Here are a few things that jumped out at me. Feel free to add some of your ideas in the comments.

Be Dynamic

Socially friendly sites are dynamic. That’s what attracts people and draws them in. They don’t want a static site that’s the same each time they visit. They want to engage with sites that are constantly changing. That are fresh. This why doing things like adding a blog, using widgets, and finding ways to bring what you’re doing offsite back on, are so important. Dynamic Web sites attract more links, they encourage users to keep visiting and they give people a reason to engage with you on a more consistent basis. These are all things the search engines are looking at and they’re very important to the success of your site. Make sure you’re adding dynamic content to your site. What makes up dynamic content? Check the blog tomorrow!

Encourage Sharing

Tell me when this sounds familiar:

• You go to comment on a blog but can’t figure out how.
• You want to share a great post on Twitter but don’t feel like shortening the URL yourself.
• You’d like to bookmark a post on Delicious but don’t want to look silly if you use the wrong tags.
• You’d like to email the post to a friend but there’s no option to let you do that.

If you want people to share your content (which you do), make it easy for them to do that. They’re not going to jump through hoops, but if you leave the breadcrumb trail for them, they’ll probably follow it. Be smart by finding ways to integrate Twitter into your site, remove obstacles to comment forms, and removing social barriers wherever you can. If you’re on WordPress, familiarize yourself with essential WP plugins to that will make your site more user- and social media-friendly. A lot of it’s already out there for you.

Support Your Supporters

Thanks to social media, people want to be rewarded for supporting you. They want to know that you heard them, that you read their comment, and that you noticed their passing you around to their friends. There are lots of different ways to show support to the people who support you either by linking, retweeting, commenting, or passing around your content. You can do it onsite by using plugins to recognize the most frequent commenters, creating member boards where users can rack up points for contributing or picking customers to highlight in your blog or newsletter each month. You can also support them offsite by doing things like sending emails to say thanks, offering freebies or giving out discount codes to people who perform a certain action.

Say Yes to Mashups

Resist the urge to ironclad your content. I know it’s hard, but the more open you are, the most connected your users are going to feel toward you. Instead of freaking out when someone uploads one of your commercials to YouTube, challenge them to do something cool with it. Host a contest for the best commercial mashup. Let them take your photos and Photoshop them in cool and unusual ways. Challenge them to use your jingle and make a video around it. Have them take your product out in the real world and video tape their experience with it. The more you can bring them into your community, the more loyalty they’re going to feel towards it. Don’t just make it easy for them to share your content, make it easy for them to take it and mess it up a little.

Connect Communities

Get involved in your own community, but remember that it’s not always about you. Get to know your community members and learn about what makes THEM happy. What are they working on? What are they doing? When you know, get involved in what they’re doing and offer help where you can. Find outside communities related to yours and get involved. You’ll drive people back to yours but you’ll also show that you’re not just about yourself. By conversing with other communities, you create more buzz and recognition for your own.

What are some ways you’re making your own site more social and user-friendly?

From Small Business Trends

5 Ways To Make Your Site More Social

This surprising fact — along with a number of other myth-busting facts — comes from a new report titled  “Homepreneurs:  A Vital Economic Force.”  The report is culled from the recent Network Solutions Small Business Success Index (SBSI) survey, commissioned by Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, along with some other federally-available data.

Successful homepreneurs are viable home-based businesses that provide at least 50% of their overall household income.  Roughly 6.6 million home-based businesses fit the homepreneur description, yet according to the report, these businesses are:

“… the Rodney Dangerfields of the small business world, rarely regarded as significant players in the U.S. economy.  Instead, the common perception is that home-based businesses are merely hobbies or side businesses contributing little to the business owner’s income or the overall economy.”

Steve King — one of the Small Business Trends Experts and principal at Emergent Research — authored the report.   And what he points out about these “homepreneurs” is sure to challenge long-held biases.

“Homepreneurs are operating significant businesses that are as successful as non-home based businesses,” states Emergent’s report. “Even more noteworthy, their home-based businesses are important contributors to employment and the overall U.S. economy.”

