It sometimes happens that you’re doing a lot of things and you’ve got a really busy task list, busy days and no rest. Yet you’re not quite moving forward to your goals. The reason of this entrepreneurial disaster is lack of focus and concentration which can be cured with a more flexible approach to task management.

When ordinary to-do lists don’t give visibility into where you’re going, visual task management can present your Outlook task list in a form of a mind map which is far easier to analyze and correct.

TaskCracker is a rather cheap and quick solution for your Outlook task list which enables you to see your task list in a form of a visual matrix, based on the principles of the famous Eisenhower matrix time management technique, also called Urgent Important Matrix.… Continue reading »

“A lot of people thought it sounded stupid… Even some of our engineers weren’t interested.” – Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter
Have you ever pitched a business idea to your friends and family and the unanimous response to your pitch is either “are you crazy” or “it’s a stupid idea!”
While many back off when their pitch fail, those who stick to their so-called stupid idea – and work hard in making the idea to happen – find success.

In fact, according to The Power of Starting Something Stupid book authored by Richie Norton (with Natalie Norton,) a surprising trend emerge: Based on hundreds of personal interviews, academic cases and study on both celebrities and everyday people, a conclusion can be drawn that successful people, throughout history and today, don’t avoid stupid, they lean into it .… Continue reading »

If you are a small business owner looking to cut costs then you might have to think of cost cutting measures in different areas beginning with your logo.  After your brand name your logo is the first point of call between you and your target audience.

If you cannot afford to hire a graphic designer who can churn out logos for you to shortlist then investing in some good logo design software is the best thing to do.  As a onetime investment it will help you create logos and graphics that you will need as you grow.

Investing in logo design software is just the thing for those small business owners who want to bootstrap their business operations while maintaining control over logo design.  Apart from this it makes business sense.  Shop around for some Logo Design Software and you will be pleasantly surprised by the many options you have.  You can design one or multiple logos and control color and appearance of your logo/logos without having to go back and forth consulting a designer.… Continue reading »

It seems obvious to say but feedback is absolutely key to the continuing success of your business. Customer or delegate feedback can help you gage the success, or otherwise, of an event, a launch, a conference, a new product, existing products, customer service, your company as a whole and many, many other components of your business.

Collecting reliable feedback can be tricky and too many organisations rely on anecdotal evidence, attempt to analyse sales figures or base strategy on feedback from only a small section of their customer base. This can be dangerous as quality feedback can help shape the future of your entire company and year on year can inform large sections of your business plan.… Continue reading »

I have mentioned that Noobpreneur.com is combating Google Panda and Penguin updates, which have “successfully” strip 80% of search engine traffic. I have then decided that 2013 is the year of no off-site SEO for Noobpreneur.com. Why? Because SEO is a continuous campaign and it requires resources that not many of us have access to. Well, at least I don’t have the resources for it.

I wrote an article on my business-slash-personal blog, AsepOnde.com, that 2013 is the year of inbound marketing. It’s not cheap talk: I mentioned that I will focus on getting found, rather than ranking high for my websites, and that includes Noobpreneur.com.… Continue reading »

Financial training focuses on delivering high quality training and support to professionals working within the financial sector. The sector specific training ensures that finance professionals have access to the latest industry trends and can respond appropriately to current business issues and concerns. It is essential that the governance of a company’s finances is carried out appropriately in order for the company to function on a day-to-day basis and is vital to ensuring the business is profitable.

Due to the increasing number of legal requirements placed upon businesses and the significant impact that finance has on a business, it’s important that finance professionals receive on-going training in order to increase financial and operational success.… Continue reading »

As always, I search new monetization venues for my websites. What I’m looking for is an ad network that can offer me simplicity as well as automation. True, there are many – if not most – ad networks offering easy to embed ads on your website. However, let me strongly recommend you Skimlinks for many reasons.

What is Skimlinks?

Okay, let’s get down to it. Skimlinks offers something I am very interested in: Automation. Indeed, it is truly affiliate marketing made easy. Affiliate marketing? Yes – unlike many others that pay you on per-click basis, Skimlinks pays you on per-action basis – just like your typical affiliate programs.… Continue reading »

I always preach that small businesses have to have a website, either for informational purposes or serving clients.  My reason is obvious: It helps your business branding, marketing and sales.

With social media, you need a business website more simply because you need to lead your fans and followers to your landing page for them to take action: Sign up, make a purchase, read more information, and so on.

However, if you still insist that you don’t need a website for your online presence, I do insist you to do at least one thing: Use online software to make things easier for your clients to buy your products or use your service.… Continue reading »

There are so many free web tools you can use for the benefits of your small business. However, you typically need to be ready to be exposed to advertisements as most of them are ad-supported with some limitations – unless you pay for the premium version of the tools. This is only natural, really. The developers need to sustain and minimise the operational costs for some obvious reasons.

When you are planning to build a website for your small business, there are actually several quality web-based tools you can use (most of them also allow you to host your created website on their web servers.) I have tried some of them – Weebly, Webs, and so on.… Continue reading »

We are currently in the middle of business transformation. Cubicles are no longer appealing; office workers are now opting for telecommuting and mobile working – even if that means they will get paid less. It’s an interesting trend, and your job as a small business owner is to take a closer look into the trends and follow through – there are plenty of opportunities out there!

You see, online collaboration is the buzzword of today; as employees are prove to be more productive given the opportunity to use their own computing devices for work purposes (the trend is called BYOD – bring-your-own-device) it’s only logical for small business owners to follow through, facilitating the transformation – and retain great talents by giving them more perks.… Continue reading »

GetResponse customers have been raving about the platform’s powerful new Email Creator interface, claiming it’s a real game-changer for email marketing design.

Does it live up to the hype?

I did a thorough test drive, and here’s what I discovered, plus a few quick tips.

Getting a quick start

There are two ways to get started. Choose from over 100 predesigned templates organized by industry or just start from scratch.

The “from scratch” option, in particular, gives you amazing creative opportunities. You have a wide selection of 1- to 4-column layouts that are extremely easy to customize.

Quick Tip: Predesigned templates are great for those who prefer to have a base newsletter they can adjust with a few clicks to reflect their communication style.… Continue reading »

Have you been “invited” to BranchOut? Here is a look at the pros and cons of using BranchOut to grow your new consulting business.

BranchOut: What is it?

Facebook purposely put up a barrier between people’s professional lives and their personal lives by dividing the site into two sections: Facebook and Facebook Pages. Pages are for business and the personal account is for friends, relatives and your cousin Vinny. However, the two do mix, collide and mingle. Referrals, customers and jobs often come through Facebook via friends.

BranchOut and other similar apps like BeKnown (run by Monster) are external professional applications that are designed to interface with Facebook.… Continue reading »

Facebook wasn’t created as an advertising platform. It turned out to be a place where you checked up on old girlfriends and occasionally posted a video of someone falling from a trampoline.

But today – with 850 million or so users – business are flocking to the site trying to make their voice heard.

There’s one problem though: Facebook is still not a perfect platform for advertising.

Anyone who has tried to put up a series of ads – with different images and copy, targeted various demographics, compared bidding prices and tried to analyze the performance of each individual ad to see which elements to improve – has realized this.… Continue reading »