Episode 15: Employees in Small Business

If your small business is more than just you, listen up this week! Our team of small business experts tackles the subject of hiring and employees, as well as how to do more without hiring employees.

Steve Rucinski - Make a New Hire in 30 Days or Less

Jon Swanson - You Gotta Have Heart


Ben Yoskovitz - How to Find Someone Who Fits

Becky McCray - Doing More Without Hiring

Thanks for listening. 

Bonus: Your Feedback on Failure and Nonprofits

This bonus episode is all about your feedback.

Listener David Finch adds his thoughts about the subject of failure and starting over.

Listener Vince asks more about business structures. When would you choose a nonprofit, rather than a traditional for-profit organization?

Becky McCray suggests three factors that would influence you to go with a non-profit structure:

1. Revenue is not your main goal. 
2. You are seeking donations or grants to fund your organization.
3. You ready for scrutiny of your public purpose.
   

On the other side, you might want to go with a for-profit structure in these two cases:

1. Instead of donors, you want to create shareholders.
2. If you want to be able to sell out.
   

Episode 14: Business structure for small business

Listener Question: what’s the right form for my small business?

Steve Rucinski recommends My Corporation to do the formation, and Becky McCray points to Will It Fly to do the research. New contributor Tony D. Clark has a much more complete explanation. Tony has launched another Grasshopper New Media Business podcast, The Creative Venture.


Heidi Miller - One Thing
You can’t do it all by yourself

Phil Gerbyshak - The Generosity Factor
A book review, just in time for holiday giving.

Jon Swanson - Light Up Someone’s World
Another nugget from The Entrepreneurial Chicken.

Episode 13: The One Thing About Small Business

Starting a business is a daunting task, with many unknowns. Our team of small business people share their thoughts on the “One Thing You Wish You Had Known Before You Started Your Business.”

Ben Yoskovitz - Somebody Has to Be the Marketer

Chris Brogan - It’s the Other Things That Make it Work

Colleen Wainwright - How Long Will This Take?

Ted Demopoulos - You Can’t Live on Past Success

Becky McCray - Surround Yourself with Mentors

Jon Swanson - Is Your Thank You Speech Ready?

Thanks for listening.

Video bonus: Unexpected Marketing: Help your customers

Heidi Miller found an example of helping your customers in unexpected ways. Don't just tell us you are helpful, show us!

Every business must market itself and most marketing is visual, so we offer occasional video segments to show you some tips and suggestions for marketing.

Thanks for watching.

Episode 12: Global Business Simplified

Global business can be simplified for small businesses. This week, we talk about ways you are already connecting internationally, how to create more connections, and how to find resources to help you take your small business global.

Laura Allen - Civil War, Coke, Tsunamis, and Green Tea
Laura Allen talks about how Civil War, Coke, Tsunamis, and Green Tea are all a part of Global Business. She shares her theory on how it might be possible to end war if we all sat down and drank some Green Tea together. It seemed to work in that old Coca Cola television ad.

Coke TV commercial: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ccmphtml/colaadv.html

International Women’s Entrepreneurial Network: http://www.iwen-online.com
Monaqui Porter-Young; Srina Green Tea, http://www.SRINA.com

Becky McCray - Global isn’t as big as you think
Becky McCray shares her international business experience, talks about how small businesses can take a first step into the world, and where to find help to do more globally with your business.
Oklahoma Department of Commerce: http://www.okcommerce.gov

Thanks for listening.

Bonus - Interview with Pat Matthews, CEO of Webmail.us

Becky McCray interviews Pat Matthews, CEO of Webmail.us, Inc., based in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Pat talks about starting the company, surviving and retooling through the dot com bust, why they have refined their business plan 30 or more times, and how they compete with the huge conglomerates of technology.

Hear a second interview with Pat at Small Biz Survival, addressing small town business issues.

Episode 11: The Role of Failure in Small Business

Entrepreneurs can’t avoid failure, so we have to learn how to deal with it. Most of society puts an extrememely negative meaning into failure, but small business people think about it differently. Our experts take on the subject of failure, what it is, what it means, and how they think about it.

Heidi Miller - A Few Zen Thoughts on Failure
Heidi Miller has put together a few of her thoughts on failure, from a Zen perspective. Most important, learn from your failures.

