Run and Grow
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…
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…
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…
Death and Disability: Is Your Franchise Unit Protected?
It’s hard to consider certain possibilities in our life. Whether it’s creating a will, designing an exit plan, or getting affairs in order, people naturally stray away from activities that have to do with their…
5 Tools to Grow Your Locally Owned Business
Here are five must-have tools for every local business. They are easy to install and simple to use. Point of Sale System Sale is the primary objective of any business. It goes without saying that…
Small Biz Interviews: Saving for a Rainy Day
The adage “Know what you do, do what you love” seems particularly appropriate for Freeman, a small Seattle-based company founded on a singular goal: design the perfect raincoat. From an ad hoc space in their…
When Does Your Startup Need a Legal Department?
After years of working with different law firms on a variety of business matters, it was time to stop and ask myself: Just how many lawyers does it take before hiring one in-house? I didn’t…
Small Biz Interviews: Groomed for Success
The repertoire of a barber might have changed over the centuries (they no longer, for instance, offer bloodletting and leeching services, as they did in the Middle Ages), but a couple things have stood the…
One Thing You Must Do Every Time Your Business Grows 50%
I hear it all the time… Small business owners are frustrated with their businesses and they don’t know where or how to start. You got into business because you had an idea, a passion for…
Shhh, We’re Secret Shopping!
If there’s one marketing tactic that we execute for clients that always yields incredible results, it’s when we secret shop their operation. Without exception, a secret shopping program will: Provide insights that surprise you (good…