America’s SBDC Blog

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Palo Alto Hires Entrepreneur and #SBDC Client Josh Fegles

August 5, 2015
Palo-Alto-Hires-Josh-FeglesEntrepreneur and SBDC Client Josh Fegles is hired as Academic & Government Channel Sales Director to increase market share of SaaS app LivePlan in the government and academic channels

The world’s leader in business planning, strategic forecasting for small business, and small business management software, Palo Alto Software, has announced the hire of entrepreneur Josh Fegles to lead the company’s government and academic relationships.

Fegles will be sharing LivePlan, a great critical thinking tool, with global academic and government organizations to help them increase their relevance among their small business clients and students. LivePlan helps students learn about how to start a business, and helps small business owners plan and manage their business better. Josh will bring LivePlan to SBDCs (Small Business Development Centers), SCORE offices, Women’s Business Centers, Veteran’s Business Outreach Centers, Chambers of Commerce, economic development organizations, accelerator and incubator programs, and academic institutions (high schools and higher education, including online universities).

“Josh is the perfect person to lead our relationships with SBDCs, SCORE offices and colleges and universities for many reasons. Most importantly, he’s been a long time client of the SBDC in Portland, Oregon,” stated Palo Alto Software CEO, Sabrina Parsons. (more…)

Small Business Payments Toolkit – Top 5 Takeaways

July 17, 2015
By Mary Hughes

Small Business Payments ToolkitThe Remittance Coalition has released the first volume of the Small Business Payments Toolkit, which is intended to encourage the adoption of electronic business-to-business payments and remittance information exchanges by small businesses.  Many small businesses continue to over-rely on paper checks, which are labor-intensive, expensive and prone to fraud.  The Remittance Coalition is a group of payments industry stakeholders (including Federal Reserve Banks) that works to increase the efficiency of business-to-business (B2B) payments made and reconciled by US businesses.  The toolkit provides a host of useful information that can be leveraged by small businesses, SBDC consultants and trainers, financial institutions, vendors, and anyone interested in learning more about payments.

Here are the top five takeaways from the Small Business Payments Toolkit:

1. Adopting B2B electronic payments and remittance information exchanges may make life easier for small business owners

Although it may not currently be a top priority, small businesses that choose to enhance the efficiency of their payments processes can yield benefits in a number of ways:  (more…)

Tech: Cause or Cure for Work/Life Harmony?

July 10, 2015

Tech-and-work-life-harmonyIn the struggle to balance work and life, technology is often seen as a culprit for dissatisfaction. With our always-on, ever-connected lifestyles, it’s easy to see why tech gets a bad rap. Even when we’re at home trying to relax, it’s impossible to fully disconnect.

At the same time, there’s no doubt evolutions in technology have improved life for small businesses in the past few years. Here’s how tools you’re already using can help you achieve work/life harmony:

•  Set clear expectations with your schedule – and leave work at work. Create a group calendar to share with your employees and family that reserves time for specific activities— work-related and personal. This approach will allow you to be present in whatever you’re doing at the time, whether it’s answering customer emails or reading a bedtime story to your kids. You can also use your out-of-office responder when you’re on vacation so you can actually enjoy your time away.  (more…)

Domain Registration, the WHOIS Directory, and Your Privacy

July 1, 2015

Sometimes, staying out of the spotlight is a good thing

By Jesse Wilson

Staying Out of the SpotlightSo you’ve taken your first step towards getting your business online by registering a domain name. Congratulations are in order! You’ve now stepped onto a virtual stage that has the potential to exponentially expand your audience. However, you need to be prepared to deal with the paparazzi waiting just outside the door. Here’s what you should know about registering domain names, the WHOIS database, and your privacy.

WHOIS: Don’t worry, it’s not another acronym

In 1982, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF for short) published a protocol that was used to create a directory of users on the ARPANET, which was the predecessor to our beloved Internet. That directory contained the contact information for anyone who requested to send data over the network.

Today, the WHOIS system is in place to ask the question, “Who is responsible for this domain name or IP address?” Every domain name that’s registered must have a record of the person or organization who registered it (i.e. the registrant). That record must be publicly available and includes (among other things) the name, address, telephone number and email address of the domain’s registrant.  (more…)

The Power of Going Mobile for Small Business

June 17, 2015

The_Power_of_Going_MobileHow often do you pick up your smartphone throughout the day? When you wake up; when you’re standing in line for your coffee; when you get a notification? According to a study by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, the average person looks at their phone 150 times a day. With 57% of customers saying they would not recommend a business with a bad mobile site, the power of mobile for small businesses is undeniable. Here are a few tips to get started:

Put your website to the mobile test

If you’re not sure whether your website is mobile-friendly, we have you covered. This Google Webmaster test tells you if your website is mobile-friendly and shows how it looks on a mobile device. Once you have those results, use the Webmaster’s Mobile Guide where you’ll find ways to customize your website software or implement mobile SEO best practices.

Don’t neglect your mobile ads

Did you know that search interest in “near me” (aka things within a customer’s vicinity) have increased 34x since 2011? Not everyone who uses mobile is always searching directly for your product or service. That’s where mobile ads come in. If a customer is searching for a local hardware store, you can use mobile ads to make sure your store pops up where and when they need it. These ads can take many forms, including text, image or even within mobile apps. To make these especially mobile-friendly, you can also purchase call-only ads, which only show up on devices that can make phone calls.  (more…)