Steve commented to me:

“I was very surprised to see that the home-based business sector employs more people than venture-capital backed companies.  I was also surprised to see that home-based businesses scored as well on the Network Solutions Small Business Success Index as firms located outside the home. It turns out size and physical location aren’t predictors of competitiveness or success.”

The Small Business Success Index measures small business competitiveness on a scale from 1-100 along six key functional dimensions: capital access, marketing and innovation, work force, customer service, computer technology and compliance. Home-based businesses in the study scored within one point of non-home-based businesses in all six categories.

Here are some other myths this report puts to rest:

Myth: Home-based entrepreneurs are part-timers.

• Reality: The vast majority—75% — work full-time in their businesses.

Myth: Home-based businesses are short-lived.

• Reality: Nearly half of the homepreneurs in the survey had been in business for more than 15 years.  Just 20%  had been in business for less than five years.

Myth: Home-based entrepreneurs are solo entrepreneurs.

• Reality: Half of all homepreneurs have employees. The average number is two (including the owner), but 39%  have between two and five , and 10% have more than five.  Based on these numbers, Emergent Research estimates home-based businesses employ some 13.2 million Americans when you include their owners.

Myth: Home-based business owners don’t make much money.

• Reality: There are some 6.6 million home-based businesses that generate at least 50% of the owner’s total household income. Home-based businesses also account for about 34% of all small businesses that provide more than half of the owner’s household income.  As for dollar figures, 35% of home-based businesses generate more than $125,000 in revenue; 8% make more than $500,000 annually.

“Due to everything from advances in technology to demographic and economic shifts, the number of homepreneurs is likely to surge over the next few years,” the study concludes. That makes now a better time than ever to fully understand the impact of these businesses on our economy.

To read the full study and find out more about home-based entrepreneurs, visit the Network Solutions Small Business Success Index site.  Or, download the PDF report on homepreneurs here.

From Small Business Trends

Home-Based Businesses Employ More People Than Venture Backed Companies

Today, I’m pleased to announce the second video.  It’s about taking risks in business.

Even the most wildly successful entrepreneurs do not have 100% wins.  They sometimes win — but they also fail.   It’s just that the world remembers the wins which  soon overshadow the failures.

If you’re like most rest of us, you too have had some business experience that did not go as well as you planned.   But I am a glass-half-full person and look for the silver lining.  I find that the experience gained from failures leads to success.  In other words, it’s the lessons we learn from failure that help propel us eventually toward success.

“Next time it will be different,” I say to myself after something that does not go well.

The thing to remember is to have courage.  Resist the temptation to curl up in a little ball.   Instead — go out and try something new.  To overcome failure you have to take risks.

That’s the focus of this second video, “Taking Risks in Business”:

Again, I would like to thank United Parcel Service (UPS) whose sponsorship made it possible for me to do the videos.  I’d like to point out that several other people created videos in this series. You can find them all in a YouTube channel put together by PopURLS.  The videos include:

• “The Economics of Abundance” featuring Mike Masnick of TechDirt;
• “Over-Communication” and “Think Local” featuring Matt Marshall of VentureBeat;
• “Monitoring Your Industry” and “Social Networking” featuring Adam Ostrow of Mashable;
• and last but not least, yours truly, Anita Campbell, in 2 videos releases so far, including “Partnering With Suppliers” and this latest video, “Taking Risks in Business.”

Please watch all the videos on PopurlsBrown’s Channel on YouTube and leave a comment to let us know what you think!

From Small Business Trends

Taking Risks in Business

Grab a pen and check out what’s new, what’s concerning and what small business owners should be aware of.

Mike Blumenthal did an excellent job breaking down the changes in wording when Google performed its update last week and broke out five main changes. The top three are strict rules, while the bottom two are labeled “best practices” by Google.

