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Vintners Winery Comes to Business on the Mound (Listen Here)
2008-04-28 08:50:00
After a delaying the Business of the Week I was able to find a premier business to come onto the show. We are however delaying the Monday Money Talks section as Jared is also fighting off finals as well. I hope you all know that we try hard to provide you with the best contact and the best businesses to learn from all over. If you know of any business that is unique or an entrepreneur that has a big idea please point them our way. We are always happy to help entrepreneurs and small business owners. Anyway please our segment about Vintners Winery, which is owned and operated by Mike & Lori Nikovich.This segment was a very special piece to me as I was able to interview one of my favorite places to “Unwine.” Mike and Lori have created a place where anyone can feel at home and enjoy the atmosphere. This couple from Brighton, Illinois offers customer service above and beyond. They have helped me make custom label for my own wine gifts and they have offered a place for me to learn...
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We are Having a Guest Later This Friday! Sorry for the Delay My Plane is Do
2008-04-25 07:05:00
I know many of you listen religiously to the show and I fully apologize for not having the show together at the moment. I am understaffed at the moment and low on time. As most of you know I am a University student at SIUE and I am closing in on finals week. Because I have been swamped with homework I have not been able to put a show together this week at the moment. I do have a tentative interview for tomorrow, which I am hopping to post by 1:00 pm CST.If you or anyone you know would like to be on the show please have them email me so we can setup an interview. Because the show is not posted at this moment I plan on having this interview on the main page for a little bit. Speaking of delays I thought I would pick a picture of a company that has been good at delaying people. Unlike American I do not have a budget to offer waivers, so I am sorry. I look forward to the school year ending, so I can enhance the website and bring you better interviews in the future. I look forward to hea...
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Get Referrals By Becoming the New “Cheers” & Everybody Will Know Yo
2008-04-25 06:17:00
After being around for about two months in the blogosphere I have noticed a key point to running a business, referrals! In business and on the Internet people still favor referrals over any media channel. This example stems from making new friends over the Internet and getting emails from the people that they referred to my site. I am forever thankful for referrals and this is enough living proof to me that referrals are still a great means of marketing for your business. Let’s go over some of the ways you can improve the possibilities to gain referrals.First, be yourself and be genuine! People enjoy the company of real people not a picturesque person. Perfect people are boring and you only create jealous enemies anyway. Realistically, people enjoy hearing your genuine thoughts and customers enjoy personable people. You know how most old women go to the salon and spend a whole afternoon there? They go there because they feel at home and can talk about anything, even the latest spe...

Twitter This, Utterz That
2008-04-24 05:23:00
First off I would like to apologize for not having an entry yesterday. My schedule at school as really put a damper on my blog and my abilities to enhance this website. I would like to thank you all for your recent comments this past Thursday and I look forward to hearing more suggestions and comments in the future. Good Luck to all you idea bouncers at SWIC!Recently, I have been learning more and more about social media and how to make it work for your business. Some of the more interesting and popular sites used in the social media market include Twitter and Utterz. These two have taken the spotlight from Facebook & Myspace recently. Twitter allows you to tweet and Utterz allow you to be “herd.” Both of these features allow you to keep a constant contact relationship with your customer or your friends.Twitter has become a new addiction for many people over the Internet. This little tool allows you to write a message that is 140 characters and it can be written from your ph...

Money Talk Monday's Week 8
2008-04-21 09:29:00
Alright readers, this week’s edition of Money Talk Monday involves one of the most exciting topics that I can think of…tax planning! An entrepreneur’s main goal, typically, is to profit, but most start ups fail to maximize the potentials of tax planning. Why is this? Because, honestly, it’s really boring stuff. Nobody really brags about the tax credit they got hiring a minority employee; they want to promote their exciting new business. However, in order to generate the highest return for the business, a budding business person needs to remember this simple acronym: SALTT. Splitting- The “Splitting” technique is as simple as it sounds- getting the government to pick up some of the tax burden. Believe it or not, sometimes the government will help out businesses financially if they believe that the institution will provide benefit to the community. Additional Entities- For those businesses with multiple faucets of functionality, the business would be wise to place ...
