Original text

by: Kathryn Turpin

If you have developed a successful business, you may at some point consider selling that business to pursue other things: perhaps starting a new business – or maybe exploring the Caribbean!

How do you determine the selling price for your business? Knowing how much your business is worth is not easy.

Keep in mind that the right selling price is simply the price that a willing and able purchaser will pay for your business. Market conditions, such as the availability of financing or the number of other businesses for sale, can easily impact the purchase price. Business owners

by: Cherylann Occhipinti Campbell

How do you know when to hire contractors or when to bite the bullet and hire employees?  When you do decide on contractors, how can you assure that contractors don’t eventually file for unemployment, demand overtime rates, and payroll tax payments—especially when you end their assignments?   Or, did you think that contractors couldn’t do that?  Think again.

Most growing small businesses are regularly faced with important human resources decisions within tight budget constraints. On the surface, we think a contractor is cheaper (e.g. not paying income taxes to

by: Carly DeFelice

Have you ever wanted tips on how to turn a hobby into a business? Do you hate your job: whether it is having a bad boss, lousy pay, or a nonexistent work-life balance? Everyone is constantly changing jobs, and often times adults, still wonder, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

Is the answer then ditching your 9-5 jig and turning your passion for yoga, sewing, or whatever it may be into your very own business?

Be warned, The New York Times reported that, “Career switchers have found that going solo comes with its own pitfalls: a steep learning curve, no security, physical

by: Eric Sanchez

When starting a business, some entrepreneurs will want to jump right in to the fun stuff completely missing the crucial planning and developmental stage of writing a business plan. It’s like going for a swim, it’s probably not a bad idea to get your feet wet first. Then again, jumping right in might be the quickest way for some to get started on their new venture.

This isn’t anything new in the business and entrepreneurial world. Business plans are essential to the livelihood of any startup but why are they ignored or even forgotten? If I can go back to when I started my company

Author: Mike Blumenthal

I was recently asked, “what is your best local search hack?”. My answer:

The best hack (and it really is no hack at all) in the Local Search space is to

1) Run a great business and,

2) Leverage every opportunity to make that obvious to your existing and potential customers in a way that isn’t perceived as pushy or over selling both offline and on.

All of my research points in the direction that the idea of a single thing, a single tweak, or just the right keyword density will make or break your marketing just isn’t the case. And my research also highlights that your

by: Bridget Weston Pollack

Focusing Your Business’s Social Media Strategy

You’ve heard time and again that social media marketing is the key to your business’s success. But, do you know where the corresponding lock is? Or how to use it? Social media can seem like a behemoth of a marketing strategy sucking up all your time with results that trickle in at first. Well, fear not; we’re here to set you on a clear, strategic path of the right ways to make social media work for your particular enterprise.

Start with the Big Picture

Is anyone on Google+? Will all these social media efforts even make a

by: Jeannine Wheeler

Whether you’re a sole entrepreneur with a big business idea, a startup with a slew of investors or a well-established small business, you need to decide whether or not to outsource your marketing services, including your PR. Seeking out the right business marketing advice in Austin when the time comes is crucial.

To help you decide, here are three things to ask yourself.

• Do I have the in-house marketing expertise to reach my business goals?
• If not, do I hire a consultant or should I look for an agency?
• Either way, do I have the time and expertise to manage whomever it is I do

By: Bob Shaver

Why would a retired, for-profit, executive want to help out a non-profit? Don’t most retired executives come from BIG companies? How can their experience benefit small, or even BIG, non-profits?

At SCORE-Austin we get these questions all the time and I want to tell you how we answer them. I’m hoping that, through better communications and understanding, more SCORE-Austin volunteers and more Central Texas Nonprofits will benefit, mutually.

The “Why” question is the easiest, so I’ll start with it. And the answer is…Because we CAN (and it feels good when we do)! We were leaders

by: Celia Bell

I chose mentoring…

When is it time to turn the business over to the next generation? This is always a tough call.

For me, I had birthed a business, and now it was time to let another generation carry it forward. Just as it’s hard to let your children go, it is the same for a business that you helped start and develop. Sometimes, you just have to let something go in order for it to grow.

I had reinvented myself about every 10 years and now it was time to do it again.

I had held different positions to fit my availability of time and lifestyle. I had been a teacher; I had been a

by: Kyle DeHaas

I help people who are interested in owning a franchise business determine if it’s the right path for them. Over the years, I’ve helped hundreds of people embark on the entrepreneurial journey. In the beginning of my experience in this field, I would work with whomever wished to go on that journey. I did this partly because I wanted to help as many people as possible, and partly because I wasn’t experienced enough to discern which people were best fit for business ownership. As I progressed, I began to recognize patterns of behavior and attitude of my clients. Those for whom

Realizing that you want to buy a franchise is the first step on a new, exciting path. Type in “franchise opportunities” in Google you’ll get back about 38,000,000 hits. If you spent just one minute on each it would take up more than 70 years to evaluate all of them. And, as you probably have experienced for yourself if you’ve ever searched the Internet for anything, you’ll find a ton of information that’s not always easy to organize or understand or even accurate.

Investing in a franchise business is perhaps the second largest investment in your life and leveraging the right expertise can

Why am I a franchise owner?

I wanted to own a business but was not creative enough to come up with an awesome original idea. A huge advantage of owning a franchise rather than either buying an existing business, or starting from scratch, is that there is a proven model in place and you are not in it alone. One should make sure there is an infrastructure in place that includes training, ongoing development and support, marketing materials, and proven processes. A national conference and other opportunities to interact with peer owners, are key to being able to share experiences and best