All Blog Posts (266)

Combined%20Business%20Info%20Class%20I%20and%20II%20Flyer%20Jan%20-%20Jun%202012.pdfAre you an entrepreneur?  Attend one of our two FREE two-hour classes to learn how to research an industry, target your market, and learn how to use library resources to locate B2B contacts.  Our first FREE…

Columbus State Community College, Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) and TechColumbus, have announced details for the January 11th 1492 Demo Day.  The event will celebrate completion of the program by the five participating startups selected last October for the 1492 business accelerator.  

Business, academic, civic and community leaders along with investors are invited to…

Michael Bowers, District Director of the Ohio SBDC at Columbus State has been named as a TechColumbus Innovation Award Semi-Finalist for Innovation in Non-Profit Service Delivery the…

I found this post on the American Express Open Forum the other day I think it is right on about so many parts of small business ownership/operation that I had to share a link to it here. 

Busting the 10 Biggest Small Business Myths by …

You launched your business. You have built out the product, you are getting favorable reaction from your early market entry, you even got some early financing. Things are going great. This entrepreneurship thing is a piece of cake, right?

WARNING ~ Celebrate early success but don't take your foot off the gas. 

There is a life cycle to business growth and even if things are working at the beginning there are a lot of different issues you will have to deal with…

Do you have a blog for your small business? You should consider it. Blogging  enables you to build credibility, expertise and thought leadership in and around your business. It is also a great way to showcase information about your product or service in a way that provides you flexibility to add information on-line without having to make changes to your primary website. Given all of these advantages the biggest challenges in blogging typically revolve around generating ideas to write about…

I talk to people everyday that want to start a business. Most of them have interesting ideas but things start to go down hill from there. Many people get bogged down in complicated business processes, creative legal structures and the need for large amounts of financing. Due to this they may never get started. To these people I recommend you step back and take a deep breath. Don't make starting a business any more difficult than it needs to be. Simplify, especially in the early stages of the…

I just finished a meeting with one of my favorite small business clients and came to some realizations about business planning. In our case we are working on developing and implementing new business and revenue strategies in an already successful business. Through our discussions we have looked at the current operations to establish a baseline then have worked to develop new strategies from there. We are being careful to maintain the integrity of the mission that the business owner developed…

By Heather Whaling

Whether you are an individual wanting to share gardening, parenting or cooking experiences — or you work for a company interested in sharing expertise, best practices, case studies or data — launching and sustaining a blog is hard work.

I recently delivered a “blogging bootcamp”-style presentation. The audience included people new to blogging, as well as those who felt stuck in the stop/restart…

Five companies were selected last night from a field of 162 applicants to participate in the second 1492 business accelerator program.  1492 is a collaboration among TechColumbus, Columbus State Community College and the Columbus College of Art & Design.  The program accelerates the creation of innovative startups in a matter of months, not years.   “We were projecting about one hundred entrants,” said Ted Ford, president and CEO of TechColumbus. “That we received 162 is testament to the…

Last week I attended the BOSS 2011 Conference put on by the Barefoot Executive, Carrie Wilkerson . Was an incredible experience!!! While I was there I participated on the "Power of People: Buzz, Publicity and Social Media panel and also conducted a breakout session on Financing and Funding. As you can see I am multi-talented speaking on two such diverse topics. Not sure that is so much true…

"Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.…

Found a great post from Gini Dietrich of Arment Dietrich, Inc. in Chicago on how to utilize free webinars to generate leads for your business. Giving Free Content to Generate Business to check out the post and video on how to implement this strategy. If there is anything we can do to help call 614-287-5294 to set up a meeting.

Yesterday I was moderating a panel for the Ohio SBDC  on building sales as a small business owner. It was a great discussion with Mark Gilicinski  founder of Mobile Expeditions…

With 200 million members, Twitter is one of the most popular social networks out there. But are you taking advantage of everything it has to offer for marketing? Used effectively, Twitter can help you…

A partnership between Columbus State Community College ,  the Columbus College of Art and Design  andTechColumbus  has established the  second 1492 business launch competition aimed at finding, funding…

If you are thinking of getting your business or your non-profit more involved in on-line and social media activities you may need help. I know that I take all the help I can get. Where do you look to find good resources? Certainly there are all kinds of experts, gurus and strategists out there pumping out…

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what kind of grants are available for small businesses I would be rich and living on a beach somewhere. Everyone is looking for undiluted capital (fancy term for free money). The problem is that there really is no free money. If you can actually find and qualify for a grant there are always strings attached. You may not have to pay it back but you will definitely have to work for it.…

This morning I read a post by Lisa Barone  of Outspoken Media  that highlighted the lack of participation of small businesses on social media (read the post by clicking here ). I…