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Every business owner is required to make important decisions on a regular basis. Whilst day to day choices may not cause much of a stir, choices outside of this comfort zone can be trickier. The whole point of starting your own business is to succeed on your own terms and that means you need systems which offer you control.

As e-commerce and internet trading has become more commonplace, the virtual side of your business is now just as important as the physical side – if not more so. Unfortunately, not all small businesses are as familiar with these systems as others and that makes it harder to know what choice is best.

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This New Year has brought many hopeful and dire business predictions for all industries. One of the businesses that many have given perspectives for is the online retail business. All sorts of folks have weighed in on what they expect for online retailers in 2012. If you listen to the various analysts, economists, business people, journalists and other experts as well as everyday people, you will know that there are many viewpoints on what can be expected for this area of online business this year.

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The success – and subsequent bursting – of the dotcom bubble is well-documented. A business bubble such as that is created when speculative investors believe in an over-hyped product that simply cannot deliver what its proponents say it will. Rather than steady, sustainable commercial growth which supports the long term, it can lead to business failure and bankruptcy. That is then followed by a market shake-down in which only the strongest survive: hence the domination of the big dotcom players post-bubble, such as Google and Amazon.

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Whether you’re unemployed and struggling to find work or looking for new opportunities, many women could benefit from looking beyond traditionally “female” jobs and learning a trade.

UK unemployment levels are high, and set to get higher as we move through 2012. Many of the standard jobs for women – nurse, teacher – are being hit by public sector job cuts and no longer seem like a safe option. Where then should unemployed women – or those looking for a change of pace – look for work? Many may actually benefit from looking beyond traditionally “female” jobs and learning a trade.

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Even with the passing of Steve Jobs, his company is doing better than it ever has. With $97.6 billion in the bank closing the first quarter results, recent announcements have profits exceeding $100 billion. The sale of 37 million iPhones and impressive amounts of Macs and iPads dominated the Christmas season. But, Apple wants to do better than that.

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He is one of the top businessmen in the world, without even having a job. American entrepreneur Reid Hoffman has multiple success stories under his belt that the general public know well. If you’ve ever sent money through PayPal from America to Europe or even for payments on eBay, you’ve been part of the entrepreneur’s legacy. His other major achievement that has come to great fruition in the last few years is the business networking site, LinkedIn, which has connected entrepreneurs from offices in Waterloo through to tycoons in Tokyo. Reid Hoffman was successfully changed the way that people recommend business persons and created a internet portal for freelancers and corporate professionals.

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The age of turning on the television or flipping open a newspaper is quickly coming to an end, as online media is starting to pop up in every way, shape and form every time you turn your head. The question is, how can online media benefit you and your business? Here's a look.

What It Is

First and foremost, let's talk about what exactly online media entails. Online media is any kind of digital informational resource that includes photos, videos and music, all of which are distributed over the Internet.

What It Does

Online media can be a powerful tool for both everyday use and use in your business. For the everyday user, you can now go online for access to your favorite newspapers, magazines, video clips, music and even TV shows. With a simple click of the mouse, you have access to all the information you need without having to go through piles of printed resources.

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The end of the year brings with it reflection and 2011 was certainly a big year in business innovation. From the passing of Steve Jobs, who was in his own right business innovation incarnate, to the video game industry slaying Hollywood; 2011 made an impact and we’ll feel its effect going into 2012. This year will provide new business innovation but just as last year was influenced by 2010 so shall the rippling effects of progression be felt in eternity. Let’s look back at 2011 for some of the top business innovation movements and the skill sets that surfaced.

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Blackberry would do best to forget the year that 2011 was. Only if it could manage to re-write history and re-define new rules to come off its own inertia would that be made possible. For a technology giant that boasted of 'Corporate Communication' and total control of the business mobility, 2011 was a year full of hard facts and reckoning that would nimble Blackberry fans. Let us review the major points of interest that marked a turbulent year for Blackberry's owner -Research in Motion.

Erosion of market capitalization - For a start, we know that the parent company of Blackberry, Research in Motion is a publically listed and traded firm. And, the last few years have seen an erosion of RIM's market capitalization as if investors have decided to shun the product and the brand associated with RIM. How else could anyone explain a decline of RIM's share price from the levels of $150 to $15 as of December, 2011? This is a 90% decline in its share value and a complete decimation of investors' faith in the ability of the company to cut a new corner.

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Black Friday receives a great deal of press as the busiest shopping day of the year, but as consumers are increasingly turning to online retail stores to fill their holiday wish lists, Cyber Monday is rapidly becoming a significant presence in retail sales. Online sales for Cyber Monday in 2011 broke the $1 billion dollar record for the second year in a row, showing a 22% increase in sales from the time of its inception.

Cyber Monday was originally coined in 2005 by Shop.org, the digital division of The National Retail Federation, which is the world’s largest association of retail traders. The association includes many different kinds of retailers, from department stores to chain restaurants and grocers that all offer a variety of savings from discounts to coupons through the Shop.org portal.