1. Your business name on Google Maps must be your full legal business name [since removed]
2. PO Boxes do not count as physical locations.
3. A property for rent is not considered a place of business. Please create one listing for the central office that processes the rentals.
4. Use a shared, business email account, if multiple users will be updating your business listing.
5. If possible, use an email account with a domain that matches your business URL. For example, if your business website is www.giraffetoys.com, a matching email address would be you@giraffetoys.com.

It was that first guideline (which has curiously since been removed) that caught many local search experts and SMB owners to raise an eyebrow. Obviously, Google was trying to deter overzealous business owners from stuffing their listed business names with keywords, but it almost present some serious problems. For example, may SMB owners don’t use their full legal name as their company name and instead go by a dba. By forcing them to use the legal name, it would seriously affect their rankings.

Some commenters on Mike’s blog even noted that they weren’t sure of their full legal name because they operate under a different one. At the time, it wasn’t clear whether Google would accept a dba as a legal business name as the new guidelines made no mention of it.

Then, as quickly as the change had come, it was reversed with Google removing the wordage altogether. And then they wonder why businesses get confused.

The rest of the changes made by Google still remain and look mostly trust-related: Google wants to make sure that businesses aren’t creating PO Boxes to make it look like they have multiple locations. They want to be able to tie specific users with updates. And they want branded emails when possible to make things seem more legitimate.

If you’re a small business owner, these are definitely changes you’ll want to be aware of. I’m a little disappointed that Google won’t allow SMB owners to use a PO Box as their main address (again, there’s so much ambiguity its difficult to know if ALL PO Boxes are against guidelines or just ones set up for multiple locations). With so many SMB owners working directly out of their home, it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to make that information public.

If you haven’t read the new Business Listing Guidelines, I’d start on Mike’s blog and then read the hard version yourself from Google. However, seeing how fast Google can change the game making new guidelines and the removing them, it’s also really important that SMB owners become more pro-active about blocking and tackling. Make sure that your site is equipped to compete regardless of spur of the moment changes by Google. These things are going to become more important than ever.

The more you know, the better off you’ll be.

From Small Business Trends

Google Updates, Re-Updates Quality Guidelines

The software service takes a unique approach to financial information: All financial items are events on a calendar.

You put in your weekly bills, rent, phone, your salary, into a web-based calendar. The application then forecasts what your cash position will be in the coming weeks and months. The predictions work based on the spending, saving, and cash decisions you make today. As you go, PocketSmith takes the events and generates a six or 12-month cash forecast, with a daily predicted balance.

What I like about PocketSmith is that they have kept it very simple. They offer a helpful FAQ section and blog posts help explain the newest features. Equally important for many people, they allow you to synchronize or export your data to Excel, and to your calendar in Outlook, Google, or iPhone.  You can get started quickly with their four main navigation tabs.

• Forecast is where you set up your budget and forecast, and predict where you can be if you stick to your budget.  You’ll see where it says groceries clearly indicating a personal finances approach, but it doesn’t force you to keep their items.  You set your own.
• Accounts is where you add your bank accounts and actual spending, ready for analysis. This is completely optional. You do not have to set up the bank account info like many services. You can start without it.
• Compares allows you to compare how you have tracked against your forecast.
• Goals lets you plan to buy the items that you need. Whether you are saving for a new printer, computer system, or new office location; PocketSmith can predict when you can achieve your goals and pay for them in cash.

The only thing I didn’t like about the experience is a tiny point, but I didn’t prefer the testimonials section and would encourage them to make those believable. It was the only thing that made me question the service. A great quote by “Bobby” or “Stephanie” doesn’t cut it.

Who’s it for?

Again, it has been designed with the individual consumer in mind; however, small business owners and startups can easily use it to play “what if” scenarios against decisions made today. Small business owners could use this as a virtual, and very, very smart, financial controller.

PocketSmith is worth a serious try to help you with your cashflow today and future revenue predictions. They offer a free version, but the next level at $5/month is very reasonable.

Learn more about PocketSmith.

From Small Business Trends

PocketSmith: Financial Forecasting for Small Business

These findings are documented in Digital Exposure, an article by Elizabeth Svoboda published in the November 2009 issue of Discover.

