“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
—Niels Bohr

When you make the decision to leave the comfortable corporate life to be an entrepreneur, you’re bound to make some mistakes. Ask any successful business person how they got to where they are today, and they’ll probably tell you it was by learning from their costly mistakes. While many people few mistakes as huge blows to their business, I believe it’s better to cherish these mistakes and to learn from them so that you’ll be a smarter, more effective entrepreneur.

So, by now you’re wondering what the biggest mistake I’ve ever made is. Let me start by giving a little background- I’m a freelance copywriter. As a freelancer, there is no set salary, and sometimes you don’t know where your next paycheck is coming from. This is something all entrepreneurs can identify with.

The mistake I made was I got comfortable. Things were going surprisingly well at an early stage of my business. I had more than enough work on my plate, and all of my clients were happy with the copy I was providing them with. Things couldn’t have been better.

Then, it all came to a crashing halt. Projects were done; contracts were completed; and suddenly, I had no work. Just as quickly as I had built a successful business, it was all gone. I had committed the cardinal sin: I stopped marketing myself because I was too busy working for my clients.

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So, you have your Twitter account all setup and ready to go. One problem—you need people to follow. Here are 30 entrepreneurs to help you get started.

1. Rand Fishkin – CEO of SEOmoz, a Seattle based Internet marketing and search engine optimization firm. At 29 years old, Rand is a great example to young entrepreneurs.

2. Petri Darby- The “Chief Darn Officer” at Darby Darnit, a Houston PR firm.

3. Young Go Getter- The masterminds behind this amazing site you’re reading right now!

4. Dave Snyder- A leading expert in search and social media marketing. He is a Co-Founder of Search and Social.

5. Guy Kawasaki- A top entrepreneur, blogger, and venture capitalist. Has authored numerous books, and he contributes a
monthly column to Entrepreneur Magazine.

6. Jay Neely- Boston-based entrepreneur working on a news-related startup.

7. Sean Lindsay- Technologist, Entrepreneur, Builder, Creator, Connector.

8. 12seconds- A few nerds (their words, not mine) running a site that allows you to share 12 second video status updates with friends and family. A brilliant idea.

9. Marcelo Calbucci- Founder and CTO of Sampa. Moved to the US in 1998, and now runs his own business.

10. Beverly Davis- Runs a cosmetic company with uplifting, motivating, and inspiring products.

11. Eric Pennington-Eric Pennington is the Founder and Chief Idea Spreader for Epic Living, LLC. He is a passionate thought leader who writes and speaks about leadership training and other topics.

12. Chris Pund- A young entrepreneur running 2 web-based companies. Also, manages a blog for young entrepreneurs.

13. Jeremy Schooley- Internet marketer and young entrepreneur. COO at Digital Labz.

14. Thomson Chemmanoor- A social media marketing expert from Houston,TX. Founder of Digital Labz.

15. Drew M Griffin- Multi-preneur, Vlogger, and Blogger from PA.

16. Maiken Jepsen- Designer, work-at-home-mom, and owner of custom boutique clothing shop.

17. Stacy Stehle- Internet marketer and an independent associate with USANA health sciences.

18. Blaine Moore- Operates a coaching and publishing business in the running and fitness niche.

19. Shafiu- Co-founder and CEO of molv.com, a company that lets you stream live video from your phone to people throughout the world.

20. Daniel McClintock- Graphic designer, entrepreneur, internet marketer, and business owner.

21. Wes Wilson- Founder of IncSpring, a social marketplace for designers and entrepreneurs.

22. Rajesh Pancholi- Owner and operator of R27 Creativelab—a creative UK studio.

23. Jeff Heuer- NYC based web entrepreneur.

24. Tom Markiewicz- Entrepreneur and rock climber from Boulder, CO.

25. Sumaya Kazi- Founding and Executive Director of The Cultural Connect. Recognized by Business Week as one of the top young entrepreneurs.

