A recent post You Probably Mistreat Your Best Clients, by Tim Berry on his Planning Startup Stories got me thinking about a corollary … Do businesses treat their new hires better than their existing long-term employees? Berry asks: Do your long-term loyal clients get the worst treatment? Do they pay the highest rates? Do you [...]
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I first heard about the Three Envelopes more than 30 years ago when I was working for a local educational institution. It was a very short presentation on briefing the person replacing you. Over the years I’ve run across the program in other places, in slightly different forms, including some Internet search results. I’m retiring [...]
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My sister-in-law is due for some very specialized heart surgery. She has to travel from Hawaii to Los Angeles for the procedure. For several weeks she was emailing the surgeon’s office, trying to confirm the day and time of her procedure, pre-op appointments, preparatory instructions and the like. Irritatingly, the surgeon’s office never replied. Finally, [...]
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Women will become, in the next few months, the majority of the American workforce, passing the 50% threshold, according to The Economist‘s Dec. 30, 2009 issue. Here are a few items from the article highlighting this accomplishment, and pointing out the challenges. High points: Women run many of the world’s great companies, e.g. PepsiCo in [...]
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Here on the Business In General blog, and at Bplans.com, we are committed to optimistic support of entrepreneurship and the startup and growth of business, especially small- and medium-sized businesses. I’m not Pollyanna-ish about our business environment, however. It is unrealistic to think, or even hope, that a few short months of so-called recovery, including [...]
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“One of the best business-building tactics is to demonstrate your knowledge to a receptive audience,” say Marketing Masters Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker. “Public speaking is particularly effective if your business has a service or consulting component.” In their recent article, ,Speak Up! Get out there and find an audience for what you do on [...]
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In a new article on Mplans.com, Fiona Friesen, president and founder of Glue, outlines why your business needs a Marketing Kit as part of your strategy to convert potential customers to loyal ideal clients. 1) It keeps your marketing efforts consistent 2) It tells customers why they need you 3) It keeps you on track [...]
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Pop-up shops seem to be going mainstream this year. A Time.com story, Why Pop-Up Shops Are Hot, looks at this new retail business model. While pop-ups have had a dubious reputation in the past, of being fly-by-night outfits, they have recently been gaining respectability. The main indoor retail mall here in Eugene, Oregon has had [...]
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“Unconsciously, everyone expects a startup to be like a job,” says Paul Graham, programming language designer, author, and venture firm partner. “It explains why people [in startups] are surprised…and why the surprises are so extreme.” Graham’s recent post, What Startups Are Really Like, talks about the surprises in startups. He sent an email to all [...]
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“I don’t get no respect!” That was Rodney Dangerfield’s catchphrase. I say this is terribly true today in the universe of electronic communications where, I point out, it is we that don’t give any respect. In our typing and our composition we are lazy, slovenly, careless, thoughtless, nonchalant — in short, downright disrespectful — and [...]
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