Brent's CRM Blog

Maybe I'll Be Right About This International Solopreneur Stuff

At the end of last year I wrote about how I thought this year will be the year of the International Solopreneur for my Black Enterprise online column. Then I followed it up with an article on essential tools for the solopreneur for my first monthly post for Inc. magazine's technology site.

I've received a number of emails from people who also believe this the year for them to step out there and use the web to become world renown international solos. And then I found that the folks over at AOL Black Voices re-blogged my BE article for their site, but added a survey question asking people if they were going to "go solo" this year. Here are the results:

That's pretty incredible. Over 700 of the 1031 people said that they plan on starting a business this year. Now I'm not naive enough to think that all of these folks will really start a business this year, but my best wishes go out to all that do.

If that wasn't enough to make me feel good about things, talking with USA Today small business columnist Steven Strauss really reinforced my prediction. Steve, who also wrote The Small Business Bible, was on our radio show talking about small business trends for this year. He also believes it's a great time for the little guys to use the web and compete on a larger scale. Check it out below:

All I can say is Solos of the world, Unite!

Technorati : solopreneurship

New Inc.com Technology Column - Essential Tools for Solopreneurs

I will be writing a monthly article for Inc.com's technology site (http://technology.inc.com) and the first one hit the site this week. It's on essentials tools for the solopreneur. If you get a chance check it out and tell me what you think.

Thanks!

Technorati : inc.com, solopreneur

International Solopreneurs...Get A Professional Email Address!!! Please???

This will be short and sweet. Please, all you international solopreneurs out there, do yourselves a HUGE favor and get yourself a email address that doesn't end with @aol.com, @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com, @gmail.com, etc, etc, etc. Except for the aol email address, of which I used to have years ago, I still have all of the above active. And I am a heavy user of my gmail account. But when it comes to my business card, I use my @crm-essentials email address.

It just looks so much more professional to have an email account that isn't free, because it makes it appear like your business isn't really all that serious. And it costs next to nothing to get a professional domain these days. In fact, you can get a free domain when you sign up for something like Microsoft Office Live.

Our most recent guest on the radio show was Microsoft's marketing director for Office Live, Michael Schultz. Please, please, PLEASE listen to this if you're even remotely interested in understanding the importance of getting a professional web presence for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy and inexpensive it is now to upgrade your image with a nice website and professional email address. Also check out the first segment discussing this year's Small Business Summit taking place in New York next month. Enjoy!

Technorati : michael schultz, microsoft office live, soloproneurs

Solopreneur Tools: Will Zoho Give Microsoft and Google A Run for Their Money?

First off, thank you all SOOOO MUCH for the overwhelming response I've received from my BE.com proclaiming 2008 to be the year of the international solopreneur. I really had not anticipated the quantity and quality of email people sent me. It's always gratifying to know that folks appreciate something I put out there, but I really enjoyed the stories people shared with me with respect to their solopreneurial dreams and aspirations. I would like to share a few of them but will need to get permission from them before I can do so. In fact I'm planning on doing more writing on this subject as well as adding a solopreneur spotlight segment onto the radio show once I get it out fleshed out in my mind.

In the meantime one of the questions that I received over and over centered around tools that aspiring solopreneurs can begin using to get things started. There are a number of them that I will be covering over the next several months. But today I thought bring up a company that is putting together a slew of nice tools that are easy to use, pretty cheap, and in some cases these services are totally free. Now I could be talking about Google or Microsoft, but you already know about these guys. But have you heard of Zoho? Now would be a good time for you to check them out. They have many of the same online services as the big boys, and then some. From word processors, to spreadsheets, project management, web conferencing, slide presentations and even CRM. I've been checking them out for the last eight or nine months, and have been really impressed with what I've seen so far. Just recently I spoke with their chief evangelist Raju Vegesna and came away even more impressed than before.

Now I haven't been able to get hands on with all the things they're putting together, but do plan on doing so in the weeks and months ahead. But they are making some really smart moves, like making their tools available even when you're offline. And they were quick to make a few of their tools available on the iPhone, as well as some nice integrations with Facebook and other services, like Box.net's online storage service. But everything isn't wine and roses, as the wiki tool isn't the greatest, and they don't have a blogging tool or any deep integration with the leaders in the space. And I have to take a second, closer look at their CRM app to see how it's progressing. But they do have the resources and the determination to put together even more tools for the SmB crowd. And the emphasis on the "S" was done purposely, because Zoho does seem intent on being a player when it comes to providing tools for the little guy.

So you should check Zoho out to when you get a chance. And check out the below snippet of a conversation I had with Office 2.0 conference organizer Ismael Ghalimi to get his take on Zoho.

If you want to hear the whole conversation with Ismael below is a link to the show. Office 2.0 is something every serious solopreneur should be aware of, and Ismael is the guy in the middle of it all :

http://www.businesstechnologyradio.com/recentshows/tabid/25382/bid/2924/Office-2-0-Online-Video-Ads-and-Their-Impact-On-Your-Small-Business.aspx

Technorati : google, microsoft office live, solopreneurship, zoho

Fearless Non CRM-Related Prediction for 2008: The Rise of the International Solopreneur

I used my www.BlackEnterprise.com column this week to throw a prediction out there for 2008. It's called 2008: The Year of the International Solopreneur. It's a short and sweet little ditty about why I think everything's in place for those one man (or woman) bands out there with the guts and determination to become world-renowned at whatever it is they want to do. If you get a chance to check it out let me know what you think.

Technorati : entrepreneur, small business, solopreneur, trends