The last thing most people would think about when starting a business would be their exit strategy, after all you’re just getting started! Planning your strategy is actually a MUST. It’s a must because you never know how things will turn out and having no exit strategy for every possible scenario could lead to wasted opportunity or worse, something disastrous.

You need an exit strategy for any eventually including success. If you think about it a successful business means that it could possibly outlast your ability to manage it, but only if you have an exit strategy in place so that the whole business won’t come toppling down when you’re gone. So what’s your business strategy for success? Will you be leaving it in the hands of family, a trusted right hand, or go public with it? Before you decide on a strategy to go with make sure you consider the feasibility of each choice factoring things such as cost, training needs, and timetable.

Be sure that the timetable is realistic. Remember that in business timing is one of the most crucial things. If you already have existing partners/investors you should discuss the exit strategy with them because THEY might have their own exit strategies and their timing might not coincide with your plans.

You also need an exit strategy for failure; a thing people would rather not think about but is vital if you want to bounce back faster. In this case have a baseline criterion to help you determine if it’s time to bail out before you lose too much. Figure out what to do with the remaining stock, with your employees, with your lease contract, and all the other practical details.

This way, however things end, you’ll be prepared.

If you think that the swine flu pandemic is over and done with, then you should think again! The swine flu, or H1N1, virus is still around and it seems that it continues to be a cause of concern. As a matter of fact, federal officials released a statement on Monday to the effect that small business owners should prepare for the scenario wherein their employees might be affected by the virus.

As we usher in fall, the Department of Homeland Security warns that many more people might contract the virus, and since about half of the workers in the private sector are employed by small businesses, this is a pressing matter. Janet Napolitano, chief of Homeland Security said:

“They play a key role in protecting the health and safety of the country but also their own employees and also helping us limit impact of an H1N1 pandemic on our economy and our country.”

The Department of Homeland Security has released a guidebook with the aim of helping small businesses prevent complications arising from swine flu infections. In addition to this, the guidebook also helps with coming up with contingency plans in case staff members do contract the virus. Some examples include allowing employees to work from home, carrying out operations with leaner staff, and so on.

While there is no indication that the swine flu problem will take a turn for the worse, the CDC is preparing itself for whatever may happen. It is but logical that small business owners do the same.

To celebrate the launch of its new Small Business site AT&T is launching a contest for small businesses and the winner get a complete business make-over from AT&T. First I obviously must disclaim that I live in the UK and can’t use AT&T myself, but I have one of those shiny iPhones nevertheless.

Myself I have been running small businesses for pretty much my complete professional career and have several times rebooted businesses as well. Often I have been in the situation that I wanted to improve a company I owned or managed but whether didn’t know how to do or didn’t have the financial possibilities to do so.

In the first situation, stubborn as I usually was, most of times I looked for a typical sell out option and tried to sell on the company because I was too proud to ask other people for advice. I should have known better and I think the fact that big companies such as AT&T are available to assist small business owners is a great opportunity.
If back then I knew what I know now, I would gladly have grabbed every occasion to get advice and guidance from professionals instead of getting stuck myself in a cul-de-sack, not seeing the forest trough the trees.

Other times it would have been great if I had a little more financial leeway to improve the infrastructure and logistics of my companies. Most of time IT was a big burden and too expensive to be run professionally. Often I would have dreamed of being able to offer my employees a nice laptop or even a professionally maintained email server and I guess that’s where AT&T comes in for you.

Next to the complete business makeover AT&T also offers smartphones to winners and several other subscriptions based prizes. All you have to do is submit a 2minutes video and tell AT&T how they could possibly improve your business.

You can visit the AT&T Small Business InSite contest page here.

For some companies, training is an inherent part of their business plan. For some, unfortunately, training is nothing but an expense. Let me ask you, how do you view training? Do you think that you have to spend time, effort, and money on training your employees?

Truth be told, I lean towards the first point of view. While training may indeed cost you, I view it as an investment. The money spent on training your employees and helping them in their professional development will only reap benefits for you and your business.

Before you start training your employees, however, you have to have a plan and to be sure what it is that you want to help them with. Here are some tips that can help you in this regard.

Have the right mindset
As I mentioned earlier, you have to be convinced a hundred percent that training is an investment. Once you are sure of this, you will not be swayed and you can lay out the specifics as to what your employees need training on.

Do not be limited to formal training
While formal training is necessary, you also have to realize that a lot of training can occur outside the classroom. You can make use of on-the-job training and save yourself some money as well.

Set an example
Continue to develop yourself professionally. Just because you own the business does not mean that you cannot continue to learn. Attend seminars and workshops when possible. Your employees will then see just how important learning is to you and perhaps take on the same attitude.

Technology is something that has become an inherent part of any business. In the past, a business could survive, even flourish, without really putting much thought on technology and how it affects the day to day running of a business. Today, however, not paying mind to technology can very well be the start of the unraveling of the tapestry. So do you have a technology plan? If not, here are some ideas to get you started.

Start with the big picture
Much like having a business plan, you need to look at your technology plan by looking at the big picture. What do you want to achieve? Set your goals and then slowly work at the details.

