Ventureweek

 From: under30ceo.com

Article written by and contributed by:

Rishi Anand: Founder and Managing Director of VentureGiant.com. Find Angel Investors at Venture Giant. If you are a Tech Start-up or Small business looking to take your businesses to the next level, Venture Giant connects entrepreneurs & SMEs to Angel investors that are seeking to invest and provide angel investment to start-ups and established businesses.

The Internet is saturated with articles on ‘how to pitch your idea’; ‘how to draft and implement your pitch to perfection’ ad nauseam, but there are simply not enough articles and resources out there on how a relatively inexperienced entrepreneur should deal with hard hitting investors when meeting them to raise external investment for their business.

As an established entrepreneur and angel investor network that has featured thousands of investment proposals to genuine, high caliber angel investors (follow link to view our database of investors) that have included investors from the UK Sunday Times Richlist, one of the former Founders of Skype, and even one of the former directors of Morgan Stanley, we have been in a unique position to see both sides of the funding equation between entrepreneurs seeking investment capital for their business and the angel investors that are looking to invest in these high risk ventures. In fact, entrepreneurs that know how to negotiate in the right way, ensures that:

You will receive better terms – in terms of % equity you will continue to own in your company vs. the investment capital you raise.

You will not lose a potential deal because you have failed to value what a business angel investor can actually bring to your company (know-how, experience, network of contacts), and…

You will be able to walk away from the deal (if need be) as getting the right answers to the right questions from an investor will empower you to walk away if it is not right for you. It is wise to always ‘go with your gut’ in these situations but it is important to remain impartial during negotiations and to ask the right kinds of questions that may well uncover red-flags and most importantly not put-off a potential investor.

So you have a full business plan with financials. You are armed with industry stats and have made your investment pitch to an investor. Now what?

Fact #1: Your Investment Summary is NOT your Executive Summary

Angel investors are highly successful business people that have a lot of money behind them which is why they are able to afford to invest in high risk; high reward non-traditional investment propositions (YOU!). As a result of this, they will get approached daily by pie-in-the-sky entrepreneurs and time wasters that just want to talk about their ideas but not really make any of the sacrifices that are necessary to build a truly profitable business. So when you are invited to deliver your investment pitch to an angel investor it will be important to stand out from the crowd by knowing your business plan inside out (including the financial section), having a great presentation that may include PowerPoint slides with graphics demonstrating your key points of your investment pitch and by having a well-written one page ‘investment summary’ (which is NOT your executive summary) prepared especially for the angel investor you are pitching to, ready to be handed out straight after your initial pitch or preferably handed out after the Q&A session when your meeting has ended which will act as a refresher.

The decision to invest will never be made during your initial pitch BUT the decision NOT to invest could be so it is vital that you articulate yourself and speak in a language that a potential investor finds reassuring and knowing your business plan inside out will help with building your credibility in the meeting.

Handing out a fully bounded business plan after your investment pitch, when an investor has not asked for a copy, will likely cause the investor to just flick through it and archive it somewhere in his office. A half page or one page investment summary on the other hand will formalise and add credibility to your investment pitch and will increase the chances of an investor perusing the key points of your pitch at their own leisure time. In case you would like to find out how to write the perfect investment summary or would like to know the real differences between an executive summary and an investment summary please follow this link.

Fact #2: Angel Investment does NOT happen overnight

Receiving investor interest and pitching to them successfully is hoop #1. The process of actually signing contracts and receiving angel investment will most probably be hoop #4 or #5 and can take many months to complete as experienced angel investors will not draft contracts and send funds over without first seeking out their own legal advice or guidance at key points during negotiations from their own network of advisors. So remaining patient, strategic and prepared to answer all types of questions during this time will be the best strategy moving forward.

Fact #3: Angel Investment is not just about Money

Angel Investment is a value proposition for both sides and the past experience as well as the success rate of the potential investor should be recognised and valued correctly by an entrepreneur.

