I recently acquired some new home gym equipment. Like most people, as part of my research, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos before I made my purchase so I could make a more informed decision. I assumed that the influencers whose endorsements I relied on were agnostic and weighed all the pros and cons. Moreover, I was recently reading several articles about the Democratic Party’s student loan forgiveness program, where one of the requirements to obtain debt forgiveness was that the student had been deceived by the educational institution’s claims about the number of job opportunities and inc ..read more

Words To Inspire Prospects to Buy When making sales, there is a fine line between being too pushy and being assertive enough to convince a prospect to make a purchase. The words that you use as a salesperson can have a huge impact on how a prospect responds. The following are a few sets of powerful words that every salesperson should use during the sales process to get a prospect to consider their offer: Description Video When it comes to sales, one of the biggest fears of most small business owners and salespeople is the fear of rejection. There’s a simple way to actually create an open ..read more

When you have a successful business, many small businesses naturally feel the urge to grow by adding more physical locations. Expanding the number of locations presents owners with two primary options: adding more company locations or licensing the concept to another business owner in the form of a franchise. As I shared in 13 Business Expansion Risks When Opening a Second Location, finding an employee manager with the passion and drive to make additional corporate locations successful is often hard. Moreover, it takes lots of money to open a new location, which many small businesses do not ha ..read more

Recently, I read an article about the use of dynamic pricing in the fast-food industry, specifically Wendy’s decision to adopt this strategy and the controversy it generated. Dynamic pricing, which mirrors pricing models seen in transport and online retail sectors, involves adjusting prices based on supply and demand dynamics. Too often, dynamic pricing is perceived as negative and seen as just a way of price gouging the customer. However, if you strip away the negative veneer and look under the hood, you can see the true value of dynamic pricing in enhancing the customer experience, and it’s ..read more

Running a small business is no small feat. From managing finances to ensuring compliance with various legal requirements, the responsibilities can quickly become overwhelming. One crucial aspect that demands meticulous attention is payroll processing. It’s not just about ensuring your employees get paid on time; it involves navigating a plethora of legalities, tax implications, and complex calculations. That’s where a payroll specialist can help. Navigating the labyrinth of regulations and requirements set forth by the government can make the prospect of hiring employees seem daunting for smal ..read more

My wife and I operate several closely held LLCs, of which we are the only members. Since all our financial interests are comingled, we simply state in our operating agreement that each of us is a 50% owner. But what do you do when the financial interests of the members of an LLC are not comingled? In these cases, many LLCs utilize capital accounts.  Related Post: The Truth About a Husband-and-Wife LLC Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) have gained significant popularity due to their flexibility and supposed simplicity. With multi-member LLCs, the operating agreement serves as the principa ..read more

The other day, we looked at a growth strategy with life balance benefits for knowledge businesses that can hire remote fractional offshore resources instead of full-time local employees.  But what if you need a full-time on-site employee as your first employee? Well, the government does not make it easy for you. As an employer, you must adhere to various legal and practical obligations. This includes withholding taxes from employees’ wages and remitting them to the relevant government agencies. Depending on the size and nature of your business, providing benefits such as health insurance ..read more

As a business owner, you have options when it comes to staffing. However, too many first-time entrepreneurs have come from the corporate world and think that the only way to hire is to hire a full-time employee because that is what they see corporations do. However, such thinking can often lead to problems when it comes to small businesses. Most registered businesses in the US are simply businesses run by a single person or a couple, working full-time or as a side hustle out of their home. In addition to their billable work, a large part of their working week is consumed by fungible, non-billa ..read more

As Business News Daily reports, 60.7% of small business owners see hiring the right talent as a major challenge. For companies competing for skilled professionals, recruiting top-notch talent becomes increasingly more difficult by the day. Compounding the issue is the mass retirement of Baby Boomers, leaving a scarcity of skilled candidates. With fewer applicants applying for open positions, many employers are eager to hire candidates even when 82% of hiring managers say they saw signs that their new hire would fail. Bad hires ultimately lead to costly consequences in the long run, whether due ..read more

An essential business function that I attribute to the CEO role in a small business is to look outside of the organization at external factors to steer the business away from dangers or challenges and toward opportunity. This is why I recommend business owners keep up with current events to better predict the future. Demographic changes at both micro and macro levels are vital inputs that CEOs need to consider when charting the direction of their organization. By Cmglee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, (commons.wikimedia.org) We often discuss populations based on their generation. For example, I’m a ..read more