| Advancing the Economic Vitality of Our Communities

BusinessUSA

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Nichole Neumann

On October 28, 2011, President Obama dealt a number of government agencies a new challenge when it comes to serving the American business community. He challenged them to begin thinking and acting more like a business that they serve. He called for the organization of BusinessUSA, which would be a centralized, one-stop website for businesses and business owners to guide them through the available services provided by the US government.

Today, President Obama announced that the beta version of Business USA had been launched. From this new website, business owners and entrepreneurs can now get help in starting, expanding and financing a business. In addition, a company will also be able to access information about increasing their market and becoming more globally competitive through exporting.

Check out BusinessUSA (www.business.usa.gov) for yourself and see what helpful information you can find. You can also leave them feedback to help them improve the site by clicking the link at the top stating “Help Us Improve.”

Posted in Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Export | Tagged BusinessUSA, Entrepreneur, Expansion, Export, Financing, Growth, Market Information, starting a business | Leave a comment

10 Leadership Lessons from the Super Bowl

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Jenny Spurgin

In the spirit of yesterday’s game, I saw this article and thought it had some good points for business owners! Here were the 10 key lessons, with a link to read the full article at the bottom:

Get the most out of the talent you have.
Run a strict meritocracy.
Encourage internal competition.
Spend hours scouting the competition.
Give underdogs an opportunity to shine.
Plan your game meticulously.
Get great at judging talent.
Emphasize the team over star players.
Master the art of bouncing back.
Take all the luck you can get.

I particularly liked this quote from number 9:

Only once in NFL history has a team gone undefeated. No matter how great a coach you are, there will be setbacks. What separates the championship coaches from the pack is their ability to learn from the losses and to make the necessary adjustments.

It goes on to say…

There will always be failures and challenges. The successful entrepreneurs are the ones willing to take risks and risks don’t always pay off.

Posted in Business Management, Business Plans, Entrepreneurship | Tagged 10 business lessons, business lessons, Inc.com, managing a business, Super Bowl | Leave a comment

Marketing Grader

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Nichole Neumann

At the CEV, we love to help clients evaluate their websites and search engine optimization (SEO). Oftentimes when we are performing a website review, we will reference a tool called Website Grader, which is run through Hubspot. This tool grades a number of important aspects about a website and then concocts a grade based on those factors.

Recently, Hubspot released a new tool called Marketing Grader. Marketing Grader focuses on a number of offsite considerations that have a great deal to do with success and marketing on the web these days. Since Marketing Grader uses 35 different metrics to calculate a grade for your website (Website Grader uses 9), it can provide a more accurate measure of a websites inbound marketing successes. The grade is then broken down into 3 topics:

Top of the Funnel (ToFu) – What you are doing to attract visitors
Middle of the Funnel (MoFu) - What you are doing to convert the traffic
Analytics – How you’re measuring the effectiveness of your marketing

Check out your website’s score at: http://marketing.grader.com/

Posted in Marketing | Tagged Funnel, Hubspot, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Grader, Marketing Tool, MoFu, ToFu | Leave a comment

New SBA Small Business Resources

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jenny Spurgin

We are always stumbling upon new and interesting resources, and one I thought was worth sharing is the SBA’s new online small business guide. With separate guides for “Plan,” “Start,” “Run,” “Grow,” and “Close,” it offers a lot of useful information (in PDF format) for businesses in all stages of their lives.