Recognising the value that an Investor can bring to your business is an important consideration as an angel investment into your business is not just about the money and the potential savings you will make by not paying interest on the capital you have raised. Think: receiving an angel investment from one of the founders of Skype and the value and experience that they could bring to your start-up. It would be fair in this example to say that the value brought to your enterprise could end up being worth 10 times more than the value of the investment capital itself. So in this scenario, you would be more receptive to receiving less investment and potentially giving away more equity in return for having them join your business as the value of their contribution to your business long term would be worth more than the actual investment amount you are seeking to raise. Valuing an Angel Investor’s possible future contribution to your business will rely on your own due diligence in combination with your intuition and we will address this issue further in the Q&A section below.

Things to do & questions to ask Investors during negotiations…

To start with, it is good practice to ask a potential investor to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (or NDA) before revealing any sensitive facts about your business, and asking for an NDA to be signed can do no real harm to both parties.

There is a modern school of thought that debates whether or not an NDA is a legally enforceable agreement or not, however, the fact remains that when an entrepreneur insists that a potential investor sign the agreement before entering talks, it sends out some very clear positive signals, namely:

• That you are serious about your idea or business.
• That you have made it clear, and in writing, that you are now entering talks in areas that you feel are confidential and that you (in no uncertain terms) do not want the information that is discussed from this point forward (or documents that you subsequently disclose) passed on without your express written permission.
• And, in the case that a potential investor simply states that they do not wish to sign the NDA (for whatever reason) then this will be a clear indication that you should be on-guard and perhaps less co-operative with the quantity of information you are asked to provide. The usual reason for an angel investor refusing to sign an NDA is that they are already working in areas that conflict with your business; and that would be your first red flag that should seriously make you think twice on the amount of information that you are willing to disclose.

Once the ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement’ is signed (or not signed) this will be a good time to value the contribution that the investor could make to your company by considering questions like:

1) Has the Investor worked in your industry sector and if so what is his/her experience level within it?

2) What resources does the business angel investor already employ that you may be able to leverage? Example: access to office property, access to experienced sales staff, existing know-how in your industry, trade suppliers, or even existing distribution networks to wholesalers and suppliers that your product could piggy bank of? Is there some way to leverage this as part of the angel investment package (example, one or two years free rent on office space)?

3) What companies has the investor invested in to date? What companies does the investor privately own? It may be worth considering carrying out credit checks on these public companies at a later date to provide you with valuable insight on how this investor manages his/her own businesses.

4) From the Investor’s past angel investments, how many of them are similar to your business and industry sector and how well are they doing? Also how many past business angel investment successes has this investor had?

5) From point 4 above, if the investor has had past successes in his angel investments, ask what qualities the entrepreneur had that first attracted the investor to invest in him/her. This can provide you with a candid view on the types of qualities the investor will be looking for in you (!)

6) Has the angel investor exited from any of his/her past business investments? If so, what were the results and how much of it was as a direct result of this investor? Would the Investor be comfortable with you contacting the entrepreneur(s) involved in that business? If not, why not?

7) If you do retrieve the entrepreneur’s contact details from point 6 above, call him/her and ask what level of support the entrepreneur received during their time together and was it valuable? Contacting an entrepreneur that has exited and is no longer involved with the investor will yield far more honest and upfront commentary over someone that is still currently involved with the investor for fear of conflicts of interest.

8 ) How many business investments (NOT traditional investments such as stocks, bonds, property investments etc) has the investor made in the past? This is a revealing question as most experienced business investors will know exactly what they want from you and your business from day 1, whereas, less experienced business investors will be far more hot/cold during your meetings and may tend to make commitments verbally that are later broken when they have consulted with their own network of friends and advisors. This does not happen all of the time, but more often than not, a less experienced investor may seem friendly and agree to a whole host of terms verbally in a meeting and then on the eleventh hour almost schizophrenically change all of the terms they have verbally agreed to. Expecting this may provide you with more leeway and understanding if this happens.

9) Always be on the look-out for the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine played by an investor and his advisor. Most important of all, if negotiations are later fully delegated to an investor’s advisor it is best where possible and funds allowing, to have your people talk to his/her people, as it can be quite an exhausting experience trying to negotiate key points and terms with an advisor that does not have the final say on key decisions. Even if the investor states that the advisor has full power to negotiate on his/her behalf ultimately they will not as it is not their money at stake.

