How Do I Know that an email is Really from eBay?

Protecting your identity is an important part of staying safe online. Some identity thieves send emails that look like they are from a company you know and trust, asking for personal information. These are known as "spoof" emails.

The Top 50 U.S. City Slogans

1. What Happens Here, Stays Here. Las Vegas, NV
2. So Very Virginia. Charlottesville, VA
3. Always Turned On. Atlantic City, NJ
4. Cleveland Rocks! Cleveland, OH
5. The Sweetest Place on Earth. Hershey, PA
6. Rare. Well Done. Omaha, NE
7. The City Different. Santa Fe, NM
8. Where Yee-Ha Meets Olé. Eagle Pass, TX
9. City with Sol. San Diego, CA
10. Where the Odds Are With You. Peculiar, MO
11. Where Your Ship Comes In. Gulfport, MS
12. Soul of the Southwest. Taos, NM
13. Experience Our Sense of Yuma. Yuma, AZ

As business consultants, we have seen many businesses fail resulting in great pain for the entrepreneur/owner through the loss of invested personal savings and the severe impact of the failure on credit ratings in many cases. Statistics from several sources including the Small Business Administration reveal the mortality rate is quite high for small businesses, especially in the first years of formation.

Viral marketing, otherwise known as “word-of-mouth” marketing has become a huge part of marketing strategies in today’s Internet marketing campaigns, but is the least understood concept by even the savviest entrepreneur. What is so cool about viral marketing is that instead of spending large amounts of money on traditional methods such as newspaper ads, TV commercials or banner ads, you spend nothing – and let your fans do all the work for you.

Starting your own business can be one of the most rewarding things some people will do in their lives. At one time or another we have all thought of starting our own business. The idea of business ownership is ingrained in our American culture.

Locally we have the Texas Tech Small Business Development Center here to help start a new business as well as offer counseling for existing businesses. The SBDC has been in Abilene for over 21 years and all of its services are free. Below is a list of tips to consider before you ever think about starting a new business.

1. Follow you passion

In general, the hardest task facing entrepreneurs starting a business is building a loyal base of customers, since many potential customers already work with other more established businesses, and they are not interested in risking working with a new business. This is one of the challenges that are typical and to be expected in any start-up situation entrepreneurs need to be aware of, along with the tasks of meeting and overcoming the challenges while building the businesses reputation at the same time.

Small business center a big hit with SBA

By Kyle Peveto
Monday, April 21, 2008

Texas Tech University's small business development center, which operates a satellite campus in Abilene, was named the best small business development center in the country Monday by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Part of the responsibilities an entrepreneur has when trying to successfully operate their business is developing the traits and qualities of a good leader, qualities that inspire confidence and trust from not only employees, but customers as well. Confidence they have that you know what your doing and trust that you will do what you say you will do, in addition to other attributes any good leader must develop and use before anyone willingly follows them.