There’s a large portion of the population that would probably rather take a bath in a tub full of those newly-discovered cyanide spitting pink millipedes than speak in front of a room full of people.   Public speaking is one of the top fears out there, but when you’re asked to talk about yourself and your business in front of potential customers, you simply should not turn it down.   This week’s guest is public speaker, author, and public speaking coach Rich Hopkins.   He has some great advice on how to nail that speaking opportunity.

Here’s a piece of bonus advice that Rich says he forgot to mention during the interview:

Also in this week’s episode, listener-submitted advice from Frances Jones of Cole Media Management on how to record your voice mail greeting properly!

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned during this week’s episode:

Also don’t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

Free is good … free is great!   With times as rough as they are for small businesses, we need to save money wherever and whenever possible.   This week on Startup BizCast Ken Colburn from Data Doctors and I run down some of the best FREE resources on the `net for your small business!

Also, in BizCast Brief, the top five and bottom five small business-friendly states in the U.S.

A word from our sponsor:

Here’s the list of links mentioned in this week’s episode, along with a great tip from Data Doctors that will speed up your Firefox browser.   I tried it and it works great!

Google Alerts:

Google Docs:

Google’s Gmail:

Google’s Translate:

Business Advice:

Search Engine Education

Free Anti-Virus / Anti-Spyware:

Free Alternative to Microsoft Office:

Data Doctors Free Weekly Newsletter:

Data Doctors Weekly CNN.com video advice:

Firefox web browser:

Small Business Advice Podcast

The Data Doctors Tip for making Firefox even faster (for high-speed Internet users):

1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages MUCH faster now!”

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

This week we tackle small business websites, and what they need.   I go solo to discuss three different types of small biz sites, and the integral parts of each.   Included are the online business card, the online store, and the social media hub.   This is a shorter episode, as I’m slammed trying to catch up after the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.   This is generally going to be a tough month for me, as I’m potentially starting several new projects.   I’m going to do my best to keep the show coming out on a regular basis!

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

Note: I’m publishing a day earlier than usual this week, partly because there was no episode last week and partly because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

This week we have not one piece of advice … but five!   The guest for Startup BizCast’s small business advice segment is Jim Tracy, founder and president of America’s Best Companies.   ABC is a small business organization with a great website and print magazine chocked with wonderful information.   Jim joins us to talk about five tips to help any entrepreneur.

Also this week … I address a listener question on building a community on your website.

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

A few weeks back I was one of the presenters in two different webinars from PRWeb.   Each of the presentations was about small business marketing, and during each I talked about business blogging.   And … after each I received a number of emails from people who were confused about how to do it.   Since this seems to be at least a somewhat universal confusion, I decided to do an episode on the “how” and “why” of business blogging, even though I’ve covered the information here and there during this series.

Note: There will be NO episode next week.   I’ll be out of town speaking at a conference on Monday and Tuesday, and I just won’t have time to produce a show.  

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned in this episode:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

Local, state, and federal U.S. government contracts are NOT easy to get.   However, they tend to bring in good money, particularly for small business owners who aren’t used to multi-thousand or million dollar deals.   And, it’s unlikely our government is going to go out of business any time soon — a major consideration in this economy!   This week’s guest on Startup BizCast is Gloria Berthold Larkin, president of TargetGov, a business that helps entrepreneurs through the government contract maze.

Also this week — an announcement about a brand new podcast series from BizPodz Productions!

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

This week, I welcome a good friend and guest from the first handful of Startup BizCast episodes.   The topic of the week is SEO for press releases.   More and more people are catching on to the fact that news releases can be used for SEO purposes, but many people don’t know how to maximize the work put into writing the releases and posting them.   Jiyan Wei is a product manager at online news release presswire PRWeb.   He was my guest back in episode #7, and now he joins me for #70.   Kind of symmetrical, don’t you think?

One more note about Jiyan — for any new listeners who found this show after hearing my presentation at the PRWeb webinar … yes, this is the same Jiyan that was the moderator 🙂

Also this week, I have listener advice submitted via the “Submit YOUR Advice” form, and business news in the BizCast Brief.

Links mentioned during this week’s episode:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

Despite having a bigtime name behind them, businesses like McDonalds, Hair Cuttery, and Century 21 are all small businesses.   They’re franchises, and most of the time they’re owned by someone in your area.   There are challenges inherant to marketing a franchise small business, however, not the least of which is that people don’t often view them as being home grown.   This week’s guest on Startup BizCast is Sherri Fishman from Fishman PR, a public relations firm that specializes in marketing franchisees and franchisers.   She’ll have some tips on how you can work to get publicity for your franchise small business.

NOTE: There was a bit of audio difficulty in this week’s episode.   We had trouble with the interview phone line, which led to a ticking sound while Ms. Fishman talks.   I attempted to filter it out, but it only made things worse.   My apologies for the lapse in quality!

Also this week, in the BizCast Brief … help for UK small businesses, the best places in Canada to have a small business, and things aren’t as bad as they seem economically!

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

This week, we’re talking about how to manage the flow of money going out the door, while the poor economy worldwide may be limiting the amount of money that’s coming in the door.   My guest is Toffer Grant, founder and CEO of PEXCard, a company that offers prepaid VISA cards for use by businesses in expense management.   His company has also launched a blog on corporate finances.   He has tips on how you can manage the expenses of your employees.

Also this week, in the BizCast Brief – news of Barack Obama’s small business plan, Wall Street Journal’s top 15 small business workplaces, and small business week in Canada.

A word from our sponsor:

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.

Almost a year and a half ago, in episode five of Startup BizCast, I reviewed a list of online news release distribution services.   These sites will post and distribute your news release across the web, bringing benefits like SEO and potential media coverage.   Since it’s been so long since that episode, and a number of these sites have changed their services, I decided to revisit the subject with this update and re-review!

Also, in BizCast Brief, small business owners upset with the Feds, the SBA ups its disaster loan rates, and Colorado targets CEOs.

A word from our sponsor:

Links to sites mentioned in this podcast:

Also — donâ€t forget to join the Startup BizCast Group on Facebook!

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

Startup BizCast is produced by BizPodz, the corporate podcast production service from EndGame Public Relations, LLC. For more information on how your business can take advantage of the social media revolution, please visit www.endgamepr.com/podcasts.