Today I gave a presentation to a wonderful group of people at the Rotary Club of Albany (NY).
I spoke on the topic of using LinkedIn for Business, and I am proud to show off my certificate that I was given today.
“Service Above Self” Now that is a solid, worthy guiding principal.
Thank you Albany Rotarians!
Thursday is the day to start your holiday shopping!
Once again we will be at the Barnes and Noble in Colonie Center. You may also go to any Barnes and Noble and mention CRSAS and we will be given credit, we will also receive credit from any cheesecakes bought on Thursday. If you are not able to shop on Thursday we have five days of in store shopping.
Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar At Barnes and Noble
Online Shopping at BN.COM/bookfairs
Shop 12/8/11 through 12/13/11 to support our bookfair!
Bookfair ID#10626521
Happy Holiday’s and Thank you for your support!
From all the team at Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar.
The team here at Endorphin Advisors and Endorphin Business Center are proud supporters of Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar.
About Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar
The major goal of Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar is to equip each of its 90 Albany, Schenectady and Troy High Schools students with the academic and emotional support needed to complete high school, be accepted to, and graduate from college.
Academic support for these economically disadvantaged students includes: mandatory, weekly homework/tutoring sessions; PSAT/SAT preparation courses; Advanced Placement/University in the High School classes; summer enrichment and college preparedness programs; and graphing calculators. By giving the students the resources to successfully complete and excel in their courses, they can present themselves competitively as they apply to the various colleges across New York State and beyond.
Our documented success has shown that we are achieving our mission and improving graduation rates in the Capital Region. Currently, CRSAS graduates 96% of its high school students and 74% of the students who start college, earn a college degree. 150 of our scholars are currently in college, 135 of our scholars have finished college and many are continuing on to graduate school.
Many of these students are returning to the area to attend graduate school or for employment opportunities and serving as positive role models for the next generation.
To learn more about Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar, please visit www.crsas.org or call Bill Corbett at 518.852.2967.
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About Endorphin Business Center LLC
The Endorphin Business Center LLC (EBC) is dedicated to learning, education and on-going business training. We are committed to providing superior, on-going educational and training opportunities to help businesses, and individual professionals, achieve more. More success. More prosperity. More opportunities. More satisfaction.
Endorphin Business Center offers in-person, hands-on training workshops. Some are designed as introductory workshops while others are advanced, technical classes for experienced business owners, entrepreneurs and executives. All are open to everyone.
We are an Albany-based organization serving New York’s Tech Valley, and sponsoring Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar™.
To view our schedule of workshops, and to register online, please visit www.Endorphin-Business-Center.com or call 518.250.9035.
Stay Connected on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-business-center-llc
Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EndorphinBusinessCenter
By Erik Bunaes, president, Endorphin Advisors and Endorphin Business Center LLC
Let’s put aside for a moment any preconceptions you may have with social media. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you first the true value of LinkedIn as today’s ultimate online rolodex (for those that even remember those!). Next, we’ll show you the specific steps to take to turn yourself into a LinkedIn power user.
Let’s start with a solid understanding of what LinkedIn is today.
LinkedIn is not like Facebook. Not even close to it.
Linkedin power users don’t post pictures of what they ate for lunch yesterday or cute photos of their pets on LinkedIn. Wise professionals do not post jokes or their political views on LinkedIn. That is stuff for Facebook (if at all).
LinkedIn is all about business, connections, careers and selling, all in a sleek system that continues to attract new members, develop new capabilities and build its value to business professionals and career-minded individuals.
LinkedIn is a powerful, effective business tool
Whether you are a dedicated, social media convert or a skeptical bystander, If we simply list some of LinkedIn’s characteristics, benefits and capabilities, we create an image in our mind of a truly valuable business tool:
We have not even mentioned the career-enhancing possibilities of this system.
Did we mention that it was all available to you 24/7, from wherever you are, and for free?
So, why are you not spending some quality, career-oriented, time with LinkedIn? Is your career or business just not that important?
Ok, now that we’ve covered the “what it is” part, let’s address the “how to” part.
Generally, there are three (3) major business uses of LinkedIn:
In this article, we are focused solely on the first two of these uses.
Using LinkedIn for Sales
LinkedIn is a powerful tool to find and research individuals and companies, learn more about them, and to easily connect you with those sales targets.
Using LinkedIn for Marketing
Marketing a Business on LinkedIn (Getting Started)
Here are some of the first, basic steps in getting started on LinkedIn.
Professional Profile (Tips & Tools)
Now that you have started with LinkedIn, let’s add some of the power-user tips.
Company Page (Tips & Tools)
Whether you work for yourself or an established business, you should build, maintain and consistently use a LinkedIn Company Page. Here are some basic tips for getting started with a Company Page.
