Some highlights:

Ron Johnson: Nell, women are demonstrating their ability to be successful small business owners. What was your motivation for creating Count Me In?

Nell Merlino: Well, I started Count Me In because I was a small business owner myself and recognized that I had a lot of questions and challenges in my own business and was aware that other women obviously did too. I particularly thought access to capital was an issue. But there were a number of other issues just in terms of figuring out sort of the steps and what you do next that I thought must be a challenge for other women as well. Because I was doing okay but I didn’t know how to take it to the next step. So I just started to start an organization that would address all of these issues.

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Ron Johnson: Nell, I know you understand that sorting through the financial options for women entrepreneurs might be a little confusing for some. So what is your role in ensuring that women have access to capital?

Nell Merlino: Well, I would say money is one of the most important aspects in growing a business, but it is not THE most important. I think that’s a big thing that we emphasize with women. I think many of us go looking for money before we’re ready. And before we have a really clear understanding and explanation of what we’re going to do with the money and why we need it. So I would say one of the things we do is make sure women are fully prepared to approach whatever situation; whether it’s a competition or a presentation in front of angel investors or pitching to your friends and family. If you’re first starting out, how you’re going to convince them and yourself. Quite frankly, that whatever you have planned, you’re going to use the money in a responsible way that’s going to be helpful to you in growing your business. And that you’re going to be able to pay it back if it’s that kind of situation.

SBA and Count Me In: Working Together to Help Women Entrepreneurs Start, Grow and Succeed
Featuring SBA’s Ron Johnson and Nell Merlino, the founder, President, and CEO of Count Me In

Nell provides information for women entrepreneurs seeking access to financial resources. She also discusses the partnership that Count Me In and the SBA have developed and the benefits that they both provide to entrepreneurs and small business owners.
( Transcript )

Have a listen to this podcast about helping women small business persons get started with their New Jersey business – and our other SBA podcasts on the site.

1. Google Email (Gmail.com).
If you haven’t found out already – Gmail, Google’s email service is flat-out amazing. I would pay $100 a year just to be able to continue to use this service -that’s how important it is for me. Well, probably I would pay more – but don’t tell anyone that. We don’t want Google to start thinking about monetizing their Gmail service.

Gmail is robust, reliable, and easy to use. You can even use multiple Gmail accounts and funnel them into one account where you can easily keep track of everything. If you want to send an email from one of the accounts you’re not signed into – Gmail allows for that. Currently I can choose which sub-account I am sending “from” and yet I’m signed into my main account and don’t need to leave.

Gmail gives everyone 7.3GB of space for email – so you probably never need to delete anything, you can just “archive” it and search for it when you need it. The space available to you on the server for your email is always increasing.

Gmail is also “offline” available now. You can sign in securely whether on or off-line and read and compose email or access attachments.

Gmail is the ultimate free email service. If you found a pay email service you think is better – try Google Apps – which is a $50/year service for businesses that includes Gmail, Docs, and more which probably outdoes whatever pay email service you found!

2. Google Docs
This is a collection of 3 applications that everyone in the USA previously used Microsoft Office for…

A.) Word
B.) Excel
C.) Powerpoint

Microsoft Office is a couple hundred dollar program. Google Docs? Free. Most people use the basic functionality of the programs mentioned above – and Google Docs is basic, and yet getting more full-featured all the time.

Ever wanted to share a spreadsheet online? With Google Docs it’s super-easy, you just create the spreadsheet and hit “share”. You can share it publicly with anyone that goes to the url, or require those you share it with to login securely with their Google email account login to see it.

3. Google Analytics
Stats for your website. Very easy to use. Very good statistics in easy to read format. Delayed by a day or so, so not instant, but great for free. You can track goals and paths visitors take through your site. It gives great coverage of keywords people used to reach your site. Exceptional value.

