start up

Do the Hustle, the Side Hustle

Do the Hustle, the Side Hustle

The fear of being overwhelmed is one of the greatest challenges for entrepreneurs who are thinking about pursuing a side hustle. Secondary efforts are most successful when they add to your life, not when they burden it. For this reason, it is important to understand your own levels of persistence, motivation, and self-discipline.

What Can a Business Incubator do For Me?

What Can a Business Incubator do For Me?

Innovation and efficiency heavily influence business growth and success and the innovative nature of entrepreneurs plays a crucial role. Effective entrepreneurship results in the creation of profitable enterprises. Entrepreneurial attitudes have been found to stimulate economies as entrepreneurs create ways to connect resources and growth. Business incubators provide a nurturing environment that supports the evolution of the entrepreneur and his business endeavors.

Branding is Key to Small Business Success

Branding is Key to Small Business Success

Public perception of your business from advertising and logo to reputation and customer service;

The foundation for giving your organization a voice and identity among consumers;

How customers feel when they think of you;

Don't Let Startup Anxiety Get the Best of You

Don't Let Startup Anxiety Get the Best of You

Starting a new business can seem like a daunting task. We get it. Having started our own businesses and helped our clients do the same we understand that there is a lot involved in doing so. For the serial entrepreneurs out there, they know what that looks like. While they may be diving into a new industry or different sort of product, they have some experience in what goes into starting and growing businesses.

The Process of Effective Marketing

The Process of Effective Marketing

One of the biggest hurdles to truly understanding effective marketing is understanding that marketing is an ongoing process and not one singular effort. This is hard for many of our clients to understand because they have just spent money on something like a website and all they want is for floods of people to start finding it and purchasing from them or reaching out about their services. Just slapping up a visually appealing website, building out a Yelp page, or creating a few social profiles in not going to instantly propel your business into success and instant notoriety. It is tempting when the economy is down and money gets tight to scale way back and marketing is often one of the first things to take a hit.

Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a Website Design Company

Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a Website Design Company

Your choice of a web design company directly impacts how your business is represented online. Whether overhauling an existing site or building new one, it is a sizeable undertaking. Building and maintaining a successful website requires trust. While this may encourage you to call on that family member or friend with design skills, you need to be able to give constructive criticism so make that choice carefully. Your website design company is your marketing partner. There should be a two-way conversation that allows you to receive the best product possible.

Five Areas to Think About When Starting a Business

Five Areas to Think About When Starting a Business

More than 28 million small businesses exist in the U.S. which is 99.7% of all U.S. businesses. The idea of being self-employed is often portrayed as glamorous and financially rewarding. Unfortunately, many businesses struggle or fail at the out-set and only two-thirds of businesses with employees survive more than 2 years. There is no magic formula for starting a business. Understanding the risks and time associated with opening and maintaining a business is essential. You need more than money.

Time Management Apps for Small Businesses

Time Management Apps for Small Businesses

Running your own business requires you to focus on multiple tasks all day, every day. You must constantly plan and prioritize your projects and to-dos based on importance and urgency. In opposition to this reality, your most valued commodity as a small business owner is time. So, if you find yourself wondering whether or not there are some effective and efficient time saving apps available, the answer is a resounding, “Yes.” Time management apps can maximize your time making you more efficient and productive. They help you avoid distractions by allowing you to stay focused on job-related goals, thereby increasing your productivity.

Tips for Developing Your Business Plan

Tips for Developing Your Business Plan

The Internet is saturated with tips and guides on what to include in a business plan: business concept; goals, strategies, actions; products and services; market analysis and your competitive advantage; your proposed personnel team; and, of course a financing plan. If you are overly concerned about format there is also a plethora of resources that will guide you from the executive summary to the appendices that showcase the research and data supporting your plan. It is important to utilize these resources because you certainly want a complete plan, but what separates the okay business plans from the great plans?

Hi! My name is (what?)

Hi! My name is (what?)

You might think that you want to name your business something, but is it really a smart choice for the future success of your company? There are so many things to consider when choosing your company’s name that will have impact on your brand for years to come. Would it make much of a difference if Pepsi was called Fizzypop or if Apple was called Orange? Can we really place that much significance on a brand name?