Category: Growing a Business

4 Small Business Groups You Can Join for Free

4 Small Business Groups You Can Join for Free

The work of entrepreneurs and small business owners is filled with pitfalls and challenges, and sometimes youjust need to talk to someone who can share a few pieces of good advice. Business networking groups are a great way to meet advisors and mentors who can help during the journey, as well as to find new professional connections, opportunities and ideas. Whether you're looking for suggestions for your next product, emotional support or advice on taking your business to the next level,… Read More
The First Thing You Need to Do If You Want to Grow Your Business

The First Thing You Need to Do If You Want to Grow Your Business

So it's Friday evening and you are back home after a long week of work in the shop. You've decided to take the weekend off, leaving the shop's management solely to your more trusted employees. As you sit at the kitchen table on Friday evening with your spouse, kids and the dog in the background, you take out a sheet a paper to formulate some ideas to grow your business. You come up with a list that looks something like… Read More
5 Ways to Make Your Business’s First Impression The Best One

5 Ways to Make Your Business’s First Impression The Best One

Guest post by Jaffrey Eric of Thinsquare LLC In the same way you evaluate others on the basis of your first encounter with them, others are also going to evaluate you and your business from the way you present and conduct yourself. So making a good first impression of your business is highly crucial, and you don’t get a second chance to do it.  Here are some simple tips that can help you make a good and long-lasting first impression. 1.… Read More
The New Year’s Resolution Business Owners Should Make – and Keep

The New Year’s Resolution Business Owners Should Make – and Keep

Well, that went by fast.  2016 is taking a bow, with 2017 waiting impatiently in the wings. Small business owners across the country are scrambling to prepare for the last hurrah of the holiday season. And then it’s time to start the whole thing over again. Research tells us that less than 10% of people who make New Year’s resolutions succeed in achieving them. That’s not exactly surprising—most of us are creatures of habit, bad as well as good. But… Read More
How I Turned $1,000 and a Pickup Truck Into a $3 Million Revenue

How I Turned $1,000 and a Pickup Truck Into a $3 Million Revenue

This article was originally published on Inc. on Dec. 2, 2017. I started my first small business when I was 23 years old. I'd been working for an electric sign company in Utah, intending to enroll in school and finish my college degree. My boss suggested that I learn the sign business instead and move to Idaho to start a company of my own. I started with $1,000 in savings, a 32-foot extension ladder and an old pickup truck. Three… Read More
This Week’s Happenings: 2017 Consumer Spending Trends and the Death of Fax Machines

This Week’s Happenings: 2017 Consumer Spending Trends and the Death of Fax Machines

A Surprising Obstacle in Small Biz Lending: Fax Machines Fax machines died for many industries a while back, but for the Internal Revenue Service they are still alive and kicking. And it’s making the process of getting a loan more difficult for small business owners. via GIPHY While many banks have invested in speeding up the underwriting process, the process of getting a tax transcript from the IRS remains a burden, and that burden leads well qualified borrowers to turn… Read More