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Moving Off Campus Comes to Business on the Mound! (Listen Here)
2008-04-18 07:48:00
I had the opportunity to meet with Mark Sawyier and Dan Zainulbhai who run a site that helps students get to know the area around their campus. Moving offcampus.com was launched during 2007 in St. Louis, Chicago, and Boston. The site has been taking off and will be expanding to more universities throughout 2008. It was a pleasure to meet the founder of the site and learn about the obstacles he has overcome while launching the site. I want to say thank you to both of our guest and encourage everyone (especially students) to take a look at this great site. About Movingoffcampus.comMovingoffcampus.com (MOC) has been operating for nearly two years providing students a resource to find apartments off campus. Logging thousands of registered students over the past year, MOC is expanding its content and website functionality to allow students to connect to local businesses in their community. By combining private network technology with information feeds, users can be informed daily about lo...
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The 4 ‘New’ P’s to Marketing: Priceless, People, Pennies, & Purp
2008-04-18 06:19:00
Now if you don’t already know the typical P’s in marketing let me give you what the typical textbook says: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. This is simply a lame way to explain what marketing was. To me it seems like and old-fashioned way of doing something. If your following this typical marketing strategy I salute you, but I would encourage you to think about one thing, are you marketing in a way that causes a stir in your area or are you just throwing dollars at a typical newspaper ad because that is what everyone else is doing? This is why I have developed my own four P’s to marketing: Priceless to substitute for product, People to substitute for place, Pennies to substitute for price, and Purple Cows to take over promotions. The first “P” in this discussion is “Priceless.” A product can’t be an item that just gets the job done anymore. If you want your product or service to sell itself you need to have an excellent product that no one can live without. For i...
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Touching All 4 Bases When Considering a Site for Your Business
2008-04-16 07:24:00
Websites are getting easier and easier for companies to build, but now many businesses are overlooking the various other avenues a website opens for your business. A website doesn’t have to be a simple informational page, but it should be considered another source of revenue for your business. Look at most businesses over the course of time and notice how they had to adapt. Did they make the most of the situation? A new website can be the chance for your business to seize an opportunity that can easily vanish as time moves on. Before you finish up on your site take a look at these four topics that may help your business generate a little more revenue.First Base, build a site that has information on the site and a section that allows visitors to map directions to you location. Generally, business owners will put a few of their products on their website, but overlook the opportunity to add a shopping cart on their site.Second Base, add a shopping cart that is tied directly to your i...
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Find a Free Business Coach Near You!
2008-04-15 16:51:00
As a younger child I played many teams in all kinds of different sports. My favorite of course was baseball. Baseball has many different scenarios and many different possible outcomes depending how you play the game and what kind of coach you have. Does this sound familiar to business world? Your business plays a particular role in the business world and must create a strategy to work around all the other businesses. The person to help you with these strategies is your coach. Where can you find this business coach and who do I look for? Not only can you find a business coach, but the cost are minimal and the knowledge gained will be invaluable.Most business owners, just like most baseball players think they need to work real hard all on their own in order to see great results. However, most people overlook the valuable resources that are all around them. There are numerous resources whether it is the small business center in your area or people that you meet through networking event...
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Money Talk Monday's Week 7
2008-04-15 06:06:00
I started my preparation for today’s article like any other day; I woke up and logged myself in to Facebook. As I made my way to the news feed, I noticed that a few of my friends had joined a group called “How to get gas back down to $1.30.” As an individual that spends seventy miles per day driving to school and work, I would love to see gas at $1.30, so I joined group with aspirations of changing the world…and was sorely let down.Basically, the group was set up by some kid that has never taken an economics class in their life. The premise behind the page is to boycott the two largest gasoline suppliers and the decrease in demand will force the entities to lower their prices. The page does not mention anything about the conservation of the resource and, as we savvy economists know, the only way to lower the price for the product is to lower the overall demand for the product.Anyway, that is not the point of this article. The point of this article is a response on the k...
