As part of our OnlineOffice we offer web-services like web-hosting, email, online shop, online file-store and a wordpress blog. Blogging is most certainly the most inexpensive and direct way to communicate with possible customers, you can

• blog about your products and services; explain certain aspects better;
• blog about your company and your business mission;
• blog about your industry, comment on development and differentiate yourself;
• blog about case studies to do with your product and services.

In other words communicate with others on the internet and market your small business. There are many hosted services out there, which are more or less easy to use. Our approach has been to make the blog a plug-in to the basic web site you can setup without any IT skills. With our free 24/7 live support we can help with any issues, should you have any. problems.

For me blogging is a bootstrapper technique to attract new business without having to spend any more money. In the mid-ninties I used to tell people to get a web-site, today a web-site should be standard for any small business and a blog a must if you want to succeed in the future. You may believe that blogging is all about attracting global audiences, when in reality you can use blogging for very local markets, too. It certainly beats sending out leaflets and it is better for the environment.

If you have a story to tell, tell it - nobody else is going to do it for you. ST.

It’s a fact, that so many people will tell you that starting a small business is a bad idea, should not really influence your decision making at all. An here I include the so called business gurus - just ignore them.

Can you imagine what happened when

• Alexander Graham Bell announced he wanted a phone in every house - Western Union called it an “electric toy” and “totally out of the question”;
• Henry Ford said he wanted one car in every family - most felt the horse was here to stay.

The same happened to me still in 1995, when most people thought the internet was going to disappear faster than it had arrived - I remember the abuse very well. So why do people get so negative about other peoples business ideas:

• Lack of Vision is probably the biggest reason;
• Envy is another big reason - driven by the inability to take a risk themselves and the fact that they can’t bear to see others succeed;
• Genuine concern for your well being - they thing your are taking too big a risk, you are naive, and so on.

Take advise on certain techniques on how to run your business, but do not take advise on if you should start a business or not. As these examples above show, you never know how big a business will get.

People make it big in business, while I think it not necessary to make it big, it may never the less happen and it could be your turn next. ST.

Just got this question, I know there are others questions I have not yet answered, and I have already written my “The Week Ender” post for the week, what the hell, but I’m in the mood to have a go at “The System” again. I think I’ve mentioned before that blogging is therapy for me, and I’m sure some of you might even think I should be in therapy, so there you are.

I’m going to expand this question “slightly” into - I hope Walsh does not mind:

What are some of the social, political and economic issues small business face?

I should remind you that when I talk about small business, I mean 1 to 5 people businesses, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professionals, contractors, freelancers, self-employed, sole-traders and virtual assistants.

Social issues are clearly centered around the work-place, work life and private life. To many work is the central activity in their lives and the stresses and pressures of todays workplace are enormous, overtime, project pressure, sales targets, travel to and from the place of work, to name but a few. This all causes tension in a partnership, family and leads often to a dysfunctional family/private life. For example, we need dating agencies and web-sites to find partners, because we are too busy to find a partner in what used to be a “normal way”, and in this sense we have to be thankful for the service dating agencies and web-sites provide. These issues are prevalent in the group of small business owners too.

Striking the right work/life balance has become a personal choice item, with the advent of home businesses. Businesses run by entrepreneurs, often unhappy with the traditional choices in the work place, who have decided to set their their own work/life balance and run a business, not to grow and dominate the world, but to earn an often higher than average income, while retaining a certain amount of freedom and flexibility in their private lives. Parenting people often see a home business, as a way to have a family and stay active in their chosen field of work.

The growth in these kinds of businesses is explosive, while our society is technologically perfectly capable of sustaining this trend, our social work infrastructure in many cases is not.

This brings us to the political issues these micro and small businesses face. The fact that our society is wholly unprepared for this revolution in the work place and small business environment, has to do with the fact, that governments often receive no advice from actual participants in this new home based micro business economy. Current advisors are from big business, with virtually no experience or knowledge about micro business issues.

Of late universities and other institutions have started to produce a vast amount of valuable data, about micro businesses, which is often meaningless to the political elite in the western world. It is, in my opinion, wrong to expect our politicians to guide us into this new area of explosive micro business growth. Experience tells us that any decisions made will be often too late or even counter productive, market forces are much faster and more targeted to help these growing sectors develop.

In my discussions with politicians, civil servants and often big business, the term “Small Business Infrastructure” is rarely understood. The best we can hope for is the insight that less red-tape is going to help, for some politicians this is a frightening thought.

Economically, I feel we are at the beginning of a truly “golden age” of entrepreneurship. Our technical infrastructure, the internet, powerful micro-computer systems and mobile technology have helped to transform our way of doing business. The last piece in the puzzle was the advent of the software as a service industry, which took longer to develop than I had foreseen. With an almost transparent internet and IT infrastructure, the focus is getting back to the business objectives, even in very small businesses. If this is extended by a “Small Business Infrastructure“, which includes 24/7 technical and customer support, additional service offerings like bookkeeping, telephone answering, and similar services, the survival rate of small business startups, vastly improves.

