Have you ever seen that guy at the bar or nightclub with an entourage of people trying to enhance his profile? You know, the guy’s showing off a wad of cash (as pocket change), flashing his Range Rover parked in valet and trying to invite you back to his five-bedroom house. It’s an interesting story that one of our customers actually admitted. He took over a Mercedes car lease to be a “faux baller.” Naturally, we wanted to ask some follow up questions of what it truly meant to be a faux baller. It got us thinking at LeaseTrader, let’s ask our guy customers and find out their tips and tricks for being a “baller on a budget.”

Inflated Posse – Get a group of 4-6 friends and take turns being the baller. Each night choose one guy and designate him as baller for the entire evening. Let him carry around all the money and purchase drinks throughout the night. Also you can hype his swagger by asking questions about his latest trip to Dubai or if he closed that multimillion dollar deal last week in London.

Empty Bank Account On Friday Night – Take out all the money from your bank account (literally, take all your money out) before hitting your first destination. Here’s the trick. Pay for each drink you order but don’t start a tab. This gives you the chance to pull out your extremely huge wad of cash for each drink purchase. Make sure you pull out this cash when ladies are nearby.

Getting A Car You Have no Business Driving – This was the inspiration to the story. Our customer wanted to get a sick Mercedes on the cheap. The secondary lease market (LeaseTrader.com) lets “faux ballers” get a Mercedes or even a Maserati for pennies on the dollar with little financial commitment.

Sharing Payments – Purchase that sweet condo or house with a group of friends (the same friends that serve as your club entourage). You’ll hopefully be making money on your investment and getting immediate satisfaction telling girls you bought the place as your vacation home when you’re not traveling around the world. Just make sure your buddies are staying at their parents’ place for the evening or sleeping in their car.

Fake Passport Locations – Nothing says “faux baller” like your faux passport. When you’re talking about running with the bulls in Spain, catching the Cannes Film Festival, or dropping in on Carnaval in Brazil, pull out your faux passport with proof of being in each country and this should seal the deal.

Thanks to the guys over at LeaseTrader.com for this great guest post submission! No go out there and get crunk with your pimp cup and entourage.

We stand now with the tide of hard times lapping at our feet, and of soft, comfortable times slowly being drawn out to sea.  With the soft times going and the hard ones coming, we must alter the way we live in order to persevere.

One thing you can do to brace yourself is to go back to your suppliers—to your telephone provider, landlord, car dealer—and renegotiate.  Go to the people you are paying out to, and renegotiate on the contracts you had made with them.  See if they are willing to pull back at all.  Although they are dealing with the same slow-down as you are, you will find that they are more willing to cut you some slack than lose you as a customer.

I cannot stress enough the need for products you are selling to be presented in more detail.  You must make the clients understand your philosophy and your product. Market better!  Understand where people are coming from: be compassionate with their concerns.  Be willing to work out payment plans for potential clients.

Save money using technology: take advantage of email and video conferencing.  You should email documents rather than sending them via mail.  This will save you in postage and in paper.  Also, instead of driving or flying to meet with a client or vendor, you should videoconference with them.  Both of these will save you time and money.

With today’s adversity constantly pulling on your being, implore as much persistence and fortitude as you can muster.  When you are stuck and everything is working against you, when it seems like you cannot last a second longer, you must persist, for it is at that peak in struggle that you will conquer and turn the tides.

This was a guest post from Robert Tuchman, who is the Founder of TSE Sports & Entertainment, a company he started out of his one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan at the age of 25. TSE has gone on to appear on Inc. 500’s list of America’s Fastest Growing Privately Owned Companies. Tuchman now serves as President of Premiere Corporate Events, a division of Premiere Global Sports. His Book “Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur’s Guide To Chasing Your Dreams and Breakout Out On Your Own” is out now.

*Update: Some readers are having issues viewing this post when using Internet Explorer….get with the times and upgrade to FireFox But seriously, if you only see part of it or nothing, I’m sorry. I’m trying to figure out what the issue is but it seems like it may take some time.*

One of the great things about Twitter is that you can find all kinds of people on the site from all kinds of different industries. As students head home for the summer or stay at school, majority of them are looking for jobs or working somewhere.

