Giving away Google Voice and Wave invitations

I have some invitations for the Google Voice and Google Wave services. I'd like to give them to you, small town business folks.  UPDATE: The invitations have all been awarded.

Wave
To me, Google Wave is mostly a collaboration tool. It's kind of like email, and kind of like a chat, and kind of like a shared document. Well, that explanation fell flat. You might want to read the About Google Wave page.

The Wave invitations are not immediate. Once I submit your email address, Google will add you to the next batch they are releasing, so it may take some time to receive. I have 25 of these invites.

Voice
Google Voice is a service for managing phone calls. It will transcribe your voice mails, and text them to you. It gives you control of who calls you and where (your cell, home, or work, or your sister's place). If your local phone service is knocked out, you can re-direct your Google Voice number to ring a new place.You can read more at the Google Voice page. I have three invitations to share.

If you're interested, email me - These invitations have all been awarded.
And, to make this interesting, include a sentence or two of introduction. I'll post some of the best introductions, to share with everyone. 

Waves on Loch Ness; photo by Becky McCray

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Doing business in more than one state

Andrea left this question as a comment:

I have an online business based in California. I currently ship from Nevada. I want to also start shipping from Illinois. My question is -do i need a business license and/or to pay taxes in NV and IL?

Jeanne Cole, our contributor from the Small Business Development Center, offered this information about sales taxes:

My general answer is that they would need to check with each individual state because many are different. In OK sales tax is based on point of delivery. So if you shipped out of state you wouldn’t charge any OK sales tax. If you ship from Alva to Woodward you charge sales tax for the city of Woodward and the county as well as the state, but as I said, each state is different!

Each state has a revenue office of some sort. In OK is it the Tax Commission; other states may call it something different, but they all have them. (Illinois is Dept. of Revenue) and there is a site for multistate help http://www.mtc.gov/ that could be beneficial. If all else fails, a simple Google search for that states agency offices should get them where they need to go.

GlennaMae Hendricks, our income tax expert, offered this income tax information:

Well, the easiest one is Nevada which levies NO income tax.

Income Tax in Nevada
The Nevada Department of Taxation receives an enormous number of inquiries regarding issues relating to Federal Income tax. The State of Nevada does not participate in the administration of Federal Income Tax nor does it levy a State personal, business or corporate income tax.

Illinois, on the other hand, imposes a state income tax.

The Illinois Income Tax is imposed on every individual, corporation, trust, and estate earning or receiving income in Illinois. The tax is calculated by multiplying net income by a flat rate. The Illinois Income Tax is based, to a large extent, on the federal Internal Revenue Code (IRC).

The key here seems to me to be "earning or receiving income in Illinois." Which would indicate to me the situs of the income is the governing act--not the shipment from (unless the "shipment to" is within Illinois).

Most states which do assess income taxes, do it based on the same basis as the sales taxes: i.e., if I (who live in Oklahoma) buy something that originates in Kansas, the income for the seller is earned in Oklahoma.

Clear as mud?

Interstate tax issues are notoriously complex. I think the best advice is to talk with a local source of information. I'd start with the local Small Business Development Center in the state where you have the question.

And if you have a question about small business, feel free to leave us a comment, or ship us an email.

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How to find local photos for your tourism projects

Photos help tell your tourism story and make your place come alive. But the catch is that you never seem to have enough photos, or the right photo you need for this story. You could go online to find photos, but what are the restrictions on using photos you find online?


Every photo you see online is copyrighted, unless it is specifically labeled otherwise. That means ask first.  

If you ask permission to use a photo from a local photo sharer, they will likely be flattered and happy to share. If you just use it without asking, you are likely to have an angry person on your hands when they find out.

Creative Commons

With the enormous amount of online sharing, Creative Commons licenses are a popular way for photographers to give open permission for folks like you to use their photos, with certain restrictions. You may see the phrase "Creative Commons," the (CC) abbreviation, or one of the Creative Commons badges. (There's a Creative Commons badge in our right sidebar at Small Biz Survival.) On Flickr, you may see the phrase, "Some rights reserved" with a link to the Creative Commons license.

So, what are the "certain restrictions" I mentioned? The photographer can choose to require any or all of these limits:

• attribution
• share alike
• non-commercial, or
• no derivative works. 

