Feel free to check it out on the bottom of YBO’s sidebar. This widget, recently released by SuiteMatch, is a way for any owner of a blog (or any site really) to help their viewers find office space in their area. If you are unfamiliar with SuiteMatch, then read my original review here.

Now, SuiteMatch is relatively new to the young entrepreneur community, but as I’ve said before, they will quickly become an invaluable resource to every serious young business owner.

The new widget can display anywhere from 1 to 10 listings straight from SuiteMatch’s website and has been designed to integrate flawlessly into your website. As you can see from the widget installed on YBO, it takes all the styling cues given from YBO’s CSS style sheet. No extra modification is necessary. (more…)

I have stumbled across an interesting article while checking search engine results for “teen business” (which, by the way, if anyone knows how I can start getting a better Page Rank for YBO, contact me). It is an article, obviously by an adult, stating that teens owning businesses nowadays is “social currency”.

It goes on to say that a teen owning a business is almost equivalent to that of a teen having a nice wardrobe or playing a popular sport.

If you get a chance, take a look at the first comment. This is a young man who obviously feels very strongly about their title of young business owner. Though he places too much emphasis on his vocabulary, it’s good to see that there are other serious young entrepreneurs out there. (more…)

This may sound simple but it has to be one of the best things that I have started doing. I plan my day the night before. My next day’s plans come from different events that have occurred, scheduled appointments, and deadlines.

The benefit of planning your day is that you know exactly what is going to happen. Of course, there are always situations where an appointment gets cancelled or a task takes longer than you expected, but for the most part, you can prepare yourself.

Whether it’s on a notepad or on your computer, make a note of the date. Under that, list the events that will occur and tasks that need to be completed in the order that you will do them. Everything from making a phone call, placing an ad online, going to a meeting, and even when you are going to take a break to eat. (more…)

Well, considering we are all young business owners (or aspiring to be), then we should all be familiar with the challenges of being taken seriously.

It may not have to deal with the industry we are in or how our website/marketing material looks, but rather, our appearance (and voice).

It’s a fact of life, people will judge people. What we have to do as young business owners is overcome this and use it to our advantage. There are several ways to accomplish this, but it is something that you must be completely dedicated to because one mistake to the wrong person could ruin the word of mouth that is being spread.

That sounds harsh, but it’s a reality.

First, you must really pay special attention to your marketing materials. Make sure it gives the appearance of the professional business that you are. This is usually the first part of you or your business that potential clients will see. (more…)

Many people don’t see Craigslist as a worthwhile investment of time when it comes to marketing. However, I have found it to be one of the best returns on investment out of all of my marketing strategies.

If you are unfamiliar, Craigslist is a free classifieds site where you can buy, sell, find a job, etc. It is quick, easy, and free to sign up (you only need to sign up if you want to post ads, you can browse them all you want without signing up). Once signed up, you can post ads.

How do you use this to your advantage? Here’s the deal: Craigslist only allows you to post the same ad once every 72 hours (or 3 days). What you have to do is write 3 ads (or more) in a text editor and save them onto your computer. Numbering them like 1, 2, 3, etc. will help you stay organized. Now, every morning (I recommend around 8:30am-10am) go to your local city on Craigslist (you should have it bookmarked), sign in and post a new ad. From here, just open up your ad on your computer and copy/paste. You’re done. All you have to do now is wait for the calls and emails. (more…)

After getting many compliments on my business card holder, itself, and many emails thanking me for the tutorial, I decided to follow up with another article and some more pictures.

If you are not familiar with the holders or tutorial that I am speaking of, you can read the original article here.

Moving on to the new photos, I have a couple here submitted by a YBO reader (by the way, if you ever think something should be posted on YBO, feel free to contact me). Ethan of SellThatSite.net has sent me some photos of his business card holder that he created to promote his other business. (more…)

With the boom in internet marketing and affiliate programs, it may seem like a good idea to take a concept that works online and use it locally. However, regarding the aspect of compensating people for referring business to you may not be the best idea for your business.

Online, it’s a different story, but right now, I’m focusing on small local businesses. There are several ways to earn referrals without having to come up with cash out of pocket.

If you provide a service, then offer your services (discounted, perhaps) to another business related to your own who’s client base could benefit from what you have to offer. Simply doing an exceptional job at what you’re offering is a good way to get word of mouth going from that business to their clients. (more…)

I’ve provided this link before, but I’m going to do it again. Here is the link to SCORE.org’s free business plan template and, I must say, this is one of the best templates anybody could use: http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html. (Hint: It is the first download.)

I use this template myself when planning out my start-ups and even though it may be long and seem irrelevant if you’re not seeking funding, a business plan is one of the most important aspects of your business.

After following the link and downloading the file (in a MS Word .doc or Adobe .pdf), you can continue on to reading and editing the template. Unlike some templates that are pre-written for your specific business, this template is different. It, essentially, lays out of the various sections of a business plan and tells you what information goes there. This makes this template valuable to any business in any industry or niche. (more…)

You may have noticed or you may not have noticed, but I have changed the interval in which I post my articles.

Usually and previously, I would post a new article every single day. Well, due to time restrictions (from my other businesses/sites), I have decided to change to a new posting interval.

Basically, I would still be writing one article for every day (unless another hurricane comes through), however, I will be posting multiple articles on one day and having a few days in between with no new posts.

I believe that this works out for everybody because it gives me time to focus on other priorities while still providing the YBO readers with the content promised, and the YBO readers have time to take in the multiple articles and apply them to their businesses before I post new articles. (more…)