StartupNation Blogs

Good evening Startup Nation visitors! Today we begin a 15-part, five week crash course that will help you decide whether or not franchising is the right thing for you. Starting your own business can be extremely daunting.

What is the right business for me?
How do I get financing (or do I even need financing)?
Home based? Retail? [...]

Whether you’ve established a small business, are in the midst of launching one, or simply considering it for the future, it’s certain you want at least one thing out of this investment: success.
Starting and running a small business isn’t a cakewalk. It’s hard to believe, but over 50 percent of small businesses fail in their [...]

My name is Heather Nolte, and I have enjoyed being a small business owner for the past four years.   My company, Glamajama.com , is a lifestyle clothing company that creates glam-studded clothes for women, toddlers, and babies.  Glamajama has been featured on The Today Show, The Early Show, Oprah, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Extreme Makeover: Home [...]

I’ve talked to a lot of business owners recently who are seeing requests for information, incoming calls and in-store visits decline due to the economy.
As an entrepreneur, you’ve probably noticed this too. And it can be easy to fall into an emotional trap of negativity and disappointment.
If you are feeling this way, try to change your [...]

RingCentral (provider of StartupNation’s toll-free "vanity" number 866-59-START, among other things) recently conducted a survey of its small business customers, examining trends in technology spending, holiday plans, political preferences and more. Here are a few findingsi thought might interest you:

The majority of small businesses (60%) will increase tech spending in 2008
Email and phone are most important [...]

A long vacation provides a much-needed break, but still affords opportunities to get interesting perspectives on how entrepreneurs view their businesses.
We just spent a week with extended family on a beautiful island off the coast of British Columbia. A couple of lessons popped up, despite my desire to just take a break.
First: the couple who own [...]

I got a notice last week for my 30th high school reunion. (Please keep the age jokes to yourself…)
I’m not sure if I’m going to go. I live 5 hours worth of air travel away, and have important meetings already scheduled on the same day.
Beyond that, I’m not sure how I really feel about it. My [...]

At StartupNation we see thousands of entrepreneurs. You come in all shapes and sizes. Different ages and hair color. We’ve done radio shows that talk about entrepreneurial characteristics, and articles on the subject of the great “born” vs. “made” debate. You do share many of the same qualities, but there is also fantastic diversity in [...]

Ah, April. Such a nice month. The birds are singing, the flowers are rising up and yawning before they spread their colorful petals paying homage to the bright, sunny sky. The air is warm with a slight breeze, and I just sit outside on my deck and drink it all in, along with my warm [...]

Continuing on the theme of hallmarks of true entrepreneurs, boldness is certainly one among them.
But there’s "smart boldness," and there’s just plain "stupid."
An example of smart?
Take Tina Norris, creator of Foot Petals, a company that sells patented shoe pad inserts for women’s dress shoes. They’re basically a super premium, improved version of the standard [...]