A full description of each restriction is on the Creative Commons license page.

The best place to look for Creative Commons licensed photos is Flickr. Use the Flickr Advanced Search, and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see the Creative Commons logo. You can search only for photos you can use commercially, or only ones that allow you to edit them.

Public Domain

Some photos are in the public domain. That makes them free for use without any restriction.

Not every photo you find online is in the public domain. Most are not. 

Which photos are public domain?

• Very old photos, such as those published before 1923
• Other photos where the copyright has expired due to age
• Photos where the photographer has chosen to release them and has explicitly labeled them as public domain
  
• Photos prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties
  

Because of that rule about federally-created photos, most federal agencies have public databases where you can download photos that are free to use. A few of the most tourism-friendly photo databases are:

• US Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library. Especially look at the categories for Recreation, Wildlife, and Habitats and Landscapes.
• US Geological Survey Photographic Library. Check out the National Parks section for your local parks, museums and seashores. Lots of terrific historical photos, too. 
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library. Of course, lots of weather related images. Nice selection for America's Coastlines.
  
• USASearch.gov Image Search. This will let you pull up photos from all across government websites. Use caution, because not all the photos returned are public domain. You have to check on each site to be sure.

 

Birdwatching photo by the USFWS, of Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Texas.

Windmill photo by NOAA, near Leedey, Oklahoma. 

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How to Write Your Business Bio

by Deb Brown

• What is a bio
• Start with short overview
• Use professional picture
• Short detailing of what you do
• Fuller accounting of what you do
• Contact Info

Let’s first determine what a bio is. It’s certainly not a resume. A resume follows a structured format of Education and Professional Experience and is usually in chronological order. It’s designed for prospective employers to scan and decide if they want to talk to you. You may be required to submit a resume or Curriculum Vitae for things like grant funding – so it is a good idea to have one available.

A bio is designed to showcase what you know and do so that people will want to do business with you. If you have a blog, your bio makes a perfect About Me page.

It often starts with a short overview that paints a picture of who you are. It tells a story. If you were to sit down over a cup of coffee with an old high school classmate you haven’t seen in years, what would you tell them about what you do? You wouldn’t punch the air with bullet points – you would tell a short story. Do that in the overview.

This is also a good place to insert a professional taken picture of you. That doesn’t mean you have to wear a suit and tie if you don’t wear one every day. It does mean a picture taken of you by a professional. Do you have a local photographer you can use? If not, why not call the local high school and see what their photo club can do for you?

The next section will be a short detailing of what it is you do – what you want the reader to know about your business. This is designed for the reader who doesn’t read the entire document! That reader will still have received an overview and a short detailing of what you do. Decisions are often made on that information alone. Use your bullet points in this section.

The third section of your bio will be a fuller accounting of what your business entails. Of course write about the services you provide or the products you sell. Also include where you can be found online – your social media presence. Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Flickr, your blog – these are all places that create a feeling of trust for your possible client. They indicate you have developed relationships with people. If you have any accolades to crow about, this is the spot as well. If you’ve been published, share the information. If you’ve been mentioned in an article, share the link.

Finally, round out the bio with your contact information. If you have regular store hours, include those. List your name, email, and phone numbers.

Every small business owner should have a bio. You can read mine at http://debworks.blogspot.com/2009/12/who-is-deb-and-what-is-debworks.html

Photo of Deb by Becky McCray

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Which kind of small town business are you

All small town businesses are different, and all customers are different. Mix those two realities together, and people end up with all sorts of small town business experiences. Here are a few comments I caught on Twitter.

Small town business ftw! Christmas shopping resumes :)
8:18 AM Dec 21st @siriuslyheather

You have to love small town businesses. I ordered 2jars of honey and was told to send them a check and add on shipping when I get it
6:19 AM Dec 22nd  @tcoratti Tom Coratti

i hate small town business!!!! cleaning until 3 maybe then she will be open!!!
10:45 AM Dec 22nd @georgiapeach920

i must say I experienced two great customer service experiences today. small town businesses & great customer service for the win!!
4:40 PM Dec 23rd   @lilkup Mike Kupferer

What kind of experience did your customers take away from your small town business? What actions are you taking to make it better? 

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Merry Christmas in the Brag Basket

Every week, I open a Brag Basket. This Friday happens to be Christmas, and it's a great time to share. (That's what the Brag Basket is for: sharing.)


