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 something interesting about the show Dragons’ Den that seems to appeal to a certain type of business person. People come on the show with their businesses, hoping to leave the set with a potential investment from one of the five dragons, yet in the average show, only 2 businesses will get lucky. Having watched [...]
Last March, a pair of entrepreneurs from Toronto surprised viewers by turning down a potential investment of a million dollars on the show Dragons’ Den. In this week’s episode showcasing entrepreneurs who have been given a second (and in one case, a third) chance on the show, the same pair turned down yet another offer [...]
I was recently given a copy of Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! by Scott Adams, the cartoonist who behind Dilbert. In his introduction, Scott discusses why he chose to write a book which has nothing to do with business, at least not in general. He had no experience in the field, and yet he [...]
I was reading the book All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin, in which he discusses the approach to marketing that has been rapidly made into the norm for successful businesses – learning to tell a story. That is, a successful marketer will connect with their audience by telling them a story, which, as a [...]
In yesterday’s article, I discussed the deal from Dragons’ Den that went to Jason Bellissimo with his novel product, the Handi-Tray. Further investigation, though revealed that the deal did not make it through due diligence, despite the fact that the product was a good one, and the market known. However, Jason was having difficulty in [...]
One of my readers was kind enough to send me a link to a piece of software he’s been working on for about a year, and asked if I could provide some feedback. I did what I normally do when I get such requests – I went to his site, spent 3 minutes browsing, and [...]
In businesses of all size, keeping your customers happy is important, but measuring that can be quite difficult for some businesses. In past articles, I’ve discussed the handling of negative image incidents, such as how the Toronto Transit Commission handled the picture of a sleeping collector agent, and how Toyota handled the safety flaw in [...]
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.
