No matter what industry you're in or what business you manage, the most important component of your business is your reputation and authenticity. When you interact with somebody, they have to make a judgment as to whether or not what you're offering is worth their time. We live in a fast-paced world, and a lot of businesses try to offer rapid-fire convenience or bare-bones service in exchange for low prices....
When people think about earning an income, typically they think about having a job. And why not? That's what you're trained for throughout your educational years and onward into adulthood, and it's a system that has worked (for better or for worse) since the Industrial Revolution. A job seemed to offer security - a paycheck, a pension, reliable work - by tapping in to the business owner's resources and networks...
I've got a to-do list that's a mile long, it sometimes feels, and I'm sure you can relate. My list is important, and it helps me focus on what I need to accomplish and prioritize my tasks - both essential undertakings. But man, can it be a drag! What's more, it's not as useful as you might think. The time you spend on your to-do list doesn't always match up...
In many ways, your business is like an organic life form – it grows, it consumes resources and converts them into other resources, and if neglected it decays and eventually dies. It makes sense that business would in so many ways mimic their component human lives, just as the human life cycle so closely resembles (and is so utterly dependent on) the life cycles of its constituent cells. Another sense...
Nobody likes spam. It’s that simple. But there aren’t many people out there who like being left in the dark, either, and as an entrepreneur, you need to make effective use of every tool at your disposal to ensure that you get your message out to your target market. There’s no denying that email remains one of the most cost-effective and quickest methods of communicating with your client and customer...
If you've been in business for any length of time, you've experienced the feeling of an exciting new lead. Maybe you found a lead on new business, or maybe you were the new lead and had been tipped off to a fresh new product or service you thought might be interesting. In either case, however, the lead is a dead-end if it never gets followed up. No matter how excited a...
People talk about business when they’re getting serious. “Let’s get down to business.” “It’s business time.” “She’s all business.” And that’s no surprise – we live in a culture that takes business very seriously. It’s easy to think that the two words are synonyms. That leads to another common conflation of words – people tend to think that “work” is the opposite of “fun.” Again, that’s understandable – certainly most...
France, like much of Europe, takes a much more relaxed view of work and its place in life. The nation is known for a supportive labour regulatory framework and the 35 hour work-week (Germany also has a 35 hour work week, which doesn't prevent it from being one of the most industrious nations in the world). Now, it's gone a step further in preserving its citizens off-duty time by making...
You may not know this, but today is my birthday (I'm turning 24, of course), and I'd like to do something a little difference. Most people like to make resolutions on New Year's Eve, and a lot of people use birthdays as a chance to take stock of their lives and identify areas where they'd like to change, but I never have because I'm a self-starter and don't care for...
Starting, building, and managing a business may be your best chance to earn a real return on your investment, but it’s no cakewalk. The small business failure rate is substantial – in fact, on average only 29% of small business startups survive for more than ten years. That sounds risky, and indeed it is. However, not all businesses are created equal, nor do all types of businesses fail at the...