4. Google Webmaster Tools
Manage your website and what Google knows about it and does with it with these tools. Add a sitemap, see what results you’re coming up for in Google results, and so much more. You can target an area of the world that you want your site to do well for in the google results for that country/area.

5. Google Calendar
I use this online, but recently it’s been enabled for offline also. You can share your calendar with others online if you invite them – or, make it public.

6. Google Video (YouTube)
If you’re doing any video on your site for products, services, general info – whatever it is – you should also copy it to YouTube. Why? There are millions of users searching YouTube everyday for all sorts of subjects.

And,

Google displays YouTube results at the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) often – especially if a video got good reviews at YouTube.

7. Google Maps
Make sure you list your business in the maps so people can find you easier.

8. Google Checkout
One of the coolest features Google offers is Google Checkout. It’s like Paypal, and yet not. It’s a payment enabler to help you accept credit card payments on your website. It’s very easy to install on product pages and it’s smooth and clean.

There are some incentives for using Google checkout like a reimbursement on your Adwords account spending, and also – your site can pop up at the top of the search results for your product if you have Google checkout enabled on that page.

Google is doing everything it can to give businesses the ultimate tools to work with. If you’re not taking advantage of these tools you’re missing the Google train! Jump on and secure yourself a seat because it’s getting better all the time.

Of greatest importance is answering this question,

“What is the purpose of my website?”

Some sites are built to sell. Some are meant to give contact information. Some are meant to give information leading to a sale by phone. Some are meant to lead the visitor to a sale on-site. Some sites are meant for lead-generation.

What is your site for? Before you start building you must figure that out. Most business websites are just an online business card providing different ways to contact the business staff.

A strong model is to create a site that gives all the information about your business and leads to an online sale. Lead generation is part of most sites, because collecting the email addresses of individuals interested in your products may lead to further sales later.

Creating a website that fulfills any of the goals above is seriously difficult work. It requires a lot of knowledge to do it on your own.

You CAN do it on your own, but, if you can afford to – you really should have your website designed by experts that know at least these two things very well:

1. How to create a site that sells your products, your services, you and your business.

2. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – optimizing your business website to bring search engine traffic which you can convert to sales or leads.

These two are essential for any business relying on their website for sales or lead generation.

The first one I mentioned is very difficult. Do NOT entrust the success of your  business to someone that does not create exceptional sites already. You’re wasting your time and money. Do not entrust the building of your website to a relative that will, “give it a try” or “do my best”.

Your website is your business card, but so much more. It’s your business magazine… but more… it’s your business TV show and in some cases like online business, it’s the entire business itself.

Your website need not be extravagant. You need not create expensive online video or hire celebrities. What you do need to do is make it clean, bright, and efficient to use. Visitors should be able to find the answer to every question they have – on your site. If they can’t – the site fails. That might mean loss of a sale or one customer… over time it could mean the failure of your entire business. Your website is THAT important.

With recent developments it’s now possible to have a website up and running (without content) in about 1 hour including getting a webhosting account (server space + bandwidth) and a WordPress.org website. Many new businesses are going this route because WordPress offers some search engine friendly functions as well as some beautiful designs, many of them free for download.

In addition, with WordPress.org designs you can change the look and feel of your website at will. “Themes” enable you to change anytime you choose, though, you will lose any customization of the theme you did before you switch. You’ll gain it back once you return to the theme you customized.

The 2nd part of the successful business website design is SEO. SEO must be considered before your website is designed as it’s much easier to add as the site is created than as an after-thought.

There are onsite and offsite SEO tactics. Both are very important and it’s essential to have both working in conjunction with each other to maximize the effectiveness of your business website.

There are many SEO experts, but finding one you can trust is likely going to be a problem. If you want the name of the person that did our SEO just send us an email and we’ll share it with you.

1. It’s easier.
2. Everyone else is doing it.

It doesn’t matter whether you have a college education, PhD or whatever educational attainment you have – in general the first thing people do upon graduation from high school, college, or medical school is get a job working for someone else.

