Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most elegant. Not the Apple design kind of elegant, but rather the functionality of wheels on luggage or mini air canisters for the road cyclist. I found the coolest gadget at Costco yesterday: a plastic case for two AA...
What can you do today to get noticed? My neighbor Steve Stern operates a small financial investment advisory firm. We usually meet up in the halls and chat for a few minutes. Yesterday was no different--except that he and an employee were headed to the Irish Pub down...
Let me put my bias on the table: I'm an education snob. Not about what school(s) you went to, or even what you studied. I just think learning is important. I'm proud of the fact that I had two full years of science and a year of calculus in college. And I'm still...
Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Dave Evans, author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, at SocStardom. He hosted a wide-ranging discussion on the social Web, networking and product feedback cycles, social capital, transparency--and, yes, how to get...
What can big companies learn from entrepreneurs? And what can entrepreneurs learn from big business? "Small businesses have important, competitive advantages. When founders are leading the company, they do so with an authentic passion to deliver on a vision. They know...
My latest business column is out. And it's all about where entrepreneurs go for business advice. My approach is to have an informal advisory board of smart people. Mine have great business instincts, good marketing ideas, and business development savvy. And they're...
Have you ever wished you could skim through a video post? I have a secret. I don't like watching videos. Send me a link to a 5,000-word article and I'll dive in. But send me a video link and odds are high I'll click it off in a few seconds. There are some notable...
I'm a business owner, so I get the idea of upselling products and services. But you have to know when to do it, and when doing so will drive business away. Case in point: the Exxon station down the street from me. I swiped my credit card as usual, filled up the tank,...
This isn't going to be a post about dating, relationships, or Valentine's Day. But when was the last time you heard a guy say he was looking forward to "getting to the communication"? That's a key line from an advertisement by online dating service eHarmony that has...
What would you do to reinvent business? It didn't take $18 billion in Wall Street rewards to corporate failure to realize that the way we do business has to change. The debris from our old models is littered across the U.S. and global economies. But what should 21st...