If they are working PLUS starting a business, it can be extremely difficult to maintain a hard effort and push for a long time. So, instead of wearing yourself out completely when trying to build your business, consider getting an assistant. A virtual assistant is someone who helps you our with your work in order to expedite the process and free up your time. I use one and you should too – it’s not as extreme as completely outsourcing your work to another country, but yet getting the assistance that you need, when you need it.

So without further ado, I present to you 60 Virtual Assistants That Are Utilizing Twitter for Business.

The list is formatted with Twitter name linked to their profile page as well as their short bio next to it.

1. EsteDiaVA – God, LovingWife, SuperMom, DomesticDiva, Girl Scout Leader, Salvation Army Bball Coach, College Student, $$$ & Time Saver, Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire
2. AprilTara – A li’l of this, a li’l of that – blog designer, writer, social media and PR junkie, blogger, Mom, rebel
3. sundi_moz – Bringing sanity and calm to entrepreneurial speakers, coaches and trainers everywhere!
4. TracyCollinsCVA- Confidential Virtual Assistant, family history buff, mother, wife, many things to many people.
5. walkerva – Business owner, entrepreneur, virtual assistant – provides professional office support to small businesses on as-needed basis.
6. InnovativeVA – Creative virtual assistant, neat freak and mom w/a sense of humor. Background in advertising and PR. I provide practical solutions for modern business.
7. moniqueterrell – Owner and New Media Expert of Sparkle Internet Image Solutions.
8. merrickmgt – Eco-Friendly/Mac Virtual Assistant. I assist earth conscious persons and Mac entrepreneurs.
9. maryhruth – Virtual Assistant specializing in writing/editing, small business administration, and social media marketing.
10. eshorebizgal – Bilingual Virtual Assistant and lifetime learner
11. KathyCrofoot – Dedicated to assisting business owners follow their Vision by freeing their time from boring Admin tasks.
12. telemill – Virtual Assistant, Author/Writer, Ebay Seller, Social Media Enthusiast, Student of Wealth, who took the dare at the worst.
    
