When thinking about marketing online, most businesses think of obvious solutions like Google Adsense, or other types of advertising that basically involve shouting: “Look at me, everyone! Now come buy my stuff!”

Sometimes it seems like other methods are almost completely ignored. One of these is forums. Forums provide something typical online advertising can’t – a direct connection between you, and a potential customer. Read more…

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a guest post written by Timothy Ng, a personal finance writer.]

When you go into business on your own, you do so to market a product or sell a skill and chances are that skill has little to do with accounting.

As a small business owner you are passionate about your dream, your product, your service and your customers and as a result, keeping your accounts in order can come in very close to the bottom of your priorities.

While it is easy to contract your accounts work out to a virtual assistant or an offsite bookkeeper, as a responsible small business owner – and to ensure you are a successful one – you still need to understand the basics of your business accounts and systems. Read more…

My business has recently helped develop a unique and potentially ground-breaking new website called “War on Experts“. In the media and information saturated world we live in, this website has the potential to make a global difference by helping people identify reliable experts.

War on Experts officially launched earlier this week, so I sat down with the founder (who wishes to remain anonymous) to discuss this exciting new concept. Read more…

From time-to-time I will be reviewing a business book here at the wecancreate blog. Since I am very selective about the books I choose to read (and hence review), you can be assured that I will only review books that I have personally found useful.

This week, I’ve just finished reading “Crush It: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion“, by Gary Vaynerchuk. Let’s take a look. Read more…

Have you ever noticed how many businesses are like politicians? This might sound like a strange concept, but hear me out.

What do you think of when you think of the average politician? What are the hallmarks of their public “brand”?

Well, usually it’s a mix of the following: Read more…

From time-to-time I will be reviewing a business book here at the wecancreate blog. Since I am very selective about the books I choose to read (and hence review), you can be assured that I will only review books that I have personally found useful. The style of my reviews is probably more similar to a summary of the book, so unlike a typical review, you can actually expect to get some wisdom out of these, regardless of whether you end up buying the book or not.

This week, I’ve just finished reading “Rework”, by the guys from 37 Signals. Let’s take a look at it. Read more…

How would you feel if I told you that by the end of today you can save your business approximately $2000? All you need to do is provide me with your credit card details … just kidding. :P

Okay, I’ll admit that the heading of this article sounds almost too good to be true. But stick with me here. Let’s start by taking a quick look at one of the major expenses associated with running most small businesses. Then we’ll look at how to reduce those costs with minimal impact to your business. Read more…

If you think this photo is confusing, then wait until you read about Trusts ...

In the last few tutorials in this series, we’ve taken a look at two of the four main business structures in Australia – the Sole Trader business structure, and the Partnership business structure. Now it’s time to look at another business structure – the Trust. The main benefit of operating a Trust is that it gives you flexibility in how income is distributed.  Read more…

If you read a book on leadership, or even google “what makes a great leader”, here are the typical types of responses you’ll get:

A person who has:

• desire
• vision
• creativity
• expertise
• respect for others
• problem solving abilities
• self-confidence
• communication skills

*Yawn*

This reads like the selection criteria of some boring government job. They’re just words. They don’t mean anything. They’re vague and ambiguous.

Now, I’m not denying that the above are very important elements in what makes a great leader. But they’re too general. I have a new theory of leadership (one that basically incorporates all the above by default). I would like to propose the REAL secret to what makes a great leader.

And here it is … Read more…

In the last tutorial in this series, we looked at one of the four main business structures in Australia – the Sole Trader structure. Now it’s time to look at another business structure – the Partnership.  Read more…