Small Business Center

Your business will need a lot of cash if you’re paying for stuff before you sell it. If you’re growing fast, this negative cash flow cycle can cause a catastrophe. It almost did for technology giant Dell back in the ’90s.

Verne Harnish explained to me how Dell used to inventory parts and pay suppliers for the gear they kept on hand to make computers when customers called. The company ran short of cash and almost choked on its own growth. Galvanized by the near-death experience, Michael Dell himself set out to remake his company’s cash flow by charging customers before buying the bits and bobs needed to build the computers they ordered. By reversing the typical cash cycle, he was able to use his customers’ money to fuel his growth, which meant he required very little external money to grow the business.

Positive cash flow cycle businesses are more fun to run — and their also way more valuable. If you would like to sell your business one day, you’ll get more for it if you have a positive cash flow cycle. Positive cash flow businesses are worth more because:

1.) acquirers do not need to commit their capital to funding their day-to-day operations and;

2.) the bottom line is fatter because positive cash flow businesses do not incur financing expenses and they often have some investment income to juice the revenue line.

Highspot is a small, Toronto-based publishing consulting company that charges upfront for everything it does. Co-founder Ross Slater explains the company’s payment policy:

“In the beginning, the cash flow helped us get started without a lot of financing. Now we see prepayment as a mutual commitment to the success of the relationship we’re creating with our clients. By paying upfront, the client commits to participating in the process, and we commit to providing value and delivering on the trust they have placed in us.”

Wonder how he gets away with it? Slater explains,

“We have a clear, staged process that outlines how we operate and what a client receives. The fees for each stage are right on our website, which filters out the tire-kickers. We invoice immediately, then do what we say we’re going to do. We insist that this is the way we do business. We’ll walk away from a situation where a potential client won’t agree.”

Watch the short video below where I explain the cash flow positive model.  When you charge upfront, your company will be worth more when you go to sell — and more fun to run in the interim.

We are excited to announce the Editor’s Choice edition of the 2009 Small Business Book Awards.

The following books were chosen by the Editors of Small Business Trends, along with expert input from a 27-member Advisory Panel (see the Advisory Panelists listed at the end of this article).  The combined input was impassioned and invaluable, and the decisions all the more difficult due to the quality of this year’s business book releases.

Without further delay, here are the Editor’s Choice winners, listed in alphabetical order:

Anatomy of Buzz Revisited – Emmanuel Rosen revisits his best seller and updates how buzz works with today’s new tools. Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: Learn what gives a story and an idea “legs” and how to actually build buzz into your marketing strategy.
• Key Take-Away: Build a community of experts and then let them speak freely about the advantages and disadvantages of your product or service.  It builds buzz and trust.

Escape from Cubicle Nation – Pamela Slim writes a guide for aspiring entrepreneurs still stuck in corporate jobs or who recently left.  Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: It’s a roadmap for getting yourself out of that corporate cubicle and into your own startup.
• Key Take-Away: If you think that corporate life is killing you, it probably is.  Staying where you are will not make you successful – you have to make a change to be successful.

Greening Your Small Business – Learn how making your business green isn’t just trendy, but cost-effective.  Jennifer Kaplan explores how and why to weave green practices into your business.

• Why Read This Book: Today’s consumer sees eco-friendliness and “green” as a reason to buy from you.
• Key Take-Away: There are literally hundreds MORE green tips out there than “recycle.”  Switching to Internet apps is just one unexpected example.

Me 2.0 – No matter your status in the world of work — employed, unemployed, business owner, consultant or freelancer — your personal brand will determine your ultimate success. Written by Dan Schawbel, Publisher of Personal Branding Magazine. Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: Get lots of ideas, resources and tips on how to uncover and determine your personal brand and then how to leverage that brand for new opportunities.
• Key Take-Away: Register your name as a domain name or URL.  Choose a niche and become known as the expert in it.  Create a title for yourself that references your niche.

The New Community Rules – Social media users will get useful and applicable how-to tips to market their business online, including how to use various social media websites and tools.  Written by Tamar Weinberg, social media consultant.  Check out our review.

• Why Read This Book: You’ll learn about uncommon social media sites like Diigo, Mento, Kirtsy and Tip’d.
• Key Take-Away: Use Mahalo to do some quick market research such as setting a price for a product or service.

Outrageous Advertising – Direct Marketing guru Bill Glazer outlines hundreds of direct marketing and advertising campaigns that will build your customer community and grow your sales.  Our review is here.

