Women’s Business Initiative from American Express OPENSM
American Express OPEN is dedicated exclusively to the success of small business owners and their companies. American Express OPEN provides an enhanced set of products, tools, services and savings designed to help make it easier for you to run your business. Our growth tools include charge and credit cards, robust online account management capabilities and savings on business products and services from OPEN Savings® partners.
- The Women's Business Initiative from OPEN® supports women business owners like you in a combination of ways:
- Rewarding partnerships with leading women's business organizations that foster innovation and learning.
- Valuable educational resources, such as a new OPEN Book series. Simply log onto OPENForum.com to learn more about these resources.
- Founding Sponsor of Make Mine a Million $ BusinessTM, which provides select female winners with the money, marketing and mentoring they need to break the million-dollar revenue barrier.
American Express OPEN Resources
Your stories and suggestions continue to inspire us to innovate and to evolve as we seek to serve you better. To help bring your ideas to life, American Express OPEN not only provides valuable payment products, but also provides the resources to help you grow your business. This resource page is designed to give you the tools you need to continue on your path to success. Below, you'll find information about the following resources.
- OPENForum.com
- Events
- OPEN BOOK on Government Contracting
- OPEN Insight Guides
- OPEN Women's Business Initiative Team
OPENForum.com
Click here to find tips to help you run a successful business with this collection of videos, articles, expert blogs, and more. We've gathered content from some of the best resources on the web — rate it, forward it, comment on it.
- Talk with other business owners and get advice - click on a category to find groups and topics relevant to you. Click here for Business Advice.
- From big ideas to big challenges, we want to hear about your experiences and your company. We'll select a few stories to be featured in the "Small Business Spotlight" and even on our home page. Tell your business story. Click here for the Small Business Spotlight.
- Tap into the expertise of leading small business bloggers. Click here for expert Blogs.
- Join Discussion Board conversations about topics and issues relevant to your business, and get advice from other business owners. Click Here to join the Discussion Board.
- Listen in on OPEN’s conversations with the pioneering founders of Facebook and Wikipedia or watch the legendary Sydney Pollack, Nancy Meyers and Lawrence Bender. Click here to go Inside the Entrepreneurial Mind.
OPEN BOOK on Government Contracting
Learn how you can capitalize on your small business status, where to find outreach programs that can help you prepare bids, how to get certified, and more. You’ll also find expert advice and a Cardmember Story of Teresa Daytner* that may show you how to get your piece of the public-sector pie.
*Make Mine a Million $ Business Award Winner 2006
OPEN Insight Guides
American Express OPEN’s Insight Guides provide practical insights for business growth. Our guides have been developed to provide you with direction in management skills, financial tools and guidelines associated with running a business.
Marketing Your Business on Search Engines
When it comes to marketing your business online, few tactics may be as effective as using search engines. After all, the first stop customers and prospects make online to find information on products and services like yours is usually a site such as Google, MSN or Yahoo!. The challenge, however, is ensuring that they see your business in their search results. Click here to download this worksheet.
Building and Protecting Business Credit
Responsible credit management is essential to small business success. It can help your business get the money it needs when it needs it and at a good rate. Strong credit can also help your company close deals since many companies now check credit on vendors before agreeing to a contract. It is difficult to predict when your business will need to borrow, so savvy businesses work toward demonstrating responsible credit management long before funds are needed. Here are some steps you can take to help ensure that your credit profile prepares you for borrowing. Click here to download this worksheet.
Building and Maximizing Your Network
It’s not what you know but who you know – there’s truth in this business maxim. Knowing the “right” people – those who can help your business thrive – is the payoff from successful networking. Click here to download this worksheet.
Attracting Top Talent
In today’s competitive talent marketplace, you need to think about attracting new employees to your business the same way you think about attracting new customers. It’s not enough to just post a job ad anymore – you need to think carefully about how you want to convey the values and unique benefits of your business, and then create consistent messaging that will reach the kinds of people you want to attract. Click here to download this worksheet.
Growing Your Business Through Email Marketing
Email marketing can be a cost-effective way to acquire new customers, and to enhance relationships with your current customers. Done correctly, email marketing can help you build trust – the foundation of all successful business relationships. Click here to download this worksheet.
Building a Sustainable Business
Why green your business? For many companies, the initial motivation is financial. Energy and other consumables are commodities. And like most commodities, if you use less, you pay less. Beyond bottom line savings, being green can help your company in other ways. Click here to download this worksheet.
OPEN Women's Business Initiative Team
Click here to meet the American Express OPEN team dedicated exclusively to the success of women small business owners and their companies.
