Small Business Saturday is a special day where communities are encouraged to support small businesses during the busy holiday shopping season. A considerable amount of media attention related to holiday shopping is focused on the “door-buster deals” offered by big-box stores for Black Friday – Small Business Saturday is a way to help focus attention on America’s small businesses, and encourage people to “shop local.”
Read more »A Small Business Blog for Entrepreneurs
What Happens in a WESST Consulting Appointment?
One service WESST offers to small business owners is one-on-one consulting. Whether you have the beginnings of an idea for a small business start-up, or have been in business for thirty years, we can help you with information and tools to help you create strategies, solve problems, and move your business forward. Here are answers to some common questions about WESST’s consulting services.
Read more »When Employees Go Wild
Several stories have appeared in the news lately about employee behavior that seems to almost defy belief. You’d think people would know better by now, right? Here’s what many small business owners don’t realize.
Read more »Part 4: What Every Successful Business Owner Should Know About Their Business
In this last installment of “The Four Things Every Business Owner Must Know About His Business,” I’ve saved the best for last.
Read more »Part 3: What Every Successful Business Owner Should Know About Their Business
Many businesses don’t take careful enough aim with their marketing and advertising. As a consequence, they get the results they do with amazing accuracy. The problem is that the results are often far from ideal. Business owners who carefully define their ideal customer will attract far more of them for lower cost and, arguably, less effort. The trick is simple – know what you’re looking for.
Read more »Part 2: What Every Successful Business Owner Should Know About Their Business
After creating the business development plan (outlined in my previous post), the second thing I believe the smart business owner must come to grips with is the daily cash flow break-even sales point. No rocket science here. If a business is to thrive, “cash in must exceed cash out.”
Read more »Part 1: What Every Successful Business Owner Should Know About Their Business
A client recently asked me a very good question: What are the most important minimum basics she must keep in mind if she’s going to be building a better business? What a great question!
Here’s my best shot at the answer and it boils down to just four items.
5 Cautionary HR Lessons from “House of Cards”
I recently got drawn into Netflix’s new original series, House of Cards, and watched every episode avidly until the cliffhanger conclusion (and now can hardly wait for the next season to be released!). In addition to providing great entertainment, the show provided a great lesson for managers on how NOT to handle a problem with an insubordinate employee. Watchers of the show will know I’m referencing the way that Claire Underwood, the super-stylish, calculating nonprofit director, handled the insubordination of her pregnant employee, Gillian Cole.
Read more »Why a Social Media Strategy is Important
At WESST, when consulting with clients on business and marketing planning, we recommend: strategy first, tools second. What that means is that you have to understand what it is you want your business to accomplish before you go out and start engaging in different tactics (such as advertising, setting up social media channels, etc). It’s important for every business to have an overall strategy/plan, from which the marketing plan would flow from which the social media plan would flow.
Read more »A Monumental Celebration in Taos
On March 25, 2013, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation establishing the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument just north of Taos. This past Saturday, a standing-room-only crowd of enthusiastic Taoseños gathered at Taos Mesa Brewing to celebrate alongside some of the political dignitaries who helped make the historic designation possible.
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