Creating a recognizable brand should be a top priority of any business, no matter your size or budget. The branding of your business will either attract customers or it will drive them away. It's that simple. Branding should be one of the very first considerations of a new (or existing) enterprise - yet it is shocking how little many entrepreneurs focus on the branding of their company and their products or services. Nothing screams "small time"to me more than a business ow

It depends. Remember this always - "Entrepreneurs bring value to an idea." One of the most common types of startup businesses is when someone decides they want to make their hobby into a business. But let's be clear here. Not all hobbies translate well into a business that creates an income. I always advise fledgling entrepreneurs to follow their "interests", which may not exactly be a hobby. For instance, if my hobby was collecting sewing thimbles or drink shot glasses fro

The emergence and popularity of the TV show "Shark Tank" has helped to crystalize the thought processes used by potential businesses to evaluate investment opportunities in early stage or start-up businesses. I've received business plans on a napkin (really!) and business plans that are hundreds of pages. It's really quite simple to grab an investor's attention with the right mix of quality information about your business or start-up. First, we need to clearly understand what

We remember growing our career in management with a large Fortune 500 company when our Executive Vice President told us something one day. He said, “Execution is the one thing that separates the good from the great. Let me put it to you this way. If you don’t execute, you’ll be executed.” We guess it’s hard to forget that, but it still rings true in our mind today. Some of the best leaders and managers in business don’t achieve peak results because they simply don’t execute t

​ ​Bootstrapping a business startup is an art. It can be a lot of fun if approached the right way. No matter how well-funded your business startup may be, the fundamentals of bootstrapping should never be forgotten - and should always be applied. Bootstrapping is not the same thing as being "cheap". Cheap is penny-wise but dollar foolish. In my second venture in the air freight forwarding business I needed a cargo van to pickup client shipments, but to also use it as a rol

The need to strike a balance in life between work and family is not lost on the entrepreneur. The effort required to get a startup over the hump to profitability can take months or even years. During this time, there is a very focused and intense effort to get the job done. But - it is also important that all affected family members are pulling in the same direction and know what the overall family objectives are. The "business" was always the "family business" even though

​Aspiring entrepreneurs often ask me for my opinion on their creative ideas, and there have been a few instances where I have been very impressed with the ingenuity and originality behind them. Too often is the case, however, when asked the following five questions, aspiring entrepreneurs are not prepared to answer the real rubber-meets-the-road questions about their business model, strategies and their target audience: the customer. 1. Who will be the customers that will use

I started my career in the U.S. Secret Service in 1989 and worked for 25 years before becoming an entrepreneur. I was initially assigned to the White House and after several transfers, ended up in the training division a few years prior to retirement. I was one of those people, scratching my chin, wondering what I was going to do after retiring from such an exciting, think on your feet, and fast paced career. What could possibly top this? In the U.S. Secret Service I protect

Image is everything when it comes to marketing your business to consumers or to other businesses, yet it is shocking how little many entrepr

The market crash of 1929 kicked off a period in American history known as the Great Depression. My grandfather's home construction busin