Here is this week’s summary of useful news for small businesses owners and entrepreneurs:

Is Your Business a Sellable Business? 

Mitch Biggs, the Vice President of Brokers for Bluestone Group, recently had an article he wrote reprinted on Noobpreneur.com where he discussed the three factors that savvy business buyers look for when they evaluate a business to buy. These key factors include:

1)      Is the business profitable?

2)      Will the business run well without the current owner?

3)      Are the financial records adequate?

Mitch also noted that you should begin serious preparation to sell your business 1 to 2 years in advance.

Two Reasons Business Owners Sell Their Businesses  

John Warrillow, the author of Built To Sell: Turn Your Business Into One You Can Sell, recently asked the head of mid-market M&A for an investment bank that specialized in selling companies as to why business owners sell their businesses. The reasons he was given:

1. Unsolicited bid.
2. Health scare.

John then noted that if you want to get the highest price for your business, you should not leave your exit planning up to somebody else or something else that don’t have control over.

5 Small Business Myths That Prevent You From Starting One 

Cath Lawson has posted an entry on her blog where she outlined five dangerous small business myths that put people off from starting a business. She then asked her readers if these myths had put them off from starting a business and already a number of them have posted their thoughts and opinions in the comments section.

5 Tips to Help You Save When Creating a Small Business Website

Arkadij Shkolnik, the PR director for SiteValley.com, has written a post for Small Biz Bee with several tips to help you build a small business website without wasting money. However, he noted that these tips should not be taken as a universal cure all as some projects may need a hi-end solution which cannot be free or done on the cheap.

The 200 Slide PowerPoint Solution 

Seth Godin has written an interesting post on his blog where he wrote that the next time you have to sit through a 40 minute presentation with slides, consider a radical idea: Have a presentation with a slide every 12 seconds and hence, 200 slides in all. At the end of his post, he wrote that he was hoping his exercise will help readers realise that you might not need any slides at all or having 50 or 100 slides might actually pick up your energy level and make your arguments more coherent.

The Top 5 Social Media Posts 

Jeff Bullas has noted on his blog what his readers believe to be the top five social media posts for the past 90 days. These top five social media posts were:

1. 30 Things You Should Not Share On Social Media 
2. The 7 Secrets to Ford’s Social Media Marketing Success 
3. 20 Things You Should Share On Social Media 
4. Twitter Reveals 11 New Facts on its Traffic and Usage
5. How To Use Twitter For Business: 5 More Incredibly Interesting Case Studies 

He then asked his readers what other topics about social media that they would want to learn more about.

10 Tips for Researching Your Market Before You Start a Small Business 

James Adams has written a guest post on Noobpreneur.com listing 10 tips for researching the market before starting a small business. These tips will help you know your customers and study the competition as well as set goals which will help your small business succeed. 

Intel's Renee Kuriyan Wittemyer has written a fascinating article about computers in the developing world. She argues that they must be affordable and empowering but also "socially viable" which means "meaningfully connected to people's lives an aspirations." The whole article is worth reading but here's a video summary.

Designing a comfortable office work environment is about more than just aesthetics. After all, your employees may spend more time in your offices than they do just about anywhere else – including in their own homes. 

Hence, a recent Inc. Magazine article by Lois Goodell, a principal and the director of interior design at CBT Architects, is well worth reading as it is packed full of tips about how to design a productive office work environment. Some of the useful office design tips she gave included the following:

• Heating and Lighting: Temperature and lighting can be the biggest complaints by office workers. And while lighting is easier to address through proper fit-out design, Goodell noted that tenants will need to ask the landlord and other tenants in the building a few key questions before signing a lease to determine just how much control they will have over temperature.
• Open vs. Closed Space: Open space floor plans are designed to encourage collaboration, but Goodell pointed out that such a layout may not be the best design when employees need to concentrate on an important task or project. One possible solution to this problem is “hoteling” where more private offices can be reserved or used when needed.
  
