Category Uncategorized

Jun 26 2016

More Brains Than Budget? Steal These $0 Marketing Strategies.

Ten years ago, Chris Dingman launched his company on the flimsiest of grounds. It’s called The Dingman Group, and it relocates professional athletes — so, say, if a guy is traded from the Miami Heat to the Cleveland Cavaliers, The Dingman Group would arrange to sell the house in Miami, pack it up, move the stuff and find a new home in Cleveland. It’s a clever, one-of-a-kind service, but there was a hitch: The “Group” was just Dingman, and he had no experience in real estate or professional sports. Also, he was damn near broke — and it took him almost a year and a half to find his first client. “It was gnarly,” he says. “No matter how much you’re struggling as an entrepreneur, you have to put a face on.”

Continue reading →

Nov 24 2015

3 Steps to Realistic Sales Goals

Q: How do I set realistic sales goals for my employees?

A: John Doerr, co-president of Rain Group, a sales training and consulting firm in Framingham, Mass., offers this approach.

  1. Determine your company’s goals. “The toughest thing for entrepreneurs to ask is, ‘All right, if I get to this level, will I be happy?’ The first step is to figure out where you are and what you want.”

Continue reading →

Nov 23 2015

Twelve Ways to Boost Your Return on Employee Benefits

A few months ago, I discussed how to communicate your total rewards package to your employees to ensure they were aware of all of the great benefits offered by the company. If you aren’t familiar with total rewards packages, you may want to start there. This post will delve deeper into the methods you can use to boost your return on your total rewards package—the collective elements of compensation, benefits, work-life balance, performance and recognition, and development and career opportunities.

Continue reading →

Nov 20 2015

7 Ways to Have a Pleasant Conversation With a Negative Person

You know them. Maybe you work with them, live with them, or hang out with them. They complain, they vent, they criticize, they blame. These people always seem to look at the world cynically. Are you’re tired of dealing with them

Unfortunately, dealing with negative people is part of our daily lives we must learn to cope with. It behooves you to be polite, yet firm, when dealing with negativity to keep the conversation and the relationship alive. Here are seven ways to deal with a negative thinker and get the topic back on track.

Continue reading →

Nov 19 2015

5 Traits That Distinguish Serial Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are a rarity. Just over 1-in-10 adults within the U.S.. engage in entrepreneurial activities.

That low number is not a surprise in light of the complex array of challenges that entrepreneurs face. According to a joint study last year by the University of Michigan and Stanford University, more than 70 percent of entrepreneurs who launch a failed venture do not try again. The vast majority of entrepreneurs researched adopted a “one-and-done” mentality in the face of failure.

However, the same study identified an elite subset of entrepreneurs — serial entrepreneurs — comprising 29 percent of those researched who went on to launch other ventures with great success.

Marc Preston is just such an entrepreneur.

He’s had dozens of money-making ventures over the past two decades and seven stand-alone companies ranging from web design, mobile apps, hardware and software development to retail storefronts.

Continue reading →

Nov 19 2015

‘Accidental Entrepreneurs’ — When a Personal Mission Morphs into a Big Business

Some of the most successful and inspirational entrepreneurs never set out with the goal of running a large company or employing scores of people. Many are simply men and women motivated to develop solutions to a problem they’re facing.

Related: Need a Business Idea? Here are 55

Then they discover that they’re not the only ones with that need — and, lo, a successful business is born.

Sometimes dubbed “accidental entrepreneurs,” these business owners have other names, as well. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, for instance, calls them “user entrepreneurs” in its research, which has found that this group has launched more than 46 percent of startups lasting five or more years — even though they’re responsible for just 10.7 percent of U.S. startups overall.

That’s an impressive success rate.

Continue reading →