By Rieva Lesonsky

Have you missed any of my blog posts around the Net this week? Here’s a roundup:

Will going “back to school” save the economy? Find out in my “Survey Says” column on AOL Small Business.

Americans’ online behavior is changing. Learn how in my post on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite.

In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever for entrepreneurs to help each other out. See what I mean in my post on the SCORE Women’s Success Blog.

If your health insurance costs are rising, maybe self-insurance could save you money. Get the scoop in my post on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends.

Are business owners risk-takers? Not when it comes to their finances, shows a new report I blogged about on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends.

The world of serial entrepreneurs—people who love the thrill of startup so much, they can’t stop with just one business, but keep launching more—has long been considered the territory of men. But are more women becoming serial entrepreneurs?

In this article, Forbes argues yes, although it offers only a few examples (Bliss spa founder Marcia Kilgore, who went on to launch FitFlops exercise shoes and Soap and Glory beauty products after selling Bliss, is one).

At Springboard Enterprises, which connects women-led startups with venture capitalists, two-thirds of the organization’s “graduates” say they are serial entrepreneurs.

And David Barsky, a former professor of entrepreneurship and management at Temple University, has done research which suggests that “businesses of female serial entrepreneurs have come to rival the businesses of male serial entrepreneurs in terms of revenue.” Barsky says women serial entrepreneurs are a new phenomenon, but one to be reckoned with.

One serial entrepreneur quoted in the article thinks maybe women are better suited to serial startups because in daily life, they’re used to multitasking and juggling many roles—just what a startup entrepreneur has to do.

To be sure, serial women entrepreneurs are still relatively few in number. Most women-owned businesses don’t generate $1 million in revenues. But it’s hard to argue with Barksy’s numbers, Kilgore’s continual success and the fact that once they experience business ownership, few women (or men for that matter) want to go back to the life of an employee.

What do you think? Are you noticing serial female entrepreneurs (or are you one)? We’d like to hear from you.

Google announced today a new feature that categorizes e-mail messages based on importance. Meant to unclutter the ever-crowded inbox, this may pose some new challenges for e-mail marketers. From a deliverability standpoint, if an e-mail is delivered to the “non-priority” area of a customer’s Gmail inbox, it’s similar to being delivered to the spam folder.

However, small business marketers don’t need to worry. In today’s guest post, Melanie Attia, Product Marketing Manager for Campaigner e-mail marketing, offers three top tips to help you make sure your e-mails get through.

1. Remember the Big R – RELEVANCE!

Relevance has always been a golden rule when it comes to e-mail marketing – if you aren’t providing relevant information, your customers simply aren’t going to open your e-mail. Want to make sure customers with Gmail accounts mark your e-mails as “priority?” Provide them with relevant information they will want to read. It’s really that simple.

2. Analyze Your Results with Every Campaign

The reporting tool in Campaigner is designed so that you can get a sense of open rates, click through statistics, etc. Now more than ever you will need to watch these statistics – if you notice a difference, you may need to reexamine your campaign (see the note on relevance above).

3. Ask Your Customers!

For small business owners, any new obstacle also presents an opportunity, and Priority Inbox is no different. Use this as a chance to reach out to your customer base and ask them what they’d like to see in your e-mail marketing campaigns and how often they want to hear from you. Incorporating their feedback in future e-mail marketing efforts means that your messages are more likely to be classified as “priority e-mail” with customers using Gmail.

Overall, as e-mail programs like Gmail give users more control over how their e-mail is classified, marketers are tasked with consistently delivering material that customers will want to open and read. Though no two customers are the same (one may love getting daily coupons from a store, while another may find that a nuisance), the bottom line is that e-mails that are relevant and valuable have the best chance of being a priority read for your small business customers.

By Karen Axelton

“Crowdsourcing,” or turning to groups of people to get ideas or complete a project, has been a hot topic for a while now—and seems to be growing by the minute. But is the crowd always smarter than the individual?

Last week’s episode of Project Runway, the reality show where designers compete to create the winning garment, suggests not. In the August 26 “challenge,” the 12 contestants were split into two teams of six and asked to design a collection of six garments.

