The shiitake mushroom wasn’t grown in the U.S. until the late 1970′s. Before that they were imported as dehydrated mushrooms from China. But we found out some people in the Chippewa Valley are now making money, by growing their own shiitake mushrooms.

Deidra Barrickman has been growing the full flavored mushroom for 12 years on a small plot of land east of Eau Claire. She says what started out as a hobby — has grown into much more.

She says her patch has grown over the years, “This is probably around 800 or 900 logs we have now.”

The process starts in the winter when new logs used to grow the mushrooms are cut down. Then several dozen holes are drilled in the logs and shiitake spores are injected. She says, “As you can see, they’re kind of labor intensive.”

After that she says the logs have to stay well hydrated throughout the summer — creating a mini tropical forest. She says, “The shiitake is native to the jungles of Asia. So they do like heat and humidity — when we like being in the air conditioning — they’re growing fast.”

The more hot and humid it is — the more mushrooms Deidra can sell at the farmers market. She says last week she sold between 35 and 40 pounds at $10 per pound.

weau.com

What it takes to make money, growing mushrooms is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

For frequent users of social networking sites, finding a FaceBook unblock services can be truly valuable. The growth of the internet has lead many companies and schools to install internet filtering software that can prevent many web surfers from gaining access to desired websites.

While users of social networking sites may find themselves frustrated at looking at a “blocked website” message on their computer screen, there are ways to bypass filtering software. Proxy services are the way to work around filtering software. Proxy services work by allowing members to sign up for a membership that provides access to a proxy server. The proxy server site is not recognized as a dangerous or malicious website and is not blocked. Once logged on, members can anonymously go to their desired website without being tracked. And good proxy services prevent hacking by encrypting both incoming and outgoing activities as long as the user is signed on to the proxy server.

jacksonnjonline.com

How to use Facebook if your company blocks it at work is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Like Scibd and SlideShare, PDFMeNot is an online PDF to Flash converter that will instantly convert any Adobe PDF document into a Macromedia Flash (SWF) movie while preserving the original layout, image graphics and formatting.

To create a PDF into flash, go to www.pdfmenot.com and either feed the PDF’s URL or upload the file itself to the PDF-to-Flash engine. Once the conversion is finished, you will get a link to view the Flash equivalent of the PDF.

And if you want to download the Flash file, go here for instructions.

A Flash PDF Viewer for Reading PDF Files without Acrobat is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Make your small business appear big.
You might not have a huge warehouse or more than a dozen employees, but you can still give your business the professional appearance of one 10 times your size. First impressions are important. A business web site is a must.

Get free help.
Organizations like the Small Business Administration and SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” exist to provide assistance. They can give you help specifically tailored to your business.

Focus on your X Factor.
Recognize what you do and why you do it, and then research your competition. When you discover the factor that makes your business better and different from the competition, learn how to focus and multiply that “X Factor” to achieve success.

jewishchronicle.org

Smart small business tips for success is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Use a USB vacuum cleaner
USB vacuum cleaners to do the hard part of sucking up potato chip and pretzel debris. Just plug into your USB port and use the thin keyboard tool to make your keyboard look like new again. Also includes a built in LED light. (MSRP $10)

Use CyberClean
CyberClean makes cleaning fun! Just take the yellow gel blob that looks like Play-Doh and press it over the keys to lift out dirt and bacteria. The patented sticky formula from Switzerland even kills germs on contact. It’s also good on cell phones and any other potentially infectious surface. (MSRP $11)

Use the dishwasher
Yes, it does sound extreme, but it works if you want to save time and don’t need your keyboard for a few days. Wash the keyboard using only water and remember to remove all of keys. Then let it dry out for two or three days.

How to Clean Your Keyboard is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

The concept is easy enough. You have some information, knowledge, or passion about a topic that others are interested in, as well. You set up an exclusive community and charge whatever fee you want to allow entry. Your members benefit from having access to, not only very specific information on the topic but also, a community of others who share their interest in that topic.

As an example, RestaurantOwner.com was started by Jim Laube. Jim had 20+ years in the restaurant industry and frankly was burnt out from the long hours.

He charges $99 to join and then under $20 a month to stay on as a member. Jim’s site has thousands of members.