• Why Read This Book: This is an encyclopedia of ideas and advertising how-to’s.  If you’ve ever wanted to use direct marketing but weren’t sure how to put it together, this will tell you how.
• Key Take-Away: Make a list of non-traditional holidays and create special offerings and programs for them.  You will stand out from the crowd and customers will remember you.

Talk Less, Say More — In a world of over-communication, this book will teach you to connect with your audience, get your message across and get things done. By Connie Dieken, former TV anchor and multiple Emmy winner.

• Why Read This Book: There are tips tricks and techniques in this book that will turn you into a persuasive powerhouse.  Our book review here.
• Key Take-Away: Talk in triplets.  To help people remember a longer list, break your information down into groups of three’s.

Super Freakonomics – Two curious economists (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner) look at reams of data and show us the world; not for how we believe it to be or how our stated values wish it were, but how it actually is based on our behaviors and choices.

• Why Read This Book: It’s a fun and engaging read.  In a tough economy, you might as well explore how we humans think and make choices until it gets better.
• Key Take-Away: If a solution to a problem doesn’t bite us on the nose, we think that there isn’t a solution.  Keep asking questions, look at the data that’s already there and open yourself up to unconventional insights.

Trust Agents– If social media is still a mystery to you, then let Chris Brogan and Julien Smith show you the ropes on how to build your brand and your profits using social media.

• Why Read This Book: Social Media is here to stay.  This book will help you build your brand through social media and cut your learning curve. Read reviews here.
• Key Take-Away: Building trust is key to building a loyal community

Upstarts – This book by Donna Fenn covers 150 entrepreneurs from Gen Y. Some started their businesses as teens.  Read our review of Upstarts.

• Why Read This Book: Get inspired and energized by the vignettes that make you the fly on the wall of how Gen Y’s started businesses and overcame challenges.
• Key Take-Away: Adapt a Gen Y solution or idea to a current challenge and see what happens.

Viral Loop – Adam Penenberg tells the story behind the most successful viral marketing companies and campaigns.  Then he breaks out specific strategies that you can use to grow your own business using a viral strategy. Our review here.

• Why Read This Book: Technology and social media have made understanding viral marketing strategies a requirement.  This book has history, strategy and infrastructure all in one place.
• Key Take-Away: Pick your favorite viral campaign and find creative ways to integrate it into your own company; use a feature in your e-mail and add an affiliate link to your signature.

You are What You Choose – We don’t make purchasing decisions just based on demographics, but on basic hard-wired motivators such as time, risk, altruism, getting information, meToo status and stickiness or loyalty — say authors Scott de Marchi and James T. Hamilton.  Read our review.

• Why Read This Book: Once you understand these six motivators, you can literally craft sales and marketing messages to target these internal and emotional motivators.
• Key Take-Away: Political values and believes have almost no impact on buyer behavior.  In fact Democrats and Republicans make almost identical purchasing decisions.

Expert Advisory Panel

A big thank you goes out to our Expert Advisory panel.  Your time and expert input added real value.

The Advisory Panel includes authors, small business experts, publishers, bloggers, executives and other professionals:

Kare Anderson, Author and Emmy Winner, Say it Better

Mark Anderson, professional cartoonist at www.andertoons.com

Dawn Rivers Baker, publisher of The MicroEnterprise Journal

Shashi Bellamkonda, Network Solutions

Tim Berry, business planning expert

Andy Birol, Author of “The 5 Catalysts of 7 Figure Growth,”  www.profitablegrowth.com

Dane Carlson, publisher of Business Opportunities

Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger

Jason Cohen, software entrepreneur

Laurel Delaney, global business expert, Borderbuster newsletter

Yvonne DiVita, Professional Blogger and Social Media Enthusiast, The Lipsticking Society

Melinda Emerson ‘SmallBizLady’, Author, “Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months” (Feb. 2010)

Margie Zable Fisher, president of Zable Fisher Public Relations

Wayne Hurlbert, publisher of Blog Business World

John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing

Steve King, Small Biz Labs

Jim F. Kukral, Author of upcoming book “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money”

Brian Lenhart, @BrianLenhart

Rieva Lesonsky, CEO, www.smallbizdaily.com

Joel Libava, Author of “The Essential Steps To Researching A Franchise Opportunity”

Martin Lindeskog, International Business Coordinator, www.Martin.Lindeskog.name

TJ McCue, founder of Sales Rescue Team

Susan Oakes, www.m4bmarketing.com

Denise O’Berry, author “Small Business Cash Flow”

Ramon Ray, publisher of SmallBizTechnology.com

Matthew Ringer, publisher of SmallBizBee.com

Zane Safrit, www.zanesafrit.com

How the Winners Were Chosen

To be eligible for these Awards, books had to appeal to small business personnel, entrepreneurs, freelancers or the self-employed. Also, books had to be newly published (or revised) during 2009 (no older books).

