Guest post by Jean Chatzky, a nationally known personal finance expert, author and frequent guest on The View, Morning Joe and The Oprah Winfrey Show.  In the latest free webinar presented by Verizon Small Business, Ms. Chatzky shared tips for small business owners to find the right financial balance.

Small Business Owners are among the most optimistic people on the planet – I think you have to be to do what you do. But according to recent research, you aren’t feeling particularly great right now. In March, the National Federation of Small Business Index of Small Business Optimism turned downward. That’s not good for the overall US economy (you and others like you are responsible for half of private GDP and half of private sector hiring), but it’s not particularly good for your own business or your own life. Because in my experience when you’re not feeling optimistic, you’re not doing enough to take control of your own financial lives – and your own financial futures. 

Having some Money Rules can help. Rules not only save us from societal chaos; they make our lives easier. Rules provide us with a filter. A means of looking at most of the money decisions we’re asked to make and enabling us to simply say: Yes. Or, just as importantly, no. Here are the ones I like best, and can help you make financial decisions for your business and for yourself:

Check out this webinar with entrepreneur Robby Hill, president and CEO of HiLLSouth, an information technology consulting firm. 

In this webinar, Robby discussed how cloud applications apply to your small business and he explains some of the complexities and amazing features that the technology offers.

Robby discussed the shift from just selling PCs to focusing on the many cloud computing products that are flooding the marketplace and understand what to look for to meet your needs.

To view this free webinar go to: http://vz.to/ZZ5NoI.

In the first live free webinar of 2013 presented by Verizon’s small business team you’ll hear from Damien and Derek Hoffman, co-founders of Wall Street Cheat Sheet, a leading financial media company, providing top insights specifically for investors, business professionals, and entrepreneurs.  The company was named the #1 Social Media Influencer on Wall Street according to Forbes, a finalist for Forbes List of America’s Most Promising Companies in 2011, as well as a top financial outlet according to the Wall Street Journal.

In this one hour live webinar learn secrets to their success from the Hoffman brothers. Learn how WallStCheatSheet.com launched during a recession yet it grew and flourished. 

If you can’t join us live this Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, all of our webinars are available for on-demand replay (just go to www.verizon.com/webinar). 

We hope you'll join us for this live free webinar this Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, to register: http://vz.to/14lyNdp.

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

Join our next live webinar tomorrow, November 7^th featuring guest presenter Chris Dessi, CEO of Silverback Social. Learn how to use social media to grow your business. Please click here to register or visit http://vz.to/SV2VoR.

Chris is an award winning digital thinker, television & radio commentator, author, blogger, and public speaker. Throughout his career in New York and London Chris has worked with Fortune 500 businesses and start-ups alike. He’s is a regular social media expert contributor on Fox Evening News, Good Day New York, and FOX BUSINESS Varney & Co. His first book “Your World is Exploding: How Social Media is changing Everything and How You Need to Change With It”, shot to #1 on Amazon.com’s hot release in its first two weeks of publication.

We took the liberty of abbreviating his title for our webinar, “How Social Media is Changing Everything and How You Need to Change with It.”  So if you haven’t had a chance to purchase or download a copy of Chris’ book, this is your chance to join us for some fascinating tips and Chris’ take on the impact that social media is having on business.

Chris recently blogged, “social media is dead because everything is social media now...we’re surrounded by social media every day in every way. Either proactively engage in this phenomenon – or become obsolete. You’ve been warned.”

Maybe you still don’t have a website for your company.  Maybe you’re still avoiding Facebook like the plague.  Maybe you’re still studying the actual features of your smart phone and you haven’t had time to learn how to start texting or tweeting with it.  And, maybe you’re still stuck in the old way of marketing—telling people about your product in a weekly newspaper ad—hoping they’re your target audience and hoping that they’ll buy from you.  (You should also be hoping that the newspaper’s circulation does not decrease, so it will be around next month or next year for you).

To Chris, social media has changed everything.  Today’s successful brands, businesses and sales forces understand that social media enables them to find out how people engage around or connect with others regarding products and services.  How?  By listening to them.  By finding new or innovative ways to service them.  By using the input from social media channels to actually change products or services to make them better.  Join our webinar to learn more on how you can use social media to reach your customers and grow your business!