10) What payback period is the business angel investor realistically looking at for his/her investment in you? What is the investor’s expected timescales for an exit of his investment? Is the investor looking for a short term, medium term or longer-term return on his/her investment?

11) Is the investor willing to be on the board of directors of your company? This can indicate the amount of involvement that the investor is willing to provide over his/her angel investment.

12) Will a Lawyer/Solicitor be drafting the legal documents for the angel investment and deal structure in your company? If so, will you retain your own counsel whilst these documents are drafted? Also, it is not unheard of for an angel investor to take the stance that he will not be using corporate lawyers to draft agreements, as if an investor chose to invest in 8 – 10 companies the total legal bill could turn out to be well over £50,000.00 assuming a lean estimation of £5K per company which is low! Whatever the situation for the investor, an entrepreneur should always pay for legal advice before signing any contract so that all terms are fully understood and you enter into any agreements with your eyes wide open.

13) In terms of deal structure, if an Investor is purchasing equity, what type of shares will the Investor be purchasing (common shares or preferred shares) and have you spoken with your accountant or tax advisor in terms of the potential tax benefits and downfalls to the different types of structures an investor may propose? Always do check if there are any warrants or share options attached, or would the investor instead wish to assume responsibility for some kind of debt in your company? If so, do ask your lawyer to check whether the debt will be classed as subordinate debt or convertible debt.

14) And finally, Net Worth of the investor – though you may never reasonably know what the exact net worth of your potential investor is, it is important to understand that an investor should have at least 7 – 10 times more in liquidity over the amount that they are going to be investing in you. So if you are seeking an Investment of £50,000, the angel investor should have around £500,000 of liquid assets (shares, positions in gold, cash etc) that are easily convertible to cash over the short term whilst also being able to service their own debts.

The reason why the question of net worth is important is because an investor that you choose to partner with must always provide strength to your business relationship, and this strength cannot come from someone who is constant fear of losing their investment if the venture fails or does not make money in the first quarter. This is not a question of wealth but affordability and as a result, it is important that as much due diligence is carried out beforehand to ensure that the investor can actually afford to invest in your company and potentially be a good bedfellow with you.

The following points above are only considerations and by no means exhaustive but should set out a good foundation to the types of questions you should consider finding out over the course of your ensuing negotiations with an investor.

Entrepreneurs must always remember that even though it appears difficult to raise angel investment now, making a wrong choice with the wrong investor today will almost certainly be impossible to separate from tomorrow so you owe it to your ‘future-self’ to ask as many questions as you can today.

UPDATE TO ARTICLE: We have received emails from entrepreneurs that are looking for a list of questions that angel investors will ask and a good list of questions can be seen here: Angel investor Due Diligence. Ensure that you have answers to these questions before meeting an Investor. Again, the above link is not exhaustive, but it is a good start when preparing to meet an Investor for the first time.

Standard Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here are entirely of the author’s and as a result the author cannot take any responsibility for the results or consequences of any attempt to use or adopt any of the information presented in this guide. Whether you are successful in raising investment from an angel investor or not, it is always important to seek independent advice from professionals before consummating any type of angel investment deal.

 By :Royale Scuderi

From openforum.com

No two businesses and industries are alike, but successful leadership principles are largely universal. So, learn by emulating what successful business owners and leaders have done to succeed.

We asked several successful business owners for their best leadership advice. Some fundamental concepts were cited over and over again.

1. Communicate vision and goals

It’s not enough for successful leaders to simply have a clear vision. A true leader must communicate that vision and those goals to employees, investors and customers. Without a clear sense of goals, it is easy for everyone involved to lose sight of the larger picture and get lost in the details.

“Much time is wasted in the entrepreneurial process, because the entrepreneur is not clear on the desired outcome,” says Dr. David Washington, founder of Washington and Company. “The lack of clarity is then passed down to the followers, which results in missed objectives.” Washington is the author of Life is a Choice: A Guide to Success in Life.

2. Listen

Leaders must be able to listen and understand, as well as communicate.

