All Blog Entries

  1. Business: The Pursuit of Excellence

    My father is a retired fighter pilot of the United States Air Force. He now works for Boeing and while he is no longer a pilot, he still works with the same character and strength he always has. His life, everything he has done and will do, is best classified as the pursuit and discipline to achieve excellence. The pursuit of excellence is not to obtain perfection, but to encourage a standard we should hold ourselves and each other to; small business relations are no different. To succeed in ...
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    small business
  2. Business Conversations With Myself

    I read books about business all the time. I read about women in business, business etiquette, the ABCs of success, etc. All the reading in the world, however, cannot prepare a person for the actual act of conducting and operating a business. There are also very few mentors left that are willing to guide and teach a person as they start a company and learn about business. Specifically women; I have yet to come across another woman that is willing to put their time and energy into another woman ...
    Categories
    small business
  3. Business Sales: Three Common Sales Scenarios and How to Handle Them

    In today’s market a small business owner had better make it their business to improve their sales skills. No, we’re not talking about smarmy sales “tricks” or attempting to “manipulate” people into buying from. Those type to sales tactics lack integrity – which means they also communicate to your potential buyer that you – and your business lack integrity as well.

    Many small business owners started their businesses during Boom Times and, up until now, thought that all those experts ...
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    small business
  4. A New Restaurant Opening: Large or Small?

    It was finally time to open the doors after 87 days of renovations, menu planning, equipment and furniture buying, painting, inspections, licensing and vendor sourcing. What’s next? How about a grand opening event? Or, should it be invitation only? Or, how about just opening the doors and hanging out the “open” sign? This is a decision that every new restaurant owner must make. And, it is not an easy one.

    In my case, I chose to hang out the sign. Here’s why.

    ...
    Categories
    small business
  5. Small Business: Beating the pavement is still the best advertising

    I am a new business owner, not an inexperienced one, but the owner of a recently opened restaurant serving what I refer to as “eat smart” food. I opened my cafeteria style restaurant on Friday, March 29, one week ago yesterday. I am now in what I refer to as Phase 6, the marketing phase, although I have been using social networking to spread the word for the past six months. That is how long it has been that I knew that somewhere in the upstate of South Carolina, I would locate the first “eat ...
    Categories
    small business