Leap year day only happens every for years--and companies across the country want to take advantage of it when it arrives this year, on Friday, February 29. From frog-oriented promotions to marketing campaigns playing off the date, leap year day is becoming another day for marketers to integrate into their plans. Some businesses, like Boston Market and Morton's The Steakhouse, are offering free lunches or dinners to those born on February 29. Other promotions, like Papa John's Perfect Pan Pizza, which launches this Friday, play off the name of the day with a tag line like "One Giant Leap for Pankind." According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, there are about 200,000 leap day babies in the U.S.

Before you try to work leap year day into your marketing this week, here's some advice from Allen P. Adamson, director of the New York office of branding firm Landor Associates. "For certain brands, it perks things up," Adamson says. "But it wouldn't fit with anything serious like insurance, financial services or medical things. Using leap year in those instances could really undermine the rest of the message."

The secret to employee happiness may be simpler than you think. According to a recent survey, commissioned by Florida-based Blumberg Capital Partners, one in three workers said they had accepted a job--or quit one--because of the most basic working conditions. The top areas of concern for many of the 500 employees surveyed were the indoor climate, filthy bathrooms, outdated furniture, persistent foul smells, leaky ceilings or windows, worn carpeting and rodents or insects. More than 75 percent of those polled said the condition of their offices affected how they viewed their employer, and 30 percent said they worried that unhealthy or unsafe working conditions in their building could make them sick.

Amy Lyman, co-founder of the Great Place to Work Institute, says when employees complain about unfavorable office conditions, there's usually more to it. "People don't quit just because the bathrooms are dirty," she says, "but because employers that don't keep the bathroom clean don't respond to other worker concerns as well." According to Lyman, the bathroom message is that "these are not high-trust environments."

If you're an entrepreneur between the ages of 12 and 19, this contest is for you. Financial author and speaker Peter Bielagus is writing an entrepreneurship guide for tweens and teens. But first, he wants to hear from this demographic on the struggles they face as aspiring entrepreneurs. So he's asking youngsters to submit a 250 word essay describing their business, how they came up with the idea, how they got started (or plan to get started), what obstacles they've faced and what they would do with the $1,000 grand prize.

 The top 100 storytellers will receive a free book, and the $1,000 grand prize will be awarded to the entrepreneur with the best tale, who will also receive a day of entrepreneurial coaching from Bielagus. To enter, e-mail Bielagus at peter@peterbspeaks.com with the word "Contest" in the subject line.

If you're looking for marketing advice for your small business, OPEN from American Express may have some hints for you. Their "Inside the Entrepreneurial Mind" series of online forums offers small-business owners insight from successful entrepreneurs in niche-specific industries. The latest forum focuses on "The Business of Technology," and is available to view starting today at openforum.com/eventcenter. Learn from notable names like Facebook founder Sean Parker and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales as they share their business experience to benefit your business. Here's a sneak peek at some of the topics:

• Viral marketing--How is viral marketing different than word-of-mouth marketing? Wales believes the best of "old world" business principles still applies in the world of new media.
• Transparency--Wales explains how radical transparency works and why your customers will respect you for it.
• Branding and marketing--Parker talks about the importance of creating an experience in order to engage your customers online.

Do you think you have what it takes to be our next Entrepreneur of the Year? Show us what makes you and your company stand out from the rest by entering Entrepreneur magazine's 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year contest, presented by The UPS Store. To enter, go to the Entrepreneur of the Year page on Entrepreneur.com, and click on the red "Enter Now" button. You'll fill in information on the background of your business and on yourself as an entrepreneur. To qualify, you must have fewer than 100 employees, have at least $500,000 in annual sales in 2007 and own at least 51 percent of your business.

Winners will be chosen in two categories: Entrepreneur of the Year and Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year. Entries must be received by June 30, 2008. The awards ceremony will take place during an all-day conference for entrepreneurs in Long Beach, California on December 9, 2008. To learn more about eligibility, prizes and restrictions please see the contest rules.