Align your technology plan with your business strategy and goals
You can’t treat the technological aspect as a separate thing. You need to know your business strategy and goals, and let those guide you as you create your technology plan. Bear your overall business goals in mind as you make decisions for the technological aspect.

Treat technology expenses as investments
One thing that keeps some people hold back on their technological improvement efforts is the fact that they see the associated expenses as merely costs. They do not see that somehow, it is an investment. Change your perspective and you’ll see that investing in technology will end up saving you money in the long run.

Get expert help if needed
If technology is not your forte, don’t force it. While there are things that you can learn, there are also some things that are better left to the pros. If you need help, do not hesitate to get it.

I am sure you know that old saying by heart: the only thing constant in this world is change. With what we have been experiencing in the past year or so, I am also sure that many of you have experienced this saying first hand. Change has been happening all over the world in various sectors, and the business sector has not been exempt from that. Your own business might even have had to undergo some major changes as well.

Talking about change, how is your business when it comes to dealing with change? Are you and everyone involved resilient enough to weather any changes that might happen or are you resistant to the possibility? Let me tell you know, even without an impending change in the horizon, it is always important that you ready yourself, your employees, and your business itself to change. At one point or another, it is bound to happen. And when it does, you will only really benefit if you are ready for it.

How do you prepare yourself, your employees, and your business itself for change?

Take a close look at your company culture. Perhaps you are of the traditional kind. Perhaps the culture that has been ingrained in your business is resistant to change. If so, it is time to do something about that. Talk about change on a regular basis. Talk about it in meetings. Talk about it over coffee. The idea is to help your employees open their mind to change and for them to be able to see it as a positive thing.

Here’s to change!

The technology has been around for so long that it has managed to evolve as a primary business tool for communications. Known mostly to support and call centers, VoIP has gone mainstream saving businesses the much needed cash that hard to come by in today’s economic downturn. From high-end hardware based VoIP that has dedicated hardware designed to work similar to the private branch exchange systems of days past to more affordable soft-VoIP or software-based VoIP that uses emulators presenting the communications interface through the computer’s monitor.
Communications is one of the most expensive costs in a business and what better way to save than to use the existing internet connection for the same purpose. VoIP for business allows the downsizing of the communications infrastructure that used to cost businesses thousands of dollars turning to the ever present internet for communications that with the addition of a mic and speaker system turns into a more profitable investment.

When I was a child, one thing that I looked forward to each Christmas was the chance to send out Christmas cards. There was no email back then. We had to go to the bookstore to pick out the cards, write on them, and send them through postal mail. I would almost clap my hands in glee as I picked out special card for each person I wanted to send one too. It was like a ritual for me.

In these days where email and other electronic means of communication are the rave, it is quite rare to see people going gaga over Christmas cards. However, I would like to challenge you to think of ways that sending out Christmas cards would benefit your company. In one way, it could be a marketing technique. Having Christmas cards – “real” ones and not the electronic kind – made and sending them out to your customers is a great way to personalize your business!

If you are thinking about the cost, why don’t you just add it to the total cost of your marketing plan? After all, you are already probably setting aside a certain sum for marketing activities. Just add Christmas cards to that. The time, money, and effort that you spend on Christmas cards will definitely be worth the results. This is especially true if you place high value on building relationships with your clients – which is always advisable. If I were you, I would get those cards printed now and send them out asap.

Another way that you can make it easier for your readers to read your blog is to make sure that your categories and tags are created and grouped properly. Categories and tags exist for a reason – so that people can find certain posts under specific topics easily. If your posts are mislabeled, then readers may not find what they are looking for. Oh, of course, if they are patient enough to go through the whole archives they will eventually find the appropriate post. However, I doubt that everyone will want to do this all the time. So, try taking a second – even a third – look at your categories and tags and make sure that they are properly organized.

Don’t make it hard for readers to leave their comments. It is understandable that you would want to set certain measures in place in order to weed out spam comments. However, in your efforts to do so, do not overlook the ease that readers are looking for. For example, requiring readers to sign in is a very effective way of avoiding spam comments. This, however, would turn off many readers to leave their comments. Look for alternatives such as plug-ins or word verification instead.

Make subscribing easy. You want readers to subscribe to your blog so that they can keep up with your updates easily. Place the subscribe link or button on all pages and in an obvious location.

Remember the biggest excuse that business owners have when it comes to blogging? “I do not have time for it.” This is probably true for many business owners. With everything that they have to tend to at work and at home, they really might have no time to write and maintain their own business blog.

Yet there is a workaround to this problem. Why not create a team of bloggers which can handle the business blog? This can mean that you, the head of the company, can still be part of that team or it can be that you will totally leave the blog to your “team.” I prefer the former set up though.

I believe that if you really want your business blog to help your business, you, being the leader of the company, should be deeply involved in the activity as well. Having other people working with you on the blog means that you won’t have to spend as much time on it, though. It will be a good thing for everyone’s productivity because the work for the blog will be spread between 2 or 3 people. The number of people on your team depends on how often you want to post entries. If you want entries posted everyday, then you might want 2 or 3 people on the team. You might also want to assign a reviewer to ensure the quality and integrity of your posts.

Another benefit of having several people work on your blog is intellectual variety and stimulation. Having different points of view and ideas in the blog will certainly add more flavor to your blog.

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