When it's time to let people go--either as part of a layoff or for performance reasons--you need to do it well, do it quickly, and then reassure the people that are part of the "going forward" team.
It's easy to worry about grabbing new customers and launching new products. But your best and most profitable customers are the ones that you already have.
Don't be distracted by bright shiny objects. More than anything else, focus and discipline will determine which small businesses will grow through tough times versus the ones that will fail.
One of the most important and long-lasting decisions that you'll make as an entrepreneur is where to locate your business. There are two recent studies about the best places for growing businesses. Jim Hopkins of USA Today reported on which cities are experiencing the fastest business growth. You can catch Jim's post in his excellent small business blog here. The top six states in business growth were:
1) Arizona
2) Idaho
3) Nevada
4)Georgia
5) Texas
6) Utah
I listed six states rather than the more typical five because I wanted to include Utah which was one of the star states in AllBusiness.com's
We've just completed our annual study of the state of small business. We asked a large sample of folks like you and me how they feel about the upcoming year, what their priorities are, and what challenges they are expecting. Generally the news is good. 75% of business owners expect business conditions to be better in 2007 than they are in 2006 and most (62%) plan to boost their technology spending. The biggest concern? Shortage of talent. Entrepreneurs are planning to add staff and they are worried that there is a shortage of talented people. You'll see more of the
I was looking around the web for more good business travel resources and rediscovered a great one over at my alma mater, About.com. Their Business Travel Guide, Gary Chisholm, is creating a steady stream of useful advice for road warriors. I like this recent post about how to pack light for business trips. He has some nifty ideas. It's a nice extension of my admonition to stick to one bag whenever it's even vaguely possible.
I've highlighted One Bag, Doug Dyment's site before. It's chock full of ideas on how to stretch your carryon on allotment.
Here's my bonus
