the wealthy in America got that way by owning their own business. One of the best and simplest ways today, in today’s society, is through network marketing because you can start very inexpensively, just like for instance with the 3 Step Plan—the big marketing system I operate. The 3 Step Plan is a way that a person can invest $35 to actually start their business, and the rest is all sweat equity. The reason that I started my own business is I found out very young in my life that I would rather be captain of a rowboat than first mate of a battleship. I didn’t want someone else telling me how much I could earn. I always wanted to have that ability to decide for myself. So, I either worked in commissions, where I could earn commissions and control my income, or operated my own business.”

Watch Video

]]> http://andywilloughby.com/entrepreneur-andy-willoughby-founder-3-step-plan-home-business-system-insight-increase-income-live-debtfree/feed/ 0 http://andywilloughby.com/april-tax-month-recovery-acts-loss-carryback-provision/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=april-tax-month-recovery-acts-loss-carryback-provision http://andywilloughby.com/april-tax-month-recovery-acts-loss-carryback-provision/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:56:46 +0000 blogupdate http://andywilloughby.com/?p=224 Posted By: Andy Willoughby

It’s April, and that means the tax deadline is right around the corner. As I was reviewing Business Week’s daily tips for small businesses I came across this information which I feel is very beneficial for small businesses.

Use the Recovery Act’s Loss Carryback Provision

The 2009 tax deadline is quickly approaching. Balancing the demands of running your business with preparing a complicated tax return can be a daunting task, especially with new tax laws in place.

Enacted as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, the loss carryback provision extends the opportunity for small businesses to take those losses and offset income from five years instead of two. To qualify for the five-year carryback provision, a small business must have no greater than an average of $15 million in gross receipts over a three-year period that ends with the tax year of the net operating loss. It is available to corporations and companies organized as a partnership, sole proprietorship, or S corporation.

If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, the loss carryback provision is helpful to keep in mind when filling out forms 1045 and 1139.

Peter Bingaman
Vice-President, Small Business Services
Deluxe
Shoreview, Minn.

My background is in advertising, mostly radio advertising. Over the past 30 years I have worked with nearly every business category there is to help them advertise and market their business. Through working with tens of thousands of retail and service businesses I found that the successful ones had similar marketing and business strategies.

So I took these successful practices and put them in a system for home based business operators in network marketing.

I developed an advertising co-op for these businesses where their money could be pooled together and made more productive. This gave me the ability to brand the overall business concept called “Andy Willoughby’s 3-Step Plan” this increased the value of the independent operators business because of its association with the brand. It thereby developed credibility and trust for the brand is had been lacking in most network marketing companies. We are one of the few systems of this type to actually be accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

Since most networker marketers don’t have a sales background I developed pre-recorded presentations so that the independent operators could simply 3-way in a recording over the phone or email it through the Internet.

The product delivery, research & development and most of the detail work are provided by the network marketing company. So the independent operators spend most of their time returning phone calls generated by the advertising. Websites are available to offer detailed product information and ordering.

This simple system has helped thousands of people build successful networking businesses. Many people who had previously failed at networking have created successful businesses using this system. I have been able to develop a network of over 150,000 distributors and a monthly product volume of over $3 Million dollars.

Here is an article recently written by Samuel Axon on mashable.com about small businesses using social media to gain results for their company. I found this to be very insightful being a small business owner myself and believe that there are some beneficial examples within the article.

How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media for Real Results

Social media can be a scary prospect for small businesses; unlike traditional marketing methods, it puts part of the message in the hands of the customers. But while it’s easy to be concerned that the message will go the wrong way, the benefits can outweigh the risks if you use the available services wisely.

The most obvious benefits are increased customer loyalty and engagement. Less obvious but just as important: Your business will gain exposure not through your own advertisements, but through folks who’ve already been patrons. We’re more likely to trust a Facebook update or Yelp review from a friend than from the business itself.

We spoke with small business owners and social media managers around the world who have successfully used social media to increase business performance, and we asked them for their stories and their tips. Here’s what we learned.

(Read more)

Here is a New York Times article I want to share written by Ian Mount on how to prepare your business for succession.

SMALL-BUSINESS GUIDE
How to Prepare Your Business for Succession
By IAN MOUNT
Published: March 17, 2010

WHEN his father died in 2006, Allen Frechter thought that his work as executor of the estate would be fairly straightforward.
But then he looked under the hood of his father’s firm, Plexi-Craft Quality Products, a manufacturer in New York City of acrylic furniture. Mr. Frechter’s father, George, had worked until the day before his death, at 86, and like many small-business owners, he had made no plans for what followed.

Purchase orders were still handwritten. There was no list of best customers or products. There was no data and no way to analyze the company’s performance. So Mr. Frechter, 49, wound down his own home-improvement firm in Boston and started commuting to New York to run Plexi-Craft. He moved it to a cheaper location and had an employee spend 250 hours entering six years’ worth of customer data.
Not only did the firm survive, but Mr. Frechter expects it to double its annual revenue to $5 million by 2012. But many are not so lucky. Business owners who do not form a succession plan create a time bomb that can not only destroy their companies but tear apart their families. “A lot of families fight and fight until the business is gone,” said Jim Clay, who heads the trusts and estates department at the law firm of Morrison Fenske & Sund in Minnetonka, Minn. “It eats up everyone’s inheritances.”

Here are some suggestions to avoid a succession disaster:

IDENTIFY YOUR SUCCESSORS Deciding which child or relative will sit in the corner office is often so emotional that it can stop succession planning before it starts. But it is the necessary first step. “You have to make an honest assessment of your children,” said Robert W. O’Hara, owner of O’Hara & Company, a financial planning firm in Chelmsford, Mass., that specializes in exit planning for entrepreneurs. “Don’t assume the next generation has the same skills.”

(read more)