Oh, The Glory of Gross Profit!
Scott Underwood – Oh, the glory of gross profit! More money to give your people. More money to buy more stuff (or upgrade the stuff you have). More money at the end of the year to reward you for your efforts. Oh, the glory of gross profit! Yet many of our clients do not understand [...]
East Central ISBDC / June 5, 2013
Spousal Attitude Can Make or Break a Start-Up Business
Mary Popovich – As business advisors working with entrepreneurs on a daily basis at the ISBDC, we have seen it all. We have listened to a teary-eyed client describing her husband’s efforts to sabotage their business dream. We have watched a fledgling business fail after the wife who controls the couple’s check book refused to [...]
ISBDC / May 14, 2013
Never Alone
Kathy Davis – I’ve heard a business owner or three tell me that they set up their corporation online. My first question after hearing that is almost always “do you have an operating agreement?” Most of the time, the owner in question says something along the lines of “No, its just me. I don’t need [...]
ISBDC / April 30, 2013
Hiccups in Government Contracting
Bobbi Carlton – Getting involved in government contracting can be overwhelming for many suppliers, but, with helpful tips and tools, it can be an easier process if you have the right information. You can spend hours researching how to get involved in government contracting and potentially not get very far. Knowing where to start is [...]
ISBDC / April 10, 2013
What’s In a Word?
Bill Gregory – en.tre.pre.neur: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. Earlier this year, while preparing to facilitate a “Launching Your Own Business” workshop, I thought I would do some exploration of the word entrepreneur. I googled “entrepreneur”…and got more than 14 million results. No, I’m [...]
ISBDC / December 18, 2012
Silence is Golden, but It Might Be Bad for Your Business
Scott Underwood – It has been said that the first step in solving a problem is admitting that you have a problem in the first place. Yet, with many of the entrepreneurs we have experience with (and more importantly, with those that don’t come to us), they are hesitant or reluctant to express their challenges, [...]
East Central ISBDC / November 28, 2012
Employee Training and Assessment Tools Are Available – and FREE
Kris Deckard – We continue to hear – almost every day – that employers are having a difficult time finding qualified, appropriately skilled workers to fill their many open positions. Training is also needed to help current employees develop the necessary skills and demonstrate readiness for higher level positions. A less skilled, less educated labor [...]
ISBDC / October 26, 2012
Three Simple Secrets to Starting and Running a Successful Business
Tom Steiner – You could get an MBA from the University of Chicago, you could just jump in and hope it works and fix things on the fly, you could research your business until you know everything there is to know and grow old before you launch. By knowing these three simple secrets you have [...]
East Central ISBDC / October 9, 2012
Top 5 Threats Facing Businesses Today
Scott Makinson – With the help of several leading research firms, including Gallup, Ernst & Young, and The Aberdeen Group, Express Employment Professionals has identified five major threats that businesses are facing today. Listed here, they include: 1) Inability to Innovate 2) Losing Your Competitive Advantage 3) The High Cost of Reckless Hiring 4) Poor [...]
ISBDC / September 18, 2012
Email Etiquette
Susan Davis – There have been a multitude of articles written about email etiquette. But, since most of us live and die by email, I thought I would highlight what I consider to be some of the most important. Summarize – I find it incredibly frustrating when I am sent an email that has a [...]
ISBDC / September 6, 2012
