Business Owners Videos

Business cash advances have become an increasingly valuable and necessary working capital financing strategy for most small businesses. As with any complex business financing, it is critical to avoid certain common problems that occur when credit card processing is used to obtain needed short-term cash. It is not necessary for business owners to experience any of the credit card financing problems described in this article. We are identifying ten key difficulties that can be avoided with credit card processing and working capital business cash advances. Business owners should not overlook the substantial working capital benefits which will accrue to their business by effectively coordinating credit card factoring and processing. These benefits will increase measurably if a number of common business cash advance problems can be successfully avoided. One of the most important commercial financing needs for any business is ensuring that short-term cash requirements are successfully met. The use of a viable business cash advance strategy has become an increasingly important small business finance tool for many businesses faced with a potential short-term cash shortfall. Most merchants can document their recent credit card processing activity. Short-term cash can typically be obtained via a business cash advance based on future sales volume. Before employing this strategy for business cash advances, businesses should realize that there are several significant problems that they need to anticipate. Ten common credit card receivables problems that business owners should avoid when employing this working capital strategy are highlighted below. First, many lenders for these services charge up-front fees. This is a transaction cost that can and should be avoided, and with the best programs there will not be any up-front fees. Second, many lenders will attempt to charge closing costs. Business owners should realize that this is also an unnecessary transaction cost for business cash advances when dealing with a truly reputable provider of working capital financing based on credit card factoring. Third, a number of business cash advance programs require collateral. This is an unnecessary requirement to be avoided by business owners seeking credit card financing. Fourth, monthly fixed payments to repay merchant cash advances are imposed by some providers. The preferred approach is to avoid such fixed payment requirements. Fifth, some lenders will require financial statements and tax returns for all business cash advances. Such additional documentation requirements should only be necessary for larger working capital advances. Sixth, some providers impose a fixed term for repayment. This requirement to pay off the business cash advance over a fixed term should be avoided. Seventh, most business cash advance providers require credit scores of at least 680. In today s difficult economic climate, this can be a challenging requirement. It is feasible to obtain this kind of working capital financing with scores around 500. Eighth, many programs for working capital business cash advances require that a business have at least two years of operating history to qualify. While many business owners can meet such a requirement, a more practical standard for newer businesses is a minimum of one year in business. Ninth, many providers will require up to 24 months of documented credit card sales of $25,000 or more. A more practical possibility for business owners will involve a transaction history with six months of $5,000 or more. Tenth, for merchants needing larger business cash advances, it is important to know that many programs are limited to a maximum of $25,000 to $50,000. Providers that are better capitalized for this business finance strategy will be able to accommodate an advance of $300,000 and higher. Can all ten credit card finance problems discussed above be avoided? There are indeed viable credit card receivables programs which avoid all of the obstacles described. It is not likely that all ten of the obstacles described above will be pertinent for all small business owners. Business borrowers are likely to experience several of these problems if they are considering a business cash advance that uses credit card factoring and credit card processing. For any business owner considering this approach to working capital financing, please remember that it is not necessary to accept any of the ten problems described in order to obtain business cash advances based on future sales.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter speaks about his experience with executive coaching organization, Vistage International.