With a normal business, regardless of how good last month was, on the first day of the new month you are basically starting from scratch with revenue. With a membership site, you know that if last month you pulled in say $15,000 for the month that this month is going to be very close to that number. Perhaps even more with a bit of marketing.

Some of the topics of the sites we have may come as a surprise you, including craft sites (embroidery, cross stitching), health, fitness, education, sports, dog enthusiasts, and how to get a cruise ship job.

One of the most consistently successful is the _____owner.com type sites. That is, choose a niche business and provide the tools for people in that industry. The previously mentioned restaurantowner.com is one example but that can be applied for almost any industry: hair salons, gas stations, CPA’s, handy man business, affiliate managers etc.

Everyone has knowledge or interests. Why not consider leveraging it in a very profitable way?

feedfront.com

A Look at the Membership Site Business is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Quality – Value – Service – Caring
The above four words all fail for essentially the same reasons. Not only are they overused, they’re based on variables that will be different for everyone. There’s a quality/value/service/caring continuum in each person’s mind for every purchase occasion, and it is a continually moving target.

Integrity
A company either has integrity or it doesn’t. It’s either honest or it isn’t. And most people give companies the benefit of the doubt in believing that they operate with integrity. When a company talks about integrity in its advertising it’s for one of two reasons, neither one of them good: They’re either trying to cover up some lack of integrity (which never works) or they’re implying they live by a higher standard than their competition. That’s impolite, to say the least. Every company needs to have integrity. No company needs to advertise it.

businessweek.com

Five Words to Never Use in an Ad is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

The Singapore way!

A fire alarm rang at 4PM when almost all shift employees are in office (approx 5000). As usual entire office was evacuated within 3 mins & every employee gathered outside office. 10 mins passed ………. 5 more mins passed………. 5 more mins passed.

Then a Security Officer stated an announcement ‘Dear Employees – With melting heart I am making this announcement that for many of you it will be a last evacuation drill. Due to the recession we are laying off almost 50% of employees. While moving in if your ID card does not work, then you are among those laid off & all your belongings will be couriered to you tomorrow.

We have followed this approach as we didn’t want to fill email box with layoff mails and good bye mails in thousands & also to avoid any fight inside office.

Hope you have a nice career ahead. Please move in & try your luck’

businesspundit.com

Nightmare Layoff is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Emphasize the office. A home office has to be just that, an office. If your workspace feels too much like home, you’ll be doomed before you begin.

“Through a telephone conversation, the client won’t know if you are using a desk in your bedroom,” Novey-White says, “but in order to succeed, it is important that you commit yourself to professionalism. Set up your office as though you were working in a downtown office.”

Take a seat. You may be tempted to cut costs, but your office furniture is not the place to do it.

“What you save in initial costs you will spend in medication for your backaches,” she says. “Sit in it for more than three or four minutes before buying it, and be sure it fits your lower back and doesn’t inhibit your arm movements at the computer.”

Always stay connected. The advantages of working from an office — numerous phone lines and separate modem and fax lines — are a necessity for producing quality work at home.

“It will not appear professional to callers if you have call waiting, rather than a dedicated phone line,” the SCORE member says. “Clients are frustrated when they are told that they have to wait until you hang up the phone to fax something because you didn’t invest in the proper phone equipment.”

Be your own boss. To succeed as a do-it-from-homer, you’ll need to block out all the at-home distractions.

“Do only those things that you would do if you worked in an office tower downtown,” Novey-White says. “You must think of your time away from the office as time and money lost, otherwise you will become less of a business person and more of an errand runner.”

For more small business advice, visit www.score.org.

101 Setting Up a Home Office is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Naturally, no one wants to work with difficult people. When dealing with problematic employees, productivity decreases, frustrations rise, morale goes down and customers and vendors get upset.

How to Handle Them

1. Don’t ignore the problem.
2. Intervene as soon as possible.
3. Research the problem personally.
4. Help the problematic employee to get back on track.
5. If all else fails, termination may be necessary.

The manager needs to follow company guidelines in recognizing the unacceptable behavior, providing direct feedback, providing input to try to turn it around and ultimately taking action in a timely manner. Not doing so is a disservice to the problematic employee, other employees and the success of the organization.

entrepreneur.com

5 Steps to Deal with Difficult Employees is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Lower-quality leads are attractive because you don’t have to spend a lot on the “front side” to generate the leads. However, you end up having to spend more on the “back side” trying to convert these lower-quality leads into clients. The “back side” is the marketing you deliver to the leads once generated. This would include special reports, sales letters, and more.