LinkedIn Groups
Once you are all set with your professional profile (for yourself) and your Company Page (for your business), some of the real power of LinkedIn comes from getting involved in LinkedIn Groups. There are Groups for a wide variety of subjects and interests, and you can use the search function to find Groups of interest to you and your professional interests.
Building Your Network of Connections
Another important aspect to get the most out of using LinkedIn is to get into the habit of building your network of connections. You can search for people by a wide range of criteria, add email addresses to invite people directly to connect, or you can invite people that you find in LinkedIn Groups. Here are some useful tips to getting started with building a strong network.
Become & Remain Active on LinkedIn
Like many other things, you get from LinkedIn about what you put in to it. Therefore, start to use LinkedIn on a regular basis and use it to interact with others on it. Remember, people on LinkedIn are generally there to network, learn, build connections and interact. Take advantage of that willingness and be helpful to others while you are at it. Following the “helpful and polite” rule of thumb, and you will find yourself building a strong and useful network of professional contacts. Here are some helpful tips.
Good luck and keep your eyes peeled for more useful information from Erik Bunaes and Endorphin Advisors.
Connect with Erik on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikbunaes.
Any questions? Don’t hesitate to contact Erik at erik@endorphinadvisors.com or 518.250.9035.
For more business training, consider our range of business workshops at the Endorphin Business Center, a Business Skills Center Serving New York’s Tech Valley. See www.endorphin-business-center.com/ for descriptions of workshops, schedule and online registration and follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-business-center-llc.
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About Endorphin Advisors
Endorphin Advisors is a unique management consulting firm and marketing agency. We help businesses develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans, while also providing day-to-day business development, marketing and financial forecasting services to select clients committed to innovation and aggressive growth. We generally serve business-to-business and service-focused businesses.
Started in 2005, we help start, manage, grow, finance and, where appropriate, to sell businesses.
Our strategic marketing services focus on generating new business through the Internet. We specialize in closed-loop Internet (“inbound”) marketing; the use of relevant, useful content (widely distributed across web, blog, email and social media properties), targeted offers, landing pages and analytics.
For more information, please visit www.EndorphinAdvisors.com or call 518.250.9035.
Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/companies/endorphin-advisors.
Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EndorphinAdvisors
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About Endorphin Business Center LLC
We are committed to providing superior educational and training opportunities to help business professionals achieve more. More success. More prosperity. More opportunities. More satisfaction.
Workshops will cover topics such as marketing, bookkeeping, corporate structures, financing, human resources and legal, tax, compliance and operations issues. Some are introductory workshops while others are intermediate or advanced-level workshops. All workshops are open to anyone.
We are an Albany-based organization serving New York’s Tech Valley, and sponsoring Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar™.
To view schedule of workshops, and to register online, please visit www.Endorphin-Business-Center.com or call 518.250.9035.
Follow on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-business-center-llc
Follow on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EndorphinBusinessCenter
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Business Skills Training Workshops
(First Quarter 2012)
12/8/11 – Social Media Marketing Made Simple (from Constant Contact)
1/19/12 – The Power of Email Marketing (from Constant Contact)
1/26/12 – Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About the Value of Your Business, But Were Afraid to Ask (from Teal Becker & Chiaramonte)
2/2/12 – Legal Issues for Entrepreneurs (from Law Office of Kara Conway Love)
2/16/12 – Social Media Marketing Made Simple (from Constant Contact)
2/23/12 – Getting Started with Constant Contact (from Constant Contact)
3/1/12 – Why Sales People Fail, and What You Can Do About It (from Sandler Training)
3/8/12 – HR Issues that Impact Businesses (from Pinnacle Human Resources)
3/22/12 – Brands and Trademarks Strategy: Learn How to Avoid the Many Common Pitfalls in Branding (from Hoffman Warnick)
For Workshop details and online registration, visit Endorphin Business Center now
About Endorphin Business Center LLC:
We are committed to providing superior educational and training opportunities to help business professionals achieve more. More success. More prosperity. More opportunities. More satisfaction.
Workshops will cover topics such as marketing, bookkeeping, corporate structures, financing, human resources and legal, tax, compliance and operations issues. Some are introductory workshops while others are intermediate or advanced-level workshops. All workshops are open to everyone.
We are an Albany-based organization serving New York’s Tech Valley, and sponsoring Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar™. Visit us at www.Endorphin-Business-Center.com.
Workshop Title:
Learn the Next Step Up in Internet Marketing Strategy: The Four (4) Pillars of Internet Marketing
Workshop Description:
Using the Internet to market a business can be both time and cost effective strategies. Beyond using each of the possible tools available to you, how do you put together an Internet Marketing Strategy that is as effective as possible at generating new customers and new quality sales leads?
