It depends how you do it.

Going to cocktail events and social hours, grabbing business cards and tossing yours around, brief handshakes while looking over that person’s shoulder for the door or the next person in the room.

Nope, that doesn’t work.

Connecting, helping others first, taking a sincere interest in them and their business, helping them see opportunities they may not see themselves.

That’s what I’m talking about.

And yes, it is work. Just like building any relationship, it requires commitment, follow up, and heart.

And it’s worth every minute.

Do you make networking a regular part of your business and marketing strategies?

Are you connecting in person (or over the phone if geography is a challenge) with people you meet online?

How are you contributing to your networking relationships? Just this morning, on a call with a colleague, I thumbed through my mental Rolodex for a connection that will help her grow her network and her business.

Easy, peasy, Japaneasy. It took about 5 minutes to make the connection and a warm introduction. She’s off and running, with gratitude, and I feel very good about it.

How’s that for honoring a “Givers Gain” philosophy?

How do you use networking in your business? How has it helped you? Tips to share?

n times of uncertainty many owners of corporations and LLCs may consider folding up their operations. CPAs and other advisors may suggest dissolving these entities to save on fees and to be done with it all.

But hold on: The “easy” route of dissolution can have significant negative consequences.

In California, for example, shareholders can be held personally liable for corporate obligations arising before or after a dissolution. The rule is found in California Corporations Code §2011. The same rule exists for LLC members pursuant to California Corporations Code §17355.

The deadline for suing corporate shareholders or LLC members in California is either; 1) the applicable statute of limitations period or, 2) four years after the entity’s dissolution, whichever is earlier. Since many statutes of limitations in a business context can be four to six years in length, you may have four years of worries until you are safe from litigation. And don’t think that because you have a Nevada or Wyoming entity qualified to do business in California you are in the clear. California courts are notorious for applying “their” law to out of state entities doing business in California.

So what is the solution?

Do not dissolve your entity. Keep it alive until the statute of limitations period has run.

Here is an example of why it makes sense to keep your entity alive.

Joe owns Merced Consulting, Inc., a Nevada corporation qualified to do business in California. With a downturn in the economy Joe’s consulting business has suffered. His CPA suggests dissolving the corporation and eliminating the expense of an extra tax return. The CPA says his other consulting client Mary has just dissolved her entity.

But what happens in a downturn? People start to file claims over old business disputes, whether real or imagined. In good times when the money is coming in, grievances may be overlooked. In tougher times people will sue. And with business contract statutes of limitations typically being six long years, plenty of Joe’s clients may be looking for a new pocket to dip into to help pay for their current troubles.

In fact, Joe had provided Tom with project development help on a condo complex. Joe’s projections were based on the real estate market as it existed in 2006. The picture is quite different today, and Tom is suffering for it. Tom hires an attorney to sue Joe, Mary and two other consultants for their “bad” advice.

What are the consequences?

Mary, who dissolved her entity and received a distribution of corporate assets, is now personally liable for Tom’s claim.

Joe, who listened to his attorney and did not dissolve, is still protected by his corporation. While the entity does not hold a lot of assets, if Tom gets a judgment against Joe’s corporation he only gets what is inside the entity. Not much. And Joe’s personal assets are protected from the claim.

Dissolving gives a plaintiff a hopeful shot at your personal assets. Keeping your entity alive until the statute of limitations periods have run discourages plaintiffs from even filing in the first place.

Be careful in heeding the siren call of reduced filing fees and fewer tax returns by dissolving. In our current environment asset protection is more important than ever, and can only be achieved by keeping and maintaining your protective entities in place.

Garrett Sutton, Esq. is a corporate attorney and is the author of “Own Your Own Corporation” and other titles in the Rich Dad Advisor series. His firm forms and maintains corporations, LLCs and other entities and may be reached at www.corporatedirect.com.

Happy New Year to everyone. Even though it is going to be a pretty tough year for many people in our country and around the world, we can still all hope for the best. We are all in it together. That said, as a Nevada resident, I need to let you in on what is happening in our state. As you might imagine, people are not traveling to and spending in Las Vegas, which means the state of Nevada’s take on gaming taxes is way down. The state faces severe loss of revenue.

So what are some legislators proposing to do about it?

Believe it or not, they want us to put in a state tax on individual and corporate income. Nevada, a tax free state, has been a magnet for all sorts of business owners and out of state people wishing to incorporate for asset protection and no extra taxes. But some in the legislature (which convenes in February) want to end all of this with new state taxes.

We will certainly keep you informed of what will happen in Nevada’s 2009 legislative session. But for those of you who are worried even by the talk of new Nevada taxes, you may want to set up your corporations and LLCs in Wyoming. Wyoming has no state taxes and is sitting on a billion dollar state surplus. They are not likely to put in a tax anytime soon, if ever. For now, the safer choice is to set up in Wyoming and see what happens in Nevada.

We have an office in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and set up entities there all the time.

Again, I hope you have a prosperous and beneficial New Year.

A lot of us small business owners are so busy getting the next marketing tactic up and running that we don’t even think to ask ourselves if it’s working.