In my business, I rank the quality of leads as follows: (Ranking is from Highest Quality to Lowest Quality)

1. Referral
2. Joint Venture Endorsement
3. Leads registering to attend a special class
4. Leads responding to an advertorial advertisement
5. Leads responding to a “solo” e-mail or “pay-per-click”
6. Leads responding to a classified or home buyer magazine advertisement
7. Leads responding to a Craigslist (or similar) advertisement

The problem is that most agents are now focusing on Craigslist or classified advertisements which attract the lowest-quality leads. They then struggle to convert these leads into appointments and/or home sales.

To be successful, your marketing campaign must include leads from each source listed above. In fact, I might even suggest that you invest more resources on the top four or five strategies for higher-quality leads. The amount invested to generate the lead will be higher, but the amount invested to sign a new client or sell a home will ultimately be lower.

If you follow this advice, you’ll soon notice that you have less competition. This is because the majority of your competitors will be focusing on inexpensive advertisements that attract lower-quality leads. How many agents in your area are consistently setting up joint venture marketing campaigns? How many agents in your area are running advertorial advertisements? I’ll bet there aren’t too many.

How to rank the quality of your leads is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

• It’s not in our budget.
• We’re not making any purchases now.
• We don’t have any money.
• We’re not in the market.
• Our budget has been frozen.

In other words, you may be setting yourself up to hear “no.” You may have better luck if you position your introduction over the phone as an opportunity to meet in person so you can learn more about your prospect and his or her potential future needs. After all, if your meeting is simply to learn about the prospect and the prospect’s potential needs, there won’t necessarily be an opportunity to sell that person anything–so there’s no reason for him or her to refuse a meeting.
If you still encounter “no” when asking for that first meeting, here are some tips to get the meeting anyway:

1. If you have a good sense of humor, use it! You’ll be halfway to your goal.
2. Another response to the all-too-common “It’s not in our budget” objection is: “In that case, now is the perfect time to meet! We’ve found it very beneficial to discuss future needs and our solutions early, so that if you decide to proceed, we can be of help during your decision-making process.”
3. Present yourself as a resource to the prospect, regardless of whether he or she is in the market at the moment.

A good rule of thumb is to give something of value to your prospect three times before asking for anything in return, such as an order. Providing something of value is as simple as:

Finally, sometimes the answer is “no.” But that’s OK, too. Part of learning to love hearing “no” is the knowledge that it’s only a matter of time before you hear “yes.”
womenentrepreneur.com

What to Say When Your Prospect Says ‘No’ is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

American Profit Recovery suggests making sure that the qualities are factors when deciding to retain a third-party collection agency:

• Member of ACA International; The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. Make sure the collection agency you are talking to is a member and that they subscribe to and follow their Code of Ethics. www.acainternational.org.
• Personal Referrals: As with anyone looking for someone to do business with, always ask around. Talk with other business owners or members of your local Chamber of commerce to find an agency that others you know may have used.
• Educated Workforce: When interviewing the representative from a collection agency, ask them their philosophy of who they hire. Do they hire college educated people or do they just bring in anyone to fill a position?
• Different Approaches: Does the agency you are talking to have several methods of collecting on past due debt? The agency should offer a low cost flat-fee structure along with other proven methods.
• Record of Community Service: make sure the collection agency you are hiring has a record of community service. The agency should have a track record of giving back to the community in some way.
• Background Check: It is imperative that the agency you are dealing with and may be calling on your customers pursues background check as part of their normal hiring practices. Anything less is not acceptable.

