Tag Archives: Alpine Small Business Solutions

2014 National Small Business Week

Honoring America’s Entrepreneurs: Small Business Owners DO Make a Difference

Let’s salute ourselves! We are the small business owners who dare to dream and create a company that we are passionate about. It’s often a difficult road and many people find it challenging to succeed, but with teamwork and dedication, the small business owners keep America strong. We provide an essential foundation and network for our communities!
May 12–16, 2014, has been proclaimed National Small Business Week by US President Barack Obama. The US Small Business Administration recognizes and highlights outstanding businesses and entrepreneurs from all 50 states. Important contributions of distinguished owners have been honored since 1963, when President John F. Kennedy first proclaimed the event.

The National Small Business Person of the Year, chosen from representatives across the country, will be awarded at the end of the week. In addition, the Phoenix award will be given to a public official, a business owner, and a volunteer involved with disaster recovery in a community.

Check out some of the amazing ways that small businesses make America strong.

50 percent of Americans own a small business or work for one!
Small businesses create 2 out of 3 new jobs in the United States every year!
Small businesses drive innovation and increase global competiveness!

Alpine Small Business Solutions is proud to be part of the network of small business owners and is committed to continuing to offer a wide variety of professional services with our personal touch.

Here are some ways that you can help your business remain strong and creative in the coming years!

1. Delegate your routine tasks to a virtual assistant or online business manager.

2. Seek imaginative solutions with other creative people.

3. Add people to your team to expand your horizons.

4. Take time to interact with other small business owners.

5. Celebratethe passion that you bring to your business.

The publisher of SUCCESS magazine, Darren Hardy, says, “As any small business owner knows, entrepreneurship can be a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, terrifying twists and turns. But they wouldn’t have it any other way. I believe we’re living in the greatest era of opportunity for entrepreneurs and National Small Business Week is a great example of that.”

We DO make a difference in the American way of life, for our families, our communities, our country, and the world. Alpine Small Business Solutions salutes all the small businesses and celebrates with you for everything that you bring to the business world. Thank you for your creativity and perseverance! Together, we are strong and growing!

Events will take place all over the United States honoring the small business. For additional information, visit http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/nsbw.

Denver has many events going on for Small Business Week. The city of Denver Office of Economic Development is sponsoring a series of small-business classes. For more information about Small Business Events in the Denver area go to www.denversbdc.org.

TUESDAY, MAY 25

ACCESS Opportunity with the City & County of Denver General Services/Purchasing Division, 9–11 a.m., 1445 Market St., 4th Floor Boardroom.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 26

National Healthcare Reform: How It Will Impact Your Small Business—8–11 a.m., Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, 1445 Market St., 5th Floor.

THURSDAY, MAY 27

Road to Recovery—9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Kimbal Hall, 700 E. 24th Ave.
During these tough economic times, learn what your company can do to better position itself on the road to recovery.

San Francisco is on Monday, May 12, at Twitter headquarters and will be streamed on SBA.gov beginning at 11:40 am (Eastern). The event will discuss strategies to help small business owners learn how social media can be integrated into marketing strategies to help drive business growth.

Kansas City is on Tuesday, May 13, at Burns and McDonnell headquarters. The program includes “Are You Bankable: A Lender’s Perspective,” “Contracting with the Government,” and “From Small to Big: The Dynamics of Growing Your Business.”

Boston is on Thursday, May 15, at Microsoft New England R&D Center. Sessions are about online marketing strategies, rejuvenating your business, and finding capital for your business.

Washington, DC, is on Thursday and Friday, May 15–16, at the US Chamber of Commerce. The SBA will live stream several events, including speakers and award ceremonies for local and national business owners.

New York City is holding an event to help you promote your business into the mobile age. It is Wednesday, May 14, 2014 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT). You can attend in person or stream it from the Small Business Administration web page.

3 Features Google+ offers for Businesses

Google Plus was launched in June 2011 as a social network operated by Google. The service was first introduced as “invitation only” but after such high demand, Google+ was opened to anyone over the age of 18, and later to the public. It has been suggested that G+ is Google’s greatest attempt to compete with Facebook.

Google identifies G+ as a “social layer” that encompasses its many other online services. The social network integrates features including Google Profiles, Maps, Circles, Hangouts and more. Businesses already depend on several of Google’s services and social media marketing, so why not take advantage of all the benefits at once.