Phil Gerbyshak - Defining Success and Failure
New contributor Phil Gerbyshak makes his first appearance, helping us to define both success and failure. It’s all up to you, and how you choose to define it. Take inspiration from President Theodore Roosevelt.

Zane Safrit - The Biography of Failure
Special Guest Zane Safrit has been reading and thinking about failure, and about people who have failed. He sees some patterns in overcoming obstacles, making mistakes, and achieving success.
Download Zane’s handout.

Jon Swanson - Understanding Failure on Different Levels
Jon Swanson is thinking about many different levels of failure, personally and in business. Be sure to think about how to really measure failure.

Becky McCray - Redefining Failure
Becky McCray sees great value in failure, as a necessary part of reaching success. She shares a few notable quotes on failure’s role in small business.
Download Becky’s handout.

Episode 10: Financing, Bootstrapping, and Financial Basics for Small Business

Finances may not be everyone’s favorite topic, but it is one of the basics. We all have to take care of finances so that we can take care of the business. This week, the Great Big Small Business Experts offer ideas on financing alternatives, bootstrapping, on the financial basics for small business, and the ugly truths about nobody’s favorite topic.

Becky McCray - Financial Basics
Becky McCray talks about three simple disciplines for financial success.

1. Keep the right records, on computer or on paper.
2. Deal effectively with the complex tasks of payroll and taxes.
3. Be disciplined enough to do it.

Ben Yoskovitz - Boostrapping
Ben Yoskovitz shares his ideas on how to successfully bootstrap your business.

Steve Rucinski - Alternative Financing
Steve Rucinski has two new alternative financing methods that could be right for your business.
Download Steve’s handout.

Ted Demopoulos - Money and Small Business is Nobody’s Favorite Topic!
Ted Demopoulos says you aren’t as smart as you think you are, and how to avoid the bladder principle!

Thanks for listening!

Video bonus: Marketing with business cards

Every business must market itself and most marketing is visual, so we’ve started this video segment to show you some tips and suggestions for marketing.

In our first episode, Becky McCray shows an example of adding customer value to business cards.

Thanks for watching.

Bonus Episode: Choosing a book publishing method

Remember that we offered to answer your small business questions? We weren’t kidding! So we are here with a bonus episode to do just that.

Phil Gerbyshak asked:

What’s the difference between print-on-demand, self-publishing, and traditional publishing, why would one choose one over the other, and if one wanted to go the way of traditional publishing, does one really need an agent to make that happen?

One of our team of experts, Ted Demopoulus offers his thoughts on publishing: traditional, print on demand, and self publishing. Ted recommends these two books:

• Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents 2007
• The Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book

Episode 9: Presentation skills for entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are always in the spotlight, always presenting themselves and their company. This week, our small business experts offer their tips for improving your presentation skills.

Laura Allen - Top Three Tips for Creating a Powerful Presentation That's ALL YOU!!! and Bonus Hint called: Don't be like Glinda, the Good Witch
Laura Allen has three terrific creative tips:
STEP ONE: Find an Idol: There are lots of presenters I admire. Right now I really like Karen Salmansohn. She named her website NotSalmon.com because she was tired of people spelling her name wrong.
STEP TWO: Make it EXCITING! Do you remember when Oprah gave away a car to every member of her audience? Well, that was EXCITING!
STEP THREE: Keep it REAL for YOU. My friend Johnny Dapalito has a workshop called “Actors Where Are you Going?” I'm not an actor, but I love going to workshops and Johnny is an INCREDIBLE presenter so I've been to two of his seminars so far.
BONUS TIP: Don't be Like Glinda, the Good Witch; Your presentation doesn’t have to be perfect, Really.

Chris Brogan - Improv Presentations and The Storyteller’s Promise
Chris Brogan knows what it takes to make effective presentations: improvise, entertain, involve.

Ted Demopoulos - Four ways to compete with the Oranutangs
Ted Demopoulos has four simple tips to help you make a terrific presentaiton, even if you have to compete with other outlandish presentations.

1. Relax! The audience wants to like you!
2. Don’t rely on your props.
3. Smile! Act like a friendly human.
4. Have Fun!

Benjamin Yoskovitz - Constructive Criticism for Small Business Owners
Ben Yoskovitz provides 5 steps to giving good constructive criticism, focusing on building people up, criticizing and building them up again.
Download Ben’s handout.