If you're tired of searching multiple sites to find the latest small-business news, Entrepreneur columnist Guy Kawasaki has the answer. It's called Alltop, and it collects the latest articles from the top sites on the web. The site, currently in beta, is updated every 10 minutes. News hounds can choose from multiple categories that pique their interest, from autos and celebrities to green and small business. The small business section includes our own site, Entrepreneur.com, in addition to other blogs and websites that can help guide you in your entrepreneurial ventures.

Alltop's creators want you to use the site as your "dashboard" for your favorite topic.

"The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you're already visiting and unveiling stories from sites that you didn't know existed," reads a line in the "about" section of the site. Alltop was created by the company Nononina, comprised of Will Mayall, Kathryn Henkens and Kawasaki.

Across the country, Americans are spending hundreds of dollars on Valentine's Day goodies to please that special someone. But for the hundreds and thousands of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen deployed in Iraq, Valentine's Day is yet another holiday spent away from loved ones. That's where these three companies come in. Not only have they all figured out ways for Americans to reach out to loved ones away at war, but they have each done so with the help of Google AdWords. Here's a look at each company, what they're contributing to American soliders and how they're spreading the message:

• Cards4Heroes--This Michigan-based online greeting card retailer specializes in greeting cards and stationery for troops, veterans and families. Company founder Donna Nakagiri launched the website after realizing she couldn't find patriotic or military-themed cards to send to deployed military men and women. Nakagiri says AdWords helps her adapt her ad text and keywords to reflect seasonal holidays like Valentine's Day.
• Soldiers Angels--This Southern California company was founded by Patti Patton-Bader, the mother of a former solider. Though Patton-Bader sent care packages to her son every day, plenty of other soliders weren't receiving any mail or support from home. So, Soldiers Angels helps cheer up troops by sending care packages, letters and other forms of support. Patton-Bader says 78 percent of her unique users and 75 percent of her pageviews come from Google.
• FlowerShop.com--Arizona-based FlowersShop.com, a flower and gift basket retailer, specifically markets military care packages full of food, games and stuffed animals. Since the company began using Google AdWords to advertise their special packages, they've seen a vast increase in the number of orders.

By now, you've probably heard plenty about HR 5140, also known as the Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008. But now that it's been signed, what does it mean for small business? According to Small Business Administration administrator Steve Preston, it works in the favor of small-business owners. "This bill is a win for small businesses in three major ways: Tax rebates will stimulate short-term consumer spending, some of which will flow to smaller companies; a 50 percent bonus deduction on new equipment that normally would be depreciated over the long term; and it increases the limit on expenses that small businesses can deduct from annual income," said Preston.

As for the future, Preston says the SBA will urge Congress to work on issues like permitting health insurance pooling and deductibility, opening new markets with Colombia, Peru and South Korea and guaranteeing that taxes on small-biz earnings and investments don't rise.

It all started when Netflix--the online movie rental giant--began persuading movie junkies to give up weekly Blockbuster runs to try something new.  Now Netflix is providing their service to more than seven million loyal subscribers. Entrepreneurs like Lori Pope are catching on to the popularity of the online rental trend. In October 2007, Pope launched Baby Plays, a web-based online toy rental service based in Houston. A mother of two, she got the idea after becoming frustrated with piles of toys cluttering her house as her infant twin sons lost interest in them. So Pope scoured the internet to find a similar service. When her search showed zero results, she knew she was on to something.

Baby Plays currently offers about 200 toys for newborns through preschoolers. Like Netflix, customers build a wish list of the toys they'd like to rent, and Pope's staff sends parents four or six toys in the mail every month. Pope makes an effort to stock sturdy and easy-to-clean toys with parts that are easily replaced. Rates range from $28.99 to $35.99 a month based on the length of the term. When children are done with them, the toys can be shipped back in the same box they were sent in, with a postage-paid return label provided by the company. New toys are shipped out when the old ones are received.

