EFFECTIVE ONLINE MARKETING

Want to leap to the front of the pack ?

Get your voice heard above the online din as you get your business started.

Lolita Carrico, founder of Modern Mom, turned her online momcentric guide , which includes articles, product reviews and advice .... into a must-visit destination on the web. Since founding the company in 2002, Carrico has seen it grow 200 percent each year. Today, modernmom.com has about 115,000 newsletter subscribers and attracts about 500,000 unique visitors every month.

Carrico, a former PR executive, used her expertise to get the word out about her company. She cross-promotes with companies like Liz Lange Maternity and Stroller Strides that share her target audience of hip, urban, sophisticated women to help grow her community. "What has been extremely successful for us is partnering with not only other online companies but also brands that are off-line to reach that audience."

Knowing your target audience is the first step to linking with like-minded sites. Then choose how you want to market it . You can use blogs, e-mail blasts, newsletters or podcasts. It's about consistency. For you to stand out, it takes seven to nine times for them to see you and then it has to be something that really speaks to them. Use your online presence to be conversational and interactive. Update your blog two to three times per week, and position your company as an expert in your industry.

Carrico has certainly positioned Modern Mom as the expert in its field. Moms seek out the company's site for information on beauty, parenting, fashion, fitness, health and more. She has also earned a ton of press coverage and estimates 2007 sales to reach $2.4 million.

The key of success is simple. In order to create a website that resonates and attracts repeat traffic, you really have to have a connection with your audience.

MARKETING BUDGET

Marketing isn't just an expense, it's an investment. Often , businesses spending an incredible amount of money on marketing but yet generating with very little return.

How to overcome this ?

The key is to market smarter and fully utilize your marketing budget.

Throwing money at high-dollar advertising venues doesn't provide an automatic customer base. Consistency is the key to any marketing program and to do that, businesses need to know how to stretch their limited amount of funds.

Here are ways to stretch your marketing dollars and increase your bottom-line profits :

Use free publicity.
It costs you nothing and builds credibility and awareness. So look for opportunities to be involved with community activities.

Giving Speech.
Every organization is looking for speakers for their monthly meetings, so offer to share your knowledge with them. You'll get exposure to groups as an expert and meet lots of new people who might be potential clients.

Writing.
Write articles for newsletters, newspapers, industry journals and your own website. Sharing information builds name recognition, which helps bring in clients.

Website.
Create a website. Websites are a must. You're missing a great opportunity if your business doesn't have a presence on the web. It's a very cost-effective way of letting people know about you and your products and services.

Partner with others.
Look for businesses with complementary services to create cooperative advertising campaigns so that you have a pool of dollars.

Get involved with organizations.
Look at ways that you can get more involved in the organizations you already work with. This helps build your name recognition by being involved on committees.

Networking.
Networking is the most effective way to meet people. People like to do business with others they know. Networking takes very few dollars, but it does take a time commitment because you must be consistent in your networking efforts.

Marketing is an important part of any business operation. The challenge is finding cost-effective ways to get your name out without going over your allotted budget. Strategic planning is important so that you have a purpose with each marketing dollar you spend. Some people will just randomly select marketing activities, which is a huge waste of dollars. Creating a marketing plan that incorporates the above seven tips will help you have a focus and a variety of venues to reach existing and potential clients and keep your financial picture on track.

FRANCHISING

While many people who have become franchisees are more than pleased with the results, others have been disenchanted by the dynamics and realities of franchising.

Below are common mistakes made by entrepreneurs who have elected to become franchisees.

Not being suited for franchising.
Self-evaluation is one step that too many franchisees neglect to consider. Unlike opening a business of your own, buying a franchise means becoming part of a larger organization and adhering to guidelines and structure. If this is not a concept with which you are comfortable, then do not consider franchising.

Not knowing enough about the product.
What's to know? Those three very dangerous words have gotten franchisees into situations that they were not prepared for. Whether it is fast food or any other type of product, you need to know all about what you are selling and feel comfortable selling it. Due diligence is a key step before actually buying a franchise.

Not talking to other franchise owners.
Many people have opened a franchise because they knew someone who did it and made it work. You need more than that to give you an idea of what franchising is all about. You need to talk with several franchisees and get their opinions before investing heavily in a business that may not be right for you.

Underestimating the costs.
Too many franchise owners prepare only for the initial outlay of money but do not adequately plan for the ongoing financial needs. Do the math beforehand. Make sure you have a detailed budget not only of startup costs but also of operational costs for at least the first three years.

Failure to read the franchise agreement carefully.
This should be obvious, but in the excitement of the moment, many people skim over important documents. This is huge mistake. Do some research ahead of time so you know the standard elements of the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC).

Failure to have adequate legal counsel on hand.
Franchise agreements are long and include a significant amount of detailed information. You should find an attorney who is familiar with such franchise agreements. Too often, franchisees sign documents they do not fully understand.

Not getting everything in writing.
Company sales reps tell potential franchisees all sorts of wonderful things about the workings of the company. While hyping the company is part of the job, remember to get any promises in writing.

Not assessing the competition carefully.
Many franchisees assume that the franchising company would open a location in a certain area only because they know it will be a success. This is not the case. It is up to you to evaluate your competition and plan your competitive strategy.

Underestimating the time commitment.
Just because a franchise is part of a larger company does not mean that you will have less work to do. Yes, it is advantageous to start with a recognizable name, but you still have a ton of work ahead of you to start up and run the business. Make sure you and your family are behind such a commitment.

Lack of marketing.
Franchise products do not sell themselves. Product recognition is a plus, but your customers also recognize the products of competing franchises. While the franchise company will help market the product, you need to do your share of local marketing and promotion as well.

BRANDING

Many small businesses are good at pursuing a relationship with customers, but they aren't as good at nurturing it.

Nurturing a relationship allows you to reinforce your brand and increase brand loyalty. This also helps you weather the storms of increasing competition. For example, your competitor may drop its price, but your customers will remain loyal to you. Furthermore, small businesses have a "leg up" over large competitors because they're more flexible and personalized to the individual customer. Many entrepreneurs assume branding is expensive. But reinforcing your brand doesn't need to cost a lot.

Here are the easy and inexpensive ways you can boost your brand :

Create an affiliate program.
A good affiliate network allows you to grow your e-business efficiently and affordably, channeling additional traffic to your site without the expense of pay-per-click advertising. Provide your affiliates with links and ads that carry your branding message.

Start or contribute to a blog.
Look for a highly trafficked and searched blog in your industry, then write and post relevant articles about your business. Let your personality shine through in the tone of your writing.

Print your logo on labels/stickers and place them on all communication with customers.
Stickers appeal to our tactile nature and add interest to just about anything. They don't need to be fancy, but they should feature your logo and colors.

Attach your tagline to your e-mail signature.
If you don't already have a tagline or motto that communicates a key difference between you and your competition, create one and consider trademarking it.

Print your logo on an inexpensive premium like a hat or golf ball.
The more memorable the item, the better. Distribute your premium on every sales call, to customers, prospects and even suppliers. Buy in bulk to reduce costs.

Start an e-mail newsletter for your customers and prospects.
Include your own articles and link to other pieces related to your industry. This is a great way to keep your brand in front of customers and prospects regularly.

Offer your expertise to media publications that are read by your target customers.
Make yourself available as a source for upcoming stories related to your business. Or, write an article and pitch it to target publications.

Visit your clients.
Visit your clients around holidays , leaving them a holiday-themed surprise with your logo on it. Use the stickers you print to customize the treats you choose. This one takes some creativity, but a little candy can go a surprisingly long way.

Follow up.
Follow up with customers to thank them for their business and get feedback on your product or service. Call, e-mail or visit current customers as often as time permits.

Ensure that all your promotional materials match one another graphically.
At the very least, your business cards, stationery, signage, packaging, brochures and website should all feature your name, logo and tagline consistently.

At its core, branding is about building trust with your target audience. This takes time and consistency, but not a huge advertising budget.

HOME BASED BUSINESS

They roll out of bed in the morning and head off for work--still in their pajamas. They work from their dining room tables, stock inventory in their cupboards and arrange meetings in the lobbies of their local hotels. They set their own schedules, jog on the beach during their lunch breaks and give out their house keys to employees across the city.

This is what life is like for Andrew Aussie, co-founder of Honest Foods, a natural foods company; Stacey Roney, founder of Beauty on Call, a staffing agency for the beauty industry; and Meg McAllister and Darcie Rowan, co-founders of McAllister Communications, a PR firm. Using their homes as their headquarters, these entrepreneurs, along with a growing number of others, are running successful businesses without even stepping foot outside their front doors.

A February 2004 study by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers indicates that approximately one in 10 U.S. households operate some type of full or part-time home based business. And these businesses are more than holding their own. A May 2006 study released by the SBA's Office of Advocacy reveals that America's home based sole proprietors generate $102 billion in annual revenue.

As it grows in popularity and profits, home based business is being perceived in a much more favorable light. According to Beverley Williams, a home business advocate for the past two decades, running a business from home was once frowned upon or dismissed as a hobby for moms seeking extra money. Now, home based business is widely accepted and is attracting both men and women.

Aussie, Roney, McAllister and Rowan learned from experience and mastered the discipline. Here, these successful entrepreneurs open up about the ins and outs of running a business from home, including how to ward off loneliness, set up shop, deal with zoning laws and insurance issues, bring employees into the home and project a professional image.

Making the Transition

Deciding that the quality and taste of their brand was more important than the luxury of their workspace, Aussie, 39, and Mark Oliver, 58, decided to launch Honest Foods in April 2006 from Aussie's Del Mar, California, home. This gave them the freedom to invest the majority of their startup capital into two years of research and development, but it also meant a major adjustment for Aussie, who had been used to a very social office environment.