Svoboda bases the article around “how political campaigns hire consultants to gather data for targeted mailings,” but she also sheds light on the ramifications of our online actions.

Let’s start with the innocent posting of hometowns and birth dates in social media profiles. This data is the determining factor in compiling your social security number, and if that number acts as a password to bank statements, you provide thieves with instant access to your accounts.

Consider research into health ailments, whether your own or another person’s illness. Because your computer maintains a specific online identification, insurance companies may learn through the I.D. that you visit health-related sites and deny your pending policy.

The same type of denial is probable if YouTube videos or pictures on photo-sharing sites tag your participation at parties and gatherings that clients, service contractors and outsourcing firms deem as questionable.

Editorial comments appearing in newspapers are confirmed by a staffer before it’s published but not so when participating on the publication’s online forum. If your anonymous comment leads law enforcement to believe you have knowledge about a criminal act, the newspaper receives a subpoena, and your computer is soon revealed as the source.

It’s a smart move to review your online activities and remove sensitive records or unflattering remarks. However, Archive.org’s WayBack Machine houses past data, making a clean sweep of your history impossible.

As a small or solo business owner, it’s your responsibility to not only keep your personal and business information private but to also secure client information collected through online carts and membership programs. It’s a difficult task, but a dose of healthy paranoia is manageable as you proceed with caution.

1. Secure sensitive Emails. Free online encryption tools are available that allow you to connect with clients without Email account providers matching your message with ads.

2. Search with confidence. Review data that may be considered as questionable through browsing services that don’t require cookies to be enabled.

3. Snap with caution. There’s nothing wrong with having a great time at events, but realize that some photo takers are clicking for cash, which can wreak havoc on your livelihood.

Is data mining by corporate firms and institutions going too far, or is it your responsibility, as an Internet participant, to protect your data?

* * * * *

About the Author: Shirley George Frazier is chief marketing officer at Solo Business Marketing, a professional speaker at worldwide business and marketing conferences, and author of Marketing Strategies for the Home-Based Business: Solutions You Can Use Today. Shirley twitters at @ShirleyFrazier and blogs at the Solo Business Marketing Blog.

From Small Business Trends

How to Protect Yourself Against Data Mining

Diane is one of our cadre of Small Business Trends Experts.  I was honored when she showed me her manuscript and asked me to write the Foreword.  I could identify with her book, because like many of us who start our own businesses, I had to learn how to sell, as I note in the Foreword:

One of the most terrifying parts of leaving the corporate world and starting your own business is the sudden realization that no money will be coming in the door unless you bring it in.

Eeek! YOU are now responsible for sales.

The old saying “Nothing happens until somebody sells something” takes on alarming new meaning when that somebody is you.

I’m not kidding when I use the word “terrifying” because that’s often the reaction when reality hits you. That was my reaction when I started my business.

Then I go on to talk about how the book takes away your fear as a business owner.  Once armed with knowledge about how the entire selling process should work — from prospecting to managing existing customer relationships — you will be confident and equipped to make those sales:

Fear is your worst enemy as a business owner. Fear plays with your head. It chips away at your confidence. It paralyzes you with self-doubt.

To be successful, you have to overcome fear and all the baggage it saddles you with. As a business owner, you need to feel invincible as you start each work day. You need to feel like David taking on Goliath. You need to feel that you know exactly what to do today – this day – to ask for and get the order!

One thing I’ve learned: to get to that invincible feeling you must master the sales process. When you feel in control of how to get clients and payments, your confidence will skyrocket.

This book lays out a sales system designed expressly for the small business owner/salesperson. It breaks down common scenarios, step by step, into techniques just about anyone can employ.

Lemonade Stand Simple is a short book — exactly 100 pages.  Now, if you’re thinking the book uses examples of kids at a lemonade stand … well, it doesn’t.  It is not campy.  The lemonade stand is merely a metaphor for simplicity.

Diane’s advice is always elegantly simple and clear.  (Go here to read a few of her popular articles and sample her style of communicating.)

