Innovation and Entrepreneurship
by Paul Mobley, MBA
From the category archives:
It takes a lot of hard work in the summer to be ready with enough wood for the winter. This picture was taken on August 11, 2009; six weeks before guests at the Idyllwild Inn are allowed to start having a wood fire in their cabins. From October to May, guests are given a free [...]
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Now that we live in a flat world (see: The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century) you’ll start to see more organizations (entrepreneurial, non-profit, government, etc) that no longer act like “small businesses” but rather “quasi-small businesses”. They use the leverage, manpower, and distribution systems of large multinational organizations and [...]
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At various times I have used the wrong strategy. (Honestly, it has happened more than I care to admit). I had no one to blame as it was a strategy that I came up with all on my own. Stop trying to be clever and original. Instead look for the best strategy for accomplishing your [...]
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I’m in the process of setting up an internship program with the Crowell School of Business. This is the same school that I did my undergrad and MBA. It turns out that one of the people who is point-of-contact was my old ‘Intro To Marketing’ professor. I got a D in his class and when [...]
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A lifelong friend taught me a lesson this week. There is a lot of power when you start talking about your dreams as if they already exist. If you say something might happen then very few people believe that it will come to pass. You might not even believe it to be true. Yet, when [...]
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Clear Vision Take Baby-Steps Be Patient Quote from Aaron Ross of PebbleStorm (07/28/2009 – MOTM)
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How often do you review progress? For many things a weekly review is the most frequent that is needed. More than that and you don’t have an opportunity to get the enough data to make meaningful decisions. Too long and you might not be able to identify cause and effect. Take the time to review [...]
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Back in August 2008 I wrote an article about Pandora. I mentioned that while the service was currently free they would likely go to a subscription format in the future. That day has arrived. (insert I told you so). You can now subscribe to Pandora for $36/year and enjoy an ad-free experience. Previously they only [...]
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Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a FICO for your small business? Judging personal credit is easy. You just look at the FICO scores from the three credit agencies and see how you stack up to the statistical average. What if that existed for small business. A FICO type score that took into consideration [...]
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Do you have a process for identifying unexpected success? Are you surprised when your business is generating sales in markets different than you had intended? Many web-based business have done a good job of implementing analytics that allow them to modify their approach and maximize profitability. Unfortunately, in other businesses the same feedback mechanisms don’t [...]
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Things might be tough for your small business right now but it could be worse. Imagine if your ownership and board of directors was 90% union and government. That would really suck. So if you’re feeling down, take heart, you’re not GM.
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American Express is continuing it’s attack on small business owners. The latest battlefield is the credit lines of small businesses who have never been late on a payment or gone over their limit. It’s understanding that the risks have increased for AMEX but you would think they would try to keep the best customers instead [...]
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Right now is a great time to add talented staff members (at a discount). Due to no fault of there own… there are many talented people who are looking for work right now. They just might have the skills your small business needs to grow. To borrow from real estate “it’s a buyers market” if [...]
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Small business has been told they’re going to be financing a portion of the most recent stimulus package. Any business that offers health care and is subject to federal COBRA or simular requirments under state law is required to pay 65 percent of the premium on behalf of the COBRA participants. To recover the subsidy [...]
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On April 1st California will have another 1% added to the state sales tax. This additional tax comes at a very bad time as small businesses are struggling to survive the economic uncertainty. The last thing we need is to have higher prices that don’t result in higher profits. California is taking money out of [...]
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Is anyone else burned out on taxes right now? This year I am charge of a couple different corporations, a trust, and multiple individual returns. If I didn’t have a great CPA I think I would go crazy. The thing is that there is a lot of talk about productivity in America but what is [...]
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On of those house keeping things that all small business owners should do is to make sure the copyright information is up to date for your intellectual property. For our web-based world that means doing a double check of the fine print for your websites, blogs, etc. (Note: This is not legal advice. You may [...]
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I’m torn right now between two different strategies. One says that you should bunker down and try to simply wait out the storm. The problem is that by building the walls and trying not to get hurt you might just miss out on the opportunities that will save you. Another strategy says now is the [...]
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In a world of “instant” communication it’s easy to forget that most of the time we’re not having a conversation with someone we’re just sending messages their way. I was reminded today that the personal touch is sometimes just the thing to get things done. A project that I was working on was stalled in [...]
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More than ever right now results matter. The people who keep their jobs or stay in business are ones that get results. If you’ve got results then you have less fear right now. The opposite of results is a story. Don’t get me wrong… I love a great story. They’re necessary to connect with a [...]
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The worst thing for a business, small or big, is to lose momentum. Loss of momentum usually occurs first from external factors and then it begins to impact the team (i.e. layoffs, extra stress, etc). Once the team is effected then you stop doing your best and the purpose of why you’re there to begin [...]
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