So far, Pope has invested $250,000 of her own money, and continues to put in $12,000 more each month. Parents have spread the word, and Pope’s concept is catching on. Though Baby Plays started with 10 customers, Pope says she now has about 200 customers nationwide. Thanks to the popularity of her idea, Pope predicts she'll turn a profit by this fall.

Last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, the 40-day and 40-night period during which certain religious groups give up a particular vice and abstain from eating meat on Fridays. Plenty of restaurants are taking notice. And it's not just seafood restaurants either. The big burger chains are all promoting their fish options to make sure customers know they don't have to give up their favorite fast-food haunts just because they're giving up meat. In fact, the Filet-O-Fish owes its very existence to Lent. And Mexican fast-food franchises are on board as well, highlighting both seafood options and options that are meatless altogether like enchiladas and tostadas.

There are lessons to be learned from both sides of this trend. First, make sure you're able to recognize times during the year when your product or service will be especially attractive to potential customers. On the flip side, anticipate times when business will be slow and come up with ways to survive the storm.

Also, make it a point to be aware of the surrounding climate as it pertains to your business. Create a balance between catering to your obvious potential customers and trying to rein in a few you might not have thought about right away. The more you know about your potential customers, the more success you'll have in marketing your business to them.

Do you know how to write a thank you letter? Or fake being sick? A new startup called Howcast is combining filmmakers, experts and business for one purpose: to create entertaining, well thought out how-to videos. Anybody can get involved. For example, if you're dying to let your inner Spielberg out, you can get paid to make videos as a Howcast Director. Or if you own your own business, the Howcast Network provides a great opportunity for free promotion of your company. It's a simple idea with plenty of potential.

Techcrunch recently wrote about Howcast and its founders, Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman, all former Google employees who worked on Google Video and YouTube before they left the company eight months ago. According to Techcrunch, Howcast recently announced an $8 million series A financing led by Tudor Investment Corporation.

Not only are these videos entertaining, but they actually teach you a thing or two. Our favorite how-to's are "How To Fix a Wet Cell Phone"--which could come in handy-- and "How To Dance Without Embarrassing Yourself," purely for the comic value.

Yahoo! has unveiled a new service that the company says is "a first for the web-hosting industry." For the cost of $11.95 per month, small-business owners receive unlimited disk space, data transfer and e-mail storage space. The service also includes web design tools, a free domain name, 1,000 personalized e-mail accounts, round-the-clock customer support and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're looking for an inexpensive way to get your company's website up and running, you might want to give the Yahoo! Web Hosting service a try. Small-business owner, Kaitlyn Sharp, says the Yahoo! service helped kick-start her business. "Our site went live after only a few hours, leading to an appointment and then a fabulous sale--all in the first week."

Check out Yahoo! Small Business to determine if this service is right for you.

Attendees of the Women in Charge conference in Miami Beach, Florida rushed to hear Entrepreneur columnist and internet entrepreneur Rosalind Resnick teach the breakout session, The Money Game: How to Get What You Deserve.

“If you want to take your business to the next level, it’s not enough to fly by the seat of your pants,” Resnick said. “You need to do the math to create a profitable and scalable business model and raise the capital necessary to execute your strategy.”

Resnick, an internet business pioneer and author of Getting Rich Without Going Broke: How to Use Luck, Logic and Leverage to Build Your Own Successful Business defined debt financing and equity financing. Debt financing--bank loans, home equity loans, bank lines of credit and the like--is funding you must pay back. Equity financing is selling a piece of your company to investors for cash. They control a percentage of your company and have a stake in the revenues.

Resnick also defined the rules of venture capital, encouraging attendees to study any VC firm they approach as well as learn the merits of the term sheet before signing on the dotted line. She reminded entrepreneurs that a deal should be beneficial to both sides before signing.

Writing a solid business plan that includes impeccable financial figures is key to receiving any funding though, she noted, so entrepreneurs should spend a lot of time on this step. “[Build] a solid business plan with a bullet-proof financial model that can pass muster with even the toughest bank or investor,” she said.

