A little more...
I've been providing the U.S. Internet business community with web development services since 1997. This is my primary business. Although I have a good working business model to go on, I always try and keep an open mind, and I've attended many local small workshops put on by ACOA here in Truro. One of the workshops saved me from paying thousands of dollars in income tax.

Of course... not all of the workshops were about accounting/tax/legal and I learned other things about running a small business that I didn't know.

Interesting to note that some of the workshops leaders were small business consultants. Some of whom already had won new clients from putting on these workshops. Note: Two of the business consultants in my test of local consultants, were ones that failed my test.

So there is definitely an opportunity there to network through this agency by putting on small workshops for entrepreneurs.

None of the people at these workshops were wannabe entrepreneurs. They all had established businesses. One gentleman runs a construction crew that build log houses. His company has built log houses throughout Canada and the US and sold custom packages to customers in Europe. Another lady was one of the top local real estate agents. Another company was a couple who offered to build and install custom windows and doors. There isn't any end to the list of people who can benefit by business consultations. The group of people who attend these workshops are "hot" leads.

Absolutely NONE of these consultants asked the attendees if they would like to receive a bi-weekly email newsletter that would offer them tips and tricks to help them grow their business even more. Most of them didn't even make sure every one who left the meeting had their business card. Sadly... some of these consultants have no idea how to capitalize on an opportunity. If they can't do a better job of managing their own business, I doubt they could do much for me...

Yeah... you never know who is paying attention to small details like this.

I think the people that will gain the biggest advantage for their business this year are those who can perceive the Internet as a communications tool and provide websites that engage their users. Through blogs, discussion forums, tele-seminars, and newsletters we can achieve this. Blogs are certainly going to account for a major percentage of this.

My site traffic has doubled since I started blogging again, but still 50% of my average (10,000 visitors per month) are coming in through my discussion forum. Discussion forums are good too. My friend Dr. Paul Hartunian once said "if you are an expert in your field then you can never give away too much free information."

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan