Steve Schlagel's Small Business Blog

Pay Attention to your Personality Index

November 11, 2011

We all know the “personality” who constantly seems to get in his or her own way. Short-tempered and shortsighted, the person(ality) doesn’t realize that these traits are getting in the way of greater business and personal success. Are you killing your own business? Can your public personality mean the end to your small business? Such [...]

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Manage your 2012 Overhead Now

November 9, 2011

Minimizing small business overhead is a perpetual problem. Make it a daily concern, and budget for your future costs now. After all, with revenues down and margins slim, you can lose your dream with two or three months of out of control overhead.  Were overhead costs part of your small business dream? Were they part [...]

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Is Your Education Enough?

November 7, 2011

Is your education enough to run a business? Expertise and experience you have in abundance. But, is your education all you need to succeed in the small business you started? Successful people are educated people. Their education never ends. Once you accept that you need to stay ahead of the learning curve, you have to [...]

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Do you have Klout?

November 4, 2011

Klout is a real time and relevant benchmark for those who market through social media.  Are you using social media to build and market your small business? You are wasting your time – if you don’t know how big your audience is. Klout.com is an analytics platform that scores your reach. Klout cross crunches variables in [...]

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How to Hire Using Craigslist

November 3, 2011

Hiring with Craigslist (www.craigslist.com) might be your best option for reaching interested qualified hourly workers – but only if you use it well. To be certain, it’s an employer’s market right now with unemployment at 10%. But, you can’t take for granted a pool of talented, experienced candidates. You still have to get the word [...]

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Three Ways to Maintain Sanity in a Crazy Economy

October 28, 2011

Loss of motivation and confidence in the big economy leads to loss of the same in the smaller world of your business environment. Doubts creep in and erode your enthusiasm. Such concerns and emotions are normal, but you can prevent being overwhelmed and defeated by them. Consider these ideas to remake your daily activities and [...]

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Creating Buzz: Small Business Marketing Ideas

October 27, 2011

Small business survival depends on creating fresh awareness of your product or service.  A marketing strategy that puts you in front of your prospects is key.  In a supply and demand economy, it’s up to you to press consumer demand. Here’s a challenge! Implement one new marketing idea – each week. Experts will tell you [...]

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5 Keys To A Successful Business Launch

October 21, 2011

Each year, thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs take the huge step of launching a new company.  And each year, thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs fail in their bid to start a new company!  The unfortunate truth is that the majority of new enterprises will fail within the first year, and nearly all will fail within the first [...]

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Grovo Brings Training to You

October 19, 2011

Grovo is a small, business friendly online training program. A hub for web users, Grovo trains people in the latest ins and outs of social media and other sites – all at no or low-cost, depending on your preferences. You’ll find easy-to-follow videos on navigating social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well [...]

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Small Business Owner = Information Technology Expert?

October 18, 2011

Want to decrease Information Technology costs and improve internal processes?  With the advent of cloud computing and Software as a Service, giant server racks and complicated networks are fast becoming outdated.  Depending on your industry and business size, you may be able to tap into some of this innovative technology.  You and your staff may [...]

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