Congratulations! You’ve made it all the way to step 30 of 30 Steps to Build a Better Business.  The last thing that you need to do at the end of any action you’ve taken to improve your business, is to plan what you’re going to do next. Maybe you’ve gotten the basics in order and you’re ready to move on to bigger and better improvement projects. Or  perhaps you need to monitor the changes you’ve put in place for a while and tweak them until they’re just...

When you were little, you probably had some image in your head of who you wanted to be like when you grew up. Your role model might have been a neighbor, a relative, a teacher, or most likely, someone famous. In this Step to Building a Better Business, I want you to give some thought to what you want your business to be like when it grows up, by analyzing another business as a role model. A lot of business advice out there assumes that every small business owner wants to follow the same path:...

The practical wisdom and real-life advice offered in the 30 Steps to Build a Better Business blog series is now available in a paperback or instantly downloadable eBook! Here’s what’s inside: The 6 business building blocks every small business must have Strategies and techniques to help you transition from ‘the dayjob’ to being a full-time business owner 20+ innovative marketing and promotion methods for first-time or part-time entrepreneurs Low-cost or free small business productivity...

In Step 6 of 30 Steps to Build a Better Business, adjusting your product pricing was mentioned as a possible solution for low or negative product margins. Even if you aren’t experiencing low product margins, it’s a good idea to check your pricing regularly (at least once a year), to make sure it’s in line with your particular business strategy and what the market will bear.   Make a List. Make a list of all your products and prices. If you completed Step 4 to Building a Better...

Remember that thing you did when you first started your business? You know, that big detailed document that mapped out all the plans you had for your fledgling enterprise? Here’s a question for you…when’s the last time you looked at it?

Have you ever heard someone use the term ‘good on paper’? As in, “Well, he looks good on paper, but how is he in real life”? It’s a term that’s often used to describe the credentials of a person – usually a potential hire or business partner – based on the official records that represent them, like a resume, a job application, or a credit report. So how does this term relate to a small business?