Books were chosen based on originality; quality of writing; and usefulness of the book for the widest range of small business people, entrepreneurs and the self-employed.  Votes were cast in a blind ballot, conducted via QuestionPro.

Reader’s Choice Awards

If you’d like to see which books readers chose as their favorites for 2009, please see our separate list of Reader’s Choice Business Book Awards.

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Just over a month ago I detailed 10 things to do before launching your blog. That post covered how to generate initial buzz, getting your social accounts in order and how to begin promoting content before you really even have any. It was all the technical stuff you want to have in place before you start blogging. However, there was one important thing that post didn’t cover. It didn’t talk about how to define the tone or “voice” of your blog. Your blog voice is what defines you in your industry and in the blogosphere. So how do you know what kind of tone or writing style is right for you?

Well, here are 5 things to consider when determining “your sound”.

Who’s your audience?

Your audience and their wants, needs and interests are really what will determine the appropriate tone for you to take on your blog. But to know that, you need to know who they are. Are they male or female? What age group do they fall into? Where are they located? How Web savvy are they? Are they comfortable with blogs and engaging or are you going to have to show them the ropes? What kind of language do they naturally use?

You want to not only pinpoint the type of information they’re interested in, but how they want it delivered. Are they more visual than text-based? Will they want long, informative How Tos or are they coming for debate? The clearer the image you can paint of your audience, the better  the better you’ll be able to target your content.

Who are you?

Or better yet, who do you want to be? If you want to be a thought leader in your industry you’re going to take a very different tone than if you want to be the “Internet fire cracker” [a curious term recently applied to my own blogging...] If you’re not sure who you want to be, take some time to consider why you’re starting this blog. Are you doing it to build authority in your niche? Are you doing it to build word of mouth and get people talking about you? Are you using it as a customer retention tool? Or maybe to draw attention and controversy to your corner of the Web? Being able to identify who YOU are in all this will help you to create a blueprint for your own style and voice and what’s going to be best to help you meet your goals..

What’s everyone else doing?

Go out and read some of the other popular blogs in your industry and see how your competitors are using their blogs. What’s working for them and where are they leaving an opportunity open? Do some competitive intelligence. Is there a style of blogging that you’re particularly drawn to or that you think your audience would respond well to? What are the bloggers in your niche doing wrong? Are they talking at people instead of engaging them? Could you be the first videoblogger or podcaster? Is there an opportunity for you to grab the people their blatantly forgetting? Study the blogs related to your industry to get a good feel for what everyone else is doing and to find ways to set yourself apart.

Once you know happening in your industry’s bubble, leave it. Don’t get boxed in. Get out of your own industry and look at some of the blogs of Technorati’s Top 100. These blogs already have massive audiences. Get a feel for how they connect with those audiences and how people interact. Find out what’s working for them and how you could authentically implement it on your own blog.

What are you good at?

This is something a lot of bloggers fail to take advantage of. As a small business owner, you probably have a lot of natural talents that make you perfect for blogging. Some SMB owners are exceptional at breaking down complicated concepts and making them easy to understand. They’re good at it because they had to do it for themselves first! Other SMBs are excellent story tellers. Some have incredible wit and cleverness. Others have amazing from-the-trenches lessons they can share. We’re all good at something. Find ways to work whatever you’re good at into your blog and to let it set you apart from everyone else. It’s the little idiosyncrasies and bits of personality that will win you an audience and loyal readers.

Where are you most comfortable?

Just because you really like brazen bloggers doesn’t mean you should fire up your Thesaurus for potty mouth words and never look back. Create filters for your blog persona or lines that know you won’t cross to help you stay within your blogging comfort zone. For example, ,I won’t make personal attacks. I don’t go after individuals and always make my gripes about a product or service. For yourself, you may want to stay away from hot button subjects all together or maybe you’re going to stay clear of sponsored blog posts and all the controversy surrounding that. I recommend creating a guide book for where you will and will not go in your blog. It’s a helpful road map to have handy when the waters get a little muddy.

There are few things as important as the “voice” or tone that your blog will take. Make sure you spend some time outlining who you want to be in the blogosphere, who your audience is, and the techniques and strategies you’ll use to help get you there.

