In every city in America there’s at least one business network referral group or BNI-style club. These are where business owners get together and refer leads to each other. Membership is usually paid, and restricted to one type of each business per group (so there’s no competition). Regular meetings in these groups are usually mandatory, […]
Why You Don’t Need Business Network Referral Groups
Who Is Your Perfect Customer?
Who is your perfect customer? Do you know them when you see them? Developing customer personas is an important part of your marketing strategy. Sometimes we ask businesses who they are targeting with their products. Occasionally, the answer sounds something like this: “men and women, 18 to 100 years old, all demographics — basically everyone”. […]
What Is VAT Tax? How Does It Affect Your Online Store?
If you own a regional e-commerce store based in the United States, you may or may not be aware of something called VAT. VAT stands for Value Added Tax, and it’s most common use is in the European Union, though other countries have similar systems. VAT is similar to sales tax, except that while sales […]
Do You Need To Pay Sales Tax On E-commerce Stores?
Site owners with e-commerce stores face a unique challenge when it comes to sales tax. Here in the United States, each state has it’s own laws concerning what sales tax you pay on your online sales form your e-commerce store. To make it more confusing, depending what state you live in, you have to compute […]
2015 Year In Review
Year-end reviews are cathartic. For the transparent business, a recap of the previous year is a public record of whether it met some of its goals for the year. For me, year-end reviews are a way to keep me accountable for setting goals and keeping track of what I’ve accomplished (or which of my targets […]
Focus on Top-Line Revenue, Not Cutting Costs
Cash flow is like oxygen for businesses. Without cash flow, a business will asphyxiate. The ability to consistently turn a profit means survival. Businesses that are in the danger zone — right on the line between financial comfort and anxiety, often turn to cutting costs. I agree that cutting costs is a good idea, but […]
Good Website Design Requires An Investment
There’s a lot of confusion about what the price of a professional website should be. Generally speaking, the price of a well-designed website is more than the price of a poorly designed website. While it’s true you can find someone to build your website, no matter what your budget is, remember this— It’s not the […]
Should You Hire a WordPress Consultant or Freelancer?
If you run a business, you’ll eventually need to hire someone to redesign your website. The only question is, who do you hire? What are the differences between hiring a freelancer, a consultant, or an agency? We’ll look at some of the differences between the three, and help you figure out what’s the best fit […]
You Don’t Have To Do It All Yourself
There’s something many of us are guilty of that we need to quit doing. We live in a culture that encourages us to do everything ourselves, even if we’re not the best person for the task. We’re constantly told to work on the things we’re weakest at. We buy into the fallacy that we’re deficient […]
“Will You Build My Site For Equity?”
“Will you build my website in exchange for equity?” Every developer I have ever met has been asked this question before. Some hear it several times a month. Some developers already work for funded startups, where the hopes are the company goes public, and they are on the ground floor of stock options. With the […]