For 11 years, Aussie had worked in sales and marketing for Kashi Co., where he led a team of 12 people and was surrounded by 60 to 70 coworkers. During the transition, Aussie had to figure out how to recreate that social stimulation from his home office. He relies more than ever on phone and e-mail to stay connected with others, regularly arranges in-person meetings with vendors and suppliers at his home or a local restaurant or coffeehouse, and has even thrown parties for his ex-coworkers. "I thrive on camaraderie and social interaction, so it has been key to realize that it's now my responsibility to set that up," says Aussie. "I set up a lot of lunches and gatherings that maybe I wouldn't have set up before as a way to bring some more social interaction to my daily experience."

Combating loneliness is one of the top challenges facing homebased entrepreneurs, according to Williams and Paul Edwards, author of numerous books on the topic, and co-author of The Entrepreneurial Parent: How to Earn Your Living and Still Enjoy Your Family, Your Work and Your Life. Williams recommends seeking out the services of the local chamber of commerce or other small-business groups. These can offer good support networks as well as serve as invaluable resources of information.

Aussie also has learned that when not in the same office, over-communication is key in keeping everyone on the same page. Information, which is so effortlessly transmitted in an office setting through impromptu meetings or nonverbal communication, isn't always transmitted as accurately among Honest Foods' independent contractors who work virtually from their homes. "It means following up in writing, following up with voice mail, sending another e-mail, sending out reminders, doing all those weekly meetings," says Aussie. "These may have seemed superfluous in the office setting but are absolutely critical in a home office."

Another transition you'll have to make is equipping your home office, rather than relying on your IT guy to make all the decisions. Scrimping and saving is good, but even a home office needs a minimum investment in terms of equipment. As tempting as it may be, Edwards advises resisting the urge to go all-cellular or depending just on Skype and instead recommends equipping the home with at least one landline.

Aussie recycled his father's office equipment, furnished his office with hand-me-down furniture but made sure his copier is high speed, his phone has a speaker on it and his computer is top quality. Says Aussie, "People may underestimate the need to make that kind of investment in your home office."

Setting Up

Honest Foods is flourishing with year-end sales projected to reach $1 million and product already on the shelves of major natural food retailers, including Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Markets. This success might be partially due to the physical setup of Aussie's office. He runs the business from a separate room in the house dedicated as his office space to keep his work life separate from his family life. It may seem trivial, but separating family life both spatially and time-wise is crucial, according to Edwards, who recommends using a screen or a divider if a separate room can't be spared.

Other key questions you should consider before choosing where to set up office: Does it interfere with the family foot traffic, and does it offer the solitude needed to work? A little planning beforehand could greatly affect the productivity of the business.

Aussie has learned he works best by shutting everything down and closing the door to his office at a set time each day. Work schedules will differ according to the preferences of the entrepreneur, but no matter how you operate best, Edwards strongly recommends setting goals for each day, so the business continues to move forward despite the hundreds of distractions that can occur daily.

Heeding the advice of experts regarding the physical separation of work life from home life may be an ideal to work toward, but sometimes a company's growth can make this a physically impossible task. Roney, 38--along with her husband, her Beauty on Call business, seven employees and three interns--just moved into a single family home, where one whole floor and two spare bedrooms will be devoted to work space. This is quite an upgrade from their three-bedroom condo, where the work flowed out onto the kitchen table. From her Chicago home, she works with almost every cosmetics company and has more than 500 freelancers nationwide.

Roney expects 2007 sales to approach $1 million and plans to hire four more employees this year, which means her business might even outgrow her new single family home by next year. Roney plans on holding out from moving into an office as long as possible. "By eliminating that overhead, we're able to be more profitable, so I can hire more staff," says Roney. "Anytime we bring on more business, I'd rather use that money to hire an additional employee or pay my existing employees more money and also offer competitive pricing to my clients."

Roney loves working from home and has passed on the advantages to her employees. There's no dress code, and they all wear slippers; her employees complete 40 hours of work per week but have no set schedule. At least once every week, Roney prepares lunch for everyone. "Our home is their home, and they all have a great relationship with my husband. They feel very comfortable here," says Roney. "It's like family."

Entrepreneurs Who Need People

Roney's relationship with her employees is based on trust, but how does she go about finding people who merit that trust? Roney admits she hasn't always chosen correctly, but she has learned to look for certain qualities in potential employees, such as an entrepreneurial spirit and self-motivation. She also has started working with people initially on a freelance basis, so she can get to know them before hiring them full time.

Bringing employees into the house is a big step that needs to be considered carefully. It's a decision Aussie is currently struggling with, as he isn't entirely certain how comfortable he would be sharing his house with an employee. Ultimately, though, the decision might not even be one for the individual entrepreneur to make. Edwards warns that it could present conflict from a zoning standpoint. "This is where you really have to check your zoning, because if you live in a common interest development, [having employees] can create parking problems and get you into hassles with your neighbors," he says.

You can't be too careful when it comes to zoning restrictions in general, warns Williams, who recalls several instances where individuals lost their businesses due to zoning violations. "You cannot assume you can do whatever you want in your own house," she says.

To find out what's permissible, you should start by determining if a homeowner's association governs your residence. If so, you should carefully examine the covenants and restrictions. If not, inquire at City Hall or the county's Department of Economic Development or Department of Licenses and Permits.

Williams also warns entrepreneurs to purchase appropriate insurance for their businesses, as homeowner's insurance rarely covers home businesses. "Talk to an insurance agent, preferably an independent agent who can take a look at all different kinds of programs from different companies and find the best one," she advises.

Staying Professional

While the perception of home based entrepreneurship has improved significantly, it may still be wise to keep the fact that you're working from home under the radar. "Despite the percentage of people approving of this now, you'll run into some people who will have a problem with it," says Edwards. "The best policy is to not make a point of it--not lie about it, certainly--but for all purposes, to create a business that doesn't have a geographical identity."

Being in the PR industry, where perception is important, McAllister, 43, and Rowan, 39, tried having an office when they first launched the company in 2001. Located in Toronto, the office was on the same street as the "big boys," but when the rent and the taxes went through the roof, they realized perception shouldn't have to come at such a high price. So they moved the business out of the office and into their respective homes--McAllister's two-bedroom home in Toronto and Rowan's New York City apartment--and thereby cut their expenses in half.

To compensate, they found alternative ways to maintain the level of professionalism their clients require. They work with a web hosting company so they and the approximately 10 independent contractors they work with all have a similar e-mail address; they partnered with a local The UPS Store franchise to handle all their bulk shipping needs, which relieves the impact their business has on their homes; and they use a conferencing service so they can both speak with clients via the phone. In addition, they researched all their local hotels and coffeehouses to find the best locations for meeting with clients.

"An increasing number of hotels are offering coffee service and free internet connections in the lobby," says McAllister. "So it behooves you to do a little research and find the places closest to you that keep with the image you're creating, the service you're providing and the industry you're working in, so you're never left scrambling."

McAllister and Rowan are projecting their annual billings to hit $500,000, but they have reaped more than just profits by keeping their business in-house. By setting up a virtual office and inherently trusting one another as well as their independent contractors to remain focused on the overall goal of the business, they have replaced office politics and rigidity with a commitment to be disciplined and work as a team. McAllister says, "Being outside of the four walls has helped us to create a company that is more solid in terms of the way people work together and feel about each other and the work they do than being within four walls ever could."

INTERNET OPPORTUNITIES

The entrepreneurial edge. We've seen it in action and we know what it represents. The ability to respond quickly to opportunity. To see trends before they leap into front page fodder. To seize and run with new technology before large and lumbering competitors wake up and smell the skim decaf latte.

It's an instinct and behavior that's true most of the time. But puzzlingly, I don't see it happening in the hot and buzzy area of Internet marketing --specifically, as it relates to two distinct areas: search marketing and rich media.

Search marketing, of course, is the practice of using keywords and other terms to drive Web surfers and Web seekers to your site. It's the phenomenon behind Google's monumental market cap and the holy grail of one-to-one communication: Someone raises their hand and says, "I am interested in learning more about this subject, or this product category, or this service area." No more qualified, valuable prospect exists on the face of this ozone-depleted, fossil-fuel dependent earth.

So why aren't enough small and mid-size businesses getting into the game? Of course, there are cost factors involved; it's often a bidding situation, and the price of the paid search listing has to make ROI-sense. But I don't think cost is the issue, but rather a lack of familiarity. A quick scan of the current Inc. 500 reveals very different levels of search marketing sophistication. The number one and number two companies, American Biophysics and Under Armour Performance apparel, rank in the top five listings on Google. Proflowers also does well.

But they appear to be the exception. Aegis - number three -- an assisted living provider, doesn't appear when you enter "assisted living" as a keyword on the search engine. Cross Match, number five -- a company involved in the hot security area of biometrics, is invisible when both biometrics and fingerprints - is not entered into Google. Floorgraphics, number eleven, also doesn't pop up under the logical search term "floor advertising," and, finally, Tesoro, a metal detector business listed at number twenty-four, is undetected when "metal detector" is Googled. I could go on.

All businesses need to register words related to their names on Google, especially small businesses, as Google offers a trusted environment to cut through the clutter. And with the emergence of geo-targeting, companies who compete on a local or regional basis can still use search engine marketing effectively.

Securing a pre-eminent search position isn't all that complicated. We do it at our company (shameless plug department), but we're not alone. Jason Heller at Mass Transit interactive is one company that handles search engine marketing for clients.

