Human resource planning is often overlooked by small businesses until they face a problem. As your business grows, you will need to add resources to manage employees and contractors. Documented...
Legal counsel and documentation is a form of insurance for your business. Without proper legal protection, you are open to unnecessary liability. Take time early on to set your goals...
No one looks forward to home service appointments. Remember the last time your cable or Internet went out? It is maddening to sit at home waiting for the service technician...
Venture capital became a darling asset class for institutional investors throughout the 1990s. More and more capital flowed into rapidly growing funds. Many venture firms attempted to take on the...
Many entrepreneurs dream of raising capital right out of the gate. The reality is that most must bootstrap their startup long before an angel investor or venture capital firm will...
Much is being written today about the relationship between customer service and social media. Online microblogging sites such as Twitter and features on LinkedIn and other networking sites enable any...
John Wanamaker, a department store mogul from the late 1800s, once lamented: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don't know which half." If...
There is much discussion about the importance and power of small business in political, media, and business circles. Collectively, we are seen as a major driver of the economy, yet...
Let's talk about the nitty-gritty of lead-capture forms, also known as Webforms or opt-in forms. These babies can be a real friend to us. While we're busy doing other things,...
Let's pretend I just gave you a stack of crisp $10 bills, 100 of them. Now let's go sit down by a cozy fire and review the last 100 visitors...
According to a study conducted by Bain & Co., although 80 percent of companies believe they offer a superior customer experience, only 8 percent of their customers agree. Based on...
Other than dealing with an overload of e-mail, the other "jail" I hear about consistently is the meeting jail (when you spend several hours a day in back-to-back meetings). So...
No matter how well-conceived, simply building a website is no guarantee that customers will come to your site. Most businesses spend tremendous time and money to get a visitor one...
Sensitive data, stolen or damaged by a disgruntled employee, can have a direct impact on your financial objectives. Do not wait for a problem to happen. Below are some basic...
Buyers of private companies are normally strategic acquirers or private equity investors. Historically, strategic buyers have paid a premium for acquisition, because they can use their existing business to cut...
After my own battle with prostate cancer, we aligned our company over the past year with breast cancer awareness in a cause marketing campaign. It opened a new sector of...
Businesses of all sizes are turning to videos to drive conversation, traffic, and sales. According to Internet Retailer, e-commerce website visitors who view product videos are 85 percent more likely...
Vacations are a great opportunity to rethink your goals and priorities. Unfortunately, most of us either opt not to take a vacation or never really leave work behind when we're...
Have you ever experienced a truly aggravating situation with a business partner or a customer and wondered if the benefits from the relationship were worth the effort? It's important to...
When you're the owner of a business you worked very hard to build, giving away anything for free can make your heart skip a beat—but that doesn't have to be...
Old habits die hard. Making technology decisions based on long-standing practices is easier than discovering things have changed. Several upsides of this downturned economy, however, are greater choices and new...
Want to improve the way you run your business? Entrepreneurs, academics, and consultants from diverse industries offer practical advice on a variety of topics each business day.
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