StartupNation Blogs

“In the past 20 years, the lure of instant gratification has gripped the youngest half of our population. For the hooked-up generation-those born after 1970 who are wedded to iPods and the immediacy/pervasiveness of the entertainment industry-it’s a stretch to go backwards to consider the root of things. The gratification of the moment is a [...]

It seems logical the manager’s total efforts should be focused on the product or service itself; that all energy be directed to the work that must be done, the customers who must be found, and the money that must be made.
And this is the problem! Focus entirely on these tasks without an overall strategy of [...]

“Why? Because I’m the mommy and I said so.”
- Anonymous mommy
Do it now and let’s get on with whatever is next!�
Point-of-sale is a phrase taken from the cash register industry. It describes action “where the purchase takes place.” Consider the latest generation of cash register which instantly updates inventory and orders new product. Before the customer [...]

The numbers are gloomy. Statistics show that of one hundred new business startups, eighty will be out of business within five years. Too often, the causes of these failures are recurring inefficiencies and their offspring: fire-killing and distraction. Most business owners wake up in the morning with only a vague sense of their ultimate, primary [...]

Most people have jobs, and as of this writing, there is not a general revolt against the concept. In any society, it is a revered position - one that carries a certain “it’s a good feeling to be part of the team” camaraderie. Whether a democratic or a socialistic state, it is understood that the [...]

Time and money wasted is time and money gone forever. And a waste of time and money means some other positive thing that could have happened, didn’t.
Apply a “Good Enough” rule to the Working Procedures in your workplace. Working Procedures are instructions that describe how the individual systems of the company or the job are [...]

Maybe you enjoy working the long hours. Yes, staying late to work on a deadline project or to finish the twenty things on your task list probably makes you feel a bit nobler than your cubicle-mate (who jets out the door as soon as that wall clock strikes 5 p.m.). There’s a sense of pride [...]

Your employees are not mind readers or fortune tellers, and your business is not a free-form venue for experimentation, or a place where individual preference based on mood, time of the day, or random circumstance can rule the day. Your purpose and methodology must be clear, concise, consistent, and understood by everyone involved. Aim for [...]

In Western culture, the word “control” has an undeserved bad rap. It conjures up the image of a type-A personality gone wild with power, who, headed down the road of personal self-destruction, cuts wide swaths of anxiety among all those encountered. “Control freak” is a term that often surfaces. But if hyper-control is a bad [...]

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 [...]