13. IVAProfessional – Virtual Assistant Guru-Admin, secretarial, data entry, doc prep & more at IVAP
14. dcvirtualoffice – An Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant who has a passion to assist small business owners, efficiently manage their online marketing needs.
15. vipvirtualsols – Virtual Assistant who loves connecting with people that constantly challenge themselves and the world! Keeping it real in real time. Carpe diem!
16. heatherbachman – Publicity Strategist looking for new contacts and clients
17. londonva – I’m a cool mum,blogger wordpress website & blog designer and social media coordinator
18. thevenotk – Providing virtual administrative support to entrepreneurs, speakers, coaches…..
19. KarieD – Your Dependable VA
20. pdost – I’m a Virtual Assistant working with other Virtual Assistants and Small Business Owners.
21. vanetworking – The VA EXPERT – VA MotiVAtor! – Founder of the Social Network for Virtual Assistants to connect, share, discuss and promote virtual assistance. Hire a VA today!
22. virtualkathyh – Virtual Assistant to Coaches and Solopreneurs, Travel Agent & World Wanderer, and Dog Lover
23. lauraleesparks – EVP/COO- Family Wealth Planning Institute; Online Success Manager Extraordinaire, Queen of The Simple Solution, Legal Marketing Maven, Paralegal
24. kim_m – Here to help you be more productive (and to chat)! Together we’ll be Partners in Productivity. Watch for tips, quotes and other good stuff.
25. DediKatedVA – Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant who is passionate about helping people–loves dogs, beaches and country living!
26. awesomeassistan – I am the Awesome Assistant, a Virtual Office Administrator, helping you grow your business w/online marketing
27. TargetStars – A savvy entrepreneur that owns a consulting firm that specializes in providing marketing and virtual assistant services to small companies. www.targetstars.com
28. bradhassett – Web Fanatic. Entrepreneur.
29. AdayVA – Executive Virtual Administrative and Marketing Assistant ♦ Online Business / Office Manager to Busy Entrepreneurs and Professionals
30. VAgirlfriday – Virtual Assistant, Social Media, Blogger, Internet Marketing, Tastefully Simple Consultant
31. yoursavvyva – AKA @Missbookkeeping, Savvy Virtual Assistant, Awesome Bookkeeper, Small Business Owner, A Mom, Love 2 Help Others, Computer Geekette, Luv My Dogs (3)
32. rbuscemi – Owner of Virtual Assistant with Creative Virtual Office, WAHM of 2 kiddos, Creative Memories Consultant, Police Officers Wife, Crafty Girl, Avid Reader
33. vickieturley – A VA enhancing extraordinary consultants and mentoring peers
34. raj_bokdia – Founder: Cubesquare (VA service), Blogger, Positivity personified, Optimist, Believer and avid Twitterer
35. redboxva – Chief Organizer, Virtual Assistant and destresser of your in box, admin and social media
36. qpms – Certified Social Marketing Specialist, Internet Marketing VA, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, PTO Mom, Wife, Virtual Assistant, Dog Lover, Dallas Cowboys Fan
37. vsolution – A Queensland-based group offering remote business support to companies and individuals. We provide creative, marketing, virtual assistant, IT assistance.
38. tunes2901 - Virtual Assistant,Translator,avid reader, passionate singer, good sense of humor, good listener, goal oriented, fun loving
39. virtuallygerry – Virtually Gerry provides virtual administration to businesses to suit their needs and timescales on either long-term projects or on an ad hoc basis.
40. RealEstateVAs – Real Estate Virtual Assistant specializing in Online Marketing, Social Networking, Listing Coordination, Lead Management and more. Home based business owner.
41. AndreaKalli – Certified Internet/Social Marketing Virtual Assistant, Podcast/Audio/Teleseminar editing, Outlook / SharePoint Training. Lover of gardening.
42. Denise3010 – Virtual Assistant, Web Designer, Online Researcher
43. DLMVirtual – http://www.dlmvirtualsolutions.com/
    
44. nhbs – Virtual Assistant specialization in Events and Travel
45. ckpa – Virtual Assistant, Serial Entrepreneur, Author, VA Trainer, Athena Regional Director and busy mum
46. hermedia -Blog/Community Management and Business Development for Internet Entrepreneurs
47. backcountrygirl – Virtual Assistant with passion for the outdoors and social media
48. margiemiguel – oDesk freelancer (virtual assistant, transcriptionist), small business owner wannabe, short-term missions volunteer, and lifelong learner. I love JESUS!
49. kirsty_wilson – Business Support Services/Virtual Assistant. Here to partner and assist small businesses and the busy entrepreneur. Traveller, Gardener, Wine lover.
50. thedetailqueen – Virtual Assistant- I take care of the details so you can build your business!
51. susanmccool – An experienced Virtual Assistant, Web & Graphic Designer and Marketer – single mom of 2 (one autistic), proud learn-a-holic and blushing twitterholic
52. MarketersVA – Marketing/Social Media Virtual Assistant to Internet Marketers, Coaches and Entrepreneurs. “Maybe you’re the same as me. We see things they’ll never see.” Oasis
53. virtualfastlane – Owner of Rescue Desk Virtual Assistant Services, co-founder of the Wisconsin VA Network, small-business blogger, and general fan of anything fabulous
54. grittyva – Virtual Assistant guru and leading expert on Virtual Assistant business success. Founder, VACOC: http://twurl.cc/e11
55. KenaRoth – Virtual Assistant, Wife, Mom. Lively, Creative, Knowledgeable & a little Sassy. Interested in Social Media and Marketing.
56. Krislegalista – Freelance Paralegal, law student, ex-ballerina, literature snob
57. TheLegalVADana – Dana Fortier, owner of Fortier Business Solutions The Academy for Legal Virtual Assistance. A virtual legal assistant & trainer/mentor.
58. RainShadowVA – PREVA, Virtual Assistant, Copywriter, Blogger, Resume Writer, Mentor, Wife, Mom, A Very Young Grandma, Your Friend in Cyberspace
59. VirtualSharon – Virtual Assistant – Your Virtual Solution – Creative Outsourcing for your Administrative, Editing, Desktop Publishing, Real Estate, and other needs!
60. DianaEnnen – Virtual Assistant Industry Leader and Co-Author of VA the Series. Niche – Publicity