Bigg Success is life on your own terms. Today, we ll focus on one of the five elements of bigg success money. We re all looking for more ways to save money. That s understandable. However, we need to think about not just survival, but surthrival. ___ ___ Many business owners and managers, small and large, are cutting back on their advertising. This cost-cutting practice can be very costly in the long run. Could not advertising cost you $1.5 million? A McGraw-Hill study, about the recession in the early 1980s, found that companies that maintained or increased their advertising had sales 256% higher three years after the recession ended. Think about that two companies, each with a million dollars in sales go into a recession. The company that holds tight on its advertising, or perhaps even increases it, will do over $2.5 million within a few years after the recession ends if the second company, the one that cut its advertising, treads water. Signaling the end of your business A recent study by Ad-ology found that 56% of the people surveyed thought that retail stores that cut back on advertising must be struggling. In other words, your advertising sends a signal to both your existing and potential customers. Just like a company cutting back on its dividend, you re telling the public you don t expect your future to be bright when you cut back on advertising. The signal is so strong that 15% of the people surveyed thought it meant that the firm who cut back on its advertising wouldn t be in business much longer. The time money trade-off One of the other elements of bigg success is time. If you re a regular here you ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: If you don t have money, you have to spend time. It s part of the price of bigg success. So if you really feel the need to cut back on how much money you spend on advertising, it will pay to spend more time promoting your business. That means networking Depending on your business, you may primarily build relationships offline or online. However, you will probably be well-served to do both. Integration is one of the keys to success in business today. If you have employees with down time, make good use of it. Tell them that you want to keep spreading the word so you all surthrive. What you ask them to do will also depend upon your business. You may have them put out door knob hangers or give away free samples of your product. Perhaps they can make some phone calls or send e-mails to your list of customers. Where to place your focus We stated it subtly in that last sentence. We should emphasize it focus on your existing customers to get the best return on your investment (of money and time). Research has shown that it costs between five to eight times as much to get a new customer as it takes to keep an existing one. So, at the very least, make sure you re communicating with your existing customers at least four to six 6 times a year. Find out what their problems are. Find a solution even if you can t solve it directly, help them find the answer to build your relationship. The most cost-effective way to grow your business Building relationships with your best customers is the most cost-effective way to grow your business. When you can wow your customers, they will buy more buy more often tell others Segment re talking about your existing customers, can you segment them into smaller groups so you can tailor your communications more precisely? ___ ___ I used to own a heating and cooling service company. We got our technicians to note the age of the furnace or air conditioner when they were in our customer s home or business. Then we wrote a letter specifically to this group. We generated over $300 of sales for every letter we mailed! ___ This highlights another point we alluded to earlier get your staff involved. Help them understand how it not only makes their jobs more secure, it also means you continue to grow as a company so there will be more opportunities for everybody. That s bigg success! ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we discuss what the underlying meaning of I don t have enough time. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00411-060809.mp3 Related posts 5 Marketing Strategies to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck During a Recession Increase Your Sales by Knowing the Answer to this Question (Image in today s post from hisks)

BransonWebcast Episode #52 Guest: Bob Nichols Please welcome the host of Country Tonite, Mr. Bob Nichols! That s what you ll hear if you are a guest at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre in Branson. What you may not know is, that in addition to being a hilarious master of ceremonies and entertainer, Bob Nichols is also a business man, event producer, entrepreneur, fund raiser, and supportive husband and father. Bob pioneered the Branson morning show concept in 1991, and this year he and his wife Lana, along with co-producer Gary Bartlett, are presenting the 1st Annual Missouri Wine Festival on April 24-25, 2009 at the beautiful Chateau on the Lake. Related Websites: mowinefestival.com, orbtheatre.com, associatedartists.biz, bransonartscouncil.com, touchofclassformats.net

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As business owners, we often hear that we have to work on our business, not just in it. It s a concept that sounds simple when you say it, but how do you get started? ___ ___ A lot of entrepreneurs thrive on bending the rules so the starting point isn t always obvious. You have to create the rules the operating system so you will have time to work on your business in the future. So, early in your business, you work on your business by working in your business! You begin to develop those systems that will make delegation to your future employees more effective. To do that, ask yourself three questions: What is your vision of the perfect transaction? Map out a transaction from beginning to end. Think about what you want your customers to experience during each step of the process. This will include: your advertising, the first interaction, and the closing of the transaction. But don t forget to include what happens internally to support the transaction and follow-up with the customer. What is your customers picture of the perfect transaction? With your vision in mind, you begin discovering exactly what your customers are looking for. You ll likely find that your customers focus on much smaller things than you do. For example, they may want to have their change counted back in a certain way as we talked about on a recent show. But here s the interesting thing when you bring your customers perspective in every customer probably has one or two little things that they really like. If you can gear your organization to make that one customer happy on that one point, you ll probably thrill the rest of your customers by doing it! They probably want it, too. They just haven t vocalized it. How can you improve one thing one percent? Take your bigg picture and bring in all the things that your customers have told you and begin working on one at a time. We have a confession to make these three questions aren t ours. They come straight out of Ken Blanchard s Raving Fans. It highlights these three questions through a great story and we highly recommend that you read his great book. So these three questions will improve your performance, help you develop your operating systems, and keep you focused on the most important people in your business your customers. Putting it to work Now you want to improve one thing one percent. We saw a great example of this in action. A company had their entire process mapped out on the wall of their conference room. They had all these sticky notes up on the wall. Each sticky note represented something they wanted to test something that represented a potential one percent improvement. These suggestions had been made by customers and by employees. That s what makes this concept so useful. It s a great tool to get employee buy-in. They get on board because they can see that their suggestions are being considered. More than that, they may get tested. The test results may call for full implementation! It makes your employees feel like they re a significant part of something bigger. They are valued. That leads to bigg success with your employees. ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ Thanks for checking in on us today. Join us next time as we make a special announcement a new beginning for Bigg Success. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00354-031909.mp3 Related posts One-Up Yourself for Bigg Success How to Get Your Employees to Own Their Job, Not Just Do It (Image in today s post by tulp)

