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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...