Weekly Roundup – Healthcare Decision’s Impact on Small Business, Advertising on Facebook and Get Your First 1,000 Users.  

TGIF! We found the following articles for you to help you run your small business better. 

Check out this free webinar presented by Verizon and learn more about the art of bartering.  While this webinar will provide insights to help any small business owner, I bet it’ll be useful for a shopaholic like me.   I wouldn’t mind giving some strategic PR advice for some new shoes… is that possible?  Or write something for a business owner to get something new and sparkly… imagine all the money I can save!   

I digress, this is about you: small business owners!  Our webinar features Debbie Sardone, small business owner, speaker and author of “Barternomics.”

In this one-hour live webinar discussion get tips, insights and learn the skills of bartering to get the things you need for your business – without paying a dime!  A tried-and-true barter advocate, Debbie is known as a ‘barter-preneur’ because of her ability to barter for the goods and services she needs for her business and life. 

Please click here to watch the replay or visit http://bit.ly/LnCsuA.

Happy Friday! We are at it again – we found the following articles for you to help you run your small business better. 

Happy Friday!  Please take a look at following articles to help run your small business better. 

This post is by Verizon’s small business team working hard every day to bring small businesses relevant, useful and helpful information which we hope will help you run your business better.  We know you are busy and we are here to help with many of our free resources.

You’ve got a great product or service and you’ve got a website, so of course the next logical thing to do would be to sell it online. Unfortunately, the world of ecommerce can be a tricky one. That’s why we’ve organized a couple of “Dos” and “Don’ts” to help you navigate the business of selling on the Internet.

The Verizon Small Business Center will present another free webinar tomorrow (June 13), featuring Dylan Tweney, executive editor of VentureBeat, to offer tips on how small business owners can use LinkedIn to not just make connections, but to grow their business.

Why find opportunities on LinkedIn you ask? From 2010 to 2011, LinkedIn grew at a rate of 115% higher than Facebook and Google. And, last December LinkedIn was the 36^th most visited website on the planet. 

During this live free webinar, Dylan will offer some new ways and strategies for you to harness the power of LinkedIn and promote your business.  It is much more than a networking site!  Please click here to register or visit http://bit.ly/KZWTBK.

We are at it again - please take a look at the following articles we found to help you run your small business better.

                                                      This is a guest post from Rose Stuckey Kirk, President of the Verizon Foundation.

It’s not easy to stand up and do something; it’s even tougher to take action.  However, action is needed to make change and that’s what was discussed at a panel the 2012 CECP Corporate Philanthropy Summit yesterday in New York City.

I was joined by senior leaders at Chevron Corporation, Hilton Worldwide and Fenton Communications to discuss the challenging societal issues that our companies each address.  From ending domestic violence to human trafficking and HIV/AIDS, we have all made significant commitments and have made tremendous results over the years.

We discussed the course and decisions that led to us wanting to make change and collectively agreed that for other companies – large or small – to take a stand, the issue need to align with your business objectives and it’s imperative that you are able to measure your impact in the community. 

Guest post from Monya Emery, manager of supplier diversity for Verizon. (Photo credit to NYT's Evening Hours)

At Verizon, we are committed to working with small and diverse businesses whenever we can throughout our sourcing and supply chain process.  We want to ensure the suppliers we work with are as diverse as the customers we serve.

Our diligence and dedication to working with small and diverse businesses has been recognized this year by several organizations that advocate them.  This year Verizon was ranked No. 8 on the DiversityBusiness.com “2012 List of Top 50 Companies for Multicultural Business Opportunities.” 

Verizon also pays tribute to the many small and diverse owned businesses that work with us, offering their cutting edge products and services, surpassing performance expectations and helping us exceed customer satisfaction targets, while continuously improving quality and customer service.  

Happy Friday!

Even though it’s a short work week, the extra day off seemed so very long ago!

Below some articles that I found of interest.

Here’s 5 ways to create more value from John Jantsch (Mr. Ducttape Marketing).  You want to be that company that people are talking about. 

You also want your employees to be your biggest champion.  Do you make the time to recognize your employees?  If not, check out this post.

If you have too many emails, here are some tips to a get a handle on it.

Guest post by Mark Adams, director of Verizon's small business marketing team.

As a small business owner you and your employee(s) may be very busy, but no matter how busy you are, it’s still important to recognize your employees’ work – even if that work is outside of the work they do for you.

We are so proud of Tracey Kennedy, a member on the Verizon Small Business team.  An award was established in her honor!

There’s an award called the Tracey A. Kennedy Leadership in Advocacy Award.  It was established in 2010, and named for one of the American Heart Association’s most passionate advocates and we are proud she is our employee and on my team.  It is awarded to outstanding individuals in recognition of their “lifetime achievement”, including outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in helping to promote the mission of the American Heart Association.