So, after spending literally my entire life in and around the used car dealership my family founded and still run here in Knoxville. I have garnered the courage to take the leap and chase my dream of starting my own dealership, which is a dream that has been in me since I was arranging my hot wheels to look like  a car dealership. That's right my hot wheels where for sale not for play, yeah you guessed it, I was a slightly odd child.

My first business venture came at 7 when I would rummage around my father's dealership and round up any wheel lug nuts I could find and I would clean them up and set in front of our house trying to sell them. Most kids go with lemonade which is a safe play but I like to push the envelope and went with the "slightly" used lug nuts. I am not sure if it was my location…

            One of the skills that a business owner and/or entrepreneur needs to master is effective communication. We do it every day through conversation, email, phone calls, and the like. But, sometimes we can take for granted that the person we are sharing with is hearing and understanding what we are saying, when in fact, they understood something totally different from what we meant. This simple dynamic can and does create havoc in businesses every day. Let me share a metaphor with you.

            Picture someone holding a ball - a baseball, a basketball, a soccer ball, whatever sport strikes your fancy. This person asks you what you see. If you are like most people, you will probably answer, “a ball”, and you would be right! But, in truth, you do not see a ball…. all you see is a…

So I forgot to share this earlier, but if you haven't checked out LaunchRock.com you need to.

In 5 minutes, I created a splash page/signup page for one of my projects:

http://signup.thenewwaytowork.info/

For free, in 5 minutes, and it looks great, it's mobile responsive, has a direct plugin to Google Analytics.

Oh ya, and it's free. ;)

Small business owners and entrepreneurs who use Twitter only as a marketing tool for their businesses are missing out. The microblogging service can also be a huge resource for them in the day-to-day operation of their business. However, business owners must know the right accounts to follow in order to benefit from all that Twitter can offer.

Here are 10 Twitter accounts that every small business owner and entrepreneur should be sure to follow.

Gene Marks — @genemarks

Even though you can find Gene Marks' views on small business everywhere from The New York Times and Forbes to Inc. and the Huffington Post, it is his Twitter account that provides small business…