Category: business

  • 5 Trends Why SME’s will Continue to Grow.

    5 Trends Why SME’s will Continue to Grow.

    In the wake of massive lay-offs in the manufacturing sector, downsizing across all industries and renewed vows to create sustainability, SME’s are a powerful way to counter large Corporations and create REAL, SUSTAINABLE, solutions. Here are 5 Trends why we think  SME’s will grow in the future….. 1. Generation Y– brought up to value their…

  • Innovation and the Aging Population

    There is a lot written these days about innovation, competitiveness and intellectual capital. I hear the banter of politicians, the monologues from leading Venture Capitalists and Investment firms, and I sit back and think about how they have it all wrong. Our society is aging. David Foot in his ground-breaking work, “Boom, Bust and Echo”…

  • What do you mean I run a tech company?

    So I was sitting at a meeting a couple of weeks back and someone asked me about my insight running a tech business. For a second I looked across the table at someone else who was at the meeting, but soon realized that the individual was talking to me. I asked him, “me? Run a…

  • Finding a Business Mentor

    Nearly every self-help book will tell you that you need a business mentor. The general purpose of a mentor is to provide you with a foundation of advice, support and knowledge in the early days of business. The early days are tough. Cashflow will be tight, personal time will be non-existant and to-do lists are…

  • Business Plans for Newcomers – Part 1

    I cannot tell you how many times, I have heard of newcomers turned down for loans simply because they could not produce a business plan. In our lending systems, as covered in a past blog, it is customary to ask for a business plan. In many cases, lenders will not even look at your business…

  • Demographics for Small Business: market segmentation and counting customers

    The last couple of entries have focused on stories of entrepreneurs who have either not cared about customers or who believed that the entire world was a prospective client base. While these strategies may work for some entrepreneurs, generally speaking, we need to have some understanding of the size of the market and what we…

  • The Customer is always right….Except when he isn’t…

    As part of my continuing series on markets and customers, I would like to tell you about another entrepreneur who was determined to change his customer. Unlike Bob from the last blog who was content to live with his books, this entrepreneur, Luis, has been fighting to convince customers that he was right and they…

  • Demographics Part II: The Battle Between the Customer and the Entrepreneur

    I promised in the last blog post to guide you through the demographic research component of your business plan. Before we get into it, just understand that knowing demographics is really nothing more than thinking about your customers and every business must have customers. The Story of Sylvan’s Foremost Bookstore I would like to tell…

  • Part III: So Who Needs a Business Plan?

    Part III: So Who Needs a Business Plan?

    So Who needs a business plan? These days, if you are seeking financing of any form, you probably require one. Do you need a business plan to ensure the success of your business? I would say no. Don’t get me wrong, business planning can be a very valuable exercise. For some personality types (you know…

  • Part 2: Why Businesses Fail

    Part 2: Why Businesses Fail

    Since 1980 onward, business plans have become standard staple in lending and investing. They provide, or so their supporters will argue, a standardized way to look at a business. Business plans require entrepreneurs to actually “plan” and they are the road map an entrepreneur uses from start-up through to a full -scale operation. So why…