Want to grow your small business or entrepreneurial startup without spending a pile of money expanding to new locations, manufacturing new products, or hiring a slew of new salespeople? Then it’s time you look around and find a strategic partner. Typically, when someone says the word “partner” in small business, they mean a person who …
Keep Your Ego out of the Classroom
Students not launching the next Google? Don’t worry—they’re still entrepreneurs. Sure, every entrepreneurship professor wants to be able to boast, “I taught the gal (or guy) who started (the next Google, Airbnb, Uber, or other unicorn).” But the truth is: it’s probably not going to happen. Most of the entrepreneurs graduating class of 2016 will …
Do New Overtime Rules Affect Your Small Biz?
Beginning in December, 2016, about 4.2 million more Americans will qualify for overtime pay under new rules from the US Department of Labor. If you own a small business and have full-time employees, there’s a good chance these rules apply to you. Currently, hourly workers, lower-wage earners, and non-managerial workers must be paid 1.5 times …
9 Secrets to Get an Extra Hour a Day
If you run a small business, one thing you always need more of is time. There’s never enough time to deal with all those pesky customers, impossible employees, demanding vendors, new products in development, and all that red tape. Imagine if you had an extra hour every day. Well, I’ve got nine secrets of how …
Instagram Success for Small Biz
Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. LinkedIn. Phew. You could spend all day on social media, but you’ve got a small business to run. Nevertheless, social media can be a powerful marketing tool. The key: finding the one or two outlets that reach and engage your target market. If you’re in a very visual industry – food, fashion, …
Mom Means Business
“I don’t care who made this mess, just clean it up.” “Say you’re sorry.” “Wear clean underwear; what if you get in an accident and somebody sees it?” You didn’t realize your Mom was giving you great small business advice when she told you to “eat your vegetables,” did you? We all remember sayings and …
Business Plan Competitions: 6 Tricks to Help Your Students Win
With so many business plan competitions to choose from, and an increasing amount of prize money to help launch new companies, it’s worthwhile to think about how to encourage your entrepreneurship students to enter these competitions, and how you can coach them through the process. Of course, to increase their odds of winning, students must …
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7 Secrets of Surviving Online Sellers
Here’s a scene that’s all too familiar to small business retailers. A shopper comes to your store, checks out your products. Perhaps they try something on, or ask you questions about a product. Then they turn to their phone and order that product from an online seller because they can save a buck or two. …
Bookstores Show Small Biz How It’s Done
Independent bookstores are a dying breed, right? Amazon and ebooks killed them, correct? And aren’t all independent small businesses similarly doomed? Well, as Mark Twain might have said, “reports of their death are greatly exaggerated.” Here’s news that’s almost certain to surprise you: independent bookstores are thriving. April 30, Independent Bookstore Day, is right around …
