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Recent Articles Published by Bplans

planning

LivePlan 2022 State of Small Business Survey — Share Your Story

We’re excited to announce the LivePlan 2021 State of Small Business Survey. Add your voice to our community of entrepreneurs and help other businesses grow. Read more »

planning

Small Business Growth Webinar Series — 6 Expert-Led Ways to Grow

Join us for six engaging conversations covering critical, often-overlooked topics that can make or break your business. Sign up today. Read more »

managing

How to Holiday-Proof Your Company Email — Outpost Webinar

‘Tis the season for sick time and vacations, increased sales, and last-minute requests. Sign up today and learn how to get your inbox ready. Read more »

managing

How to Tame Your Inbox and Be More Productive — Outpost Webinar

Are you and your team bogged down by email? Sign up for our latest Outpost Learning Webinar to learn how to better manage your inbox Read more »

managing

How to Use Microsites to Boost Your Business

If cheap, efficient, crowd-pleasing and fun sound good to you, then you might just be the ideal candidate to create a microsite. We've assembled some tips to guide you in your quest for microsite greatness, as well as some examples of microsites out there that are killing it. Read more »

planning

Enter to win the LivePlan $10,000 Boost!

How would a check for $10,000 help your business? Start thinking about it, because the LivePlan $10,000 Boost is officially open for registrations! Open to U.S. residents only, the LivePlan $10,000 Boost is a business plan competition for users of LivePlan, the leading online business planning and tracking software. The best-written LivePlan business plan will... Read more »

managing

Why should anyone follow your business on Twitter?

If you own a business, you probably have heard how you have to “do social media” if you want to get ahead. Create a Facebook page, a Twitter account and start amassing “likes” and followers and somehow the money will start rolling in. But did you ever stop and think, why? Why would somebody want... Read more »

funding

What Kind of Funding is Right for Your Business?

It’s the question that everybody starting a small business asks. Do I need outside funding or can I bootstrap my business. If I do need funding, what kind do I need, and how to I get it? Most businesses are actually financed by home equity or private savings. Attracting venture capital or angel investors is... Read more »

funding

7 Lessons From an Angel Conference

If you’ve never been to a business plan competition or angel conference, you really should try to find one to attend. They’re excellent networking events and great opportunities to see what other entrepreneurs are up to. But more importantly, they give you the rare chance to hear what potential investors like and don’t like about... Read more »

managing

The leap from employee to entrepreneur – Small Business Spotlight

It’s never easy to leave a stable job to launch a startup. But sometimes circumstances align and a budding entrepreneur just knows that the time is right to make the leap. Sulaiman Sanni and his partner Ben Lamson were both working  for Meltwater Group, a large, well known Software as a Service company, Su as... Read more »

funding

Is a great pitch without a plan even possible?

You’ve got a great business idea, so now all you need is a great pitch, right? No need to spend time on a business plan, just put together a few slides and a five to ten minute speech and investors will be throwing money at you. Think again. A great pitch is important, everyone agrees... Read more »

managing

Do you use social media to market your business?

Most experts agree that social media is an affordable, easy way to communicate with and engage your current and potential customers. But how many small business owners are really using it, and what are they getting out of their efforts? Let’s find out. Click Here for Poll   Read more »

managing

Three Titanic business mistakes to avoid

The RMS Titanic sank 100 years ago today. In that time, do you know how many businesses have sunk? Neither do I, but I’m sure it’s a lot. There are lessons learned from the Titanic disaster that prevented future shipwrecks, but what about lessons that can prevent business failures? Lesson 1: Expect the unexpected. The... Read more »

managing

How to use customer service to differentiate your business – Small business Spotlight

Every business needs to differentiate itself, to find a way to show the world how it’s unique and different. If you were to ask the owners of 10 hair salons which products or service they sell or provide, most would probably start with “hair styling and coloring” or something along those lines. And you wouldn’t... Read more »

managing

Your desk job is hazardous to your health

If you and/or your employees spend a significant amount of time sitting at your desks working on computers, you may be shortening your lives. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? According to a recent  New York Times article, your chair is your enemy. It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at... Read more »

starting

Tax day is just around the corner. Are you ready?

If you’re a U.S. resident and you haven’t done your taxes yet, what are you waiting for? Why are you reading a blog about taxes when you should be compiling receipts, filling out forms, and scrambling to get it all done??? Taxes are due on April 17th this year, which means you’ve got just over... Read more »

managing

How to Create a Niche: Small Business Spotlight

How many times have you thought “somebody should make…” or “why doesn’t anybody sell…”? Palo Alto Software customer Kelly Chaney had a moment like that, but instead of just wondering why nobody was making cake mix for dogs, she decided to solve the problem by becoming the somebody who does. And so Puppy Cake, innovative... Read more »

managing

7 Reasons You Have Trouble Getting Things Done (and 7 Easy Solutions)

Ever wonder why you don’t get more done every day? You might be trying to do too much, and competing demands in the office aren’t making it any easier to accomplish what you set out to do. One interesting study showed that after an interruption, it took office workers an average of more than 23... Read more »

managing

What makes a great marketing plan?

If you’re writing a business plan, you should at least be considering your marketing plan at the same time. A good business plan includes a marketing component, and most successful businesses have entirely separate marketing plans to guide them. So what makes a good marketing plan? Recently on Tim Berry’s AmEx OPEN Forum blog, the... Read more »

managing

Microbrews and business plan competitions?

At Bplans, we’re proud of our home state of Oregon. We’re known in this part of the country for our casual way of life, great microbrew beers, and endless recreational opportunities. But there’s another way we’re unique, and that’s our abundance of business plan competitions and angel investment groups. Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto... Read more »