The second online marketing opportunity that entrepreneurs need to grab is rich media. While traditional banners are declining in use as an advertising vehicle -- they're boring and uninspiring -- rich media is booming. "Rich media" describes a range of more sophisticated and involved online advertising formats - messages enhanced by sound and motion, by interactivity, by pull-down menus, or other multimedia options. Sometimes, rich media units float or "take over" a page, as with the industry-leading, innovative messages made available from PointRoll.

These kinds of advertising units are the future of the medium. All the research I've seen says that they capture attention, are persuasive, and can be potent brand-building tools -- as well as capable of generating clicks and conversion. In a world of multi-tasking and fragmented attention spans, rich media is what it takes to glue consumers to your message.

Rich media is growing by a factor or more than 20 percent per year, and it's the big boys who are driving it: HP, Pfizer, Ford, Pepsi. As with search marketing, entrepreneurial, growing companies seem to be lagging. Time is a-wasting for them to get really smart, really fast about building their brands and generating leads online.

I'm not sure why the traditionally slow-to-react big companies have grabbed the lead here. Perhaps smaller companies are still allergic to online marketing as a delayed reaction to the Internet bubble. Perhaps they don't recognize that there is no more efficient and effective to target customers in niche markets. Used strategically, it's a way to wield the same old entrepreneurial edge, in a whole new medium.

BRINGING USERS TO YOUR SITE

Everyone who runs a Web site wants to climb his or her way up the results of a Google search, but that can cost no less than thousands and up to millions of dollars.

So what do you do if you have little-to-no online advertising budget and can't fly banners all over the Internet to let the "right" people know you're out there?

Rest assured, the Internet remains a friendly place for small businesses even so, with many options available to boost traffic and, naturally, sales.

But first, beware: There are plenty of tricks on offer that will help get your brand out to the public cheaply, but that doesn't make them good ideas. Just as making the front page of the newspaper because you were arrested will indeed make you well-known (though for the wrong reasons), the same can be said about some types of online marketing.

We've all been spammed to know that, sure, you may reach a lot of people. And yes, they may get to know your site's name - but they probably won't like it. Instead, align your brand with a thoughtful strategy and you'll win over customers.

To guide you through the available choices for saving money without blowing your reputation, here are some don'ts and do's from experts in the field. In some cases, the don'ts-and-dos of online marketing are slight variations of each other, underscoring the fact that achieving success comes with patience and hard work, not a catch-all-cure-all.

Don'ts

Because the Internet is such an expansive place (Google searches more than 4 billion Web pages), it seems like plastering your name everywhere would be a good way to catch all users wherever they might be. Wrong, say our experts. You want to attract people who want to be at your site and who might actually buy something. Don't trick people into coming to your site. Deception might get people to land on your home page, but it can just as easily land you on a search engine's blacklist. "Don't cheapen yourself," said David U. Simon, founder of the consulting group Revenue Engines (link) and former head of promotions for Yahoo! Here are a few ways to avoid that trap:

Don't be a Spammer
That's Rule No. 1, according to Rick Bruner, an Internet marketing consultant and researcher for Executive Summary . "You need to have people's permission before you email them, because they make a clear distinction between what they sign up for and what's simply sent to them," he said. Being overaggressive can damage your brand when you're trying to build it.

Don't "link swap" for the sake of sending out more links
Search engines like Google favor Web sites that have lots of direct links to them, so it's tempting to make "I'll list you, if you list me" deals. Associating yourself with relevant sites is great, says Bruner. But you should contact them directly and politely, not through a form letter e-mail.

Don't run contests
Contests and giveaways might draw a lot of traffic through search engines, but it's probably not the kind you want: freeloaders. Offering these enticements to an existing client base is one thing, but as Bruner puts it, "It's not 1999 and you aren't going to grow your traffic that fast."

Dos

Focus your efforts on reaching the places where the people you want to reach go. This will require some legwork, but it will save costs and, in many cases, will be a one-time effort.

Do get listed on directories
This is paramount, says Bruner. Yahoo! and DMOZ.org are good places to start. Getting listed on Yahoo! can be cumbersome, because of its time-consuming review process. This process can be expedited by paying a roughly $200 fee, which, if you are serious about doing business online, is worth it, according to Bruner. DMOZ is free and updated by volunteers. Browse the categories on both sites first to see where your business fits best.

Do keep SEO in mind, but don't obsess over it
SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization" and refers to how well your site is picked up by search engines. "Everything you write on your Web site, you should be thinking about how it will be picked up by the search engines," said Bruner. That said, don't obsess over your meta tags, or the keywords in the title page that the engines pick up. "If you try to get into the Top 10 of the search in your market every time, you'll never sleep," Bruner quipped. Your Web designer should be able to help you with the tagging that works best and also check out searchenginewatch.com and webmasterworld.com.

Do consider text advertising
Text advertisements are simple text links, as opposed to graphic banners. Text links are cost effective because sites don't charge as much for them, and they also allow you to cut out any design fees. Based on Simon's research, text links do very well. Plus, their straightforward nature will help you avoid doing anything underhanded to gain viewers.

Do get involved in the online community
If you have a product or service that is going to appeal to a certain group, get on discussion boards where those people hang out, says Bruner. Don't just peddle your wares, but make sure you're adding some value to discussion. Make yourself a trusted source and expert.

Do get your visitors to submit their e-mail addresses
"You want to convert the relationship with the visitor into one you own and that you don't need to buy," said Simon. He recommends an engaging series of questions, starting with some real "softballs" to make visitors more comfortable. Also, make it clear how you are going to communicate with them, whether it's going to be weekly, monthly or whenever you have special promotions. Bruner says the "double opt-in" technique, in which you send an email confirming the visitor's enrollment, is preferred by customers.

Do analyze your traffic
"You can't improve what you don't measure," said Bruner. There are places like sitemeter.com that offer packages for as little as $20 a month.

Do your research
If you don't have the money to get linked up with the hottest sites, find out what other sites appeal to people in your market, says Simon. "These are places that need you as much as you need them," noted Simon. "In turn, you can customize your campaign to their site." Along the same lines, you need to know what's hot in general. There are lots of free sources out there that can help you get the pulse of what's going on and where it's happening, such as the Yahoo! Buzz Index .

Do put your Web address in your signature
Putting your Web site's address in all of your e-mails and online posts is simple yet effective. Don't underestimate it, says Bruner.

Do educate yourself
"Invest in educating yourself about online marketing," said Bruner. "Make it a continuing education." He recommends buying books, subscribing to newsletters, getting involved in online discussions and attending conferences.

These tips will help save money and build your business, but keep in mind that it all starts with a good Web site that is updated frequently and offers a safe and secure environment for your visitors to do business. "The Internet is a meritocracy," said Bruner. "The cream does rise to the top."

SEARCH ENGINES

Do you know that there are search options beyond Google and it is not only Yahoo and MSN.

Vertical search is on the rise, and whether you're looking for business products, services or information, or a new place to advertise, vertical search sites can benefit your company.

When we speak about an alternative search engine, we're speaking about something that's extremely industry-specific and very niche. It's pin-pointing, accurate and only going to be for that topic you're searching for, rather than having to scour through the billions of search results you'll get on a mainstream.

The same logic applies when determining where to spend your search engine marketing dollars. If you sell a general consumer product, Google may be your best bet. But if you're looking for highly targeted business purchasers, it may be wise to go vertical. You will get a much more relevant user, a much higher conversion and a much better return on your investment. User traffic might be a little less, but the visitor is highly more qualified.

Here are some vertical search engines that are useful to any business owner. Be sure to research your own industry, however, for more specific verticals that can hone your searches or boost your advertising ROI for business customers :

TopTenWholesale.com
One of the biggest hurdles for new retailers is finding wholesale merchandise to sell. TopTen place all those product sellers in one place so that when you search for shoes, you receive wholesale results, not Zappos.com. The site also offers news, a blog, directory listings, forums and classifieds, that create not just a wholesale search site, but a wholesale portal.

ThomasNet.com
ThomasRegister has been a leader in the business information field for more than 100 years, and ThomasNet.com is the place to go if you're in the market for industrial and manufacturing goods and services. This robust site allows you to search by product/service, company name, brand name, industrial websites or CAD models. You can narrow your search by U.S. state or Canadian province. Browse by category, download 2D and 3D CAD models of mechanical parts, and even download a search plug-in for your Firefox browser.

FindLaw.com
Both FindLaw.com and Lawyers.com serve the same primary functions: They allow users to search for attorneys by location and specialty. But FindLaw has an easier-to-use interface, making its extra information quicker to find, such as the free form examples, free full-text books and legal dictionary. Both have general search functionality, message boards and blogs, but again FindLaw.com wins us over with its small business section.

USA.gov
The government has a labyrinthine web of sites, and if you're looking for information, it's easy to get lost. This all-things-U.S.-government portal/search engine has a tab specifically for businesses and nonprofits, and you can browse by topic. By far, the most helpful area in the business tab is Get It Done Online, an area with links to business necessities that, yes, you can take care of online.

IT.com
Rather than offering a plain vanilla directory or just one basic search bar, IT.com provides several tech-oriented search options. This includes product and service categories (enterprise networking, open source, product development) or industry solutions (government, SMB, financial markets). The interface takes non-tech folks into consideration as well; each search choice has a roll-over with an explanation of the terminology. In the main search bar, you can choose to search for news, companies, white papers or webcasts.

Zibb.com
Reed Business is one of the leading vertical publishers with more than 200 business titles. Zibb.com is the company's new online venture, a vertical search service for business that offers not only websites and blogs in the results, but also Reed Business content. This site has a strong UK bent to its information, but it's one to keep an eye on because of its strong news element along with the typical search results and directory listings.

VerticalSearch.com
VerticalSearch gets super meta as a vertical search engine for vertical sites. The homepage offers pre-determined categories, but you also can choose your own keywords. Results pages offer feeds of headlines and research papers, and you can choose to pull an RSS feed from any search that you choose.