Google is considered the preferred search engine with over 75% of search users worldwide. This aspect alone makes Google+ valuable for businesses and brand promotion. Businesses who utilize Google+ pages will not only experience an increase in visibility for local searches but will also benefit in rankings as it is indexed by Google. As one of the newest social networks, many businesses have yet to discover and take advantage of all Google+ has to offer.

Google+ can help current and potential customers find your business page easier. Google provides the benefit of linking your G+ Business page with your G+ Local Page through the use of Google Maps. Users are able to interact with your business by posting reviews about your service and their experience. Google+ offers three main features for businesses: share, promote and measure.

Google+ pages help businesses form relationships with their customers by communicating through sharing posts, photos, videos and links. You can make your page private and offer promotions exclusively to your followers or you can make posts public and users can find you by simply searching online. Google+ also allows users to manage circles. You are able to target specific information to certain groups of followers based on their interests, location or demographics. It is important to interact with your followers by responding to their comments, questions and complaints. Google also provides the ability to communicate with customers or fellow employees face-to-face by video through the use of “Google Hangouts.”

The second main feature Google+ offers to business users is the ability to promote their page with the G+ badge. Similar to Facebook, viewers are able to promote your website and Google+ page through the “+1” button. “+1” buttons are automatically added to brand pages encouraging viewers to “follow” your Google+ page. Searchers are able to make personal recommendations to their “circles” of friends and family by clicking the “+1” button.

Most importantly, Google+ lets you measure your results. Businesses are able to see what users are saying about their brand, the number of “+1’s” their pages receive and how this affects their online traffic. Gaining an understanding of what people are saying about your business lets you reward your fans with a gift or address an issue you may not have known existed. You are also able to learn who is sharing your posts and use that knowledge to recognize their interests. Google Analytics’ Social Plug-in provides social reports to help you measure how “+1s” influence your site’s engagement and what pages of your site interests viewers the most.

Many businesses’ think the best thing about Google+ is its connection to the Google search engine. Google, which has long been the holy grail of SEO, is using information and statistics obtained from Google+ to affect search results. So using the platform to the fullest advantage will absolutely benefit your SEO campaign. Conclusion being, if you have a business, you NEED Google+!

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Google+, Remember that Alpine Small Business Solutions, is your one stop shop for all your social media, Virtual Assistant, Online Business Manager and business building need. We got your back, so give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

Thank you for visiting our blog. We hope you enjoyed it. As a friendly reminder don’t forget to share this blog on your social networks and please comment, we love hearing from you!

This blog is brought to you by Alpine Small Business Solutions, Your Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager Solution. Delegate. Grow. Prosper

What is Blog Bookmarking & the 20 Sites You Should Be Posting Your Blog to…for Free

In most cases the whole reason you have gotten into blogging is to share information about your dog, your business, your mandolin picking progression, your health and weight loss or the experiences that have shaped and shifted your life. You have also likely learned that blogging will help you gain visibility and traffic to your website and is a necessary step in increasing your SEO. That is all well and fine, but how are you going to achieve the traffic and visibility to your content. Unless you are a SEO ninja or have a super sweet SEO team backing you, you likely have to take things into your own hands and learn the ropes. The question most people want to know is HOW?

The answer is easy! Harness the power of Social Media & Social Bookmarking. With a few strokes of the keys and clicks of the mouse YOU, my friend, can make some serious magic happen! Within minutes of submitting your blog to various social media outlets, social bookmarking and directory sites you are instantaneously and automatically connected to thousands of other like minded folks all over the world. Which means that traffic and visibility to your blog and website is happening all the time even when you are sleeping, showering or shaving! How flipping cool is that, right?

If you want to brush up and learn more about social bookmarking check out the wiki page.

There are hundreds of social media and social bookmarking sites out there. Some fail, some suck, but the bottom line is that there are way too many for me to list here. I have been doing this for a long time and with endless hours of trial and error, I have finally come up with a dream list of 20 Social sites that you SHOULD be posting all your blogs to. The best part is they are all FREE to submit to.

If you have a site that you post to and love and don’t see it in my list below, feel free to hook me up with the details. Post in the comment string below or send me an email. I would love to check it out.

