This edition of the Talking Small Biz Weekly Roundup includes some great advice on hiring employees (and the biggest hiring mistake a company can make), some great sales and marketing advice, and the debunking of 10 common entrepreneurial myths.

Employees

• Hiring Your First Employee: How Make the Process Smooth – The very thought of hiring someone to work for your new, or existing, company can make even the most hardened entrepreneur break into a cold sweat. Here are some tips to make the process go smoothly and save you from having to clean sweat from your favorite outfit.
• Turn Your Interns Into Killer Employees – Interns aren’t just free help that are open for exploitation. They are a potential source for great new employees. You can see how brilliant they are without committing long term while having the opportunity to convert the great ones into permanent employees.
• The Biggest Hiring Mistake You Will Ever Make – We have all been on the receiving end of this – applying for a job and never getting any followup from the prospective employer. This is one of the biggest hiring mistakes any company can make.

General

• 6 Ways to Fix Your Company’s Frozen To Do List – Having a list of things to get done in your small business is a great thing, assuming you actually take steps to get them done.
• These Entrepreneurs Fought the Law. . . And Won – Just because a law is written doesn’t mean that the law should exist. Sometimes an entrepreneur needs to push back and be the catalyst for change.
• How to Be Happier at Work: 3 Tips – Google’s chief happiness officer (a position which should exist in ALL companies, IMHO) gives some insight on being happier as an entrepreneur.
• How to Stay at No. 1 – In this July 2011 article, Niklas Hed of Rovio (you know, the Angry Birds company) talks about creating the #1 mobile game and what they do to stay in this position.
• One Big Reason to Work from Home – Yup, it is true! Many of us are distracted in a conventional workplace and may just be more productive working from home.
• 10 Myths About Successful Entrepreneurs — Debunked – There is a lot of misinformation about what it takes to be a good entrepreneur. Here are 10 entrepreneurial myths put to rest.
• What small business can learn from Google – 5 lessons any small business can learn from the very successful search giant.
• 6 Ways to Give Back to the Community – Part of being a successful business owner is giving back so that you are sharing your success with others.
• How the ‘Little Guy’ Can Partner With Big Companies – 7 ways even the smallest of small businesses can partner with the largest of corporations.

Marketing

• Three fatal marketing errors to avoid – Believe it or not, there is a certain finesse involved with marketing your product and/or company. In doing so, just don’t make these fatal mistakes!
• How To Identify Your Customers, Make Them Love You, And Keep Them Hooked – Finding the right customers, and making them life-long believers in your business, is key to your company’s ultimate success.

Sales

• Sell More by Not Selling at All – For some companies, the Holy Grail of sales is getting in front of the CEO of a potential client and making a pitch. This is often much harder than it seems, so follow these five steps to get your foot in the door.
• How to Sell: Are You Assertive–or Aggressive? – Sales people are often times either passive or aggressive, two styles that might not be right when peddling a product or service. Instead, consider being assertive.

Startups

• 3 Tips for Executing Ideas – Having a great idea is sometimes the easy part. What is hard is executing on that idea and making something of it.
• 5 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Business – Buying an existing business is a great way to enter the world of entrepreneurship, but there are some things to be careful of before jumping feet first into the deep end. Here are some important questions to ask/consider from the perspective of a CPA, lawyer and business broker.
• 12 Entrepreneurs Give Their Best Tips For Startups – Great tips from entrepreneurs who have been there, done that.