When starting up a business and coming up with a plan of attack, there are numerous factors you have to take into account. Many of these have a dollar figure involved, such as operating costs, manufacturing, design, website upkeep, and so on and so forth. But there's one factor that I've noticed a lot of people don't take into account. For some, it's simply because it never really comes up....
For all I like to talk about social media and how it's a huge part of online marketing, there is some older technology out there that can also play a huge part in how you market your business. I speak of course of the good old fashioned email mailing list. I'm sure you're all familiar with them. You only really need to take a look at your email inbox, and...
I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with the 19th century expression, "The customer is always right." I'm sure many of you have even used it at one point or another. The idea was actually fairly innovative for it's time. When Harry Gordon Selfridge or Marshall Field (depending on who you ask, history is not completely clear on this) first came up with the quote and its associated business practices (unconditional...
Ahh complacency, the easiest trap for any business to fall in to. Let's say your business is up and running, you have a dedicated client base, and you're experiencing steady, or increasing revenue. Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? It certainly looks like success. Everything's going smoothly, money is coming in, your PIE is growing at a fairly steady rate. Sounds like a job well done. The problem is, at hitting...
Today's lesson isn't the easiest one, but it remains important. You have to take the time and spend the effort to choose your friends wisely, and don't let them get in the way of your dreams. One thing I realized long ago is that I had to leave some friends behind in order to achieve the level of success I desired. At first it was tough to accept, but as...
I have to share this because there is a strong message here. In 2014, I was watching the news about how a Canadian corporation was helping out the victims of a recent storm that struck Canada. They were handing out hundred dollar food cards to help those who lost food in the power outage; however, they ran out and many people didn't get cards even after waiting for hours in...
Whether you're buying a product, engaging someone's services, or simply browsing a website, the last thing you want is extra work getting between you and your objective. Maybe it's filling out a ton of paperwork, or answering too many questions, or getting repeated upsell attempts; no matter the nature of the obstacle, every additional step is going to add to your frustration. Now, flip that around and come at it...
When it comes to business, there's a trap that it's all too easy for all of us to fall into. I've done it, you've probably done it, we've all done it at some point. That trap is this: that making money at any cost is the name of the game. And while that's mostly true (that is the point of owning a business after all), there are times where it...
Some of you may have noticed that posts have been coming a little less frequently around here. Over the past few months I've moved from every weekday, to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to just Monday and Friday, in order to better accommodate my schedule (and to avoid burning myself out on writing this blog, which is something I think we'd all like to avoid). New posts generally go up between the hours...
I talk a lot about the importance of having a good team working with you. And with good reason. While there are plenty of business ventures you can undertake completely by yourself, most will require you to work with others in one form or another, and having a team as a part of your business (or businesses) is a smart move for a huge number of reasons. But what do you...