If small business owners use outsourcing and bootstrapping techniques as a matter of cause, the fixed cost (over-head) structure in each of these micro businesses can lead to super efficient and hyper valuable home or micro businesses. I believe you can start a business with $20/£10 a month and grow your business, risk free (without loans) on the side, while still in employment, until the turnover is big enough to justify quitting ones day job.

You may feel about a business on the side as you will, the fact remains this is going on as we speak, trends we see in the online usage patterns of our OnlineOffice, certainly support this theory.

At the same time business failure is far less an issue, as the risk associated with these ventures is very small, with the right mental attitude of the entrepreneur towards failure, the learning effect of a failure can be enormous. Especially in Europe the old-fashined anti-risk strategies only serve to leave us further behind the other global economies in terms of technological leadership. The U.S. is testament to what an economy with a “normal prospective on business failure” can do.

Emerging economies like China, India and some others are learning from the U.S. and will outstrip our economies within the next decades, unless our politicians, will finally stop putting barriers up for micro businesses.

Last and by no means least, the positive ecological impact of a largely home based economy can not be underestimated. Endless hours of travel to and from the work place, meetings, office heating, and so on could be a thing of the past. Rural economies will be revitalized, multi-generation household will no longer be a thing of the past, this all will have a tremendous positive impact on our social infrastructure, child-care, crime and drug abuse, to name but a few.

While I have often quoted this in the past “it is not the answers that are the problem, knowing the question is”, I’m often left feeling with politicians it is both, not only do they not know the question, they don’t know the answers either. While I accept it is easy for me to sit here and say this, it does not alter the fact that it is only too often true.

It is almost the weekend now, and I’m off to see 10cc, or what is left of them. ST.

It is fair to say, that the only constant in life is change. While I always caution people, that change is not necessarily progress, it is also correct that change is what is creating new business opportunities every day.

It is living with this change and realizing the opportunities change generates that is the important process here. So how could a small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants go about seeing these opportunities?

The answer sounds easy, but requires patience, you need to look at your chosen market segment from the out-side. You have to become a judge, not a participant. Look at all the trends and judge them, find ways to improve upon techniques and find out what people are talking about.

Don’t be blinded by your own business, if you already have one. You must realize, that you can ignore or unfairly discredit someone else’s idea today, only for them to come back and kill your business tomorrow. Fighting a trend is futile and a wasted opportunity.

If something you see is better, appropriate it, in business that is called “best practice sharing” or “benchmarking” - within reason of cause! ST.

This question is hard to answer, because there are no simple answers here and the outcome of this situation could easily be fatal to the business and if you are personally guaranteeing this money - and you probably are - this could potentially be very serious for your personal life too.

The things that you need to do, in my opinion are:

• Find out why? If the reason given are not satisfactory, you will need to get legal advice.
• Try and extent the deadline? If that is possible reduce the overdraft as soon as you can, or negotiate a stepped reduction of the O/D limit, ie. by month or week.
• Try and change bank, ASAP.

People often believe it is somehow always their fault, if the bank changes their attitude towards them, that is not always the case. Banks will always try and make you believe it is, but in reality they my have new internal guidelines for handing out money - banks can get into “cash-flow” problems too. So - don’t automatically assume it is always your fault.

Banks may have the right to recall a loan or overdraft, but I’m not sure if they have the right to damage your business by doing so - especially if the reason for the recall is not your doing. So if it comes to the crunch, get legal advice. This is one of the reasons why I hate these, IMO, often legal but still unreasonable arrangements between banks and clients.

Many years ago someone made the the loan, O/D - umbrella analogy and it goes like this:

When the sun is shining your bank gives you an umbrella;
when it is raining, they need the umbrella themselves.

It is best if you do everything possible to not need banks in the first place, by bootstrapping, outsourcing, planning your business and keeping your fixed costs as low as possible.

Remember sometimes, attack is the best defense even with banks, they may need their money, but they do not need bad publicity either. ST.

Often you wonder why it is so difficult to get new business from existing clients or new clients, and often the answer to that is we build business barriers.

Time and time again you phone a business and you are confronted with the one of the following scenarios:

• Nobody answers the telephone - that is probably one of the biggest barriers I see over and over again, often not even a answer machine, although I don’t like those either; when you see this happening with virtual assistants (VA), then it’s no surprise that the business is not working;
• There is no contact information on the web-site or e-shop - would you buy from a website, if you don’t even know the name of the business or it’s address, I hope not, even worse if you don’t even have a web-site;
• No call back - you promise your customer a call back and you than forget;
• No staff training - it’s a big turnoff if only the “boss” knows about the products and service, because anyone knows there are only 24 hours in a day for anyone;
• No Credit Cards - you need to accept any type of payment possible, up the price by the credit card fee.

