3 Steps to a Successful First Periscope Broadcast

Twitter’s new live streaming app, Periscope, is quickly gaining popularity, especially with the online marketing crowd. Periscope’s recently released stats show their audience has grown to over 15 million registered users, and out of those 15 million users, only 1 million are regular broadcasters. What does this mean for you? If you have a business—and…

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Bending the Rules in Customer Service

We hope you enjoy this guest post by Customer Service Guru Dan Goss Before starting to write about customer service, I spent two years as a high-ranking barista in a popular chain cafe in the UK, and for most of that time I was at the forefront of our store’s customer service efforts. I am…

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5 Steps to Revamp Your eCommerce Brand

Competition is fierce across all industries—especially for ecommerce brands. But it’s that very competition that should fuel us to do something different or unusual to gain the competitive edge we need. I founded The Bouqs Company, a cut-to-order online flower delivery service, in an effort to provide flower industry consumers with something unique. I had…

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6 Ways a Prototype Will Enhance Your Startup Idea

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Angel investors, like me, have long figured out that asking to see the prototype is a quick way to separate the ‘wannabes’ from serious players. Talk is cheap, but entrepreneurs who show…

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5 Tricks for Due Diligence on a Franchise

If you’ve been exploring the waters in the world of franchising, you’ve come across the term “due diligence.” This marks the final phases of committing to purchase a franchise. By this point you’ve: Chosen a franchise model; Determined regional appeal; Completed market research and analysis. You’re convinced that this franchise is a business you want to…

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5 Creative Ways to Save Money in Your Business

As a responsible business owner, there’s a good chance that you’re always searching for new ideas to help you cut costs while increasing your profits. Here are five creative ways to help save money that you can put back into running your business. Outsource Administrative Tasks In many cases, there is no need to bring…

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5 Most Common SEO Mistakes Made by Small Businesses

Small businesses need to have an SEO friendly website in order to stay competitive and profitable. An SEO optimized website will increase traffic, brand awareness and site usability. It also is very cost effective and will drastically increase your ROI. However, many small companies are unaware of how the following five common SEO mistakes can…

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Are Independent Contractors the Answer to Your Staffing Needs?

I get a lot of questions from my community about using independent contractors and/or freelancers instead of going through the hassle and expense of actually hiring employees. It’s tempting to categorize workers as independent contractors (ICs) rather than employees, because ICs are people considered to be in business for themselves. Therefore, your business is not required to…

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What’s More Important: Experience or Experiences?

The other day I was speaking to a large group of sales people. Many were very new to sales; they had been selling for only a few years. During the conversation, one person asked how she should progress in her career. She and several others related they were looking for new jobs. They saw opportunities…

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How Lean Construction Empowers the Front Line for Better Teamwork

A command-and-control hierarchy used to be the only way to get things done before the 21st century. Your superior gave you a command, and you said “Yes, sir”—or paid the price. But what if the command didn’t make sense in practice? What if it was outdated or inappropriate? You still had to obey. Things are…

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