I’ve started working on a new marketing venture for a personal trainer (okay, it’s my wife – but I’m treating it to some extent how I would treat a client project). The Background My wife is a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor. Her basic business model is that she makes house calls for her [...]
Does having competition make you uncomfortable? Perhaps you should consider making a strategic alliance instead. Competition can be a scary thing, but it can also be useful, if handled correctly. Few industries or markets are only large enough for a single player, which means that there is little reason for anyone to be afraid of [...]
I was working on a business development plan for someone, and we discussed her business, what she envisioned being able to do for clients, and various approaches she could take to find new clients. This came, after some discussion, to the concept of unique value proposition – that is, what would set her business apart [...]
I have a client with an interesting employee – he can take a product, and figure out who the best customers of this product are. He knows how to reach those people, as well as the people who would ultimately pay for the product. He can get these people to seriously consider using his product [...]
I recently purchased a new computer from a certain manufacturer with whom I’ve done business many times before. I was purchasing a laptop they had advertised in a catalog, and the price I ultimately paid was $50 less than I had expected based on the price advertised, and included a [nice] carrying case. I immediately [...]
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 [...]
A website that I am heavily involved in has a restriction on it – they are not allowed to offer their services within the US, based on the nature of their industry and the licensing restrictions imposed by their governing body. This is, from a strictly technical point of view, a fairly trivial issue to [...]
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.