Take a moment this weekend to introduce yourself or share some good news. Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community. 

This particular basket is open from Dec. 25-27, 2009.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

Photo by Becky McCray, of my sister's family.

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The invisible shooter

In a Father Brown detective story, a man is dead. It is clear that he has been killed. There were two guards at the door who knew the man was inside. No one entered, no one left.  Father Brown, a priest with detective instincts, keeps asking  Finally, the guards acknowledge that the postman had come, but no one else.

The murderer disguised himself as a postman, knowing that no one would notice him.

Many small businesses provide services which no one notices. Bill Heins is one of those people. He is a photographer, the kind that shoots senior pictures and portraits and large group pictures. He works quietly, thoughtfully, graciously.

He sets up in the lobby of the church, ready to take pictures of children in their choir uniforms. Parents hover, he waits, and then talks to the child about how to sit.

While sixty singers file onto the platform, he stands quietly, watching, planning. His wife, Anita, works her way slowly across the front row of children, adjusting uniforms. Bill waits and then directs the children, one by one, group by group, row by row. As he aligns the children, it's clear that he has experience with groups.

And he does. Before he started taking pictures, he directed high school choirs.

He never yells. He never demands. He simply gets them ready and takes pictures. And then, last shot taken, he packs everything and disappears down the aisle.

I never think of him as a small business owner. I really don't think of him much at all. Formal pictures are, for me, a necessary evil. In an age when everyone can take pictures, who really notices a quiet guy who shows up, shoots, and leaves.

Even all of us who have copies of his pictures. We look at the choir picture and hear music. We look at our high school seniors, stopped, looking at the camera, smiling and think, "I love that smile, I love that kid." We never think, "I love Bill."

Which means that he's been successful. An invisible shooter.


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5 Things I Learned When I Moved My Business to an Island

I met Judy Dunn when we both guest posted for The Marketing Guy Jay Ehret. We've been Twitter friends ever since, and I'm so excited she finally shares her small town business story.

On Rural Small Biz Success:

5 Things I Learned When I Moved My Business to an Island


There are small towns. There are rural areas. And then there are islands. Islands that have no bridges, only ferries.


Ferries that blow their horns on foggy days. That break down at the worst possible moment, usually when you have an important meeting with a new client. Ferries that will take you back home if you show up in line before the last one leaves the dock, at 7:30pm sharp.


If you arrive 10 seconds late, the ferry workers in their bright orange vests are already pulling the thick ropes in and locking the gate. And you are stuck in a hotel room on the mainland, cursing that "careful" (substitute another word here) driver who chugged along at 17 miles an hour all the way along the tree-lined road that leads to the ferry landing.


You would have made it if not for her.


We found this little piece of heaven called Anderson Island, Washington five years ago. A 7.7-square mile piece of land in south Puget Sound, with 1,200 residents year-round, 4,000 in the summer. On a whim, and with only a faint promise of high-speed Internet ("sometime soon," the telephone company said), we bought a house overlooking the water.


We settled into an idyllic life. A mama deer who visited us each spring to show off her fawns. Raccoons, squirrels and birds. A bald eagle that made its nest in the towering fir tree across the street and taught its babies to fly as we watched, amazed.


But there was a tradeoff. For a marketing firm with graphic design files as big as 250 megs to upload to clients, there were times when I said to Bob, my husband and biz partner, "What were we thinking?"


When the switch from dial-up to fiber-optic Internet finally happened, we were ecstatic.


There were other things we learned. Even if you are not on an island, if you are a small business in a little town or rural spot, you probably know what I'm talking about.


5 Things I Learned When I Moved My Business to an Island


If your clients and customers are not your neighbors, the success of your business depends even more on getting what you need to stay afloat (no island pun intended). Five things I learned:

1. Get to know your providers and vendors. You will recognize them because it's always the same person. But how well you get to know them—and how you treat them—will impact on your business in very real ways. The woman in the post office, who answers your questions about her son in Iraq, adds the extra postage when your deadline-sensitive package to a client comes up short. Her voice mail message says, "Just drop by the change next time you are in." Jack, the FedEx driver, who loves fishing, hand delivers your package when it's pouring outside. Tony, the Internet repair guy, whose wife needs advice on starting an online jewelry store, works overtime to find your problem. And before he leaves, he gets on the phone to the finance office because he thinks he can get you a better phone rate. (And he did.) It doesn't take much effort. Just be nice. Engage them.
   