If you’re looking for an affordable way to get some work done or need some assistance with administrative tasks, definitely consider bringing on a virtual assistant to help you out. For the service and price, it is definitely worth it to your business!

If you are a student, you need to have a business card. It’s plain and simple, especially if you are looking to network effectively and make successful connections within your university. Business cards are the way to build yourself up and also establish your personal brand.

Here are some of the basic reasons you need to have a business card as a student.

1. Share your contact information – this is pretty basic. Without a business card, you find yourself writing your name and number or email address on any scrap paper found or a bar napkin. It is then likely to get thrown away because it looks like trash. With a business card, it is much more recognizable so it does not get tossed, and it looks much more professional.
2. Professionalism – going along with the above point, if you are trying to network with people within your university community or local business people, not having a card to give back to them after getting theirs does not look professional. Solve this whole dilemma by GETTING BUSINESS CARDS NOW!
3. Networking – if you are serious about making connections, then you need to have business cards. It happens to me and I am sure it happens to you all – after you meet someone and talk to them for a few minutes, you move on and start talking to someone else. Then after the night is over, you can not remember what the first person you talked to did. But, if you have their business card you can easily see their company name and probably a slogan on the card or you can look up their website to find out about them. The same thing goes for students. If your card is focused on use as a student, then you are likely to have your University/College name, your contact information, and your degree or program of study. This quickly gives someone a snapshot about you and helps refresh their memory about the conversation they had with you.
4. Personal Branding – as a student and soon to be college graduate, you need to brand yourself in a certain way. Whether that be in your area of interest, a certain discipline, a certain industry, or based on your own company. Personal branding plays a huge role in college and having business cards is a way to help you stand out among your fellow students.
5. Other “Partners” – college students like to party. So why not give out your business card when you are out at the bar, club, or party to give your information to prospective “partners”. I’ll leave it up to you which kind of partners you share your information with. I’m sure there are some who you do not want to have your number the next day.

Hopefully these tips help you out in deciding to get business cards printed up as a student.  Don’t think about whether you need them or not, think about what to put on them and how soon you can order them.

If you are looking for a good online printing company, I strongly recommend PrintPlace.com. They are a online printer that I have used many times and never had an issue with. The quality and range of products are great.

Best of luck,

Chris Pund

First off, if you do not know about WooThemes, then you should read this post I wrote when they first launched their premium Wordpress theme club. If you don’t want to read that quick post, then all you need to know is that WooThemes is a fast growing premium Wordpress theme club.

That means that they sell premium Wordpress themes, and also offer membership into their themes club. Membership offers you the chance to have access to all of their themes over a 3 or 6 month period, whichever you prefer, rather than purchasing each theme separately. This is a great advantage to the designer/developer because you can sign up and download any current and future themes that come out during your membership period.

I’ve been looking for an effective way to redesign 3-5 Wordpress sites of mine and WooThemes has come up to be the answer. Their current inventory features over 17 different themses that range the categories of business, personal, CMS, lifestream, news, and portfolio. With so many choices, this gives you the easy opportunity to try out a lot of different options – and I like options.

So, I signed up. Yupp, I did it. I joined the club. Adii, I hope you’re happy and are enjoying my money. So far I am enjoying the site, so lets keep it that way.

Here is what their subscription options look like:

The thing that I really liked was being able to easily have a wide range of themes to choose from and further customize to meet my needs. If you are an internet entrepreneur and have a lot of Wordpress based websites or are looking to launch many, then you definitely need to check out WooThemes and consider signing up.

