5 Ways Consulting Helps Build Your Business

When You Might Need Remote Consultants While running a business, there’s a point when it may become necessary for you to look for help managing the day-to-day operations. You can hire remote workers or virtual assistants to provide you with the talent and skills necessary to manage your company’s daily operations allowing you to focus…

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Business Plans are Always Wrong

Yes, I admit; I’ve used “business plans are always wrong” a few times in slides, blog posts, and even in both of my two latest books. It’s an important concept. Way too many people misunderstand the point of business planning and assume that because we can’t predict the future, we shouldn’t plan. Which prompts me…

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Make Adequate Thinking Time a Priority

Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought. ~Bernard Baruch Warren Buffet spends about 80% of his time thinking and reading. So many outstanding leaders spend time specific time thinking. Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL,…

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Work on Your Three Levels of Leadership

Another leadership development bit? Yup. But if you have no time or are impatient, here are the three levels: visionary, strategic and tactical. Skip or stay, but think about your balance in leadership either way. As a leader, you have to worry over issues from mundane to strategic, constantly reordering your priorities to accommodate competing…

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You Need to Understand the Business Principle of Displacement

Imagine a bucket of water full to the brim, on a table, right next to a phone and a computer. Now take a brick and drop it into that bucket. Imagine what happens. Water splashes out, right? And that’s probably bad for that phone and computer next to it. Business Principle of Displacement That simple…

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10 Steps to Profitable Strategic Business Decisions

Most entrepreneurs are so overwhelmed by the day-to-day challenges of their business that they rarely take the time to work on longer-term strategy (they work in the business versus on the business). As a result, strategy decisions are made in the same ad-hoc crises style as operational decisions, and the business suffers. Gut reactions are rarely the optimal solution…

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10 Ways to Increase Workplace Efficiency

Being a small-business owner involves wearing many hats—and while being involved in all aspects of your company can be rewarding, it can also take its toll on your productivity. Here’s how to save time and get more out of your workday: Communication Show your inbox who’s boss A cluttered inbox makes it difficult to tell…

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11 Key Elements of a Good Business Plan

Somebody asked me what the key elements of a good business plan were, and I’m glad they did—it’s one of my favorite topics. It gives me a chance to review and revise another of the lists that I’ve done off and on for years (such as the one on common business plan mistakes). 1. Measure a…

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Branding Cows or Branding Business: Neither is Easy

We’re talking about brand strategy here. Not advertising, and certainly not an easy grasp for amateur marketers. So how developed is your company’s brand? Is your message clear, concise and consistent? There is a process used by professionals to get to clear messaging. It starts with “discovery,” the process of finding the strengths of the…

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How Do I Make the Right Business Decisions?

When it comes to running a business, big or small, there is no secret recipe for making the right decisions. And there is often more than one right decision—or no right decision, and just one that’s the best of all the options. But you can equip yourself with a few tools that will certainly help…

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