One of the teams, dubbing itself “Team Luxe,” featured the best designers on the show; the other team was sort of a “Bad News Bears” of contestants who’ve lost challenges and had, as judge Michael Kors would say, “severe taste issues.” Moreover, the team with the better designers was led by Gretchen, a contestant who had won several challenges and was emerging as the leading contender to take the final prize.

But what happened? Team Luxe decided to submerge their individual personalities, come up with a collection of clothing that merged everyone’s style together and all work on the pieces as a group. The lesser team gave each of its six members free reign in designing his or her own garment, as long as it adhered to some basic principles so there would be unity among the outfits.

In other words, Team Luxe “crowdsourced” its designs. What happened? Well, the results were shocking to any Project Runway watcher, as the better team sent out a collection of outfits that were more hideous than a J.C. Penney catalog spread circa 1972. With not a whiff of personality or flair, these clothes hurt your eyes to watch. The judges were disgusted.

Meanwhile, the lesser team wowed the judges with a collection of six looks that were not only coherent, but somehow showed each designer’s individual flair.

What’s the lesson for entrepreneurs? Listening to the opinions of everyone on your team is fine. So is getting input from your customers or prospects. And you can even take advice from a random “crowd” you source on the Internet, if you want to. But when it comes down to the final decision of what action to take, what product to make or what road to follow in your business, you need a strong individual—or individuals—to take the reins. Otherwise, your final product or service will as bland as institutional gruel—and something no customer will want to pay for.

Are you a party planner, event organizer or otherwise involved in the world of festivities? Here’s a fun trend to know about: According to The New York Post, a growing number of adults are planning kid-themed birthday parties.

The Post cites several celebrities, including designer Betsey Johnson, politicial Charles Rangel and actor Tracy Morgan, who have held kiddie parties. But the trend is also trickling down to the non-famous. One party planner quoted in the article, Matt Toubin of Shine Events, says 10 percent of his clients are planning kid parties for themselves and looking for things like water-balloon races, roller skating, Pac-Man games, cotton-candy and snow-cone machines and “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” games. Many are wealthy, successful people who have hosted elaborate birthday parties for themselves before–”but those parties are boring,” says one birthday boy quoted by the Post.

“New York is such a pressure-filled city, these people who work in finance or legal professions put in thousands and thousands of hours — they want to celebrate in a bigger way,” Toubin says. “These parties let them revisit their past, to a time when everything was fun and they didn’t have to worry.”

The Post theorizes the trend is hot in New York because so many residents are childless (so they have never planned a real child’s birthday party), have busy social lives (so they’re jaded by fancy adult parties) and have the funds to splurge. But I can easily see the concept spreading to the suburbs. After all, what harried parent or stressed-out middle manager wouldn’t relish a day to retreat to the safety of childhood and be the center of attention once again?

business financing

Dreaming of quitting your day job to start the business you’ve always wanted? It’s not too late to win Daily Candy’s Start Small, Go Big Contest.

The website that spotlights the coolest clothing, restaurants and other trends has hit its 10^th anniversary and, after 10 years of writing about many successful and creative entrepreneurs, is taking steps to help new ones blossom.

One winner from each of the site’s signature categories (fashion, food and fun) will win $10,000, a trip to New York City, a write-up by DailyCandy editors, and a day at DailyCandy Academy, where you’ll hobnob and brainstorm with industry bigwigs, who used to be right where you are.

Visit Daily Candy’s website to enter, but hurry—the deadline is September 6.

Missed out on any of my blog posts from around the Web this week? Here’s the latest. Like many of you, money has been on my mind lately, and I’ve written a lot about various capital concerns. I explored the buzzed-about ”seed fund” concept–hope or hype?–in my post on AllBusiness.com. On Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends, I looked at why more entrepreneurs are turning to microfinance these days.  Also on Small Business Trends, I explored the apparent disconnect between women entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

Speaking of women, there’s also a disconnect between how men and women view the state of the economy. Read more in my post on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite.

When your PR efforts pay off and you’re lucky enough to get interviewed on TV or the radio, what do you do? Get my tips from the Biz.gov Industry Word blog.

