It’s no secret that you need capital to operate and grow, but then comes the question how do you get it? For some of the lucky ones they have the personal cash to use or they are able to tap well heeled friends and family for the money. For the unlucky ones, you need money to operate and grow, but where do you get it? Tap your community bank. An often overlooked … [Read more...]
Top 45 Blogs for Business Majors Includes WomenOnBusiness.com
This week, DegreeJungle.com released its list of the top 45 blogs for business majors, and WomenOnBusiness.com ranked 27th on the list! The WomenOnBusiness.com blog is in good company on this list. Instead of rehashing a list of the most popular blogs that appear on these kinds of lists again and again, the DegreeJungle.com list includes a wider variety of business blogs … [Read more...]
Are They Contractors or Staff?
One of the more complicated tasks for a business owner is being able to correctly classify the people working for you. As a one man shop it it’s fairly easy, when you pull someone in it is a temporary arrangement. As a larger operation, it gets a bit tougher. The Department of Labor and the IRS have just made this issue more complicated. The Department of Labor and the IRS … [Read more...]
HP Headed to Hotel California?
HP has made some controversial decisions lately, but is Meg Whitman a great strategic move or the kiss of death for this once great tech company? HP announced Whitman’s appointment on September 22, 2011 but given the public comments, customers seem to think it’s a bad choice. It’s my stance that HP usually leaps before it looks and I am not sure that I am sold on Whitman as … [Read more...]
Women Entrepreneurs: Tory Johnson; Fired Up Rather than Fired From
Were you ever fired from a job? Just the thought is chill-inducing. Fired, it means failure, finished, foolish, and a lot of words that are meant to be esteem-downers. That’s how it was for Tory Johnson when she was a twenty something and on the rise in corporate America. Within one hour she had fallen from grace and was out on the street. Fast forward to today. Tory is a … [Read more...]
A Woman’s Perspective
Consider these selected quotes from a well known novel: " A startling thought this, that a woman could handle business matters as well or better then a man. Never before had she put this remarkable idea into words. She sat quite still with the heavy book on her lap, thinking how in these past lean months she had done a man's work and done it well. She had been brought up … [Read more...]
The USPS Lesson
The post office is nearly bankrupt, the cost cutting is not working. We are in danger of losing a service that is vital to many small businesses. So while other business blogs are looking at this situation and wondering what went wrong, I’m asking “what can we learn?” The postal situation is not unique and what it highlights is how the wrong type of organizational culture can … [Read more...]
The Cost of Business
In our current situation many companies are cackling about how much money they have saving on services and are doing their fair share to keep pushing prices down. On the surface this savings looks good to many companies, but as soon as the economy turns around these services are going to go back to the increased costs they deserve and then what? Well in my years I have observed … [Read more...]
You Are What You Say You Are….
Leadership is an elusive quality and few people ever really get it, but as the figurehead of a company you are supposed to know what it means to be a leader and a motivator even if it wasn’t taught to you. In my industry I see a lot of individuals who were really good at their chosen profession and that skill got them thrust into the management arena. Leadership is an elusive … [Read more...]
The Leper in the Room: Workplace Violence
As a business owner I have noticed that entrepreneurs talk about a range of topics and we share some pretty personal details; what doesn’t happen is the talk about violence. We speak about managing teams and dealing with problem performers, but we very rarely speak about what happens when those situations go horribly wrong. To get to the bottom of this I got some advice from … [Read more...]