Michael Sippey is currently the VP of Product for Twitter and shared the following tips in an article I read recently. According to Sippey there is one important rule and three steps for gathering powerful customer feedback that can make all the difference for your product roadmap. Continue reading
One of the ‘secrets’ to a successful small business is having employees who are engaged, aligned with what you’re doing and enjoy working with you and your team. We’ve all experienced interactions with businesses where the employees are clearly just showing up for the paycheck and don’t care at all about what they’re doing. That’s a business on life support. It’s equally easy to see when employees genuinely like and believe in what they’re doing…and that makes all the difference to a customer and ultimately the business. Continue reading
The season where we all start to look at our numbers will quickly be upon us. The end of the year. The context that those numbers are in matters, so take a deeper look this year until you understand what your numbers are really telling you.
Let’s say you brought in $200,000 of revenue this month. Is that good or bad? It depends. If you brought in $100,000 last month, it’s good. If your expenses were $400,000 this month, it’s bad. Everything in context. Continue reading
It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week around the world. In Cumberland County in cooperation with Junior Achievement of East Tennessee, the local Youth Achievement Foundation and the Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI) of Roane State Community College, a lot is happening. Continue reading
I read an article by Ryan Robinson and thought you would like to know what he has learned through his interviews and studies of the most successful entrepreneurs. What makes them successful? Why do they succeed when so many do not? Continue reading
The seven stages of building a total online presence according to Duct Tape Marketing are:
1.Content Platform – Much of what happens online revolves around content. It’s how you get found, why people pay attention and how you start to exchange value. Content platform starts with building a listening station with tools like Google Alerts, TweetDeck, Trackur, Social Mention, Sprout Social and Raian6. You’ll be listening to gain insight into your market, your competitors and important groups, including key journalists, working toward a better understanding of the most important keyword phrases that resonate with customers in your market. Continue reading
“Your title gives you claim to the throne of our country, but men don’t follow titles, they follow courage.” – William Wallace, Braveheart
Why? Leadership is much more than a title. Many business owners are finding that out as they seek to develop their next generation of leadership for their companies. True leadership is earned and it is much more than just knowledge of the business and a title.
Business loans – particularly those for new startup businesses – often require the borrower to provide a personal guaranty for the bank to proceed with the loan. A number of the clients that we speak with aren’t clear that if the business is unable to make the loan payments that they are personally liable to pay the business loan back even if the business closes. In short, you promise to pay the loan back even if the business no longer exists – from your personal assets.
The following article, written by an attorney, helps explain the personal guaranty…
Personal Guaranties: What Small Business Owners Need To Know
BY JOSEPH F. KOLB
Why do small business owners need to know about personal guaranties? Because personal assets – homes, cars, checking accounts – are on the line, not just business assets.
As a small business owner, it’s likely you’ve been asked to sign a personal guaranty agreement. If not yet, you will be. Personal guaranties are staples of small business financing. Consequently, it’s to your benefit to know a few things about them. Continue reading
Gift cards are big business. Each year $400 billion worth enter the market. About 30% of gift-card values go unspent annually, in part because it’s so easy to forget about that piece of plastic you’ve tucked away somewhere. At 23 George Bousis started his Chicago-based company, Raise, offering gift-card holders the chance to sell the cards they don’t want and buy others they do want at a discount. With the new mobile app, Raise lets consumers grab discounted cards as they wait in line to make a purchase. Continue reading
Posted by the Internal Revenue Service
FS-2015-22, August 2015
For anyone starting a small business, especially those who are self-employed, the Internal Revenue Service offers some basic information on filing, reporting and paying taxes.
Generally, one is self-employed if they: