I'm terrible at remembering names.

I was never great. After having my children, my pregnancy brain did not completely go away (for those of you who have never been pregnant, when you are, your memory is shot!).

So I've gotten used to writing a person's name down after meeting them.

My best friend, on the other hand, has the memory of an elephant. We've run into people who she played volleyball against once when we were 12 and she remembers exactly who they are.

I've always been terribly jealous of this skill, so when I came across an article written by Ron White, the 2009 USA Memory Champion, I didn't skip a beat before inviting him on our show.

(By the way, if you're wondering what he had to do to become the USA Memory Champion, bear in mind that he memorized the order of a deck of cards in less than 1 minute and 30 seconds and then organized a second set in the same order -- amazing!).

We just taped the show, and Ron gave me a test. I won't give away whether I passed or not, but I will tell you what he told me -- that anyone can learn to have a good memory. It's just a matter of practice.

Why is this important in business? Well, if you don't know the answer to that question then you have to work on your customer service skills. So much about keeping your customers is making them feel important. There's nothing worse than someone who you've met before giving you a big smile and saying, "Hey, you!"

So, don't forget to tune in to the show this Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. ET on MSNBC (or you can watch the show on our Web site after Sunday).

Ron's tips are easy, and they could save you and your business some embarrassing moments.

This week, I'll be interviewing Karen Gordon Mills, the new head of the Small Business Administration, or SBA -- the government agency that provides support to small businesses.

What questions do you have for Mills?

Post them here and I'll ask some of them in my interview.

A few weeks ago I got a call from an angry neighbor who wanted to know if our neighborhood bylaws include any restrictions on door-to-door salesman.

She called me because I'm the president of our neighborhood civic association and one of my main jobs is fielding tons of phone calls from irate neighbors who want me to make their lives easier.

I thought it was an odd question for her to ask. So many people who have been laid off or have seen their hours cut have chosen to start direct sales businesses, including door-to-door sales, so I figured let's help out those in our community that need a hand.

I've had many visits lately from people trying to sell me stuff at home, everything from neighbors selling cosmetics to clothing. And also strangers selling magazines or promoting a new business in town by giving out coupons.

Andrew Shure, CEO of Shure Pets, a direct-selling distributor of pet products that also has independent sales reps selling its wares door to door, has seen an increase in interest from people wanting to work for them.

"In the current economic environment I've found that people are seeking new and innovative ways to supplement their income, and direct selling provides people with a platform to make great money while networking and keeping busy," he said. "People are turning to direct selling because it can be an immediate solution to earn supplemental income in a world where the job market is not secure or consistent."

Direct sales, especially knocking on people's doors, could be one of the toughest jobs around. I know some people, not just in my neighborhood, are reluctant to open their doors to people they do know let alone ones they don't know.

Growing up in New York, I developed a strong sense of suspicion, and even though I usually do open the door to strangers I always wonder if they're casing the joint.

Well, imagine my surprise when I got an email from the Better Business Bureau cautioning people to beware of door-to-door sales people.

Here's an excerpt from an e-mail from BBB spokeswoman Alison Southwick:

With summer nearly upon us, door-to-door salesmen are hitting the pavement and Better Business Bureau is warning the public about a scam that is knocking on doors across the country.
 
In the last 12 months alone, BBB has received complaints from consumers in nearly every state who bought magazine subscriptions from crews of young adults selling door-to-door. According to complaints, the young sales reps might claim to be a neighborhood youth trying to raise money for charity, a school trip, or even for troops in Iraq. The victim pays with a check on the spot, but the magazines never arrive.

Yikes.

When you hear things like this, should you start rethinking your neighborly ways?

Another neighbor called me recently to complain that the family next door to her had a sign on the lawn offering lawn services. Supposedly the guy who lived there was struggling to make ends meet so he as looking to make extra cash.

The neighbor sounded like she wanted us all to get our shovels and pitchforks and go over there to burn down the sign because it was lowering the standards in our middle-class neighborhood.