The sites I’ll be using themes on from the guys at WooThemes include the new ChrisPund.com, ProfessionalGFX, Dorm Room Biz, and more possibly. So, keep a look out for lots of changes coming about soon!

As I get closer to being finished with customizing some of the sites, I will start posting about it and giving some screenshots.

The textbook market is one that has always intrigued me and one that I have entered into before myself, as well as done a fair amount of research on. However, each time I’ve developed an idea, there have been different reasons why I did not pursue them (whether it was business or industry related, or completely unrelated). So when I get a chance to talk to someone that is in the textbook industry and trying to revolution the way things can be done, as well as make textbooks cheaper for students, I always jump on the opportunity. Christopher Blythe found Dorm Room Biz and dropped me an email telling me about him and his business, Skoobit.com, which is a textbook rental business. I’ve spoken with many people who have started different textbook trading and selling websites and marketplaces, but this is the first time I got a chance to discuss a textbook rental business with someone.

Below, you will find our quick interview and some of Chris’ business tips for you to check out. If you are a current college student, and have not picked up your book for the upcoming semester (maybe you start Monday or already started?) then check out Skoobit and look into renting your books this time around!

Start off by telling everyone about yourself – age, location, education, etc.
I was born and raised in Jamaica and came to the US to pursue my college education. I am an alumnus of both University of Miami where I earned my undergraduate degree in 2005 and Nova Southeastern University where I did my MBA in 2007. I just turned 25 in September and I am located in Weston, Florida.

What sparked your interest in starting a business? Was there one event in specific that made the light bulb go off or was it a string of events and then things just came together?
I always wanted to start my own company and to be my own boss probably since high school. I was inspired by the .com startups like Sergey Brin and Larry Page from Google, Jeff Bezos from Amazon and the future of social networking Mark Zuckerberg of facebook. It has always amazed me how powerful the internet is and how far of a reach it has, being accessible to everyone across the world at one time is still mind boggling.

Your business, Skoobit, is in a pretty tough market, textbooks. What made you want to enter the textbook arena and how did the idea of Skoobit come alive?
Textbooks are a pretty tough market especially with textbooks changing on average every 3 years. However with the huge market some outdated textbooks are still used by the smaller Universities which make it a very lucrative market. Skoobit actually came to mind when I was pursuing my undergraduate degree at UM. I was in my last year and I was taking a strategic management class, doing some cases on dell and netflix. After doing these cases I realized that a lot of the traditional business models are changing and eventually the bookstore on campus would be mostly online. To take it a step further I wanted to save students money and I thought that setting up an online book rental company would be a great opportunity similar to netflix. In this case students won’t be stacked up with books they don’t need and if they want it at the end of the semester they will always have the option to purchase the book if they want.

What are a few lessons that you have learned since starting Skoobit and growing it?
I think having access to funding was the most difficult because of what is going on in the market right now and the economy. It was very difficult to get off the ground, but thankfully I got help from my parents who believed in my company. However as the business continues to grow this will definitely be one of the major challenges I will face.

From your experiences, what is one thing that you think every entrepreneur needs to know or remember for when they are starting their business up?
Make sure they are able to finance it, whether it is from personal financing or loans and investors. Secondly, pitch the idea to friends and family and brainstorm your SWOT analysis ensuring you cover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Your friends and family might also point out something to you that was overlooked, so that is very important, to consult with them and get their advice. Once your strengths and opportunities outweigh your weaknesses and threats and you are able to overcome them you are in good standing and it is a viable venture. Finally make sure your heart and soul is in it, it shouldn’t just be about making money, it should be something you love to do and have the passion for, once the passion is there whatever it is you will make it work.

