Small business owners are always looking for new ways to save money, market their products, talk to potential customers, find investors, etc. Because the task of running a business is so vast, there are literally hundreds of things to take care of. And if you can get some advice on how to handle just one of those things, it can be a great help. And many businesses, consultancies, and experts have made a lot of money offering that type of advice for years.
When American Express decided to target small businesses, they created OPEN. American Express Open offered new credit card services specifically designed to give small business owners what they were looking for from a credit card. But they didn’t stop there.
More recently, American Express created the Open Forum, a blog of sorts to offer all types of information that entrepreneurs are looking for in one easy place. The Open Forum brings together experts from many different fields, and gives straight to the point advice on such things as hiring, investing, marketing, innovation, and saving money. Anything a business owner would want to learn is most likely sitting there waiting to be found.
They categorize their content into 7 main headings; innovation, technology, managing, marketing, lifestyle, money, the world. It is easy to find the information that you are looking for, or just browse to see if you find anything interesting on that particular day.
This is a genius move by American Express, as it allows them to enter the social media space with a valuable offer that is perfect for their target market. It also connects them with experts from across the business and financial world to give credibility and valuable content.
For any small business owner out there who has not checked out what the Open Forum has to offer, I recommend doing it now. They have done a lot of work to the website recently, and they continue to produce even more valuable articles.
Posted by Zach Heller
Google Alerts are a great way to stay up on news on any topic that might interest you. What a Google Alert does is take any new blog posts, news articles, or web pages that mention a word or phrase of your choice, and email it to you directly.
Today is the first day of April, April Fools Day as it is traditionally called. And more and more, most likely taking a page out of 











Make an impression. That is the goal. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a small business owner, a company, or just a person at an event or party. But how?











It was not obvious to everyone during the campaign, but it always appeared that Barack Obama understood the role of small businesses have in the US economy. An entrepreneurial culture, where small businesses can innovate and drive change is important to any economy, especially a struggling one. And Barack Obama stressed that more than any of the other candidates. And now, that message is moving to the front of the economic battle.
Looking for a book that can help you jump start your business idea? Well I’ve got one for you. For the second time since its release, I just read The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Michael Michalowicz.























Do yourself a favor, fire yourself. You are not good at handling those customer service calls, it takes time away from your day when you could be doing much more important things. You are not good at collecting marketing and press related leads, and you don’t know what to say when you get a hold of them. You are not good at filling out your taxes and handling the accounting, and you make too many mistakes.
NO. It’s one of the first words we learn, after the occasional “mom”, “dad”, and right in line with “mine”. It’s a strong word, one that can hurt, offend, and put off. But does saying no mean that you are not contributing to innovation?
The days of focus groups, hiring expensive business consultants, conducting mass surveys, and spending countless amounts of money designing and redesigning products that go nowhere are all but over. We are officially connected. Connected with each other, with other businesses, and with the customer.




