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.

What do you do when someone posts something unflattering about your company on a blog? Do you respond?

We've received this question a few times from our viewers and each time it has elicited a different response from our show panel. This is far from a black and white issue.

Here's the problem in a nutshell: If you respond to an unflattering posting, you risk turning something that could have remained as a minor issue into a big deal.

On the other hand, if you don't respond, you risk someone reading unflattering and possibly untrue information about your company without hearing your defense.

One business owner whose company's customer service was taken to task in a blog told me this:

"I was kicking myself for even engaging with one upset customer in a public forum like a blog. I read what he said and I felt I had to respond to set the record straight, but the result was a weeklong back and forth communication in the public eye and there was nothing I could do to satisfy the customer or change his mind. In the end, I think that if I had just left it alone, it would have gone away and people would not have remembered it. Because I took it up a notch and responded, it became a 'thing.' And I don't know how many people will read it and believe my side and how many potential customers I lost because they will believe him."

My panelists have given a range of advice. Some say you should never respond, while others say it depends on how popular a blog is. Others believe you should always respond to a posting, not only to set the record straight, but also to give your company a voice and show both customers and potential customers that you care.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your experiences with this issue.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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?

We're debuting a new segment in the show in a couple of weeks where we get small business owners' take on important questions from the floor of the nation's biggest trade shows.

Earlier this week I went to the 2009 Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. As the mother of two kids, I found it hard to walk through the show and not get distracted at every turn, but once I got my fill of testing out new toy trucks and pens that light up, I did get the chance to get to the task at hand: Getting a reading on how the companies at the show feel about their prospects in this economy.

I asked everyone I spoke with if they felt that the steps being taken in Washington, D.C., would help the company. Most people I spoke with didn't need credit. Most had never used the services of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and said they didn't plan to. Many said they're not in a position to take advantage of any tax breaks. Nobody I spoke to had a sense of how Washington's efforts would have a direct impact on their company. What they all cared about -- and if they were worried, what they were worried about -- was getting customers in the door. In general, I heard that they were not looking for something in particular from Washington; instead, they were just looking for something that boosts the economy as a whole and translates into more customers for them.

Interestingly, the most optimistic small business owners I spoke with were those who were just starting out -- a kite maker who launched eight months ago and a toy car maker who opened his doors within the last few months to name a few.

This makes sense. These people have not taken the psychological hit of seeing their revenue fall. On the contrary, they were able to prepare for a slow economy by keeping their start-up costs low and have been able to take advantage of a slow economy by paying less for what they need -- whether that's furniture for the office, or good employees.

I'd love to hear what you think. Do you think Washington's efforts will have a direct impact on your business?

This economy has got me scratching my head a lot lately.

There are just so many things I don't get, especially when it comes to financing. We're told constantly that banks, venture capital firms and other lending institutions are reluctant to hand out loans, and tons of small business owners I talk to tell me they're being squeezed because of the tight reins on financing right now.

So how the heck did a company that hasn't made a red cent get $35 million in venture capital money?

This week we found out Twitter, the social networking site, scored $35 million in venture capital, bringing its total financing infusion to $55 million.

The company is bringing in the gold, but doesn't have a plan yet to show how it will be turning the worldwide obsession with micro blogging that it has launched into actual revenues.

This from the Associated Press:

Twitter intends to start testing ways to make money this spring. And co-founder Evan Williams promises it won't drive away the more than 6 million people who have set up accounts on the unconventional communications network.

Twitter "intends" to test ways to make money this spring? This reminds me of companies during the dot-com boom, when just a cool idea translated into big VC dollars, but many firms didn't even make a dime.

We're in a recession, right?

Don't get me wrong. I love Twitter and use it almost every day. I think it's a great tool to network for a job, or promote your small business. But how come lenders and investors are saying "yes" to Twitter but "no way" to other firms right now?

I asked some industry experts to help explain why.

Here's a sampling of their thoughts:

"The reason a 'company' like Twitter can get financing when tangible businesses can't is the same reason Google spent $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube. It's the same reason that scores of companies with no revenues saw their stock prices skyrocket during the dot-com bubble: these guys have a big audience. For Twitter, it's the million-plus-strong user-base. Venture capital investors seem to agree that there has to be a way to monetize a service like Twitter -- after all, some of its users (including small businesses and entrepreneurs) have managed to leverage the site to grow their businesses in a big way. While a number of social sites (like Digg, which lost $4 million in the first three quarters of 2008) have floundered when it comes to bringing in a return on investment for venture capitalists, we'll see what the future holds for Twitter."

Jonas Elmerraji, portfolio manager and editor of Rhino Stock Report.

"Largely because they touch so many people. There is a standing belief that if a firm can touch a lot of people then the value of that touch can be monetized. In this instance, the most likely path is one of data mining. Applied, this would be real-time analysis on consumer interests, wants and needs, which could be translated into advertising offers, investment insight and politics."

Rob Enderle, technology analyst, Enderle Group.

"The social networking space is very hot from a Web traffic and investment standpoint, so a company that is not in this space may not be as desirable by the VC and investment community."

Scott Testa, marketing teacher at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

My two favorite comments came from a few of my followers on Twitter who responded to my recent tweet: "Financing riddle: why can no-sales-generating Twitter get $35 million in VC seemingly over night?/i thought money was tight."

"it's all about potential. I'm v bullish on Twitter's ability to monetize audience. surprised if it doesn't grow to be a $1Bn biz."

twitter.com/acton

"Twitter slept with someone rich?"

twitter.com/AlyzabethM

Now that makes sense.

