Recent Updates

Many entrepreneurs have reported lagging sales and frustrations as the coronavirus has halted the economies of countries all over the world. But not all businesses are seeing sales fall. In fact, some businesses have said they've seen interest rise as the emergency has spread. Check out the following five businesses that are in this category.   Pediatric teletherapy Everyone is stressed during these times, but it's difficult to get the mental health resources necessary when social distancin...

Entrepreneurs often find it challenging to stay on top of the regulations that come down from the government, but that's been especially true since the coronavirus emergency began impacting the country. Businesses are facing new challenges every day, and so are American families, many of whom are struggling to pay bills amid changing working conditions. Federal, state and local governments have been fast-tracking new regs, and today we've got the lowdown on how one of them will affect your busin...

Do you feel like you could prioritize more efficiently at your business? You're not alone -- and this problem is not a new one.During a speech in 1954, former President Dwight Eisenhower said, "I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent." A theory was created around that quote, now known as the Eisenhower Principle. It involves the use of a matrix to classify the four types of tasks on your list, as follows: U...

As you're building your new startup team, there are some things you want to consider.You want to put together an effective team that not only has the qualities necessary to do the job, but you want a team that works well together and has strengths that are complimentary.A good team is the team that propels your startup into the future and with maximum productivity and growth.In this article, we discuss the top traits to look for when adding members to your team.Strong organizational skillsIt's n...

The best way to ensure that you can find more time in your day to focus on growth is to eliminate non-core responsibilities from your schedule. The problem is that you may not be able to identify which tasks you can delegate or outsource. The solution? A time audit. Use the following infographic to find out how to determine the ways that you're spending time.  

The world of marketing is evolving, and it's a continuing challenge to ensure that your business gets the exposure it needs to thrive. Check out five marketing mistakes that you should avoid if you are looking to get the word out about your firm.   1. Counting on your marketer to solve all your problemsYou may have brought on the best marketing professional in town to handle your needs, but that person can't overcome fundamental issues if you have them. Poor products or services, a bad repu...

From LLC to C corp to cooperative and beyond, there are myriad business structures available to you when making your startup official. To help make the decision easier, we've created a simple infographic with the basics of each business type.   Courtesy of Escalon Services

A business in New Zealand experimented by offering their employees a 32-hour work week while paying them for 40 hours.The results? Happier employees and increased productivity.In fact, the experiment worked so well the company found their staff to be on time, have better attendance, take less breaks, and produce at the same level as they did with their five-day work week.While this same experiment has been repeated in countries all over the world, it may leave you wondering if your startup shoul...

For those treading non-traditional career paths, such as stay-at-home moms, diving into a job search after being out of the workforce for a long time is daunting. This is especially true for job seekers who don't have much professional experience to begin with.If this sounds like you, you're probably in the middle of re-assembling your resume, buying new interview clothes, and getting back into the job-seeking mindset. Not to mention, you have to prepare to compete with candidates who have been ...

You're ready to start pitching your startup to potential investors, but you aren't sure how to put yourself out there due to your introverted nature. We've got myriad tips on how introverts can pitch their firms, and translated those pointers into this quick infographic.    Courtesy of Escalon Services

By Yair SegevYour small business is at a crossroads. You're ready to scale, but you aren't sure what your numbers are telling you about the right route that will lead to growth, and you aren't in a position to hire a full-time chief financial officer to forge the path. One very modern – and very effective – solution is to bring on an outsourced CFO.The concept of a virtual CFO is a somewhat new phenomenon, but the benefits that these experts can bring to small- and medium-sized businesses are es...

​A board of directors helps oversee the activities of a company or organization. Publicly held companies have to have a board of directors, while private companies don't.That begs the question for many startups as to whether or not they need a board of directors, and if so, when? There are many reasons this is a good idea for most startups. So, for the purposes of this article, let's say you do need one.In this case, we look at what startups need to consider before forming a board of directors.B...

According to Career Builder, 74% of companies that admit they've hired the wrong person for an open position lost an average of $14,900 for each bad hire.What's more, according to the US Department of Labor, the cost of a bad hire can reach up to 30% of the employee's first-year earnings.These stats show you just how important it is to hire right the first time. To assist you, let's look at five of the most common hiring mistakes startups make.#1: Hiring people you knowWhile in some instances hi...

You know you have a problem staffer at your business, but you are too busy to address the issues at hand. So you avoid the problem and eventually sit down with the employee to say, "It's just not working out, so we're letting you go."If this sounds familiar, you could be setting yourself up for expensive and protracted litigation, says Scott Warrick, an employment attorney and HR consultant who is the author of the book Solve Employee Problems Before They Start. "Part of good employee relations ...

As a new or young company, seeking to fund your startup, it seems pretty straightforward that venture capital would be a good option.Yet, while there are many advantages to it, we're going to look at five disadvantages of seeking venture capital, and why it might not be right for your business. #1: You may lose controlBefore you get venture capital, you (and your partners) have total control of your startup. After you get funding, you transfer part of your control to your investors.This mea...

Your startup has huge potential, and that's not only for your business. It's also for the team members you hire.New team members can experience growing a company from the ground up, they can help you build a terrific company culture, and there's often a lot of room for growth.Yet, hiring can be one of the most difficult parts of running a startup. So, what's a startup owner to do? One of the first things in your hiring process is to turn to your website.In this article, we look at how a great ca...

As tech firms work to settle charges of ageism and retreats are popping up to help workers over 30 learn to compete with younger employees, many people may assume that any age over 25 is too old to launch a startup. But luckily for older workers, that view is inaccurate. In reality, the mean age for founders at the highest-growth new ventures is 45.That's the word from a report conducted by researchers from MIT, Northwestern University and the US Census Bureau, which was recently published by No...

You may not think your employees are feeling overworked, but the reality is that many staff members are at risk of burnout.That's the word from a Gallup poll conducted last year, which found that 23 percent of employees felt burned out at work either "always" or "very often," while another 44 percent described themselves as being burned out "sometimes." This leaves only about a quarter of full-time employees not at risk of burnout.If you're of the mindset that staff members are replaceable if th...