RECENT ARTICLES
From NFL Player to Coffee Shop Mogul – Lessons In Hiring, Franchising and Being the Best
NFL football players are some of the best athletes, but do they make great entrepreneurs? I interviewed, Shawn Bouwens who owns, with his wife, over 30 Scooter's Coffee shops. On why franchising? Shawn said, "Why reinvent the wheel". There's a case to be made for being an entrepreneur through franchising. He said one of the...
How A Turf Equipment Company Reinvented Itself with Recurring Revenue, Sales Teams and more.
Engineers are smart people. They're great at making cool products. However, to successfully grow a business, it takes a lot more. Listen to my discussion with Andrew Limpert, CEO of Firefly Automatix how he reinvented the company and started boosting sales and profits. We discuss the importance of building a sales team, upselling customers on other products and...
The Secret I Learned from Leading 10 Companies
I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for more than 35 years, beginning with system integration company LAN Systems in 1983 (we sold its product division to Intel in 1990) to other startups I’ve launched followed by roles in the major corporations who bought them and now the launch of my newest company, FileShadow. From boot strapped...
Shark Tank Contestant Henry Miller Says Be Careful Who You Trust – Interview with Ramon Ray
Shark Tank millennial contestant Henry Miller, founder of Henry's Humdinger's shares with me that one of the challenges he's faced is being taken seriously. He started his business at the age of 12 and now is only 20 years old. In our interview he share's the one way that you can start being taken serious...
Company Culture is Essential Says Japanese Street Food Manager – #PoweringProsperity @Intuit
Company culture is essential. It's not something you can "program" or press the "Liked button" on. It's about WHO you are as a business owner and who you hire as part of your team. I spoke with an executive at Austin based East Side King, watch our interview below. This was on the occasion of Intuit @...
Barber Shop Owner Offers His Tips on Scaling – #PoweringProsperity @Intuit
I was in Austin, TX for SXSW and got to chat with the owner of SHED Barber and Supply. He shard with me how they're expanding and in order to expand and scale it's important to get help. You can't grow alone. This was on the occasion of Intuit @ SXSW. Check out the interview...
3 Tips for Better Hiring Practices from Google’s Employment Experts
Hiring is an important, but very challenging experience for many companies, especially growing companies. In this interview Ramon Ray gets insights from executives at Hire (a Google app). I spoke with Meagan Hency, Product Marketing and Berit Hoffman, Product Lead. They shared 3 important tips related to hiring and careers and more. Have a career section...
5 Ways to Improve Communication with Customers
If providing excellent communication isn’t always at the forefront of your mind, as a small business owner, it should be. Strong customer communication builds strong relationships. It’s a crucial key to success for every business. Take a look at these five strategies you can implement to improve your communication with customers today. 1. Make communication a...
The Freedom of an Executive Assistant. Hire One Today.
As solo business owners, we get stuck. As Seth Godin says, we are the cheapest employee. However, if you want to GROW your business, if you want to get time to focus on other things, hiring an executive assistant is important. He (or she) will take things off your plate that you don't want...
Intuit Movie Celebrates How Small Biz Can Do Big Things with Technology
Many small businesses owners don't want to hire more staff, get a new building or become a billion dollar giant. What we want to do is increase our profits and support our families and communities. Doing this is not always easy. One of the ways smart business owners grow their businesses is by leverage...
Postage Freedom – Save Time and Money with the Neopost IS-280
My wife has a premium, custom wreath business. While she loves taking hours to hand-craft each wreath, she hates standing in line at the post office to mail each wreath. We’ve been exploring a variety of mailing options to save her time and money. I'm excited to partner with Neopost and share about the Neopost IS-280...
Harassment in the Headlines: How to Handle a Complaint in the Workplace
“I have something difficult to tell you. I’m being harassed by someone in the company, and I need your help to make it stop.” Have you ever been in this situation? If not, consider yourself lucky. Increasing reports of sexual harassment in the workplace have dominated news headlines in recent months. Several high-profile personalities have...