That’s why it’s smart marketing to set up some tracking mechanisms at the same time you are implementing the marketing tactic.

Below are 3 methods for keeping tabs on how well your marketing is actually working:

1)    Web site links.

Include web site links in your ezine so your subscribers can respond to special offers or promotions. You can track of how many people are interested enough to click on the link, and you should also be able to measure sales as a direct result of that promotion or offer (with your shopping cart program).

2)    Build in tracking mechanisms to a specific activity.

For example, if you are doing a teleseminar and you are inviting the attendees to visit your web site to sign up for it, create a special page on your web site to drive them to. Then use some kind of free website analytics program like Google Analytics to see how many people visited that page and signed up.

3)    You can also create specific web pages for a campaign and track the hits you get from a campaign. You can look at the links that people come in to your site from (referring URLs) - these can be very useful in creating online relationships. Call the people that are linking to your website - they may be interested in purchasing your services or hiring you for a workshop or event.

With these tracking methods, you will be able to determine what percentage of the total pieces distributed or people reached, responded to your marketing offer and how many took the action requested (i.e. downloaded your free-giveaway, subscribed to your newsletter or ezine, purchased your product, and so on).

Then you’re in a good position to make smart decisions about which marketing tactics you should continue to use, which ones need some “tweaking”, and which ones you should stop doing.

Your free-giveaway needs to be something that your target group finds valuable and has need of.

The product (ebook, CD, etc.) you are giving away for free needs to be something similar to your other products and services (if you have any yet) that you will be trying to sell to these people later on.

Everybody starts to get a bit panicky and anxious when they think about coming up with content for their free-giveaway.  But the truth is that if you take a look around your office, you’ll see you have lots of information that you can pull together or put into a different format that would make a great free-giveaway.

• bundle together articles you’ve written
• combine blog posts you’ve written
• provide a song clip or art sample of your work
• copy of audio of a speech you’ve given
• offer free chapters of a book you’re writing
• transcribe audio or video of a speech
• audio of a teleseminar you gave
• use existing handouts and PowerPoint slides
• transcribe a teleseminar you’ve given
• bundle tips and checklists together
• a video of a speech you’ve given

You can use the content from above to create all kinds of different free-giveaways:

• a checklist
• a quick-start guide that helps people get started in the area of expertise you specialize in
• lessons on how to do something
• offer a free consultation
• 3 months free to a membership group you have
• self-evaluation test or online assessment
• offer an introductory/quick-start session
• list of top ten tips & tricks
• steps to creating something
• free software
• links to free products
• free membership to a forum you run

Take some time today to jot down some ideas about what you know your prospects and clients need on information on and start writing….or better yet, just re-package/re-format something that you’ve already done!

Offering something of value for free is a very important step in marketing. It is a way of introducing yourself to prospective clients in a non-intrusive, friendly manner. People are naturally more cautious and skeptical these days so you need to make it as easy as possible for them to get to know you at their pace - which will be different for each person.

As well, offering a free-giveaway is one of the fastest and most reliable ways to build a list of prospective clients and customers.  In order to do this, you must ask for the person’s name and email address. When people have indicated an interest in finding out more about you by asking for your “sampler”, then you can offer it in exchange for their name and email address.

The easiest way to get a prospect’s contact information is to have an opt-in box on your website.  When you use this in conjunction with an autoresponder/list management system such as Aweber, people’s name and email addresses are captured automatically and put into a list so you can contact them further via email.

In this day and age of Internet selling and buying, the majority of people are comfortable with giving you this information. Once you have this data you will now be able to continue to develop the relationship with these prospects and move them through the other steps in your marketing process.

If you don’t have an opt-in box but you do have a website, the best thing to do is get one created and set up.  It doesn’t cost much as it’s pretty easy to do and many Virtual Assistants can do it for you.

However, don’t worry if you haven’t got your website up and running yet, you can still collect names.  You’ll just have to do it manually and then input them into some kind of spreadsheet (Excel) or a database program like Microsoft Outlook or ACT.

There are many ways to use your free-giveaway and leverage it.  But first you need to have a free product to entice people onto your list, and into a marketing relationship with you.

I encourage you to spend some time today thinking about what you already have of value and how you can repackage it into a valuable free-giveaway that your target group wants and needs.

Part of marketing is measuring how well each marketing tactic is working - on an individual level and as a contributor to your overall success (or not).

Some simple methods for measuring that you can start implementing right away are:

1)  Ask your prospects and clients how they heard about your business, product or service - when they are making a purchase or getting some information.

This is not an exact science because people often don’t recall exactly how they heard about you, especially if they have been exposed to several of your marketing activities.

2)  Do a survey.

You can send your clients a satisfaction survey after they make a purchase and include a tracking question in the survey.

3) Track you website statistics.

To find out how many people are visiting your website, be sure to have a statistics program in place and know how to read it. I like Google Analytics, but there are many good ones out there that are free, including www.webstats.com.

4)  Use unique codes.

If you are creating flyers or coupons promoting a particular product, service or offer, include a unique code and require clients to enter that code on your web site in order to qualify for the special bonus or discount.

