If you've ever wished your business could afford a radio, TV or print advertisement, now may be your chance. Randy and Cindy Gunter of the Gunter Agency have created a new website called Ad Diner,  offering professionally created ads--TV commercials, radio spots, billboards, direct-mail and print ads--at a fraction of the price a typical advertising agency would charge. They're even selling radio spots for the holiday season. The Gunters say they've been thinking about this idea for quite a while. Randy speaks to chambers of commerce and other groups about marketing. "They talk to me afterward," he says.... Continue Reading »

Sarah Symon was a musician, writing and placing songs on TV and in films in 2002, when fate intervened. A song she wrote was in a film, Nola, at the Tribeca Film Festival, so naturally, she went to the festival. She also--unwillingly--saw The Day My God Died, a film about human trafficking. Symon says it was the only film showing in the time frame she had available. So she watched what she thought would be a depressing film--and it profoundly changed her life. While the movie was distressing, "it was also incredibly hopeful and inspiring because the survivors had... Continue Reading »

"You aren't a real entrepreneur until you've had to deal with failure," says the website describing FailCon. It goes on to characterize FailCon as "the first conference ever to ask successful founders, investors, designers and developers 'What's gone wrong and how did you fix it?' " FailCon drew well over 300 attendees to the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco on Oct. 27 to hear entrepreneurs and venture capitalists talk about their failed companies. Among them was PayPal co-founder Max Levchin--now CEO of Slide, a Facebook app maker--who talked about his first four failed companies. Mark Pinkus, who runs... Continue Reading »

Branding is everybody's business these days. Everywhere you look, there's a book or a business owner promising to build your brand, reinvent your brand or add buzz to your brand. It's clear that any business bound for success has to understand branding and all that branding entails in today's world. That's why I'm turning my blog over to branding expert Lynn Parker today. She's recommending a branding book she says will help you outdo your competition, "Branding Like the Big Boys." Here's what she has to say about it: Martin Thoma's new book--Branding Like the Big Boys--performs a neat... Continue Reading »

Looking for a new business trend? Look no further than the water industry and water conservation, Susan J. Marks suggests. Marks has just written the book Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis in America, and she's brimming with alarming facts and figures about the straits we're in and the solutions we're going to need so we don't run out of the precious liquid. "We use 408 billion gallons every day in the United States," she says. "Each of us uses 80 to 100 gallons for personal use each day. That's 152 tons of water per person per year." Yes,... Continue Reading »

The government's Cash for Clunkers program has prompted a spate of copycat offerings from retailers and manufacturers. Customers can trade in used furnishings at Ruby & Quiri in Johnstown, N.Y., or Pacific Manufacturing in Phoenix. There's Credit for Clunkers at 1-800-Mattress, Cash for Couches at Lillian August in Connecticut, and what some retailers are calling Cash for Teakettles, which Chantal Cookware Corp. will introduce next month. Even Leibler-Bronfman Lubalin Advertising in New York City has its own tongue-in-cheek version of the campaign. Called Cash for Creative Clunkers, it encourages companies and retailers to trade in their ad "lemons"... Continue Reading »

Try not to become a man of success. Rather, become a man of value. A successful man takes out of life more than he puts in. A man of value will give more than he receives. --Albert Einstein That quote is the key tenet of Orville and Heidi Thompson's business, Scentsy, a company that sells wickless candles online and through Scentsy consultants nationwide. It's also the central theme behind the Meridian, Idaho-based company's decision to give away $100,000 to 40 local businesses last July, to celebrate the company's fifth anniversary. The couple settled on $100,000 because it was... Continue Reading »

Don't read this post if you want to believe the government's assurances that the economy's turning around and all will soon be right with the world. Lynn Tilton, CEO of private-equity fund Patriarch Partners, is here to tell you that things aren't nearly as rosy as Washington would like us to think. The problem is banks' failure to lend money to small and midsize businesses. "We're losing industry in this country every day--which means we're losing jobs--because they have no access to capital," she says. And that means permanent job losses for the men and women who were employed... Continue Reading »

Like many mom entrepreneurs, Lisa Habermehl came up with a business idea when she realized her daughter had a need that wasn't being addressed. But Habermehl's entrepreneurial effort isn't a product in the usual sense. Instead, it's information about back care, produced in a format children can understand. Her website is IPositionMe.com. Habermehl notes that children learn about calling 911 in an emergency. They're taught dental hygiene. They're told about staying at a healthy weight and eating well. But no one mentions preventive measures for the back. The idea started as a volunteer project, when her daughter came home from... Continue Reading »

It's a good time to buy a business--but only if the business you're buying is profitable, even in these recessionary times. So says Ted Leverette, president of Partner On-Call Network LLC, a franchise that helps buyers purchase small and midsize businesses that owners quietly put up for sale. Leverette advises against buying a mediocre business at a bargain price with the intent of fixing whatever's wrong with it and making a killing. "The only businesses worthwhile are the ones that have been profitable--and I say for a minimum of five years, including right up till now." About 20 percent... Continue Reading »