This book is all about simplicity.  You’re not forced to learn some complex sales system, with a special set of terminology.  Rather, Lemonade Stand Simple addresses the sales process as everyday situations any business person may find himself or herself in.  For instance, Diane explains:

• how to conduct yourself at networking events;
• how to phrase a 30-second elevator speech;
• what to put in a sales presentation;
• how to grow relationships with existing customers; and
• why you need to be conscious of how you appear to others.

I especially liked the examples she offers of business owners and salespeople just like us. She  points out what they did right — or wrong.  The main example throughout the book is “Matt the print broker.”  But you also run into “Judy the donut shop owner,” and “Kate the virtual assistant,”  and “Dick the car dealer,”  among others.  They are presented to us in the sorts of situations you may find yourself faced with each week.

If you want to get better at selling so you can grow your business, pick up a copy of Lemonade Stand Simple.  It will help you know what to do more of and what to change — so you can grow sales.

From Small Business Trends

Review of Lemonade Stand Simple

Pubcon Las Vegas
November 10 -13, 2009, Las Vegas, Nevada

PubCon is four days of leading edge education and networking in over 90 sessions featuring 200 expert speakers in Social Media, Affiliate Programs, Search, and SEO/SEM. In its 8th year, PubCon was founded out of the rich and diverse base of WebmasterWorld forums. These aren’t people who just talk about this stuff – these are people who do this stuff.

The A-List alpha attendees to PubCon are among the most highly pursued demographic in the online marketing world. Highly educated and computer savvy, they’re early adopters of the latest web technologies and trends. These are the folks that any forward thinking company wants to reach and network with.

Social CRM Virtual Summit
November 11, 2009, Online

Participate for FREE in the largest online conference for social media and CRM professionals sponsored by Lithium Technologies.

* Ask for real-world advice by chatting live with industry experts and practitioners from companies including Barnes and Noble, Lenovo, National Instruments, Redfin, and NEW! – Best Buy, Juniper Networks, and T-Mobile
* Learn about social trends impacting your business from thought leaders: Mike Fauscette, Paul Greenberg, Bill Johnston, Brent Leary, Jeremiah Owyang, and Ray Wang
* Download dozens of valuable white papers, podcasts, and presentations
* Network with other like-minded professionals in a virtual lounge

Storing Customer Credit Data: Risks and Best Practices
November 11, 2009, 1:00pm EST, Webinar

Ramon Ray and industry experts Bryce Thacker and Darrel Welling of ProPay will be discussing topics such as risks associated with storing credit card data, who is trying to steal your information and how they are doing it, and how you can protect yourselves from data thieves.

They will explore the unique challenges small businesses face in securing their information, and explain steps and best practices to follow that can help to protect your business against data thieves.

The Social Consumer: B2C Case Studies & Roundtables
November 12, 2009 – New York City

This conference will showcase the best case studies that demonstrate how leading brands use social communications to achieve tangible business goals. Two interactive roundtable sessions will follow the case studies. Register using promo code SBT for a discounted rate of $155.

Leveraging Social Media
November 12, 2009, 6:30pm, WorkBar, Boston

Ultra Light Startups Boston is hosting its November event with an all-star panel including: Rick Burnes, Inbound Marketing Manager, HubSpot; Mike McDerment, President, CEO (Co-Founder) FreshBooks; B.L. Ochman, Director, whatsnextonline.com; Jay Rogers, CEO & Co-Founder Local-Motors; Paul Gillin (moderator), Social Media Marketing, Content Consulting and New Media Strategy

Is social media fad or paradigm shift? Will social media make traditional web advertising models (CPM, PPC, and PPA) obsolete? Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, Blogs, SEO, LinkedIn, FourSquare … how to join the social media conversation. Fans, Crowds, Community, and Customers:  Understanding how to address the different constituent groups that matter to your business.  Listening to the conversation and knowing when to speak up. What is “Inbound Marketing” and how is it different from the marketing we’ve been doing for the past 15 years.  Social media ROI fact or fantasy: How to get the numbers to prove it.

