- news
- Multimedia
- sports
- Entertainment
- Opinion
- Community
- Obituaries
- weather
- Services
- shopping
- real estate
- Jobs
- classifieds
- Autos
Web Search powered by YAHOO!
|
Business ColumnistsBusiness Columnists
-
Leadership sometimes crucial to survival
It’s hard to write a business column on the 10 th anniversary of 9/11.
Advertisement
-
Avoid common mistakes
When I talk with people who want to start their own business, one of the first questions I ask is what will set their business apart from the competition. Too often the answer I get is that they plan to differentiate themselves through great service. A nice sentiment, but news flash — very few companies stay in business by providing mediocre service.
-
Public-private partnership a good model
What is the right balance of government support for business?
-
Data trends offer look at future
Can looking into the past help us shape the future? Census data trends give us an idea of where we’re heading. Can we impact the trends we don’t like, and find business opportunities in the changing demographics of our area?
-
Green companies in spotlight
Successful businesses carve out their position in the marketplace by defining their competitive advantage, the thing that makes them different from their competitors and provides value to their customers.
-
These traits help manager succeed
Which traits do a manager need to succeed in today’s business environment?
-
Become a smart negotiator
Open the morning paper and it’s hard to escape. Whether it’s negotiating the federal debt ceiling or watching professional sports leagues try to figure out new collective bargaining agreements, it feels like everyone needs to be sent to remedial negotiation school. If the business world worked like this, nothing would ever get accomplished.
-
What to do before you open the doors
There are entrepreneurs who salivate at the chance to jump into a new business opportunity and make it hum. They see the glamorous parts of starting a business, serving a need and building something of value. But what about the permits, licenses, and approvals that must be completed before you open the doors?
-
Make your meetings productive
What are the biggest productivity killers in the workplace? March Madness brackets are a temporary distraction, but college basketball is in the rear view mirror for now. Fantasy football leagues run amuck, but they are on hold due to the football strike.
-
Growing a business is essential
If you listen to the noise coming out of Raleigh — and Washington — you might conclude that the only way to prosperity is to cut expenses.
-
Twitter can be great business tool
All businesses face the challenge of finding effective ways to reach their customers, and social media sites are providing new communication opportunities.
-
Buying or selling a business can be tricky
Many people want to be a business owner, but few have a Bill Gates-like vision of the product or service that consumers will find irresistible.
-
Advisory board can help
If you’ve ever checked out who is on the board of directors for major public companies you’ve found that they are generally filled with CEOs and senior managers from — wait for it — other major public companies.
-
Did I miss social media revolution?
Sometimes change happens so quietly that you don’t notice until it’s already occurred. Sometimes change slaps you in the face on the way by.
-
Manufacturing renaissance probable?
We’re all looking for good news on the economic front, so I took note of a report published earlier this month by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicting a United States “manufacturing renaissance” over the next five years as the cost gap to manufacture in the U.S. narrows in comparison to low-cost countries such as China.
-
Business loans can be tough to find
It’s time to reach into the Adviser mailbag and answer some of the common questions I have received from local business people as well as from people who are working on business start-ups.
-
Consider funding options
I’m currently leading an entrepreneurship training program sponsored by Catawba Valley Community College’s Small Business Center, and one of the issues that class participants always struggle with is how to get the funding to start their new business.
-
Choose legal structure carefully
When you start a business you have a lot of decisions to make. Should you work out of your house or rent an office or retail space? If you plan to rent, where is the best location? Which wireless phone plan should you use? What should you get William and Kate for a wedding gift?
-
Nonprofits compete for grants
When over 30 nonprofit managers, volunteers and board members show up for a grant-writing class sponsored by Catawba Valley Community College’s Small Business Center, you quickly get a sense for how a sour economy and government budget shortfalls have forced nonprofits to find new funding sources to fulfill their missions.
-
Protect computer and data
I was minding my own business a couple of weeks ago when I returned from lunch and re-booted my computer only to be greeted by a scary message: Disk Failure – Cannot Access Data.
-
Be realistic about sales, expense levels
If you take an accounting class you’ll cover the income statement and balance sheet which tell you how much money you’ve made (or lost) over a period of time and provide a tally of your assets and liabilities, respectively.
-
Language of business is finance
If you’ve ever traveled to a foreign country you probably did a little preparation before your visit. You checked out the maps, worked out your itinerary, and spent a little time learning some of the language.
-
Tax tips may help small businesses
To most of us, April means tax time and the headaches of making sure we (or our accountant) have all of the information to get our taxes done with a minimal amount of pain and money.
-
Programs hold promise for growth
I was sitting in a committee meeting for a local non-profit last week lamenting the difficult funding situation that many organizations face. As we reviewed the list of corporate donors from five years ago we saw companies that had merged and no longer maintained local headquarters in the area as well as many family-owned businesses that were struggling through this difficult economy or had disappeared entirely. One of the committee members looked up and said, “The answer is simple. We need more people to start new businesses.”
-
Network to greater success
The term “networking” used to make me think of people in business suits wandering around cocktail parties numbly exchanging business cards and engaging in superficial banter about the weather or the topic of the day. But networking does not need to be this way.
Deal of the Day
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