When you take the time to look at how well your marketing is working, you increase the chances for your success.  You can toss out what isn’t working and expand on what is working.

If you need help with your marketing, check out Resource Nation’s online marketing business service center.

Marketing consists of longer-term, big marketing strategies and also small, quick tactics.  Marketing should be done daily - but no-one said it has to take hours every day!

Maybe you’re having a “blah” day and don’t feel like doing much?  Pick a handful of these fast and easy marketing tactics, do them and then go read your fiction novel!

• check out competitor’s websites and see what kinds of products and services they’re offering their clients
• send a response to a client’s question that was sent in via website, blog, email, phone message, etc.
• send out an email to your list just to say hi and give them a couple valuable tips or some interesting, helpful links
• check out different groups on Facebook and Yahoo Groups that you might join
• call or send an email to a customer who has just purchased something from your website.  Say thank you and ask them if they need any questions answered or anything clarified
• if you’re offering a teleseminar, give enough advance notice and send reminder emails providing the pertinent details
• check out a company’s website that you are interested in possibly doing a joint venture with
• put a link on your Facebook profile to your new ebook
• send out a press release talking about the teleclass that you’re going to be giving
• send a friendly reminder email to remind people that your special promotion is ending today
• call a new client to find out if they have any questions on their recent purchase
• send an article, with a note, to a client you know is interested in the topic
• order a thank you gift, on the web or by phone, to be sent to someone who just referred a client to you
• submit an article you’ve written to an article directory website
• send a handwritten note to someone you met recently - and make a note in your calendar to follow up with them in one month
• write up something for your blog and post it
• record a podcast of an article you just wrote and submit to podcast directories

If you are need to expand your marketing activities and don’t have the time, visit Resource Nation’s online marketing business service center.

No simpler words have ever hurt an owner more. Despite all your messaging, marketing, selling, and posturing, you learn it’s all for naught when:

• At a networking event, you overhear a colleague refer an ideal prospect to a competitor of yours. When you ask your colleague why he referred your competitor and not you, he says, “I didn’t know you did that.”
• Worse, even, you learn your customer just suggested his friend call an unqualified competitor instead of automatically pushing the work your way. And, when confronted, your client says, “You do that? I had no idea!”
• Your own employee hears and ignores your client drop multiple buying signals. As gently as you can, you point this out and your employee responds, “Oh that’s right, I guess we do that.”

This is painful for three reasons:

1. Your marketing and sales messaging is ineffective
2. You have no idea how much business you are losing every day
3. Your colleagues, customers and employees feel sheepish for not knowing better

But what can and should you do? Keep refining and simplifying your message. Look at it through the eyes of your colleagues, clients and staff. Have you really made it simple?
Who do you refer and why is it easy to refer those you can? Make it as easy for your supporters as you want them to do unto you. Are you able to refer your closest clients and colleagues to their prospects? Where you have done so, isn’t it because your clients and colleagues:

1. Communicate a clear, current and simple grasp of how their best and highest use is purchased and referred
2. Know how their message is understood and repeated by others
3. Track how and who is referring them and conversely who and how they are referring others

Hearing the damning words, “I didn’t know you do that,” is most painful when your own customers or clients are hiring others to do work you could be doing. Ask yourself, “Do you have a 100% share of your customer’s business?”

If not, then start uncovering and gaining these opportunities so your clients will see, first-hand, what you do!

Andrew J. Birol is the President of Birol Growth Consulting, who helps owners grow their businesses by growing their best and highest use®.

Many new small businesses get confused about what marketing steps they need to take first.

I believe that there are 3 essential components that you need in your marketing framework:

1. a website
2. free giveaway and opt-in box
3. marketing tactics based on your core marketing strength

Let’s look at each of these in more depth:

The first component you absolutely need in your marketing framework is a website.  I’m sure you’ve heard this again and again, and are probably sick of hearing about it….but that’s because it is so important!

A website is crucial for building credibility, trust, a relationship with prospects and clients, and also as the key means for building your list.  This leads us into the second component you need in your marketing framework.

The second component is a free giveaway and an opt-in box.  These go hand-in-hand - you need to have an opt-in box on each page of your website that gives people access to a free giveaway in exchange for their name and email address.  This is the way you start capturing names and build a list of prospects that you can communicate with on a regular basis and build a relationship with them.

A free giveaway is a piece of valuable information that your prospective clients would find useful.  There are many different formats you can provide your free giveaway in:  a report, audio lesson, tips & tricks, a checklist, an audio recording and so on.

The third component that you need in your marketing framework is tactics built around your core marketing strength. There are 3 main areas that most marketing tactics fall under:  writing, speaking and networking.

All of us are usually stronger in one of these areas, we enjoy one area more, or it comes easier and we can therefore do it quicker.

Once you figure out that, you will start to add marketing tactics that are built around that core strength of yours, and then grow from there.

So if you’re just starting out or you are not achieving the results that you want, take a look at your marketing framework.  Make sure you have these 3 components working smoothly and rest assured you’ve got a solid marketing base from which to go forward.