It’s January 13th – yes, almost half of January is gone. What have you decided to do differently this year so that 2015 is not just a repeat of 2014? Hint: Some people have been in business for 10 years, but they have repeated their first year in business 9 more times because they didn’t decide to do anything differently. Don’t let this happen to you! Continue reading
I hope 2014 was a great year for you and that 2015 is all that you hope it will be. There are a few things to put on your To Do list before 2015 starts rolling too fast.
Meet with your Accountant. Have a meeting to review 2014. Review the due dates of time sensitive forms that need to be filed. Make sure you understand the financials and can explain them to a banker. If fact, it’s not a bad idea to have a face to face meeting with your banking professional – whether you have a loan out or not – and let them know how 2014 went for you. You never know when you may be back asking for a line of credit or financing for your growth. Continue reading
Grassroots Manufacturing Renaissance Spurs Entrepreneurship
Why is Roane State Community College building a Tinker Space inside the Cumberland Business Incubator? This article from The Kauffman Foundation by Jonathan Ortmans provides a few answers. Hint: A Tinker Space, like the one being developed inside the CBI, is a smaller version of a Makerspace. Continue reading
Tinker Space. It is a community workspace designed to allow those who tinker, program, invent, build, code, problem solve, and so much more, have the space and equipment needed to dream big and then turn those dreams into reality. Soon we’ll have one here in Crossville.
An open, well-lit space ready to welcome Upper Cumberland tinkers in 2015! The vision for the space is that of a co-working space/tinker space/artists’ studio where woodworkers can build, sculptors can sculpt, inventors can invent, programmers can code, quilters can quilt, and so much more. Located on the Roane State Community College campus in Crossville, the Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI) will be the home of the Tinker Space. Continue reading
When you think about the big picture of your business (thinking strategically rather than tactically) are you focusing on growth (most business owners do) when you should be focusing on increasing value instead?
We spend a lot of time talking about Business Growth – and for good reason. Growth is the most obvious, visible sign that your business is doing well. Given a choice, almost everyone would choose to grow versus choosing to get smaller. Business owners and clients bring up the topic of growth a lot – usually in the context of money. I need to make more money so I need to grow (i.e. grow revenue). Unfortunately more revenue doesn’t always mean more money to the business owner. Continue reading
More than 60% of U.S. business owners are over 50 years of age (Baby Boomers), and many of them are looking forward to retirement and the process of attracting and vetting potential buyers to take over the reins of their business. The problem for those that have built these companies is that the businesses may not be attractive to a new generation of business buyers. There are three major trends that impact the salability of a business. Understanding these trends can help owners transition successfully in a challenging market, and help identify the buyer who will lead their company into the future. Continue reading
Welcome! This week all around the globe people are celebrating innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) launched in 2008 and has since grown to 150 countries with over 24,000 partner organizations planning over 34,000 activities that directly engage millions of participants during the week. Continue reading
Idea generation is an art form. It’s about setting a safe, creative space for people to feel like they can say anything, be wild, not be judged – so that new ideas can be born.
To help you generate ideas, some tips used in traditional group brainstorming follow, setting the boundaries of that creative space.
Creative spaces don’t judge. They let the ideas flow, so that people can build on each other and foster great ideas. You never know where a good idea is going to come from, the key is to make everyone feel like they can say the idea on their mind and allow others to build on it. Pose non-judgmental questions and provocations so that the ideas can get better. Continue reading
The CBI recently developed Co-Working spaces. I found an article by Cassidy North-Reist that helps define some of the behaviors that will help you succeed in a Co-Working space.
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The nature of the American workforce is rapidly changing, with more of us telecommuting or starting businesses out of our homes than ever before. It’s no surprise then that there’s been a recent surge in people taking up residency in Co-Working spaces. Continue reading
Before a million pails of cold water brought amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) global attention, many people had never heard of the disease. After a summer of ice bucket challenges, the devastating motor neuron disorder has an astonishing level of awareness. Although the campaign didn’t originate as a deliberate marketing strategy, it’s a great case of the power of guerrilla marketing in the social-media age.
Inexpensive, small scale and non-traditional marketing tactics can be extremely effective ways to promoting your brand if the idea catches the public imagination and goes viral. Guerrilla marketing covers a huge variety of activities. Continue reading