26. Joann Sondy- Entrepreneur since 2000. Owner of Creative Aces, a design and digital imaging studio.

27. Richard McKay- Owner of startup zungalow.com.

28. Daniel Kehoe- Consultant for entrepreneurs that need a temporary/freelance CTO and blog.

29. Rick Myers- Founder/CEO of Talent Zoo, an online database where marketing and communications firms connect with talent.

30. JeanAnnVK- Entrepreneur, blogger, author, and social media consultant, among other things. The “Edgy Entrepreneur.”

Bonus: You can also follow me, Eric Brantner. I’m a freelance copywriter from Houston,TX.

Note: If you aren’t on the list, please add your Twitter info in the replies. I’d love to follow you!

Whether you’re already out their working on your own or you’re thinking about leaving the corporate world soon to build your own business, these tips will help you be a better (and hopefully wealthier) entrepreneur.

1. Establish a Strong Web Presence- As a small business owner, you don’t have the resources of your larger competitors. That’s why online marketing is so important. It’s the most affordable and effective way to get your name out there, to generate leads, and to build your brand. Read this earlier post on 5 free ways to promote your business online.

2. Connect with the Right People- We’ve all heard the saying “It’s not what you know, but who you know that’s important.” Well, it’s true. Knowing the right people can come in handy for a couple of reasons. First, being in contact with the right people can get you referrals, improving your bottom line. More importantly, connecting with the right people can improve your entrepreneurial education. Get in touch with fellow entrepreneurs through social networks or local meetups in your town. You’ll learn some valuable lessons that will help you be a better small business owner.

3. Don’t Settle- When you don’t have the safety net of a consistent salary, it can be easy to fall into the temptation of accepting low paying jobs. While this might be necessary occasionally for making ends meet, it’s a difficult hole to pull yourself out of. Once you begin settling for low paying jobs, you diminish the value of your work. One low paying job leads to another—it’s a vicious cycle.

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If you are an entrepreneur looking to get your start, chances are you will need a little help getting things going when it comes to finances. It is not always easy to get all of the money to start your first (or even second) business together, so you may need to seek investors to help your ideas come to fruition.

Investors are looking for ways to help grow their financial resources—it’s what they do. So how do you get someone to believe in you and ultimately help fund your business? Here is a short list of qualities that investors are looking for when they are deciding who to invest in.

Innovative

Whether you are attempting to use a fresh perspective regarding an outdated business model, or are trying something completely new, realize that investors are more likely to invest in something that helps bring a freshness to the market. Standing out and bringing something new to the table can help you get a leg up on your potential competition. Try and find something unique about your proposal and make that your emphasis.

Proactive

You want to be able to show that you have thoroughly thought everything out before bringing your ideas to a prospective investor. This can make all the difference in the world; anticipating problems and their solutions will give investors the peace of mind they are looking for when it comes to giving to money to get started. Show that you have planned and forecasted effectively and you will be sure to win them over.

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A common mistake many small businesses make is to bite off more than they can chew with their online marketing campaign. Sure, the internet does level the playing field so that small businesses can compete with their larger competitors, but even online marketing has its limits. You have to be smart about your online marketing strategy to give yourself the best chance of remaining competitive.

If you run a traditional bricks-and-mortar local small business, there are several things you can do to promote yourself online. One of the most effective ways to get targeted traffic to your site is by optimizing your site for local keywords. Rather than going after broad keywords that everyone is targeting, you can rank better by using location specific keywords.

For instance, let’s say you own a bicycle shop in Houston. While your first instinct might be to target keywords like “Trek mountain bikes” or “specialized racing bikes” you have to realize you’d be competing with cycling companies throughout the country for those keywords. Instead, start out by targeting local keywords like “specialized racing bikes in Houston.” By adding the geographic location of your business, you will rank better in the search engines for the keyword and you’ll receive highly targeted traffic to your website.

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Steve Farnsworth is a serial entrepreneur and a student at Fort Lewis College and at the age of 24, a Young Go Getter! Check out his site Burner Sports, where he serves as the President.

The time for change is NOW! Cliché you say? As over used as that phrase is these days, it is very true in our business environment. The only thing that you can always count on is change; everything in our daily lives change rapidly. A decade ago you could deliver a product or a service as promised to your customer at the quoted price and the sale would be complete. Now-a-days customers always want more. Customer demands and expectations are higher than ever before. Are you ready to fulfill those needs?