I told her I wasn't going to do anything about the sign and she hung up on me. But it got me wondering about past economic downturns and how people were able to survive as a community, especially during the Great Depression.

A historian told me a while back that it was, in part, the generosity of family members and the kindness of strangers that helped our society pull through.

So, should we keep opening up our front door or pretend we're not home?

Send me your thoughts.

I'm a big fan of finding a mentor or a counselor to help you launch or grow a business, but that doesn't mean everything they tell you is right.

Lately, a couple of entrepreneurs told me horror stories about advice they got early on in their careers.

One woman who runs a successful fashion Web site told me this week that a small business counselor actually discouraged her from leaving Corporate America and starting her own firm.

Thank goodness she didn't listen.

I tell you this because I'm going to encourage many of you out there to take advantage of a free counseling opportunity, but if you attend I want you to promise to take everything you hear with a grain of salt.

SCORE, a small business counseling program made up of retired executives who volunteer their services and a resource partner with the Small Business Administration, is now holding "speed coaching" sessions around the country.

Why everything has to be speedy these days, I don't know. But I digress.

"It's a chance to talk to our counselors one on one," says Martin Lehman of SCORE New York. "In these times people need help."

The sessions aren't that speedy, about a half hour each, and the events will also include workshops on business planning, financing and marketing.

Alicia Ingram, owner of Atlanta-based marketing solutions company ANI Communications, attended one of the speedy sessions last week.

She's looking to start a new division in her company and needed some advice on how to prioritize what she needed to do.

"For me, what I got most out of the half-hour session was I had someone to help me think through where to start. I solidified my elevator pitch," she explained.

But, like I said, not everything you take away from a counselor is helpful.

Leanne Chase, president of Career Life Connection, was excited about attending a SCORE meeting in Boston, but didn't end up with much help. Despite that, she plans on attending again next week.

"My business is Web based and the person I met with initially had just tried PayPal for the first time during a misunderstanding with an Ebay purchase," she explained. "To be fair, he was not an 'e-commerce' guy. I'm meeting with one of those next week, but he gave me no confidence that he or SCORE could help me take my business to the next level."

She's staying open-minded, but feels SCORE is more helpful in "nuts & bolts -- how to put a business plan together, how to evaluate a business idea, but not how to take a newly-launched business and get it to the next step."

Ingram, who got more out of the event, suggested interested entrepreneurs do their homework on the advisors they'll be meeting with to find out if it's a good fit.

For cities and dates for the SCORE event, done in partnership with American Express OPEN, check out this link.

Have you ever received bad business advice? Did you take it? What happened?

Looking forward to your comments.

One of my regular guests, Phil Town, author of the book "Rule #1," has offered us the following advice many times on the show:

"Hire slowly, fire quickly."

Training employees is expensive, so if you're going to go through the effort make sure you're doing it with the right person (hence, "hire slowly"). And paying for an employee who is not doing his job well is costly too, so get rid of them as soon as possible (hence, "fire quickly").

Phil is very clear that he does not believe in giving workers many chances (if any at all).

If you've been in this situation yourself, you know it's easier said than done.

In a small business, people often work so closely that they become like family. So when it's time to lay people off, the employer may have very intimate knowledge of how this will change that individual's life -- how they may have trouble paying their mortgage, or their child's school tuition expenses.

Or it could be even simpler than that -- the employer may just like the employee personally, or perhaps the employer is worried about how firing someone will change the dynamic of the workplace.

Because of the state of the economy, there are a lot of qualified people out there looking for jobs. Multiple guests have said on "Your Business" that this is the time to swap out people. If you have someone on your team who is not performing as well as you think he should, replace that person. People are available right now, and they're going cheap.

I recently had a long conversation with someone who was struggling with this issue. On the one hand, he knows that he could probably find someone better than the person he has to fill one particular position. On the other hand, he feels terrible about the idea of laying someone off in this economy.

He said that, as a business person, he knows that he should focus on his company, not his employee's personal situation, but that as a person with a heart, he cannot help but care about someone who has worked for him for the past year.

