4 Tips for Maintaining Growth as a Startup

The very earliest days of starting up a new business will inevitably be challenging for the founders involved at the sharp end, regardless of the goals being set or the markets being targeted. But once a measure of growth and success has been achieved, there are new challenges to overcome and a new array of pitfalls to avoid.

Startup cofounders

Here’s a look at a few ways in which a fledgling company might aim to maintain growth and develop consistently into a business with a sustainable future.

1. Avoid making too many promises

Having ambitions to grow is essential as a startup but it can be just as important for a new company’s founders not to promise more than they are capable of delivering.…

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The Fine Art of Farming Out Functions

In their earliest days of operation, most entrepreneurs take great pride in performing all their company’s tasks in-house, sometimes even personally doing everything. It’s a phase that provides important lessons for the owners and employees, but in time a successful business owner will reach a point where it’s no longer practical to do everything alone.

Car loaded with watermelons

This doesn’t necessarily apply to the physical process of producing a good; you can maintain a high level of efficiency and still take on the entire assembly process yourself.

In-house vs. outsourcing

Shipping is a different story. Owner delivery can work up to a certain volume, but when you can no longer put the day’s output in your SUV and drop off deliveries on the way home, you have a decision to make.…

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How to Save on Office Space for your Small Business

If you are a small business owner, it is imperative to find ways to be cost-efficient. Cutting down on square footage is certainly one way to do that, and when you do not have a huge amount of office space to operate in, learning to use each and every inch efficiently is a huge part of the challenge of saving those pennies.

Office space idea

Thankfully, this challenge does not have to also be a burden. By following a few simple guidelines about how to keep your office space as tidy and minimalistic as possible, and by keeping up with the maintenance of materials that are only around when you need it, it is a satisfying endeavor to really get the most of your small working area and thrive as a cost-cutting entrepreneur.…

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50 Shades of Green: The Difference Between Seeming and Being Sustainable

Green is the new black, and sustainability has been “in” for well over a decade. In fact, companies that don’t strive to support the green movement might as well close up and turn out the lights. In today’s ardently ecological climate, it makes smart business sense to build a brand on the basic tenants of sustainability, but too many businesses are giving the movement a bad name with less than adequate standards.

Bike to work

Even if you reduce, reuse, and recycle, your business likely contributes to a number of dangerous practices that are doing untold damage to the Earth and its people, and if your tree-hugging customers discover your washed-out shades of green, you might as well flip your “open” sign to “closed.”…

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Marketing Toolbox: Ways to Build Your Residential Construction Business From the Ground Up

Some of the smartest ways to build a home construction business aren’t always the most intuitive. Here are a few ideas to get you going from the ground up using smart marketing tools that your competition isn’t.

Residential construction business

How To Find Your Target Audience

Think about the age, gender, location, and income of the families you want to be working with. Figure out where these people live right now, what the neighborhood culture is like, and how to connect your ideal customer with that neighborhood.

For example, in Chicago, you might have one type of customer that would want to live in Hyde Park.…

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Silver Could Be the Perfect Investment Choice for your Business – Here’s Why

There comes a point in the life of every enterprise where your business isn’t performing as well as it used to. Peaks and troughs are inevitable, and yet the ultra competitive commercial environment left over from the recession means that the effects of such a pattern are more dangerous than ever before.

Silver coins and bars

For those entrepreneurs who are not willing to leave the fate of their venture to the vagaries of the economic market or industry trends, it pays to have a backup plan. You need to be able to create a comfortable cushion of cash to support your business, so that when you inevitably fall, hitting the ground doesn’t break you.…

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Ford Medium Duty Trucks for The Modern Job Site

If you are running a business that requires utility trucks, you surely understand that your choice of trucks can determine the effectiveness of your operation; you need the ones that are high in performance.

Ford F-650 2015

High performance utility trucks used to be all about function. Manufacturers built them for size and strength, and it was up to the people operating them to make these beasts fit the job itself. There wasn’t a lot of variety, there wasn’t a lot of customizable options. But that wasn’t the point. These vehicles over delivered in terms of strength and cargo load capability. It was a one-size-fits-all approach.…

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Navigating Coworker Conflict (from an owner’s perspective)

Unresolved or unaddressed conflicts at work can impede productivity and impact staff morale. While these situations are often a normal consequence of people working closely together, there are some tactics that will help to defuse these common occurrences and get your team back on track.

Conflict in the workplace

A successful mediation may even set the stage for increased productivity and provide affirmation to your team that their hard work and efforts are greatly appreciated. Let’s take a look at some of the skillsets that business owners can implement for successful mediation during coworker conflict. Some of these are in direct response to conflict while others are more preventative in nature.…

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Producing Great Membership Cards: DIY or Outsource?

If you run a business, club, gym or organisation the chances are you may need to produce membership cards. Hobby clubs and gyms use them a lot as a way to make sure that only members get access to certain areas. Effectively these double as simple ID badges.

Hyatt Gold Passport membership card

Many firms also use them as a way to reward customers for their loyalty perhaps taking a percentage off the bill for people who carry the card or only allowing people with a card to benefit from certain offers. Some firms use plastic ID cards with a magnetic strip or simple smart chip embedded in them.…

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How to Choose the Right Printer for your Business

The majority of businesses are majorly dependent on technology, and if you’re a small business owner you’ll probably have already bought a number of different gadgets in order to help you manage your business as best you can. Printers are just one piece of technology that are essential for any business – even though you can do a lot of things online or via email, you’ll probably still need to print documents such as invoices and receipts, and documents that you need regarding tax. If you’re planning to purchase a printer for your business, there are a number of things that you’ll need to take into consideration.…

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