Ok so maybe we won’t throw a huge bash or anything and I wasn’t even going to share about my Birthday today because of other pressing issues, but here we are. It’s January 5th and it’s my Birthday. I dub myself officially “older.” It also marks 14 years in business. I still have insecurities about my choices, but do know that most decisions that I make are very quick and then I get them done. I’ll have another post all about my business and certain choices that I’m making so watch for that.  That’s a whole post just on it’s…

As a woman entrepreneur I love reading and looking at other women who are successful in business. Thanks in part to the troubled economy, entrepreneurship has been on the rise over the past few years.  Small businesses have helped replace the jobs lost due to large manufacturers moving operations overseas, and they have helped boost the economies of their local areas.  But did you know that a large portion of such businesses have been started by women? According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, women owned over ten million businesses in the United States in 2004.  In Canada, one-third…

I hope you had the most wonderful New Years Eve! I sure did, we got together with friends, ate dinner together, played the Wii and really enjoyed our time together. Then as I opened up my laptop with coffee in hand I woke up to my own Holiday Gift. First let me tell you I LOVE my graphics designer, I do have a couple of others that I use and I’ll share them with you as well. But for most SBB graphics, I use Nola Cooper. I’ve personally known Nola for at least 4 years and she’s done alot of…

Any successful business owner knows how important marketing is.  Even if you have a miniscule budget, it’s important to make sure that people know about your business.  If you don’t, it’s going to be hard to make any sales. It’s easy to overlook marketing altogether – But it’s also easy to overdo it.  Business owners who have “marketing delusions” face problems as well.  Overspending on marketing can eat into your profits, possibly even destroying your business.  And it’s also possible that if you market too heavily, people will begin to tune you out. There are several possible reasons for marketing…

I’m going to be sharing more about article marketing due to the fact that I’ve literally done nothing for this site here, so it will be a good case study. It’s also more to prompt me into ACTION and getting it done on a regular basis. Hopefully it will help you also to get going. Good articles can find plenty of homes at article submissions websites.  Here are the basics for getting that article ready and submitting it to an article site. 1.  Write about what you know – This goes for anyone who wants to write articles and have…

COIN – Circle Of Influence Networking. On a regular basis, I am on the look out for new opportunities for companies and individuals within my circle of influence. Whether they are located within my immediate market, across the continent or around the world, I am keeping their best interests in mind. As you might imagine, I speak with CEO’s from many different types of companies all the time. If for instance, I speak with a manufacturer, I immediately curious as to who supplies their pallets or wood packaging? I have a client contact who does that. What about corrugated packaging?…

This article was inspired by my recent Christmas Giveaway – I actually first sent an email just to all of my subscribers giving each one a chance to email me and grab a free 400-600 word ghostwritten article from me. At the same time, I did a post on the blog for the first 10 people to post a comment would get a free article. At the time of writing, Only 8 people responded to the blog and about the same emailed me directly. A bit perplexed as to why this is I was thinking about why this might be.…

How Could it be The Holiday Season Without Gifts? Happy Holidays to you from Small Busines Branding! With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season we know how busy you  must be, and we want to provide you with some items. Here come the gifts! Gift #1 – I am giving away one free article for the first 10 people to comment after reading this blog post today. You simply have to say you would like to receive the free gift and include your contact information (name and email address) and you will receive one free article written by…

Alot of us are good at receiving payment for services or products. We’re good at getting new clients and getting the work done. But how often do you give something away? I remember I think it was Ed that said to keep an expense account of sorts for your clients of all the extra free things you do for them. Then at the end of the year give them an invoice and say it’s already paid. I love that! Another way to nurture your business is to do a giveaway, it helps your relationship grow AND people will become more…

A quick note if you’d like a fast way to get your blog on mobile phones. First off, I bought the domain, “TheBrandCorral.mobi over at goDaddy.com and then forwarded it to the feedburnerlink of my existing blog. Now when a reader enters www.TheBrandCorral.mobi in their mobile phone, up comes a list of my articles. Clicking on an article (in my BlackBerry) gives them two choices. View Description or Read Article. Choosing Read Article, gives a terrific mobile friendly version of my blog including graphics and all my side bar information. That’s it.