For the time being, he's decided not to replace that employee. He's going to give that individual a chance and hopes that with some more training and managing, she will do a better job.

I know that Phil Town would say that he's making a mistake. I'd love to hear what you think about this topic. Are you struggling with the same issue? Send me your thoughts.

I keep hearing lately how a recession is a good time for people to start businesses.

Call me cynical, but this sounds like something a crazy person would say, or someone just being counterintuitive to get attention. There's a lot of that going around lately.

"It's completely counterintuitive," agrees Thomas Koulopoulos, author of "The Innovation Zone: How Great Companies Re-Innovate for Amazing Success."

But he still thinks there's some benefit in unleashing your entrepreneurial juices during a crummy economy.

"It's not going to be a cakewalk. I'm not going to be Pollyannaish about it," he maintains.

However, he adds, with so many people unemployed right now and the prospects of finding comparable work not that great, "why not take that break and innovate something, provide a benefit to folks, or start a new business?"

The question for me still is, is it a good idea, especially now?

He offers five reasons why it is a good idea:

    1. Many people will fall back and try to create their own venture while looking for new employment and waiting for the economy to get better. Of necessity, many of those folks end up building their own businesses at a time when costs are low and labor is relatively cheap. These new business often deliver the same services as their past employers at a far lower cost with lower overhead.
    2. Large companies are far less likely to interfere with competing employees and small entrepreneurial ventures even though they may pose a threat, since they have bigger problems to content with; therefore, innovation flourishes under the radar.
    3.  Powerful new alliances are formed among unemployed workers who join forces to recreate everything they felt was wrong with their old employers.
    4.  The companies that are started in a recession are very capital efficient and don't need a lot of money to keep going.
    5.  The abundant supply of cheap office space to rent and talented staff are easier to find.

OK, ok, so there are some good reasons. But I needed examples of companies that actually were born during tough economic times.

To that, he offered this list:

1876 GE
1931 Allstate Insurance
1939 HP
1954 Burger King
1955 McDonalds
1957 Hyatt
1973 FedEx
1975 Microsoft
1976 Apple Computer
1980 CNN
1981 MTV
1992 Cliff Bar
2000 Methods (soaps)

Hmm. There's still this particular recession, one of the worst on record. Maybe this economy is different than the rest. Indeed, credit markets are squeezed, and good luck getting a loan to fund your idea.

"When you're in the middle of a recession people always want to say this is different," he says. "They're right, but most small business owners get their funding from home equity loans or refinancing their house." And with low interest right now, he adds, that may be an option for many people.

Another factor making it easier for entrepreneurs to follow their dreams, he says, is social media and networking.

Good points, but what do you all think? Did you start a business during an economic rough patch? Or have you shelved your dreams until things turn around?

Many of you who read my Twitter post a couple of months ago took me up on the offer to get on the social networking site and started tweeting to help promote your business.

Unfortunately, many of you just don't seem to get Twitter yet (don't worry -- I'm not going to name names).

You can't just tweet over and over again about your products or services. Well, actually you can do whatever you want on Twitter, but just listing products in hopes someone will head over to your Web site and buy your wares is going to get you ostracized, aka un-followed, and fast.

For the majority of people out there that don't know, first I'll start by explaining what the heck Twitter is.

Don't pretend you know. You may have heard about Twitter on TV, but you're still scratching your head. I just spoke at a women's leadership conference in Omaha and when I asked an audience of 200 plus people how many of them didn't know what the heck Twitter is, 99.9 percent of the attendees raised their hands.

What makes Twitter so different from other social networking sites is that it's like a mini blog that is perpetually updated, but not by just one blogger.

The millions of people on Twitter update this public blog with small notes of 140 characters or less called "tweets."

So millions of people can potentially see your tweets. What better way to market your business?

The key is striking the right balance when promoting your stuff on Twitter.

People that tweet, for the most part, are looking to share interesting information. If you can share a great article, or an interesting video, be assured, you'll soon be getting a ton of followers. That's how it works. You follow interesting people and people follow you. The more followers you have, the bigger your audience.

Instead of focusing on what not to tweet, I thought I'd share an example of an entrepreneur, new to Twitter, who seems to have it down.

Tracy Barnhart owns the Web site MiniMeGeology and her Twitter handle is minimegeology. Her company sells rock kits for kids.

She's been on Twitter since Jan. 1 and believes it's helping to enhance her business. She hasn't done a breakdown on how many people actually found her on Twitter, but this past quarter her sales are up 25 percent over last year.

"I had heard people talking about it and at first I thought it was kinda silly," she admited. "But then I started using it and realized I could find people interested in the same things as me, or customers interested in hearing what I had to say."

Here's how she tweets:

If you have snow: Teach your kids about metamorphic rocks. Make a snowball and squeeze hard, see it change from snow to ice = metamorphism.

Good morning everyone! I'm working on igneous rocks today. Got a favorite? I'd love to hear it!

Need Easter Basket items? Check out our sister site www.MiniMeGeology.com. Mention twitter and we'll send you some rock candy w/ your order.

She maintains a nice balance of informing and trying to push her product.

Twitter has also provided her with a great business-networking tool.

She's in the process of hiring a sales team and found a prospect through a woman she met via Twitter who owns a toy store in Virginia.

Yep, it's all about making connections folks.

Have you started using Twitter, or any of the other social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to promote your business?

(Go over to Twitter.com and check it out for yourself. You can also follow me at www.Twitter.com/careerdiva and ask me how you're doing.)

I attended a trade show down south last week and was surprised at how busy it was. In spite of the economy, attendance by both exhibitors and attendees was strong.

In fact, many companies I spoke to told me that this is not the time to skimp on marketing. While most of them are not planning any over-the-top campaigns, they're still continuing with efforts to attract leads and customers. So in light of that I wanted to go back to a story we did a while ago on "Your Business" called Trade Show 101.

Now more than ever, if you spend thousands of dollars on a trade show, you want to make sure you get a return on that investment.

Here's what we learned from Bill Lynch, Operations Manager for the Fancy Food Show in New York City, and from Dan Cohen of Clearbrook Farms who has been exhibiting at trade shows for more than 30 years:

--Never leave your booth. It sounds obvious, right? But it isn't. If you've ever worked a trade show before you'll know there are times when it's so slow you want to walk around to combat the boredom, or you're so sick of giving the same pitch that you feel like you're going to pull your hair out. It doesn't matter. You have to stay at your booth. After all, what's the point of being there if you're not actually there?

--Follow up on your leads. It's easy to collect leads these days. Most of the professional trade shows allow you to rent a gadget that will take someone's conference card and record their information for you to use at a later date. Be sure to add notes to those contacts -- a little something to make your future communication a little more personal.

--Read all of the show materials. Bill told us that exhibitors can save up to 40 percent of their expenses by just reading the show materials, where they'll find out about deadline dates, how to order the right supplies (so they're not adding things on at the last minute, which costs more) and how to deliver their booths to the show at a reasonable price.

--Take advantage of show specials. This is different for each show, but there may be discounts for first time exhibitors.

--Smile and look people in the eye.

Having an exhibit at a big trade show can cost anything between $10,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It all depends on how you put together your booth.

These days, it's pretty easy to put together a nice booth without breaking the bank. You can get professional looking signs at advantumdisplays.com. And instead of offering a product as a handout --like a pen with your company's name on it -- put out a bowl of candy.

I'd love to hear from those of you who have exhibited at trade shows.

What have you learned? What works? What doesn't?

I cleaned out my closet this past weekend and I came across a horrific suit from the 1980s. The shoulder pads were too big, the waist was too small, and the bright orange and green fabric was anything but just right.

The 1980s were not only a frightening time for fashion, the decade also ushered in one of the worst recessions on record -- even worse than the one we find ourselves in now.

So, in an attempt to look on the bright side of life, I'd like to point out that the economy could be in worse shape than it is right now.

It could be 1980.

At least that's what many of the economic experts say.

