Category: Advice
How to Hire the Right Employees to Grow Your Small Business
Hiring an employee is exciting. But it’s also one of the biggest risks a small business owner will take as they grow their business. You must put your faith in someone who has no emotional ties to your business. This person will need to take your vision and execute it in areas you no longer have the…
How to Become Your Own Profit Expert
Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Finding (or Rather, Becoming) Your Profit Expert As a business owner, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I knew my business, I knew how to get things done, and I knew how to sell my services, but I wasn’t an accountant and, at the time, didn’t recognize the incredible…
How to Avoid Rookie Mistakes with Your Company’s Finances
To continue April’s thread of topics around improving financial literacy, I had the pleasure of speaking with Levi King, Co-founder & CEO of Nav, (a site that helps business owners manage their business credit and get streamlined access to financing) earlier this week. As a small business advocate, I’m always talking with successful entrepreneurs on…
3 Ways Technology Can Help You as a Small Business Owner
As a small business owner, you probably find yourself working upwards of 60 hours a week. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance might seem impossible. But there are many tools to help lighten your workload and ease the stresses that come with growing a successful business. Technology is just one of the many resources at your…
5 Ways to Re-Energize and Push Your Business Forward
Stagnation comes in two forms; business and personal. For most people these two considerations are completely separate, but for a business owner these two issues often go hand-in-hand. The challenge is how can you avoid burning out and keep your business growth moving in the right direction. Continuing our deep dive into topics covered in…
6 Cost Effective Small Business Marketing Ideas
As a small business owner, you can’t afford not to invest in some form of marketing. But considering there are nearly as many ways to promote yourself as there are people, how do you know which small business marketing methods will pay off in real ROI and which ones will waste your resources? Not every…
How to Market Your Brand Without Spending a Dime
Whether we realize it or not, one of the first things we notice about the brands we love is their marketing. Brands can set themselves apart from competitors by investing in marketing strategies that reflect who they are and what they stand for as a business. While your brand represents what you value, your marketing…
Small Business Success – EF5 Tornado Shelters
Recently we had the pleasure of speaking with and learning about OnDeck customers, Emilie and Rory Golden, owners of EF5 Tornado Shelters. Emilie and Rory Golden were your average corporate employees until five years ago when they recognized a business opportunity, took a leap of faith, quit their jobs, and founded EF5 Tornado Shelters. Since…
Advice from Small Business Owners: Mom and Pop Business Owner’s Day
We LOVE mom and pop shops. In honor of Mom and Pop Business Owner’s Day, we wanted to share what it takes to be a small business owner. So, we asked over 100 small business owners some questions about how they run their business, get customers in the door, and deal with the tough issues.…
Stay Motivated at Your 9-5 While You Build Your Business – Deep Dive on Q&A w/Barbara Corcoran
Building a small business is no easy task, especially while you’re still working your 9-5 (and raising a family or focusing on other priorities). Your new venture is exciting and staying motivated at your full-time job can be a struggle when you’re constantly thinking about how to move your business to the next level. Don’t…
How to Build a Strong Customer Service Experience
You probably know and appreciate how important taking care of your customers, or great customer service, is to the success of your business. To kick off our new Q&A series, I interviewed OnDeck’s Director of Customer Service, Eric Lichtenwalter. He leads a team whose sole purpose is to ensure OnDeck customers have the best experience possible with…
Your Ultimate Guide to Small Business Financing
Your decision to borrow funds for your business and which lender to work with is important. There are many factors to consider to make the right financing choice for your business. There are a lot of different types of financing to explore. You’ll need to weigh the application process, rates, fees, and requirements for each lender you consider.…
Your Quick Guide for Planning a Marketing Strategy
Planning a marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. The most important thing to remember when creating a business plan or marketing strategy is clarity. Having a clear idea of what you hope to accomplish and laying those ideas out in a direct manner is a necessary part of creating a successful marketing plan. You…
3 Content Marketing Skills You Probably Already Have
Definitions of content marketing oftentimes make the strategy sound more daunting than it is. Put simply, content marketing is about a give-and-take relationship between you and your customers: by freely sharing information that your customers will find valuable and relevant, you are offering them real value rather than a sales pitch. Clouded by all…
Preparing Your Small Business for Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day might be the single busiest day of the year for your business. Whether you’re a florist, chocolatier, or jewelry maker, Valentine’s Day is an excellent opportunity to boost sales and bring new customers to your store. In fact, Valentine’s Day sales reached an all-time high of $19.7 billion in 2016 – according to…