Category: Running a Business

5 Things to Consider Before Hiring Your First Employee

5 Things to Consider Before Hiring Your First Employee

So you’ve started your business and things are going great! Well, mostly great. You’re working too many hours every day, you might have a project or two running behind, and your spouse has to schedule date night on your calendar to make sure you have time together. But these are all good problems, right? Inevitably, you’ll start asking yourself if it’s the right time to hire your first employee. After all, if you’re working 80 hours a week, you figure… Read More
Changing Your Business Name? Don’t Put Your Credit at Risk

Changing Your Business Name? Don’t Put Your Credit at Risk

Changing your business name can be a lot of work, and, quite frankly, a hassle. But can it also put your business’s credit history at risk? Kimberly Wilson is about to find out. In 2006, she started First Step Therapy, a counseling and training business, and grew it into multiple locations. A few years ago she took a hiatus from that business to earn her doctorate degree, and now she’s ready to relaunch her business. She has chosen a new… 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
What to Do if You Have Too Much Business Debt

What to Do if You Have Too Much Business Debt

Many businesses use credit and debt to expand, buy equipment, and hire additional employees so they can take on bigger projects and grow.  But what should you do if you’ve taken new credit from vendors who offered it, developed business debts, used personal credit cards, responded to ads for quick money, and find yourself drowning in debt because your business hit bumps and roadblocks along the way? Here’s how to specifically determine if you are carrying too much business debt… Read More
Two Stars on a Snowy Night, and Finding Common Ground

Two Stars on a Snowy Night, and Finding Common Ground

Many Christmases ago, my sister and brother-in-law were taking a nighttime drive from Boise to Salt Lake City. My sister saw a Texaco star as they passed through a sleepy town, and made a random comment about it. A few seconds later, my brother-in-law said, “That was a Christmas star. It was somebody’s decoration.” My sister responded with something like, “You’re an idiot. I know a Texaco star when I see one.” My brother-in-law came back in kind: “You’re the… 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