The Profit Cycle
The Profit Cycle As a small business owner, investing in your people can sometimes seem far away from the bottom line. In this cycle, shared by Bob Nilsen, former President of Burger King and current CEO of Cafe Rio, the payoff of investment in employee training, morale and well-being is clear. Here’s a quick summary: 1. Invest in your people, helping them become trained and happy 2. Your people will treat your customers well 3. Satisfied customers generate sales 4. Sales generate profits 5. Profits can the be reinvested into your people, your customers, sales...
Read MoreAmazing Customer Service
Amazing Customer Service Experience #1: After spending some time in the yard, my brother-in-law, father-in-law and I decided to head to Subway to get some lunch. My father-in-law was nice enough to foot the bill but unfortunately he’d forgotten his rewards card at home. The cashier told him not to worry and that he could get a new card, go online and merge it with the old one once we got back to the house. After 45 frustrating minutes of trying to get the two cards merged online, we gave up—I’m a tech savvy guy and I literally couldn’t figure it out. Contrast that to another...
Read MoreSmall Businesses Are Winning Big
Small Businesses Are Winning Big There is good news out there for small business in the United States! Often seemingly living in the (large) shadows of big box stores and large corporations, a 2015 Cox Consumer Pulse survey on small business showed that 92 percent of consumers around the USA shop at a small business at least once a week. The survey found that 46 percent shopped small businesses three or more times a week. With a recent shift toward improving communities and business at home, more and more consumers are making the effort to “shop small” by patronizing local, small...
Read MoreTips for Hiring Top Talent
Tips for Hiring Top Talent Every business owner knows how difficult, time consuming and expensive the hiring process can be. And on the other hand, every business owner knows how powerful and impactful a great new hire can be for the business. For that reason Andre Lavoie, CEO and Co-Founder of ClearCompany offers his advice on hiring. Here are his five key points: 1. Avoid basic, run-of-the-mill searches. “Generic skill or technical-based searches, while applicable, will result in people who simply mention those terms in their resumes. Instead, try including detailed...
Read MoreMarket Disruption and How to Confront It
Market Disruption and How to Confront It So you’ve owned your business for five, ten maybe twenty years and things are going along just fine. Then suddenly a new way of doing things comes along. The internet, mobile devices, a new type of forklift that’s ten times lighter, but just as strong as yours—whatever it may be—and now things have changed. People don’t want to come to your office for an initial consultation, they want to pick you from your website, and now they want the work done twice as fast for the same cost. Welcome to the world of disruptive technologies—new developments...
Read MoreAccidentally Self-Employed E-book
Accidentally Self-Employed E-book Need help starting your new business? Not sure if your business is set up properly? We can help! Having worked with entrepreneurs just like you and being an entrepreneur himself, Attorney Gary Quackenbush is a small business expert. Inspired by Gary’s own experience ending up “accidentally self-employed” and starting up a law practice on his own after his firm dissolved, his user friendly ebook is just the thing to get you and your business started on the right foot. Gary’s E-Book Accidentally Self Employed gives answers to the most...
Read More