2. Rethink your ideal client. This took a little time—and some courage. Most of our clients handled the change to working by phone and email without missing a beat. But we found that some of our "old school" clients, who frequently insisted on face-to-face meetings, were eating up the time disproportionately. Since traveling to Seattle turns an hour meeting into 4-5 hours, depending on the ferry schedules, we decided to gradually weed out those clients and replace them with ones who work comfortably over distances and in digital environments. It was scary at first, but it was the best move we could have made.
   

3. Don't make your location an issue. There are times when it is important to sit down with a client. When a huge project involves several decision-makers in a company, I offer a range of open times and suck up the time loss. Whining about a situation I have chosen to put myself in is the best way to make a client think twice about passing another assignment on to me. So I smile and say, "Sure, I'd be happy to stop by. Let me take a look at my calendar."
   

4. Develop an online support network and make friends with social media. This continues to be one of my best strategies. I have replaced some of my physical networking with clients and colleagues with involvement on social media platforms. My writer friends stay in touch by email. We are scattered over three counties, but we share resources—and job referrals—regularly. My marketing colleagues on Twitter are there to help with problem solving. And I have met talented and generous people who have invited me to guest post on their blogs or be a podcast guest.
   

5. Don't shortchange your in-person networking. Create a face-to-face networking plan that works for you.Bob and I choose 2-4 real time networking events a month. One or more is usually an evening event that requires an overnight stay. One social networking site in particular, biznik.com, allows us to build relationships online and nurture them with offline workshops and networking events we schedule in the Seattle area. It's the best of both worlds.
   

What about you? What have you done to develop a support system for succeeding in a small town or rural setting?


Judy Dunn is co-owner of Cat's Eye Marketing near Seattle, Washington. She has a passion for helping her clients develop a unique online presence with websites, blogs and social media profiles. Judy writes about online marketing for small businesses at catseyemarketingblog.com.

Photo by Bob Dunn, used by permission.

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Claiming Business Use of Your Car

If you are going to use the standard mileage deduction, you need to keep track of the business miles driven. There are two ways to prove to the IRS how many miles you have driven your car for business. Under either method it is very advisable to record the odometer reading on the 1st day of each year.

1. Keep a contemporaneous log each time you drive for business. This means record the mileage reading before beginning the business use and then record the mileage reading from the odometer when your business driving is finished. Record the date and the purpose of the business use. Incidental personal use during the business use (such as stopping for lunch) can be disregarded.
   
2. OR you can do what the IRS refers to as sampling that is representative of the use throughout the year. This method is particularly useful if your business driving is much the same from month to month or week to week.
   
   

   Example. You keep adequate records (under method 1) during the first week of each month that show that 75% of the use of the car is for business. Invoices and bills (other business activities) show that your business use would be much the same for the rest of each month. Your weekly records are sufficient evidence to support use of 75% of your total annual mileage for business.
   

   
   

Please note that the standard mileage deduction method must be used for the first year in which you use the car for business.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2009, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 55 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2010, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 50 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 16.5 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

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Surprising business intelligence from your library

Your library is hiding some surprising business intelligence, or at least, I was surprised.

At the Michigan Small Town Conference, I sat in on the session on economic gardening. The librarians presenting the session talked about all the cool databases of information they have access to, that the general public does not. And how useful this was in generating business intelligence for the small businesses in the economic gardening program. How they could access market information, data on competitors, and more.

WHAT? Information I can't get at?? It can't exist. Can it? 

Well, yes. It does. It's in databases you have to pay to access. Business databases, health-related databases, newspapers, legal information. In a world where we are used to all free information all the time, we forget that private companies have done the work of compiling useful, targeted information into massive databases, and they make money by charging for access. 

Your library, or its state system, paid for the access rights to some of them. If you're lucky, you can access these databases straight from your local library. If you're really lucky, and you live in Oklahoma, you can get permission to access these databases from your own location.

In Oklahoma, the project is called Digital Prairie. Through it, you can access EBSCO Host, an astonishing resource of full-text articles from all sorts of business journals, and more specialty publications than you could possibly need. I am just floored by the breadth and depth of information available. So far, I've used it to find examples of comparable businesses and to look up scholarly articles on business planning.


