Guest post from Melinda F. Emerson who wrote the national bestseller Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months; A Month-By-Month Guide to a Business That Works. Melinda is known to many as the “Small Biz Lady,” one of the country’s leading small business experts. 

One of the top reasons why small businesses fail is because they try to sell to anyone that they think has money.  Now hear this:  If everybody can use your product or service, no one will.

That is why it’s important to have a niche – narrow in on your potential customers.  A niche has a particular market or specialty area where a company finds it profitable to concentrate its efforts. Niche marketing also offers an area of limited competition.

Why Niche?  Continue reading to learn how you can get a free copy of my book brought to you by the Verizon small business team.

By popular demand, the Verizon Author Series introduces four more authors in August.  Authors' books will be given away on our blog; on Twitter (www.twitter.com/VZSmallBiz); or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/VerizonSmallBiz).  Each author will be available LIVE on Twitter so get your questions ready!

Guest post from Jennifer Prosek, CEO of CJP Communications and the author of Army of Entrepreneurs™: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth. July’s featured author in the Verizon Author Series.  You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

 In short, an ‘army of entrepreneurs’ is an internal force of committed, creative employees. It is also a management and leadership model that enables a business to grow and prosper in a fast-changing world.

In tomorrow’s live webcast I will teach business owners how to create their own “Army of Entrepreneurs.”

Guest post from Jennifer Prosek, CEO of CJP Communications and the author of Army of Entrepreneurs™: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth. July’s featured author in the Verizon Author Series.  You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

It is never easy to find the right people at the right time. For a small business owner, the challenge to keep the talent pipeline filled and flowing is constant. I’ve found to maintain a steady supply of people at all levels of my firm, I’ve had to go beyond the traditional recruiting methods of headhunters and Internet job sites to create my own talent ecosystem.

It’s July and we’re excited to introduce another expert in the Verizon Authors Series: Jennifer Prosek who wrote Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth.

To win your copy of Army of Entrepreneurs, be one of the first 10 people to send an email to vzsmallbiz@verizon.net telling us you’d like a signed copy of Jen’s book.  Of course, in the email, do share with us how you are motivating your employees to be more entrepreneurial. 

As a big NASCAR fan, I have to admit that I was very excited to finally see Jeff Gordon cross the finish line as the winner of the 2011 Phoenix race last month. From the “start up your engine” command to the waving of the checkered flag, Jeff experienced many of the same high and lows that entrepreneurs and small business owners encounter – overcoming obstacles outside of their control, taking calculated risks under the pressure of making split-second decisions, and a tireless pursuit for perfection amongst relentless competition week in and week out.

In that same vein, the White House launched the Startup America Partnership in January which seeks to promote entrepreneurship and innovation among high-growth startup companies. The Startup America Partnership is positioned to promote the importance of private sector input and resources as critical components for job creation.