Tag Archives: MyCorporation.com

Guest Post: How to Find Government Grants for Businesses

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With access to capital being so tight right now, grants are a hot topic among cash-strapped entrepreneurs looking to start or expand a business. Each year, the United States government supports businesses by providing billions of dollars in grants administered by 26 different federal agencies. More than 1,000 business grant opportunities are offered through the federal government each year and thousands more are offered through state and local agencies.

Out of the $600 billion in grants the federal government gives out every year about 5% ($30 billion) are awarded to businesses. The rest go to states, governments, governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, schools and school districts. When the federal government does provide grants directly to businesses, most are awarded to support research and development activities—primarily related to technology, energy, healthcare, public safety and criminal justice, among others.

Although 5% may not seem like a lot, it still amounts to $30 billion in grants that the federal government does award to businesses each year. Though you won’t find any federal grants specifically for starting a business or paying off debts, the range of business activities that federal grants support is broad enough on its own. As a grant writer myself, recent examples of funded business grants I have written included a $1 million grant to develop a renewable energy technology and a $9 million grant to commercialize a new concept in computing (U.S. Department of Energy). Other examples of awarded business grants include $91 million to develop solar PV cells (U.S. Department of Energy), $1.1 million to develop a communications infrastructure (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and $800,000 to support job skills training for rural populations (U.S. Department of Labor).

Before you begin looking for a grant for your business, keep the following facts in mind:

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Guest Post: 5 Hot Business Ethics Issues of 2012

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Business ethics within corporations deal with the code of values a company adopts. They determine how the company operates and what it will potentially achieve in the long term. This year, businesses are faced with many difficult ethical questions and must understand the trends in industry as well as how to handle tough situations. In moral grey areas, businesses must take a stand on issues of all types, some of which include:

1) Honesty, Integrity, and Fairness

Don’t be afraid to turn away business when your products or services won’t benefit your clients. During the financial crisis, some banks – like BB&T – refused to offer the popular “pick-a-pay” mortgages (i.e. subprime loans) to customers. BB&T did not view these products as being in its customers’ best interest, despite their popularity. Other banks, like Citi, ignored this view and paid the price. BB&T came out of the crisis clean and on the side of honesty, while many of its competitors depended on a government bailout for survival.

2) Risk Management:

Overnight success is great for companies but sudden fast growth can cause a lack of focus on value and sacrifice quality. To solve the problem of faltering quality control, slow down growth. Don’t be a commodity product. Don’t cater to the masses. Create something for a niche market and refine your offering slowly over time. You don’t need to out-compete other companies. You only need to do better than you did last year.

3) Corporate Responsibility

There’s no necessary dichotomy between doing what is profitable and doing what’s right, but just make sure you’re doing it to the benefit of your shareholders and balancing the line between social and corporate responsibility. Don’t get lost in a moral fog. Stay honest and true to your business values. Your customers expect you to provide quality products and services and your shareholders expect you to make a certain amount of money – you have a responsibility to them. Make every move a profitable one for the long-term as much as you can.

4) Worker Exploitation

Even if you employees enjoy working overtime and staying on for longer hours each day, don’t take advantage of their willingness to work hard for you. Do, however, make your workplace inviting and comfortable to be in should they decide to stay late a few times a week.

5) Social Media

Or the ethics of buying “likes” and tweets. Some marketing departments within various companies have suggested that the company buy “likes” on Facebook and pay for “tweets” on Twitter to make the company look more popular. Instead of buying social signals on networking sites, double down on the marketing strategies that have worked in the past. Add social buttons for “likes” and “tweets.” If you get them, great. If not, don’t fret. What matters most is that you’re honest and profitable.

Author Bio:

Guest post contributed by Trace Anderson, for aimcrm.com, CRM software for lead and customer relationship management.

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Gen Y and Small Businesses: Together We Can Make a Difference!

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Marshall McLuhan is famous for stating that “the medium is the message”, a phrase that means that the form a message takes ultimately affects the way in which it is perceived. Gen Y, or the Millennials, of today’s society know backwards and forwards that if you want to have your voice heard and heard in large numbers, the best way to achieve this is through networking through social media outlets. Today, everyone who is out to make a name for their selves is creating a Facebook fan page and updating their status. They’re Tweeting live every hour on the hour, blogging to an audience of thousands, even creating podcasts on iTunes for those on the go to download and listen to when they’re on the road or at the gym or even on their lunch break. Today’s generation is logged on, signed in, and synced up 24/7 to all of the latest news and trending reports- and not only do they love it, they rule these virtual realities.

Big businesses have taken note of social media practices and are now integrating it into their work force, creating positions for tech-savvy individuals in the areas of SEO and SEM content production. They’re even offering creative media and graphic design internships for individuals and students who need the experience to pursue their career with. Most businesses today understand that social networking is here to stay and with dozens of reputable sites to work with, fewer and far in between do you find a company without a blog or Twitter account.

