May 9, 2008

Business Over Breakfast '08

SunTrust is sponsoring a complimentary, informative and collaborative workshop for business owners. Managing Profitable Growth: Five Steps to Get the Growth You Want with the Resources You Have.

Learn how to generat more profits from your business and get smart answers to your most pressing growth questions:

- How do I grow profits in a challenging economy?
- How do I choose the sales & marketing tactics that will work best for my business?
- How do I generate and close more sales leads?
- How can I get all this done with time and resources that are already stretched?

Featured speaker Jeanne Rossomme is the Founder of Roadmap Marketing and an established authory on small business growth. Over the past twenty years she has helped hundreds of small businesses grow profitably through cost efficient, high impact marketing techniques. Jeanne conducts regular seminars and workshops with small business owners through the SBA and other venues.
To reserve your seat at the Business Over Breakfast seminar register online

When - Thursday, June 5th 7:45 am - 10:00 am
Where - The Chattanoogan (1201 Broad St)







Apr 24, 2008

Do you have what it takes?


Starting a small business takes a lot of courage. But, as they say, courage doesn't pay the bills. To be successful — to stay in business — you need more than courage. You need a combination of hard work, skill, perseverance, and good old-fashioned luck.

Generally, people who start their own businesses can be grouped into two broad categories. The first group consists of people who know exactly what they want to do and are merely looking for the opportunity or resources to do it. Usually, these people have already developed many of the skills necessary to succeed in their chosen field. They are also likely to be familiar with industry customs and practices, which can help during the startup phase of a new business.

The second group consists of people who want to start their own business, but don't have any real definite ideas about what they'd like to do. While these people have developed skills in the course of their employment or education, they may not be interested in opening a business in the same field of endeavor.

How you proceed will depend, in large part, on which group you're in. For those who know what they want to do, the task is a bit easier. There's no need to research business ideas and opportunities to decide which might be suitable. Instead, these folks can jump right in and assess their chances for success in the type of business they've selected. Those who merely want out of the traditional corporate world have an extra step: choosing the right small business for you.

In this section, we'll take a closer look at just how much hard work, skill, and perseverance you'll need if you're to be successful. (We can't do much about the luck.) We'll try to give you a sense of what you can expect from a small business, as well as what a small business will expect from you.

To evaluate your own aptitude for small business ownership, you need to:

-Understand the responsibilities of ownership. What's involved in owning a business and what are the roles you'll have to play if you own one? This is a good place to start if you're considering starting your own business but haven't owned one before.

-Set your goals. What do you want from your business? If you want to "succeed," how will you know if you get there? Knowing what you want from your business permeates all of the other decisions you'll have to make in starting a new business. It will affect which business you choose, how you evaluate your chances for success, and how you determine if you have the right skills.

-Find out if you have the right stuff How can you evaluate your own skills and make judgments about whether you're ready to own your own business? This is a good place to start if you already know that you want to own a business.

-Estimate the impact on your everyday life. How will your life change when you become a business owner? Many of the more "secure" aspects of employee life will vanish when you open up your own business.

Mar 26, 2008

Baseball

Spring really starts when your favorite team takes the field. Chattanooga has the Lookouts, and the community can easily get behind the team since tickets are extremely affordable.

Wednesday afternoon games feature the "Business Lunch" special. Six bucks gets you a hot dog, soda and seat. Great way to spend time with your office mates and team build, or invite a prospective client to a neutral venue.

Tickets and schedule online at www.lookouts.com

Mar 18, 2008

Best of Chattanooga - Local Coffee House


Best of Chattanooga series begins....

We're on a quest to find the Best Coffee House in Chattanooga. The winner will be announced on National Coffee Day in May.
Soon you'll find vote cards in many local coffee houses encouraging patrons to make their choice known. Be sure to cast your vote, and tell all your friends to do the same.

Vote now --->

Mar 12, 2008

7 Deadly Sins of Business Networking (and how to avoid them)

Don't fall into these traps next time you're at a Chamber breakfast meeting, or other networking event...



By: Leesa Barnes, author of "Schmooze Your Way To Success: 9 Fearless Networking Tips for the Shy, Timid, Introverted, & Just Plain Clueless"


1. PRIDE - Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness. Whoever has pride has an excessive love of themselves. At a networking event this person will talk endlessly about her products, her services and how happy her clients are with her. To resist pride talk about yourself, but only after finding out what the other person does for a living.

2. GREED – An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs.At a networking event a greedy person knows your business needs but is afraid to connect you with someone in her network because she is afraid you will steal an opportunity from her. Avoid falling prey to greed by knowing that networking is about giving and the more connections you give the more you will reap the benefits in increased sales, endless referrals, and unlimited job opportunities.

3. ENVY- A Feeling of admiration and desire to attain something possessed by another.At a networking event this person resents your acheivements, traits, status, abilities or situation due to jealousy of your success. To avoid the pitfalls of envy, acknowledge your personal successes and communicate them to those with whom you network.

4. WRATH- Intense anger; unrighteous feelings of hatred or revenge.At a networking event this person is upset that the event did not produce any clients or immediate sales or that someone of whom they hold a low opinion of has decided to attend as well. Bringing wrath into a business environment only has the potential for harm. The business community is smaller than most think and bad mouthing others will eventually come back to haunt you. Take up your dissatisfactions personally outside of the confides of the event.

5. LUST- To have an intense or obsessive desire.Plain and simple, business networking is about gaining new professional connections not dates or flirting. Keep topics of discussion on safe topics such as books you are reading, industry relate news, or the ever-popular weather.

6. GLUTTONY- The desire to consume more than what one requires; over indulgence.Drinks at a networking event are designed to losen people up and reduce inhibitors to conversation. First impressions are very important, but more important is making a lasting impression. To avoid gluttony of food or alcohol, never attend a networking event hungry (eat before you arrive) and limit your alcohol consumption to 2 drinks.

7. SLOTH- The avoidance of physical work. Idleness, wastefulness, laziness.Half of networking is meeting new people. The other half is buiding the business relationship after you meet. If you offer to follow up with some one, do so. And do so within 24 hours of the event. That way they will remember who you are. And following up as promised can be the difference between a thriving business and just scraping by.

Mar 7, 2008

Star in the next IMAX film


Take a break in your work day and come out and play raft Tug-O-War with Outdoor Chattanooga and the Tennessee Aquarium on Thursday, March 13 at Ross’ Landing. Volunteers are needed to paddle rafts on the Tennessee River at the downtown waterfront for about an hour, beginning at 10:45 a.m. The Tug-O-War will help launch the next IMAX theatre film: Grand Canyon Adventure: a River at Risk. The movie has a strong environmental focus and it uses the Colorado River as a metaphor for the rivers of the world: the tug of war between resource vs. consumption and supply vs. demand. No rafting experience is needed, just a willingness to paddle a boat and have some fun. Contact Ruthie at Outdoor Chattanooga to volunteer for this fun adventure.

Business Development Center turns 20

Congratulations to the BDC who celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday by having an open house. Channel 3 was there to produce a video story that appeared on their local telecast later that evening.

The Times Free Press also covered the event, and published a story.

Josh Kreis & Ryan Riddle of Northshore Concepts talk with Cathie Beene of MCA about their company.