Have you been looking for a business to start? An easy way that you could make some fast cash? Have you been wanting your own painting business but you don t want to quit your job and possibly go broke? Have you thought about a painting business where you could do some small side-jobs each month to help your house payment and pay the bills? Maybe you are looking for something better, but hey, this is a good start profit-wise! Maybe you are mostly working at home right now and you could use an extra $1,000 a month to pay the bills so you can continue to work at home the rest of the time. If so, listed below are three great ways that you can start your own painting business and make some red-hot immediate income on the side. This is also a great way to learn the trade before going into it full time. I started my own house painting business in 1991. Since then I have learned quite a bit about interior and exterior painting. I also learned quite a bit about drywall repair. If you know how to get customers and how much to charge, the rest can be learned as you go. When I first started out I ate quite a few jobs because I didn t know how much to charge. Today I can actually make more money in a day and a half painting than I did all week long at my last regular full-time job. And it s fun to be able to relax and enjoy your work knowing that you are going to get paid well for it. I have listed below three easy to start, low-cost businesses that revolve around my painting trade. Each one can make you a quick $300 - $500 for just a few easy hours work and over a thousand a week if you wish. The reason I tell you about these 3 business ideas listed below is because I know them and they make me money. These are 3 proven profit makers that you too can specialize in. #1 Residential/Commercial Painting Business: If you love to paint this is a handy service you can render for the busy homeowner and business owners as well. Many wives don t let their husbands go near a paint brush. Many customers hate to paint and would rather pay someone else to do it for them. I started my painting business with just a few basic painting tools and a beater car. My business over the years has given me good immediate income whenever I need it. #2 Faux Painting Business: If you like faux painting, you can take on small jobs here and there. Get yourself some basic faux painting tools and a 2 x 3 sheet of plastic to practice different patterns on and you will get the hang of it fast. If you like this type of painting business you could get small one or two-room jobs per week and make a thousand dollars per week even. Faux painting offers high profit margins if you get good at it. #3 Drywall Repair Business: Drywall repair is really an extension of a painting business. You can easily charge $300 - $500 doing simple small repairs like water damage and texturing. As an example, I just finished a small repair job for a total of $335. It took me an hour and a half the first day and the second day took 6 hours. Not too bad a wage for only 7 1/2 hours work. $10 of the money went for fuel, another $3.50 for a roller cover because I painted it up one fast coat. I used maybe $2 worth of drywall compound in the quick-dry formula. So I netted about $320 or $40 per hour labor. You may also get small jobs hanging sheets of drywall. A customer might have a basement or garage that they need drywall hung in. They will want you to tape and finish it as well. You will most likely get asked to do the painting also and this can double your profits. So there you go. 3 easy low-cost, time-proven ways you can start a painting business or painting-related business. All of these variations can be started for less than $500. If you did just one small job a week it could mean an extra $300 - $500 or $1200 - $2,000 a month extra income.

