What Is the Balanced Scorecard?
The Balanced Scorecard was developed in the early 1990s by two guys at the Harvard Business School: Robert Kaplan and David Norton. The key problem that Kaplan and Norton identified in the business of [more…]
Sole Proprietorships: Flying Solo
The simplest business structure is the sole proprietorship —the IRS's automatic classification for any business started by an individual. Most new businesses with only one owner start out as sole proprietorships [more…]
Poisoning the Google Spider
You can always find someone who wants to stray from the straight and narrow. Yes, they are some silly folks who engage in risky optimization tactics intended to artificially inflate PageRank, manipulate [more…]
Considering Six Sigma Best Practices
Successful Six Sigma efforts have several practices and characteristics in common. As you launch into your own Six Sigma journey, you can use these as landmarks to set your course and bearing. Even after [more…]
Understanding Zoning, Licensing, and Permits
No matter which governments — federal, state, or local — have jurisdiction in your particular place of business, you can bet that they all have something to say about how, when, and where you can — and [more…]
Avoiding Self-Publishing Mistakes
If you're about to self-publish your first book, you can make a handful of mistakes that can mean the difference between a successful publishing venture and a total bomb. Careful planning and implementing [more…]
Introducing Form 990: Tax Forms for Nonprofits
Non-profit organizations are generally tax-exempt and don't need to file revenue forms, but the Internal Revenue Service still requires lots of information — all to be painfully extracted and meticulously [more…]
Building Teams to Self-Manage and Grow
Self-directed teams — sometimes called self-managed teams, empowered work units, or autonomous work teams — function in their truest sense without supervisory authority. Team members are interdependent [more…]
Adding Profits with the Affiliate Program
Everybody wants more money, right? It's practically a national pastime here in the United States. Companies want to expand their profits, and the folks at home could always use a few extra bucks to pay [more…]
The Birth of the Limited Liability Company (LLC)
The limited liability company (LLC) didn't come out of nowhere. Business entities with the same characteristics as LLCs have been around for many years. The origin of LLCs can be traced back to the Germans [more…]
Knowing When to Follow Up a Sale
In today's market, more and more professional salespeople are practicing aggressive, thorough follow-up methods that even a few years ago would have been considered unnecessary on some of their marginal [more…]
Designing Your Marketing Program
A marketing program is a coordinated, thoughtfully designed set of activities that help you achieve your marketing objectives. Your marketing objectives [more…]
Applying Fundamental Quality Control Concepts
Your organization can implement several fundamental quality control processes to ensure that you produce or deliver a high-quality product or service. The following sections present the information you [more…]
Preparing Your Training Environment
Establishing an environment conducive to learning is a critical aspect of starting a training session off on the right foot. You can ensure that participants walk in to a relaxed atmosphere and an environment [more…]
Calculating Click-Through Rates for E-Mail Campaigns
One of the more practical and valuable features of using e-mail to market your business is using e-mail tracking reports to find out what your audience is doing with your e-mails after you send them. [more…]
Collecting E-Mail Addresses Legally
Spam is bothersome enough that lawmakers enacted the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 to help prosecute spammers. The acronym comes from its official title, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography [more…]
Producing Radio Ads to Promote Your Business
In 30 or 60 seconds, a good radio ad grabs attention, involves a listener, sounds believable, creates a mental picture, spins a story, calls for action, and manages to keep the product on center stage [more…]
Using E-Mail to Enhance Search Engine Optimization
Making sure that your Web site is visible to search engines is becoming increasingly important as e-commerce competes for online revenue. You can extend your e-mail marketing strategy beyond the standard [more…]
Preparing for a Virtual Presentation
The key to a successful virtual presentation is the same as the key to a successful face-to-face presentation: preparation. Consider the following guidelines to ensure that you're ready for [more…]
Preventing Bar Staff Theft
Theft means stealing, pure and simple. If a dishwasher pockets silverware from the restaurant, that's theft. If a bartender gives a drink away to a customer without ringing it up, that's theft. If a prep [more…]
Delegating Effectively
Delegation doesn't just happen. Just like any other task that you perform as a manager, you have to work at it. The six steps to effective delegation are the following: [more…]
Examining the Elements of a Basic RFID System
Learning the fundamentals of RFID can be overwhelming. You can avoid feeling overwhelmed — and the sensation of going around and around in circles, and the sensation of going around and around in circles [more…]
Tracing the Roots and Meaning of Six Sigma
The Six Sigma methodology was formalized in the mid-1980s at Motorola. New business and management theories and ideas were combined with basic principles and statistical methods that had existed in quality [more…]
Considering Six Approaches to Effective Pricing
Pricing is an integral part of the marketing process. The right price can generate more sales; the wrong price can make your potential customers and clients look elsewhere. The following are six of the [more…]
Mastering the Art of Customer Service
Customer service isn't just the job of your customer service department and representatives; it's the job of every employee in your company. And service starts at the highest levels of a company. [more…]