SearchFinance.com
This site bills itself as the "search engine for financial executives," making it quite the portal for corporate finance. While search is front-and-center, there are a ton of browsing options: blogs, podcasts, events, webcasts, magazines and alerts. Search results are particularly impressive. Directory matches pop up first, but you can also scroll over the results sources for more information on a particular company and choose to remove any "commercial" sources from your results.

Yahoo! Local
This site is the most consumer-oriented of the bunch, but a recent redesign with a focus on vertical categories makes it worth a look. Yahoo! Local has broken out of the restaurants-and-nightclubs city guide mold to offer a number of business categories like health and beauty, automotive, and real estate--useful information whether you're looking for professional service vendors in your neighborhood, a new bistro to take a client to, or a local advertising solution for your business.

Melissa Data
This is a slight fudge on our part as this site is more of a new customer enticement for data service provider Melissa Data than true vertical search, but there are so many free search options, it may become a favorite on your bookmarks. You can search for basic demographic and market data, maps and mailing information, statistics or specific data like SIC codes. There's a daily limit to your number of "lookups," so unless you subscribe, you'll have to curb your information appetite.

BLOG

Many entrepreneurs are looking for cost effective and free ways to spread the word about their business. One of the most effective ways to do this is through blogging.

What is a blog?

Even though blogs are becoming extremely popular, the concept is still developing. So why use a blog? For one, it can drive traffic to your site. If you have good content on your blog, people can learn from it and then find out about your company. Get clients to post testimonials or share their experiences with your product or service. A good blog can make your company more approachable and more real to your potential clients. And it can increase your website's search engine rankings.

If you're trying to reach out customers especially womens, a blog may be the perfect tool. A 2006 study by Johnson & Johnson found that 83 percent of moms spend their free time on the internet and one-third get support from other moms online. Advertising Age says that blogs are becoming a valued word-of-mouth network for mothers. Emarketer.com says that if a mom isn't writing a blog, she's reading one. Every day more than 1.6 million blogs get updated and 175,000 new ones get started.

If you looking forward to start your own blog, there are a lot of platforms that you can consider. You may consider some of the blogging provider below to get you started :

WordPress.com
Blogger.com
Blog.com
Vox.com
MovableType.com

Starting a blog is actually quite easy.

Just follow these steps :

Find a blogging provider like those mentioned above.
Personalize it using their templates and your images.
Decide what you want to post or write about.
Publish the blog by putting the URL on your site.
Be consistent. Keep people coming back by regularly posting new information.

Even if you don't have a blog, there are big benefits to visiting other blogs. A blog can help you learn about other products or services that may help your business. Some blogs will give you the opportunity to reach out and speak with other blogger in your same position.

Whenever you have the opportunity, post on other blogs. Every time you get your company link online, you can increase your potential for search engine rankings. Of course, make posts only where appropriate. You can find plenty of personal and business blogs where it would be relevant to share information about your company.

There's a lot of great information out there about starting and marketing your blog.

So, don’t just visiting and reading other people blog. Create and start you own blog now.

THE BASICS OF OFFSHORE INVESTING

While there is nothing inherently illegal or hazardous about investing outside your home country, offshore investing should be approached with caution. The benefits can be tricky for a small investor to realize, the risks hard to calculate, and the potential for fraud high.

The main reason people used to invest offshore was to avoid high taxes in their home countries. For residents and citizens of the United States, there's no longer the tax advantage there once was. Since 2004, the U.S Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been collecting taxes from U.S. corporations that are based in other countries and from U.S citizens and residents who make money from offshore investments.

And in July 2005, the European Union Savings Tax Directive took effect. Under it, banks in EU nations are required to give information about investments and their earnings to the tax agency in the investor's home country. If you want to keep your investment details secret under the directive, you can agree to a withholding tax. But the tax is nothing to sneeze at: 15 percent for the first three years, 20 percent for the next three, and 35 percent starting in 2011.

Many notorious "tax havens" that are not members of the EU have also agreed to abide by the directive, including the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino.

But there are still some situations for which offshore investment may be a good strategy. One is confidentiality. Some countries' banking and financial laws make it a crime to disclose customers' identities or the names of shareholders. If you need to conceal your ownership of some assets, placing them offshore is one way to do so. Major corporations sometimes use offshore entities to make acquisitions when knowing the identity of the purchaser might drive the price up.

Just remember that if you are found to be using an offshore corporation to avoid paying U.S. taxes, you can be prosecuted for tax evasion, and the confidentiality laws in most countries can be waived to investigate suspected illegal activity.

The other advantages to offshore investing typically result from forming a shell corporation in a foreign locale. Some countries don't tax foreign-owned corporations; or your shell corporation may avoid local taxes because it doesn't conduct operations there. In addition, some foreign corporations aren't taxed when investing in the U.S.

Setting up an offshore corporation can be expensive, however. There are legal fees, registration fees, and sometimes a requirement that you own property in the country. Some offshore accounts require minimum investments of $100,000 or more.

Offshore investing is a strategy where it's especially important to work with known, trustworthy entities and get professional advice tailored to your specific needs and goals. This is a situation where you need an investment advisor, an attorney, and an accountant who are all well-versed in offshore banking.

Otherwise, you're at serious risk. The freedom from U.S. regulations that may make offshore attractive also means those regulations aren't there to protect you from scams, questionable claims, and outright theft. That makes offshore investing attractive to con artists, too.

Investigate all claims and offers, and have them reviewed by professionals, before you sign anything or commit any funds. It can be much harder to recover your money if it has left the U.S., and those confidentiality laws may make it impossible to track down once it's been stolen.

Make sure an offshore strategy is really the best way to meet your investment goals. If you're more interested in diversification or taking advantage of the growth in emerging markets, consider a U.S.-based mutual fund that invests overseas.

NICHE MARKETING

Most successful marketing tales begin and end with a well-plumbed niche. In other words, the marketer has found the most-qualified group of prospects and motivated them to action. You'll rarely see a company that's risen to the top using a shotgun approach--targeting a mass audience indiscriminately--yet this is where many entrepreneurs trip up.

Failure to isolate the most-qualified niche can waste marketing funds, time and energy. I get e-mails and phone calls from entrepreneurs who tell me "everybody" can use their product or service. The trouble is, even the most well-financed business can't afford to reach everybody at once. And even if they somehow could, their message would have to be so generic that many different types of prospects wouldn't feel motivated to take action.

Just look at the way big businesses individually target their niche. Wireless companies, for example, have marketing campaigns that pitch small businesses, families and young adults. Each of these audiences constitutes a different niche that warrants its own set of campaign tactics and messaging.

Ready to expand into a new niche market?

Here are three important steps to get you started:

SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS

Take a long, careful look at your current customer base and divide it into groups with similar characteristics. Figure out what your best prospects have in common. This will define a niche market of individuals who are more likely to become customers or to make repeat purchases. Fine-tune your media buys and target your marketing messages to have the greatest appeal to the core group.

Suppose in the past you marketed randomly by generally targeting all women 25 to 49. You'd examine your customer base and divide it into groups that manifest important qualifying criteria--whatever would classify them as being your best or ideal customers--such as women in that age group who work outside the home, book travel online, or dine out six times or more per month.

Next, as you segment your customer base into groups with similar characteristics you may find that some of the groups that presently account for a small percentage of your sales show potential. These can become separate niche markets that will warrant unique marketing campaigns with different messages or offers.

FILL A NEED

Sometimes you have no past customer history to go on when choosing a new market niche. In that case, you must make some preliminary assumptions about your prospect base. Focus on the customer you want to reach. Who has an identified need for what you market? Who is buying something similar now? It's easier to fill a need than to create one, so smart marketers look for potential buyers who know what they want and are buying it elsewhere.

Once you've identified prospects that have a need for what you market, evaluate the offers made by your potential competitors. The only way to beat them is to know them well and provide a product or service enhancements that are presently unavailable to their customers in that potential market niche. The key is to enter the new niche with a product or service that is widely accepted, yet add an original value proposition that prospects can't refuse.

KEEP ENTRY COSTS DOWN

There is another significant advantage to entering niche markets comprised of customers who are already buying something similar to what you provide. The fact is, it's virtually always easier for small businesses to be second (or third, fourth or even later) to enter a market, rather than to be the first. Being first is expensive--there's an entire educational curve to fund, particularly with new products--and it can take quite a bit of time to break through.

For example, suppose you wanted to offer a product to engineering firms and law offices, but the engineering firms had never bought anything like it, while the law firms were using something similar with limited results. Your smartest bet would be to tackle the legal office niche first by providing a product with significant enhancements or more attractive offers than what the lawyers were presently buying. You wouldn't need to educate the legal prospects on the way your product would fill their needs and go through the long startup period that would be required to get results from marketing to the engineering firms.

Niche by niche, growth comes from taking measured risks that start with an assessment of your best potential customers and their needs. And you'll succeed by making valuable offers to carefully targeted, qualified prospects who are prepared to buy.

BUSINESS CARD

Nothing is more important to making a good first branding impression than your business card.

In addition to the information included, a card's look and feel also sends a strong message about your business.

The cardinal rule to creating a good business card is to ensure that it reflects your company's image. From a branding perspective, this means it should match the look and feel of your logo. Yes, you want your card to be unique. Yes, you want people to remember you by it. But if you break the cardinal rule in pursuit of uniqueness, all people will remember seeing is an unusual business card. They won't remember your brand or its attributes.

So in the interest of sparing you a potential branding misstep, here are the blunders of new companies make when creating their business cards:

Choosing low-quality paper stock.
Inexpensive paper stock may save you money, but it often leaves you with a card that feels cheap. Touch is an important sense and plays a role in memory recall. How you appeal to this sense depends on your company's image. For example, B2B companies wanting to convey reliability should use a substantial, mid-weight stock.

