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General Business

24 Posts tagged with the small_business_owners tag
Healthy Body, Healthy Business Q & A: Why Small Business Owners Can’t Afford to Sacrifice their Health for their Business
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Posted by: SBOC Team, May 11, 2012

by Iris Dorbian. Like many small business owners, Ceres “C.C.” Opanowski has had an unusual career trajectory. After spending a decade as a paralegal, she jettisoned the corporate lifestyle to become a certified Pilates instructor. Recently, the 35-year-old Opanowski opened her own studio, Rivertown Pilates in Tarrytown, New York where she now works 50 hours a week giving classes and running her own business. Recently, writer Iris Dorbian spoke to Opanowski about her new venture and why a...
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9 Ways to Give Back
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Posted by: Steve Strauss, Apr 17, 2012

Small business people are among the most passionate, idealistic people out there. After all, how could you be anything but if you are willing to quit a more traditional job, forgo your benefits, follow your passion, take out a loan, open up shop, find and serve your new customers, and believe you will be profitable and happy? I would consider that fairly idealistic – in the best sense of the word. So it may be no surprise that small business owners are among the most active people in terms...
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The Power of the Crowd: Is crowdsourcing right for your small business?
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Feb 6, 2012

You may think you know the definition of crowdsourcing, but there are a lot of interpretations to its meaning. In the words of Northwestern University professor Jeff Howe, who coined the term, crowdsourcing is “the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call.”   Regardless of how you define it, there is an argument to be made that crowdsourcing is...
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The Discipline Story: How to handle difficult employees
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Feb 3, 2012

It is normal for workplace issues to arise amongst colleagues – after all most Americans spend more time at work than any place else. When employees are having difficulty getting along with each other, or when they are having performance problems, small business owners may question how to handle the issues at hand. Companies of all sizes must manage employees that turn out to have difficult personality traits, are a poor fit for their current role or have trouble working with others....
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7 Types of Workplace Culture – What’s Yours?
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Jan 13, 2012

Workplace culture can be broadly defined as how employees describe their working environment. While some cultures will be defined naturally based on a small business owner’s leadership style or industry type, a lot of it will also be determined by the employees you hire and the office tone that management sets. How you implement your unique small business culture in day-to-day operations can help to attract and retain talent while ultimately contributing to your business’ success.  Here are...
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Tips and Lessons I’ve Learned from Readers
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Posted by: Steve Strauss, Jan 10, 2012

A while back I asked folks who read my USA Today column to share their best business tips. I received many good contributions, several of which I want to share with you today. The idea behind this exercise was to hear about the valuable ideas and lessons learned from different small business owners. The question friends and family ask me most often is where I get the ideas for my column. They come from many sources – articles and books I have read, business associates, press releases,...
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8 Different Types of Small Business Management Styles – What’s Yours?
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Jan 9, 2012

There are numerous perspectives on the different types of “management styles.” To help you identify your type, or learn more about, we’ve outlined eight different styles below. Active leadership: Active leaders tend to lead by example and set a high standard for themselves and their employees. They wouldn’t ask an employee to take on a task they’d be unwilling to do themselves. They are highly involved in the day-to-day work and fully aware of what’s taking place in the office. Democratic...
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Eight Ways to Navigate Workplace Conflict
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Jan 6, 2012

Leaving workplace conflict unaddressed can have significant costs. For example, in 2008 U.S. employees spent 2.8 hours a week managing conflict, according to CPP Inc, the publishers of the well-known Myers-Briggs Assessment on decision making styles.  In addition, 25 percent of employees said that they missed work due to a work-related conflict, 10 percent said it contributed to project failure, and 33 percent said it led to someone leaving the company, according to the CPP Study.  All of this...
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6 New Year’s Business Resolutions
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Posted by: Steve Strauss, Jan 3, 2012

While we are all familiar with the making of personal New Year’s resolutions (maybe too familiar!) a recent and emerging trend is to make New Year’s business resolutions. The challenge of course is that, like personal resolutions, we want our business resolutions to stick. So how do we do that? Experts say that people who are able to make and keep resolutions know not to bite off more than they can chew. Here are a few simple, easy-to-implement, small business resolutions that can make a...
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4 Questions to Consider When Choosing a Database for Your Small Business
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Jan 2, 2012

As a small business owner, it’s possible that Excel is sufficient for your data storage and management needs.  It may be enough to help you track customer contact information, search for data and even manage basic accounting. However, how do you know when it’s time to take a step further and determine whether or not you should invest in a database? Start by asking yourself the following questions: Will a database save time? Spreadsheets can become unwieldy, costing a small business...
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4 Ways to Branch Out from Your Core Business
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Dec 30, 2011

Is the market you currently serve reaching a saturation point?  Are you tempted by offers to blend your company with another synergistic small business?  Do you see untapped opportunities in other countries? Have you gotten bored with selling the same set of products to the same narrow market? If you’re asking yourself any of these questions, you may be thinking about branching out from your core business. There are many ways to accomplish this. For example, you can create a subsidiary...
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8 Ways to Plan Your First Pay-Per-Click Campaign
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Posted by: Steve Strauss, Dec 27, 2011

There is no doubt advertising has evolved a lot in the past decade, with advertisers increasingly moving from print to electronic media. It’s not hard to understand why. The beauty of a pay-per-click campaign is that, unlike a print campaign, you only pay for the ads when people who see it like it enough to click on it and that in turn means that you are typically paying less for more qualified leads. Paying less for better leads? Yes, that is hard to beat. Here is how you can join the...
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7 Questions to Ask Before Rebranding Your Small Business
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Dec 26, 2011

Although there may be various reasons to rebrand your small business, it’s important to ensure there is a definite need before committing the time, money and resources to the project. Below are some questions to consider before ultimately deciding if you should move forward with rebranding: Is your current company name too limited to encompass new product lines?Is your target audience a completely new market, i.e. upscale versus cost-conscious?Have you merged with a business that has a more...
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There’s No Business like Trade Show Business
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Dec 23, 2011

Despite the fact that a significant portion of business marketing has gone digital, trade shows are still a common tactic – 9,000 per year in the United States alone. They can be particularly valuable for owners of smaller businesses who may not have the budget to travel to widely dispersed customers but can benefit from seeing many of them in one place.  If you’re grappling with how to allocate your marketing budget, perhaps it’s time to consider “putting on a show.”  Here’s some...
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4 Ways to Get Results From Remote Work Arrangements
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Posted by: SBOC Team, Dec 19, 2011

Working remotely has become commonplace for businesses of all sizes. According to a recent IDC report, the United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, 119.7 million workers or three quarters of the workforce expected to be mobile by 2013. Currently, nearly 85 percent of employees work remotely one day a week or more. Technology has made telecommuting a viable and attractive alternative.  Advanced laptops, smartphones, wi-fi, high-speed internet and cloud...
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