Article of Interest: More Women Starting Businesses

According to American Express OPEN’s 2014 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, nearly 9.1 million women-owned businesses currently operate in the United States, generating over $1.4 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.9 million people.  Women are launching 1,200 new businesses a day.

The report also found that between 1997 and 2014, the number of women-owned businesses increased by 68 percent, 1½ times the national average rate of 47 percent.

Learn more:  Upward trend in women-owned small businesses

Screenshot courtesy: American Express OPEN Forum

Article of Interest: Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2012

It's that time of year -- nearing the end of December. A time to reflect on where you've been and where you're headed with your business.  As you plan, are you aware of what may be hot in 2012? But first, before we get to it, does this sound like you?

Small-business owners don’t care what’s cool. They care about what’s practical and what seems obvious—and that’s not always what gets buzz.

If it is, have a look at:

5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2012

Prepare your business for another spectacular year of growth and profits.

Article of Interest: Becoming a Disruptive Innovator

Photo credit: Kheng Guan Toh

If you can't beat them, disrupt them!  That's the call to action on this nifty little article by Matthew May for the American Express OPEN Forum.  Not only does he cover that, but how to do it -- create the disruptive business model. 

Read the entire article here.

Article of Interest: How to Take Content Marketing to the Next Level

If you are stuck on how to kick it up a notch with your business relative to your content marketing strategy, this article offers some good advice (short case studies) on how three companies -- Mint, Hubspot and America Express OPEN Forum (one of our favorites!) -- attained success.

Read the entire article here.

Illustration credit here.

Article of Interest: 11 Ways to Create Great Online Content

Are you trying to snag new clients for your business with the content you produce on your website, blog, Facebook or Twitter platforms?

Then take a good long look at these magnificent ideas on how to WOW your readers, actively engage them and integrate the material across all online media channels.

Snippet (which begs me to ask you: Are you a silo-buster?):

11. Bust silos. Do you have a print newsletter? Do you produce a regular podcast? Run a version of a print article on the blog, upload the best headlines to Facebook, post transcripts of your podcast online, and chat everything up on Twitter. A lot of the ideas here reinforce the notion that you should not silo your content. Rather, sprinkle it freely across any of your platforms. It's important to think like a publisher, and leverage any publishing platforms you've created.

Read more here.

Article of Interest: How Great Companies Achieve Double-Digit Growth

"5 Actions for Double-Digit Business Growth" was written for the Idea Hub: American Express OPEN Forum. See if it's helpful in taking your business to the next level.

Snippet of one action:

Hold on to your hats — I mean customers! If you can’t do that, you are in denial! “One of the easiest ways to improve growth is to slow the loss of your existing customers,” says Treacy. Losing customers left and right? Then figure out why and change course.

Read the entire article here.