Don’t have time? Does all this info makes you dizzy? No problem, we got ya covered. Contact us, today and let Alpine Small Business Solutions take care of all your social media and social blog bookmarking for you.

Public Service Announcement: Hey you, sit up straight, shoulders back, your posture is important.

Click the icon to be taken directly to their website for more information and register for your own account.

No Brainer Places to Post

How a Virtual Assistant can Help you Achieve Life Balance

Once upon a time….You know the story, right? The complicated story of your life. You are juggling too many things and finding time for yourself is next to impossible, with work, kids, friends and family. You go to bed after a long day of working on your life, that you only find yourself waking up to conquer the new day and the laundry list of things to complete and start all over again and again and again. Oh and don’t get me started on fitting in some exercise time so your love handles don’t turn into something not to love. Not to mention finding the time to eat healthy so you still feel attractive when you put on your favorite pair of jeans. No thank you, I will not take a side of muffin top with my jeans!

Is this you? You’re a professional who is building a business. You’re a parent trying to juggle everyone’s schedule. You’re a partner who is trying to keep things happy and loving by being attentive and passionate. You’re trying to keep friends and family happy by being “available” to EVERYONE to offer support, some good ol’ fashion gossip time or that friendly happy hour you keep promising people you’ll show up at. BIG SIGH, who in the world with your life has time to relax, rejuvenate or just screw off and play for the day? To take a few hours for you and go for a walk on your favorite hiking trail, play a round of golf, take a hula hooping fitness class, schedule a body love massage and spa day, or how about that much needed weekend of fun and adventure you keep talking with your lover about? Ha!

Does any part of this scenario resonates with you?

Have you ever hit that rut in your life that you feel you have to let go of one thing to be able to achieve and meet other goals you have in your life?

All too often as working professionals we have a hard time finding balance in our lives. We seek that perfect balance of;
Success. Family. Love. Health. and FUN.

It is shown that we often let two or three of these slide in conquest of perfecting and achieving the others. I mean, look at people who are focused on their career, they may neglect their partner and/or children, but find time to work out all the time. Look at people that are seeking love so badly that they get in a new relationship and completely lose themselves in their new found love, that they neglect work and their fitness goals. How about that professional that is so busy building their business, that they can’t justify taking off enough time to go on that fun and exciting adventure they keep talking about with their friends and family.

We can play with any of these scenarios and make it match our life. So let me ask you, What is your life balance challenge?

So, why am I writing this, I am reaching out to those that seek life balance, especially those small business owners facing the never ending battle of finding time to fit balance in their life. I know it is a lot of work to build a business; it takes time, passion, time, passion, time, time, time… This is time that is taken away from your family, your friends, your lover and your body! You are so mentally focused and invested that you forget there is a big world that still needs you to be present. You need to find that perfect balance of success, family, love, health and fun, so you can enjoy everything else in your life that is beautiful and positive.

I am sure you are thinking, “where in the heck do I even start to try and find this balance”. Well, start small, move forward with your end goal in sight. It won’t happen over night, it takes effort and time. One of the best ways to get you there is to start with just one simple thing, and that thing is DELEGATION. Delegate to someone like Alpine Small Business Solutions, a Virtual Assistant solution, that understands your struggles and that is always eagerly standing by to help you. To take that laundry list of to-do’s surrounding your business and tackle them and help give you more time to focus on your life balance. To help get you back to all the other super important life enhancing things that make YOU, a happier YOU!

I know it is hard to hand over anything with your business, as you know it best, but take baby steps, back away slowly from certain parts of your business, delegate those tasks that you feel comfortable with, build a trust with your Virtual Assistant. Start with some marketing help, or social media help, or maybe it is as simple as your website updates, or some data entry. Maybe you are ready to hand over the tasks that are associated with the next big event you are putting on, or maybe it is getting your Quickbooks set up and functional. No matter, what it is, you just have to be open to allowing yourself to delegate and not feel guilty or be a worry wart. Just think how happy your lover, your family, your friends and your body will be that you have freed up that extra time to focus on them.

Take time back for YOU, you work hard, you deserve it, you deserve to find that perfect balance of success, family, love, health and fun.

What is your life balance challenge? Share with me me at jessica@alpinesbsolutions.com or on facebook.