Okies, take yourself to the public library right now, and ask about it. You may have to persist, because I don't think it gets much use by the public. You might want to print out this page from the Digital Prairie site, the one where it says, "To use EBSCOhost from a home or office computer, obtain a special login and password from your local librarian."

If you are from somewhere besides Oklahoma, tell me what surprising resources you have at your local libraries. 

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Draw the line between free and paid

Here's another illustration of the consultants' ongoing issue of where to draw the line between free and paid.


A company approached me about doing a consulting job in social media. I was one of several they were talking to, they told me. We talked by phone. They told me how they needed help to get started, and that they wanted a full day of on-site consulting. A jump start, of sorts. Sounded good to me.

I provided some ideas via email. We talked some more. They asked for more details. I gave a more specific outline of the strategies I proposed.

They asked for a more detail: a report on how much time we would spend discussing each tool (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogging, and other resources I'd recommend), and the tactics they should use with each one. This was needed for submission to the CEO, to consider whether to hire me, they said.

That is where I drew the line. I declined to develop that kind of customized plan for them, without compensation.

What's your opinion: did I stop too soon, or at the right place? What's your basic rule for drawing the line between free and paid? 

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The Brag Basket is not really about bragging

Every week, I open a Brag Basket, but it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing. It's here so you can introduce yourself or share some good news.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community. 

This particular basket is open from Dec. 18-20, 2009.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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4 ways to jumpstart your small biz in 2010

We're 15 days from 2010. It's time to give your small business a jump start. That means planning, record keeping, and goal setting. I have four suggestions for you.

1. Draw up a Simplified Business Plan.

I know you don't want to do a big, five pound business plan, like you would do to apply for a loan. That's why I made up the Simplified Business Plan a decade ago. (really) I did a version of this for all my businesses last year, and I've just updated it for 2010.

Here are the parts I think are important for an annual mini-business plan:

1. Describe the business. One sentence will do it. 
2. Tell about your markets. List some existing clients, and a one sentence description of your ideal new clients. 
3. Set measurable goals for the year. You may want to start with your 2009 results, or you may want to get away from that, and start fresh.
4. List the actions that will take you towards those goals.
   

2. Write a Simplified Marketing Plan.

Once again, you don't need a huge formal document. You just need something to help you move forward. Thus the Simplified Marketing Plan. Here are the four steps:

1. Name and describe each market you need to reach. Your business probably has several different markets or several different classes of customers.
   
2. Tell what methods you will use to reach them. Each class of customers can be reached by different media or methods. By listing all the different potential methods, you can start the process of deciding which to use.
   
3. Establish the cost in time and in money. Each media or method takes time and money to implement. This is one of the best ways to decide which to use, and which to set aside.
   
4. Mesh this with your daily habits. This is where you take action. Find ways to make marketing part of what you do every day. Also look for ways to make the most of each action, to make your action work across more than one of the different media and methods you listed.
   

The combined Simplified Business Plan and Simplified Marketing Plan for my multi-part consulting businesses fits on two pages. (OK, so it's two pages single-spaced, but still. It should be short.)

3. Improve your record keeping systems.

Most small businesses have a serious weakness in their financial record keeping. (Admit it: you know I'm right.) Here are several ways you can improve your system, starting with the smallest businesses and working up in size:

1. Glenna Mae's Simplest Accounting Method: the envelope system. If you're a small enough business to stick with a simple paper solution, this is the system for you.
2. Outright.com simple online system. If you want an online solution, but something very simple, I like Outright. It's free, it's simple, and it lines right up with US income tax categories. If you are using the popular FreshBooks invoicing system, the two integrate easily.
   
3. WorkingPoint business management system. This online tool brings accounting together with invoicing, contacts, inventory and more. There is a free level and a paid level. I've played with it some, and I like the way it works.
4. QuickBooks software. It's not free, it's not online, but it is familiar and effective. I've taught courses on QuickBooks a whole bunch of times, and I've worked with Intuit on a couple of projects: I judged two contests for Intuit, they gave us some copies of QuickBooks to give away, and they even bought an ad from us once. I'm a fan and a user of QuickBooks. So, we've met. Nothing I've found works better for complex small businesses.
   