I really like that because it is broken out into different phases, there is something to assist any business owner or manager. In the “Run” guide, for example, there is information on state and local taxes you might need to pay. In the “Grow” guide, there is information about setting up new locations. So wherever you are at in your business lifecycle, check them out: http://www.ora.wa.gov/business.asp

Posted in Business Management, Business Plans, Entrepreneurship | Tagged business planning, closing a business, growing a business, running a business, SBA, small business guide, starting a business | Leave a comment

10 Places to Look if Something Seems Off…

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Jenny Spurgin

If something about your business operations seems to be off, and you’re not quite sure what it is, ten things to look at are:

Targeting: Are you taking a shotgun or a rifle approach to your marketing?
Advertising & Public Relations: Are you placing ads strategically or are you doing the same thing you’ve been doing for the last decade?
The Message: Does your message still resonate and have meaning to your customers?
Hiring: Have you been hiring by following a process or trial and error?
Firing: Is there someone working in the business that you’d feel relieved if they quit?
Operations: Is the job getting done? Are customers happy? Are employees happy? How do you know? Processes, standards and measurement are critical.
Basic Accounting: Accounting is more than balancing a checkbook – do you look at your financial statements? Do they provide you with insight and information to make decisions?
Pricing: This connects to #7, because if you don’t know what your costs truly are, it is difficult to price accurately. The question here is, are you selling your products or services at a profit or a loss?
Financing: Are you financing your growth appropriately? Do you know? Do you have adequate cash flow to support your operating needs?
Leadership: Leadership is different than management – it involves vision, direction, inspiration and support. Are you (or your leaders) communicating this clearly and consistently?

To read the full article, visit: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/how-to-diagnose-whats-wrong-with-your-business/?nl=business&emc=sbb1. The CEV can also assist you with evaluting many areas of your business – feel free to call us today if you’d like to talk to a strategist!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Highly Productive People

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Nichole Neumann

Do you consider yourself a highly productive person?

According to a recent article published on Inc.com, there are 7 things that highly productive people do that distracted individuals don’t. One key thing – stop multi-tasking as this is the ultimate form of distraction.

In order to stay productive, the article gives the following tips:

Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks
Stop multi-tasking
Be militant about eliminating distractions
Schedule your email
Use the phone
Work on your own agenda
Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals

To read more about what each of these means and to implement them into your daily routine, read the full article here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Agenda, Eliminate Distractions, Inc.com, Productive, Schedule, Stop Multi-tasking | Leave a comment

The Right Time to Plan

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Jenny Spurgin

I saw this article and was reminded of the importance of preparing to sell a business long before you want or need to sell. I latched on to this insight from a business owner:

To prepare for the sale of PartyPail, an Internet retailer, Edward Hechter and his wife, Lisa Jacobson, co-owners, have diversified the company’s revenue streams, added detail and structure to the books and cross-trained senior staff — all steps aimed at making the owners less integral to the business. “As a business owner, you should always be prepared to sell,” Mr. Hechter said, not only to take advantage of an opportunity but to protect your family and staff in case you are incapacitated.

Whether now is the right time to sell or not is entirely dependent upon the situation – but it can never hurt to be prepared or consider the steps necessary to prepare for a business sale. However, the right time to plan is now! The better you plan, the easier it is when the time comes (planned or unplanned) to make a move. We assist clients with this part of business management, referred to as succession planning. This can be the sale of a business or other transitions in ownership. Feel free to ask your Strategist at your next meeting or give us a call if you are interested in becoming a client!

Posted in Business Management, Business Plans, Risk Management, Selling | Tagged Business Sale, Planning to Sell a Business, Succession Planning | Leave a comment

Christmas Price Index

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Nichole Neumann

Have you ever wondered how much a partridge in a pear tree is really worth?

Well, you no longer need to question. The PNC Financial Services Group produces a yearly Christmas Price Index that shows the current cost for one set of each of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The Index began 28 years ago, when the total Christmas Price Index was $12,673.56. Today, the index is up to $24, 263.18. PNC also gives a value for the True Cost of Christmas, which is the cumulative cost of all the gifts when you count each repetition in the song; so it reflects the cost of 364 gifts. For 2011, you will pay $101,119.84 to be the proud owner of each of the goods and services in each of the song’s verses. That number represents a 3.5% increase from last year.

To view more of the index, particularly for costs by gift, visit: http://content.pncmc.com/live/pnc/microsite/CPI/2011/index.html#media/media

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christmas Price Index, The Twelve Days of Christmas | Leave a comment