“Leadership has a core fundamental for me, and that is dialog,” said John Spiridigliozzi, vice president of business development at Infinit Technology Solutions. “I have had instances where I was sure I was communicating only to find out I was publishing.

“Engaging in a dialog with team members [is an] opportunity for clarity…. Learning to listen is not simply keeping quiet while others talk. It is comprehending what is being said, assessing the value and responding accordingly.”

3. Build relationships

People are your greatest resource: clients and customers as well as employees. Find ways to strengthen the level of trust you have with everyone involved in your enterprise.

“Be considerate. Be transparent and consistent. Be fair. Be constructive. Be realistic. Be decisive,” says Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFPR and founder of Palisades Hudson Financial Group. He says it all comes down to trust. “We all say we want team players, but many leaders forget to act as part of the team. It is not only important that your workers trust each other: It is vital that they trust you as their leader.”

4. Set the tone

Company culture, tone and attitude come from the top down. A passionate and compassionate leader can energize an entire company. Set an example of cooperation, trust and openness. Focus on solutions and positivity instead of blame and backstabbing.

“You can go through thousands of dollars in consultants to shape your culture, but it will still come back to the owner’s approach,” says Kristi Hedges, leadership consultant and coach at The Hedges Company.

Hedges favors a hands-on approach. “If you’re motivated and happy in your role, then others will follow your lead. And if you’re burned out and tired, that energy will permeate everything. Owners need to make sure they shape their role, and their company, to make them fulfilled and excited. If you put yourself last, you’re hurting the entire organization.”

5. Share ownership

In a tough economic climate, it is more important than ever to be open-minded and employ a community-style approach to leadership. It’s a “many heads are better than one” approach.

A good leader allows both employee responsibility and creativity to encourage growth and new ideas. Successful leaders understand the value of customer and community input. Soliciting and listening to feedback and suggestions can lead to a better understanding of what needs to be done and also generates company loyalty and a brand following.

“In our business, we’ve learned that a little transparency can go a long way toward increasing employees’ confidence, commitment and energy,” said Ethan Willis, CEO of Prosper Inc. and co-author of “The One-Minute Entrepreneur.”

Royale Scuderi is a freelance writer and success coach. She is the founder of Productive Life Concepts and has been featured on Stepcase Lifehack and The Huffington Post. You can find her musings on life and business at GuardWife.com and Twitter.com/RoyaleScuderi

From mattaboutbusiness.com By Matt Mansfield

 If you’re like most small businesses, you’ve likely focused a lot of your social media efforts on the big three: Facebook, Twitter and, especially if you sell B2B, LinkedIn.

A few weeks ago however, I found myself wondering why Pinterest, the latest social networking site, kept popping up all over the place. Whether it was a blog post, a newsletter or even a mainstream business press article, I kept seeing the Pinterest name and yes, being the online hound that I am, I got really curious about all the buzz.

 You see, I had signed up for Pinterest earlier this year, but hadn’t had the time to work my way back to play with the site (this happens to me way to often ). Determined to remedy that, I logged into Pinterest late one Friday evening and, two hours later, realized that I was in trouble. I was hooked.

 Behind the Addiction

My First Pinterest Board Simply put, Pinterest is an image content curation site where users can create “boards” to which they can add images and comments around a common theme. For example, my first board was a collection of my “Favorite Geek T-Shirts”.

 In many ways, Pinterest is similar to some of the big social shopping sites (such as Kaboodle) where friends can share recommended products in specific configurations (think “outfit for the prom”). Pinterest however, allows you to add any image from across the web and does not limit you to adding products sold only by certain merchants.

 The advantage to the other social shopping sites is that you can not only view the products, but you can click a button and buy them right there. Believe me when I say that this exact functionality is high on the Pinterest team’s “must implement” list.

 Even without the ability to click and buy, there are a lot of reasons why Pinterest is addicting. In my mind, Pinterest attracts users with its ease-of-use, design and tone and attitude but it’s the social aspect really hooks you in.

 Within minutes of adding my first board, I began receiving comments and “repins” from tons of folks.

For example, within minutes (really!) of adding my first board, I began receiving comments and “repins” (where others share your images on their own boards) from tons of folks.