4. Make an index card reminder.

Take the list of goals you made in your business and marketing plans, and transfer it to something like an index card. You want something you can refer back to each and every week as you work. Because that is point of planning: to influence your behavior.

I did this last year, and I'll update it for this year. It makes a terrific guide for doing regular check ins. How am I doing? It's easy to tell, because I have this index card with all my goals on it!

Your take

What are you doing to launch into 2010? What works best for you?

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Do Facebook ads work for tourism?

Facebook ads may be one of the most underutilized forms of local advertising.

No matter how small your town, I'll bet you have locals present on Facebook. My home town of Alva, Oklahoma, has hundreds of Facebook users. And when you start thinking about how many people in your target area are online, you'll realize that it's quite a few. I think this especially applies to tourism.

Beckie Nix with the Lynchburg Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau in Lynchburg, Virginia, told me about their use of Facebook ads for tourism.

"When you think that it is $15,000 to $18,000 for a teeny ad in a national magazine," Beckie said, "and this is ten times the exposure at hundreds of dollars instead of thousands."

She told me how closely they can customize ads, every step of the way.

"When those ads hit, I can tell it in my Google Analytics as people come to our site," she said.

So, do Facebook ads work for tourism? They do for Lynchburg. What is your experience?

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Business Intelligence from the USDA

"Business intelligence" means gathering the right information that can help you improve your business, or move up to a new level. If you have internet access today, you can gather a ton of amazing research, if you know the right sources to tap. So we're starting a series on great sources for business intelligence for small town business.

First resource up: The US Department of Agriculture. If your business is related to food products or agriculture, you can find a ton of top research from the USDA. That includes topics you might not think of, including forest and fire issues, biotechnology, and economics.

There's even a special Rural Information Center, that I have just added to my bookmarks, because it has a wealth of information on community development, housing, funding, education, and tourism.

What can you do with USDA data? How does this relate to business intelligence? I heard a great example in a webinar by the eXtension Entrepreneurs and Their Communities service, on Identifying Assets and Opportunities in Your Community. The presenter was Bill Pinkovitz, of the University of Wisconsin Extension Center for Community and Economic Development. He discussed a family farm looking for a way to make their business into something their kids could inherit and would want to stay involved in. To narrow down their potential new directions, they looked at USDA data about meat consumption trends. They could see that pork consumption is rising, and that processed pork sells much better than fresh pork. With that information, they were able to decide on the best way to go.

Oh, and if you need photos on any remotely agricultural topic, don't miss the public domain photos from the USDA Newsroom.

If you have research sources that help you collect small town business intelligence, I'd love to have your suggestions. I plan to make this an ongoing series.

Photo by USDA, of course.

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Building a social media community in a small town

As more rural people join social networks, small town business people are looking to build in person networks with their fellow social media users.

Chris Cornell shared his story in the Brag Basket:  

I own and operate a small business (custom picture framing) in the Village of Pleasantville, NY. I've been attempting to build community through the use of social media for the past eight months. One of the tools I've used is my website http://TwitterProfessor.com, which has featured articles about individuals and organizations in the local community using Twitter and other forms of social media to communicate their message. Through TwitterProfessor, I've been able to build a network which has led to the formation of a social media group called Westchester140 (we're on Facebook). This group organized the highly successful 1st and 2nd Westchester TweetUps (both were booked to capacity), and is now in the process of putting together the 3rd Westchester TweetUp (150 people are expected, and there will be a moderated panel of social media speakers).

The reason I am posting this (in addition to bragging) is to reach out to others who might be interested in discussing ways local groups can build community and promote businesses. If you are working on similar projects, and would like to exchange ideas, please feel free to contact me.

How are you reaching out to other social media folks in your small town? How are you building community?

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Two surprises around LinkedIn

Two events surprised me around professional networking site LinkedIn recently.

First, a long time friend who shuns all online social interaction, joined LinkedIn and started connecting. He told me that he knew it was important if or when he looked for a new job. I was astounded that LinkedIn had enough potential benefit to draw him online.

Second, I found out my local CareerTech blocks students (high school age and adults) from accessing all social networks, including LinkedIn. Instead of blocking them, I think it should be a requirement for students to create their profile on LinkedIn. And I'd really like to see students learn social networking skills, rather than be locked out.