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Tech Spot Coming Soon! (LISTEN HERE)
2008-04-12 06:25:00
This past Thursday I was given the opportunity to interview the Brown family. Both Marcel and Danelle can be explained by the word “Genuine.” A very intriguing couple that know what it takes to be true entrepreneurs. Marcel has been in the professional tech world for about 14 years and running his own business for the past 6 years. As time has progressed their reputation has surpassed the ability to run a business out of their home, which is why this May The Tech Spot will be coming to Glen Carbon, IL. The new store has been given exclusive rights to sell and service Apple Computers. This specialization is only given to premier tech stores and the Tech Spot will be one of these “hot spots.” The Ed-Glen, SIUE, and myself are extremely excited to have such an exquisite store in our very own backyard.Thank you Marcel and Danelle for taking the time to share your business experiences with us and we look forward to seeing your business continue in its success. “The Pitch of the...
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5 Tips to Making Moolah From Social Marketing
2008-04-10 07:32:00
Too many business owners are overlooking the opportunities that may arise from marketing over social networks. With the population of Internet users rising exponentially over the past few years social marketing has become a very useful tool for most web based businesses, but not for small business owners. However, with most customers having a Myspace or Facebook why aren’t they utilizing these networks for a free way to market? The reason why this has been overlooked is due to the lack of knowledge on social marketing.Most people don’t understand the concept of social marketing because the Internet has been moving at such a swift pace that the older generation is having a hard time keeping up with the younger generation. But as technology progresses business owners must keep up in order to maintain high sales growth. So, here are some tips to those needing some help with the social aspects of the Internet.First tip, define the niche that you want to communicate with on a regular...
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Getting Your Ducks in a Row.
2008-04-09 09:44:00
So, you’ve got a great idea. It’s innovative and it’s going to make you rich. I know the temptation is there to rush your product or service to market, but you need to be careful. If you want to align yourself for success, you need to have all of your ducks in a row, be organized, and have an action plan that will take you to the top! Here are a few items to remember when your business is still in the infancy stage of development. Set up a formal business plan Setting up a business plan will ensure that you and your partners know what you are getting into and have done the proper research. It will require a significant amount of market research and will state your missions and expectations for the business. If you plan on asking for outside investments for this venture, your lender is going to want to see a professional well-put together business plan that shows how and why your business will succeed. To view a sample business plan outline complete with all categories that nee...

Five Ways to Make the Most Out of Your Meetings
2008-04-08 07:49:00
Remember the days as a child when you would have team huddles or prep talk before a big game? They usually lasted about three to five minutes and got everyone fired up for the big game. So, why do most managers antagonize their employees to come to the same weekly meeting every week over the same issues? This is called being unproductive or inefficient. This happens because they were trained to have weekly meetings that last an hour to discuss everything that could have possibly happened last week. If your a business owner or manager and your doing some of the items mentioned above please stop. Save your employees time and save your time. What is the point of having a meeting when no one is awake for the meeting? Lets go over a few ways to counteract this problem and help you make the most out of your meetings with your employees and clients.First tip, have a set agenda for the meeting. Do not have a meeting just for the sake of having a meeting. Making out the agenda will tell you...
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Money Talk Monday's Week 6
2008-04-08 06:57:00
In the spirit of “Business on the Mound,” I’m going to talk a little bit about building your business. As an accounting/finance kind of guy, it’s almost painful to admit this, but marketing is a critical key to building a successful franchise. You could make a product that can cure a disease, end the war, and even understand women, but if you don’t have some sort of jingle behind it, no one will ever buy it.A recent case of a solid marketing campaign is Burger King’s current theme featuring “the King.” Love him or hate him, the king can make a sale. As a loyal Burger King fan, I have long known that the mighty Whopper was fast food royalty. Burger King was proud of their delicious specimen of fast food cuisine and touted the burger as the best in the world. It took Burger King, however, a while to realize that people do not make purchasing decisions based on logic and reason. According to earnings and share price, the King, which has nothing to do with the act...
