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Being a business owner has many challenges and rewards and the start of the year is a good time to reflect on the past and make improvements for the New Year. A New Year, A New Outlook for Your Business is a practical guide to making important business changes. It contains 10 New Year’s business resolutions to help you improve your business and boost profits.

Image courtesy of pink_raindrops.

While many of us are very optimistic that President-elect Obama will lead us out of this economic mess, it’s clear that we will start 2009 with rising unemployment and a continued slowdown of economic activity. Take steps to recession-proof your business.

Direct sales consultants may already be seeing a dramatic increase in team member sign-ups and inquiries about joining their company. Many people will be looking to replace lost income by starting a home business, and others will be thinking about adding a home business as insurance against a possible job loss. While adding team members is always worthwhile and can temporarily increase your income because of sales to new consultants, keep in mind that what drives direct sales income is sales.

But just when you need more sales, your customers, and your new recruits’ customers are likely to be cutting back on “extras” and spending just for necessities. Now is the time to identify and focus on marketing products that will sell despite customers’ shrinking budgets.

The Lipstick Theory, or lipstick effect, suggests that there is a category of products that will show increased sales during times of economic uncertainty. After the terrorist attacks in 2001, the chairman of Estée Lauder, Leonard Lauder, noticed that lipstick sales increased. He theorized that women were buying inexpensive indulgences like lipstick to treat themselves, instead of buying more extravagant luxuries like designer clothing or expensive jewelry. The Lipstick Theory remains unproven, and in fact, recent sales figures for lipstick suggest it’s not accurate, but I think there is merit in considering it when deciding what to sell during a recession.

In tough economic times, it stands to reason that people will at least cut back on spending for non-essentials. When we buy, we’ll be looking for lower priced alternatives for our purchases. During a recession or depression, the best positioned companies sell what economists refer to as “inferior goods” – products that people substitute for their favorites that they can no longer afford. The lipstick effect may in fact be due to “inferior product” substitutes for things that have been given up.

By focusing your promotions on your less expensive products and services, you may be able to sustain your direct sales income. Promote lipstick instead of spa treatments, costume jewelry instead of precious metals and stones, and toys and games to entertain the kids at home. Focus on budget meals and meal-stretching foods like pasta and rice. Teach your customers how to accessorize to make an outfit look new without actually buying a new dress.

Anything related to frugal living and do-it-yourself should be popular. Re-using and re-purposing household items saves money. People will be looking for coupons, discounts, and money back guarantees.

By thinking about how people spend and what they do to try to save during hard economic times, you can focus your marketing and continue to contribute to your family income.

In just a few weeks many of us will be making New Year’s Resolutions, and many are likely to resolve to start a new home business. But with so many choices, it can be difficult to find the right one. I know someone who can help you make the right choice.

A couple of months ago I met Steve Little. After talking to him for only a few minutes, I knew that his message was one I wanted to share with everyone who is looking to start their own business. Steve can teach you exactly how to sift through all the thousands of businesses to actually find the one that’s right for you…. the one that is perfectly matched to your entrepreneurial DNA.

And he’s made what he knows available for you on his video blog for FREE!

On there he is talking about entrepreneurship and how “soon to be” entrepreneurs should go about finding a business to start.

He has systematically broken down why most new businesses fail and what he found was it wasn’t how they were doing business, but actually that they were in the wrong business to start with. He created a step by step formula for finding a business that is perfectly matched to you and your entrepreneurial DNA… and he is giving it away right now on his blog.

Go check it out and let me know what you think.
http://www.chooseyouropportunity.com/perfectbizvideo/

Here’s to the perfect New Year’s business!

Please note (added December 29, 2008): This program has temporarily closed to new members, but apparently you can get on the waiting list to be notified when it re-opens, possibly in January.

A few days ago I posted that “I Finally Understand Hashtags on Twitter.” But I spoke too soon. After posting that, I tried to use one of the Hashtag commands listed on the original, referenced blog post – specifically follow #twitip. I have been unable to figure out where to use that command… it doesn’t work in Twitter and there doesn’t seem to be a way to enter it at Hashtags.org. Without being able to follow a specific Hashtag in Twitter, I was back to asking my original question, “What is the advantage of Hashtags over just a regular Twitter search?”

After doing more research (that I should have done before adding that original post; I apologize to my readers for not being as thorough as usual), I think there are some cases where Hashtags can be much more useful than a regular search. (Although I still haven’t found any way to use the listed Hashtag commands.)

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on Hashtags and I haven’t used them myself. I’ve simply spent a good deal of time over the past couple of days trying to figure them out. I welcome your comments to correct any misinformation or add any additional information.

As far as I can tell, there are 3 ways to sort Tweets using Hashtags.

1. Hashtags.org – Basically a repository of Hashtags that are being used. Tweets containing Hashtags are indexed in real time so you can search for and follow conversations for a particular group. Unfortunately, the site is very busy and my browser times out frequently.
2. Twemes.com – Also real time tracking of Tweets containing Hashtags. Although sometimes slow, presumably because of heavy use, it hasn’t timed out for me yet.
3. Twitter Search – Search for a specific Hashtag and bookmark the page to easily return for updates.

The other advantageous uses I found are:

• Using a Hashtag to distinguish a common term that a group is using. For example, #Humor is a popular tag that further refines a search that would result in many more results when searching for just humor. However, a term like o2litmus doesn’t seem to produce many more results than #o2litmus.
• In my opinion, the biggest advantage to using Hashtags and the best way to follow them is by subscribing to a group via RSS at Hashtags.org or Twemes.com. Even non-Tweeters can follow via RSS.
• Hashtags have been very useful to victims and their families during disasters such as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (#Mumbai) and California wildfires (#sandiegofire).
• Conference organizers and attendees often use Hashtags to communicate as a group.

I have also seen reference to Hashtags for SMS and instant messaging as well as mention of TwitterGroups and Twitter Tracking. There may be additional advantages for these applications that I haven’t yet discovered.

So there you have it… everything I learned about following Hashtags. They seem to be more and more popular and my guess is that Twitter and others will likely improve existing tools and develop new ones. In the meantime, I think following a Hashtag via RSS is your best bet.

Please add your comments. Do you use Hashtags in your Tweets? Are you following any groups by Hashtag and if so, what following method are you using?

Editors note: A few days after posting this, I researched more information about Hashtags and updated my understanding in the new post, More on Understanding Twitter Hashtags.

Thanks to Kelly’s post at Profitable Mommy Blogging and TwiTip’s explanation I finally understand the use of Hashtags on Twitter.

Before reading those posts, I couldn’t figure out the advantage of Hashtags over just a regular Twitter search. Why would I want to search for #wahm (with the #-sign) instead of just plain old wahm? It turns out that Hashtags are about much more than search. With Hashtags, you can follow topics in addition to following people, or even follow a specific topic for a specific person. And by using Hashtags you Tweet to groups who are interested in the specific topic.

Clear as mud? TwiTips explains it much better than I. Check out their post at the link above.

Do you follow or broadcast using Hashtags? Which are you following and which are you broadcasting to? I’m off to find some groups to follow.

Maybe not… read my comment below. :/

Yesterday I read Justin Brooke’s ebook, SEO Lies, and had the pleasure of hearing him speak at a webinar. Justin’s advice is practical, easy to understand, and can be implemented today to immediately start improving your site’s search engine ranking.

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Sorry. This guide is no longer available. Here are some alternative resources:

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