Aside from the Great Depression, the economic downturn that ran from 1980 to 1982, and even the one we saw in the mid-1970s, were both the worst of times for small businesses, according to William Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade association.

While the economic indicators are now hovering near the low levels we saw nearly three decades ago, Dunkelberg isn't panicking and doesn't think small business owners should be fearful either.

"We'll get through this year as always," he said. "It's the private sector that will save itself, not the government."

But "getting through" this downturn doesn't mean we'll be going back to the pre-recession craziness, he added.

When I asked Dunkelberg if the credit markets will be opening up again soon, he was pretty blunt:

"Compared to what? They wont go back to what they were, so credit will not be as easy as it was, thank goodness," he stressed. "Plenty of credit for good risks, but no more 120 percent interest-only mortgages. Banks are finally becoming more careful about who they lend savers' money to."

And what about those spend-a-holic consumers of the recent past? When will they start spending again, especially if they are out of work?

It's those of us who still have jobs that caused the lousy fourth quarter, Dunkelberg said, by not spending and driving the U.S. savings rate from 0 percent to 5 percent. (Still, that's nothing to brag about, he added -- it used to be 12 percent). This spending strike led to a reduction in retails sales and a decline in orders and inventories.

However, he continued, "We are deferring spending well beyond sustainable levels, so demand will soon bounce back and it could be very quick. More houses will be built, more cars bought, more equipment purchased."

I love to hear good news, or at least a bit of optimism for a change.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed that we don't relive the economy of the early 1980s.

But ominous signs persist.

I hear there's going to be a musical on Broadway called "9 to 5" -- it's based on that classic film about women and crummy work conditions in the 1980s that starred Dolly Parton.

And big shoulder pads are again showing up on runways.

This from the Associated Press last month:

Remember the '80s, when big hair and even bigger shoulders were the height of chic? The designers at New York Fashion Week won't let you forget.

Yes, the shoulder pad is back.

Oh man, head for the hills.

Me, I'm heading to the garbage bin to retrieve that 1980s suit.

What's your take? Is this economy worse than the 80s?

The federal government has been pouring money into failing financial behemoths with what appears to be little to no oversight. Executives at these major financial firms that caused the collapse of the financial system are even getting bonuses for jobs not well done.

But just mention some help for small businesses and the "we-need-scrutiny naysayers" crawl out of the woodwork.

President Obama proposed a plan Monday to get banks to start lending more money to small firms, but a day before he made the big announcement the Wall Street Journal came out with a story about how the General Accounting Office thinks "insufficient oversight is in place" for the proposal.

Where was the GAO when the big bucks were about to start heading to some of the biggest Wall Street firms?

Maybe I'm missing something here, but small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, and they are struggling right now largely through no fault of their own. They can't get loans because the big boys messed up the system; and the faltering economy -- caused in large part by the big financial firms -- is also taking a big bite out of their sales.

All they want is a little bit of a break.

So many entrepreneurs I've profiled in this blog -- and many of the ones who post comments here -- are struggling to keep their doors open.

Obama is offering a way that may boost lending on Small Business Administration-backed loans that have plummeted to $10 billion this year, down from $20 billion in previous years.

Here are some of the details of Obama's plan:

--Jumpstart credit markets by beginning direct purchases of up to $15 billion of securities backed by loans from the SBA.
--Make direct purchases to unlock credit markets for the SBA's 504 Community Development Loan program.
--Provide liquidity while keeping the secondary market in place.
--Eliminate borrower and lender fees for 504 loans
--Increase maximum loan guarantees to 90 percent.

The last two got the GAO going.

This from the WSJ:

By eliminating the upfront fees for banks and lenders while increasing guarantee levels, watchdogs say, the administration could be creating incentives for banks to rush credit out the door. The bank's only risk would be the 10% of the loan left on its books, and that could be eliminated by selling the loan on the secondary market, where it could fetch a premium because of government backing.

"According to the GAO investigation, I think we have nothing more than a large, unregulated pot of money that lenders are going to scramble to get their hands on," said one congressional investigator familiar with the report and the administration's plan.

