TrenderX: Sponsored: What You Can Learn About Being Agile Through AT&T’s Power of & Program (and a Giveaway!)

I love running my own business because we have the freedom to move fast. When we spot opportunities we don’t hesitate — we jump on them.

Not long ago, late on a Friday afternoon before a big holiday, we got a sales call here at Small Business Trends. I received a text alert about the call. Only problem was, our sales rep was on vacation. Much of my team was already gone for the long weekend. It would have been sooo easy to wait until the following Tuesday after the long holiday weekend for our sales rep to return the call. But I knew there was a reason the client was calling late on a Friday — he wanted to get something done. And fast.

Business deals have momentum, and I’ve learned the hard way they can lose momentum just as quickly. So I picked up the phone, made the connection — and concluded the sale with someone on the West coast by 8 p.m. that evening, Eastern Standard Time.

Despite the late hour and the fact that the team was out, through the power of technology I learned about the call instantly. So I was able to jump on the opportunity. That kind of agility and ability to pivot and move quickly paid off in dollars and cents for my company.

To compete and win today, small businesses have to radically increase their ability to sense and adapt to their operating environment. Businesses that operate with agility pull ahead of the pack. It’s important for your business and mine to engage customers, be agile, go everywhere. In a world where every part of business is moving, AT&T’s user-intuitive solutions — through the “The Power of &” — can help companies be open AND secure, flexible AND reliable, remote AND collaborative.

This June, I’m collaborating with AT&T Small Business to attend the first AT&T Small Business Roundtable discussion with entrepreneur Bill Rancic and several small business experts. The goal is to share our perspectives on business agility, how others manage the business of opposing forces, and the role of “The Power of &.”

Bill Rancic was the first winner of “The Apprentice” competition show. Today he is a restaurateur who runs the super-creative RPM restaurants.

And I’m delighted to say I will be joining Bill Rancic on Tuesday evening, June 14, in Chicago at one of his restaurants. It’s all part of AT&T’s “The Power of &” program for entrepreneurs and business people kicked off earlier this year.

AT&T’s “The Power of &” is about helping entrepreneurs like you and me engage in continuous learning and solve business challenges. The program is a combination of educational resources and opportunities such as:

Community interaction and a forum for getting answers to business challenges;
Educational resources including articles;
Videos with interesting quick lessons. One 2-minute video, for example, is hosted by Bill Rancic and highlights the business model of Threadless, a marketplace and community for artists to sell their T-shirt designs. I’ve embedded the video below. You really have to watch this video because of Threadless’s unique twist on “selling T-shirts,” proving that even an old business model can have new life breathed into it. That’s business agility!

The hub for “The Power of &” is located at a site called the AT&T Business Circle. It’s not a product site. No one will pressure you to buy anything there. Rather, the Business Circle is a community hub of free resources to help you learn and run your business more effectively.

And that’s what I like about it. I’m all about lifelong learning. Remember our motto here at Small Business Trends is “small business success … delivered daily.” That is our mission and I try to live it personally everyday. It’s too hard to go it alone. A helping hand is always welcome. Just being able to talk with a peer who’s been through similar challenges or someone with more knowledge, has helped me more times than I can say. So I appreciate the value of the Business Circle and the meaning behind AT&Ts “The Power of &” program.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

In honor of the program, we are delighted to hold a giveaway of a Microsoft Lumia 950 smartphone. This is a perfect device for the busy professional on the go and gives you the freedom to get out of the office but still be productive. It includes the new Microsoft Edge Browser for an on-the-go reading view free of distractions. You can save your favorite reads and have them organized for convenient access later.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the Lumia 950 giveaway, there are two simple steps. (1) Go check out the Business Circle site. (2) Then jump over to our form, enter your name and email address and identify the color of the header you see on the header or footer of the Business Circle site, to enter the giveaway.

Entries are open through June 28, 2016. Winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entrants. Winner must be located in the United States and at least 18 years of age. Limited to one entry per person. Void where prohibited or limited. No purchase necessary.

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