What’s next for you? Say short term (6 months) and long term (1-5 years). Where do you see yourself, doing what, involved in what, etc?
In the short term my goal is to heighten the awareness of my service showing students how much money they can save by renting textbooks. In the long term I look to building more relationships with schools and publishers so that I will be able to offer my books online for reading because I believe that’s where the market is heading and I want to be able to capitalize on it. Most students prefer to have the physical book now but in a few years or less all that might change, where students would prefer to have the e-books accessible on their computers or listening to audio books.

Now for the fun stuff-

Chris is a regular Dorm Room Biz reader, so if you have other questions you’d like to ask, go ahead and leave them in the comments and I bet he will be more than willing to respond!

I hope you were able to gain something from this interview. If you are an young entrepreneur and would like to participate in an interview on Dorm Room Biz, then please do not hesitate to contact me about yourself and your business.

I’m always looking for ways to make Dorm Room Biz and my other blogs better – either in search engine performance/ranking, usability, or any other arena. One of the easiest ways to do that when your website is based off of the Wordpress platform is through the use of plugins.

So, what plugins do you use for your site?

I currently have installed:

• Akismet (of course)
• All In One SEO
• DealDotCom
• Gregarious
• OIOPublisher
• Subscribe To Comments
• Text Link Ads
• What Would Seth Godin Do

Share with everyone in the comments what plugins you use on your Wordpress site!

A lot has been written lately about the current financial crisis and small business. Most of it has dealt with cutting costs and staying afloat, and generally addressing the larger issue of “surviving” the current crisis. While entrepreneurs can survive a recession, there’s no reason not to grow your business, even when money is tight. Here are some ways you can outsmart the competition and not only survive, but flourish during a recession.

Marketing
Most businesses cut back on marketing when times are tough, in an attempt to cut costs and stay afloat. Study after study has proven, however, that the businesses that succeed and grow the most after a recession is over are those who kept on marketing during the bad times. I’m not telling you to spend all your cash on marketing and hope for the best, but don’t cut back on your marketing just because there’s a recession. If anything, use the recession as an excuse to make every dollar count and negotiate better rates with Magazines, Printers and other sources.

Upselling
If you already have existing customers, a great way to bring in extra cash and hone your sales skills is to try and upsell them to a higher level of service, a more expensive product, or a  value added service.
For example, if you do landscaping during the summer, you could upsell a yearlong gardening service or your snow plowing service for the coming winter.  Call past customers up and offer them a member’s only deal or coupon to get them to purchase a new service or product. Try and develop services or products that require a repeat/monthly investment as well.

Efficiency
Making every penny count can be a good thing.  Take the time now to create processes, train employees and systemize your business so that runs like clockwork. The time spent in creating efficiency now will result in the ability to take on more customers and clients with the same system you already have, increasing your profits while not increasing your costs.

Lower Costs
Finally, use the downturn as an excuse to play hardball. Tighten the screws on your vendors and suppliers. For example, call your cell phone provider up and threaten to leave unless they give you a better deal. Tell your suppliers that they need to lower their prices or you will find someone else to deal with.  When they complain, simply explain to them that times are tight and everyone is making cuts in spending. They’ll understand and you’ll have more money to spend on marketing.

This guest post comes from Maya Richard, who writes reviews about cell phones. She can be reached at mayarichard [at] gmail with feedback.

Not really a great time in the economy at the moment is it? I beg to differ. Big businesses that people thought were solid turned out to be pretty weak at the foundations. I think what we need in these times, is more small business. Small business is (in my opinion) the basis for a strong economy. These are the companies that have the ability to survive. The big companies were good in the good times, but they had piles of corporate debt, demotivated employees who were worried about losing their job, but small businesses aren’t like that. Here’s why:

Bootstrapped

Remember when you first started your business? Remember all those times when you worked out of the basement and really had no money so you just did the best you could? Well, you’ve been there once, you’ll do it again. Maybe you’re still bootstrapping though, not because you need to, because you WANT to.

Creative

Small business owners at some of the most creative people around. What happened last time you had a problem? You had a good long think about it, you looked at possible solutions and you thought some more. Then it hit you. You solved the problem and moved on. What would a big company have done? Probably spent one million on a consultant, and a few months on reached the same conclusion. You’ve done it since the start of your business and you’ll keep coming up with new and original ideas.