How to Build a Web App Business (Boston Workshop)
November 12, 2009, Boston MA

Join FreshBooks CEO, Mike McDerment on Thursday, November 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Virtual Phone System company Grasshopper’s headquarters for a workshop on building a web app business from A to Z. Mike will address many of the questions you have as entrepreneurs through topics such as building your app and your business, marketing and managing it, and financing. Seating is limited to 40 people and the cost is $100 per person.

New York Entrepreneur Week
November 16-20, 2009, New York City

New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) is the largest entrepreneurial movement throughout New York State. With 120 speakers from 50 cities, 18 states and 3 continents, NYEW unites the state’s diverse entrepreneurial community, providing an exclusive educational experience for all entrepreneurs- from enterprising young idea-stage innovators to hundred million dollar revenue generators. Use code SmallBiz09 and get 50% off registration.

Web Expo 2.0
November 16-19, 2009, New York City

Web 2.0 Expo features the most innovative and successful Internet industry figures and companies providing attendees with examples of business models, development paradigms, and design strategies to enable mainstream businesses and new arrivals to the Web 2.0 world to take advantage of this new generation of services and opportunities. Web 2.0 Expo is co-produced by O’Reilly Media and TechWeb.

Corporate Pro Bono Day [PDF flyer]
November 17, 2009, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Philadelphia, PA

CPBD provides microentrepreneurs the opportunity to discuss immediate and ongoing legal matters with corporate counsel from various Philadelphia-area businesses at no cost. Past volunteers include counsel from PECO Energy, Comcast Cable Communications, Pep Boys, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and many others.

CPBD will be hosted by The Enterprise Center, a minority business incubator program located in the historic American Bandstand Building in West Philadelphia. Prior to the counseling sessions, attorneys from Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC will provide a continuing legal education seminar on the essential legal needs of small businesses.

Small business clients must arrive by 10:45 to be guaranteed help. Businesses must register by November 12, 2009 by calling 215-523-9567 or e-mail  jvolunteer@phillyvip.org.

Legal Roundtable
November 17, 2009, 6:30-8:30pm, New York City

The Ultra Light Startups Legal Roundtable is an informal forum in which technology entrepreneurs ask questions on legal topics and have them answered by attorneys from top law firms specializing in fields of interest to tech startups. Attendees will benefit from having their own questions answered and also by listening to the answers provided to others.
Topics covered will include corporate formation, finance, intellectual property, and immigration. Registration is $10.

The FUNDamentals [PDF Flyer]
November 17, 2009, 9 am – 12 noon, New York City

The FUNDamentals Workshop is for tech firms, startups and entrepreneurial manufacturers interested in working with ITAC to commercialize new products in NYC. At this workshop attendees will have the opportunity to:

- Walk through funding strategies and learn about the pitfalls to avoid
- Get the scoop on Government R&D programs, including training on how to apply for SBIR/STTR grants
- Connect to a wide variety of programs across the City that can help you build your business
- Learn about NYC Energy Tech, ITAC’s new program to help you bring your energy product to the marketplace faster

If interested in attending, please send executive summary to Veronica Price via E-mail, vprice@itac.org or call (212) 442-2990.

The Mid-Atlantic SBIR/STTR Conference
Nov. 30 to Dec. 2,  Morgantown, WV

The 2009 Mid-Atlantic SBIR/STTR Conference will bring together federal agencies, entrepreneurs, small companies, large companies, researchers, colleges and universities, venture capitalists and angel investors, federal laboratory and university representatives, as well as experts who provide assistance to or have an interest in doing business with ventures at various maturity levels.

The programs award more than $2.5 billion annually to innovative small businesses. Eleven federal agencies participate in the Small Business Innovative Research program; five participate in the Small Business Technology Transfer program.