We’re excited and honored to have the brilliant Melinda Emerson be part of theVerizon Webinar Seriesthis coming Wednesday, October 10. Click here (or go to http://vz.to/PJOzoC) to register today for our live free webinar featuring Melinda on Oct. 10^th as she shares tips on, “How to Become a Twitter Ninja.”

As the final installment of our celebration of National Women in Small Business Month, Melinda (@SmallBizLady) will walk us through some advanced techniques for using Twitter to grow your brand.

Recently, Forbes named Melinda the #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts a weekly live Twitter chat at #Smallbizchat and is the bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months.

Melinda (ME) agreed to answer some mostly Twitter-related questions in advance of her presentation next week.

1.   What are your thoughts on organic growth versus paid follows?

ME: Organic growth is authentic growth. If you pay for followers or fans your will never be able to monetize your online influence. Take the time to build a real following; that’s the only way to build a lasting brand.

2.   What can someone expect as a reasonable time commitment to do it right, that is to employ all the tips and tricks effectively while building a presence and a following?

ME: It took me 18 months of steady work sharing valuable content online before I was noticed and taken seriously as a small business authority. Many of the other big names in social media have shared similar time frames. Social media marketing is a long-tail strategy. It is not going to start raining money in your business the minute you start using Twitter.

This post is from Mark Adams, director of marketing for Verizon's small business team.

Did you know, according to U.S. Census data, women-owned small businesses have become the fastest growing segment within the small business community?  We know how important the small business community is to our American economy.

That’s why my team, the Verizon Small Business team, thought it was important to showcase women in small business as we approach October.  We want to celebrate the successes and contributions of women-owned businesses with the larger small business community. And, we want to share their stories.

We hope you’ll join us later, Wednesday, September 26^th to hear three of these stories LIVE. 

Joining us for a panel discussion will be Linda Hollander, Debbie Sardone and Elizabeth Heins.  Each is a small business owner and entrepreneur.  Each paved her own path to success.  And each has her own story to tell, tips and insights to share with other small business owners. 

Register now at www.Verizon.com/webinar and join us live and ask your questions.  Then visit our Facebook page and share your story with us too.

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

Do you remember when you made that big decision to finally start your own business?  The excitement?  The venture into the great unknown?  But, above all else, it was that feeling that you just had to try it!

It all began with a dream, right?  I mean, no one starts a business without the power of a dream.  And once you get going, it's so much work, you have to know that underneath all the tough times, uncertainty and challenges, that the dream still lives inside of you.  But sometimes it just gets lost...

"Big Dreams for Small Business" is the theme behind tomorrow’s (Wednesday, September 12^th) live, free webinar.  Our guest presenter, Deborah Franco, co-founder of Destiny Entertainment will discuss how important it is for small business owners to reconnect with their dreams. 

During the webinar Deborah will help you to discover ways to build the dream daily. 

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

We want to extend our sincere thanks to Gary Kaber, product specialist at Intuit, for leading an information-packed webinar, “Get the Internet Presence Your Business Needs.” Gary’s valuable insights are too numerous to include here, so please check out the webinar recording to learn from this online master who knows how to get traffic to your website.

Gary shared that 92% of Internet users research products or services online. Also, 82% of users search specifically for local businesses. If you’re a small business owner, you need a website. It truly is the 21^st century business card.

Guest post by Chase Paymentech, providing thousands of Verizon customers’ best-in-class debit and credit card processing through Verizon Merchant Services. Get the insight you need into how payment processing really works and how to use it to your advantage with our series: The Skinny Behind the Swipe.

Now that you know the types of equipment required to process payments, and exactly what you need to process payments, you are ready to find out more.

What exactly will accepting more than cash and check cost you? You already know that accepting debit and credit is much more convenient for your customers, but is it worth it? The answer is yes.  In 2011, roughly 60% of the total share of retail point-of-sale dollarvolume was purchased with a credit or debit card* and that percentage is steadily rising.  So you know you need to accept credit and debit cards, but, how do you know if you’re paying too much to accept them?  Below you’ll find some basics of what makes up payment processing pricing.

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

Our friends from Chase Paymentech stopped by recently and conducted a webinar for our community of small business owners:  5 Ways to Grow Your Business, 1 Payment at a Time. 

During this webcast, Miriam Blasé and Andy Goh provided several tips in five key areas of payment processing.  Their presentation included helpful graphics depicting “how” the credit and debit card transactional process works, descriptions of the key players, and steps on how to make your POS (point of sale) or eCommerce transactions more safe and PCI compliant.