What's your take? You can tweet me if you like: twitter.com/careerdiva.

I've been a blogger for a few years now and there are times I wonder what the heck I'm doing.

These moments occur when I read stupid, vitriolic, comments that add nothing to the conversation. In fact, some comments seem to send us all back to the dark ages.

When a comment is particularly bigoted or obscene, I have chosen to hit the delete button. But for the most part, I publish most every one of my readers' comments because I don't want to censor the discussion.

Today, however, I want to focus on the positive. I've decided to republish some of the best, most thoughtful comments in a blog post looking back at 2008.

My post on how one small business owner was planning on firing a worker who supported Obama got a lot of great comments:

My father, who lived through the Great Depression, always said he didn't mind paying taxes as long as he was earning money. I feel the same way.

We were all better off, though, when we could depend on the Democrats to promote fairness and the Republicans to promote economic sanity.
-- John Henson, Austin, Texas

Entrepreneurial life after being laid off from the troubled financial sector was the theme of a blog post that got business owners sharing their own success stories:

I used to work in a big engineering office doing engineering work. Then, I started my own business, pretty soon earning 2x doing part-time what I make in one month in my day job. My clients piled up and pretty soon, I had to make a choice between keeping my "security blanket" day job, or going solo. I went solo. Income shot up from 2x to about 7x. Been doing this now for 8+ years. But I miss engineering... so I started a side business related to engineering. (Shhhh.... don't tell the boss :) That little side business in my spare time will make about $70K by the end of this year. Next year, I estimate it to double.

So folks... do your homework, start your own business and be "independent". Sure, the risks are high, work is hard, but rewards are also high. Not just financially, but other intangible rewards as well. For example: Me and my wife watched and got to be with our daughter at home until she went to school.
--ElectricalGuy

Overcoming tragedy and going on to become successful was a topic that got lots of readers sharing their own moving stories:

In February of this year, I lost my 23 year old daughter, Heather, to brain cancer after a 2 1/2 year battle with the disease. I returned to work one week after her funeral and have been amazingly doing OK. I know deep in my being that Heather would be disappointed in me if I had given up or succumbed to my grief. During her illness she always encouraged me to be strong (while she was the one suffering) and would get angry with me if I gave up on life. I learned a lot from her bravery during many surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy. I feel empowered now to carry on with my life and keep going forward in spite of out tragedy. Yes we are sad and cry often and miss her terribly, but we do move on and appreciate every day as a gift.
-- Holly Caron, Winslow, Maine

Being alive for some years usually means that you will experience a great sadness of some sort or another, one that you will either never get over, or find it hard to do so.  It is a part of life to experience loss and see or experience suffering.  What you do about it or with it is what really counts.  May peace find all those who need and seek it.
-- Irene, Rancho Mirage, CA

I think that's a great sentiment for the New Year.

I'm going to confess to you all that I have a really bad back. I can throw it out at a moment's notice. Play boxing with my son, or taking a fork out of the dishwasher are all potential back land mines.

But for me the biggest back buster is high heel shoes. I know, women are insane for wearing stilettos, but I love the way nose-bleed shoes look. Alas, my back hates them.

So, it's little wonder that my interest was piqued when I got an e-mail from a source at entrepreneurial business school Babson College who told me a group of undergrad students has come up with a high-heeled shoe with a retractable heel.

Brilliant! And in this economy it seems like shoes are the only things selling. Did you see that one of the most purchased products in Cyberspace this past weekend was women's boots, up 203 percent in sales over last year.

I figured I'd talk to some of the students responsible for this brilliant fashion idea, and they ended up bursting my bubble a bit.

A high-heeled shoe with a retractable heel (image by Jane Jung)

The students involved are taking undergraduate product design and development courses at Babson College, Olin School of Engineering and Rhode Island School of Design. The shoe innovation was basically part of a year-end project for some of these students and there are no concrete plans to bring the shoe to market, much to my chagrin.

I spoke with Jane Jung and Anna Slavin, business students from Babson, who were part of the project.

Jung told me she had an idea to stop carrying around flats and flip flops when she wore high heels, and the student team came up with a great concept -- high-heel shoes that transform into flats, addressing the perennial problem of feet that hurt after a night out in high heels.

Makes sense.

"We don't think we're going to market it, unless the opportunity arises," Jung said.

There's hope.

I think there's an opportunity here. I would consider buying something like that to give my back a break.

The students are going to present their prototypes on Thursday at the Rhode Island School of Design's Chase Center Auditorium.

Here are some other interesting products the students came up with that will also be on display:

--A better carry-on suitcase that reduces the load on your wrist and features compartments with improved accessibility.

--An intelligent device that reduces vampire power consumption from regular home appliances, such as computers and TVs, when they are in "sleeping mode."

--An improved bicycle storage system that enables easy deployment and configuration for municipalities and companies.

--An easy-to-use cell phone, featuring a better-to-read display, an improved user interface, and ergonomic design.

--A better refrigerator, featuring round turning shelves and a new form factor.

--A system that facilitates in-home recycling, enabling the effortless separation, collection, and disposal of recyclable materials.

--An easy-to-use laptop power adaptor that accelerates the process of packing and unpacking the power cord and provides a better aesthetic solution.

All of these ideas sound promising, but these budding entrepreneurs got me thinking about whether they even ponder what's going on in the world outside the walls of academia.

Is the recession even on their radar screens?

"It hasn't come into play in our discussions," said Slavin. "The class is more focused on finding a problem and finding a solution for it."

Oh, if only life were that simple.