With headlines in the news like:
‘Facebook Decides What’s Best For You’
‘Facebook Knows You Better Than Mom, So Can Anyone Else’
‘Twitter Showing More Of Some Kinds Of Tweets, Less Of Others’
‘YouTube Blocks Keywords That Might Not Be PC’
…it has left many people frustrated, losing interest, losing their voice and wondering, isn’t there something else out there?
Entrepreneurs tend to have a mindset that they can do it all. This is especially true when their business is in the start-up phase. While bootstrapping has benefits like keeping your business lean when money is tight, taking on too many tasks sidetracks business owners from the purpose of their business: growth and revenue. But isn’t one saving money by doing everything themselves? After all, money not spent is money still in the business.
While this is a thought that many entrepreneurs have, the answer is simply, no.
We all know the drill about death and taxes. For the first, there’s life insurance. But it may surprise some to know that a life policy can also be a solution for the latter. For those who plan ahead, life insurance can not only reduce taxes, but can be used to salve a host of other financial headaches.
We’ve all gone to bed with the roads clear and dry, only to wake up to find that Mother Nature had a busy night. The driveway, which you shoveled last night, is now hard to distinguish from your lawn. It’s no surprise to learn that your area has a list of school closures for the day, including the one your children attend. Before the kids awake to celebrate the most jubilant of discoveries, a snow day, you can be armed with a few activities to keep the “I’m bored.” and “I told you not to touch that!” at bay.
Close your eyes and picture what you believe to be the typical work setting. Are you envisioning fluorescent lights blaring down on rows of gray cubicles? Or perhaps a corner office with a big desk and a city view from fifty floors up in a skyscraper. Turns out, neither of these are the typical work setting. In fact, the majority of service and web-based companies are comprised of a team working partly or entirely from a remote location. This poses challenges for management. With a team spread all over, how do you create employee engagement and keep them working together?
‘Tis the season of pumpkin picking, apple cider sipping and taking in the beautiful changing landscapes. As the leaves start to fall, and the breeze turns crisper and colder, you may sense the ever-approaching blustery winter weather. Colder weather isn’t just hard on us; it’s hard on our homes. Running the furnace or utilizing the woodstove is constant wear-and-tear on these appliances. Not to mention the fluctuating temperatures, high winds, and heavy snowfalls are hard on a home’s foundation, chimney, roof, and overall structure.
Even the most micro bootstrapping enterprise will reach a point they need services from other businesses, or they can’t grow. But, how do you find the right people to work with? In a word, Network.
According to entrepreneurial mentor Kim Baird, “in this day and age, the phrase ‘it’s not what you know, but WHO you know,’ has never been more true.”
I am a mom to six kids, 4 of whom are teenagers, teenage girls to be exact. Teenage girls don’t particularly love sharing with their mothers every detail of their lives, let alone their plans. At the beginning of this summer, life had become busy, as in crazy busy. My twins both started their first job, but never worked the same hours. My oldest had driver’s training and is a social butterfly. New regular doctor’s appointments became necessary for one. And another had rec softball. Never mind the fact that I run a business full-time out of my home! I needed to do something to stay in touch with my crew and keep all the balls of our crazy existence in the air.
