Worst case scenario: your business isn’t making it.

Maybe you have broken pricing model? Perhaps you should have given more attention to your business plan? Or taken advantage of that legal advice your annoying brother-in-law attorney kept hounding you about?

Thanks to a new social networking phenomenon, all is far from lost for those facing real-world business challenges.

Second Life, calling itself a “3D Online Digital World Imagined, Created and Owned By Its Residents” has minted its first millionaire.

As per Fortune:

“Anshe Chung, a real-estate tycoon in the digitally simulated world known as Second Life, has apparently become the first virtual millionaire–i.e., someone whose holdings in a make-believe world are legally convertible into genuine U.S. currency worth more than $1 million.”

Now pay close mind to that “digitally simulated” part, because that’s where things get a bit confusing. And encouraging.

Turns out people are making real money in the simulated world of Second Life. Shopping, buying, selling, invoicing, acquiring, merging - check writing! All is taking place every hour with the millions of Second Life members.

Smart businesses are taking their products and services online into the virtual world of Second Life, and giving the custom designed residents many reasons to practice all manner of consumer retail interaction.

So what’s stopping you? With the real-world promise of real-world money, you can give your ideas a new shot in the brave new virtual world of business opportunity.

Who knows? Maybe Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson can get a second shot in Second Life, too!

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

It’s finally here.

The day that retailers big and retailers small look forward to more than any other.

The day when we finally get to cook up some Thanksgiving leftovers, and also find out what the pulse is for the homestretch of this year’s shopping season…

The day when the line for a latte at Starbucks is 45 minutes, minimum…

The day when finding a pearl in your laundry is easier than finding a parking spot in the Target parking lot… 

Black Friday.

The good news is, by early accounts, we’re off to a promising start! 

And there’s an obious reason why: the sales are on. And the volume is turned all the way up.

Twenty five dollar MP3 players? Flat panel TVs for $100?? DVDs for $3?!?

Nothing brings out the shopper in all of us like insanely priced bargains. And it doesn’t hurt when store hours are both earlier and later, either.

However, you may want to bring along a security detail in case you manage to score a PS3.

The simple lesson is that when it comes to making lots of sales and ringing up big profits, here is one simple lesson to remember: there’s safety in numbers.

This is an opportunity that comes along once a year, offering a spirit of consumerism that any entrepreneur can tap into for a sales spike that may make all the difference to this year’s bottom line.

The holiday countdown starts today. Here’s to sales that give us all something to celebrate in 2007!

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

Feeling uninspired? Have the drive to become an entrepreneur, but don’t know where to get started? Here’s an idea: Think back to a time you were disappointed with the outcome of a product, a time the words, “I could have done this better,” escaped your lips.

How often is the phrase, “They should make a (so and so) that does (so and so),” muttered by frustrated consumers? And just who is this ubiquitous “they” being spoken of?

Why not turn “they” into “I”?

Sure, you could open the ever-popular home-based catering business, but if it doesn’t match your personality, your business will likely fail. My suggestion: The next time you find yourself grumbling about how something ought to be done, put a plan into action and do it better!

That’s exactly what 26-year old Ryan Hudson did in 2004, when he started YouShoot - a company which rents digital cameras to guests attending an array of special events such as weddings, reunions, bar/bat mitzvahs and more.

Now, anyone who’s hosted a party or a reception where your guests were given disposable cameras to help capture the magic knows that what you end up getting are a bunch of darkened, blurry, off-centered snapshots unworthy of the satin photo album in which they lie.

YouShoot, teamed up with Lexar memory cards, solves this problem by providing quality digital cameras to your friends and family who may need a few tries to get it right. They then process and display the pictures on your very own website where visitors can view, order and print them.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3. Or, more accurately, point, click and shoot!

There are lots of nice ideas out there, plenty of companies with the best intentions. But this doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, for a smarter, more reliable way.

Ryan Hudson found something that wasn’t working all that well and decided to fix it. What isn’t working for you?

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

It’s not just the name of one of all time best Who songs.

It also makes a great blog title (again).

But in this case, it’s all about going mobile phone, and what that means for your small business.

We’ve all got them, but do we use them as wisely (i.e. inexpensively) as we can?

We’re all being pushed towards phones with brains, obviously, but they ain’t cheap.

Kind of makes you respect the “must have it” cell phone business model even more, though, doesn’t it?

Motorola’s Q, is pretty cool, sure.

But the Sony Mylo? It’s not only attractive, but particularly promising from the all-important wallet perspective.

Entry fee on par with other smartphones, but no monthly charges? Yes, please!

And speaking of cell phone business models, ads - and spam - are on the way.