Steve Rucinski - Delivering effective presentations
Steve Rucinski has three keys for delivering effective presentations.

1. Focus on your audience
2. Know your venue.
3. Know your content, and practice!

Download Steve’s handout.

Jon Swanson - Tips for Presentation Chickens
Jon Swanson used to teach this stuff! The Entrepreneurial Chicken shares what truly helps overcome your fear of presentations: really care about getting your information across.

Episode 8: Building Client Relationships in Small Business

Without clients we have no business, so this week our experts talk about building relationships before the first sale and maintaining relationships for the long term.

Steve Rucinski - Control your ego
Steve Rucinski talks about controlling your ego to focus on the client’s needs. He recommends the book Let’s Get Real by Mahan Khalsa.
Download Steve’s handout.


Becky McCray - Building client relationships one layer at a time
Becky McCray explains a process and a mindset of layering information as a part of building relationships.

Heidi Miller - 8 simple tips to keep client relationships alive after the first sale
Heidi Miller has a real world example of relationship building, plus 8 simple tips to make sure your customers don’t end up calling your competitors.

Colleen Wainwright - Relationship rules for business
Colleen Wainwright explains which rules for personal relationships also apply to business relationship building.

Bonus Episode: More online tools

If our show on online tools just made you want more, you are in luck! Following up on Episode 7, we have a bonus episode with even more resources and tools to help you with your small business.

Colleen Wainwright - Books & bookmarks!
Colleen Wainwright brings together online and offline business resources. It’s all about Books and Bookmarks.

If you live in a major metro area, check to see if your library provides an online database. If so, you might be able to place holds on items you’re interested in or even have them shipped for free to your branch.

Library ELF is a free service that emails you updates on your library holds and checked-out items, letting you know what you have checked out and when it’s due (or overdue, if you ignore your alerts!). Great for avid readers who are less than perfectly organized. There’s a huge list of libraries whose systems are compatible, and if you can’t find your library but can ascertain that it employs one of two major proprietary systems, you can have it added. While you can’t renew your materials directly via ELF, the emails provide a link that will take you to your library’s page, where you can.

Half.com a division of eBay, offers many books at dramatically reduced prices from individual users. Best of all, they have a wish list you can create where you specify the minimum condition and maximum price you are willing to pay. When an item comes up at your price (if you don’t find it at the price you’re willing to pay), half.com will automatically email you an alert.

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking system that utilizes tags that I use to keep track of stuff I want to come back to. I also use it to maintain lists of stuff I need or want to do: toRead, toBuy, toListen, etc. Bonus nerdery: there’s a Java applet you can drag to your toolbar to make posting pages easy, although I recommend the Firefox extension del.icio.us Complete (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2354/) if you’re a Firefox user.

Ben Yoskovitz - Online advertising for Small Business

Benjamin Yoskovitz talks about how to advertise your small business with Google, and how to find the best keywords with WordTracker and target your advertising for maximum results.

Becky McCray - How to make the most of online directories
Becky McCray explains how your participation makes a difference in creating better online directories. So get out there and leave comments, reviews, and ratings! She mentions these podcast directories:

• iTunes
• allpodcasts.com
• feeds2read.net
• gigadial.net

Music for today's show from http://music.podshow.com.

Episode 7: Online tools for small business

Jon Swanson - What makes a tool useful?
Jon Swanson, the Entrepreneurial Chicken, shares some philosophy on what makes a tool actually useful.

Becky McCray - 1 tool to get smarter and 1 to share your smarts
Becky McCray, of Small Biz Survival, shares one tool to help you get smarter about managing your business, Will It Fly?, and one tool to help you share your smarts with other small business people, the SmallBusiness.com wiki.

Ben Yoskovitz - 3 online tools for managing your business
Ben Yoskovitz, of the Instigator Blog, reviews 3 online tools that can help you better manage your business. Two are lesser known, but can be quite valuable, and the third is a more recognized application. StikiPad is a wiki-based tool for collaboration and documentation. WebCargo is used for transferring large files easily and quickly. And GoToMeeting is for web meetings online.
Download Ben’s handout.


Chris Brogan - 9 tools Chris uses to manage his online business
Chris Brogan shares the online resources he uses for running Grasshopper New Media. Here’s his list:

• Blogs- Chris likes Wordpress
• Wikis - for example, PBWiki. We used it to build PodCamp.
• Google Calendar. here.
• GMail here
• Skype. here.
• Gizmo Project. 37 Signals for info. Check out BaseCamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, and more.
• Writely. here
• Technorati. here, for ego-surfing by setting up Watchlists.

