Articles
Impact of Business on the Economy
The Attitude of Diversity
Three key elements in understanding how attitude affects your company are:
- Diversity is about things that you and your employees cannot leave at home: race, religion, sexual orientation, age, and looks. These traits affect the experiences people have in life.
- Differences between people can create barriers that affect a business’s bottom-line. When we are aware of the barriers and accepting others’ differences are encouraged in your company culture, people grow which means your company will gr…
How to Navigate FTC Regulations: The Secrets to Effective Testimonials and Endorsements
For some, testimonials are what sell their business. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is finally catching up to the constantly evolving digital world. For the better part of a decade, the agency lagged a full Internet generation behind advertisers who saw online communications evolving faster than laws governing their fair use. Now the FTC is codifying and enforcing what were once only unwritten rules. As a result, companies caught crossing the bounds of appropriate online behavior now face ha…
Steve Klein: Economic Update and Where His Company is Going
Steve Klein is a very good friend of mine and he is one of the three business owners that wrote the forward to my book, Contractors: Doing it Right Not Just Getting it Done. In our most recent check-in to touch base with each other he shared what is going on in his local economy and how it is affecting his business. Since it is such a great snapshot as to what is happening in the Victoria, Texas area I had asked if I could share it with you. So enjoy and if you are in Texas, say Hi to Steve for …
Has Diversity Gone Too Far?
Like it or not, diversity in the business arena is here to stay. It is an up and coming trend and it is defining businesses that will success or fail tomorrow.It’s interesting to see who is tackling this issue and who is afraid. What is also interesting is to see how people approach it. I have seen everything from “pity me, I’m a minority,” to “let’s just meet the numbers,” to “it’s just about the color of your skin,” to “this is an age old problem, so I am going to say it’s the result of divers…
The New Kid on the Block: Meet the New B2Comm Business
For years there have been two primary types of businesses: B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer). With the launch and success of social media, a third primary has been created that very few people or businesses are recognizing: B2Comm or Business to Community.
In B2B, businesses focus on selling products and services to other businesses and have very little or no interaction with an individual consumer. In most cases, a consumer is almost an irrelevant concept to a B2B busines…
In B2B, businesses focus on selling products and services to other businesses and have very little or no interaction with an individual consumer. In most cases, a consumer is almost an irrelevant concept to a B2B busines…
Politics & Business: The Best of Friends, the Worst of Foes
At first glance, it would seem logical for business to be involved in politics. After all, laws and regulations can adversely affect operations and profits. It would be foolish not to at least try and be heard. However, there is a difference between being involved in politics and mixing politics and work.For the longest time it was simply understood-work was work-you should leave your political beliefs at home. The first Obama presidential election changed that drastically. It may have been in t…
The American Dream No More?
Some interesting trends are developing in the housing market. One particularly interesting and perhaps disturbing trend is the age of homebuyers. Currently, young adults are more hesitant to buy a home today than at any time in the past quarter century.
Moving forward, let’s say the next 2-20 years, instead of seeing the home buying market level out; I suspect drastic changes never before seen in the housing market will continue. Many kids and teens are seeing their parents with upside-down mortg…
Moving forward, let’s say the next 2-20 years, instead of seeing the home buying market level out; I suspect drastic changes never before seen in the housing market will continue. Many kids and teens are seeing their parents with upside-down mortg…
Santa’s Secret Exposed: It is Possible to Fly Around the World and Support Local Economies
Child-Safe Spoiler Alert
Dear Kids,
Have you ever wondered how Santa is able to visit every child in the world and sit in the mall for the whole month of December? If you were like me when I was young, then you are sitting there nodding and thinking yes. I have to admit that I “figured out” the whole Santa thing at an age that most parents would say is unfair. But what I didn’t know is what really happened—that took much longer to figure out and was revealed to me at the most unsuspecting time, …
Many Paths to Success-Jay-Z & Warren Buffett
In a recent meeting hosted by Forbes, Warren Buffett and Jay-Z shared stories of their mutual success despite drastic differences in achieving it. The full article is here and worth the read, but I wanted to share a few particular bits of advice that Warren Buffett gave.Steve Forbes: Warren, what advice would you have for Jay-Z in the music business? You've seen business models change a bit in the newspaper business with the Washington Post and Buffalo News.
Warren Buffett: It happens. Street rai…
Where has Responsibility Gone? Blame & Fault by Apple
I don’t normally jump on the latest bandwagon, but this one seemed too fun to miss out on. Earlier this summer, Steve Jobs set a new business example for others to follow—blaming the customer by saying “Stop holding the phones in that way.”
Apple’s launch of a much desired iPhone 4 was less than positively accepted. Customers soon started complaining about losing signal. When Apple’s loyal customer base turned to them for help, all they heard, was “it is your fault.”
Really, it’s the customers’ fa…