Today we continued our discussion with Deb Neuman, host of the Back to Business Radio Show. Last time, Deb shared four of her keys to business success, which all happen to start with the letter P . Today, she will share her final three. Let s get back to the conversation ___ ___ People ___ So far we ve discussed Passion, Product, Persistence, and Planning. Now Deb, you say we have to think about People surround yourself with people whose strengths are your weaknesses. ___ ___ And look beyond your friends, family, and significant other. They are important people to have on your team, but you want to have other people who can be objective, who don t have any emotional ties to you as well. ___ ___ Often, to get someone to take care of a weakness, you have to pay them to do that. If you don t have any money, what is the answer then? ___ ___ A lot of people barter. I have a friend who is a massage therapist who needed help building the web site for her business. So she and the web designer now trade services. The web designer gets massaged and doesn t even have to pay for it he s happy! A side note to that check with your accountant to make sure you re accounting for it properly when tax time comes up. A lot of people I know really enjoy helping small businesses. They may be an accountant or an attorney. They re looking for new businesses as future clients. Sometimes they re willing to give you a few hours of service at no charge or give you a reduced rate. They recognize that, if they help you get your business started, you re likely to become a future customer for them. Talk to other business owners and see who they re using as providers. ___ Promotion ___ Next up on the list is something that many business owners are cutting back on because of the tough economic climate Promotion. ___ ___ I just did some research into The Great Depression, what businesses survived, and how they did it. Some of the businesses that made it through the depression very successfully include Procter t know you re out there, you re not even going to be considered. Few of us have the resources to just advertise here, advertise there, and just throw money around that s not going to pay back. So you really need to sit down and identify who your customers are. Be specific. Are they men or women? What age range? What kind of profession? Where are they? What are they reading? What are they listening to? What are they looking at online? Then think about how you can best reach them. Successful promotions, marketing, and advertising don t mean you buy an ad in the newspaper and run it once. It has to be a long term plan and commitment. ___ Positive Attitude ___ So the last P on your list is Positive Attitude. ___ ___ You just have to maintain a positive attitude, through thick and thin. That reflects on your employees. Your customers know it. I just heard from a colleague of mine who went into a retail store. She said she d never go there again because the owner of the store was in a really bad mood, griping about the economy. She said that she wasn t there to hear all of that. She was there to have a nice experience. It really turned her off. ___ ___ Because shopping is my escape. This is me trying to stimulate the economy, so relax! ___ ___ Right now, not just for entrepreneurs, but any leader it seems like we re hearing such dismal news from so many of our leaders from the highest levels in the country to the biggest businesses. And I think, in many cases, small business owners are buying into it and people don t want to follow someone who doesn t have a better vision for the future. ___ ___ Exactly. I m seeing businesses, some who ve decided to close, but others who are planning and taking a different approach. They re being very creative about it. They ve said that this is forcing them to not be lazy. When things are good, they do whatever they want. They can t do that now so they realize they have to be really proactive, but they re making changes that they re really excited about, even if they were forced into making them. They think they re in a much better position going forward, now and when things do turn around for the better. ___ Thanks Deb for sharing your wisdom with us! Check out Deb s site, debneuman.com for more great tips for your small business. ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ And thank you for reading our post today. Join us next time when we ll tell you how to find the deal of your lifetime. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00345-030609.mp3 Related posts Critical Keys to Business Success - Part 1 (Image in today s post by k_vohsen)

Today on The Bigg Success Show, we were privileged to visit with Benjamin Klein. Benjamin is the CEO for The Art of Charm, a highly successful coaching service. He is an expert in the psychology of sales, management and success. He has used that knowledge to create an upcoming program called Success Principles. ___ ___ ___ What is one of the most important success principles? ___ ___ The most important success principle for me has always been to say what I mean and mean what I say. It s very important to come from a position of honesty and integrity and to do things that not only create value for you, but also for those around you. You don t go into it dependent on the outcome, whether it will be reciprocated or not. If the value is reciprocated, they are the type of person you want to work with. If the value is not reciprocated, you have saved yourself months of time dealing with someone you don t want to work with. You give up a little bit upfront, but that just comes with honesty and integrity and knowing that you re creating value for those around you. ___ ___ Do you have a value-offer model for some of our business owners who are listening today? Any suggestions for those people who have been offering something that isn t working, that s not getting them the leads they were hoping for? ___ ___ There s no specific X plus Y equals Z formula for this. For us, we have free intro seminars, which are a sales tool, but our clients get the value of three to four hours of class. They learn in our selling arena. There s a lot that they can take out of that. We give them a preview of what we re going to teach. In order for you to give the value upfront, you have to have a product or program that you really believe in. Then you can stand behind it 110 percent because, in order to be convincing, you have to be convinced. Once you re convinced, you can sit there and be as high pressure as you want because you believe in it. If you re making logical sense and it s something that is genuinely going to help the person you re standing in front of, then you re on the right path. So for the business owners, I think you just have to tip that value scale so it s a no-brainer. You want to give them $1,000 worth of value for only a dollar. ___ ___ Sign me up! The interesting thing, and where we seem to be moving, is that you just can t have that me-too product or service anymore. You have to offer something that you know is unique. You create something that you know stands out because you designed it to capitalize on your own strengths and the needs of the people you re serving. So you are convinced it s the best thing out there. ___ ___ Let s go way back, before The Art of Charm was this huge, international service that it is. You guys were just starting out. You didn t have all these products and freebies that you could offer. How did you offer value then? ___ ___ We always had the advantage of our intellectual property, which was the curriculum that was created. Nowadays, what s going to sell the best is a knowledge-based product. Something that you can give the knowledge away for free. That s what blogs and all these web sites online are for. People are visiting them for the content to be entertained or to learn. Lucky for us, we had something we could teach people. Even to this day, our web team worked on barter. Tens of thousands of dollars was traded as credit toward programming for stuff that we teach. Our programs are high price-point. We ve probably bartered with 75 percent of the vendors that we work with. They all wanted to take our programs. If you have something that people genuinely want, you cannot fail. We go on our podcast or the forum and ask our people what products and programs they want. You have to build a community, a base of followers, who are in line and in tune with your message. If your message is something that is contagious and it s something that they want, and they know their friends and family want, then you have no place to go but up. ___ Thanks Benjamin for your words of wisdom! In addition to The Art of Charm, you can listen to Benjamin on the PickUpPodcast. ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ We can t thank you enough for reading our post today, but we ll do our best! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! There s a group of people who actually believe their lives will get better this year. Can you believe it? Join us next time to find out who they are. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00338-022509.mp3 Related posts Relationship Building Blocks (Image in today s post by hisks)