Christopher S. Penn - The Financial Aid Podcast
Christopher S. Penn, of The Financial Aid Podcast, drops by with his 40 second pitch for his site. It’s another great online resource.

Ted Demopoulos - Your own website as a resource, and your competitors’
Ted Demopoulos, author of two books on blogging, asks some tough questions about your own site as a resource, and your competitors’ websites as well.

Laura Allen - Email, the ultimate online resource
Laura Allen, co-founder of 15SecondPitch.com, shares her favorite online resource, which is plain old fashioned email. She shares her love affair with email --5 tips to make email your best marketing tool EVER--plus three bonus online resources that you may not have heard of yet.
Her tips include:
5. Keep your email short. 3-4 sentences is ideal.
4. Establish an authentic connection.
3. Do you homework. When you contact someone via email, make sure you know a little bit about them.
2. Have a specific reason or goal for why you are emailing them.
1. Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up, some more!
Sites and people referenced:

• Podcamp Boston
• Podcamp NYC
• Lifehack.org
• Odeo
• Jigsaw.com
• Blogger
• Freeconferencecall.com

Tune in next week for Building Client Relationships!
Music for today’s show from http://music.podshow.com.

Episode 6: Organization

This week’s show is all about getting organized, from to do lists, to your workspace, to quick tips. The segments are:

• Really Simple To Do Lists -Ted Demopoulos, the author.
• To Do Lists Go High-Tech - Benjamin Yoskovitz, the Instigator.
  Download Ben's handout
• Organizing Week by Week - Becky McCray, I'm the Small Biz Survivor.
  
• 5 Strong Organizing Tools - Chris Brogan, the Grasshopper.
• Touch Everything Only Once - Heidi Miller, the Shameless Self Promoter.
• Organized in 60 Seconds -Steve Rucinski, the Small Business CEO.
  Download Steve's handout
  
• Advice from a Closet Slob -Colleen Wainwright, the Communicatrix.

Episode 5: Delegation

This week's show is all about Delegating, with a bonus segment on the Multi-Million Dollar Pitch.

The Multi-Million Dollar 15SecondPitch–How to Ask for Millions in under a minute
Laura Allen, co-founder of 15SecondPitch.com, teaches you how to get comfortable asking for millions by using the simple 15SecondPitch formula. Laura shares an actual pitch where an indie film-maker is looking for millions to create a film with an A-list actress as the star.
Laura is also offering a free pitch assessment for GBSBS listeners! Simply send your pitch (no matter how rough it is!) to laura@15SecondPitch.com and she'll send you some suggestions to make it SIZZLE! Even if you never need to ask for a million dollars, you'll still learn valuable tips for pitching your current business succesfully! After all, everyone needs to work their way up to creating a multi-million dollar pitch.

Ten Ways to Delegate Without Hiring
Becky McCray has ten tricks up her sleeve to help even the one-person business to delegate, all without hiring. If you already have a team, think about these ten ways to boost your effectiveness without having to expand your payroll. You'll find more of Becky's small business writings at Small Biz Survival.
Download Becky's handout.

Six Steps to Delegate Effectively
Benjamin Yoskovitz talks about the necessity for small business owners to delegate. As much as we'd like to control everything, we can't. So small business owners must become experts at delegating, and Benjamin offers 6 steps to follow in order to do so successfully. Ben has a new small business blog, the Instigator Blog.
Download Ben's handout.

Delegation in a Virtual World
Today many of us delegate much more to outside service providers and partners than we do employees. How do we do this effectively? Steve Rucinski uses the three C’s to help make good decisions. Take a listen and learn more! Steve is the Small Business CEO.
Download Steve's handout.

The Entrepreneurial Chicken: What can you really delegate?
This week, the Entrepreneurial Chicken Jon Swanson shares what parts of your business to delegate to the people you hire.



Music for this Week
Music for this week's episode is all provided by Uncle Seth, a podsafe band from Canada. You can listen to (and purchase) their great music at http://music.podshow.com
Uncle Seth- A Little Bit More / My Eyes / If I Laugh / Little Pieces / 13 Cloud Song / Out of My Face / and of course, "You Don't Need An Ipod"

Episode 4: Customer Service

Everyone has strong feelings about customer service. We all have stories of really bad service, and a few shining examples. Try this at your next party or cookout: ask the other guests about a story relating to customer service. You'll certainly hear lots of passion in either way.