Last, but not least, what do 99 percent of entrepreneurs really want? Find out in my Survey Says blog on AOL Small Business.

The lack of women in technology has been discussed and debated for years. Now three prominent women are doing something about it. Blogger Arianna Huffington, designer Donna Karan and Sarah Brown, wife of former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have teamed up with i/o Ventures to select the most promising female technology entrepreneur.

The winner of the WIE (Women, Inspiration & Enterprise) Prize will receive up to a $25,000 investment in her company; 4 months of free office space at i/o Ventures headquarters in San Francisco; and mentoring from i/o Ventures founders Aber Whitcomb, a co-founder of MySpace; Ashwin Navan, co-founder of BitTorrent; Jim Young, co-founder of HOTorNOT.com; and Paul Bragiel, co-founder of Lefora.

The award will be presented at the WIE Symposium in New York City in September.

“We believe that female entrepreneurs are under-served and we want to help; we think that mentorship is important but even more so putting real money to work,” said i/o Ventures’ co-founder Paul Bragiel in announcing the award.

But hurry—the deadline to apply is September 10. Get details at the WIE site and enter here.

The Food Channel has come out with its predictions of the top 10 snack trends. Here’s a rundown:

1. Chip and dip 2.0. Traditional chips and dip are making way for new varieties like hummus and falafel chips; chips are healthier, spicier and often served hot.
2. Small and sensational. Consumers are eating more substantial, protein-rich snacks as meal replacements, and eating them more frequently. The Big Mac Wrap at McDonald’s is one example.
3. The drink shift. Beverages are moving away from colas and energy drinks and toward teas, lemonades, fruity organic waters and carbonated fruit drinks. The trend is focused on health and interesting flavors.
4. Goin’ nuts. Media focus on the healthy aspects of nuts mean more popularity for granola, nuts and fruits, and smoked nuts growing more popular. Unique flavor combinations like cashews with pomegranate and vanilla, or dark chocolate with caramelized black walnuts, are popular.
5. Fruits. New types of fruits are going mainstream; locally sourced fruit is hot. Fresh fruit is now the No. 1 snack among kids aged 2 to 17.
6. Cruising the bars. Granola bars are now offered in dairy-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, organic, soy-free, cholesterol-free, trans-fat-free and casein-free varieties, as well as bars for different demographics like kids and women.
7. Sweet and salty. Consumers are craving sweet-and-salty combos like pretzels with Nutella or fruit with a side of popcorn. More sweet-and-salty options are popping up in vending machines.
8. Yogurt, redefined. A focus on health and probiotics, plus global flavors such as Greek and Icelandic yogurt, are emerging; self-serve frozen yogurt shops are the latest twist on the fro-yo trend.
9. Bodaciously bold. Bold flavors are becoming more popular and getting stronger.
10. Nostalgia’s new again. Hostess Twinkies, Ding Dongs, TastyKakes and Little Debbies are all getting their due, with restaurants using these old standbys (or their interpretations) in new ways to create gourmet desserts.

Whether you’re starting a business or changing up your menu, these are trends you need to know about.

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

There’s so much to understand with the Health Reform Bill, a business owner, like myself, can get lost. One provision I recently learned about was one which recognizes breastfeeding and requires all employers to provide break time and private space for nursing mothers to pump breast milk at work. I guess the federal legislation only covers hourly workers, and not salaried, but some state laws cover both.

It’s heartening to know breast-feeding workers won’t have to worry about being castigated for using their breaks to express breast milk that is so vital for developing babies’ immune systems. It’s also one of those laws that you think, “Really? They had to make this a law to make some employers open-minded and show a little humanity?” Jeesh!

When I was pumping for my two young ones (years ago) there was never a question my office would find a space for myself and other lactating women to express in private. Of course, my boss was a woman and the staff at that point were having babies left and right, so it all seemed quite normal. I did hear about other workplaces where this was not the case, and I found it shocking.

The Department of Labor, just last month, published a Fact Sheet to clear up some of the questions employers might, such as small businesses with under 50 employees are not required to provide the breaks if they can show “undue hardship” and the bathroom does not count as a provided private space.