Small Business Blogs
How NOT to Hire the WRONG Developer
Choosing the right software developer for your project can be a daunting, stressful process. This decision will likely have financial and operational impacts on your business for five to ten years to come. In previous posts we’ve covered choosing the right partner and reviewed when to fire a developer when things go awry. Now, we’ll review some of the early signs that the developer you’re evaluating might not be the right choice for your project. Too many times, we’ve seen clients make the wrong decision, only to end up spending more time and money cleaning up a mess.
When Was Your Last Technology Strategy Session?
An information technology audit evaluates a business' technical infrastructure and operations in order to identify technologies that are aging and need to be upgraded or replaced. As technology ages, it can start to create unnecessary costs, security vulnerabilities, and prevent continued progress and efficiencies within the business. That is why we recommend periodic technology audits for our clients. These audits can be done internally by a qualified employee our outsourced to an IT auditor.
Leverage Your Network for Pitch Practice
As you’ve already seen, I’m building more than just a consulting business and I’ve mentioned a few times that marketing a product is very different from marketing services. Since July, I’ve been working on creating a new digital product and there’s been a lot of lessons along the way. Here’s a few tips about leveraging the network you’ve built for more than just referrals.
5 Great Tools That Help You “Do”
When it comes to doing business, there are a ton of tools to help get the job done. And it seems like every week there’s something new trying to wiggle it’s way into my workflow. Some of them make the cut and others get kicked to the curb. Here’s the tools I use most (meaning, daily) to help me do, create, and manage my business and products.
Network Like a Gardener
Marketing has taken on a new level of complexity these days. Between social media, SEO, and email, we often forget that it's not always about selling (at least not constantly). Many of us, myself included, market during face-to-face opportunities. It's important to not let those connections fall through the cracks. We never know where that next big project is going to come from.
Are You Managing Your Reputation?
We all work hard on our business, but do we all keep an eye on the reputation of our business in the community? When you're very small or micro-business, adding that "one more thing" can be next to impossible, but it doesn't have to be.
A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
For the last few months, I've been pushing myself to be more active. Since moving last Fall, it's been harder to get out and do the fun activities I love because trails aren't as close and riding along the valley canals is boring. I've had different people try to push me to try different things, like CrossFit (or some kind of functional mobility exercise), but it wasn't the same to me. I love to engage my mind in everything and if the activity isn't stimulating for whatever reason, the motivation to keep doing it doesn't follow. How did I get around this?
Help Feed Arizona This Summer
If you didn't catch it last week, my editorial calendar is a bit out of order this month. I did that on purpose because I wanted to time this blog differently. Each summer, United Food Bank kicks off a food drive event called Christmas in July. Here's three reasons you should get involved.
New Plugins for Financial Advisors Released!
Last year, we had the opportunity to work with one of our clients to put together a site that did a great job explaining financial planning in plain English. I stress those last few words because most of the financial advisors I've met in my life think that throwing out big words is better than a client who understands what's going on and the strategy involved. While creating that site, we created some prototype financial calculators (with plans to put some more together over time). On February 19th, we released the refined version of those calculators, easily installed into any Joomla Web site.
Music Week: Tunes for the Productive Audiophile
I'm a music nut. I love all genres and I'm often slow to answer my phone because I need to mute the music streaming out of my tablet station behind me in my home office. This may not have much to do with business, but does everything have to? This is a new monthly blog segment in which I'll be talking about non-business things and how they link to your business.
How Gamifying My Day Helped My Business
Well, maybe not literally, but I started to really focus on getting things done after a great presentation by Nicole Spracale, a management consultant and executive coach I met during my involvement at the Tempe Chamber. The presentation was about time management and productivity and, at the time, I was struggling to get everything done because so much was happening at once. After the presentation, I started looking for a to-do list manager that worked for me.