Now, believe it or not, I do have something more to go with this. Back in May, Lewis Howes gave me a copy of the book LinkedWorking that he co-authored with Frank Agin. It gives you a whole bunch of techniques to make LinkedIn work.



I liked the approach they took. Each section starts with a technique drawn from in-person networking, then applies it to LinkedIn, and then gives a success story of someone using that technique. No one person could possibly be the success story for all the techniques, which I think is an important lesson. Don't try to do everything this book outlines. Pick the most promising strategies and pursue them strongly.

It's a short book, a quick read. And if it stimulates you to adopt a new technique that improves your networking, then it's worth it. 

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Join the Brag Basket

Every week, I open a Brag Basket, so you can introduce yourself or share some good news.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community. 

This particular basket is open from Dec. 11-13, 2009.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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Two new shop local ideas

Two new shop local ideas hit me this week.

Can you get your city utility on board? The City of Alva added this shop local message to their utility bills:

Support your local merchants - Shop Alva for the Holidays

Some cities and towns mail out larger bills in envelopes. They might even let you add a little message or flyer in the same envelope. 

Ponca City, Oklahoma, has Santa Bucks. Meredith Willis told me about it on Twitter:

PCY has a Santa Bucks program where local stores give out tickets based on your purchases & a drawing is held with $ prizes. @meredithwillis 

I know it's working, because that same day I ran into a Ponca City resident, and she had a billfold stuffed with Santa Bucks tickets. She was eagerly awaiting that $5000 prize drawing!

What innovative Shop Local ideas have you seen?


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2 lenders share secrets to getting a loan

At the recent Small Business 101 workshop in Alva, Oklahoma, two people with lending experience presented some secrets to getting a small business loan. Maybe these are not really secrets, but they are keys you'll need to understand to get a small business loan.

Laura Girty, REI
Laura Girty works with REI, Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Inc. I've known and worked with Laura for years in local community projects.

REI is a certified development company (CDC) licensed by the US Small Business Administration. They work with SBA and USDA Rural Development Business and Industry loans.

By going through a CDC like REI, you can get longer terms and lower rates than going directly through the bank. Your bank will still be involved, but the guarantee will help make the bank more comfortable, Laura said. People get turned down locally, and go to REI to start the SBA process. Sometimes bankers call directly in order to get the guarantee.

When loaning for blue sky value of an existing business, banks really like to be in partnership with SBA, Laura said. ("Blue sky value" is the value of an existing business over and above what its tangible assets are worth. We also used to call it "good will" in the accounting field.)

Top three reasons for using SBA loan guarantees:

1. Start up business that has no record of income.
   
2. Weak collateral.
3. Need for longer a repayment period.

Equity requirements
You don't get to borrow 100% of what you need. Sounds odd, doesn't it? But what it means is that you have to invest something in the business yourself. Local banks usually require 20% equity. SBA guaranteed loans usually require 10%, Laura said. Some cases require an additional 5% or 10% of equity, like start ups or businesses with specialized facilities (think car washes - hard to make any other business work in a car wash building).

Applying
"I'm finding out that when you're all done with the (SBA) application, it's like that (3 inches thick)," Laura said.

"Packaging" lets you fill out one application to seek more than one SBA loan guarantee, like a 504 loan for the building, and a 7(a) on the inventory. If you apply at one time, you can have more than one SBA loan. If you do them separately, there is a certain waiting period.



Kari Roberts, Alfalfa County Bank
Kari Roberts works for a local lender, Alfalfa County Bank, in Cherokee, Oklahoma. Previously, she worked with Laura in her small business. (In a small town, we all have connections.)

Kari repeated a line you've probably heard, "The bank is the place you go to borrow money, after you've proven you don't need to borrow the money."

Documentation
All loans require some type of documentation. For small business loans, that usually means personal and business tax returns for the past three years, and a current credit report.

"If you are going into business, and you are not making your car payments on time, how are you going to make the thousands of dollars right?" Kari asked.

Kari listed the 6 C's of commercial lending, the factors bankers consider to evaluate your loan application:

1. collateral, 
2. capital (personal investment), 
3. cash flow, 
4. character (willingness to repay, credit score), 
5. capacity (legal stuff in order), and 
6. conditions (economic, etc.).

