Train, Develop Your Team, Before you go broke!
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Train, Develop Your Team, Before you go broke!

As a small-business owner, you probably are bombarded with hundreds of direct-mail pieces and e-mails that promote upcoming training seminars and conferences. You might glance at the titles and think, “So-and-so could use some training in that,” but the thought goes no further. But, training your employees is an important issue that deserves your time…

Business Owner is a Title, Not a Job Description
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Business Owner is a Title, Not a Job Description

While many business owners consider well-defined job descriptions crucial to their business, how many have actually taken the time to create a job description for themselves? Not many. But, a business owner needs a job description just as much as the rest of the team. In fact, a business owner may need a job description…

The Family That Works Together… Needs to Stay Together
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The Family That Works Together… Needs to Stay Together

Many of the small businesses that we encounter are family-owned and operated. And on the surface, this seems like a good idea. After all, you love your family, so why wouldn’t you want to work with them? You know them well and trust them, so it seems like a lower risk venture than relying on strangers. While working with…

Four Keys to Growing a Creative Services Firm
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Four Keys to Growing a Creative Services Firm

The creative services business requires managing and selling a rather unpredictable product – people. But, this doesn’t mean your business and its success must be equally unpredictable. Creative services companies can realize steady growth and success – even with the uncertainty and variability that accompanies managing and selling people’s services. Here are four key strategies…

Giving Staff Members More Rope, So You Have More Time
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Giving Staff Members More Rope, So You Have More Time

I often hear business leaders tell me that they don’t get enough done in a day. They have a to-do list a mile long, but they spend their whole day answering employees’ questions and solving employees’ problems. But, if we let day-to-day issues like these fill our day, it’s impossible to make progress on the leadership tasks that only…

Be Small in a Big Way
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Be Small in a Big Way

Small-business owners often are self-conscious about being small. We are often very conscious of the ways that we compete at a disadvantage to bigger businesses. They have the big budgets, the high-powered executives, attorneys and banks at their beck and call, they have all the advantages… Well, maybe not ALL the advantages. There are some great things about being small….

Focus on Results, Not Just Talk, at Your Meetings
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Focus on Results, Not Just Talk, at Your Meetings

Every meeting has a purpose. That goes without saying, right? No, actually not. Oftentimes, meetings have agendas, but no goals for what should be accomplished. People talk, people listen, but no one makes any progress. That’s why the purpose of your meeting — that is, what you want to accomplish — must be clearly communicated at every meeting….