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    First impressions are crucial. We decide within seconds whether we like or trust a person within seconds of meeting them. The same is true for a customer meeting a new business for the first time, and their impression is based on a few defining points that your customers use to judge your business.   Helpful, Knowledgable Staff The importance of a great team cannot be stressed enough. This is one of the things that we mention often in this blog, and the reason is that the people who work at your business are one of the first things that will either cause someone to fall in love with your business and become a loyal customer, or turn them off to you completely. Hand-picking and carefully training your team is something to which it is worth devoting a good deal of time & energy.   A Comfortable Environment You …

    Business funding. Without it, nothing happens. The moral of this story is simply to be cautious when choosing an investor and not to let your eagerness to find capital cloud your judgement. Chances are, the perfect investor for your business is out there, and to find them, you have to first weed out those who fit the following description.   1. No portfolio, or a very small one. Finding the right investor for your business is not the time to take a chance on someone. Even if they seem to have all of their ducks in a row, you should probably pass on them if they can’t show you any prior successful investments, or very few.   2. Investments in various spaces. It’s not a deal-breaker if your investor has their hands in a few different projects; however, what you do want to see is a good deal …

Many small businesses run things on a pretty tight budget to make sure they stay in the black, and to maintain that budget, they will naturally start thinking about cutting costs, to save large chunks of money where they can. A safer and more interesting cost-saving strategy, however, is to find the small expenses that can be more painlessly cut, eventually adding up to significant sums. The following little expenses are a great start to cutting costs. Ordering Too Much Product Depending on what your product is, this may have a lesser or greater impact on your business. For example, if you run a plant that manufactures building materials which do not deteriorate, then you can order more raw materials than is immediately needed without worrying about it too much. If your shop sells perishable products such as food items, on the other hand, then you can easily waste a …

    Everyday work and life become a little uninspiring? Do you feel that you’re losing your passion? It’s still in there, you may just need to wake up your spirit, and these quotes are sure to stir the pot—20 provocative sentiments and powerful pieces of advice. Share your own favorites with us in the comments!   1. “Hell, there are no rules here—we’re trying to accomplish something.” —Thomas A. Edison   2. “Business is the art of extracting money from another man’s pocket without resorting to violence.” —Max Amsterdam   3. “Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.” —Karl Marx   4. “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.” —Bob Hope   5. “Money often costs too much.” —Ralph Waldo …

    When people think of business ownership, they tend to think of the people who are running those businesses as left-brainers—highly ordered and analytical professionals who think like machines. Although these traits are valuable to a business owner, the ones who are the most successful mix that pragmatism with the vision and creativity of a right-brainer. Like memorizing a piece of sheet music without playing it, a small business can never grow to its full potential without exploring new ideas.   Creativity can be learned. Creativity can be used in every field, every industry, and every walk of life, and fortunately, you don’t have to be a painter to possess it. Everyone has the ability to be creative; one just has to tap into that side of themselves and hone it like a skill so that it can be utilized. It’s kind of like when you learn how to …

    Creating a space for your patrons and filling it with product is not enough to establish your business as the premium choice among your competitors. To do this, you need industry-standard facilities and quality equipment. Why a business should have the best equipment is fairly self-explanatory, but these are a few reasons why it will set you apart.   It’s more of a selling point than you think. This is one of those things that you don’t think people notice, but they do. If you have various local competitors who are using cheaper equipment, while yours is top-of-the-line (or at least very good quality), then this may be enough to cause customers to favor your business over the others. It’s a subtle difference, but one that people take notice of and see as a sign that you have a better product.   Less spending on repairs or replacements. …

    The following are some facts and stats that may surprise you, and even if not, they are valuable pieces of information that will give entrepreneurs a better understanding of how to approach running and organizing their business.   What is considered a “small business”? “The SBA Office of Advocacy defines a small business for research purposes as an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.” (U.S. Small Business Administration)   Funding & Finance “82% of business failures are due to poor cash management.” (U.S. Bank) “Roughly 7% of all startup capital is derived from credit cards.” (SBA) “Women are 30% more likely than males to start businesses without seeking financing, and only half as likely to obtain business loans from banks.” (SBA)   Direct Mail Marketing “A total of more than 150 million direct mail promotions were sent out in 2015. 42% of recipients read or scanned the …

    Your top priority as a business owner is fattening up that revenue stream, but there are a variety of different elements that contribute to it. What immediately comes to mind are things like product quality, good customer service, and marketing strategy. What about the subtle aspects of how a customer relates to and experiences your business? Even though it may not be at the top of your list, fine-tuning the overall customer experience can be just as important as the aforementioned core concerns. The following are a few simple steps you can use to not only satisfy your customers, but to thoroughly impress them.   Everything should be easy to find. For web designers, this is an essential part of their work because all the pages and content of a website have to be organized so that everything is exactly where the visitor expects it to be. It’s …

    Small businesses usually have legal counsel on deck, to protect themselves in the event of a lawsuit, but it’s far better to avoid getting sued in the first place. It’s unfortunate that entrepreneurs who go to great lengths to take care of their employees, as well as their customers, sometimes find themselves caught up in lawsuits unnecessarily because someone found a crack in their armor.. Even though you have every intention of running a clean, productive business, you still have to protect yourself so that no one can take legal advantage of an unforeseen mistake or oversight.   1. Avoid harassment & discrimination like The Plague. So here’s the thing with workplace harassment: It is most often perpetrated by supervisors and managers, towards employees of whom they are in charge (though it goes in the other direction, as well); and those supervisors usually don’t realize that what they’re …

    Is great customer service worth the cost? How much should you pay yourself? Do you need a building? Take it or leave it, you’ll find here answers to these questions and more; the universal questions of startup and small business owners.   How much money should I have available when I start a business? As much as possible. Many entrepreneurs and business gurus will tell you that you should have enough money to sustain your business for a year without profit. If you want to be on the safe side, try 2 or 3 years worth of secured working capital. That may be out of the question, which is why many business owners just have to pray that revenue overwhelms cost sooner, rather than later.   Should I bootstrap my business? If you have the means, you’re ultimately better off bootstrapping because this means you won’t be indebted …