Opening Doors and Closing Deals on LinkedIn

December 4, 2009, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific time, Webinar

Platforms like LinkedIn help you leverage your professional network in a smarter more organized way. It is a key platform for your business to be creating leads and exchanging ideas. Join Scott Allen, author of The Virtual Handshake and VerticalResponse as they dive into the secrets of how to open doors and close deals on professional networks liked LinkedIn.

Learn:
- The basis of social networks like LinkedIn
- Why to join social networks
- How to create relationships on LinkedIn
- How to make social networks and email marketing work together
- Examples of successful social network users

Please see the complete listing of upcoming webinars.

Marketing  Sherpa’s Email Marketing Summit Expo & Awards
January 20-22, 2010, Miami

With targeted event programming that includes dual B2B and B2C learning tracks to meet your specific needs, you don’t want to miss this year’s powerful event. Email Summit ‘10 is being built with one thing in mind – that every session, every speaker and every piece of content help you in tangible ways to meet and exceed your goals in 2010.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar.

To get your event listed or to offer a discount or promotion to our readers, please contact us at events.smb@gmail.com.

From Small Business Trends

Latest Small Business Events

This is how I came across “Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career From Good to Great.” Rick Smith, the author, contacted me.  He asked if I was interested in reviewing his book and sent me an autographed copy.

Rick Smith is the co-author of the Wall Street Journal and Business Week bestseller The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, which has been sold into 13 languages. But before any of that, he was just an average, regular guy. And the book is his insight into how average, regular, relatively risk-averse people have found that magic spot that propelled their careers into the bliss many of us are seeking.

Leap is a fun read. I think it’s because Rick doesn’t write this book from some lofty “know-it-all” position of what it takes to be successful. He writes a little about his personal experience inasmuch as his own success shocked and surprised him.

There is something very endearing about that.  It makes you want to keep reading.

The Interactive Component of “Leap”

Books are becoming more and more interactive these days with their own websites and blogs.  Leap takes this idea one step further by having an entire web site dedicated to helping their readers uncover their own “Primary Color.” Primary Color is the concept Rick Smith uses to describe the unique blend of strengths, talents and interests that, when aligned, will propel your career success to new heights.

When you visit the Primary Color assessment site, you create an account (click the big green button).  Then you can take a series of assessments that will help you figure out how close you are to your ideal career. Then, every time you come back the site will show you your assessment results.

In addition to this, at the same site under “Resources” there is also a Leap Journal that you can download. In the book, it comes at the end of each chapter so you can answer the questions as you read.  The downloadable Leap Journal saves you from writing in your book in case you don’t want to.

Who Should Read This Book?

Just because “Leap” uses the word “career” in the title doesn’t mean that it’s just for job-seekers. Leap will give you lots of examples of how regular people reached career and entrepreneurial heights WITHOUT changing who they were and taking on undue risk. In fact, Rick has found that the happiest and most balanced people he profiled in the book became more fully themselves as a part of their career journey.

Entrepreneurs, business owners and employees at all levels will find this book a fulfilling read.

The book is really about self-discovery and determining your own strengths.  That is something anyone can benefit from.

What are the 3 Simple Changes That Propel Your Career from Good to Great?

The subtitle mentions “3 simple changes” but I couldn’t find it as a chapter or an obvious statement. So I e-mailed Rick and here are they are:

1. Find your way to a job that utilizes your strengths and passions every day.
2. Take that energy and apply it to an idea that’s Big, Selfless and Simple.
3. Move forward by mitigating risk, not adding more of it.

These aren’t really new ideas.  What makes them “changes” for most of us is actually making these three actions a priority in our lives. I’m going to end this review with the dedication from the book (spacing is just like in the book — as if it is prose):

“This book is dedicated to you, the reader.

It’s no accident that you are holding this book.
Your potential has been waiting for this day.
The time has come to explore an unexpected future,
to accomplish something beyond yourself,
to turn your career into a calling.

This is your invitation to stop working and start living.”

By the time you’re done with the book, you could be onto a whole new future.

What to Do Next?

Before you set out planning the next year or making resolutions you may or may not follow-through on, go get yourself a copy of “Leap.” It will entertain you and help you move your life and career to a place where you are engaged, excited and inspired.