Finally, Resnick opened the floor to questions from the attendees who asked how to connect with angels and investors as well as how much a small business can expect to pay for financial consulting. She answered all the questions and even spoke one-on-one to entrepreneurs after the session. Using the strategies laid out by Resnick, entrepreneurs should be prepared for anything. --Nichole L. Torres

In 1992, a struggling economy was the main issue as Bill Clinton unseated George H. W. Bush. Sixteen years later, with Bush’s son in the White House and Clinton’s wife vying to replace him, it’s still "the economy, stupid." So where do this year’s remaining presidential candidates stand on the issues that matter most to small business owners?

The American Small Business League has expressed displeasure with the candidates' perceived lack of attention to small business issues. However, although the candidates may not directly address small businesses, their stances on health care and tax reform could affect small business in the future.

Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama favor a general overhaul of the healthcare system that would move toward coverage for all Americans. They would do so by requiring all businesses to either provide medical insurance or chip in for its cost. Clinton hasn't specified what sized company qualifies as a small business, but would give tax incentives for businesses that provide coverage. Obama has defined a small business as one with 15 or fewer employees and also favors an exemption.

On the Republican side, common threads include tax incentives and deregulation of insurance companies. Sen. John McCain proposed policies that would control health-care costs and provide assistance for the self-employed. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposed policies would provide block grants to individual states so that each could provide market-based medical coverage.

Of course, no discussion of business and politics would be complete without taxes. Most of the noise on this issue has been made by the GOP candidates. Romney favors lower taxes across the board, including the elimination of estate tax as well as those on capital gains, interest and dividends. McCain opposed both the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts but then voted to extend them through 2010. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose wins in the South have him hanging on for now, wants to dissolve the IRS altogether and go to a national sales tax system on all new retail goods.

For every Super Bowl Sunday, there’s a Super Bowl Monday – while the football fans in your office talk about the game, everyone else is talking about the commercials. It’s that transcendent quality that drives companies to spend millions of dollars on a precious few seconds of advertising time every year. But the effective philosophies, as outlined by Business Week, behind those big pockets are free.

Send a Clear Message
As late as the Tuesday or Wednesday before the game, ad agencies were fine tuning their Super Bowl spots to make sure everything was ready to go, right down to the sound quality. Some agencies even watched their spots on conspicuously low-tech equipment just to make sure they could be seen and heard across the spectrum of technology. Regardless of the method, the message is clear: make sure your message is clear. No matter which media outlet you choose to market your business, use your advertising investment to make a lasting impression with potential customers. Also, make sure it’s the message you want to send. After some of last year’s ads left a bad taste in viewers’ mouths, this year’s ads were decidedly lighter. The last thing any business owner wants to do is spend money sending customers to the competition

Maximize Your Investment
Every year, the cost of Super Bowl advertising rises. And every year, the pundits wax rhetorical as to whether it’s worth the money and how effective the ads are. The irony is that for the most part, any company that can afford to spend that kind of money on advertising isn’t taking that big a risk. But for small business owners, marketing is all about getting the most bang for your buck. Do your homework ahead of time and decide on a strategy.

Generate Buzz
What makes Super Bowl ads great is their water cooler factor – they get people talking, even if it’s because the ad is downright irritating (who can forget those Quizno’s ads with the creepy singing socks?). And with websites like YouTube, this year’s Super Bowl ads were the topic of conversation long before kickoff. Create a message that sticks in people’s heads and gets them thinking about your business.

Break New Ground
Because the Super Bowl is such a universally watched event, it presents a truly unique marketing opportunity. Over the years, relatively unknown companies have gone out on a limb with Super Bowl ad time and reaped whirlwinds of success. Even if you’re not ready to drop a few million on one commercial, you can never go wrong looking for new and unique ways to market your business. Untapped marketing outlets can also mean untapped customers, and will also distinguish you from your competition.