These are just a few points, you need to look at your business with your customers eyes. Learn when you go shopping or order items, write down if you think you got treated badly or if you enjoyed the experience, and then compare it to what you do in your small business or start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

How often did you get annoyed with some company, not because their product is bad, but it is hard work to place an order? I do very often, and tend to go where it is easy, even if the goods are more expensive.

Make it easy for customers to spend their money with you, it is that easy! ST.

Earlier in the week I wrote a piece on the 10 minute power meeting and on the 10 second marketing speech. The issue here is clearly getting things done in as little time possible.

Time management is the current buzz-word for small and micro business. No matter what kind of small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants you run, time is a finite resource for all of us, and we need to learn to use our time as best we can.

You would be forgiven to believe, that time management is only the obsession of managers, but is that really the case? I believe time management to be an integral part of your work-life balance strategy. If you get your work done more efficiently it will help the overall business efficiency, but at the same time get you out of your office sooner, allowing you to enjoy the better things of life.

Efficiency is also a bootstrapper trait, getting things done reduces overheads and other costs, you will see the results in your monthly planning exercise, your income will increase while your costs don’t change.

Here are some basic rules on time management - or cutting to the chase - as I would call it:

• Tell people how you want them to work with you, or how to use your time;
• Return the favor, treat their time as you want your time treated;
• No meetings without agenda;
• No long documents without a short summery;
• Make sure you know what is expected of you;
• Ask - don’t wait for offers, go and get what you need to do your task.

I’ll be writing more one this later, but I guess you get what I’m getting at. Like so often it is just the case of “taking some time” to come up with more specific ways to save time during your work day.

“Taking time” to increase your time management efficiency is not “wasted time”! ST.

I’m sure you have some expertise in a special (niche) field, it could be something to do with your training and education, or a hobby you really enjoy.

You can make money with this niche knowledge, and the boorstrapper blog has a post today on how to do that. Raj has posted a great list with an easy step-by step guide on how to build your authority and it centers around setting up a website and blog, nothing could be easier, even if you are not a tech. geek. This type of small business venture is extremely ego-friendly too.

I find this kind of entrepreneurship especially useful for parents at home. Just think about the number of highly skilled moms and dads at home enjoying parenthood, but wishing at the same time they could stay on top of their professional game. This is a fun, flexible way to stay involved and great for any CV should you ever want to go back to work for someone else - although I doubt that very much.

Long before you make it into the top 100 blogs of just about anything, you will find people willing to pay you money for ads, white papers, speaking at events, invite you to product launches, etc. - you will be an authority in your field, it’s just a question of time and passion.

You do not necessarily have to be that good at writing itself (look at me!), use a spell-checker - but be passionate about your topic and people will read your blog and respond. It is the a great feeling to communicate with your readers world-wide.

One final point, blogs are being sold like hot-cakes for serious amounts of money these days, do not under estimate the selling potential of a venture like this!

So just one question then - what are you an Authority in - tell me, I will read it? Setup and running cost for this, $20/£10 per month. ST.

A long email arrived over the weekend detailing the problem of building consensus about tasks and procedures in a small business employing 11 people. This problem may be more widespread than one thinks, and it has to be said it is a management problem.

This business owner was really concerned about the “destructive” effect of not building consensus in his organisation. The question I asked him in an email was “Why do you want to build consensus so desperately?” His answer was to make things happen more smoothly in his business and with less stress.

The truth is there is no need for consensus on each issue, what is really important is that things get done and someone has to make a decision how and when they get done - to put it bluntly - consensus is a nice thing to have, but not necessary. A company is not a democracy, so decisions are made from the top down.

This may sound harsh, but it is the only way to operate. I will listen to anyone in my team if we discuss issues, that is important, to get anyone heard and involved in the process, whatever that may be. I would be lying, if I would tell you I had not learned a lot this way, and that I have not changed my mind more than once due to good advice I received from my members of my team. At the end of the day though I make the decisions - the bug stops with me - or in this case you.

My team and I have an understanding, I will listen to all their concerns and suggestions, and my team accepts that in the end it is my decisions.

Running a company, however small or big, is about leadership, not consensus. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

When ever I meet new business people I’m curious to find out what they are doing, what is their business all about, so I ask. But too often I walk away and I’m still wondering what it is my new contact does, that is not good.

So here is something I think you should do, get a piece of paper - or even better use my comment form below - and create a little 10 - 15 second marketing and PR speech for your small business products and service. Here is what I tell people who ask - and some who don’t ask actually:

WinWeb provides an on-demand online small business infrastructure, including an OnlineOffice and LiveNet, a social networking community and online marketplace for small business and business startups in the US, Europe and Australia.

Every meeting is a opportunity for you and your business, so don not let it pass. Rehearse you speech until you can say it in your dreams, it will also help you to focus on your core business better. Your new contact can then work out if there is anything interesting for him/her in your portfolio. They may also remember you in month and years from now - so 10 to 15 seconds well spent.

So what do you tell others about your business, your products and services? Tell us about it, in a comment. ST.