Author name: Steven Imke

Why The Business Advice You Are Getting Is One Sided

Why The Business Advice You Are Getting Is One Sided

Previously, we looked at how the startup landscape has changed and that you might not need a formal business plan to successfully launch your business. In this post, we will look into why we keep getting the same old business advice. What has emerged, as the funding and risk gap has widened, is a greater […]

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Is It Time to Create Your Own Channel?

Is It Time to Create Your Own Channel?

The easy part is building the actual product or delivering the service. If you are not convinced, just consider this – Imagine a substance that falls from the sky and springs up from the earth for free. Yet, we are willing to pay more for it than we do for gasoline. Yep, I’m talking about

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Using Microeconomics to Maximize Revenue

As a small business, you have to consider the concept of microeconomics when pricing your product or service to maximize revenue. By definition, microeconomics studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of limited resources (i.e., money). Contrast microeconomics with macroeconomics. Macroeconomics considers the sum of all economic activity such

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Is Your Business Persona Aligned for Success as a Business Owner

As we discussed in the Anatomy of a Business Owner, most self-employed, micro, and lifestyle businesses are started by a person with a strong technical persona. Often, these entrepreneurs are suddenly seized with the desire to start their own businesses because of their strong technical skills. Michael Gerber, the author of “The E-Myth,” describes this

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4 Publishing Industry Lessons To Make You A Better Entrepreneur

4 Super Valuable Business ROI Lessons From Publishing

While the underlining ability to write content that people want to buy is the same for both the magazine and the book publisher, the design considerations mirror many of the same issues entrepreneurs go through when they try to define their business and economic models.

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Why Advertising Is Dying In the Long Tail Marketplace

Why Advertising Is Dying In the Long Tail Marketplace

In the old days, companies would do extensive research to try to predict what the market would buy. Once they felt that they had a good idea about what would sell and how much of it they would need, they would build a product line to produce it and develop a strategy to deliver it.

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Get Hooked On Link-Bait

Get Hooked On Link-Bait

Link-baiting is the practice of crafting content that is designed to get other content producers to link to it. The purpose is to increase the number of inbound links to your content and thus improving its performance in search engine results. Link-bait content falls into one of two major categories: Timeliness Content – Create timely

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Four Business Lessons From The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Four Business Lessons From The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

As I write this post, I have just returned from a motorcycle rally in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This rally is often referred to as just “Sturgis.” As always, the trip was full of lessons for entrepreneurs. Now, you may be surprised by that, but stick with me and you’ll discover these lessons

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Hours of Operation

Hours of Operation

Most people work from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. It always perplexes me why some business to consumer (B2C) businesses are open during these same hours. How can they build their business when their customers are all trapped at work? It doesn’t make any sense! Increasingly, many successful business owners see the folly in

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Roadside Stands

Roadside Stands

Almost anything can be sold from a roadside stand. If you’ve always wanted multiple locations, roadside stands are a great way to enjoy the benefits of expansion without the typical high costs. After all, each stand is a new location and increases the exposure of your brand. Roadside stands are portable, flexible, inexpensive, and appreciated

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Forms of M&A Payments

Beyond the Cash: Creative Ways to Structure a Business Sale

Most Business Sales Involve Far More Than Just Cash Changing Hands. From Earn-Outs and Equity to Non-Compete Agreements and Royalties, Smart Deal Structures Can Benefit Both the Buyer and Seller. Discover What Options Are Available and How to Protect Your Interests During the Sale Process.

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So, You Decided To Sell – The Documentation

So, You Decided To Sell – The Documentation

Whether you are using a business broker or attempting to sell your business yourself, you will need to start with a solid business plan. Using the business plan as your base, you will need to edit it to create a confidential business review document (CBR). The CBR is the main document buyers will use to

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Process Mistakes that Reduce a Business’s Value During a Sale

Process Mistakes that Reduce a Business’s Value During a Sale

Between the time when a business owner puts his company on the market and the closing date, there are two events that can occur which either kill the deal outright or negatively affect the final sale – the inadvertent disclosure of the sale and the accidental disclosure of proprietary information to competitors and customers. The

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Why Owners Sell Their Business

Why Owners Sell Their Business

I teach a boot camp class each month for our local Small Business Development Center (SBDC). There is portion of this course that looks at the three ways to become a business owner. These ways include: buying a business, buying a franchise, and starting from scratch. As I discuss the option of buying an existing

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Customer Revenge

The Surprising Power of ‘Sorry’: Defusing Vengeful Actions in Business

We all have a need to exact revenge from time to time. In fact, it is hard-wired into animals and is especially acute in humans. Behavioral psychologists have conducted tests on animals and humans that show that when one party is wronged or feels unfairly treated, they will often try to deny or punish the

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Building Models Based on Customer Insight

How Zip Car Built a Business Model Based on Customer Insight

Henry Ford said that if he asked customers what they wanted, they would say a faster horse. Gathering customer insight is not about asking the customer about what they want, but talking to customers about their daily challenges and developing a deeper understanding of their needs. Another challenge is knowing which customers to listen to.

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Information Asymmetry in Equity Crowdfunding

Information Asymmetry in Equity Crowdfunding

When it comes to equity-based crowdfunding, start-up investments are characterized by a high degree of information asymmetry between the entrepreneur and the investors. To obtain a positive return, investors need to accurately assess both the qualifications and ability of an entrepreneur. They also need to accurately assess the potential of the entrepreneur’s idea. Traditional institutional

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Some Equity-Based Crowdfunding Statistics

Some Equity-Based Crowdfunding Statistics

CrowdCube is the largest equity-based crowdfunding platform in the United Kingdom. Since its founding in 2008, it has facilitated more than $60 million in transactions to date. Combined, those transactions have involved nearly 88,000 investors and over 140 successfully funded ventures. The average individual equity-based investment was approximately $4,000, although investments ranged from as little

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Crowdfunding 101

Crowdfunding 101

Generally speaking, crowdfunding is divided into creative campaigns, reward-based campaigns, and equity campaigns. In creative campaigns, such as a Michael Moore movie, the backers support the message or the “art” and make donations to help promote the cause. Creative campaigns have been around forever, however reward-based and equity campaigns are relatively new. In reward-based campaigns,

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Are Large Corporations Past Their Prime?

Are Large Corporations Past Their Prime?

One has to ask “Are corporations past their prime?” Corporations came into being to allow multiple investors to invest a portion of their capital across several risky, but potentially highly profitable endeavors.  Corporations Come Into Existence When sailing ships were constructed to carry on world trading, it was a highly lucrative proposition but was fraught

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