Our friend Liz Strauss was kind enough to introduce us to Carol Roth. She has a straightforward style that I think you’ll appreciate. By Carol Roth If you want to become an NFL football player, first you need to be an outstanding college player, usually from a major school. If you want to become a…
[Denise McGill is back, with another smart guest post. Today, she wants to help you save some time in your day.] How many productive hours are lost in a typical day due to lack of training, standardization or outdated materials? Utilizing time management and having the tools to be productive can cause fewer headaches…
At the Oklahoma Entrepreneurship Conference, a new feature was the Entrepreneur 360 panel. A group of startup experts offered insight and feedback to two actual start up founders. I won’t get into the details of their businesses, but I will share a few thoughts that apply to any startup. Being an entrepreneur is like climbing…
This is a picture of some of the wine racks in the stock room of our liquor store. You can actually buy specially designed metal shelving and wine racks for liquor store stock rooms. Instead, my mother scrounged up some book cases. Then she used cardboard wine boxes and their dividers to make perfectly functional…
Keys to Your Business Managing You Desperately say “yes” to every opportunity. Assume everybody is doing what you told them to do. Assume everybody understood what you said. Procrastinate. Set yourself up as the only person that knows how to do it. Constantly allow exceptions to the rules. That list comes from David Gaither of…
When it’s just you in the business, or you’re the boss, no one makes you keep hammering away at what needs to be done except you. Marketing may be the most important activity in your business, but it’s also hard to be consistent, with everything else you have to do. Here is one system you…
Every small business has to market itself, but not many small businesses have a marketing plan of any kind. Even fewer have one they actually use. That’s why I developed the Simplified Marketing Plan, back in 2006. It’s high time to update it. The plan is simple, so you’ll actually do it. There are just…
How can your small town business take on the bigger competitors? Whether you’re facing the big boxes, the big city shopping, or the online big boys, you can try these four ways to beat them back. Tell your human story. Your business came from somewhere, was founded by someone, touches real people. When you tell…
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