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Is your business experiencing growing pains? Like many business owners, it’s easy to become stagnant. But you must find solutions to continue to grow and reach the level of success that you’ve envisioned. Don’t get discouraged, here are 4 ways to take your business to the next level.

Certify Your Business

Becoming a certified woman owned business can significantly help your business gain access to various types of contracts.

Why certify as a woman owned business?

· Access to market: this can open doors to your women businesses by gaining certification accreditation as a woman owned business; it also puts you in front of corporate purchasing agents, thus, gaining access to lucrative supplier contract opportunities

· Apart of a large network: as women, we naturally like to network. The certifying agencies provide great opportunities to join a network of successful women entrepreneurs to form alliances, partnerships and lasting friendships.

To increase your competitive advantage, there are organizations that specialize in the certification of women owned businesses.

· National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC): NWBOC’s certification program were created for women-owned and controlled businesses as an alternative to the multiple state and local certifications required by many public and private-sector agencies or prime contractors. The agency has partnered with more than 100 major corporations, agencies, and organizations who accept their certification.

· Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC): WBENC offers certification for women-owned businesses. They are a third-party certifier for businesses owned and operated by women in the United States. WBENC’s goal is to foster diversity by offering programs and policies designed to expand opportunities and eliminate barriers in the marketplace for women business owners. WBENC’s certification program is administered through fourteen regional affiliates.

Develop a Referral Network

Do you know other businesses which you share mutual customers with? You should be running, not walking to find who they are and how you can team up and benefit from each other. For instance, if you are a business writer, you should form a team with a web designer, PR firm and / or an ad agency, to name a few. If you are a realtor, you should form a team with a mortgage lender, Title Company, home inspector and home builders.

The key to this is to learn as much as you can about each team members business so that you can promote it as you would your own. You and your ‘sales’ team benefits with new leads as there are several of you supporting each other’s business. It makes so much sense to work smarter and not harder!

Get on the Social Media Bandwagon
Social networking is serious business! This is social networking for the 21st century, one in which every business owner should get on board with. As entrepreneurs, it is essential that you continually generate new ideas in order to maximize the profit-making potential of your venture. Social media is a great way to leverage your products or services. It is an easy and inexpensive way to connect to people around the world and an opportunity to make friends with people who have similar interests, find solutions to problems they might have by collaborating with others, as well as attract clients that might need your products or services.

More and more local small businesses and non-profit organizations are climbing aboard the social media bandwagon to market themselves for free. It just makes good business sense to learn how to leverage social media to build communities around brands and then leverage them into revenue.

According to a recent survey on online social networking by the Institute for Corporate Productivity:

  • 65% of business professionals use some form of personal or professional social network
  • 47% use social networks to connect with potential clients and market their skills
  • 55% use social networks to share best practices with colleagues

Some popular social networking services, such as, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin and Bebo allow users to create a profile.

Yes to Name Dropping

Why not ask your existing clients for referrals? All you need to do is ‘ask’ them for up to three friends or colleague’s names that may benefit from your services. Once the names and contact information is given, make sure you ask for permission to use your client’s names when contacting these referrals. When contacting referrals, let each know that your client suggested you call them. This is a great way to bridge the awkwardness to get one foot in the door with ease.

Example: 'Hello, Ms. Jones. My name is Sylvia Browder from Browder Consulting Group. Your friend Ms. Greenberry suggested I call you. She thought you might be interested in growing your small business and I’d like to discuss your needs and give you suggestions for growth. I’d like to make an appointment with you - at your convenience, of course. What day works best for you this week?"

Remember that people do business with people they know and trust. So, if your client is happy with your products/services, then chances are those referrals will turn into clients.

In conclusion, as business owners, it is essential that you continually generate new ideas in order to maximize the profit-making potential of your venture. By doing this, growth is continuous, thus, you’ll avoid stagnation.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:Sylvia Browder is CEO of Browder Consulting Group, a virtual small business consulting firm. In her role, she helps Women in Business grow and succeed. She is employed as Project Director and business consultant for the Women's Business Center Inc, a non-profit economic development organization with a mission of empowering women to start and grow successful businesses. She has served as an online volunteer SCORE counselor since 2004. She also serves as a Technical Assistant Provider for SBA’s Community Express Loan Program. For FREE weekly articles go to Sylvia Browder’s Blog for Women Entrepreneurs, www.sylviabrowder.com. She can be contacted at info@browderconsultinggroup.com.

