Growth Tips for Businesses

Moving Your Prospects to the Next Step

By Drew McLellan | May 17, 2013

For most organizations, a sale is a multi-step, complicated process. So keep that in mind as you create your calls to action. You’ll have a lot more success getting people to take one baby step at a time. Just give them the steps.

I Screwed Up: How Three Famed Entrepreneurs Learned From Failure

By Arlene Weintraub, Entrepreneur.com | May 16, 2013

Fran Tarkenton, the football-pro-turned-businessman, tasted failure straight out of the entrepreneurship gate. “When I was 27, a lawyer friend told me he could help me start a business, and he could run it, and I should use my money,” Tarkenton says.

Running More Than One Business? How to Set Up Multiple Business Ventures

By Nellie Akalp | May 16, 2013

If you’re running multiple business projects, you’ve probably been stumped on what’s the best way to structure all these ventures. Should you form one corporation to cover them all? Should you form an LLC for each one?

How Entrepreneurs Qualify for Funding from Banks

By Marty Zwilling | May 16, 2013

A common question I get is “How do I get a bank loan to fund my startup?” The default answer is that it probably won’t happen, because most banks just don’t make bank loans to startups. The failure rate is just too high, and startups typically don’t have the assets or revenue stream to back up the loan. That’s why Angel investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs.

The Most Admired Entrepreneurs Are Servant Leaders

By Marty Zwilling | May 16, 2013

Startups provide leadership in the market. Entrepreneurs provide leadership to their startup. There are many styles of leadership, like dictatorial, laissez-faire, and democratic. One that I hear discussed more these days, in this age of relationships, is called “servant” leadership.

For Entrepreneurs, Conversations Are All Business

By Marty Zwilling | May 16, 2013

Whether you are trying to motivate your team, close a deal with a customer, or get funding from an investor, a casual conversation is usually a waste of your valuable time. These result is a founder who is always “too busy,” but never seems to get the business done and the team moving. All real business is conversations focused on creating results.

How the Most Successful Leaders Manage the Brilliant Naysayer

By Mike Maddock | May 16, 2013

Most every company has a Harold (or Harriet). Typically, he has been with the company for 20-plus years. He knows more about industry norms, the company’s intellectual property, your IT capabilities, what legal will and will NOT go for, interoffice politics, and the CEO’s family than anyone in the building. And unfortunately for you, good old Harold can effortlessly—and with absolutely no malice intended—recite four to six reasons why your idea won’t fly.

Know Your Role As The Owner

By Ted Jenkin | May 15, 2013

As an entrepreneur starting a new business, you often have to wear the hat of cook, dishwasher, accountant, and general manager. However, one of the biggest mistakes a young owner will make is not quickly clarifying their role within the organization.

Have You Called Your Office Lately?

By Teresa Allen | May 14, 2013

Too often our customers and potential customers can see the holes in our first impressions much easier than we can. As a matter of fact, we are so familiar with our own business that it is hard to see with the eyes of an outsider.

The Combination That Gives Solopreneurs a Great Chance to Succeed

By Larry Keltto | May 14, 2013

If you have passion, talent, and a market, then the odds of solopreneurial success are high. But what if you don’t have all three? What combinations will work and which ones won’t?