The Reading Room

Inc.

Inc. magazine has been going for more than 30 years and is regularly ranked in the world’s top 10 most read business publications by the likes of ‘All You Can Read’ and ‘Barnes and Noble’. Inc. suffered following the dot-com era as titles like Fast Company seemed to grab more attention, but the tech crash and subsequent retrenchment saw the magazine stabilize its circulation and image.

Inc’s strength is its long and succesful history with the first issue being published in April 1979. In 1982, they introduced the Inc. 500, to celebrate the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States. Then in 2007, they expanded the list to the Inc. 5000 in order to help readers get a broader and deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial landscape, as well as recognize a larger percentage of this important and growing market segment. They also host various events, conferences, educational sessions and awards ceremonies to celebrate all things entrepreneurial.

Inc.com launched in 1996 and now boasts how-to-guides on all manner of business management issues from motivating employees to cash management to finding capital. It also has small business tools, a library of sample forms, job description templates, interactive worksheets, spreadsheets and contracts. And, like many others, they have also branched out into web video with Inc. TV – live Q&A video sessions featuring leading entrepreneurs who answer questions via live chat. Sign-up for a free Inc. account and you can ask their experts for insights into how to run your business.

So, as you would expect from anything that has been running that long, there is a real wealth of content on the site. Much of it is aimed at those getting started in business, rather than those who are expert old hands, so in the public relations section for instance, there are recent articles with titles such as “Is Social Media Advertising or PR?” and, because it’s American, “6 Publicity Lessons From Abraham Lincoln.”

You’re going to want to read something like that. Apparently tip 3 of the lessons from Abe is “Embrace new technology.” Before you get ideas of President Lincoln cradling an iPad in one hand and an iPhone in the other, apparently he was a master of concise messaging via the new fangled invention of the telegraph at the time, from which lesson we are supposed to “take advantage of Twitter, blogging, LinkedIn, and other emerging technologies to heighten your own awareness and thought leadership.” Well, like the rest of the site, it’s a bit hokey and very American in places, but there’s a lot of common sense for the beginner and a wealth of solid tips to get fledgling businesses up and running. Small businesses rave about it, so it’s obviously hitting the spot.

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