Post by Dr. Marsha Firestone, contributing Women On Business writer During tough economic times, business owners are forced to cut costs. Marketing is often one of the first things to be reduced, but that doesn’t mean it stops. You just need to learn to market in a different way. If your marketing budget is changing, your techniques will have to change as well. Don’t let … [Read more...]
Tell Me My Baby’s Ugly
I don't have kids so it's easy for me to say. I know it sounds harsh, but if I did have kids I'd really rather know. So often in business we are forced to work with people who won't go to that place of, "tell it like it is." I'm not suggesting you lose all regard and respect for common decency, I am saying be the person who's known for telling the good, the bad and the … [Read more...]
How to Increase Sales Tomorrow: A Step by Step Agenda
If you’re like me, you’ve got to be thinking about increasing your revenue stream for the short term. I mean, I have the long term under control—strategy, business model development, cost management. But nothing else works if you don’t keep the income side generating new sales. So I’ve designed a one-day agenda focused totally on sales, and I invite you to try it! Here … [Read more...]
A Pep Talk
I have the pleasure…and pains of working for small companies within the Building Materials Industry. I am a multi-purpose service provider to them, whether it is with web development & E commerce, Marketing Strategies or Team Building and Human Resources Solutions. I enjoy analyzing and creating solutions, consequently these last few months have provided me with many … [Read more...]
How to Love Your Job
Allison’s excellent post on being a good boss left me thinking about employees and their place in a company. Having a good boss is a great starting point, but if a business’ employees mope around feeling lost and miserable, the whole thing will fail. As an employee, it can be difficult to muster up enthusiasm for a job you’ve possibly ended up in out of desperation, … [Read more...]
If You Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail
Post by Tanya Goodwin-Maslach, contributing Women On Business writer "The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat." - Bill Squires I’m in Boulder, Colorado on business and its cold. I don’t know how I lived in Colorado years ago – I think it was this cold when I lived here then, too. … [Read more...]
Leverage Flexibility as a Differentiator When the Economy is Weak
Post by Liz Cullen, contributing Women On Business writer Last week, Amy Blais discussed our WPEO Awards Breakfast, honoring Women Business Enterprises (WBEs) and corporate sponsors. Leading up to the program, we were apprehensive. Last year was our 10th anniversary and the tone of the event was celebratory. We unveiled a video and toasted our achievements. This year, we knew … [Read more...]
Staff love it when bosses have…
The Easy Button
Even though there really is no "easy button" in business, I bought four of them on Tuesday at the office supply store. Why? Because sometimes I need a distraction to remind me that I may be the one making things difficult. It's my new "distractor" that makes me giggle when I hear it say, "that was easy." But here's why I bought them in the first place. I sat in my boss’s … [Read more...]
Grow Your Business in a Culture of Abundance
In a growing company, it is very easy to be afraid that you will not have enough—not enough money, not enough staff, not enough time, not enough customers. I call that the culture of scarcity. And in today’s tough economic times, we are being bombarded relentlessly by scarcity messages in all media. But in order to grow your company, you must cultivate a culture of … [Read more...]