  
• Flexibility: Flexible office space designs are more productive than fixed office space designs. Hence, Goodell suggested having workspaces of a common size with interchangeable components that can then be easily customised to the specific needs of a particular user.
  
  
• Sustainability: Besides being environmentally friendly, Goodell noted that offices designed with sustainability in mind will also improve the comfort of office workers inside.
  
  
• Ergonomic Design: Working with an ergonomic design consultant can actually save you money as ergonomically designed furniture and workspaces will reduce the number of days your employees are absent and lost productivity due to discomfort. At a minimum, Goodell suggested surveying employees to find out what they need to be comfortable.
  
  
• Technology: Modern Wi-Fi technology means that the design of your office no longer needs to be dictated by technology and connectivity to network outlets. (HP currently has a special offer that gives you a free access to more than 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK and a free Vodafone 3G USB Modem Stick – together worth £150 – when you buy a new HP EliteBook or ProBook – see www.hpultimateconnectivity.com)

Goodell concluded by writing that an office space will (and should) reflect your company’s personality and culture and this “personality” can easily be tweaked as often as you like as your company evolves over time – important points worth considering. 

For more advice on increasing productivity, check out the articles on the main HP Business Answers website.

Netiquette varies depending on where you are. If you are thinking of getting into social media for your business, lurk - anonymously observe - before you leap. For more information about social media marketing, check out the articles on HP’s Business Answers site.

1. Have respect for others when you are online. Never forget that the person reading your mail or posting is a person, with feelings that can be hurt.
2. People cannot tell what mood you are in by the way you type. Typing in CAPS is akin to SHOUTING.
3. Keep emails short and sweet, use descriptive subject lines and think twice before copying someone into an email unnecessarily.
4. Don’t use a business Twitter account for chatting or personal conversation use direct messages or e-mail or instead.
5. Don’t tweet too much and avoid writing messages that are more than one tweet long. Tweets should favour quality over quantity.
6. Try not to follow more profiles than you have followers as users may think you are a spammer.
7. Create user-friendly profiles. An online profile is your virtual business card - it needs to be informative, honest and professional.
8. Invite friends and acquaintances to connect, but do not add strangers. You do not have to accept friend requests or event invitations.
9. Think before you post. Pictures, comments, blog entries can all be saved and forwarded on to others. Don’t post anything private or unprofessional in a public medium – it may come back to haunt you.
10. If you’re a publisher or blogger, you need to pay attention to usage rights for photographs. If you want to use a particular image and it’s not licensed to allow usage, just contact the photographer or buy images from a reputable image library like iStockPhoto.

Dear HP,

I'm taking my HP Mini on holiday to Florida soon. How do 'connect' successfully and do I need any accessories for my mini.  Also, do I use the adapter you normally take with you on holiday. Do I need to purchase a dongle abroad?  Help!

- Jetsetter

Here’s what I do. To recharge, I bought a cheap plug adaptor at the airport and I just plug my existing power cable into that. HP Notebook power supplies are designed to work with US and UK voltages so you’ll be fine. To get online overseas, I mainly use Wi-Fi wireless networking. Lots of hotels, cafés and airports have free or pay-by-the-hour connectivity. However, you can also use 3G wireless broadband over the mobile phone network. It’s probably easier and cheaper to buy a prepaid dongle in Florida when you get there if you don’t have easy access to Wi-Fi. You can also buy a prepaid SIM card for an existing dongle or built-in 3D mobile broadband modem (which is what I have). If you search the web, you can also find suppliers who will sell you a US SIM card or dongle before you go. The final option, which is the most expensive but most convenient, is to enable global roaming on your existing dongle or SIM card and pay roaming charges when you get there. However, on my smartphone, this runs to £6 per megabyte so the bills quickly mount up. I hope you have a great trip – send us a postcard.

(If you have a question for our IT Agony Aunt, please use the form on the main Business Answers website.)