There’s a saying commonly bandied about in relation to small businesses that you should “fake it until you make it” which is implying that you should act bigger or better than you might otherwise appear to be, until that becomes a reality. However, this can rapidly backfire as you promise the world, and are left [...]
As Dragons’ Den crosses Canada in search of new entrepreneurs looking for investment dollars, and past participants with fresh ideas, this is a good time to review some of the rules for making a deal on the den. It is surprising how many people come onto the show, having presented their ideas to a panel [...]
Despite being attached to coffee to the point that I am highly unproductive without any coffee, and can increase my productivity relative to the amount of coffee I’ve drunk that day, I still refuse to drink it in the evening. Once dinner is over, if caffeine is required, coke will have to suffice. The reasoning [...]
Looking at the website for a local fitness center, I noticed that they had 2 portions of their site devoted to news. One was a banner across the top of the site, posting information about changes to their schedule. The other was a Twitter feed. The banner seemed to contain fairly current information – it [...]
I don’t do my own accounting for my business – I hire a professional firm to do that for me. I have a lawyer who deals with any contracts or legal issues that I encounter. For marketing, I go to a company that specializes in that. For business advice and software consulting, I hire myself. [...]
Getting people to pay on time can be difficult, and can frustrate business owners as they struggle to create a reserve large enough to float unpaid invoices. There are many strategies published that address this issue, and how to best manage getting paid in a timely manner. How do you go about ensuring that your [...]
When Carolanne Doig came on Dragons’ Den with her business, she was already on her way out. Having built up Seaforth Rain Gear over the course of almost 15 years, she had done all the right things, but had yet to hit a homerun. Her asking price was $100,000 for 40% of the business, which [...]
A recurring problem that many people have is running meetings effectively – that is, where the meetings in hindsight are not deemed a waste of time – for any of the participants. This can be quite problematic, as different people coming to a meeting will often have different objectives, and reaching everyone’s objective in a [...]
Elie Kochman is the author of Advice for Small Business Owners and the founder of Optimal Upgrade Consulting. Using his experience working in the corporate world along with his exposure to the world of small businesses, he writes these articles to assist others avoiding common pitfalls of growing a business. His experience in the corporate world, building his own business, and working directly with other growing businesses has given him some perspective on the trials and pains of running a business.
