News
Don't Let Your Business Be Held Hostage
This is a frequent issue with small companies and I've wrestled with this myself. The suggestion of documenting processes is a good one and how we've solved this with the most recent company I founded was an internal company "wiki" complete with hyperlinks to related topics, attached documents, screen shots, etc. that all employees can contribute and to and search to see how processes are completed. Some pages with passwords and other sensitive information can be limited to specific employees with the need to know, while other pages are available to all employees. The key is rock solid documentation, broad dissemination and employee participation.
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- March 29, 2010
They Call This A Stimulus For Small Biz? Pshaw!
America's 27 million small businesses account for half of the economy and half of the jobs, but only got the benefit of one third of one percentage (0.30%) of the TARP money -- a paltry $1,400 of "stimulus" value per company on average. And the current administration wonders why no jobs have been created...
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- March 25, 2010
The 10 Essentials Of Any Effective Web Site
Got a website or about to put one up? (If you don't have a website for any reason, I recommend that you put one up just to learn if not to earn.) Be sure your's is up to snuff. Ever heard of the eight-second rule? Well now it is down to only three seconds...
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- March 24, 2010
Not Hiring (In California)
Unintended consequences. This story highlights the issues of job flight from high-cost California to other lower-cost states and to distant offshore locations. The same thing will happen with the advent of mandated health care. Small companies will simply outsource or offshore more and more work in order to avoid mandated health care costs. And those tens of millions of Americans that were supposed to get health care? They will be out of work instead...
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- March 24, 2010
A Cheap and Instantly Effective Social Media Idea
Are you reluctant to jump into social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)? So was I. This suggestion from Harvard Business School offers a good way to get started with low risk and high value...
via http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/managementtip.php
- March 23, 2010
How To Pick A Company Name: Tips From The Trenches
Another good example of a process for how to name a company...
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- March 22, 2010
The Family That Works Together…
An update on the family business film we are co-producing with Franklin Springs. AgStrong is the company that New Venture Lab recently raised capital for to fund the next stage of their growth.
via http://www.franklinsprings.com/news/
- March 19, 2010
The 10 Ingredients Of A Great Business Plan
This is a good, crisp summary of what an investor presentation should include. All of this can be further summarized into a 1 - 2 minute elevator pitch. The key is to be coherent in how you describe the opportunity you are pursuing.
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- March 19, 2010
Bandwidth.com Takes On Google Voice
This sounds like a wonderful, free telephone service for small companies or lone owner/operators...
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- March 17, 2010
Stop The Marketing Gimmicks!
It's easy to blast out a marketing campaign, but hard to hit the target...
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- March 17, 2010
