In studying the business applications of being a personal trainer, there was a comment that piqued my interest: Within 6 to 9 months of becoming certified, if you are not getting 75% of new clients via referrals, you’re doing something wrong. This is particularly interesting to those in service-based industries. Getting new clients is generally [...]
A few years ago, when just starting out in the consulting business, I would have been reluctant to give up any business at all. If someone asked me to write them a tiny script, or a massive desktop application used by thousands of people simultaneously, I would have been eager and raring to go. The [...]
With thanks to Susan Varty for suggesting this topic. Many businesses define themselves as being either a product-based business or a service-based business. While there are certainly those businesses which encompass both categories, and certainly many who will primarily think of themselves as providing both of those, it is the thoughts of the customers that [...]
In my recent post The Right Time to Network I emphasized the importance of networking well in advance of you actually needing something from your network. I was mentioning the post to my photographer during a photo shoot (new images will be put up within a few days), and he described it in a way [...]
A week ago was my birthday, and in the days and weeks leading up to it, I starting noticing other birthdays of friends and acquaintances on Facebook, and the number of people who would drop a line on the celebrant’s wall wishing them “Happy Birthday”. It made me think about the new definition of social, [...]
I recently accepted a contract working for a small company. I was interviewed by the two owners of the company before being retained, and was introduced to their significant others. Between the time that we signed the contract and when I started working for them (there was almost a month gap there) I invited them [...]
I went to the home opening game for the Toronto Blue Jays a few days ago, and experienced something interesting. A player who had formerly played for Toronto was at the game playing for the Chicago White Socks – Alex Rios. He came to bat 5 times during the course of the game, and each [...]
I was reading about a company, I believe it was in The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Amazon Affiliate link), in which the owner of a company discovered a locked cabinet in one of the offices which contained office supplies. He immediately cut the lock, stating something to the effect of that in a company, [...]
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.
