[Power_Advisor27]

Hi all!

My name is Ina Stanley, and I work as a marketing specialist. I'm also a small business owner, and organize a business education & networking group here in my community. I'm fairly new to the site, so I just wanted to give a quick introduction!

I'm currently working on a new guide for today's small businesses, professionals, entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations. I realize there are tons of these kinds of guides available and floating around the Web, but many lack info and techniques that are relevant and effective for today's economy. Having been a small business owner and marketing specialist for several years, I have a lot of experience and knowledge which I feel would be helpful to other small business owners and professionals, especially those on a tight budget! I built both of my businesses, and my organization, from the ground up without outside funding or loans of any kind, and have been able to successfully build a customer base (both online and off) while spending less than $200 a year total on advertising! If that kind of info wouldn't be helpful to small businesses, I don't know what would be!

I'll be including in-depth information on streamlining operations, managing finances in today's economy, finding the best funding sources, marketing effectively on a small budget (this will be the largest section of the guide, as it is my particular area of expertise), increasing productivity and building better relationships with both employees and customers, and even currently hot topics such as how to make your business a "green" business. There will also be a lot of industry-specific resources and information. I expect this guide to contain a couple hundred pages of the most in-depth and up-to-date tips, techniques and resources available today!

If you'd like to learn more about who I am, my motivation for this project and the guide itself, feel free to visit my website. I'm also looking to connect with business owners and find out what information would be most useful to YOU. What issues are currently plaguing you? What hurdles have you hit that you feel you need assistance in getting over? What do you fear most about the current economy and what it means for your business? The more feedback I receive, the better I can make this resource for everyone!

Looking forward to hearing from everyone, and getting to know everyone here on Young Entrepreneurs!

-PA27