As a career management advocate turned Entrepreneur Evangelist, I recently had an epiphany that clarified some of the change I’ve experienced over the past two years, as I’ve moved from my old life to my new one. I’ve been lacking an effective metaphor to describe both the process and my present (and potentially future) state. [ Read More ]
Last spring, I was reading the annual WorldBlu list of the most democratically run organizations in the world. One of the companies that caught my eye was one whose democratic organizational practices included eliminating a formal vacation day policy. I remember making a mental note of the idea, because I liked it and wanted to [ Read More ]
For any entrepreneur, the value of a mentor can almost never be overstated. Whether it’s building your business plan, defining your market, figuring out a product strategy, or trying to sell your spouse on the idea that giving up a steady paycheck from someone else is a sane thing to do, a mentor is one [ Read More ]
As my year-end consumption of ‘top ten lists‘ continues, I came across one on Chicago Now called “The Top 10 Small Business Trends of the Decade” by Barry Moltz. In the list he mentions several things that have all dovetailed together to define the changing nature of work — most centered around the pros and [ Read More ]
I love startups. I love the chaos. I love the insane hours. I love the energy. I love the types of people who are attracted to work on high-risk ideas with long odds. I love the culture that evolves around them. I love it all. I have spent my career hopping from one startup to [ Read More ]
As my year-end consumption of ‘top ten lists‘ continues, I came across one on Chicago Now called “The Top 10 Small Business Trends of the Decade” by Barry Moltz. In the list he mentions several things that have all dovetailed together to define the changing nature of work — most centered around the pros and [ Read More ]
Tim Berry has a recent post on MyVenturePad that is highly worth reading. He takes issue with a VentureBeat post that essentially recommends to entrepreneurs that they sacrifice their life until they get their business successfully built. Tim hits the nail on the head right out of the gate: the absurdity of that recommendation is [ Read More ]
As a content strategist one of the things I spend a great deal of time discussing with entrepreneurs is SEO. As I’ve written here before, my first goal in any SEO discussion with someone is to help educate them on what SEO is and isn’t, and what it really can do versus what it really [ Read More ]
One of my favorite things about the information economy is the extent to which a highly commoditized, social web lowers the barrier to entry for prospective entrepreneurs. While some of us elect to dive into owning our own business head-first with little or no safety net, that’s not the best way for some people. Many [ Read More ]
CNN recently reported that researchers from Harvard Business School, Insead and Brigham Young University have just completed a six-year study of more than 3,000 executives and 500 innovative entrepreneurs, and say they have identified five skills that drive innovation: Associating: The ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems or ideas from different fields. Questioning: Innovators [ Read More ]
One of my favorite parts of the end of any year are the ‘year in review’ and/or ‘next year’s prediction’ lists. And when it’s a year that ends in a “0,” the lists are usually longer, more interesting and cover a longer window. So, too, already with this year. As we head into 2010, we [ Read More ]
For some families, business is just part of the package. As someone who grew up in a family-owned business, one of the reasons I ducked-and-weaved every time my husband used to bring up the idea of us owning our own business was because I saw a lot of headache (and heartache) as a result of [ Read More ]