· Become a fan of ‘National Association Women on the Rise’ on Facebook: http://bit.ly/9qqvWW

· Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/sylviabrowder

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Network Marketing Works---When you know how to work it.As an entreprenur...i currently have 2 businesses. One of them happens to be a network marketing business (http://www.SendOutCards.com/98658)Thinking about starting a home based business for sometime now... It all sounds good in theory. It would be nice to keep your current job (until you choose to move on), cultivate a new opportunity, create unlimited income potential, achieve a healthier personal and family lifestyle, pay those college tuitions, establish financial security for retirement, and have the means to pursue any dream you may have.But you’re skeptical. You’ve heard about the pyramids, the scams and the loads of products you must buy to remain eligible for compensation. You hear about the companies that collapse or get into trouble with various attorney generals and government agencies for illegal compensation plans and false product claims. So is Network Marketing a viable home based business or work at home opportunity?The answer is yes. There are many legitimate Network Marketing or Multilevel Marketing, MLM companies out there which people are building very successful home based businesses with. They are building large networks and generating significant supplemental residual income and in many cases primary incomes.Matter of fact there are over 20 million people in the USA in the Network Marketing Industry today. A large percentage of whom have made this their chosen profession, a full time profession. The beauty of this industry however is that anyone can be successful on a part time basis with limited resources. The secret to success is repetition and consistency in following the systems laid out by the MLM one chooses.Thus the trick becomes figuring out how to choose the right MLM, the best Network Marketing Company for an individual’s personal situation.There are many resources out there to help with this process. Before i joined (http://www.SendOutCards.com) I did a lot of research b/c i was skeptical about joining yet ANOTHER MLM business...and believe me, ive tried them all. But during my research i didnt find anything derogatory about that. On top of the fact that i actually do like and use their product w/o having to feel pressured or convinced. Nor do i have to go to any of those brainwashing "conventions" that are associated w/other MLMs, but i still have the support i need, whenever i need it.Today people in general are more skeptical and we have to live with that harsh reality. Network marketing prospects are even more skeptical, making it difficult but not impossible to build your business.Each of us has some degree of skepticism, after we've been burned a few times it becomes much tougher to sell us anything.Especially if we've already been down that path and found it did not work as advertised.Network marketing brings with it a whole new set of challenges, from the way we advertise, to how we approach our prospects.So it is no wonder when we hear something that contradicts what the majority of marketers are saying we immediately discount it until later it is proven true.One of the important things to remember is, you are in a REAL BUSINESS. You no longer have a boss holding you accountable. Your network marketing success or failure is dependent upon you and your actions, and is not a get rich quick overnight program.If you are currently researching different Newtork Marketing opportunities, here is what you should be looking for:Integrity.Are Distributor-Driven.Have Products & Services people want.Great Management.Have Some Form of A Compensation Plan.Integrity:Does the company have it? Do they stand behind their products, services, and their distributors? No outrageous claims or exaggerations.Success Rate:We have to face the fact that 97% fail, if you want to cut years from the learning curve, become part of the 3% that does succeed, then you need to discover a program that has helped thousands achieve greater results: http://www.SendOutCards.com/98658Weve been in business for a few years and things are continually progressing. You can even send a FREE card to see for yourself how great and easy this business is. For questions or comments please feel free to email me sendoutcards.98658@gmail.com
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Are you happy?

Are you happy? I mean really truly happy. Now I'm not talking about perfect, I mean we all have ideas about what could make our lives better. I'm not talking about being content either. I am talking about genuine happiness. Before you answer that question, I want you to think about two things:1. How do you define happiness? What does it really mean to you?2. What makes you happy?Now, based on the answers to those questions, are you happy?If you say yes, GREAT! That means that you are on the right track. Now what are you going to do about it? That's right, how are you going to maintain it? How are you gonna take it to the next level?If the answer is no, then my question for you is the same: what are you going to do about it?Let's face it, happiness is a choice. Just the same, success is also a choice. Not just one choice, but a series of choices. A process. The bright side is that you are never too young or too old to change direction and get busy. You can decide today, right now, to be happy and successful.Take a second and think about it. Let me remind you that it is going to be a challenge. It's gonna take some hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Remember, anything worth having is worth the sacrifice it takes to get it.Whatever you dream of doing, no matter how wild or far fetched it may seem to others, is possible.Microsoft was a dream to Bill Gates at some point, and what do you think his friends and family thought? I mean computers were not even commonplace. And Al Gore's family and friends must have though he was all types of crazy. He had a dream of using computers to allow people to communicate and connect all over the world, instantaneously. Thus the birth of the Internet. Where would we be if he was afraid to dream?As my dad always says "Dreamers built the world."The first step in Discovering your Dreams is to really think about what those dreams are.Your Homework:* Get a 2 spiral notebooks, or a legal pad and a spiral notebook. See you next week.* Come back next weekend for the next step in the process* Comment below and tell me:What do you dream of doing? What do the people in your life have to say about that?You can subscribe to this blog at www.discoveryourdreams.blogspot.comFollow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/XperiencEduCorp
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