Using a design template that does not match the logo.
Assuming you want a business card to be taken seriously and help brand your company, you need a design that works with your logo. In other words, be extremely careful with template-based designs. If the templates weren't developed specifically to match your logo--and most aren't--they probably won't. Many entrepreneurs fall in love with an over-designed template that distracts from their logo, or one that features an unrelated photograph. Photographs work well in marketing brochures, but if they appear on a business card, they will distract from your logo.

Adding too much color to the card.
When you want to get someone's attention, do you scream? Probably not, if you want to avoid scaring them. So why scare potential customers with a super-bright, rainbow-colored card? Color is your biggest asset in branding your company. Research indicates that color is the most important factor in memory recall. Tie your business to one or two specific colors; this color should also appear in your logo.

Making the card too unique.
You want your card to stand out, certainly, but not so much that its difference makes people uncomfortable. Complex dye-cuts, extremely oversized cards, and odd card stocks (like metal) should be used only by companies engaged in highly customized or creative endeavors. Custom embossing, rounded corners, or varnishes are better touches for most companies. While it's tempting to create an oversized card, keep in mind that many people still use Rolodexes or tuck cards into their wallets--both difficult to do with unusually sized cards. Function overrides form.

Making the logo gigantic.
In general, the bigger the company, the smaller its logo appears on business cards. If you want to look like a Fortune 500, size your logo appropriately. Instead of enlarging your logo for emphasis, employ white space to bring attention to it.

If you're looking to make a lasting impression, don't cheapen your first impression. Build a better business card and you'll build a better business.

SMART WAY TO BOOST UP SALES

What is the techniques typically used to attract customers to a new business. Traditional strategies like networking and mailings will do the job, but they won't do the best job.

If you're a startup, the fastest way to get the cash registers ringing is a little-used method that involves forming "host-beneficiary" relationships with established businesses that cater to a target audience similar to yours. Then you promote yourself to their database with a special offer presented as a gift from the older business.

The beauty of this arrangement is that the startup (the beneficiary) can instantly reach large numbers of highly qualified prospects with the tacit endorsement of the established business (the host). The host is willing to participate because it's a way to reward loyal customers without incurring any costs. The rookie gains new customers, while the veteran gains goodwill.

One startup that successfully used this technique was a high-end women's clothing boutique. The store arranged to give a free silk kimono to every female customer of a local BMW dealership who brought in a letter sent by the dealership offering the gown as a gift for their past patronage. The kimono had to be picked up at the boutique.

More than 600 women responded, picking up $100 kimonos that cost the store just $16 a piece. Those 600 women spent an average of $400 on other merchandise during their initial visit. Do the math, and you'll see that the startup spent $9,600 to generate some $240,000 in sales--and, not incidentally, to begin building its own clientele.

Host-beneficiary marketing is actually a simple and relatively inexpensive process that will deliver solid results if you follow a few basic rules:

1. Precisely define your target audience. "Women 35 to 55" might be a start, but it's not enough. Create a detailed profile of your target customer. The more segments you can identify, the more potential hosts you can approach.

The women's clothing boutique that marketed to BMW owners, for example, determined that their likely customers drove certain types of cars, patronized a certain class of hair salon, belonged to a health club, and were likely to play bridge. A birdseed store might come up with a list that includes consumers who shop at outdoor equipment outfitters or are affiliated with local conservation groups.

2. Identify local businesses that serve the same market segments. That way, you can not only bring people in the door for your initial offer, but also increase the likelihood that they'll return to give you repeat business.

For a cigar store, logical host partners might include better men's clothiers, upscale shoe stores, luxury car dealerships and country clubs. And don't forget non-commercial organizations like Rotary or Kiwanis.

3. Develop a clear offer for each prospective partner. Come up with a free or deeply discounted product or service that has a high perceived value for the consumer with a low dollar cost for you.

One new computer support business offered a voucher worth two free hours of computer repair to the small business clients of a local accountant. A jewelry store offered free jewelry cleaning to clients of a hair salon. A marketing consultant offered a free seminar on how to run sales to one local newspaper's advertisers. A framing shop offered free photo framing to a photographic supply store's top 200 customers.

4. Pitch the plan, highlighting the benefits to the host business. Emphasize that it's a way for the established business to reward their customers at no expense and with virtually no effort. It's also a way to reach out to customers without overtly trying to make a new sale.

5. Supply a letter for the host's use. Providing a draft "offer" letter that can be sent to the host's customers on the host's letterhead will help put the plan into motion quickly. It will also show the partner how easy it will be for him to participate.

Some businesses will allow the letter to be inserted into their monthly invoices or newsletters at no cost to you. Others will charge or require that you pay for a separate mailing. It's a small price to pay for access to the host business' customer base.

6. Develop a strategy to convert redeemers to repeat customers. This, after all, is your long-term goal. For the women's boutique that gave away a kimono, the strategy was to encourage browsing and lure shoppers into dressing rooms to try the merchandise. For one new bakery that gave away a chocolate éclair, the approach was to hand out a buy-five-get-one-free VIP card with the free pastry.

Whatever the specific plan, the host-beneficiary method is the single most effective way to quickly attract a critical mass of qualified customers to a new business. Instead of beating the bushes for customers with individual referrals or scattershot ads, you can tap into a targeted group of consumers en masse to jumpstart sales.

Best of all, you're piggybacking on the success of another entrepreneur who has spent years building a solid customer base. In many ways, this eliminates the need to reinvent the wheel. For a startup facing so many other challenges, it's just smart business.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

In June 2006, Bill Gates announced he was stepping down from his full-time role at Microsoft and shifting his focus to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. When the world's richest entrepreneur decides to take a step in the nonprofit direction, he may be onto something.

In the last decade, a generation of social entrepreneurs has become increasingly visible by creating self-sustaining businesses. Social entrepreneurs are similar to regular entrepreneurs with one main difference--their gains aren't measured in financial profit, but by the impact they have on society.

Many entrepreneurs have started social enterprises, breaking nonprofit tradition by blending mission with money, referred to as "double bottom line" businesses. Jerr Boschee, executive director and founder of The Institute for Social Entrepreneurship, says for a while, nonprofits were hung up on the double bottom line because it seemed contradictory to merge doing well with doing good. But Boschee says self-sufficiency has become necessary for many nonprofit groups to operate. "We have today three times as many nonprofits as we had 30 years ago, and they're all at the same watering hole."

No longer limited by philanthropic donations and public subsidies, these organizations now have a way of being self-sufficient while still helping others in social need. And for some of these organizations, helping others means helping them start their own businesses.

Helping Others Get Started
Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen is a kitchen incubator in Queens, New York, dedicated to helping struggling entrepreneurs start and develop food businesses. The kitchen offers business counseling, mentoring and support for entrepreneurs who have a line of goods, but are limited in funds and business knowledge.

"We go through the whole thing," says founder Kathrine Gregory. "How do you market? How do you write a business plan?"

The 55-year-old food industry veteran is an entrepreneur herself and offers her know-how by partnering with nonprofits that house kitchen facilities. In 1996, Gregory started her kitchen incubator concept with an organization that had an 850-square-foot kitchen in Brooklyn. The facility was being used for job training, but operation costs were quickly eating up the funding. Gregory convinced the board to let her test the kitchen incubator concept, and the resulting profits helped turn the nonprofit into a self-sustaining business.

Today, Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen operates in conjunction with the Consortium for Worker Education and Artisan Baking Center. With a 5,000-square-foot facility, the kitchen is used for culinary arts training, general education and ESL courses during the day. At night the kitchen transforms into a bustling entrepreneurial atmosphere, complete with a dough press, chocolate melter, and a variety of mixers and ovens.

According to Gregory, most entrepreneurs at Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen--who pay $180 to $220 per shift to use the space--turn a profit within the first six to 12 months. The revenue made from rentals has totaled about $200,000.

"People think this is an amazing concept," Gregory says. "It's really a win-win, everyplace that you look." She believes that leveling the playing field for low-income entrepreneurs is one reason her idea has hit home with the local community.

Kiva founders Matt Flannery, 30, and his wife, Jessica, also took the business partner angle with their Kiva.orgmicrolending website. The two started Kiva after traveling to Africa and learning of the enterprising atmosphere there.

"We interviewed people every day for weeks and talked about people's business plans," says Matt. "I thought it was fascinating that I was talking about business, business plans and scaling an inventory challenges in a place that I only associated with deep poverty."

The experience stayed with Matt and Jessica when the two returned to California and partnered with four others, working out of coffee shops and a tiny San Francisco apartment to develop the Kiva website and concept. Their goal remains showing people the business dynamic they experienced in Africa. "It was a different take on poverty, a different take on Africa than you typically hear when you're out here in the United States," Matt says.

On the Kiva website, lenders can donate to entrepreneurs trying to start a business in third-world countries. Loans start at $25, which goes a long way in the third world. The entrepreneurs pay back the loans 99 percent of the time--a remarkable default rate in the finance world. "[It's] connecting as an equal or a business partner, an entrepreneur, rather than as a charitable endeavor or benefactor or taking pity on someone else," Matt says.

And pity is something Matt says the media has thrived on for some time. "Often we want to hear about war and bloodshed and disease and that's only a small part of the story about what goes on in a huge continent like Africa," he adds.

Like Gregory, Matt also struggled to convince others about the viability of his idea. "One attribute of good ideas is that they challenge people's existing mindset," he says. "Now that I know that, I wouldn't have put so much weight in other people's opinions."

Why It's Working
Despite some skepticism, "Social entrepreneurship is really taking off around the world," says David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, which has been translated into 16 languages. In his book, Bornstein chronicles the work of Ashoka, an international organization that helps fund entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to social problems.