Heidi Miller
Heidi gives us perspective based on Dr. Stephen Covey's 5th Habit: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. Among other gigs Heidi had in the past, one was as a motivational speaker, and she worked with customer service clients.
Heidi can be found at Talk it Up!

Steve Rucinski
Steve Rucinski gives us part 1 of a two part series on advisory boards. He explains the value of the expertise of advisors, the benefit of their business contacts, and all the reasons that an advisory board for a small business is better than a standard Board of Directors.

Steve's site is SMBCEO.COM

Ben Yoskovitz
Providing great customer service is essential for small businesses to survive and be successful. One of the key benefits to providing great customer service is cultivating customer loyalty. Ben Yoskovitz provides us 4 ways of providing great customer service with an eye towards developing customer loyalty.
Ben provides a great handout for his presentation here
Ben can be found at IGotNewsForYou.com

Colleen Wainwright
Our new contributor, Colleen, gives us some advice about some of the better tricks one might use to improve their customer service offering. She hints also about a story of bad customer service involving the worlds largest online bookseller. You can email Colleen for that story.
Colleen Wainwright is an L.A.-based designer-writer-speaker who started calling herself "the communicatrix" when she hit three hyphens. When she's not yakking about business-y stuff for GBSBS, she yaks about all sorts of stuff at Communicatrix.com


Chris Brogan
Finally, I talk about Experience Management: Taking your customer into the story of your business. How do you engage your customers in a way that they walk away from your business with a great impression of the experience they had with your product, service, or brand?
I'm all over the place. Stop by [chrisbrogan.com] to learn a bit more about your temporary host.



Music
These tracks were used for background music:
rye soto with Cool Jam
SmilinCynic with Trippin Out My Head
Jeff Shields - Groovalaicious.
Alamantra with Surf Babe

Episode 3: Networking

Great Big Small Business Show- Ep 3- Networking

• Connecting with Connectors- Chris Brogan
• The Networking Survival Guide - Becky McCray
• Interesting Introductions - Marco Terry
• Two Secrets of Networking - Heidi Miller
• 7 Reasons to Have an Advisory Board- Steve Rucinski
• Top 3 Networking Tips for Cowboys, Renegades, Damsels in Distress. -Laura Allen
• Ask for Help - Benjamin Yoskovitz
• Networking Means Trusted Relationships- Bill Gregory

Connecting with Connectors - Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan plays fill in host for this episode, and starts off by talking about what networking isn't. Networking isn't schmoozing, or it isn't when done properly. Networking isn't one-sided withdrawals without reciprocation. Networking is a way to extend your capabilities and the capabilities of others.

Chris talks a little about NEVER EAT ALONE by Keith Ferrazzi, including connecting with connectors and the seven professions where you might find help reaching new connections.

Chris Brogan can be found at [chrisbrogan.com]

Review of The Networking Survival Guide - Becky McCray

Networking is really relationship building, whether at a formal networking event or as a part of everyday life. Becky McCray reviews The Networking Survival Guide by Diane Darling, and shares some of the best tips to help build relationships and survive those formal networking events. Don't forget your networking survival kit: a pen that you can lose, a Sharpie to embolden your name on the name badge, breath mints, and business cards in a case. Diane Darling's website is www.effectivenetworking.com. Becky McCray is publisher of the Small Biz Survival site.

Interesting Introductions- Marco Terry

Guest contributor Marco says the secret trick to powerful networking is all in the introduction. He gives thorough examples, complete with sound effects. Tips included in this segment involve answering some great questions. "How do you help people?" "What results do you produce?"

Marco Terry is president of Commercial Capital LLC, a firm that provides business financing though factoring, invoice factoring and purchase order financing. He can be reached at (866) 730 1922.

Two Secrets of Networking - Heidi Miller

Heidi Miller discusses her introduction to networking by one of the masters, Bob Berg, author of ENDLESS REFERRALS. Two of the most important things Bob taught were a variation on Dr. Stephen Covey's "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood," which involves being helpful to others first and foremost.

