by Jen Hickey. How do you run a business with family? When starting a business, hiring your wife, siblings and/or children is usually the most affordable and reliable option. However, as a business grows, and more family members are brought on board, problems often arise.  How those conflicts are dealt with will determine whether your business will survive to the next generation or fail in this one. According to the Family Firm Institute, 70 percent of all family-owned businesses will not...

By Christopher Freeburn. Keeping your employees motivated and productive is an important goal for any small business owner. Not only will highly motivated and happy employees do more work, but their motivation can also boost your business in other ways. In fact, the smaller your business, the more crucial it is that your employees are happy at their jobs. In smaller workplaces, individual employees have a greater impact on the overall business because each employee does so much....

Providing your employees with a reliable social support system is a key way to ensuring they stay happy and productive By Max Berry The link between work stress and serious depression should be a concern for every small business owner, but the way to keep your employees happy and productive may be simpler than you think. A 2007 study conducted by researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center-and subsequently published in the American Journal of Public Health-found that,...

Keeping remote employees engaged can be a difficult task for a small business owner. But when managed well, your off-site employees can be just as productive as the ones you see every day. by Max Berry Sometime during the 20th century, the water cooler assumed a crucial position in the American office-it became a trading post not only for gossip and recaps of last night's television shows, but also for ideas and advice. With a growing number of 21st-century employees working remotely, the...