Black Enterprise Interviews Matthew Knowles

Black Enterprise Magazine recently did a great one-on-one interview with Matthew Knowles - the CEO and President of Music World Entertainment. Knowles is best known for spearheading the successful careers of Destiny's Child and Beyonce (his daughter) - the best selling R&B group of all time and the world's most recognized female pop superstar.

Although often exalted for his accomplishments with his daughter’s superstar career, Knowles has a proven track record of more than 200 million worldwide records sales.

Book Review: "Doing Business In China For Dummies"

If you're interested in an authoritative guide to understanding how to do business overseas, this book is a great start. Whether you plan to do business in China or another country, this guide offers a lot of valuable information.

Written by Robert Collins and Carson Block, it covers all the basics, from the nuts and bolts of Chinese business and bureaucracy to negotiating with your Chinese partners. It teaches how to understand Chinese markets, develop a strong business plan, find the right employees, work with currency controls and the Chinese banking system, and sell and source. It also provides the much-needed know-how on how to manage day to day, from travel tips and advice on converting money to getting past language barriers.

Business Owners: Pay Attention To President Obama's New Law

In September 2010, President Obama approved the Small Business Jobs Act - a new law that has become a very significant piece of small business legislation. The law extends the successful SBA enhanced loan provisions while offering billions more in lending support, tax cuts, and other opportunities for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Now in 2011, those provisions have become to manifest themselves. Just recently, the U.S. Treasury Department approved more than $50 million to support lending to small businesses in the states of Connecticut, Missouri and Vermont. This might sound small, but that translates into $534 million in loans.

2011 National Black Book Festival In Houston

Are you an existing or aspiring African American author? Do you want to learn how to sell more books, get a major book deal, and network with other authors and publishers? Then you may want to plan to attend the upcoming National Black Book Festival in Houston, Texas on June 10-12, 2011.

More than 100 African-American authors and thousands of book club members and readers will converge during the largest indoor gathering of African-American authors in the world. Participating authors from more than 30 states and the Caribbean will showcase, sign and sell their books during the weekend event.

Wal-Mart To Expand To South Africa

In a bold but smart move to stay ahead of competitors, Wal-Mart, the world's bigger department store chain, is seeking to buy Massmart - a major retailer with 263 stores in South Africa and 25 stores in other sub-Saharan African countries including Mozambique, Swaziland and Namibia. Massmart owns chain stores such as Game and Macro.

Seeking to capitalize on Africa's economic growth, Wal-Mart has reportedly made an offer of $4.1 billion to buy 51 percent of the company, which will remain listed on the country’s stock exchange. If successful, Wal-Mart would become the first major international retailer to enter the South Africa market.

How To Get Business Credit Cards, Loans, and Lines

I've blogged about this organization before, but I've decided to mention them again as their free service can be very helpful to entrepreneurs in a down economy.

The National Institute of Business Credit is a non-profit organization and virtual educational resource that is using their web site at BusinessCredit.org to educate entrepreneurs about business credit. The web site offers free valuable guidance on how to qualify and apply for business loans, business credit cards, and business lines of credit. The first of its kind, the web site acts as an indispensable guide to both aspiring and established business owners.

Dr. Dre, Ludacris, and the HD Headphone Market

Billions of people worldwide listen to music every single day, and as of the past 5 years, many are listening through their iPods or other MP3 players. This has created an entirely new mainstream market of high-quality headphones. Previously, such headphones were only sold and marketed to people who worked and recorded in studios. Now, they are being marketed to anyone who loves music - specifically hip-hop music.

Several companies have emerged to take advantage of this lucrative market, and are selling high definition, high performance, studio quality headphones. A few have even paid big bucks to get major celebrities to endorse and co-brand them.

The Black Biz Hookup: Discounted Group Buying From Black-Owned Retailers

Following in the footsteps of Groupon and LivingSocial, a new group buying web site called the Black Biz Hookup has launched with merchant offerings of "Daily Deals" from local Black-owned businesses in major cities.

Instead of using call centers to get a backlog, the company has used a grassroots approach to signing up merchants similar to what Plum District implemented working the "Soccer Mom" referral circuit. They have a group of affiliates around the country acting as advocates for the website and signing up the business owners who grasp the concept.

Is Your Business Prepared For Disaster?

Linda Hunt King

Is your company prepared for the next emergency or disaster? Whether natural or man-made, can your business survive a disruption or crisis if you were closed for a few days, a week or even a month? Most organizations believe they can - until a disaster occurs.

According to Linda Hunt King, PhD, MBA, the worst disaster is the one that threatens the viability of your organization directly. Even more, 40% of businesses struck by a disaster never reopen and 25% of those that do reopen close in two years following a disaster

Macy's Launches Workshop For Minority Fashion Designers

Macy’s, a popular retailer in the U.S., has recently launched a comprehensive retail vendor development program designed to give select high potential multicultural and/or women business owners the tools to better succeed and sustain growth in the retail industry.