In this article we have identified the ten major problems which should be avoided when obtaining working capital and business cash advances based on credit card processing. As noted below, it is not necessary to accept any of these business finance difficulties. Credit card processing and small business loan strategies are closely connected in many ways. Business owners should not overlook the substantial working capital benefits which will accrue to their business by effectively coordinating credit card factoring and processing. These benefits will increase measurably if a number of common business cash advance problems can be successfully avoided. Even thriving small businesses frequently need more working capital than they can borrow from a bank. One of the most important commercial financing needs for any business is ensuring that short-term cash requirements are successfully met. This is frequently a difficult task. The use of a viable business cash advance strategy has become an increasingly important business finance tool for many businesses faced with a potential short-term cash shortfall. However, as noted below there are a number of potential problems to be anticipated and avoided when businesses use credit card processing to seek working capital advances. Most merchants have documented credit card processing activity and sales volume. This documentation of processing activity and sales volume is a financial asset, since up to $300,000 and more can typically be obtained via a business cash advance based on future sales volume. Before employing this strategy for working capital business cash advances, businesses should realize that there are several recurring potential problems that they need to anticipate. Highlighted below are ten common credit card receivables problems to be avoided when business owners are considering this financing approach. First, many lenders will attempt to charge closing costs. Business owners should realize that this is an unnecessary transaction cost for business cash advances when dealing with a truly reputable provider of working capital financing based on credit card factoring. Second, many lenders for these services also charge up-front fees. This is also a transaction cost that can and should be avoided, and with the best programs there will not be any up-front fees. Third, many programs for business cash advances have collateral requirements. For business owners seeking credit card financing, this is an unnecessary requirement and should be avoided. Fourth, some lenders will require financial statements and tax returns for all business cash advances. Such additional documentation requirements should only be necessary for larger working capital advances. Fifth, monthly fixed payments to repay merchant cash advances are imposed by some providers. The preferred approach is to avoid such fixed payment requirements. Sixth, some providers impose a fixed term for repayment. This requirement to pay off the business cash advance over a fixed term should be avoided. Seventh, many business finance programs require businesses to have at least two years of operating history to qualify for working capital business cash advances. While many business owners can meet such a requirement, a more practical standard for newer businesses is a minimum of one year in business. Eighth, most providers of business cash advances currently require credit scores of 680 or higher. In today s difficult economic climate, this can be a challenging requirement. It is feasible to obtain this kind of working capital financing with scores around 500. Ninth, for merchants needing larger business cash advances, it will be disappointing to learn that many programs are limited to a maximum of $25,000 to $50,000. Providers that are better capitalized for this business finance strategy will be able to accommodate an advance of $300,000 and higher. Tenth, many providers will require 12 to 24 months of documented credit card sales of $12,000 to $25,000 or more. A more practical possibility for business owners will involve a transaction history with six months of $5,000 or more. It is not likely that all ten of the obstacles described above will be pertinent for all business owners. Business borrowers are likely to experience several of these problems if they are considering a business cash advance that uses credit card factoring and credit card processing. Can all ten credit card finance obstacles discussed above be avoided? There are indeed viable credit card receivables programs which avoid all of the problems described. For any business owner considering this approach to working capital financing, it is probably worth repeating that it is not necessary to accept any of these problems in order to obtain business cash advances based on future sales.

Visibility Magazine,which caters to business owners, internet marketers and internet marketing enthusiasts, exhibited at SES Chicago 2008 and they give their thoughts on the show.

BransonWebcast Episode #45 Guest: Babette Young Fogle Meet the beautiful and talented, Babette Young Fogle, who is not only one of Branson s top female vocalists, but also a very successful business executive. Along with her husband Nolan Fogle, Babette owns five popular restaurants as well as various gift and variety shops in Branson. As a singer, she has performed in the area for many years, most noteably as an important part of the Osmond Family shows. Beyond her busy schedule, Babette still devotes the time necessary to put her family first. She is an incredible example of someone who achieves success through hard work and dedication. Related Websites: BransonsBestRestaurant.com, BransonVarietyTheater.com

Geoffrey Moore, in his book Living on the Fault Line, discussed the “Core versus Context Model” for businesses. Core activities are things which set you apart from your competition and context is everything else. For many businesses, this may include administrative activities, marketing activities, and the like. As we discussed his model, we realized that this works in our personal lives as well. You want to do more of the things you’re really good at and less of everything else. Usually, we really like to do what we’re good at so by focusing on just those tasks, we can advance in our careers. Like for us, our strength is working on content for Bigg Success. At least we’d like to think so or more importantly, we hope you think so! For us, the contextual activities would be everything else. So for a couple of examples, we outsource our house cleaning and the yard work. Instead of spending time on these things, we can work on our business. You’re getting a glimpse into how integrated our personal and professional lives are. Since we often work from home, all of these decisions are floating around together. We don’t think we’re alone on this – a lot of people are finding it pays to integrate their work life and their professional life. By outsourcing your contextual activities, you save time and you open up the opportunity to make more money. It comes back to the time vs. money conundrum If you don’t have money, you have to invest more time. . For example, if you start a business that is well-capitalized, you will be able to spend your time differently than if you start on a shoestring. With limited capital, you may have to take care of the janitorial work – a lot of business owners have done that. I’ve done that! . At first, you may have to do it yourself because there’s no money. But you want to contract it out as soon as you can because it’s definitely a contextual activity, unless you happen to be the owner of a janitorial service. Thinking about core vs. context helps you focus on where you want to spend your time and where you want to spend your money. You think twice about spending money because there’s something else that will let you spend more time on your core. You may find that you spend your money on things that save you time, rather than cost you time. . I want a bigg screen TV, but we would rather spend that money on a web person. Right now, I handle our web site. So when there are changes that need to be made, I get to work. But there are better uses of my time. . Because we know that’s not in our core. Bigg Success is still in its early stages, so as soon as we can we’ll outsource this activity. Another example is publicity – right now, we do it ourselves. We want to contract with someone who is better at it than we are and can accomplish more than we can on our own. So although we don’t have HDTV, we do have goals for that money! It boils down to thinking about how much your time is worth. You may find that by contracting out certain activities, it costs you less than what you can make by spending your time working in your core. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Related posts Your Personal SWOT Analysis (Part I) Your Personal SWOT Analysis (Part II) (Image by penywise) ShareThis

BransonWebcast Episode #16 Guest: Jim Thomas A true pioneer in shaping the future of the Ozarks, Jim Thomas is credited with igniting Branson as a national entertainment destination. He brought legendary entertainers such as Roy Clark, Jim Stafford, and Glen Campbell here for the first time, and later encouraged many of them to build their own theaters, prompting major national recognition for the area. He was also instrumental in developing Branson as a year round destination by being the first to extend his theater s performance season. He encouraged the growth of the first convention and group tour business to Branson by upgrading his Lodge of the Ozarks complex to provide visitors with a first-class entertainment, lodging, dining and meeting experience. ShareThis

A new survey shows women business owners form a powerful coalition of involved voters. Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein talks to Barbara Kasoff, president of Women Impacting Public Policy, about the key issues for the nation's female entrepreneurs