The world is cyclical. This is scientifically proven fact. Ice ages come and go, weather patterns change, and then change back. Animals migrate to one area, only to later head back to where they started. This is as true in business as much as it is in nature. Look at how many products that were once popular, died away almost entirely, only to come back again years later. Bell bottoms...

Social media is the single fastest growing method of staying connected with your client base. In today's ultra-connected world, there is no better way to link up with your clients, providing them with useful information, and getting immediate feedback in return. But you know this already, I've written about it before. If you've been following my advice, you should already have fairly active social media accounts. The shift in the...

As I'm sure we've all noticed by now, the quality of products and services available these days is dropping at an alarming rate. Extremely expensive consumer electronics appear engineered to break, call centers where clients expect competent and timeless conflict resolution are instead outsourced to countries where the Customer Service Representatives barely speak English and read almost everything from a script. And when was the last time you heard about...

Last week we talked about the art of negotiation from the point of view of the person with a product or service to offer. But there are two sides to every coin, and this week we'll be looking at the other one. That of the person trying to do the haggling, trying to score themselves a deal, and as such, hopefully earn themselves a slightly larger piece of PIE. The...

Many of you will probably remember making presentations from school, or worse, your time as a 9-5er. They're awkward, uncomfortable, nerve-wracking experiences. They're also essential to success. There will come a time, regardless of your business, where you will be faced with the task of presenting yourself and your business to prospective clients. There isn't really any getting around it. Fortunately, there are ways to make it a little easier...

Forget every racial stereotype you've ever heard. Everyone on the planet loves to haggle. Everyone loves to try and get a deal. Some may be more aggressive than others (and again, this has nothing to do with race), but in general, everyone will try to get something from you for cheaper than what it's offered. Make no mistake my friends, this is going to happen to you.  It is unavoidable,...

As we're so fond of saying around here, there's an old saying. "Time is money." And it is. Time is definitely money. Time you spend doing other things, is time you could be spending making money. As we've discussed previously, self-employed people are generally the hardest workers, with the longest hours. That doesn't mean spend your every waking moment working. Far from it. But your time is valuable, no matter how you...

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...