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Business of the Week, Human Equity
2008-04-04 08:01:00
Tosin Adekoya has a great idea that has been developed to help international students pursuing a professional degree. His idea has been presented and it placed in the Olin cup! The idea is to get individuals or support groups to loan a student funds to help aid in the cost of tuition. He has a great idea and we hope you get a chance to listen to his innovative plan to help international students. Thanks Tosin for being on the show! You can contact Tosin at tadekoya@wustl.edu or read more about him in “The Pitch of the Week .”
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Building the Buzz About Your Biz
2008-04-04 06:28:00
Is there a buzz about your business in your local community? If not what are you doing to start a buzz? A good place to start your buzz is with local organizations and getting attention from the local press. First, you need to grab their attention by either hosting an event or doing something innovative compared to your competitors.Marketing seems to get the wrap that in order to be effective you have to spend a lot of money. There is some truth to this, but you can also encompass some guerilla marketing tactics to help your business get attention for an affordable price. To prove to you that this is possible, three examples will be provided with a brief explanation on how to approach the item and start making worker bees to help you build the buzz about your business.First Free Tactic - Host a business after hours sponsored by your chamber of commerce. This allows business owners in the community to network and get a taste of your store at no cost. Because it is after hours the cus...
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Google’s, Yahoo’s, & Wiki’s Oh My!
2008-04-03 06:09:00
With the growing amount of Internet resources it is a wonder why more people don’t utilize all the search engine optimization opportunities. The question is where are you placing your website for your business? Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia are just a few of the places your sight should be seen, but there are plenty of other places your business needs to be seen.If you are trying to drive traffic to your business through the web you need to be seen. One way to improve this presence is advertising through companies like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and even Facebook. The ads on these sites have become fairly affordable and you can target a geographic location, as well as targeted keywords. For instance, Business on the Mound has been promoted on Google for less than $15.00 for 30,000 impressions and about 50 clicks. The idea is to use this advertising as a billboard to build up name recognition for an affordable price.Business submissions on all search engines applicable is a MUST for your b...

Help Your Employees Hit a Home Run!
2008-04-02 06:32:00
It’s opening day for the Major League and managers are looking over their spring training lineups to decide on which players will help them get to the World Series. Your goal as a small business owner is to build a successful business which can only happen if training occurs. Your employees will make up your lineup and with the proper training they can help your business hit a home run.Setting the standards upfront is a critical aspect of building a good team. A baseball manager usually sits down a player in his office and figures out the goals that player is aspiring to reach. The skipper also explains to the player his or her goals for the team and how they see that player helping the team reach that goal. This is no different for a business owner talking to a team of employees. From the very beginning you as a manger need to clarify the goals of the company and how that particular employee will help your company meet those goals. These goals will cure any ambiguity for your emp...
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Money Talk Monday’s Week 5
2008-04-01 06:56:00
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Money Talk Monday! The Dow slid another 150 points or so this week, but that’s okay. That just means everything is still on clearance. This is no time to put the wallet away. I’m going to talk today a little bit about some precautionary moves in a time like this. I know that the general rule of thumb is that “chicks dig the long ball”, but if I may quote a tried but true adage, “sometimes the best offense is a good defense.”During a recession, or even a correction, the stocks that generally perform the greatest (or the least worst) are stocks that supply goods that have inelastic demand. A good with inelastic demand, as you may remember from your finance class, is a good that generally carries the same demand regardless of the price. For example, a commuter is going to purchase gas whether the price is $2.50 per gallon or $3.50, but would more likely pass on an airline ticket that is above average price. During a rece...
