Scripps Howard Columnist, Bruce Freeman, Small Biz Professor

Bruce Freeman
The Small Business Professor ®
Speaking Engagements

To the readers of 400 papers across the country, he is known as Professor Bruce. In his weekly nationally syndicated column, “Ask the Small Business Professor?” Bruce gives expert advice to small-business owners from qualified professionals.

Bruce is also an engaging speaker who shares his front-line entrepreneurial experiences as well as insights on the successes of entrepreneurs in the news. Bruce has been a featured guest on CBS Radio, Bloomberg TV, the Joan Hamburg Show and many other programs. He also speaks frequently to a wide range of organizations.

In his dynamic presentation, “The Entrepreneurial Mind,” Bruce explores the inspirations and motivations driving American entrepreneurs – and highlights entertaining and educational aspects of building a thriving business in today’s economy.
Testimonial
Bruce Freeman, “The Small Business Professor” spoke at our recent Lunch and Learn program. Bruce’s presentation, The Entrepreneurial Mind, is a fresh approach to identifying what it takes from the mind and soul when starting your own business. As a speaker, his warmth and humor complement his tips and the audience enjoyed and benefited from his presentation.”
- Karol McNulty, Executive Director, Milburn-Short Hills Chamber of Commerce
To hear interview (podcast) with Liz and Joan Hamburg – WOR Radio: http://www.wor710.com/pages/57303.php?contentType=4&contentId=172612
Speaker, Author, Columnist, Entrepreneur, Professor

Bruce Freeman is a successful entrepreneur. After being fired from a management position in a major publishing company in 1991, Bruce started his own marketing and public relations company, ProLine Communications, on a "hope, a prayer and a home equity line of credit.”

His newest venture, Birthing the Elephant: the woman’s go for it! guide to overcoming the big challenges of launching a business (with co-author Karin Abarbanel ) has just been published (Ten Speed Press, Berkeley CA, March 08).

Bruce’s first column with Scripps Howard (The Small Business Professor), a series of case studies about successful entrepreneurs and lessons learned along the way, won the US Small Business Administration Journalist of the Year Award (NJ 2006). In addition, Bruce Freeman is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University where he recently won the 2007-2008 excellent adjunct professor teaching award.

For more information: Please visit www.smallbusinessprof.com or call 973-716-9457.

Associated Press story - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25001930


Does the media bury the real issue?
When a huge corporation lays off 20,000 workers (and the national unemployment rate rises to 5.5%) where do they go to support themselves and their families?

The subprime mess…the economy in recession…companies cutting jobs left and right. While the pundits argue about whether the unemployment rate is 5.3% or 5.5%, no one is talking about the suffering behind the statistics.

When someone else is unemployed, the unemployment rate is 5.5%; when it’s you, the unemployment rate is 100%. The real issue? The devastation, emotional as well as financial, that losing a job creates. Women are often the hardest hit: In two-paycheck families, their income is critical. Many are single or divorced and sole breadwinners.

Faced with the ax, fed up with job insecurity or reinventing themselves in mid-life, more and more women are taking control of their financial futures by starting small businesses. In fact, every 60 seconds five more women catch start-up fever and launch new ventures -- that’s 200,000 a month – and more than 2.5 million women a year. But many of them may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Launching is daunting! One-third of all new businesses don’t make it past year two. More than half won’t make it past year four. Beating the odds isn’t easy. It takes more than deep pockets or a promising product. It takes emotional staying power.

The biggest start-up hurdle women face? You might think it’s money. But seasoned entrepreneurs know the real key to success is winning the “small business mind game.” Many women focus on 2Ms: Money and Marketing – and neglect the 3rd M: Motivation.
A big mistake! Because emotional stamina is at the heart of small-business survival.

That’s where Birthing the Elephant breaks new ground: It’s the What to Expect When You’re Expecting for aspiring women entrepreneurs. It offers a practical road map to the rocky emotional terrain they’ll face in the first critical 24 months of their venture –that make-or-break time when every decision counts. Step by step, it shows women how to:

• make the transition from employee to entrepreneur
• survive the “fall apart” phase that hits every start-up
• strengthen their “resiliency muscle”
• avoid costly pitfalls that can derail their dreams

Birthing the Elephant can mean the difference between success and failure. Packed with go for it! strategies from cosmetics founder Bobbi Brown, designer Liz Lange, and other entrepreneurs, it empowers women to deliver on their dreams.

Karin Abarbanel runs a marketing communications firm and served as the spokesperson
for Avon’s “Corporation to Cottage” initiative.
Bruce Freeman, nationally known as the Small Business Professor, is a syndicated
columnist for Scripps Howard News Service.

To hear Bruce interview on Professionals with IMpact:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/33431