In an attempt to figure out why these folks had shared my stuff, I visited their boards and was incredibly pleased to discover people with the same twisted and geeky world-view as mine. Soon I was repining their stuff on my boards and before I knew it, a lot of time had gone by and I was still having a blast discovering new people and the content they had shared.

This is powerful social networking.

 A Real Contender

The growth of Pinterest has been nothing short of amazing and many compare it to Facebook in its early days.

Most compelling, the primary demographic of Pinterest users is composed of women, an attractive and hard-to-reach online demographic.

 Given these two factors, is it any wonder why businesses have begun to take notice of Pinterest? In fact, many businesses, both large and small, have used Pinterest successfully for a whole host of things from contests to marketing campaigns.

 Personally, I found Pinterest to be an excellent spot to create boards that focus on different types of online software solutions. Thus far, I have created three such boards:

Best Accounting Software Small Business 

E-Mail Marketing Services for Small Businesses 

CRM Software Programs for Small Businesses

 Pinterest can even be a used as a tool to improve your business’ search engine optimization (SEO) efforts -  it’s a fact: many businesses have seen huge website traffic growth since they began using Pinterest.

Pinterest has become a social network that your business can no longer ignore.

Yes, Pinterest has become a social network that your business can no longer ignore.

 So, to help you get started with this latest social networking phenom, I have included a whole bunch of useful links below.

 

From StartupNation.com By: Wendy Kenney who is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

Let’s face it, starting a business can be very easy, but staying in business can be very difficult given that our customers have too many choices on where to spend their hard-earned cash.  So the question I posed to small business owners was “How do you make your business stand out from the crowd so that people will choose to spend their dollars with you?”  Here are 30 of the best responses that I received from businesses located all over the world!  I hope there’s a few that resonate with you.

 1. Give ‘Em What They Want

For us, at The Burger Dive, it was all about offering something that we didn’t think our city really had, and that we believed would be wanted. Our city is overflowing with fast food burger chains, and a couple of higher end burger chains, but it really lacked that one little mom and pop burger joint that everyone loves. We have maintained our standards from day one, using only fresh and quality ingredients. We make everything ourselves, and it has paid off. People tell us daily “this is the best I’ve ever had,” and they say they can really tell the difference between us and our larger chain competitors. It really comes down to freshness, and also our creativity with our burgers and our specials.

Thanks to Brad Halsten, The Burger Dive

 2. Become a Winner

We have won multiple awards and we are proud of them. The awards have become not only a pat on the back, but a great marketing tool that really gets our name out there. The award definitely holds its value as the years go on.

Thanks to Matt Pringle, DCP Productions

 3.  Become Really Good at Something Really Difficult

 We are a team of professional organizers who specialize in the severely cluttered and hoarders. We actually receive referrals from other organizers because this is a very difficult segment of our industry and is too much for many organizers.

We allow the client to be in command of their costs by charging hourly rather than making them buy a package up front and we make sure they are very comfortable with their organizer since this is SUCH an intimate business. We offer a quicker turn-around time if they are up against a deadline (often imposed by the county) while still allowing them to keep their dignity and self-esteem.

Thanks to Maria Spetalnik, ConquerTheClutter

 4. Cater to Your Customer

Madcapz are specifically made for women by a woman. Most ball caps are made for men so they are too big and don’t fit women well. Our caps are low profile, meaning there is less room in the crown and this is better suited to women’s heads.

Also, Madcapz are available in over 20 fabulous prints; most baseball caps are in boring, drab colors and splattered with corporate and sports logos.

And finally, a growing trend with our buyers: they love that our baseball caps are Made in the USA! Most ball caps today are made in Bangladesh and China, ours are made here and buyers love that!

Thanks to Carrie Bell, Madcapz

 5.  Tap into What Works and Make it Your Own

 We are a military/patriotic fashion apparel brand. We just got started about 2 years ago but within 18 months had the most popular website among our competitors and the second largest following of fans on Facebook. How did I do it? A lot of long nights… But seriously, we separated ourselves. When I started the business I really just wanted something cool to wear that looked modern but had a military or patriotic twist to it, being a veteran of the United States Army and a Drill Sergeant at the time.

