One entrepreneur who came on the show this week was lambasted for doing something few prudent business people would ever consider – they turned down a sale. This was not because they were to inundated with orders to be able to meet demand – on the contrary, they had essentially no other sales. They turned [...]
In recent dealings with several large financial institutions, I learned about bureaucracy – and how to work with one. Forced to enter discussions with them, I was overwhelmed by the volume of paperwork and the miles of red tape that seemed to be targeted at making my inquiries impossible to be answered. With one employee [...]
I know a few business owners who do their own taxes, and many more who pay someone to fill out their corporate returns each year. Given that the cost of corporate accounting can be significant, some owners have shied away from that route for as long as they can, while others quickly push their books [...]
I’m fortunate in that I get little enough email that I can generally respond within a day to most queries. However, being in contact with many people who receive far more messages than I do, I’m familiar with the concept of dealing with vast quantities of mail. This week, I had to contact a company [...]
Continuing with the theme of basic pieces of advice, today’s suggestion is in regard to your learning. I left university having had enough of sitting in the classroom. My degree took 5 years to complete, having added and removed subjects several times. I was ready to move out into the real world, despite the messages [...]
If there was only one piece of advice I could give a business owner, this is it: Find a mentor who has been in a similar business situation before (though not necessarily in the same industry), with whom you have good personal chemistry, and with whom you can communicate effectively. The reason for this is [...]
I was fortunate to receive a copy of Enchantment courtesy of Guy Kawasaki. I had not read his previous books, but make use of his site Alltop (where I am featured under the listing Small Business), and was interested in reading more from the man known as the Chief Evangelist for Apple. Having read this [...]
There’s a famous saying that “the customer is always right”, but many people who work in businesses and interact with customers on a daily basis will disagree. There are certainly times when this saying might not be true, but in some businesses, this is taken to an extreme level. In your business, what do you [...]
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.