At the heart of the matter though, you don’t want to connect with a company that delivers daily posts and Tweets just because they feel the need to keep up with the kids. While the size of the followers and the number of Facebook “likes” is important, it’s the message and the content that needs to be the most relevant to those following it, particularly for small businesses just starting out. Why would you follow a company that kept discussing pork chop recipes if you were a vegetarian? You wouldn’t! You would unfollow them and go toward a group that best fit your interests and needs. Moreover, you’d want to follow a company that thrived on customer interaction and would not only follow you back, but would add you to their mailing list or retweet a mention you made about them. It’s the simple things that count and every business is capable of making the effort to connect with their audience.

We at MyCorporation are constantly looking for new ways to engage and involve our audience and customers within our company. Recently cited on Fox Business News for our use of social media outlets and networking channels, we work to make sure that every customer is fully satisfied and receiving the best possible customer service.

Customers that work with us are also invited to connect with the company through their Facebook fan page and Twitter account. We also offer a blog on our company website that offers quick tax and business structure tips, among many areas of interest for small businesses. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit our site to discuss and share their success stories with other businesses or website visitors. In addition to providing a valuable service, our company works to ensure that small businesses have their voices heard online. The customer always comes first with us. Not only do we strive for entrepreneurs to get their voice out there, but we work to get that voice recognized as working alongside MyCorporation, growing both reputations and gaining a lifelong working relationship between client and business.

Don’t think we stop there though. While we are currently hitting social networking channels daily, blogging weekly, sharing newsletters with entrepreneurs, and offering Q&A interaction tools on our site, we continue to grow by refusing to remain stagnant in our line of work. Customer interaction is still our number one priority and we’re always looking for ways to make sure our customers are satisfied with what we can do for them.

Got a suggestion? Contact our Twitter account and Tweet an idea or two with us!

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Fran Tarkenton: Football Legend and Small Business Champion

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The Minnesota Vikings drafted Fran Tarkenton in the third round of the 1961 NFL Draft at the age of twenty-one. He played his first NFL game (and the Vikings first game) against the Chicago Bears. He led the Vikings to a victory by passing for 250 yards and completing four touchdown passes as the upstarts stunned the Bears 37–13. He is the only player in NFL history to pass for four touchdowns in his first NFL game.
On December 19th, the Minnesota Vikings will celebrate their 50th anniversary. Tarkenton will join the 49 living members of the 50 greatest Viking players, as voted by the fans, to reunite, reminisce, and celebrate the prestigious milestone with the men who helped build and the fans who support the Viking Nation. However, Fran’s decision to attend the event took some persuading.

Tarkenton came to Minnesota after playing quarterback for the University of Georgia. In a recent interview describing his time with the Vikings, Tarkenton stated that prior to joining the team, he “had no idea where Minnesota was.” The team’s heroic win against the Bears sealed their place in football history. Looking back, Tarkenton describes his fellow teammates as “a great group of characters.” Yet despite his fondness for his teammates, Tarkenton spoke most highly of his former coach Bud Grant. “I learned more from him than from anyone else in the world.”

Upon hearing of Tarkenton’s initial refusal to attend the reunion, his former coach gave him a call. “I hadn’t spoken to him in forty years,” stated Tarkenton, “and I knew exactly why he was calling.” He continued, “Bud told me he heard we were the only two not attending the reunion. Bud said that if I wasn’t going, he wasn’t going. He got me.”

Tarkenton can add the reunion to his long list of accomplishments since ending his NFL career in 1976 . Post NFL, Tarkenton wrote several books, periodically hosted Monday night football, co-hosted the television show That’s Incredible! and even hosted Saturday Night Live. In addition, the self proclaimed social entrepreneur has developed and launched some 20 companies, including Tarkenton Financial and StarterCRM.

Tarkenton’s business success is no secret as he is frequently recognized by the media, evidenced by his interview with Varney & Company on Fox Business News. Speaking about his thoughts on the economy its effect on investors, he noted that “in the wake of the economic downturn I have seen small businesses thriving in innovation, technical advancements and the development of new forms of energy.” Asked about his thoughts regarding the government’s role in the economy Tarkenton gave words of advice: “what is good for business is good for the government.”

Tarkenton’s company StarterCRM is a MyCorporation partner. StarterCRM is a suite of web-based applications designed specifically for small businesses. These tools help small businesses to manage customer and prospect information, build better relationships with customers and close more deals. The company focuses on helping small business achieve their motto of getting “one more customer” through their innovative applications.

The StarterCRM applications can be used by businesses of any size at any stage in their lifecycle. However, when the applications were designed and developed, a great deal of emphasis was placed on addressing the financial and functional needs of smaller, early-stage businesses – companies that typically have fewer than 50 employees. In addition, the company consists of applications that provide small businesses with affordable, effective customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. These solutions primarily focus on the core business areas of sales, marketing, customer communications, customer issue tracking and customer service.

Learn more about MyCorporation HERE, and their partner StarterCRM HERE.

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