We took modern cool looks and quality from what’s currently hot in the market, put a patriotic or military twist on our designs and then guaranteed our apparel for life like another apparel retailer does. We really didn’t innovate anything, but took what works from other successful companies and put them together to come up with us, Grunt Style. It’s worked fantastically and we continue to explode with growth.

Thanks to Drill Sergeant Daniel Alarik, Grunt Style LLC

 6. Specialize: Be The Expert-Then Deliver

 There are a ton of freelance writers, but not many have expertise in my niches (aging, senior care, evidence-based health advice, and high-end SEO friendly content for websites). My clients come to me for expertise they haven’t seen elsewhere. They could pay cheap prices for lesser work, but they know that with me, they’ll get exceptional content that beats the competition’s. So I help their businesses stand out too! I also strive to be outstanding to work with.

Thanks to Leigh Ann Otte of LA Wordsmith

7. Ice The Cake

 So many businesses advertise their “quality” or “speed” as if the competition doesn’t have this. Come up with something the competition doesn’t have, something extra – icing on the cake. I don’t market this enough – maybe I should – but when we write a book for a client, we will happily prepare a synopsis and query letter at no extra cost. We only bring this forward when a lead asks about what comes after the writing. It helps close the sale rather than generate new leads.

Thanks to David Leonhardt of THGM writers

 8. Be Authentic, Be Bold, Be Different!

Here is something different in this day and age, NEVER TAKE ANY ONE for granted, listen to your clients. provide value in your products and service, and go above and beyond to make people feel like they are your only customer. Return to simple values such as face to face marketing, handshakes, and then use modern day technology to stay in front of them and provide resources, education establishing yourself as the authority in your field.

Thanks to Marc Abelman, Las Vegas Interior Design

  9. Be Honorable and Forthright and You are Golden

 Honest straightforward communication and portrayal of your product. No gimmicks schmooze.

Thanks to Lys Fulda, Sphinx Group

10. Cater to A Specific Niche

 We make accommodations for, and cater, to special needs kids.

Thanks to David Perkins, Bubble Swim School

 11. Specialize

 I am a freelance copywriter competing with dozens, if not hundreds, of other freelance copywriters for assignments. However, with a degree in Chemistry and an insatiable appetite for understanding anything related to science and technology, I have a unique selling proposition. There are plenty of good writers “out there” who are terrified of anything having to do with technology. There are also plenty of highly skilled technical people who can’t tell you in English exactly what it is that they do. I have the rare ability to interview a scientist or an engineer, or read a very technical paper, and translate the “Techno-Babble” or “technical gobbledygook” into compelling English that even people with no technical training can read and understand. My corporate logo is a red apple, and my tag line is, “Technical copy with a delicious difference. Like an apple, it will be “red.” This is how I differentiate my business from my competition.

Thanks to Robert P. Baker, Copy To Go, Inc.

 12. Create a Better Experience

 Ringadoc puts patients in touch with doctors from any phone, anywhere, anytime. Our meticulous attention to technology separates us from our competitors. We devote just as much time to perfecting our software as we do to finding the best team of doctors, because we believe great technology goes a long way in creating a better healthcare experience. Most recently, we developed the first app that enables patients and doctors to video conference right on their Apple and Android devices.

Thanks to Stephanie A. Higa, Ringadoc Communications

13. Position Yourself As The Expert In Your Field

 I try to not be a jack of all trades. We have a tendency to say, “Oh sure, I can do that.” By doing so you quickly find yourself in an over promise, under deliver situation. If you don’t spread yourself too thin, it gives you a chance to perfect the areas that you are really good at. That way you can be THE person in town who is the expert to work with. Be sure to have a list of people you trust to suggest in the fields that you don’t cover. You want to be the person your client consults for referrals!

Thanks to Darlynn Nangano of Little Blog Dress Media

 14. Do it Differently Than Your Competitors 

Listia.com is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell things without money. You post auction-style listings to earn credits, and can then use those credits to buy things from other users. It’s a great way to trade things you don’t use for things you actually want.

