One of the most difficult areas to maneuver as an entrepreneur is getting your hands on the cash you need when you need it. Capital is a tricky thing, you never have it when you need it and what you do have is never enough. So what’s a small business to do? Well, enter Lendo Limted. This caught my eye in the Wall Street Journal and here’s we entrepreneurs need to know… It’s … [Read more...]
Building Bridges
The worth of an entrepreneurs is in their ability to bring create solutions and to build relationships. What hinders small business is that we either don’t use our networks enough or we only use our networks. What small business is most guilty of is not networking because they could be doing something else. The thing is that having coffee or lunch with a contact is something … [Read more...]
Great Expectations and the Entrepreneur
Every entrepreneur envisions that time when they land the big contract, but then the demands start and you think ‘this was not what I signed up for’. You suddenly have to be somewhere at a certain time and some clients demand a certain amount of hours. Typically a consultant has very fluid hours, but what do you do when this happens? And what happens when you end up on a team … [Read more...]
The Sale of the Century
As business owner’s our life blood is in making the sales, but the test in is receiving the payment. We need those payments, they are a measure of success for our business and for ourselves. But what happens when we don’t receive those payments? Here’s what I’ve learned about money from my business. Always have a plan B That old adage about counting your chickens before they … [Read more...]
Measuring How Happy Small Business Owners Really Are [Infographic]
Did you know that 70% of small business owners describe themselves as “happy” and 97% feel a sense of “pride and accomplishment"? On the flip side – 88% of small business owners say they never fully stop thinking about their business and 39% work more than 60 hours per week. Those statistics come from a new infographic from Bolt Insurance which examines how happy small … [Read more...]
FORBES LIST OF 20 MOST MISERABLE CITIES: THE MIDWEST IS HIGHLY REPRESENTED, BUT…
There is no greater demonstration of the impact that businesses have on cities and regions than what has been occurring in the Midwestern Unites States. The closing of factories and the loss of middle income jobs has led to a steady outward migration of residents of which the biggest gainers have been southern states like Florida, Texas, and my current state of residence … [Read more...]
How to Make Being a CEO Work for You
As an entrepreneur I can’t lie it seems like we have a lot of perks. We think that it’s great because we make our own schedules, we don’t have to answer to anybody and we can set our own fees but let’s be realistic here. The truth is we have none of those things. We do answer to someone, they are called clients and they determine if we will be around to answer to anyone else. … [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...]
Can Small Business learn from the American Airlines Merger?
There is a theory in some circles that small businesses just don’t have what it takes to compete with big business and when we are invited to the table we don’t know what to order. The American Airlines merger gives us a great example of what do look for in a partnership and what we should avoid. Here are some lessons we can take away from the merger. Choose your partners … [Read more...]
2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Data Released [Infographic]
Optimism prevails among women business owners in 2013 according to the data from the 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses report from Web.com and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). The data comes from a survey of 552 women business owners conducted between December 14, 2012 and January 4, 2013. Of the survey respondents, 85% predicted that more women … [Read more...]