Anyone that has ever worked in a retail setting during the holidays can attest to consumers always wanting more! If you have ever sold products or services than you can certainly relate to this as well. As a sales person, reflect on the last sale that you completed. What did the customer want? What were their expectations? Did you at least try to meet the customer’s needs? Did you get frustrated or upset when you had to go beyond the “norm” for the customer? Every sales person at one time or another has gotten frustrated with a customer, and complained about it. My question is why?

Customers are very important to any business. Customers “push” you to do better. Yet many people in an organization complain about that, why? Many sales people and company’s think that having a “pushy” customer is a negative. When in actuality the customers “pushiness” holds you and your company to a much higher standard. The customer is “pushing” you to be better at what you do. A customer’s job is to push for more; push for better pricing, push for a speedy delivery, push for better quality, etc. Your job within your company is to not only meet their expectations but also to remind yourself and your co-workers that customers are not the root of your frustrations, stress and failures. They are the root to your success, profit and growth.

Knowing how to handle your customer’s when they are unhappy is a crucial part to your success in any position that you have in an organization. Knowing what techniques to use and when to use them is just as crucial. I have some helpful tips that can be used by anyone that works with customers.

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It’s inevitable, advertisements will always be on the majority of sites and we should be thankful that they are. Strictly form a publishing standpoint, they keep free sites just that, free. Great, right? Well, let’s go with great-ish. With many free sites relying solely on advertising revenue as their only income source, their goals sometimes stray. It can quickly become a cash grab and credibility can easily be lost.

Beauty and the Beast

Before Google Adsense came along, there wasn’t much hope for small to medium sized sites to get anyone to advertise. It’s a fantastic tool to generate a little bit of revenue however it’s ugly as sin. It takes away from the professional look, it’s plain and it has no personality. My dad may tell me that I was hatched and that I’m funny looking on a regular basis, but I like to call it character. Something Google Adsense lacks.

Information Overload

The site that triggered this article was Forbes.com. It almost seems that I’m calling out the giants, but these are the sites where it’s noticeable and something that I see frequently. I truly like a lot of the content that’s on this site, I just cannot be forced to respect the site itself. The layout is another can of worms that I won’t open, but the advertisements themselves are crammed amidst a mess of information. If you have an abundance of information on your site, don’t add to the congestion. Set aside a reasonable amount of real estate on your site for advertisements and stick with it all while keeping a nice flow. If you’re going to get creative with advertisements beware. This brings me to my next point…

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Is the goal of your business to make money and provide a great life for you and your family? Yeah, same here. But what about all of your business expenses that eat away at your profits? What if you could put together a plan that not only built up your marketing and branding but also took some of the headache out of your administrative costs. Below you will find twenty ways to get your business running like a well oiled machine for just about zero cost. If you know of any other ways that have been left off the list, please feel free to take a moment and let us know in the comments section.

Business Marketing

1. Social Media Websites - Building up social media profiles on sites related to your field can do many things for you. It can gain you traffic to your website, it can build up your branding efforts and it can also allow you to network with potential clients as well as other businesses in your field. For instance, my stumble upon profile is a PR3 and in some search engines, the PR value is passed through even though the links are no-follow. This helps get my links to my websites in higher rankings in these search engines. It also helps me network with potential clients as I have already designed two websites for clients I met on stumble upon and delicious. For a full list of social media websites in various niches, I’d suggest checking out this post on traffikd.
2. Link Directories - The main objective with link directories is to gain the link juice to get your search engine rankings up. Yes, you can find a few diamond in the rough link directories that will also be able to send you some traffic directly to your website, but the main focus should be on building up link popularity for your site so you rank for the proper terms in the main search engines. You can find various link directory submission services on some of the popular marketing and business related forums online who will submit to 1,000+ directories for a very low, low cost. *word of warning: make sure the submissions are done over a few weeks as google and other search engines track link popularity and a sudden burst of 1,000 links in one day screams “ban me from your search engine”.

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