What would you do business-wise if Internet marketing went away tomorrow? Could you still run a successful business?

In my last couple of posts I mentioned how I feel with the growing popularity of social media and blogging as a means to grow your business has in many ways made some entrepreneurs lazy.

True it is possible to grow your business by only networking online and never off, but limiting yourself in such a way could be a huge mistake.

One of the main reasons for starting a business is to generate wealth. Yes, freedom to do what you want and be your own boss are other reasons, but without the wealth, you won’t be able to do any of those for long.

If you own a business and want to generate substantial wealth, don’t let your knowledge of the Internet (which is a strength) become your Achilles heal in business. What billionaire or even millionaire do you know sits at home, blogs, toys around with social media and comments back and forth on blogs every day all day long?

Craig Newmark, owner of Craiglist.org A social media entrepreneur that does more than sit at home all day at the computer in his PJs Image by AP/Stephen Chernin source Wired

So much has already been written on how powerful of a marketing tool social media can be that I don’t want to spell it all out again here. Visit Problogger, Copyblogger, Dosh Dosh, and sites like those to learn more.

The major downside I see with social media is how much time and effort it can take to create a profit.

For example, I’ve been seeing a lot lately on how to grow your blog. One of the more popular ways is to comment on other people’s blog in order to get those bloggers to in turn visit your blog and read and comment, in other words, return the favor. This is probably one of the best ways to quickly build your comment section and community.

We all know the economy sucks. We hear it in the news, we read about it in print media, and we read about it online.

I see shows on MSNBC and CNBC with people arguing with one another about how to better our market and we see experienced entrepreneurs shelling out helpful advice to help your business grow.

Then I get online and read articles and blogs which teach us about the effectiveness of social media marketing and how many people use this as their only means of marketing and building their business.

For example, they leverage social media sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, and del.icio.us to help drive “targeted” traffic to their site. Another idea is to comment on other people’s blogs in order to get other bloggers to comment on your blog as a strategy to get your website noticed and talked about.

No one with any sense advertently forms a general partnership these days, yet I hear over and over again new entrepreneurs looking to start a business with a partner mention how they want to form one.

As any smart business person should do, you need to first research your options available and listen to those who know.

The worst way to hold any assets or to do business as a partner is a General Partnership.  In my opinion, it’s all negative and there’s absolutely no advantage whatsoever.

Ok, what is a general partnership?

Here’s the definition: A general partnership is one in which all partners are general partners.

More specifically when a group of individuals (two or more persons) agree to collectively act as a business, a general partnership is formed. The emphasis here is on general. Most people have found that you can sue not only the partnership for all the assets it has, but if it doesn’t have enough, you can go after the individual partners and reach their personal estates. Ouch!

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

How many times has this rung true for you? Whoever first spoke those words was a wise person.

About a week ago a close friend went on Craiglist.org, Las Vegas looking for a rental home. They quickly became excited when they ran across a home advertised for rent in an excellent part of town for a monthly rent price $300 - $400 less a month than similar homes.

They quickly replied to the post and soon after they received a reply from the supposed owner of the house in a message that looked like this:

Good hearing from you am Dr Eric Neville,the Leaders of (WHO) world health organisation appointed by the World Health Assembly on 9 November 2006..

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Thinking positive will create positive outcomes,” or something similar.

Uh . . . yeah, whatever.

I am a believer that part of being successful is having a positive attitude, but to create successful outcomes and win in business, you need to do more.

I know times are rough these days not only for entrepreneurs, but for nearly everyone. Gas prices are still hurting businesses, people are afraid of spending too much, credit companies have tightened their lending rules; heck - even here in Las Vegas where there are a number of huge hotels and casinos, jobs are hard to come by.

If you’re a small business owner and struggling to make ends meet, you probably see two options ahead of you: close up shop or try to weather the storm. Of course, times will get better. They always do.

But what do you do while money is tight?

Article by Theresa Hoff

One of the hardest things for new business owners to figure out when forming a new corporation or partnership is how to split profits.

Often times 2 or more entrepreneurs will enter a business venture with the notion of sharing profits 50/50. But what happens when one person does 90% of the work while the other only contributes 10%?

Is this still a fair split?

To complicate things even further, what if your business partner was a family member or close friend? If you’re the one doing 90% of the work but only receiving 50% of the profits, how do you go about approaching your partner with a request that you take home more of the profits?

Here’s one possible solution.

Do You Have The Right Business Structure?

This is where so many people who try to save a dollar and incorporate themselves without really understanding the different business structures can do more harm than the pros of saving a few bucks.