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The Man Registry Comes to Pitch Their Business (LISTEN HERE)
2008-03-29 04:43:00
Chris Easter was a great guest on our show recently. He is one of the founders for www.themanregistry.com. This website is for any individual looking to help the groom in his journey through the wedding process. The groom or anyone for supporting the groom can benefit this great website. Enjoy the audio and if you would please help us support this great idea at www.themanregistry.com. If you have any questions or need advice on getting a consultant please email us at questions@businessonthemound.com.
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Three Free Ways to Market
2008-03-28 04:29:00
When it comes to marketing a lot of business owners don’t know where to start. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to get free marketing opportunities as long as your not scared to ask. Look at the multiple media mediums all around you: Newspapers, Penny Saver Mailers, Blogs, Forums, Local TV Stations, and Local Radio Shows. Most of these mediums allow new businesses free publicity to let their viewers know what is going on in the area. Here are three different tips for three different media markets to help you get your business recognized.First Tip: Paper Publicity - If you’re a new business you need to check out the local columns in your newspaper. More than likely the paper has a section for businesses that are “new to the pavement.” This section generally describes the business and where you are located. To get your business in a section similar to this you need figure out who the editor is for this section. Once you learn who the editor is try to get to know ...
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Website 101 for Your Business
2008-03-27 04:35:00
Web Site – in particular e-commerce web sites. There are a lot of books, people and ideas out there but this is my experience on what you will see, hear and what you need to understand if you are going to do a true e-commerce web site. E-commerce for this article is defined as selling a service or product and receiving payments on-line. Not advertising a business where they have to call you for your product or service.Develop a line by line list of items you want (wish list) for your website. If you do this, you can easily go to several web designers with the same data and see what comes back. This is a business and you need to talk to a minimum of 3 website designers before making a decision. Write your own FAQ’s, About Us, Did you know, Front page words/message – very very important as this is the hook to the customers. Do these as you set up your business/website. You will need to know the colors you want. This should be consistent from website – business cards – advert...
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Chumming for Your New Employees; 7 Steps to Hiring the Right Man for the Jo
2008-03-26 03:57:00
Many beginning business owners have a hard time hiring good employees because it is a new experience. Remember the interview process when you just had to prepare a resume and go for an interview? Well now you’re on the other side of the coin and you have to look at numerous resumes all saying similar things. How can you pick from so many options? Well here are some steps to hiring an employee for your business and raising them to be a longtime employee. Because the last thing you want to do is go through this monotonous process again.Step 1: Place your ads for your job opening in a newspaper or magazine that is similar to the demographic to your customers. While doing this, make sure to be clear in what you are looking for in a particular candidate. This will allow you to limit the amount of resumes running through your office. This saves you time and the future employee’s time. Step 2: Sifting through the resumes is a time consuming process, but first look them over for grammat...
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Where to Find the Most Bank For Your Buck!
2008-03-24 23:57:00
In this day and age there is no reason why you shouldn’t be receiving any interest on your deposit accounts. Better yet there is no reason why you shouldn’t be earning above 2% on any deposit account. In this day and age you have numerous resources to cite for the best rates available. First off to all those reading this article if you haven’t shopped for rates now is the time. With the falling rates you need to do whatever you can to save money because its about to get harder. A quick note about my situation, I have 2 online savings accounts, no CD’s, a few treasury bonds, a checking account at a brick and mortar bank earning 6.05%, and a Roth IRA. I like keeping my money liquid, but still happen to earn high interest in my accounts. I always make sure I get the most bank for my buck just as you should.The first website that I highly recommend before opening any bank account is www.bankrate.com. www.bankrate.com offers information for not only the best rates in the country,...
