StartupNation Blogs

This has become my new mantra and quite honestly, I wish I would have seen the light a little earlier.  However, as a small business owner swamped with trying to make sales, market the business, oversee the day-to-day operations, and oh yeah- create the product, I just never saw where “having lunch” had a worthy [...]

When you’re running a business you never have a minute to just think.  “Focus time” helps to just unwind those thoughts and get in touch with the answers.  Once a week I turn off the office phone, my cell phone, close the door and place an appoitnment in my calander called “focus time”.  I try to only do [...]

Interesting article in the NYTimes:
Leave it to the Germans to combine livestock with lodging. In the last decade, hundreds of farms throughout Germany have transformed old barns and potato warehouses into heuhotels, or hay hotels, where guests spend the night on a bed of dried grass.
The eco-friendly hotels (no sheets to change) are cheap and [...]

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote. The last few weeks have been filled with market turmoil and internal growth struggles.  As the Presidential race heats up it appears as though the markets will take their time recovering. The crash of ‘08 will be felt for a long time. Frankly, I have [...]

With the non-stop news reports of Wallstreet’s record losses, the rising unemployment rate, and the dismal forecasts for holiday spending, it’s easy to become paralyzed with fear of the unknown.  While there may be several factors effecting the economy and markets today that are out of our control, there are plenty of things that we [...]

I have a slight problem with the whole home-entrepreneur gig. Apparently, to you, me, and the rest of the Startup Nation, working-at-home means that you are WORKING at your HOME.
That seems clear enough.
However, the deluded, including the hubby, sometimes slip into thinking that if you WORK from home, you’re actually just sitting around waiting for something to [...]

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Welcome to the Monday Morning Memoir September 22, 2008.
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I have been thinking about the organic process of product growth and brand identity.  While I was working on my MBA the professors would teach that every company knew what their product and brand identity was at the startup phase of the company.  What’s interesting about my [...]

I just returned from the ABC Kids Expo in Vegas this past week.  The show is a children’s industry tradeshow that connects children’s manufacturers with buyers from specialty boutiques, department stores, and chains.  Buyer traffic was down as the case with most shows; however, I couldn’t help but notice a reoccurring theme throughout the five [...]

On a recent appearance on The Big Idea with Donny, I was one of three people on a panel. It was our role to help people fed into the show via satellite and phone.
It’s a huge challenge to be in the hot seat and be ready to fire away with valuable advice. But it’s thrilling, [...]

The number one reason for business, and personal, failure is the “lack of knowledge” about MONEY!
As a successful business owner, running a multi-million dollar retail product placement company, I know first hand how being bad with money can be, and how being cash starved is always fatal.
I hate to admit that I did have money [...]