Starting a business is not hard. The hard part comes when you have to use your brains and resources to build the business from the ground and make a profit out of your business idea. This means dealing with marketing campaigns, identifying the audience, understanding finances, and much more. But what happens when you already […]
Profit
Businesses with a Higher Purpose Also Increase Profit
Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in […]
4 Dependable Ways to Make Money Developing Apps
If your primary goal developing apps is to make a lot of money, then you must understand that you will probably fail. As of March 2017, Statista reported that “there were 2.8 million available apps at Google Play Store and 2.2 million apps available in the Apple’s App Store.” Only a small fraction of those […]
When Did Profit Become a Bad Word for Entrepreneurs?
As a startup advisor and investor, I find that more and more entrepreneurs avoid using the term “profit” in pitching their new venture. They seem to feel it conveys a message of personal enrichment at the expense of others. My view is that the purpose of every business is to make a profit, as fuel […]
Stuck Selling a Commodity? How to Multiply Your Margins
You could order online and send a dozen roses to someone you love for about $20. I just checked. So why would you—or anyone else—pay five to 10 times that much? Before we answer that question, let’s examine the florist industry and e-commerce. If you have been a student of e-commerce, you’ll know that ordering […]
What is the Barbell Effect and How Does It Work?
Do you work out with free weights? If you do, where do you grab the barbells? In the middle, right? In business, as in barbells, it’s the middle that gets squeezed and this has given rise to the phenomenon known as “the barbell effect.” The idea is that businesses on either extreme in a given […]
Profitability Per Product
I was dealing with a firm that was having problems with its profitability. Profitability had fallen over time, and management just did not know what was causing the problem. Once I understood the situation, I asked the CEO if they computed the profitability per product, and he said they did not have an adequate way […]
Increasing Profitability Using the Cloud
A study of 2,975 small business leaders from around the globe found that small businesses that use the cloud are more likely to have higher profit margins than businesses who are non-users. The recent research published in the Exact 2015 SME Cloud Barometer Report discovered that ‘heavy’ users of the cloud achieve greater revenue growth, […]
A Small Business Pricing Perspective: Higher is Better
To get a perspective on small business pricing, let’s first take imaginary strolls through the aisles of two retailers: Walmart and Saks Fifth Avenue. Both are leaders in their markets, so this isn’t a criticism of either one. We’re taking this stroll to observe human behavior and psychology. If we walk through Walmart at almost […]
Noble Selling Purpose and Profit in Perfect Harmony
Not only is there no dichotomy between selling this way and making a profit, the two are absolutely aligned. When your purpose in selling your product or service is noble your focus is totally and absolutely on the value you bring to your customer.
