“Whoops – did he really just say that?” When you’re just starting a small business or launching a startup, it’s easy to put your foot in your mouth. You’ll be meeting many people and telling them about your new entrepreneurial venture. You’ll pitch to investors or try to impress a banker. You’ll almost certainly be …
Small Business Lessons from Silicon Valley
When someone says “Silicon Valley” business, you probably envision companies like Google, Facebook, Apple or startups like the one lampooned on the hit HBO TV series. But I live here in Silicon Valley, and I know there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of small businesses that succeed the “Silicon Valley” way. What lessons have …
Sleep, A Secret of Small Business Success
“There’s not enough hours in the day.” Virtually every small business owner and entrepreneur laments that there’s not enough time to complete everything we have to do. So, we stay up late, get up early. We try to gain extra hours by cheating our sleep. But we may be cheating ourselves and our businesses. Because, …
Create a Killer Small Business Prototype
Do you have an idea for a new gizmo that will take the world by storm? Are you about to create a what-cha-ma-call-it that will finally enable you to launch your own small business? Hold on. Before you invest your life savings or launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, you need to create a prototype. …
Sex, Money and Entrepreneurs
If Steve Jobs had been Stephanie Jobs, would anyone have ever heard of her? That’s the type of question the sex discrimination case involving one of the most prestigious venture capital firms in the world has sparked here in Silicon Valley, where I live. The case has brought renewed attention to the glaring lack of …
7 Steps to Finding Your Ideal Customer
Startup Sally. Venture Vic. Paul Pasta. Midlife Mary. These customers are vitally important to my small business. And none of them are real. They’re a few of the “personas” we’ve devised to help us in our product development process. Some of the most important “customers” for your small business may not be real people at …
6 Great Growth Tactics You’ve Forgotten
The other day I was eating a terrific sandwich in a café near my office, when I noticed staff members wearing T-shirts saying, “We do business catering.” I immediately texted my office manager and told her to order from this café for our next staff lunch. Wow. They got an order from a T-shirt! This …
Spring Clean Your Fixed Expenses
Costs can creep up through the years, so it’s worthwhile to canvass, compare, call. It’s nearly spring, time for the annual ritual of spring cleaning your small business fixed expenses. Give me half a day, and I’ll put more money in your bank account. While you’re running a business, you have fixed expenses that you …
Hire Your Way To Growth
Let’s make this the year to HIRE in your small business. Why? Because you want to grow your business, that’s why. One of the things most small business owners and entrepreneurs want most is growth. They want to see their business expand, with more customers and higher sales and profits. But one of “Rhonda’s Rules” …