The five areas they covered are: 

We will have a new live free webinar presented by Verizon tomorrow and our guests will share new research, technologies and regulations in debit and credit card payment processing to grow any small business in this sluggish economy. 

Miriam Blasé, director of partnerships, and Andy Goh, lead, information risk and compliance, both from Chase Paymentech will demystify the technology and regulations around understanding credit and debit card payments.

To join the live free webinar tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET click here or go to http://bit.ly/LybD7x. 

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

Verizon’s Small Business team hosted Guy Kawasaki who shared with the audience many lessons learned while working with Steve Jobs.  Being the author of more than ten business-related books himself, Guy is such an accomplished individual that we could have spent an hour listening to him talk about his entrepreneurial spirit and accomplishments.  But this time around, Guy chose to share his real-life experiences and insights working alongside an individual whom many would regard as the most successful businessman of all time—Mr. Steve Jobs!

As a result of his tenure at Apple, Guy has formulated 12 lessons he attributes to working alongside Steve Jobs. 

It’s almost time for a new live free webinar presented by Verizon and I can’t wait to hear from our guest, Guy Kawasaki as he shares lessons he learned from Steve Jobs.  For those not in the know Guy was one of the creative geniuses behind Steve Jobs.  Guy is an author, co-founder of Alltop and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures.

Please register at least one hour before the start of the live free webinar to receive an “evite.” Click here to register or visit http://bit.ly/Q60nXF.

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.

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.

This post is from the Verizon Small Business team.

The Verizon Small Business team is pleased to sponsor Melinda Emerson or @SmallBizLady’s live Twitter chat this evening, Wednesday, May 23 at 8 p.m. ET.  In observance of National Small Business Weekwe’ll give away free copies of books by some of America’s greatest small business minds - many have been guests speakers at the Verizon Small Business Center's free webinar series.   All you have to do is to be one of the first 200 to participate in the chat!

@SmallBizLady will chat with @SalesLoungeor Jennifer Abernethy, author, guest speaker, and small business mentor.  Jennifer authored The Complete **bleep**'s Guide to Social Media Marketing.  Jenn grew her small business by using Facebook for business beginning in January, 2007, and is now a global brand.

Editor's note: If you missed the live Twitter chat click here for highlights (http://ow.ly/b8K1n).

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.

During National Small Business Week, I remind you – small-business owners – of Verizon’s  many free resources, which can give you an edge over your competition.

Tomorrow, Wednesday (May 23) at 2 p.m. ET, the Verizon Small Business Center (http://business.verizon.net/) will present another free webinar, offering tips to protect your business in the event of a disaster. The webinar will feature two executives from Firestorm, a leader in business continuity planning vulnerability analysis, risk mitigation and crisis management: Jim Satterfield, co-founder, and Oz Hill, principal.  No worries if you can’t catch the live webinar, all of our webinars are available for on-demand replay(to see the full list go to http://bit.ly/vinvUO).

In addition, the Verizon Small Business team has sponsored Melinda Emerson’s weekly live Twitter chat (@SmallBizLady) held tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. ET  All participants will receive a free book from Verizon, so join the chat -- #smallbizchat. Emerson will chat with Jennifer Abernethy (@SalesLounge), who will share tips for using Pinterest to promote small businesses.

Your business may be running smoothly, but do you have the right security measures in place to prevent cyber-criminals from stealing your customers’ information or diverting your hard earned cash to their offshore bank account?

According to Verizon’s fifth annual Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR) many hacking attacks are directed against small companies.  The good news is that most of these attacks can be prevented with a few small and relatively easy steps.  Click here to read more about the DBIR.

The Verizon Small Business Center presents another free webinar, this time a discussion with three security industry experts who will offer additional insights from the DBIR as well as offer low cost tips to protect your business from cyber-hacks.

Our guests feature Quinton Jones, SMB Solutions Architect with McAfee, the world’s largest dedicated security technology company; Robby Gulri, Vice President of products with Echoworx, offering managed encryption services; and Marc Spitler, Senior Analyst with Verizon’s Research Investigations Solutions Knowledge (RISK) team.

Guest post from Brad McCarty, a music and tech junkie, managing editor of The Next Web, one of the world’s largest online publications that delivers an international perspective on the latest news about Internet technology, business and culture.