Starting your own business is not for everyone, but it IS for some. Ask yourself these 5 questions before you dive headfirst into starting your own business and make sure you’re aligned with what it is you’re pursuing: A way of life different from most, but one that is so much more rewarding.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting Your Business:

1. Would I want to work for someone else even more than I want to work for myself?

There are a lot of answers to this question. Some people are not prepared for all the responsibility that comes with owning their own business. Some people would prefer to skate through the work day and collect a check at the end of the month not much concerned about whether he or she felt good about, proud about, their work.

If you want to start your own business you’re going to be the ONE responsible and you’re going to feel really good about your work when it’s successful on any level. If you skate through the day you’re not going to find success and you’re business will fail.

2. Do I Know What’s In Store?
Have you researched fully everything you can about starting your own business? Do you know about tax issues? Or, do you know an accountant that can handle that for you? Do you know about labor laws in case you’re going to hire someone? How will you handle complaints? Do you have disclosure statement you can use for your business? What about shipping/delivery policies? Refunds? Incorporation? Business checking account? Funding? Traditional and online marketing?

There is a LOT to research and if you go at it focused you can figure everything out in about a month of 8 hour days. Make sure you know what’s waiting for you when you make the decision to go into business on your own. One of the biggest reasons for business failure is that the owner didn’t understand everything involved and plan for it – at least partially, in advance. Don’t let anything catch you unaware. Know what you’re getting into.

3. Am I Ready to Jump In?
Preparing as much as possible before you “go live” is really important. Have you done all you can to prepare and to test the market to see if there’s demand for your products or services? If you’re working another job before you launch your own business – is this the right time to quit that job, or, should you maybe wait another 6 months and save some more cash, make your website stronger, and test the market a little more?

Make sure NOW is the right time to launch your new business. Make sure you’ve done everything you can to ensure it’s success. If you can start out on a part-time basis where you’re testing everything – products, website, answering calls & email about your services, prices, and everything else that’s necessary, you’ll be in a much better position to launch successfully.

4. What If?
If the whole business goes belly-up, then what? Do you have a fall back plan? Will you regroup and try something else or go back to a day job working for someone else? If you spend all your saved money and your business goes nowhere – then what?

To be successful in starting your own business you’ve got to keep trying. You may start 6 businesses before one works – or, you may do everything you can to make the very first one work. Not every business works. But, every person that wants to own their own business will make something work for them. The human drive to succeed is unstoppable in many people. Make it unstoppable for you.

Plan on doing everything you can to ensure this first business goes well – and succeeds. There is so much help available online in the form of business articles, business training videos. Youtube has amassed a ton of positive thinking and business success videos that you could spend days watching – and maybe should.

Know what happens IF.

5. What If Everything Goes As Planned?
Know what you’re going to do if you have success. Do you have a plan outlined for how to grow your business into new markets? Maybe you’ll expand your product inventory to include new items and services? Maybe you’ll hire a sales pro to answer phones and free yourself up to do marketing or whatever it is you do best.

If you’re starting a 1-person business you don’t need a business plan. I know that may run contrary to what you’ve heard. What you DO need is a really strong idea what you’re doing, where you’re going with the business, and how you’ll handle adversity and success.

Writing up a list of goals for the business and how you’ll approach each is a great idea as is following the general outline of a business plan and filling in the blanks for each section. A business plan is generally for banks and investors to see -it’s a detailed document that takes a LONG time to prepare. New business owners facing the task are overwhelmed by it. If you don’t need it – don’t do it.

But do have a plan – an outline for success. Do have people you can go to and ask questions. Do write email to someone that provides a similar service or sells a similar product as you – but in a noncompeting market – and ask them questions. You’ll be surprised at how many times people will help. They wish they had someone to go to for questions when they were starting out.

Answer these 5 questions and then jump…

Good Luck!