We will go beyond the basics of how to use a website, blog, email or social media (the 4 pillars) and show you how to integrate them into an effective, coordinated strategy that utilizes the inherent strengths of each of the “4 Pillars” and leverages all of them to something more powerful that the sum of the parts.
This Workshop Will Cover the Following:
Benefits of Attending this Workshop:
Level: This is an intermediate-level, technical, strategic marketing management workshop. The material covered in this workshop assumes you are currently using the Internet for marketing your business.
This workshop is ideal for the following people:
Materials Provided in Workshop:
Workshop Leader: Erik Bunaes, Endorphin Advisors
Visit Endorphin Business Center LLC at www.Endorphin-Business-Center.com
“Albany is at a tipping point,” says an article in Crain’s today titled “Chip manufacturing finds a place upstate.”
From events which occurred a decade ago, Albany, NY has turned itself into a leading, global technology center.
The article goes on to say: “The semiconductor industry in Albany has bloomed to more than 400 companies, more than New York City or the mid-Hudson Valley. The college estimates that its funding has spurred billions of dollars in private investments that have helped create 12,500 high-tech jobs statewide, a number it expects to double within 10 years.”
Daniel Armbrust, chief executive of Sematech, an association of semiconductor manufacturers says “When people ask me, ‘Why did you relocate this year to Albany?’ I tell them it’s because of what happened a decade ago.”
“Albany is at a tipping point,” Sematech’s Mr. Armbrust said. “The desire to work across company boundaries created Silicon Valley. And that’s what’s happening here.”
The article continues: “Companies have begun flocking to the college and to the area; more than 200 have workers at the campus. The semiconductor industry in Albany has bloomed to more than 400 companies, more than New York City or the mid-Hudson Valley. The college estimates that its funding has spurred billions of dollars in private investments that have helped create 12,500 high-tech jobs statewide, a number it expects to double within 10 years.”
Read full article: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20111106/SMALLBIZ/311069980
By Erik Bunaes, Endorphin Advisors
About Endorphin Advisors:
Endorphin Advisors is a unique management consulting firm and marketing agency. We help businesses develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans, while also providing day-to-day business development, marketing and financial forecasting services to select clients committed to aggressive growth. We generally serve business-to-business and service-focused businesses.
Started in 2005, we help start, manage, grow, finance and, where appropriate, to sell businesses.
Our strategic marketing services focus on generating new business through the Internet. We specialize in closed-loop Internet (“inbound”) marketing; the use of relevant, useful content (widely distributed across web, blog, email and social media properties), targeted offers, landing pages and analytics.
Find them at www.EndorphinAdvisors.com.
Exiting Through Succession Planning
by Colleen A. Dooley, Esq., The DiFabio Law Firm, P.C., cdooley@difabiolaw.com
Succession planning is a specific exit strategy. An exit strategy involves a business owner removing her- or himself from the business regardless of whether the business continues. A succession plan is an exit strategy that involves a business owner transferring the business to a third party to continue as a going concern. There are two options as to who will be the successor that I will discuss in this article:
Unrelated Third Party
There are two methods by which a business can be sold to an unrelated third party.
Both of these scenarios are arms-length transactions that will likely require listing the business for sale with a broker or having sufficient contacts within the industry to independently find a third party buyer. If selling to an unrelated third party is your exit strategy, then your primary goal will be to build the business up to be as attractive as possible for sale.
Related Family Member
There are essentially two methods to transition a business to the next generation in a family:
This is where it gets complicated. If you’re a small business owner, chances are that your children, or nieces and nephews, grew up around the business, possibly worked at the business as employees, and have a unique familiarity with its operation. Maybe you are a second or third generation owner of the business yourself. But, what if you have a co-owner? Does your business partner want to co-own the business with your children?
Many small business owners choose to transition ownership of the business to the next generation during his or her lifetime. In the situation of a corporation or LLC (and assuming there is only one shareholder or member or a co-owner who is not opposed to the transition) the business owner could make an annual gift of shares or membership interest to the next generation. Depending on the value gifted, an annual Gift Tax Return may or may not need to be filed to track the business owner’s use of his life-time exclusion amount. In the situation of a sole proprietor, gifting of an interest in the company would result in a de facto partnership which would necessitate the involvement of an accountant or attorney not only for Gift Tax reasons, but also to prepare and file an annual partnership tax return.
If a business owner does not want to transition ownership of the business to the next generation during his or her lifetime, the business owner could prepare a Last Will and Testament to give the business to an identified heir.
