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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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"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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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