AllBusiness.com also recommends that:

• Choose members of the American Collectors Association or the Commercial Law League of America., as both associations require that their members adhere to a code of ethics and are familiar with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Both associations also provide ongoing education for their members.
• Ask for proof of insurance. Most licensed collection agencies are required to carry bonds for their particular state and Errors and Omissions insurance, which protects both the agency and client for any errors made by the collection agency.
• Ask about the recovery rate of an agency. Ask for references to verify the percentage.
• Check to see how long it took the agency to collect and if they collected the whole debt or just a portion of what was owed

How to Select the Right Collection Agency is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

If you have good images, you can easily earn anywhere from $300 to $1,000 a month. Here are some places where you can sell your photos and earn money from them:

1. Shutterstock = one of the most, if not the most popular micro stock photography sites on the Web today. Some photographers earn about $600 a month from this site alone. The site pays you $0.25 per download of your images, as well as referrals both in terms of other photographers and photo buyers.
2. Alamy = as a contributor, you get 65% of the sale of your photos while you retain copyright and editorial control over your images.
3. Photoshelter = this site has over 25,000 buyers including magazines, advertising agencies and other high profile types of organizations. They will host your images, the number of which will depend on your subscription plan which ranges from free to $49.99 per month, and they take 10% of every sale you make.
4. StockXpert = offers you 50% for each download of your photographs, but they screen the images first to ensure the quality of the photographs offered in the site
5. Fotolia = a UK website, this site provides commission to photographers of up to 80% though the average is about 52% of the total sale price. You can choose to sell your images on an exclusive or non exclusive basis.
6. iStockPhoto = royalty structure is 20% if non-exclusive and 40% if exclusive.

Other sites that you need to check include:

• Acestock @ http://www.acestock.com
• Corbis @ http://www.corbis.com
• Dreamstime @ http://www.dreamstime.com
• BigStockPhoto @ http://www.bigstockphoto.com
• Fotolibra @ http://www.fotolibra.com
• Photostockplus @ http://www.photostockplus.com

powerhomebiz.com

How to Earn from Stock Photography is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Facing bankruptcy can be a terrifying experience for a franchisee or small business owner. But it’s not uncommon – and it’s not hopeless either. Not everyone comes back from the brink, but Jeff McKeown is one entrepreneur who did. After four years in the staffing industry, he decided to open his own Express Personnel franchise in Racine, Wis. in 2000 at the age of 26.

In order to put the required $28,000 down, McKeown and his wife borrowed $15,000 and cashed out their 401(k)s and combined savings accounts to come up with the difference. Eager to get his business off the ground, McKeown said he accepted any and all clients, even those with bad credit and iffy documentation. He also felt that to compete, he needed to have the lowest price in town so he kept very small margins.

“Many clients did not pay their bills and several declared bankruptcy with huge payments to me outstanding,” McKeown explained.

By 2003 he owed the franchisor $120,000 and had maxed out all of his credit cards. Express Personnel’s corporate office even sent McKeown a 10-day letter that said the company planned take back the franchise.

That’s when he realized he was in trouble, McKeown said. So with the help of a consultant, he fired 30 percent of his customers, raised prices, and established minimum gross margins and strict credit terms. The business began to grow and by July 2006 he had paid off the majority of his debt. Last year, McKeown says he earned about $160,000 to $170,000 and is expecting to net $400,000 to $500,000 in 2007.

Climbing out of debt

If a franchisee or small business owner is nearing bankruptcy then “either their revenue is short or their expenses are too darn high, but usually it’s both,” according to Jeff Elgin, CEO of Minn.-based FranChoice, a franchise consulting firm.

Elgin suggests taking a good hard look at the expenses for starters, and making sure that all of them are absolutely necessary. “Take away the credit cards,” he said.

For franchisees, “usually, the fundamental issue is that they’re not executing the system,” Elgin said. And if it’s a good franchise company, then it has a proven and reliable system. “If you execute it, you will succeed,” he says. People just need to get “back to the basics of blocking and tackling.”

Indeed, many franchisors have consultants on staff tasked with helping franchisees grow their businesses.

“I thought I knew it all,” McKeown said. He now advises other young entrepreneurs to find a mentor or expert who can offer support and business advice.

By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

How to beat bankruptcy is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Together, federal, state and local governments buy over a $1 trillion dollars in goods and services each year. A not-insignificant amount of that money gets funneled into multimillion-dollar constructions projects. But other federal, state, county, city and town funds get earmarked for smaller projects – everything from website development to brake parts, motivational speakers, pre-printed plastic bags, and alfalfa. Some of that money could be yours if you pursue and win government contracts or subcontracting work from the companies that win big contract awards.

