Work.com Small Business Community Blog

Join the Discussion: Naming a Business

There's quite a lively discussion going on at Phillip Davis' guide, Naming a New Business or Startup.  Phil responds to members' business naming questions, and Scott Allen and Phil offer their favorite creative tools for business naming. Read the full discussion, or try the naming tools Phil and Scott recommend:

• Rhymer Naming Tool - loads of naming fun
  
• WordNet - a thesaurus on steroids
• Roots of English - an etymological dictionary

By the way, Melissa Paxton needs a good Spanish name for her new Mexican/U.S. business. Any ideas for her?

Time to Start Reading Feeds: Google Reader

I just started using Google Reader to read my feeds and I am in awe of it. It is elegant, socially smart, and easy to use. Every day, I read zillions of blogs, on everything from small business to entrepreneurship to technology to social media to SEO. to Britney's hair. I was so excited that I immediately wrote a simple guide to Google Reader. (That's what I do when I'm excited, I write Work.com guides!)

Best of all, I created a new widget for this blog using Google Reader's ability to share feed items. I so often read something really cool and relevant to the small business community that I want to tell you all about, and now I easily can. See the new Small Business Feeds to Read widget on the right column of this blog, where I display my favorite feed items.

Have a favorite feed item you think I should display or a blog relevant to small business that I should add to Google Reader? (Once I have all of my favorite small business resources added, I'll share them on this blog). Let me know through commenting on this post or emailing me at skarasic[at]work[dot]com.

Happy feed reading, and may you be well-informed about everything your business needs to know.

Tags: google reader

Jake Winebaum Interview: socalTECH.com

Our very own CEO, Jake Winebaum, was just interviewed about Work.com by socalTECH. Here is a sample of the interview:

socalTECH: Why would people want to add content to your expert guides?

Jake: It's a lot of what's driven consumer activity on the consumer side, however here it's using more a business rationale. People want to be known as experts on a subject. They want to show off their expertise. There are two reasons for that. One is fame, the other is fortune. If you are an expert that writes highly rated guides, you get lots of visibility and activity. Each guide has a link to the profile of the expert, on that profile page you'll see the ability to contact the expert directly. What's in it for them--say you are an expert writing a guide to business in Latin America or Mexico -- chances are, someone reading that would be interested in engaging with you as a consultant. It's a great source of referrals.

Jake, who is also on the board of Shopzilla, and has been involved with Neopets, Jamdat, and Lowermybills,  goes on to predict a sunny future for the tech industry in Southern California.

Read the entire interview...

P.S. We know you wanted to ask...if you're curious about the reputed 7.5 million dollar purchase of the Business.com domain name (Work.com's parent company), Jake gives you the real lowdown.

Get Your Business Ready for Tax Season

Is your business getting ready for tax season? April 15th is coming soon.  But don't panic, Work.com to the rescue! Get the answers to your tax questions and save yourself time and money:

• Business Tax Basics
• Preparing and Filing Your Business Taxes
• Tax-Saving Strategies

If you need more assistance, check out this guide to tax help, browse the entire list of tax guides, or if you prefer to deal with a human being, learn how to find a great accountant. If you are a great accountant, help the rest of us out and write a guide glittering with gems of your tax wisdom. The entire Work.com community will be grateful!

New Work.com Members of Note

I'd like to introduce a few of the newest Work.com members, who are starting and running businesses all around the globe.

Darren Scroggins of New Braunfels, Texas, is starting his first restaurant. Mike, don't do anything before you read all the how-to guides for opening a restaurant! Twizzl is the VP of Marketing for a company called MyTango, which enables mobile phone payment transactions. Twizzl, we're hoping for a guide that teaches us how we can set up our businesses for mobile transactions. Matt Motsick of Lenexa, Kansas, has a website called IntlQuote which provides free international shipping quotes. Looking forward to a guide to international shipping from you, Matt! rudketten of Aalen, Germany, is from the company RUD which manufactures steel link chains. rudketten, can you tell us what to look for in a quality steel link chain? Kevin Burke of Chattanooga, Tennessee, owns Varsity Team Sports and Apparel. Have any good advice about ordering promotional items, Kevin?

Finally, xiao yujie, a student from Nanchang, China, joins the entrepreneurial spirit of the Work.com community:

I am just a student and i love international business very much, this is the first experience for me. I want to sell some little things to the foreigners, especially the chinese traditional things.

Anyone have any advice for xiao yujie?

Increase Your Online Visibility Using Work.com

Are you looking for new ways to spread your reputation and increase your online visibility? Listen to the recent Small Business Trends Radio Work.com interview, where you can get key tips about how to become known as an expert through using Work.com. Anita Campbell, the interviewer, summarizes the benefits of using Work.com:

• By contributing to Work.com's large database of 1,400 how-to business guides and developing your own guide, you become published and viewed as an expert in your field. (Write a guide!)
• Work.com guides become indexed by the search engines providing additional visibility. Keyword research as well as using the proper terms related to your topic will benefit the visibility of your guide within the search engines. (Find a keyword tracker tool to use!)
• Your guide may bring additional contacts and networking sources to your doorstep, as well as supplement your marketing efforts. Begin by emailing your guide to clients and colleagues, linking it to any web sites you may have, and including it in your bio. (See an example of linking to one's guide.)

One more benefit – if you are discovered through Work.com, you may be the next one doing interviews!

Like Having an Uncle in Retail

Looking to start a retail business and have lots of questions? Work.com has many resources for growing your retail business, including starting, leasing, advertising, finding equipment and supplies, growing your business, and discovering retail trends.

If you have retail answers, write your own guide!

Office Romance

Mary Sit, from Houston, Texas, shares her advice for dealing with romance in the office. Here are Mary's tips and tactics for mixing love and business:

• It's safer to date a peer in a different department rather than someone in your section.
• Break up on a Friday, never on a Monday.
• A spurned lover can file a claim of harassment – so be kind and respectful when ending the romance.
• Being in love can result in happier employees, and that usually means increased productivity and better health.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tie Your Business Idea to Your Life's Purpose

William Keyser, managing director of WorkSavvy and author of 6 Work.com guides, just published his Guide to Clearing Your Head Before Starting Your Business. Keyser ties the process of starting a business to clarity about the deeper purpose and contribution of your life.

Here are Keyser's 10 tips to consider as you're starting a business:

1. Be sure of the purpose and contribution of your life
2. Commit to a business vision and establish its values
3. Be passionate about the business idea
4. Set your business model: the means to generate revenue
5. Have a clear intention to start and set measurable objectives
6. Use money for measurement, not as a goal
7. Offer more in use value than the cash price
8. Spend as little as you can, don't be a spendthrift
9. Get selling, keep selling and sell some more
10. Do it now - there'll be no better time

Minority Business Resources

Wondering how you get minority-owned business classification? Find minority business resources at Work.com, where you can learn about minority business programs, how to become a minority supplier to big business, and resources for African-American, Hispanic-American, and Asian-American business owners.

Tags: minority business