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Business Card Bloopers
2008-03-23 19:55:00
When looking at a business card what do you notice? Generally the name, address, email, and phone number is what a typical lay-person will look for. Then why are people spending a hundred plus dollars on designing and printing business cards still in the world today? The reason is the misperception that the small business owner needs to look and act like the “Big Guy.” Not a good idea for the “Little Guy” to follow the “Big Guy,” especially when it comes to wasteful spending like business cards.Business cards serve one purpose to take a place in another persons roll-a-dex. That’s it! A card can still be classy without having to spend money on high quality embossing, really good card stock, and photo images all over the card. Now in some industries, like photo or studio business it is understood to show off your work on the business cards in a descent fashion. But, if you’re a simple store on your main street you don’t need over the top business cards. It would be b...
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You Need a “Ruler” to Measure Your Customer Service
2008-03-23 05:03:00
Rules, rules, and more rules! Rules for your employees, rules from the IRS, and rules from the community zoning board. However, where are the rules your customers can hold you to? They can go to the Better Business Bureau, but what about a policy that holds your reputation on the line? What about using a “Ruler” to help you measure customer service?After walking into numerous family owned stores and large franchises has anyone noticed something missing? Remember when every business had customer service guidelines written on a board behind the cash register? Then it moved to the back of the receipt, which has since been transformed into a fine-print return policy. The true question is where is your “Customer Ruler?” A ruler has numbers listed to help you know the length of something. If you have a ruler you can measure and improve upon the data that is collected.Setting a policy is the first step that is vital for you to measure your customer’s experiences. This policy shou...
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A Great Show with Soup Says it All (LISTEN HERE)
2008-03-21 07:11:00
It was an honor to meet with such a fascinating entrepreneur this week. The owner of Soup Says it All, DeWayne Stiers, was happy to meet with the Business on the Mound staff and discuss some of his personal experiences. DeWayne started a company after trying to find a thoughtful, yet affordable gift for his ill friend in California. Now, the company is starting to move and gain more attention throughout the U.S.DeWayne, shared his thoughts on how business owners must keep moving forward with technology. Also, he noted that entrepreneurs generally need to move onto another business after 10-15 years to keep the mind working. Entrepreneurs are always looking for a challenge and learning a new business that is outside your realm is a great way to become a better business man or woman. The Business on the Mound staff gave DeWayne a little more advice about the WikiWorld and what he could do to help Soup Says it All advance in the 21st century. The staff also commended him on his co-bran...
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How to Use Your Head in Marketing, Not Your Wallet
2008-03-20 07:35:00
The budget is getting thin, customers aren’t coming through the doors, and the bank is looking for the payment. Small business owners think that they must always spend a lot of money in order to make a lot of money. However, spending money doesn’t always mean that money is being spent effectively.First of all, before you spend money on marketing you must know your niche. If not you’re going to spend money on an audience that won’t be opening their wallet in your store. Defining your niche can help you advertise to a group more likely to be returning customers. This means more bang for your buck. Secondly, timing is everything. If your ad is released after a big event you have failed to bring in the big audience you have been looking for. This means you spent dollars ineffectively and lost money that could have been spent better elsewhere. Timing isn’t just about advertising a particular event; it is also about when your ad or press release will be released to the public. ...
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Doing Your Website in 3 Stages Gets Big Hits
2008-03-19 06:41:00
Many small business owners always feel the need to go over board with their website. Quick tip don’t. If this is your first website and you do not have the money in the budget to build a fancy website then don’t worry about it. Website s are another medium to get your name out into the world. Most people do not have $10,000.00 to spend on a website and another $5000.00 to optimize the site. You may have $1K or $2K in your budget and let me tell you that this is more than enough. I have built my most recent page for $400.00 and have received more hits through that site compared to the site that I spent $7K. Most of this can be blamed on the way I did the marketing for each with is another key point to address when trying to gain an audience over the web.Let’s compare my two sites and we will call them Site A and Site B for simplicity.Site A cost $7K and 4 months for all the bells and whistles and received about 40 hits a week for the first 2 months then bombed. Content was not u...
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