Second, it is always more important that YOU get the other person's business card instead of getting your card out. This way, YOU can send a follow-up email, or send a card. It gives you something concrete, whereas hoping they do something with your card is passive.

Heidi Miller, shameless self-promoter and corporate spokesperson for hire can be found at Heidi Miller Presents.

7 Reasons to have an Advisory Board- Steve Rucinski

Steve Rucinski gives us part 1 of a two part series on advisory boards. He explains the value of the expertise of advisors, the benefit of their business contacts, and all the reasons that an advisory board for a small business is better than a standard Board of Directors.

Steve Rucinski can be found at smbceo.com.

Top 3 Networking Tips for Cowboys, Renegades, Damsels in Distress. –Laura Allen

Top Three Networking Tips for: Cowboys, Renegades, Damsels in Distress and the small business owners who can sometimes feel like a cowboy, renegade or damsel-in-distress while trying to pitch themselves at a networking event. Hear how Wyatt Earp pitched his gunslinging friend Doc Holliday. Learn what Kenny Rogers can teach you about networking. And, Never under estimate the power of brevity. It just might land you in the New York Times, like it did for Laura's partner Jim! Laura Allen, co-founder of 15SecondPitch.com uses lessons from The Wild West as her inspiration to create her Top Three Networking Tips for today. Laura can be found at 15SecondPitch.com

Ask for Help - Benjamin Yoskovitz

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs have a “take on the world” mentality, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But with the lack of resources small business owners and entrepreneurs have to deal with, asking for help is paramount.

And the key to asking for help is to realize it’s a dialogue between people, not just a
Q&A session where we can ask questions and expect answers. It’s a form of networking and when done properly can yield amazing results. When asking for help, it’s critical to provide something of value in return.

Ben Yoskovitz can be found at IGotNewsForYou.com.

Networking Means Trusted Relationships- Bill Gregory

Networking as a trust relationship. Bill cuts through the clutter of terms to share the bare bones of what networking really means to him.

Bill Gregory is an expert in patents and intellectual property, and he counsels small business people for a living. He is also a great public speaker. This is his first foray into podcasts.

Unfortunately, the audio for this episode is lost! If you happen to have an archive copy somewhere, we'd love to have it back!

Episode 2: Planning

The Great Big Small Business Show Episode 2: Planning


00:43 Listener Contribution: Nuggets from an Entrepreneurial Chicken: Jon Swanson

Following up on Episode 1, listener Jon Swanson encourages you to listen to your customers. Jon Swanson consumes small business products and services in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has been an administrative pastor for 6 years, following 15 years in higher education. He used to teach communication and organizational management. He now knows how little he knew then. He lives with his wife, college-age son and high school-age daughter.

05:00 The Essentials of Planning: Becky McCray

Planning your path, setting milestones, measuring, comparing and adjusting form a sytem you’ll use over and over in your business. Becky McCray walks you through the system, reminding you of some of the key concepts of successful planning.

08:10 Rockstar Planning: Chris Brogan

Planning projects can be one of the toughest aspects of running a business, but not the way Chris Brogan approaches it! Put on your rockstar attitude and listen in!

13:00 Planning to Avoid “Putting Out Fires”: Benjamin Yoskovitz

Small business owners and entrepreneurs will always be “putting out fires” and “wearing lots of hats.” It’s just the way it is. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be more prepared to handle crisis when it inevitably hits. Ben Yoskovitz provides us with 4 steps to help us get more prepared, keeping in mind that there’s always a shortage of time. Start working through these steps, and in only 30-minutes per day, Ben believes you can get more organized and better prepared to handle crisis. Ben Yoskovitz is co-founder of IGotNewsForYou.com.

18:30 Planning to Protect Your Ideas: Bill Gregory

Protecting your ideas requires planning on a different scale. Bill Gregory prepares you to take stock of and protect your key business ideas.

23:12 More About the Four Marketing Mistakes: Steve Rucinski

When marketing efforts are not successful, many companies wonder why. They sent out direct mail, or refreshed their Web site, or attended a trade show, but are left disappointed and frustrated with languishing sales and underused resources. Why isn’t the phone ringing? Steve Rucinski shares how to improve your marketing efforts in this segment.

