RECENT ARTICLES
Business 101 Tips from Ramon Ray on the Small Business – Smart Solutions WebTalkRadio Show
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Ramon Ray, publisher of Smart Hustle Magazine, recently appeared on the Small Business: Smart Solutions WebTalkRadio show hosted by Mick Hawes. The two spent time talking about Business 101 and the fundamentals of any small business. Ramon offered his view on what fundamentals are essential and tips on the types of...
How to Build a Tech Company Without a Tech Background
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Last month members of our team attended the 2014 HUSTLECON conference in San Francisco. This conference touts itself as being an event on non-technical startup tactics. "Kind of like TED but less hoity-toity", is how they describe themselves. One of the speakers at the conference was Dawoon Kang, founder of Coffee Meets Bagel. If you are...
Customer Service: Why 76% of Your Customers Will Leave You
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] How many times have you called a customer service line (for any reason) and had a flawless experience? Okay, now how many times have you called a customer service line and had a terrible experience? Odds are you've had more bad experiences with customer service interactions than you have good. So why is that? Ovum...
New Amazon Business Website Offers Low Price and Perks to Small Businesses
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Amazon recently announced that they will be expanding their offerings to business owners through a separate website called Amazon Business. The new site will offer hundreds of millions of products with a setup very similar to the regular Amazon, but there are also several features that make it more ideal for...
Creator of Quikiks Hands-Free Shoes Shares Entrepreneurial Journey
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Every entrepreneurs journey is different. Those who provide a service have a totally different path and experience totally different challenges than those who create a product. But for both, there are many challenges that remain the same: securing finances, building a team, staying motivated and getting your message to the market. I...
Trademarks: What Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know to Create and Protect a Trademark
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] A business’ success depends on more than just its goods or services. In fact, one of the most valuable assets a business has is its trademark. What is Trademark? According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), a trademark or service mark (“trademark” or “mark”) includes any word, phrase, symbol, design,...
5 Tips on What To Consider When Hiring
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Hiring, regardless of size of your company, is one of the most daunting, anxiety ridden and costly tasks you will be faced with as a business owner. For small businesses, however, it comes at a much greater cost, both in time and dollars. So getting it ‘right’ is of the utmost...
McDonald’s Franchise Owner Jim Lewis on Building Brand Trust, Creating a Culture and Building a Winning Team
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Two of the biggest struggles most small business face are building a trusted brand and hiring the right people that will enforce that brand. The two go hand-in-hand and can constantly teeter on good or bad depending on the experience your customer has. You can spend tremendous amounts of time and dollars...
Why It’s Important to Find Perspective When Making Business Decisions
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] “No Man Is an Island”, but sometimes as small business owners we feel like we are deserted on an island – entrenched in our non-stop world of tasks, planning and decisions. Being a small business owner could possibly be one of the most difficult challenges one could ever take on. So...
Ignition Video Series: Pamela Slim on How to Turn Writing Into a Business
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] Infusionsoft just recently launched their new video series, Ignition, a fun and informative way to answer small business owner's questions about running and growing a small business. Each week, the show tackles one question from their viewership and brings a successful entrepreneur / business expert into their "success lab" to help answer. In this episode,...
Save Time and Secure Your Business with a Password Management Tool
[content field="callout1" format="true" class="calloutwide"] How many passwords do you have? If you’re like most business owners, the answer is “too many.” In the course of a month, the average individual visits over 25 different password-protected websites. That’s a lot of information to remember. To make it simpler, some people use the same password for multiple sites;...
12 Critical Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a Business
12 Critical Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a Business All great businesses start with a great idea. But what’s next? Is that enough to get you going and to create an enterprise that will eventually make a million bucks? Probably not if you haven’t thought it through! There are many questions to ask yourself before...