Startup BizCast - The Small Business Advice Podcast

I didn’t really know what to call this abbreviated episode, but it came to me as I was reading a story about the White House needing to apologize to the Premier of Italy after they released a less-than-flattering biography about him.   I decided to talk about tips to help you avoid mistakes with email like sending a comment to the wrong person, or sending the wrong document to the wrong person.   These can be simple errors, but can also be disastrous.

Also in this episode, listener feedback on SB #47, which featured advice from Casey Quinlan on business storytelling.

Links mentioned in this 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.

I can’t help but laugh when I hear the words “Office Space”, because I love the classic movie of that name.   But, this week’s episode has nothing to do with that great flick.   This week we’re talking about how to find office space for your small business.   Whether you’re leasing space for the first time, or the second, third, or fourth … it’s a perplexing process.   Our guest this week has some advice on the subject.   Chris Desloge is with Tenant Rep Agency, LLC, a company in St. Louis that works with business owners who are hoping to find office space.   His company last fall launched OfficeTenant.com, a site chocked full of advice for potential office tenants.

In BizCast Brief this week, a “duh” survey about small business owner concern, potential changes to the tax laws concerning home-based businesses, and Microsoft passes a big milestone.   Also this week — listener feedback!

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.

Imagine the worst happens with your business — perhaps one of your employees is caught trafficking goods from your warehouse, or one of your products is tainted and makes a whole flock of people sick. What would you do to handle the crisis? Having a crisis plan in advance can help. In this episode of Startup BizCast, I go solo to discuss how to develop your crisis plan and give tips on how to talk with the media if a crisis hits.

In BizCast Brief — older businesses drive the economy, and Visa teams with Facebook to help small businesses.

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

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

Sorry for the tardiness of this episode. I have one correction right off the top: There is no Recommended Reading feature on the blog this week. Sadly, I lost my list of links and simply don’t have time to look them up! Apologies!

And now … on with the show!

Between insane fuel prices and an increasing desire to preserve resources, everyone is talking about going green. On this week’s Startup BizCast, we meet Tish Kashani from Co-op America, a membership group of individuals and businesses that are not only going green themselves, but are also working in a larger sense to save our planet’s resources.

Also on this week’s Startup BizCast…

I have listener feedback, and of course this week’s review of small business news in BizCast Brief!

Links mentioned on 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.

Thus far on Startup BizCast, we’ve talked about marketing, advertising, PR and even logo production. In this episode, we’re going to talk about techniques that use all of the above and more. Branding strategies use an across-the-board approach to create a feeling in the customer (or potential customer) about your business. Our guest is Dave Martin from Martin Branding Worldwide, a firm that works with medium and Fortune 500 companies. Dave explains branding to us, and gives some tips on how it can be used by small business owners.

In BizCast Brief, we have stories about small business owner pessimism about the economy, even while they’re planning to expand … and the US presidential candidates spar over their small business plans.

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.

I’ve talked a lot on this podcast about how to make your business blog work for you, but what about using other people’s blogs to promote your business? That’s this week’s topic on Startup BizCast. I go solo to talk about what a successful blogger relations campaign can do for you, and give some tips on how to properly contact bloggers to try to get them to write a blog post about your company.

In BizCast Brief this week: Canadians rejecting a carbon tax, small business employees more likely to endanger company computers, and eBay auction businesses may be in danger.

Websites mentioned in this week’s episode:

Don’t forget to email me YOUR advice. I’ll talk about submitted advice in a future 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.

I’m celebrating! Startup BizCast is not only celebrating its 50th episode this week, it’s also turning one year old! The premier of the small business advice podcast was on May 30, 2007. To mark this dual occasion, I’m doing the following:

1) I’m introducing the new Startup BizCast theme music and produced open. The music comes from Blake Emrys. The song is called “Entranced”, and the full version can be found on Blake’s website or on the Podsafe Music Network. I also splurged, and hired a professional voice to do the open for me. I neglected to get into details about this in the show because it was running long already. I’ll talk more about it next week, but please let me know if you like it!

2) I’m devoting this episode to the best advice from the first 50 episodes of the show. I picked out a handful (with some help from Ben from San Diego on one) and pieced them together to make a “clip show”. It turned out nicely, if I may say so myself … and I just did. If you like one of the clips and want to listen to the entire episode, you can find every Startup BizCast ever recorded in the episode archive section of this website.

If YOU have a favorite show that I didn’t include, please let me know! I’ll talk about any suggestions in the next episode!

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.

The idea of using social networking to promote your small business has come up a number of times on this podcast, and in this episode we’ll get some specific tips on using one of the most popular sites for business — Facebook. John Blown of 6s Marketing, an Internet marketing firm, is this week’s guest on Startup BizCast. He’ll talk about how to use Facebook and why you would want to. He also discusses social networking sites MySpace and LinkedIn, and how they can be used.

In this week’s BizCast Brief, we have stories about an increase in Microsoft Small Business Server prices, a tax fight in Texas, and small business owners taking their vacations.

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

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.

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Dangerous Toys” by George Fletcherâ€s Bourbon Renewal. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s a large portion of the world’s population suffered as inflation ran wild and unemployment reached epidemic proportions. But, there was a group of people and companies that actually flourished during the depression, thanks to smart and innovative thinking. With the weak economy nowadays, we can learn a great deal from these Great Depression Millionaires. This week’s guest on Startup BizCast is Laura Posey from sales training firm Dancing Elephants Achievement Group. She’s holding teleseminars on this topic and has agreed to talk with us and give us the high points.

If you’re interested in learning more on this topic, Dancing Elephants is making a great offer to Startup BizCast listeners. Laura says she will waive the $47 registration fee, allowing you to participate at no charge! To reserve your spot, email your contact information to [email protected] and put “Steve” in the subject line.

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

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.

Startup BizCastâ€s theme music is “Dangerous Toys” by George Fletcherâ€s Bourbon Renewal. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

I was racking my about the topic of this week’s Startup BizCast, when Casey Quinlan came along. She suggested talking about business storytelling … and I think it’s a great idea. My guest this week is Casey, who is the owner of Mighty Casey Media. She says if I have to put her “in a box” she’ll answer to the title of communications consultant. She prefers to be called a business storyteller, however. In this week’s Startup BizCast interview, she gives us advice on how to leave the pie charts behind in your presentations, and start telling memorable stories.

I pre-empted this week’s BizCast Brief due to lack of solid news out there, but please check out this week’s Small Business Recommended Reading.

Links mentioned in this week’s episode:

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Dangerous Toys” by George Fletcher’s Bourbon Renewal. The full version of the song, along with other music by the same artist, can be downloaded at Podsafe Music Network.

The post Startup BizCast #47 – Business Storytelling (Casey Quinlan) first appeared on EndGame Public Relations.