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My husband and I have had an on-going disagreement about self-promotion. He’s a chemist and an introvert and feels that his outstanding work should speak for itself. Being the extroverted smart-mouthed marketing person, I say that that paper and chemical formulations are inanimate objects and don’t have the capability to speak – that’s why it’s HIS job. You can already see that this argument gets me nowhere.

Thankfully, Nancy Ancowitz, who is also a self-proclaimed introvert, has come out with “Self-Promotion for Introverts: the quiet guide to getting ahead.” When I saw this book on my Amazon.com list of books for 2009, I snapped it up. My excuse was that I would read it and review it for you. But the real reason was to give it to my husband just to prove that I was right.

But Wait! What’s an Introvert, What’s an Extrovert and Why Does it Matter?

Introversion and Extroversion are basically two different ways of interacting with the world around us. Introverts take information “In” and process it. Extroverts interact with the external world to process information. Introverts need time alone to process. Extroverts need time with people to process. Neither is better or worse, they are just different.

Sales and Marketing are often thought of as extroverted activities. We assume that to generate sales and to build your brand, you have to be outgoing, a little pushy, love to talk to other people. After all, isn’t that how you get the word out – by telling as many people about how wonderful you are? The answer is both yes and no.

Yes. It’s true that to build your brand and generate sales, it helps to have customers beyond your mother and your two best friends. But no, you don’t have to be outspoken and pushy to do it. “Self-Promotion for Introverts” will show you how to be yourself and promote yourself.

Why Introverts Will Love This Book

“Self-Promotion for Introverts” is written by an introvert for introverts. I didn’t originally realize how important this was until I gave the book to my husband and asked him for his opinion. He said “Oh, you can tell that this woman is an introvert – she knows how I think.”

There are eight chapters with a total of 245 pages. Each chapter offers a layer of information and exercises targeted directly to how an introvert thinks. Here are just a few examples:

Your Negative Self-Talk (Tuning out U-SUCK Radio) – In this chapter Ancowitz addresses the loudest voice and introvert hears, their own. And guides you through the exercise specifically directed at what introverts focus on; facts.

Your Target Audience (Going Inward and Reaching Outward) – Here you will learn how to harness your strength of going inward and then you’ll learn how to match that to what your audience wants. The last thing introverts want to do is push something on someone who doesn’t want it. This chapter actually shows you how to create an overlap between what the audience wants and what you tell them.

The last piece I’ll share with you is the chapter on presentations called “Chalk Talk (Public Speaking for Private People.” This is simply brilliant. Nancy Ancowitz hits on every anxiety button you might have about public speaking. I’d say this chapter is for everyone – not just the introverts. There are suggestions and tips on how to stand, what to wear, rehearsing and more.

Why Extroverts Should Get This Book

If you’re not an introvert, but have introverted customers or employees – this could be your lucky day. At first I thought this book was just for the introverted people, until I realized how powerful my messages could be if I organized them in a way that my introverted audiences could appreciate and feel comfortable around.

Don’t pass this up if you’re part of the extroverted group. Self-Promotion for Introverts is for anyone who feels hesitant about tooting their own horn.

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My husband and I have had an on-going disagreement about self-promotion. He’s a chemist and an introvert and feels that his outstanding work should speak for itself. Being the extroverted smart-mouthed marketing person, I say that that paper and chemical formulations are inanimate objects and don’t have the capability to speak – that’s why it’s HIS job. You can already see that this argument gets me nowhere.

Thankfully, Nancy Ancowitz, who is also a self-proclaimed introvert, has come out with “Self-Promotion for Introverts: the quiet guide to getting ahead.” When I saw this book on my Amazon.com list of books for 2009, I snapped it up. My excuse was that I would read it and review it for you. But the real reason was to give it to my husband just to prove that I was right.

But Wait! What’s an Introvert, What’s an Extrovert and Why Does it Matter?

Introversion and Extroversion are basically two different ways of interacting with the world around us. Introverts take information “In” and process it. Extroverts interact with the external world to process information. Introverts need time alone to process. Extroverts need time with people to process. Neither is better or worse, they are just different.

Sales and Marketing are often thought of as extroverted activities. We assume that to generate sales and to build your brand, you have to be outgoing, a little pushy, love to talk to other people. After all, isn’t that how you get the word out – by telling as many people about how wonderful you are? The answer is both yes and no.

Yes. It’s true that to build your brand and generate sales, it helps to have customers beyond your mother and your two best friends. But no, you don’t have to be outspoken and pushy to do it. “Self-Promotion for Introverts” will show you how to be yourself and promote yourself.

