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...
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...
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...
It's an all too common tale: you're at a convention, panel, or meeting and you spend the day making new connections. It's an exciting feeling and you can envision all the ways the new contacts can help your business. But when you get home, you're exhausted from the busy day and you drop right to sleep. Then the next day you get caught up in business and making up for...
The brain is tricky thing. It's the most important organ in the body, yet also the least well understood. However, scientists have spent years unlocking its complexity, and although they have not yet mastered the brain, they've learned a great deal about it. One of the most important lessons thus far has been on the value of habits. Your brain is a muscle like any other. When you work out...
The poster above may be a relic of World War II, but the notion of keeping secrets to preserve the advantage dates from much further back. The ancient "Art of War" by Sun Tzu includes the advice "[c]onceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory." More recently, the passage of the Patriot Act has shown the importance that global leaders place on protecting their own...
Experience, as they say, is what you get immediately after you need it. No doubt you've experienced this unfortunate truth many times in your life; I certainly have. That's the beauty of training. It allows us to learn from the mistakes of others, rather than having to make our own (not that any teenager in the world is going to believe that). Fortunately for us both, we live in a...
The heart of our economy is competition. By competing with one another, businesses are forced to find greater efficiencies and deliver results that better match what the market demands. This is the great strength of capitalism, and the results speak for themselves. However, it is also a weakness. Competition can become so great that businesses (and people) can begin to take it to heart. It doesn’t take long before some...