Innovation and Entrepreneurship
by Paul Mobley, MBA
From the monthly archives:
In the article, How Local Firms Beat Multinationals Sean Silverthorne provides some interesting tips about improving the competitive advantages of small businesses. One important thing to always remember is that sometimes your weaknesses are actually strengths. Being small means that you can be more nimble and responsive to opportunities. Being concentrated in one market means [...]
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Often entrepreneurs or salaried employees have no idea how their time is spent. It’s even harder for them to identify how there team spends their time. I’ve been involved with companies that track time and those who don’t. If you don’t measure then you don’t know if you’re doing good or bad. One area that [...]
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Recently I was asked, “If you were to create an entirely new business model, what would be your take on some of the basic components of structure, purpose, methodology, etc.?” Honestly, I hate this question because it is a fools errand. To be successful in your business or non-profit then you have focus on the [...]
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The “E” Myth Revisited is one of my favorite books on small business management. It challenges the concept of being a “business” owner. Not that owning a business is bad, on the contrary, Michael Gerber just makes the case for not owning a “job”. Additionally, he gets into some wonderful strategic planning for startups. If [...]
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In today’s culture, a compelling, well developed website is essential in the growth of your company as a complement to the ongoing communication of your brand and experience. Many people will assess the value of your organization simply by their experience and interaction with your website. This fairly new phenomenon requires that your web presence [...]
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Did you know that there are approximately 650,000 non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the U.S. who have completed the 501(c)3 process and have annual revenues of $25,000 or less? It’s also estimated that there are 120 new non-profits created each day. Combine that with the established NPOs who have less than 500 employees/volunteers and you have [...]
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It is sad that marketing and brand development is often only viewed as an expense (something that lowers profit). The truth is that these types of efforts would be better viewed as an investment rather than an expense. “One of our major assets never appears on the balance sheet: the brand names under which we [...]
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Your budget or marketing channels don’t matter! The reason that large companies are successful is because they focused on their brand experience. The most common thing that people associate with this is a logo, website, or collateral materials…but is goes much deeper than that. The brand experience includes everything from how you answer the phone [...]
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The secondary market for loans has dried except for “conforming” loans. This has made it hard for people to purchase or refinance real estate in an already difficult housing market. Here’s my summary of the good and bad of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 that Bush will sign soon sign into law: • The [...]
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Have you ever used the social bookmarking service del.icio.us? Not only is it a cool service but it also has a cool name. I don’t know who started it first but it’s a technique that we now know as domain hacking. My corporation owns about 50 different domain names (most are .com) but we’ve always [...]
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On Feb. 6, Jake Swearingen wrote an article for BNET that was excellent. He made the case for increased marketing expenditures during market downturns and backed it up with research data from Penn State. The study titled, Turning Adversity Into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing During a Recession Pay Off?, finds that “firms entering a recession [...]
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Today is the Chinese New Year. Since we operate in a global economy I think it’s important to acknowledge those days that are important for other cultures. 2008 is the Year of the Rat, which is also known by its former name of Wu Zi. Happy New Year!
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The importance of Google, and other search engines, varies for every business or product line. It is useful if the prospect is looking for you but doesn’t remember the web address or exact name of the product/service. They want to find you but don’t remember where to go. If this is your situation, then test [...]
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Before just jumping into advertising…you need to determine the type of experience that you want your users to have. Some businesses should never have advertising…for others it is a means of funding the operating costs of a service. TV is a good example, ABC doesn’t charge users a fee to watch their shows…but everyone knows [...]
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Self-Employed Individuals and Small Business Owners have the responsibility of ensuring that there is enough working capital available for the operations of the business. Many startups or expanding businesses find that they need an ever growing supply. The preferred method is to have enough corporate credit to maintain operations. However, it is often necessary to [...]
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The amount and frequency of turn away business is often a factor of your positioning. Most companies will do work for anyone within their field. For example, a marketing company that will work with any client on any project. Or a growing property management business that is hungry for new clients so they engage with [...]
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