When I bought my favorite Lee® jeans years ago, they fit like a glove. Just what I needed. As I put on weight, they generously stretched with me. When I lost weight, though, they stayed stretched in the knees and the butt. Not flattering. Holes developed around the seams. The cuffs became tattered. They turned … Read More
Succession Planning in a Hurry
As seen in … Kimberly Martinez faced a difficult decision. For lifestyle reasons, she had already chosen to live in Florida, away from the Cleveland, Ohio headquarters of her company, Bonitas International. Now she had step back as not one, but two, parents concurrently fought their battles with cancer. How will the company function if … Read More
The #1 Element Most Online Businesses Ignore
I’ve worked with many clients who have an online business. They focus on the logos. The sales pages. The product funnel. Conversion rates. But what’s the #1 element they tend to ignore? Their website terms and conditions. An e-commerce website is a business. It just happens to be located online instead of in bricks and … Read More
"Success without successors is failure" ~ Les Brown
Some days, you need to work on your business, not just in it. And sometimes, you need to come first. After all, your business can only grow to the extent you grow yourself. So I spent the day with motivational speaker Les Brown at a meeting of the National Speakers Association, NYC Chapter. Les has … Read More
Life Outside Your Sweet Spot Ain’t So Sweet
How many times do you need to hit yourself in the head with a hammer before you get the lesson? Over the years, it took me several times (with different types of hammers) to learn to identify my niche market (“sweet spot”) and stick with it. I remember a landlord/tenant matter that my then-law partner … Read More
How Can Your Accountant Boost Your Profits?
Now that tax season is done done done, (yes, I filed on extension), I wanted to give a shout-out to the people who made that process relatively painless: my accountants. They have certainly saved my bacon on more than one occasion. By keeping a watchful eye and working with me proactively, we were able to … Read More
Satisfy Customers to Survive and Prosper
Satisfied customers don’t grow on trees, ripe for the picking. Yet without them, your company is doomed. Most businesses models rely on repeat customers, customer referrals, or at least, the credibility of satisfied customer testimonials. If you want your business to succeed and grow, it must attract and satisfy customers. Repeatedly. Seems pretty straightforward, but … Read More
Sadly, Your Company Must Have a Collections Policy
The first time it happened, I was shocked. (Okay–naïve too, but shocked). “What did I do wrong?” I wondered. “Wasn’t the client happy with the service I provided? After all, I swooped in, saved the day, and got them their pound of flesh. What’s going on?” It happened to me several times despite my best … Read More
Learn to Delegate
If you look up the definition of “control freak” in the dictionary, you’ll probably find my picture. It’s not in my nature to delegate—and the same often holds true for business owners in general. Many are fiercely independent … but there comes a point when that ferocity prevents success – if it keeps you from … Read More
The Importance of Recurring Income Streams
“You see this here doughnut? What you got is the hole.” I’ll never forget that sinking feeling when I heard that from a business expert I consulted. I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned. Humiliated. 12 years of building my law firm—all that blood, sweat, and treasure—and I have nothing to show for it … … Read More
When Women Entrepreneurs “Tip the Scale”
After reading some stats on the growth of women-owned companies, I was tempted to get depressed. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce (2010), 88% of all women business owners are sole proprietorships without employees. 80% of all women-owned businesses earn less than $50,000. (It’s not so fabulous for men-owned businesses either: 77% for ownership … Read More