Instead of bringing on full-time talent, small employers are increasingly using temporary workers based in the U.S. and overseas  Read More →

Small businesses often focus on how much money they are going to make, the amount of turnaround and, significantly, how much profit their business is going to generate. However, in looking at the bigger picture, many small businesses lose sight of the day-to-day cashflow of their business; which can cause major problems for both fledging and established businesses. Of course, as a business it is vital to have clear figures with regards to cash... 

Banks had ambitious small business lending goals for 2010, but they’re having a hard time finding worthy creditors with solid expansion plans  Read More →

If you have spent any amount of time crafting sales emails, you know the importance of a good subject line to its overall performance. You also know predicting which subject lines will set your bottom line on fire and which will leave your readers cold is more like fortune-telling than weather forecasting. Here are a few tricks you can use to find out which subject lines are going to do well and which ones aren’t.  Read More →

Yesterday, I posted about talking about what you do . An important part of talking about what you do, and marketing your services in general, is understanding what your customer is really buying. People don’t want to buy insurance. They don’t want to buy legal or accounting services. They purchase protection. They may be buying compliance, relief from worry, the ability to communicate, or the ability to make money and provide for their family.... 

Statistics show more than half of all workers today are worried about losing their jobs. Faced with financial pressures and job security concerns, these individuals are giving the term weekend warrior a new meaning. Instead of running marathons, these anxious workers are running part-time businesses.  Read More →

Should salespeople be willing to give free advice to their clients? Does free consulting lead to increased sales and profitability or is it a waste of time. Here’s what one expert has to say.  Read More →

I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but it always seems to be the time that people transition in their jobs. They get promoted or move to another company. My correspondence is flooded with marketing job questions. What kind of education do I need? Is this the right salary for this job? How do I find my marketing dream job? … Read Full Post  Read More →

Most business models don’t appeal to investors. Entrepreneurs shouldn’t waste time and money pursuing equity capital from them, says Scott Shane  Read More →

I saw this Jane McGonigal video on TED the other day for the second time, and have been thinking about it ever since: can games make the world better? Forget the rest of my blog post and just watch this. Ask yourself whether or not you could make more fun and more games out of what we all do for a living:  Read More →

It’s true that attending business conferences costs you time and money, something that’s in short supply for most small business owners. Yet the benefits that you’ll get from taking a break from your daily routine to meet with other people in your industry can far outweigh the costs.  Read More →

One of the best investments you can make before you start your own business is to invite a successful entrepreneur to lunch and talk about what it takes to be successful. It is well worth your time and money to learn from real-life stories. There is no substitute for experience.  Read More →

I had the good luck to spend a little time with Tony Robbins , who you’d think of as a motivational speaker, but who I know to be an inspirational thinker and accomplished business man. But, after doing a project with him (can’t talk about that yet), I know another secret: he’s a buffalo content maker. All Parts of the Buffalo Here’s how Tony sees things: “I need to know more about this online marketing world.”... 

There are some very cool applications coming out of Seesmic these days. One of them is Seesmic Look , a desktop application that helps users “immerse themselves in the real time web”, although right now that is just Twitter. I won’t be surprised if that changes soon, though. A key feature of Look is “playback mode”, which shows what people are tweeting in real time. Conversations “bubble up” on the screen... 

Consultants and coaches like to talk about the lifetime value of a customer. Bluntly speaking, lifetime value of a customer is a measurement of how much money I can get from my “relationship” with the customer. I put relationship in quotes because I have a hard time believing you can create a true relationship when maximizing lifetime value is your primary motivator. This language also bothers me because it leads to discussions of...