Guest post from Kevin D. Johnson, president of Johnson Media Inc. Johnson is also a serial entrepreneur with several years of experience leading his multimillion-dollar marketing and communications company that now serves many of the most notable Fortune 100 businesses. As an innovative leader, he has appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS, Oprah Radio, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Moreover, he has appeared on CNN frequently. He is author of the new book The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs.

Pete Kight has a success story that is simply amazing. The company he founded, CheckFree, was acquired in 2007 by Fiserve for approximately $4.4 billion in cash. In many ways, his story sounds like other millionaire success stories that include dropping out of school, being ridiculed for pursuing a big idea, receiving rejection after rejection from prospective customers, having little money to fund his dream, and so on. But one aspect of his story is truly inspiring, and it serves as a profound lesson in entrepreneurship.

I was fortunate to hear Pete relate his fascinating accomplishments in person and in his own words just a few months before his company was acquired. He began telling his story before a crowd of students, entrepreneurs, and dignitaries: “I didn’t do well in school. In fact, I dedicated most of my time and energy to sports. I was a decathlete. After getting injured and becoming frustrated with college, I dropped out. . . .” His delivery was unimpressive, marked by monotony and an awkward cadence, but everyone was still riveted. The nontraditional path he took to success held everyone’s attention. He didn’t need the swagger or panache of a Donald Trump or the enlightenment of a Warren Buffett.

Guest post from Jim Satterfield, President, Chief Operating Officer and Founder of Firestorm, a national leader in crisis management, vulnerability analysis/threat assessment, and business continuity. Firestorm’s Predict; Plan; and Perform process leverages next-generation consulting services, tools and software creating resilient organizations.

Most businesses think they can survive a disruption or crisis, until one occurs. The time to test preparedness and resiliency is before something happens. The Red Cross identifies over 70,000 US disasters annually in the U.S. FEMA and the US Department of Labor have identified that 40% of businesses struck by disaster never reopen, and 25% of those that do reopen fail within two years. 

Almost all disasters and crises are preceded by warning signals. Acknowledging these signals and developing a framework for a business continuity program and developing plans to manage the events and the steps to follow should something happens, dramatically improves the outcome. 

This free webinar presented by the Verizon Small Business Center is available for on-demand replay and my colleague and I will offer tips to help prepare your business in the event of a sudden disruption.

Guest post by Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, an incorporation filing service company.  Nellie is a strong advocate in educating small business owners and entrepreneurs about the importance of protecting their assets and is responsible for overseeing and managing the daily operations of the business. She blogs regularly at Mashable and Tweets from @CorpNetNellie.

If you think your business is ‘too small’ to be incorporated, think again.  There are many benefits to incorporating a business – most importantly, it protects you and your personal assets.  Whether you’re a freelance writer or cabinet maker, incorporating or forming a limited liability company (LLC) can be a smart move.

Since we launched this blog, we have had a number of wonderful posts from various guest contributors – most posts are from our webinar presenters.

This blog has proven to be very popular among the SMB crowd.  We’ve received emails from small- and medium-sized business owners and professionals with an expertise interested in submitting a guest post or two on the Verizon Small Biz Blog. 

We listened, and now we want to extend an invitation.