Why Introverts Will Love This Book

“Self-Promotion for Introverts” is written by an introvert for introverts. I didn’t originally realize how important this was until I gave the book to my husband and asked him for his opinion. He said “Oh, you can tell that this woman is an introvert – she knows how I think.”

There are eight chapters with a total of 245 pages. Each chapter offers a layer of information and exercises targeted directly to how an introvert thinks. Here are just a few examples:

Your Negative Self-Talk (Tuning out U-SUCK Radio) – In this chapter Ancowitz addresses the loudest voice and introvert hears, their own. And guides you through the exercise specifically directed at what introverts focus on; facts.

Your Target Audience (Going Inward and Reaching Outward) – Here you will learn how to harness your strength of going inward and then you’ll learn how to match that to what your audience wants. The last thing introverts want to do is push something on someone who doesn’t want it. This chapter actually shows you how to create an overlap between what the audience wants and what you tell them.

The last piece I’ll share with you is the chapter on presentations called “Chalk Talk (Public Speaking for Private People.” This is simply brilliant. Nancy Ancowitz hits on every anxiety button you might have about public speaking. I’d say this chapter is for everyone – not just the introverts. There are suggestions and tips on how to stand, what to wear, rehearsing and more.

Why Extroverts Should Get This Book

If you’re not an introvert, but have introverted customers or employees – this could be your lucky day. At first I thought this book was just for the introverted people, until I realized how powerful my messages could be if I organized them in a way that my introverted audiences could appreciate and feel comfortable around.

Don’t pass this up if you’re part of the extroverted group. Self-Promotion for Introverts is for anyone who feels hesitant about tooting their own horn.

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It’s Cyber Monday — that famous online shopping day. And why shouldn’t it be a shopping day for small business people like us?

Well it is!

Here are a few hand-picked specials I recommend and hope you can take advantage of:

HP store — Our long-time sponsor here, Hewlett Packard, has some healthy Cyber Monday deals.  I personally purchase HP products (like my HP netbook which I reviewed here) because of the quality.   Here’s a link to small-business deals at the HP store.  Or, perhaps you’d like the consumer deals.   Or, if you’d simply like to contribute to those less fortunate, you can buy through the HP “Create a World of Change” website and HP will donate 4% of your purchase price to the charity of your choice.

Headway Themes – Do you have a WordPress site?  Tired of purchasing themes that are too difficult for a do-it-yourselfer to work with?  The Headway themes feature a visual editor so you can move things around visually.  You can also add many features without a lot of technical work.  Michael Martine at Remarkablogger uses a Headway theme — if you want to see what one can look like in action.  I have not used Headway Themes myself yet, but I am very impressed with the idea of a do-it-yourselfer being able to change it easily.  Use the following coupon code when checking out — today only — to get  25% off:  F8CD2E1483.

Lotus Jump – And don’t forget our deal on Lotus Jump, the online marketing tool.  You can get the Pro version for $20/mo for life.

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I’ve been using a neat online marketing/SEO tool called LotusJump. Today only, I get to offer it to Small Business Trends readers for $20/mo for life for the Pro version. That’s 60% off — and no long term contracts required.

That is a terrific price. I have been using LotusJump and am passing the discount along to you (but I don’t profit from any sign-ups). It’s a Cyber Monday deal, which is why I’m able to offer it. It ends at Midnight PST tonight.

LotusJump is very simple to use. You set up an account at the LotusJump website, and enter up to ten key search phases for your site. The tool then presents you with a to-do list to build links, get buzz, get directory listings, and other tasks to grow your business’s online presence. It tells you how to do the task, too. You just follow the instructions. When you are done, you can mark the task as finished. If you decide not to do the task, you just delete it. Then you go on the the next task on the list. It’s that simple.

Here are a few tasks on my to-do list from Lotus Jump:

• Submit smallbiztrends.com to Jayde – directory submission
• Participate in Gooruze community – buzz
• Post a comment at online.wsj.com – buzz

You also get reports that show you your progress. For instance, this report shows your rankings over time in Google, Bing and Yahoo.

You can delegate tasks to your staff — and see which tasks they have accomplished

I like it because it’s simple and direct. It tells you what to do — and how to accomplish it. It saves you a lot of time, because you don’t have to go out and find all the places where you can get quality backlinks, or build visibility for your website or blog. They’re all laid out for you.

There are lots of options out there when it comes to getting your website to be more visible online. Lotus Jump is perfect for small businesses — it is easy and the cost is reasonable. Go here to see how it works.  Use this link to get the Cyber Monday special.

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