Small Business Summit Center

There is always room for creativity in your marketing. Let’s see one example:
I just got this email promotion from charming UK clothier Boden:
29 orders to be won today
Here’s the body of the email:

The copy: “Every four years, whoever manages the solar system gives us a 29th day in February for free. We always like […]

[Ramon Ray has a useful blog for entrepreneurs at Smallbiztechnology.com. — Andrew.]
One of the slowest parts of doing business is the obligatory forms one must fill out once an agreement is reached. You and your counter part at the company you are entering a contractual relationship with need to have legal documents signed, to consummate […]

[Ramon Ray, another Summit-goer, maintains a great site focussed on making technology work for small business. See it at Smallbiztechnology.com. Here, he’s got a guest blog post with some high-level guidance for us. — Andrew.]
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really chewing on the following six rules I created that I believe […]

Help spread the word about what’s going on here, and look cool in the process…
If you’ve got a website or blog, you can embed the below widget into your site. Click “Share” in the bottom right to get the code.
This was built with Sprout, a nifty widget development tool. If you do install it, let […]

Time for a brief tour of how some of the entrepreneurs in our little galaxy are using eco-conscious messages to advance their business.
Marc Levitt, cofounder of the eponymous MLSK design studio in Queens, has a blog where you see this:

2,663 Urban Tumbleweeds — An MSLK Art Installation

They have strung hundreds of plastic bags throughout a […]

Sunday’s NYT has an article on how innovation is not some “eureka” moment. Years of sweat usually precede the next cool thing.
In the online age, however, innovators do have it easier in one important respect: getting attention.
The number of media outlets has probably increased by an order of magnitude since 1995, if you include topical […]

The bear market is official. While some people play the Polyanna role, others take the occasion to provide advice on managing during tough times.
First, revenue coach Kristin Zhivago counsels to get closer to your customers:
This is the time to tiptoe out of the Recession Zone and start focusing on making it easier for your customers […]

[Welcome guest bloggers Kevin and Ben Nash of Aspen Organizational Development — Andrew]
One of the most important decisions that business owners and managers make is who to hire. According to Fast Money Magazine, “The most important corporate resource over the next twenty-years will be talent. It is also the resource in shortest supply.”
Research […]

[Sound advice from guest blogger Chris Hawkes of MarketResearch101. For me, it all ties back to staying in constant touch with customers. — Andrew]
Market research has a reputation for being difficult to do and expensive to conduct. It’s true that there are market research methods that are very complicated to conduct and are therefore very […]

This is the age of outsourcing. Companies outsource website design, homeowners outsource patching the roof, and throughout the economy independent contractors wrestle with issues of branding, warding off bigger competition, and trying to grow good ideas into big businesses.
Suddenly, contingent, on demand, flexible workforces – contract labor that is available to solve urgent issues […]