Web sites you may find useful:

1. www.fedbizopps.gov
2. www.onvia.com
3. www.findrfp.com
4. The Dodge Report

Read this very useful article at Business Know How.

How to Get Your Share of Government Contracts is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Dear Stephanie: “Start with a list of experts you can call on individually,” says Dorothy Adams, a board member of the Stamford chapter of the Connecticut Venture Group (cvg.org), who has served on several advisory boards.

To tackle strategic questions such as growth, someone with investment-banking expertise would be helpful. A fellow business owner whose marketing savvy you admire might be another smart choice. Explain that you’d like to ask them for advice now and then. They’ll probably be flattered.

“No payment is really expected,” she says. “It’s a nice idea to offer them payment in kind. You could thank your advisors with cookies.” You may also want to check out the Alternative Board-TAB (TABSanAntonio.com). It brings the leaders of non-competing businesses together to exchange advice.

FSB Magazine

How can I form an advisory board? is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

1. Determine if you can work side by side.
2. Discuss your goals.
3. Write a business plan and solicit feedback.
4. Define each person’s role.
5. Keep the lines of communication open.
6. Be circumspect when talking with clients.
7. Form a united front.
8. Set firm boundaries and honor them.
9. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
10. Don’t deal with family matters during business hours.

AllBusiness.com

How Couples Run A Home Business Without Running Each Other Down is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is working with the Advertising Council and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in launching the new initiative InventNow.

The program targets kids between 8 and 11 years old. On the program’s website, children can upload their design ideas and share inventions with peers through message boards.

The site also encourages young inventors to protect their ideas by learning about copyrights, trademarks and patents.

Entrepreneur Daily

It’s Never Too Early to Invent is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Joining the military can sometimes work to break a contract if you are going to be stationed overseas. Sometimes, though, the company will suspend the service for the duration of active duty, which is not a great deal. Upon returning home, you would still be stuck with the remaining period of the contract and a much older phone. Buying a new phone would only extend the contract further.

Next to death, moving to a place where your phone company does not have service may not seem so draconian. Each company provides maps on its Web site or at its stores that show the general service area, so you can easily figure that out. But companies will ask for proof of the new address. The T-Mobile spokesman warns that it has to be a legitimate address, and post office boxes will not work.

There is an intriguing escape clause in contracts with phone companies that offer “roaming” services, though it is intended to give the carrier a way out. When a cellphone is used outside the provider’s network, calls are routed through another company’s network. The consumer pays a monthly fee for this service, which the carrier uses to pay the other phone companies to handle those calls.

Roam too much and your phone company starts losing money. Find a place where your phone goes into roaming mode and make at least half your calls from there. Every carrier said they would cancel the contract, though it might take them a month or two to notice.

Times

How to Get Out of a 2-Year Cellphone Contract is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Number 4: You’ve won every job you’ve ever pitched for.

Number 3: New clients are always asking what “the catch” is.

Number 2: You never run out of work, yet you are subsisting on beans and ramen noodles.

Number 1 sign you may be charging too little: Companies are calling from India wanting to outsource their work to you.

freelanceswitch.com

Top 5 Signs You May Be Charging Too Little is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

They all center around one huge rule: You must bring the business conversation away from MySpace. As long as you are on MySpace, you have to play by its members’ rules.

1. The first thing you must have is a form to get your visitors email addresses. You will increase your sign-up five-fold if you give them some sort of incentive to give their email address. Promote this by posting bulletins.
2. Syndication code. MySpace users are Web savvy. They know how to edit basic html and add it to their MySpace page. You want to have a pre-made banner ad with a link to your Web site and supply the html code so that if one of your MySpace friends wants to post your ad on his/her page, doing so is very easy.
3. There must be an obvious link to your Web site.
4. A reason to come back. Have fun on that one.

Here’s a little wisdom so you don’t have to learn the hard way. The most important advice I can give you is to never send unsolicited messages to other MySpace users.

marketingprofs.com

Using Your MySpace Page For Business is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Here is a six step process that will help assure your marketing message will sell.

1. Capture the attention of your target market with a headline that clearly defines who you are talking to.
2. Identify the problems, symptoms, issues, needs and wants of your target market.
3. Provide a brief description of the product.
4. Describe the benefit and the value that the customer will derive from purchasing your product or service.
5. Give your message credibility.
6. Specifically state the action you want the recipient of your message to take.

