Melinda Emerson is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She’s also known as SmallBizLady. Forbes magazine named her the #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She has been a thriving entrepreneur for nearly 15 years and is an internationally known keynote speaker. She’s also the author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months: A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. Melinda’s online small business advice is widely read, reaching more than 3 million entrepreneurs each week.

A pioneer in social media marketing, she is the creator and host of #Smallbizchat, the longest running live chat on Twitter for small business owners. In addition to being a regular columnist for the New York Times, she is frequently quoted by other media organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, MSNBC and Fox News.

Melinda is also the publisher of her resource blog, www.succeedasyourownboss.com, which is syndicated by the Huffington Post. And she is a regular contributor to Essence magazine and the lead instructor for the Black Enterprise Small Business University.

Three takeaways from this interview:

– What you have to do to become a brand in demand

– The biggest mistake people make in the social media space

– How Melinda got started and became SmallBiz Lady on Twitter

If you’d like to learn more about Melinda Emerson, visit her website www.succeedasyourownboss.com and follow her on Twitter @SmallBizLady.

Our favorite quote from the interview: “It’s not about what you make. It’s about what you keep.” – click to tweet