Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

Catch 22.
You have a terrific idea for a profitable small business. You need some startup cash to get it rolling. Or maybe you’ve started your business and an influx of cash will take it to the next level.
Problem is, you haven’t been in business 2 years yet so banks aren’t likely to give you a [...]

Entrepreneurs often don’t but they especially should. And when they do, they don’t really, at least not completely.
(I’m reminding myself of Yogi Berra’s famous quotes – my favorite: "If the fans don’t come out to the ball park, you can’t stop them."
I’m talking about time off. Small business owners are in severe need of totally [...]

I never watched American Idol. But I’m sure many of you have. I want to know if the show has anything to teach us about running our businesses and our lives. Without ever watching, here are a couple of things that I surmised from the media hype:
1) Bullies get a lot [...]

“Guess what?? I got a fever!
And the only prescription …
Is more Cowbell!!”
Ohhh YES !!!!! The contributions that the late night tv show “Saturday Night Live” have made to our society are so bountiful! As we’re heading into the long Memorial Day weekend, I’m beginning to get into a festive mood. My mind has [...]

Have you joined the StartupNation community yet? We’re the nation’s fastest growing online group of people starting and growing their dream business. Over a thousand of you have been one of the first to join our new community initiative.
Now we’re on a mission to double the size of the community. If each of us gets [...]

I was watching the Detroit Pistons defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 7th & final game of their NBA 2nd round series Sunday afternoon and I started thinking of entrepreneurship. (This is not unusual, as I think about entrepreneurs, the businesses they start & the lives they lead all day long)
Here’s a bit of the [...]

Here we go! Today’s Top 10 List. The top 10 reasons to create a profile & join the StartupNation community …
10 You’ll be hangin’ with really smart people who’ll help you with that idea for starting up & growing your dream business
9 If you join & create a profile by June 1 you’ll [...]

A StartupNation community member recently asked “What’s your favorite office supply?” on the community forum. At first glance it seemed like a very silly question & even a sillier topic for discussion. But the question has stuck with me for a few weeks and I really thought about it as I bought a new cell [...]

There are lots of sayings, theories and clichés about how to run a successful business. One I’ve heard many times is “Do one thing and do it well.”
While heading out of my hotel to a nearby Starbucks on Saturday morning in Chicago, I saw a line that I was relieved to find out was [...]

• Caffeine-up
• Follow up with customers
• Analyze website traffic
• Move forward on strategy for growing customer base
• Tweak strategy for growing customer base
• Manage accounting activity
• Re-caffeinate
• Gain inspiration from a teammate (or the StartupNation community)
• Analyze sales
• Walk the dog (home-based businesses only)
• Shipping & receiving activity
• Interface with customers (all day long – pre-empting all other tasks)
• Realize that you forgot to eat lunch (but don’t [...]