If you have employees, at the heart of your business is knowing what motivates people to do great work. It turns out that over the last 50 years a group of Social Scientists all over the world have taken a very systematic look at this question. Continue reading
We have a number of people who come to the CBI for help in buying a business or to start their own business. Sometimes it’s a short conversation when they come looking for the grant money they believe we have. We don’t have grant funds or grant applications to buy a business or start a business. We don’t have access to a pool of investors who loan money without a sound business plan, or know of any that will loan 100% of the cost of a business even with a great plan. Continue reading
This October’s issue of INC. magazine has an interesting article about splitting founder’s equity.
15 years ago Atlanta-based Ockham Technologies had three founders. One founder had part of the original idea and was putting in sweat equity and cash. A second founder was putting in sweat equity and cash but wasn’t part of the original idea. A third founder was part of the idea and put in cash but no sweat equity. What type of split of the equity would have been “fair?” Continue reading
Technically The International Hour of Code week is later this year in December, but why wait? See video below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC5FbmsH4fw] Continue reading
Nearly everything today is based on computers and computer processing. My car has computers in it. My washing machine has computer chips in it. My phone is based on a computer and code, called apps.
Code.org says that by 2020 there will be 1 million more computer jobs than computer science students in the United States. Experts fear U.S. society will be dominated by users of computers and programs that they don’t understand and haven’t created. Continue reading
Do you have good ideas that would take your business to the next level but don’t know where to find help to implement them? How can you minimize the risks and increase the probability of success in your business? Do you have dreams of starting your own business but don’t know where to begin? Continue reading
Have you purchased something recently at a retail store or coffee shop or paid for a service where your credit or debit card was swiped through a small white attachment to a cell phone or iPad? That small white square was probably the Square. Yes, that is the actual name of the device and card processing service.
I avoided the Highway 127 Sale (the longest stretch of garage sales anywhere!), but I would bet there were a number of vendors with the Square attached to their phones to process payments. Even once-a-year vendors at craft shows and garage sales are using the Square for their credit and debit card customers. My massage therapist in Illinois was one of the first service providers I knew that adopted the Square in her business. Continue reading
I find business owners have a hard time keeping the gross profit margins on their product or service in mind when establishing pricing. To be able to maintain your gross profit margin, you need to know what your costs are. Continue reading
“If you sold your business today what would it be worth?“.
Chances are the number you have in your head and the number a buyer is willing to pay for your business are not the same. The means to bringing those two numbers closer together isn’t magic…it’s in long-term planning. Continue reading
When I meet with clients about their business I ask what their business strategy will be. Some say “I’ll charge less than my competition.” Wrong answer!
Let me ask you a question. What do these companies have in common?
Rolex, Mercedes, Gucci, Starbucks Continue reading