28:11 The Four Keys to the Killer 15 Second Pitch: Laura Allen

Do you have trouble answering that eternal question, “So, what do you do?” If so, here’s an easy 4 Step formula to help you create a killer 15SecondPitch that you can start using immediately. One word of warning; you need to be willing to stand out from the crowd in order to create a great pitch. Sample pitches are included from three diverse professionals. Laura Allen shows you how to create a KILLER 15 Second Pitch in 4 easy steps. Laura Allen is the co-founder of 15 Second Pitch.com.

Episode 1: Talking to your customers

The Great Big Small Business Show Episode 1: Talking to Your Customers
Steve Yastrow says that a customer is “anyone whose actions affect your results.” So today’s show covers important information for every aspect of your business communications.

‘I’ is the New Black
The trend in communication is ‘authenticity of voice.’ As a small business person, you have a big advantage as a real person, and you are the message. Heidi Miller explains more about using your voice. Heidi Miller is a Shameless Self Promoter at Heidi Miller Presents.

Podcasting for Your Small Business
Throw out the term “podcasting” for a moment. What if you as a small business owner could have a conversation with a customer you haven’t met yet? The beauty of podcasting is that it starts a digital conversation with customers you didn’t even know you had. Chris Brogan picks a small business in his town, a retail ceramics shop, and gives you and idea of how that store could use podcasting to reach its audience/customers. Chris Brogan is Chief Content Officer at Grasshopper New Media.

The Five Biggest Marketing Mistakes
You know that marketing is critical to your business, and that it is changing rapidly. But do you know what the most damaging marketing mistakes are? In the first part of a series, Steve Rucinski walks you through the five biggest marketing mistakes that small businesses make. Steve Rucinski is a Small Business CEO and can also be found at Small Business Trends Radio.

The Power of the 15 Second Pitch
In a world of instant information, information overload, and a deficit of attention, your window for making a first impression is shrinking. You have to pick one thing to be known for, and then also find a way to be interesting, funny, clever or authentic if you want to get your message through. Laura Allen shows you how to find your one thing to build a powerful 15 second pitch. Laura Allen is the co-founder of 15 Second Pitch.

A Real ‘What’s In It For Me’ Example
Talking with your customers means speaking to them personally, no matter what method you choose to do it. Becky McCray tells a story of two different approaches she received this week, and which one actually got the desired results. Becky McCray is the publisher of Small Biz Survival.

Contributors

• Becky McCray www.smallbizsurvival.com
  Becky is our host. She is a small business owner and cattle rancher, with quite a bit of public speaking experience. Her blog focuses on small town small business.
• Laura Allen www.15secondpitch.com
  Laura is an experienced public speaker. Her focus is on social networking and making your pitch in 15 seconds or less.
• Chris Brogan www.chrisbrogan.com
  Chris is the media mogul in the making, head of Grasshopper New Media (our umbrella organization). He’s an experienced podcaster, blogger, and a talented visual artist.
• Ted Demopoulos www.demop.com
  Ted is a published author (Blogging for Business and What Nobody Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting) and is currently featured in three podcasts. He has a love of small business and technology.
  
• Phil Gerbyshak Make It Great!
  Phil Gerbyshak is a published author (10 Ways to Make It Great!) and writes a variety of articles about personal and small business branding, relationship geeking, lifelong learning and personal growth.
  
• Bill Gregory www.nwosu.edu/osbdc
  Bill is an expert in patents and intellectual property, and he counsels small business people for a living. He is also a great public speaker.
  
• Heidi Miller www.heidimillerpresents.com
  Heidi is both an expert in podcasting and an expert speaker. She is a specialist in presentation skills and trade shows.
• Steve Rucinski www.smbceo.com - For Small Business CEO’s, www.smbtrendwire.com - For All Small Businesses.
  Steve is an expert podcaster and small business leader. He’s been podcasting for over two years, and is working on launching a new radio channel.
• Jon Swanson Levite Chronicles
  Jon consumes small business products and services in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has been an administrative pastor for 6 years, following 15 years in higher education. He used to teach communication and organizational management. He now knows how little he knew then. He lives with his wife, college-age son and high school-age daughter.
  
• Colleen Wainwright Communicatrix.com
  Colleen is an L.A.-based designer-writer-speaker who started calling herself “the communicatrix” when she hit three hyphens.
  
• Benjamin Yoskovitz www.instigatorblog.com
  Ben is an experienced entrepreneur with over 10 years experience in web and software development businesses. He’s passionate about customer support, running a well-oiled machine, and humor.