Follow these six simple steps and you’ll have a marketing message that sells. And the great thing about investing in development of your marketing message – just like your logo – you will be able to – and you will want to – use it in all your promotional materials from your 30 second introduction to your website.

businessknowhow.com

6 Steps to a Marketing Message That Sells is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

1. Introduce Yourself & Your Blog.
2. Make Friends via MyBlogLog.
3. Pay it Forward.

People spend so much time trying to learn how to game the system, write the best linkbait, and come up with automated methods for promotion, that they tend to ignore the basic strategy of networking. Be friendly to your fellow bloggers and they’ll be friendly to you.

Net Business Blog

Link-Building Secret is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Here is a sampling of some of the benefits of using Work.com:

• By contributing to the large database of 1,300 how-to business guides and developing your own guide, you become published and viewed as an expert in your field.
• Work.com guides become indexed by the search engines providing additional visibility. Keyword research as well as using the proper terms related to your topic will benefit the visibility of your guide within the search engines.
• Your guide may bring additional contacts and networking sources to your doorstep, as well as supplement your marketing efforts. You can begin by emailing your guide to clients and colleagues, linking it to any web sites you may have, and including it in your bio.

smallbiztrends.com

How to Become an Expert is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Read the article at Business2.0

How to avoid Internet stock scams is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

When word of a whites-only scholarship at Boston University hit the media last fall–drawing coverage from bloggers and biggies like ABC alike–Daniel Kovach smelled opportunity. His goal: to boost traffic to the website he runs, Scholarships Around the US. So he paid a writer to crank out “The White Man’s Guide to Getting a Minority Scholarship,” which reveals that some schools do offer scholarships to “nonblack” students–and added it to the mix.

Then Kovach planted a link to the article on recommendation site Digg, where it jumped to the coveted front page. That, in turn, led other sites to link to the article. And Kovach landed a top search ranking on Google for phrases like “white man scholarship.”

Such timely strategies have helped Kovach turn his year-old site into a $10,000-per-month cash cow (see correction below). Not bad for a 26-year-old who works about an hour a day out of his townhouse in Raleigh, N.C.

Media outlets have, of course, always exploited offbeat events and stories to drive traffic. But today it’s easier than ever to profit from a surge of interest in a particular topic. Some people simply aim for 15 minutes of Web fame and make a few hundred bucks by setting up a site around a topic, loading it with Google pay-per-click ads, and working social sites to link to it.

CNN Money

How to make money without really trying is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

An exit-plan must clearly specify the point of disengagement, tells both parties what their subsequent rights and responsibilities are, and provides a clear and effective procedural map that minimizes time and capital losses. A successful disengagement plan should comprise the following:

1. Clear definitions of what both parties will consider as exit triggers, or events that will set off specific exit provisions.
2. A detailed description of each party’s rights in a fair separation of the partnership’s assets and products, as well as a determination of rights and responsibilities
3. with regard to third parties, such as customers, suppliers and employees of the alliance.
4. A detailed description of the disengagement process, including specific strategic options, guidelines for creating the core disengagement team, and clear timelines.
5. A communication plan for continuous flow of information to alliance partners, customers, suppliers and other involved parties during the dissolution.

Maintaining transparency with partners, customers, employees and even rivals helps to manage the impact of news about the breakup on financial markets; it also helps maintain morale at the alliance, and helps to preserve any value that remains in the alliance. Lack of transparency leads parties to focus on protecting their own interests without regard for those of the partner, and eventually causes things to implode.

startupjournal.com

Forming an Alliance? Plan for Your Break Up is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Don’t come to Enthem if you’re looking for your average ten-second jingle. The San Francisco company writes and records full-length corporate theme songs, some running longer than three minutes.

Founder Stan Oleynick, 23, a Russian immigrant with a head for business and a penchant for aphorisms, creates the songs with a motley crew: a composer from his church, a teenage virtuoso, and a country singer who lives in New Jersey. He initially intended to go it alone, but the admonitions of friends convinced him otherwise.

“I love music, and music loves me back,” he says. “Except for the singing part.”

Enthem.com has attracted the attention – “and the hearts,” Oleynick intones with a thick accent – of more than 100 small companies.

