Small Business Administration HUBZone Program

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

The Historically Underutilized Business Zones Empowerment Contracting Program provides federal contracting assistance to eligible small businesses located in underutilized business zones to improve their employment opportunities, investments, and their area’s economic development.

This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on nonprofit information, educational grants and Civic Engagement programs from around the world.

Tips To Help You With Leadership Skills

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

How often have you not been able to get into a leadership position or have not been hired to be a leader? When you want to take advantage of leadership opportunities, you must learn all you can. The following article will guide you in finding what might be missing when it pertains to leadership.

Honesty is a critical leadership quality. A good leader should be trustworthy. When you are working on your skills for leadership, make sure you are consistently honest with yourself and others. A person will have more respect for you if they feel like they can rely on and trust you.

Recognizing talent is important as a leader. When you look for assistance, it needs to be easy for you to pick who would benefit you most. This helps when you are looking for any kind of work to be done for you or your business.

Honesty is one of the most important character traits of a leader. A leader will always try to lead with righteousness. If you are always honest, your team will notice and appreciate the effort. Being honest will also encourage your team to be honest, too.

Your morals play an important role in becoming a good leader. Consider your decision before you make it. Don’t make decisions you will regret later. There are plenty of other people who make immoral decisions. That doesn’t mean you should ever stoop to the same level.

Being decisive is a good way to sharpen your leadership skills. Leaders are responsible for many decisions. When multiple opinions are shared, you’ll have to choose which is the best for the project.

Don’t be a know it all. Even if you have a lot of great ideas, let other offer their opinions. They can offer suggestions on ways to improve your idea, execute it, or point out problems that they may see in your plan.

Honesty is a critical leadership quality. A good leader should be trustworthy. As you build your leadership skills, try working on honesty and trustworthiness. When your colleagues see this in you, they’ll become even more loyal. They’ll have true respect in your leadership.

Take ownership of failures. Everyone makes them. A good leader would be able to admit guilt and be able to explain the problem to their employees. People will be more likely to trust you if they see that you are flawed and human. This might not seem like a leader, but humanity can inspire major loyalty.

Now you should take some time to be sure that you’re working on being the best leader possible. This is a personal skill that should not be ignored. Now that you have the right information, you’re ready to start. As you gain more experience, let this help guide you to become better as a leader.

SBA Celebrates Woman-Owned Veteran Small Businesses

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

Woman Business Owners from around the country join U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet for this special Veteran’s Day Google Hangout-On-Air.

This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on small business grants and loans, home buyer programs and impact investment programs from around the world.

SBA Low-Interest Disaster Loans

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

Disaster loans can be utilized for the repair and rebuilding of non-farm, private sector disaster losses, and are available to all types of business, instead of being restricted to small businesses alone.

This post is part of a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on small business grants and loans, home buyer programs and Community Foundation programs from around the world.

Reputation Management Lacking? Try Using These Tips!

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

In the world of business, your reputation means everything, and a bad reputation brings bad business. You need to know how to manage your business reputation to avoid bad business. Continue reading to get useful ideas on maintaining a winning reputation.

Be personable online. Posting tweets and status updates will not work unless you actively communicate with your followers. If anyone makes an inquiry on your social media page, make sure you respond right away. If a question is asked that you don’t know the answer to, let your follower know that you are working to come up with an answer.

Watch social networks all the time. According to Arnold Worldwide, most customers believe that businesses should respond to all of the postings on their social media accounts. Reply to questions within an hour if you can. If you are more responsive than your competitors, it makes you stand out as superior to them.

Focus on your offensive strategy as it pertains to handling negative Internet content. Build up positive feedback to counter negative feedback. Make sure you update with positive feedback regularly as well.

Monitor your online presence. It only takes one negative review to hurt your business. Monitoring search results yourself will help keep you on top of the situation and thus able to put out little fires as they pop up. Try doing this a couple of times each month.

If you have a business, be sure your employees are treated respectfully. Some businesses don’t do this, and it hurts their business. If words spread that you’re a poor employer, lots of people can refuse to do business with you.

Private sales and promotions need to stay exactly that: private. This is important when you offer a substantial discount to compensate for a complaint. You don’t need to post what’s going on with a complaint and then receive tons of them demanding free stuff from you.

Have a good reputation by making sure an unhappy customers is satisfied. Turning a customer’s negative experience into a good one will show your customer that you care. This is even better if it can be done online. You will get more visibility that way.

Check online for false information about your business. Usually, sites owners will get rid of it if you can prove that the information is false.

Pay attention to social media. Many people use these sites to discuss their opinions of companies. You can fix the negative situations more quickly if you notice them as they arise. This is one way you can protect your business’s reputation.

Since you’re now well-versed in reputation management, you should now know how much it matters to have good relationships when it comes to business. It could take just one mistake to ruin your reputation, so avoid that at all costs! Use these tips on a daily basis to keep your reputation spotless. You will soon see the difference in your business.

Always continue to learn about your business. This helps to maintain your good standing as someone who provides updated and useful information. Just a few minutes each day can help you stay up to date.

HUBZone Certification Program Webinar

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

This video explains the basics of the HUBZone certification program for small business federal contractors.

HUBZone certification allows certain small businesses to compete for set-aside contracts aimed at spurring investment in low median income or high unemployment areas.

This post is part of a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on small business grants and loans, home buyer programs and Community Foundation programs from around the world.

Tried And True Advice To Improve Your Leadership Skills

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

You probably want to become a better leader. If so, this article has some tools you need in your arsenal. Keep reading for some great advice on becoming a better leader.

Do what you can to keep things simple while you’re a leader. Make sure you focus on what is really important. When you know what the big picture is, you can focus on the details. You have to make the work as simple as possible. Also set some time aside for thinking and brainstorming.

The best leaders are able to foster creativity in others. Stepping outside your comfort zone can help you achieve things you never dreamed possible. Go over all the different things that make creativity possible, and use them to your advantage. Even if the idea doesn’t work today, it might tomorrow. Help your team use their ideas to complete the project.

Good leaders focus on the future. You have to know what it takes to see the future so you can figure out how to plan for what’s coming up. While you aren’t a mind-reader, you will find that you can achieve some success this way. Keep asking yourself where you’d like to be in a year or so, and make plans for that.

Be honest when dealing with employees, customers and clients – this is extremely important. If your team doesn’t trust you, they won’t work well for you either. As your leadership skills improve, you should always try to set an example by being trustworthy and honest. When others know you are able to be trusted, they will give you their respect.

Business Problems

Keep any problems transparent. Although in the past it was common practice to hide business problems, in today’s workforce the best leaders talk about business problems with their team. What is the reason for this? It’s largely because information spreads like wildfire regardless. For this reason, business problems will be known whether you want them to or not. Instead of reacting, control. It’s the path taken by great leaders.

Ethics will guide you as a leader. Ethics lead to successful businesses. Customers respect a company which has strong values. Set an example that your employees will follow by being ethical.

Learn how to delegate and focus on supporting your employees. Inspire them and encourage them to be motivated. Motivate your team instead of pushing them hard to complete everything.

As this article has shown you, with the proper information, anyone is able to become a great leader. Use what you learned in this helpful article. Stick to what you learned here and soon you will see your leadership skills begin to grow.

SBA Celebrates Woman-Owned Veteran Small Businesses

By Michelle Morgan in Nonprofit Success

Woman Business Owners from around the country join U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet for this special Veteran’s Day Google Hangout-On-Air.

This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on small business grants and loans, home buyer programs and impact investment programs from around the world.