SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com » Grow Your Business

National Small Business Week is Here!

Melinda Emerson — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:30:57 +0000

America’s #1 Small Business Expert Joins the New York Times. I am excited to announce that I am joining the writing team at the You’re the Boss section of The New York Times. Premiering this May, my column on social media and small businesses will run weekly on the blog centered on small business ownership [...]

Should You Have Good Pricing or Great Pricing?

Melinda Emerson — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:30:16 +0000

Should you have good pricing or great pricing? Our first instinct is to have great prices that will permit us to crush the competition, gain market share and fuel fast growth. The usual problem is that great prices typically provide slim profit margins. Good pricing, however, over the long term, should create enough profitability to [...]

How to Get Over Your Fear of Sales

Melinda Emerson — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:34:22 +0000

Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Amy Palmer @Fearbustinsales http://twitter.com/fearbustinsales. Amy is a nationally recognized salesperson who helps business owners find a selling style that fits their personality [...]

5 Things You Could Do Today to Generate a Sale

Melinda Emerson — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:30:13 +0000

It’s May. That means it’s National Small Business Month and it’s time for you to get serious about your business. Answer these questions about your business: Have you updated your business plan? Are you using your business plan to run your small business? Do you have monthly/weekly sales goals? Do you know by the 15th [...]

How to Grow a Billion Dollar Membership Site QA

Melinda Emerson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:30:30 +0000

Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Alexis Maybank @giltfounder Alexis cofounded Gilt Groupe with her best friend Alexandra Wilkis Wilson. Gilt Groupe took only four years to take [...]

Are You Doing Your #1 Job as an Entrepreneur

Melinda Emerson — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:25:27 +0000

Your skills as an entrepreneur can make the difference between a booming enterprise and closing your doors far too soon. Your #1 job as a small business owner is to sell. Your job is to motivate, inspire and convince customers, potential investors, and often family that your business idea is worthwhile. It typically requires passion [...]

5 Ways Color Can Improve Your Small Business

Melinda Emerson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:30:58 +0000

SPONSORED POST Ever since color television was invented in 1953, color has been critical to telling a visual story. Whether you are a start-up or established business, spending the extra money on color images or color ink may seem out of the question when you are launching a marketing campaign. But using color could mean [...]

12 Bible Verses Every Small Business Owner Needs For 2012

Melinda Emerson — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:30:23 +0000

I normally do this post at the top of the year, but I was inspired to wait until now. With Easter upon us, I though this post would be particularly meaningful at this time of year. My religious theme for 2012 is, “Either I win or I learn, but with God’s help I never lose.” [...]

How to Grow An Online Business QA with Andrew Davis

Melinda Emerson — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:49:48 +0000

Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Andrew Davis @CPC_Andrew . Andrew is Author of the Merchant Comparison Shopping Handbook and the Director of Marketing for CPC Strategy, an online retail [...]

How to Get New Customers Part II

Melinda Emerson — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:30:05 +0000

There are numerous ways of getting new customers but not all methods are applicable to all businesses. I also need to remind you that getting repeat business from your existing customers is far easier than attracting new customers, but it is important to have a strategy for getting new customers in the door. In Part [...]