Our main competitive edge is being a truly free service, as opposed to eBay who charges listing fees to sell your things. In addition, we offer a charity donation feature so users can essentially turn the things they don’t want into charitable donations (www.listia.com/charities). We’ve captured a lot of users from the eBay market as well as the Free listings on Craigslist, and hope to continue expanding our services so everyone can barter instead of buy.

Thanks to Mabel Yoshimoto, Listia.com

15. Tell People HOW You Are Different

 I changed my tagline last year to: We are not the biggest mover, but our clients tell us we are the BEST!

Then all of my follow-up with prospects and customers outlines how/why our clients say we are the best. This puts psychological triggers in their head so once we provide services for them (and my guys in the field are aware of this campaign), then when we ask for a testimonial they already have it in their head, that we are the best, and are more inclined to put that in their testimonial.

Thanks to Jim Howey of TechMove

 16. Speak Their Language

 We are the first marketing communication firm in the world to achieve LEED Platinum. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was established in 1993 by the U.S. Green Building Council to encourage sustainable building practices in the U.S. My traditional marketing communications firm has clients in the building materials industry and we wanted to increase that business. Getting accredited, teaching LEED and finally getting the office Certified at the highest level tells our potential clients that we know what their customers are wanting in sustainable building products and that we can speak the customer’s language.

Thanks to Chuck Lohre, Lohre & Associates Marketing Communications

 17. Niche-ify!

 There are many companies that offer marketing services to small businesses. What makes Market Mommy different? We cater to the mom business owner who is trying to get her business off the ground in an affordable manner. All of our services are extremely low cost, yet professional. We help moms brainstorm and develop a marketing plan that is both effective and realistic. Our rates are low and we suggest other marketing efforts that are affordable as well.

Thanks to Dawn E. Berryman, Founder, Market Mommy®

18. Be Yourself, Have Personality

 For many freelancers, we ARE our business. There’s just one person, just us. So, just like in personal relationships, just be yourself. Your business is unique because you are unique. Allow your personality to shine through. You don’t have to be the biggest or the fanciest or the most well-known company to be successful. Just look at me. There are bazillion web designers in Phoenix. What sets me apart? I treat clients like friends and let them get to know me.

Thanks to Perri Collins of Perri Collins Consulting

 19. Partner with Your Customers

 My company stands out because we make our members/customers revenue sharing partners in our business. Our referral program pays our members a percentage of the earnings of the customers they refer to us. They earn money without even shopping and establish residual income for themselves.

Thanks to Frank DeBlasi, Hoopla Doopla, Inc.

20. Helping Nurses Become Heroes

I recently launched a nurse speaking, training, and consulting business. At first, my sales message looked like the others (telling potential clients I could help improve their nurses’ clinical and professional…etc). Ugh. I looked like a cookie cutter. So, I got to the core of what I was trying to do and simplified my message. I want nurses to believe they are heroes; that making a difference is a choice. What makes me different is I tap into their emotions and help them believe in themselves.

Thanks to Renee Thompson of RTConnections

21. Be Old School!

 I know that what makes my business stand out shouldn’t be so simple, or old school, but it is. I live by this motto: “Do What You Say You Will Do!” I know it’s not the golden rule, but pretty close to it. I am constantly amazed that my clients thank me for doing such a simple thing as returning a phone call. But, when your friendly competitors take days, or do it not at all, it makes you stand out from a huge pack. All you have is your word, respect it and others will respect you!

Thanks to Karen Berg of United Brokers Group

22. Personal Recommendations and Testimonials and Celebrity Endorsements

I work as a professional magician in the UK and it’s important to stand out in some way as there are hundreds of magicians fighting for the same (relatively small) amount of business and little to differentiate them.  One thing I have done is to make sure I get personal recommendations and testimonials from people who have hired me. It’s always useful to have plenty of these on your website, they really help. People can be a bit wary, as they know these things can easily be faked, so actual screenshots of any written “thank yous” are very powerful.