However, if a business owner is in a partnership or a multiple person corporation or LLC, discussions need to be had with the co-owner about transitioning the business to the next generation and the financial “how” of the heir taking over. What if the other business owner does not want to be business partners with your children? What if the other business owner does not have another generation that is interested in succeeding him or her in the business? How will your heirs be able to afford to buy out those shares? The short answer is that one of the following three buy-sell agreements will need to be used:
As you may gather from some of these questions, when a business is owned by multiple people, transition to the next generation of ownership can become complicated and involve multiple buy-sell agreements and ownership of life insurance policies on each of the shareholders, owned by either the other shareholder(s) or the corporation. Such planning requires the skill of an attorney, to structure the succession plan and estate plan, working with an insurance professional who is familiar with insurance products for succession planning; an accountant to ensure that tax returns are being filed for the appropriate business structure taking into account the life insurance; and a business valuation expert to determine how much the business is worth, which would be helpful in determining the amount of insurance to purchase.
As a business owner you need to have an exit strategy and develop a team of experts to assist you in either selling your business or passing it along to the next generation.
Author:
Colleen A. Dooley, Esq., Attorney
The DiFabio Law Firm, P.C.
4 Automation Lane, Suite 100
Albany, New York 12205
Phone: 518.459.1000
Email: <a href=”mailto:cdooley@difabiolaw.com“>cdooley@difabiolaw.com</a>
Web: www.difabiolaw.com
Here’s a diagram showing the steps to producing a content marketing strategy:
Breakdown of the eight (8) specific building blocks and the type of information or deliverable for each block in a content marketing strategy:
Level 8 – Web Hub (Web site or blog – engagement, conversations, lead nurturing, conversions, all search engine optimized)
Level 7 - Media Mix (Email, social media, video, content marketing, search engine marketing, seo)
Level 6 - Offers (Samples, trials, discounts, coupons, specials, workbooks, white papers, ebooks, tools, calculators)
Level 5 – Content (Managed by strategic editorial calendar. Articles, announcements, press releases, research, survey results, questions, white papers, ebooks. Includes “content curation.”)
Level 4 – Information (Trends, research, news, tips, training, regulations, data)
Level 3 – Expertise (Unique expertise in defined field of specialization)
Level 2 – Strategy (Communication with target audience in tone, frequency, quality and quantity of information)
Level 1 – Goals (Create measurable goals and methods of measurement. How will you measure performance and success?)
Follow link for more about our online marketing strategy services at Endorphin Advisors.
On October 21, 2011, we conducted an Email Marketing Training for the leadership team of a new client (a Tech Valley, New York-based chamber of commerce).
Here’s the Agenda:
Agenda: Email Marketing Training
Let us know if you are interested in online marketing training for you or your team.
Follow this link for more about our Email Marketing Services.
Learn to effectively market your business, and how industry leaders are doing it, with Constant Contact and the industry-leading email marketing system.
Join these Constant Contact-developed training workshops and learn email marketing and social media marketing from the experts.
Workshop Description: The Power of Email Marketing
Build the relationships that are the key to your business success with easy, inexpensive and highly effective email marketing! In this ninety (90) minute Constant Contact-developed workshop, we will provide tips to increase your email deliverability and open rates, write good headlines and content, and perhaps most importantly, strategies for getting — and keeping — high quality prospects, customers and members.
Bonus: All attendees receive “Transform your business in 60 days,” a valuable guide from Constant Contact. This step-by-step manual will get your business up and running on email marketing and social media marketing in just 60-days.
http://www.endorphin-business-center.com/workshops/the-power-of-email-marketing/
Workshop Description: Social Media Marketing Made Simple
In just ninety (90) minutes, this information-packed, Constant Contact-developed workshop will review the essential strategies and best practices a business or organization should understand in order to successfully get started with social media marketing.
Bonus: All attendees receive “Best Practices in Social Media Marketing,” a Constant Contact Guide featuring specific best practices in social media marketing for business.
http://www.endorphin-business-center.com/workshops/social-media-marketing-made-simple/
Location: Berkshire Bank, Colonie Branch, Shaker Pine Plaza, 151 Vly Road, Colonie, NY.
Go to Schedule and Online Registration
Try Constant Contact Email Marketing free for 60-days
About the Endorphin Business Center
The Endorphin Business Center LLC (EBC) is dedicated to learning, education and on-going business training. We are committed to providing superior, on-going educational and training opportunities to help businesses and individual professionals achieve more. More success. More prosperity. More opportunities. More satisfaction.
Endorphin Business Center offers in-person, hands-on training workshops. Some are designed as introductory workshops while others are advanced, technical classes for experienced business owners, entrepreneurs and executives. All are open to everyone.
To view our schedule of workshops, and to register online, please visit www.Endorphin-Business-Center.com or call 518.250.9035.
Try Constant Contact Email Marketing free for 60-days