June 2011

What makes a business a great place to work and what makes it a great entrepreneurial place to work are vastly different qualities. Offering robust benefits and high salaries is great, but creating an environment that encourages teamwork and creativity is usually more important for growing businesses.

Best Buy has their employees engage in Twitter streams. IBM and Intel are encouraging blog participation. Big business is embracing social media in a big way. So what does this mean for you as a small business owner?

Smartphones are sometimes described as pacifiers for adults. That only applies if the devices are treated like toys. Before downloading yet another restaurant finder or bird-themed puzzle game, consider the following apps to help improve productivity.

If you use a mobile device for business, here are five things you can do today to ensure that your data is protected on your mobile devices:

Rod Kurtz is the executive editor at AOL Small Business and all around small business expert. Prior to joining AOL, he was senior editor at Inc. magazine and small business editor at businessweek.com.

In 1990, Noah Freedman and Bruno Ricciotti became quick friends while attending Central High School in Philadelphia. That friendship became the inspiration for the name of their Manhattan-based privately-owned real estate firm, Bond New York.

While Groupon’s popularity has exploded, its service is primarily business to consumer. However, there are several B2B group discount sites to choose from, including bizydeal.com and GroupPrice.com

ccording to a March survey conducted by the Intuit Inc. Small Business Employment Index (blog.intuit.com), small business employment and the hours worked increased.

In a recent survey conducted by Citibank, as small businesses are looking to grow, an increasing number of business owners are using social media to market their companies and reach more customers.

Recently my friend, Yacov Wrocherinsky, founder and CEO of Infinity Info Systems, and fellow “entrepreneurial adventurer,” was invited by the US Navy, along with 10 other Young President Organization (YPO) members, to spend 24 hours aboard the recently commissioned USS George Bush; the latest of the Nimitz class aircraft carriers

LetsLunch.com is a new resource that uses information from users’ LinkedIn profiles to find relevant professionals to match for face-to-face networking.