According to Bornstein, the relentless won't-take-no-for-an-answer quality of entrepreneurs is what gives them their edge in business. "They absorb the failure, they learn, they surround themselves with a good team and then they redirect." These same attributes, when applied in the social realm, can result in community-changing solutions.

In the end, Gregory says it's the energy of the entrepreneurs she comes into contact with that sustain her in her business. For Matt and Jessica, being part of something larger than themselves has inspired them.

"It's not about me, it's not about my organization," Matt says. "It's about people connecting to people and using technology as a conduit."

FOOTSTEPS OF THE SUCCESSFUL PEOPLES

What do Sir Richard Branson and Michael Dell have in common ?

Aside from their obvious success and wealth today, they were both recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as "Young Millionaires" in the late '80s. When we first interviewed Dell, he was 23 years old and fresh out of college. He spoke about the struggles of running a $6 million business while attending school, but said the rewards were more than worth it. And you can bet that today, as the world's second-largest PC maker, he'd say the exact same thing.

Our past Young Millionaires have plenty in common; for instance, many of their ideas were initially greeted with skepticism. That's what happened to California Pizza Kitchen founders Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, who told us in 1986 that people thought they were crazy for going into the restaurant business. Yet today, CPK is an industry leader with more than 210 locations in 29 states and eight countries.

When we first highlighted the businesses below, they were relatively unknown. But now, they're household names virtually synonymous with the products they sell. Find out just how far they've come.

Liz Lange, 40
Founder of Liz Lange Maternity
Featured in November 2001

Then: In 1996, prospective retailers told Lange that pregnant women wouldn't spend money on her sophisticated maternity wear. Ignoring them, Lange borrowed money from friends and family and opened a small office in New York City, where she sold made-to-order clothing to women by appointment. Thanks to word-of-mouth, Lange's business started booming, and in 2001, she reported $3 million plus in sales.

Now: Lange continues to prove those retailers wrong. Today, the Liz Lange Maternity Collection, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, can be found at Lange's three Liz Lange Maternity flagship boutiques, and her secondary line, Liz Lange for Target, is the exclusive maternity line at all Target stores and on Target.com. Though Lange wouldn't release sales figures, she says the company has grown in huge multiples since 2001. Lange adds that her constant activity, which includes lecturing around the country, writing her monthly column for Prevention magazine, and spending time with her family, suits her perfectly. "I'd be very bored without it. I've always dreamt big, but never thought it could be like this," she says. "Not a day goes by that I don't get stopped on the street or receive an e-mail from someone telling me I made a difference in their life."

Larry Leight, 54
Co-founder of Oliver Peoples
Featured in October 1989

Then: How many companies can say their second year of sales surpassed their first by 400 percent? Not many. But Oliver Peoples, which began selling antique eyewear in 1986, reported that statistic to Entrepreneur back in 1989. "The business has been a giant success, and we're still young!" said Leight. In 1987, Oliver Peoples created its own brand, Oliver Peoples Eyewear, and named Leight the chief designer.

Now: Oliver Peoples is now preparing to launch its 20th anniversary campaign and showcase its new collections. Since we last spoke with Leight, he's been named one of the top nine American designers by Conde Nast Publications and Ford Motor Company. Though the company has changed, it's continued to grow dramatically. In fact, Leight says the company continues exceeding sales projections each year. Perhaps the most important business lesson Leight has learned is to not give up. "Even if everyone is against you, if you are passionate about something, you have to fight for it," says Leight. As for the next 20 years, Leight hopes to continue designing expressive, stimulating eyewear that will appeal to the brand's global clientele.

Richard Allred, 44
Founder of Toes on the Nose
Featured in November 1999

Then: Sometimes you have to test out more than one path before settling on a career. That's what Allred learned after graduating from the University of Southern California and getting involved with real estate. After he realized it wasn't the right path for him, Allred decided to take a leap of faith and gather $110,000 from friends and savings to build his company, creating Hawaiian-print clothing. When interviewed in 1999, Allred's 7-year-old company was expecting to double from $5 million to $10 million in sales that year.

Now: When we last spoke with Allred, he said he hoped his casual, classic surf clothing would become timeless fashion. Now, with 33 employees and about eight years under his belt, Allred can be confident that Toes on the Nose has done just that. Though Allred prefers not to release his total sales volume anymore, he says the company has been focusing on expanding internationally and has established beneficial partnerships with International Marketing Group. "We're doing a lot. We've leveraged our brand in different marketplaces, which has allowed us to grow with the help of other peoples' expertise," says Allred. But more than anything, Allred says the last 15 years have taught him the importance of a good internal support team. Since his marriage and the birth of his daughter, Allred has been forced to learn how to delegate and trust in others' abilities.


Tony Hsieh, 33
CEO and Director of Zappos.com
Featured in November 2003

Then: It all started in 1999 when Nick Swinmurn made an unproductive trip to the mall in search of shoes. Disappointed by his lack of purchases, Swinmurn got the idea for Zappos.com, a one-stop shop for men's, women's and children's shoes. But first, Swinmurn needed financial backing. He persuaded Tony Hsieh, who had earned $270 million from selling LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1998, to jump on board. "On the surface, it seemed like the quintessential poster child for a bad dotcom idea," said Hsieh four years ago. But after recognizing the $40 billion market, Hsieh saw potential. By 2003, the company was projecting $65 million in sales.

Now: Potential was an understatement. This year, Zappos.com--which is derived from the Spanish word for shoes, zapatos--is projecting $800 million in sales, bringing the company that much closer to its original goal of achieving $1 billion in gross merchandise sales by 2010. But not everything has remained constant with the company, starting with its image. "Back in 2003, we thought of ourselves as a shoe company that offered great service. Today, we really think of the Zappos brand as about great service, and we just happen to sell shoes," says Hsieh. Zappos.com has expanded by adding apparel, handbags, sunglasses and watches to the site, and is promising more to come. Another key change: Founder Swinmurn left Zappos in 2006 to start STAGR, a website focusing on customized apparel.

Julie Aigner-Clark, 41
Founder of The Baby Einstein Company
Featured in November 2000

Then: From the beginning, Aigner-Clark's business ambitions have been focused on her family. They started with her infant daughter, Aspen, in 1995, when Aigner-Clark realized there were no age-appropriate products for sharing her passion for art and classical music. So the former teacher took matters into her own hands and created her first video, Baby Einstein, featuring captivating pictures and mothers speaking different languages. After pitching her idea for two years and not making any progress, Aigner-Clark got her big break at the American International Toy Fair in New York City, where buyers snatched up her product. By 2000, the company had reached sales of $10 million.

Now: In 2001, Baby Einstein was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, who continues nurturing the brand and has seen sales climb past the $200 million mark. As for Aigner-Clark, it's been a bittersweet transition. "It's not as if my 'baby' grew up and went to college; it's as if my baby was picked up by an alien space craft and beamed to another planet," Aigner-Clark says. Perhaps the best lesson she's learned through it all: "Don't take anything for granted. Enjoy the moment. Recognize the beauty and good fortune. And take pictures." This ambitious mother of two, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, shows no signs of slowing down. She recently started a new business, The Safe Side, a nonprofit that deals with children's safety, and she's gone back to her roots by teaching literature two days a week.

ENTREPRENEUR

Do you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

Ask yourself the following questions:

Are you a self-starter ?
Are you a leader ?
Do you take responsibility for your own actions ?
Are you organized ?
Are you a decision maker ?
Are you determined ?
Are you financially responsible ?
Do you have management skills ?
Does your family support your decision ?
Are you trustworthy ?
Are you open to opportunity ?
Are you willing to learn ?
Are you able to move outside your comfort zone ?
Do you work well with other people ?

Were you able to answer "YES" to the majority of these questions?

If so, it is time to start planning for your entrepreneurial success.

Two noted educators and authors have offered a profile for today's entrepreneur.
Rita Gunther McGrath, associate professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and Ian MacMillan, the Fred Sullivan Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, are authors of The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Strategies for Continuously Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty. Using the term "habitual entrepreneur," they suggest five common characteristics :

Entrepreneurs are ...

passionately seek out new opportunities
pursue opportunities with enormous discipline
pursue only the very best opportunities and avoid exhausting themselves and their organizations by chasing after every option
focus on execution -- specifically, adaptive execution
engage the energies of everyone in their domain

Do you see a bit of yourself in their description?

Sometimes it's best to assess our own spirit by evaluating the energy that drove earlier entrepreneurs, those who have already traveled the path we now find ourselves on.

Sam Walton (1919-1992), founder of one of the fastest-growing and most profitable retail establishments (Wal-Mart) and wholesale organizations (Sam's Club) once said, "I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America. I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas that will help our company. Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else."

Ten years after Walton's death, entrepreneurs still try to emulate the man who learned from the world around him -- and turned those lessons into profit. We can learn a lot from our predecessors. They have blazed trails that we as new entrepreneurs have yet to discover. Sometimes it is best to move forward by looking backward.

What stores have you walked into to learn from others?

It is smart, however, as we walk others' paths and allow our spirits to soar to recognize our limitations. We cannot all be Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, or even Edward Lowe.

Edward Lowe invented cat litter in 1945, making the feline one of the most popular house pets in America. More important, in 1985 Lowe created the Edward Lowe Foundation, a resource center dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners through educational programs, information services, research tools, and other support services.

"The real roots of economic growth in the United States came about through the ingenious efforts of the entrepreneurial-spirited individuals and their small, independent companies, rather than through the giant companies," said Lowe. "We must give credit to the mountain of men of the past -- from them came the grassroots of American greatness."

