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Small Business Development

How I plan to grow from a consultant to a firm

January 11, 2010

I’ve said this a few times in the past, but my goal is to go from a one person marketing consultant to a marketing firm.  Over the holiday season, I began taking the steps to build the marketing firm.
My first step was to partner with my friend Usman Sheikh, who is a serial entrepreneur and [...]

7 Critical Ingredients to Building a Business

November 23, 2009

Within the next few weeks, More Caffeine Please will be a year old.  In the past 12 months, I’ve tried to share as much information and knowledge as I possibly could – I hope I’ve succeeded.  These are the most important lessons I’ve learned:

Work your ass off.

I’ll admit.  I’m that guy at 3 in [...]

It’s not a slogan, it’s a way of life

June 3, 2009

Some people think that marketing is just a slogan or commercial or some colorful advertisement that’s placed in the newspaper. In truth, the slogan, commercial, and newspaper ad are merely the tip of the iceberg.
The real marketing comes when you determine what your company’s story is – or better yet, what your customers tell [...]

High Quality, Good Customer Service, Low Prices – a tech company can’t be all three

April 16, 2009

I thought about why I cringe when I see a company described by a combination of these three phrases: High Quality, Great Customer Service, and Low Prices. It’s impossible for a small business to be all three.
High quality can mean a lot of things: Great design, the best materials, seamless ergonomics, etc… [...]

Day 27: What’s the first thing I do to get my business started?

January 13, 2009

If you ask an engineer, they’ll swear to you that you build your business around a great technology.  If you ask a marketer, they will tell you to develop your unique selling proposition.  If you ask an accountant, they will tell you that the first thing you need to do is make sure you are [...]

Day 15: The one stop shop

December 26, 2008

I hate that term.  One stop shop.  There’s no creativity.  No emotion is evoked.  The companies that successfully get off the ground do one thing great.  Google does search.   Microsoft does desktop software applications.   Wal-Mart does low cost retail.  Apple does product design.  Yes, I realize that Google does more than search, and Microsoft does [...]

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