Passionate

There is a reason you get up early everyday and work ridiculously late into the night. The reason? you’re passionate! You love doing what you do, and that means that your work is the best it could be and your clients are happy (usually). You’d do anything to keep your business alive and growing.

Careful

During you business’ lifetime, you have been careful. Where’s the work for client X? It’s in a folder on your desk. You don’t loose your client’s work, you know where everything is and what is happening at any point during the day. You didn’t take stupid risks with your money, and people can see that. you didn’t pile up debt.  Your clients trust you. You’re careful in every way possible. If you’re not, it isn’t just you at risk, it is your clients, and that matters to you (well it should matter).

You know your industry and business

If someone asks you to get you product X, you can do it, if someone asks you to design logo B, it’s done, if someone needs help setting up Y, you’re there. People in your industry (however big or small it is) know you can be trusted to do the right thing. You know the ins and outs of the industry and you also know how your business fits into it. Are you at the forefront? Maybe you are the company making things work at the back end? For any type of business, from eBay power seller to the next Silicon Valley start up, the industry and you relationship is crucial.

You know your clients

and they know you! The client-business relationship is crucial whatever business you’re in. If you are in a service business, then you need people to pay bills on time and to trust you and your judgment. If you sell products from your online store, then you need to know you can count on return visits and word of mouth. Your clients are your business and you have good clients.

You know your next step

Within a big business, knowing where you are going is hard. However, for the small company, you know where you want your business to go. You know which markets you want to penetrate, which products you want to sell, how many newsletter subscribers you need. With a clear plan, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

So there you go! 7 reasons why you and your small business are perfectly poised to whether any kind of economics condition. Also, you are less likely to have copy cats/opposition in these conditions, so you can really stand out from the crowd. You might also want to check out this post by The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur about why now is the best time to start a business. What do you think?

Sophie

What’s up guys? There are literally thousands of websites and services out there that help entrepreneurs and small business owners to run their business, promote and market themselves, and control the chaos. However, deciding which ones to use is the problem. Here is a list of some of the best services out there that you need to be using or at least looking at for your small business.

Twitter
Twitter allows you to update your followers with what is going on, what you are doing, and what you want to talk about. Limited to 140 characters, you have the opportunity to reach a wide audience with your messages. Following people and having followers is the key to success on Twitter -  you need to build your audience. The micro-blogging platform is free and super easy to use via the web or text messaging. Join, start following, advertise your business, services, or products and watch your business grow.
Website: http://www.twitter.com
Cost: Free

Facebook
What – you’re not on Facebook? What the hell are you thinking? Start a profile for yourself, start a page for your business, and start adding your friends. Use Facebook as an avenue to connect with customers on a whole different level. You can also find your friends from college, high school, and former workplaces. Interact with your friends and start talking up your business. Refer people to your business’s Facebook page or group and get them to join it. As people start joining, others will see the notice on their feeds that their friends are joining your group – which may entice them to join themselves. This is a great way to grow your audience and potential customer base. The social aspects of Facebook are also great – upload and share pictures, links, stores, and more.
Website: http://www.facebook.com
Cost: Free

FreshBooks
Looking for a good and easy way to invoice your clients, track your time, or track your expenses? Then check out FreshBooks! The free service will allow you to add a few clients and the paid version will allow for more, but basically you can send invoices to your clients through email and share documents with them as well. The service is great for someone like a web designer or developer that needs to share documents and information constantly with their clients.
Website: http://www.freshbooks.com
Cost: Free or $14/month and up

Basecamp
Project management and collaboration can be a tricky thing when you are small and just starting out. When you are working with a lot of other people on a project, it is key to keep everyone on the same page. Basecamp from 37Signals will help you do that! Basecamp will allow you to customize your management area look and feel, share it with your customers or team members, and share all kinds of documents and information. Anything from 37Signals is a helpful tool for your business, so check out their other services as well.
Website: http://www.basecamphq.com/
Cost: 30 day free trial or $25/month and up

