Do Business Well

The net worth of most small business owners, is usually divided between the equity in their home and the net worth of their company. After selling a valuable business, it’s usually best to assemble a diversified portfolio. You may want to invest in an assortment of blue-chip stocks, tax-free municipal bonds, and treasury bills. These assets plus your house should provide excellent security into old age, and for your children as well.

But what is security if you no longer have any purpose in life? Common to most entrepreneurs is a love of what they do. Below, we’ll explore a few options that will allow you to have it both ways. Continue Reading »

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Data security and encryption: Data security is one of the central issues of digital marketing. Because the Internet is a public highway, the information which travels through it can be picked up and read by anyone who has the knowledge and capability to do so. If security measures have not been taken to scramble the data, or code it, the information is totally unsecured. In many cases, people don’t care about data security. When you send an e-mail message to a friend, you usually don’t care if someone intercepts it. It’s no different than someone at the post office opening up your letter, or someone listening to your conversation on a cellular telephone scanner. You take that risk. But when you want to send a confidential e-mail to someone in your company, or give someone your credit card number on the Internet, it’s a different matter. You want to send a secret message which only the recipient can unravel and read. That’s where data encryption comes in. Continue Reading »

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Creating a public image has become an essential part of any sales effort. Advertising and promotion/public relations are usually the means of making this happen.

Advertising is fairly straightforward. You decide where youwant your business to advertise, determine the rates, and calculate the costs. For well-established companies, advertising can be very important, and the business plan should account for how much will be spent.

For start-up and early-stage companies, advertising is often too costly. Fortunately, promotion and public relations are much like home remodeling—they can be done either by outside professionals or by business owners on a do-it-yourself basis. When done in the latter way, the cash outlay can be minimal. Of course, even companies that advertise are well advised to use promotion and public relations techniques. What follows are some approaches for planning your promotion and public relations effort as part of the sales section of the business plan. Continue Reading »

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