He hopes to use the business to raise $1 million for a future startup; as of January, he was 5% of the way there.

CNN Money

Jingles for sale: Buy your firm a theme song is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Personalize your mailing. When you personalize a mailing by using the prospect’s name, the odds of getting a solid lead are five times greater than if you send your piece to a “title” in the company, or “recipient” in a household. A really good hook on an envelope is “I need your help.” People love giving advice, but make sure your letter reinforces this message.

Here are some guidelines to make your headlines worth the price of postage:

1. Use odd numbers
2. Keep your headline straightforward and simple
3. Use strong words
4. Put the benefits in your headline and use “absolute” terms. “Seven ways to increase your income is much stronger than “How to increase your income.”
5. Create a sense of urgency
6. Market from the heart.
7. Use gimmicks to beef up your headline.

You’ll almost never write the perfect headline the first time out

Headlines can make or break a direct mail piece, so don’t settle for your first attempt. Try writing 30 headlines first time out. Wait a day, analyze all. Add, delete and modify the ones that best seem to deliver on consumer benefits. Wait another day and pare down to the best ones, then make them stronger. If you can, try to run tests on the best ones by using different headlines in comparison mailings.

Business Know How

7 Essential Tips for Winning Headlines is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Here are the basics of a strong direct mail campaign.

1. Target your audience carefully
2. Use the “you” word as often as you can
3. Send your letter under the “President’s” signature
4. Make a charter offer
5. Create a continuity program
6. Offer multiple versions of the same product
7. Make your envelope work for you
8. Use reply cards and make the 800 number large
9. Use odd sized envelopes and experiment with textured papers
10. Test one variable at a time and use the results of the mailing for future mailings
11. Remember, the consumer has not actually touched the product
12. Create a headline like you might find in a tabloid newspaper

businessknowhow.com

12 Steps to the Perfect Direct Mail Piece is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Problem is, that also eventually stops you from growing. Delegation is an art, but a necessary one. Until you can unload the technical work and focus on the strategic work you will find that your business will fall into cycles of expansion and contraction eventually settling on some sort of entrepreneurial homeostasis that neither pays well of satisfies.

In order to break free you might want to compute your strategic minimum wage – this is an hourly rate computed by taking what you would like to make in a year and dividing it by 2080 (that’s 40 hours a week x 52 weeks.) If you want to make $200,000 this year then you need to do work that is producing profit of $96 every hour. Are you?

Let go of doing everything yourself, let your business grow up a bit and get others doing for you. Can you contract for services for some work for less than $96 per hour? The tough part is that transition period. It’s harder to teach someone how to do something than it is to do it yourself. Invest the time now and it will pay dividends later – just make sure you document the procedures while you train.

businessknowhow.com

Let go of doing everything yourself is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Paying your rent playing videogames sounds fun, but the reality can be far more tedious, says Kaos studios associate producer Dennis Allard Crow. When he started his career as a game tester, he played the game Tony Hawk’s Underground for days at a stretch, searching for errors. It might sound mind-numbingly monotonous, but the job is one of the few left in the industry for inexperienced youngsters. The problem: The secret is out, and studios are inundated with applications. Crow says that for every tester at his studio, they have 10 applicants. To get your resume noticed, write summaries of 10 games you played, detailing what you liked about the game and what you didn’t. “Demonstrate a love for videogames,” says Crow.

forbes.com

How To Play Videogames For A Living is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

Web sites are not only powerful tools for e-commerce, they also can boost almost any business, as consumers look into products they might buy. Here’s a list of what a business can do with a web site:

1. Stand out from the competition
2. Establish credibility
3. Provide in-depth information
4. Make shopping easy
5. Enhance customer relations
6. Increase customer spending
7. Expand nationally or worldwide
8. Gather customer data
9. Brand extension
10. Drive traffic either to an online or offline location

CNN Money

10 Web tips for entrepreneurs is a post from: Top Business Opportunities

1. Who makes it?
2. Who supports it?
3. What are ALL the costs?
4. What other technology is required to make it work?
5. What services are required to make it work?
6. How long has it been around?
7. Who else is using it?
8. How will it generate profits for my company?
9. Can I take a test drive?
10. Will it speak to my other systems?

businessknowhow.com

Top technology questions you should ask is a post from: Top Business Opportunities