I want to tell you all a story. A long, long time ago there was a man. This man was, much like all of us, a very highly motivated and driven individual. He worked unbelievably hard at everything he did. His goal was simple: to push the boundaries in everything he did. More than that. To break those boundaries. To go above and beyond what any human being before him...

As I've become so fond of saying on this blog, there's an old saying. "When it rains, it pours." Anyone who's ever, well, lived, knows this is true. When things go wrong, things tend to go really wrong. Often multiple things at once. In the most extreme of cases, this can lead to the flat out failure of your business. But that doesn't always have to be the case, and...

I want you all to think about a hypothetical situation. For some reason, the government has decided they want to audit your business. They want to see sales reports, payroll, the whole nine yards. There's just one problem. All these necessary reports are scattered about your home office, strewn haphazardly across multiple areas on multiple computers, or both. You know you have all the reports requested (or you think you...

A very wise man once said, "With great power comes great responsibility." Most of you may recognize this quote from the Spider-Man film series as spoken by the character Ben Parker, but it was originally written in 1962 by Stanley Martin Lieber. You will probably know him better by his pen name Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man and most of Marvel Comics' other major characters, and the most recognizable...

By now most people should be familiar with Google's infamous semi-informal company motto, "Don't Be Evil." This is a wonderful standard which every company, large or small, should try and hold itself to. That goes for all of you self-employed folks on the path to PIE too. As you no doubt learned at some point during school, reputation is important. People talk, and almost as often, people listen. It doesn't...

Let's assume that you've been reading this blog from the beginning. And if you haven't, why not? There's tons of great advice you can put to work for you here. If you're a first timer, or have only perused a few articles, go back and read the rest. Today, we're going to put some of what you've learned to work. If you haven't gone back and checked out the rest...

I'm going to be blunt here. I dislike the term "employees." I would even go so far as to say I hate it. The term employees implies a corporate structure. That of a boss, supervisors, etc. And while a lot of the same responsibilities that come with those positions may fall to you, for maximum success you want to build a good solid support team. Like the old saying goes,...

This is a subject we've touched on multiple times on this blog. The reason for that is because it is of the utmost importance in all facets of life, not just business. We've talked about how to properly make a good first impression, telling the difference between confidence and cockiness, communicating effectively via social networking, the importance of communicating over marketing, and so many others. It wouldn't be too much...

It is the tendency of far too many people out there to over-analyze things. An idea is put forth, and we immediately run over the possible variables and outcomes in our heads. This is without a doubt an important step in making a decision on whether or not to pursue a business venture, but it is by no means the first step you should make. After all, figuring out the best way...

It's been a while since I've started a post with this, so here's one for nostalgia's sake. There's an old saying that goes "think outside the box." You'll hear this one a lot in life. Work, school, social interactions, this particular phrase pops up literally everywhere. I'm sure I've even said it on this blog once or twice before really giving it some serious thought. And after doing so, I've...