I have two favorite apps on my smart phone – Words with Friends and Pocket Whip (thank you Howard Wallowitz for introducing that little gem).  However, if you have a home office there are several applications that could be invaluable for your business.

From Real Estate By Missy,

iAnnotate- this is an app that I use frequently to open an attachment, make changes, and then save in my dropbox files.
Scan2PDF: take a picture and it turns it into a PDF
Docusign: this is a great mobile version of the classic electronic signature program
Pages: This is Apple’s version of Word
Keynote: This is Apple’s version of Power Point

All of these are great suggestions.  Here are some of mine:

Mapquest – a free app that give audio directions.  Just plug in your charger because it will eat your battery life!

QR Reader – to read those pesky QR codes because I’m that nosy!

Bump – a wonderful way to share photos without eating up your data plan (both phones must have the app loaded)

Skydeck – a reverse phone number lookup service

Good luck!

I know plenty of successful small businessmen.  I can describe each of them with one word – TENACIOUS.  They all have a certain tenacity and stubbornness that gets them through day after day, week after week, month after month.  This is much what Funny About Money says regarding personality traits of successful small entrepreneurs,

The most essential trait a home business owner needs is self-motivation. No one is going to “make” you do what you’re supposed to do to earn money. You have to be able to get yourself going, and you have to keep yourself going, even when you don’t feel like. The ability to motivate yourself is vital for a successful home business.

What are three other personality traits? Read the article to learn more!

Photo by Sean MacEntee.

A start-up company won the Facebook contract to produce and distribute business cards to look like the social networking site’s new timeline.  Moo.com is offering to print and ship free business cards to the first 200,000 users – or approximately 10 million cards.

The cards can feature a different photo image on the front of the cards together with a favourite quote or saying on the reverse. This will doubly act as a promo for Facebook’s Timelime as people will be able to take snapshots of their lives from their Timelines and put them onto the cards.

Facebook spokesperson Jillian Stefanki says “The MOO.COM integration makes it possible for people to take [the Timeline] experience with them offline.”

Always suspicious, I went in and looked.  I was one of 200,000 so am getting 50 business cards for free! I didn’t like the profile picture it’s using, but for free cards I will live with it!

Whether you sell real estate, whether you are a private contractor, whether you loan money to family or friends – always get the terms of the agreement in writing.  The hard part is plowing through what could be uncomfortable for the self-employed. However, a signed contract or agreement will protect both you as an entrepreneur and a client.

Capital Concierge shared an experience about how – although there was no agreement in place – it still worked out,

I fast discovered my friend and I were not on the same page!  Suddenly, we found ourselves in a disagreement because there was no agreement.  I didn’t know what to do.  I value my friendship with this person and didn’t want the relationship damaged yet, I had my expectations of the event too.  The truth is, there wasn’t much I could do.  The real problem lied in what I didn’t do, taken the time to go over the agreement to engage which includes the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved.

Thankfully it all worked out in the end, but still drives home the point that when you get something in writing it can hold up in court!

Has there ever been anything you want to buy, but you have to leave town to get it?  Chances are other people may want the same thing.  So as you fish around for business ideas, consider that.  Now JUMP in if it’s something that’s a necessity item like food.  That’s what Mike did when the local grocery (and ONLY grocery) closed,

… a young man Mike Redd who had worked at the store, and now had no job took the chance and with the help and support of the town reopened the store. Now our little town has an even better grocery store Redd’s Mercantile. And jobs are restored along with hope. It was a big chance but it, is a success that is good for our town. So if you own your own business or are thinking of starting one remember the keys to success are hard work, self belief and community support.

Nice job, Mike!

Photo by Amanda Govaert.

With so many businesses that fail in their first year or two, trying set one up frugally is a must.  Then as you grow, you can expand into bigger and better.

Russell Cavanagh of business posts.co.uk offers some frugal tips for startups,

Don’t go daft buying office furniture. Larger charity shops, and even other businesses, may have desks and chairs they’re selling cheap.

Exploit free advertising opportunities such as free online business directories. Also, get mentioned in your local newspaper.

Russell offers several other really great ideas.  Thanks for sharing!

Photo by Taro the Shiba Inu.

My sister in law sells her knitted granny squares on eBay and aggressively promotes them on her Facebook page where she has thousands of friends thanks to Mafia Wars and other games.  I’ve noted recently that she’s shifted from calling them pieces for afghans and started calling them “potholders.”

Apparently she makes some profit from her online business.  But it’s not for everyone, according to Steve at bripblap,

It was a good deal at first, and some of the items – surprisingly things like religious icons – sold very well.  But it was a HUGE amount of work to deal with the posting, packing, shipping, dealing with “special orders” and so on.  We tracked time spent on it for a while and finally realized – after our Turkish connection got greedy after seeing our resale prices and raised his – we were making pennies per hour, especially considering eBay’s never-ending price hikes.

We had thought about starting our own online store, but after some lengthy investigation determined that it just was not worth the effort and more people lost major amounts of money than the few who were successful.

Photo by Fern R. via flickr creative commons.

From our friends at Brip Blap is a link to 12 money saving cell phone apps that it pays to have.  Frugal Dad focuses big time on recipes, coupons, and places to find gas on the cheap,

Mint – No money-saving app list would be complete without Mint.com. Mint is an on-the-go personal finance app that gives users a detailed financial picture across multiple accounts. Categorized budgeting info gives you an up-to-the minute spending picture for the month, so it’s easier to keep your finances on track. Available on Android and iPhone. Price: Free.

A friend of mine introduced a couple more that I don’t use enough:

Shopkick began because we believe shopping could be much more rewarding, simple, and full of great offers. So shopkick is the first app that lets you collect rewards imply for walking into stores and shows you great offers. You can also collect kickbucks by scanning products in grocery stores and pharmacies and even for check-ins at thousands of places!

My friend has earned over $100 so far using Shopkick.  She also suggests snappr, code reader, and coupons.  All are free because I’m too cheap to buy!

Being self employed can be extremely satisfying, rewarding, and produce unlimited income. Well the potential is there, anyway.  There are several options for making more money – one of which may be unpleasant but it *could* solve some problems… get a second job.

I worked three jobs for the past year and now have a nice little savings account built up. It was not easy. I spend quite a bit of time away from home.  My feet swelled.  My back ached.  But now I’m back down to just two jobs.

Facing reality is sometimes not optional.  Here are more ideas on how to make more money from Be Better Now,

One idea for a starting a business is to get money from your hobbies. For example, if you are into crafts, you can sell them on Etsy. You get the fun of creating the craft, the joy of knowing that you made someone’s day, and made a little money in the process.

Need another tip? How about a dog walking or sitting service. Around here in Silicon Valley, overnight dog sitters are $40-50 a night. If some enterprising and trustworthy person offered to take my dog for $200 for a week while we were on vacation, it would be a big savings for us. We just need to find that person. You could be that person, take my money, and have a week with a lovable dog (you should really be paying me money).

There you go… tons of ideas. Now get to work!

Photo by Stacey Z. via flickr creative commons.

I have seen people start their own businesses and lose almost everything. I have seen people start their own businesses and be wildly successful.  There are key factors that have determined whether a business flourishes or fails:

1.  There is a measurable need for the business.

2.  A marketing in plan is not just in place, but also vigilantly adhered to.

3.  The business owner works at least 50-80 hours per week when first starting out.

4.  Failure is not an option.

5.  Confidence and determination.

6.  AT LEAST six months of prior salary saved (a year would be better) as the business starts.

Have you ever started your own business?  What are your tips?