Hurricanes, explosions, disasters, oh my!
We’ve written before about disaster recovery plans, and whether disaster recovery is even possible when your data is in the cloud. You might think we’d be safe from real disasters here in the Pacific Northwest; the reports we’re seeing today about impending hurricanes and oil rig explosions are all happening far away.
But a little event [...] 
The 3 Most Often Overlooked Pieces of the Business Plan
Yes, it is true that plans are stories and stories drive plans, but that’s not stories as visions of the future and plans as managing and steering to make those visions true; we’re not talking about fairy tales. Make your planning real. Make it help your business. Make it help you control your destiny and [...] 
And Who Can Blame Her for Cutting Off Comments…
Damn. It’s been a long day, some of my sites got hacked, a car didn’t start, and … well, you know how that goes. You have those days too. This will go up tomorrow morning but I’m mad as hell tonight, while writing it.
Just look at this picture:
What a damned shame. Who can blame her [...] 
When Patents Are Patently Absurd
Is Paul Allen a patent troll now? The same Paul Allen that was Bill Gates’ partner in Microsoft? Paul Allen who is worth billions of dollars?
Oh no. Say it ain’t so.
Last week wired.com reported Paul Allen Files Patent Lawsuits Against Entire Web … Except Microsoft. Allen, Bill Gates’ original partner in Microsoft, and an extremely [...] 
Is Your Business Either Growing or Dying?
True story: there were six of us at lunch together on a beautiful late spring day in 1996. We sat on an outside table in the shade and discussed the next big growth spurt. Would we take this marketing-on-steroids proposal, at a high cost? Would it work? Could we afford not to?
I’m not sure [...] 
Is Personal Branding Really Impersonal Faking?
Don’t get me wrong: I think the thinking behind it, the advice wrapped around the idea of personal branding, is excellent. I’ve recommended, for example, Dan Schawbel’s personal branding book Me 2.0 and I’m sticking to it. Dan has a great collection of real-world suggestions in that book. But I’m beginning to think I [...] 
Make sure it works!
Want to know a secret to success?
Make sure your website works.
Honestly!
The impression a customer or client gets when they realize links are broken or words are misspelled is less than great. And all those problems can say things about your business you might not want. And what it’s saying isn’t good.
Quality assurance is a must [...] 
Your Brain on Drugs? No, Your Brain on Computers.
Remember the “your brain on drugs” commercials? You’d see the egg frying in the pan, and then the announcer’s voice would say “this is your brain on drugs.” What do you think of the Your Brain on Computers take on this? It makes it sound almost as bad as your brain on drugs.
That brain [...] 
5 Reasons Not To Build That Online Community
Trends? “Let’s develop a community,” they say, meaning an online community. Search google for let’s develop a community and you get 23 million hits. You tell me: is there a marketing meeting brainstorming web opportunities that doesn’t include an online community?
So, contrarian hat on my head, I want to list some reasons not to [...] 
Revenue revolution
Have a great idea for something people want, but not sure how to make money from it? Consider the following business models:
Freemium
If what you’ve got is really great, give it away. No, seriously. Let them have a taste, build a relationship with them, and only then offer an upgraded paid experience. Maybe the free version [...] 
It’s Easier to Maintain Business Momentum Than Overcome Inertia
Actually my title for this post is a shortened version. It should have been:
In business, just as in physics, and in life in general, it’s easier to maintain momentum than to overcome inertia.
My two best examples are neither physics nor business: diet and exercise. You know full well what I mean. Keeping the healthy routine, [...] 
5 Danger Signs of Frozen Thinking
I posted Beware of What Used to Work But Doesn’t Anymore a couple of weeks ago on this blog, using a change in coffee shop trends to point out the danger of frozen assumptions. This is related to my fresh look idea, which is basically that you can become too familiar with your business, which [...] 
What’s Really Wrong With Urgency Addiction?
Business Insider tipped me on this post from Mark Suster on his Both Sides of the Table (investor and entrepreneur) blog. Especially the drawing below. Notice importance on the vertical, and urgency on the horizontal. At first glance, it seems to me like operating in the upper right quadrant is a good thing. You’re addressing [...] 
With Email Center Pro, Efficiency is in the Cards
Over 100 incoming emails a day.
Four customer service representatives.
One inbox and one workstation set up to receive all the messages.
How does a company with that set up and that volume of email make sure that every customer gets responded to quickly? And that everyone is clear who ‘owns’ each conversation, from the initial contact through [...] 
Business models that build loyalty
It’s a lot more expensive to get new customers than to keep the ones you have, so why not take advantage of that? Business models that create brand loyalty or have high switching costs help you keep the customers you get.
