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During these times, small businesses, including product companies, are trying to cut expenses.  One expense is sending product samples to media outlets, in the hopes of getting editorial coverage, leading to sales. 
There’s not much you can do about the shipping charges, but often the cost of the samples themselves adds up. And many times samples [...]

If you have been watching the Big Idea lately, you know that Donny Deutsch is taking a smart approach to the show.  Instead of just focusing on people who are successful, he is asking people to call in and let him know if they need help.  Then these people in dire straits are given advice [...]

If you have been watching the Big Idea lately, you know that Donny Deutsch is taking a smart approach to the show.  Instead of just focusing on people who are successful, he is asking people to call in and let him know if they need help.  Then these people in dire straits are given advice [...]

The other day I was speaking with one of my P.R. buddies.  She told me something that made my blood run cold.
Her biggest client had passed away from a heart attack, unexpectedly.  Not only was she grieving, but financially she had to scramble to figure out how to replace that income.  But the part that [...]

I came across this great post from top small business folks about their top profitability ideas.  You can read it in the Small Business Trends blog here.

The second annual 2008 StartupNation Home-Based 100 will once again rank the best performing home-based businesses across America in ten distinct categories. This year’s categories are:

Best Financial Performers
Most Innovative
Boomers Back in Business
Greenest
Yummiest
Wackiest
Grungiest
Recession Busters
Most Slacker Friendly
Most Glamorous

There are also great publicity opportunities, for coverage in national [...]

If you have signed up for my e-mails and gotten publicity opportunities, you may be wondering how to best respond to reporter queries for sources. 
Here are some tips: 
1. Always follow the media contact’s specific requests. So, if you are told to put “Jane Doe Story” in the Subject Line, do that. Why? Because the reporter might [...]

In next week’s newsletter I will be writing more about the power of e-mails (both negative and positive), but now I’d like to provide an annoying e-mail I received (without names to protect the not-so-innocent), and show you how I would change it to make it positive.
I received this first e-mail in response to my [...]

I’m not sure if it’s genetic or not, but it seems like most people are wired to like “free” stuff.
With gas prices out of control, people are scurrying around crazily for deals.  So why not offer them some – and grow your business while others are scratching their heads?
Even if it’s part of your existing [...]

There are many ways to get information these days.  One new way is to search under “Small Business” at Guy Kawasaki’s www.alltop.com. The information is pulled from top small business Web sites and blogs.
I visit many of these sites individually, but it’s much easier to have them all available in one place.