I recently met a business where the owner made 100% of her decisions based on how it impacts the immediate cash flow of the business. And I mean every decision! Whether it was hiring business professionals like accountants or lawyers that were advising the business. Or, making marketing decisions based on what drove revenues this […]
It’s Time to Rethink the Pyramid Shaped Org Chart
I have long thought movie stars and sports heroes were drastically overpaid in comparison to their contributions to society. For example, teachers are teaching future generations of kids, and get paid pennies in comparison. And, even well-paid doctors saving lives, are paid a small fraction of what a basketball star gets paid to simply play […]
Want Startup Success? Keep It Simple Stupid!
Building successful startups is not easy. That is why only one in ten startups actually succeed. But, if you are going to have any chance of success, you need to K.I.S.S.—Keep It Simple Stupid.
The Risks of Candidates Climbing Back Down the Corporate Ladder
Our brains have been wired to think about our careers going up the corporate ladder over time. A manager, becomes a director, becomes a vice president, becomes a president, etc. But, if you think about that structure, there are a lot fewer job positions the further you go up the ladder. An example typical company […]
Want to Grow? Complete One Material Action Per Day!
All I can say to you entrepreneurs who are “floating in the wind” of poor time management is: unless you are doing at least one material thing each day to move your business forward, towards new revenue or profit heights, you are never going to grow your business as quickly as you could be.
Business Lessons from the Great Conductors
This piece brilliantly ties together leadership lessons from the great conductors in music to similar leadership lessons in the business world.
The Pluses and Minuses of Virtual Teams
Red Rocket recently acquired Restaurant Furniture Plus, a B2B e-commerce website selling furniture to restaurants. What made this business different from most of the other businesses I have managed was the fact it was 100% a virtual company. The founders worked from their homes in California and the fulfillment team worked from their homes in Ohio. So, we decided […]
Sales Enablement Tools Help Accelerate Sales
Over the last several years, many technologies have been developed to help accelerate and automate the sales and marketing functions. First, it was upper funnel tools that help drive customer awareness and consideration through marketing automation, which I have previously written about. Then, came the middle and lower funnel tools that help drive customer evaluation and […]
Top 10 Traits of High-Performing Marketing Teams
Here some common traits that are found in some of the most powerful marketing teams in the e-commerce industry.
The Search for Product-Market Fit (the Holy Grail)
Every entrepreneur believes they have the greatest product that is going to revolutionalize the world, worthy of venture capitalists bathing them in piles of cash to achieve their dream. But, venture capitalists don’t back products, they back winning business models. And, winning business models are anchored by companies that have the potential to generate lots […]
Top 5 Media Buys for First-Time Marketers
Getting the word out about your startup business is always a challenge, but at least there are a handful of techniques you can focus on to jump start your early marketing efforts, all of which are available on a cost-effective basis.