Bait and Hook
Ever noticed that you spend far more on razor blades than on the [...] 
Nepotism or family succession?
The BBC World News – Business Daily speaks with Palo Alto Software CEO, Sabrina Parsons about family succession.
The conversation touches on the topics of “good and bad nepotism” and the worry that if family-run businesses don’t pass down from parent to child, the outcome for the business can in some cases be quite dire.
Both Tim [...] 
Four people who care about your business model
So, maybe you’ve got some nifty new idea for generating value for your customers, or your company. Why bother writing it down, outlining it in detail, or even trying to explain it?
1. Your investors and lenders
If you’re asking for money, you’d better be able to show how it will be used, how it will generate [...] 
Hustle and Flow
“Entrepreneurship is 99% hustle and 1% good ideas.”
-Joe Fernandez, Founder of Klout.com
At some point in your life, you are going to come up with a good idea. A really good idea. One of those “Million Dollar” ideas.
From the moment you think of this really great idea, you’re going to obsess over it. Ponder it. Adjust [...] 
What is a business model?
A business model is a description of how your business intends to operate and make money. Sounds simple, right?
For most companies, the business model used to look like this: I buy X, add some value to it, and sell it as Y. If I sell it for more money than the cost of buying the [...] 
Blogging tips from Mr. 1,000
Blogs and bloggers come and go. But when you have the right combination of dedication, subject knowledge, and the writing chops to sit down and do it day after day, a blog emerges that stands the test of time.
Over at Planning Startups Stories today, Tim Berry published his 1,000th post on “business planning, starting and growing [...] 
Your Guide to Social Media Tools and Uses
As I mentioned in The Weakest Link – Your Social Media Marketing “Killer App” social media tools empower you, using tools that are largely free, to maximize your business’ exposure and interaction, connecting and staying in touch more often and with more people than you ever could before.
Now I’d like to talk about how. [...] 
Using Analytics to Drive Your Online Marketing Strategy
by Casie Gillette
SEO Manager at Grasshopper
Do you know who is coming to your website? Who is buying your product? Where they are coming from? What they like and dislike?
Analytics are an extremely valuable asset when it comes to your website and your online marketing efforts. The more informed you are on where and how your [...] 
Be Realistic When you set your Measure of Success
All of us plan for success in our businesses. That’s IS the goal after all. To be successful. But how exactly do you determine IF you have succeeded? Regardless if you are a start up or an established business, you need to establish, right up front, during your business planning process, what success will look [...] 
Due Diligence is Necessary When Hiring Consultants
“Being big egzpurt, I am.” Just because someone bruits themselves this way doesn’t mean you should simply take them at their word.
It saddens me that I have to be mistrusting of people, but as one of my favorite aphorisms says, “Just because you’re not paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not after you.”
We start our businesses wanting [...] 
Precise, Accurate and Estimates are more than Guesses
When you are in the midst of creating your business’ planning forecasts, do you use Guess, Estimate, Accurate and Precise interchangably? I don’t. I believe there are very distinct differences in these words — they are not synonymous. Here’s how I see them.
Guess: Pulled out of thin air. “Oh yeah, sure, no problem, easy-peazy! I [...] 
The Weakest Link – Your Social Media Marketing “Killer App”
By helping you maximize "weak ties" Social Media Marketing provides small businesses with a powerful tool that doesn't need an overwhelming amount of complexity to be useful. Its power is based on the simple human desire to be connected and the tools that now exist to enable you, as an individual to fill that desire. 
Does your business have a disaster recovery plan?
That is a scary question for lots, if not all businesses. We spend so much time focused on getting our businesses started, and then successfully running our businesses, that we give very little thought to disaster recovery planning. Really, planning for disaster sounds like we are betting on failure. Betting against ourselves. Yet we [...] 
Want to be a player? Get a coach!
by Lindsey Enloe
Business Success Coach
Whether you are starting a new business or growing an existing business, this is not a game. It’s real life, everything is on the line, and there is no room for error. You walk onto the field each day, armed with a business plan as your playbook, and the motivation to [...] 
Pay Attention when your Business Plan says NO
I’m sure almost everyone is familiar with the story that Thomas Edison discovered 99 ways to NOT make a light bulb. That’s 99 no to reach 1 yes. The point here is that a negative result, proving something didn’t work or was not so, is just as valuable as a positive result. Sadly, scientific research [...] 
Establish a Records Retention Schedule for your Business
All of us know, or should know, that we need to save and safeguard our business records. When we start up it’s easy to hang on to every document, receipt, invoice, and business record. But after a few years we find that all these records we’ve been keeping are taking up more floor space in file cabinets [...] 
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