Boing! Bounced Checks and Other Check-Writing Practices
Boing! Bounced Checks and Other Check-Writing Practices In good times and bad, but especially in tough economic times, it seems all to tempting to get—shall we say—“creative” with the checkbook, by pushing the timing and other aspects of writing checks as far as you...
Call Me
Call Me Have you ever had this happen? You are at an event or are introduced to someone seeking business. It may be someone wanting advertisers. It may be a service provider or someone with a product to sell and you are interested. You hand them your business card...
Organizational Constraints: Hiring Skills Not Bodies
Hiring Skills Not Bodies – Constraining Organization Success Your business is growing. So, you know that you will soon hit some organizational constraints. The first will undoubtedly be related to people. Because the tasks are outpacing the number of people you have...
The New Bankruptcy Law and Small Business
The New Bankruptcy Law and Small Business The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was signed into law on April 20, 2005 with an effective date of October 17, 2005 for most provisions. This law affects individuals (consumers), small...
First? Best? Service Providers Show Me the Content!
Recently at an association meeting the speaker asked the question “Which is better? To be first to market or be the best?” Some audience members responded “first” (the majority) and others responded “best”. The answer is that they aren’t mutually exclusive and...
Small Business Minefields
Most small businesses get so trapped in day-to-day operations, competing for clients, and trying to grow the business (increase revenues and profits) that they don't expend adequate time and resources on key business activities - finance/accounting and human...
Pricing for Strategic Advantage, Customer Value, and Profit
The value that the customer places on your product (or service or technology) ultimately determines how much the customer is willing to pay. The value is determined by a number of factors: some related directly to the product, others to the customer’s emotional and...
Where Does Venture Capital “Fit” in the Competitive Equation of “Small” Business
Where Does Venture Capital “Fit” in the Competitive Equation of “Small” Business How do we define “small business”? Is it by the number of employees? The amount of revenue? Or who owns or controls the business? Does it matter how much money it will take for a...
Small Business Innovation Research Grants
Small Business Innovation Research Grants SBIR Grants were established to encourage innovation in technology in the private sector. They are given specifically to enable small businesses to use research and development either to develop a new technology or to apply...
At-Risk – Non-compliant SBIR Recipients
It is unfortunate that the stories on small businesses who fail to comply with government requirements for receiving and using grant funds don't make the papers. Even though small businesses fail audits everyday, they just don’t make the headlines. The scale of these...