Yes, indeed, spam on the cell phone. All the text messages you don’t want, but will still get charged full price for…

We’ve got solutions for the PC, but is there a mobile line of defense? Well, how about it, entrepreneurs??

As cell phones increasingly displace PCs as the daily business tool of necessity, we’ll all need to better understand how to optimize our products and services to take advantage of this smaller form factor.

I can currently cram 1 gig of usable memory into my cell phone (not a smart phone), but it still can’t hold a candle to my 100gig laptop.

But my 100gig laptop can’t share my pocket with my iPod, either.

So, think about it: what can you do to take your legal practice - or design studio or catering business or mailing house - and optimize it for the small screens with big power?

The wave of the future is ringing, literally, off the hook with business possibilities. Don’t miss the call.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

You learn something new every day.

Well, every other day, at least.

Anyways, some things you learn take a couple of days to process (well, as far as I go) so turns out every other day is plenty quick enough.

Perhaps I’m arriving late at this party, but the notion of The Long Tail is something I just this week heard about.

Well, technically I heard about it several weeks ago, but it was just this week that I took the time to actually analyze and understand what it meant.

And, more importantly, what the implications for small business might be.

Turns out they are outstanding!

In a nut shell, The Long Tail theory (mainstreamed by Wired magazine editor Cris Anderson) states that the internet now creates a “long tail” of product sales that has never before existed.

With the advent of online “warehouses,” there is no longer any requirement that physical product be stockpiled. Stores can now offer infinite inventory for sale, which creates a “long tail” of products that would have never before seen the light of day, extending sales potential for many more entrepreneurs.

And the way these products are typically identified is through ratings systems on sites like Amazon and Netflix, as well as auto-generated “If you liked this, you’ll like that” recommendations.

Companies are now making more money from sales out in the long tail than they are in the short tail of more heavily marketed and therefore “popular” products. Customers are now buying what used to be called “obscure” varieties of music, literature, movies, etc. in volumes that are unprecedented.

Build good products, get them out there. The chances are now better than ever that they will be bought, and you will succeed.

All hail Long Tail!

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

Do you have any idea how many obscure small businesses are out there? And not just “out there,” but doing just fine, thank you very much.

And, despite previous prognostications to the contrary, it looks like Web Two Point Oh may very well be around just a bit long enough to turn some more of the traditional business models on their heads.

Take Gannett, for instance. Completely revamping its approach to news coverage? The owners of USA Today? That’s serious.

Meanwhile the non-traditionals continue to impress.

For example, I recently discovered a neat little site, “Angry Olive Hats,” which is all about - you guessed it - handmade hats.

But what was so interesting about this site was less the fact that it was about hats, and more about how it was marketed. I found it via a contest AO sponsored on a blog, which invited readers to check out the Angry Olive site to find answers to a couple of questions which they then submit for a chance to win a free hat.

I got caught up in the viral nature of the campaign, and before I knew it, I had pored through most of AO’s site pages (it’s not like it’s Amazon or something…), learned more about the company, and developed a fondness for the product.

Not only is there a small business revolution upon us in the form of so many different things to do to satisfy one’s one entrepreneurial spirit, there are now more than ever a vast numer of affordable and effective ways to market ourselves, and stay connected with our clientele.

Let’s get cookin’!

*(Oh yeah, the votes are in and the Democrats now control the house and looks like the Senate is tipping, too. Hey, so long as the customers vote Green at the cash registers, it’s all good.)

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

gone? We touched on it last post.

And now, just days later, the tide-turning backlash against social networking is definitely picking up steam.

Suddenly Facebook is more popular than MySpace, yet both are losing appeal? And even Wal-Mart’s bailing?

Things are moving fast and Web 2.0 is all of a sudden feeling waaaay like everyone’s partying like it’s 1999.

But, we all know it’s not just social networking that’s at risk. Every business concept faces risk.

Look at Krispy Kreme. Not so long ago that is was an investor’s dream come true. Now, not so much.

Rabbit-like Starbucks, breeding new street corner cafes constantly, may bring with a “dark side” to all this growth.

And bummer for employees at Ford - paychecks are coming a week late in December - happy holidays!

But speaking of seriously going, going, gone - and the tide turning particularly unfavorably - here’s some perspective: we’re heating up the globe, sure. But now we’re decimating the oceans at light speed?

Something tells me that removing all life from the sea is going to have a slightly more detrimental effect than Krispy Kreme taking too long to improve its accounting. 

Would the small business geniuses with the sustainable fish farming ideas please move to the head of the new business ideas class?

You’ll never guess who that might be…

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.