Looking at the financial statements, the lender will also calculate some basic ratios, like loan to value (80%), and  revenue over payments (120%), Kari said. The 'loan to value' ratio means the amount being loaned is not more than 80% of the total value of the business. The 'revenue over payments' ratio means that your business generates at least 120% of the loan payment in revenue. You have to be able to make the payments!

Kari repeated that it's very tough to borrow 100% of what you need for a business. Be prepared to have personal equity to invest.

Know your business
The benefit of doing an SBA loan is, paperwork is so extensive that you are going to know your business inside and out, Kari said.

Photos by Becky McCray.

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com.

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A message of hope for small town big ideas

Joni Cobb, KTEC Pipeline, says those skills that you've built bootstrapping your business can help you build a scalable, high growth business, even from a small town.


Click here to view the embedded video.

Interviewed by Becky McCray at NASVF - the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds, Oklahoma City, September 2009

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Join the community in the Brag Basket

Every week, I open a Brag Basket, so you can introduce yourself or share some good news.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community. 

This particular basket is open from Dec. 4-6, 2009.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post. You tell something great about your week, or you give plaudits to someone who did good stuff this week. Or you celebrate a terrific failure. It's not an ad; it's a conversation with friends. So jump in.

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Should you use your own picture for an avatar

In most social networks, you have the chance to add a picture. But what if you are tweeting for your small business? Should you use a photo, or should it be your logo instead? Here is one reason why I think you should use your own photo, and make sure it's a good likeness.

allcore_tech: @BeckyMcCray Props for the good show in How Twitter is Revolutionizing Business - Entrepreneur.com - http://shar.es/aEHHt

 
allcore_tech: When i picked up the magazine and saw your pic I knew it was you immed! How's that for being recognizable!

BeckyMcCray: @allcore_tech Wow! I'm flattered! And, that's a good reason to use a real photo for our avatar, isn't it?

This is why I just changed the Twitter avatar for my retail store account. It used to be a picture of the store exterior. Now it's me standing at the cash register.

What do you use for your small business accounts on social networks, logo or photo? What influenced your choice?

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What you think you know about customer service is wrong

Barry Moltz came to my attention with Bounce!, his book on failure. His latest book is BAM! Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World, with co-author Mary Jane Grinstead. (Barry and I are already working on his next book, and my first, on rural entrepreneurs.) Barry gave me a copy of BAM!, and it is terrific.


Here's why you want to read it. What you think you know about customer service is at least partly wrong. Maybe worse than the parts you have wrong, are the parts of your thinking that are incomplete. But Barry and Mary Jane are going to help you see customer service in a new way. They help you think all the way through ideas like "good customer service is common sense" and where they break down.

Every customer is different and how they feel about your company, your product and their purchase, varies enormously based on a whole raft of factors you can control and some you can't.

At the book's website, you can read the BAM!-good Customer Service Manifesto, learn about BAM blockers, and even read through all the myths. And you should. But you should also get a copy of the book, because until you read the whole thing, you won't get it.

Barry handed out buttons that say, "Just give me good customer service and nobody gets hurt." Who hasn't felt that way? If you put these ideas into practice in your business, you're going to satisfy more customers. That means more profits. And that is exactly why Barry says you want to give good customer service: it helps your bottom line.

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More ways to use maps and trails for tourism

A group of local wineries cooperated to create a wine trail, drawing visitors from the nearby metro area. They created a brochure with a map to explain the trail. They hand the brochures out at each participating winery. They intended to post the brochure on all their websites.


I love this idea. When two of the participating wine makers mentioned it at a local event, I searched one of their websites for the brochures. No luck. So I checked the other websites. Nope, not there either. I couldn't find it on any of their websites. Links to the web designer's pet causes, yes. Info on the wine trail that could draw in more business, no.

Will I accept "I asked him to post it" as a valid excuse? No. It's your business. You have the responsibility to follow up and be sure the work is done.

Even if the brochure was available as a PDF download, that is not enough. I would love to see same information available on the site itself. Where's the mobile friendly version, so I can access it on my smart phone, or even my not-so-smart phone? Have you followed up on any of the ideas for interactive maps that readers put in the comments on How to use maps to promote tourism?

Rather than jump from idea to idea, doing a partial job on each of them, focus your efforts on making the most of each idea you come up with.

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