Also, I love celebrity endorsements. They are tricky to come by, but worth their weight in gold. I was working in a restaurant and an old guy came in with his family. I went over to do some magic for them and (OMG!) it was Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin! I made sure to get a photo with him and put it onto my website; I’ve had several bookings as a result from people who say “If you’re good enough for Jimmy Page then you’re good enough for me!” Always be ready to grab a picture with any celebrity you come across, even if you only speak to them for a few seconds grab that shot, it will be invaluable.

Thanks to Mike Stoner (magician) Magician For Hire UK

23. Provide a Money-Back Guarantee

We offer a 100% money-back guarantee for our services. This means that if one or more objectives are not met within the agreed upon deadlines, we will give the client back every penny of their fee. At first glance, there appears to be a lot of risk involved with doing this. However, we’re confident in our experience and the level of services we provide to our clients.

Thanks to Tim Parkin, Parkin Web Development, LLC

24. Provide a Free Trial

GovernmentAuctions.org is a subscription-based service that gives the customer the best and cheapest possible way to view and participate in government auctions via our site. We have changed the game by offering people an initial three-day free trial membership which has never been done before by anybody in the industry.

Thanks to Ian Aronovich, GovernmentAuctions.org

25. Offer Something that Your Competitors Don’t

 In Phoenix we have a lot of problems with car windshields breaking due to rocks from never ending road construction and excessive heat.  The problem was that you could get your windshield fixed one day and then need it again the next.  Our glass company, Desert Breeze Glass become the exclusive licensee of Diamon Fusion glass guard which is a coating that is applied to the exterior portion of the windshield making it water and rock resistant. We have several insurance agents who have said their glass claims have reduced from the repeat glass offenders since applying DFI to their windshields.  This makes agents refer customers to us again and again.

Thanks to Cathryn Curcio of Desert Breeze Glass

 26. Don’t Follow the Dots, Create Your Own Path

 At SaveOnBrew.com we have both a blessing and a curse by having a very unique product.  It is easy to share with people and we often hear “why didn’t I think of that.”  The downfall is we have no marketing model to follow.  We had to become just as unique in our marketing techniques as our product.

Thanks to Jennifer Davidson Director of Operations SaveOnBrew, LLC.

27. “World Change is How We Roll.”

Sevenly is a social good startup that stands out from the competition in several key ways. Lots of people sell cool t-shirts, but we sell tees with a cause. Each purchase gives $7 to the charity of the week. We also standout by getting our customers involved in promoting the cause. For example this week, when we hit $4,900, we’ll have raised enough to pay for a clean water well for a village in Peru.

Thanks to Justin Palmer, Sevenly 

 28. It’s All in The Name

 I think our memorable name differentiates us from competitors: Fatpacking

Obviously people don’t base their decision to join our weight loss backpacking trips by name alone, but it does get them to at least consider us.

Thanks to Steve, FatPacking.com

 29. Stand Out on Every Level

 Boxiecat.com is the first provider of mail-order subscription-based home cat litter delivery. The number one way we stand out is by being more convenient. In truth, we also strive to provide a better product in a more green way and to have great customer interactions. We really try to stand out on every level, as a startup, we know that’s our best chance for success.

Thanks to Josh Wiesenfeld, Boxiecat.com

30. Send Your Message in a Unique Package

It’s trickier to get the attention of the decision maker with your message. Two ideas we’ve used that have worked: (1) We have emailed a letter to a nearby pizza restaurant, they printed it out & delivered the pizza (vegan & cheese free since we publish a newspaper on natural preventive health) with our letter taped on top of the box. This idea was a big hit and helped establish the relationship and sale. (2)

The AdWords Business credit card offers a credit line and no annual fee. The annual percentage rate on the MasterCard product is 8.99% and it’s issued through the World Financial Capital Bank.

But this isn’t your typical piece of plastic—it’s only to be used to purchase search advertising on Google.  The company is targeting small and medium sized businesses.

13 year old Hart Main  has gotten a lot of buzz with his line of candles for men. He started with three scents but soon diversified to 12 when demand for the wax candles ramped up.

The candles are made from recycled soup cans from soup he donates to a local soup kitchen.

Since launching in November 2010, Main has sold 675 candles for $5 (U.S.) each, both at local gift stores and online.