When Should You Sell Your Business? (via Intuit Small Business Blog)Every entrepreneur has different reasons for selling a business, but there are better times and conditions than others in which to do so. For instance, selling simply because you’re exhausted or can’t stand managing day-to-day operations anymore can drastically reduce the value of your company.…
Marketing Tips for Introverted Entrepreneurs (via Intuit Small Business Blog)If the thought of marketing your small business makes you want to crawl under the nearest rock, you’re not alone. Traditional strategies like cold calling and networking can cause shy types to break out in a sweat. But marketing your business may be less overwhelming than you think. Here are a few…
What to Do Every Day to Succeed in Business (via Intuit Small Business Blog)Your parents probably told you to brush your teeth, make your bed, and eat your vegetables every day, so that you’d develop into a healthy adult. What routine tasks are as vitally important to the growth of your company? Here’s a list of daily must-dos from a few business gurus. 1. Set priorities…
3 Surprising Things You’re Doing to Sabotage Your Business (via Intuit Small Business Blog)Small-business owners, we have some news for you: You’re not being sabotaged by bad employees, clients, or competitors. The person getting in the way of your success is you. While you’re focused on keeping your finances in order, your competition at bay, and your customers happy, you’re undermining…
4 Ways to Strengthen Your Service Identity (via Intuit Small Business Blog)Whether selling a product or a service, every small business interacts with the customer at some stage in the transaction — often more than once. These points of contact present an important opportunity to communicate your organization’s unique selling proposition to people. However, many entrepreneurs…
Jeff Korhan on Humanizing Your Business Through Social Media (via Intuit Small Business Blog)Jeff Korhan (pictured) is on his third career — as a marketing speaker, trainer, and coach — after working for a petroleum company, then launching a small business (a landscape-services company) in 1988 and selling it 10 years later. Coaching small-business owners evolved out of his work in teaching…
Why Your Small Business Needs a Content Strategy (via Intuit Small Business Blog)You’ve no doubt heard the internet adage “content is king,” but have you really taken it to heart? If your online marketing efforts are limited to a static website and a Facebook page, you may as well be advertising your business on a sandwich board for all the good it’s doing you. Here are…
Giving Equity to Recruits and Employees (via Intuit Small Business Blog)It’s nearly every small-business owner’s nightmare and dream: to provide key employees with equity. The idea of diluting your ownership may feel somewhat like giving away your firstborn. But when your company’s future prospects look better than its current bank balance, offering a piece of…
How to Balance Creative With Practical Advertising (via Intuit Small Business Blog)The best way to get results from advertising, experts say, is to balance out-of-the-box creativity with practical media buys. Yet many small-business owners rely heavily on one strategy or the other. Sound familiar? You can improve your advertising results by emphasizing what you’ve been neglecting…
Boost Your Email Open Rate With Strong Subject Lines (via Intuit Small Business Blog)If you rely on email to market your business (and, honestly, who doesn’t these days?), here’s what you’re up against: The average email user receives more than 70 messages per day, according to technology market research firm Radicati Group. In other words, people’s in-boxes are overflowing…
How to Say “No” Without Killing Morale (via Intuit Small Business Blog)You may be the nicest boss on the planet, but you will still say “no” to your employees from time to time. If you are understaffed, you will turn down a vacation request. If money is tight, you will decline a request for a raise. For any number of other reasons, you will reject employees’ ideas…
How to Accelerate Cash Inflows and Delay Outflows (via Intuit Small Business Blog)With lesser reserves and fewer financial alternatives than corporate competitors, small businesses should prepare for the kinds of fluctuations in revenue that could prompt cash crises. It’s wise to put together a set of policies that can help you cope with any cash shortages and keep your company…
