Which Emotion Should You Cater to When Presenting a Brand?

People laugh, cry, and frown. They get surprised, are spurred to anger, and feel fear. People love and hate and every point in between. It’s all part of living, of being human—much more when these emotions are instigated by external forces and circumstances that draw them out. Along with that comes familiarity, empathy, and sympathy.…

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Long-Term Debt on a Balance Sheet

What is Long-Term Debt on a Balance Sheet? The Long-Term Debt category appears as a long-term liability on a Balance Sheet. The balance represents the total outstanding balances of all bank loans, mortgages and financial contracts. Discussion: Long-Term Debt is expected to be payable in a period that is longer than one year. The current…

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5 Training Techniques That Actually Work

Choosing the best employee training method can be challenging. You’ll need to consider the methods, how they work, how effective they are, how they fit into your company’s structure and how time and cost effective they’ll be for you. The methods you choose should best equip your employees with transferable skills and different learning styles.…

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Rescuing Deals!

Each of us has experienced it, we’re struggling winning a deal. It’s an important one for us and for the company, we look for help from our managers and others. Instead of providing help, the managers sweeps in to save the day. They take the deal away, rescuing it, saving the day! Whether it’s a…

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Small Biz Interviews: The Seattle Grind

The colors on the walls of Porchlight Coffee & Records might have changed since its 2009 inception, but the homey, DIY feeling inside hasn’t changed a bit. When owner Zack Bolotin bootstrapped the Capitol Hill shop into existence using, in his own words, “a budget equal to the cost of a car,” aesthetics were mostly…

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Go Local: 3 Easy Ways to Create Loyal Customers

Small business owners are becoming savvier about optimizing their brand recognition and conversion rates. One great way to ensure that your small business remains on track to connecting with and converting people is by optimizing your local marketing strategies. While there are several ways that you can market your brand at the local level, the…

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Planning a Great Online Debut for Your Business

Having a proper website is a cornerstone of any decent business in 2017. However, making sure it gets the attention it deserves can be quite complicated. Some say it’s never too late to drive traffic your way, but it is always best to get what you need right from the start. For this, you will…

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8 Key Principles to Keep Up with the Speed of Change

Things change so fast these days in business that your first priority as an entrepreneur is to stay current, by talking to customers, peers, and experts. Secondly, you must constantly communicate suggested changes to your team, implement necessary pivots, and realign all the elements of your business, including partners, investors, and vendors. No change means…

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Will It Work?

I was sitting with the leadership team of a new client during an onboarding meeting and we’d gotten to the “do you have any questions for me” stage of the meeting. One of the senior people looked at me and said, “Yeah, I have a question. Will it work?” I’m a big fan of being…

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How to Develop a Marketing Plan for Your Franchise

At the fresh start of a year, it’s only natural that you’d start thinking about your franchise’s marketing for the next 12 months. How will you improve upon what you did last year for even better results? What new things do you want to try? You can answer all of these questions by creating your…

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