Articles of interest to both Entrepreneurs just starting out on the journey of owning a business and seasoned business owners. You will find articles meant to inspire and motivate, the unique optimism of business owners, as well as information on getting into business partnerships and preparing to enter the world of business.
Age Didn’t Stop the Colonel From Building a Business
Age is not always a man or woman’s best friend. If you’re getting long in the tooth and trying to get a loan to start a business, you might have a tough time borrowing money. Age means more risk for lenders. Read the full article
Entrepreneurs Can Be Unreasonable
Anyone starting a business will encounter speed bumps along the way. There are always plenty of reasons not to start a business, but entrepreneurs push past the obstacles and do it anyway. That’s because they defy the restraints of rationality and instead choose to be “unreasonable.” Read the full article
Entreprenuers Embrace Change
Entrepreneurs must be willing and able to adapt to continuous change. As an owner, change will saturate all aspects of your business. Some people love it; others would rather not deal with it. For those who prefer stability, change can burn up energy and cause stress. It’s healthy to assess your ability to deal with change before taking on business ownership.Here are a few of the ways change can impact your business. Read the full article
Entrepreneurs View Business Through Different Lenses
Business owners need to be able to view their ventures through many lenses. While each lens offers a different angle, the collective viewpoints provide valuable insight to how the business works. Read the full article
Everything Starts with a Dream
Everything starts with a dream! Whenever I got in trouble in elementary school, it usually had something to do with dreaming. Apparently I spent too much time daydreaming, gazing out the window, cruising somewhere out there, light-years from the topics our instructors were diligently trying to teach. Read the full article
Keep Business and Personal Lives Apart
When it comes to owning a business, newbies often make the mistake of combining their business and personal affairs. As a business owner, it’s healthy to separate yourself from your business and treat your business as a separate entity. A little investment of energy early on can bring huge dividends later in the life of your business. Read the full article
Learn to Read the Language of Optimism
Entrepreneurs are optimists by nature. It’s a good thing too, because a positive attitude is infectious and compelling, and usually a prerequisite for achieving remarkable results.Many people expect new businesses to fail. Why? Read the full article
Letter to Young Entrepreneurs
Are you a young entrepreneur with a dream of owning your own business? In my role as facilitator, I help women and men into self-employment. For the most part they are 30-something and older, and I often wonder how we might encourage more young people to get interested in business. Read the full article
Myths About Owning Your Own Business
Successful business owners make running a business look easy. Observing from the outside, it’s easy to imagine that they harvest massive rewards with little or no effort. That is just one of many misconceptions about owning your own business. Here are a few more . . . Read the full article
New Business Deal Breakers
No matter how brilliant a business idea might be, certain deal breakers will stop it in its tracks. Deal breakers are the secrets you would rather not share with your business analyst or banker, though you probably should. If you’re applying for a loan to start or grow a business, here are some common deal breakers you should know about . . . Read the full article
Reality Check: A Pre-Business Physical for Business Planners
So you want to start a business… You have a spectacular business idea and are about to launch into the business planning process. In my role as business advisor I have come to realize that there are a number of pitfalls or traps that can stop you, no matter how catchy or right your concept is. Read the full article
Riding a Snowboard Is Like Running a Business
On New Year’s 2003 day I meekly followed my 12 year-old daughter onto the ski hill for my first snowboarding lesson. My most philosophical undertakings on this topic seemed to occur after liberal doses of Advil and hot rum, taken purely to kill the pain. Here is how riding a snowboard is like running your own business. Read the full article
Rules of the Road for a Healthly Business Partnership
A business partnership demands the same care and attention needed to nurture and grow a successful marriage. As with a marriage, you are well advised to get to know who you’re setting up shop with before committing to the deal. Read the full article
Seven Foolproof Ways of Going Broke
After years of getting cuffed around in the marketplace, it is my pleasure to share these foolproof strategies. No matter how well you are doing today, the following methods are sure to drive your small business into the ground. Read the full article
Sustainability in Business
Whether you’re starting, buying, or growing a business it’s critical to determine whether or not the business is sustainable. There are different ways to view sustainability. Some of the more important measures are money, time, energy, supply, demand, social, and environmental. The most common measure for small business is financial sustainability. This is because cash flow shortfall can kill a business no matter how well it’s going in other aspects. Read the full article
Ten Ways Entrepreneurs Can Embrace the New Year
Riding change is like playing in the surf. It’s thrilling when you’re ahead of the game and on top of the wave; it’s not a lot of fun when you’re feeling overwhelmed and battered by the surf. One of the biggest challenges we all face is dealing with ongoing change. Read the full article