Focus

Upsize invited finance experts from both sides of the table?those lending or investing the money, with their customers seeking and using it?to discuss the best ways to access capital. The result was a revealing discussion in December, the edited version of which follows.

When Upsize began its second annual search this spring to find the smartest ways to build a business, we went to the best source: the owners of growing companies.

In the pages that follow, we report their 30 best practices and tips for applying those ideas at your own enterprises.

Adding to the bottom line isn?t all about numbers. Each of the best practices by the finalists in the Finance and Operations category involves people.

Whether it?s training them to engage customers or getting them to work with partner companies for the satisfaction of a client, these companies prove that there is more to making money than cutting expenses and keeping good books.

Technology and good customer relations don?t always go hand-in-hand. As anyone who has struggled to find a live person on the other end of the phone realizes, companies can easily technology to alienate their customers.

But the finalists for Best Practices in Customer Relations have found ways to embrace technology and it to improve their customer service.

The technology and innovation finalists prove that this category is not reserved for the dot-coms and technology whiz kids.

Instead, finalists in Best Practices in Technology & Innovation were simply business owners who took a new look at an existing problem and applied their problem-solving expertise.

Positive, effective community support rarely happens by chance. Whether an organization is for-profit or nonprofit, vision and planning are required to maximize community ROI.

Techies are human, too.

Technology professionals are often lumped together as people in dark, back rooms with no ability or desire to communicate with the outside world. Three of the finalists in this year?s Best Practices in People and Workplace category put that stereotype to rest. Other finalists include a call center and an architecture firm. All five have found creative ways to engage their employees in an effort to keep them around.

Marketing has changed a lot from the days of solely hanging out a shingle or passing out flyers. The five finalists in the communications and marketing category are using creative ways to grow their business and keep in touch with clients.

Techniques include newsletters, contests and lunch meetings. The tactics have several things in common, including the focus on increasing business by collecting potential client contact information.

Like it or not, each small-business owner has a silent partner: stress.

Stress ? that fight-or-flight hormonal holdover from humanity''s prehistoric years ? can spur owners to accomplish tasks more efficiently. Its presence is necessary, even healthy, experts say, to succeed in life and work.

But it can also undermine our efforts. The problems begin when there''s too much stress, and too few breaks from it. Signs that stress has taken a toll include headaches, tense muscles and indigestion ? all of which owners can hide to suffer in silence. When stress causes owners to get moody or lose focus, that''s when damage to one''s business can be wrought.

We all know about Hollywood ?It? actors ? those young up-and-comers who preen on the covers of fashion magazines and caa lot of buzz.

The business community gets excited in a similar manner about leading-edge communication technologies. Today?s ?It? roster includes podcasts, wikis and Web logs, also known as blogs. Five years ago, webcasts and videoconferences were on that short list, proving how wave-of-the-future technology can quickly become commonplace.

Companies that podcasts, wikis and blogs are regarded as savvy. But beyond the hip factor, advocates say those tools also serve a need and fulfill a practical purpose.