Held in New York City, the workshop is essentially a 4-day training course for up to 20 participants, selected from applications submitted through the web site. It includes comprehensive lessons in strategic planning, branding, merchandising and assortment planning, sales and marketing, and access to capital.

Top 10 Black Business Resources For 2011

According to the United States Census Bureau, African Americans are 5 times more likely to fail in business than their white counterparts. Furthermore, of the 27 million businesses in this country, barely 2 million or 7% are owned by African Americans.

There are tons of resources available to business owners and entrepreneurs, but because of these devastating statistics, I've decided to compile a list of the top ten resources that are specifically designed to help African Americans be more successful in business. Here they are:

Small Business Revival: Free Seminar To Explore 11 Key Principles To Turning Your Concept into Cash

Many top financial and businesses experts agree that a recession can be the best time to start or grow a business. This proven concept is the underlying theme in Andrew Morrison's free 3-night Small Business Revival held from Jan 18-20th at the International Palms Resort in Orlando, FL.

According to Morrison, who is the founder of Small Business Camp: "There's never been a better time to grow your business."

He continues, "Sometimes it just takes just a nudge to steer us in the right direction. It's my hope that my 3-night event will be the nudge many small business owners need to help breathe life back into their passion and show them how they can grow their business even during these tough economic times."

How I Got 100,000 Facebook Fans In 10 Days

With 500 million users worldwide, Facebook has proven itself to be a very innovative online tool that allows companies to interact with and even market to their existing and prospective customers.

Even non-profit organizations, publications (newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc), speakers, authors, musicians and more can use it to build and manage a following.

This is very easy to do because Facebook enables such entities to create "fan" pages (or what I call "brand" pages) - a customized profile page that allows them to share content, dialogue, photos, and resources. They can even launch custom apps, contests, and sign up forms - all from their very own fan page.

Just How Big Is Amazon.com?

According to Forbes.com, on November 29th alone, customers on Amazon.com ordered more than 13.7 million items, at a rate of 158 items per second. That was just one day of sales!

That leads us to two conclusions: 1) Amazon.com is a much bigger player in the online retail industry than we all thought, and 2) if you aren't using your web site as a sales tool - now, more than ever, is the time to starting doing so.

What To Do...When You Don't Know What To Do

While starting a new business or expanding an existing one, you may reach a fork in the road - that is, a point where you simply don't know what to do next. You may even feel that your next step will either be a breakdown or a breakthrough.

You have an end-goal in mind, but you simply don't know the next step to get there. Or maybe you do know the next step, but you are clueless on how to proceed in that direction.

Why You Need Two Facebook Accounts

500 million people around the globe have a Facebook account, and it is easily one of the most popular social networks of all time - much bigger than Myspace, Friendster, and any others you can think of. Because of this, my strong advice to entrepreneurs and business owners is to create two Facebook profiles - a business one and a personal one.

Why?

My New Book Praised As The "Black Business Bible"

My new book Black Business Secrets is receiving rave reviews and was recently praised as the "Black Business Bible". Its currently in book stores, and was written to overturn the devastating statics from the U.S. Census Bureau that say that African American entrepreneurs are more likely to fail in business than their white counterparts.

If you haven't bought your copy yet, be sure to do so you can start the new year off right. The book has tons of valuable insight, and even features exclusive one-on-one interviews with several millionaires and billionaires including Bob Johnson, Farrah Gray, Ephren Taylor, Tom Burrell, Nadine Thompson, and more.

VIDEO: Angela and Vanessa Simmons Talk Pastry Business

Despite having a little bit of star power and the help of their Uncle Russell, Angela and Vanessa Simmons should still be fully credited for the huge success of their Pastry shoe company. Launched in 2007, their shoes already have distribution in over 15 countries and are generating millions in annual revenue.

The unique assortment targets junior girls and ranges from athletic, dress, and children’s footwear to apparel and accessories. They're even planning to launch a line of Barbie dolls. Using the theme of "self-expression", their ideas have turned out to be pure genius concepts.

Black Enterprise Conference Returns To Atlanta

Black Enterprise Magazine is returning to Atlanta, Georgia for their 2011 Entrepreneurs Conference and Expo on May 22-25. The event will be held at the Downtown Marriott Marquis Hotel, and promises to be as good as last year's event - which was held in the same venue.

During the three day period, attendees can expect innovative sessions, high-powered speakers, and an early peek at the products, trends, and services you’ll need to know about to stay ahead of the curve. They'll also have the opportunity to network and interact with hundreds of deal makers, and thousands of other business owners that'll be attending.

Why Google Voice Is Good For Your Business

Google Voice is a unique telecommunications service provided by Google that offers free PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone calls in the United States. Users can also make calls to international phone numbers, but a small per-minute fee applies.

After registering, users can choose a virtual phone number in any area code. That number can, not only be used to make and receive phone calls, but also to send and receive text messages and record voicemails. In addition to this basic functionality, there are also some really cool and innovative features.