Let's not forget the lessons to be learned from Andrew Carnegie, P.T. Barnum, Mary Kay Ash, Ben and Jerry, and others. When you feel as though you are stuck and are not moving forward with your business idea, stop. Look back. Allow the innovation of others who came before you to inspire you for the future.

Do you possess the same entrepreneurial spirit that made these individuals successful?

Where will you begin?

With a business plan. Enjoy this learning and growing process and watch your ideas mature and evolve with your plan.

MICROFINANCE

In their office in San Francisco's Mission District, Matt and Jessica Flannery and Premal Shah work with the fervor and techno savvy of an Internet startup aiming for an IPO. But they aren't chasing the cash for themselves.

Matt and Jessica Flannery and Premal Shah bring a youthful vibe to the world of microfinance. They're doing it for Esther Egbulu in Nigeria, a mother of six who wants an $800 loan to stock her shop with frozen chickens and turkey, or 31-year-old Choeun Sonin, who's requesting $1,000 to purchase a motorcycle taxi — just two of 15,000 entrepreneurs from 36 countries that their company, Kiva, has already helped.

Kiva, which means "unity" in Swahili, is a lending organization with a twist: Anyone with a bit of money and an Internet connection can step forward as a microlender to assist struggling third-world entrepreneurs get out of poverty.

After logging in, you can scroll through profiles of entrepreneurs, descriptions of their businesses, and the loan amounts they're requesting. Once you've decided who you want to lend to, you choose how much to lend, starting at as little as $25. (Individual lenders can fund an entire loan, but most of Kiva's loans are funded by multiple lenders.)

Funds are distributed to entrepreneurs through local non-profit microfinance partners in specific countries. In Nigeria, Esther Egbulu wants an $800 loan to stock her shop with frozen chickens.The key is that the company is based on loans, not donations. "You're fundamentally connecting with someone else in a way that's based on mutual dignity, not this supplicant-benefactor relationship that you often see in philanthropy," says Premal.

There are some differences from traditional lending. Kiva loans require no collateral and they are zero interest. PayPal (Premal's former employer) processes the transactions without any fees.
Premal says the average loan request is about $650 and the average lender usually funds three different entrepreneurs at $25 each.

8% of the lenders come from the U.S., 10% from Canada, and the remainder from the rest of the world. Kiva says entrepreneurs pay back their loans an incredible 99% of the time — a default rate unheard of at traditional financial institutions. (The Kiva team expects the rate to increase to 5% as more borrowers complete the loan cycle.) And according to Premal, most lenders reinvest their money in other entrepreneurs after a loan is paid back. Kiva's operational costs are covered by donations from lenders. The company does not take a commission from the loans facilitated on the site.

Matt and Jessica Flannery created Kiva after discovering different career goals in a pre-marriage counseling course. The way Kiva was founded is almost as interesting as what it's accomplishing. When Matt and Jessica attended a pre-marriage counseling session, they discovered their career goals could keep them apart. Jessica wanted to go to Africa to study microfinance; Matt was headed to Silicon Valley.

"We sort of just thought, ‘Well, we're supposed to be together. This will work itself out,'" Jessica recalls.
Things did work out, but in a way they hadn't first imagined. Shortly after they were married, Matt went to work for TiVo and Jessica went to Africa to work with a microfinance organization.
After visiting Jessica in Africa, Matt got the idea that perhaps what she was doing, microfinance, and what he was doing, high tech, could be combined — using the Internet to connect lenders and entrepreneurs.
They tested the concept on friends and family, spamming their wedding list and raising more than $3,000 for a handful of small businesses in Uganda.

Now Kiva has loans totaling $10 million. Matt, Jessica and Premal credit their corresponding strengths for Kiva's success so far: Matt's technological know-how, Premal's salesmanship and Jessica's heart.
Kiva's president Premal Shah says corruption is a reality and he hopes transparency on Kiva's site will boost lenders confidence in microfinance. Kiva faces new challenges as its base of lenders and entrepreneurs expands.

Ensuring that money actually funds business is one problem. For instance, a borrower in Cambodia used a loan to fund a family wedding. But a Kiva volunteer monitoring loans in Cambodia discovered what happened then blogged about it — on Kiva's own website. "We know that corruption exists," says Premal. "We are adamant about exposing it on our website." Transparency, he says, is the organization's goal.

In the grand scheme of things, $10 million in loans might seem like a small dent in world poverty, but Kiva's founders are thinking big. "In year five we're looking at anywhere between $150 million to $280 million," says Premal — potentially enough to move the GDP of an entire nation at some point.

For now, it's enough to change the lives of 15,000 struggling entrepreneurs — and perhaps those making the loans, as well.

BUSINESS NICHE

Making a million is a milestone , the defining moment of success for many entrepreneurs and an attainable goal for those tapped into today's hottest trends. Entrepreneurs are keeping their fingers on the pulse of what's hot in today's marketplace. They are the trendsetters, the pioneers, the ones to watch as they lead the pack, followed closely by franchisors poised to capitalize on winning ideas and spread concepts nationwide.

Already dreaming about living the good life as a millionaire?

But keep in mind that regardless of the route you choose , whether it's going solo or buying a franchise , arriving at your first million in sales will require persistence, strategy and, in most cases, multiple locations.

And in case you doubt it's doable, here are some examples of savvy entrepreneurs who went from zero to a million.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

With the first baby boomers starting to hit 60, America is fighting tooth and nail to stave off the signs of time. In 2004, Americans spent about $44.6 billion on anti-aging products and services, according to Business Communications Co. Inc., an information resource company. But that's nothing compared to the $72 billion market it's expected to mature into by 2009.

Why the sense of urgency? Vanity is part of it, and the fact that we're living longer adds to the need for enduring youth. But there's also the fact that many baby boomers won't be financially able to leave the work force as early as their parents did and will have no choice but to stay vital and active. According to a study by the National Association of Realtors, the median age at which baby boomers expect to stop working is 70, but 27 percent say they never intend to stop working. This will open up all kinds of opportunities to entrepreneurs , such as those who can create wellness centers and bring together a variety of health and nutrition specialists under one roof.

Jeni Garrett is one of those entrepreneurs providing a mind and body oasis to baby boomers desperate for rejuvenation. In 2001, after enjoying the benefits of spa visits herself, Garrett, now 28, founded The Woodhouse Day Spa, a luxury spa in Victoria, Texas. A year and a half later, she set her sights on turning the brand into a household name. She first planned to open more company-owned locations, but Garrett soon turned to franchising to spread the concept. "With our business model, you really need an owner/operator present because of the staffing issues and to do the marketing initiative," she says. "Franchising lent itself very well to that."

To move forward, Garrett knew the foundation had to be solid. She chose a top-notch franchise lawyer and streamlined operations, even ordering the fixtures for the franchisees. With her franchise system in place, she has positioned herself perfectly to accommodate the growing clientele of baby boomers. To further meet the needs of this segment, she added a menu of services that boasts 15 holistic, all-natural treatments that focus more on wellness than pampering. She is enjoying success with a multimillion-dollar business as more boomer women and men , make the spa experience part of their lifestyles. Says Garrett, "We're seeing [spas] move from a level of luxury to a level of necessity for wellness."

THE SWEET LIFE

The nation's sweet tooth is becoming more insatiable, driving everything from the franchising industry, where cookies and ice cream concepts are growing categories, to the fine-dining industry, where diners are staying more often for the grand finale.

Dessert has become such a significant portion of the food industry that it's warranted its own annual trade show since 2003. Meanwhile, according to Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association, almost 1 in 3 fine-dining operators reported that consumers bought more desserts last year than in the two previous years. In an increasing number of cases, high-end desserts are stealing the spotlight, as entire independent restaurant concepts are being founded on the premise of tasty, upscale indulgence.

Paul Conforti and Kim Moore, 36 and 40, respectively, researched the restaurant industry for a year while attending Harvard Business School before they opened the doors to their first upscale, dessert-focused restaurant, Finale Desserterie & Bakery, in Boston in 1998. Offering an exquisite menu featuring Valrhona chocolate, honey caramel gelato, nougat mousse and cherry almond Florentines, they are often credited with the distinction of starting the first high-end dessert concept. Their focus is as much on high-quality ingredients as it is on the overall experience. Says Conforti, "Making sure [customers] have the best dessert of their life is important, but it's also about the atmosphere, service, background music and cleanliness of the restaurant."

They have since grown their restaurant concept into a $6 million-plus business and are about to open their fourth location this month. Planning to open three more locations in Massachusetts next year and to reach Washington, DC, by 2009, they are working toward their ultimate goal of going nationwide. With an idea as divine as upscale desserts, $1 million in sales can be achieved with only one location, and the proof is in the pudding , one of Conforti and Moore's locations makes twice that much annually.

Starbucks revolutionized the coffee industry by transforming the beverage into the most necessary of luxuries, but numerous independents and ambitious franchisors have profited from coffee's popularity and are riding on their own caffeine high. According to Rob Stephen, immediate past president of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, a coffee trade association, opportunities in the industry abound. In fact, according to the SCAA and Mintel Group, the industry grew to an estimated $12.27 billion last year. So if you thought Starbucks had the market locked down, think again , many are drinking in their own share of the profits.

Eric Schmidt, 43, is the owner of a Dunn Bros Coffee franchise in Lawrence, Kansas, and although he just opened his coffee drive-thru in March, he's already working on opening two more coffee kiosks and estimating total year-end sales to be in the low seven figures. While he believes he could have reached this point with his own coffee concept, he has no doubt that buying a franchise helped him avoid many of the initial difficulties. The wealth of information available to him and the one-on-one assistance with finding the right location enabled Schmidt to get off to an impressive start.

