Most of the time, getting paid 101 is everything you need to know about getting paid from a delinquent client. But sometimes, you get left on the hook by a fly-by-night company. One day … poof! … they’re gone. Email bounces, the phone is cut off, the website has been sold, and the office is … Read more
A good friend of mine recently decided to start his own business. You might remember me talking about it and how leverage works. He’s partnering up with his brother, who has his own small painting business. There are a lot of decisions to make as an entrepreneur and their latest one involves transportation. They have an … Read more
Ever wonder why that cool little indie film you wanted to buy was released on DVD for rental only? Well, it wasn’t exactly, but you wouldn’t want to buy it. Not yet. There are two radically different ways to price a flick when it first gets released on DVD. Sometimes the cost is 20 bucks. … Read more
Love her or hate her, Paris Hilton’s camp has mastered the art of business. And her business model is driven by the turbo-charged law of self-fulfilling prophecy. Her core business is not acting or singing. It’s promotion. She promotes people, places and products. And she does that by promoting herself and then attaching herself to the … Read more
I got an email from Mike at PartnerUp inviting me to take a look at their site and share some thoughts on it. I like it. I like it a lot. What PartnerUp does is match vision and talent. The importance of this when it comes to building a fortune 500 company from a great … Read more
A while ago I talked about the art of bootstrapping. It’s not as important as focusing on getting out and getting sales. But it’s still important. Especially for a new startup or a company that’s on shaky ground. There are all sorts of expenses that conspire to erode your cash and profitabilty. Sometimes it’s the … Read more
If you’ve seen the movie The Usual Suspects then you know that Keyser Soze is not a nice guy. But he’s sort of the good guy. Somebody is going to take advantage of you and your business. It’s not a question of if, just when. And if you’re not ready for it, everything you’ve built … Read more
A good buddy of mine is quitting his 9 to 5er to start his own business. The first step is to start small. The second step is to apply the concept of leverage to really build it into something. The idea of OPM (using other people’s money) to magnify your position is well understood. Especially … Read more
A couple years ago I did a basic study of some well branded companies just to see what they spend on sales and marketing. The results … just might be the perfect plan. At the very least, you can get a real idea of what an optimum mix of expenses and profit might be when … Read more
A lot of new entrepreneurs start out with one goal … to make that big “lottery ticket” sale that will instantly rocket them onto easy street. It’s about as easy to do as winning the lottery. We all hear about the successful business-lottery winners. No one hears about the thousands of businesses that fail to … Read more