Category: Company Profile

 

Moms Build a Small Business on Better Tissues

Julie Pickens and her co-founder turned a vexing problem—stuffy noses—to a big business opportunity. CAMPBELL SALGADO

In 2007, Julie Pickens and Mindee Doney found a $16 million business hiding in their children’s stuffy noses. The Oregon moms were trying to figure out the best way to get their children’s nostrils clean when they got congested. Their pediatricians advised using saline drops, but getting toddlers to stand still while they administered the treatment was next to impossible, says Ms. Pickens. So, they started putting the drops on regular tissues and wiping theRead More

Ten ways small business owners can improve their financial literacy

financial literacy :: your money your future - all of small business

As a small business owner, a deep understanding of your company’s financial situation drastically improves your chance of long-term success. When you know exactly where you stand in terms of your financials, you can plan for the future and avoid common financial management pitfalls. Unfortunately, the fact remains, entrepreneurs struggle to get a grasp on their finances. In a recent Intuit study, 46 per cent of Canada’s owners rated their knowledge of financial management asRead More

WHO OWNS THAT? Butcher’s son carries on family legacy

1. Let’s start with the basics. Can you briefly describe your business, including when it was founded, what it does, and where you operate? Created to bring gourmet prepared meats to your table in minutes, by Amos is a line of cooked and seasoned, naturally raised meats. Our selection of chicken breasts and steaks provide quick and easy meal solutions using sous-vide cooking. Since our meats are all pre-cooked and pre-seasoned, all you have toRead More

A Marketing Guide for Small Businesses

MARKETING GUIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Marketing is one of the most important parts of any small business, and it’s especially important for new startups. An effective marketing plan — one that helps you identify the marketing activities that have the highest return on investment — can often be the difference between a small business that thrives and one that dwindles. If you are in the process of starting a new small business and are ready to get your feet wet with marketing,Read More

Customer Experience Should Not Be the Job of Just One Person

The whole world is going digital and it’s having an immense impact on organizations’ abilities to engage with customers. Through digital channels, social media and mobile communications, consumers today orchestrate their own experiences, choosing how and when they want to interact with companies’ brands. This creates a number of challenges for organizations, as they attempt to provide timely, consistent and personalized experiences to customers across channels. With less than half of companies rating their customer experience asRead More

Small Firms Start to Drop Health Plans

Many View the Health Law’s Marketplace as Inviting and Affordable

Small companies are starting to turn away from offering health plans as they seek to reduce costs and increasingly view the health law’s marketplaces as an inviting and affordable option for workers. In the latest sign of a possible shift, WellPoint Inc. said Wednesday its small-business-plan membership is shrinking faster than expected and it has lost about 300,000 people since the start of the year, leaving a total of 1.56 million in small-group coverage. DuringRead More

How to Write a Business Plan for a Small Business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN1wgKosS8A The U.S. Small Business Administration defines a small business as an independently owned and operated business that is not dominant in its field. Developing an idea for a small business takes a lot of imagination, planning and paperwork. An essential component is a business plan, which will help your business attract investors, secure funding and gain attention as you get established in the local business community. A business plan expresses your idea in writing,Read More

Harvard Business Review: The Five Stages of Small Business Growth

Harvard Business Review - The Five Stages of Small Business Growth

Categorizing the problems and growth patterns of small business growth in a systematic way that is useful to entrepreneurs seems at first glance a hopeless task. Small businesses vary widely in size and capacity for growth. They are characterized by independence of action, differing organizational structures, and varied management styles. Yet on closer scrutiny, it becomes apparent that they experience common problems arising at similar stages in their development. These points of similarity can be organized intoRead More

Small Business Size Standards and Definition regards

Small Business Definition regards Learn about the definition of – and qualifications for – a small business and why it’s important to know your status. SBA has established numerical definitions of small businesses, or “size standards,” for all for-profit industries. Size standards represent the largest size that a business (including its subsidiaries and affiliates) may be to remain classified as a small business concern. In determining what constitutes a small business, the definition will varyRead More

Small Business Primer – Understanding Small Business Size Standards and Affiliation

This training module describes what size standards are, how they are established, why they are important, how they are used, where to find them and how to determine if a specific business concern is considered a small business.  It also describes what is meant by affiliation and how such affiliations can impact the size of a business.  See the Government Contracting Classroom for more training options. Duration: 00:25:01 Text based accessible version Workbook BEGIN COURSE