It’s What You Ask, Not What You Know
A friend recently told me a story that had nothing to do with business, but unintentionally had a great lesson for all of us. He had asked his arborist if he could move a mature tree from one part of his property to another to make room for an addition to his home. “Yes,” replied…
Read MoreWhy Solar Energy is a Smart Investment for Your Business
With climate change and environmental sustainability making recent headlines and gaining global attention, business owners across the U.S. are weighing the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing solar energy to better their company. If you’re like many of these business owners, the idea of solar power might be risky. However, whether or not you’re primarily concerned…
Read MoreHow to Get an Unsecured Business Loan
Getting small business finance isn’t easy. Very often you need to offer significant assets as security—and very often you don’t have significant assets to offer. As a result, you could find yourself turning to your personal assets and putting your home on the line. So how do you get the finance you need without risking…
Read MoreClosing the Deal with a New Franchisee: 5 Reasons Deals Blow Up
Frustration runs prevalent when, as a franchisor, you invest a lot of time and money courting a prospective franchisee only to have the deal blow up in the final stages. Having worked with new franchises wanting to grow, I commonly see five main reasons these deals go south in the final stages. Not all of…
Read MoreParadox of Product Persistence
Paradox: On one hand, to keep a business healthy you have to be able to cut mediocre products. On the other hand, some successful products require sticking to them for a long time, stubbornly, to get either the product or the marketing right. Take a minute and think about it, and you’ll find examples of…
Read MoreEncountering Resistance
My friend, Charles Green, wrote a stunning article: Is Selling Too Hard, Maybe You’re Doing It Wrong. Make sure you read it. His article caused me to start thinking about Resistance. We all encounter resistance from our customers, it seems the harder we push, the greater the customer’s resistance (for those students of physics, you will recognize…
Read MoreYour Brand as Bait
With regard to your brand there’s lots of reasons why one should pay close attention to its awareness in the general marketplace. The obvious reason is selling something. A strong well-defined brand attracts customers and gives them a compelling reason to buy. It also reduces their compulsion to check elsewhere. A lesser-used strategy for properly…
Read More5 Tricks to Pay Off Business Debt and Recover from Financial Disaster
Are you overly worried about your small business debt? Well, you’re not alone. Nearly 50% of small businesses collapse because of the following reasons: Lack of capital Heavy debt burden Poor credit arrangement In most cases, entrepreneurs need to borrow for business growth and expansion. But, when they borrow too much and at the wrong…
Read MoreToday’s Intern, Tomorrow’s Hire
When you hear the word “intern,” what do you think? Channeling the storytelling style of Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls, let me tell you the tale of a lackluster internship and why it makes so much more sense to give your company’s interns a rich, work experience with meaningful projects that allow them to develop…
Read MoreWhen Good Beer = Clean Oceans
Saltwater Brewery was started just under 3 years ago when a group of friends from Florida decided to pursue their combined passion for beer and the ocean. Chris Gove, the founder of the company, was in San Diego pursuing a career in finance and development when he decided to come up with a business plan…
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