Author: Adam Aberback
Is Your Business Your Passion? 4 Reasons Why It Matters
Are you a small business owner because you have to be, or because you want to be? It’s an important question to answer. Here’s why. 1. Passion Is Better for Business “Business is best when people providing goods and services feel passion and commitment to what they are producing,” says neuroscience business expert Janet Crawford.…
Three Steps to Hiring the Right People
As we’ve discussed, a strong team of motivated employees can be the secret weapon for your business’ success. Unfortunately, hiring is also one of the more difficult tasks that a small business owner, or any employer, faces. Companies like Google are upending the traditional hiring process, and for good reason—the way we’ve set about hiring…
An OnDeck Salute to Women in Business
Women-owned businesses make up one of the fastest growing segments of the the small business population. Here are just a few of the women we’ve been able to work with at OnDeck. You can also visit our page on women owned businesses.
What Color Is This Windfall? A Dress Thrusts a Family Business Into Fame
How does a smart business handle a massive, worldwide rush of attention and increase in sales, especially when it comes out of nowhere? If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet in the last few days, you’ve certainly heard about “the dress.” A random post became an international sensation, with Buzzfeed measuring over 38 million hits…
Customer Success Story: Online Amiga
About Online Amiga After a successful career working with computer interfaces for the Marine Corps and building online experiences with large ecommerce companies, Irasema Jeffers decided to take that experience in another direction. Her new focus, OnlineAmiga, helps companies create a compelling online presence by offering website management, social media strategy, product management and testing,…
How Do You Pay Your Salespeople?
How do you properly compensate a sales team? Your sales employees can make or break your business. But knowing how to manage, and properly incentivize them to do a great job day in and day out can be tricky. Here is a breakdown of what you need to know. The Options Some companies pay their…
ObamaCare Changes: What You Need to Know Now
The Affordable Care Act has given business owners plenty of deadlines and changes to track, on top of the daily work of managing their business. Here’s a quick look at the pertinent changes and deadlines you need to know right now. The Employer Mandate for 2015-16 The Employer Mandate, originally scheduled to begin in 2014,…
The Amazing Fate of the ‘Oscars Pizza Guy’
Ask almost any person on the street what they remember about the 2014 Oscars, and chances are they’ll answer, “the pizza.” In one of the more hilarious and touching moments in Oscars history, host Ellen DeGeneres ordered pizza during the broadcast and brought a delighted delivery man into the theater, to deliver slices to Angelina…
5 Business (Types) That Are Perfect For Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is one of the more empowering developments of the Internet age. Through the connected power of the masses, aspiring entrepreneurs can get their great ideas seen, supported, and funded. A wide variety of ideas have found enormous success with crowdfunding. A few of the biggest successes include a redesigned “Coolest Cooler” that raised over…
Customer Success Story: Tropic Tan
Sharon Herd and her husband wanted to purchase and expand a tanning salon and were looking for a small business loan to help facilitate the purchase and fuel the expansion of Tropic Tan in Kennesaw, Georgia. After completing an online loan application at 2:00 am, she was on the phone the next morning with an…
These Grammy Nominees Learned Key Business Lessons. Can you Guess Them All?
Making it in the music business is no easy task – and these days especially, success demands a deep understanding of both the artistic side and the business side of the industry. Here are a few Grammy nominees with exceptional professional capacities that can be valuable to any business owner. 1. Know how to market…
The 8 Worst Customers in Movie and TV History
Difficult customers can make for brutal experiences in real life. But on the big (or small) screen, few narrative devices are as entertaining as someone losing it in a retail establishment. All of the factors for hilarity and/or drama are already in place—a public setting, a loud conflict, a person taking out his or her…
Small Business Marketing: What Could You Do With $4 Million?
5 Ways Social Media Can Get Diners Into Your Restaurant
The days of relying on street fliers and window signs for restaurant promotion are over. The ease and reach of social media now makes it easy to entice diners, provided you ‘know’ how to navigate your online options. Here are a few tips on how to increase your customer base and incentivize past customers to…
How ‘Binge Watching’ Has Changed the Way Your Customers Act – And What You Can Do About It
You may have heard of “binge-watching,” the phenomenon popularized by Netflix, in which people watch entire seasons of a TV show all in one sitting. The phrase describes a new trend that is changing the way we consume entertainment. But the “binge” phenomenon also spreads to other types of consumption, including shopping. As Wharton School…