Small Business Marketing 101
One of the biggest marketing challenges entrepreneurs face is the ability to step outside of their own mindset and slip into the mind of the buyer. The most successful marketers and business owners are able to set aside their own bias and perceptions and ask two questions: “Why should someone exchange their hard-earned dollars for […]
Suspect or Prospect?
Selling is a function of business and is the key activity in your company. If you have no sales, you will not need a bookkeeper, a stock clerk, or anyone associated with production. No one will be needed to clean or dust. No one will be making deliveries. This being said, when asked if they […]
Outsourcing Human Resources
As a business grows, so does the need for help. With the addition of employees, the paperwork grows along with so many other areas of the business. If you have just hired your first employee or will in the near future, you will begin withholding taxes from your employees, paying taxes related to having employees […]
Can Entrepreneurs Delegate?
Oftentimes entrepreneurs are hesitant to delegate tasks to others in their organization even when they are overworked and less effective because they do not. This resistance may go hand in hand with the typical entrepreneurial personality. Traits like the inability to relinquish control, a sense of urgency, an analytical nature, and being results-oriented may explain […]
Looking for Good Employees?
Finding the right employees is a very important part of owning a business. More and more business owners say that they face. Before trying to find employees, the employer should have a detailed job description along with interview questions. If possible, the interview questions should be prepared by someone who has performed the tasks that […]
Ten Mistakes that Sabotage Business Success
As a business consultant I have seen many businesses struggling because they had made very basic and avoidable mistakes. Here is my list of ten mistakes to avoid. They are not in order of importance since any one of them can have serious consequences for the business. Failure to Plan. This one pertains not only […]
Exit Strategies Take Time and Planning
Most business owners want to sell their business at some point. Unfortunately most fail to plan effectively for this eventuality. In many cases owners cannot find a good buyer and end up liquidating their business for only the value of the assets. Prepping a business to sell for a premium price takes a significant amount […]
Making and Managing Profits
Small business owners start a business with the goal of making a profit using the premise that by increasing sales, profits will increase. While this is true to a point, there are incidents where businesses have increased sales to the point where they are operating at a loss. There could be many reasons for this […]