For the past few years, businesses have been hearing all about Facebook when it comes to having an online presence where they can meet their customers. But a few months ago, Google came into the picture with Google+ and there's plenty of evidence to suggest that perhaps it's the better way to go for companies looking to establish themselves online.

I took a closer look at the numerous aspects of Google+ for small business in my free webinar, presented by the Verizon Small Business Center. I spent about an hour discussing them and took questions throughout the webinar. So watch this webinar when you have some time to learn what Google+ can do for small businesses.  Click here to watch the replay or go to http://www.brighttalk.com/r/rxD. 

Guest post from Marissa Mitrovich, director, public policy and corporate responsibility for Verizon.  Follow @mpmitrovich on Twitter.

(photo taken with her smartphone: Marissa with Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration)  

Earlier this month, I attended a very powerful event:  The White House Business Council and Small Business Administration hosted the Urban Economic Forum at Barnard College, a women’s college, in New York City.  The venue was thoughtfully selected, as the entire day was dedicated to women.

While there were many invaluable pieces of advice offered to women throughout the day.  One of the key takeaways – and the advice that was repeated throughout the day by multiple people, but first mentioned in the morning by Susan Lyne, Chairman of Gilt Groupe Inc., an e-commerce company that pioneered “flash sales.”  She told the women in the room that they must embrace technology. 

Susan indicated that technology was going to allow women to maximize the reach of their business, increase their efficiency, and help them cut costs. 

Guest post from Ramon Ray, editor & technology evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com, shares 10 Ways To Build Mutually Profitable Relationships Online and In Person.

Networking is one of the most important activities a business person can do. There are several reasons why network is important:

-          Networking gives you access to peers who can give you advice;

-          Networking helps you find potential new customers;

-          Networking can be a great source to find new employees; and

-          Networking helps you find vendors that you may need (cleaners, consultants, lawyers, etc.).

These are just a few of the reasons why networking is important.

Continue reading to get some of my tips... of coursem to get all 10 tips on how I network to build mutually profitable relationships online and in person, join the live free webinar presented by the Verizon Small Business Center this Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.  Click here or go to http://www.brighttalk.com/r/59h to register now. 

Guest post by Craig Staley, Verizon's small business digital communications specialist.

If you’re like millions of Americans, you’re probably experiencing some level of withdrawal—having come to the realization that, with the culmination of the Super Bowl this past Sunday—you’re going to be without American football for the next six months or so! 

But, while you’re saying “game over”, we’re saying it’s “game on” for Small Business! 

Verizon just launched a promotion available to small business owners who are not currently Verizon phone and Internet customers.  We call it our “Worry Free” Solutions Bundle. 

Why?  Because we’re making it easier and more convenient than ever for small businesses to start saving money by removing many of the barriers that, in the past, have kept you from enjoying America’s premier voice and broadband networks. 

We hope you are enjoying your weekend.   Click in to read more...you’ll find a few articles which we hope you will find of interest.

Guest post from John Jantsch small business owner, marketing consultant, social media expert and author Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine.

Join me later this afternoon live – January 18^th – at 2 p.m. ET as I give you an hour of fast paced, no frills, action-orientated tips that I’ll challenge every participant to employ right away.

Register here (or go tohttp://bit.ly/xYxAoR) to make sure you can attend this live – FREE webinar – presented by the Verizon Small Business Centeror to receive a notice when the archive is ready for on-demand replay. 

The Weekly Roundup features some interesting articles that caught our attention this week.  We bring them to you in this short summary. 

Happy New Year!  We hope it's off to a great start.  The Weekly Roundup features some interesting articles that caught our attention this week.  We bring them to you in this short summary. 

The Weekly Roundup features some interesting articles that caught our attention this week.  We bring them to you in this short summary. 

Guest post from Marcia O’Toole, manager of the Verizon Small Business Center.

In a recent analysis conducted by Compass Intelligence, a small business market analysis firm, in 3Q 2011 Verizon once again ranked highest among leading small business portals.  This is the fourth consecutive quarter where the Verizon Small Business Center was judged to offer the best online experience for small business owners.

For more information on this report click here (or go tohttp://bit.ly/sYNmWM).  Strengths of the Verizon Small Business Center cited were its “elegant, consistent design; engaging content; self-learn training; and business-specific news.”