But in moving forward, the defining strategy for success has simply been Schmidt's own commitment and constant presence in the business and his community. From personally making sure that customers' needs are met to being involved in local civic organizations and the nearby university, Schmidt makes sure all his bases are covered. "That's probably the single biggest thing about it," he says. "You have got to be completely involved in it from the day you open [your] doors."

For those looking to establish their niche, Stephen identifies two trends taking place in the industry , product differentiation and point of view. In a market once defined by regular or decaf, coffee consumers now pay attention to the very farm where the beans are grown. Says Stephen, "You're seeing coffee labels growing to three lines."

Customers are also looking to retailers for opinions and overall expertise, so it is important for coffee entrepreneurs to be knowledgeable about the products they're selling. Stephen believes that quality products, knowledge, point of view and a good location are the defining factors of success for both independent coffee entrepreneurs and franchisees.

So what's ahead for the industry? Says Stephen, "We're seeing a renaissance in iced and frozen beverages as a way to get to a part of the market that's interested in soda or energy drinks."

SENIORS

While the industry to preserve vitality and youth among baby boomers is thriving, so are the businesses one generation ahead in the senior-care industry. Millions of Americans currently make up the "Sandwich Generation," a generation of people raising their children while taking care of their aging parents. This is already creating a demand for assistance, both medical and nonmedical, but that need will skyrocket as the baby boomers approach an age in which they, too, will need outside help. "People 65 and over will increase from 12 percent of the U.S population to 20 percent by 2030," says J. Kevin Eckert, dean of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Erickson School of Aging Services. "It's almost a no-brainer that the whole need for senior housing, for adaptive housing, for all kinds of services, businesses and products will be burgeoning."

Topping things off, a large number of baby boomers won't have their own families to turn to for assistance. According to a 2004 U.S. Census report, 19 percent of women aged 40 to 44 were childless , twice the percentage reported in 1976.

Having watched his father struggle to care for his own brother, his aging grandmother and himself, Adam Brown was inspired to purchase a Home Helpers franchise. Getting the word out about his nonmedical and personal-care business was the most crucial step to securing his success. He did so by advertising, visiting local businesses and hospitals, and joining networking groups to educate the community about his services. Says Brown, 28, "This is a referral-based business, particularly because you're working with people's family members, so there has to be trust."

With 170 employees, Brown has positioned his franchise as a strong competitor in the Philadelphia area. After two years, he purchased a second territory and has since secured the "right of first refusal" for two other territories, which gives him first dibs before any other buyers. After working from home for two years, Brown has moved his business into an office, has just opened a satellite office and plans to open additional satellites in the future. Although having a physical presence isn't required, it has paid off. His franchise looks more established, and the neighborhood where the office is located is bringing in even more business. By reaching out to the community and expanding his territory, he has successfully grown his franchise to 350 clients and is projecting year-end sales of approximately $3.5 million.

Eckert sees a bright future on the horizon with the development of new homegrown communities where baby boomers can "age in place," as well as new services and technological products to help individuals remain at home. Says Eckert, "We're in for an exciting array of possibilities and real opportunities for people who are creative, innovative and have entrepreneurial sense."

TECHNOLOGY

Have you got a mind for technology and a passion for business?

This could be the industry for you. If franchising is your tech dream, consider starting a tech support or consulting company--industrywide, franchise units in our most recent Franchise 500 grew 13 percent in 2006 over the year before. If you're a true maverick, though, you can jump into the exciting world of Web 2.0--where advances like social networks, blogs, podcasts, wikis, RSS feeds and the like have turned the dotcom business model on its head. Today, web innovators are coming up with better ways for end-users to share information and are creating applications and websites where shared video or user-generated content is king. Just a glimpse of the marketplace: The web gained a record 30.9 million sites in 2006 , a 41.5 percent jump from a year earlier, according to data from research firm Netcraft. And according to data from Hitwise, in early 2007, visits to the top 20 social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook grew 11.5 percent in one month alone.

Although a lot of hugely successful companies are already out there, a startup can get in with the right niche. "The web is the great equalizer," says Jeff Stibel, CEO of Web.com, a provider of websites and services that has created over 4 million websites for small businesses. "It's the only place where a small business can compete nationally." He suggests starting a company with a great Web 1.0 foundation , a solid web address with an appealing design that works well for customers and first-rate search engine optimization to point users to your site.

Most important, though--fill a need. "If you say, ‘I'm going to do what Facebook or YouTube does,' it won't work," says Stibel. "But if you solve a market need, you conquer that niche and expand from there."

Conquering a niche is precisely what Greg Demetriades did when he founded WhiteBlox, an IPTV software suite, in 2005. The company sells IP video solutions so businesses can broadcast interactive IPTV content under the banner of their own brands. It's a subsidiary of his parent company, Continental Vista Broadcasting Group Inc., an IPTV provider that delivers interactive broadband TV content globally, started in 2003. Demetriades, 46, sells his WhiteBlox technologies to media, entertainment and sports-related companies--even contracting with the Indy Racing League to broadcast all its races online through 2009, including the famous Indy 500. "We allow [customers] to mix and match and build their own broadcast networks," he says. WhiteBlox also enables interactivity with tools for polls, contests, chats, forums, blogging and even sending live messages to the announcers at an event. Located in The Woodlands, Texas, the company projects 2007 sales of $16 million. To make your mark in the tech space, be on the lookout for trends. Says Stibel, "It's a matter of keeping your eyes wide open."

If you're a pet lover, consider getting into the fast-growing pet products and services industry. Pets are a part of the family in 63 percent of U.S. households. In fact, in 2006, Americans spent $38.5 billion on pet products and services , a figure expected to rise to over $40 billion in 2007, according to the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association. Traditional pet lovers might consider a pet franchise business like pet grooming, pet products, pet walking or training. In fact, in our 2007 Franchise 500, the number of pet-related franchise units grew 23 percent from 2005 to 2006.

There are many niches in which to start your profitable pet business, according to APPMA president Bob Vetere. Natural and organic pet food is a particularly hot area, he notes. Much like in the human world, where green products are all the rage, green pet products are quickly gaining in popularity. "Any trend you see in human foods, about six months later, it pops up on the pet food side of the ledger," says Vetere. "This is what's happening with organics and naturals. It's finally dawned on marketers that the same person who's buying food for the family is buying food for the pet."

Convenience products are heating up as well--from automatic feeding devices and timed watering devices to automatic pet doors--anything that allows owners to have a busy lifestyle while still taking care of their pets is hot, notes Vetere. On the same convenience trend, consider pet services--pooper scoopers, for instance--to do the dirty work that many pet owners would rather pay someone else to do.

And just as moms buy top-notch products for their children, many pet owners are all about luxury for their precious pets. If it's high-end or a treat, pet parents will want it. That's what Janet McCulley, 39, and Georgia Goldberg, 44, found when they started Muttropolis, a chain of upscale pet boutiques based in Solana Beach, California. Janet McCulley, a proud pet parent herself to dogs Lulu, Sepia and Zoltan, knew she wasn't alone in wanting to pamper her dogs. She researched the market and opened the doors to her first store in 2002; four more locations and an online store have followed.

McCulley describes the business as "retail meets the dog park." Aside from offering upscale products such as Swarovski crystal dog collars and eco-friendly chew toys, McCulley designed special fixtures in her stores to appeal to the discerning pet lover. Photographic tiles on the ground look like grass, a fountain in the center is full of dog toys, and tree graphics on the walls complete the look.

Winning the "Hottest Retail Concept of 2006" award from the International Council of Shopping Centers was a coup, but it's at the monthly Mutt Meet-Up events, where owners bring in their pets for fun and mingling, that McCulley sees the fruits of her success. "We have created a brand that resonates emotionally with the pet parent," she says. With 2007 sales projected at more than $4.5 million and plans to open 150 more locations within the next five years, Muttropolis is sure to become a household name among the two- and four-legged alike.

MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

Companies always need new clients, so if you've got a knack for getting customers to buy, think about starting a marketing and advertising business. Aspiring marketers can go the franchise route with diverse opportunities ranging from direct mail and coupons to promotional products and outdoor media.

But if you want to be a trendsetter, check out the online ad marketplace. It's a booming market--online ad spending alone hit $16.9 billion in 2006, a 35 percent leap from 2005, according to a joint report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Trends shaping the industry include the use of audio and video technology in online marketing campaigns as well as integrating online and offline marketing for clients, notes Chip Cummings, a marketing consultant and author of Stop Selling and Start Listening! Marketing Strategies That Create Top Producers. "It's not just being on top of the technology, because the technology itself isn't going to sell anybody products or services," Cummings says. "It's the creative use of that technology."

Finding a creative use of technology is exactly what has catapulted Blue Lithium Inc., an online advertising network in San Jose, California. Founded by Gurbaksh Chahal in 2005, the company provides specifically targeted marketing for clients, using data from 145 million consumers worldwide. "That [online] advertising model is focused on display media--banner ads, [etc.]. The model I wanted to recreate was using different ways to add data and using data to create sophistication around individual users," says Chahal. "So when you're serving an ad, it's actually relevant to that user--because you know they're male or female or you know something about their lifestyle through different data sources you can aggregate over time."

Chahal's expertise in providing targeted online ads has grown his startup at least 100 percent per year, pushing 2007 sales projections to nearly $100 million. Working with clients like Anheuser-Busch, Best Buy and Verizon, Chahal, 25, is looking to grow his company into international markets such as Germany, Italy and Spain in the near future. Staying ahead of this rapidly changing market is the order of the day. "You've got to make sure you continue to evolve with it and [that] you're evolving faster than the industry is evolving," says Chahal. "Every couple of years there's a bigger company out there. Before it was Yahoo!; now it's Google. There's a trend going on, and whoever is creating the trend ends up being the winner."