Well, a big pot of unregulated money already has the big business ladle in it folks.

I'm all for putting a lid on the bailout free-for-all with tougher standards and regulations, but isn't it odd that when small businesses want a helping hand suddenly the scrutiny reaches a fever pitch?

What are your thoughts on this?

By "Your Business" anchor JJ Ramberg:

Earlier this week I hosted a panel for NJ Entrepreneur about turning hurdles into opportunities.

The room was filled with entrepreneurs, many of whom said that although the economy is a worry, as business owners they're used to dealing with challenges.

Paul Lewis, a serial entrepreneur who founded four companies (two of which he took public, and two of which were acquired by Fortune 500 companies) is working on his fifth company. He had some heartbreaking but wonderfully inspiring (and quite funny in the way he told them) stories about the many challenges his companies have had to overcome.

First, there was the Blizzard of 1996. It caused the roof of his New Jersey office building to cave in. His entire inventory was in the office. All of his computers were in the office. And although he ran a company that helped people back up their files, all of his back-up files were in the office.

While Lewis' space was still intact, the police condemned the building and he was unable to get in to get his things. A few weeks later, he and a few close employees snuck into the building in the middle of the night to gather everything. Then they moved from a very large office into a very small one. Talk about getting to know your staff!

As he tells the story, though, the company came out of the experience much stronger. Employees that used to never see each other now communicated every day. And it became clear in that closed space what (and who) was working and what (and who) was not.

Then, there was the time his VP stole all of the clients from his Los Angeles office.

Lewis hired someone to open the office in order to broaden the company's client base. One day, out of nowhere, that employee called and said he was quitting the company for health reasons, effective immediately. Paul jumped on a plane to get things in order. When he arrived at the office, he found a piece of paper where his former employee had jotted down his plans to take over the business (including the script he recited to Paul about having health issues). Paul said he was shocked, but had to put the whole thing behind him rather quickly in order to continue to grow his business.

He had many stories to tell, and he's a wonderful storyteller. They were riveting to listen to. You'll have the chance to listen to Paul yourself sometime soon because I invited him to be a panelist on our show in the upcoming weeks. 
 
The other panelists also shared their experiences -- many of times when their companies were on the edge of failure.

When discussing the panel ahead of the event, the organizer asked me to touch on the economy, but not to dwell on it. Given the stories I heard, I think she was right. As things right now are hard for so many small businesses, I think it's a good time to remember that while it's not easy, you can certainly turn hurdles into opportunities.

Do you have any stories of adversity or good fortune to share?

By "Your Business" anchor JJ Ramberg:

This week my father came to the taping of the show. He's an entrepreneur and an investor. My mother was an entrepreneur. Both of their fathers were entrepreneurs. My brother is one too. And so am I.

Clearly, there's something in our blood.

Having my father in the green room before the show sparked the conversation of why the desire to start a business gets passed down through the generations.

One of the panelists on this week's show, Divya Gugnani, said her father was an entrepreneur and she grew up thinking that she wanted nothing to do with starting her own company. The uncertainty of living with -- as she put it -- the wealth of the world one day and nothing the next seemed unappealing for her own career.

She said she remembers travelling around when everything was great with her dad's work, and then watching him use his credit cards to make payroll when it wasn't, and it was scary.

So instead of going the entrepreneur route she became an investor, joining a venture capital company. Cut to a few years later and, you guessed it, Divya had left her VC company and its steady paycheck to start her own company called "Behind the Burner."

She said she couldn't help it.

"There is a point when you wake up and all you want to do is work on your company, and so that's what I had to do," she told us.

All of the entrepreneurs in the room nodded in agreement.

Clearly, entrepreneurship is not for everyone. I have a good friend who left his high-profile advertising job to start a company and a mere six months later returned to the agency. As he joked, "Nobody told me I was going to have to take out my own trash."

As for Divya, her father thinks she's insane. She says, she is. She says you have to be. Who else but an insane person would take the risk? But if the passion is there you can't deny it, and she says she loves what she's doing.

What do you think?

What does it take to become an entrepreneur?