In our quest to build an empire, we are often tempted to rush through relationship and just do it ourselves. During my many mistakes I have learned that the best way to build your empire is to collaborate and build relationships. Collaborating is not easy, you have to bring something to the table; so here are the secrets to successful collaboration as a small business. I … [Read more...]
The Small Business Owner Blues
In the silence of the night when everyone else has shut down and you are left with your decisions, that’s when you become an entrepreneur. Someone said to me once that to be an entrepreneur you have to have a spouse with a full-time job and while that anecdote is funny it’s also a bit sad. The very essence of an entrepreneur is a risk-taker, however unfair that risk is to the … [Read more...]
Marketing Your Company, Not You
As I stumble through this minefield of entrepreneurship, I have learned that there has to be a significant switch in your thinking. We start businesses for a variety of reasons, mostly because we are really good at something specific. What happens is that you quickly realize that you cannot be the person that runs the business and the person who does the work. There has to be … [Read more...]
And the Winner Is…
Success…and then what? As we start our businesses, we are constantly chasing a dream. We work insane hours, sacrifice everything that means anything to us because we know that success is coming. When we finally get it what happens? As I found out that I had been awarded a big contract, a colleague reminded me to not get comfortable with the success, to remember that I was … [Read more...]