Small Business

15 Key Questions To Answer Before You Get That Food Cart

So you are a great cook and even went to culinary school and have always wanted to open a restaurant. You found a used food cart for several thousand dollars and you know of the ideal spot in your city for a food cart and they have agreed to lease you a space. Your mother and uncle will loan you the funds to start up. You are on your way to being the next best eaterie in Portland Oregon, the food capital of the North West, or wherever you live.

Not so fast! Here are some key things you must pay attention to before you can open and run a successful food cart.

1. You need to register a legal business entity with the State and get the necessary food licenses and permits from the state and city.
2. Who are going to be your customers, where do they frequent and at what times?

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Tags: Cart, Food Cart

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 Small Business No Comments

Small Biz Resource Tip: Privacy Star

Wish you had a call blocker on your smartphone? Wish no longer. The PrivacyStar app allows users to stop unwanted calls and unwanted texts, such as telemarketers, by blocking single numbers and/or entire area codes. The app also provides a Caller ID function even if the name and number are not in your address book.

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Tags: Star

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 Small Business No Comments

WinWeb Cloud – Power For Your Business

Using cloud computing will help you to grow your business and keep your cost under control. Making your business more resilient is the same a making your business more powerful. WinWeb Cloud Computing will help you:

1. Do More With Less. 2. Grow Your Business Save Money At The Same Time. 3. Grow Your Ideas With Flexible Cloud Applications. 4. Access To Your Data Everywhere Anytime. 5.

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Tags: Business, Winweb Cloud

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 Small Business No Comments

Vacation? What’s that?

A small business weaves a fine seam between itself and the life of its owner. In the beginning, it’s because of all the work it takes to get the business out of the ground. Later, as the business matures, the owner often becomes the brand customers identify with, which means consistent sales performance seems to depend upon the owner’s omnipresence.  At least that’s the way it seems.

Between the business consistently getting in the cash line ahead of a vacation budget and the owner being afraid to leave – like a new mother leaving her baby with a babysitter for the first time – it can be tough for a small business owner to take a real vacation?

We wanted to know how the whole vacation thing was looking for small business owners these days, so we asked this question: As summer approaches, will you be able to leave your business long enough to take a vacation where you’re away from work for a week? Here’s what we learned.

A little more than 40% of our respondents said they were definitely taking a real vacation this summer. Goodonya, g

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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 Small Business No Comments

The Sapphire Hotel – An Ode To Customer-Driven Marketing

Last night the two gorgeous owners of the Sapphire Hotel celebrated their 5th anniversary. They shut the place down at 10:00PM and held a hosted party for their customers, and what a party it was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band played, the booze flowed and the food was awesome. A mixture of 3 different kinds of pita pizzas: Roasted Garlic, Bleu Cheese & Green Onion; Margherita (Basil & Mozzerella); and Roasted Red Pepper, Kalamata Olives, Peppercinis & Cheddar Cheese, together with Mini Salmon Corn Cakes, Burger Sliders and Artichoke & Arugula Dip all on the house.

The owners kept circulating among the customers thanking them individually for their support.

Think Ill ever stop going back! Think again. And it

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Tags: Hotel, Sapphire Hotel

Monday, June 20th, 2011 Small Business No Comments

Test Your Business Idea with Real Customers Before Launching Your Small Business

I read this article written by Carol Tice yesterday in Entrepreneur http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219772 and it made so much sense that I had to blog about it here. Not only should it be taught in business schools like Stanford where it made it’s debut but it should be a staple part of all small business education at the SBDCs and at SCORE.

This particular course called Lean Launchpad was developed and introduced at Stanford this past spring by Steven Blank, the serial entrepreneur and Stanford lecturer who created the course. The program is designed to allow the budding entrepreneur to fail over and over, quickly, until he/she discovers a working model. This ensures that the business will more likely succeed upon launch.

Lean LaunchPad: The Week-by-Week Course Outline

1. I

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Friday, June 17th, 2011 Small Business No Comments