There are few things that business owners and managers hate more than employee performance reviews. With the exception of a very few companies that do it right, the process is generally considered to be a huge waste of time by employees and managers alike while generating a lot of ill will. Continue reading
What a great day it was at the CBI on Thursday September 12th starting in the early morning when our clients and friends started bringing in their materials and setting up their marketing areas throughout the building. There was a lot of activity and a lot of friends sharing ideas and networking. Continue reading
I visited Arkansas over the holiday weekend recently and picked up some interesting information from small business owners there. As we all know, new businesses face daunting odds: only half of all businesses launched annually will survive five years, and only one-third will survive past 10 years, according to the SBA. Arkansas has more than 241,000 small businesses, some quite successful. Business owners everywhere who succeed do more than build it and hope buyers will come. They stick to a written business plan vetted by a professional. They spend judiciously and reinvest in their business, and many effectively use the power of social media. Continue reading
Personally as the entrepreneur in residence and business coach at the CBI, and our volunteer CBI business mentors, our job is to help business owners develop bigger better businesses. If you are actively trying to build your company, then you could benefit by looking for an advisor/coach/mentor to help you.
What can an advisor/coach/mentor help you do? Continue reading
You’ve heard it before I’m sure: focus on the benefits to your clients, not the features. When you are writing copy, talking about what you do, or in a sales presentation, it’s the benefits and results of the service or product you provide that people are interested in, rather than its features or how it works. A lot of people struggle to get this right. Continue reading
Funding can help you do things in your business that would otherwise be impossible with your current budget. If you need expensive equipment or workers, you may need outside funding instead of bootstrapping your business on your own. Continue reading
Do you want to be highly productive when approaching a big project? Here are five insights from a Harvard expert to help you start and finish with ease.
For most people, the best part of taking on a big project is the end. It feels great to look back and see all you accomplished. But the beginning has a different emotional impact, and many feel overwhelmed or intimidated. They don’t know where to start. Others procrastinate until deadlines become imminent. Continue reading
Tyson Hartnett wrote the following blog. He is a 20-something CEO who started his own business, Basketball Training Club, in May of 2013. He did a great job on his blog and I wanted to share his words with you.
That Moment When You NEED To Start Your Own Business
“Dude, the margarita mix is only half full!”
“What?”
“You didn’t fill the margarita mix! What the ^&*% have you been doing all day??” Continue reading
Labville is a STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – group for all ages. The goal is to highlight a topic each month and introduce it to the public at a level we can all understand. August will be 3D Scanning that can lead directly to 3D printing or other means to create the model outside of the computer. Continue reading
Have you ever put on a pair of cowboy boots or other boots with the little tabs to help pull them on? Using those is bootstrapping. From Wikipedia:
Tall boots may have a tab, loop or handle at the top known as a bootstrap, allowing one to use fingers or a boot hook tool to provide greater force in pulling the boots on. The saying “to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps” was already in use during the 19th century as an example of an impossible task.
Today “Bootstrapping” is the art of building and operating a business without outside funding. Just you, standing on your own two feet, using your own personal money to fund your business. Continue reading