From Small Business Trends

Take the “Leap” to a Richer, More Fulfilling Life and Career

There are plenty of groups talking about how the signs for small business are improving. Let’s take a look at a few of the statistics.

PNC Economic Outlook Survey

According to the report from the PNC Economic Outlook Survey, their new fall findings support PNC’s forecast that the U.S. economy has started a moderate U-shaped recovery in the latter half of this year that will continue throughout at least 2010. The PNC survey, which began in 2003, gauges the mood and sentiment among small and mid-sized business owners, who represent the bedrock of the American economy. The highlights include:

• Small business owners are less pessimistic about their company prospects than they were six months ago. In the spring of 2009, 36% were pessimistic compared to 25% during the fall 2009 survey.
• The economic stimulus has yet to trickle down to small business as 79% indicated they had not yet benefited.
• Overwhelmingly, 96% of small business owners said the economy has not yet begun to improve, but some (13%) think it’s on its way. This is twice as many as indicated such in the fall 2008 survey.

Small Business Administration (SBA)

The SBA had a tough year. At its fiscal close on September 30^th, they had approved less than 45, 000 loans, down 36% from 2008 and 56% from 2007 according to a report from WSJ.com. The good news is that, although slow, the American Recovery Capital (ARC) loan program which is part of the economic stimulus package seems to be picking up as more banks decide to participate.

Digital Insights Second Annual Online Financial Management Survey

The Digital Insight Second Annual Online Financial Management Survey was fielded by Decipher research in July-August 2009. The small business portion surveyed 500 small business owners across the United States. There’s good news in this survey for the banking industry. Nearly 70% of respondents (both consumer and small business) indicated confidence in the stability of their bank or credit union. Other highlights include:

• Sixty-one percent of small business owners are expressing optimism about their potential businesses growth.
• Seventeen percent of small business owners have increased their use of online financial management tools in the past year.

American Express OPEN® Small Business Monitor

More than half (55%) of entrepreneurs have an optimistic outlook on near-term business prospects, up from 45% in March 2009, according to the American Express OPEN® Small Business Monitor, a semi-annual survey of business owners. Key highlights of this report indicate small business are taking a conservative approach.

• Forty one percent say their top priority over the next six months is maintaining current sources of revenue with only one quarter (26%) focused on growing their business, which is the lowest number for growth in Monitor history.
• Half (49%) say they are not willing to take on financial risk to grow their business, an all-time high for the Monitor.
• Maintaining morale is a big issue. Three-quarters say morale has stayed the same, and nine percent say it has improved. In addition, approximately one in three (28%) business owners see offering financial incentives such as bonuses and paid time off as a way to increase employee morale.
• Sixty percent of entrepreneurs report cash flow issues this fall, a slight uptick over the previous fall (55%) and this spring (57%).
• The biggest cash flow worry for business owners is the ability to pay bills on time (26%).
• When cash flow concerns arise, business owners are most likely to dip into their own pockets: 32% of business owners will use personal or private funds, and one in four (25%) will put off purchases. Others will use credit or charge cards (13%), obtain and use a line of credit (12%), lease rather than purchase business equipment (4%), or get a short-term loan in order to improve cash flow (3%).

What It All Means for Your Small Business

Your situation may be entirely different than any of the companies surveyed, but the general consensus is that the economy is slightly better. Does that mean credit will loosen up and bank loans will be easier to come by? Not likely. You’ll have to continue to keep a sharp eye on expenses and pay close attention to collecting your receivables to stay afloat. Even in a flush economy that’s how small business should operate to stay on the positive side of cash flow. Today’s economy just makes the challenge a bit tougher. But I know you can do it.

Editor’s note: this article was originally published at the American Express OPEN Forum, and is republished here with permission.

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About the Author: Denise O’Berry is a small business expert who provides tools, tips and advice to help small business owners be successful. O’Berry is the author of “Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success.” Her blog can be found at Just for Small Business.

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