SmartyPig
If you are looking to save up some of your businesses income and hold on to it for a big purchase of new equipment or other needs for your business, then you need to look in to SmartyPig. SmartyPig allows you to set up savings goals and have money deposited into a savings account direct from your bank account each month. I use them for mostly personal savings goals, but business savings goals are definitely a great idea. The people at SmartyPig are awesome and offer great support, so I strongly recommend them – the best part? It’s free!
Website: http://www.smartypig.com
Cost: Free

LinkedIn
If you don’t like Facebook because you feel there is too much info free for searching and not enough privacy, check out the more professional social network, LinkedIn. LinkedIn has been around for a good while, maybe even longer than Facebook? LinkedIn allows you to connect with collegaues, classmates, and other professionals in similar industries…or just random people like Facebook. However, LinkedIn is focused more on the professional side of social networking and growing your connections. You can have people endorse you to help you grow your presence and you don’t have to really worry about any crazy party pictures of you doing a keg stand showing up on your managers Facebook feed (wouldn’t that suck?).
Website: http://www.linkedin.com
Cost: Free

Google Analytics
I could not create a list of useful websites without having at least one Google product on it. Analytics is an awesome visitor tracking program that Google has developed. All you need to do is slap a few lines of code on your site and let it be. Analytics will automatically start tracking your sites visitors – telling you where they are coming from, how long they are staying, what pages they are visiting, and much much more. The best part? Like most things from Google, it is free! There is no reason that you should not be using the program to track your site traffic and evaluate what is working for you.
Website: http://www.google.com/analytics
Cost: Free

YouTube
Social media is a huge part of the web 2.0 revolution and is attracting many more people and businesses to the internet. One way to take advantage of social media and viral marketing is through uploading videos that you create to free video sharing websites such as YouTube. YouTube allows you to upload any video you make (as long as it is under its file size requirements) and share it with your friends, embed it in your website, or post it on other websites such as Facebook. YouTube offers an amazing way to find new customers and visitors for your website. By displaying your website name, logo, or web address in your videos, you will see some traffic come from YouTube…as long as the video is good and people are watching it! If you’re looking to brand yourself and your business, start making some videos and posting them on YouTube!
Website: http://www.youtube.com
Cost: Free

Mint
Looking for a good free way to manage your finances and keep track of your spending? Then you should check out Mint. Mint allows you to link pretty much any bank account, credit card account, and online payment account (like PayPal) to your Mint account and see a summary of your spending and your total income/debt. You can then see trends as to what you are spending the most on and what you need to cut back on. Mint also provides you with different opportunities to save money by switching banks or credit card offers.
Website: http://www.mint.com
Cost: Free

StartupNation
StartupNation is a community website for entrepreneurs featuring step-by-step advice, videos, podcasts, and many resources. The website also features a pretty active forum. StartupNation is definitely a site to keep an eye on as you work on developing your business and have questions you want to try to get answered.
Website: http://www.startupnation.com
Cost: Free

Young Go Getter
Young Go Getter is an active forum for entrepreneurs. You can definitely get the help you need from this group of dedicated people with their knowledge spanning a wide array of industries and technologies. If you have questions about an industry, looking for some help, or just want a place to hang out, then check out YGG.
Website: http://www.younggogetter.com
Cost: Free

Young Entrepreneur
A community of entrepreneurs and want to be entrepreneurs exceeding more than 5000 members strong, YE is a site to visit and visit often. Although some of the content may not always be the most relevant or it may be ’spam’ posts, if you have the time to sort through and find the good stuff, then it is worth it. I talked with the creator a couple weeks back and he says things are in the works to make YE much better in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out! This group of helpful people can definitely be a benefit to you and will help you in any way they can!
Website: http://www.youngentrepreneur.com
Cost: Free

And finally, of course, Dorm Room Biz is always one of the best places to get help as a student entrepreneur!

What are your favorite websites to check and resources to refer to when you need some help?