How To Be Featured in Black Enterprise Magazine

If you are an entrepreneur, you have already met the first qualification to be featured in Black Enterprise Magazine and other business publications. But there's more work involved!

Here are three tips:

1) Distribute Press Releases With A "Personal" Angle.
To increase your chances of being featured in Black Enterprise, it's best to be a well-respected and well-known business owner amongst the local and/or national media. A great way to accomplish this is to regularly send out press releases about yourself as a part of a consistent personal branding effort.

The press releases should focus on recent and upcoming developments, with an angle that predominantly highlights you as the principal of the company. For instance, if you win an award, are speaking at a function, or have an upcoming appearance on television - these would be appropriate angles.

5 Reasons Why You Aren't Making Any Money

You are not running a business, unless you are actually making money. That money doesn't necessarily have to be all profits, but there should be some type of ongoing cash flow - even if you're just breaking even. Business means commerce, and commerce means the exchange of money for services and products.

Sadly, many minority-owned businesses just aren't producing revenue like they should. Some will open their doors for business and close just a year later - having never made a dime. In rare cases, it can be for legit reasons. But most of the time, if your business is not making money - it's because of one or more of the following five reasons:

Facebook Investor Giving Away Small Business Grants To Teenage Entrepreneurs

Peter Thiel, an early investor in Facebook, has launched the Thiel Fellowship to foster the next generation of tech visionaries. The new program will support 20 teenage entrepreneurs under 20 years old with grants of up to $100,000. The cash grants will be used to further their innovative scientific and technical ideas.

In addition, over a two year period, Thiel's network of tech entrepreneurs and philanthropists—drawn from PayPal, Facebook, Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund, the Singularity Institute, and others—will teach the recipients about creating disruptive technologies and offer mentorship, employment opportunities, support, and training.

Should You Change The Name of Your Company?

Some argue that you should never change the name of your company because you are destroying the brand that you invested so much time and energy into. I agree, but in my opinion, this only applies to companies that are already profitable and actually have brand recognition.

However, for companies that have never reached profitability and have no real brand awareness, changing the name may be an extremely wise thing to do.